• Journal of Life Science
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• v.25 no.12
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• pp.1408-1414
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• 2015

In this study, to retain a stable bacterial inoculant, Bacillus strains showing antifungal activity were screened. The improved production, antifungal mechanism, and stability of the antifungal metabolite by a selected strain, AF4, a potent antagonist against phytopathogenic Botrytis cinerea, were also investigated. The AF4 strain was isolated from rhizospheric soil of hot pepper and identified as Bacillus subtilis by phenotypic characters and 16S rRNA gene analysis. Strain AF4 did not produce antifungal activity in the absence of a nitrogen source and produced antifungal activity at a broad range of temperatures (25-40℃) and pH (7-10). Optimal carbon and nitrogen sources for the production of antifungal activity were glycerol and casein, respectively. Under improved conditions, the maximum antifungal activity was 140±3 AU/ml, which was higher than in the basal medium. Photomicrographs of strain AF4-treated B. cinerea showed morphological abnormalities of fungal mycelia, demonstrating the role of the antifungal metabolite. The B. subtilis AF4 culture exhibited broad antifungal activity against several phytopathogenic fungi. The antifungal activity was heat-, pH-, solvent-, and protease-stable, indicating its nonproteinous nature. These results suggest that B. subtilis AF4 is a potential candidate for the control of phytopathogenic fungi-derived plant diseases.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.156-161
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• 2020

Since industrialization, the production and utilization of various chemicals has contributed to improving the quality of our lives, but the subsequent discharge of massive waste is inevitable, and environmental pollution is becoming more serious every day. Exposure to chemicals as a result of environmental pollution is having a negative effect on human health and the ecosystem, and cleaning up the polluted environment that can affect our lives is a very important issue. Toxic aromatic compounds have been detected frequently in soil, groundwater, and wastewater because of the extensive use of oil products, and phenol, which is used to produce synthetic resins, textiles, and dyes, is one of the major pollutants, along with insecticides and preservatives. Phenol can cause dyspnea, headache, vomiting, mutation, and carcinogenesis. Phenol-degrading bacterium DWB-1-8 was isolated from the activated sludge of textile wastewater; this strain was identified as Comamonas testosteroni by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The optimal culture conditions for the cell growth and degradation of phenol were 0.7% K₂HPO₄, 0.6% NaH₂PO₄, 0.1% NH₄NO₃, 0.015% MgSO₄·7H₂O, 0.001% FeSO₄·7H₂O, an initial pH of 7, and a temperature of 30℃. The strain was also able to grow by using other toxic compounds, such as benzene, toluene, or xylene (BTX), as the sole source of carbon.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.97-107
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• 2015

Wetlands constitute a transitional zone between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and have unique characteristics such as frequent inundation, inflow of nutrients from terrestrial ecosystems, presence of plants adapted to grow in water, and soil that is occasionally oxygen deficient due to saturation. These characteristics and the presence of vegetation determine physical and chemical properties that affect decomposition rates of organic matter (OM). Decomposition of OM is associated with activities of various extracellular enzymes (EE) produced by bacteria and fungi. Extracellular enzymes convert macromolecules to simple compounds such as labile organic carbon (C), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and sulfur (S) that can be easily taken up by microbes and plants. Therefore, the enzymatic approach is helpful to understand the decomposition rates of OM and nutrient cycling in wetland soils. This paper reviews the physical and biogeochemical factors that regulate extracellular enzyme activities (EEa) in wetland soils, including those of ${\beta}$-glucosidase, ${\beta}$-N-acetylglucosaminidase, phosphatase, arylsulfatase, and phenol oxidase that decompose organic matter and release C, N, P, and S nutrients for microbial and plant growths. Effects of pH, water table, and particle size of OM on EEa were not significantly different among sites, whereas the influence of temperature on EEa varied depending on microbial acclimation to extreme temperatures. Addition of C, N, or P affected EEa differently depending on the nutrient state, C:N ratio, limiting factors, and types of enzymes of wetland soils. Substrate quality influenced EEa more significantly than did other factors. Also, drainage of wetland and increased temperature due to global climate change can stimulate phenol oxidase activity, and anthropogenic N deposition can enhance the hydrolytic EEa; these effects increase OM decomposition rates and emissions of $CO_2$ and $CH_4$ from wetland systems. The researches on the relationship between microbial structures and EE functions, and environmental factors controlling EEa can be helpful to manipulate wetland ecosystems for treating pollutants and to monitor wetland ecosystem services.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.9-18
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• 1971

