• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.184-192
• /
• 2006

Six-hundred bacterial strains from human milk and milk from Sahiwal cows, Holstein Friesian cows, and buffaloes were screened for their ability to suppress phytopathogenic fungi under in vitro conditions. A consortium of 3 strains, viz., Bacillus lentimorbus B-30486 (B-30486), B. subtilis B-30487 (B-30487), and B. lentimorbus B-30488 (B-30488), isolated from Sahiwal cow milk resulted in better biological control and plant-growth promotion than single-strain treatments. For commercial-scale production of a bioinoculant, the solid-state fermentation of sugarcane agro-industrial residues, i.e., molasses, press mud, and spent wash, using the consortium of B-30486, B-30487, and B-30488, resulted in a value-added product, useful for enhancing plant growth. The application of the consortium to sugarcane fields infested with Fusarium moniliforme and Colletotrichum falcatum resulted in a reduction of mortality and significantly higher (P=0.05) plant height, number of tillers, and cane girth when compared with the control. Furthermore, under field conditions, the treatment of sugarcane with the consortium resulted in significantly (P=0.05) greater plant growth compared with nonbacterized plants. Accordingly, this is the first report on the effective use of bacteria isolated from milk for biological control and enhancing plant growth under field conditions. Furthormore, a solid-state fermentation technology was developed that facilitates the economic utilization of agro-industrial residues for environmental conservation and improving plant and soil health.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.26 no.4
• /
• pp.20-26
• /
• 2021

In this work, an indigenous microbial consortium was obtained by selectively cultivating microbes using a long-aged petroleum-contaminated soil (Kuwait) containing recalcitrant petroleum hydrocarbons. The obtained microbial consortium was able to grow on and degrade the remaining petroleum hydrocarbons which could not have been utilized by the indigenous microbes in the original Kuwait soil. The following microbial community analysis using 16S rRNA gene sequencing suggested that the enhanced degradation of the remaining recalcitrant petroleum hydrocarbons by the novel microbial consortium may have been attributed to the selected bacterial populations belonging to Bacillus, Burkholderia, Sphingobacterium, Lachnospiraceae, Prevotella, Haemophilus, Pseudomonas, and Neisseria.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
• /
• v.50 no.1
• /
• pp.110-121
• /
• 2022

The effluents from industries processing vegetable oils are extremely rich in sulfates, often exceeding the maximum concentration allowed to release them to the environment. Biological sulfate reduction is a promising alternative for the removal of sulfates in this type of wastewater, which has other particularities such as an acidic pH. The ability to reduce sulfates has been widely described for a particular bacterial group (SRB: sulfate-reducing bacteria), although the reports describing its application for the treatment of sulfate-rich industrial wastewaters are scarce. In this work, we describe the use of a natural SRB-based consortium able to remove above 30% of sulfates in the wastewater from one of the largest edible oil industries in Peru. Metataxonomic analysis was used to analyse the interdependencies established between SRB and the native microbiota present in the wastewater samples, and the performance of the consortium was quantified for different sulfate concentrations in laboratory-scale reactors. Our results pave the way towards the use of this consortium as a low-cost, sustainable alternative for the treatment of larger volumes of wastewater coming from this type of industries.

• Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering:BBE
• /
• v.11 no.3
• /
• pp.205-210
• /
• 2006

The widespread use and distribution of chloroethylene organic compounds is of serious concern owing to their carcinogenicity and toxicity to humans and wildlife. In an effort to develop active bacterial consortia that could be useful for bioremediation of chloroethylene-contaminated sites in Africa, 16 combinations of 5 dichloroethylene (DCE)-utilizing bacteria, isolated from South Africa and Nigeria, were assessed for their ability to degrade cis- and trans- DCEs as the sole carbon source. Three combinations of these isolates were able to remove up to 72% of the compounds within 7 days. Specific growth rate constants of the bacterial consortia ranged between 0.465 and $0.716\;d^{-1}$ while the degradation rate constants ranged between 0.184 and $0.205\;d^{-1}$ with $86.36{\sim}93.53\;and\;87.47{\sim}97.12%$ of the stoichiometric-expected chloride released during growth of the bacterial consortia in cis- and trans-DCE, respectively. Succession studies of the individual isolates present in the consortium revealed that the biodegradation process was initially dominated by Achromobacter xylosoxidans and subsequently by Acinetobacter sp. and Bacillus sp., respectively. The results of this study suggest that consortia of bacteria are more efficient than monocultures in the aerobic biodegradation of DCEs, degrading the compounds to levels that are up to 60% below the maximum allowable limits in drinking water.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.30 no.6
• /
• pp.839-847
• /
• 2020

In the present study, an anaerobic microbial consortium for the degradation of hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX) was selectively enriched with the co-addition of RDX and starch under nitrogen-deficient conditions. Microbial growth and anaerobic RDX biodegradation were effectively enhanced by the co-addition of RDX and starch, which resulted in increased RDX biotransformation to nitroso derivatives at a greater specific degradation rate than those for previously reported anaerobic RDX-degrading bacteria (isolates). The accumulation of the most toxic RDX degradation intermediate (MNX [hexahydro-1-nitroso-3,5-dinitro-1,3,5-triazine]) was significantly reduced by starch addition, suggesting improved RDX detoxification by the co-addition of RDX and starch. The subsequent MiSeq sequencing that targeted the bacterial 16S rRNA gene revealed that the Sporolactobacillus, Clostridium, and Paenibacillus populations were involved in the enhanced anaerobic RDX degradation. These results suggest that these three bacterial populations are important for anaerobic RDX degradation and detoxification. The findings from this work imply that the Sporolactobacillus, Clostridium, and Paenibacillus dominant microbial consortium may be valuable for the development of bioremediation resources for RDX-contaminated environments.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
• /
• v.47 no.4
• /
• pp.630-638
• /
• 2019

