• Proceedings of the Korean Environmental Sciences Society Conference
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• 1998.10a
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• pp.2-4
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• 1998

Proliferation of Nocardia amarae cells in activated sludge has often been associated with the generation of nuisance foams. Despite intense research activities in recent years to examine the causes and control of Nocardia foaming in activated sludge, the foaming continued to persist throughout the activated sludge treatment plants in United States. In addition to causing various operational problems to treatment processes, the presence of Nocardia may have secondary effects on the fate of heavy metals that are not well known. For example, for treatment plants facing more stringent metal removal requirements, potential metal removal by Nocardia cells in foaming activated sludge would be a welcome secondary effect. In contrast, with new viosolid disposal regulations in place (Code o( Federal Regulation No. 503), higher concentration of metals in biosolids from foaming activated sludge could create management problems. The goal of this research was to investigate the metal sorption property of Nocardia amarae cells grown in batch reactors and in chemostat reactors. Specific surface area and metal sorption characteristics of N. amarae cells harvested at various growth stages were compared. Three metals examined in this study were copper, cadmium and nickel. Nocardia amarae strain (SRWTP isolate) used in this study was obtained from the University of California at Berkeley. The pure culture was grown in 4L batch reactor containing mineral salt medium with sodium acetate as the sole carbon source. In order to quantify the sorption of heavy metal ions to N amarae cell surfaces, cells from the batch reactor were harvested, washed, and suspended in 30mL centrifuge tubes. Metal sorption studies were conducted at pH 7.0 and ionlc strength of 10-2M. The sorption Isotherm showed that the cells harvested from the stationary and endogenous growth phase exhibited significantly higher metal sorption capacity than the cells from the exponential phase. The sequence of preferential uptake of metals by N. amarae cells was Cu>Cd>Ni. The specific surFace area of Nocardia cells was determined by a dye adsorption method. N.amarae cells growing at ewponential phase had significantly less specific surface area than that of stationary phase, indicating that the lower metal sorption capacity of Nocardia cells growing at exponential phase may be due to the lower specific surface area. The growth conditions of Nocardia cells in continuous culture affect their cell surface properties, thereby governing the adsorption capacity of heavy metal. The comparison of dye sorption isotherms for Nocardia cells growing at various growth rates revealed that the cell surface area increased with increasing sludge age, indicating that the cell surface area is highly dependent on the steady-state growth rate. The highest specific surface area of 199m21g was obtained from N.amarae cell harvested at 0.33 day-1 of growth rate. This result suggests that growth condition not only alters the structure of Nocardia cell wall but also affects the surface area, thus yielding more binding sites of metal removal. After reaching the steady-state condition at dilution rate, metal adsorption isotherms were used to determine the equilibrium distributions of metals between aqueous and Nocardia cell surfaces. The metal sorption capacity of Nocardia biomass harvested from 0.33 day-1 of growth rate was significantly higher than that of cells harvested from 0.5- and 1-day-1 operation, indicatng that N.amarae cells with a lower growth rate have higher sorpion capacity. This result was in close agreement with the trend observed from the batch study. To evaluate the effect of Nocardia cells on the metal binding capacity of activated sludge, specific surface area and metal sorption capacity of the mixture of Nocardia pure cultures and activated sludge biomass were determined by a series of batch experiments. The higher levels of Nocardia cells in the Nocardia-activated sludge samples resulted in the higher specific surface area, explaining the higher metal sorption sites by the mixed luquor samples containing greater amounts on Nocardia cells. The effect of Nocardia cells on the metal sorption capacity of activated sludge was evaluated by spiking an activated sludge sample with various amounts of pre culture Nocardia cells. The results of the Langmuir isotherm model fitted to the metal sorption by various mixtures of Nocardia and activated sludge indicated that the mixture containing higher Nocardia levels had higher metal adsorption capacity than the mixture containing lower Nocardia levels. At Nocardia levels above 100mg/g VSS, the metal sorption capacity of activate sludge increased proportionally with the amount of Noeardia cells present in the mixed liquor, indicating that the presence of Nocardia may increase the viosorption capacity of activated sludge.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.22 no.8
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• pp.1127-1132
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• 2012

Nargenicin $A_1$ is a 28-membered polyketide macrolide, with antibacterial activity against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, produced by Nocardia sp. CS682. In this study, the production of nargenicin $A_1$ was improved by enhancing the supply of different biosynthetic precursors. In Nocardia sp. CS682 (KCTC11297BP), this improvement was ~4.62-fold with the supplementation of 30 mM methyl oleate, 4.25-fold with supplementation of 15mM sodium propionate, and 2.81-fold with supplementation of 15 mM sodium acetate. In Nocardia sp. metK18 and Nocardia sp. CS682 expressing S-adenosylmethionine synthetase (MetK), the production of nargenicin $A_1$ was improved by ~5.57-fold by supplementation with 30 mM methyl oleate, 5.01-fold by supplementation with 15 mM sodium propionate, and 3.64-fold by supplementation with 15 mM sodium acetate. Furthermore, supplementing the culture broth of Nocardia sp. ACC18 and Nocardia sp. CS682 expressing the acetyl-CoA carboxylase complex (AccA2 and AccBE) with 30 mM methyl oleate, 15 mM sodium propionate, or 15 mM sodium acetate resulted in ~6.99-, 6.46-, and 5.58-fold increases, respectively, in nargenicin $A_1$ production. Our overall results showed that among the supplements, methyl oleate was the most effective precursor supporting the highest titers of nargenicin $A_1$ in Nocardia sp. CS682, Nocardia sp. metK18, and Nocardia sp. ACC18.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.157-165
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• 2005

