Nitrogen fixing bacteria facilitate microbial biodegradation of a bio-based and biodegradable plastic in soils under ambient and future climatic conditions

We discovered a biological mechanism supporting microbial degradation of bio-based poly (butylene succinate-co-adipate) (PBSA) plastic in soils under ambient and future climates. Here, we show that nitrogen-fixing bacteria facilitate the...

Screening of microorganisms which are able to accelerate the process of microbial transformation of bird droppings

The purpose of the research. Screening of collection strains of microorganisms with enzymatic properties to accelerate the processes of microbial biodegradation of bird droppings. Research methods. The proteolytic activity of the grown cultures was studied according to GOST 20264.2-88, the total microbial number in the chicken droppings (CFU/ml) was analyzed, and the ammonium nitrogen was determined. Research results. As a result of the experiments, it was found that the highest proteolytic activity was demonstrated by the strain Pseudomonas putida 90 biovar A (171), which amounted to 74.6 units/g. When analyzing the effect of the studied collection strains on the decomposition processes of droppings, it was revealed that the largest number of microbial cells in bird droppings was achieved using Pseudomonas putida 90 biovar A (171), which was 104 CFU/ml at the beginning of the researches, and was the maximum and amounted to 1011 CFU/ml by the 15th day. The content of ammonium nitrogen in droppings treated with this culture decreased from 340 mg/l from the beginning of the experiment to 174 (15th day) and 169 mg/l (20th day) and it was the best indicator. When selecting the dose and concentration of the strain-producer Pseudomonas putida 90 biovar A (171) under introduction to bird droppings, it was found that to accelerate the process of biodegradation of bird droppings, the optimal dose for applying the studied culture is 4.0 % of organic waste mass with preliminary dilution by 2 times with water. At the same time, the optimal time of droppings keeping and the studied culture is 15 days. Scientific novelty. It was established for the first time that the treatment of chicken manure with the collection strain Pseudomonas putida 90 biovar A (171) accelerates the process of its microbial transformation.

Critical evaluation of the Microbial Turnover to Biomass approach for the estimation of biogenic non-extractable residue

Background Persistence is a key criterion for the risk assessment of chemicals. In degradation tests, microbial biodegradation of labeled test chemicals leads to the incorporation of the label in microbial biomass, resulting in biogenic non-extractable residues (bioNER), which are not considered as harmful in persistence assessment. The amount of bioNER can be estimated using the Microbial Turnover to Biomass (MTB) model. MTB estimates the biomass growth during productive degradation of a compound from theoretical growth yield and CO2-formation and gives an upper and a lower value for bioNER formation. Results We collected experimental data in order to test accuracy and precision of this estimation method. In total, 16 experimental studies were found in literature where bioNER was experimentally quantified. Hereof, 13 studies used the amount of label recovered from total amino acid (tAA) content as proxy for bioNER. Unfortunately, the comparison with experimental data was difficult due to the variety of employed methods. A conversion factor is required to extrapolate from tAA on bioNER, and this factor may vary during the experiment and between experiments. The bioNER formation for all compounds tested was calculated with the MTB method, and the outcome was compared to measured tAA as proxy for bioNER. The relation between predicted and measured bioNER was significant, but no better correlation was obtained than with CO2 to tAA. The mean absolute error of the prediction (low MTB versus tAA) was 5% (unit applied label, %aL). Large deviations between experimentally determined bioNER and the calculated result for some compounds may indicate problems in the experimental determination of bioNER. Conclusions MTB thus provides a robust model for determining of the potential amounts of biomass and bioNER formed from the degradation of organic chemicals.

Biodegradability of Novel Polylactide and Polycaprolactone Materials with Bacteriostatic Properties Due to Embedded Birch Tar in Different Environments

The microbial biodegradation of new PLA and PCL materials containing birch tar (1–10% v/v) was investigated. Product of dry distillation of birch bark (Betula pendula Roth) was added to polymeric materials to obtain films with antimicrobial properties. The subject of the study was the course of enzymatic degradation of a biodegradable polymer with antibacterial properties. The results show that the type of the material, tar concentration, and the environment influenced the hydrolytic activity of potential biofilm degraders. In the presence of PCL films, the enzyme activities were higher (except for α-D-glucosidase) compared to PLA films. The highest concentration of birch tar (10% v/v) decreased the activity of hydrolases produced by microorganisms to the most significant extent; however, SEM analysis showed the presence of a biofilm even on plastics with the highest tar content. Based on the results of the biological oxygen demand (BOD), the new materials can be classified as biodegradable but, the biodegradation process was less efficient when compared to plastics without the addition of birch tar.

