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Magnetic fields in biological systems is a promising research field, however, their application for microalgae has not been fully exploited. This work aims to measure the enzymatic activity and non-enzymatic activity of two microalgae species in terms of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and carotenoids, respectively, in response to static magnetic fields-induced stress. Two magnet configurations (north and south) and two exposure modes (continuous and pulse) were applied. Two microalgae species were considered, the Scenedesmus obliquus and Nannochloropsis gaditana. The SOD activity increased by up to 60% in S. obliquus under continuous exposure. This trend was also found for CAT in the continuous mode. Conversely, under the pulse mode, its response was hampered as the SOD and CAT were reduced. For N. gaditana, SOD increased by up to 62% with the south configuration under continuous exposure. In terms of CAT, there was a higher activity of up to 19%. Under the pulsed exposure, SOD activity was up to 115%. The CAT in this microalga was increased by up to 29%. For N. gaditana, a significant increase of over 40% in violaxanthin production was obtained compared to the control, when the microalgae were exposed to SMF as a pulse. Depending on the exposure mode and species, this methodology can be used to produce oxidative stress and obtain an inhibitory or enhanced response in addition to the significant increase in the production of antioxidant pigments.

This research focused on the evaluation of the potential use of a soil-isolated bacteria, identified as Staphylococcus equorum, for microbial-induced calcite precipitation (MICP) and copper removal. Isolated bacteria were characterized considering growth rate, urease activity, calcium carbonate precipitation, copper tolerance as minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and copper precipitation. Results were compared with Sporosarcina pasteurii, which is considered a model bacteria strain for MICP processes. The results indicated that the S. equorum strain had lower urease activity, calcium removal capacity and copper tolerance than the S. pasteurii strain. However, the culture conditions tested in this study did not consider the halophilic feature of the S. equorum, which could make it a promising bacterial strain to be applied in process water from mining operations when seawater is used as process water. On the other hand, copper removal was insufficient when applying any of the bacteria strains evaluated, most likely due to the formation of a copper–ammonia complex. Thus, the implementation of S. equorum for copper removal needs to be further studied, considering the optimization of culture conditions, which may promote better performance when considering calcium, copper or other metals precipitation.

Antofagasta (Chile) is an arid region, and the climate is strongly influenced by the Atacama Desert, with few sources of fresh water. The pressure to use non-conventional water sources has boosted the construction of numerous desalination plants. High concentrations of secondary ions as calcium and magnesium cause problems in reverse osmosis plants and in other industries such as copper mining and cooling system. Biomineralization process based on hydrolysis of urea has been described in a wide variety of bacterial species with diverse applications. The selection of ureolytic halotolerant bacteria from Atacama Salar and their ability to precipitate calcium and magnesium crystals in seawater is described. Besides crystal structure and morphology were determined by electron microscopy analysis and X-ray diffraction. When assessing the mineral precipitate ability, Rhodococcus erythropolis precipitates a ~ 95% soluble calcium and 8% magnesium. The analysis of crystals showed that correspond to ~ 12.69% monohydrocalcite, ~ 30.72% struvite and ~ 56.59% halite. These results demonstrate that the biomineralization by ureolytic bacteria in seawater has great potential for its application as a pretreatment to improve water quality for industrial processes.

The use of non-desalinated seawater for mining purposes is not recommendable because of the high salinity and the presence of some ions, that is, Ca2+ and Mg2+, that can hamper the mineral tailings separation process besides being responsible for scaling formation in pipelines and equipment. To remove these ions from seawater, a novel treatment involving a biomineralization process was tested using a fluidized bed bioreactor (FBB) filled with immobilized beads of the halotolerant ureolytic strain Bacillus subtilis LN8B. The FBB was operated in batch mode according to a sequence of six cycles of eight days. The highest efficiency in removing Ca2+ and Mg2+ occurred in the first cycle for both ions, achieving the removal rate of ~100% by day four for Ca2+ and ~80% by day six for Mg2+, respectively. Precipitates from FBB were mainly composed of ~70.2% of hydromagnesite, and ~17.8% of aragonite. Furthermore, the efficiency of biologically pretreated seawater (BSw) was evaluated as mineral tailings sedimentation medium and compared with three types of water: (i) tap water (Tw); (ii) seawater (Sw); and (iii) distilled water, (Dw). The results showed that the settling velocity in BSw was the highest (i.e., 6.23 ± 0.48 m h−1).

