• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.16 no.9
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• pp.6403-6410
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• 2015

Medical polymer PLGA is biocompatible, biodegradation, mechanical characteristic and biostability, and the degradation time can be adjust by controlling the number of monomer. In this paper, PLGA membranes have different composition ratio by L/D type was prepared by phase transition method. And the PLGA membrane in phosphate buffered saline(PBS) at the different test temperatures for different periods of time to examined for change in mass and measured the pH of degradation media. Measurement of Tg and surface structure was performed using a DSC and Stereoscopic microscope. As the molecular weighter increase, hydrolysis rate was decrease in geometrical progression. According to the composition ratio by L/D type, degradation rate and the change of pH are large.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.319-324
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• 2005

Estuarine sediments are frequently polluted with hydrocarbons from fuel spills and industrial wastes. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are components of these contaminants that tend to accumulate in the sediment due to their low aqueous solubility, low volatility, and high affinity for particulate matter. The toxic, recalcitrant, mutagenic, and carcinogenic nature of these compounds may require aggressive treatment to remediate polluted sites effectively. In petroleum-contaminated sediments near a petrochemical industry in Gwangyang Bay, Korea, in situ PAH concentrations ranged from 10 to 2,900 ${\mu}g/kg$ dry sediment. To enhance the biodegradation rate of PAHs under anaerobic conditions, sediment samples were amended with biostimulating agents alone or in combination: nitrogen and phosphorus in the form of slow-release fertilizer (SRF), lactate, yeast extract (YE), and Tween 80. When added to the sediment individually, all tested agents enhanced the degradation of PAHs, including naphthalene, acenaphthene, anthracene, fluorene, phenanthrene, fluoranthene, pyrene, chrysene, and benzo [a] pyrene. Moreover, the combination of SRF, Tween 80, and lactate increased the PAH degradation rate 1.2-8.2 times above that of untreated sediment (0.01-10 ${\mu}g$ PAH/ kg dry sediment/day). Our results indicated that in situ contaminant PAHs in anoxic sediment, including high molecular weight PAHs, were degraded biologically and that the addition of stimulators increased the biodegradation potential of the intrinsic microbial populations. Our results will contribute to the development of new strategies for in situ treatment of PAH-contaminated anoxic sediments.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.94-103
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• 2016

Landfarming that supplies aerobic biodegradation condition to indigenous microbes in soils is a biological remediation technology. In this research, volatilization and biodegradation rate by indigenous microbes in the soil contaminated with total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) were measured. Soils were contaminated with diesel artificially and divided into two parts. One was sterilized by autoclave to remove indigenous microorganism and the other was used as it was. Various moisture contents and number of tillings were applied to the soil to find out proper condition to minimize volatilization and enhance bioremediation. Volatilization of TPH was inhibited and biodegradation was enhanced by increase on moisture content. Tilling was usually used to supply air for microbes, but tillings did not affect the growth of microbes in our study. Enough moisture content and proper aeration are important to control volatilization in landfarming. Also, TPH degradation was a function of the microbe counts (x₁), numbers of tilling (x₂), and moisture content (x₃) from the application of the response surface methodology. Statistical results showed the order of significance of the independent variables to be microbe counts > numbers of tilling > moisture content.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.8-13
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• 2023

Biodegradation of antibiotics in soil can be affected by various environmental factors. This study was set to investigate the effect of environmental conditions such as soil pH and temperature on the degradation of oxolinic acid (OA), one of the agricultural antibiotics used in South Korea, in soil. Rice paddy soil (RS) and field soil (FS) were contaminated with OA and the soil pH was adjusted to 5.7±0.2, 6.8±0.2, and 7.6±0.1. The soil samples were kept at different temperatures (2.3±0.2, 23.0±0.6, 30.5± 0.3℃) for 30 d. The changes in the OA concentrations were determined at selected times. With the RS and FS, the OA removal was not affected by the soil pH used in this study; however, at pH 7.6, the OA removal in the RS was greater than that in the FS, which can be attributed to the different soil properties. The OA removal was similar at 23.0 and 30.5℃ in both soils, but was lower at 2.3℃. The information on the effect of different environmental conditions on the degradation of antibiotics in soil is very limited. Therefore, further studies are needed to better manage the residual antibiotics in the agricultural environment.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.413-420
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• 1988

