• Journal of Korea Soil Environment Society
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.39-46
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• 1996

For the purpose of development of bioremediation technology for soil contaminated by chlorinated phenols, this study was focused on the isolation and characterization of bacteria capable of degrading chlorinated phenols, the establishment of analytical methods for chlorinated phenols, and the investigation of the contaminated sites. One site near the Incheon Industrial Complex was identified as a pentachlorophenol (PCP)-contaminated spot. The soil brought from the PCP-contaminated site contained 10-100$mu\textrm{g}$/g wet soil of PCP. Many bacterial strains capable of growing on a minimal medium containing PCP were isolated from 15 soil samples collected throughout the land, and among them, 10 active isolates were finally selected for the further studies on the biodegradability and for the use in in situ bioremediation of contaminated soil. These isolates showed species-specific pattern in PCP-decrease and cell growth in a minimal medium containing 500-1,000mg/ιPCP. Strain Bul degraded 90% of PCP at 216 hrs after incubation. Expecially, strain Bu34 was capable of degrading 4,000mg/ι PCP and was identified as Pseudomonas putida Bu34. It is seemed that the isolated active bacteria could be effectively used for the bioremediation of PCP-contaminated sites.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.8
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• pp.1045-1059
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• 2021

Various abiotic stressors like drought, salinity, temperature, and heavy metals are major environmental stresses that affect agricultural productivity and crop yields all over the world. Continuous changes in climatic conditions put selective pressure on the microbial ecosystem to produce exopolysaccharides. Apart from soil aggregation, exopolysaccharide (EPS) production also helps in increasing water permeability, nutrient uptake by roots, soil stability, soil fertility, plant biomass, chlorophyll content, root and shoot length, and surface area of leaves while also helping maintain metabolic and physiological activities during drought stress. EPS-producing microbes can impart salt tolerance to plants by binding to sodium ions in the soil and preventing these ions from reaching the stem, thereby decreasing sodium absorption from the soil and increasing nutrient uptake by the roots. Biofilm formation in high-salinity soils increases cell viability, enhances soil fertility, and promotes plant growth and development. The third environmental stressor is presence of heavy metals in the soil due to improper industrial waste disposal practices that are toxic for plants. EPS production by soil bacteria can result in the biomineralization of metal ions, thereby imparting metal stress tolerance to plants. Finally, high temperatures can also affect agricultural productivity by decreasing plant metabolism, seedling growth, and seed germination. The present review discusses the role of exopolysaccharide-producing plant growth-promoting bacteria in modulating plant growth and development in plants and alleviating extreme abiotic stress condition. The review suggests exploring the potential of EPS-producing bacteria for multiple abiotic stress management strategies.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.83-84
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• 2005

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.22 no.10
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• pp.1757-1763
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• 2000

To consider the nutrient removal characteristics of BNR process activating soil microorganisms under the influence of DPB and to clear the characteristics of DPB under anoxic condition was investigated in the this study. The batch tests were conducted using sludge sampled from the BNR process activating soil microorganisms during operation periods. The results of this study were summarized as follows: - The DPB(Denitrifying Phosphorus removing Bacteria) performing denitrification and phosphorus uptake in the anoxic phase plays an important role in removing nitrogen and phosphorus in the BNR process activating soil microorganisms. - The PUR(Phosphorus Uptake Rate) of DPB in the anoxic phase was to be about 50% of PUR in the aerobic phase. - The DPB in the BNR process turned out to be increasing nutrient removal efficiency of BNR process.

• Mycobiology
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.31-36
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• 2002

Soil bacteria were screened for the ability to control cucumber anthracnose caused by Colletotrichum orbiculare through induced systemic resistance(ISR). Sixty-four bacterial strains having in vitro antifungal activity were used for selecting ISR-inducing strains in cucumber. Cucumber seeds(cv. Baeknokdadagi) were sown in potting mixtures incorporated with the soil bacteria, at a rate of ca. $10^8$ cells per gram of the mixture. Two week-old plants were then transplanted into the steam-sterilized soil. Three leaf-stage plants were inoculated with a conidial suspension($5{\times}10^5$ conidia/ml) of C. orbiculare. Diseased leaf area(%) and number of lesions per $cm^2$ leaf were evaluated on third leaves of the plants, $5{\sim}6$ days after inoculation. Among 64 strains tested, nine strains, GC-B19, GC-B35, GK-B18, MM-B22, PK-B14, RC-B41, RC-B64, RC-B65, and RC-B77 significantly(P=0.05) reduced anthracnose disease compared to the untreated control. In contrast, some bacterial strains promoted susceptibility of cucumber to the disease. From the repeated experiments using the nine bacterial strains, GC-B19, MM-B22, PK-B14, and RC-B65 significantly(P=0.05) reduced both diseased leaf area(%) and number of lesions per $cm^2$ leaf in at lease one experiment. These strains with control efficacy of $37{\sim}80%$ were determined to be effective ISR-inducing strains.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.355-367
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• 2016

