Breakdown of food waste by anaerobic fermentation and non-oxygen producing photosynthesis using a photosynthetic bacterium

Characteristics and Application of Rhodopseudomonas palustris as a Microbial Cell Factory

Rhodopseudomonas palustris, a purple nonsulfur bacterium, is a bacterium with the properties of extraordinary metabolic versatility, carbon source diversity and metabolite diversity. Due to its biodetoxification and biodegradation properties, R. palustris has been traditionally applied in wastewater treatment and bioremediation. R. palustris is rich in various metabolites, contributing to its application in agriculture, aquaculture and livestock breeding as additives. In recent years, R. palustris has been engineered as a microbial cell factory to produce valuable chemicals, especially photofermentation of hydrogen. The outstanding property of R. palustris as a microbial cell factory is its ability to use a diversity of carbon sources. R. palustris is capable of CO₂ fixation, contributing to photoautotrophic conversion of CO₂ into valuable chemicals. R. palustris can assimilate short-chain organic acids and crude glycerol from industrial and agricultural wastewater. Lignocellulosic biomass hydrolysates can also be degraded by R. palustris. Utilization of these feedstocks can reduce the industry cost and is beneficial for environment. Applications of R. palustris for biopolymers and their building blocks production, and biofuels production are discussed. Afterward, some novel applications in microbial fuel cells, microbial electrosynthesis and photocatalytic synthesis are summarized. The challenges of the application of R. palustris are analyzed, and possible solutions are suggested.

Enhancing food waste biodegradation rate in a food waste biodigester with the synergistic action of hydrolase-producing Bacillus paralicheniformis GRA2 and Bacillus velezensis TAP5 co-culture inoculation

Food waste (FW) minimization at the source by using food waste biodigester (FWBs) has a vast potential to lower down the impact of increasing organic fraction in municipal solid waste generation. To this end, this research sought to check the performance of locally isolated hydrolase-producing bacteria (HPB) to improve food waste biodegradation rate. Two under-explored HPB identified as Bacillus paralicheniformis GRA2 and Bacillus velezensis TAP5 were able to produce maximum amylase, cellulase, protease and lipase activities, and demonstrated a significant hydrolase synergy in co-culture fermentation. In vitro biodegradation analysis of both autoclaved and non-autoclaved FW revealed that the HPB inoculation was effective to degrade total solids (>62%), protein (>19%), total fat (>51), total sugar (>86%), reducing sugar (>38%) and starch (>50%) after 8-day incubation. All co-culture treatments were recorded superior to the respective monocultures and the uninoculated control. The results of FW biodegradation using batch-biodigester trial indicated that the 1500 mL and 1000 mL inoculum size of HPB inoculant reached a plateau on the 4th day, with gross biodegradation percentage (GBP) of >85% as compared to control (66.4%). The 1000 mL inoculum was sufficient to achieve the maximum GBP (>90%) of FW after an 8-day biodigestion in a FWB.

Enhancement of nutrients removal and biomass accumulation of Chlorella vulgaris in pig manure anaerobic digestate effluent by the pretreatment of indigenous bacteria

High concentrations of pollutants in pig manure anaerobic digestate effluent (PMADE) can severely inhibit microalgal growth. In this study, two types of PMADE (PMADE-1, PMADE-2) were pretreated with indigenous bacteria which were selected from PMADE to alleviate their inhibition for the growth of Chlorella vulgaris. Indigenous bacteria could decrease 34.04% and 47.80% of total phosphorus (TP) and turbidity in PMADE-1, and 80.81%, 43.27%, and 57.51% of COD, TP, and turbidity in PMADE-2, respectively. And no significant reduction of NH₄⁺-N in both PMADE after 5 days pretreatment occurred. C. vulgaris failed to grow in unpretreated PMADE-2. Pretreatment of PMADE with indigenous bacteria could remarkably promote nutrients removal and cell growth of C. vulgaris compared to the unpretreated PMADE. The order of abiotic stress in the studied PMADE was COD > NH₄⁺-N > turbidity, and it is appropriate to pretreat the PMADE with indigenous bacteria for 2-3 days.

Photosynthetic bacteria-based technology is a potential alternative to meet sustainable wastewater treatment requirement?

A paradigm shift is underway in wastewater treatment from pollution removal to resource or energy recovery. However, conventional activated sludge (CAS) as the core technology of wastewater treatment is confronted with severe challenges on high energy consumption, sludge disposal and inevitable greenhouse gas emission, which are posing a serious impact on the current wastewater industry. It is urgent to find new alternative methods to remedy these defects. Photosynthetic bacteria (PSB) have flexible metabolic modes and high tolerance, which enhance the removal of nutrients, heavy metals and organic contaminants efficiency in different wastewater. The unique phototrophic growth of PSB breaks the restriction of nutrient metabolism in the CAS system. Recent studies have shown that PSB-based technologies can not only achieve the recovery of nutrient and energy, but also improve the degradation efficiency of refractory substances. If the application parameters can be determined, there will be great prospects and economic effects. This review summarizes the research breakthroughs and application promotion of PSB-based wastewater treatment technology in recent years. Comparing discussed the superiority and inferiority from the perspective of application range, performance differences and recovery possibility. Pathways involved in the nutrient substance and the corresponding influencing parameters are also described in detail. The mode of PSB biodegradation processes presented a promising alternative for new wastewater treatment scheme. In the future, more mechanical and model studies, deterministic operating parameters, revolutionary process design is need for large-scale industrial promotion of PSB-based wastewater treatment.

