• KSBB Journal
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.124-132
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• 2017

A methane-oxidizing bacterium was isolated from rice paddy field soil around Jeollanam-do province, Korea, and characterized. The isolate was gram-negative, orange pigmented and short rod ($1.1-1.2{\times}1.6-1.9{\mu}m$). It was catalase and urease-negative but oxidase-positive. The strain utilized methane and methanol as sole carbon and energy sources. It had an ability to grow with an optimum pH 7.0 and an optimum growth temperature $30^{\circ}C$. The strain was resistant to antibiotic polymyxin B but sensitive to streptomycin, kanamycin, ampicillin, chloramphenicol and rifampicin. The isolate required copper for their growth with concentration range of $2-25{\mu}M$, with an optimum of $10{\mu}M$. Under optimal culture condition, specific cell growth rate and generation time were found to be $0.046hr^{-1}$ and 15.13 hr, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rDNA sequences indicated that the strain formed a tight phylogenetic lineage with Methylomonas koyamae with a value of 99.4% gene sequence homology. So, we named the isolate as Methylomonas sp. SM4. 8.6 mM methanol was accumulated in the reaction mixture containing 70 mM sodium formate and 40 mM $MgCl_2$ (MDH inhibitor) under atmosphere of methane:air (40:60) mixture for 24 hr at $30^{\circ}C$.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.164-171
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• 1993

The production of extracellular polysaccharide by Methylomonas mucosa (NRRL B-5696) was investigated. The microorganism uses methanol as the carbon source for their growth and produces exopolysaccharides. The productivity of exopolysaccharides was investigated under various culture modes: batch, fed-batch and continuous culture. In flask culture the growth of cell mass and the production of polysaccharide were inhibited at above 1% (v/v) methanol. At 1%(v/v) methanol maximum specific growth rate was obtained. As C/N ratio (g methanol/g ammonium sulfate) increased, polysaccharide production increased and cells mass decreased. Magnesium ion was also found to be essential for the polysaccharide production. In batch culture the production of polysaccharides was more affected by the specific growth rate than the cell concentration. In fed-batch culture the concentration of polysaccharide was 4 times higher than that of batch culture, but the yield was lower. The productivity of fed-batch with continuous feeding was higher than that of batch or fed-batch with intermittent feeding. This is due to no methanol limitation or inhibition that used to occur in fed-batch culture with intermittent feeding. In continuous culture pure oxygen was supplied to avoid the oxygen limitation. As the dilution rate in- creased up to 0.21 h-1, the yield and productivity increased. The solution viscosity of the produced polysaccharide obtained from above increased exponentially with the concentration of polysaccharide.

• Proceedings of the Korean Environmental Sciences Society Conference
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• 2018.10a
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• pp.240-240
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• 2018

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.71-74
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• 1979

The growth characteristics of Methylomonas methanolica YUFE 101, isolated from sewage samples, have been studied. conclusions of the study were; (1) Optimum cultivation pH and temperature are 6.3 and 32.5$^{\circ}C$ respectively (2) The specific oxygen uptake rate was 332 $\mu$ι/mg-dry weight/hr. (3) The maximum specific growth rate was 0.19 h $r^{-1}$ and celluar yield was 0.43 g-dry cell/g-methanol in batch culture, (4) The maximum biomass productivity achieved was 0.21 g-dry cel1/ι/hr at a dillution rate of 0.1 h $r^{-1}$ during continuous cultivation. (5) The contents of crude protein and total nucleic acid in the dry cell were 73 ％ and 12 ％ respectively.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.65-70
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• 1979

By the successive enrichment culture, methanol-utilizing bacteria of 213 strains were isolated from soil samples collected from various places. Among them one strain showing excellent growth was selected. The organism isolated was obligate methylotroph and identified as Methylomonas methanolica on the basis of its mophological and physiological characteristics of the cell. The medium have been to be collected for the maximum biomass productivity. The microorganism was capable of growing satisfactorily on a medium containing only methanol 0.8％ (v/v), ammonium sulfate 0.6％, magnesium sulfate 0.1％, phosphate salts, but did not require growth factor.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water Science and Technology
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.27-42
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• 2018

