• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.275-281
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• 2013

Probiotics have been reported to benefit human health by modulating immunity, lowering cholesterol, improving lactose tolerance, and preventing some cancer. Once ingested, probiotic microorganisms have to survive harsh conditions such as low pH, protease-rich condition, and bile salts during their passage through the gastro-intestinal (GI) tract colonize and proliferate to exert their probiotic effects. The dual coating technology, by which the bacteria are doubly coated with peptides and polysaccharides in consecutive order, was developed to protect the ingested bacteria from the harsh conditions. The aim of the study was to evaluate the viable stability of a doubly coated blend of four species of Bifidobacterium by comparing its bile/acid resistance and heat viability in vitro with that of the non-coated blend. After challenges with acid, bile salts, heat, and viable cell counts (VVCs) of the dual coated and non-coated blend were determined by cultivation on agar plates or flow cytometric measurement after being stain with the BacLigtht kit$^{TM}$. The results showed that the dual coated blend was much higher resistant to the acidic or bile salt condition than the non-coated blend and heat viability was also higher, indicating that the dual coating can improve the survival of probiotic bacteria during their transit through the GI tract after consumption.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.421-426
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• 2010

Many bacterial strains inhabit strong saline condition, such as tidal mudflat and salted seafoods, were identified and reported for the proposed protease activities and salt resistance; however antifungal activities against plant fungal pathogen have not well been studied until now. In this study, primary screening was performed for the isolation of promising strains against major plant pathogens like Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, Fusarium oxysporum, Phytophthora capsici, Botrytis cineria, Collectotrichum acutatum and Pythium ultimum. Totally 423 bacterial strain were isolated from laboratory media which was based on different morphological characteristics and all the strains were dual cultured against major fungal pathogens on PDA, finally 40 strains were selected as antifungal bacterial strain and identified by fatty acid phylogenic difference analysis from MIDI shorlock gas chromatography system. As a result, antifungal strains from tidal mudflat were 10 species of 6 genus. Paenibacillus macerans was dominant species; 5 strains among the 17 isolates from tidal mudflat. Antifungal strains from salted seafoods were 7 species of 3 genus and Bacillus atrophaeus was dominant species; 12 strains among the 23 isolates from salted fishes.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.268-275
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• 2008

In order to develop the multi-functional rhizobacteria that can exert positive effect on the growth of plants growing in the coastal sand dune located along East Coast of Korea, rhizospheral bacteria of 11 different plants from this area were isolated 1,330 rhizobacteria. Among these, 23 strains were able to produce auxin and had spectrum of antagonism toward various phytopathogenic microbes. To know the mechanism of this antifungal activity, these 23 strains were subjected to further analyses; 19 strains of these produced siderophore as determined by color reaction on CAS-blue plate, 4 strains produced antifungal cellulase as judged by color change on CMC-Congo red plate, 17 strains were able to utilized insoluble phosphate salts, also determined by clear zone formation on PVK medium. Identification of the strain was assigned to all 23 strains by l6s rDNA sequence analysed, and all were identified to be in the genus of Bacillus and Pseudomonas. One strain of these, denoted Pseudomonas fluorescens IB4-14, showed ACC deaminase activity which is known to be involved in the resistance of environmental stress such as salt and drought. Also, P. fluorescens IB4-l4 showed the germination stimulation and roots growth promoting activity on the in vivo assay of Lysimachia mauritiana Lam. (spoonleaf yellow loosestrife).

