• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.29-36
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• 2008

Nitrogen is one of the major pollutants that should be removed by wastewater treatment systems. Biological nitrogen removal (BNR) is a key technology in advanced wastewater treatment systems operated by bacterial populations. Nitrification is the first step of microbiological processes in BNR system. Ammonia is oxidized to nitrite by ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and then nitrite is subsequently oxidized to nitrate by nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB). The diversity of NOB in nitrification reactors of 3 BNR systems, Edited biological aerated filter system, Nutrient removal laboratory system, and the Rumination type sequencing batch reactor system, was investigated by terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) analysis of 16S rRNA genes. Cluster analysis of T-RF profiles showed that communities of Nitrobacter group in each system were different depending upon the process of systems. However, the clusters of Nitrospira group were divided by the habitat of aqueous and solid samples.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.121-130
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• 2014

Terminal Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (T-RFLP) analysis was adopted to explore rapid differentiation in the diversity and dynamics of bacteria in kimchi made in Korea and China for future application in kimchi origin discrimination. T-RFLP analysis supported the reproducible and rapid detection of major lactic acid bacteria known to be involved in kimchi fermentation. The taxonomic resolution level of this T-RFLP analysis was between the species and genus level, but was not specific enough for the detection of a bacterium found only in one origin, either Korea or China. The bacterial community structure successions in kimchi samples from Korea and China analyzed by T-RFLP analysis occurred with a similar pattern. Bacillus spp. which were not detected in the early microbial studies of kimchi were constantly detected until the late fermentation stage of kimchi in our T-RFLP analysis and their existence was proved by culture-based identification. Additionally, sporulation of Bacillus spp. during kimchi fermentation was discovered.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.369-378
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• 2010

Microorganisms are key-role player for stabilization of landfill sites. In order to evaluate the availability of T-RFLP(Terminal Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism) for monitoring microbial community variations during stabilization of landfill sites, the phylogenic diversity of microbial community in the leachate from 4 different full-scale landfills was characterized by T-RFLP based on bacterial 16S rDNA. Main population of microbial community analyzed by T-RFLP was significantly similar with that of microbial community analyzed by clone library analysis. The results of T-RFLP analysis for main population of microbial community in the leachate from landfills with different landfill structures, waste types and landfill ages showed apparently different microbial diversity and structures. Therefore, long-term monitoring of microbial community in leachate from landfill sites by using T-RFLP is expected to be available for evaluation of landfill stability.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.92-102
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• 2019

Objective: To investigate changes in rumen fermentation characteristics and bacterial community by a sudden change to a high concentrate diet (HC) in Korean domestic ruminants. Methods: Major Korean domestic ruminants (each of four Hanwoo cows; $545.5{\pm}33.6kg$, Holstein cows; $516.3{\pm}42.7kg$, and Korean native goats; $19.1{\pm}1.4kg$) were used in this experiment. They were housed individually and were fed ad libitum with a same TMR (800 g/kg timothy hay and 200 g/kg concentrate mix) twice daily. After two-week feeding, only the concentrate mix was offered for one week in order to induce rapid rumen acidosis. The rumen fluid was collected from each animals twice (on week 2 and week 3) at 2 h after morning feeding using an oral stomach tube. Each collected rumen fluid was analyzed for pH, volatile fatty acid (VFA), and $NH_3-N$. In addition, differences in microbial community among ruminant species and between normal and an acidosis condition were assessed using two culture-independent 16S polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based techniques (terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism and quantitative real-time PCR). Results: The HC decreased ruminal pH and altered relative concentrations of ruminal VFA (p<0.01). Total VFA concentration increased in Holstein cows only (p<0.01). Terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism and real-time quantitative PCR analysis using culture-independent 16S PCR-based techniques, revealed rumen bacterial diversity differed by species but not by HC (p<0.01); bacterial diversity was higher in Korean native goats than that in Holstein cows. HC changed the relative populations of rumen bacterial species. Specifically, the abundance of Fibrobacter succinogenes was decreased while Lactobacillus spp. and Megasphaera elsdenii were increased (p<0.01). Conclusion: The HC altered the relative populations, but not diversity, of the ruminal bacterial community, which differed by ruminant species.

• Journal of Science Criminal Investigation
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.276-282
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• 2017

As evidence that can be obtained at the crime scene, the importance of micro-evidences has been recognized in recent years with the development modern molecular-level analytical techniques. These micro-evidences include substances useful for personal identification such as DNA, but it is difficult to collect only the evidences showing individual characteristics every time at the crime scene. Therefore, development of new research approaches for the discovery and application of micro-evidence candidates is in increasing demand. For this purpose, skin microbial communities of bacteria inhabiting the palms of 16 people were collected and terminal-restriction enzyme fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) analysis was carried out to examine the potential for the application in personal identification. As a result, 16 different electropherograms were obtained, and various taxa including Staphylococcus and Bacillus were shown to produce different T-RF profiles among individuals. These results were analyzed with the factors affecting the microbiota such as sex and working environment of individuals.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.624-630
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• 2008

Terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) is a method that has been frequently used to survey the microbial diversity of environmental samples and to monitor changes in microbial communities. T-RFLP is a highly sensitive and reproducible procedure that combines a PCR with a labeled primer, restriction digestion of the amplified DNA, and separation of the terminal restriction fragment (T-RF). The reliable identification of T-RF requires the information of nucleotide sequences as well as the size of T-RF. However, it is difficult to obtain the information of nucleotide sequences because the T-RFs are fragmented and lack a priming site of 3'-end for efficient cloning and sequence analysis. Here, we improved on the T-RFLP method in order to analyze the nucleotide sequences of the distinct T-RFs. The first method is to selectively amplify the portion of T-RF ligated with specific oligonucleotide adapters. In the second method, the termini of T-RFs were tailed with deoxynucleotides using terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT) and amplified by a second round of PCR. The major T-RFs generated from reference strains and from T-RFLP profiles of activated sludge samples were efficiently isolated and identified by using two modified T-RFLP methods. These methods are less time consuming and labor-intensive when compared with other methods. The T-RFLP method using TdT has the advantages of being a simple process and having no limit of restriction enzymes. Our results suggest that these methods could be useful tools for the taxonomic interpretation of T-RFs.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.940-945
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• 2001

Symbiobacterium toebii has been previously reported as a novel commensal thermophile exhibiting a commensal interaction with thermophilic Geobacillus sp. SK-1. We investigated the distribution of this commensal thermophile in various soils using molecular methods, such as quantitative PCR and terminal restriction fragment polymorphism analysis. Based on a nested competitive quantitative PCR the 16S rDNA of the commensal thermophile was only detected in compost soils at about $1.0{\times}10^4$ cpoies per gram of soil, corresponding to $0.25{\times}10^4$ cells per gram of soil. However, in an enrichment experiment at $60^{\circ}C$, about $1.0{\times}10^8$ copies of 16S rDNA molecules were detected per ml of enriched culture broth for all the soils, and more than 0.1 mM indole accumulated as the product of commensal bacterial growth. When incubated at $30^{\circ}C$, neither the 16S rDNA of the commensal bacterium nor any indole accumulation was detected. Accordingly, even though the 16S rDNA of the bacterium was only detected in the compost soils by a nested PCR, the presence of the 16S rDNA molecules of commensal thermophile and accumulation of indole in all the enriched cultures appeared to indicate that the commensal thermophile is widely distributed in various soils.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.105-109
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• 2000

The Pi-b is the rice gene conferring race specific resistance to the blast fungus Magnaporthe grisea race having a corresponding avirulence gene, AVR-Pi-b. All resistant cultivars have two copies of the Pi-b gene, but susceptible cultivars have a single copy of the gene. About 1 Kbp insertion sequence was detected in the open reading frame of the Pi-b gene from the susceptible cv. Nipponbare. The nature of insertion sequence was identified as a solo long terminal repeat (LTR) of new rice Tyl-copia-like retrotransposon. LTR was widely distributed in the rice genome. Various types of different patterns of restriction fragment length polymorphism of LTR were detected in indica cultivars, whereas a single type was detected from japonica cultivars. The insertion of LTR sequence in the Pi-b gene in the susceptible cultivar suggested that retrotransposon-mediated insertional mutation might played an important role in the resistance breakdown as well as evolution of resistance genes in rice.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.147-156
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• 2010

There are four key factors for gas-phase biofilters; biocatalysts(microorganisms), packing materials, design/operating techniques, and diagnosis/management techniques. Biofilter performance is significantly affected by microbial community structures as well as loading conditions. The microbial studies on biofilters are mostly performed on basis of culture-dependent methods. Recently, advanced methods have been proposed to characterize the microbial community structure in environmental samples. In this study, the physiological, biochemical and molecular methods for profiling microbial communities are reviewed, and their applicability to biofilters is discussed. Community-level physiological profile is based on the utilization capability of carbon substrate by heterotrophic community in environmental samples. Phospholipid fatty acid analysis method is based on the variability of fatty acids present in cell membranes of different microorganisms. Molecular methods using DNA directly extracted from environmental samples can be divided into "partial community DNA analysis" and "whole community DNA analysis" approaches. The former approaches consist in the analysis of PCR-amplified sequence, the genes of ribosomal operon are the most commonly used sequences. These methods include PCR fragment cloning and genetic fingerprinting such as denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis, terminal-restriction fragment length polymorphism, ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis, and random amplified polymorphic DNA. The whole community DNA analysis methods are total genomic cross-DNA hybridization, thermal denaturation and reassociation of whole extracted DNA and extracted whole DNA fractionation using density gradient.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.189-198
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• 2004

T-RFLP analysis and clone sequencing analysis based on bacterial 16S rDNA were conducted to assess bacterial community structure and diversity in two layers (0-1cm, 6-7cm depth) of the sediment from Janghwari intertidal flat in Ganghwa Island. The results of T-RFLP (terminal-restriction fragment length polymorphism) analysis using restriction enzyme HhaI showed that the T-RFs of various size ($60{\pm}2$) bp-($667{\pm}2$) bp) appeared evenly at the surface sediments but two T-RFs with 60(${\pm}2$)bp and 93 (${\pm}2$)bp predominated at 6-7cm depth. Analysis of partial sequences for 172 clones revealed that 98% of the clones were not matched with the sequences of cultured bacteria strains in the GenBank (${\geq}similarity$ 98%), and approximately 86% of them were classified as different phylotypes. Most clones belonged to $\alpha$-, $\gamma$-, and $\delta$-Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria/Holophaga and green nonsulfur bacteria group. Proteobacteria group occupied the highest proportion in both layers (69% at 0-1cm depth and 46% at 6-7cm depth). $\gamma$-Proteobacteria and $\delta$-Proteobacteria that are associated with oxidation and reduction of sulfur compounds were appeared to be dominant, and comprised 21.5% and 15.7% of total clones, respectively. Overall results indicated that extremely diverse bacterial groups were inhabiting in the sediment of Ganghwa intertidal flat, and bacterial communities associated with the behaviour of sulfur seemed to playa significant role in the biogeochemical environment in this anoxic sediment.