• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.405-415
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• 2024

Background: Hypersaline environments (> 40 practical salinity units [PSU]) represent some of the most extreme conditions on Earth, supporting a variety of halophilic and halotolerant bacteria, archaea, and protists. The taxon Heterolobosea includes numerous halophilic protists, making it a valuable model for studying eukaryotic adaptation to high salinity. Particularly, the genus Pharyngomonas, a deep-branching lineage within Heterolobosea, comprises mainly obligate halophiles, providing insights into early protist adaptations in hypersaline environments. Additionally, these protozoa play crucial ecological roles as grazers of bacteria and archaea, and are prey for higher trophic levels in hypersaline environments. Results: In the present study, two previously reported amoeboflagellates were isolated for the first time from hypersaline waters (~300 PSU) in two solar salterns in the Republic of Korea. Microscopic observations revealed that both strains exhibited the characteristic morphologies of Pharyngomonas, including amoeboid, flagellate, and cyst forms. Molecular phylogenetic analysis of their 18S rRNA gene sequences confirmed their close relationship to known Pharyngomonas kirbyi strains. The two strains demonstrated growth within a salinity range of 75-200 PSU, with optimal growth observed at 75-100 PSU, confirming their status as true halophiles. All known P. kirbyi strains are obligate halophiles, exhibiting a clear instance of adaptive radiation of halophilic eukaryotes. Additionally, the genus Pharyngomonas has been found in hypersaline environments across multiple continents (Asia, Europe, North America, Australia, and Africa), suggesting that it plays an ecologically significant role as a grazer of prokaryotes or prey for higher trophic levels in these habitats. Conclusions: On the bases of morphological and molecular analyses, two strains identified as P. kirbyi were isolated and characterized for the first time from solar salterns in the Republic of Korea. This discovery highlights the presence and adaptation of halophilic eukaryotes in such extreme environments. The confirmation of these strains as obligate halophiles provides additional evidence for the adaptive radiation of halophilic eukaryotes. Furthermore, the ecological role of Pharyngomonas species underscores their importance as trophic regulators in hypersaline ecosystems. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the diversity, adaptation, and ecological functions of halophilic eukaryotes in extreme environments.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.301-305
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• 1987

Moderate halophilic bacteria isolated from several kinds of salted and fermented sea foods (jeotkal) collected from commercial market were identified and investigated on their selt requirements. It was confirmed that the isolates were dominantly moderate halophiles according to their NaCl requirement to grow. And their salt requirements in their growth have been examined for Na, K, Ni and mg ions. Among them, the most dominant and distinctive three strains in protease pro-duction have been examined and two of them identified to be halophilic Flavobacterium sp., and the other one to be halophilic Pseudomonas sp..1'heir optimum growth was observed at 3$0^{\circ}C$ and at 10 percent of NaCl.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.649-659
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• 2017

Extremophilic microorganisms have established a diversity of molecular strategies in order to survive in extreme conditions. Biocatalysts isolated by these organisms are termed extremozymes, and possess extraordinary properties of salt allowance, thermostability, and cold adaptivity. Extremozymes are very resistant to extreme conditions owing to their great solidity, and they pose new opportunities for biocatalysis and biotransformations, as well as for the development of the economy and new line of research, through their application. Thermophilic proteins, piezophilic proteins, acidophilic proteins, and halophilic proteins have been studied during the last few years. Amylases, proteases, lipases, pullulanases, cellulases, chitinases, xylanases, pectinases, isomerases, esterases, and dehydrogenases have great potential application for biotechnology, such as in agricultural, chemical, biomedical, and biotechnological processes. The study of extremozymes and their main applications have emerged during recent years.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.76-87
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• 2024

Halophilic bacteria are promising reservoirs for halotolerant enzymes that have gained much attention in biotechnological applications due to their remarkable activity and stability. In this study, 62 halophilic bacterial strains isolated from a solar saltern were screened for the production of various extracellular enzymes. The results revealed that 31 strains (50%) were positive for amylase production while 26 strains (41.9%) were positive for protease. Further, 22 strains (35.48%) exhibited β-glucosidase activity and only 17 (27.41%) demonstrated lipase activity. Of the investigated halophiles, ten strains growing in the presence of ≥15% NaCl (w/v) were selected and identified based on their 16S rRNA gene sequences as Halomonas meridiana, Salinivibrio costicola, Virgibacillus oceani, Virgibacillus marismortui, Marinobacter lipolyticus, Halobacillus karajensis, Salicola salis, Pseudoalteromonas shioyasakiensis, Salinicoccus amylolyticus, and Paracoccus salipaludis. Therefore, the present study highlights the diversity of the culturable halophilic bacteria in a Mediterranean solar saltern, harboring various valuable halotolerant enzymes.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.129-135
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• 2011

