Review
Polymer Science
Katarina Balikova, Hana Vojtkova, Eva Duborska, Hyunjung Kim, Peter Matus, Martin Urik
Summary: Research on Pseudomonas biofilms, particularly the study of exopolysaccharides (ExPs), has shown their potential in solving environmental issues such as heavy metal contamination. These findings have practical applications in medical, agricultural, and environmental sciences, offering viable solutions to the imminent risk heavy metal contamination poses to the environment and human health. The research aims to provide comprehensive information on the biosynthesis of ExPs and their usage in remediation techniques, including wastewater treatment and soil remediation.
Review
Environmental Sciences
Manar K. K. Abd Elnabi, Nehal E. E. Elkaliny, Maha M. M. Elyazied, Shimaa H. H. Azab, Shawky A. A. Elkhalifa, Sohaila Elmasry, Moustafa S. S. Mouhamed, Ebrahim M. M. Shalamesh, Naira A. A. Alhorieny, Abeer E. E. Abd Elaty, Ibrahim M. M. Elgendy, Alaa E. E. Etman, Kholod E. E. Saad, Konstantina Tsigkou, Sameh S. S. Ali, Michael Kornaros, Yehia A. -G. Mahmoud
Summary: The accumulation of both natural and anthropogenic sources of metals in the ecosystem has led to increasing concerns over heavy metal (HM) pollution. Human exposure to HMs, such as mercury, arsenic, lead, chromium, and cadmium, has become a significant environmental and health issue. These HMs can cause acute or chronic poisoning through water, air, or food. Their bioaccumulation in the body leads to various toxic effects on organs and tissues, primarily through the production of reactive oxygen species, enzyme inactivation, and oxidative stress. Conventional techniques for HM removal are limited, especially when the HM concentration is low. Microbial bioremediation, utilizing organisms like fungi and bacteria, has emerged as a potential solution due to their superior biosorption and bioaccumulation capabilities. This review aims to provide insights into HM uptake, toxicity mechanisms, and the management of metal poisoning through the selection of microbial remediation technology.
Review
Microbiology
Veni Pande, Satish Chandra Pandey, Diksha Sati, Pankaj Bhatt, Mukesh Samant
Summary: The contamination of heavy metals in soil poses significant threats to the environment and human health. Microbial bioremediation, which utilizes microorganisms to remove heavy metals, has emerged as a promising alternative approach. This review provides a comprehensive assessment of the bioremediation capabilities of microorganisms and summarizes various processes involved in heavy metal removal, including biosorption, bioleaching, biomineralization, biotransformation, as well as the use of genetically modified microbes and immobilized microbial cells.
FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2022)
Review
Environmental Sciences
Viktoriia Liapun, Martin Motola
Summary: Microorganisms play a crucial role in biogeochemical processes involving the transformation and cycling of metals, metalloids, and radionuclides. These processes influence the mobility and bioavailability of metals, affecting their transfer to the environment and organisms. Microbial metal transformations have important applications in bioremediation of solid and liquid wastes, including solubilization of heavy metals from industrial waste and immobilization of metals and radionuclides from aqueous solutions. This review provides an overview of metal extraction and recovery from secondary sources, microorganisms and methods used, metal-microbe interactions, and known metal recovery mechanisms.
JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Priyanka, Shiv Kumar Dwivedi
Summary: Wastewater pollution is a major global environmental issue, and conventional methods for HM removal are considered inadequate for HMs concentrations below 100 mg/L. Detoxification of heavy metals using fungi has emerged as a viable solution due to their higher biosorption and bioaccumulation potential. Environmental and operational factors such as pH, temperature, metal ion concentration, time, and flow rate have significant effects on fungi growth and metabolic functions.
