• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.20 no.11
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• pp.1577-1584
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• 2010

In total, 140 halotolerant bacterial strains were isolated from both the soil of barren fields and the rhizosphere of six naturally growing halophytic plants in the vicinity of the Yellow Sea, near the city of Incheon in the Republic of Korea. All of these strains were characterized for multiple plant growth promoting traits, such as the production of indole acetic acid (IAA), nitrogen fixation, phosphorus (P) and zinc (Zn) solubilization, thiosulfate ($S_2O_3$) oxidation, the production of ammonia ($NH_3$), and the production of extracellular hydrolytic enzymes such as protease, chitinase, pectinase, cellulase, and lipase under in vitro conditions. From the original 140 strains tested, on the basis of the latter tests for plant growth promotional activity, 36 were selected for further examination. These 36 halotolerant bacterial strains were then tested for 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) deaminase activity. Twenty-five of these were found to be positive, and to be exhibiting significantly varying levels of activity. 16S rRNA gene sequencing analyses of the 36 halotolerant strains showed that they belong to 10 different bacterial genera: Bacillus, Brevibacterium, Planococcus, Zhihengliuella, Halomonas, Exiguobacterium, Oceanimonas, Corynebacterium, Arthrobacter, and Micrococcus. Inoculation of the 14 halotolerant bacterial strains to ameliorate salt stress (150 mM NaCl) in canola plants produced an increase in root length of between 5.2% and 47.8%, and dry weight of between 16.2% and 43%, in comparison with the uninoculated positive controls. In particular, three of the bacteria, Brevibacterium epidermidis RS15, Micrococcus yunnanensis RS222, and Bacillus aryabhattai RS341, all showed more than 40% increase in root elongation and dry weight when compared with uninoculated salt-stressed canola seedlings. These results indicate that certain halotolerant bacteria, isolated from coastal soils, have a real potential to enhance plant growth under saline stress, through the reduction of ethylene production via ACC deaminase activity.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.66
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• pp.394-403
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• 2023

In the pursuit of sustainable and environmentally-friendly agricultural practices, we conducted an extensive study on the rhizosphere bacteria inhabiting soils that have been devoid of chemical fertilizers for an extended period exceeding 40 years. Through this investigation, we isolated a total of 80 species of plant growth-promoting rhizosphere bacteria and assessed their potential to enhance plant growth. Among these isolates, Burkholderia cepacia CD2 displayed remarkable plant growth-promoting activity, making it an optimal candidate for further analysis. Burkholderia cepacia CD2 exhibited a range of beneficial characteristics conducive to plant growth, including phosphate solubilization, siderophore production, denitrification, nitrate utilization, and urease activity. These attributes are well-known to positively influence the growth and development of plants. To validate the taxonomic classification of the strain, 16S rRNA gene sequencing confirmed its placement within the Burkholderia genus, providing further insights into its phylogenetic relationship. To delve deeper into the potential mechanisms underlying its plant growth-promoting properties, we sought to confirm the presence of specific genes associated with plant growth promotion in CD2. To achieve this, whole genome sequencing (WGS) was performed by Plasmidsaurus Inc. (USA) utilizing Oxford Nanopore technology (Abingdon, UK). The WGS analysis of the genome of CD2 revealed the existence of a subsystem function, which is thought to be a pivotal factor contributing to improved plant growth. Based on these findings, it can be concluded that Burkholderia cepacia CD2 has the potential to serve as a microbial fertilizer, offering a sustainable alternative to chemical fertilizers.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.306-312
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• 2014

Endophytes are microorganisms that live in the internal tissues of plants without harming the host plants. In this symbiotic relationship, the host plants provide nutrients and shelter to the endophytes, in turn, endophytes can promote the growth of host plants and act as a biological control agents against plant pathogens. Plant-microbe interactions like this are noted for natural methods for sustainable agriculture and environmental conservation. However, in spite of the infinite potential, there are only a few reports on the endophytes present in ginseng. In this study, we isolated and identified the endophytes from Panax ginseng seeds and evaluated the biological activities (IAA production ability, nitrogen fixation ability, phosphate solubilization capacity, siderophore production ability, and antifungal activities) of the endophyte isolates. Eight different endophytes were identified by 16S rRNA sequencing. Most of the endophytes have antibiotic and plant growth promoting (PGP) activities. Particularly, PgSEB5-37E have the highest antibiotic activity, both PgSEB5-37B and PgSEB5-37H have high PGP traits such as an abilities to produce IAA, solubilize phosphate and fix nitrogen. These results indicated that the endophytes from P. ginseng seeds may have applicable value to many industries. In order to use the isolated endophytes, quantitative analysis and field tests are needed to be performed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Plant Pathology Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.96.1-96
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• 2003

