• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.230-234
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• 2003

An extracellular protease of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens S94 was purified to apparent homogeneity. The enzyme activity was strongly inhibited by general inhibitor for serine protease, PMSF, suggesting that the enzyme is a serine protease. The purified enzyme activity was inhibited by leucine peptidase inhibitor, bestatin, suggesting that the enzyme is a leucine endopeptidase. When the enzyme was chemically modified with PMSF, which specifically reacted with serine residue on the enzyme, the activity was eliminated. The endopeptidase activity was inhibited by the modifier which chemically modified carboxyl group of aspartate and glutamate. PLP, which would modify lysine residue, did not affect the endopepetidase activity to a greater extent. This demonstrates that serine and aspartate (or glutamate) residues of enzyme would participate in a important function of the endopeptidase activity.

• Journal of Species Research
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.339-345
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• 2020

The Earth contains billions of microbial species, although the vast majority cannot be cultured in laboratories and are thus considered unidentified and uncharacterized. Extremophiles are microorganisms that thrive in extreme conditions, including temperature, salinity, and pH. Extremophilic microorganisms have provided important insights for biological, metabolic, and evolutionary studies. Between 2017 and 2019, as part of a comprehensive investigation to identify bacterial species in Korea, eight bacterial strains were isolated from marine and non-marine environments in Jeju Island. These strains were cultured under extreme salinity or pH conditions. Phylogenetic analysis using 16S ribosomal RNA(rRNA) gene sequencing indicated that all eight strains belonged to the phyla Gammaproteobacteria, Bacilli, and Alphaproteobacteria. Based on their high 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities(>98.7%) and the formation of strong monophyletic clades with their closest related species, all isolated strains were considered as an unrecorded strain, previously unidentified species. Gram stain reaction, culture conditions, colony and cell morphology, biochemical characteristics, isolation source, and National Institute of Biological Resources(NIBR) IDs are described in this article. The characterization of these unrecorded strains provides information on microorganisms living in Korea.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.25-29
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• 1997

Microbial reduction of hexavalent (VI) to trivalent (III) chromium decreases its toxicity by two orders of magnitude. In order to investigate the nature of Cr-reduction, Cr-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa HP014 was isolated and tested for its reduction capability. At the concentration of 0.5 mM Cr(VI), cell growth was not inhibited by the presence of Cr(VI) in a liquid medium, and Cr(VI) reduction was accompanied by ell growth. When cell-free extract was tested, the reduction of Cr(VI) showed a saturation kinetics with the maximum specific activity of 0.33 .mu.mol min$\^$-1/ mg$\^$-1/ cell protein, and an apparent K. of 1.73 mM Cr(VI). The activity required either NADH or NADPH as an electron donor. However, NADPH gave 50% as mush activity as sequently the supernatant and pelleted membrane fractions were tested for Cr(VI) reduction activity. The supernatant of the centrifugation showed almost the same Cr(VI) reduction activity as compared with that of the cell-free extract, indicating that the Cr(VI)-reducing activity of P. aeruginosa HP-14 is due to soluble enzyme. Moreover, the activity appeared to be the highest among the known activities, suggesting that the strain might be useful for remediation of Cr(VI)-contaminated sites.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.18 no.E3
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• pp.165-174
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• 2002

A dual -column biofilter system with two different composts was used to investigate the macro-kinetics of dim-ethyl disulfide (DMDS) degradation. The biofilter columns were filled with compost mixtures up to one meter, The gas How rate and DMDS concentration to the biofilters were varied to study their effect on the removal characteris-tics of DMDS. It was found that the biodegradation of DMDS was governed by zero-order reaction -limited macro-kinetics for inlet DMDS concentrations between 10 and 55 ppmv. The overall average zero-order kinetic coeffi-cient for DMDS removal by compost was 0.50 ($\pm$0.1) ppm/sec for both compost mixtures studied. Variations in individual kinetic coefficients were observed due to varying environmental conditions, such as pH and temperature. The kinetic coefficients determined are specific to the system discussed in this work. During high acidity conditions in the filter beds, methyl mercaptan (MM) was observed in the gas samples collected. Appearance of MM was pro-bably due to decreased microbial activity in the lower portions of the biofilter. Considering the neutral pH range required and the presence of methyl mercaptan, it is likely that the microorganisms present in the biofilters used in this research are similar to the T. thioparus (strain E6) species.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.536-541
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• 1991

