• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.22 no.9
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• pp.1185-1192
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• 2012

This study investigated the hydrocarbonoclastic microbial community present on weathered crude oil and their ability to degrade weathered oil in seawater obtained from the Gulf St. Vincent (SA, Australia). Examination of the native seawater communities capable of utilizing hydrocarbon as the sole carbon source identified a maximum recovery of just $6.6{\times}10^1\;CFU/ml$, with these values dramatically increased in the weathered oil, reaching $4.1{\times}10^4\;CFU/ml$. The weathered oil (dominated by > $C_{30}$ fractions; $750,000{\pm}150,000mg/l$) was subject to an 8 week laboratory-based degradation microcosm study. By day 56, the natural inoculums degraded the soluble hydrocarbons (initial concentrations $3,400{\pm}700mg/l$ and $1,700{\pm}340mg/l$ for the control and seawater, respectively) to below detectable levels, and biodegradation of the residual oil reached 62% ($254,000{\pm}40,000mg/l$) and 66% ($285,000{\pm}45,000mg/l$) in the control and seawater sources, respectively. In addition, the residual oil gas chromatogram profiles changed with the presence of short and intermediate hydrocarbon chains. 16S rDNA DGGE sequence analysis revealed species affiliated with the genera Roseobacter, Alteromonas, Yeosuana aromativorans, and Pseudomonas, renowned oil-degrading organisms previously thought to be associated with the environment where the oil contaminated rather than also being present in the contaminating oil. This study highlights the importance of microbiological techniques for isolation and characterisation, coupled with molecular techniques for identification, in understanding the role and function of native oil communities.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.959-967
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• 2004

To screen probiotic lactic acid bacteria with potent adhesive property on human colonic mucosa, colonic mucin-binding assay was introduced. This colonic mucin-binding assay actually measures the binding activity of surface lectin-like protein (SLP) on colonic mucin, and the optimal conditions were examined. The optimal pH for colonic mucin coating on plate wells was 4.8, and ${\times}24,000$ diluted solution of commercially available horseradish peroxidase (HRP) conjugated streptoavidin yielded good results, for rapid screening, $5.0\;{\mu}g/mL$ of biotinylated SLP from lactic acid bacteria was optimal, and optimal scintillation time of 3,3',5,5'-tetramethyl benzidine (TMB) was 10 min. These conditions were useful for both rapid selection and quantitative analysis of lactic acid bacteria that have high adhesion property to human intestinal tract. Among 50 strains of lactic acid bacteria, including 32 type culture strains and 18 isolated strains from infant feces, Lactobacillus species FSB-1 isolated from kimchi showed the highest binding activity to colonic mucin. From taxonomical viewpoints based on morphological study, physico-biochemical study, partial 16S rDNA seguencing, and phylogenetic analysis, L. species FSB-1 was identified as Lactobacillus brevis.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.165-173
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• 2005

A potent demethylating agent, 5-Azacytidine (5-AzaC) has been widely used as in many studies on DNA methylation, regulation of gene expression, and cancer biology. The mechanisms of the demethylating activity were known to be formation of complex between DNA and DNA methyltransferase (MTase), which depletes cellular MTase activity. However, 5-AzaC can also induce hypermethylation of a transgene in a transgenic cell line, G12 cells and it was explained as a result of defense mechanisms to inactivate foreign gene(s) somehow. This finding evoked the question that whether the phenomenon of hypermethylation induced by 5-AzaC is limited to the transgene or it can be occurred in endogenous gene(s). In order to answer the question, mutagenicity test of 5-AzaC and molecular characterization of mutants obtained from the test were performed using an endogenous gene, thymidine kinase (tk) in Chinese hamster V79 cells. When V79 and V79-J3 subclone cells were treated with 1, 2.5 ,5, $10{\mu}M$ of 5-AzaC for 48 hours, their maximum mutant frequencies were revealed as $6\times10^{-3}\;at\;5{\mu}M$(350-fold induction over background) and $8\times10^{-3}\;at\;2.5{\mu}M$ (l,800-fold induction over background) respectively. Since the induction rates were too high to be induced by true mutations, many trifluorothymidine (TFT)-resistant $(TFT^R)$ cells were subjected to Northern blot analysis to check the presence of tk transcripts. Surprisingly, all clones tested possessed the transcripts in a similar level, that implicates the $TFT^R$ phenotype induced by 5-AzaC has not given rise to hypermethylation of the gene in spite of unusually high mutation frequency. In addition, it has shown that the TK activity in the pool of 5-AzaC-induced $TFT^R$ cells has about a half of that in spontaneously-induced $TFT^R$ cells or in non-selected parental V79-J3 cells. This result suggests that the mechanism(s) underlying the TFT-resistance between spontaneously occurred and 5-AzaC-induced cells may be different. These findings have shown that the $TFT^R$ phenotype induced by 5-AzaC has not given rise to hypermethylation of the tk gene, and 5-AzaC may be induced by one or combined pathways among many drug resistance mechanisms. The exact mechanisms for the 5-AzaC-induced $TFT^R$ phenotype remain to elucidate.

