DSpace at VNU: The 6th meeting of the asian consortium for the conservation and sustainable use of microbial resources (ACM)

DSpace at VNU: The 6th meeting of the asian consortium for the conservation and sustainable use of microbial resources (...

bìa trong

Dear Participants,

The exploiting of microbial resource is one of the most concerned problems in the fields

of medicine, biotechnology, agriculture, pharmacology… all over the world Asia has been shown to possess extremely abundant and diverse microorganisms, therefore the exchanging and discussing not only scientific problems and ideas but also generally developmental strategies at the common forum for the Asian scientists would be valuable Continuing the annual meeting of Asian Consortium of Microbiology (ACM), this time we are delighted to organize the 6th ACM which will be held on November 27th,

2009 at Hanoi - Vietnam in order to promote collaboration among government or public organizations in Asian countries for the purposes of enhancing conservation and sustainable use of microbial resources in Asia

In the proceeding of the 6th ACM the country reports and the keynote lectures as well as some selected scientific articles are present Through the country reports of Vietnam, Thailand, China, Korea, Malaysia and Philippine the activities in bio-diversity conservation, material transfer agreement (MTA) and human resources development will

be reviewed Also, four keynote lectures of the invited professors from Japan, Belgium and Vietnam will present specialized topics in the biotechnology field In addition, the short communications, mainly of Vietnamese scientists, will show some of the various aspects to study the bio-diversities and the characteristics of microorganisms

Director

Dr Duong Van Hop

Institute of Microbiology and Biotechnology,

Vietnam National University, Hanoi

P rogam of the 6th ACM Meeting

Progam of the 6th ACM Meeting

Meeting Program

November 26 th , 2009

Arrival of the participants

Moevenpick Hotel, 83A Ly Thuong Kiet, Hanoi

November 27 th , 2009 Conference room 1, 2 - Moevenpick Hotel

08:30 – 09:00 Registration

09:00 09:30 - Opening Ceremony

Dr Duong Van Hop, the director of IMBT

- Adoption of 5th ACM Minute of Meeting (Korea)

Morning section Chair persons: Dr Duong Van Hop (Vietnam)

Dr Jung-Sook Lee (Korea)

09:30 – 10:10 Keynote lecture

Genomic approach to seasonal and pandemic influenza viruses

Prof Nobuyuki Fujita National Institute of Technology and Evaluation (NITE), Japan

11:15 11:55 Keynote lecture

From the cells to the end product The case of lactic starter production

Prof Phillip Thornart University of Liege, Belgium 12:00 – 13:30 Lunch

Afternoon section Chair persons: Dr Sukor Nordin (Malaysia)

Dr Juncai Dong (China)

Deciphering On-Off signaling network of Streptomyces secondary metabolism

Prof Takuya Nihira International Center for Biotechnology, Osaka University, Japan

November 28 th , 2009 Novotel Halong Bay

08:00 – 12:00 Travel to Halong

12:00 – 14:00 - Check-in at Novotel Halong Bay

- Lunch

Scientific disscusion Yen Tu Conference room

Chair persons: Dr Suzuki Ken-Ichiro (Japan)

Dr Tanit Changthavorn (Thailand) 14:00 – 16:30 Report on Task Force:

- Biological Information Management (BIM)

- Human Resource Development (HRD)

- Management of Material Transfer (MMT)

General Discussion Conclusion

Announcement of 7 th and 8 th ACM meeting Closing Address

18:00 – 21:00 Dinner, The Square Restaurant, Hovotel Halong Bay

November 29 th , 2009

08:00 – 08:30 Hotel check-out

09:00 – 15:00 Boat tour in Halong Bay

15:00 – 19:00 Travel back to Hanoi

November 30 th , 2009

Departure of the participants

Abstracts of Country

Reports

Yuguang Zhou, 6 th ACM meeting – Hanoi 2009

Country Report from China

Yuguang Zhou*

Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, NO.1 West Beichen Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, China

ABSTRACT

Biological resource centers (BRCs) are an essential part of the infrastructure dedicated to the

investigation of the structure, functions, and applications of biological systems by developing

cooperative activities for sharing validated biological material and data among government

agencies, industry, academia, and the public Some attempts have been made since 1980’s for

improving culture collection management in China including establishment of CCCCM,

CTCCCAS and NFSNR

China General Microbiological Culture Collection Center (CGMCC), founded in 1952, is

affiliated with the Institute of Microbiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IMCAS),

which is a leading microbiological research institution in China The CGMCC became a member

of the CCCCM, CTCCCAS and World Federation for Culture Collections (WFCC) in the early

80’s or 90’s and acquired the status of an International Depositary Authority (IDA) under the

Budapest Treaty

Biological Resources Center, Institute of Microbiology Chinese Academy of Sciences

(IMCAS-BRC) has been set up by integrating the China General Culture Collection Center (CGMCC), the

Information Center and the newly developed high throughput evaluation platform of microbial

metabolites in July, 2009 The mission of IMCAS-BRC is to serve as an integrated public

infrastructure of culture collection, research and utilization of microorganisms, in order to

sustain biotechnology innovation IMCAS-BRC not only provides universities, institutions, and

*Corresponding author Tel.: 86-10-64807355

E-mail: zhouyg@im.ac.cn

Yuguang Zhou, 6 th ACM meeting – Hanoi 2009

industries of microbial strains, metabolites and gene resources and services, but also welcomes joint research and development projects

