• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.151-159
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• 2024

Bacterial soft rot caused by Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. carotovorum (Pcc) is one of the most severe diseases in radish cultivation. To control this plant disease, the most effective method has been known to cultivate resistant cultivars. Previously, we developed an efficient bioassay method for investigating resistance levels with 21 resistant and moderately resistant cultivars of radish against a strain Pcc KACC 10421. In this study, our research expanded to investigate the resistance of radish cultivars against six Pcc strains, KACC 10225, KACC 10421, ATCC 12312, ATCC 15713, LY34, and ECC 301365. To this end, the virulence of the six Pcc strains was determined based on the development of bacterial soft rot in seedlings of four susceptible radish cultivars. The results showed that the Pcc strains exhibited different virulence in the susceptible cultivars. To explore the race differentiation of Pcc strains corresponding to the resistance in radish cultivars, we investigated the occurrence of bacterial soft rot caused by the six Pcc strains on the 21 resistant and moderate resistant cultivars. Our results showed that the average values of the area under the disease progress curve were positively correlated with the virulence of the strains and the number of resistant cultivars decreased as the virulence of Pcc strains increased. Taken together, our results suggest that the resistance to Pcc of the radish cultivars commercialized in Korea is more likely affected by the virulence of Pcc strains rather than by race differentiation of Pcc.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.969-977
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• 2024

Indigo is a valuable, natural blue dye that has been used for centuries in the textile industry. The large-scale commercial production of indigo relies on its extraction from plants and chemical synthesis. Studies are being conducted to develop methods for environment-friendly and sustainable production of indigo using genetically engineered microbes. Here, to enhance the yield of bioindigo from an E. coli whole-cell system containing tryptophanase (TnaA) and flavin-containing monooxygenase (FMO), we evaluated tryptophan transporters to improve the transport of aromatic compounds, such as indole and tryptophan, which are not easily soluble and passable through cell walls. Among the three transporters, Mtr, AroP, and TnaB, AroP enhanced indigo production the most. The combination of each transporter with AroP was also evaluated, and the combination of AroP and TnaB showed the best performance compared to the single transporters and two transporters. Bioindigo production was then optimized by examining the culture medium, temperature, isopropyl β-D-1-thiogalactopyranoside concentration, shaking speed (rpm), and pH. The novel strain containing aroP and tnaB plasmid with tnaA and FMO produced 8.77 mM (2.3 g/l) of bioindigo after 66 h of culture. The produced bioindigo was further recovered using a simple method and used as a watercolor dye, showing good mixing with other colors and color retention for a relatively long time. This study presents an effective strategy for enhancing indigo production using a combination of transporters.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.379-391
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• 2024

Tocopherol, carotenoids, and chlorophyll are the primary components of the antioxidative response in microalgae. Conditions of stress, such salt stress, can trigger the processes responsible for the accumulation of tocopherol and carotene. It has been found that the most difficult part of culturing microalgae is keeping it affordable. This study investigated the effects of different salt types and concentrations on the amount of α-tocopherol, carotenoid derivatives, and flocculation efficiency of Euglena sp. Cultures of Euglena sp. was developed under salt stress conditions of NaCl 200 mM and KCl 200 mM. UV-VIS spectrophotometry was used to confirm the presence of α-tocopherol and carotenoid derivatives under thirteen days of salt stress testing. Increasing salinity has a significant effect on Euglena sp., causing spherical cell morphologies with aspect ratio 1.385 ± 0.031 for NaCl 200 mM and 1.414 ± 0.040 for KCl 200 mM. Increasing salinity also slowing down development with specific growth rate value of 0.171 ± 0.006 per day and 0.122 ± 0.029 per day for NaCl and KCl 200 mM, respectively. Nevertheless, the amount of α-tocopherol in Euglena sp. increases with a high salt concentration; algal cells flocculated more successfully when increasing the salt concentrations (NaCl 200 mM and KCl 200 mM) was added. Due to the inhibition of photosynthetic activity in salt-stressed cells, the control group exhibited higher levels of carotenoid derivatives (ranging from 0.5-1 ㎍/mL) and pheophytin a and b (0.0062 ± 0.001 ㎍/mL and 0.0064 ± 0.001 ㎍/mL) than the group treated with salt stress. In conclusion, salt stress was an effective way to raises the concentration of α-tocopherol and significantly reduce the expense of harvesting Euglena sp.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.87-94
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• 2007

Reuse of recycled aggregate from demolished concrete structure is beneficial and necessary from the viewpoint of environmental preservation and effective utilization of resources. The most important mechanical properties of recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) are the compressive strength, the tensile and the flexural strengths, the bond strength and the elastic modulus of such concrete. In particular, the stress-strain relation and fracture process of RAC in compression is especially important in theoretical and numerical analysis as well as engineering design of RAC structures. In this paper, to clarify the characteristics of fracture process in RAC, acoustic emission(AE) method is applied to detect micro-cracking in concrete under compression. From AE parameters, it is found that cracking and fracture behaviors in recycled aggregate concrete fairly differ from that of normal and recycled sand concrete.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.217-232
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• 2018

