Microbial communities in slow sand filters for drinking water treatment adapt to organic matter altered by ozonation.

Changing natural organic matter quality from anthropogenic activity and stricter requirements for micropollutant removal challenges existing systems for drinking water production. Ozonation of water followed by biofiltration, such as passage through a slow sand filter (SSF), is a partial solution. Biofiltration relies on biofilms (microbial communities within extracellular matrices).

Microbial acidification by N, S, Fe and Mn oxidation as a key mechanism for deterioration of subsea tunnel sprayed concrete.

The deterioration of fibre-reinforced sprayed concrete was studied in the Oslofjord subsea tunnel (Norway). At sites with intrusion of saline groundwater resulting in biofilm growth, the concrete exhibited significant concrete deterioration and steel fibre corrosion. Using amplicon sequencing and shotgun metagenomics, the microbial taxa and surveyed potential microbial mechanisms of concrete degradation at two sites over five years were identified.

in urban marine sediments: interpreting virulence, biofilm formation, halotolerance, and antibiotic resistance to infer contamination or naturalization.

Marine sediments have been suggested as a reservoir for pathogenic bacteria, including . The origins, and properties promoting survival of in marine sediments (including osmotolerance, biofilm formation capacity, and antibiotic resistance), have not been well-characterized. Phenotypes and genotypes of 37 isolates from coastal marine sediments were characterized.

Biofilm colonization and succession in a full-scale partial nitritation-anammox moving bed biofilm reactor.

Background: Partial nitritation-anammox (PNA) is a biological nitrogen removal process commonly used in wastewater treatment plants for the treatment of warm and nitrogen-rich sludge liquor from anaerobic digestion, often referred to as sidestream wastewater. In these systems, biofilms are frequently used to retain biomass with aerobic ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and anammox bacteria, which together convert ammonium to nitrogen gas. Little is known about how these biofilm communities develop, and whether knowledge about the assembly of biofilms in natural communities can be applied to PNA biofilms.

Inoculation with adapted bacterial communities promotes development of full scale slow sand filters for drinking water production.

Gravity-driven filtration through slow sand filters (SSFs) is one of the oldest methods for producing drinking water. As water passes through a sand bed, undesired microorganisms and chemicals are removed by interactions with SSF biofilm and its resident microbes. Despite their importance, the processes through which these microbial communities form are largely unknown, as are the factors affecting these processes.

Novel and unusual genes for nitrogen and metal cycling in Planctomycetota- and KSB1-affiliated metagenome-assembled genomes reconstructed from a marine subsea tunnel.

The Oslofjord subsea road tunnel is a unique environment in which the typically anoxic marine deep subsurface is exposed to oxygen. Concrete biodeterioration and steel corrosion in the tunnel have been linked to the growth of iron- and manganese-oxidizing biofilms in areas of saline water seepage. Surprisingly, previous 16S rRNA gene surveys of biofilm samples revealed microbial communities dominated by sequences affiliated with nitrogen-cycling microorganisms.

Advance Market Commitments (AMC) model application for Colombian purchase strategy of COVID-19 vaccines.

This research estimated the optimal size and composition of the portfolio, and its benefit-cost ratio, of COVID-19 vaccines that Colombia should negotiate as a price-taking country. The Advance Market Commitments (AMC) mathematical model was applied using the parameters from the Colombian context and from a literature review. The findings indicate that the optimal portfolio of Colombia should include 13 vaccines, mainly from two platforms: i) RNA and ii) inactivated virus.

Disturbance-based management of ecosystem services and disservices in partial nitritation-anammox biofilms.

The resistance and resilience provided by functional redundancy, a common feature of microbial communities, is not always advantageous. An example is nitrite oxidation in partial nitritation-anammox (PNA) reactors designed for nitrogen removal in wastewater treatment, where suppression of nitrite oxidizers like Nitrospira is sought. In these ecosystems, biofilms provide microhabitats with oxygen gradients, allowing the coexistence of aerobic and anaerobic bacteria.

Metagenomic evidence of a novel family of anammox bacteria in a subsea environment.

