Earticle

Although, microbial arsenic mobilization by dissimilatory arsenate-reducing bacteria (DARB) and the practical use to the removal technology of arsenic from contaminated soil are expected, most previous research mainly has been focused on the geochemical circulation of arsenic. Therefore, in this review we summarized the previously reported DARB to grasp the characteristic for bioremediation of arsenic. Evidence of microbial growth on arsenate is presented based on isolate analyses, after which a summary of the physiology of the following arsenaterespiring bacteria is provided: Chrysiogenes arsenatis strain BAL-1T, Sulfurospirillum barnesii, Desulfotomaculum strain Ben-RB, Desulfotomaculum auripigmentum strains OREX-4, GFAJ-1, Bacillus sp., Desulfitobacterium hafniense DCB-2T, strain SES-3, Citrobacter sp. (TSA-1 and NC-1), Sulfurospirillum arsenophilum sp. nov., Shewanella sp., Chrysiogenes arsenatis BAL-lT, Deferribacter desulfuricans. Among the DARB, Citrobacter sp. NC-1 is superior to other dissimilatory arsenate-reducing bacteria with respect to arsenate reduction, particularly at high concentrations as high as 60 mM. A gram-negative anaerobic bacterium, Citrobacter sp. NC-1, which was isolated from arsenic contaminated soil, can grow on glucose as an electron donor and arsenate as an electron acceptor. Strain NC-1 rapidly reduced arsenate at 5 mM to arsenite with concomitant cell growth, indicating that arsenate can act as the terminal electron acceptor for anaerobic respiration (dissimilatory arsenate reduction). To characterize the reductase systems in strain NC-1, arsenate and nitrate reduction activities were investigated with washed-cell suspensions and crude cell extracts from cells grown on arsenate or nitrate. These reductase activities were induced individually by the two electron acceptors. Tungstate, which is a typical inhibitory antagonist of molybdenum containing dissimilatory reductases, strongly inhibited the reduction of arsenate and nitrate in anaerobic growth cultures. These results suggest that strain NC-1 catalyzes the reduction of arsenate and nitrate by distinct terminal reductases containing a molybdenum cofactor. This may be advantageous during bioremediation processes where both contaminants are present. Moreover, a brief explanation of arsenic extraction from a model soil artificially contaminated with As (V) using a novel DARB (Citrobacter sp. NC-1) is given in this article. We conclude with a discussion of the importance of microbial arsenate reduction in the environment. The successful application and use of DARB should facilitate the effective bioremediation of arsenic contaminated sites.

1)Ethanol fermentations were carried out using simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) and separated hydrolysis and fermentation (SHF) processes with monosaccharides from seaweed, Saccharina japonica (sea tangle, Dasima) as the biomass. The pretreatment was carried out by thermal acid hydrolysis with H2SO4 or HCl. Optimal pretreatment condition was determined at 10% (w/v) seaweed slurry with 37.5 mM H2SO4 at 121℃ for 60 min. To increase the yield of saccharfication, isolated marine bacteria Bacillus sp. JS-1 was used and 48 g/L of reducing sugar were produced. Ethanol fermentation was performed using SSF and SHF process with Pachysolen tannophilus KCTC 7937. The ethanol concentration was 6.5 g/L by SSF and 6.0 g/L by SHF.

In this study, a newly synthesized thiazolidinedione derivative, TD49 with a highly selective algicide to red tide, was examined in order to evaluate the bioconcentration on aquatic organisms of coast. BAF (accumulation of TD49 by aquatic food chain) and BCF (accumulation of TD49 by sea water) were examined employing the shrimp (Fenneropenaeus chinensis) as the feed organism, and the olive flounder Paralichthys olivaceus as a consumer in marine ecosystem. Bioconcentration degree in sea water showed that the order in P. olivaceus was viscera > gill > muscle. The average BCF values of TD49 were 67.70, 63.32 and 20.25 at viscera, gill and muscle, respectively. Bioaccumulation degree using feed showed that the order in the organs of P. olivaceus was viscera > gill > muscle. The average BAF values of TD49 were 175.89, 114.88 and 32.59 at viscera, gill and muscle, respectively. When compared with two results, the accumulation by the food and water was higher than that by water. After the elimination experiment in sea water, the TD49 concentration was 2.81 nmole/g in the viscera and were not found in the gill and the muscle. More than 50% of the accumulated TD49 were eliminated from viscera in 7 days and all the accumulated TD49 were eliminated from gill and muscle in 7 days. On the other hand, the octanol/water partition coefficient (log Kow) was measured to be 3.66 and experimental BCF of this study was 67.7.

In the present study, the biomass productivity of two green microalgae (Chlorella sp. and Dunaliella salina DCCBC2) were assessed in a 12 L tubular photobioreactor under optimum culture conditions. In the batch culture optimization process, the Chlorella sp. biomass was obtained as 1.2 g/L under atmospheric air as a sole CO2 source and other culture conditions as follows: light intensity, temperature, pH, NH4Cl and K2HPO4 were 100 μE/m2/s, 27℃, 7.0, 20.0 mM and 2.0 mM, respectively. On the other hand, 2.9 g/L of D. salina DCCBC2 biomass production was observed under the following conditions: light intensity, temperature, pH, KNO3 and K2HPO4 were 80 μE/m2/s, 27℃, 8.0, 3.0 mM and 0.025 mM, respectively. At 1% CO2 supply to the reactor, the Chlorella sp. production was reached 1.53 g/L with 25% increment under the same operating conditions. In addition, the maximum D. salina DCCBC2 biomass was observed as 3.40 g/L at 3% CO2 concentration. Based on the aforementioned optimized conditions, the dilution rate and maximal biomass productivity of Chlorella sp. and D. salina DCCBC2 in the continuous cultivation were 0.4/d and 0.6 g/L/d and 0.6/d and 1.5 g/L/d, respectively.