To enhance the productivity of fruit flavor compounds from whey by the lactose fermenting yeast, Kluyveromyces lactzs ATCC 8585 was treated with N-methyI-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (NTG). After the NTG treatments, a mutant showing resistance to antifungal activity of geraniol, and strong fruity but low yeasty flavor was selected and named as K. lactis 450 K. Flavor compounds from 3-day culture broth were extracted with pentane-dichloromethane (2:l) and the concentrated oleoresins were analyzed by gas chromatography. The mutant strain produced more classes and larger amount of flavor compounds than the parent stlain. Tentatively identified volatile compounds from the culture of the mutant were: terpenes such as myrcenol; alcohols such as cis-3-hexenol, n-hexanol; esters such as ethyl isovalerate, cis- 3-hexenyl n-butyrate, n-amyl-n-hexanoate, phenyl ethyl n-propioate; ketones such as methyl vinyl ketones; other compounds such as vanillin, 3-methylcoumarin.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.364-372
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• 2016

Sand tubules, made up of sand grains cemented by microbe-induced calcium carbonate precipitation, have been found in China's Ningxia Province. Sand tubules grow like a tree's roots about 40-60 cm below the surface. The properties of sand tubules and their bacterial community were examined. X-Ray diffraction analysis revealed that the sand tubules were associated with crystalline calcite. Scanning electron microscopy showed that the crystalline solid had a lamellar structure and lacked the presence of cells, suggesting that no bacteria acted as nucleation sites, nor that the crystalline solid was formed by the aggregation of bacteria. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis analysis showed 11 of the 12 detectable bands were uncultured bacteria by BLAST analysis in the GenBank database, and the rest were closely related to Paenibacillus sp. (100% identity). By cultivation techniques, the only strain isolated from the sand tubule was suggested to be related to Paenibacillus sp.; no archaea were found. Furthermore, Paenibacillus sp. was demonstrated to induce calcium carbonate precipitation in vitro.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.684-689
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• 2012

In the present study, an efficient mercury-tolerant bacterial strain (RS-5) was isolated from heavy-metalcontaminated industrial effluent. Under shake flask conditions, 97% of the supplemented mercuric chloride was sequestered by the biomass of RS-5 grown in a tryptone soy broth. The sequestered mercuric ions were transformed inside the bacterial cells, as an XRD analysis of the biomass confirmed the formation of mercurous chloride, which is only feasible following the reaction of the elemental mercury and the residual mercuric chloride present within the cells. Besides the sequestration and intracellular transformation, a significant fraction of the mercury (63%) was also volatilized. The 16S rRNA gene sequence of RS-5 revealed its phylogenetic relationship with the family Bacillaceae, and a 98% homology with Lysinibacillus fusiformis, a Gram-positive bacterium with swollen sporangia. This is the first observation of the sequestration and volatilization of mercuric ions by Lysinibacillus sp.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.588-595
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• 2009

A bacterial strain, YK-2, was isolated as a producer of trans glutaminase from a forest soil sample of Daegu, Korea. The isolate showed a G+C content of 72.7 mol%, contained meso-$A_2pm$ as the cell-wall amino acid, and possessed menaquinone MK-9 ($H_6$) and menaquinone MK-9 ($H_8$) at a ratio of 6:4. The chemotaxonomic analysis, as well as phylogenetic analysis based on the 16S rDNA sequence, identified the isolate as a member of Streptomyces platensis. For transglutaminase production, the optimum medium composition was determined to be 2% glucose, 1% polypeptone, 1% soy tone, and 0.1% $MnCl_2$. The transglutaminase was stable within the pH range of 5.0-9.0 and $30-45^{\circ}C$, and the optimum pH and temperature were pH 8.0 and $45^{\circ}C$, respectively, without any requirement for $Ca^{2+}$.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.155-160
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• 2003

The optimum cultural conditions for production of red pigment from Monascus anka KCTC 6121 on solid culture were studied. The optimal conditions were found that the strain was cultivated on polished rice with 25% initial moisture content, at 3$0^{\circ}C$, 90% humidity for 12 days. It was also found that the maximum red pigment was extracted when the final culture was left in 80% ethanol for 2 days. The light stability of the extracted red pigment was relative stable since the discoloration rate was less than 8% in 30 days under the indirect light.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.960-968
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• 2011

A series of isonicotinyl hydrazones and their 4-thiazolidinones have been synthesized by condensation of isonicotinic acid hydrazide with various aromatic aldehydes to yield Schiff's bases, followed by the cyclocondensation of Schiff's bases with 2-mercaptoacetic acid to yield their 4-thiazolidinones. The synthesized compounds have been characterized by their elemental, analytical and spectral studies. All these compounds were evaluated for their invitro antimicrobial activity against a spectrum of non-resistant and resistant microbial organisms. These studies proved that compounds 5e,i against B. subtilis; 5e,f,h against B. anthracis; 5g,i against S. aureus showed good activity at lower concentrations. Compounds 5d-5i displayed significant activity against resistant strain of K. pneumonia with minimum inhibitory potency in the concentration range of 2-16 ug/ml.