• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.373-378
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• 2004

In this study, established soil-borne Bacillus sp. FF-9 with strong antifungal activity was isolated for identification and to determine optimal culture condition. By using 16s rDNA sequencing method, FF-9 of the selected bacteria was identified as genus Bacillus sp., Bacillus sp. FF-9 was cultured at $30^{\circ}C$, for 24 h in the LB medium. Cell growth increased quickly after 6 h and the highest cell growth was indicated at 12 h. The most antifungal activity against Rhizoctoina solani AGII-II appeared at 18 h and the optimal temperature and pH were 30 and pH 8.0, respectively. A testing of carbon and nitrogen sources showed the highest antifungal activity at 1% lactose and 1% yeast extract Furthermore an addition of salt showed the most antibiotic activity in the 0.15% $K_2HPO_4$.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.444-450
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• 2011

Perchlorate ($ClO_4^-$) is a contaminant found in surface water and soil/ground water. Autotrophic perchlorate-reducing bacteria (PRB) use hydrogen gas ($H_2$) as an electron donor to remove perchlorate. Since iron corrosion can produce $H_2$, feasibility of autotrophic perchlorate-removal using zero-valent iron (ZVI) was examined in this study using activated sludge that is easily available from a wastewater treatment plant. Batch test showed that activated sludge microorganisms could successfully degrade perchlorate in the presence of ZVI. The perchlorate biodegradation was confirmed by molar yield of $Cl^-$ as perchlorate was degraded. Scanning electron microscope revealed that rod-shaped microorganisms on the surface of iron particles used for the autotrophic perchlorate-removal, suggesting that iron particles could serve as supporting media for the formation of biofilm as well. DGGE analyses revealed that microbial profile of the inoculum (activated sludge) was different from that of biofilm sample obtained from the ZVI-added enrichment culture used for $ClO_4^-$-degradation. A major band of the biofilm sample was most closely related to the class Clostridia.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.92-97
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• 2014

Perchlorate ($ClO_4^-$) is an emerging contaminant of soil/groundwater and surface water. $ClO_4^-$ has been shown to inhibit iodide uptake into the thyroid gland and cause a reduction in thyroid hormone production. $ClO_4^-$ is highly soluble and very stable in water. Biodegradation by $ClO_4^-$-reducing bacteria (PRB) is considered the most important factor in natural attenuation of $ClO_4^-$. Rivers in an industrial complex have potential to be contaminated with $ClO_4^-$ discharged from point or non-point sources. In this study, water samples were taken from the rivers running through the Gumi industrial complexes and used for batch test to analyze $ClO_4^-$-degradation potential of river microorganisms. The results of 83-h batch culture showed that $ClO_4^-$-removal efficiency of all samples was 0.77% or less without addition of an external electron ($e^-$) donor. However $ClO_4^-$-removal efficiency was higher when an $e^-$ donor (acetate, thiosulfate, $S^0$, or $F^0$) was added into the batch culture, showing up to 100% removal efficiency. The removal efficiency was various depending on type of $e^-$ donor and site of sampling. When acetate was used as an $e^-$ donor, the highest $ClO_4^-$-removal efficiency was observed among the $e^-$ donors used in this study, suggesting that activity of heterotrophic PRB was dominant. The results of this study provide basic information on natural attenuation of $ClO_4^-$ by river microorganisms. The information can be useful to prepare a strategy to enhance efficiency of $ClO_4^-$ biodegradation for in situ bioremediation.

• 한국균학회소식:학술대회논문집
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• 2018.05a
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• pp.44-44
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• 2018