Assessing Antibiotics Biodegradation and Effects at Sub-inhibitory Concentrations by Quantitative Microbial Community Deconvolution

Antibiotics in the environment cause widespread concern as a result of their potent inhibitory action on microbial growth and their role in potentially creating selective conditions for proliferation of antibiotic resistant bacteria. Comprising a carbon skeleton, antibiotics should be amenable to microbial biodegradation, but this is still largely uncharted territory because of their simultaneous strong toxicity. In this study, we estimated potential antibiotics degradation by and effects on mixed microbial communities at concentrations sufficiently high to allow sensitive detection of biomass growth, but simultaneously, low enough to mitigate their toxic action. We used three different mixed inoculum sources freshly derived from freshwater, activated sludge or soil, and tested a series of 15 antibiotics from different classes at 1 mg C-carbon l−1 dosage. Consistent community growth was observed for freshwater and activated sludge with ampicillin, erythromycin and chloramphenicol, and with sulfomethoxazole for activated sludge, which was accompanied by parent compound disappearance. Community growth could be attributed to a few subclasses of recognized cell types by using supervised machine-learning-based classifiers. Most other tested antibiotics resulted in inhibition of community growth on background assimilable organic carbon, concomitant with altered composition of the resulting communities. We conclude that growth-linked biodegradation of antibiotics at low concentrations may be present among typical environmental microbiota, but for a selected subset only, whereas for the majority of antibiotics negative effects prevail without any sign of productive growth.

Pollutant Degrading Enzyme: Catalytic Mechanisms and Their Expanded Applications

The treatment of environmental pollution by microorganisms and their enzymes is an innovative and socially acceptable alternative to traditional remediation approaches. Microbial biodegradation is often characterized with high efficiency as this process is catalyzed via degrading enzymes. Various naturally isolated microorganisms were demonstrated to have considerable ability to mitigate many environmental pollutants without external intervention. However, only a small fraction of these strains are studied in detail to reveal the mechanisms at the enzyme level, which strictly limited the enhancement of the degradation efficiency. Accordingly, this review will comprehensively summarize the function of various degrading enzymes with an emphasis on catalytic mechanisms. We also inspect the expanded applications of these pollutant-degrading enzymes in industrial processes. An in-depth understanding of the catalytic mechanism of enzymes will be beneficial for exploring and exploiting more degrading enzyme resources and thus ameliorate concerns associated with the ineffective biodegradation of recalcitrant and xenobiotic contaminants with the help of gene-editing technology and synthetic biology.

Aerobic and Anaerobic Bacterial and Fungal Degradation of Pyrene: Mechanism Pathway Including Biochemical Reaction and Catabolic Genes

Microbial biodegradation is one of the acceptable technologies to remediate and control the pollution by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH). Several bacteria, fungi, and cyanobacteria strains have been isolated and used for bioremediation purpose. This review paper is intended to provide key information on the various steps and actors involved in the bacterial and fungal aerobic and anaerobic degradation of pyrene, a high molecular weight PAH, including catabolic genes and enzymes, in order to expand our understanding on pyrene degradation. The aerobic degradation pathway by Mycobacterium vanbaalenii PRY-1 and Mycobactetrium sp. KMS and the anaerobic one, by the facultative bacteria anaerobe Pseudomonas sp. JP1 and Klebsiella sp. LZ6 are reviewed and presented, to describe the complete and integrated degradation mechanism pathway of pyrene. The different microbial strains with the ability to degrade pyrene are listed, and the degradation of pyrene by consortium is also discussed. The future studies on the anaerobic degradation of pyrene would be a great initiative to understand and address the degradation mechanism pathway, since, although some strains are identified to degrade pyrene in reduced or total absence of oxygen, the degradation pathway of more than 90% remains unclear and incomplete. Additionally, the present review recommends the use of the combination of various strains of anaerobic fungi and a fungi consortium and anaerobic bacteria to achieve maximum efficiency of the pyrene biodegradation mechanism.