• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.127-134
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• 2018

In this study, 79 bacterial isolates were collected from the surface of marine algae Umbraulva japonica. As a result of analysis of 16s rRNA gene sequence, the 79 isolated bacteria were divided into 4 major groups: [Proteobacteria (74.69%), Actinobacteria (2.53%), Fimicutes (2.53%), and Bacteroidetes (20.25%)] - 7 classes (Actinobacteria, Flavobacteria, Sphingobacteria, Baciili, Alphaproteobacteria, Betaproteobacteria, and Gammaproteobacteria), 12 orders, 17 families and 31 genera. The newly isolated 3 strains could be novel species because of less than 97% similarity in 16s rRNA sequence. Therefore, it is considered that additional experiments should be conducted together with the standard strain. Analysis of 79 bacterial antibacterial activity against human and fish pathogens, such as Edwardsiella tarda, Vibrio harveyi, Streptococcus iniae, Steptococcus parauberis, Escherichia coli, Steptococcus mutans, Listeria monocytogenes and Vibrio vulnificus, was performed by using the supernatant liquid and pellet. As a result, pellet of UJT9, UJT20 and UJR17 showed antibacterial activity against V. vulnificus, UJR17 also showed antibacterial activity against S. parauberis. UJT7 and UJT20, UJR17 have been identified as Bacillus sp. and Pseudomonas sp. and it may be safely assented that it's beneficial to carry out additional experiments for various applications.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2017

Although a global ban on the use of endosulfan, an organochloline insecticide, has taken effect in mid-2012, it has been still used in several countries, including India and China, and detected in diverse environments in the world due to its relative persistence and semi-volatility. In this study, the effect of endosulfan on soil bacterial community was investigated using 16S rRNA gene pyrosequencing method. When endosulfan was applied to an upland soil at a rate of 100 mg/kg soil (ES soil), the number of operational taxonomic units (OTU) and diversity indices for bacteria initially decreased and gradually recovered to the level of the non-treated soil (NT soil) during an eight-week incubation period. At bacterial phylum level, relative abundances of Proteobacteria and Verrucomicrobia were higher while those of Chloroflexi and Spirochaetes were lower in the ES soil than in the NT soil, suggesting that an endosulfan application affects the bacterial community structure in soil. In the ES soil, the relative abundances of the OTUs affiliated to the genera Sphingomonas and Burkholderia increased in the initial period of incubation while those affiliated to the genera Pseudonocardia and Opitutus increased in the late period of incubation. Because the first three genera contain bacterial strains reported to degrade endosulfan, they are expected to be involved in the degradation of endosulfan, probably one after another.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.29 no.11
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• pp.1693-1706
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• 2019

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic inflammatory skin disease of mainly infants and children. Currently, the development of safe and effective treatments for AD is urgently required. The present study was conducted to investigate the immunomodulatory effects of yeast-extracted β-1,3/1,6-glucan and/or Lactobacillus plantarum (L. plantarum) LM1004 against AD-like symptoms. To purpose, β-1,3/1,6-glucan and/or L. plantarum LM1004 were orally administered to AD-induced animal models of rat (histamine-induced vasodilation) and mouse (pruritus and contact dermatitis) exhibiting different symptoms of AD. We then investigated the treatment effects on AD-like symptoms, gene expression of immune-related factors, and gut microbiomes. Oral administration of β-1,3/1,6-glucan (0.01 g/kg initial body weight) and/or 2 × 10¹² cells/g L. plantarum LM1004 (0.01 g/kg initial body weight) to AD-induced animal models showed significantly reduced vasodilation in the rat model, and pruritus, edema, and serum histamine in the mouse models (p < 0.05). Interestingly, β-1,3/1,6-glucan and/or L. plantarum LM1004 significantly decreased the mRNA levels of Th2 and Th17 cell transcription factors, while the transcription factors of Th1 and Treg cells, galactin-9, filaggrin increased, which are indicative of enhanced immunomodulation (p < 0.05). Moreover, in rats with no AD induction, the same treatments significantly increased the relative abundance of phylum Bacteroidetes and the genus Bacteroides. Furthermore, bacterial taxa associated with butyrate production such as, Lachnospiraceae and Ruminococcaceae at family, and Roseburia at genus level were increased in the treated groups. These findings suggest that the dietary supplementation of β-1,3/1,6-glucan and/or L. plantarum LM1004 has a great potential for treatment of AD as well as obesity in humans through mechanisms that might involve modulation of host immune systems and gut microbiota.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.661-672
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• 2017

