• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.263-271
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• 2007

The survival strategies of polar organisms at permanently or extremely cold temperatures and their application to cryobiology were reviewed here. In addition, ongoing studies on psychrophiles also were described. Psychrophiles are extremophiles that can grow and reproduce in cold temperatures, typically at -10 to $20^{\circ}C$. These organisms developed various mechanisms of adaptation to extremely cold environments. Polar organisms cope with these extreme physicochemical conditions using strategies such as avoidance, protection and partnership with other organisms. Understanding on the strategies adopted by polar organisms may provide insight on the physiological process that cells can go through during freezing. Cryopreservation may be able to take advantage of the findings described above. Currently, genomes of many cold-loving organisms have been sequenced and comparative genomics has revealed, at a molecular level, the characteristics of these organisms. The investigation of microorganisms on the polar glaciers may expand our understanding on the origin of life on Earth and other planets.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.1643-1646
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• 2008

In this study, an elastic network model is established in order to find dominant factors which reflect thermostability of protein structures. The connections in the elastic network model are selected with respect to the free energy between alpha-carbons, which is representatives of residues in the elastic network model. We carried out normal mode analysis and compared eigenvalues of the stiffness matrix from the elastic network model. In most cases, thermophilic proteins are observed to have higher values of lowest natural frequency than mesophiles and psychrophiles have. As a result, the thermophiles are calculated to be stiffer than other proteins in view of dynamic vibration.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF PACKAGING SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.33-40
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• 1997

The microbial growth of fresh, vacuum packaged, cook-in-bag uncured beef patties was determined in two film structures, a commercial (PE/EVOH), and super barrier ($SiO_2$ coated polyester) material. Packaged samples were cooked to internal temperature of 71 and $82^{\circ}C$ for 30 minutes, and stored in temperature abused ($23{\pm}2^{\circ}C$) and refrigerated storage ($4-6^{\circ}C$). Barrier properties had a significant effect (p<0.001) on aerobic and mesophilic growth in the abused condition. Cooking temperatures had a statistically significant effect (p<0.05) on aerobic growth in the refrigerated condition. The growth of anaerobes and psychrophiles were not significantly effected by either variables. Storage times had the most significant effect (p<0.001) for all groups of microorganisms. The physical properties of the commercial film (strength, thickness, and shrinkage) were changed after exposure to thermal treatment, while the super barrier package had actually no change.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.235-239
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• 2022

Psychrophiles have evolved to produce cold-adapted enzymes to enable survival in low-temperature environments. In this study, the cold adaptation of 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (CpsEPSPS) from Colwellia psychrerythraea, a model psychrophile, was analyzed. The optimum temperature for the activity of CpsEPSPS was found to be 25℃, with 35% activity remaining at 5℃. However, the unfolding temperature of CpsEPSPS was 54℃. This phenomenon is frequently observed in cold-active enzymes. As is the cases for most cold-active enzymes, the K_m values of CpsEPSPS for its substrates were higher than those of Escherichia coli EPSPS. These results indicate that CpsEPSPS is cold-adapted, but not perfectly.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.424-428
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• 2013

Microbiological contamination of 4 vegetables (garlic, red pepper, perilla leaf and lettuce) collected from 10 restaurants around university was examined. The vegetables were evaluated for total plate count, coliforms, psychrophiles, yeast, and Staphylococcus aureus. The results of total plate count showed the highest value as $5.4{\pm}0.69$ log CFU/g in lettuce, following by $4.8{\pm}1.53$ log CFU/g in red pepper, $4.5{\pm}1.65$ log CFU/g in perilla leaf and $3.4{\pm}1.27$ log CFU/g in garlic. The contamination level of coliforms and psychrophiles were highest in red pepper with maximum as 4.7 log CFU/g and 8.2 log CFU/g, respectively. Red pepper of psychrophiles showed the highest average value as $5.0{\pm}1.82$ log CFU/g followed by $4.2{\pm}1.91$ log CFU/g in lettuce, $4.7{\pm}1.55$ log CFU/g in perilla leaf and $2.4{\pm}2.10$ log CFU/g in garlic. The average number of yeasts were highest in perilla leaf with $4.4{\pm}1.41$ log CFU/g and were lowest in garlic with $0.9{\pm}1.41$ log CFU/g. The contamination level of S. aureus was detected in 27 samples among the total 40 samples with the range of 0.5-5.2 log CFU/g. In conclusion, the microbial quality of the fresh vegetables evaluated in this study was not very good. Therefore, it needs to be enhanced through the good sanitation management and production and distribution methods to improve the safety of fresh vegetables.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.8
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• pp.1284-1290
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• 2007

