Recent studies are showing that some lights suitable for illuminating the urban fabric (i.e. that do not include the red, green and blue sets of primary colours) may halt biological colonisation on monuments, mainly that caused by phototrophic subaerial biofilms (SABs), which may exacerbate the biodeterioration of substrates.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study aims to deepen knowledge of the biodegradation of plastics, focusing on polypropylene (PP) fabric from surgical masks and polystyrene (PS) by larvae of Zophobas atratus as well as of specialized bacterial consortia from their gut, which were obtained in different enrichment conditions (aerobic, anaerobic, presence or absence of combined nitrogen). Plastics ingested by larvae obtained in Spain did not show any signs of oxidation but only limited depolymerization, preferably from the lowest molecular weight chains. Gut microbiota composition changed as an effect of plastic feeding.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVibrio toranzoniae is a marine bacterium belonging to the Splendidus clade that was originally isolated from healthy clams in Galicia (NW Spain). Its isolation from different hosts and seawater indicated two lifestyles and wide geographical distribution. The aim of the present study was to determine the differences at the genomic level among six strains (4 isolated from clam and 2 from seawater) and to determine their phylogeny.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn recent years, the production of volatile fatty acids (VFA) through mixed culture fermentation (MCF) has been gaining attention. Most authors have focused on the fermentation of carbohydrates, while other possible substrates, such as proteins, have not been considered. Moreover, there is little information about how operational parameters affect the microbial communities involved in these processes, even though they are strongly related to reactor performance and VFA selectivity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFis a marine bacterium belonging to the Splendidus clade, originally isolated from healthy clams in Galicia (NW Spain). Its isolation from different hosts and seawater indicated two lifestyles and wide geographical distribution. The aim of the present study was to determine the differences at genome level among strains, as well as to determine their phylogeny.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPlasmids have been a concern in the dissemination and evolution of antibiotic resistance in the environment. In this study, we investigated the total pool of plasmids (plasmidome) and its derived antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in different compartments of urban water systems (UWSs) in three European countries representing different antibiotic usage regimes. We applied a direct plasmidome approach using wet-lab methods to enrich circular DNA in the samples, followed by shotgun sequencing and in silico contig circularisation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFQuorum quenching (QQ) is the inhibition of bacterial communication, i.e., quorum sensing (QS).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn this work, the novel N-damo (Nitrite dependent anaerobic methane oxidation) process was investigated at high biomass activities for its potential to remove simultaneously nitrite and methane, as well as selected antibiotics commonly found in sewage in trace amounts. For this purpose, two MBRs were operated at three high nitrite loading rates (NLRs), namely 76 ± 9.9, 161.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe study compares the potential to produce volatile fatty acids (VFA) from sewage sludge, both raw and thermally pre-treated in two modes of operation. In batch mode, raw sludge at pH 8 obtained the highest maximum VFA yield (0.41 g COD-VFA/g CODfed) whereas pre-treated sludge achieved a lower value (0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThere is scarce information about the biotransformation of organic micropollutants (OMPs) under anoxic conditions. In this study, a heterotrophic denitrifying bioreactor was set up to study the fate of several OMPs from metabolic and microbiological points of view. Primary metabolic activity was increased by adding progressively higher nitrogen loading rates during the operation (from 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe growing concern about antibiotic-resistant microorganisms has focused on the sludge from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) as a potential hotspot for their development and spread. To this end, it seems relevant to analyze the changes on the microbiota as a consequence of the antibiotics that wastewater may contain. This study aims at determining whether the presence of sulfamethoxazole (SMX), even in relatively low concentrations, modifies the microbial activities and the enzymatic expression of an activated sludge under aerobic heterotrophic conditions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: A One Health approach requires integrative research to elucidate antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the environment and the risks it poses to human health. Research on this topic involves experts from diverse backgrounds and professions. Shortcomings exist in terms of consistent, complete, and transparent reporting in many environmental studies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is shed in the feces of infected people. As a consequence, genomic RNA of the virus can be detected in wastewater. Although the presence of viral RNA does not inform on the infectivity of the virus, this presence of genetic material raised the question of the effectiveness of treatment processes in reducing the virus in wastewater and sludge.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUrban wastewater systems (UWSs) are a main receptacle of excreted antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and their host microorganisms. However, we lack integrated and quantitative observations of the occurrence of ARGs in the UWS to characterize the sources and identify processes that contribute to their fate. We sampled the UWSs from three medium-size cities in Denmark, Spain, and the United Kingdom and quantified 70 clinically important extended-spectrum β-lactamase and carbapenemase genes along with the mobile genetic elements and microbial communities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSARS-CoV-2 genetic material is detectable in the faeces of a considerable part of COVID-19 cases and hence, in municipal wastewater. This fact was confirmed early during the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and prompted several studies that proposed monitoring its incidence by wastewater. This paper studies the fate of SARS-CoV-2 genetic material in wastewater treatment plants using RT-qPCR with a two-fold goal: i) to check its presence in the water effluent and in the produced sludge and ii) based on the understanding of the virus particles fate, to identify the most suitable spots for detecting the incidence of COVID-19 and monitor its evolution.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTwo Gram-negative strains obtained from tank water in a scallop hatchery in Norway, were phenotypically and genotypically characterized in order to clarify their taxonomic position. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, these isolates, ATF 5.2 and ATF 5.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAt present, the genus Edwardsiella compiles five species: E. tarda, E. hoshinae, E.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUntil 2012, the genus Edwardsiella was composed by three species Edwardsiella tarda, Edwardsiella hoshinae and Edwardsiella ictaluri. In 2013, Edwardsiella piscicida, compiling fish pathogenic strains previously identified as E. tarda was described, and more recently a new species isolated from diseased eel was reported, namely Edwardsiella anguillarum.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFive strains were isolated from gonad of Great scallop (Pecten maximus) broodstock in a Norwegian hatchery. The study of 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that these isolates belong to Neptunomonas phycophila, a bacterium originally isolated from a symbiont of the anemone Aiptasia tagetes from Puerto Rico. The gyrB and rpoB genes sequences confirmed the affiliation of the scallop isolates to this species.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSo-called 'cleaner fish', including various wrasse (Labridae) species, have become increasingly popular in Norwegian salmon farming in recent years for biocontrol of the salmon louse Lepeophtheirus salmonis. Cleaner fish mortalities in salmon farms are, however, often high. Various bacterial agents are frequently associated with episodes of increased cleaner fish mortality, and Vibrio tapetis is regularly cultured from diseased wrasse.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Syst Evol Microbiol
May 2017
Four bacterial strains, LFT 1.7T, LT2C 2.5, LT4C 2.
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