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A robust environmental monitoring system is highly essential for the instant detection of environmental microfiber pollutants for the sustainable management of the environment and human health. The extent of microfiber pollution is growing exponentially across the globe in both terrestrial and marine environments. An immediate and accurate environmental monitoring system is crucial to investigate the composition and distribution of these micropollutants. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy and Raman Spectroscopy are vibrational spectroscopic techniques that have the novel ability to detect microfibers within a minute concentration from diverse environmental samples. The major micropollutants which have been analyzed are polyethylene, polypropylene, nylon 6, polystyrene, and polyethylene terephthalate. After a detailed and critical study of the various aspects of spectroscopic analysis, the review is concluded with a comprehensive discussion of the significance of these robust methods and their application in future aspects for further preventing microfiber pollution in the marine environment. This study highlights the utilities and significance of vibrational spectroscopic detection techniques for the immediate and accurate identification of synthetic microfibers. This review also evaluated the implementation of spectroscopic methods as a precise tool for the characterization and monitoring of microfiber pollutants in the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diverse synthetic polymers find their regular application in routine life and are disposed of directly into the environment through various sources. The released microplastic and microfibres from the sources creates contamination in both aquatic and terrestrial environments. When these micropollutants enter the food chain, they have adverse effects on the environment and human health. This study focuses on the application of native bacterial strains isolated for the effective degradation of polyester microfibers. The isolated bacterial strains, namely MFB 6, MFB 8, and MFB 11, tolerant to polyethylene glycol (PEG), were identified as Bacillus sp., Paenibacillus sp., and Aeromonas veronii, respectively, with NCBI gene bank accession numbers ON318306, ON318390, and PP237260. Polyester biodegradation efficiency of 10.5%, 12.6% and 8.4% was achieved by MFB 6, MFB 8 and MFB 11, respectively, after 42 days of investigation in minimal salt medium under shake flask condition. In future the application of these microorganisms will help in sustainable management of synthetic microfiber pollutants and find their suitable application in micro plastic degradation in contaminated wastewater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increase in population has resulted in a rapid increase in waste that is being dumped within the environment. The addition of various harmful and contaminating compounds results in the degradation of the environment and has a direct impact on human health. Various research studies that are taking place in recent times help in the enhancement of the naturally available microbes to degrade toxic compounds that are liberated into the environment. Although various types of bioremediation techniques are available, microbe-associated remediation is proven to be the best option due to its effectiveness, no generation of toxic by-products, and natural availability of microbes with the ability to take up nutrients from the toxic contaminants that exist on the surface of the earth. Both ex situ and in situ bioremediation can be accomplished with the help of these microbes. In most cases, this is done through biofilm-assisted seclusion of pollutants, more precisely by means of extracellular polymeric substances (EPSs) of biofilm matrix. In recent times, various types of techniques have been implemented like proteomics, genomics, fluxomics and transcriptomics for bringing about maximum remediation by the microbial species. In order to explore the different kinds of microbial communities involved in natural bioremediation, the strategic approach of metagenomic analysis is adopted, which has brought about a technological drift in remediation, even at a genomic level. As chemical mode of remediating wastes are associated with the release of various harmful chemicals those can be toxic to the environment, the use of biological systems can be a potential agent in the conversion of complex waste materials to simpler substances so that it mixes with the environment in easier manner. Microbes are the potential entities that can easily act on the waste materials and bring about remediation in an effective manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The potential to subsidize the development of areas furnished with ores is essential for producing supplies, services, and infrastructure that get a better social life quality. Bauxite mining is the foremost open-cast mining and bauxite is the only material for manufacturing aluminum metals and is used as a prominent industrial raw material. Demand for bauxite has grown enormously because of increased population and economic growth as it is required for the production of many other metals. A huge amount of bauxite residues are produced during aluminum production from bauxite ore which tremendously influences the environment and public health. Production of waste residues from bauxite ore leads to diminishing soil productivity and influences farming food yields. Soil and water are also contaminated by the addition of heavy metals, iron oxide, and aluminum hydroxide, which can prejudice public health. Microorganisms degrade and detoxify the pollutants into a nontoxic organic form that is helpful to the environment. Bioremediation has been a promising method to remove contaminants by using microorganisms. This enables the adsorption, accumulation, degradation, and utilization of emerging contaminants as nutrient resources by microbial communities for their sustenance. Sustainable management of bauxite mining and recovery of metals from wastes are mainly indispensable in this high time. This review article evaluates the effect of bauxite waste residues on the environment and its consequences on human health; it also emphasizes the biological remediation strategy for the remediation of contaminated mining areas and focuses on the sustainable management of bauxite waste residues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid economic development leads to environmental pollution with widespread pollutants including heavy metals, chemical particulates, untreated