Summary A microalgal strain was established from Cepsa's refinery wastewater treatment plant in Huelva (southwest of Spain). Genetic analysis of the chloroplastic rbcL gene encoding for the large subunit of the ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase enzyme (Rubisco) showed the strain had high homology with other known rbcL sequences of the genus Chlorella. The strain grows well autotrophically in minimum mineral medium, with a growth rate of 0.28 ± 0.012 day−1 and a biomass productivity of 138.9 ± 6.7 mg L−1 day−1. N-starvation and/or over illumination with 650 µmol photons m−2 s−1 of PAR light on the cultures induced a significant increase in the intracellular content of lipids in this microalga. Total lipids were extracted from the strain biomass with 2:1 chloroform-methanol, and they accounted for approximately 50% of the dry biomass. Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) represented 60.4% of the total fatty acids found in the strain, thus making this biomass attractive as a high added-value product source. The strain was able to grow efficiently in the refinery treated wastewater from which it was isolated, providing an attractive advantage for further development of more sustainable algal biomass production processes at reduced costs close to a petrol refinery area.

Anaerobic digestion effluents contain nitrogen and phosphorous which require reduction to accomplish the corresponding discharge legislation. Microalgae can be used as an alternative treatment to reach the required effluent quality. However, only robust and fast growing microalgae species are required in order to ensure stable and efficient nutrient removal under the conditions existing in wastewater treatment plants. Consequently, maintaining a stable microalgae community adapted to this environment becomes a key issue. In this work, a local microalgal strain was isolated from an anaerobic digester effluent (ADE). Microalgal growth was defined as the isolation criteria. The isolated microalgae were identified by molecular techniques as Chlorella sorokiniana (strain S12/S13/S16). Nutrient removal capacity from the ADE was assessed for the isolated strain by cultivation on ADE in repeated batch mode. Growth was limited by phosphorus, which reached removal efficiencies close to 100%. Under such conditions, biomass productivity and growth rate were barely enhanced with CO -enriched air not compensating the extra cost of CO addition. Finally, in order to close the process scheme, the methane potential of the isolated C. sorokiniana was assessed. The methane production capacity was 376 mL CH g volatile solids, similar to values reported for other microalgae species. The novelty of this work lies in the isolation of a robust local microalgal strain that ensures a high nutrient removal capacity from ADE. The efficiency and stability of the nutrient removal process might be enhanced by isolation and controlled growth of local, robust, and also fast-growth microalgae species., This work was supported by the 7th Framework Programme of European Union, under the framework of the Algaenet Project (Grant number PIRSES-GA-2011-295165).

The processes of biomineralization, mediated by ureolytic bacteria, possess a wide range of technological applications, such as the formation of biocements and remediation of water and soil environments. For this reason, the bioprospecting of new ureolytic bacteria is interesting for its application to these technologies, particularly for water treatment. This study demonstrates the isolation, selection, and identification of halotolerant ureolytic bacteria from Laguna Salada (inland from Atacama Desert) and the evaluation of their ability to precipitate calcium carbonate crystals in freshwater in the presence of calcium ions, as well as the ability to induce the precipitation of crystals from different ions present in seawater. Twenty-four halotolerant ureolytic bacteria whose molecular identification gives between 99 and 100% identity with species of the genus Bacillus, Porphyrobacter, Pseudomonas, Salinivibrio, and Halomonas were isolated. When cultivated in freshwater, urea, and calcium chloride, all species are able to biomineralize calcium carbonate in different concentrations. In seawater, the strains that biomineralize the highest concentration of calcium carbonate correspond to Bacillus subtilis and Halomonas sp. SEM-EDX and XRD analyses determined that both bacteria induce the formation of 9-33% halite (NaCl), 31-66% monohydrocalcite (CaCO3 × H2O), and 24-27% struvite (MgNH4PO4 × 6H2O). Additionally, B.subtilis induces the formation of 7% anhydrite (CaSO4). In seawater, B.subtilis and Halomonas sp. were able to precipitate both calcium (96-97%) and magnesium (63-67%) ions over 14 days of testing. Ion removal assays with B.subtilis immobilized in beads indicate a direct relationship between the urea concentration and a greater removal of ions with similar rates to free cells. These results demonstrate that the biomineralization mediated by bacterial urea hydrolysis is feasible in both freshwater and seawater, and we propose its application as a new technology in improving water quality for industrial uses.

