Developing a biosurfactant to attenuate arsenic contamination in mining tailings

Microbial consortia-mediated arsenic bioremediation in agricultural soils: Current status, challenges, and solutions

Arsenic poisoning in agricultural soil is caused by both natural and man-made processes, and it poses a major risk to crop production and human health. Soil quality, agricultural production, runoff, ingestion, leaching, and absorption by plants are all influenced by these processes. Microbial consortia have become a feasible bioremediation technique in response to the urgent need for appropriate remediation solutions. These diverse microbial populations collaborate to combat arsenic poisoning in soil by facilitating mechanisms including oxidation-reduction, methylation-demethylation, volatilization, immobilization, and arsenic mobilization. The current state, problems, and remedies for employing microbial consortia in arsenic bioremediation in agricultural soils are examined in this review. Among the elements affecting their success include diversity, activity, community organization, and environmental conditions. Also, we emphasize the sensitivity and accuracy limits of existing assessment techniques. While earlier reviews have addressed a variety of arsenic remediation options, this study stands out by concentrating on microbial consortia as a viable strategy for arsenic removal and presents performance evaluation and technical problems. This work gives vital insights for tackling the major issue of arsenic pollution in agricultural soils by explaining the potential methods and components involved in microbial consortium-mediated arsenic bioremediation.

Biochemical Recurrence in Prostate Cancer Is Associated with the Composition of Lactobacillus: Microbiome Analysis of Prostatic Tissue

Many human pathologies, such as malignancy, are linked with specific bacteria and changes in the constituents of the microbiome. In order to examine the association between an imbalance of bacteria and prostate carcinoma, a comparison of the microbiomes present in patients with biochemical recurrence (BCR) or NO BCR (NBCR) was performed. Additionally, 16S rRNA-based next-generation sequencing was applied to identify the bacterial profiles within these tumors in terms of the bacteria and operational genes present. The percentage average taxonomic composition between the taxa indicated no difference between BCR and NBCR. In addition, alpha and beta diversity indices presented no distinction between the cohorts in any statistical method. However, taxonomic biomarker discovery indicated a relatively higher population of Lactobacillus in the NBCR group, and this finding was supported by PCR data. Along with that, differences in the operational activity of the bacterial genes were also determined. It is proposed that the biochemical recurrence was linked to the quantity of Lactobacillus present. The aim of this study was to investigate the microbiome involved in prostate carcinoma and the potential association between them.

Particle-size-based elution of petroleum hydrocarbon contaminated soil by surfactant mixture

Surfactants are often used to elute the contaminants from soils in order to remediate the polluted soils. However, the heterogeneity of minerals and organic matters with soil particle size may result in adsorption and precipitation of surfactants and affect the distribution of petroleum hydrocarbons (PHCs). In this work, spiked soil samples and surfactant mixture consisting of Tween 80 (TW80) and sodium dodecyl sulfate were prepared. Results showed that the silt-clay-mixture held the high retention capacity of PHCs, and 30% total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs) was retained in the soil fraction of '<125 μm' (high concentration), while 70% TPHs (low concentration) was retained in the soil fraction of '>125 μm'. TW80 was highly adsorbed on the montmorillonite and aluminosilicates of the soil, and the adsorption of TW80 in surfactant mixture could be relieved at mass ratio of 1:1. This study provides a novel strategy in the elution removal of PHCs from the contaminated soils, in which with the separation of soil particles by the size of 125 μm before elution, as high as 80% PHCs could be eluted from the soil by surfactant mixture.