Serratia plymuthim A21-4 strongly inhibits the mycelial growth, zoospore formation, and cystospore germination of Phytophthor spp and Pythium species. The bacterial isolate produced antifungal substance and chitinase. The bacteria also enhanced to plant growth remarkably in low nutritional condition. The application of cell suspension of A21-4 to pepper seedlings in greenhouse experiments and soil drenching in farmer's field was proved successfully to control the phythophthora blight of pepper. For the effective control, however, relatively high density of cell number(10$\^$9/cfu/$m\ell$) is required. Density effect was similar in plant growth promoting activity of A21-4. Though this investigation we improved the problem with changes of culture condition of bacteria and some nutritional amendment.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.342-343
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• 2017

Bacillus velezensis T20E-257 was isolated from the root tissue of a tomato plant and exhibited plant growth-promoting activity. Here we present the complete genome of strain T20E-257. The genome contains 3,900,066 base pairs with a G + C content of 46.7% in 2 contigs. The genome includes 3,708 coding sequences, 27 rRNAs, and 86 tRNAs. We found gene clusters encoding secondary metabolites with an antimicrobial activity and genes related to the production of indole-3-acetic acid and 2,3-butanediol, which play a role in plant growth and health.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.20 no.11
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• pp.1491-1499
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• 2010

Rhizosphere microorganisms possessing phytase activity are considered important for rendering phytate-phosphorus (P) available to plants. In the present study, the Citrobacter braakii phytase gene (appA) was overexpressed in rhizobacteria possessing plant growth promoting (PGP) traits, for increasing their potential as bioinoculants. AppA was cloned under the lac promoter in the broadhost-range expression vector pBBR1MCS-2. Transformation of the recombinant construct pCBappA resulted in high constitutive phytase activity in all of the eight rhizobacterial strains belonging to genera Pantoea, Citrobacter, Enterobacter, Pseudomonas (two strains), Rhizobium (two strains), and Ensifer that were studied. Transgenic rhizobacterial strains were found to display varying levels of phytase activity, ranging from 10-folds to 538-folds higher than the corresponding control strains. The transgenic derivative of Pseudomonas fluorescens CHA0, a well-characterized plant growth promoting rhizobacterium, showed the highest expression of phytase (~8 U/mg) activity in crude extracts. Although all transformants showed high phytase activity, rhizobacteria having the ability to secrete organic acid showed significantly higher release of P from Ca-phytate in buffered minimal media. AppA overexpressing rhizobacteria showed increased P content, and dry weight (shoot) or shoot/ root ratio of mung bean (Vigna radiata) plants, to different extents, when grown in semisolid agar (SSA) medium containing Na-phytate or Ca-phytate as the P sources. This is the first report of the overexpression of phytase in rhizobacterial strains and its exploitation for plant growth enhancement.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Plant Pathology Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.94.2-95
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• 2003

E. intermedium 60-2G possessing a strong ability to solubilize insoluble phosphate, has plant growth-promoting activity, induced systemic resistance activity against scab pathogen in cucumber, and antifungal activity against various phytopathogenic fungi. The phosphate solubilizing activity of 60-2G may be mainly accomplished by production of gluconic acid through a direct extracellular oxidation of glucose by glucose dehydrogenase that required a PQQ cofactor for its activation. A pqq gene cluster conferred Phosphate-solubilizing activity in E. coli DH5${\alpha}$ was cloned and sequenced. The 6,783 bP pqq sequence had six open reading frames (from A to F) and showed 50-95％ homology to pqq genes from other bacteria. The E. coli strain expressing the pqq genes solubilized phosphate from hydroxyapatite after a pH drop to 4.0, which paralleled in time the secretion of gluconic acid. To study the role of PQQ in biocontrol traits of E. intermedium, PQQ mutants of 60-2G were constructed by marker exchangee mutagenesis. The PQQ mutants of E. intermedium were lost activities of solubilizing phosphate, growth inhibition of phytopathogenic fungi, and plant growth promotion. These findings suggest that PQQ plays an important role, possibly activation of certain enzymes, in several beneficial bacterial traits of E. intermedium by as yet an unknown mechanism.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.99-107
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• 2009

