• Journal of Life Science
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.346-355
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• 2021

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the possibility that administration of Bacillus polyfermenticus KJS-2 (BP2), Bacillus mojavensis KJS-3 (Moja3), and their mixtures could control serum lipid levels. We observed changes in the blood cell level, metabolic function evaluation, and blood lipid levels after two weeks of oral administration of these microbial strains to hyperlipidemia-induced rats. Measurements of major cell changes in the white blood cells (WBC) indicated no significant effects due to the administration of the microbial strains. Platelet (PLT) levels decreased by 18.4% in the Triton WR-1339-treated group (NCON) and recovered to the control (CON) group levels in the positive control (PCON) group and the microbial strain-administered groups (p<0.05). No functional changes were observed in red blood cells (RBC) by Triton WR-1339-induced hyperlipidemia. The blood AST, ALT, BUN, and creatinine levels did not indicated effects on liver and kidney function, and all rats administered the microbial mixture recovered. The blood lipid levels in the microbe-treated groups indicated reduced levels of triglyceride (TG) and total cholesterol (TC), and increased levels of serum HDL cholesterol. The HMG-CoA inhibition rate of 7-O-succinyl macrolactin A (SMA) produced by BP2 showed similar activity at a concentration of 1,000 times lower than that achieved with atorvastatin. The administration of the microbial strains to the Triton WR-1339-induced rat model of hyperlipidemia resulted in reduced weight gain without affecting the food and water intake. Thus, blood circulation can be improved by controlling serum lipid levels by the combined administration of the BP2 and Moja3 microbial strains.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.370-374
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• 2000

Some bacterial strains isolated from activated sludges and media and type cultures were cultivated in a pharmaceutical wastewater and a paperboard wastewater and added during batch treatment of those wastewaters in order for these strains to increase the treatment efficiency. Bacillus sp(PC-3) isolated from the charcoal media of the pharmaceutical wastewater plant grew remarkably over there strains in that wastewater and the viable cell count after 24hr cultivation was $1.1{\times}10^6m/L$. Bacillus subtills KCTC 1028 a type strain grew best in the paperboard wastewater and the viable cell count after 24hr cultivation was $1.1{\times}10^7m/L$. Addition of PC-3 in a batch treatment of the pharmaceutical wastewater increased COD removal by 18% after 8 day. And addition of Bacillus subtills KCTC 1028 in a batch treatment of the paperboard wastewater increased COD removal by 14% only after 24hy Bacillus subtills DCTC 1028 was though to be able to be produced economically using alcohol distillery wastewaters from starch material.

• Journal of Dairy Science and Biotechnology
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.107-112
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• 2004

Studies on the resistance of Lactobacillus ssp., Bifidobacterium spp. and Bacillus coagulans to hydrogen peroxide were conducted by determination of the viable cells after the test cells in 2mM hydrogen peroxide solution for a predetermined time; L. acidophilus CU4111 and L. casei CU4114 were most resistant to the hydrogen peroxide among the fifteen test lactobacilli strains, whereas L. brevis Cu4206 was the strain which was the most susceptible to hydrogen peroxide. Bifidobacterium longum Cu4131 was one of the resistant strains. A prominant tendency found out that Bacillus coagulans possessed a strong resistance to hydrogen peroxide. The results of level of hydrogen peroxide determination in the cell extracts showed all the test strains contained hydrogen peroxide in the cytoplasm, the amount varied depending on the strain and species of lactic acid bacteria. Bifidobacterium bifidum CU 4134 and L. casei CU 4114 were potent hydrogen peroxide producer strain.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.87-90
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• 1998

Various bacterial strains that secret extracellular fibrinolytic enzyme were screened from Doen-Jang, a traditional soybean fermented food in Korea. Five microbes of them were identified to be Bacillus sp. strains according to Bergey's manual of systematic bacteriology. The culture filtrates of B. amyloliquefaciens (2.46 plasmin unit/ml) and B. pantothenticus (3.82 plasmin unit/ml) showed a level of fibrinolytic activity that was about three times higher than that of plasmin 1.0 unit and Bacillus subtilis showed the highest fibrinolytic activity (4.94 plasmin unit/ml). All of the extracellular proteases showing the fibrinolytic activity are confirmed by SDS-PAGE followed by reverse fibrin zymogram activity assay and we proposed that some of the fibrinolytic enzymes from this work are novel enzymes.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.661-667
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• 2013

