• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.291-297
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• 2012

Ginsenoside (ginseng saponin), the principal component of ginseng, is responsible for the pharmacological and biological activities of ginseng. We isolated lactic acid bacteria from Kimchi using esculin agar, to produce ${\beta}$-glucosidase. We focused on the bio-transformation of ginsenoside. Phylogenetic analysis was performed by comparing the 16S rRNA sequences. We identified the strain as Lactobacillus (strain 6105). In order to determine the optimal conditions for enzyme activity, the crude enzyme was incubated with 1 mM ginsenoside Rb1 to catalyse the reaction. A carbon substrate, such as cellobiose, lactose, and sucrose, resulted in the highest yields of ${\beta}$-glucosidase activity. Biotransformations of ginsenoside Rb1 were analyzed using TLC and HPLC. Our results confirmed that the microbial enzyme of strain 6105 significantly transformed ginsenoside as follows: Rb1${\rightarrow}$gypenoside XVII, Rd${\rightarrow}$F2 into compound K. Our results indicate that this is the best possible way to obtain specific ginsenosides using microbial enzymes from 6105 culture.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.73-78
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• 1988

A laboratory experiments were carried out to study the urea transformation and kinetics of soil urease in paddy soils with different properties. Urea transformation in paddy soils followed first-order kinetics, the rate of urea hydrolysis and the first-order constant was higher in the soil with high total urease activity (TUA) and accumulated urease activity (AUA) than those with low TUA and AUA. The values of Km and Vmax indicated that the Km values of accumulated urease in the soils were different in each soils and lower than that of microbial urease. However, the Km values of microbial urease were nearly same each other.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.280-285
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• 1987

There are three plausible bioconversion pathways in biodegradation mechanism of capsaicinoids; first, side chain degradation through $\omega$-hydroxylation and $\beta$-oxidation, secondly, aromatic ring hydroxylation, and lastly, hydrolysis on the acidaraide linkage. In microbes, it was reported that capsaicin and its synthetic, analog, nonoylvanillylamide(NVA), could be metabolized to N-vanillylcarbamoylbutyric acid via $\omega$-hydroxylation and consecutive $\beta$-oxidations by Aspergillus niger. In order to broaden the scope of microbial degradation of capsaicinoids, over thirty strains of various fungi including Aspergillus, Penicillum, Mycotypha, Gliocladium, Paecilomyces, Byssoclamys, Conidiobolus, Thamnidium, and Entomophthora. It was observed that almost all the strains examined oxidized, the side chain of capsaicids as A. niger did. These observations strongly support the notion that side chain degradation is the most dominant pathway in the microbial degradation of capsaicinoids.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.976-985
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• 2010

In this study, characteristics of dissolved organic matter (DOM) from Lake Paldang and seven other DOM sources (lake plankton, plants, soil, composite, treated sewage) were studied using XAD resin fractionation and 28-day microbial incubation experiment. Distribution patterns of DOM-fractions, which include hydrophilic acids (HiA), hydrophilic bases (HiB), hydrophilic neutrals (HiN), hydrophobic acids (HoA), hydrophobic neutrals (HoN) and the extent of DOM biodegradation (i.e., biodegradability) were different depending on the origins of the DOM samples. The DOM distribution pattern and the biodegradability were found to be effective for distinguishing the different DOM sources. The biodegradability (%) had negative correlations with the content (%) of hydrophobic fractions (Ho) and specific UV absorbance of DOM, which indicate that the Ho fractions contain more aromatic carbon structures and relatively stable during biodegradation, irrespective of the sources. To gain additional insight into the microbial transformation of the DOM, we also investigated the changes in the fraction's distribution for plankton, leaf litter and composite samples after the incubation. The results showed that biodegradation of hydrophilic fraction (Hi) causes an increase in the proportion of Ho (HoA, HoN), while biodegradation of HoA increases the HoN production.

• 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.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.189-194
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• 2012

The consequences of microbe-mineral interaction often resulted in the chemical, structural modification, or both in the biologically induced mineral. It is inevitable to utilize the high powered resolution of electron microscopy to investigate the mechanism of biogenic mineral transformation at nano-scale. The applications of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) capable of electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) to the study of microbe-mineral interaction were demonstrated for two examples: 1) biogenic illite formation associated with structural Fe(III) reduction in nontronite by Fereducing bacteria; 2) siderite phase formation induced by microbial Fe(III) reduction in magnetite. In particular, quantification of the changes in Fe-oxidation state at nanoscale is essential to understand the dynamic modification of minerals resulted from microbial Fe reduction. The procedure of EELS acquisition and advantages of EELS techniques were discussed.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.199-207
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• 2018

