• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.1055-1060
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• 2012

In order to produce Hongkuk-ju, the production and characterization of Hongkuk (Monascus red koji) by Monascus anka KCTC 6121 were investigated. The optimum cultural conditions for the production of enzyme (${\alpha}$-amylase and glucoamylase) and pigment (yellow and red) from this strain on solid culture (steamed rice) were examined. The results showed that the production of ${\alpha}$-amylase and glucoamylase reached the highest for 9 days and 8 days, respectively. Since then, the productions decreased slightly. The production of yellow and red pigments reached the highest for 8 days, decreasing slightly soon after. The optimal content of the initial moisture equally presented 30% in the enzyme and pigment production. After that, the enzyme production decreased slowly, whereas pigment production decreased sharply. The optimal temperature of the culture also showed $30^{\circ}C$ in the production of enzyme and pigment. It was found that the initial inoculum size in enzyme and pigment production was 10% and 20%, respectively. Under these optimal conditions, the production of monacolin K and citrinin was 74.35 mg/kg and 5 mg/kg for 12 days, respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Tobacco Science
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.63-70
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• 1979

In order to improve the quality of greenish tobacco leaves, fermentation experiments by microbial treatment and periodical variations of fermentation temperature were performed. More than twenty strains were isolated from Hyangcho ( Sun cured Korean native leaves ) and Perique tobacco leaves. Among them, five strains which showed good growth in Nicotine Broth medium were selected. Identification experiments of these strains as well as checking the effects of fermentation by these treatment on the quality and aging rate of greenish tobacco leaves were carried out. The results were like following ; 1. Selected strains were identified as pseudomona.f for H-82, for P-4 and Bacillus for H-81. p- 4 and P-7. 2. Among the five strains, strain H- 82 showed the best effect on the forced aging and the quality of greenish tobacco leaves, The rate of oxygen uptaking, pH and nicotine contents were decreased. However, total volatile acids and petroleum ether extracts were increased. 3. After fermentation, taste from greenish tobacco leaf were removed and smoking characteristics were improved. Color was also changed from greenish yellow to dark brown.

• BMB Reports
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.59-70
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• 2012

Carbon catabolite repression (CCR) is a key regulatory system found in most microorganisms that ensures preferential utilization of energy-efficient carbon sources. CCR helps microorganisms obtain a proper balance between their metabolic capacity and the maximum sugar uptake capability. It also constrains the deregulated utilization of a preferred cognate substrate, enabling microorganisms to survive and dominate in natural environments. On the other side of the same coin lies the tenacious bottleneck in microbial production of bioproducts that employs a combination of carbon sources in varied proportion, such as lignocellulose-derived sugar mixtures. Preferential sugar uptake combined with the transcriptional and/or enzymatic exclusion of less preferred sugars turns out one of the major barriers in increasing the yield and productivity of fermentation process. Accumulation of the unused substrate also complicates the downstream processes used to extract the desired product. To overcome this difficulty and to develop tailor-made strains for specific metabolic engineering goals, quantitative and systemic understanding of the molecular interaction map behind CCR is a prerequisite. Here we comparatively review the universal and strain-specific features of CCR circuitry and discuss the recent efforts in developing synthetic cell factories devoid of CCR particularly for lignocellulose-based biorefinery.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.19 no.8
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• pp.810-817
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• 2009

The effect of cryoprotectants (maltodextrin+glycerol) and cryoprotectants+antioxidant [ascorbic acid and/or butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT)] mixtures on the survival, electrolyte leakage, and lipid degradation of freeze-dried Weissella paramesenteroides LC11 during storage was investigated and compared with that of the control (cells without additives) over a 90-day storage period at 4 or $20^{\circ}C$ in glass tubes with water activity ($a_w$) of 0.23. The survival, electrolyte leakage, and lipid degradation were evaluated through colony counts, electrical conductivity, and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) content, respectively. The fatty acids composition was determined by gas chromatography, in both the total lipid extract and the polar lipid fraction, and compared with that of the control after the 90-day storage period. As the storage proceeded, increases in leakage value and TBARS content, as well as a decrease in viability, were observed. After 90 days of storage, the major fatty acids found in both the total lipid extract and the polar lipid fraction were palmitic (16:0), palmitoleic (16:1), stearic (18:0), oleic (18:1), linoleic (18:2), and linolenic (18:3) acids. The survival, leakage value, TBARS content and 18:2/16:0 or 18:3/16:0 ratio were the greatest for the protected strain held at $4^{\circ}C$. Cells with the cryoprotectants+BHT mixture showed the highest percentage of survival and 18:2/16:0 or 18:3/16:0 ratio in both lipid extracts, as well as the lowest leakage value and TBARS content after the 90-day storage period. Drying cells with the cryoprotectants+BHT mixture considerably slowed down polar lipid degradation and loss of membrane integrity, resulting in improved viability during storage.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.511-520
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• 2016