This study was conducted to investigate the antibacterial activity and shelf-life extension effect of iceberg lettuce packed in BN/PE film. The BN/PE film has a strong microbial suppression effect on pathogenic bacteria such as Escherichia coli, Salmonella enteritidis, and S. typhimurium. The number of psychrophiles and mesophiles during 5 days of cold storage of fresh-cut iceberg lettuce at $10^{\circ}C$ packaged in BN/PE film was strictly suppressed in comparison with other tested films (OPP, PE, and PET film). When fresh processed iceberg lettuce was processed and stored under the current conditions, the shelf-life of the product was longer than 5 days in the BN/PE film package, whereas the shelf-life when using the other films tested, PE, OPP and PET, was no longer than 3-4 days. The decay rates of the iceberg lettuce packed in the BN/PE film was maintained at $29.8{\pm}2.1%$ on the 5th day of preservation. The samples packed in BN/PE film maintained an excellent visual quality during the 3 days of storage without significant differences in comparison with the initial visual quality. No browning was observed in the samples packed in BN/PE film for up to 3 days. The texture of shredded iceberg lettuce packaged in BN/PE film remained unchanged up to 3 days, and then a moderate decrease in texture was observed after 4 days of storage. In addition, the overall acceptability of fresh-cut iceberg lettuce packaged in BN/PE film did not change for up to 3 days, whereas the samples packaged in the other films were inedible by 3 days of storage. In conclusion, the shelf-life of fresh-cut iceberg lettuce packaged in the BN/PE film was extended to more than 5 days at $10^{\circ}C$, whereas that in the other films was 2 days at $10^{\circ}C$. Therefore, the shelf-life extension effect of the fresh-cut iceberg lettuce in BN/PE film packaging was very effective compared with the other films tested.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.303-308
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• 2011

Polar psychrophiles which thrive under extreme conditions such as cold temperature, high salinity, and high dose ultraviolet light, emerge as novel targets for biotechnology. To prevent genetic drift and the possibility of contamination by subculturing, cryopreservation was employed for two psychrophilic microalgae, Porosira sp. (KOPRI AnM0008) and Pyramimonas sp. (KOPRI AnM0046), which have anti-freeze activities. Five cryoprotectants (dimethyl sulphoxide, ethylene glycol, glycerol, methanol and propylene glycol) showed toxicity at 20-30% (v/v). The optimal cryoprotectant concentration and equilibration time were less than 20% and 10 min, respectively. Cryopreservation was carried out in the presence of cryoprotectants either by direct freezing in liquid nitrogen ($LN_2$) or controlled freezing using a controlled rate freezer followed by storage in the $LN_2$ tank. As a result, Pyramimonas sp. (KOPRI AnM0046), a psychrophilic chlorophyta was revived. Cryopreserved Porosira sp. was not revived from either freezing protocols probably due to the silicic cell wall and its relatively large cell size. In the case of Pyramimonas sp. (KOPRI AnM0046), the controlled freezing method showed higher revival yield than the direct freezing method.