• Food Engineering Progress
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.370-375
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• 2011

In this study the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) combined with denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) was evaluated as a method permitting the rapid detection of pathogens in fresh originally grown vegetables. A universal primer (341GCf/534r) was selected for its ability to amplify the V3 region of 16S-rRNA genes in their target pathogens (Salmonella typhimurium, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Bacillus cereus, Listeria monoytogenes, Staphyloocus aureus, E. coli). The 194 bp fragments in PCR were successfully duplicated as expected. The amplified fragments of the same size from six different pathogens also showed good separation upon DGGE. The detection limit of PCR-DGGE for six pathogens in fresh-cut lettuces were over $10^{5}$ CFU/g when sampled by stomaching. However, when the sampling method was changed from stomaching to shaking, the detection limit of six pathogens in organic vegetables was shown to increase by over $10^{1}$ CFU/g, but only those of B. cereus were over $10^{3}$ CFU/g. Therefore, PCR-DGGE was shown to be a reliable method for the detection of pathogens in fresh-cut vegetables.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.311-316
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• 2008

In this study, biological PCE degradation by using a BTEX degrading bacterium, named BJ10, under aerobic conditions in the presence of toluene was examined. According to morphological, physiological characteristics, 16S rDNA sequencing and fatty acid analysis, BJ10 was classified as Pseudomonas putida. As a result of biological PCE degradation at low PCE concentrations (5 mg/L), PCE removal efficiency by P. putida BJ10 was 52.8% for 10 days, and PCE removal rate was 5.9 nmol/hr (toluene concentration 50 mg/L, initial cell density 1.0 g (wet weight)/L, temperature 30, pH 7 and DO $3.0{\sim}4.2\;mg/L$. At high PCE concentration (100 mg/L), PCE removal efficiency by P. putida BJ10 was 20.3% for 10 days, and PCE removal rate was 46.0 nmol/hr under the same conditions. The effects of various toluene concentration (5, 25, 50, 100, 200 mg/L) on PCE degradation were examined under the same incubation conditions. The highest PCE removal efficiency of PCE was 57.0% in the initial PCE concentration of 10 mg/L in the presence of 200 mg/L toluene for 10 days. Furthermore, the additional injection of 5.5 mg/L PCE (total 7.6 mg/L) made 63.0% degradation for 8 days in the presence of 50 mg/L toluene under the same conditions. Its removal rate was 13.5 nmol/hr, which was better than the initial removal rate (8.1 nmol/hr).

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.13 no.11
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• pp.5179-5186
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• 2012

Miglitol, a well-known therapeutic intervention agents for diabetes, exhibits competitive inhibitory activity against ${\alpha}$-glucosidase and it is usually produced through three sequential steps including chemical and bioconversion processes. Gluconobactor oxydans (G. oxydans) belonging to acetic acid bacteria biologically, converts 1-deoxy-1-(2-hydroxyethylamino)-D-glucitol (P1) into a key intermidiate, 6-(2-hydroxyetyl) amino-6-deoxy-${\alpha}$-L-sorbofuranose (P2) by incomplete oxidation. In this study, we identified and optimized fermentation conditions of CK-2165, that was selected in soil samples by comparing the bioconversion yield. CK-2165 strain was found to be closely related to G. oxydans based on the result of phylogenetic analysis using 16S rDNA sequence. Utilization of API 20 kits revealed that this strain could use glucose, mannose, inositol, sorbitol, rhamnose, sucrose, melibiose, amygdalin and arabinose as carbon sources. The culture conditions were optimized for industrial production and several important factors affecting bioconversion rate were also tested using mycelial cake. Cell harvested at the late-stationary phase showed the highest bioconversion yield and $MgSO_4$ was critically required for the catalytic activity.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.388-395
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• 2010