A new disease causing mass mortality of farmed snakehead (Channa arga) has emerged in Korea over the summer of 2005. The affected fish showed no specific external signs with the exception of a distended abdomen and hemorrhaging around the anus. After opening the abdomen, the visceral organs, liver, spleen and kidney, present numerous white nodular structures. Histopathological examination revealed these nodules to be evidence of granulomas in the visceral organs. A Gram-positive, filamentous bacterium was isolated from all of the affected fish. Development of primers for a genus-specific peR assay for Nocardia, following analysis of the sequences of the complete 16S rRNA genes from Nocardia spp. and non-Nocardia bacterial genes, allowed identification of the causative organism as Nocardia. This is the first report of a nocardial infection of fish in Korea.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.36-42
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• 1995

Actinomycetes occur in a wide range of environments and many more actinomycetes remain to be detected in the natural environment. In isolation stages, selection of the environment as a source of useful isolates is important. Two hundred and eighteen strains were isolated on Bennet's agar and 346 strains were on humic acid-vitamin agar from five each paddy field, field, forest, grass land, riverside soil samples. These isolates were identified to the genus level based on morphological and physiological characteristics. Among them, 386 strains were Streptomyces, 49 strain were Nocardia, 35 strains were Microbispora and Micromonospora each, 15 strains were Nocardiopsis, 13 strains were Actinomadura, 10 strains were Streptosporangium, and the others were isolated rarely. According to soil type, Nocardia, Micromonospora, Microbispora and Streptosporangium were dominant in paddy field, Microbispora Nocardia, Nocardioides and Micromonospora were dominant in field, Nocardia, Micromonospora, Microbispora and Actinomadura were dominant in grass land, Nocardia, Micromonospora and Microbispora were dominant in forest, Nocardia, Microbispora and Micromonospora were dominant in riverside. Generally, Nocardia, Micromonospora, Microbispora and Actinomadura were isolated in all kinds of soils, Streptosporangium were paddy field, Dactylosporangium were forest, Nocardiopsis were field, forest and riverside.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.85-90
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• 2009

A method for the identification of Nocardia seriolae, the causative agent of nocardiosis in cultured fishes, using PCR was developed in the study. A PCR primer set specific to N. seriolae was designed based on 16S-23S rRNA sequence of various Nocardia species accessed in GenBank. Designed PCR primer set, Nseri-F (5'-GCA AAC TCT TCG AAC AGT CG-3') and Nseri-R (5'-GGA TAT CAG GAC TTA CCG GC-3'), amplifies the target regions of N. seriolae only, but not 4 other Nocardia species, N. asteroides, N. crassostreae, N. farcinica and N. salmonicida.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.28-38
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• 1994

New problems have been recently posed on the abnormal foaming (Scum) in an aeration tank and the sludge flotation in a final sedimentation tank during the activated sludge process. However, the activities of the causing bacteria, Nocardia-amarae in an aeration tank have not been searched out at all. Therefore, in this article the activities of Nocardia-amarae in an aeration tank have been closely examined by means of the changes of (F/M) ratio, SRT and inflowing substrate using continuous type and fed-batch type. Summarized results of experiments are as follows. 1. Regrading continuous culture when synthetic wastewater was used substrate neither the increase in the number of Nocardia-amarae in the aeration tank nor the Occurrence of Scum was observed. 2. In the case of fed-batch culture, Nocardia-amarae in the aeration tank increased due to the partial change in substrate and the effect of SRT was significant. 3. Once the scum was formed and the quantity of added Nocardia-amarae and substrate were not changed, the effect of STR was not significant.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.878-881
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• 2002

The goal of the current research was to assess the influence of the growth rate of Nocardia amarae on its overall metal binding capacity. Batch sorption isotherms for cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), and nickel (Ni) showed that Nocardia cells harvested from chemostat cultures at a dilution rate of $0.33d^-1$ had a significantly higher metal sorption capacity than cells grown at 0.5 and $1d^-1$. The cell surface area estimated using a dye technique indicated that pure N. amarae cells grown at a lower growth rate had a significantly more specific surface area than cells harvested from a higher growth rate operation. Accordingly, this difference in the specific surface area seemed to indicate that the higher metal sorption capacity of the slowly growing Nocardia cells was due to their higher specific surface area.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.96-103
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• 2017