Endophytic fungi are present in host plants and contribute to resistance to biotic and abiotic stress. Aquatic plants are living in aquatic environment such as saltwater or freshwater and exposed more water stress than other land plants. In this study, we investigated 4 wetlands in Jeju and collected 11 aquatic plants. Exogenous microbes were removed by preprocessing of plants and endophytic fungal strains were isolated from the plants. We isolated 126 fungal strains from Namsaengi-pond, 22 fungal strains from Sujangdong-marsh, 44 fungal strains from Yongsu-reservoir and 32 fungal strains from Gangjeongcheon. The fungal strains were identified using internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region and analyzed the phylogeny and diversity. Endophytic fungi isolated from plants of Namsaengi-pond were classified to 30 genera, 19 families, 12 orders, 7 classes and 4 phyla. Endophytic fungi of Sujangdong-marsh were classified to 11 genera, 11 families, 6 orders, 5 classes and 4 phyla. Endophytic fungi of Yongsu-reservoir were classified to 13 genera, 12 families, 7 orders, 5 classes and 4 phyla. Endophytic fungi isolated from Gangjeongcheon were classified to 9 genera, 7 families, 5 orders, 2 classes and 1 phyla. Overall, they were divided 40 genera and Alternaria, Colletotrichum and Fusarium were isolated from 4 sites in common. By investigating the endophytic fungi in aquatic plants, it is for baseline data that determination of diversity and the ecological distribution of endophytic fungi.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.36 no.1 s.102
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• pp.29-37
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• 2003

Benthic macro-invertebrates were seasonally collected in the Onchen Stream in Pusan, from July 2001 to March 2002. Generally 4 phylum 5 class 10 order 19 family 23 species were observed in the study sites. Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and various species appeared in headwater stream while Oligochaeta and Chironomidae were dominated in downstream sites. Community abundance patterns, especially the dominant taxa, Oligochaeta and Chironomidae, appeared to be different depending upon the sampling months. Oligochaeta was usually observed in July, December and March while Chironomidae was appeared in September. The biological indices, TBI(Trent Biotic Index), BS (Biotic Score), BMWP (Biological Monitoring Working Party)were calculated with the appeared communities of the sampling sites through the survey months. TBI showed 1 to 8, BMWP was 1 to 93 and CBI appeared 9 to 387 in the different sites. The biological indices decreased from headstream to downstream sites, We implemented the unsupervised Kohonen network for patterning of community abundance of the sampling sites. The patterning map by the Kohonen network was well represented community abundance of the sampling sites. Also, we conducted RTRN (Real Time Recurrent Neural Network) for predicting of the biological indices in the different sites. The results appeared that the predicting values by RTRN were well matched field data (correlation coefficient of TBI, BMWP and CBI were 0.957, 0.979 and 0.967, respectively).

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.251-264
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• 2013

This study was conducted to investigate the diversity of ectomycorrhizal fungi by surveying sites from June 2010 to October 2011. The obtained results from investigation were as follows. The total of 2 Kingdom 3 Phylum 6 classes 15 orders 34 families 59 genera and 107 species including saprophytic and ectomycorrhizal fungi was investigated. A total of 10 families 17 genera 49 species (801 ea.) of ectomycorrhizal mushroom was investigated. The mushrooms are classified into 28 families 51 genera and 99 species in Basidiomycota, 5 families 7 genera and 7 species in Ascomycota and 1 families 1 genera and 1 species in Amoebozoa. Dorminant species were Amanitaceae (14 species) followed by Russulaceae (12 species) and Boletaceae (11 species). The populaion ectomycorrhizal mushroom was highest in sites 1 and 2, and sites 4 and 5 occurrence rarely. The mushroom occurrence of ectomycorrhizal fungi was closely related to climatic conditions such as high air temperature and lots of rainfall from July to August. The environment factors which have a favorable influence of mushroom occurrence were soil pH, organic matter content of soil and air temperature of climatic environment.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.215-227
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• 2016

