• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.200-207
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• 2007

In vitro rumen incubation studies were conducted to determine effects of initial pH on bacterial attachment and fiber digestion. Ruminal fluid pH was adjusted to 5.7, 6.2 and 6.7, and three major fibrolytic bacteria attached to rice straw in the mixed culture were quantified with real-time PCR. The numbers of attached and unattached Fibrobacter succinogenes, Ruminococcus flavefaciens and Ruminocococcus albus were lower (p<0.05) at initial pH of 5.7 without significant difference between those at higher initial pH. Lowering incubation media pH to 5.7 also increased bacterial numbers detached from substrate regardless of bacterial species. Dry matter digestibility, gas accumulation and total VFA production were pH-dependent. Unlike bacterial attachment, maintaining an initial pH of 6.7 increased digestion over initial pH of 6.2. After 48 h in vitro rumen fermentation, average increases in DM digestion, gas accumulation, and total VFA production at initial pH of 6.2 and 6.7 were 2.8 and 4.4, 2.0 and 3.0, and 1.2 and 1.6 times those at initial pH of 5.7, respectively. The lag time to reach above 2% DM digestibility at low initial pH was taken more times (8 h) than at high and middle initial pH (4 h). Current data clearly indicate that ruminal pH is one of the important determinants of fiber digestion, which is modulated via the effect on bacterial attachment to fiber substrates.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.54-60
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• 2005

A study was conducted with the objective of evaluating the nutritive value of some browse species from Kenya. The species evaluated included: Bauhinia alba, Bauhinia variegata, Bridelia micrantha, Calliandra calothyrsus, Carisa edulis, Cratylia argentea, Gliricidia sepium, Lantana camara, Maerua angolensis, Sesbania micrantha and S. sesban. The browses were evaluated by their chemical composition including phenolics, in vitro gas production and tannin activity (tannin bioassay). All the species had high crude protein content (149-268 g/kg DM) and low NDF content (239-549 g/kg DM). The feeds had varying contents of total extractable tannins (TET) ranging from low (3-22 mg/g DM), moderate (42-58 mg/g DM) and high (77-152 mg/g DM). Calliandra calothyrsus had the highest tannin content. Significant (p<0.05) variation in gas production was recorded among the species. Sesbania micrantha had the highest (p<0.05) potential gas production while Gliricidia sepium had the highest (p<0.05) rate of gas production. Use of polyethylene glycol (PEG 6000), to assess the adverse affect of tannins, indicated that tannins in browse species with high tannin content had inhibitory effects on rumen microbial fermentation as indicated by the gas production. Estimated organic matter digestibility and metabolizable energy also increased with PEG addition. The results of this study indicate that such Kenyan browse species have the potential to be used as feed supplements for ruminant animals.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.587-593
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• 2008

Microbial exopolysaccharide (EPS) is a biothickener that can be added to a wide variety of food products, where it serves as a viscosifying, stabilizing, emulsifying, and gelling agent. The objective of this study was to investigate the optimum conditions of pH, incubation temperature, and whey protein concentration (WPC) for EPS production by Lactobacillus rhamnosus ATCC 9595. We found that maximal EPS production was achieved at a pH of 5.5 and temperature of $37^{\circ}C$. At the same fermentation conditions, EPS production was affected by the addition of L. rhamnosus GG (a weak-EPS producer). After growth for 24 hr, total EPS production was $583{\pm}15.4mg/L$ in the single culture system, and $865{\pm}22.6\;mg/L$ in the co-culture system with L. rhamnosus GG. Based on the presence of WPC, EPS production dramatically increased from $583{\pm}15.4$ (under no WPC supplementation) to $1,011{\pm}14.7\;mg/L$ (under supplementation with 1.0% WPC). These results suggest that WPC supplementation and the co-culture systems coupled with small portions of weak-EPS producing strain can play an important role in the enhancement of EPS production.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.95-104
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• 2018

