• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.202-210
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• 2007

A total of 45 bacterial strains were isolated from the traditional Korean soybean-fermented food, Chungkookjang. Among these strains, seven strains were selected and identified based on morphological, physiological, and biochemical characteristics, as well as phylogenetic analysis using 16S rDNA sequences. All strains were Gram-positive, aerobic, motile, oxidase-positive, rod-shaped, and endospore-forming bacteria, and produced extracellular enzymes such as amylase, cellulase, lipase, protease, and xylanase. The isolates were grown in the presence of 0-11% (w/v) NaCl. Growth was optimal at pH 6-9 and at temperatures of $30-45^{\circ}C$. According to VITEK automicrobic system tests and supplementary tests, the isolates were similar to several species of the genus Bacillus. The phylogenetic analysis of seven bacterial strains based on comparisons of 16S rDNA sequences, revealed that the strains were closely related to Bacillus species. The identification of strains that produced surfactin was also carried out, based on PCR screening of the sfp gene. Among the seven isolated strains, six yielded a surfactin-positive result with PCR.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.445-457
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• 2020

Prebiotics are defined as "Nondigestible food ingredients that beneficially affect the host by selectively stimulating the growth and activity of bacteria in the intestine" and as defined improve host health. This study was carried out to investigate the effects of bifidobacteria (Bifidobacterium lactis BB12 and Bifidobacterium longum BB536) growth enhancer (BE0623) supplement as a prebiotic. The addition of BE0623, a growth promoting material for bifidobacteria, significantly increased bifidobacteria viable cells counts in fermented milk by about 45 to 75 times compared to the non-added control group. In addition, microscopic observation showed a significant effect on proliferation of bifidobacteria in fermented milk with added BE0623. The viable cell counts in bifidobacteria also increased roughly 102-fold compared to the control group (non-added BE0623) and was higher than that of commercial growth promoters. Each fraction obtained though the purification of BE0623 influenced the increase of bifidobacteria growth. Culturing bifidobacteria with a combination of fractions of BE0623 had a synergistic effect compared to culturing bifidobacteria with each fraction individually. When any of the fractions were not added, the effect of the growth enhancer on bifidobacteria was reduced. These results indicate that all fractions contain substances that promote the growth of bifidobacteria. Therefore, BE0623 is considered to be available as a growth promoting material for bifidobacterium.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.21 no.11
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• pp.1147-1150
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• 2011

Xanthomonas oryzae causes rice bacterial blight, which has been reported as one of the most destructive diseases of rice. Metabolites were identified through cheonggukjang, a traditional Korean fermented soybean product fermented by the Bacillus spp., to control the bacteria. HPLC, MS, and UPLC-Q-TOF-MS analyses were performed to identify metabolites responsible for antimicrobial activity. In this analysis, the m/z values of 253.0498, 283.0600, 269.0455, 992.6287, and 1,006.6436 were identified as daidzein, glycitein, genistein, surfactin B, and surfactin A, respectively. The levels of surfactin B and surfactin A were found to be high at 24 h (4.35 ${\mu}g$/ml) and 36 h (3.43 ${\mu}g$/ml) of fermentation, respectively.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.344-346
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• 2017

Lactobacillus plantarum is widely found in fermented foods and has various phenotypic and genetic characteristics to adapt to the environment. Here we report the complete annotated genome sequence of the L. plantarum strain JBE245 (= KCCM43243) isolated for malolactic fermentation of apple juice. The genome comprises a single circular 3,262,611 bp chromosome with 2907 coding regions, 45 pseudogenes, and 91 RNA genes. The genome contains 4 malate dehydrogenase genes, 3 malate permease genes and various types of plantaricin-synthesizing genes. These genetic traits meet the selection criteria of the strains that should prevent the spoilage of apple juice during fermentation and efficiently convert malate to lactic acid.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.905-922
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• 2021

Novel bioactive metabolites have been developed through a bioconversion of dairy products or other foods using probiotics isolated from dairy products or other fermented foods. These probiotics-mediated bioconversion (PMB) metabolites show antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, epithelial barrier, and anticancer activities. In addition, the effect of PMB metabolites in periodontitis is recently reported in several studies. Periodontitis is a chronic inflammatory disease caused by infections, and the tooth support tissue is destroyed. Common treatments for periodontitis include scaling and root planning with systemic antibiotics. However, the overuse of antibiotics has led to the emergence of drug-resistant microorganisms and disturbs the beneficial bacteria, including lactobacilli in the oral cavity. For this reason, PMB metabolites, such as fermented milk, have been suggested as substitutes for antibiotics to reduce periodontitis. This paper reviews the recent studies on the correlation between periodontitis and PMB metabolites and classifies the efficacy of major PMB metabolites for periodontitis. The review suggests that PMB is effective for periodontitis, and further studies are needed to confirm the therapeutic effect of PMB metabolites on periodontitis.