Lipase-producing bacterial strains were isolated from Antarctic soil samples using the tricaprylin agar plate method. Seven strains with relatively strong lipase activities were selected. All of them turned out to be Bacillus pumilus strains by the 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. Their corresponding lipase genes were cloned, sequenced, and compared. Finally, three different Bacillus pumilus lipases (BPL1, BPL2, and BPL3) were chosen. Their amino acid sequence identities were in the range of 92-98% with the previous Bacillus pumilus lipases. Their optimum temperatures and pHs were measured to be $40^{\circ}C$ and pH 9. Lipase BPL1 and lipase BPL2 were stable up to $30^{\circ}C$, whereas lipase BPL3 was stable up to $20^{\circ}C$. Lipase BPL2 was stable within a pH range of 6-10, whereas lipase BPL1 and lipase BPL3 were stable within a pH range of 5-11, showing strong alkaline tolerance. All these lipases exhibited high hydrolytic activity toward p-nitrophenyl caprylate ($C_8$). In addition, lipase BPL1 showed high hydrolytic activity toward tributyrin, whereas lipase BPL2 and lipase BPL3 hydrolyzed tricaprylin and castor oil preferentially. These results demonstrated that the three Antarctic Bacillus lipases were alkaliphilic and had a substrate preference toward short- and medium-chain triglycerides. These Antarctic Bacillus lipases might be used in detergent and food industries.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.19 no.8
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• pp.749-759
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• 2009

A survey of Bacillus thuringiensis (Berliner) strains isolated from Spanish citrus orchards has been performed, and the strains were tested for insecticidal activity against the Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), a key citrus pest in Spain. From a total of 150 environmental samples, 376 isolates were selected, recording a total B. thuringiensis index of 0.52. The collection was characterized by means of phase-contrast microscopy, SDS-PAGE, and PCR analysis with primer pairs detecting toxin genes cry1, cry2, cry3, cry4, cry5, cry7, cry8, cry9, cry10, cry11, cry12, cry14, cry17, cry19, cry21, cry27, cry39, cry44, cyt1, and cyt2. Diverse crystal inclusion morphologies were identified: bipyramidal (45%), round (40%), adhered to the spore (7%), small (5%), and irregular (3%). SDS-PAGE of spore-crystal preparations revealed 39 different electrophoresis patterns. All primer pairs used in PCR tests gave positive amplifications in strains of our collection, except for primers for detection of cry3, cry19, cry39, or cry44 genes. Strains containing cry1, cry2, cry4, and cry27 genes were the most abundant (48.7%, 46%, 11.2%, and 8.2% of the strains, respectively). Ten different genetic profiles were found, although a total of 109 strains did not amplify with the set of primers used. Screening for toxicity against C. capitata adults was performed using both spore-crystal and soluble fractions. Mortality levels were less than 30%. We have developed a large and diverse B. thuringiensis strain collection with huge potential to control several agricultural pests; however, further research is needed to find out Bt strains active against C. capitata.

• Mycobiology
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.52-63
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• 2018

In our previous studies, Bacillus megaterium KU143, Microbacterium testaceum KU313, and Pseudomonas protegens AS15 have been shown to be antagonistic to Aspergillus flavus in stored rice grains. In this study, the biocontrol activities of these strains were evaluated against Aspergillus candidus, Aspergillus fumigatus, Penicillium fellutanum, and Penicillium islandicum, which are predominant in stored rice grains. In vitro and in vivo antifungal activities of the bacterial strains were evaluated against the fungi on media and rice grains, respectively. The antifungal activities of the volatiles produced by the strains against fungal development and population were also tested using I-plates. In in vitro tests, the strains produced secondary metabolites capable of reducing conidial germination, germ-tube elongation, and mycelial growth of all the tested fungi. In in vivo tests, the strains significantly inhibited the fungal growth in rice grains. Additionally, in I-plate tests, strains KU143 and AS15 produced volatiles that significantly inhibited not only mycelial growth, sporulation, and conidial germination of the fungi on media but also fungal populations on rice grains. GC-MS analysis of the volatiles by strains KU143 and AS15 identified 12 and 17 compounds, respectively. Among these, the antifungal compound, 5-methyl-2-phenyl-1H-indole, was produced by strain KU143 and the antimicrobial compounds, 2-butyl 1-octanal, dimethyl disulfide, 2-isopropyl-5-methyl-1-heptanol, and 4-trifluoroacetoxyhexadecane, were produced by strain AS15. These results suggest that the tested strains producing extracellular metabolites and/or volatiles may have a broad spectrum of antifungal activities against the grain fungi. In particular, B. megaterium KU143 and P. protegens AS15 may be potential biocontrol agents against Aspergillus and Penicillium spp. during rice grain storage.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.117-122
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• 2012