Biosurfactants or microbial surfactants are surface-active biomolecules that are produced by a variety of microorganisms. Biodegradability and low toxicity have led to the intensification of scientific studies on a wide range of industrial applications for biosurfactants in the field of environmental bioremediation as well as the petroleum industry and enhanced oil recovery. However, the major issues in biosurfactant production are high production cost and low yield. Improving the bioindustrial production processes relies on many strategies, such as the use of cheap raw materials, the optimization of medium-culture conditions, and selecting hyperproducing strains. The present work aims to obtain a mutant with higher biosurfactant production through applying mutagenesis on Bacillus subtilis SPB1 using a combination of UV irradiation and nitrous acid treatment. Following mutagenesis and screening on blood agar and subsequent formation of halos, the mutated strains were examined for emulsifying activity of their culture broth. A mutant designated B. subtilis M2 was selected as it produced biosurfactant at twice higher concentration than the parent strain. The potential of this biosurfactant for industrial uses was shown by studying its stability to environmental stresses such as pH and temperature and its applicability in the oil recovery process. It was practically stable at high temperature and at a wide range of pH, and it recovered above 90% of motor oil adsorbed to a sand sample.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.10
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• pp.1808-1819
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• 2017

Knowledge on the functional characteristics and temporal variation of anaerobic bacterial populations is important for better understanding of the microbial process of two-stage anaerobic reactors. However, owing to the high diversity of anaerobic bacteria, close attention should be prioritized to the frequently abundant bacteria that were defined as core bacteria and putatively functionally important. In this study, using MiSeq sequencing technology, the core bacterial community of 98 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) was determined in a two-stage upflow blanket filter reactor treating pharmaceutical wastewater. The core bacterial community accounted for 61.66% of the total sequences and accurately predicted the sample location in the principal coordinates analysis scatter plot as the total bacterial OTUs did. The core bacterial community in the first-stage (FS) and second-stage (SS) reactors were generally distinct, in that the FS core bacterial community was indicated to be more related to a higher-level fermentation process, and the SS core bacterial community contained more microbes in syntrophic cooperation with methanogens. Moreover, the different responses of the FS and SS core bacterial communities to the temperature shock and influent disturbance caused by solid contamination were fully investigated. Co-occurring analysis at the Order level implied that Bacteroidales, Selenomonadales, Anaerolineales, Syneristales, and Thermotogales might play key roles in anaerobic digestion due to their high abundance and tight correlation with other microbes. These findings advance our knowledge about the core bacterial community and its temporal variability for future comparative research and improvement of the two-stage anaerobic system operation.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.280-285
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• 2009

Both fresh Codonopsis lanceolata and lactic acid bacteria fermented Codonopsis lanceolata were extracted with water at $100^{\circ}C$, and tested for anticancer activity using several human cancer cell lines. The fermented extracts inhibited the growth of hepatocellular carcinoma cells up to 90%, compared to 75% for fresh Codonopsis lanceolata. The extracts of cytotoxicity on human normal lung cells (HEK293) were as low as 15%. Especially, human hepatocellular carcinoma cell were more efficiently inhibited than other cells. This extract also inhibited $\alpha$-glucosidase activity up to 60% at 1.0mg/$m{\ell}$. This fermented extracts showed the inhibition potency on tyrosinase by 25% at 1.0mg/$m{\ell}$. From the results, the fermented Codonopsis lanceolata enhanced several biological activities up to $20{\sim}30%$, compared to those from fresh Codonopsis lanceolata. It implies that fermentation process could be one of useful methods of utilizing low quality Codonopsis lanceolata. Because this process could yield high amounts of biologically active compounds by the help of microbial growth.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.292-298
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• 2005

