An Insightful Overview of Microbial Biosurfactant: A Promising Next-Generation Biomolecule for Sustainable Future.

Microbial biosurfactant is an emerging vital biomolecule of the 21st century. They are amphiphilic compounds produced by microorganisms and possess unique properties to reduce surface tension activity. The use of microbial surfactants spans most of the industrial fields due to their biodegradability, less toxicity, being environmentally safe, and being synthesized from renewable sources.

Microbial diversity and associated metabolic potential in the supraglacial habitat of a fast-retreating glacier: a case study of Patsio glacier, North-western Himalaya.

In the present study, we investigated the microbial community composition and their associated metabolic potentials using the 16S rRNA gene (V3-V4) and ITS (ITS1) amplicon sequencing approach in the Patsio glacier. The bacterial community composition was mainly dominated by Bacteroidota (18%-38% of total reads) and Cyanobacteria (9%-30%), along with a rare Candidate phylum Patescibacteria. Ferruginibacter (13%) and Polaromonas (8%) were the most dominant genera identified across the samples known to have potential ecological roles in colonization, driving the functioning of supraglacial habitats.