Publications by authors named "V Ochoa-Herrera"

Native microbial consortia have been proposed for biological wastewater treatment, but their diversity and function remain poorly understood. This study investigated three native microalgae-bacteria consortia collected from the Amazon, Highlands, and Galapagos regions of Ecuador to assess their metagenomes and wastewater remediation potential. The consortia were evaluated for 12 days under light (LC) and continuous dark conditions (CDC) to measure their capacity for nutrient and organic matter removal from synthetic wastewater (SWW).

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Poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are commonly used in various industries and everyday products, including clothing, electronics, furniture, paints, and many others. PFASs are primarily found in aquatic environments, but also present in soil, air and plants, making them one of the most important and dangerous pollutants of the natural environment. PFASs bioaccumulate in living organisms and are especially dangerous to aquatic and semi-aquatic animals.

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In low-middle income countries (LMIC), wastewater treatment using native microalgal-bacterial consortia has emerged as a cost-effective and technologically-accessible remediation strategy. This study evaluated the effectiveness of six microalgal-bacterial consortia (MBC) from the Ecuadorian Amazon in removing organic matter and nutrients from non-sterilized domestic wastewater (NSWW) and sterilized domestic wastewater (SWW) samples. Microalgal-bacterial consortia growth, in NSWW was, on average, six times higher than in SWW.

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This study aimed to compare microscopic counting, culture, and quantitative or real-time PCR (qPCR) to quantify sulfate-reducing bacteria in environmental and engineered sludge samples. Four sets of primers that amplified the and gene encoding the two key enzymes of the sulfate-reduction pathway were initially tested. qPCR standard curves were constructed using genomic DNA from an SRB suspension and dilutions of an enriched sulfate-reducing sludge.

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