• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.441-454
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• 2021

Fungal diseases including anthracnose, stem rot, blight, wilting, and root rot of crops are caused by phytopathogens such as Colletotrichum species, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, Phytophthora species, and Fusarium oxysporum and F. solani which threaten the production of chili pepper. In this study, to identify biological control agents (BCAs) of phytopathogenic fungi, potentially useful Bacillus species were isolated from the field soils. We screened out five Bacillus strains with antagonistic capacity that are efficiently inhibiting the growth of phytopathogenic fungi. Bacillus species were characterized by the production of extracellular enzymes, siderophores, and indole-3-acetic acid (IAA). Furthermore, the influence of bacterial strains on the plant growth promoting activity and seedling vigor index were assessed using Brassica juncea as a model plant. Inoculation with Bacillus subtilis SRCM 121379 significantly increased the length of B. juncea shoots and roots by 45.6% and 52.0%, respectively. Among the bacterial isolates, Bacillus subtilis SRCM 121379 showed the superior enzyme activities, antagonistic capacity and plant growth promoting effects. Based on the experimental results, Bacillus subtilis SRCM 121379 (GenBank accession no. NR027552) was finally selected as a BCA candidate.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.192-196
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• 2001

Ethanol extracts from 36 vegetable samples were assayed for their growth-promoting effects on Bifidobacterium bifidum, B. longum, and Lactobacillus casei The growth-promoting effects varied according to bacterial strain and vegetable species. In modified Gy rgy broth, extracts of Lactuca sativa, Lycopersicon esculentum and L escutentum var. cerasiforme exhibited strong growth-promoting responses toward B. longum, and significant and strong growth- promoting response toward B. bifidum was observed in extracts of Actinidia arguta, Allium cepa, A. sativum, Brassica campestris subsp. napus vats. pekinensis, Capsicum frutescens, Daucus carota var. sativa, L sativa, 1. esculentum and L. esculentum var. cerasforme, Nelumbo nucifera, Cucurbita moschata, Lackca sativa var. capitata, and Rubus coreanus. For L casei, extracts of A. fshlosum, A. hberosum, Cichorium intbus, Cucurbita moschat\ulcorner Ipomoea batatas, 1. sativa var. capitata, L. esculentum, P. brachycarpa, Raphanus sativus, R. coreanus, and S. melongena strongly enhanced the growth of this bacteria. In modified Gy rgy broth, the promoting effect was most pronounced with B. bifidum and L. casei among lactic acid bacteria used. In MRS broth, A. arguta, A. cepa, A. sativum, B. campestris subsp. napus var. pekinensis, C. frutescens, and D. carota var. sativa L. satiw var. capitata, and R. coreanus strongly enhanced the growth of B. bifidum, Growth of B. longum was strongly affected by the addition of extracts from L. sativa var. capitata. For L casei, moderate growth-promoting responses were observed in 9 vegetable extracts. The promoting effect in MRS broth was most pronounced with B. bifidum among lactic acid bacteria used.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.66-73
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• 2012

Plant growth promoting traits like production of indoleacetic acid (IAA), ammonia, hydrogen cyanide (HCN), siderophore, and like the enzyme activities of catalase, ACC deaminase, cellulase, chitinase and protease were assayed in vitro for twenty one phosphorus solubilizing bacteria isolated from soil isolates. Except SPP-5 and SPP-15 strains, all the other isolated strains produced IAA in various amounts of 10 to $23{\mu}g\;ml^{-1}$. All strains showed positive response for ammonia production and ACC deaminase activity implying that they are capable of growing in a N-free basal medium. Catalase activity was found to be superior in SPP-2, SPP-7, SPP-12 and SPP-17 compared to the other strains tested. HCN production was detected by 15 strains and among them SPP-9, SPP-15, SAph-11, and SAph-24 were found to be strong HCN producers. Except the isolates SPP-10, SPP-12, SPP-13 and SPP-14, all the other isolates produced more than 80% siderophore units. None of the strains showed cellulose and chitinase activity. SAph-8, SAPh-11, SAPh-24 and SPP-15 strains showed 35.84, 50.33, 56.64 and 34.78 U/ml protease activities, respectively. SPP-1, SPP-2, SPP-3, SPP-11, SPP-17, SPP-18, SAph-11 and SAph-24 strains showed positive response for all the tested plant growth promotion traits except cell wall degrading enzyme activities. According to the results, all the tested phosphorus solubilizing isolates could exhibit more than three or four plant growth promoting traits, which may promote plant growth directly or indirectly or synergistically. Therefore, these phosphorus solubilizing strains could be employed as bio-inoculants for agriculture soils.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.52-57
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• 2007