The harvesting of microalgae is a critical step that precedes biodiesel conversion. The most widely used harvesting technology is flocculation and floatation. In this study, the efficiency of the flocculants aluminum sulfate and poly aluminum chloride were evaluated for harvesting the alga Dunaliella tertiolecta in conjunction with dissolved air floatation. Using the jar test the optimum concentration range for aluminum sulfate was 1.0~1.5 g/L and for poly aluminium chloride, 1.5~2.0 g/L. The degree of coagulation was visualized by microscopy. Further analysis in combination with dissolved air floatation showed that the optimal concentration for aluminum sulfate was 1.1 g/L and for poly aluminum chloride, 1.6 g/L.

This research was to examine the effects of various cyclodextrins on the solubility and stability of prodigiosin in seawater. Among them, β-cyclodextrin was found to have the best efficiency and formation of the inclusion complex was saturated when prodigiosin and β-cyclodextrin were mixed in a ratio of 1：8 and shaken at 25℃ and pH 8.0 for 6 h. The maximum algicidal activity against Chattonella antiqua using the inclusion complex stored at 4℃ for 5 weeks of culture was obtained, 52.28 ± 3.41%, which was about 5.0 fold higher than that of control. Our results suggest that inclusion complexes of prodigiosin and β-cyclodextrin could serve as effective algicidal agents.

To investigate the antimicrobial activity on bacteria causing a respiration disease and antioxidant effects of water extracts from 12 kinds of wild edible vegetables, we extracted the water extracts for 72 h in 7℃ using distilled water as solvent. The water extracts except Ixeris dentate and Allium monanthum had high concentrationsof phenol compounds and flavonoids. Liguraia fischeri specially had the highest level on total phenol compounds and flavonoids with 205 μg/mL and 98. 86 μg/mL, respectively. The each 0.05% extracts of Sedum sarmentosum and Liguraia fischeri had high effect on the DPPH radical scavenging activity among wild edible vegetables and the most extracts promoted antioxidant activity with increasing concentration of extract. The catalase activity of Erysimum aurantiacum and Aralia elata showed more than 150 units per g of fresh tissue. The effect of antimicrobial activity on water extracts showed characteristic activity. Only Staphylococcus aureus KCTC 1928 and Corynebacterium diptheriae KCTC 3075 were inhibited cell growth on the other hands, the remainder of bacteria was not inhibited cell growth. Nevertheless, the extracts of wild edible vegetables had specific concentration as MIC for antimicrobial activity respectively. In case of the extract of Aster scaber, Erysimum aurantiacum, and Allium monanthum had over 30% antimicrobial activity on the bacteria causing a respiration disease. In results, the wild edible vegetables include high concentrations of total phenol compounds and flavonoids that give a good antioxidant activity and antimicrobial activity. Therefore the wild edible vegetables are functional food for anti-aging and physiological activation.

In order to explore structural features of minoxidil analogs with a view of enhancing lysyl hydroxylase (LH) inhibitory activity, molecular holographic QSAR (HQSAR) and CoMSIA (comparative molecular similarity indices analysis) were performed. The results from the atomic contributions with optimized the HQSAR 6-2 model indicated that, in case of pyrimidine-1-N-oxide substituent, C2 atom of pyrimidine ring and C'3-C'4 bond of 4-piperidinol group showed the highest impact on the inhibitory activity towards LH enzyme. It was also evident from the information of the optimized CoMSIA F5 model that the inhibitory activity mainly depended on the hydrophobic field contribution (36%) and the hydrogen bond (H-bond) field contribution (49.2%) of substrate molecule. Particularly, it is predicted that the functional groups which disfavor H-bond acceptors in large space around the piperidinol group and also the functional groups which favor the H-bond acceptors at C'4 (& C'5) atom in R5 group play a role for increased inhibitory activity. With this in mind, it is likely that a novel candidate having more improved inhibitory activity on hair growth could be designed in the future.

In this study, the effects of pH, temperature, IPTG concentration and substrate (MSG) concentration on gammaaminobutyric acid (GABA) production in engineered Escherichia coli were investigated. Glutamate decarboxylase and glutamate/ GABA antiporter were overexpressed in GABA aminotransferase knock-out strain for GABA production. The result of optimization study showed the GABA bioconversion was optimized at pH 3.5, 30℃, 0.5 mM IPTG, 10 g/L MSG. At this condition, 5.23 g/L of final GABA concentration of was achieved from 10 g/L of MSG, which corresponded to a GABA yield of 85.77%.

To develop potential cosmetic ingredients with antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of 4 Korean bamboo species (P. bambusoides, P. nigra var. henonis, P. pubescens and Sasa coreana) using three different extraction methodswater, ethanol and supercritical fluid extraction. Antimicrobial activities and DPPH assay have been examined. Among the antimicrobial activities against two test strains, Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, ethanol extracts of 3 bamboo trees, P. bambusoides, P. nigra var. henonis, and P. pubescens, showed stronger than those of supercritical extracts. However, 4 bamboo supercritical extracts showed dose-dependent increase in antioxidant activity by DPPH assay. These results suggest that water fraction of bamboo extracts may be useful for the cosmetic ingredient with low cytotoxicity.