In order to obtain basic information on the production of single cell protein from petroleum, more than 400 yeast strains were isolated from various soil samples in Korea utilizing petroleum hydrocarbon as the sole carbon source. A yeast strain showing the highest cell yield among the isolated strains was selected and identified. The optimal culture condition was searched in the flasks shaken throughout the procedure. And the growing characteristics for the selected yeast strain and chemical analysis of the yeast cell component were carried out. The results obtained were as follows: 1. The selected yeast strain was identified as Candida curvata and we named it Candida curvata-SNU 70. 2. The composition of the medium proposed for the present yeast strain is: Light Gas Oil 30ml, Urea 400mg, Ammonium sulfate 100mg, Potasium phosphate (monobasic) 670mg, Sodium phosphate (dibasic) 330mg, Magnesium sulfate 500mg, Calcium carbonate 3g, Yeast extract 50mg, Tween 20 0.05ml, Tap water 1,000ml. 3. Other culture conditions employed for the yeast were pH 5.5-7.0, temp. $30^{\circ}C$ under an affluent aerobic state. 4. Addition of light gas oil in portions to the culture media as the growth proceeded was more effective, especially in the cultivation on the higher oil concentration media. 5. Studies on the propagation of the yeast cells in the light gas oil medium revealed that the yeast has the lag phase lasted 16 hours and the logarithmic growth phase covered 16 to 28 hours. The specific growth rate was about $0.22\;hr^{-1}$ and doubling time was 3.2 hrs. during the logarithmic growth phase. 6. Under the cultural condition employed, the cell yield against the amount of light gas oil (wt%) was 16.1% and the protein content of the dried yeast cells was 48.4%.

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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• 2003.04a
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• pp.61-62
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• 2003

Clonal propagation of high-value forest trees through somatic embryogenesis (SE) has the potential to rapidly capture the benefits of breeding or genetic engineering programs and to improve raw material uniformity and quality. A major barrier to the commercialization of this technology is the low quality of the resulting embryos. Several factors limit commercialization of SE for Corsican pine, including low initiation rates, low culture survival, culture decline causing low or no embryo production, and inability of somatic embryos to fully mature, resulting in low germination and reduced vigour of somatic seedlings. The objective was to develop a Corsican pine maturation medium that would produce cotyledonary embryos capable of germination. Treatments were arranged in a completely randomized design. Data were analyzed by analysis of variance, and significant differences between treatments determined by multiple range test at P=0.05. Corsican pine (Pinus nigra var. maritima) cultures were initiated on modified !P6 medium. Modifications of the same media were used for culture multiplication and maintenance. Embryogenic cultures were maintained on the same medium semi solidified with 2.5 g/l Gelrite. A maturation medium, capable of promoting the development of Corsican pine somatic embryos that can germinate, is a combination of iP6 modified salts, 2% maltose, 13% polyethylene glycol (PEG), 5 mg!l abscisic acid (ABA), and 2.5 g/l Gelrite. After initiation and once enough tissue developed they were grown in liquid medium. Embryogenic cell suspensions were established by adding 0.951.05 g of 10- to 14-day-old semisolid-grown embryogenic tissue to 9 ml of liquid maintenance media in a 250ml Erlenmeyer flask. Cultures were then incubated in the dark at 2022$^{\circ}$C and rotated at 120 rpm. After 2.53 months on maturation medium, somatic embryos were selected that exhibited normal embryo shape. Ten embryos were placed horizontally on 20 ml of either germination medium ($\frac{2}{1}$strength Murashige and Skoog (1962) salts with 2.5 g/l activated charcoal) or same medium with copper sulphate adjusted to 0.25 mg/1 to compensate for copper adsorption by activated carbon. 2% and 4% maltose was substituted by 7.5% and 13% PEG respectively to improve the yield of the embryos. Substitution of' maltose with PEG was clearly beneficial to embryo development. When 2% of the maltose was replaced with 7.5% PEG, many embryos developed to large bullet-shaped embryos. At latter stages of development most embryos callused and stopped development. A few short, barrel-shaped cotyledonary embryos formed that were covered by callus on the sides and base. When 4% of the maltose was removed and substituted with 13% PEG, the embryos developed further, emerging from the callus and increasing yield slightly. Microscopic examination of the cultures showed differing morphologies, varying from mostly single cells or clumps to well-formed somatic embryos that resembled early zygotic embryos only liquid cultures with organized early-stag. A procedure for converting and acclimating germinants to growth in soil and greenhouse conditions is also tested. Seedling conversion and growth were highly related to the quality of the germinant at the time of planting. Germinants with larger shoots, longer, straighter hypocotyls and longer roots performed best. When mature zygotic embryos germinate the root emerges, before or coincident with the shoot. In contrast, somatic embryos germinate in reverse sequence, with the cotyledons greening first, then shoot emergence and then, much later, if at all, the appearance of the root. Somatic seedlings, produced from the maturation medium, showed 100% survival when planted in a field setting. Somatic seedlings showed normal yearly growth relative to standard seedlings from natural seed.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.154-163
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• 2021

