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Sphingorhabdus sp. M41, capable of degrading aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons, was isolated from crude oil-contaminated costal sediment by an enrichment culture and its complete genome was sequenced. The genome of strain M41 has a chromosome with a size of 3,324,420bp, including 44 tRNAs, 6 rRNAs, and 3118 protein-coding genes. In addition, many potential genes responsible for the biodegradation of aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons were identified from the genome. This is the first complete genome of the genus Sphingorhabdus, which will provide insights into the bioremediation of crude oil-contaminated costal sediment by strain M41.

Zhongshania aliphaticivorans SM-2(T), a degrader of aliphatic hydrocarbons, is a Gram-negative, rod-shaped, flagellated, facultatively aerobic bacterium. Here, we report the genome sequence of strain SM-2(T), which has a size of 4,204,359bp with 44 tRNAs, 9 rRNAs, and 3664 protein-coding genes. In addition, several genes encoding aliphatic hydrocarbon degraders (alkane 1-monooxygenase, haloalkane dehalogenase, and cytochrome P450) were detected in the genome shedding light on the function of pollutants degradation.

Bacillus methylotrophicus JJ-D34 showing good proteolytic and antipathogenic activities was isolated from doenjang, a Korean traditional fermented soybean paste. Here, we report the complete genome sequence of strain JJ-D34 harboring a 4,105,955 bp circular chromosome encoding 4044 genes with a 46.24% G+C content, which will provide insights into the genomic basis of its effects and facilitating its application to doenjang fermentation.

A prerequisite for the therapeutic use of small RNAs is the development of a method that can deliver them into animals. Previous studies have shown the capability of functionalized gold nanoparticles to serve as a general platform for loading and delivering DNA oligonucleotides and short hairpin RNAs (shRNAs) into cultured human cells. Here, we report the ability of the gold nanoparticle-assisted gene delivery system (AuNP-GDS) to deliver shRNA to a xenograft tumor in a mouse model. AuNP-GDS delivery of in vitro synthesized shRNA targeted to the Mcl-1L gene knocked down levels of Mcl-1L mRNA and protein by ~36% and ~26%, respectively, which were sufficient to induce apoptosis of the xenograft tumor cells and consequently inhibited the development of the tumor. We demonstrated that our lego-like AuNP-GDS, which can easily load and deliver shRNAs targeted to any gene of interest into living systems, can deliver shRNAs into xenograft tumors, leading to antitumor activity in an animal model.

Hydrogen production by the dark fermentation of food wastes is an economic and environmentally friendly technology to produce the clean energy source as well as to treat the problematic wastes. However, the long-term operations of the continuous anaerobic reactor for fermentative hydrogen production were frequently unstable. In this study, the structure of microbial community within the anaerobic reactor during unstable hydrogen production was examined by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) techniques. The changes in microbial community from H2-producing Clostridium spp. to lactic acid-producing Lactobacillus spp. were well coincident with the unexpected process failures and the changes of metabolites concentrations in the effluent of the anaerobic reactor. As the rate of hydrogen production decreased, effluent lactic acid concentration increased. Low rate of hydrogen production and changes in microbial community were related to the ‘kimchi’ content and storage temperature of food waste feed solution. After low temperature control of the storage tank of the feed solution, any significant change in microbial community within the anaerobic reactor did not occur and the hydrogen production was very stably maintained for a long time.