• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.227-235
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• 2016

Plant disease caused by root-knot nematode is a major problem in crop production. Using of chemical pesticides, one of the most efficient methods to control nematodes, have raised issues in toxicity to humans and animals and environmental pollution. In this study, to select actinomycete strains that have potential to serve as a microbial agent for control of nematodes, we investigated nematicidal activity of culture broth from 670 Streptomyces isolates. A culture filtrate of KRA15-528 isolate that was identified as S. flavogriseus on the basis of 16S rRNA sequence analysis, showed strong nematicidal activity against second stage of juveniles of Meloidogyne incognita and inhibited egg hatching; exposure to 10% of culture filtrate resulted in 71% juvenile mortality at 48 hours afters treatment and suppressed egg hatching by 54% at 9 days after treatment. When the KRA15-528 culture filtrate was partitioned with ethyl acetate and butanol, ethyl acetate layer exclusively showed strong activity; 91%, 53%, 30% of mortality at 1,000, 500, $250{\mu}g/ml$, respectively. Additionally, the culture filtrate suppressed gall formation on cucumber plant by M. incognita with no phytotoxicity. These results suggest that S. flavogriseus KRA15-528 has potential to serve as a microbial nematicide for the control of root-knot nematode disease.

• 한국균학회소식:학술대회논문집
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• 2015.11a
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• pp.16-16
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• 2015

Ectomycorrhizal (ECM) mushrooms play a major role in plant growth promotion through symbiotic association with roots of forest trees. They also provide an economically important food resource to us and therefore they have been studied for their artificial cultivation for decades in Korea. We have secured bio-resources of ECM mushrooms from Korean forests and performed their physiological studies. To investigate the cultural characteristics, the fungi were cultured under different conditions (medium, temperature, pH of the medium, inorganic nitrogen source). More than 90% of total 160 strains grew on three solid media (potato dextrose agar, PDA; sabouraud dextrose agar, SDA; modified Melin-Norkrans medium, MMN). The rate of mycelial growth on malt extract agar (MEA) was lower than those of three media (PDA, SDA, MMN). None of the Tricholomataceae strains grew on MEA. Many strains of ECM mushrooms were able to grow at the temperature range of $15{\sim}25^{\circ}C$ on PDA, while they showed poor growth at $10^{\circ}C$ or $30^{\circ}C$. In particular, the growth rates of both Gomphaceae and Tricholomataceae were significantly lower at $10^{\circ}C$ than at $30^{\circ}C$. The optimal pH of many strains was pH 5.0 when they cultured in potato dextrose broth (PDB). Fifty-seven percent of tested strains grew well on medium containing ammonium source than nitrate source. Many strains of Tricholomataceae showed a notable growth on ammonium medium than nitrate medium. Twenty-three percent of strains preferred nitrate source than ammonium source for their mycelial growth. The production and activity of two enzymes (cellulase and laccase) by ECM fungi were also assayed on the enzyme screening media containing CMC or ABTS. Each strains exhibited different levels of enzymatic activities as well as enzyme production. The number of laccase-producing strains was less than that of cellulase-producing strains. We found that 77% of tested strains produced both cellulase and laccase, whereas 2% of strains did not produce any enzymes. The morphological characteristics of mycelial colony were also examined on four different solid media. Yellow was a dominant color in mycelial colony and followed by white and brown on all culture media. ECM mushrooms formed mycelial colonies with a single or multiple colors within a culture medium depending on the strains and culture media. The most common shape of mycelial colony was a circular form on all media tested. Other families except for Amanitaceae formed an irregular colony on MMN than PDA. All strains of Tricholomataceae did not form a filamentous colony on all media. The pigmentation of culture media by mycelial colonies was observed in more than 50% of strains tested on both PDA and SDA. The degree of pigmentation on PDA or SDA was higher than MMN and brown color was dominant than yellow color. The production of exudates from mycelial colony was higher on PDA than MMN. Brown exudates were mainly produced by many strains on PDA or SDA, whereas transparent exudates were mainly produced by strains on MMN. We observed the mycelial colonies with a single or multiple textures in just one culture plate. Wrinkled or uneven colony surfaces were remarkably observed in many strains on PDA or SDA, while an even colony surface was observed in many strains on MMN. Sixty percent of Tricholomaceae strains formed wrinkled surface on PDA. However, they did not form any wrinkle on MMN plate. Cottony texture was observed in mycelia colonies of many strains. Velvety texture was often observed in the mycelial colonies on SDA than PDA and accounted for 60% of Suillaceae strains on SDA.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.227-232
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• 2008