Nitrous oxide (N₂O) is a greenhouse gas with a global warming potential 310 times higher than that of carbon dioxide. In this study, an N₂O-reducing consortium was obtained by enrichment culture using advanced treatment sludge as the inoculum. The dominant bacteria in the consortium were Sulfurovum (17.95%), Geobacter (14.63%), Rectinema (11.45%), and Chlorobium (8.24%). The consortium displayed optimal N₂O reducing activity when acetate was supplied as the carbon source at a carbon/nitrogen ratio (mol·mol^-1) of 6.3. The N₂O reduction rate increased with increasing N₂O concentration at less than 3,000 ppm. Kinetic analysis revealed that the maximum N₂O reduction rate of the consortium was 163.9 ㎍-N·g-VSS^-1·h^-1. Genes present in the consortium included nosZ (reduction of nitrous oxide to N₂), narG (reduction of nitrate to nitrite), nirK (reduction of nitrite to nitric oxide), and norB (reduction of nitric oxide to nitrous oxide). These results indicate that the N₂O-reducing consortium is a promising bioresource that can be used in denitrification and N₂O mitigation.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
• /
• v.22 no.7
• /
• pp.1243-1252
• /
• 2000

The differential enhanced degradation of cis- and trans-1,3-D was observed in the previous two studies performed by several researchers. This study was initiated to investigate the involvement of microorganisms in the differential enhanced degradation of the chemicals. As expected, microorganisms were responsible for the enhanced degradation. A mixed bacterial culture capable of degrading 1,3-D was isolated from an enhanced soil sample collected from a site treated with 1,3-D. Similar to the enhanced soil, the mixed culture degraded trans-1,3-D faster than cis-1,3-D. This mixed culture could not utilize cis- and trans-1,3-D as a sole source of carbon for growth. Rather, a variety of second substrates were evaluated to stimulate the differential enhanced degradation of the two isomers. As a result, the mixed culture degraded cis- and trans-1,3-D only in the presence of a suitable second substrate. Therefore, it appeared that the degradation of cis- and trans-1,3-D was a cometabolic process. Second substrates that had the capacity to stimulate the degradation included soil leachate, tryptone, tryptophan, and alanine. Other substrates tested. including soil extract. glucose, yeast extract and indole, failed to stimulate the degradation of the two isomers. The mixed culture was composed of four morphologically distinctive colonies on L-agar plates.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.29 no.10
• /
• pp.1629-1635
• /
• 2019

Azo dyes are recalcitrant pollutants, which are toxic, carcinogenic, mutagenic and teratogenic, that constitute a significant burden to the environment. The decolorization and the mineralization efficiency of Remazol Brillant Orange 3R (RBO 3R) was studied using a probiotic consortium (Lactobacillus acidophilus and Lactobacillus plantarum). Biodegradation of RBO 3R (750 ppm) was investigated under shaking condition in Mineral Salt Medium (MSM) solution at pH 11.5 and temperature $25^{\circ}C$. The bio-decolorization process was further confirmed by FTIR and UV-Vis analysis. Under optimal conditions, the bacterial consortium was able to decolorize the dye completely (>99%) within 12 h. The color removal was 99.37% at 750 ppm. Muliplex PCR technique was used to detect the Lactobacillus genes. Using phytotoxicity, cytotoxicity, mutagenicity and biototoxicity endpoints, toxicological studies of RBO 3R before and after biodegradation were examined. A toxicity assay signaled that biodegradation led to detoxification of RBO 3R dye.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
• /
• v.47 no.2
• /
• pp.296-302
• /
• 2019

In this study, the effects of ammonium concentration ($117.5-1155.0mg-N{\cdot}l^{-1}$), nitrite concentration ($0-50.0mg-N{\cdot}l^{-1}$), and temperature ($15-35^{\circ}C$) on nitrification performance and its functional genes (amoA-arc, amoA-bac, hao) in an enriched consortium inoculated with humic acid were determined. Notably, the maximum nitrification rate value was observed at $315mg-N{\cdot}l^{-1}$ of ammonium, but the highest functional gene copy numbers were obtained at $630mg-N{\cdot}l^{-1}$ of ammonium. No inhibition of the nitrification rate and functional gene copy numbers was observed via the added nitrites. The optimum temperature for maximum nitrification performance was observed to be $30^{\circ}C$. The amoA-bac copy numbers were also greater than those of amoA-arc under all test conditions. Notably, amoA-arc copy numbers and nitrification efficiency showed a positive relationship in network analysis. These results indicate that ammonium-oxidizing archaea and bacteria play important roles in the nitrification process.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
• /
• v.25 no.3
• /
• pp.7-12
• /
• 1999

Bioremediation is the technology to harness nature's biodegradative capabilities to remove or detoxify pollutions that threaten public health as environmental contaminants. Composting may become one of major bioremediation technologies for treating soils contaminated with petroleum if the fate of contaminants during composting is better understood Most composting research of petroleum was primarily focused on removing contaminant by optimizing composting conditions. Accordingly, laboratory feasibility studies may be useful to establish a realistic basis in co-composting complex substrate such as petroleum hydrocarbons. The purpose of this study was to assess the optimal conditions of kerosene biodegradation following supplementation with nutrient amendments under simulated composting conditions. Although it increased the growth of bacterial consortium, addition of co-substrates 0.5%(w/v) such as acetic acid, citric acid, glucose, and malic acid was not beneficial. Combination of nitrogen and phosphorous source enhanced kerosene biodegradation and reduced VOC evolution. These results showed that kerosene was able to utilize in bioremediation technology.