Korean Ocean Research and Development Institute

About: Korean Ocean Research and Development Institute is a facility organization based out in Busan, South Korea. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Sea surface temperature & Gene. The organization has 1770 authors who have published 3032 publications receiving 50142 citations.

Oceanobacillus profundus sp. nov., isolated from a deep-sea sediment core.

Abstract: A halotolerant, facultatively alkaliphilic bacterium, designated CL-MP28T, was isolated from the surface of a sediment core sample collected at a depth of 2247 m in the Ulleung Basin of the East Sea, Korea. Phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain CL-MP28T revealed an affiliation with the genus Oceanobacillus. The sequence similarities between the isolate and type strains of members of the genus Oceanobacillus were in the range 95.0–96.0 %, indicating that strain CL-MP28T represented a novel species within the genus. The strain was found to be Gram-positive, rod-shaped and motile by means of peritrichous flagella and was shown to produce ellipsoidal spores. The strain was strictly aerobic and able to grow with NaCl at concentrations in the range 0–14 % (w/v) at pH 7.5. The strain grew at temperatures of 15–42 °C and at pH 6.5–9.5. The major fatty acids were anteiso-C15 : 0 (64.9 %), anteiso-C17 : 0 (11.9 %) and iso-C16 : 0 (7.7 %). The major isoprenoid quinone was MK-7. The DNA G+C content was 40.2 mol%. According to the 16S rRNA gene sequence, DNA–DNA relatedness and physiological data and the fatty acid composition, CL-MP28T could be assigned to the genus Oceanobacillus, but is distinguishable from the recognized species of this genus. Strain CL-MP28T therefore represents a novel species within the genus Oceanobacillus, for which the name Oceanobacillus profundus sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is CL-MP28T (=KCCM 42318T=DSM 18246T).

Molecular Characterization of TEM-type β-Lactamases Identified in Cold-Seep Sediments of Edison Seamount (South of Lihir Island, Papua New Guinea)

Abstract: To determine the prevalence and genotypes of beta-lactamases among clones of a metagenomic library from the cold-seep sediments of Edison seamount (10,000 years old), we performed pulse-field gel electrophoresis, antibiotic susceptibility testing, pI determination, and DNA sequencing analysis. Among the 8,823 clones of the library, thirty clones produced beta-lactamases and had high levels of genetic diversity. Consistent with minimum inhibitory concentration patterns, we found that five (16.7%) of thirty clones produced an extended-spectrum beta-lactamase. 837- and 259-bp fragments specific to blaTEM genes were amplified, as determined by banding patterns of PCR amplification with designed primers. TEM-1 was the most prevalent beta-lactamase and conferred resistance to ampicillin, piperacillin, and cephalothin. TEM-116 had a spectrum that was extended to ceftazidime, cefotaxime, and aztreonam. The resistance levels conferred by the pre-antibiotic era alleles of TEM-type beta-lactamases were essentially the same as the resistance levels conferred by the TEM-type alleles which had been isolated from clinically resistant strains of bacteria of the antibiotic era. Our first report on TEM-type beta-lactamases of the pre-antibiotic era indicates that TEM-type beta-lactamases paint a picture in which most of the diversity of the enzymes may not be the result of recent evolution, but that of ancient evolution.

Variability of Warm Deep Water Inflow in a Submarine Trough on the Amundsen Sea Shelf

Abstract: The ice shelves in the Amundsen Sea are thinning rapidly, and the main reason for their decline appears to be warm ocean currents circulating below the ice shelves and melting these from below. Ocean currents transportwarm densewater ontothe shelf,channeledby bathymetric troughs leadingto the deep inner basins. A hydrographic mooring equipped with an upward-looking ADCP has been placed in one of these troughs on the central Amundsen shelf. The two years (2010/11) of mooring data are here used to characterize the inflow of warm deep water to the deep shelf basins. During both years, the warm layer thickness and temperature peaked in austral fall. The along-trough velocity is dominated by strong fluctuations that do not vary in the vertical. These fluctuations are correlated with the local wind, with eastward wind over the shelf and shelf break giving flow toward the ice shelves. In addition, there is a persistent flow of dense lower Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) toward the ice shelves in the bottom layer. This bottom-intensified flow appears to be driven by buoyancy forces rather than the shelfbreak wind. The years of 2010 and 2011 were characterized by a comparatively stationary Amundsen Sea low, and hence there were no strong eastward winds during winter that could drive an upwelling of warm water along the shelf break. Regardless of this, there was a persistent flow of lower CDW in the bottom layer during the two years. The average heat transport toward the ice shelves in the trough was estimated from the mooring data to be 0.95 TW.