• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.123-128
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• 2002

A bacterium producing the extracellular xylanase was isolated from soil and has been identified as a Bacillus sp. strain. The isolate, named Bacillus sp. AMX-4, was shown to be similar to B. subtilis strain on the basis of its chemical compositions. The xylanase of culture supernatant was most active at 50℃ and pH 6.0. The additional carbon sources including monosaccharides, disaccharides, wheat bran, and rice straw increased the enzyme productivity. Especially, the maximum xylanase productivity was reached 29.2 units/ml in LB medium supplemented with 1.5％ (w/v) xylose, which was 16-folds more than that in LB medium. As the results of investigating the effects of xylose on cell growth and xylanase productivity of Bacillus sp. AMX-4, increase of xylanase production was owing to the induction of xylanase biosynthesis. It was also found that the enzyme production was in association with the growth of Bacillus sp. AMX-4.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.716-723
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• 2006

A biosurfactant-producing bacterial strain was selected from oil-contaminated soil because of its ability to degrade crude oil and tributyrin $(C_{4:0})$. The strain was identified as Bacillus subtilis A8-8 based on its morphological, biochemical, and physiological characteristics. When B. subtilis A8-8 was grown with crude oil as the sole carbon source, the biosurfactant from the strain emulsified crude oil, vegetable oil, and hydrocarbons. Soybean oil was the optimum substrate for the emulsifying activity and emulsion stability of the biosurfactant, both of which were superior to those of several commercially available surfactants. The biosurfactant was purified by a procedure including HCl precipitation, methanol treatment, and silica-gel chromatography. The partially purified biosurfactant was analyzed by TLC (thin-layer chromatography), SDS-PAGE, and HPLC and it reduced the surface tension of water from 72 mN/m to 26 mN/m at a concentration of 30 mg/l. Therefore, the purified lipopeptide biosurfactant has strong properties as an emulsifying agent and acts as an emulsion-stabilizing agent.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.94-100
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• 2006

To isolate a bacterium that produces plant growth promoting hormone, a total of 29 bacteria were obtained from the soil in Gyeongsan, Korea. Among these, 14 strains were selected by their positive reaction on Salkowski to produce auxin. All of these were then tested for their property to produce siderophore using CAS (chrome azurol S) blue agar, and one was chosen for its ability to produce both, auxin and siderophore. This strain, denoted, AHl8, showed 1.5 times higher adventitious root induction rates than controls, using mung-beans. The strain also showed efficient biocontrol properties towards Fusarium-wilt of tomatoes in artificial pot assays. The strain was identified as Bacillus subtilis by 16s rDNA comparison and Biolog analyses. Growth and media conditions for Bacillus subtilis AH1 8 to highly produce siderophore were also investigated.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.461-466
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• 1986

A highly cyclodextrin glucanotransferase producing strain of Bacillus sp. was isolated from soil, and basic studies on the characteristics of the strain and its enzyme, conditions for the enzyme production, and the enzyme utilization were carried out. The isolated strain was aerobic, motile, endospore-forming and rod-shaped bacterium. Optimum pH and temperature for the enzyme action were 6.0 and 45$^{\circ}C$, and the enzyme was stable within 5$0^{\circ}C$, and between pH 6.0 and 10.0. The highest yield of the enzyme was obtained using the medium containing 2% corn starch as a carbon source, and 5% corn steep liquor, 0.1% urea and 0.25% ammonium sulfate as nitrogen sources. The fermentation conditions for the enzyme production in a jar fermentor were cetermined to be 3$0^{\circ}C$, 200rpm, 0.6vvm and 60hr cultural period. Stevioside transglycosylation catalyzed by this enzyme was identified by high performance liquid chromatography.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.353-360
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• 1998

A bacterial strain PN33 producing large amounts of extracellular pectin lyase (PNL, EC 4.2.2.10) was isolated from soil. The isolated bacterium was identified as a strain of Bacillus sp. Production of PNL by the strain was induced only by pectins, with a higher degree of esterification, which had been added to the culture medium as a sole carbon source. The optimal medium for PNL production was determined to consist of 10 g pectin, 2 g yeast extract, 4 g $K_2HPO_4{\cdot}3H_2O$, 0.6 g $MgSO_4$, and 0.11 g $CaCl_2$ per liter (pH 7.0). The PNL activity in the culture supernatant reached the highest level of 132 mU/ml after 32 h cultivation at $37^{\circ}C$ in the optimal medium. The PNL produced was purified to homogeneity by ammonium sulfate fractionation (50~80%), and cation exchange and size exclusion chromatographies. The molecular mass of the enzyme was estimated to be approximately 52 kDa by SDS-PAGE. Almost the same mass was determined by nondenaturing PAGE, indicating that the functional enzyme had a monomeric structure. As expected, the PNL exhibited higher activities on the highly esterified pectins whereas it gave no detectable activity on polygalacturonic acid. The enzyme showed the highest activity at the acidic pH of 6.0, exceptional for a bacterial PNL. Maximum activity was measured at $40^{\circ}C$, although the stability f the purified enzyme was poor at this temperature. alcium (1 mM) was found to activate the PNL activity by $50\%$, and also remarkably increased the thermal stability f the enzyme. Phenylmethylsulfonylfluoride (PMSF) and iethylpyrocarbonate (DEPC) inhibited the PNL activity lmost completely at the concentration of 5 mM. This result ndicates that some serine and histidine residues of the nzyme may play an essential role for catalytic function of he enzyme.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.200-208
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• 2017