The most energy-demanding step of wastewater treatment is the aeration-dependent elimination of organic carbon. Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) offer an alternative strategy in which carbon elimination is conducted by anaerobic microorganisms that transport respiratory electrons originating from carbon oxidation to an anode. Hence, chemical energy is directly transformed into electrical energy. In this study, the use and stability of barcode-containing exoelectrogenic model biofilms under non-axenic wastewater treatment conditions are described. Genomic barcodes were integrated in Shewanella oneidensis, Geobacter sulfurreducens, and G. metallireducens. These barcodes are unique for each strain and allow distinction between those cells and naturally occurring wild types as well as quantification of the amount of cells in a biofilm via multiplex qPCR. MFCs were pre-incubated with these three strains, and after 6 days the anodes were transferred into MFCs containing synthetic wastewater with 1% wastewater sludge. Over time, the system stabilized and the coulomb efficiency was constant. Overall, the initial synthetic biofilm community represented half of the anodic population at the end of the experimental timeline. The part of the community that contained a barcode was dominated by G. sulfurreducens cells (61.5%), while S. oneidensis and G. metallireducens cells comprised 10.5% and 17.9%, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to describe the stability of a synthetic exoelectrogenic consortium under non-axenic conditions. The observed stability offers new possibilities for the application of synthetic biofilms and synthetically engineered organisms fed with non-sterile waste streams.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.918-929
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• 2015

Microbial enhanced oil recovery (MEOR) is being used more widely, and the biological contributions involved in MEOR need to be identified and quantified for the improvement of field applications. Owing to the excellent interfacial activity and the wide distribution of producing strains in oil reservoirs, lipopeptides have proved to be an essential part of the complex mechanisms in MEOR. In this study, crude lipopeptides were produced by a strain isolated from an indigenous community in an oil reservoir. It was found that crude lipopeptides can effectively reduce the IFT (interfacial tension) to 10^-1~10^-2 mN/m under high salinity without forming stable emulsions, and the wettability of natural sandstone can be enhanced (Amott index, from 0.36 to 0.48). The results of core flooding experiments indicate that an additional 5.2% of original oil in place can be recovered with a 9.5% reduction of injection pressure. After the shut-in period, the wettability of the core, the reduction of injection pressure, and the oil recovery can be improved to 0.63, 16.2% and 9.6%, respectively. In the microscopic flooding experiments, the crude oil in membrane, cluster, and throat states contribute nearly 90% in total of the additional oil recovery, and the recovery of membranestate oil was significantly enhanced by 93.3% after shut in. Based on the results in macro and pore scale, the IFT reduction and the wettability alteration are considered primary contributors to oil recovery, while the latter was more dominant after one shut-in period.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.172-178
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• 2004

This research is performed for a biological control of Chinese cabbage clubroot, we isolated an antagonistic bacterium AC-3 against Plasmodiophora sp., causal pathogens of cabbage clubroot. The isolated strain was identified as Streptomyces sp. by culture morphology, biochemical reactions, and homology research based on l6S rDNA sequences. Streptomyces sp. AC-3 produced chitinase (9.3 units/$m\ell$) in culture broth. So Plasmodiophora sp. mycelia changed abnonnal swelling, curling and branching mycelia by Streptomyces sp. AC-3 culture. In a field infected by Plasmodiophora sp., the treatment of a organic fertilizer added 2% Streptomyces sp. AC-3 microbial inoculant, it resulted in about 50% reducing the severity of cabbage clubroot significantly on cabbage plants compared with treated organic fertilizer plants. Additional disease such as sclerotinia rot, fusarium wilt and pythium rot were also significantly reduced by the treatment of the organic fertilizer added Streptomyces sp. AC-3 microbial inoculant.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.270-278
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• 2000