IMCAS-BRC has established collaboration with many culture collection centers worldwide It is

in the process of establishing its standards on resource management and quality assurance systems in accordance of OECD’s standard for BRC

Jung-Sook Lee, 6 th ACM meeting – Hanoi 2009

Country Report from Korea:

Current Status and Future Plan of KCTC/BRC

Jung-Sook Lee*

Korean Collection for Type Cultures (KCTC), Biological Resource Center (BRC),

Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB),

111 Gwahangno, Yusong-gu, Daejeon 305-806, Korea

ABSTRACT

The largest and oldest culture collection in Korea, Korean Collection for Type Cultures (KCTC) has three functions as follows 1) We carry out the collection and preservation of core biological resources from home and abroad, offering public support by distributing biological resources to academia, industry, and research institutions, and organizing patent strain deposit Especially, we were designated as an International Depositary Authority (IDA) under Budapest Treaty by World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Now we can manage about 17 kinds of biological resources including bacteria, yeast, fungi, algae, animal and plant viruses, embryos, animal and plant cell cultures, seeds, RNA and etc We manage about 18,000 biological resources including patent strains Every year over 1,500 strains are newly added to KCTC We also distribute more than 5,000 strains every year to home and abroad 2) We develop the platform technology for the screening, identification and preservation of useful biological resources We publish more than 40 papers concerning biological resources Since 1997, we reported more than 150 new species Last year, KCTC was cited by over 160 papers in PubMed search 3) We are trying to construct on local and international network for biological resources and related information, and support workshops, conferences, and consultation, etc

As a national bio-infrastructure for biological resources, we perform the role of a biotechnology think-tank in the field of bio R&D At present, we have many small collections for

*Corresponding author Tel.: +82-42-860-4677

E-mail: jslee@kribb.re.kr

Jung-Sook Lee, 6 th ACM meeting – Hanoi 2009

microorganisms in universities in Korea KCTC plays an important part in networking among the collections in domestic, and participates actively in international network among the collections in the world We concentrate our efforts to increase KCTC to international biological resource center

Tan Geok Hun, 6 th ACM meeting – Hanoi 2009

Country Report from Malaysia:

Research Update on Conservation and Utilization of

Microorganisms

Tan Geok Hun *

Strategic Resource Research Centre, Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI), P.O Box 12301, General Post Office, 50774 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Microbial Utilization

Microorganisms are a vital component of the world’s biodiversity worldwide They stand out as the major building blocks for biotechnology related industries However, the role of microbial genetic resources in bioindustries, especially in Malaysia is as yet not fully acknowledged and needs to be nurtured There remains an urgent need for information and better understanding of our microbial diversity for increased investment in microbial resources by both local and international entrepreneurs Harnessing microbial diversity will provide solutions to many problems in agriculture, forestry, the environment, healthcare and food and make available valuable resources for the development of bioindustries However, microbes also exist as pathogenic forms, contributing to loses in production and quality of agricultural produce, post harvest loses and contamination of animal feed and food spoilage

Based on the World Data Center for Microorganism (WDCM Statistic, update 2009), about 2,508 culture strains of microorganism have been registered with the center involving five institutions and research agencies From Malaysia, MARDI is one of the research agency registered with the WDCM with acronym of FTCC (Food Technology Culture Collection) and the number of microbes registered was 349 strains Some of these strains have been used for the

*Corresponding author Tel.: 03-89437439

E-mail: tangh@mardi.gov.my

Tan Geok Hun, 6 th ACM meeting – Hanoi 2009

production of fermented foods, such as “tempeh”, “tapai”, unclarified fish sauce (budu), fermented Tilapia (Pekasam Tilapia), fruits yoghurt and soy source

The others are Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia [UKKP (402 strains) and SKUK (381 strains)], University Malaya [DBUM; IPT (1300 strains)] and Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPMR (76 strains) have registered with the WDCM The Forest Research Institute of Malaysia (FRIM) in collaboration with Nimura is also actively involved in the running of microbial collection center

at the national level At present, over 2495 species of microbial fauna have been successfully identified and characterized, consisting of: (i) 300 algae, (ii) 1148 bacteria, (iii) 273 fungi, (iv)

269 yeasts, and (v) 505 viruses (Krishnapillay, 2004)

More microbial resource collections have to be established to adequately carry out conservation function Malaysia is particularly rich in biodiversity having a wide range of ecosystems waiting

to be explored However, currently Malaysia does not have national Microbial Resource Collection Center (MRCC) It is felt that MARDI can play a major and important role within a network of Malaysian collections and ultimately links can be established with international organizations and collections

Development and enhancement of sustainable utilization of microbes in Malaysian agriculture is still new (Table 1)

Table 1 Potential contribution of microbial diversity in Malaysia

No Functional

Groups

Targeted industries Microbial Utilization in Malaysia

1 Fungi Agriculture (biofertilizers,

biopesticides), food, animal feed and other biotechnological industries

Mycorrhiza as plant growth

enhancers (Ghazali et al., 2005; Lee,

2006)

Trichoderma spp as biocontrol agents

for plant diseases (Jinantana and

Sariah, 1998, Phua et al., 2005; Begum et al 2008)

Exserohillum longirostratum as bioherbicides against planytation weeds (Noor Hasniza et al., 2005) Aspergillus, Trichoderma for PKC and silage as animal feed (Zaiton, et

al 2008)

