Biosequestration of lignin in municipal landfill leachate by tailored cationic lipoprotein biosurfactant through Bacillus tropicus valorized tannery solid waste

Bioremediation of hydrocarbon by co-culturing of biosurfactant-producing bacteria in microbial fuel cell with Fe2O3-modified anode

The most common type of environmental contamination is petroleum hydrocarbons. Sustainable and environmentally friendly treatment strategies must be explored in light of the increasing challenges of toxic and critical wastewater contamination. This paper deals with the bacteria-producing biosurfactant and their employment in the bioremediation of hydrocarbon-containing waste through a microbial fuel cell (MFC) with Pseudomonas aeruginosa (exoelectrogen) as co-culture for simultaneous power generation. Staphylococcus aureus is isolated from hydrocarbon-contaminated soil and is effective in hydrocarbon degradation by utilizing hydrocarbon (engine oil) as the only carbon source. The biosurfactant was purified using silica-gel column chromatography and characterised through FTIR and GCMS, which showed its glycolipid nature. The isolated strains are later employed in the MFCs for the degradation of the hydrocarbon and power production simultaneously which has shown a power density of 6.4 W/m3 with a 93% engine oil degradation rate. A biogenic Fe2O3 nanoparticle (NP) was synthesized using Bambusa arundinacea shoot extract for anode modification. It increased the power output by 37% and gave the power density of 10.2 W/m3. Thus, simultaneous hydrocarbon bioremediation from oil-contamination and energy recovery can be achieved effectively in MFC with modified anode.

Retrospective Screening of Anthrax-like Disease Induced by Bacillus tropicus str. JMT from Chinese Soft-Shell Turtles in Taiwan

Bacillus cereus is ubiquitous in the environment and a well-known causative agent of foodborne disease. Surprisingly, more and more emerging strains of atypical B. cereus have been identified and related to severe disease in humans and mammals such as chimpanzees, apes, and bovine. Recently, the atypical B. cereus isolates, which mainly derive from North America and Africa, have drawn great attention due to the potential risk of zoonosis. The cluster of B. cereus carries several anthrax-like virulent genes that are implicated in lethal disease. However, in non-mammals, the distribution of atypical B. cereus is still unknown. In this study, we conducted a retrospective screening of the 32 isolates of Bacillus spp. from diseased Chinese soft-shelled turtles from 2016 to 2020. To recognize the causative agent, we used various methods, such as sequencing analysis using PCR-amplification of the 16S rRNA gene, multiplex PCR for discriminating, and colony morphology by following previous studies. Furthermore, the digital DNA-DNA hybridization (dDDH) and average nucleotide identity (ANI) values were calculated, respectively, below the 70 and 96% cutoff to define species boundaries. According to the summarized results, the pathogen is taxonomically classified as Bacillus tropicus str. JMT (previous atypical Bacillus cereus). Subsequently, analyses such as targeting the unique genes using PCR and visual observation of the bacteria under various staining techniques were implemented in our study. Our findings show that all (32/32, 100%) isolates in this retrospective screening share similar phenotypical properties and carry the protective antigen (PA), edema factor (EF), hyaluronic acid (HA), and exopolysaccharide (Bps) genes on their plasmids. In this study, the results indicate that the geographic distribution and host range of B. tropicus were previously underestimated.

Bacterial-derived surfactants: an update on general aspects and forthcoming applications

The search for sustainable alternatives to the production of chemicals using renewable substrates and natural processes has been widely encouraged. Microbial surfactants or biosurfactants are surface-active compounds synthesized by fungi, yeasts, and bacteria. Due to their great metabolic versatility, bacteria are the most traditional and well-known microbial surfactant producers, being Bacillus and Pseudomonas species their typical representatives. To be successfully applied in industry, surfactants need to maintain stability under the harsh environmental conditions present in manufacturing processes; thus, the prospection of biosurfactants derived from extremophiles is a promising strategy to the discovery of novel and useful molecules. Bacterial surfactants show interesting properties suitable for a range of applications in the oil industry, food, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, bioremediation, and more recently, nanotechnology. In addition, they can be synthesized using renewable resources as substrates, contributing to the circular economy and sustainability. The article presents a general and updated review of bacterial-derived biosurfactants, focusing on the potential of some groups that are still underexploited, as well as, recent trends and contributions of these versatile biomolecules to circular bioeconomy and nanotechnology.