This study was carried out to present the habitat distribution status and the habitat distribution prediction of Sophora koreensis, which is the Korean Endemic Plant included in the EN (Endangered) class of the IUCN Red List. The habit distribution survey of Sophora koreensis confirmed 19 habitats in Gangwon Province, including 13 habitats in Yanggu-gun, 3 habitats in Inje-gun, 2 habitats in Chuncheon-si, and 1 habitat in Hongcheon-gun. The northernmost habitat of Sophora koreensis in Korea was in Imdang-ri, Yanggu-gun; the easternmost habitat in Hangye-ri, Inje-gun; the westernmost habitat in Jinae-ri, Chuncheon-si; and the southernmost habitat in Sungdong-ri, Hongcheon-gun. The altitude of the Sophora koreensis habitats ranged from 169 to 711 m, with an average altitude of 375m. The area of the habitats was 8,000-734,000 m², with an average area of 202,789 m². Most habitats were the managed forests, such as thinning and pruning forests. The MaxEnt program analysis for the potential habitat of Sophora koreensis showed the AUC value of 0.9762. The predictive habitat distribution was Yanggu-gun, Inje-gun, Hwacheon-gun, and Chuncheon-si in Gangwon Province. The variables that influence the prediction of the habitat distribution were the annual precipitation, soil carbon content, and maximum monthly temperature. This study confirmed that habitats of Sophora koreensis were mostly found in the ridge area with rich light intensity. They can be used as basic data for the designation of protected areas of Sophora koreensis habitat.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.305-321
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• 2022

The stone chamber tomb in Eungpyeong-ri, Buyeo, is a joint tomb that contains the bodies of two individuals. This paper investigates the relationship between the buried persons and the characteristics of the stone chamber tomb. Based on the geographical location, relics, and the excavated human bones, it was determined that the tomb was built during the Sabi Period of the Baekje Dynasty and that the buried individuals were most probably residents of high stature or government officials. To study the excavated bones, the remains were carefully collected and conservation was carried out. Before collecting samples from the human bones for the analytical research, the results of near-infrared analysis were used to collect the samples for the isotope analysis and DNA analysis. The most important issue when handling the excavation site was the reinforcing agent and the concentration of the agent used. In situations like this, Paraloid B-72 is the most suitable agent. When the shape of human bones was difficult to distinguish from the soil, conservation was performed using X-ray and CT imaging data. The same chemical used for the reinforcement of the site was used to complete a minimum level of conservation to the surface areas where the conservation treatment of removing foreign substances, the reinforcement areas, and bonded areas were carried out. The collagen yield from the sample obtained at selected position was 3.8% to 6.1%. The results of analyzing the stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen found in the extracted collagen showed that the stable isotope ratios came out to δ¹³C -18.3‰±0.1‰, -19.0‰±0.1‰ for EBW and δ¹⁵N 10.7‰±0.5‰, 10.6‰±0.1‰ for EBE. It is believed the two individuals consumed small amounts of minor cereals, mainly from C₃ plants, and protein was obtained from eating terrestrial animals. What's more, the deviations in data obtained from the two individuals were so small that it could be inferred that the individuals ate similar foods. Considering the preservation state of the sample, amplifying DNA for the DNA analysis would have been very difficult since the amount of surviving DNA was so deficient. For DNA analysis, it is anticipated that the results could be derived by applying improved extraction methods that will be developed in the future. In this research, any association between scientific analysis(DNA and stable isotope ratio) and near-infrared spectroscopy was difficult to establish. Further research is needed on the utilization of near-infrared analysis for gathering samples from human bones.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.306-314
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• 2023