Edible Mushrooms (Ganesan, 2006)

Tan Geok Hun, 6 th ACM meeting – Hanoi 2009

2 Bacteria Agriculture (biofertilizers,

biopesticides), bioremediation, food (bio-fermentation (probiotics), and other biotechnological industries (e.g

Azospirillum brasilenses and Rhizobium as Nitrogen fixers (Shamsuddin et al., 1992; Shamsuddin et al.,2003; Saad et al., 1999; Amir et al 2003; Radziah and

Farzana, 2006)

Phosphate solubilizing bacteria for

nutrient recycling (Mia et al., 2001;

Radziah and Lizawati, 2005; Phua et al., 2005)

Bacillus thurigensis, Burkholderia

sp, as bioagents (Sivapragasam et al.,

1996; Phua et al., 2005)

Lactobacillus plantarum in health

drinks Yeasts and lactic acid bacteria in food fermentation such as tempeh, tapai

and soy source (Ng et al 2005; Lim

Bioagents against oil palm pests,

tomato, potatao (Tan et al., 2008)

Human Resource Development

In the last few years, there has been dramatic increase in the number of new Microbiologists

recruited by Mardi, bringing to the total number of 40 the current number of research officers

(RO) conducting microbiology research works in MARDI As measures in the capacity building

effort, some workshops and seminars on the identification, characterization, biosafety and

conservation have been organized all over the country, such as Workshop on Bacterial Isolation,

Identification and Preservation in February 2009 (Universiti Putra Malaysia); Biosafety Containment Principles (BSL-3) workshop and seminar in May 2009 (Universiti Malaya);

Seminar on The 3rd Regional Conference on Natural Resources in the Tropics in August 2009

(Universiti Malaysia Sarawak); The 8th Malaysia Genetics Congress in August 2009 (Universiti

Kebangsaan Malaysia); Seminar on Biosafety in the Microbiology Laboratory in September

2009 (Universiti Malaya); The Application of Polymerase Chain Reaction based Technique in

Tan Geok Hun, 6 th ACM meeting – Hanoi 2009

Biotechnology Workshop in October 2009 (Universiti Malaysia Sabah) and Molecular Phylogenetic Workshop in October 2009 (Universiti Malaysia Sarawak) This year, the Malaysian Society for Microbiology will held an International Congress of Microbiology in December, Penang which will provide a platform for discussion, exchange of idea, and sharing

of information on the latest information and technology among microbiologists in Malaysia and worldwide

Biological Information Management

Currently MARDI is developing an information system called AgrobIS to provide the public direct access to data of all biological genetic resources conserved at MARDI This system once fully operating will contain more than 2,500 of microbial genetic resources, more than 40,000 accessions of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA) which includes fruits, rice, vegetables, and medicinal plants, and about 30,000 specimens of arthropods

MARDI is in the initial stage of proposing the establishment a national Microbial Resource Collection Center (MRCC), and Malaysia also planning to become a member of Budapest Treaty

on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure A few meeting have been carried out to discuss the matter for joining the treaty It is hope that the establishment of MRCC in MARDI/ Malaysia will bring together microbiologists and research related to microorganism, microbial processes and products under one umbrella and provide a single platform for focused planning and implementation of research and development activities in microbiology, as well as optimum utilization of resources and available research support

Conclusion

In brief, the current scenario in MARDI with respect to research and development in microbiology lends itself to new thrusts and directions that can substantially increase the Institute’s contribution in microbial research and services to national development in the context

of an increasingly globalized world

References

Tan Geok Hun, 6 th ACM meeting – Hanoi 2009

Amir, H.G., Shamsuddin, Z.H., Halimi,M.S., Ramlan, M.F and Marziah, M 2003 N2 fixation plant growth enhancement and root-surface colonization by rhizobacteria in association

with oil palm plantlets under in vitro conditions Malays J Soil Sci.6 (1):75-82

Begum, M.M., Sariah, M., Adam, A.P and Zainal Abidin, M A 2008 Antagonistic potential of

selected fungal and bacterial biocontrol agents against Colletotrichum truncatum of soybean seeds Pertanika J of Tropical Agric 31:85-93

Ganesan, K 2006 Edible Mushroom Proceeding of the National Conference on Agrobiodiversity, Conservation and Sustainable Utilization 2006, Kuching, Sarawak

Jinanatana, J and Sariah, M 1998 Potential for biological control of Sclerotium foot rot of

chilli by Trichoderma spp Pertanika J Trop Sci 21: 1-10

Lim Y.S., Foo H.L., Raha, A.R., loh T.C and Gulam rusul R.A 2005 In vitro assessment of the probiotic characteristics of Lactobacillus plantarum I-UL4 Proceedings of the 27 th Symposium of the Malaysian Society for Microbiology, 24-27 November 2005 Pp 357-

359

Ng K.Y., Foo H.L., Rosfarizan M., Loh T.C., Raha A.R.,Lim Y.S., and Gulam Rusul, R.A

2005 Media optimization of bacteriocin production by Lactobacillus plantarum I-UL4

Proceedings of the 27 th Symposium of the Malaysian Society for Microbiology, 24-27

November 2005 Pp 354-356

Radziah, O and Farzana, Y 2006 Root colonization of sweetpotato by plant growth-promoting

