• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.492-499
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• 2021

In this study, the benthic environmental and microbial community structure were investigated by mixing granulated coal ash(GCA) and contaminated estuary sediments. Estuary sediments and GCA were mixed in a ratio of 8:2 and allowed to interact for 1 month, then sediment environmental factors were investigated. The pH of the experimental sediment was mixed increased to 11. The concentration of DIP(Dissolved inorganic phosphorus) in the experimental case decreased by 30 % compared to the control case, and this should be due to formation of calcium phosphate through the chemical reaction of DIP and calcium which diluted from GCA. The high abundance of Gammaproteobacteria seen in the experimental sediment compare to the control can af ect the DIP reduction. The DIN(Dissolved inorganic nitrogen) concentration increased over two times in the experimental case than the control, and this should be due to the high pH condition and release of NH₄⁺-N from the GCA. Microorganisms related to nitrogen circulation were not identified in both the control and experimental cases. It was confirmed that the GCA were effective in reducing the DIP concentration in contaminated estuary sediment, and that benthic microbial communities were shown to influenced the phosphorus circulation.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.34 no.7
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• pp.453-464
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• 2024

The fermentation of ganjang is known to be greatly influenced by the microbial communities derived from its primary ingredients, meju and sea salt. This study investigated the effects of changes in meju size on the distribution and correlation of microbial communities in ganjang fermentation, to enhance its fermentation process. Ganjang was prepared using whole meju and meju divided into thirds, and samples were collected at 7-day intervals over a period of 28 days for microbial community analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing. At the genus level, during fermentation, ganjang made with whole meju exhibited a dominance of Chromohalobacter (day 7), Pediococcus (day 14), Bacillus (day 21), and Pediococcus (day 28), whereas ganjang made with meju divided into thirds consistently showed a Pediococcus predominance over the 28 days. Beta-diversity analysis of microbial communities in ganjang with different meju sizes revealed significant separation of microbial communities at fermentation days 7 and 14 but not at days 21 and 28 across all experimental groups. The linear discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe) was determined to identify biomarkers contributing to microbial community differences at days 7 and 14, showing that on day 7, potentially halophilic microbes such as Gammaproteobacteria, Firmicutes, Oceanospirillales, Halomonadaceae, Bacilli, and Chromohalobacter were prominent, whereas on day 14, lactic acid bacteria such as Pediococcus acidilactici, Lactobacillaceae, Pediococcus, Bacilli, Leuconostocaceae, and Weissella were predominant. Furthermore, correlation analysis of microbial communities at the genus and species levels revealed differences in correlation patterns between meju sizes, suggesting that meju size may influence microbial interactions within ganjang.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.168-175
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• 2007

We report here on the cultivation of numerous novel bacterial species from a eutrophic freshwater pond. A total of 60 strains, 15 strains per each culture medium, were obtained from the surface of a eutrophic freshwater pond by employing a conventional dilution-plating method with four different kinds of culture media, including R2A, 1/10R2A, PCA, and 1/10PCA. Among the 60 strains isolated, 27 strains showed less than 97% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities to validly published species, and thus they are considered to comprise 19 novel species. Of the 27 strains assigned to the novel species, the majority of the strains (20 strains) were affiliated with the Alphaproteobacteria and Betaproteobacteria. The remaining 7 strains were affiliated with the Gammaproteobacteria, Firmicutes, Actinobacteria, and Deinococci. Because we have isolated 19 novel species from a usual freshwater pond using a conventional culturing technique, our results suggest that an unexplored ecosystem, even if it looks like a common ecosystem found elsewhere, harbors diverse unidentified microbes, which will be definitely further characterized.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.883-890
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• 2016

