• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.2-6
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• 2015

Pathogenic bacteria survive in iron-limited host environments by using several iron acquisition mechanisms. Acinetobacter baumannii, causing serious infections in compromised patients, produces an iron-chelating molecule, called acinetobactin, which is composed of equimolar quantities of 2,3-dihydroxybenzoic acid (DHBA), L-threonine, and N-hydroxyhistamine, to compete with host cells for iron. Genes that are involved in the production and transport of acinetobactin are clustered within the genome of A. baumannii. A recent study showed that entA, located outside of the acinetobactin gene cluster, plays important roles in the biosynthesis of the acinetobactin precursor DHBA and in bacterial pathogenesis. Therefore, understanding the genes that are associated with the biosynthesis and transport of acinetobactin in the bacterial genome is required. This review is intended to provide a general overview of the genes in the genome of A. baumannii that are required for acinetobactin biosynthesis and transport.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.54-62
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• 2014

To better understand dissimilatory iron and sulfate reduction (DIR and DSR) by subsurface microorganisms, we investigated the effects of sulfate and electron donors on the microbial goethite (${\alpha}$-FeOOH) reduction. Batch systems were created 1) with acetate or glucose (donor), 2) with goethite and sulfate (acceptor), and 3) with aquifer sediment (microbial source). With 0.2 mM sulfate, goethite reduction coupled with acetate oxidation was limited. However, with 10 mM sulfate, 8 mM goethite reduction occurred with complete sulfate reduction and x-ray absorption fine-structure analysis indicated the formation of iron sulfide. This suggests that goethite reduction was due to the sulfide species produced by DSR bacteria rather than direct microbial reaction by DIR bacteria. Both acetate and glucose promoted goethite reduction. The rate of goethite reduction was faster with glucose, while the extent of goethite reduction was higher with acetate. Sulfate reduction (10 mM) occurred only with acetate. The results suggest that glucose-fermenting bacteria rapidly stimulated goethite reduction, but acetate-oxidizing DSR bacteria reduced goethite indirectly by producing sulfides. This study suggests that the availability of specific electron donor and sulfate significantly influence microbial community activities as well as goethite transformation, which should be considered for the bioremediation of contaminated environments.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.28 no.10
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• pp.851-861
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• 2019

In this study, we performed a sediment elution experiment to evaluate water quality in terms of phosphorus, as influenced by the dissolved oxygen consumed by sediments. Three separate model column treatments, namely, raw, calcined, and sonicated oyster shell powders, were used in this experiment. Essential phosphorus fractions were examined to verify their roles in nutrient release from sediment based on correlation analyses. When treated with calcined or sonicated oyster shell powder, the sediment-water interface became "less anaerobic," thereby producing conditions conducive to partial oxidation and activities of aerobic bacteria. Sediment Oxygen Demand (SOD) was found to be closely correlated with the growth of algae, which confirmed an intermittent input of organic biomass at the sediment surface. SOD was positively correlated with exchangeable and loosely adsorbed phosphorus and organic phosphorus, owing to the accumulation of unbound algal biomass-derived phosphates in sediment, whereas it was negatively correlated with ferric iron-bound phosphorus or calcium fluorapatite-bound phosphorus, which were present in the form of "insoluble" complexes, thereby facilitating the free migration of sulfate-reducing bacteria or limiting the release from complexes, depending on applied local conditions. PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis revealed that iron-reducing bacteria were the dominant species in control and non-calcined oyster shell columns, whereas certain sulfur-oxidizing bacteria were identified in the column treated with calcined oyster powder.