JOURNAL OF WATER PROCESS ENGINEERING
(2023)
Article
Polymer Science
Carlos A. Ligarda-Samanez, David Choque-Quispe, Henry Palomino-Rincon, Betsy S. Ramos-Pacheco, Elibet Moscoso-Moscoso, Mary L. Huaman-Carrion, Diego E. Peralta-Guevara, Mirian E. Obregon-Yupanqui, Jimmy Aroni-Huaman, Eyner Y. Bravo-Franco, Wilbert Palomino-Rincon, German de la Cruz
Summary: This study evaluated different biosorbents from Rumex acetosella weed for the removal of metal cations in wastewater. The mixed treatment with particle size of 250 μm showed the best performance, removing up to 96.14% of lead. Thermal analysis and structural characteristics indicated that the new biosorbents had higher chelating capacity. The Langmuir and pseudo-second order models provided better fit to the adsorption data. These new biosorbents could be used economically and efficiently in wastewater treatment.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Monika Priyadarshanee, Surajit Das, Vandana
Summary: Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) are highly hydrated matrices produced by bacteria, containing various polymers such as polysaccharides, proteins, lipids, and DNA. EPS contributes to physical stability and nutrition acquisition for bacteria. Specific glycosyltransferases, polymerase, and transporter proteins encoded by operons regulate the biosynthesis of different EPS in bacteria. EPS can interact with environmental pollutants through functional groups, such as carbonyl, hydroxyl, phosphoryl, and amide, and bind pollutants through hydrophobic interactions and coordinate bonds. EPS can enhance the degradation of organic compounds and bind heavy metals via complexation, surface adsorption, precipitation, and ion exchange mechanisms. The biodegradability and nontoxicity of EPS make it a promising biopolymer for environmental pollutant decontamination.
Review
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Kumari Uma Mahto, Vandana Vandana, Monika Priyadarshanee, Devi P. Samantaray, Surajit Das
Summary: The bacterial biofilm and EPS play a crucial role in the removal of toxic pollutants from contaminated environments. Understanding their interaction mechanisms can aid in the development of field-scale applications for pollutant removal.
JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION
(2022)
Review
Engineering, Environmental
Monika Priyadarshanee, Surajit Das
Summary: Heavy metal pollution caused by industrialization poses a significant public health threat, and conventional remediation methods are expensive and environmentally harmful. Therefore, green technologies utilizing bacteria and other biological agents have garnered more attention due to their cost-effectiveness and high removal efficiency. Bacterial biosorption offers a safe and efficient treatment method for non-biodegradable toxic pollutants like heavy metals, making it a promising approach for heavy metal-contaminated wastewater treatment.
JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Muhammad Zubair, M. S. Roopesh, Aman Ullah
Summary: In this study, feather keratin derived biosorbents were synthesized using water dispersed graphene oxide. The cross-linking of feather keratin with graphene oxide was successfully achieved, resulting in increased surface area and morphological changes. The biosorbents showed excellent performance in removing metal oxyanions and cations from polluted water. The electrostatic interaction, chelation, and complexation were found to be the primary contributors in the biosorption mechanism. This study demonstrates the effectiveness of modifying chicken feather keratin with graphene oxide for removing multiple trace metal ions from contaminated water.
Review
Microbiology
Badriyah Shadid Alotaibi, Maryam Khan, Saba Shamim
Summary: The increase in anthropogenic activities has led to the release of pollutants into the environment, with heavy metals being a major contributor to the escalating problem of environmental pollution. Traditional physical and chemical methods of heavy metal removal have limitations, prompting the exploration of microbial bioremediation, particularly using bacteria like Bacillus spp. which have proven effective in removing heavy metals through biosorption and molecular mechanisms.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Yi Li, Meifen Xin, Dongyu Xie, Shirui Fan, Jiangming Ma, Kehui Liu, Fangming Yu
Summary: This study investigated the effects of cultivation conditions on the production of EPS by Enterobacter sp. FM-1 and the Pb2+ adsorption behavior of different types of EPS. The results showed that LB-EPS exhibited the highest Pb2+ adsorption capacity, attributed to its ability to form complexes with Pb2+ for adsorption.
Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Shashanka Shekhar Sarker, Taslima Akter, Sahana Parveen, Md. Tushar Uddin, Ajoy Kanti Mondal, S. M. Asaduzzaman Sujan
Summary: Tannery effluent, with high levels of chromium and other pollutants, can cause serious environmental pollution and pose risks to aquatic life, wildlife, and human health. Conventional physicochemical methods for chromium removal have limitations, while biological methods using microalgae show promise as sustainable, environmentally friendly, and cost-effective solutions. Microalgae species such as Chlorella vulgaris and Scenedesmus sp. have been successful in removing chromium from tannery wastewater and improving its quality for discharge.