• Mycobiology
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.250-255
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• 2019

In the present study, we aimed to determine the cause of surface film formation in three rice vinegars fermented using the traditional static fermentation method. The pH and total acidity of vinegar were 3.0-3.3 and 3.0-8.7%, respectively, and acetic acid was the predominant organic acid present. Colonies showing a clear halo on GYC medium were isolated from the surface film of all vinegars. Via 16S rDNA sequencing, all of the isolates were identified as Acetobacter pasteurianus. Furthermore, field-emission scanning electron microscopy analysis showed that the bacterial cells had a rough surface, were rod-shaped, and were ${\sim}1{\times}2{\mu}m$ in size. Interestingly, cells of the isolate from one of the vinegars were surrounded with an extremely fine threadlike structure. Thus, our results suggest that formation of the surface film in rice vinegar was attributable not to external contamination, to the production of bacterial cellulose by A. pasteurianus to withstand the high concentrations of acetic acid generated during fermentation. However, because of the formation of a surface film in vinegar is undesirable from an industrial perspective, further studies should focus on devising a modified fermentation process to prevent surface film formation and consequent quality degradation.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.437-442
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• 2022

Squid jeotgal is a very popular traditional, salted, and fermented seafood in Korea. Due to the development of a distribution structure, a lot of imported squid jeotgal has recently entered Korea. In this study, we analyzed and compared the microbial contamination levels of domestic and imported squid jeotgal. The total viable bacterial count in domestic and imported jeotgal was 5.20 and 5.38 log CFU/g, respectively. The highest contamination level was 6.94 log CFU/g in one of the imported squid jeotgal samples. Coliforms were not detected in domestic jeotgal but were detected at 50% with 2.21 log CFU/g in imported jeotgal. Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus were not detected (ND: <1 log CFU/g) in both domestic and imported jeotgal. All samples of jeotgal were negative for Bacillus cereus and Clostridium perfringens. The microbial contamination levels determined in the current study may be utilized as primary data to execute microbial risk assessments on domestic and (or) imported jeotgal.

• Mycobiology
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.408-419
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• 2022

Filamentous fungi that could be classified into Aspergillus flavus/oryzae were isolated from traditionally fermented meju commercially available in Korea. The samples were analyzed for aflatoxin B1 and ochratoxin A contamination by HPLC; however, no toxin was detected. In addition, fungal and bacterial metagenomic sequencing were performed to analyze the microbial distribution in the samples. The results revealed that the distribution and abundance of fungi and bacteria differed considerably depending on the production regions and fermentation conditions of the meju samples. Through morphological analysis, ITS region sequencing, and assessment of the aflatoxin-producing ability, a total of 32 A. flavus/oryzae strains were identified. PCR analysis of six regions with a high mutation frequency in the aflatoxin gene cluster (AGC) revealed a total of six types of AGC breaking point patterns. The A. flavus/oryzae strains did not exhibit the high amylase activity detected in the commercial yellow koji strain (starter mold). However, their peptidase and lipase activities were generally higher than that of the koji isolates. We verified the safety of the traditionally fermented meju samples by analyzing the AGC breaking point pattern and the enzyme activities of A. flavus/oryzae strains isolated from the samples. The isolated strains could possibly be used as starter molds for soybean fermentation.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.117-122
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• 2014

Rice can be the contaminating with soil-borne bacteria. Furthermore, the contaminated bacteria can be grown during immersion process for produce wet-milled rice flour. Therefore, disinfectants can be added during the immersion process. Antibacterial activities of the natural disinfectant, fermented rice spent water (FRSW), and the chemical disinfectants, chlorine dioxide (CD) and sodium benzoate (SB), were respectively determined when added in pure cultures of target bacteria such as Salmonella typhimurium, Escherichia coli, and Bacillus cereus or when added to immersion water in the immersion process. In addition, rinsing effects for removing bacteria were determined when rice was rinsed with water before and after the immersion process. Antibacterial activities were rapidly increased as increasing amounts of the disinfectants are added to the pure cultures of the target bacteria. Antibacterial activity of CD was the most effective among the three tested disinfectants when added to the pure cultures of the target bacteria, respectively. Those of the same disinfectants were increased when they were increasingly added to the immersion water. However those of the disinfectants were less effective when added to the immersion water. On the other hand, rinsing effects for removing bacteria were the most effective when rice was rinsed only with water without the immersion process. Collectively, rinsing rice with water only was more effective than using disinfectants in the immersion water during rice flour production.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.118-122
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• 1983

The whole eggs with of without added 1% of glucose, lactose and sucrose respectively were pasteurized at $58^{\circ}C$ for 30min and then incubated for 24 hrs after inoculating with S. lactis, L. casei and S. faecalis to investigate the changes in lactic acid bacterial cell counts, titable acidity and pH. Fresh eggs were not contaminated with common bacteria and Salmonella, Proliferation of L. casei was the best among those microorganisms in pasteurized whole egg without sugar added, and titrable acidity was the highst and pH the lowest in the eggs fermented with L. casei. However, lactic acid bacterial cell counts, titrable acidity and pH were changed significantly by the addition of sugar, especially the growth of S. faecalis was better than two other organisms, and lactic acid bacterial cell counts, titrable acidity and pH of the eggs fermented with S. faecalis were $2.5{\times}10^{10}$, 0.70 and 4.8 respectively after 24 hrs fermentation.