Ammonia inhalation impaired immune function and mitochondrial integrity in the broilers bursa of fabricius: Implication of oxidative stress and apoptosis

Ammonia (NH₃) is considered as environmental pollutant and toxic agent for animals and humans including poultry. Previous reports demonstrated that NH₃ suppressed broilers immunity. However, the harmful effects of NH₃ on broilers bursa of fabricius (BF) is still unknown. Functionally, apoptosis is very important for many physiological processes including homeostasis of lymphocyte population. Therefore, the present study was aimed to investigate the underlying mechanisms of NH₃ toxicity in the broilers BF. Histological observation showed lymphocyte accumulation, cavities and increased interstitial cells in BF. Ultrastructural observation indicated mitochondrial vacuoles, deformation and disappearance of mitochondrial membranes. Oxidative stress markers (CAT, MDA, H₂O₂, GGT, GSH-Px and GSH) showed that NH₃-induced oxidative stress in BF. Meanwhile, Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay revealed increased apoptotic cells. In addition, the mRNA and protein expression of dynamin-related protein 1 (Drp1), mitochondrial fission factor (Mff), mitofusin 1 and 2 (Mfn1 and Mfn2), optic atrophy 1 (Opa1) indicated imbalance between mitochondrial inner and outer membrane and results in mitochondrial dysfunction in broilers BF. The mRNA and protein expression of apoptosis-related genes including Caspase-3, Caspase-9, Caspase-8, Cytochrome-C (Cyt-C), p53, B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) and Bcl-2 associated X protein (Bax) were significantly altered in broilers BF. Conclusively, these results displayed that excessive NH₃ causes BF damage and mitochondrial dysfunction through oxidative stress and apoptosis in BF and could affect immune function of BF. These findings provide possible therapeutic targets to prevent NH₃ induced toxicity in the BF of broilers.

Ammonia inhalation-mediated mir-202-5p leads to cardiac autophagy through PTEN/AKT/mTOR pathway

Ammonia is a known environmental pollutant around the world. It leads to the deterioration of air quality and has adverse effects on human health. Although previous studies have demonstrated that ammonia caused some health problems to chickens, it is still unclear whether ammonia causes cardiac toxicity. The functional autophagy is very important for cardiac homeostasis. Therefore, the role of autophagy was investigated in the mechanism of chicken heart damage induced by environmental contaminant ammonia in our present study. The results from the oxidative stress index (SOD, GPx, H₂O₂, and MDA), NO content, iNOS activity, and transmission electron microscopy indicated that excess ammonia induced oxidative stress and autophagy in the chicken heart. The expression results from miR-202-5p and PTEN/AKT/mTOR (PTEN, LC3-I, LC3-II, p-AKT, AKT, Beclin1, Dynein, ATG5, p-mTOR and mTOR) signaling pathway-related genes further confirmed that excess ammonia induced cardiac autophagy. In conclusion, these results demonstrated that excess ammonia can cause cardiac damage and mediate mir-202-5p to regulate autophagy through PTEN/AKT/mTOR pathway in the chicken heart injury. Our findings will provide a new insight for better assessing the toxicity mechanism of environmental pollutants ammonia on the heart.

Dynamic comparison on the usage of probiotics in organic wastewater treatment under aerobic conditions in a diurnal environment

This study aims at evaluating and comparing pollution removal in wastewater treatment via the use of probiotics alone or in combination under aerobic conditions in diurnal cycles. Herein, 650 mL of organic wastewater was stored in 1-L conical flasks and then randomly divided into three treatment groups, each experiment was repeated three times. Group A was supplemented with 2% (v/v) photosynthetic bacteria (PSB; Rhodopseudomonas palustris) alone; group B was supplemented with 2% (v/v) B. subtilis alone; and group C was supplemented with 1% (v/v) PSB and 1% (v/v) B. subtilis. Results showed that the pH increases were in the order: group A < group C < group B. The performance of the probiotics in terms of ammonia nitrogen and total nitrogen (TN) removal was in the order: group A < group C < group B, whereas in terms of total organic matter (TOC) and total carbon (TC) removal, the order was group C < group B < group A. These results showed that the effect of probiotics combination treatment on ammonia nitrogen and TN removal was better than that of using B. subtilis alone, but worse than that of using PSB alone. The effect of B. subtilis alone treatment on TOC and TC removal was better than that of using PSB alone, but the combination of PSB and B. subtilis showed greater benefits on TOC and TC removal.