Marine sediments are a microbial biosphere with an unknown physiology, and the sediments harbor numerous distinct phylogenetic lineages of Bacteria and Archaea that are at present uncultured. In this study, the structure of the archaeal and bacterial communities was investigated in the surface and subsurface sediments of Jeju Island using a next-generation sequencing method. The microbial communities in the surface sediments were distinct from those in the subsurface sediments; the relative abundance of sequences for Thaumarchaeota, Actinobacteria, Bacteroides, Alphaproteobacteria, and Gammaproteobacteria were higher in the surface than subsurface sediments, whereas the sequences for Euryarchaeota, Acidobacteria, Firmicutes, and Deltaproteobacteria were relatively more abundant in the subsurface than surface sediments. This study presents detailed characterization of the spatial distribution of benthic microbial communities of Jeju Island and provides fundamental information on the potential interactions mediated by microorganisms with the different biogeochemical cycles in coastal sediments.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.19 no.7
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• pp.651-657
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• 2009

Shifts in the activity and diversity of microbes involved in aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbon degradation in contaminated soil were investigated. Subsurface soil was collected from a gas station that had been abandoned since 1995 owing to ground subsidence. The total petroleum hydrocarbon content of the sample was approximately 2,100 mg/kg, and that of the soil below a gas pump was over 23,000 mg/kg. Enrichment cultures were grown in mineral medium that contained hexadecane (H) or naphthalene (N) at a concentration of 200 mg/l. In the Henrichment culture, a real-time PCR assay revealed that the 16S rRNA gene copy number increased from $1.2{\times}10^5$to $8.6{\times}10^6$with no lag phase, representing an approximately 70-fold increase. In the N-enrichment culture, the 16S rRNA copy number increased about 13-fold after 48 h, from $6.3{\times}10^4$to $8.3{\times}10^5$. Microbial communities in the enrichment cultures were studied by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and by analysis of 16S rRNA gene libraries. Before the addition of hydrocarbons, the gas station soil contained primarily Alpha- and Gammaproteobacteria. During growth in the H-enrichment culture, the contribution of Bacteriodetes to the microbial community increased significantly. On the other hand, during N-enrichment, the Betaproteobacteria population increased conspicuously. These results suggest that specific phylotypes of bacteria were associated with the degradation of each hydrocarbon.

• Journal of Species Research
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.163-170
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• 2017

As a part of the research program 'Survey of freshwater organisms and specimen collection', freshwater samples were collected from Lakes Soyang and Chungju in 2016. Hundreds of bacterial strains were isolated from the samples and were identified based on 16S rRNA gene sequences. Among the bacterial isolates, strains showing higher than 98.7% sequence similarity with validly published bacterial species not reported in Korea were selected as unrecorded bacterial species. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, 17 strains were identified as unrecorded bacterial species in Korea. The 17 bacterial strains were phylogenetically diverse and belonged to four phyla, seven classes, 13 orders, 14 families, and 16 genera. At generic level, the unreported species were affiliated with Caulobacter, Paracoccus, and Mesorhizobium of the class Alphaproteobacteria, Deefgea, Undibacterium, Chitinimonas, Inhella, and Sphaerotilus of the class Betaproteobacteria, Vibrio and Cellvibrio of the class Gammaproteobacteria, Sanguibacter and Clavibacter of the phylum Actinobacteria, Lactococcus of the phylum Firmicutes, Deinococcus of the class Deinococci, and Chryseobacterium and Flavobacterium of the phylum Bacteroidetes. The unreported species were further characterized by examining Gram reaction, colony and cell morphology, biochemical properties, and phylogenetic position. The detailed description of the 17 unreported species are also provided.

