• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.23 no.12
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• pp.1645-1653
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• 2013

Archaea are prokaryotic organisms distinct from bacteria in the structural and molecular biological sense, and these microorganisms are known to thrive mostly at extreme environments. In particular, most studies on halophilic archaea have been focused on environmental and ecological researches. However, new species of halophilic archaea are being isolated and identified from high salt-fermented foods consumed by humans, and it has been found that various types of halophilic archaea exist in food products by culture-independent molecular biological methods. In addition, even if the numbers are not quite high, DNAs of various halophilic archaea are being detected in human intestines and much interest is given to their possible roles. This review aims to summarize the types and characteristics of halophilic archaea reported to be present in foods and human intestines and to discuss their application as well.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.27 no.11
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• pp.1186-1192
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• 2005

The relationship between bacteria and anaerobic archaea, sludge yield coefficient and nitrogen removal rate were investigated in intermittent aeration systems(I/A) with added archaea, I/A and conventional activated sludge system. As the archaea solution was added to the I/A reactor, organic removal rate as well as nitrogen removal rate increased. Also, sludge production rate in I/A system added the archaea was maintained lower than other systems because sludge yield coefficient was decreased due to the role of anaerobic archaea such as anaerobic degradation of organics. The experimental data supported the possibility of symbiotic activated sludge system with anaerobic archaea under intermittent aeration, leading to the enhanced nitrogen removal. Crucial results to be presented are: 1) specific oxygen utilization rate(SOUR) of the I/A-arch system was $2.9\;mg-O_2/(g-VSS{\cdot}min)$. SOUR and nitrification rate of the sludge from the I/A-arch system was higher than those from the I/A and A/S reactors. 2) Removal efficiencies of $TCOD_{Cr}$ in the I/A-arch, I/A and A/S reactors were 93, 90 and 87%, respectively. 3) Nitrification occurred successfully in each reactor, while denitrification rate was much higher in the I/A-arch reactor. Efficiencies of TN removal in the I/A-arch, I/A and A/S reactors were 75, 63 and 33%, respectively.

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.620-620
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• 2005

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.427-434
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• 2015

Most of halophilic archaea are found in the various hypersaline environments including solar saltern, salt lake with very high salt concentration. The present study is about isolation and characterization of halphilic archaea from Gomso solar saltern known as a representative high salt environment in Korea. In order to isolate the halophilic archaea, we prepared and used high salt medium. Finally, total 7 strains obtained were tentatively identified based on comparative similarity analysis for 16S rRNA gene sequence and physiological traits. All halophilic archaea belonged to Haloruburm, Halogeometriucm, Halobacterium, and Haloarcula genera. These isolates were all Gram-staining negative, and growth was not observed using nitrate as an alternative electron acceptor under anaerobic conditions. In addition, all isolates required about 12-30% (w/v, NaCl) salt. This case study might provide basic information on microbial isolation technologies and related research in halophilic microorganisms from domestic halophilic environments, and contribute to obtaining useful indigenous halophilic archaea in a variety of extreme environmental conditions.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.298-307
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• 2003

To figure out the conserved genes and newly added genes at each phylogenetic level of Archaea, COG (clusters of orthologous groups of proteins) algorithm was applied. The number of conserved genes within 9 species of Archaea was 340 and that of 8 species of Euryarchaeota was 388. Many of conserved 265 COGs, which are specific to Archaea and absent in Bacteria and S. cerevisiae, were concerned with 'information storage and processing' (94 COG, 35.5%) and 'metabolism' (82 COG, 30.9%). COGs related to these functions were assumed as highly conserved and permit peculiar life form to Archaea. It seemed that there was some difference in 'nucleotide transport and metabolism' and there was little difference in 'information storage and processing' between Euryarchaeota and Crenarchaeota. Marine-origin Euryarchaeota showed different conserved COGs with terrestrial Euryarchaeota. Conserved COGs, related to carbohydrate transport and metabolism and others, were different between marine- and terrestrial-origin Euryarchaeota. Hence it was assumed that their physiology might be different. This study may help to understand the origin and conserved genes at each phylogenetic level of marine-origin Euryarchaeota and may help in the mining of useful genes in marine Archaea as Manco et al. (Arch. Biochem. Biophy. 373, 182 (2000)).