Growth promotion of wild plants by some plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) was examined in the microcosms composed of soils collected separately from a grass-covered site and a nongrass-covered site in a lakeside barren area at Lake Paro, Korea. After sowing the seeds of eight kinds of wild plants and inoculation of several strains of PGPR, the total bacterial number and microbial activity were measured during 5 months of study period, and the plant biomasses grown were compared at the end of the study. Acridine orange direct counts in the inoculated microcosms, $1.3-9.8{\times}10^9\;cells{\cdot}g\;soil^{-1}$ in the soil from the grass-covered area and $0.9-7.2{\times}10^9\;cells{\cdot}g\;soil^{-1}$ in the soil from the nongrass-covered site, were almost twice higher than those in the uninoculated microcosms. The number of Pseudomonas sp., well-known bacteria as PGPR, and the soil dehydrogenase activity were also higher in the inoculated soils than the uninoculated soils. The first germination of sowed seeds in the inoculated microcosm was 5 days earlier than the uninoculated microcosm. Average lengths of all plants grown during the study period were 26% and 29% longer in the inoculated microcosms starting with the grass-covered soil and the nongrass-covered soil, respectively, compared with those in the uninoculated microcosms. Dry weights of whole plants grown were 67-82% higher in the inoculated microcosms than the uninoculated microcosms. Microbial population and activity and growth promoting effect by PGPR were all higher in the soils collected from the grass-covered area than in the nongrass-covered area. The growth enhancement of wild plants seemed to occur by the activities of inoculated microorganisms, and this capability of PGPR may be utilized for rapid revegetation of some barren lands.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.171-174
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• 2007

The growth stimulation of wild plants by several bacterial species showing plant growth-promoting capabilities was examined in a barren lakeside area at Lake Paro, Korea. Microbial numbers and activities in the field soil were monitored for 73 days after inoculation of the bacteria. The acridine orange direct counts for the total soil bacterial populations ranged between $2.0-2.3{\times}10^{9}\;cells/g$ soil and $1.4-1.8{\times}10^{9}\;cells/g$ soil in the inoculated and uninoculated soils, respectively. The numbers of Pseudomonas spp., which is known as a typical plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria, and the total microbial activity were higher in the inoculated soil compared to those in the uninoculated soil. The average shoot and root lengths of the wild plants grown in the inoculated soil were 17.3 cm and 12.4 cm, respectively, and longer than those of 11.4 cm and 8.5 cm in the uninoculated soil. The total dry weight of the harvested wild plants was also higher in the inoculated soil (42.0 g) compared to the uninoculated soil (35.1 g). The plant growth-promoting capabilities of the inoculated bacteria may be used for the rapid revegetation of barren or disturbed land, and as biofertilizer in agriculture.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.235-239
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• 2013

This study was carried out to investigate the plant growth promoting activity of hairy vetch (Vicia villosa Roth) on reclaimed land. At the previous research, Rhizobium sp. RH84 was isolated and selected for further study from hairy vetch. For the investigation of plant growth promoting effects by the Rhizobium sp. RH84, production of indole acetic acid (IAA), siderophore, phosphate solubilization and nitrogen fixation were tested and other characters were examined. As results, RH84 produced $9.03{\mu}g$ IAA per mL and showed nitrogen fixation activity. With the treatment of Rhizobium sp. RH84 to hairy vetch showed good growth at 0.3% salty reclaimed soil, and the production yield was increased up to 56% at field test. From these results, it was confirmed that the Rhizobium sp. RH84 would be used as a green manure for hairy vetch under the salty condition of reclaimed land.

• Mycobiology
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.244-251
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• 2012