ARABIAN JOURNAL OF CHEMISTRY
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Sandhya Mishra, Yaohua Huang, Jiayi Li, Xiaozhen Wu, Zhe Zhou, Qiqi Lei, Pankaj Bhatt, Shaohua Chen
Summary: Biofilm-mediated bioremediation is an effective approach for the elimination of environmental pollutants due to the biofilm's ability to degrade and absorb contaminants. Biofilm communities exhibit high tolerance to pollutants and can metabolize or degrade organic pollutants and heavy metals through the regulation of gene expression.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Carmencita Lavado-Meza, Leonel De la Cruz-Cerron, Gregorio Cisneros-Santos, Alex H. De la Cruz, Julio Angeles-Suazo, Juan Z. Davalos-Prado
Summary: Agro-industrial waste biosorbents of arabica-coffee and theobroma-cocoa have been characterized and tested, showing high adsorption capacity for Pb(II) and good reusability.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Bilal Ahmed, Asad Syed, Asfa Rizvi, Mohammad Shahid, Ali H. Bahkali, Mohammad Saghir Khan, Javed Musarrat
Summary: The study demonstrates the interference of a free-living, N-2-fixing, and nanoparticle tolerant Azotobacter salinestris strain on tomato plant-metal oxide NPs interactions in metal-polluted soil. The bacterial strain showed metabolic activity and production of bioactive substances even under NP exposure, indicating its potential as an alternative for increasing tomato production in contaminated soils.
ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
(2021)
Article
Soil Science
Mohammad Shahid, Fuad Ameen, Hemant S. Maheshwari, Bilal Ahmed, Saleh AlNadhari, Mohammad Saghir Khan
Summary: The halotolerant K. sacchari MSK1 strain exhibited exceptional tolerance to high salinity levels and beneficial effects on plant growth under salt stress conditions, alleviating the detrimental effects of salinity stress on V. radiata plants while enhancing growth performance and yield.
APPLIED SOIL ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Abu Baker, Bilal Ahmad, Khaloud Mohammed Alarjani, Noura Saleem Aldosri, Mohd Sajid Khan
Summary: The marine bacterium Rhodovulum sp. DBP07 was found to efficiently degrade DBP, with glucose identified as a key nutrient factor influencing both growth and degradation rate. Additionally, the choice of carbon sources also impacts the degradation of DBP. Statistical optimization results showed enhanced biodegradation rate under specific conditions.
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Asfa Rizvi, Bilal Ahmed, Mohammad Saghir Khan, Hossam S. El-Beltagi, Shahid Umar, Jintae Lee
Summary: Medicinal plants have been used as natural therapy, and plant-derived extracts have been used as food additives and for curing health-related ailments. However, the use of chemical fertilizers has detrimental impacts on the growth and development of these plants. Therefore, the application of beneficial rhizosphere microbiota is an alternative strategy to enhance the production of valuable medicinal plants.
Article
Spectroscopy
Bilal Ahmed, Abdallah M. Elgorban, Ali H. Bahkali, Jintae Lee, Asad Syed
Summary: The study developed a probe for selective and sensitive detection of L-cysteine using gold nanoparticles, showing high accuracy in quantifying Cys from various biological samples even in the presence of other amino acids. The proposed Au NPs sensor exhibited excellent reproducibility and selectivity for Cys detection.
SPECTROCHIMICA ACTA PART A-MOLECULAR AND BIOMOLECULAR SPECTROSCOPY
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Bilal Ahmed, Afreen Jailani, Jin-Hyung Lee, Jintae Lee
Summary: This study investigates the potential of three indole derivatives, 4-chloroindole, 6-iodoindole, and 5-chloro-2-methyl indole, as antibiofilm and antivirulence agents against Agrobacterium tumefaciens. The compounds inhibit bacterial adherence, biofilm formation, growth, and the production of virulence factors. They also downregulate biofilm, virulence, motility, and stress-related genes. These findings suggest that the indole derivatives have promising activity against A. tumefaciens infections.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
B. Janani, Asad Syed, Lija L. Raju, Ali H. Bahkali, Sarah Al-Rashed, Abdallah M. Elgorban, Bilal Ahmed, Ajith M. Thomas, S. Sudheer Khan
Summary: The mesoporous network of gamma-Al2O3 ceramic support was coupled with hexagonal CdO nanoplates to fabricate a photocatalyst with excellent optoelectrical properties. The nanohybrid showed high efficiency in degrading methylene blue, good reusability, and promising potential for environmental remediation applications.