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.659-666
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• 2003

Endoglucanase A from Clostridium thermocellum which is resistant to pancreatic proteinase was selected out of numbers cellulases then were expressed in lactobacilli. Recombinant lactobacilli expression vector, pSD1, harboring the endoglucanase gene from C. thermocellum under the control of its own promoter, was constructed. Both L. bulgaricus and L. plantarum were electrotransformed with pSD1. The endoglucanase activities of 0.120 and 0.144 U/ml were found in culture media of L. bulgaricus and L. plantarum containing pSD1, respectively. In vitro survival characteristics of the transformed lactobacilli were tested. Both L. bulgaricus and L. plantarum showed a similar resistance to low pH 3. Moreover, L. plantarum was bile-salt resistant in the presence of 0.3 and 1% oxgall. L. bulgaricus and L. plantarum showed a rather homogenous resistant pattern against the tested antibiotics. Both of the strains were resistant to amikacin, gentamicin, streptomycin, kanamycin, and colistin.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.53 no.2
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• pp.237-243
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• 2020

Listeria sp. is one of the pathogenic bacteria causes the infection listeriosis, through mainly raw food such as fishery food, dairy food and vegetables. Listeria sp. is a Gram-positive, non-spore-forming, motile, and facultative anaerobic bacterium. Because of the tolerance of Listeria sp. to low temperature and high salt concentration, it is very difficult to prevent them contaminated in the food, which do not require heating, especially, such as raw fishery products. So prevention and removal of bacterial contamination at the food manufacturing stage is the best method. In this study, therefore, several natural products including Psidium guajava and Geranium thunbergii were screened to investigate the antibacterial activity against Listeria sp., with expectation of fewer side effects and fewer resistance problems. Significant effects of two extracts were confirmed by well diffusion assay, MIC assay, and growth inhibition assay. P. guajava and G. thunbergii showed MIC values at 64-256 ㎍/mL meaning strong antibacterial activities against 6 kind of Listeria sp. tested. And the growth of Listeria sp. in the liquid media was actually inhibited by the addition of these two extracts.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.50-59
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• 2007

The advent of towed geo-electrical array surveying on water and land has resulted in datasets of magnitude approaching that of airborne electromagnetic surveying and most suited to 1D inversion. Robustness and complete automation is essential if processing and reliable interpretation of such data is to be viable. Sharp boundaries such as river beds and the top of saline aquifers must be resolved so use of smoothness constraints must be minimised. Suitable inversion algorithms must intelligently handle low signal-to-noise ratio data if conductive basement, that attenuates signal, is not to be misrepresented. A noise-level aware inversion algorithm that operates with one elastic thickness layer per electrode configuration has been coded. The noise-level aware inversion identifies if conductive basement has attenuated signal levels so that they are below noise level, and models conductive basement where appropriate. Layers in the initial models are distributed to span the effective depths of each of the geo-electric array quadrupoles. The algorithm works optimally on data collected using geo-electric arrays with an approximately exponential distribution of quadrupole effective depths. Inversion of data from arrays with linear electrodes, used to reduce contact resistance, and capacitive-line antennae is plausible. This paper demonstrates the effectiveness of the algorithm using theoretical examples and an example from a salt interception scheme on the Murray River, Australia.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.789-798
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• 2016

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are industrially important microorganisms for probiotics. The recent widespread application of LAB for preparation of functional food is attributable to the accumulating scientific evidence showing their beneficial effects on human health. In this study, we isolated and characterized plant-derived LAB that show angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory and antioxidant activities. The selected strain K2 was isolated from Kimchi, and identified as Lactobacillus plantarum by 16S rRNA gene analysis. The strain grew under static and shaking culture systems. They were also able to grow in different culture conditions like $25^{\circ}C{\sim}37^{\circ}C$ temperature, 4~10 pH range and ~6% NaCl concentration. L. plantarum K2 was highly resistant to acid stress; survival rate of the strain at pH 2.5 and 3 were 80% and 91.6%, respectively. The strain K2 also showed high bile resistance to 0.3% bile bovine and 0.3% bile extract with more than 74% of survival rate. The cell grown on MRS agar plate containing bile extract formed opaque precipitate zones around the colonies, indicating they have bile salt hydrolase activity. The strain showed an inhibitory activity against pathogenic bacteria such as Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Listeria monocytogenes; antibacterial activity was probably due to the lactic acid. The K2 strain showed relatively higher autoaggregation values, antihypertensive and antioxidant activities. These results suggest that L. plantarum K2 could be not only applied as a pharmabiotic for human health but also is also starter culture applicable to fermentative products.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.157-165
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• 2016