Bacteria in the order 'Candidatus Brocadiales' within the phylum Planctomycetes (Planctomycetota) have the remarkable ability to perform anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox). Two families of anammox bacteria with different biogeographical distributions have been reported, marine Ca. Scalinduaceae and freshwater Ca.

Prediction of potential cysteine synthase inhibitors of Leishmania braziliensis and Leishmania major parasites by computational screening.

Leishmaniasis is a neglected tropical disease considered a public health problem that requires innovative strategies for its chemotherapeutic control. In the present investigation, a molecular docking approach was carried out using the protein cysteine synthase (CS) of Leishmania braziliensis (CSLb) and Leishmania major (CSLm) parasites to identify new compounds as potential candidates for the development of selective leishmaniasis therapy. CS protein sequence similarity, active site, structural modeling, molecular docking, and ADMET properties of compounds were analyzed using bioinformatics tools.

Correction to: Hill-based dissimilarity indices and null models for analysis of microbial community assembly.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

Hill-based dissimilarity indices and null models for analysis of microbial community assembly.

Background: High-throughput amplicon sequencing of marker genes, such as the 16S rRNA gene in Bacteria and Archaea, provides a wealth of information about the composition of microbial communities. To quantify differences between samples and draw conclusions about factors affecting community assembly, dissimilarity indices are typically used. However, results are subject to several biases, and data interpretation can be challenging.

Long-term stability of partial nitritation-anammox for treatment of municipal wastewater in a moving bed biofilm reactor pilot system.

Nitrogen removal from the mainstream of municipal wastewater with partial nitritation-anammox (PNA) would be highly beneficial with regard to the uses of energy and organic carbon. However, the challenges of process instability, low nitrogen removal rates (NRR) and unwanted aerobic nitrite oxidation need to be solved to reach large-scale implementation. Here, we have operated pilot-scale moving bed biofilm reactors (MBBRs) for mainstream treatment, together with sidestream treatment of sludge liquor from anaerobic digestors, for over 900 days to investigate process stability, reactor performance and microbial community structure at realistic conditions.

Thickness determines microbial community structure and function in nitrifying biofilms via deterministic assembly.

Microbial biofilms are ubiquitous in aquatic environments where they provide important ecosystem functions. A key property believed to influence the community structure and function of biofilms is thickness. However, since biofilm thickness is inextricably linked to external factors such as water flow, temperature, development age and nutrient conditions, its importance is difficult to quantify.

Subsea tunnel reinforced sprayed concrete subjected to deterioration harbours distinct microbial communities.

Deterioration of concrete is a large societal cost. In the Oslofjord subsea tunnel (Norway), deterioration of sprayed concrete and corrosion of reinforcing steel fibres occur under biofilm formed at sites with intrusion of saline groundwater. In this study, the microbial community structure, in situ environmental gradients and chemical composition of the biofilms were examined at three tunnel sites.

Community structure of partial nitritation-anammox biofilms at decreasing substrate concentrations and low temperature.

Partial nitritation-anammox (PNA) permits energy effective nitrogen removal. Today PNA is used for treatment of concentrated and warm side streams at wastewater treatment plants, but not the more diluted and colder main stream. To implement PNA in the main stream, better knowledge about microbial communities at the typical environmental conditions is necessary.

Predation of nitritation-anammox biofilms used for nitrogen removal from wastewater.

Predation is assumed to be a major cause of bacterial mortality in wastewater treatment plants (WWTP). Grazing on the slowly growing autotrophic ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and anaerobic ammonium oxidizing bacteria (AMX) may result in loss of biomass, which could compromise nitrogen removal by the nitritation-anammox process. However, predation, particularly of anaerobic AMX, is unknown.

Structure and composition of biofilm communities in a moving bed biofilm reactor for nitritation-anammox at low temperatures.

It is a challenge to apply anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) for nitrogen removal from wastewater at low temperatures. Maintenance of anammox- and aerobic ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and suppression of nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB) are key issues. In this work, a nitritation-anammox moving bed biofilm pilot reactor was operated at 19-10°C for 300 d.