Rhizobacteria Proc Malaysian Society of Soil Science Conference 2006, Kuantan,

Pahang, pp 200-2003

Saad, M.S., Ali Sabuddin, A.S Yunus A.G and Shamsuddin, Z.H 1999 Effects of Azospirillum inoculation on sweet potato grown on sandy tin-tailing soil Commu Soil Sci Plant Anal.,

30(11&12): 1583-1592

Shamsuddin, Z.H., Puteh, A and Saud, H.M 2003 Application of vegetable soybean as an

intercrop with paddy Research Product Exhibition Universiti Putra Malaysia

Shamsuddin, Z.H., Kasran, R., Edwards, D.G and Blamey, F.P.C 1992 Effects of calcium and aluminium on nodulation, nitrogen fixation and growth of groundnut in solution culture

Plant Soil 144, 273-279

Tan Geok Hun, 6 th ACM meeting – Hanoi 2009

G.H Tan, M.S Nordin and A.B Napsiah 2008 Isolation and Characterization of Lytic

Bacteriophages from Sewage Water Journal of Tropical Agriculture and Food Science 36:

287-291

Zaiton, S., M Sariah, M and M A Zainal Abidin 2008 Effect of endophytic bacteria on

growth and suppression of Ganoderma infection in oil palm Inter J Agriculture and Biology 10:127-132

Acknowledgement

The author wishes to thank the Director General of MARDI for the permission given to the author to participate in this important meeting and presenting the country report The author would also like to thank the organizers of “The 6th Meeting of the Asian Consortium for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Microbial Resources (ACM)”, Institute of Microbiology and Biotechnology (IMBT) and Vietnam National University Hanoi (VNUH) for providing this opportunity to participate in this expert meeting The author would also like to thank Dr Mohd Shukor Nordin, Deputy Director of Strategic Resource Research Center for his assistance in editing this report and also Dr Mohd Yusoff Abdullah for his guideline and support

Rosario G Monsalud, 6 th ACM meeting – Hanoi 2009

Country Report from Philippines:

Updates on Biological Information Management and Human

Resource Development in the Philippines

Rosario G Monsalud*

Philippine National Collection of Microorganisms (PNCM), National Institute of Molecular

Biology & Biotechnology, University of the Philippines Los Baños, College,

Laguna 4031 Philippines

ABSTRACT

Culture holdings of the affiliate culture collections of the Philippine Network of Microbial

Culture Collections (PNMCC) slightly increased to 7,796 accessions from the 7,484 accessions

reported in 2008 This is with the addition of the collection of the De La Salle University in

Manila The Museum of Natural History (MNH) and the Philippine National Collection of

Microorganisms PNCM) had a slight increase in culture holdings but the United Laboratories

(UNILAB) collection has decreased from 2046 to now only 1552 The Industrial Technology

Development Institute (ITDI), Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau (ERDB),

University of the Philippines Culture Collection (UPCC) and University of Sto Tomas (UST)

still have the same number of culture holdings reported last year A total of 1,635 cultures were

distributed by the PNMCC affiliate culture collections in 2009 which is 37% higher than in

2008

In addition to the culture holdings of the affiliate culture collections of PNMCC, some

researchers from Philippine universities and research institutions have culture collection

activities which are project-based including more than 2,000 clinical isolates, 65 marine fungi

*Corresponding author Tel.: +63(049536-2884)

E-mail: rgm_pncm@yahoo.com

Rosario G Monsalud, 6 th ACM meeting – Hanoi 2009

and fungal leaf endophytes, fungal isolates from the oil spill-contaminated island of Guimaras, around 30 cellulolytic, chitinolytic and PHA-producing and starch utilizing bacteria

The PNMCC continually conducts annual scientific symposium and general assembly meeting,

as well as publishes a newsletter which is being sent to its members, which now have risen to

180 from the reported156 members last year Aside from PNMCC, the Philippine Society for Microbiology (PSM), Mycological Society of the Philippines (MSP), Philippine Phytopathological Society (PPS) and several other professional organizations dealing with microbiology, actively conduct regular scientific symposia Another milestone in microbiology education in the country would be the upcoming workshop that will be conducted by the Philippine Academy of Microbiology (PAM) this coming April 2010 to bring together the heads

of microbiology departments from different universities to discuss and harmonize the microbiology courses being offered in different schools

Pariyaporn Thengprasert et al., 6 th ACM meeting – Hanoi 2009

Country Report from Thailand:

Microbial resources and human resource development:

BIOTEC's Experiences

Pariyaporn Thengprasert*, Supawadee Ingsriswang, Tanit Changthavorn,

Wanchern Potacharoen

National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechology (BIOTEC),

113 Thailand Science Park, Phahonyothin Road, Klong 1, Klong Luang, Pathumthani 12120,Thailand

ABSTRACT

BIOTEC culture collection has been established in 1996 Initially, BIOTEC focuses on insect

pathogenic fungi and, later, expands to diverse group of fungi, yeasts and bacteria as well as

uncultured strains from the extreme environment in order to support the research program and

taxonomists development At present, almost 40,000 strains are collected and preserved, these

include fungi (27,000), yeasts (2,600) and bacteria (8,300) The cultures are maintained in

freezing and freeze drying stage as to ensure their genetic stability for long term storage In

addition, the temperature monitoring system of freezing unit has been set up to control and

regulate the temperature for the survival of preserved cultures

The data generating from research work were managed by a computer program named Microbial