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.688-691
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• 2000

Ferritin, an iron-storage protein, is found in bacteria and some animal tissues such as liver, spleen, and bone marrow. It is more effective and causes less side reactions than the traditional ferrous sulfate, and thus has been used primarily to treat iron deficiency in pregnancy anaemia. Currently, the ferritin extracted from the bovine and equine spleens are sold as a commercial product. Its market is estimated as several hundreds of million US dollars. However, because of the recent warnings against the viral diseases of animal origins such as mad cow disease, a safer ferritin is sought after. Our research team has successfully developed a production process for recombinant human ferritin. Its expression titer from yeast is high enough to be economically viable, and its particle formation characteristics are as effective as well.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.33 no.8
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• pp.992-997
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• 2023

Ferroptosis is a new kind of programmed cell death of which occurrence in microorganisms is not clearly verified. The elevated level of reactive oxygen species (ROS) influences cellular metabolisms through highly reactive hydroxyl radical formation under the iron-dependent Fenton reaction. Iron contributes to ROS production and acts as a cofactor for lipoxygenase to catalyze poly unsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) oxidation, exerting oxidative damage in cells. While ferroptosis is known to take place only in mammalian cells, recent studies discovered the possible ferroptosis-like death in few specific microorganisms. Capacity of integrating PUFA into intracellular membrane phospholipid has been considered as a key factor in bacterial or fungal ferroptosis-like death. Vibrio species in bacteria and Saccharomyces cerevisiae in fungi exhibited certain characteristics. Therefore, this review focus on introducing the occurrence of ferroptosis-like death in microorganisms and investigating the mode of action underlying the cells based on contribution of lipid peroxidation and iron-dependent reaction.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.51-71
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• 2017

Antimicrobial polyethersulfone ultrafiltration membranes containing zerovalent iron ($Fe^0$) and magnetite ($Fe_3O_4$) nanoparticles were synthesized via phase inversion method using polyethersulfone (PES) as membrane material and nano-iron as nanoparticle materials. Zerovalent iron nanoparticles (nZVI) were prepared by the reduction of iron ions with borohydride applying an inert atmosphere by using $N_2$ gases. The magnetite nanoparticles (nMag) were prepared via co-precipitation method by adding a base to an aqueous mixture of $Fe^{3+}$ and $Fe^{2+}$ salts. The synthesized nanoparticles were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, and dynamic light scattering analysis. Moreover, the properties of the synthesized membranes were characterized by scanning electron microscopy energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy. The PES membranes containing the nZVI or nMag were examined for antimicrobial characteristics. Moreover, amount of iron run away from the PES composite membranes during the dead-end filtration were tested. The results showed that the permeation flux of the composite membranes was higher than the pristine PES membrane. The membranes containing nano-iron showed good antibacterial activity against gram-negative bacteria (Escherichia coli). The composite membranes can be successfully used for the domestic wastewater filtration to reduce membrane biofouling.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.72-77
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• 2017

Inorganic iron is essential for various metabolic processes, including RNA synthesis, electron transport, and oxygen detoxification in microorganisms. Many bacterial pathogens compete for iron acquisition in diverse environmental condition such as host. Salmonella Typhimurium SL1344 also requires inorganic iron as a cofactor for growth. When a M9 minimal liquid medium was supplemented with ethylenediamine di-o-hydroxyphenylactic acid (EDDA) which acts as an iron-chelating agent, growth of Salmonella Typhimurium SL1344 in the supplemented medium was completely arrested by deficient of useful iron under iron-depleted condition. However, a number of siderophores, which are small, high-affinity iron chelating compounds secreted by microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi, were produced for utilization of restricted iron under iron-depleted condition. A M9 minimal liquid medium complemented with human transferrin (hTf)-iron complex turned completely off production of siderophores, but growth of Salmonella Typhimurium SL1344 maintained level similar to compare one complemented with iron (III) chloride (FeCl3). This means that human transferrin (hTf)-bound iron can utilize via directly interaction with Salmonella Typhimurium SL1344 without productions of siderophores. Through construction and analysis of negative mutant for utilization of human transferrin (hTf)-bound iron, we confirm that the bacterium can directly use human transferrin (hTf)-bound iron without extracellularly intermediated carriers such as siderophores.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.757-762
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• 2016

