Multi-faceted effects and mechanisms of granular activated carbon to enhance anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) for nitrogen removal from wastewater.

Nitrogen removal via anammox is efficient but challenged by their slow growth. Adding granular activated carbon (GAC) increased the total nitrogen removal rate to 66.99 g-N/m/day, compared to 50.

Assessing the impact of soil microbial fuel cells on atrazine removal in soil.

Widespread pesticide use in agriculture is a major source of soil pollution, driving biodiversity loss and posing serious threads to human health. The recalcitrant nature of most of these pesticides demands for effective remediation strategies. In this study, we assess the ability of soil microbial fuel cell (SMFC) technology to bioremediate soil polluted by the model pesticide atrazine.

Biostimulation of sulfate reduction for in-situ metal(loid) precipitation at an industrial site in Flanders, Belgium.

A 30-month pilot study was conducted to evaluate the potential of in-situ metal(loid) removal through biostimulation of sulfate-reducing processes. The study took place at an industrial site in Flanders, Belgium, known for metal(loid) contamination in soil and groundwater. Biostimulation involved two incorporations of an organic substrate (emulsified vegetable oil) as electron donor and potassium bicarbonate to raise the pH of the groundwater by 1-1.

NADH-based kinetic model for acetone-butanol-ethanol production by .

We present in this work a kinetic model of the acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) fermentation based on enzyme kinetics expressions. The model includes the effect of the co-substrate NADH as a modulating factor of cellular metabolism. The simulations obtained with the model showed an adequate fit to the experimental data reported by several authors, matching or improving the results observed with previous models.

Inorganic Carbon Assimilation and Electrosynthesis of Platform Chemicals in Bioelectrochemical Systems (BESs) Inoculated with N1-H4.

The need for greener processes to satisfy the demand of platform chemicals together with the possibility of reusing CO from human activities has recently encouraged research on the set-up, optimization, and development of bioelectrochemical systems (BESs) for the electrosynthesis of organic compounds from inorganic carbon (CO, HCO). In the present study, we tested the ability of N1-4 (DSMZ 14923) to produce acetate and D-3-hydroxybutyrate from inorganic carbon present in a CO:N gas mix. At the same time, we tested the ability of a MR1 and PA1430/CO1 consortium to provide reducing power to sustain carbon assimilation at the cathode.

Integration of microbial electrochemical systems and photocatalysis for sustainable treatment of organic recalcitrant wastewaters: Main mechanisms, recent advances, and present prospects.

In recent years, microbial electrochemical systems (MESs) have demonstrated to be an environmentally friendly technology for wastewater treatment and simultaneous production of value-added products or energy. However, practical applications of MESs for the treatment of recalcitrant wastewater are limited by their low power output and slow rates of pollutant biodegradation. As a novel technology, hybrid MESs integrating biodegradation and photocatalysis have shown great potential to accelerate the degradation of bio-recalcitrant pollutants and increase the system output.

Loss of a pyoverdine secondary receptor in Pseudomonas aeruginosa results in a fitter strain suitable for population invasion.

The rapid emergence of antibiotic resistant bacterial pathogens constitutes a critical problem in healthcare and requires the development of novel treatments. Potential strategies include the exploitation of microbial social interactions based on public goods, which are produced at a fitness cost by cooperative microorganisms, but can be exploited by cheaters that do not produce these goods. Cheater invasion has been proposed as a 'Trojan horse' approach to infiltrate pathogen populations with strains deploying built-in weaknesses (e.

Tertiary treatment of real abattoir wastewater using combined acoustic cavitation and ozonation.

This work reports the influence of ultrasound alone and combined with ozone for the treatment of real abattoir wastewater. Three different frequencies were studied (44, 300 and 1000 kHz) at an applied power of 40 W. The injected ozone dose was fixed at 71 mg/L and the treatment time varied from 1 to 60 min.

Electron Communication of Bacillus subtilis in Harsh Environments.

Elucidating the effect of harsh environments on the activities of microorganisms is important in revealing how microbes withstand unfavorable conditions or evolve mechanisms to counteract those effects, many of which involve electron transfer phenomena. Here we show that the non-acidophilic and non-thermophilic Bacillus subtilis is able to maintain activity after being subjected to extreme temperatures (100°C for up to 8 h) and acidic environments (pH = 1.50 for over 2 years).

An enhanced genome-scale metabolic reconstruction of Streptomyces clavuligerus identifies novel strain improvement strategies.

In this work, we expanded and updated a genome-scale metabolic model of Streptomyces clavuligerus. The model includes 1021 genes and 1494 biochemical reactions; genome-reaction information was curated and new features related to clavam metabolism and to the biomass synthesis equation were incorporated. The model was validated using experimental data from the literature and simulations were performed to predict cellular growth and clavulanic acid biosynthesis.

Identification of FadAB Complexes Involved in Fatty Acid β-Oxidation in and Construction of a Triacylglycerol Overproducing strain.

Oleaginous microorganisms represent possible platforms for the sustainable production of oleochemicals and biofuels due to their metabolic robustness and the possibility to be engineered. is among the narrow group of prokaryotes capable of accumulating triacylglycerol (TAG) as carbon and energy reserve. Although the pathways for TAG biosynthesis in this organism have been widely addressed, the set of genes required for their breakdown have remained elusive so far.

Effect of the chemical composition of filter media on the microbial community in wastewater biofilms at different temperatures.

This study investigates the microbial community composition in the biofilms grown on two different support media in fixed biofilm reactors for aerobic wastewater treatment, using next generation sequencing (NGS) technology. The chemical composition of the new type of support medium (TDR) was found to be quite different from the conventionally used support medium (stone). The analysis of 16S rRNA gene fragments recovered from the laboratory scale biofilm system show that biofilm support media and temperature conditions influence bacterial community structure and composition.