Supramolecular bioamphiphile facilitated bioemulsification and concomitant treatment of recalcitrant hydrocarbons in petroleum refining industry oily waste

Bioremediation of real-time petroleum refining industry oily waste (PRIOW) is a major challenge due to the poor emulsification potential and oil sludge disintegration efficiency of conventional bioamphiphile molecules. The present study was focused on the design of a covalently engineered supramolecular bioamphiphile complex (SUBC) rich in hydrophobic amino acids for proficient emulsification of hydrocarbons followed by the concomitant degradation of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) in PRIOW using the hydrocarbonoclastic microbial bio-formulation system. The synthesis of SUBC was carried out by pH regulated microbial biosynthesis process and the yield was obtained to be 450.8 mg/g of petroleum oil sludge. The FT-IR and XPS analyses of SUBC revealed the anchoring of hydrophilic moieties of monomeric bioamphiphilic molecules, resulting in the formation of SUBC via covalent interaction. The SUBC was found to be lipoprotein in nature. The maximum loading capacity of SUBC onto surface modified rice hull (SMRH) was achieved to be 45.25 mg/g SMRH at the optimized conditions using RSM-CCD design. The SUBC anchored SMRH was confirmed using SEM, FT-IR, XRD and TGA analyses. The adsorption isotherm models of SUBC onto SMRH were performed. The integrated approach of SUBC-SMRH and hydrocarbonoclastic microbial bio-formulation system, emulsified oil from PRIOW by 92.86 ± 2.26% within 24 h and degraded TPH by 89.25 ± 1.75% within 4 days at the optimum dosage ratio of SUBC-SMRH (0.25 g): PRIOW (1 g): mass of microbial-assisted biocarrier material (0.05 g). The TPH degradation was confirmed by SARA fractional analysis, FT-IR, ¹H NMR and GC-MS analyses. The study suggested that the application of covalently engineered SUBC has resulted in the accelerated degradation of real-time PRIOW in a very short duration without any secondary sludge generation. Thus, the SUBC integrated approach can be considered to effectively manage the hydrocarbon contaminants from petroleum refining industries under optimal conditions.

Isolation and identification of a feather degrading Bacillus tropicus strain Gxun-17 from marine environment and its enzyme characteristics

Background

Feathers are the most abundant agricultural waste produced by poultry farms. The accumulation of a large number of feathers not only seriously pollutes the environment but also causes the waste of protein resources. The degradation of feather waste by keratinase-producing strains is currently a promising method. Therefore, screening high-producing keratinase strains from marine environment and studying the fermentation conditions, enzymatic properties and feather degradation mechanism are crucial for efficient degradation of feathers.

Results

A novel efficient feather-degrading bacteria, Gxun-17, isolated from the soil sample of a marine duck farm of Beibu Gulf in Guangxi, China, was identified as Bacillus tropicus. The optimum fermentation conditions were obtained by single factor and orthogonal tests as follows: feather concentration of 15 g/L, maltose concentration of 10.0 g/L, MgSO₄ concentration of 0.1 g/L, initial pH of 7.0 and temperature of 32.5 °C. The strain completely degraded the feathers within 48 h, and the highest keratinase activity was 112.57 U/mL, which was 3.18-fold that obtained with the basic medium (35.37 U/mL). Detecting the keratinase activity and the content of sulphur-containing compounds in the fermentation products showed that the degradation of feathers by the strain might be a synergistic effect of the enzyme and sulphite. The keratinase showed optimal enzyme activity at pH 7.0 and temperature of 60 °C. The keratinase had the best performance on the casein substrate. When casein was used as the substrate, the K_m and V_max values were 15.24 mg/mL and 0.01 mg/(mL·min), respectively. Mg²⁺, Ca²⁺, K⁺, Co²⁺, Al³⁺, phenylmethylsulphonyl fluoride and isopropanol inhibited keratinase activity, which indicated that it was a serine keratinase. Conversely, the keratinase activity strongly increased with the addition of Mn²⁺ and β-mercaptoethanol.

Conclusions

A novel feather-degrading B. tropicus Gxun-17 was obtained from marine environment. The strain adapted the extreme conditions such as low temperature, high salt and high pressure. Thus, the keratinase had high activity, wide range of temperature and pH, salt tolerance and other characteristics, which had potential application value.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12896-022-00742-w.