Flavonoids, which form a major component in Houttuynia cordata Thunb., display a wide range of pharmacological activities. The expression of plant flavonoids is partly regulated by fermentation. Therefore, we studied the effects of fermentation on H. cordata in order to identify the strains present during the fermentation process, and to determine whether fermented H. cordata could be used as a probiotic. Our results showed that all 6 of the bacterial strains isolated from fermented H. cordata (FHC) belonged to the genus Bacillus. As expected, fermenting H cordata also increased the flavonoid content as increases were observed in the levels of rutin, quercitrin, and quercetin. To test the effects of fermentation, we treated LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 cells with non-fermented H. cordata extracts (HCE) or FHC extracts (FHCE). Compared to the HCE-treated cells, the FHCE-treated cells showed increased viability. No cytotoxic effects were detected in the FHCE-treated groups in the 2 cell lines used in the study, namely, RAW264.7 and RBL-2H3. FHCE-treated HepG2 cells showed decreased growth, compared to HCE-treated HepG2 cells. These results indicate that the fermented H. cordata predominantly contained Bacillus strains. Furthermore, FHCE are able to prevent LPS-induced inflammatory effects and inhibit the growth of HepG2 cells.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.447-455
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• 2021

Strains of four Bacillus spp. were respectively inoculated into sterilized soybeans and the free amino acid profiles of the resulting cultures were analyzed to discern their metabolic traits. After 30 days of culture, B. licheniformis showed the highest production of serine, threonine, and glutamic acid; B. subtilis exhibited the highest production of alanine, asparagine, glycine, leucine, proline, tryptophan, and lysine. B. velezensis increased the γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) concentration to >200% of that in the control samples. B. sonorensis produced a somewhat similar amino acid profile with B. licheniformis. Comparative genomic analysis of the four Bacillus strains and the genetic profiles of the produced free amino acids revealed that genes involved in glutamate and arginine metabolism were not common to the four strains. The genes gadA/B (encoding a glutamate decarboxylase), rocE (amino acid permease), and puuD (γ-glutamyl-γ-aminobutyrate hydrolase) determined GABA production, and their presence was species-specific. Taken together, B. licheniformis and B. velezensis were respectively shown to have high potential to increase concentrations of glutamic acid and GABA, while B. subtilis has the ability to increase essential amino acid concentrations in fermented soybean foods.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.53 no.6
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• pp.870-877
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• 2020

Twenty-three Bacillus cereus strain isolated from commercial jeotgal were investigated for 11 toxin genes and susceptibility to 25 different antimicrobials. The hemolytic enterotoxins hblA, hblC, and hblD were detected in 13.0%, and non-hemolytic enterotoxins nheA, nheB, and nheC were detected in 26.1%, 100%, and 100% of the isolates, respectively. The positive rates of cytK, entFM, becT, hlyII, and ces were 73.9%, 60.9%, 26.1%, 8.7%, and 0.0%, respectively. According to the disk diffusion susceptibility test, all of the strains studied were resistant to cefuroxime, followed by cefoxitin (78.3%), oxacillin (78.3%), ampicillin (69.6%), penicillin G (69.6%), and amoxicillin (65.2%). However, all the strains were susceptible to 11 other antimicrobials, including amikacin, chloramphenicol, and ciprofloxacin. The average minimum inhibitory concentrations of amoxicillin, ampicillin, and cefuroxime against B. cereus were 462.9, 235.0, and 135.0 ㎍/mL, respectively. These results highlight the need for sanitizing commercial jeotgal, and provide evidence to help reduce the risk of jeotgal contamination by antimicrobial-resistant bacteria.