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.04a
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• pp.686-689
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• 2003

A Gene content phylogenetic tree and a 16S rRNA based phylogenetic tree were compared for 9 Archaea and 15 Proteobacteria, whole-genome sequenced, by neighbor joining and bootstrap methods (n=1000). Ratio of conserved COG (clusters of orthologous groups of proteins) to ortholog revealed that they were within the range of 4.60% (Mezorhizobium loti) or 56.57% (Mycoplasma genitalium), The diversity of ratio meant the Possibility of searching for useful genes, as they possess peculiar genes. The gene content tree and the 16S rDNA tree showed coincidence and discordance in Archaea and Proteobacteria.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.232-235
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• 2007

Mesophilic Crenarchaeota have been known to be predominant among ammonia-oxidizing microorganisms in terrestrial and marine environments. In this study, we determined the archaeal phylotypes carrying specific amoA by combining digital PCR and multiplex-nested PCR. Analysis of samples in which amoA and 16S rRNA gene were amplified showed that amoA gene diversity was relatively higher than that of 16S rRNA gene. Nitrifying archaeal group I.1a was dominant over I.1b group of crenarchaota and euryarchaeota. This approach could be applied for interrelating a functional gene to a specific phylotype in natural environments.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.10
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• pp.1640-1645
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• 2006

We studied the diversity of the halophilic archaea and bacteria in crystallizer ponds of a Korean solar saltern by analyzing 16S rRNA gene libraries. Although diverse halophilic archaeal lineages were detected, the majority (56%) were affiliated with the uncultured and cultured Halorubrum group. Halophilic archaea that have been frequently observed in solar saltern environments previously, such as Halogeometricum, Halococcus, Haloarcula, and Haloferax, were not detected in our samples. The majority of clones (53%) belonged to the Cytophaga-Flavobacterium-Bacteroides and ${\alpha}-,\;{\gamma}-,\;and\;{\delta}-Proteobacteria$ groups, with 47% of the clones being affiliated with ${\gamma}-Proteobacteria$. We also identified new ${\delta}-Proteobacteria$-related bacteria that have not been observed in hypersaline environments previously. Our data show that the diversity of the halophilic archaea and bacteria in our Korean saltern differs from that of solar salterns found in other geographic locations. We also showed by quantitative real-time PCR analysis that bacteria can form a significant component of the microbial community in solar salterns.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.985-992
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• 2007

The diversity of archaeal strains from six hypersaline environments in Turkey was analyzed by comparing their phenotypic characteristics and 16S rDNA sequences. Thirty-three isolates were characterized in terms of their phenotypic properties including morphological and biochemical characteristics, susceptibility to different antibiotics, and total lipid and plasmid contents, and finally compared by 16S rDNA gene sequences. The results showed that all isolates belong to the family Halobacteriaceae. Phylogenetic analyses using approximately 1,388 bp comparisions of 16S rDNA sequences demonstrated that all isolates clustered closely to species belonging to 9 genera, namely Halorubrum (8 isolates), Natrinema (5 isolates), Haloarcula (4 isolates), Natronococcus (4 isolates), Natrialba (4 isolates), Haloferax (3 isolates), Haloterrigena (3 isolates), Halalkalicoccus (1 isolate), and Halomicrobium (1 isolate). The results revealed a high diversity among the isolated halophilic strains and indicated that some of these strains constitute new taxa of extremely halophilic archaea.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Applied Microbiology Conference
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• 2000.04a
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• pp.128-134
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• 2000

In the course of flora analysis of soil Archaea, we found very strange 16S rDNA clones, which could possibly constitute a sister clade from known two archael, Crenarchaeota and Euryarchaeota, lineages. Overall signature sequences showed that the clones were closely related to domains Archaea and Eucarya. However, at least nine nucleotides distinguished the novel clones from domains Archaea and Eucarya. Phylogenetic trees drawn by maximum parsimony, neighbor joining and maximum likelihood methods also showed unique phylogenetic position of the clones. A very specific primer set was synthesized to detect the presence of the novel group of organisms in terrestrial environments. A specific DNA fragment was amplified from all of paddy soil DNAs, and this fact suggests that the novel organisms inhabit paddy soils.