Information Management System (MIMS) which was developed by the Information Systems

Laboratory MIMS enables the users to input and retrieve data and information on number and

diversity of preserved cultures as well as biotechnological products produced

Beside the continuation of financial support, human resources are also the important factor for

the long term sustainability of the collection BIOTEC has launched the Human Resource

* Corresponding author Tel.: Tel (66-2) 564 6700

E-mail: Pariyaporn.the@biotec.or.th

Pariyaporn Thengprasert et al., 6 th ACM meeting – Hanoi 2009

Development Program in Biotechnology for neighboring countries since 2001 and expanded to cover the Asia Pacific region in 2007 The course ranges from 3 to 12 months long which includes basic and advance training on biotechnological techniques such as molecular identification of bacteria fungi and yeasts, management of culture collection, screening techniques for biological products Ninety nine scholarships have been granted from 2001 to

2009

BIOTEC Culture Collection (BCC) has been certified with ISO 9001:2000 as a service provider since 2005 The deposition and distribution of cultures have been served with MAA and MTA which carefully produced by the Bio-law Department at BIOTEC

DV Hop et al., 6 th ACM meeting – Hanoi 2009

Microbial resources management in Vietnam

and current VTCC activities

Duong Van Hop, Nguyen Lan Dung, Dao Thi Luong

Introduction

In the policy of the government of Vietnam for science and technology development it is realized

that biotechnology is one of the priority fields Microbial bioresources are recognized as crucial

genetic materials for performing research and application activities in biotechnology Since 1996

the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) has been providing governmental budget to

support activities of maintaining and management of several microbial culture collections in the

coutry, such as:

(1) Vietnam Type Culture Collection (VTCC), the Institute of Microbiology and

Biotechnology (IMBT), Vietnam National University (VNU), Hanoi VTCC is the only

general culture collection which is holding about 8,550 culture strains (fungi - 3,000,

actinomycetes - 3,500, bacteria - 1,000, yeast - 850 and macrofungi - 200)

(2) Collection of Food Microbes, the Food Industry Research Institute (FIRI), Hanoi, is

holding 1,100 cultures (yeast - 700, bacteria - 200, filamentous fungi - 200)

(3) Collection of Medical Cultures of Microbes, the Hanoi Medical University is maintaining

4,000 cultures of human pathogenic bacteria and fungi

(4) Collection of Agricultural Microbes, the Institute of Agricultural Chemistry and Soils, is

holding 600 cultures (bacteria, actinomyces and filamentous fungi)

(5) Collection of Veterinary microbes, the National Veterinary Institute, is maintaining about

50 strains of bacteria and viruses for studying animal vaccines

(6) Collection of human pathogenic microbes, the National Institute of Epidemiology, is

holding 100 cultures of bacteria and viruses for studying human vaccines

At the current time, there is no private company or sector that can afford budget, facility and

knowledge for maintaining microorganisms in Vietnam

DV Hop et al., 6 th ACM meeting – Hanoi 2009

Scientific activities at the VTCC

Management

VTCC is recognized as the biggest general culture collection in Vietnam Based on the governmental support and international collaboration with NITE (Japan), VTCC has been making significant progresses in development of the culture collection since 2004 Much improvement has been made for maintaining various groups of microbes as well as for performing techniques in taxonomic and phylogenetic studies At the present time, 1,200 strains

of 8,550 cultures have been documented (by the Access software) in an online-catalogue

(http://www.biotechvnu.edu.vn/vtcc), the remained cultures are under study and subjected for

taxonomy works With the above progresses, VTCC became a member of the WFCC from

October 2008 (http://wdcm.nig.ac.jp/hpcc.html)

R-D activities

A number of key techniques are eshtablished and well performed at VTCC in the last few years for studying diversity of microbes in endemic ecology (dioxin contaminated areas and other polluted sites) and bioactive compounds from the diverse microorganisms These techniques include HPLC, GC, DNA sequencing, FISH, PCR-DGGE, ARDRA, DNA hybridization

Application researches so far are focused on (i) production of enzymes and probiotics for animal feed, (ii) treatment of environmental pollution, (iii) screening bioactive compound from microbes against plant pathogenic fungi, and (iv) production of bacteriocins and L-lactic from cassava starch The obtained results are quite promising for further development of bio-products, some of that are now produced at pilot scale or used for field tests (e.g the treatment of urban organic solid waste by composting), some other are just on trial (e.g enzyme and probiotic products for feeding animals, including chicken, swine and aquaculture)

Material Transfer Agreement (MTA)

As the only general public culture collection in Vietnam, in the past year VTCC received deposition of a number of 300 cultures (fungi, bacteria and actinomycetes) from domestic and foreign research institutions In turn, more than 100 strains of microorganisms have been distributed by VTCC to different domestic users for research and teaching purposes The

DV Hop et al., 6 th ACM meeting – Hanoi 2009

deposition and distribution are performed following electronic forms prepared at the VTCC according to the WFCC guidelines

Human resource development

IMBT generally and VTCC are recognized as a good address for conducting short training courses (7-10 days) in taxonomy and screening bioactive compounds from microbes for domestic young researchers In 2009, three courses have been organized with participation of over 90 students and researchers from different institutions, universities in Vietnam