Actinobacteria are prolific producers of a large number of natural products with diverse biological activities. In the present study, an actinobacterium isolated from sunflower rhizosphere soil sample collected from Medak, Andhra Pradesh, South India was identified as Amycolatopsis thermoflava strain SFMA-103. A pigmented secondary metabolite in culture broth was extracted by using methanol and it was further purified by silica gel column chromatography with methanol-chloroform solvent system. Structural elucidation studies based on UV-visible, 1D and 2D-NMR, FT-IR, and mass spectroscopic analyses confirmed the structure as 1-methoxy-3-methyl-8-hydroxy-anthraquinone. It showed significant in vitro anticancer activity against lung cancer and lymphoblastic leukemia cells with $IC_{50}$ values of 10.3 and $16.98{\mu}M$, respectively. In addition, 1-methoxy-3-methyl-8-hydroxy-anthraquinone showed good free radical scavenging activity by DPPH method with an $EC_{50}$ of $18.2{\mu}g/ml$. It also showed other promising superoxide radical scavenging, nitric oxide radical scavenging and inhibition of lipid peroxidation activities. This is a first report of anti-proliferative and antioxidant activities of 1-methoxy-3-methyl-8-hydroxy-anthraquinone isolated from A. thermoflava strain SFMA-103 which may find potential application in biotechnological and pharmaceutical fields.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.124-130
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• 1998

An alkalophilic bacterium, the strain AC-711 as a potent producer of alkaline cellulase, was selected among many isolates from soil environments. Morphological, physiological and chemical characteristics of the strain AC-711 suggested that it belongs to the genus Pseudomonas according to the Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology, however the G+C mol% (54.43) of its chromosomal DNA is lower than the normal values of the genus. The major cell wall fatty acids were determined as 15:0 and 17:0 anteiso. The production of alkaline CMCase by the strain was maximal when grown on the mediun containing 1% carboxymethyl cellulose, 0.1% $KH_2PO_4$, 0.02% $CoCl_2$, 0.02% Tween 80, 0.5% $Na_2CO_3$, 0.8% yeast extract, pH 10.3 at $30^{\circ}C$ for 3 days, and the most of enzyme was excreted into culture mediun.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.27-34
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• 2009

In this paper, characteristics of shear strength and deformation of geosynthetics-reinforced slag materials are described. In order to investigate the effect of geosynthetics on shear strength and deformation behavior of slags, when they are reinforced with geosynthetics or geomat such as PET mat, large triaxial tests were performed under consolidated-drained condition. The materials used in the study are real ones as they are in the field, so that the scale effect of samples disappeared. From the large triaxial tests, it was observed that the stress-strain relationship of geosynthetics-reinforced slags shows relatively small dilatancy and weak tendency of strain hardening, compared with that of slags without reinforcement. The shear strength parameters such as apparent cohesion and internal friction angle increase with PET mat reinforcement, consequently result in about 1.2 (for low confining pressure) to 1.4 (for high confining pressure) times of shear strength of un-reinforced sample. Therefore, the adoption of geomat-reinforced slag layers leads to an increase in the factor of safety for embankment design on soft soil formations.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.79-87
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• 2003

Underground flexible pipes for electric cables are subject to external loads and surrounding soil pressure. Particularly, strain of flexible pipes is of great concern in terms of safety and maintenance of electric cables. In this paper, stress and strain of flexible pipes with two types of installation gap, ie, l0cm and naught, were compared to investigate the structural integrity of pipes from actual field test. The effect of degree of compaction and burial depth were also investigated to simulate the variety of construction situation. The results of the field test show that the strain criteria were satisfied under the burial depths of 80cm, 100cm and 120cm regardless of installation gap.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.263-269
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• 2016

For decades, the microorganisms in arctic soils have been newly discovered according to the climate change and global warming. In this study, the chemical structure of a lipid A molecule from Pseudomonas sp. strain PAMC 28615 which was newly discovered from arctic soils was characterized by mass spectrometric approaches such as matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) and MALDI multi-stage tandem mass spectrometry (MS). First, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from Pseudomonas sp. strain PAMC 28615 was extracted and subsequently hydrolyzed to obtain the lipid A. The parent ion peak at m/z 1632 was determined by MALDI-TOF MS, which also can validate our lipid A purification method. For detailed structural determination, we performed the multiple-stage tandem mass analysis ($MS^4$) of the parent ion, and subsequently the abundant fragment ions in each MS stage are tested. The fragment ions in each MS stage were produced from the loss of phosphate groups and fatty acyl groups, which could be used to confirm the composition or the position of the lipid A components. Consequently, the mass spectrometry-based lipid A profiling method could provide the detail chemical structure of lipid A from the Pseudomonas sp. strain PAMC 28615 as an arctic bacterium from the frozen arctic soil.