Coexistence of microplastics and heavy metals in soil: Occurrence, transport, key interactions and effect on plants.

Microplastics (MPs) pollution has raised serious environmental concerns due to its widespread generation and discharge across global ecosystems. It is estimated that approximately 400 million metric tons of plastic are produced annually, with 54% ending up as waste. The MPs account for a significant portion of this pollution.

Effect of Variation in Temperature and Light Duration on Morpho-physiology and Phytochemical Content in Sprouts and Microgreens of Common Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum Moench).

Common buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum Moench) is a gluten-free underutilized pseudocereal with excellent therapeutic and nutraceutical potential. Sprouts and microgreens produced from this plant species can be consumed regularly owing to a rich nutritional profile that can be improved by regulating the abiotic factors during their growth. Therefore, this study explores the responses of common buckwheat sprouts and microgreens in terms of growth and phytochemicals accumulation under temperature (16, and 25 ºC) and photoperiodic (16/8 h and 20/4 h, light/dark intervals) variations.

Leveraging artificial intelligence in bioelectrochemical systems.

Bioelectrochemical systems (BESs) are highly evolved and sophisticated systems that produce bioenergy via exoelectrogenic microbes. Artificial intelligence (AI) helps to understand, relate, model, and predict both process parameters and microbial diversity, resulting in higher performance. This approach has revolutionized BESs through highly advanced computational algorithms that best suit the systems' architecture.

The role of conductive nanoparticles in anaerobic digestion: Mechanism, current status and future perspectives.

In the current scenario, alternative energy sources are the need of the hour. Organic wastes having a larger fraction of biodegradable constituents present a sustainable bioenergy source. It has been reported that the calorific value of biogas generated by anaerobic digestion (AD) is 21-25 MJ/m with the treatment which makes it an excellent replacement of natural gas and fossil fuels and can reduce more than 80% greenhouse gas emission to the surroundings.

Bioelectrofuel Synthesis by Nanoenzymes: Novel Alternatives to Conventional Enzymes.

Recent bioinspired efforts of designing novel nanoenzyme-based electrocatalysts are driven by the urgency of making bioelectrofuels more affordable and efficient. Unlike natural enzymes, nanoenzyme-modified electrodes with large surface areas enclose numerous biomimicking active sites to facilitate enhanced microbial growth followed by increased reactant-to-bioelectrofuel conversion.

Microbe-mediated sustainable bio-recovery of gold from low-grade precious solid waste: A microbiological overview.

In an era of electronics, recovering the precious metal such as gold from ever increasing piles of electronic-wastes and metal-ion infested soil has become one of the prime concerns for researchers worldwide. Biological mining is an attractive, economical and non-hazardous to recover gold from the low-grade auriferous ore containing waste or soil. This review represents the recent major biological gold retrieval methods used to bio-mine gold.

Cadmium-induced changes in vacuolar aspects of Arabidopsis thaliana.

We have examined the changes due to Cd treatment in the vacuolar form in root tip cortical cells in Arabidopsis thaliana employing a transformant with GFP fused to a tonoplast protein. A Cd-induced enhancement in complexity with general expansion of vacuolar system within 24 h was evident. The changes in the vacuolar form were dependent on the applied Cd concentrations.

Plant-driven removal of heavy metals from soil: uptake, translocation, tolerance mechanism, challenges, and future perspectives.

Increasing heavy metal (HM) concentrations in the soil have become a significant problem in the modern industrialized world due to several anthropogenic activities. Heavy metals (HMs) are non-biodegradable and have long biological half lives; thus, once entered in food chain, their concentrations keep on increasing through biomagnification. The increased concentrations of heavy metals ultimately pose threat on human life also.

Characterization of seed germination, seedling growth, and associated metabolic responses of Brassica juncea L. cultivars to elevated nickel concentrations.

Seed germination and seedling growth responses of three Brassica juncea L. cultivars, namely Varuna, Kranti, and Pusa Jai Kisan, to nickel have been characterized. Ni suppressed the seed germination differentially, suppression being greater in cv.