Keynote Lectures

Nobuyuki Fujita, 6 th ACM meeting – Hanoi 2009

Genomic approach to seasonal and pandemic influenza viruses

of the genes, those related to viral antigenicity and drug resistance, of seasonal influenza viruses clinically isolated in Japan and other Asian countries The data are shared globally and used for the selection of vaccine strains and the monitoring of drug-resistant viruses

A new H1N1 influenza virus of swine origin emerged early this year Worldwide spread of the virus prompted WHO to declare pandemic phase 6 in June As the virus is new to human, it is possible that the virus may rapidly accumulate mutations in the course of its adaptation to human host system, and develop higher virulence, higher transmissibility, or resistance to antivirals It is also a concern that the virus may exchange genetic components with other circulating viruses leading to unexpected drastic changes (a phenomenon called reassortment) For close monitoring

of these mutations and reassortments, whole genome sequencing would be a definitive method of choice As of this writing, we have determined complete coding sequences of more than 90 isolates of the pandemic H1N1 virus The data so far obtained, together with those obtained in other countries, indicate that i) the virus is relatively homogeneous in terms of the genomic sequence, ii) although mutations have been accumulating in all viral genome segments, no

*Corresponding author Tel.: 81-438-20-5760

E-mail: fujita-nobuyuki@nite.go.jp

Nobuyuki Fujita, 6 th ACM meeting – Hanoi 2009

mutation or reassortment potentially associated with higher virulence or transmissibility has been found, iii) there is no evidence that oseltamivir (Tamiflu) resistant virus is circulating, albeit some sporadic cases were reported

Phillip Thonart et al., 6 th ACM meeting – Hanoi 2009

From the cells to the end product The case of lactic starter production

Phillip Thonart*, P Kouakou, H Ghalfi, I Coulibaly, C Dortu, M Diop, P Antoine,

P Evrard, R Dubois-Dauphin, J Destain

Université de Liège, Centre Wallon de Biologie Industrielle Boulevard du Rectorat,

29 B40 P70 B-4000 Liège, Belgium

ABSTRACT

Lactic acid bacteria isolated by screening method from traditional food products of African

countries were tested for their ability to produce bacteriocin an antimicrobial substances acting

against other bacteria Some of these bacteriocins allow the inhibition of Listeria

monocytogenes, a food-bome pathogen responsible for human listeriosis However, food

ingredients caused an inefficient action of bacteriocins produced by several lactic acid bacteria

against Listeria monocytogenes achieving the phenomenon of Listeria growth rebound in

bacteriocin-supplemented food models Recently, new starter cultures of lactic acid bacteria with

an industrially important functionality are being developed The latter can contribute to inhibit

the rebounding phenomenon of Listeria and offer one or more organoleptic, technological,

nutritional, or health advantages

* Corresponding author Tel.: +32.4.366.28.61

E-mail: : p.thonart@ulg.ac.be

Takuya Nihira, 6 th ACM meeting – Hanoi 2009

Deciphering On-Off signalling network of Streptomyces

Virginiamycin M (VM) of Streptomyces virginiae is a hybrid peptide-polyketide antibiotic with

peptide antibiotic virginiamycin S (VS) as its synergistic counterpart VM and VS belong to the

Streptogramin family, which is characterized by strong synergistic antibacterial activity, and

their water-soluble derivatives are a new therapeutic option for combating vancomycin-resistant

Gram-positive bacteria The production of virginiamycin is under the tight control of microbial

hormone, called Virginiae Butanolide (VB) of the -butyrolactone autoregulator group, and the

VB-specific receptor protein (BarA) The VM biosynthetic gene cluster was isolated from S

virginiae in the 77-kb region including about 10-kb of the regulatory island for virginiamycin

production Sequence analysis revealed that the region consists of 41 complete open reading

frames (ORFs), encoding hybrid nonribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS)-polyketide synthase

(PKS), typical NRPS, enzymes synthesizing precursors for VM or VS, transporters for

resistance, regulatory proteins, and auxiliary enzymes The involvement of the cloned gene

cluster in VM biosynthesis was confirmed by gene disruption of virA encoding a hybrid

PKS-NRPS megasynthetase, which resulted in complete loss of VM production without any effect on

VS production Present status on the regulation of the VM/VS biosynthesis, initiated by the

binding of VB to VB-specific receptor, will be described and discussed

* Corresponding author Tel.: 81-6-6879-7452

VN Thanh, 6 th ACM meeting – Hanoi 2009

Yeast biodiversity and application in biotechnology -

1000 species of yeast are known It is estimated that the number represents only about 1% of that exists in nature The vast potential of yeast still awaits further exploration The report summarized recent research activities on yeast biodiversity and application at culture collection

of Food Industries Research Institute (FIRI) During last several years, the culture collection has achieved reasonable progress in diversifying itself by technological-oriented screening programs Numbers of strains were found to be of scientific and technological interest, ranging from biotransformation of castor oil into -decalactone, conversion of xylose into xylitol or production

of zymocin Genes encoding enzymes of industrial importance were cloned and expressed using

Pichia pastoris system Starter culture and associated microorganisms of endangered traditional

fermentations were conserved and characterized Natural diversity study was also in focus with the description of several new yeast species