The study was performed to investgate the excellent microbial anticaries substance which is more effective that the chlorhexidine in the dental caries treatment. A typi-cal strain which produced the most excellent antimicrobial subatance was selected. and identified novel alkalophillic Bacillus alkalophilshaggy JY-827. For the maximal production of themicrobial antibiotic against Streptococcus mutans from B. alkalophilshaggy JY-827, the optimal culture condition was in the medium containing glucose 15g/ L, pepton 10g/L and $K_2$$HPO_4$ 2g/L the highest production of antibiotic against S.mutans was obtained at $25^{\circ}C$ and pH 11.0 for 5 days. The antibiotic from B. alkalophilshaggy JY-827 was purified by organic solvent extraction, silica gel and sephadex LH-20 column chromatograpies, and then crystallized with methanol. The crystallin compoma-tion of this antibiotic was as a curcular shape. The melting point and rm[$\alpha$]$D^{20}$ were 152-154$^{\circ}C$ and +55。, respec-tively. Based on Instumental analyses such as FT-IR, $^{1}$H-NMR $^{13}$ C-NMR and GC-mass, the antibiotic was identified as aminoglycoside. It was obtained as amorphous white power, and soluble in water power, and soluble in water, methanol but insoluble in ether, chroloform. This antibiotic inhibited the growth of S.mutans to about 3 day at the concentration of $2.5$\times$10^{-7}$ /M. It was stable at the alkalli condition but unstable within the acid condition. It was also stable up to $70^{\circ}C$.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Applied Microbiology Conference
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• 2001.06a
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• pp.15-19
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• 2001

Creating an artificial strain with a minimal gene set for a specific purpose is every biologist's dream. With the complete genome sequencing of more than 50 microorganisms and extensive functional analyses of their genes, it is possible to design a genetic blueprint for a simple custom-designed microbe with the minimal gene set. Two different approaches are being considered. The first 'top-down' approach is trimming the genome to a minimal gene set by selectively removing genes of an organism thought to be unnecessary based on microbial genomics. The second 'bottom-up' approach is to synthesize the proposed minimal genome from basic chemical building blocks. The 'top-down' approach starting with the genome of a well known microorganism is more technically feasible, whereas the bottom-up approach may not be attainable in the nearest future because of the lack of the complete functional analysis of the genes needed for a life. Here in this study, we used the top-down approach to minimize the E. coli genome to create an artificial organism with 'core' elements for self-sustaining and self-replicating cells by eliminating unnecessary genes. Using several different kinds of sophisticated deletion techniques combined with a p:1age and transposons, we deleted about 19％ of the E. coli genome without causing any damages to cellular growth. This smaller E. coli genome will be further reduced to a genome with a minimal gene l;et essential for cell life. This minimized E. coli genome can lead to the construction of many custom-designed strains with myriad practical and commercial applications.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.730-736
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• 2004

This study aims at characterizing the bacteriophages isolated from activated sludge performing enhanced biological phosphorous removal (EBPR) to understand the interactions between the phage-host system and bacterial community. Sixteen bacterial isolates (E1-E16) were isolated as host bacterial strains from EBPR activated sludge for phage isolation. Forty bacteriophages based on their plaque sizes (2 plaques on E4, 4 on E8, 11 on E10, 5 on E14, 18 on E16) were obtained from filtered supernatant of the EBPR activated sludge. Each bacteriophage did not make any plaque on bacterial strains tested in this study except on its own host bacterial strain, respectively, indicating that the bacteriophages are with narrow host specificity. However, fourteen of the forty bacteriophages obtained in this study lost their virulent ability even on their own host bacteria. All of the lytic phages showed similar one-step growth patterns and had long latent period (about 9 hours) to reproduce their phage particles in their host bacterial cells. On the other hand, their probable burst sizes (6 to 48 per host cell) were large enough to actively lyse their host bacterial cells. Therefore, it could be implied that bacteriophages are also important members of the microbial community in EBPR activated sludge, and lytic phages directly decrease the population size of their host bacterial groups in EBPR activated sludge by lysis.