• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.20 no.2
• /
• pp.283-294
• /
• 2007

Conventional culture-based methods of enumerating rumen microorganisms (bacteria, archaea, protozoa, and fungi) are being rapidly replaced by nucleic acid-based techniques which can be used to characterise complex microbial communities without incubation. The foundation of these techniques is 16S/18S rDNA sequence analysis which has provided a phylogenetically based classification scheme for enumeration and identification of microbial community members. While these analyses are very informative for determining the composition of the microbial community and monitoring changes in population size, they can only infer function based on these observations. The next step in functional analysis of the ecosystem is to measure how specific and, or, predominant members of the ecosystem are operating and interacting with other groups. It is also apparent that techniques which optimise the analysis of complex microbial communities rather than the detection of single organisms will need to address the issues of high throughput analysis using many primers/probes in a single sample. Nearly all the molecular ecological techniques are dependant upon the efficient extraction of high quality DNA/RNA representing the diversity of ruminal microbial communities. Recent reviews and technical manuals written on the subject of molecular microbial ecology of animals provide a broad perspective of the variety of techniques available and their potential application in the field of animal science which is beyond the scope of this treatise. This paper will focus on nucleic acid based molecular methods which have recently been developed for studying major functional groups (cellulolytic bacteria, protozoa, fungi and methanogens) of microorganisms that are important in nutritional studies, as well as, novel methods for studying microbial diversity and function from a genomics perspective.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
• /
• v.36 no.5
• /
• pp.839-846
• /
• 2016

Since oil leakage is one of the most common nonpoint pollution sources that contaminate soil in Korea, the capacity of soil microbial community for degrading petroleum hydrocarbons should be considered to assess the functional value of soil resource. However, conventional methods (e.g., microcosm experiments) to assess the remediation capacity of soil microbial community are costly and time-consuming to cover large area. The present study suggests a new approach to assess the toluene remediation capacity of soil microbial community using a microbial diversity index, which is a simpler detection method than measuring degradation rate. The results showed that Shannon index of microbial community were correlated with specific degradation rate ($V_{max}$), a degradation factor. Subsequently, a correlation equation was generated and applied to Michaelis-Menten kinetics. These results will be useful to conveniently assess the remediation capacity of soil microbial community and can be widely applied to diverse engineering fields including environment-friendly construction engineering fields.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
• /
• v.27 no.3
• /
• pp.260-266
• /
• 2008

The aim of present work was to assess the response of soil microbial activity and diversity to green manures under the organically managed grape-greenhouse in early spring. Hairy vetch, milk vetch, and red clover were seeded in fall, and enzymatic activities by dehydrogenase and fluorescein diacetate (FDA) hydrolase, and microbial diversities by Biolog $EcoPlate^{TM}$ and phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) were characterized for soils sampled in early spring. Dehydrogenase activity and FDA hydrolytic activity did not differentiate the green manures but the average well color development of Biolog EcoPlate was higher in soils covered with red clover than control soil. Soil microbial functional diversity by Biolog EcoPlate differentiated the soils covered with hairy vetch and milk vetch, and Shannon diversity index by Biolog EcoPlate was higher in soils covered with hairy vetch than control soil. Principal component analysis of PLFA differentiated the soils covered with milk vetch from control soil.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.22 no.6
• /
• pp.723-729
• /
• 2012

Filter plate microbial trap (FPMT) was invented as an in situ cultivation device for the isolation of bacteria from natural environments. FPMT consists of a medium and membrane filters (0.45 ${\mu}m$ pore size) and microorganisms and compounds can be moved freely moved into the medium. This device was applied to two soil samples of Greenland. The microbial diversity of both soil samples by FPMT was higher than that by the conventional Petri dish-based method. Moreover, novel bacterial species were isolated by FPMT. The new FPMT is effective for in situ cultivation of natural samples and could be applicable to the isolation of uncultivable microorganism.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
• /
• v.46 no.1
• /
• pp.91-103
• /
• 2022

Background: Red ginseng extract boosts immunity against inflammation and cancer in the human body. However, studies on the effects of red ginseng extract on the gut microbiome remain unexplored. Methods: In 2019, the positive effects and changes in the gut microbiome after administering 1 pack (3 g) of red ginseng extract per day to 53 adults aged 40 to 75 for 24 weeks were investigated. The gut microbial environment changes were qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed using next-generation sequencing and real-time polymerase chain reaction technology. Results: On comparing and analyzing alpha diversity and beta diversity, the microbial pattern showed significant differences (OTUs p = 0.003, chao1 p < 0.001, Bray-Curtis p = 0.001) before and after ingestion of red ginseng extract, indicating that gut microbial richness increased after ingestion. Moreover, after comparing and analyzing the gut microbiome's differences after red ginseng extract intake, significant differences were noted between three strains at the phylum level and among 57 strains at the genus level. Conclusion: This study proposes the potential use of red ginseng extract as a prebiotic after confirming its positive effects, including increasing gut microbiome richness, reducing harm to the gut microbiome, and increasing the number of some strains in the gut microbiome.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
• /
• v.26 no.4
• /
• pp.31-43
• /
• 2018