*Corresponding author Tel.: +84 4 35589004

E-mail: : thanh@firi.ac.vn

Short Communications

of The Host Country

LT Hien et al., 6 th ACM meeting – Hanoi 2009

Study on biosurfactant production by marine microorganisms

isolated from Vietnam coastal zones applied to

environmental protection

Lai Thuy Hien*, Nguyen Thi Yen, Pham Thi Hang, Le Thi Nhi Cong,

Vuong Thi Nga, Nguyen Thi Thu Huyen

Department of Petroleum Microbiology, Institute of Biotechnology, Vietnam Academy of Science

and Technology, 18 Hoang Quoc Viet, Hanoi, Vietnam

ABSTRACT

Biosurfactants are microbial surface active compounds with both a hydrophilic and hydrophobic

regions in their structures They are grouped as glycolipid, lipolipid, phospholipid, fatty acid,

neutral lipid, polymeric and particulate biosurfactants Nowadays, biosurfactant are using in

different sectors such as petroleum industry, food industry, pharmaceuticals, medicine, cosmetics

and environmental protection In comparison with chemically synthesized surfactants, they have

plenty of advantages, including lower toxicity, higher biodegradability and better environmental

compatibility Most biosurfactants are produced by bacteria, yeast and fungi during fermentation

on various carbon sources (glycerol, olive oil, diesel oil, soybean oil, molasses …)

From marine water and sand samples taken from different sites on Vietnam coastal zones

(Halong bay, Catba island, Nghison sea, Quinhon sea, Vungtau sea, Binhthuan sea), we isolated

20 yeast and 35 bacteria strains that are able to produce biosurfactant Amongst, we selected 36

strains that are capable of the highest biosurfactant production Their biosurfactant producing

capacity with oil emulsification index (E24) was over 70% and 16 of 36 strains produced the

high amount of biosurfactant, ranging from 15 - 25 g biosurfactant/l Using API kit and 16S

rRNA, 26S rRNA analyses, they were defined as Hortae werneckii HL1a, Pichia ohmeri HL1b,

Rhodotorula glutinis HL2a, Rhodosporidium diobovatum HL4a, Candida atlantica HL10a,

* Corresponding author Tel.: +84-912045099

E-mail: hienlaithuy@yahoo.com

LT Hien et al., 6 th ACM meeting – Hanoi 2009

Ochrobactrum cytisis CB1c1, Bacillus megatherium CB1c2, Janibacter marinus CB2a, Candida parapsilosis CB5a, Rhodosporidium sphaerocarpum CB7a, Acinetobacter haemolyticus NS5a, Acinetobacter calcoaceticus QN15, Rhodotorula mucilaginosa VT08, Candida tropicalis VT09, Aeromonas sobria H1, Pseudomonas pseudomalei H24, Pseudomonas aeruginosa H33, Bacillus subtilis N1, Acinetobacter junii 6C1, Leuconostoc sp 6C3… Biosurfactants produced by

selected marine bacteria and yeasts stimulated the growth of oil - degrading microbial population

and total oil quantity reduced for 81% after five experimental days Especially, biosurfactants produced by Rhodotorula mucilaginosa VT08 and Candida tropicalis VT09 strains showed a

great potential for environmental protection because of their non-toxicity The results suggested

a new application of supporting substance for the treatment of oil - contaminated environment

LM Huong et al., 6 th ACM meeting – Hanoi 2009

The potential of endophytic fungi isolated from

Vietnamese medicinal plants

Le Mai Huong*, Tran Thi Nhu Hang, Tran Thi Hong Ha, Hoang Kim Chi,

Nguyen Dinh Luyen, Mai Ngoc Toan

Institute of Natural Products Chemistry, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology,

18 Hoang Quoc Viet, Hanoi, Vietnam

ABSTRACT

Since Vietnam is a tropical country, with the primarily health care is still based on the traditional medicinal plants But, as every where in over the world, Vietnam has been facing to the problems of environmental degradation, loss of biodiversity, and spoilage of land and water Endophytes, microorganisms that reside in the tissues of living plants, are relatively unstudied and potential sources of novel natural products for exploitation in medicine, agriculture, and industry It is noteworthy that, of the nearly 20,000 plant species that exist in Vietnam, each individual plant is host to one or more endophytes Almost all of these plants have never been completely studied relative to their endophytic biology Consequently, the opportunity to find new and interesting of finding new drugs that may be effective candidates for treating newly developing diseases in humans, plants, and animals is great Novel antibiotics, antimycotics, immunosuppressant, and anticancer compounds are only a few examples of what have been found after the isolation, culture, purification, and characterization of some selected endophytes

in the recent past

The experimental biologically laboratory belong to the Institute of Natural Products Chemistry (INPC), which is the Vietnamese national institution responsible for fundamental and applied research in the field of natural products Established in 1990, it originally belonged to the National Centre for Natural Sciences and Technology (NCNST), which changed its name in