Kochujang(Korean red pepper paste) of 600 g was fermented in the different types of vessels (glass, polypropylene(PP), polyethylene terephthalate(PET), stainless steel and Korean porcelain called onggi) with 627 mL of volume during 4 months. The quality changes were monitored for physical, chemical and microbiological attributes. Onggi which had high porosity in the micro-structure provided kochujang with higher microbial counts of aerobic bacteria, lactic acid bacteria and yeasts than those of the other containers. Compared to kochujang fermented in the other containers, kochujang in Onggi showed higher protease activity, amino type nitrogen, and free amino acid content. The kochujang in Onggi also attained higher acidity, lower pH and higher reducing sugar concentration than those in the other containers. All changes were completed 2 or 3 months. Onggi showed water loss and salt increase of the kochujang comparable to those in the other vessels, which was from gradual clogging of the micropores during storage. All physical, chemical and microbiological changes made the kochujang in Onggi attain the sensory quality significantly better than those fermented in the other vessels.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.580-586
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• 2010

Acid and alkali pretreatments were applied to tofu processing waste (TPW) to increase the solubility of ingredients in TPW. Pretreatment at 1.0% of HCl and 2.5% of NaOH condition resulted in the increase of SCOD concentration from 3.2 g COD/L to 27 g COD/L and 33 g COD/L, respectively. The acid and alkali-pretreated TPW was studied for its fermentative $H_2$ production capacity in batch mode using a thermophillic mixed culture. Alkali pretreatment on presence of 2.5% NaOH exhibited more soluble portion released compared to acid pretreatment using HCl, however the $H_2$ production from acid pretreated TPW was better than alkali-pretreated TPW probably due to the sodium inhibition on microbial activity. In addition, sewage sludge was externally added to the acid-pretreated (1.0% HCl) TPW by 20% (on volume basis). Average H2 production rate was increased from 31 to 78 ml/L-broth/hr, and it was attributed to the high buffer capacity and abundant nutrients especially divalent cation in sewage sludge.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.268-273
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• 2000

A microbiological hydrogen production process was optimized. Anaerobic photosynthetic bacteria like Rhodospirillum rubrum which is known to produce hydrogen from carbon monoxide efficiently and remove sulfur was used. To evaluate the potenital of this microorganism the optimization of media fermentation condition light intensity and light requirement for CO conversionwas tried in batch cultures and the continuous fermenter was also applied for this process. The gas residence time on CO conversion was sought out to get high conversion of carbon monoxide to hydrogen. Through this study the possibility of microbial synthtics gas concersion process was proposed.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.160-168
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• 2000

A-factor I a microbial hormone that can positively control cell differentiation leading to spore formation and secondary metabolite formation in Streptomyces griseus. to identify a protease that is deeply involved in the morphological and physiological differentiation of Streptomyces, the proteases produced by Streptomyces griseus IFO 13350 and its A-factor deficient mutant strain, Streptomyces griseus HH1, as well as Streptomyces griseus HH1 transformed with the afsA gene were sturdied. In general Streptomyces griseus showed a higher degree of cell growth and protease activity in proportion to its ability to produce a higher amount of A-factor. In particular, the specific activity of the trypsin of Streptomyces griseus IFO 13350 was greatly enhanced more than twice compared with that of Streptomyces griseus HH1 in the later stage of growth. The specific activity of the metalloprotease of Streptomyces griseus HH1 was greatly enhanced more than twice compared with that of Streptomyces griseus IFO 13350, and this observation was reversed in the presence of thiostreptione, However, Streptomyces griseus HH1 transformed with the afsA gene showed a significantly decreased level of trypsin and metalloprotease activity compared with that of the HH1 strain. There was no significant difference between Streptomyces griseus IFO 13350 and HH1 strain in their chymotrypsin and thiol protease activity, yet the level of leu-amionpeptidase activity was 2 times higher in Streptomyces griseus HH1 than in strain IFO 13350 . Streptomyces griseus HH1 harboring afsA showed a similar level of enzyme activity , however, all the three protease activities sharply increased and the thiol protease activity was critically increased at the end of the fermentation. When a serine protease inhibitor, pefabloc SC, and metalloprotease inhibitor, EDTA, were applied to strain IFO 13350 to examine the in vivo effects of the protease inhibitors on the morpholofical differentiation, the formation of aerial meycelium and spores was delayed by two or three days.