Bioremediation - The Natural Solution

A special issue of Microorganisms (ISSN 2076-2607). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Microbiology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 November 2019) | Viewed by 14022

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Physical Sciences and Computing, University of Central Lancashire, Preston PR1 2HE, UK
Interests: nuclear waste management; nuclear reprocessing; radionuclide diffusion; biosorption; ion exchange processes; solvent extraction; composite materials

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Guest Editor
School of Engineering, University of Central Lancashire, Preston PR1 2HE, UK
Interests: microbial degradation of concrete; nuclear waste management; microbial accelerated radionuclide diffusion; environmental bio-monitoring

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Bioremediation, as a treatment for municipal sewage wastes, is more than a century old (activated sludge process (ASP) was invented in 1914), with the first full scale continuous-flow activated sludge process in operation by 1916. By the 1930s, ASP had become the accepted technology for treating sewage waste, but the potential of microorganisms for waste treatment remained largely invisible to the public, possibly, until the EXXON Valdez oil spill incident nearly 30 years ago. This one incident aroused the public, politicians, scientists, etc., attention to the potential of microscopic organisms.

Thus, for this Special Issue, how should we define Bioremediation? Cleaning up oil spills relies largely on biodegradation of organic molecules; the removal of metals in the activated sludge process may be regarded as bioprecipitation/biosorption/bioaccumulattion; within the nuclear industry it is probably referred to as biodecontamination. We should probably not worry too much about the definition, but gather, in this Special Issue, all of these processes encompassing the success stories and the potential future applications of biotreatments as a valuable source of information that will be frequently referenced and consulted in future years.  

For this Special Issue of Microorganisms, we invite you to send contributions encompassing any aspects relating to the application of microorganisms for the treatment of contaminated soil, water and gaseous effluents/wastes.

Prof. Harry Eccles
Dr. Sandeep Kadam
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • biodegradation
  • bioprecipitation
  • biosorption
  • bioaccumulation
  • biodecontamination
  • organic and/or metal contamination
  • soil
  • water and gaseous contaminated systems