* Corresponding author Tel.: +84-9136180907

E-mail: lehuong00@gmail.com

LM Huong et al., 6 th ACM meeting – Hanoi 2009

2004 to the Vietnamese Academy of Science and Technology (VAST; www.vast.ac.vn) INPC is the only institute in Vietnam responsible for graduate training (M.Sc and PhD courses) in the chemistry of natural products (Code 62.44.27.02) Since November 1991, INPC is National Point

of Contact on the Network for Chemistry of Natural Products of the UNESCO Regional in Asia

and the Pacific Ocean

In the course of our lab research for the last 6 years up to now, about 300 strains of endophytic

fungi were isolated from well-known medicinal plants such as: Croton tonkinensis Gagnep., Mallotus apelta Lour, Artemisia annua, Fibraurea recisa, Taxus wallichiana, etc All isolates

were fermented, extracted then evaluated their biological activities in antimicrobial, antioxidant, anticancer (cytotoxicity) and enzymological assays 50% among isolated strains exhibited at least one biological activity, 12 most active strains were Latin name identified In detail, up to 34% of all extracts showed cytotoxic activity (against at least 2 cancer cell lines), 42.6% exhibited antimicrobial activity against at least 3/8 tested strains, 11% were able to scavenge free radical of DPPH in antioxidant assay, 20% were enzymological active, and 15 bioactive compounds were chemical structure identified The results contributed to emphasize the potential

of endophytic fungi isolated from medicinal plants as a promising source for biologically active secondary metabolites

LTT Loan and PT Ho, 6 th ACM meeting – Hanoi 2009

Utilisation of bacterial cellulose (BC) as support matrix for the cultivation of microbial, plant and animal cells

Le Thi Thanh Loan and Pham Thanh Ho*

Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioconversion, University of Sciences – Vietnam

National University - Ho Chi Minh, 227 Nguyen Van Cu, Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam

ABSTRACT

Bacterial cellulose (BC) has many good qualities: high purity, water absortion, plasticity… BC

can be served as matrix absorbing cultural medium for the growth of microbial, plant and animal

cells on the surface The experimental results showed that all the types of these cells normally

grow on BC medium

Microorganisms

– Two strains Azotobacter have the nitrogen fixation ability and biomass production with

the maximum after 5 days (582,68 mg/ml and 423,67 mg/ml)

– The yeast strains, such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae, S carlsbergensis, and Rhodotorula

sp normally developed and gave the biomass on BC surface better in comparation with

the culture in liquid medium

– The biomass production of Chlorella vulgaris and 5 strains of Spirulina platensis are also

good on BC surface

The primary results of this research confirm the possibilities of BC utilisation as matrix surface

for the cultivation of different microorganisms The method for biomass production on BC

surface has many advantages:

– The less energy consumption for aeration, because the microbial cells on the BC surface

directly contacted with the air

* Corresponding author Tel.: +84-908104801

E-mail: phthho@yahoo.com

LTT Loan and PT Ho, 6 th ACM meeting – Hanoi 2009

– The productivity of biomass production is good, biomass recovery is more simple and the water separation is easier (no need for water separation by centrifugation or filtration) – The waste water after fermentation is limited

Plant tissue cultures

BC was used as one of the supporter systems in plant tissue cultures The results of shoot

cultures of Nicotiana tabacum, Musa sp., Ficus carica, Vetiveria zizanioides were reported On the medium with BC supporter, the shoots of N tabacum and V zizanioides grew better than those on agar supporter 1,3 and 1,4 times respectively for 2 weeks of culture F carica shoots on

the BC medium were about 4 cm in height while those on the agar medium were about 1.4 cm

after 4 weeks of culture Musa shoots on the BC medium grew as well as those on the agar medium The experiments showed that BC was a good supporter in cultures of Nicotiana,

Vetiveria, Ficus and Musa

The culture of animal cells

In this study, the transpicious bacterial cellulose of Azotobacter xylinum 50 – 100 micrometer in thickness was used Hep-2 cancer cells and 9 – 13 day mouse embryonic cells are immobilized and cultured on the membrane with E’MEM (for Hep-2 cells) and D’MEM (for mouse embryo cells: MECs) supplied with 10% fetal bovine serum Both Hep-2 cells and MECs adhere and

proliferate well on BC mediums Howewer, MECs, with a higher density, adhere and proliferate

better than Hep-2 cells

NT Thanh and BTV Ha, 6 th ACM meeting – Hanoi 2009

Metabolic Diversity of Bacillus strains isolated in Vietnam

Ngo Tu Thanh and Bui Thi Viet Ha*

Hanoi College of Science, Vietnam National University, 334 Nguyen Trai, Hanoi

ABSTRACT

The genus Bacillus shows an impressive ecological diversity (mesophilic, thermophilic,

alkalophilic, halophilic…) as well as metabolic diversity (production a lot of extracellular active compounds such as enzymes, antibiotics, indol acetic acid, biosurfactants…) For this reason,

Bacillus spp has a variety of applications in industry, agriculture and human health

The tropical regions are very rich in microorganisms with precious activities In order to

investigate the Bacillus strains of Vietnam tropical nature, we isolated them from many sites of the country and then tested them on some activities In our researches, 437 Bacillus strains were

isolated from material samples such as plant leaves and roots, soils, waste waters, sea waters, collected in 20 different geographic sites and habitats in the North, the Central and the South of Vietnam

The results are summarized as follow:

- The Bacillus strains were isolated from almost all soil samples collected

- The proportion of strains having activities of protease, amylase, carboxymethyl cellulase, and chitinase to investigated strains was 51/54, 23/64, 13/34, and 20/20, respectively

- The proportion of strains showing activities of antifungi, nitrogen fixation, biosurfactant production, and indol acetic acid production to investigated strains was 3/3, 3/3, 5/15 and 86/86, respectively

- Some strains increased the growth of the cabbage (Brassica oleracea) This increase in

growth over control was as follows: the average height of the plants watered with and

* Corresponding author Tel.: +84-904156999

E-mail: buithivietha@gmail.com