Nocardia species (spp.) are opportunistic pathogen in immunocompromised hosts. The genus Nocardia contains more than 70 species. Nocardia takedensis has been recently reported as a new species of the genus Nocardia. In this study, we describes the first clinical isolate of N. takedensis from the skin lesion in Busan, Korea. For the identification of clinical isolate to the species level as N. takedensis, classical methods (colony morphology, biochemical characteristics, and antimicrobial susceptibility), molecular method (16S rRNA gene sequencing), and MS (mass spectrometry) analysis were conducted. Clinical isolates grew slowly on the culture media (5% sheep blood agar and chocolate agar) under 5% $CO_2$ condition. Especially, carotene pigmentation was detected well on the media. Using mass spectrometry, Nocardia isolate was not identified to the species level. However, molecular method based on 16S rRNA sequencing confirmed the isolate as N. takedensis correctly. N. takedensis isolate was partial positive for acid-fast bacilli on the Ziehl-Neelsen method. And it was observed to be resistance to amoxicillin/clavulanic acid and ciprofloxacin. Our results provide useful information to develop optimal identification protocol of N. takedensis in clinical diagnostic laboratories.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.480-485
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• 2004

Fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) technology was evaluated as a monitoring tool for quantification of Nocardia amarae causing a nuisance foaming problem in activated sludge process. The identified signature peak was 19:1 alcohol as a reliable unique peak to N. amarae. Chemostat study revealed that the distribution and quantity of fatty acid peaks were dependent on the growth stage of Nocardia. The FAME results were similar for two relatively high dilution rates; however, the amounts of signature peaks extracted from the 4 and 6 day cultures were significantly higher. This dependence of signature peaks on the physiological state of the organism may be a useful information to assess the health of microbial populations in activated sludge. A laboratory scale batch foaming potential experiment provided a critical foaming level depending on Nocardia population. This critical Nocardia level determined in this study was in terms of either the threshold filament intersections number or the threshold signature FAME amount. The threshold peak area of signature FAME (19:1 alcohol) and corresponding filament counts were 430PA/mg VSS and $1.45{\times}10^6$ intersections/g VSS, respectively. The threshold signature FAME level could be effectively applied as a criterion for diagnosing foam occurrence in activated sludge system.

• The Journal of the Korean Society for Microbiology
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.69-78
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• 1976

There have been increasing reports of mycobacterioses in man and animals caused by "atypical" or "opportunist" mycobacteria. At the presnt, "opportunist mycobacterioses" are not generally responsive to antituberculosis drugs, and therefore, create considerable problems with regard to chemotherapy and control measures. In recent years studies have been made to isolate opportunist mycobacteria from soil, house-dusts and tap-water. It seemed quite interesting to define the extent of circumstantial presence of "opportunist" mycobacteria and nocardia in the soils of school-ground of primary schools and middle-high schools. This communication is the results of pilot study to isolate and identify "opportunist" mycobacteria and nocardia from 504 soil specimens of 72 schools in Seoul City. 1. Of a total of 59 isolates from 504 soil specimens tested, 32 strains were identified as opportunist mycobacteria and 27 strains as nocardia. 2. Isolation rates of opportunist mycobacteria by the areas(of specimen collection) were as follows: 36.4% in the southern area of Han-River, 33.3% in the central area, 22.7% in the outskirt area and 16.6% in the intermediate area. There observed no apparent difference in the isolation rates both-between the areas and between primary schools and middle-high schools. However, a significant difference was noted in the isolation rates between the places of soil sampling in a given school(P<0.05), i.e., the highest was the soil of refuge heaps(15.2%), and tap-water pole area(11.1%), the school-lavatory entrance(9.7%), the school gate entrance(5.5%), and iron-bar play ground(2.7%). The soil specimens from the center of school ground and from school building entrance yielded none of mycobacterial isolates. 3. Isolation rates of nocardia by the areas were as follows: 33.3% in the central area, 31.8% in the outskirt area, 27.3% in the southern ares of Han-River and 11.1% in the intermediate area. As in the case of mycobacteral isolates, there observed no apparent differences in the isolation rates both between the areas and between primary schools and middle-high schools, but a significant difference was noted between the places of soil sampling(P<0.05), i.e., the highest was the soil of school building entrance(15.2%), and of school gate entrance(6.9%), refuge heaps(5.5,%), iron-bar play ground(4.1%), the school-lavatory entrance(2.7%) and tap-water pole area(2.7%), respectively. The soil specimens from the center of, school ground yielded none of nocardia isolates. 4. Of the 32 strains of isolated mycobacteria. 15 strains were slow-growing mycobacteria and the remaining 17 strains belonged to the rapid growers. Of the 15 slow-growers. 4 strains were M. scrofulaceum-szulgai complex, 3 M. gordonae, 4 M. terrae-triviale complex, 2 M. avium-intracellulare-xenopi complex, and 2 unclassified schotochromogens. Of the 17 strains of rapid growers, 12 were M. diernhoferi, 2 M. fortuitum-peregrinum complex, 2 M. vaccae and one M. flavescens. 5. Of the 27 strains of nocardia isolated, 11 strains were N. transvalensis, 5 N. convoluta, 5 N. erythropolis, one N. vaccinii, one N. polychromogens-paraffinae complex and 4 untypable strains of orange-pigmented nocardia spp.