The group of Fe(III) oxide-reducing bacteria includes exoelectrogenic bacteria, and they possess similar properties of transferring electrons to extracellular insoluble-electron acceptors. The exoelectrogenic bacteria can use the anode in microbial fuel cells (MFCs) as the terminal electron acceptor in anaerobic acetate oxidation. In the present study, the anodic community was compared with the community using Fe(III) oxide (ferrihydrite) as the electron acceptor coupled with acetate oxidation. To precisely analyze the structures, the community was established by enrichment cultures using the same inoculum used for the MFCs. High-throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene revealed considerable differences between the structure of the anodic communities and that of the Fe(III) oxide-reducing community. Geobacter species were predominantly detected (>46%) in the anodic communities. In contrast, Pseudomonas (70%) and Desulfosporosinus (16%) were predominant in the Fe(III) oxide-reducing community. These results demonstrated that Geobacter species are the most specialized among Fe(III)-reducing bacteria for electron transfer to the anode in MFCs. In addition, the present study indicates the presence of a novel lineage of bacteria in the genus Pseudomonas that highly prefers ferrihydrite as the terminal electron acceptor in acetate oxidation.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.1-13
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• 2018

Purpose: This review article provides an overview of the trends of research papers on the health benefits of kimchi and kimchi lactic acid bacteria published from 1995 to 2017. Methods: All publications from 1995 to 2017 regarding kimchi and kimchi lactic acid bacteria were collected, reviewed, and classified. This review article covers the publications of the health benefits of kimchi and kimchi lactic acid bacteria on experimental, clinical trials, and epidemiology studies. Results: The number of publications on kimchi over the period were 590: 385 publications in Korean and 205 publications in English. The number of publications on the health benefits of kimchi and kimchi lactic acid bacteria were 95 in Korean and 54 in English. The number of publications on kimchi and kimchi lactic acid bacteria were 84 and 38, respectively, in the experimental models. Ten research papers on kimchi in clinical trials and 7 publications in epidemiology were found. Kimchi or kimchi lactic acid bacteria had protective effects against oxidative stress, mutagenicity, toxicity, cancer, dyslipidemia, hypertension, immunity, and inflammation in in vitro, cellular, and in vivo animal models. Moreover, kimchi had effects on the serum lipids, intestinal microbiota, iron status, obesity, and metabolic parameters in human clinical trials. In epidemiology, kimchi had effects on hypertension, asthma, atopic dermatitis, rhinitis, cholesterol levels, and free radicals. Conclusion: This review focused on the publications regarding the health benefits of kimchi and kimchi lactic acid bacteria, suggesting the future directions of studies about kimchi and kimchi lactic acid bacteria by producing a database for an evaluation of the health benefits of kimchi.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.265-273
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• 2011

Bacterial diversity based on the denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) analysis of PCR-amplified 16S rRNA gene sequences was determined for soil samples from two abandoned mine sites and the corresponding enrichment cultures using soil sample as key inoculum. Sequencing analysis of DGGE bands obtained from both the soil samples matched mostly with sequences of uncultured and newly described organisms, or organisms recently associated with the acid mine drainage environment. However, the enrichment of soil samples in ferrous sulfate and elemental sulfur media yielded sequences that were consistent with well-known iron- and sulfur-oxidizing acidophilic bacteria. Analysis of enrichment cultures of soil samples from Dalsung mine revealed abundant ${\gamma}$-$Proteobacteria$, whereas that of Gubong mine sample displayed acidophilic groups of ${\gamma}$-$Proteobacteria$, ${\alpha}$-$Proteobacteria$, $Actinobacteria$ and $Firmicutes$. Chemical elemental analysis of the mine samples indicated that the Dalsung site contained more iron and sulfate along with other toxic components as compared with those of the Gubong site. Biogeochemistry was believed to be the primary control on the acidophilic bacterial group in the enrichment samples.