JOURNAL OF ALLOYS AND COMPOUNDS
(2022)
Review
Plant Sciences
Mohammed Alsafran, Kamal Usman, Bilal Ahmed, Muhammad Rizwan, Muhammad Hamzah Saleem, Hareb Al Jabri
Summary: This study discusses the stress and remediation strategies adopted by plants in response to PTEs, as well as the expressional changes induced by different PTEs on the plant proteome level. Comparative proteomics studies have led to significant progress in understanding plants' tolerance and bioaccumulation mechanisms for PTEs, optimizing phytoremediation of polluted environments.
FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Biology
Pooja Rani, Bilal Ahmed, Jagpreet Singh, Jasmeen Kaur, Mohit Rawat, Navjot Kaur, Avtar Singh Matharu, Muneera AlKahtani, Eman A. H. Alhomaidi, Jintae Lee
Summary: This study reports the green synthesis of silver nanostructures using waste Brassica oleracea leaves and evaluates their efficacy in 4-nitrophenol reduction, glucose sensing, and antimicrobial activity.
SAUDI JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Kiranpreet Kaur, Bilal Ahmed, Jagpreet Singh, Mohit Rawat, Gaganpreet Kaur, Muneera AlKahtani, Eman A. H. Alhomaidi, Jintae Lee
Summary: Gold nanoparticles were successfully synthesized using a green and sustainable approach involving the seed extract of Bryonia laciniosa. The synthesized gold nanoparticles exhibited excellent stability, catalytic potential, and antibacterial activity.
JOURNAL OF KING SAUD UNIVERSITY SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Bilal Ahmed, Asfa Rizvi, Asad Syed, Vishnu D. Rajput, Abdallah M. Elgorban, Salim S. Al-Rejaie, Tatiana Minkina, Mohammad Saghir Khan, Jintae Lee
Summary: The study investigated the accumulation of different forms of aluminum in maize plants and their effects on plant physiology and growth. Results showed that nano-Al2O3 and Al3+ increased aluminum content in maize tissues and induced oxidative stress, leading to negative impacts on seed germination, growth, and photosynthesis. Maize grown hydroponically exhibited higher aluminum toxicity compared to soil-grown maize.
Article
Plant Sciences
Asfa Rizvi, Bilal Ahmed, Mohd Saghir Khan, Vishnu D. Rajput, Shahid Umar, Tatiana Minkina, Jintae Lee
Summary: The indiscriminate discharge and accumulation of heavy metals from anthropogenic sources pose a global threat to food security and human health. The presence of heavy metals in soils and their uptake by maize plants alter the soil-plant systems and pose risks to living organisms. The use of metal tolerant microbiome in enhancing maize yield in contaminated soils is an effective strategy, although limited information is available.
ENVIRONMENTAL AND EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Vishnu D. Rajput, Tatiana Minkina, Bilal Ahmed, Vipin Kumar Singh, Saglara Mandzhieva, Svetlana Sushkova, Tatiana Bauer, Krishan K. Verma, Shengdao Shan, Eric D. van Hullebusch, Bing Wang
Summary: Biochar has diverse applications in agriculture and environmental remediation, with nano-biochar showing potential for remediating hazardous contaminants and improving crop productivity. Further research is needed, as investigations into nano-biochar are still in the early stages. Nano-enhanced biochar has significant benefits, but could also pose toxicity risks in aquatic and terrestrial environments.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Afreen Jailani, Bilal Ahmed, Jin-Hyung Lee, Jintae Lee
Summary: This study demonstrates the ability of tannic acid to inhibit the growth and biofilm formation of Agrobacterium tumefaciens. It also shows that tannic acid does not significantly affect plant seed germination.
Article
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Inji Park, Afreen Jailani, Jin-Hyung Lee, Bilal Ahmed, Jintae Lee
Summary: Biofilms are responsible for persistent or recurring microbial infections. Polymicrobial biofilms are prevalent in environmental and medical niches. Dual-species biofilms formed by UPEC and S. aureus are commonly found in urinary tract infection sites. ATO nanoparticles showed strong antimicrobial and antibiofilm properties against single- and dual-species biofilms formed by UPEC and S. aureus, making them potential candidates for controlling these infections.