Properties of alternative microbial hosts used in synthetic biology: towards the design of a modular chassis.

The chassis is the cellular host used as a recipient of engineered biological systems in synthetic biology. They are required to propagate the genetic information and to express the genes encoded in it. Despite being an essential element for the appropriate function of genetic circuits, the chassis is rarely considered in their design phase.

Low-potential respirators support electricity production in microbial fuel cells.

In this paper, we analyse how electric power production in microbial fuel cells (MFCs) depends on the composition of the anodic biofilm in terms of metabolic capabilities of identified sets of species. MFCs are a promising technology for organic waste treatment and sustainable bioelectricity production. Inoculated with natural communities, they present a complex microbial ecosystem with syntrophic interactions between microbes with different metabolic capabilities.

Anodic microbial community diversity as a predictor of the power output of microbial fuel cells.

The relationship between the diversity of mixed-species microbial consortia and their electrogenic potential in the anodes of microbial fuel cells was examined using different diversity measures as predictors. Identical microbial fuel cells were sampled at multiple time-points. Biofilm and suspension communities were analysed by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis to calculate the number and relative abundance of species.

Dynamic changes in the microbial community composition in microbial fuel cells fed with sucrose.

The performance and dynamics of the bacterial communities in the biofilm and suspended culture in the anode chamber of sucrose-fed microbial fuel cells (MFCs) were studied by using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) of PCR-amplified partial 16S rRNA genes followed by species identification by sequencing. The power density of MFCs was correlated to the relative proportions of species obtained from DGGE analysis in order to detect bacterial species or taxonomic classes with important functional role in electricity production. Although replicate MFCs showed similarity in performance, cluster analysis of DGGE profiles revealed differences in the evolution of bacterial communities between replicate MFCs.

Acorn: a grid computing system for constraint based modeling and visualization of the genome scale metabolic reaction networks via a web interface.

Background: Constraint-based approaches facilitate the prediction of cellular metabolic capabilities, based, in turn on predictions of the repertoire of enzymes encoded in the genome. Recently, genome annotations have been used to reconstruct genome scale metabolic reaction networks for numerous species, including Homo sapiens, which allow simulations that provide valuable insights into topics, including predictions of gene essentiality of pathogens, interpretation of genetic polymorphism in metabolic disease syndromes and suggestions for novel approaches to microbial metabolic engineering. These constraint-based simulations are being integrated with the functional genomics portals, an activity that requires efficient implementation of the constraint-based simulations in the web-based environment.

Spatiotemporal development of the bacterial community in a tubular longitudinal microbial fuel cell.

The spatiotemporal development of a bacterial community in an exoelectrogenic biofilm was investigated in sucrose-fed longitudinal tubular microbial fuel cell reactors, consisting of two serially connected modules. The proportional changes in the microbial community composition were assessed by polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and DNA sequencing in order to relate them to the performance and stability of the bioelectrochemical system. The reproducibility of duplicated reactors, evaluated by cluster analysis and Jaccard's coefficient, shows 80-90% similarity in species composition.

SurreyFBA: a command line tool and graphics user interface for constraint-based modeling of genome-scale metabolic reaction networks.

Unlabelled: Constraint-based modeling of genome-scale metabolic networks has been successfully used in numerous applications such as prediction of gene essentiality and metabolic engineering. We present SurreyFBA, which provides constraint-based simulations and network map visualization in a free, stand-alone software. In addition to basic simulation protocols, the tool also implements the analysis of minimal substrate and product sets, which is useful for metabolic engineering and prediction of nutritional requirements in complex in vivo environments, but not available in other commonly used programs.

A one-compartment fructose/air biological fuel cell based on direct electron transfer.

The construction and characterization of a one-compartment fructose/air biological fuel cell (BFC) based on direct electron transfer is reported. The BFC employs bilirubin oxidase and d-fructose dehydrogenase adsorbed on a cellulose-multiwall carbon nanotube (MWCNT) matrix, reconstituted with an ionic liquid, as the biocathode and the bioanode for oxygen reduction and fructose oxidation reactions, respectively. The performance of the bioelectrode was investigated by chronoamperometric and cyclic voltammetric techniques in a standard three-electrode cell, and the polarization and long-term stability of the BFC was tested by potentiostatic discharge.

Direct electron transfer of glucose oxidase immobilized in an ionic liquid reconstituted cellulose-carbon nanotube matrix.

Conductive cellulose-multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) matrix with a porous structure and good biocompatibility has been prepared using a room temperature ionic liquid (1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate) as solvent. Glucose oxidase (GOx) was encapsulated in this matrix and thereby immobilized on a glassy carbon surface. The direct electron transfer and electrocatalysis of the encapsulated GOx has been investigated using cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry.

Factors affecting the performance of microbial fuel cells for sulfur pollutants removal.

A microbial fuel cell (MFC) has been developed for removal of sulfur-based pollutants and can be used for simultaneous wastewater treatment and electricity generation. This fuel cell uses an activated carbon cloth+carbon fibre veil composite anode, air-breathing dual cathodes and the sulfate-reducing species Desulfovibrio desulfuricans. 1.

Activated carbon cloth as anode for sulfate removal in a microbial fuel cell.

By employing the sulfate-reducing bacterium Desulfovibrio desulfuricans we demonstrate the possibility of electricity generation in a microbialfuel cell (MFC) with concomitant sulfate removal. This approach is based on an in situ anodic oxidative depletion of sulfide produced by D. desulfuricans.