Southeast Asia is a very important region for developing microbial gene resources. Past research in this region has successfully separated heat-resistant lactic acid fermentation bacteria, heat-resistant plant growth promoting bacteria, and rare actinomycetes resistant to plant disease agent fungi and fish disease agents. We must develop win-win relations between Japan and South Korea not only by promoting such environmental conservation research but also by exploring new tropical microbes for healthcare, fermented food products and biocontrol under the spirit of the biodiversity convention. In this region, rapid population growth and economic development have helped make water, soil and air pollution problems more serious and deteriorate rural production infrastructure, inviting demand for improving the life environment. In this respect, Kyushu University, being on the frontier of Asian research, can take advantage of its state-of-the-art technology and study approaches for soil and environmental microbiology to make contributions to environmental improvement and conservation in Asian countries. For the biomass utilization that is the key to the sustainable production and resources-recycling society, microbiological research plays a great role in matter transformation and environmental cleanup. Southeast Asia’s potential primary productivity and sustainably recoverable biomass resources are very great. Biomass resources refineries, resources recycling and grove soil conservation through by-products and microbial transformation will grow more important for food security and a global resources-recycling society. The Tropical Microbiology Unit will explore solutions to various problems facing Southeast Asia from the viewpoint of microbiology.
- Tropical Microbial Resources
In the tropical microbial resources area, the unit will study how to search and use tropical microbes and their gene resources while giving consideration to Vietnam’s regional characteristics. The unit will search and study heat-resistant filamentous fungi, thermophilic microorganisms, extremophiles, rare actinomycetes and other microbes that require no cooling energy even under warm weather conditions and can reduce contamination opportunities, as well as microbial metabolites, enzymes, physiologically active substances and tropical fermented food products.
- Microbial Environmental Protection
In the microbial environmental protection area, the unit will study microbial environmental protection processes that could be applied to Vietnam featuring a typical Asian monsoon climate among Southeast Asian countries. Subject to our study will be resolution and bioremediation processes for chlorine-containing compounds that remain in some regions of Vietnam, biological water quality improvement processes in the Red River Delta and the Mekong Delta, primary and secondary industrial waste fluid and urban human sewage treatment processes, tropical agricultural waste treatment processes and unused tropical biomass utilization processes.