Soil salinization refers to the buildup of salts in soil to a level toxic to plants. The major factors that contribute to soil salinity are the quality, the amount and the type of irrigation water used. The presented review discusses the different sources and causes of soil salinity. The effect of soil salinity on biological processes of plants is also discussed in detail. This is followed by a debate on the influence of salt on the nutrient uptake and growth of plants. Salinity decreases the soil osmotic potential and hinders water uptake by the plants. Soil salinity affects the plants K uptake, which plays a critical role in plant metabolism due to the high concentration of soluble sodium ($Na^+$) ions. Visual symptoms that appear in the plants as a result of salinity include stunted plant growth, marginal leaf necrosis and fruit distortions. Different strategies to ameliorate salt stress globally include breeding of salt tolerant cultivars, irrigation to leach excessive salt to improve soil physical and chemical properties. As part of an ecofriendly means to alleviate salt stress and an increasing considerable attention on this area, the review then focuses on the different plant growth promoting bacteria (PGPB) mediated mechanisms with a special emphasis on ACC deaminase producing bacteria. The various strategies adopted by PGPB to alleviate various stresses in plants include the production of different osmolytes, stress related phytohormones and production of molecules related to stress signaling such as bacterial 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) derivatives. The use of PGPB with ACC deaminase producing trait could be effective in promoting plant growth in agricultural areas affected by different stresses including salt stress. Finally, the review ends with a discussion on the various PGPB activities and the potentiality of facultative halophilic/halotolerant PGPB in alleviating salt stress.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.352-357
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• 2008

We evaluated cultivation methods to obtain pure cultures of previously uncultivated bacteria from soil. Soil bacteria (suspensions) were inoculated onto various oligotrophic media with one of the following additives: 1) soil extract; 2) anthraquinone disulfonate (humic acid analogue); 3) acyl homoserine lactones (quorum-signaling compounds); 4) catalase (for the protection of bacteria from exogenous peroxides). After the relatively long period (60 days) of incubation with elevated concentrations of $CO_2$ (5%, v/v), the media containing catalase showed the highest colony count. We purified 147 randomly selected colonies from the media and the isolates were subjected to the phylogenetic analyses of their 16S rRNA gene sequences. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that approximately 30% of the isolates might belong to novel species or novel family, suggesting that the media and incubation conditions used could be useful for the cultivation of as-yet-uncultured bacteria. Especially, bacteria belonging to the phylum Acidobacteria, ubiquitous bacterial taxon known as an uncultured bacterial group (at least difficult to culture from environmental samples), were successfully cultured in this study.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.50 no.5
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• pp.489-496
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• 2017

This study was conducted to test the applicability of hydroxy radical reactor system, which applied advanced oxidation processes, to sterilize pathogenic bacteria for nutrient solution recycling in closed hydroponics. Removal efficiency was tested on 25 L of nutrient solution maxed with 10 mL culture solution of bacteria, E. coli, and R. solanacearum in a pilot tank. The testing conditions included various levels of hydroxy radicals resulting from air flow rates of 40, 80, and $120L\;min^{-1}$, and 12 hours processing time. The removal of bacteria, E. coli, and R. solanacearum by hydroxy radical in nutrient solution was significantly increased with an increase in the flow rate of the air from $40L\;min^{-1}$ to $120L\;min^{-1}$. The optimum removal efficiency was achieved at an air flow rate of $120L\;min^{-1}$ for 2 hours treatment. There were no significant differences in removal efficiency among bacteria, E. coli, and R. solanacearum for tested level and time of hydroxy radical. These results verified the efficiency of hydroxy radical in removing the pathogenic bacteria and the applicability of hydroxy radical reactor system in the field.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.50-59
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• 2016

Spatial and temporal changes in nitrification activities and distribution of microbial population of ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and ammonia oxidizing archaea (AOA) in paddy soils were investigated. Soil samples were collected in March and October 2015 from rice paddy with and without the presence of confined animal feeding operations. Incubation experiments and quantitative polymerase chain reaction showed that AOA's contribution to nitrification kinetics was much higher in locations where organic nitrogen in animal waste is expected to significantly contribute to overall nitrogen budget, and temporal variations in nitrification kinetics were much smaller for AOA than AOB. These differences were interpreted to indicate that different microbial responses of two microbial populations to the types and concentrations of nitrogen substrates were the main determining factors of nitrification processes in the paddy soils. The copy numbers of ammonium monooxygenase gene showed that AOA colonized the paddy soils in higher numbers than AOB with stable distribution while AOB showed variation especially in March. Although small in numbers, AOB population turned out to exert more influence on nitrification potential than AOA, which was attributed to higher fluctuation in AOB cell numbers and nitrification reaction rate per cells.

• Proceedings of the Microbiological Society of Korea Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.81-85
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• 2002

Oligotrophic bacteria isolated from forest soil showed a specific community consisting of various taxonomic groups compared with those in other soil or aquatic habitats. Based on the cell shape, the isolates were divided into four groups: regular rod, curved/spiral rod, irregular rod, and prosthecate bacteria. The cellular fatty acids 60 oligotrophic isolates were analyzed. At the dendrogram based on cellular fatty acid composition, four clusters(I-IV) were separated at a euclidian distance of about 50. Based on the 16S rDNA sequence analysis, the two representative strains(MH256 and MA828) of cluster 3 showed the close relation to genera, Xathomonas/Stenotrophomonas, but were not included in these genera. The isolates with Q-10 were also studied. They are corresponded to the two large groups in Proteobacteria alpha subdivision. One was incorporated in the genus Bradyrhizobium cluster, which also includes Agromonas, a genus for oligotrophic bacteria. The strains of the other group showed high similarity to the genus Agrobacterium. We attempted to screening of bioactive compounds from oligotrophs which was isolated from forest soil. The active compounds were analyzed by mass and NMR spectrum, one of them identified as crisamicin A. Another one designated as SAPH is a new compound. The results indicate that there were possibilities for finding new compounds from the rare microorganisms such as oligotrophs.