Strain PUPC1 produces an antifungal protease as well as plant growth promoting enzymes such as 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) deaminase and phosphatase. Morphological, cultural, and physiological characteristics as well as 16S rRNA gene-sequence-based phylogenetic analysis confirmed the taxonomic affiliation of PUPC1 as Chryseobacterium aquaticum. The optimum growth of PUPC1 was observed at pH 6.0 and $30^{\circ}C$, and maximum protease production was observed in medium B amended with 1% tryptone, 0.5% sucrose, and 0.005% $MnCl_2$. The protease was purified by ammonium sulfate precipitation, Sephadex G-75 gel filtration chromatography, and electroelution from preparative SDS-PAGE. The protease had a molecular mass of 18.5 kDa. The optimum pH and temperature stability of the protease were pH 5.0-10.0 and temperature $40-70^{\circ}C$. Chryseobacterium aquaticum PUPC1 and its protease showed a broad-spectrum antifungal activity against phytopathogenic fungi. Strain PUPC1 also exhibited plant growth promoting traits. The objective of the present investigation was to isolate a strain for agricultural application for plant growth promotion and biocontrol of fungal diseases.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.14-20
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• 2015

Coastal plant species, Plantago camtschatica Cham. native to the coastal region of the East Sea were sampled and then morphologically different 20 endophytic fungal strains were purely isolated. Phylogenetic analysis of isolates was done by the Bayesian program based on sequenced internal transcribed spacer (ITS-rDNA) region. Culture filtrates of each of 20 isolates were treated to Waito-c rice (WR) seedlings for verifying plant growth-promoting activity, respectively. As the results, E/PC/10/1 strain showed the highest plant growth-promoting activity among them. The culture filtrate of the strain E/PC/10/1 was revealed as containing gibberellins ($GA_1$, $GA_3$, $GA_4$) by using HPLC, and gas GC/MS with selected ion monitoring (SIM). Finally, this strain was identified as novel Penicillium spinulosum species that producing new GAs with microscopic observation and further molecular analysis with beta-tubulin gene sequence.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.607-620
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• 2023

The biocontrol approach using beneficial microorganisms to control crop diseases is becoming an essential alternative to chemical fungicides. Therefore, new and efficient biocontrol agents (BCA) are needed. In this study, a rhizospheric actinomycete isolate showed unique and promising antagonistic activity against three of the most common phytopathogenic fungi, Fusarium oxysporum MH105, Rhizoctonia solani To18, and Alternaria brassicicola CBS107. Identification of the antagonistic strain, which was performed according to spore morphology and cell wall chemotype, suggested that it belongs to the Nocardiopsaceae. Furthermore, cultural, physiological, and biochemical characteristics, together with phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene (OP869859.1), indicated the identity of this strain to Nocardiopsis alba. The cell-free filtrate (CFF) of the strain was evaluated for its antifungal potency, and the resultant inhibition zone diameters ranged from 17.0 ± 0.92 to 19.5 ± 0.28 mm for the tested fungal species. Additionally, the CFF was evaluated in vitro to control Fusarium wilt disease in Vicia faba using the spraying method under greenhouse conditions, and the results showed marked differences in virulence between the control and treatment plants, indicating the biocontrol efficacy of this actinomycete. A promising plant-growth promoting (PGP) ability in seed germination and seedling growth of V. faba was also recorded in vitro for the CFF, which displayed PGP traits of phosphate solubilization (48 mg/100 ml) as well as production of indole acetic acid (34 ㎍/ml) and ammonia (20 ㎍/ml). This study provided scientific validation that the new rhizobacterium Nocardiopsis alba strain BH35 could be further utilized in bioformulation and possesses biocontrol and plant growth-promoting capabilities.