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of organic farmland soil and nutrient management on soil properties depending on organic (animal manure compost and green manure [hairy vetch]) and chemical fertilization, tillage and no-tillage, and crop rotation (corn-wheat, corn-.hairy vetch). It was found that the application of organic matter such as animal manure compost and hairy vetch, increased the soil organic matter content, the soil microbial density and microbial biomass C content as compared with the chemical fertilizer treatment. It was also confirmed that the functional diversity of soil microbial community was increased. As a result of the comparison with the crop rotation and single cropping, the soil chemistry showed no significant difference between the treatments, but the corn-wheat and corn-hairy vetch rotation treatments tended to have higher microbial biomass C content and shannon's diversity index than the single cropping. Soil chemical properties of tillage and no-tillage treatments showed no significant difference between treatments. There was no statistically significant difference in substrate utilization of soil microbial community between tillage and no-tillage treatment. Correlation analysis between soil chemical properties and soil microbial activity revealed that soil organic matter content and exchangeable potassium content were positively correlated, with statistical significance, with substrate utilization, and substrate richness. To conclude, organic fertilization had positive effects on the short-term improvement of soil chemical properties and diversity of microbial communities.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.16 no.10
• /
• pp.1640-1645
• /
• 2006

We studied the diversity of the halophilic archaea and bacteria in crystallizer ponds of a Korean solar saltern by analyzing 16S rRNA gene libraries. Although diverse halophilic archaeal lineages were detected, the majority (56%) were affiliated with the uncultured and cultured Halorubrum group. Halophilic archaea that have been frequently observed in solar saltern environments previously, such as Halogeometricum, Halococcus, Haloarcula, and Haloferax, were not detected in our samples. The majority of clones (53%) belonged to the Cytophaga-Flavobacterium-Bacteroides and ${\alpha}-,\;{\gamma}-,\;and\;{\delta}-Proteobacteria$ groups, with 47% of the clones being affiliated with ${\gamma}-Proteobacteria$. We also identified new ${\delta}-Proteobacteria$-related bacteria that have not been observed in hypersaline environments previously. Our data show that the diversity of the halophilic archaea and bacteria in our Korean saltern differs from that of solar salterns found in other geographic locations. We also showed by quantitative real-time PCR analysis that bacteria can form a significant component of the microbial community in solar salterns.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
• /
• v.27 no.1
• /
• pp.26-32
• /
• 2011

Plant-pathogenic bacteria including Xanthomonas spp. carry genetic diversity in composition of avirulence genes for interaction with their host plants. Previously, we reported genetic diversity of avirulence genes in X. axonopodis pv. glycines. In this study, we determined genetic diversity of five avirulence genes, avrBs1, avrBs2, avrBs3, avrBs4, and avrRxv, in three other Xanthomonas species isolated in Korea by genomic southern hybridization. Although Korean races of X. campestris pv. vesicatoria that were isolated from year 1995 to 2002 had the same avirulence gene patterns as those that already reported, there was race shift from race 3 to race 1 by acquisition of avrBs3 genes. X. campestris pv. campestris isolated from Chinese cabbage, but not from cabbage or radish, carried two avrBs3 genes, and one of them affected HR-eliciting ability of this bacterium in broccoli. X. oryzae pv. oryzae carried eight to thirteen avrBs3 gene homologs, and this bacterium showed dynamic changes of resistance patterns in rice probably by losing or obtaining avrBs3 genes. These results indicate that avrBs3 gene is more diverse in Xanthomonas spp. than other four avirulence genes and also host ranges of these bacteria can be easily changed by loss or acquisition of avrBs3 genes.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.17 no.1
• /
• pp.67-73
• /
• 2007

The present study compared the microbial diversity and activity during the application of various bioremediation processes to crude oil-contaminated soil. Five different treatments, including natural attenuation (NA), biostimulation (BS), biosurfactant addition (BE), bioaugmentation (BA), and a combined treatment (CT) of biostimulation, biosurfactant addition, and bioaugmentation, were used to analyze the degradation rate and microbial communities. After 120 days, the level of remaining hydrocarbons after all the treatments was similar, however, the highest rate (k) of total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) degradation was observed with the CT treatment (P<0.05). The total bacterial counts increased during the first 2 weeks with all the treatments, and then remained stable. The bacterial communities and alkane monooxygenase gene fragment, alkB, were compared by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). The DGGE analyses of the BA and CT treatments, which included Nocardia sp. H17-1, revealed a simple dominant population structure, compared with the other treatments. The Shannon-Weaver diversity index (H') and Simpson dominance index (D), calculated from the DGGE profiles using 16S rDNA, showed considerable qualitative differences in the community structure before and after the bioremediation treatment as well as between treatment conditions.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.27 no.5
• /
• pp.995-1004
• /
• 2017

Culture-dependent methods, such as heterotrophic plate counting (HPC), are usually applied to evaluate the bacteriological quality of hemodialysis water. However, these methods cannot detect the uncultured or viable but non-culturable (VBNC) bacteria, both of which may be quantitatively predominant throughout the hemodialysis water treatment system. Therefore, propidium monoazide (PMA)-qPCR associated with HPC was used together to profile the distribution of the total viable bacteria in such a system. Moreover, high-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA gene amplicons was utilized to analyze the microbial community structure and diversity. The HPC results indicated that the total bacterial counts conformed to the standards, yet the bacteria amounts were abruptly enhanced after carbon filter treatment. Nevertheless, the bacterial counts detected by PMA-qPCR, with the highest levels of $2.14{\times}10^7copies/100ml$ in softener water, were much higher than the corresponding HPC results, which demonstrated the occurrence of numerous uncultured or VBNC bacteria among the entire system before reverse osmosis (RO). In addition, the microbial community structure was very different and the diversity was enhanced after the carbon filter. Although the diversity was minimized after RO treatment, pathogens such as Escherichia could still be detected in the RO effluent. In general, both the amounts of bacteria and the complexity of microbial community in the hemodialysis water treatment system revealed by molecular approaches were much higher than by traditional method. These results suggested the higher health risk potential for hemodialysis patients from the up-to-standard water. The treatment process could also be optimized, based on the results of this study.