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 2395 KiB  
Article
Bioremediation of Historically Chlorimuron-Ethyl-Contaminated Soil by Co-Culture Chlorimuron-Ethyl-Degrading Bacteria Combined with the Spent Mushroom Substrate
by Hailian Zang, Wanjun Liu, Yi Cheng, Hailan Wang, Xuejiao An, Shanshan Sun, Yue Wang, Ning Hou, Chunyu Cui and Chunyan Li
Microorganisms 2020, 8(3), 369; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms8030369 - 5 Mar 2020
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 2850
Abstract
In this study, a novel chlorimuron-ethyl-degrading Pleurotus eryngiu-SMS-CB was successfully constructed for remediation of soil historically contaminated with chlorimuron-ethyl. The P. eryngiu-SMS-CB was prepared using efficient chlorimuron-ethyl-degrading cocultured bacteria, Rhodococcus sp. D310-1 and Enterobacter sp. D310-5, with spent mushroom substrate (SMS, [...] Read more.
In this study, a novel chlorimuron-ethyl-degrading Pleurotus eryngiu-SMS-CB was successfully constructed for remediation of soil historically contaminated with chlorimuron-ethyl. The P. eryngiu-SMS-CB was prepared using efficient chlorimuron-ethyl-degrading cocultured bacteria, Rhodococcus sp. D310-1 and Enterobacter sp. D310-5, with spent mushroom substrate (SMS, a type of agricultural waste containing laccase) of Pleurotus eryngiu as a carrier. The chlorimuron-ethyl degradation efficiency in historically chlorimuron-ethyl-contaminated soil reached 93.1% at the end of 80 days of treatment with the P. eryngiu-SMS-CB. Although the P. eryngiu-SMS-CB altered the microbial community structure at the beginning of the 80 days, the bacterial population slowly recovered after 180 days; thus, the P. eryngiu-SMS-CB does not have an excessive effect on the long-term microbial community structure of the soil. Pot experiments indicated that contaminated soil remediation with P. eryngiu-SMS-CB reduced the toxic effects of chlorimuron-ethyl on wheat. This paper is the first to attempt to use chlorimuron-ethyl-degrading bacterial strains adhering to P. eryngiu-SMS to remediate historically chlorimuron-ethyl-contaminated soil, and the microbial community structure and P. eryngiu-SMS-CB activity in chlorimuron-ethyl-contaminated soil were traced in situ to evaluate the long-term effects of this remediation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioremediation - The Natural Solution)
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20 pages, 4587 KiB  
Article
Safe Cultivation of Medicago sativa in Metal-Polluted Soils from Semi-Arid Regions Assisted by Heat- and Metallo-Resistant PGPR
by Anas Raklami, Khalid Oufdou, Abdel-Ilah Tahiri, Enrique Mateos-Naranjo, Salvadora Navarro-Torre, Ignacio D. Rodríguez-Llorente, Abdelilah Meddich, Susana Redondo-Gómez and Eloísa Pajuelo
Microorganisms 2019, 7(7), 212; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms7070212 - 22 Jul 2019
Cited by 61 | Viewed by 5563
Abstract
Soil contamination with heavy metals is a constraint for plant establishment and development for which phytoremediation may be a solution, since rhizobacteria may alleviate plant stress under these conditions. A greenhouse experiment was conducted to elucidate the effect of toxic metals on growth, [...] Read more.
Soil contamination with heavy metals is a constraint for plant establishment and development for which phytoremediation may be a solution, since rhizobacteria may alleviate plant stress under these conditions. A greenhouse experiment was conducted to elucidate the effect of toxic metals on growth, the activities of ROS (reactive oxygen species)-scavenging enzymes, and gene expression of Medicago sativa grown under different metal and/or inoculation treatments. The results showed that, besides reducing biomass, heavy metals negatively affected physiological parameters such as chlorophyll fluorescence and gas exchange, while increasing ROS-scavenging enzyme activities. Inoculation of M. sativa with a bacterial consortium of heat- and metallo-resistant bacteria alleviated metal stress, as deduced from the improvement of growth, lower levels of antioxidant enzymes, and increased physiological parameters. The bacteria were able to effectively colonize and form biofilms onto the roots of plants cultivated in the presence of metals, as observed by scanning electron microscopy. Results also evidenced the important role of glutathione reductase (GR), phytochelatin synthase (PCS), and metal transporter NRAMP1 genes as pathways for metal stress management, whereas the gene coding for cytochrome P450 (CP450) seemed to be regulated by the presence of the bacteria. These outcomes showed that the interaction of metal-resistant rhizobacteria/legumes can be used as an instrument to remediate metal-contaminated soils, while cultivation of inoculated legumes on these soils is still safe for animal grazing, since inoculation with bacteria diminished the concentrations of heavy metals accumulated in the aboveground parts of the plants to below toxic levels. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioremediation - The Natural Solution)
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13 pages, 1679 KiB  
Article
Environmental Aspects of the Use of Hedera helix Extract in Bioremediation Process
by Agata Zdarta, Wojciech Smułek, Amanda Pacholak and Ewa Kaczorek
Microorganisms 2019, 7(2), 43; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms7020043 - 5 Feb 2019
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 4669
Abstract
This paper analyzes the impact of saponins from English ivy leaves on the properties of environmental bacterial strains and hydrocarbon degradation ability. For this purpose, two bacterial strains, Raoultella ornitinolytica M03 and Acinetobacter calcoaceticus M1B, have been used in toluene, 4-chlorotoluene, and α,α,α-trifluorotoluene [...] Read more.
This paper analyzes the impact of saponins from English ivy leaves on the properties of environmental bacterial strains and hydrocarbon degradation ability. For this purpose, two bacterial strains, Raoultella ornitinolytica M03 and Acinetobacter calcoaceticus M1B, have been used in toluene, 4-chlorotoluene, and α,α,α-trifluorotoluene biodegradation supported by Hedera helix extract. Moreover, theeffects of ivy exposition on cell properties and extract toxicity were investigated. The extract was found to cause minor differences in cell surface hydrophobicity, membrane permeability, and Zeta potential, although it adhered to the cell surface. Acinetobacter calcoaceticus M1B was more affected by the ivy extract; thus, the cells were more metabolically active and degraded saponins at greater amounts. Although the extract influenced positively the cells’ viability in the presence of hydrocarbons, it could have been used by the bacteria as a carbon source, thus slowing down hydrocarbon degradation. These results show that the use of ivy saponins for hydrocarbon remediation is environmentally acceptable but should be carefully analyzed to assess the efficiency of the selected saponins-rich extract in combination with selected bacterial strains. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioremediation - The Natural Solution)
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