Fusarium head blight (FHB) caused by infection with Fusarium graminearum leads to enormous losses to crop growers, and may contaminate grains with a number of Fusarium mycotoxins that pose serious risks to human and animal health. Antagonistic bacteria that are used to prevent FHB offer attractive alternatives or supplements to synthetic fungicides for controlling FHB without the negative effects of chemical management. Out of 500 bacterial strains isolated from soil, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens JCK-12 showed strong antifungal activity and was considered a potential source for control strategies to reduce FHB. B. amyloliquefaciens JCK-12 produces several cyclic lipopeptides (CLPs) including iturin A, fengycin, and surfactin. Iturin A inhibits spore germination of F. graminearum. Fengycin or surfactin alone did not display any inhibitory activity against spore germination at concentrations less than 30 ug/ml, but a mixture of iturin A, fengycin, and surfactin showed a remarkable synergistic inhibitory effect on F. graminearum spore germination. The fermentation broth and formulation of B. amyloliquefaciens JCK-12 strain reduced the disease incidence of FHB in wheat. Furthermore, co-application of B. amyloliquefaciens JCK-12 and chemical fungicides resulted in synergistic in vitro antifungal effects and significant disease control efficacy against FHB under greenhouse and field conditions, suggesting that B. amyloliquefaciens JCK-12 has a strong chemosensitizing effect. The synergistic antifungal effect of B. amyloliquefaciens JCK-12 and chemical fungicides in combination may result from the cell wall damage and altered cell membrane permeability in the phytopathogenic fungi caused by the CLP mixtures and subsequent increased sensitivity of F. graminearum to fungicides. In addition, B. amyloliquefaciens JCK-12 showed the potential to reduce trichothecenes mycotoxin production. The results of this study indicate that B. amyloliquefaciens JCK-12 could be used as an available biocontrol agent or as a chemosensitizer to chemical fungicides for controlling FHB disease and as a strategy for preventing the contamination of harvested crops with mycotoxins.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.589-595
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• 2011

This work focused on screening and characterizing antibiotic-producing actinomycetes to develop new antibiotics that can overcome the growing resistance of disease-causing microbes. One-hundred actinomycetes strains were isolated from soil samples from Chungcheongbuk-do, Korea using various kinds of actinomycetes isolation media, including a starch casein agar medium and potato dextrose agar (PDA). Among them, strain BCNU 1030 was determined to show strong antimicrobial activity against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Biochemical, physiological, and 16S rRNA sequence analyses indicated that strain BCNU 1030 belonged to the genus Streptomyces. Strain BCNU 1030 exhibited antibiotic activity against a wide range of bacteria, especially methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of BCNU 1030 dichloromethane extract was determined to be $0.78\;{\mu}g/ml$ for MRSA CCARM 3090. Therefore, Streptomyces sp. BCNU 1030 has potential for anti-MRSA drug development.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.24 no.8
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• pp.887-894
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• 2014

The screening of the microorganisms degrading chlorinated organic compounds such as PCP (pentachlorophenol) and TCE (trichloroethylene) was conducted with soil and industrial wastewater contaminated with various chlorinated organic compounds. Isolates (GP5, GP19) capable of degrading PCP and isolates (GA6, GA15) capable of degrading TCE were identified as Acetobactor sp., Pseudomonas sp., Arthrobacer sp., Xanthomonas sp. and named Acetobacter sp. GP5, Pseudomonas sp. GP19, Arthrobacer sp. GA6 and Xanthomoas sp. GA15, respectively. The microbial augmentation, OC17 formulated with the mixture of bacteria including isolates (4 strains) degrading chlorinated organic compounds and isolates (Acinetobacter sp. KN11, Neisseria sp. GN13) degrading aromatic hydrocarbons. Characteristics of microbial augmentation OC-17 showed cell mass of $2.8{\times}10^9CFU/g$, bulk density of $0.299g/cm^3$ and water content of 26.8%. In the experiment with an artificial wastewater containing PCP (500 mg/l), degradation efficiency of the microbial augmentation OC17 was 87% during incubation of 65 hours. The degradation efficiency of TCE (300 uM) by microbial augmentation OC17 was 90% during incubation of 50 hours. In a continuous culture experiment, analysis of the biodegradation of organic compounds by microbial augmentation OC17 in industry wastewater containing chlorinated hydrocarbons showed that the removal rate of COD was 91% during incubation of 10 days. These results indicate that it is possible to apply the microbial augmentation OC17 to industrial wastewaters containing chlorinated organic compounds.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.676-681
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• 2013