Antofagasta the second region of Chile is known worldwide for its extensive mining activity, mainly in the production of copper, molybdenum, iodine and lithium. It is also one of the driest areas of the world with few sources of fresh water that in addition to the current increase in the development of mining projects, it has generated a strong necessity for sea water uses in industrial processes. Recently some mining companies are evaluating the use of seawater in various processes, including mineral flotation. However, they have determined a low metallurgical recovery mainly of Mo, due to the effect of secondary ions as calcium, magnesium, sulfate and bicarbonate present in sea water, which precipitate at alkaline pH and produce colloids that interfere in flotation.As a biotechnology alternative to increase the recovery of valuable species by flotation in seawater, it has been isolated and characterized selected native halophilic bacteria in the Atacama Desert, which used urea as a source of energy to produce ammonia and CO2. The ammonia increases the pH of carbonate generating means, which provides favorable conditions for the formation and precipitation of Ca and Mg carbonates and secondary ions presented in high concentration in seawater.The results show that from the total isolates, 22% has proven urease activity by the method of Christensen and phenolphthalein. Furthermore, isolates were evaluated for their ability to precipitate these ions by biocementation assay. Those bacterial isolates that precipitate these ions faster were identified phylogenetically and urease activity and microbial kinetics were quantified. Finally the obtained crystals were subjected to electron scanning microscopy and X-ray diffraction determining the morphology of the crystals production and mineralogical composition.

Botryococcus braunii race A is a green microalga that produces alkadienes and alkatrienes, fatty acids, and other compounds with commercial applications. A simple, effective, and reliable genetic transformation method for B. braunii would accelerate the development of a large-scale production method. We propose here a transformation method based on the treatment of B. braunii with a cellulolytic enzyme that transiently weakens its cell wall, facilitating its ability to incorporate foreign DNA. To test the method’s effectiveness, B. braunii cells were treated with cellulase. Weakening of the cell wall was confirmed using confocal and epifluorescence microscopy. Treated cells were transformed with plasmid pSI103, which contains the selective marker AphVIII, a gene that confers resistance to the antibiotic paromomycin (Par). Transformants were obtained on a selection medium containing Par, with a transformation efficiency of 80 transformants μg−1 of plasmid DNA. A PCR analysis showed the presence of the Par gene in the resistant transformants and its maintenance through the sixth generation, after 6 months with antibiotic selection. The availability of an efficient and simple transformation method for B. braunii will make its use more feasible in a wide range of biotechnological applications.

The use of photosynthetic CO2 reduction capacity of microalgae can be used for biogas upgrading. Such process would convert CO2 contained in the biogas into microalgal biomass, generating two products: upgraded biogas and biomass. Growth rate of Nannochloropsis gaditana was determined in atmospheres containing different levels of CH4 and CO2. Results showed no effect of CH4 rich atmosphere over microalgal development. CO2 inhibition was observed only when microalgae culture was exposed to atmospheres containing 9% of CO2. Direct contact of the biogas and the microalgal culture is not a feasible way to upgrade biogas, due to oxygen desorption to the gas phase. A two-stage process, involving a photobioreactor connected with a gas/liquid mass transfer unit showed to be an efficient way to remove CO2 from the biogas, keeping low levels of oxygen in the upgraded biogas.

The formation of minerals such as calcite and struvite through the hydrolysis of urea catalyzed by ureolytic bacteria is a simple and easy way to control mechanisms, which has been extensively explored with promising applications in various areas such as the improvement of cement and sandy materials. This review presents the detailed mechanism of the biominerals production by ureolytic bacteria and its applications to the wastewater, groundwater and seawater treatment. In addition, an interesting application is the use of these ureolytic bacteria in the removal of heavy metals and rare earths from groundwater, the removal of calcium and recovery of phosphate from wastewater, and its potential use as a tool for partial biodesalination of seawater and saline aquifers. Finally, we discuss the benefits of using biomineralization processes in water treatment as well as the challenges to be solved in order to reach a successful commercialization of this technology.

