In this study, thirty-eight lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains were isolated from Kimchi (Korean traditional fermented food) and screened for probiotic characterization in a series of in vitro tests, including resistance to low pH, tolerance to bile salts, hydrophobicity, antibiotic resistance and antioxidant activity. Firstly, twenty-two strains displayed survival in acid and bile passage conditions. Secondly, the strains KCCP 11349 and KCCP 11356 were observed to have high cell surface hydrophobicity with 63.9 and 98.8 %, respectively. Functionality of these potential probiotic isolates was supported by their antioxidant activity. Altogether, the strain KCCP 11349 showed characteristics similar to or even better than reference strain Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG. Finally, 16S rRNA gene sequencing was conducted to identify potential probiotic strains and KCCP 11349 was identified as Lactobacillus plantarum subsp. plantarum.
At the close of the year 1990, tombs in south Korea will cover the area of 940 ㎢, which is 0.9% of the entire landspace. Annual increase of 200,000 tombs is encroaching on landspace by 10 ㎢. It is estimated that the decrease in the forest area caused by tombs results a decrease both in the production of O_2 by 912,000 tons and in the absorption of CO_2 by 1,254,800tons per year. As a result, there will be an increase in the amount of CO_2, which is one of the factors that cause the greenhouse effect.