Perchlorate (${ClO_4}^-$) is an emerging contaminant found in surface water and soil/groundwater. Microbial removal of perchlorate is the method of choice since perchlorate-reducing bacteria (PRB) can reduce perchlorate to harmless end-products. A previous study [3] showed experimental evidence of autotrophic perchlorate removal using elemental sulfur granules and activated sludge. The granular sulfur is a relatively inexpensive electron donor, and activated sludge is easily available from a wastewater treatment plant. A batch test was performed in this study to further investigate the effect of various environmental parameters on the perchlorate degradation by sludge microorganisms when elemental sulfur was used as electron donor. Results of the batch test suggest optimum conditions for autotrophic perchlorate degradation by sludge microorganisms. The results also show that sulfur-oxidizing PRB enriched from activated sludge removed perchlorate better than activated sludge. Taken together, this study suggests that autotrophic perchlorate removal using elemental sulfur and activated sludge can be improved by employing optimized environmental conditions and enrichment culture.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.435-441
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• 2017

Perchlorate ($ClO_4^-$) is an emerging contaminant detected in soil, groundwater, and surface water. Previous study revealed bacterial community in the enrichment culture tdegraded perchlorate using elemental sulfur as an electron donor. Quantitative and qualitative molecular methods were employed in this study to investigate archaeal community in the enrichment culture. Real-time qPCR showed that archaeal 16S rRNA gene copy number in the culture was about 1.5% of bacterial 16S rRNA gene copy number. This suggested that less archaea were adapted to the environment of the enrichment culture and bacteria were dominant. DGGE banding pattern revealed that archaeal community profile of the enrichment culture was different from that of the activated sludge used as an inoculum for the enrichment culture. The most dominant DGGE band of the enrichment culture was affiliated with Methanococci. Further research is necessary to investigate metabolic role of the dominant archaeal population to better understand microbial community in the perchlorate-reducing enrichment culture.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.67-73
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• 2002

The cellular responses of soil-borne bacterium, Pseudomonas sp. HK-6 to explosive 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) were examined. Two stress shock proteins (SSPs), approximately 70-kDa DnaK and a 60-kDa GroEL were found in HK-6 cells in response to TNT. Analyses of SDS-PAGE and Western blot using anti-DnaK and GroEL revealed that SSPs were induced in HK-6 cells exposed to 0.5 M of TNT far 6-12 hrs. The maximum induction of proteins was achieved at 8-hr incubation point after HK-6 cells'exposure to TNT. Similar SSPs were found to be induced in HK-6 cells by heat shock (shift of temperature, from $30^{\circ}C$ to $42^{\circ}C$) or cold shock (shift of temperature,$30^{\circ}C$ to $4^{\circ}C$).2D-PAGE of soluble protein tractions from the culture of Pseudomonas sp. HX-6 exposed to TNT demonstrated that approximately 450 spots were observed on the silver stained gels ranging from pH 3 to pH 10. Among them, 12 spots significantly induced and expressed in response to TNT were selected and analyzed. Approximately 60-kDa protein, which was assumed highly expressed on the gel, was used for amino acid sequencing. N-terminal microsequencing with in-gel digestion showed that N-terminal sequence of the TNT-induced protein, <$^1XXAKDVKFGDSARKKML^17$, shared extensive similarity with $^1XXAKDVKFGDSARKKML^17$, N-terminal sequence of (P48216) GroEL of Pseudomonas putida.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.119-124
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• 2000

Thirty three strains of bacteria were isolated from the wastewater and soil contaminated a chemical softener, nrganopolysiloxane. Of these, five strains which showed higher activities for removal this chemical were finally selected for further study. By five strains the 2,500 mgll chemical softener was removed 65.2-67.9% at $37^{\circ}C$ for 5 days by shaking. The pH optimum for growth of W3721, S3712, and S3723 strain were at around pH 7.0-7.5, and W2811, and W2823 strain were at pH 6.5-7.0, respectively. The temperature optimum for growth of W3712 strain was at $37^{\circ}C$ and the other four strains were at TEX>$30^{\circ}C$. The optimal pH and temperature for removal by W3712 strain was initial pH 7.0 and $37^{\circ}C$ respechvely. The W3712 strain was identified and named as Corynebacterium pseudodiphtheriticum W3712 based on its morphological and physiological characteristics.