This study analyzed the utility of ammonium chloride ($NH_4Cl$) as a nitrogen source for methanotroph communities. When cultured in nitrate mineral salt (NMS) medium, the methanotroph community we identified four families, seven genera, and 16 type I and type II species of methanotrophs. Among species in the Methylobacter genus, Methylobacter marinus could be actively cultured in NMS medium without NaCl addition. Following the addition of 25 mM $NH_4Cl$, the numbers of the type I genera Methylomonas, Methylococcus, and Methylobacter were increased, whereas the numbers of the type II genera Methylocystis and Methylosinus were decreased after 5 days. In methanotroph communities, certain concentrations of $NH_4Cl$ affected methane consumption and growth of methanotrophs at the community level. $NH_4Cl$ caused a considerable decrease in the methane consumption rate and the expression of soluble methane monooxygenases (sMMOs) but did not inhibit the growth of Methylomonas methanica expressing sMMO. These results could be attributed to competitive antagonism of MMOs due to their direct involvement in ammonia oxidation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Applied Microbiology Conference
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• 1978.10a
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• pp.205.3-205
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• 1978

Methanol이용 미생물의 집적배양을 통해 토양 및 하수로부터 분리하여 그 중에서 비교적 생육속도가 빠른 균주를 선별하였다. 이 균주는 형태적, 생리적 특성에 따라 Methylomonas methanolica로 동정되었으며 obligate methylotroph 이었다. 균체 생산량을 높이기 위한 배지조성과 배양 최적조건을 검토한 결과, 탄소원으로는 methanol 0.8%(v/v), 질소원은 $(NH_4)_2SO_4$ 0.6%, 금속이온은 $MgSO_4.$ $7H_2O$ 0.1%이었고, 최적 pH는 6.3, 최적 배양온도는 $32.5^{\circ}C이었으며,$ 생육인자는 요구되지 않았다. 그리고 최적 배양조건에서 1ι용 fer-mentor를 사용하여 회분배양을 하였을 때 최대 비증식속도 0.19$hr^{-1}$, 균체수율은 0.47g dry cell/g-methanol이었다. Chemostat를 이용한 연속배양시 균체생산을 위한 최적희석률은 D=0.1 $hr^{-1}$이었고 이때의 균체생산속도는 0.21g- dry cell/hr이었다. 생산된 건조균체의 단백질과 핵산함량은 각각 73%, 12% 이었다.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.717-724
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• 2016

Methane (CH₄) is the most abundant component in natural gas. To reduce its harmful environmental effect as a greenhouse gas, CH₄ can be utilized as a low-cost feed for the synthesis of methanol by methanotrophs. In this study, several methanotrophs were examined for their ability to produce methanol from CH₄; including Methylocella silvestris, Methylocystis bryophila, Methyloferula stellata, and Methylomonas methanica. Among these methanotrophs, M. bryophila exhibited the highest methanol production. The optimum process parameters aided in significant enhancement of methanol production up to 4.63 mM. Maximum methanol production was observed at pH 6.8, 30℃, 175 rpm, 100 mM phosphate buffer, 50 mM MgCl₂ as a methanol dehydrogenase inhibitor, 50% CH₄ concentration, 24 h of incubation, and 9 mg of dry cell mass ml^-1 inoculum load, respectively. Optimization of the process parameters, screening of methanol dehydrogenase inhibitors, and supplementation with formate resulted in significant improvements in methanol production using M. bryophila. This report suggests, for the first time, the potential of using M. bryophila for industrial methanol production from CH₄.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.360-370
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• 2012

Current ecological knowledge of methanotrophic biofilms is incomplete, although they have been broadly studied in biotechnological processes. Four individual DNA samples were prepared from a methanotrophic biofilm, and a multiplex 16S rDNA pyrosequencing was performed. A complete library (before being de-multiplexed) contained 33,639 sequences (average length, 415 nt). Interestingly, methanotrophs were not dominant, only making up 23% of the community. Methylosinus, Methylomonas, and Methylosarcina were the dominant methanotrophs. Type II methanotrophs were more abundant than type I (56 vs. 44%), but less richer and diverse. Dominant non-methanotrophic genera included Hydrogenophaga, Flavobacterium, and Hyphomicrobium. The library was de-multiplexed into four libraries, with different sequencing efforts (3,915 - 20,133 sequences). Sorrenson abundance similarity results showed that the four libraries were almost identical (indices > 0.97), and phylogenetic comparisons using UniFrac test and P-test revealed the same results. It was demonstrated that the pyrosequencing was highly reproducible. These survey results can provide an insight into the management and/or manipulation of methanotrophic biofilms.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.211-216
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• 1979

Air lift fermentor (ALF) is widely used for production of single-cell protein (SCP) from hydrocarbon and other carbon sources, because oxygen transfer efficiency is believed to be superior in the ALF to that in other conventional fermentors. However, the performance of ALF in terms of mixing is somewhat questionable. In this research, we studied about the performance of the ALF in SCP production using methanol fermentation process as a model system. The results show that ALF could be employed for SCP production or other fermentation processes when substrate is miscible and used at low concentration. With a high substrate concentration, it must be operated under high pressure or low dilution rate to meet the adequate oxygen transfer requirement.