Biological antagonists of Phytophthora capsici were isolated from soil in Gyeongbuk, Korea. Among the isolated bacteria, a Bacillus sp. was identified from l6S rDNA sequence analysis and named Bacillus sp. AM-651. Bacillus sp. AM-65l strain which can strongly a antifungal activity against Phytophthora capsici. Culture conditions for the maximum production of the antagonistic substance were optimized. The production of antibiotic were high on modified Davis mineral medium pH 7 at $30^{\circ}C$. The medium for highest production of the agonistic substance optimized. It is composed the best activity on glucose, $(NH_4)_2SO_4$ and $K_2HPO_4$ at 0.5%, 0.1%, and 0.7%, respectively. By time course of culture solution selected Bacillus sp. AM-65l, the culture solution after 48hrs had strongly growth inhibition rate against P. capsici. And culture solution of Bacillus sp. AM-651 was stable within a pH range $5{\sim}11$ and temperature range $4{\sim}70^{\circ}C$. Bacillus sp. AM-651 cultured broth shown fungal growth inhibitory activity against B. sorokiniana, B. cinerea, R. solani avove and beyond P. capsici and comparatively showed a high activity against C. gloeosporioides, B. dothidea, B. cinerea and F. graminearum by agar diffusion method.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.344-357
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• 2020

Strain improvement and bioprocess development were undertaken to enhance hyaluronic acid(HA) production by Streptococcus zooepidemicus cells. Using a high-yielding mutant strain, statistical medium optimization was carried out in shake flask cultures, resulting in 52% increase in HA production (5.38 g/l) at the optimal medium composition relative to the parallel control cultures. For sufficient supply of dissolved oxygen (DO), which turned out to be crucial for enhanced production of HA, agitation system and speed were intensively investigated in 5 L bioreactor cultures. Increase in oxygen mass transfer coefficient (k_La) through increment of agitation speed (rpm) and 35% expansion of diameter of the newly-designed impellers showed significantly positive effects on HA production. By installing an expanded Rushton-turbine impeller for efficient break-down of sparged air, and an extended marine impeller above the Rushton-turbine impeller for efficient mixing of the air-born viscous fermentation broth, maximum amount of HA (9.79 g/l) was obtained at 450 rpm, 1.8 times higher level than that of the corresponding flask culture. Subsequently, the possibility of bioprocess scale-up to a 50 L bioreactor was investigated. Despite almost identical maximum HA production (9.11 vs 9.25 g/l), the average HA volumetric productivity (r_p) of the 50 L culture turned out only 74% compared to the corresponding 5 L culture during the exponential phase, possibly caused by shear damages imposed on the producing cells at the high stirring in the 50 L culture. The scale-up process could be successfully achieved if a scale-up criterion of constant oxygen mass transfer coefficient (k_La) is applied to the 50 L pilot-scale bioreactor system.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.37 no.11
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• pp.1401-1407
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• 2008

1-Deoxynojirimycin (DNJ) is a strong $\alpha$-glucosidase inhibitor which inhibits hyperglycemia in animals. To select the Bacillus strains highly producing DNJ, 4,000 strains were isolated from soil and grain samples. By the inhibitory activity against $\alpha$-glucosidase, nine Bacillus strains were selected and then identified by 16S rDNA sequencing. B. subtilis S10 was finally selected as the best strain for the production of DNJ. Various carbon sources and nitrogen sources in culture medium were evaluated for the highest production of DNJ. As the results, the optimized concentration of carbon source and nitrogen source was 1.0% galactose and 1.6% polypeptone and the concentration of DNJ produced was 0.75 g/L. The effect of culture supernatant of B. subtilis S10 on lowering blood glucose level was investigated in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic mice model. Mice were randomly assigned to control group (saline) and three test groups such as acarbose group, silkworm powder group and B. subtilis S10 group. After eight-week oral feeding, blood glucose levels of the B. subtilis S10 and silkworm powder groups were respectively $209.1{\pm}19.6\;mg/dL$ (59.1%) and $208.6{\pm}39.8\;mg/dL$ (59.0%) lower than $510{\pm}10\;mg/dL$ of the control group. These results indicated that the culture supernatant of B. subtilis S10 was able to reduce the blood glucose level in STZ-induced diabetic mice.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.547-560
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• 2010