Copper contamination in watercourses is a recent issue in countries where mining operations are prevalent. In this study, the application of copper precipitation through microbe-induced carbonate precipitation (MICP) was analyzed using urea hydrolysis by bacteria to evaluate precipitated copper carbonates. This article demonstrates the application of a copper precipitation assay involving Sporosarcina pasteurii (in 0.5 mM Cu2+ and 333 mM urea) and analyzes the resultant low removal (10%). The analysis indicates that the low removal was a consequence of Cu2+ complexation with the ammonia resulting from the hydrolysis of urea. However, the results indicate that there should be a positive correlation between the initial urea concentration and the bacterial tolerance to copper. This identifies a challenge in the industrial application of the process, wherein a minimum consumption of urea represents an economic advantage. Therefore, it is necessary to design a sequential process that decouples bacterial growth and copper precipitation, thereby decreasing the urea requirement.

Microbially induced calcite precipitation (MICP) through a ureolytic pathway is a process that promotes calcite precipitation as a result of the urease enzymatic activity of several microorganisms. It has been studied for different technological applications, such as soil bio-consolidation, bio-cementation, CO2 sequestration, among others. Recently, this process has been proposed as a possible process for removing heavy metals from contaminated soils. However, no research has been reported dealing with the MICP process for heavy metal removal from wastewater/waters. This (re)view proposes to consider to such possibility. The main characteristics of MICP are presented and discussed. The precipitation of heavy metals contained in wastewaters/waters via MICP is exanimated based on process characteristics. Moreover, challenges for its successful implementation are discussed, such as the heavy metal tolerance of inoculum, ammonium release as product of urea hydrolysis, and so on. A semi-continuous operation in two steps (cell growth and bio-precipitation) is proposed. Finally, the wastewater from some typical industries releasing heavy metals are examined, discussing the technical barriers and feasibility.

10 páginas.-- 2 figuras.-- 1 tabla.-- 26 referencias, Hydrolysis of polymers is a first and often limiting step during the degradation of plant residues. Plant biomass is generally a major component of waste residues and a major renewable resource to obtain a variety of secondary products including biofuels. Improving the performance of enzymatic hydrolysis of plant material with minimum costs and limiting the use of additional microbial biomass or hydrolytic enzymes directly influences competitiveness of these green biotechnological processes. In this study, we cloned and expressed a cellulase and two esterases recovered from environmental thermophilic soil bacterial communities and characterize their optimum activity conditions including the effect of several metal ions. Results showed that supplementing these hydrolytic reactions with Barium increases the activity of these extracellular hydrolytic enzymes. This observation represents a simple but major improvement to enhance the efficiency and competitiveness of this process within an increasingly important biotechnological sector., Support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (CONSOLIDER CSD2009-00006, CGL2014-58762-P, CTM2014-55095), the Andalusian Government (BIO288 and RNM2529), both cofinanced by FEDER funds, intramural project OEP2011 (201570I020), the mobility programme 003-ABEL-CM-2013 (NILS Science and Sustainability programme, EEA grants), the mobility and coordination European project ALGAENET (Marie Curie Actions IRSES- 295165, FP7-PEOPLE-2011) and COST Action ES1302.

Quorum sensing (QS) is a process by which bacteria communicate via the secretion and detection of chemical signaling molecules termed autoinducers. It is an important method for the regulation of population density-dependent cellular processes, such as the production of antibiotics and virulence factors, conjugation, transformation, swarming behavior, and biofilm formation (20). Several different QS systems have been discovered including the LuxIR paradigm, in which the signaling molecule is an acyl homoserine lactone (AHL), used principally by gram-negative bacteria (22, 39, 40); the furanosyl-borate diester signaling system (3); the peptide signaling systems used primarily by gram-positive bacteria (7); the LuxS/autoinducer-2 signaling used for interspecies communication; and the 3/epinephrine/norepinephrine interkingdom signaling system (36). Although QS systems have been described in a wide variety of microorganisms (26), there are few reports of the presence of QS in extremophiles. AHL-based QS has been detected in the haloalkaliphilic archaeon Natronococcus occultus (21) and in the haloalkaliphilic Halomonas genus of bacteria (17). In addition, peptide-based QS has been detected in the hyperthermophilic bacterium Thermotoga maritima (13). Little is known about QS systems in other extremophilic archaea, although a genome-wide survey indicated that a furanosyl-borate diester signaling system may be prevalent in archaea (38). The paucity of information regarding bacterial communication in extreme conditions, especially in acidic environments, prompted the present investigation. Recently, a classic LuxIR system was described in the extreme acidophile Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans (8, 27). A. ferrooxidans is a chemolithoautotrophic, mesophilic, facultative aerobe of the gammaproteobacterium group. It obtains energy and electrons by the oxidation of hydrogen and reduced sulfur compounds to sulfate and FeII to FeIII. It grows in extremely acidic conditions (

