• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.124-129
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• 1989

In order to improve the production of bacterial alginate, Azotobacter vinelandii NCIB 8789 was treated with 200.$\mu$g/ml of MNNG for obtaining mutant strain. The mutant HB18 was selected, which produced the highest amount of alginic acid among the survival stains. The HB18 produced 5.4g/l of alginic acid when batch cultured at $30^{\circ}C$ for 160 hrs and its alginic acid showed high molecular weight and simple composition when compared with thoseof wild type.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.670-672
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• 2000

Azotobacter vinelandii UWD synthesizes poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV), one of the biodegradable polymers, when odd and even number carbon sources are simultaneously added to a medium. In this study, we investigated the specific growth rate of Azotobacter vinelandii UWD on propionic acid and valeric acid. The specific growth rates were $0.183 hr^{-1} and 0.137 hr^{-1}$ at 1.0∼1.5 g/L of propionic acid and 1.0 g/L of valeric acid, respectively. When a mixture of 0.75 g/L of propionic acid and 0.5 g/L of valeric acid was added to the medium, the specific growth rate was 0.196 hr(sup)-1, which was equal to or higher than those of the individual organic acids. Among 10∼50 g/L of glucose cell growth was best at 20 g/L.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.626-630
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• 1998

Ammonium limitation did not promote ply(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) production of Azotobacter vinelandii UWD. In acid phase, ammonium limitation during utilization of propionic acid and butyric acid led to 35% decrease in product yield. In glucose phase, both biomass yield and polymer yield decreased about 22% under ammonium limitation. However, in nitrogen-fixing culture glucose was consumed 25% faster and the final PHBV wt% decreased slightly. Under nitrogen limitation a portion of the carbon sources was used fro nitrogen fixation rather than biomass and polymer formation, resulting in a decrease in biomass yield and polymer yield.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.43-46
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• 1995

For using additives of foods, or cosmetics, a strain A80 producing blue pigment was isolated from soil. The strain A80 was identified as a strain of Azotobacter vinelandii based on morphological and physiological characteristics. The strain A80 was extracellulaly secreted the blue pigment on PYG agar plate, but not secreted it into PYG broth. And then, the strain A80 was extracellulaly secreted the blue pigment in PYG broth containing 2.0% chitin, while the strain A80 was not secreted the blue pigment in PYG broth containing 2.0% chitin and 1% NaCl simultaniously.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.675-680
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• 1998

In both 7L and 20L fermentor experiments the level of dissolved oxygen (D.O) strongly affected growth and PHBV production of Azotobacter vinelandii UWD. A higher D.O. increased carbon substrate consumption rate and cell growth rate with a similar residual biomass production. However, a lower D.O. was a much better condition for PHBV production. In a 20L fermentor experiments controlled at 5% D.O. cell growth rate was about twice faster(0.555 hr-1 and 0.260 hr-1 at the acid and the glucose phase, respectively) with an equal amount(4.5 g/L) of residual biomass production. However, PHBV content in the cell(62.3 wt%) increased 17.3 times at 1% D.O.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.529-536
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• 1998

In a 20 L fermentor experiments the level of dissolved oxygen (D.O.) strongly affected growth and PHBV production of Azotobacter vinelandii UWD. A higher D.O. (5%) increased specific cell growth rate two folds but PHBV production was 17 folds higher (62.3 wt%) at a lower D.O.(1%) level. D.O. level was not a good criterion to evaluate the effect of aeration on fermentation characteristics of A. vinelandii UWD. This strain maintained an equal D.O. (5%) by decreasing its oxygen consumption rate when oxygen transfer rate (OTR) was decreased by changing agitation speed at a fixed aeration rate. OTR rather than D.O. was a criterion to explain the effect of aeration on the cell growth and PHBV production. At 5% D.O. with a lower 0TR cell growth rate decreased but PHBV production (57.3 wt%) approached to that (62.3 wt%) of the lower (1%) D.O.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.572-578
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• 2013