Stream sediments are an important component of water quality management because they are receptors of various pollutants such as heavy metals and organic matters emitted from upland sources and can be secondary pollution sources, adversely affecting water environment. To effectively manage the stream sediments, identification of primary sources of sediment contamination and source-associated control strategies will be required. We evaluated the performance of machine learning models in identifying primary sources of sediment contamination based on the physico-chemical properties of stream sediments. A total of 356 stream sediment data sets of 18 quality parameters including 10 heavy metal species(Cd, Cu, Pb, Ni, As, Zn, Cr, Hg, Li, and Al), 3 soil parameters(clay, silt, and sand fractions), and 5 water quality parameters(water content, loss on ignition, total organic carbon, total nitrogen, and total phosphorous) were collected near abandoned metal mines and industrial complexes across the four major river basins in Korea. Two machine learning algorithms, linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and support vector machine (SVM) classifiers were used to classify the sediments into four cases of different combinations of the sampling period and locations (i.e., mine in dry season, mine in wet season, industrial complex in dry season, and　industrial complex in wet season). Both models showed good performance in the classification, with SVM outperformed LDA; the accuracy values of LDA and SVM were 79.5% and 88.1%, respectively. An SVM ensemble model was used for multi-label classification of the multiple contamination sources inlcuding landuses in the upland areas within 1 km radius from the sampling sites. The results showed that the multi-label classifier was comparable performance with sinlgle-label SVM in classifying mines and industrial complexes, but was less accurate in classifying dominant land uses (50~60%). The poor performance of the multi-label SVM is likely due to the overfitting caused by small data sets compared to the complexity of the model. A larger data set might increase the performance of the machine learning models in identifying contamination sources.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2023.04a
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• pp.7-7
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• 2023

Currently, the main technologies of various fourth industries are big data, the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, blockchain, mixed reality (MR), and drones. In particular, "digital twin," which has recently become a global technological trend, is a concept of a virtual model that is expressed equally in physical objects and computers. By creating and simulating a Digital twin of software-virtualized assets instead of real physical assets, accurate information about the characteristics of real farming (current state, agricultural productivity, agricultural work scenarios, etc.) can be obtained. This study aims to streamline agricultural work through automatic water management, remote growth forecasting, drone control, and pest forecasting through the operation of an integrated control system by constructing digital twin data on the main production area of the nojinot industry and designing and building a smart farm complex. In addition, it aims to distribute digital environmental control agriculture in Korea that can reduce labor and improve crop productivity by minimizing environmental load through the use of appropriate amounts of fertilizers and pesticides through big data analysis. These open-field agricultural technologies can reduce labor through digital farming and cultivation management, optimize water use and prevent soil pollution in preparation for climate change, and quantitative growth management of open-field crops by securing digital data for the national cultivation environment. It is also a way to directly implement carbon-neutral RED++ activities by improving agricultural productivity. The analysis and prediction of growth status through the acquisition of the acquired high-precision and high-definition image-based crop growth data are very effective in digital farming work management. The Southern Crop Department of the National Institute of Food Science conducted research and development on various types of open-field agricultural smart farms such as underground point and underground drainage. In particular, from this year, commercialization is underway in earnest through the establishment of smart farm facilities and technology distribution for agricultural technology complexes across the country. In this study, we would like to describe the case of establishing the agricultural field that combines digital twin technology and open-field agricultural smart farm technology and future utilization plans.