The strain capable of growing on minimal medium containing aniline as a sole source of carbon was isolated from activated sludges and identified as Pseudomonas putida biotype A. The characterizations of the strain were determined. The optimum concentration for growth of the strain was 1-20 mM of aniline. No changes of pH were detected during cultivation. Some metabolic products of biodegradation of aniline were detected after cultivation of the strain on 10 mM aniline for 48 hours. The strain showed to be resistant to streptomycin, tetracycline, trimethoprim, and sulfanilamide. The strain was also capable of utilizing other aromatic compounds related to aniline as a sole source of carbon. One plasmid carried by this strain was detected. The properties of some of the mutant strains treated with mitomycin C were also discussed. The results suggest that separate, regulatory enzyme systems capable of degrading aniline may exist in plasmid DNA.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.34 no.9
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• pp.1836-1847
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• 2024

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET), one of the most widely used plastics in the world, causes serious environmental problems. Recently, scientists have been focused on the enzymatic degradation of PET, an environmentally friendly method that offers an attractive approach to the degradation and recycling of PET. In this work, PET hydrolase from Streptomyces sp. W2061 was biochemically characterized, and the biodegradation of PET was performed using the PET model substrate bis (2-hydroxyethyl terephthalate) (BHET). PET hydrolase has an isoelectric point of 5.84, and a molecular mass of about 50.31 kDa. The optimum pH and temperature were 7.0 and 40℃, respectively. LC-MS analysis of the enzymatic products showed that the PET hydrolase successfully degraded a single ester bond of BHET, leading to the formation of MHET. Furthermore, in silico characterization of the PET hydrolase protein sequence and its predicted three-dimensional structure was designed and compared with the well-characterized IsPETase from Ideonella sakaiensis. The structural analysis showed that the (Gly-x1-Ser-x2-Gly) serine hydrolase motif and the catalytic triad (Ser, Asp, and His) were conserved in all sequences. In addition, we integrated molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to analyze the variation in the structural stability of the PET hydrolase in the absence and presence of BHET. These simulations showed the formation of a stable complex between the PET hydrolase and BHET. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study on Streptomyces sp. W2061 to investigate the BHET degradation activity of PET hydrolase, which has potential application in the biodegradation of plastics in the environment.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.261-268
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• 2002

Biodegradation of monochlorophenols by wood rot fungi such as Daldina concentrica, Trametes versicolor and Pleurotus ostreatus was evaluated by determining their resistance or toxic test and biodegradability. The metabolites of monochlorophenols were also analyzed. Among the three fungi, T. versicolor was the most resistant to 200 ppm of 2-, 3- and 4-chlorophenols, and did not show any inhibitory mycellium growth. But D. concentrica had a little inhibition effect at more than 100 ppm of 3- or 4-chlorophenol. Control cultures of P. ostreatus took even 14 days far the completion of mycellium growth, but the hyphal growth was improved when 2- or 3-chlorophenol were added to the culture. In biodegradation analysis, P. ostreatus showed the highest degradation of 2- or 3-chlorophenol, while T. versicolor was the most effective in 4-chlorophenol. D. concentrica and P. ostreatus slowly degraded 4-chlorophenol. However, T. versicolor had similar degradation capability in the three monochlorophenols, suggesting that the biode- gradation nude is dependent on the fungi as well as the type of monochlorophenol. Several metabolites such as 1,3,5-trihydroxyl benzene, 1-ethyl-1-hydroxyl pentane, 2-propenoicacid, methylmalonic acid and 2-methyl-4-keto-pentan-2-ol were found as products of primary oxidation of 2-, 3- and 4-chlorophenols by intact fungal cultures. fatty acids including tetradecanoic, heptadecanoic and octadecanoic acids were also detected The order of increase of mycellium weight during incubation were P. ostreatus > T. versicolor > D. concentrica. The pH in the culture was not constantly changed depending on incubation days, but the mycellium weight was slightly increased, indicating that the biodegradation of monochlorophenol might have low relationship with the mycellium growth Laccase activities of T. versicolor and P. ostreatus were continuously increased depending on the incubation days, suggesting that the ligninolytic enzyme activity play an important role in the biodegradation of monochlorophenol.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.137-142
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• 2011