The optimum culture condition of Schizophyllum commune for the cellulase production and its enzymatic characteristics for saccharification of cellulosic biomass were analyzed. S. commune secrets ${\beta}$-1,4-xylosidase (BXL) and cellulases, including endo-${\beta}$-1,4-glucanase (EG), cellobiohydrolase (CBH), and ${\beta}$-glucosidase (BGL). The optimum reaction temperature for all cellulases was $50^{\circ}C$ and the thermostable range was $30{\sim}40^{\circ}C$C. The optimum reaction pH for all cellulases was 5.5 in a range of temperature from $0^{\circ}C$ to $55^{\circ}C$. The best nutritions for the cellulase production of S. commune among tested nutrients were 2% cellulose for the carbon source and corn steep liquor or peptone/yeast extract for the nitrogen source without vitamins. The environmental culture condition for the cellulase production was 5.5~6.0 for pH at $25{\sim}30^{\circ}C$. The enzyme activities of EG, BGL, CBH, and BXL were 3670.5, 631.9, 398.5, and 15.2 U/$m{\ell}$, respectively, after concentration forty times from the culture broth of S. commune which was grown at the optimized culture condition. Alternative filter paper unit assay showed 11 FPU/$m{\ell}$ enzyme activity. The saccharification tests using cellulase of S. commune showed the low saccharification rate on tested hardwoods but a high value of 50.5% on cellulose, respectively. The saccharification rate (50.5%) of cellulose by cellulase produced in this work is higher than 45.7% in the commercial enzyme (Celluclast 1.5L, 30 FPU/g, glucan).

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.185-194
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• 2006

A fungal strain of Trichoderma having strong chitinolytic activity was isolated from field soil enriched with crabshell for several years. Based on 5.8S rRNA, partial 18S, 28S rRNA genes, ITS1, ITS2 sequence analysis and morphological characteristics, the fungus was identified as Trichoderma asperellum and named as Trichoderma asperellum T-5 (TaT-5). The fungus released lytic enzymes such as chitinase and ${\beta}$-1, 3-glucanse, and produced six antifungal substances in chitin broth medium. To demonstrate the protective effect of TaT-5 against damping-off in cucumber plant caused by Rhizoctonia solani, TaT-5 culture broth (TA), chitin medium (CM) and distilled water (DW) were applied to each pot at 10 days after sowing, respectively. Then, the homogenized hyphae of R. solani were infected to each pot at 1 week after TaT-5 inoculation. During experimental period, fresh weight of shoot and root in cucumber plant more increased at TA treatment compared to other treatments. PR-proteins (${\beta}$-1, 3-glucanase and chitinase) activities in cucumber leaves markedly increased at CM and DW treatments, but the activity slightly increased and then decreased at TA treatment at 3 days after infection of R. solani. The activity of PR-proteins activities in cucumber roots at all treatments decreased with time where the degree of decrement was more alleviated at TA treatment than CM and DW. These results suggest that the lytic enzymes (chitinase and ${\beta}$-1, 3-glucanse) and antifungal substances produced by TaT-5 can reduce the pathogenic attack by R. solani in cucumber plants.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.28 no.9
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• pp.1056-1061
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• 2018