Cloning and characterization of the gene encoding a solvent-tolerant protease from the haloalkaliphilic bacterium Geomicrobium sp. EMB2 are described. Primers designed based on the N-terminal amino acid sequence of the purified EMB2 protease helped in the amplification of a 1,505-bp open reading frame that had a coding potential of a 42.7-kDa polypeptide. The deduced EMB2 protein contained a 35.4-kDa mature protein of 311 residues, with a high proportion of acidic amino acid residues. Phylogenetic analysis placed the EMB2 gene close to a known serine protease from Bacillus clausii KSM-K16. Primary sequence analysis indicated a hydrophobic inclination of the protein; and the 3D structure modeling elucidated a relatively higher percentage of small (glycine, alanine, and valine) and borderline (serine and threonine) hydrophobic residues on its surface. The structure analysis also highlighted enrichment of acidic residues at the cost of basic residues. The study indicated that solvent and salt stabilities in Geomicrobium sp. protease may be accorded to different structural features; that is, the presence of a number of small hydrophobic amino acid residues on the surface and a higher content of acidic amino acid residues, respectively.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2005

We isolated and cultured bacteria inhabiting solar saltern ponds in Taean-Gun, Chungnam Province, Korea. All of the isolated 64 strains were found to be moderately halophilic bacteria, growing in a salt range of 2-20 %, with an optimal concentration of 5% salt. Bacterial diversity among the isolated halophiles was evaluated via RFLP analyses of PCR-amplified 16S rDNAs, followed by phylogenetic analysis of the partial 16S rDNA sequences. The combination of restriction enzyme digestions with HaeIII, CfoI, MspI and RsaI generated 54 distinct patterns. A neighbor-joining tree of the partial 16S rDNA sequences resulted in the division of the 64 strains into 2 major groups, 45 strains of ${\gamma}-Proteobacteria$ (70.3%) and 19 strains of Firmicutes (29.7%). The ${\alpha}-Proteobacteria$ and Cytophaga-Flavobacterium-Bacterioides groups, which were repeatedly found to exist in thalassohaline environments, were not represented in our isolates. The ${\gamma}-Proteobacteria$ group consisted of several subgroups of the Vibrionaceae (37.5%), Pseudoalteromonadaceae (10.9%), Halomonadaceae (7.8%), Alteromonadaceae (7.8%), and Idiomarinaceae (6.3%). Members of Salinivibrio costicola (29.7%) were the most predominant species among all of the isolates, followed by Halobacillus treperi (12.5%). Additionally, three new species candidates were found, based on similarities of the 16S rDNA sequences to those of previously published species.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.248-257
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• 2019

In this study, we isolated about 70 bacterial strains from terrestrial and marine environments in Jeju island, and finally, total 21 strains were obtained based on the 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequence analysis. These isolated strains were classified into 16 genera of 5 classes and were identified as an unrecorded species in the Republic of Korea. As a result of the substrate utilization and capability for polymer degradation, the physiological phenotypes for acid resistance and halophilic bacteria were observed to be distinct from each other, except for some acid resistance strains. This study might provide basic information on utilization for indigenous microorganisms.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.32 no.10
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• pp.803-811
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• 2022

Despite the importance of traditional Korean fermented foods, little is known about the microbial communities and diversity of fermented soy products. To gain insight into the unexplored microbial communities of both Doenjang (DJ) and Ganjang (GJ) that may contribute to the fermentation in Korean traditional foods, we carried out next-generation sequencing (NGS) based on the V3-V4 region of 16S rDNA gene analysis. The alpha diversity analysis results revealed that both the Shannon and Simpson diversity indices were significantly different between the two groups, whereas the richness indices, including ACE, CHAO, and Jackknife, were not significant. Firmicutes were the most dominant phylum in both groups, but several taxa were found to be more abundant in DJ than in GJ. The proportions of Bacillus, Kroppenstedtia, Clostridium, and Pseudomonas and most halophiles and halotolerant bacteria, such as Tetragenococcus, Chromohalobacter, Lentibacillus, and Psychrobacter, were lower in DJ than in GJ. Linear discriminant effect size (LEfSe) analysis was carried out to discover discriminative functional biomarkers. Biomarker discovery results showed that Bacillus and Tetragenococcus were identified as the most important features for the classification of subjects to DJ and GJ. Paired-permutational multivariate analysis of variance (PERMANOVA) further revealed that the bacterial community structure between the two groups was statistically different (p=0.001).

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.33 no.8
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• pp.680-691
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• 2023

Peak oil, climate change, and microplastics caused by the production and usage of petroleum-based plastics have threatened the sustainability of our daily life, and this has emerged as a recent global issue. To solve this global issue, the production and usage of biodegradable eco-friendly bioplastics such as polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) has been suggested as an alternative. Therefore, in this review, the present status of global PHA manufacturers, the advantages of the production of PHAs using marine-origin microorganisms (with their productivity potential) and further required research and development strategies for cost-competitive production of PHAs using marine-based microorganisms were investigated. In this review, PHAs produced from marine microorganisms were found to have similar physical properties to petroleum-based plastics but with several advantages that can reduce the costs of PHA production. Those advantages include, seawater used in the medium preparation step, and osmotic-based cell lysis technology used in the separation and purification steps. However, the PHA productivities from marine microorganisms showed somewhat lower efficiencies than those from the commercial strains isolated from terrestrial environments. In order to solve the problem, further research strategies using synthetic microbiology-based technology, the development of long-term continuous culture technology, and solutions to improve PHA efficiency are required to meet future market demands for alternative bioplastics.