In vitro and greenhouse screening of seven rhizobacterial isolates, AB05, AB10, AB11, AB12, AB14, AB15 and AB17, was conducted to investigate the plant growth promoting activities and inhibition against anthracnose caused by Colletotrichum acutatum in pepper. According to identification based on 16S rDNA sequencing, the majority of the isolates are members of Bacillus and a single isolate belongs to the genus Paenibacillus. All seven bacterial isolates were capable of inhibiting C. acutatum to various degrees. The results primarily showed that antibiotic substances produced by the selected bacteria were effective and resulted in strong antifungal activity against the fungi. However, isolate AB15 was the most effective bacterial strain, with the potential to suppress more than 50% mycelial growth of C. acutatum in vitro. Moreover, antibiotics from Paenibacillus polymyxa (AB15) and volatile compounds from Bacillus subtilis (AB14) exerted efficient antagonistic activity against the pathogens in a dual culture assay. In vivo suppression activity of selected bacteria was also analyzed in a greenhouse with the reference to their prominent in vitro antagonism efficacy. Induced systemic resistance in pepper against C. acutatum was also observed under greenhouse conditions. Where, isolate AB15 was found to be the most effective bacterial strain at suppressing pepper anthracnose under greenhouse conditions. Moreover, four isolates, AB10, AB12, AB15, and AB17, were identified as the most effective growth promoting bacteria under greenhouse conditions, with AB17 inducing the greatest enhancement of pepper growth.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.403-412
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• 2021

This study aimed to identify plant growth-promoting activity, phytopathogenic fungi growth inhibitory activity, mineral solubilization ability, and extracellular enzyme activity of the genus Bacillus in soil and the rhizosphere. With regards to antifungal activity against phytopathogenic fungi, DDP257 showed antifungal activity against all 10 pathogenic fungi tested. ANG20 showed the highest ability to produce indole-3-acetic acid, a plant growth-promoting factor (70.97 ㎍/ml). In addition, 10 species were identified to have 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate deaminase production ability, and most isolates showed nitrogen fixation and siderophore production abilities. Thereafter, the isolated strains' ability to solubilize minerals such as phosphate, calcite, and zinc was identified. With extracellular enzyme activity, the activity appeared in most enzymes. In particular, all the strains showed similar abilities for alkaline phosphatase, esterase (C4), acid phosphatase, and naphtol-AS-BI-phosphohydrolase production. This result was observed because the genus Bacillus secreted various organic substances, antibiotics, and extracellular enzymes. Therefore, through the results of this study, we suggest the possibility of using strains contributing to the improvement of the soil environment as microbial agents.

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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• 2010.10a
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• pp.17-17
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• 2010

Rhizobacteria are a diverse group of free-living soil bacteria that live in plant rhizosphere and colonized the root system. Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) possessing ACC deaminase (ACCD) can reduce ACC and ethylene in plant tissue and mediated the growth of plants under various stresses including salt stress. ACCD decrease ethylene levels in plant tissue that produce high levels of ethylene in tissue via elevated levels of ACC under salt stress. We selected strains of Pseudomonas sp. possessing ACCD activity for their ability to promote plant growth under salt stress from soil sample collected at Byeonsan, Jeonbuk, South Korea. The Pseudomonas strains possessing ACCD increased the rate of the seedling and growth of chinese cabbage seeds under salt stress. We cloned ACCD gene from P.fluorescens and expressed recombinant protein in Escherichia coli. The active form of recombinant ACCD converted ACC to a-ketobutyrate. The in vivo treatment of recombinant ACCD itself increase the rate of the seedling and growth of Chinese cabbage seeds under salt stress. The polyclonal P.fluorescens anti-ACCD antibody specifically reacted with ACCD originated from Pseudomonas. This indicates that the antibody might act as an important indicator for ACCD driven from Pseudomonas exhibiting plant growth-promoting activity. This study will be useful for identification of newly isolated PGPR containing ACCD and exploioting the ACCD activity from PGPR against various biotic and abiotic stresses.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.36-43
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• 2015

Excess use of chemical fertilizer causes soil acidification and accumulation of salt, and thus might bring to desertification of soil. To overcome this problem, it needs limited usage of chemical fertilizer and increased usage of natural fertilizer as an alternative. In this study, dry soil-borne Bacillus sp. SHL-3, which was isolated from arid and barren soil, with plant growth promoting activity was isolated for identification and to determine optimal culture condition. A bacterial strain SHL-3 had the IAA productivity ($5.16{\pm}0.10mg\;L^{-1}$), ACC deaminase activity ($0.36{\pm}0.09$ at 51 hours) and siderophore synthesis. It was identified as genus Bacillus sp.. Also, optimal culture condition of SHL-3 were $20^{\circ}C$ and pH 7 in LB medium. Bacillus sp. SHL-3 had up to 4% salt tolerance in the medium. We evaluated the plant growth promotion ability of SHL-3 using yam (Dioscorea japonica Thunb.). As a result, Bacillus sp. SHL-3 was effective on the increase of the shoot length (202.4% increase for 91 days). These results indicate that Bacillus sp. SHL-3 can serve as a promising microbial resource for the biofertilizers of soil.