• Journal of Marine Bioscience and Biotechnology
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.42-51
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• 2015

The community structure of cultivable bacteria associated with the marine sponge, Petrosia corticata, collected from Jeju Island in summer (September) of 2012 and winter (January) of 2013, were compared by the PCR-ARDRA method. Bacterial strains were cultured for 4 days at $26^{\circ}C$ on Zobell medium and marine agar medium. After PCR amplification of 16S rRNA gene of individual strains, the restriction enzymes MspI and HaeIII were used to make restriction patterns. As a result, 24 ARDRA patterns from the summer sponge and 20 ARDRA patterns from the winter sponge were obtained. The sequencing result of 1-3 selected strains from each pattern showed over 98% similarities with the known sequences from the public database. At the phylum level, the bacterial community structures of both sponges (summer and winter) were identical qualitatively and composed of 4 phyla : Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Firmicutes. Alphaproteobacteria accounted for 42.5% of total in summer sponge and 25.2% in winter, decreasing in the winter sample. Gammaproteobacteria accounted for 27.5% of total in summer sponge and 35.2% in winter, increasing in the winter sample. At the genus and species level, summer sponge had more diverse bacterial communities than winter sponge. Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Firmicutes increased in the winter sample.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.289-298
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• 2020

As part of the research program "2018 Rapid screening and identification of freshwater microorganisms using MALDI-TOF/MS library" freshwater samples were collected from a branch of the Nakdong River. Almost 300 antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains were isolated from freshwater samples and subsequently identified by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Seventeen strains among the isolates shared high 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity (>99.0%) with known species that were not previously recorded in Korea, and each of the isolates also formed a robust phylogenetic clade with the closest species. These species were phylogenetically diverse, belonging to four phyla, seven classes, 10 orders, and 13 genera. At the genus and class level, the previously unrecorded species belonged to Rhodovarius, Xanthobacter, and Shinella of the class Alphaproteobacteria; Ottowia, Simplicispira, and Zoogloea of Betaproteobacteria; Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter, and Shewanella of Gammaproteobacteria; Arcobacter of Epsilonproteobacteria; Sphingobacterium of Sphingobacteriia; Trichococcus of Bacilli; and Leucobacter of Actinobacteria. The previously unrecorded species were further characterized by examining their gram-staining, colony and cell morphology, biochemical properties, and phylogenetic position.

• Journal of Species Research
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.60-72
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• 2018

Our study aimed to discover indigenous prokaryotic species in Korea. A total of 29 bacterial species in the phylum Proteobacteria were isolated from freshwater and sediment of rivers and brackish zones in Korea. From the high 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity (${\geq}98.8%$) and formation of a robust phylogenetic clade with the closest species, it was determined that each strain belonged to an independent and predefined bacterial species. To our knowledge, there is no official report or publication that has previously described these 29 species in Korea. Specifically, we identified 10, 12, and seven species of eight, 12, and seven genera that belong to classes Alphaproteobacteria, Betaproteobacteria, and Gammaproteobacteria, respectively; all are reported as previously unrecorded bacterial species in Korea. The Gram reaction, colony and cell morphology, basic biochemical characteristics, isolation source, and strain IDs for each are also described.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2015

The bacterial diversity of 10 marine sponges belonging to the species Cliona celata, an unidentified Cliona species, Haliclona cinerea, Halichondria okadai, Hymeniacidon sinapium, Lissodendoryx isodictyalis, Penares incrustans, Spirastrella abata, and Spirastrella panis collected from Jeju Island and Chuja Island was investigated using amplicon pyrosequencing of the 16S rRNA genes. The microbial diversity of these sponges has as of yet rarely or never been investigated. All sponges, except Cliona celata, Lissodendoryx isodictyalis, and Penares incrustans, showed simple bacterial diversity, in which one or two bacterial OTUs occupied more than 50% of the pyrosequencing reads and their OTU rank abundance curves saturated quickly. Most of the predominant OTUs belonged to Alpha-, Beta-, or Gammaproteobacteria. Some of the OTUs from the sponges with low diversity were distantly (88%~89%) or moderately (93%~97%) related to known sequences in the GenBank nucleotide database. Phylogenetic analysis showed that many of the representative sequences of the OTUs were related to the sequences originating from sponges and corals, and formed sponge-specific or -related clades. The marine sponges investigated herein harbored unexplored bacterial diversity, and further studies should be done to understand the microbes present in sponges.