Indexación: Scopus The genome of the acidophilic, proteobacterium Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans, contains linked but divergently oriented genes, termed afeI and afeR, whose predicted protein products are significantly similar to the LuxI and LuxR families of proteins. A possible promoter and Lux box are predicted upstream of afeI. A cloned copy of afeI, expressed in E. coli, encodes an enzyme that catalyzes the production of a diffusible compound identified by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry as an unsubstituted N-acyl homoserine lactone (AHL) of chain length C14. This AHL can be detected by a reporter strain of Sinorhizobium meliloti Rm4l suggesting that it is biologically active. The reporter strain also responds to extracts of the supernatant of A. ferrooxidans grown to early stationary phase in sulfur medium indicating that a diffusible AHL is produced by this microorganism. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR experiments indicate that afeI and afeR are expressed maximally in early stationary phase and are more expressed when A. ferrooxidans is grown in sulfur- rather than iron-containing medium. Given the predicted amino acid sequence and functional properties of AfeI and AfeR it is proposed that A. ferrooxidans has a quorum sensing system similar to the LuxI-LuxR paradigm. https://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0716-97602005000200018&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en

Cyanobacteria can produce biotoxins that are significant hazards to humans. After the intoxication incident in 1996 at the city of Caruaru, Brazil, a phytoplankton-monitoring programme was established at its main water supply, the Tabocas reservoir. Data obtained during 1997 and 1998 revealed the dominant species at Tabocas to be Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii, which was responsible for a massive bloom observed in July–October 1998. Laboratory cultures of isolate ITEP-018 demonstrated highly toxic properties, mice inoculated with this strain exhibited the same symptoms as those of paralytic shellfish poisoning, with an acute lethal effect of 9.3 mouse units mg−1 of dry cells. Several saxitoxin analogues were identified in these cultures, specifically saxitoxin (3.3 mol% total toxin content), gonyautoxin 6 (6.4 mol%), decarbamoyl-saxitoxin (8.5 mol%), neosaxitoxin (17.1 mol%), and a new saxitoxin analogue, which proved to be the major product of the Tabocas strain, accounting for 64.6 mol% of the ...

Protein phosphatases are involved in many cellular processes. One of the most abundant and best studied members of this class is protein phosphatase type-2A (PP2A). In this study, PP2A was purified from the mussel Mytilus chilensis. Using both SDS-PAGE and size exclusion gel filtration under denaturant conditions, it was confirmed that the PP2A fraction was essentially pure. The isolated enzyme is a heterodimer and the molecular estimated masses of the subunits are 62 and 28 kDa. The isolated PP2A fraction has a notably high p-NPP phosphatase activity, which is inhibited by NaCl. The hydrolytic p-NPP phosphatase activity is independent of the MgCl2 concentration. The time courses of the inhibition of the PP2A activity of p-NPP hydrolysis by increasing concentrations of three phycotoxins that are specific inhibitors of PP2A are shown. Inhibitions caused by Okadaic acid, dinophysistoxin-1 (DTX1, 35-methylokadiac acid) and Microcystine L-R are dose-dependent with inhibition constants (Ki) of 1.68, 0.40 and 0.27 nM respectively. Microcystine L-R, the most potent phycotoxin inhibitor of PP2A isolated from Mytilus chilensis with an IC50 = 0.25 ng/ml, showed the highest specific inhibition effect an the p-NPP hydrolisis. The calculated IC50 for DTX1 and OA was 0.75 ng/ml and 1.8 ng/ml respectively.