It is possible to achieve high strength ranging from 40 MPa to 70 MPa in alkali-activated slag concrete (AASC), and AASC is also known to have a finer pore structure due to its high latent hydraulicity and fineness of slag cement, which makes it difficult for chloride ions to penetrate. Electrophoresis is mostly used to calculate the effective diffusion coefficient of chloride ions, and then to evaluate resistance to salt damage. Few studies have been conducted on the fixation capacity of chloride ions in AASC. For this reason, in this study the chloride fixation within the hardened paste was evaluated according to the type and the amount of alkaline activators. As a result, it was revealed that among the test specimens, the chloride fixation was greatest in the paste containing $Na_2SiO_3$. In addition, it was found that as more activator was added, a higher level of chloride fixation was observed. Through this analysis, it can be concluded that the type and the amount of alkaline activators have a high correlation with the amount of C-S-H produced.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.106-110
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• 2002

Gel-type polyacrylonitrile(PAN) polymer electrolytes have been prepared using ethylene carbonate(EC), propylene carbonate(PC) and dimethyl carbonate(DMC) plasticizer, $LiPF_6$ salt and $TiO_2$ ceramic filler. Electrochemical properties, such as electrochemical stability, ionic conductivity and compatibility with lithium metal and mechanical properly of polymer electrolytes were investigated. Charge/discharge performance of lithium secondary battery using these polymer electrolytes were investigated. The maximum load that the polymer electrolyte resists increased about two times as a result of adding $TiO_2$ in the polymer electrolyte containing EC and PC. Polymer electrolyte containing EC, PC and $TiO_2$ also showed ionic conductivity of $2\times10^{-3} S/cm$ at room temperature and electrochemical stability window up to 와 4.5V. Polymer electrolyte containing EC, PC, and $TiO_2$ showed the most stable interfacial resistance of $130\Omega$ during 20 days in the impedance spectra of the cells which were constructed by lithium metals as electrodes. Lithium metal secondary battery which employed $LiCoO_2$ cathode, lithium metal anode and $TiO_2$-dispersed polymer electrolyte showed $90\%$ of charge/discharge efficiency at the 1C rate of discharge.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.501-509
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• 2012

A 990 bp full-length gene (xynAHJ2) encoding a 329-residue polypeptide (XynAHJ2) with a calculated mass of 38.4 kDa was cloned from Bacillus sp. HJ2 harbored in a saline soil. XynAHJ2 showed no signal peptide, distinct amino acid stretches of glycoside hydrolase (GH) family 10 intracellular endoxylanases, and the highest amino acid sequence identity of 65.3% with the identified GH 10 intracellular mesophilic endoxylanase iM-KRICT PX1-Ps from Paenibacillus sp. HPL-001 (ACJ06666). The recombinant enzyme (rXynAHJ2) was expressed in Escherichia coli and displayed the typical characteristics of low-temperature-active enzyme (exhibiting optimum activity at $35^{\circ}C$, 62% at $20^{\circ}C$, and 38% at $10^{\circ}C$; thermolability at ${\geq}45^{\circ}C$). Compared with the reported GH 10 low-temperature-active endoxylanases, which are all extracellular, rXynAHJ2 showed low amino acid sequence identities (<45%), low homology (different phylogenetic cluster), and difference of structure (decreased amount of total accessible surface area and exposed nonpolar accessible surface area). Compared with the reported GH 10 intracellular endoxylanases, which are all mesophilic and thermophilic, rXynAHJ2 has decreased numbers of arginine residues and salt bridges, and showed resistance to $Ni^{2+}$, $Ca^{2+}$, or EDTA at 10 mM final concentration. The above mechanism of structural adaptation for low-temperature activity of intracellular endoxylanase rXynAHJ2 is different from that of GH 10 extracellular low-temperature-active endoxylanases. This is the first report of the molecular and biochemical characterizations of a novel intracellular low-temperature-active xylanase.