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.

Marine-derived Penicillium in Korea: diversity, enzyme activity, and antifungal properties.

Abstract: The diversity of marine-derived Penicillium from Korea was investigated using morphological and multigene phylogenetic approaches, analyzing sequences of the internal transcribed spacer region, β-tubulin gene, and RNA polymerase subunit II gene. In addition, the biological activity of all isolated strains was evaluated. We tested for the extracellular enzyme activity of alginase, endoglucanase, and β-glucosidase, and antifungal activity against two plant pathogens (Colletotrichum acutatum and Fusarium oxysporum). A total of 184 strains of 36 Penicillium species were isolated, with 27 species being identified. The most common species were Penicillium polonicum (19.6 %), P. rubens (11.4 %), P. chrysogenum (11.4 %), and P. crustosum (10.9 %). The diversity of Penicillium strains isolated from soil (foreshore soil and sand) and marine macroorganisms was higher than the diversity of strains isolated from seawater. While many of the isolated strains showed alginase and β-glucosidase activity, no endoglucanase activity was found. More than half the strains (50.5 %) showed antifungal activity against at least one of the plant pathogens tested. Compared with other strains in this study, P. citrinum (strain SFC20140101-M662) showed high antifungal activity against both plant pathogens. The results reported here expand our knowledge of marine-derived Penicillium diversity. The relatively high proportion of strains that showed antifungal and enzyme activity demonstrates that marine-derived Penicillium have great potential to be used in the production of natural bioactive products for pharmaceutical and/or industrial use.

Methods for uncertainty assessment of climate models and model predictions over East Asia

Abstract: Model performance and uncertainty have been assessed using simulations of the climate in the 20th century based on the 21 models of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Fourth Assessment Report (IPCC AR4) and NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data. To evaluate the fidelity and reliability of the simulations of East Asian climate change, the following approaches are compared to assess the uncertainty of East Asian monsoon and climate projection in conjunction with global warming: Taylor diagrams using correlation and standard deviation of model results over East Asia (100°E–150°E, 20°N–45°N), signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and principal-mode comparison identified by empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis. On the basis of the Taylor diagram and SNR results, good performance models with statistically high fidelity produce higher values of warming over East Asia and an enhancement of the northwest–southeast temperature gradient between the land and ocean. This enhanced temperature gradient may strengthen the East Asian summer monsoon flow, resulting in a greater increase in precipitation along the East Asian summer rain band on the continental side of East Asia. However, the good performance models as determined by the principal-mode comparison produce lower values of warming over the East Asia region during winter; these values are clearly different from the corresponding values obtained from the Taylor diagram and SNR approaches. These results suggest that the models that give priority to the signal associated with the first leading mode of EOF or the principal mode may predict less warming than other models. The models that predict an El Nino-like state in response to greenhouse warming produce less warming over East Asia, corresponding to the results of the principal-mode comparison.

Efficient production of 1,3-propanediol from crude glycerol by repeated fed-batch fermentation strategy of a lactate and 2,3-butanediol deficient mutant of Klebsiella pneumoniae.

Abstract: 1,3-Propanediol (1,3-PDO) is important building blocks for the bio-based chemical industry, Klebsiella pneumoniae can be an attractive candidate for their production. However, 1,3-PDO production is high but productivity is generally low by K. pneumoniae. In this study, repeated fed-batch cultivation by a lactate and 2,3-butanediol (2,3-BDO) deficient mutant of K. pneumoniae were investigated for efficient 1,3-PDO production from industrial by-products such as crude glycerol. First, optimal conditions for repeated fed-batch fermentation of a ΔldhA mutant defective for lactate formation due to deletion of the lactate dehydrogenase gene (ldhA) were determined. Maximal 1,3-PDO production level and productivity obtained by repeated fed-batch fermentation under optimized conditions were 81.1 g/L and 3.38 g/L/h, respectively, and these values were successfully maintained for five cycles of fermentation without any loss of fermentation capacity. This results were much higher than that of the normal fed-batch fermentation. The levels of 2,3-BDO, which is a major by-product, reaching up to ~ 50% of the level of 1,3-PDO, were reduced using a mutant strain [Δ(ldhA als)] containing an additional mutation in the biosynthetic pathway of 2,3-BDO (deletion of the acetolactate synthase gene). The levels of 2,3-BDO were reduced to about 20% of 1,3-PDO levels by repeated fed-batch fermentation of Δ(ldhA als), although maximal 1,3-PDO production and productivity also decreased owing to a defect in the growth of the 2,3-BDO-defective mutant strain. This repeated fed-batch fermentation may be useful for reducing the cost of 1,3-PDO production and may be promising industrialization prospect for the 1,3-PDO production.