IMPLICATIONS

Photosynthetic bacteria and B. subtilis were used in this study to investigate carbon and nitrogen metabolism via the use of different probiotics and then study further on comparing and achieving the best pollution removal performance in probiotics alone or in combination treatment. To make observations realistic, the experiments were conducted under aerobic conditions in a diurnal cycle environment.

Effects of water supplemented with Saccharicterpenin and photosynthetic bacteria on egg production, egg quality, serum immunoglobulins, and digestive enzyme activities of ducks

We investigated the effects of water supplemented with Saccharicterpenin and photosynthetic bacteria (PSB) on egg production, egg quality, serum immunoglobulins, and digestive enzyme activities of Jinyun ducks. A total of 400 healthy Jinyun ducks (all aged 58 wk) were randomly allotted to five treatments, with four replicates per treatment and 20 ducks in each replicate. The animals were fed a standard diet for 15 d and the experimental diet for 55 d. Experimental design is as follows: negative-control group C1 was given no supplementation, and control group 2 was given pool water (PW) with added PSB but not Saccharicterpenin. Test groups T1, T2, and T3 were given the same amount of PSB in the PW and varying levels of Saccharicterpenin in drinking water. Results suggest that PSB combined with Saccharicterpenin had beneficial effects on the average egg weight, feed to egg ratio, laying rate, and amylase activity, but some bad effects on the yolk color score. Additionally, PSB alone can increase the average egg weight.

Improved biomass production by humic analog anthraquinone-2-sulfonate from kitchen waste in a two-phase system

The volatile fatty acids from kitchen waste were used as substrates of anoxygenic photosynthetic bacteria (APB) in a dark-photo fermentation reactor, and anthraquinone-2-sulfonate (AQS) was firstly applied to boost the biomass yield.

Effects of octahedral molecular sieve on treatment performance, microbial metabolism, and microbial community in expanded granular sludge bed reactor

This study evaluated the effects of synthesized octahedral molecular sieve (OMS-2) nanoparticles on the anaerobic microbial community in a model digester, expanded granular sludge bed (EGSB) reactor. The addition of OMS-2 (0.025 g/L) in the EGSB reactors resulted in an enhanced operational performance, i.e., COD removal and biogas production increased by 4% and 11% respectively, and effluent volatile fatty acid (VFA) decreased by 11% relative to the control group. The Biolog EcoPlate™ test was employed to investigate microbial metabolism in the EGSB reactors. Results showed that OMS-2 not only increased the microbial metabolic level but also significantly changed the community level physiological profiling of the microorganisms. The Illumina MiSeq high-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA gene indicated OMS-2 enhanced the microbial diversity and altered the community structure. The largest bacterial genus Lactococcus, a lactic acid bacterium, reduced from 29.3% to 20.4% by abundance in the presence of 0.25 g/L OMS-2, which may be conducive to decreasing the VFA production and increasing the microbial diversity. OMS-2 also increased the quantities of acetogenic bacteria and Archaea, and promoted the acetogenesis and methanogenesis. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy illustrated that Mn(IV)/Mn(III) with high redox potential in OMS-2 were reduced to Mn(II) in the EGSB reactors; this in turn affected the microbial community.

Isolation of Rhp-PSP, a member of YER057c/YjgF/UK114 protein family with antiviral properties, from the photosynthetic bacterium Rhodopseudomonas palustris strain JSC-3b

Rhodopseudomonas palustris strain JSC-3b isolated from a water canal adjacent to a vegetable field produces a protein that was purified by bioactivity-guided fractionation based on ammonium sulfate precipitation, ion-exchange absorption and size exclusion. The protein was further identified as an endoribonuclease L-PSP (Liver-Perchloric acid-soluble protein) by shotgun mass spectrometry analysis and gene identification, and it is member of YER057c/YjgF/UK114 protein family. Herein, this protein is designated Rhp-PSP. Rhp-PSP exhibited significant inhibitory activities against tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) in vivo and in vitro. To our knowledge, this represents the first report on the antiviral activity of a protein of the YER057c/YjgF/UK114 family and also the first antiviral protein isolated from R. palustris. Our research provides insight into the potential of photosynthetic bacterial resources in biological control of plant virus diseases and sustainable agriculture.

Anaerobic digestion of food waste using yeast

Fermentative breakdown of food waste seems a plausible alternative to feeding food waste to pigs, incineration or garbage disposal in tourist areas. We determined the optimal conditions for the fermentative breakdown of food waste using yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) in incubations up to 30days. Yeast efficiently broke down food waste with food waste loadings as high as 700g FW/l. The optimum inoculation was ≈46×10(6)cells/l of culture with a 40°C optimum (25-40°C). COD and BOD were reduced by ≈30-50%. Yeast used practically all the available sugars and reduced proteins and lipids by ≈50%. Yeast was able to metabolize lipids much better than expected. Starch was mobilized after very long term incubations (>20days). Yeast was effective in breaking down the organic components of food waste but CO2 gas and ethanol production (≈1.5%) were only significant during the first 7days of incubations.