• ALGAE
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.191-203
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• 2018

Fragilariopsis cylindrus is one of the most successful psychrophiles in the Southern Ocean. To investigate the molecular mechanism of biomineralization in this species, we attempted to synchronize F. cylindrus growth, since new cell wall formation is tightly coupled to the cell division process. Nutrient limitation analysis showed that F. cylindrus cultures rapidly stopped growing when deprived of silicate or light, while growth continued to a certain extent in the absence of nitrate. Flow cytometry analysis indicated that deprivation of either silicate or light could effectively arrest the cell cycle of this diatom species at the G1 phase, suggesting that synchrony can be established using either factor. Fluorescence labeling of new cell walls was faintly detectable as early as approximately 6 h after silicon repletion or light irradiation, and labeling was markedly intensified by 18 h. It is revealed that the synthesis of girdle bands begins before valve synthesis in this species, with active valve synthesis occurring during the G2 / M phase. Expression profiling revealed that selective member(s) of the F. cylindrus SIT genes (FcSIT) respond to silicate and light, with a different set of genes being responsive to each factor. The Si / light double depletion experiments demonstrated that expression of one FcSIT gene is possibly correlated to transition to G2 / M phase of the cell cycle, when the valve is actively formed.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.625-636
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• 2011

Cold-adapted bacteria survive in extremely cold temperature conditions and exhibit various mechanisms of adaptation to sustain their regular metabolic functions. These adaptations include several physiological and metabolic changes that assist growth in a myriad of ways. Successfully sensing of the drop in temperature in these bacteria is followed by responses which include changes in the outer cell membrane to changes in the central nucleoid of the cell. Their survival is facilitated through many ways such as synthesis of cryoprotectants, cold acclimation proteins, cold shock proteins, RNA degradosomes, Antifreeze proteins and ice nucleators. Agricultural productivity in cereals and legumes under low temperature is influenced by several cold adopted bacteria including Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter, Burkholderia, Exiguobacterium, Pantoea, Rahnella, Rhodococcus and Serratia. They use plant growth promotion mechanisms including production of IAA, HCN, and ACC deaminase, phosphate solublization and biocontrol against plant pathogens such as Alternaria, Fusarium, Sclerotium, Rhizoctonia and Pythium.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.119-125
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• 2009

To understand the ecological function of heterotrophic bacterial community in water column of large freshwater lakes in the permafrost zone, we investigated the structure and function of bacterial community in Lake Khuvsgul, Mongolia. Species composition of overall bacterial community was analyzed by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) of 16S rRNA gene fragments, and bacteria that can be cultured at 10oC were isolated and characterized. Based on the depth profile of environmental parameters, thermocline and chemocline were recognized at the 5~10 m zone of the water column. The stratified DGGE profile indicated that the discontinuity of water properties might influence the structure of bacterial community: band profiles in the 0~5 m zone were diverse with large change by depth, but the profile was relatively stable at the $\geq$10 m zone, with predominance of the band identified as Acidovorax facilis. Bacterial cultures were screened for protease, cellulase, amylase and lipase activity, and 23 isolates were selected for high activity of the hydrolytic enzymes. The isolates were identified based on their 16S rRNA gene sequences. In the surface water (zero meter depth), Acidovorax defluvii and Sphingobacterium faecium with high cellulase activity were present. Flavobacterium succinicans, Mycoplana bullata and A. facilis were stably predominant isolates at 2 m, 5 m, and $\geq$10 m depths, respectively. F. succinicans isolates showed high protease activity while M. bullata isolates showed moderate levels of protease and celluase activity. A. facilis isolates showed either cellulase or lipase activity, exclusively to each other. According to the profile of growth rates of the isolates in the temperature range of $0\sim42^{\circ}C$, the surface-zone (0~5 m) isolates were facultative psychrophiles while isolates from $\geq$10 m depth were typical mesophiles. This stratification is believed to be due to stratified availability of organic materials to the bacterial decomposers. In the water column below the chemoline, the environment is extremely oligotrophic so that the trait of rapid growth in low temperature might not be demanded by deep-lake decomposers. The stratified distribution of community composition and decomposer activity in Lake Khuvsgul implies that ecological functions of bacterial community in lakes of cold region are sharply divided by water column stratification.