This article reports an agar-degrading marine bacterium and characterizes its agarase. The agar-degrading marine bacterium, KC-1, was isolated from seawater on the shores of Sacheon, in Gyeongnam province, Korea, using Marine Broth 2216 agar medium. To identify the agar-degrading bacterium as Agarivorans sp. KC-1, phylogenetic analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence was used. An extracellular agarase was prepared from a culture medium of Agarivorans sp. KC-1, and used for the characterization of enzyme. The relative activities at 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, and $70^{\circ}C$ were 65, 91, 96, 100, 77, and 35%, respectively. The relative activities at pH 5, 6, 7, and 8 were 93, 100, 87, and 82%, respectively. The extracellular agarase showed maximum activity (254 units/l) at pH 6.0 and $50^{\circ}C$ in 20 mM of Tris-HCl buffer. The agarase activity was maintained at 90% or more until 2 hr exposure at $20^{\circ}C$, $30^{\circ}C$ and $40^{\circ}C$, but it was found that the activity decreased sharply from $60^{\circ}C$. A zymogram analysis showed that Agarivorans sp. KC-1 produced 3 agar-degrading enzymes that had molecular weights of 130, 80, and 69 kDa. A thin layer chromatography analysis suggested that Agarivorans sp. KC-1 produced extracellular ${\beta}$-agarases as it hydrolyzed agarose to produce neoagarooligosaccharides, including neoagarohexaose (21.6%), neoagarotetraose (32.2%), and neoagarobiose (46.2%). These results suggest that Agarivorans sp. KC-1 and its thermotolerant ${\beta}$-agarase would be useful for the production of neoagarooligosaccharides that inhibit bacterial growth and delay starch degradation.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.254-258
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• 2013

Fusaric acid (FA) is a mycotoxin produced by Fusarium species. Its toxicity is relatively low but often associated with other mycotoxins, thus enhancing total toxicity. To date, biosynthetic genes or enzymes for FA have not been identified in F. oxysporum. In order to explore the genetic element(s) for FA biosynthesis, restriction enzyme mediated integration (REMI) procedure as an insertional mutagenesis was employed using FA producing-F. oxysporum strains. Genetic transformation of two F. oxysporum strains by REMI yielded more than 7,100 transformants with efficiency of average 3.2 transformants/${\mu}g$ DNA. To develop a screening system using phytotoxicity of FA, eleven various grains and vegetable seeds were tested for germination in cultures containing FA: Kimchi cabbage seed was selected as the most sensitive host. Screening for FA non-producer of F. oxysporum was done by growing each fungal REMI transformant in Czapek-Dox broth for 3 weeks at $25^{\circ}C$ then observing if the Kimchi cabbage seeds germinated in the culture filtrate. Of more than 5,000 REMI transformants screened, fifty-three made the seeds germinated, indicating that they produced little or fewer FA. Among them, twenty-six were analyzed for FA production by HPLC and two turned out to produce less than 1% of FA produced by a wild type strain. Sequencing of genomic DNA regions (252 bp) flanking the vector insertion site revealed an uncharacterized genomic region homologous (93%) to the F. fujikuroi genome. Further study is necessary to determine if the vector insertion sites in FA-deficient mutants are associated with FA production.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.281-294
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• 2018

Molecular analysis using the internal transcribed spacer region sequences revealed that the strains used in this study, which were formerly identified as Panellus serotinus, are Panellus edullis. After Universal Fungal PCR Fingerprinting (UFPF) analysis, eight strains of P. edulis were divided into two groups. We conducted fundamental research on mycelial growth and sawdust cultivation to understand the cultural characteristics of eight wild P. edulis strains collected from Korean forests. All strains showed faster and denser mycelial growth on potato dextrose agar (PDA) than on other media (malt extract agar, Sabouraud dextrose agar). Optimal conditions for mycelial growth were: $20^{\circ}C$ on PDA, $25^{\circ}C$ on potato dextrose broth (PDB), and pH 5~8 on PDB at $25^{\circ}C$. Two strains (NIFoS 2407, 3993) were selected as excellent strains based on mycelial growth and density on PDA. NIFoS 2792 showed high cellulase activities on carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) agar, and NIFoS 2387 and 2804 exhibited high laccase activities on ABTS-containing agar media. The mycelial growth of P. edulis was the fastest on Quercus acutissima and Q. mongolica sawdust media, and mycelial density was the highest on Quercus spp. sawdust-containing media. Sawdust cultivation of P. edulis was successful. The conditions were 80~85 days of cultivation period after spawn inoculation, 10~11 days for primordial formation at $17{\sim}18^{\circ}C$, and 15~20 days for fruiting growth. NIFoS 2804 and 3993 were selected as good strains in terms of cultivation period and mushroom production. These results could be useful for the artificial cultivation of P. edulis.