The gene encoding an esterase enzyme was cloned from a metagenomic library of cow rumen bacteria. The esterase gene (est2R) was 2,120 bp in length, encoding a protein of 516 amino acid residues with a calculated molecular weight of 57,286 Da. The molecular weight of the enzyme was estimated to be 57,000 Da by SDS-PAGE. Est2R shared 35.6% amino acid identity with esterase (CAH19079) of uncultured prokaryote. The Est2R was most active at 20-40°C, and showed optimum at 30°C and pH 8.0. The most activity of Est2R for the different chain length of p-nitrophenyl ester group as substrate was p-nitrophenyl acetate. Moreover, the enzyme was found to be most active without organic solvent, followed by 98% active with ethanol, and the enzyme activity was highly affected by the acetonitrile. The enzyme was significantly inhibited by Zn2+ but stimulated by Ca2+. So, novel esterase gene est2R is likely to obtain from cow rumen metagenome and supposed to use for industrial purpose.

A carboxymethyl cellulase gene, cel5B, was cloned, sequenced, and expressed in Escherichia coli. pRCS20 in E. coli was identified from metagenomic cosmid library of cow rumen for cellulase activity on a carboxymethyl cellulose agar plates. Cosmid clone (RCS20) was partially digested with Sau3AI, ligated into BamHI site of pBluescript II SK+ vector, and transformed into E. coli DH5α. The insert DNA of 1.3 kb was obtained, designated cel5B, which has the activity of hydrolyzation of CMC. The cel5B gene had an open reading frame (ORF) of 1,059 bp encoding 352 amino acids with a signal peptide of 48 amino acids and the conserved region, VIYEIYNEPL, belongs to the glycosyl hydrolase family 5. The molecular mass of Cel5B protein expressed from E. coli DH5α exhibited to be about 34 kDa by CMC-SDS-PAGE. The optimal pH was 8.0, and the optimal temperature was about 50℃ for its enzymatic activity.

The detailed characteristics of fog over South Korea were analyzed using the three-years quality controlled (QC) 237 visibility meter data operated by Korea Meteorological Administration. The fog (dense fog: DFog) frequency varies greatly with season and geographic location. The fog frequency at inland is highest in autumn, but at the West Coast in spring and summer. Fog occurs frequently from spring to autumn in the mountainous regions. Unlike the fog, the DFog is mostly prevalent in summer at land, mountain, and coastal regions. The large coefficients of variation of fog and DFog at the three regions and four seasons indicate that the locality of fog over South Korea is very high. The formation and dissipation (FaD) of fog show strong diurnal variations irrespective of geographic location and season, strongest at inland and weakest at sea. Fog usually occurs from night to sunrise and dissipates from early morning to late morning. The maximum FaD time of fog show seasonal variation with the seasonal change in solar elevation angle. The frequency of fog is inversely proportional to the duration time, mostly less than 3 hours regardless of season and geographic location. Also, the duration of DFog is mostly within 1-3 hours.