Drought is a major obstacle to high agricultural productivity, worldwide. In drought, it is usually presented by the simultaneous action of high temperature and drying. Also there are negative effects of plant growth under drying conditions. In this study, the effect of Bacillus velezensis YP2 on plant growth-promotion and soil drying stress tolerance of kale plants, Brassica oleracea var. alboglabra Bailey, were investigated under two different conditions; greenhouse and field environments. Root colonization ability of B. velezensis YP2 was also analysed by using plating culture method. As a result of the greenhouse test, the YP2 strain significantly promoted the growth of kale seedlings in increasement of 26.7% of plant height and 142.2% of shoot fresh weight compared to control. B. velezensis YP2 have the mitigation effect of drying injury of kale by decreasing of 39.4% compared to control. In the field test, B. velezensis YP2 strain was also found to be effective for plant growth-promotion and mitigation of drying stress injury on kale plants. Especially, relative water contents (RWC; %) were higher in B. velezensis YP2 treated kales than in control at 7, 10, 14 day after non-watering. The root colonization ability of YP2 strain was continued at least for 21 days after soil drenching treatment of B. velezensis YP2. Our result suggested that enhancement of plant growth and drying injury reduction of kale plants were involved in kale root colonization by B. velezensis YP2, which might be contributed to increasing water availability of plants. Consequentially, the use of B. velezensis YP2 might be a beneficial influence for improving productivity of kale plants under drying stress conditions.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.197-204
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• 2005

The major symptom such as yellowish and mosaic spots in overwintering barley were mostly caused by viruses such as Barley yellow mosaic virus (BaYMV) and Barley mild mosaic virus (BaMMV) in the nation-wide for four years. The result showed that more than $78\%$ collected samples were infected by the viruses. The incidence of Ba YMV was more than $70\%$, and relatively uniformly distributed in the southern regions of barley fields in Korea. However the incidence of BaYMV in Gyeonggi Province was as low as $19\%$ compared to $65\~85\%$ in the rest of regions. Occurrence of BaMMV varied depending on investigated regions such as $20\~40\%$ in Jeonbuk, Jeonnam, Gangwon and Gyeongnam, and a lower infection in Gyeongbuk, Chungnam and Gyeonggi Provinces. In this result, $60\%$ of BaMMV was found to be in the southwest regions of Korea such as Jeonbuk and Jeonnam Provinces. Over all, both BaYMV and BaMMV were thought to be dominantly casual agents in overwintering barley by either solely or mixed infections. Soil-borne wheat mosaic virus(SBWMV) occurred at most $14\%$ in Gyeonggi and Barley yellow dwarf virus-MAY (BYDV­MAV) was found only one place in Jeonbuk, suggesting that SBWMV and BYDV-MAV were not significant diseases in Korea. Exotic genetic resources that possess different resistant genes to BaYMV and BaMMV were tested to identify the responses to the viruses occurred in Iksan. According to the ELISA results, BaYMV and BaMMV were infected in some plant materials but SBWMV was not identified. Any resistant gene was not effective to BaYMV-Ik (Insan strain) and BaMMY. Ishukushirazu (rym 3) and Chosen (rym 3), Tokushima Mochi Hadaka (rym 4y) and Hakei 1-41 (rym 5a) showed resistant response with little symptoms to BaYMY. The other five accessions possessing rym 1+5, rym 2, rym 4m, rym 5 and rym 9, respectively, were resistant to BaMMV. Various symptoms were observed in the tested plant materials such as not only yellowish and mosaic symptoms mostly but also necrotic spot, tissue necrosis, leaf stripe and leaf curling. However, it was difficult to find any relationship between resistant genes and specific symptoms.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.142-154
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• 2010

The protein-bound innerpolysaccharides (IPS) produced by suspended mycelial cultures of Inonotus obliquus have promising potentials as an effective antidiabetic as well as an immunostimulating agents. To enhance IPS production, intensive strain improvement process should be carried out using large amount of UV-mutated protoplasts. During the whole strain-screening process, the stage of solid growth-culture was found to be the most time-requiring step, thus preventing rapid screening of high-yielding producers. In order to reduce the cell growth period in the solid growth-stage, therefore, solid growth-medium was optimized using the statistical methods such as (i) Plackett-Burman and fractional factorial designs (FFD) for selecting positive medium components, and (ii) steepest ascent (SAM) and response surface (RSM) methods for determining optimum concentrations of the selected components. By adopting the medium composition recommended by the SAM experiment, significantly higher growth rate was obtained in the solid growth-cultures, as represented by about 41% larger diameter of the cell growth circle and higher mycelial density. Sequential optimization process performed using the RSM experiments finally recommended the medium composition as follows: glucose 25.61g/L, brown rice 12.53 g/L, soytone peptone 12.53 g/L, $MgSO_4$ 5.53 g/L, and agar 20 g/L. It should be noted that this composition was almost similar to the medium combinations determined by the SAM experiment, demonstrating that the SAM was very helpful in finding out the final optimum concentrations. Through the use of this optimized medium, the period for the solid growth-culture could be successfully reduced to about 8 days from the previous 15~20 days, thus enabling large and mass screening of high producers in a relatively short period.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.148-160
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• 2019