In order to decrease level of an organophosphorus fungicide, tolclofos-methyl, from in situ ginseng cultivating soil, we isolated a tolclofos-methyl degrading bacteria from ginseng cultivating soil samples. The bacterial strain removed tolclofos-methyl around 95% after 3 days incubation with complete liquid media. The strain was identified as Sphingomonas sp. by 16S rDNA sequence comparison, and designated as Sphingomonas sp. 224. Through the GC-MS analysis, Sphingomonas sp. 224 was proposed to have an initiative degradation pathway generating the metabolite such as 2,6-dichloro-4-methyl phenol compound from tolclofos-methyl. In addition, Sphingomonas sp. 224 was confirmed representing the effective degrading capability to tolclofosmethyl in situ soil.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.62-70
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• 2020

Here in this work, a 4-chlorophenol (4-CP)-degrading bacterial strain Bacillus subtilis (B. subtilis) MF447840.1 was isolated from the drain outside the Hyundai car service center, Agartala, Tripura, India. 16S rDNA technique used carried out for genomic recognition of the bacterial species. Isolated bacterial strain was phylogenetically related with B. subtilis. This strain was capable of breaking down both phenol and 4-CP at the concentration of 1,000 mg/L. Also, the isolated strain can able to metabolize five diverse aromatic molecules such as 2-chlorophenol, 2,4-dichlorophenol, 2,4,6-trichlorophenol, 4-nitrophenol, and pentachlorophenol for their growth. An extensive investigation was performed to portray the kinetics of cell growth along with 4-CP degradation in the batch study utilizing 4-CP as substrate. Various unstructured models were applied to evaluate the intrinsic kinetic factors. Levenspiel's model demonstrates a comparatively enhanced R² value (0.997) amongst every analyzed model. The data of specific growth rate (μ), saturation constant (K_S), and Y_X/S were 0.11 h^-1, 39.88 mg/L, along with 0.53 g/g, correspondingly. The isolated strain degrades 1,000 mg/L of 4-CP within 40 h. Therefore, B. subtilis MF447840.1 was considered a potential candidate for 4-CP degradation.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.20 no.12
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• pp.1882-1888
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• 2010

To develop probiotics, a kind of Lactobacillus sp. was isolated from infant feces. The bacterium was identified as Lactobacillus rhamnosus through 16S rDNA sequence analysis. The strain was a facultative anaerobe which grew better in aerobic conditions. The bacterium lowered the pH of the culture solution down to 2.4 during 48 hr in the MRS medium. The strain inhibited the growth of 6 pathogens - S. aureus, L. monocytogens, S. typhimurium, E. coli O-157, V. parahaemolyticus and P. aeruginosa. When the Lactobacillus were fed to chickens, along with commercial feed, for one month, amounts of $H_2S$ and $NH_3$ in the feces of the chicken decreased to 50% and 70%, respectively, compared to those of control group chickens. Amounts of other bad smells such as $(CH_3)SH$, $(CH_3)_2S$ and $(CH_3)_2S_2$ were not much different in the Lactobacillus-fed chickens compared to the control group. On the other hand, egg weights of the chickens fed Lactobacillus were higher by about $5{\pm}1\;g$ than those in the control group.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.123-128
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• 2006

An epizootic causing mortality among cultured marine finfishes occurred in 1999 in the province of Kyoungsang, Korea. The disease was characterized by the presence of enterocele, abdominal swelling, and gastroenteritis. The causative bacteria were isolated from olive flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus), black rockfish (Sebastes schlegeli), turbot (Scophthalmus maximus) and the rearing water. These bacteria showed swarming activity on agar plates and yellowish or greenish colonies on thiosulfate-citrate-bile salts-sucrose (TCBS) agar plates, but no luminescence. The pathogen was identified as Vibrio harveyi based on morphological and biochemical characteristics and the sequence of l6S rDNA. The lethal doses (LD$_{50}$) of olive flounder and black rockfish were estimated to be $1.24\times10^6-1.36\times10^8$ and $3.24\times10^5-5.8\times10^7$ CFU/fish respectively following intraperitoneal injection.