Azotobacter vinelandii, a strict aerobic nitrogen-fixing bacterium, has been extensively studied with regard to the ability of $N_2$-fixation due to its high expression of nitrogenase and fast growth. Because nitrogenase can also reduce cyanide to ammonia and methane, cyanide degradation by A. vinelandii has been studied for the application in the bioremediation of cyanide-contaminated wastewater. Cyanide degradation by A. vinelandii in NFS (nitrogen-free sucrose) medium was examined in terms of cell growth and cyanide reduction, and the results were applied for cyanide-contaminated cassava mill wastewater. From the NFS medium study in the 300 ml flask, it was found that A. vinelandii in the early stationary growth phase could reduce cyanide more rapidly than the cells in the exponential growth phase, and 84.4% of cyanide was degraded in 66 h incubation upon addition of 3.0 mM of NaCN. The resting cells of A. vinelandii could also reduce cyanide concentration by 90.4% with 3.0 mM of NaCN in the large-scale (3 L) fermentation with the same incubation time. Finally, the optimized conditions were applied to the cassava mill wastewater bioremediation, and A. vinelandii was able to reduce the cyanide concentration by 69.7% after 66 h in the cassava mill wastewater containing 4.0 mM of NaCN in the 3 L fermenter. Related to cyanide degradation in the cassava mill wastewater, nitrogenase was the responsible enzyme, which was confirmed by methane production. These findings would be helpful to design a practical bioremediation system for the treatment of cyanide-contaminated wastewater.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.189-200
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• 2005

Biological nitrogen fixation is an important process for academic and industrial aspects. This review will briefly compare industrial and biological nitrogen fixation and cover the characteristics of biological nitrogen fixation studied in Azotobacter vinelandii. Various organisms can carry out biological nitrogen fixation and recently the researches on the reaction mechanism were concentrated on the free-living microorganism, A. vinelandii. Nitrogen fixation, which transforms atmospheric $N_2$ into ammonia, is chemically a reduction reaction requiring electron donation. Nitrogenase, the biological nitrgen fixer, accepts electrons from biological electron donors, and transfers them to the active site, FeMo-cofactor, through $Fe_4S_4$ cluster in Fe protein and P-cluster in MoFe protein. The electron transport and the proton transport are very important processes in the nitrogenase catalysis to understand its reaction mechanism, and the interactions between FeMo-cofactor and nitrogen molecule are at the center of biological nitrogen fixation mechanism. Spectroscopic studies including protein X-ray crystallography, EPR and $M{\ddot{o}}ssbauer$, biochemical approaches including substrate and inhibitor interactions as well as site-directed mutation study, and chemical approach to synthesize the FeMo-cofactor model compounds were used for biological nitrogen fixation study. Recent research results from these area were presented, and finally, a new nitrogenase reaction mechanism will be proposed based on the various research results.

• The Microorganisms and Industry
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.27-31
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• 1993

Certain bacterial species possess the capability of differentiation through several morphogenetic changes which enable them to adapt to certain internal and external stimuli(Losick and Shapiro 1984). Upon induction, cells of A. vinelandii undergo a morphological process which leads to the production of one cyst per cell (Sadoff, 1975). The cysts are considerably resistant to desiccation, which confers a survival advantages upon the organism(Socolofsky and Wyss 1962). Like other prokaryotic differentiations encystment provides a relatively simple model of cellular differentiation. Like in other differentiating bacteria, vegetative growth can be separated from differentiation. Furthermore, the differentiation cycle can be synchronized by specific inducer. There have been a great deal of morphological and physiological studies on this process. However, the mechanisms used to regulate cell differentiation can be clearly defined by careful genetic analysis of the process. Unfortunately, A. vinelandii has proven to be difficult for genetic analysis (Sadoff 1975). For example, it has been shown that a variety of metabolic mutants of Azotobacter speicies are difficult to isolate after mutagenesis with chemical mutagens or UV irradiation. Nevertheless recent advances in molecular genetics in Azotobacter species, especially in the nitrogen fixation research area, appear to be able to overcome this difficulty (Robinson et al. 1986; Kennedy et al. 1986).

• KSBB Journal
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.615-620
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• 1998

The readily fermentable carbon sources in swine were acetic acid, propionic acid and butyric acid at the average concentrations of 7.2 g/L, 2.2 g/L and 2.7 g/L, respectively. The swine waste also contained excess nitrogen and other mineral sources. In shake flask experiments, the optimal range of cell growth for Azotobacter vinelandii UWD were 1.0∼3.5 g/L of acetic acid, 0.7∼2.0 g/L of propionic acid and 0.5∼2.0 g/L of butyric acid. A mixture of these three acids simulating two times diluted swine waste supported the best cell growth but the amount of carbon sources was limited. In shake flask and fermentor experiments, an addition of 30 g/L of glucose increased the final cell dry weight 8 times while the final poly (3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) concentration increased 86 times compared with using acid mixture only. A. vinelandii UWD preferred organic acids in the sequence of acetic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid, and valeric acid.