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the molecular epidemiology of a methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) outbreak at a newborn nursery and neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Methods: During the outbreak, from August to September 2017, MRSA isolates collected from neonates and medical staff underwent genotyping and screened for virulence factors. Antibiotic susceptibilities were tested. Results: During the study period, 41 neonates were admitted at the nursery (n=27) and NICU (n=14). Of these, 7 had MRSA infections (skin infection [n=6] and sepsis [n=1]) and 4 were colonized with MRSA. Associated medical staff (n=32) were screened; three were nasal MRSA carriers. Staphylococcal chromosomal cassette mec (SCCmec) type II, sequence type (ST) 89, spa type t375 was found to be the skin infection outbreak causing strain, with multi-drug resistance including low-level mupirocin resistance. SCCmec type IVa, ST 72, and a novel spa type designated t17879, was the cause of MRSA sepsis. Many different types of MRSA were colonized on the neonates; however, SCCmec type IVa, ST 72, spa type t664 was colonized in both neonates and a NICU nurse. All MRSA isolates from colonized infants were positive for the Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) toxin gene. Conclusions: The strain causing an outbreak of skin infections had multi-drug resistance. Also, MRSA colonized in the neonates were found to carry the PVL toxin gene. Because different strains are present during an outbreak, molecular epidemiologic studies are important to identify the outbreak strain and colonized strains which aid in effective control and prevention of future MRSA outbreaks.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.55-65
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• 2003

The combined effect of bioaugmentation of dechlorinating bacterial cultures and addition of iron powder($Fe^0$ on reductive dechlorination of tetrachloroethylene(PCE) and other chlorinated ethylenes in a artificially contaminated soil slurry(60micromoles PCE/kg soil). Two different anaerobic bacterial cultures, a pure bacterial culture of Desulfitobacterium sp. strain Y-51 capable of dechlorinating PCE to cis-1,2-dechloroethylene(cis-DCE) and the other enrichment culture PE-1 capable of dechlorinating PCE completely to ethylene, were used for the bioaugmentation test. Both treatments introduced with the strain Y-51 and PE-1 culture (3mg dry cell weight/kg soil) showed conversion of PCE to cis-DCE within 40days. The treatments added with $Fe^0$(0.1-1.0%) alone to the soil slurry resulted in extended PCE dechlorination to ethylene and ethane and the dechlorination rate depended on the amount of $Fe^0$ added. The combined use of the bacterial cultures with $Fe^0$(0.1-1.0%)) showed the higher PCE dechlorination rate than the separated application and the pattern of PCE dechlorination and end-product formation was different from those of the separated application. When 0.1% of $Fe^0$ was added with the cultures, the treatments with the strain Y-51 and $Fe^0$ resulted in cis-DCE accumulation from PCE dechlorination, but the treatment with the enrichment culture and $Fe^0$ showed the more extended dechlorination via cis-DCE. These results suggested that the combined application of and the bactrial culture, specially the complete dechlorinating enrichment culture, is practically effective for bioremediation of PCE contaminated soil.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.337-346
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• 1992

Trichoderma spp. are an effective control agent for damping-off or other plant diseases. The interaction between. T. hamatum and Rhizoctonia solani on the rhizosphere or surface soil were examined to assess the possible roles of antibiosis or competition in the mechanisms of biological control agents as a basic research. In a proportional comparison, total bacteria, fungi, actinomycetes and Trichoderma spp were 65%, 8.8%, 25.9% and 0.28% respectively in their distribution in the soil. Among Trichoderma spp isolated, the 5 species of Trichoderma spp were indentified as T. koninggii, T. pseudokoninggii, T. aureoviridi, T. hamatum and T. viride respectively. In a mycoparasitic test, one isolate of T. hamatum strain Tr-5 showed an enzymatic ability to break fungal hyphae into piecies and infected on the R. solani hyphae showing a parasitism. Spore germination of the all isolates of Trichoderma spp showed a 1.7-7.3% of germination in natural soil conditions, but the percentage was high in sterile soil indicating all the natural soil were fungistatic on conidia of Trichoderma spp. In rhizosphere competent assay in pea plant, the antagonistic T. hamatum, T. viride, T. koninggii, T. pseudokoninggii showed a colonizing upper soil depth in rhizosphere around 1-3 cm in root zone, but the colonizing ability was much reduced along the deeper the soil depth. Propagule density was decreased in deeper the soil layer. Disease development rate treated alone with plant pathogens, Fusarium solani, Rhizoctonia solani, Cylindrocarpon destructans increased, but disease incidence rate reduced in treatment with combinations with antagonistic T. hamatum strain Tr-5.