In freshwater ecosystems, the types of fish parasites are diverse and routes of infection are complicated because they maintain the life cycle in a variety of host animals, The present study investigated the infestation characteristics of parasites occurring in abdominal cavity of Zacco platypus in Seom River from February to October 2007. At the same time, four streams (Gam Stream, Daepo Stream, Yangsan Stream, and Yulha Stream) were also surveyed for the reference of fish infection. Aquatic insects and shellfish predominated benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages by 90.4% and 7.7% of relative abundance, respectively. Aquatic insects were composed mostly of Ephemeroptera (46.8%) and Trichoptera (29.8%), and shellfish was Gastropods. Freshwater fish was most abundant Cyprinid and Z. platypus by 85.7% and 48.8%, respectively. Among waterfowl, Anas poecilorhyncha and Egretta garzetta were dominant in August. Fish parasites observed in the abdominal cavity of Z. platypus was classified as Ligula intestinalis, belonging to Phylum Platyhelminthes Cestoda Pseudophyllidae. L. intestinalis was observed from Z. platypus in October, as the number of one individual in the Seom River and fifteen individuals in the Yangsan Stream. Infection rate of plerocercoid ranged 1.4~15.8%. We discussed the relationship between the life cycle of the parasite and the host, and hope our results to be useful for understanding the ecology of the fish abdominal parasites in Korean river ecosystem.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.106 no.2
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• pp.121-129
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• 2017

The soil microbiome plays important roles in material cycling and plant growth in forest ecosystem. Although a lot of researches on forest soil fungi in Korea have been performed, the studies on forest soil bacterial communities have been limited. In this study, we conducted next generation sequencing (NGS) targeting 16S rRNA gene to investigate the soil bacterial communities from natural red pine (Pinus densiflora) forest in Mt. Janggunbong, Bonghwa-gun, Gyeongbuk, Korea. Our results showed that the entire bacterial communities in the study sites include the phyla Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria, Planctomycetes, which have been typically observed in forest soils. The composition ratio of Proteobacteria was the highest in the soil bacteria community. The results reflect that Proteobacteria is copiotroph, which generally favors relatively nutrient-rich conditions with abundant organic matter. Some rhizobia species such as Burkholderia, Bradyrhizobium, Rhizobium, which are known to contribute to soil nitrogen-fixation, exist in the study sites. As a result of correlation analysis between soil physicochemical characteristics and bacteria communities, the soil pH was significantly correlated with the soil bacteria compositions.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.262-269
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• 2012

Seasonal differences of the cultivable bacterial communities associated with the marine sponge, Hymeniacidon sinapium, between spring and summer were analyzed through the Amplified Ribosomal DNA Restriction Analysis (ARDRA). For the cultivation of the bacterial isolates, modified Zobell and MA media were used. The 16S rDNA of individual strains were amplified and fragmented by using two restriction enzymes, HaeIII and MspI. As a result, 23 ARDRA types from the spring sponge and 28 types from the summer sponge were obtained. The partial sequencing result of 1 to 3 selected strains from each types showed over 94% similarities with the known species from the public database. The bacterial communities from the sponge, captured on spring, contained 4 phyla: Actinobacteria, Alphaproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, and Firmicutes. There were 5 phyla observed from the bacterial communities associated with the sponge, captured on summer: Alphaproteobacteria, Betaproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, Firmicutes, and Bacteroidetes. Gammaproteobacteria was predominant group in both spring and summer, accounted for 33.8% of total in spring and 67.4% in summer, showed increase pattern on summer. Because Firmicutes and Actinobacteria participated in 30.2% and 8.3% of the spring sponge while they represented only 6.9% and 0% of the summer sponge, both bacterial groups showed decrease drift on summer. Betaproteobacteria (4.7%) and Bacteroidetes (4.7%) were only observed on the sponge captured on summer. On the sponge, Hymeniacidon sinapium, more diverse bacterial communities were shown on summer than on spring, and even from the same sponge, there were seasonal differences.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.366-374
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• 2010

Culture-dependent RFLP and culture-independent DGGE were employed to investigate the bacterial community associated with the marine sponge Spirastrella abata. A total of 164 bacterial strains associated with the sponge were cultivated using Zobell and Natural sea salt media. PCR amplicons of the 16S rDNA from the bacterial strains were digested with the restriction enzymes HaeIII and MspI, and then assigned into different groups according to their restriction patterns. The 16S rDNA sequences derived from RFLP patterns showed more than 95% similarities compared with known bacterial species, and the isolates belonged to four phyla, Proteobacteria (Alphaproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria), Actinobacteria, Firmicutes, and Bacteriodetes, of which Alphaproteobacteria was dominant. DGGE fingerprinting of 16S rDNAs amplified from the sponge- derived total gDNA showed five major DGGE bands, and their sequences showed more than 96% similarities compared with available sequences. The sequences derived from DGGE bands revealed high similarity with the uncultured bacterial clones. DGGE revealed that bacterial community consisted of four phyla, including Proteobacteria (Alphaproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria), Actinobacteria, Spirochetes, and Chloroflexi. Alphaproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, and Actinobacteria were commonly found in bacteria associated with S. abata by both RFLP and DGGE methods; however, overall bacterial community in the sponge differed depending on the analysis methods.