$TiO_2$-coated bamboo activated carbon has been prepared and utilized under UV irradiation as a pretreatment method for an effective biodegradation of the recalcitrant polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The anatase $TiO_2$ was successfully coated on the bamboo activated carbon (AC) and it showed the highest photoactivity against methylene blue. In the absence of the PAHs-degrading bacteria PAHs having low molecular weight (i.e., naphthalene, acenaphthylene, acenaphthene, and fluorene) were degraded by 9.8, 76.2, 74.1, and 40.5%, respectively. Higher molecular weight PAHs, however, maintained high residual concentrations of PAHs (400-1,000 ${\mu}g$/L) after the same treatment. On the other hand, the overall concentrations of PAHs became lower than 340 ${\mu}g$/L when the pretreated PAHs were subjected to biodegradation by a PAH-degrading consortium for a week. Herein, phenanthrene, anthracene, fluoranthene, and pyrene were removed by 29.3, 61.4, 27.0, and 44.3%, respectively, indicating the facilitated potential biodegradation of PAHs. Activated carbon coated with $TiO_2$ appeared to inhibit growth of PAH degraders on the surface of AC, indicating planktonic degraders were dominantly involved in the PAH biodegradation in presence of the $TiO_2$-coated bamboo AC. It was proposed that an effective remediation technology for the recalcitrant PAHs could be developed when an optimum pretreatment process is further established.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.218-224
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• 2008

Coal-, coconut- and wood-based activated carbons and anthracite were tested to evaluate adsorption and biodegradation performances of chloral hydrate. In the early stage of the operation, the adsorption was the main mechanism for the removal of chloral hydrate, however as increasing populations of attached bacteria, the bacteria played a major role in removing chloral hydrate in the activated carbon and anthracite biofilter. It was also investigated that chloral hydrate was readily subjected to biodegrade. The coal- and coconut-based activated carbons were found to be most effective adsorbents in adsorption of chloral hydrate. Highest populations and activity of attached bacteria were shown in the coal-based activated carbon. The populations and activity of attached bacteria decreased in the order: coconut-based activated carbon > wood-based activated carbon > anthracite. The attached bacteria was inhibited in the removal of chloral hydrate at temperatures below 10$^{\circ}C$. It was more active at higher water temperatures(20$^{\circ}C$ <) but less active at lower water temperature(10$^{\circ}C$>). The removal efficiencies of chloral hydrate obtained by using four different adsorbents were directly related to the water temperatures. Water temperature was the most important factor for removal of chloral hydrate in the anthracite biofilter because the removal of chloral hydrate depended mainly on biodegradation. Therefore, the main removal mechanism of chloral hydrate by applying activated carbon was both adsorption and biodegradation by the attached bacteria. The observation suggests that the application of coalbased activated carbon to the water treatment should be the best for the removal of chloral hydrate.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.30 no.9
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• pp.893-899
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• 2008

Changes in spectroscopic characteristics and pyrene binding coefficients of terrestrial dissolved organic matters(DOM) were investigated during microbial incubation. The incubation studies were conducted for 21 days using a leaf litter DOM and a soilderived DOM with an inoculum from a river. The dissolved organic carbon(DOC), the specific UV absorbance(SUVA), the synchronous fluorescence spectra, and the pyrene organic carbon-normalized binding coefficient(K$_{oc}$) of the DOM were measured at the incubation days of 0, 3, 7, 14 and 21. After the 21-day incubation, DOC were reduced to 61% and 51% of the original concentrations of the litter DOM and the soil-derived DOM, respectively. Comparison of the spectroscopic characteristics before and after the incubation revealed that the SUVA, the fulvic-like fluorescence(FLF), the humic-like fluorescence(HLF) of the different DOM were enhanced by the incubation whereas the protein-like fluorescence(PLF) was reduced. This indicates that more aromatic and humic-like compounds were enriched during the biodegradation process while biodegradable and weak carbon structures were depleted. Irrespective of the DOM sources, SUVA values showed a positive relationship with pyrene K$_{oc}$ with a correlation coefficient of 0.97. The FLF and HLF also exhibited good correlations with K$_{oc}$ values although different regression equations were obtained from the different DOM. Our results suggest that the selected spectroscopic characteristics could be good estimation indices for the changes of the binding reactivity of DOM for hydrophobic organic contaminants during biodegradation process.