Background: Ginseng is a well-known traditional Chinese medicine that has been widely used in a range of therapeutic and healthcare applications in East Asian countries. Microbial transformation is regarded as an effective and useful technology in modification of nature products for finding new chemical derivatives with potent bioactivities. In this study, three minor derivatives of ginsenoside compound K were isolated and the inducing effects in the Wingless-type MMTV integration site (Wnt) signaling pathway were also investigated. Methods: New compounds were purified from scale-up fermentation of ginsenoside Rb1 by Paecilomyces bainier sp. 229 through repeated silica gel column chromatography and high pressure liquid chromatography. Their structures were determined based on spectral data and X-ray diffraction. The inductive activities of these compounds on the Wnt signaling pathway were conducted on MC3T3-E1 cells by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis. Results: The structures of a known 3-keto derivative and two new dehydrogenated metabolites were elucidated. The crystal structure of the 3-keto derivative was reported for the first time and its conformation was compared with that of ginsenoside compound K. The inductive effects of these compounds on osteogenic differentiation by activating the Wnt/b-catenin signaling pathway were explained for the first time. Conclusion: This study may provide a new insight into the metabolic pathway of ginsenoside by microbial transformation. In addition, the results might provide a reasonable explanation for the activity of ginseng in treating osteoporosis and supply good monomer ginsenoside resources for nutraceutical or pharmaceutical development.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.14-23
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• 2020

Ginseng has been used as a popular herbal medicine in East Asia for at least two millennia. However, 20(R)-ginseng saponins, one class of important rare ginsenosides, are rare in natural products. 20(R)-ginseng saponins are generally prepared by chemical epimerization and microbial transformation from 20(S)-isomers. The C20 configuration of 20(R)-ginseng saponins are usually determined by ¹³C NMR and X-ray single-crystal diffraction. 20(R)-ginseng saponins have antitumor, antioxidative, antifatigue, neuroprotective, and osteoclastogenesis inhibitory effects, among others. Owing to the chemical structure and pharmacological and stereoselective properties, 20(R)-ginseng saponins have attracted a great deal of attention in recent years. In this study, the discovery, identification, chemical epimerization, microbial transformation, pharmacological activities, and metabolism of 20(R)-ginseng saponins are summarized.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.467-473
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• 2011

Flavonoid are large group of the polyphenolic compounds which are distinguished by an aromatic or phenolic ring structure and the phenolic compounds are induced by microbial infection, ultraviolet radiation, temperature and chemical stress. They are known for their antioxidant activity, anti-allergic, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial and anti-cancer activities. In this study, changes in flavonoid content were investigated using heterologous chalcone isomerase (CHI) expression system. Also, phenolic compounds level was measured to examine the relation between flavonoids and phenols contents. Explants of lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) were transformed with Agrobacterium tumefaciens LBA 4404 strain containing pFLH-CHI (derived from pPZP2Ha3) vector constructed with CHI gene from Brassica rapa. The putative transgenic plants were confirmed by genomic DNA PCR analysis. Also the transcription levels of the gene were analyzed by semi-quantitative RT-PCR with gene specific primers. The total flavonoid contents were increased at $T_0$ and $T_1$ generations over 1.4 and 4.0 fold, respectively. Total phenol contents also increased at $T_1$ generation. These results indicate that CHI gene plays an important role to regulate the accumulation of flavonoids and its component changes.

• Journal of environmental and Sanitary engineering
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.27-31
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• 1996

2,4,6-Trinitrotoluene(TNT) was reduced into intermediate products by mixed culture incubated in anaerobic condition. To test the effects of extracellular material to electron transfer between sulfide and TNT, filtered medium of mixed culture was loaded in the test tubes with TNT and sulfide. The transformation rate was measured under four different conditions. The rate under microbial activity was the fastest among under different conditions. With sulfide or filtrate alone and TNT, the reactions were measured as the slowest reactions or no reactions occured, respectively. The reaction rate coefficient were calculated by linear regression and the first order kinetic was fitted best. Also, the plot of rate coefficients (K$_{f}$) showed linear relationships when at time zero TNT and sulfide concentration were 20 mg/1 and 6.0 mM, respectively. By extrapolation, reaction rate coefficient of 100% filtrate could be calculated as 0.0054/minute. However, reaction rate was affected by different concentration of sulfide, so it is a dependent of sulfide concentration. The results of this test showed TNT reduction rate can be limited more by microbial reaction than by mediation of filtrate or sulfide and filtrate alone.