industrial sewage, and microplastics. Chromium production and its application had upsurged from past few decades and at present it had stretched up to 41 million metric tons globally. Chromium is one of the most mutagenic and carcinogenic pollutant, exposure to this heavy metal pollutants leads to respiratory, reproductive, cardiovascular diseases in humans and other harmful effects on plants and animals. Conventional methods for the treatment of hexavalent chromium from the environment includes ion-exchange, adsorption, solvent extraction, coagulation, electrodialysis and chemical precipitation. These methods are labor intensive, costly, and simultaneously release toxic components to the environment. Alternatively, bioremediation is one of the most effective biological processes which utilizes native microorganisms and plants to remove toxic metal pollutants from the polluted habitats. Bioremediation offers a sustainable technology for the management of heavy metal pollutants released from various mining and mineral processing industries and anthropogenic activities. This review gives a brief idea of hexavalent chromium pollution, its harmful effect on environment and humans, bioremediation through the application of native microorganisms and plants and describes the bioremediation method as a significant role for the sustainable management of pollutants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Frequently used protective items during the pandemics are prepared from plastics products, such as polypropylene, polyurethane, polyacrylonitrile, polystyrene, polycarbonate, polyethylene, and polyester. Globally more than 57 million pounds of personal protective equipment along with other biomedical plastic waste are entering into the oceans per annum. Lots of economic benefits can be obtained by recycling the polymeric wastes by converting them into useful products through, reduced manufacture cost, bio converted products, and cleaner environment by developing a circular waste management model. Personal protective equipment's are prepared from different plastic products and the outer most surface of these free-floating plastics presents in the aquatic environment serve as colonization support to diverse microbial populations known as plastisphere. Microbial colonization starts with an initial attachment under different environmental conditions, subsequently by developing a permanent association on the plastic surface. The community structure of microorganisms in the plastisphere can be significantly influenced by the depth of water in the aquatic ecosystem where microplastics present and the nutrients availability. As microorganisms have been deeply investigated for their role in the biodegradation of several pollutants, the present review article focuses on microbial diversity on plastisphere in the aquatic ecosystem, the underlying mechanism of colonization, and their potential role in microplastic degradation. This review article also highlights on imminent research for sustainable management of aquatic microplastic pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A wide range of plastic debris dumped into the ocean has recently gained concern of the marine ecosystems. Discarded and abandoned fishing nets, also known as ghost nets, are lost in the marine water and has no commercial significance. Additionally these fishing gear left out in the aquatic environment pose a severe risk to marine environment. Fishing nets, made up of synthetic plastic materials, are a major source of marine pollutants and act as a vector for transporting other toxic chemical pollutants. Approximately 10% of total marine plastic pollutants come from commercial fishing nets, and each year up to 1 million tons of fishing gear are discarded into the marine ecosystem. It can be estimated that by 2050 the amount will be doubled, adding 15–20 million metric tons of discarded lost fishing gears into ocean. The gradual and increased deposition of plastic pollutants in aquatic habitat also affects the whole food chain. Recently, microbial degradation of marine plastics has focussed the eyes of researchers and a lot of investigations on potential microbial degraders are under process. Microorganisms have developed the ability to grow under plastic stress condition and adapt to alter metabolic pathways by which they can directly feed upon marine plastic pollutants as sole carbon source. The present review compiles information on marine plastic pollution from discarded and abandoned fishing nets, their effect on aquatic ecosystems, marine animals and food chain and discusses microbial remediation strategies to control this pollution, especially and their implications in the marine ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most widely used herbicides for the control of annual and perennial weeds and grass worldwide is Glyphosate. Extensive use of this herbicide resulted in its ubiquitous presence in the environment and has an adverse effect on both human health and the ecosystem. The rapid binding of this herbicide to the soil particles makes it hazardous even for the soil organisms. There are several treatment technologies such as photocatalytic degradation, microbial approach or adsorption that removes glyphosate from the environment. Among both biotic and abiotic approaches, microbial degradation is the most effective and eco-friendly alternative for glyphosate removal. The microorganisms have the ability to use glyphosate as the sole source of carbon, phosphorus or nitrogen. There are several reviews pertaining to the fate and toxicity of both glyphosate and its intermediates while reviews on the biodegradation of glyphosate and its metabolic pathway are scarce. This minireview presents a collective summary on the environmental fate of glyphosate, different available treatment technologies for remediation from the environment. It focuses on the comparative assessment of the degradation of glyphosate by various methods considering their advantages and drawbacks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A major apprehension is over microplastic pollution in the aquatic environment. These microplastics particles represent a novel medium in the aquatic environment, providing a substratum for various organic contaminants and for colonization of microorganisms. Microorganisms form a biofilm on the exterior of pollutants, consequential in a region known as a plastisphere, in which they interrelate and generate acid and different enzymes for microplastic degradation. The use of microbes for microplastic degradation has become a contentious exit indication as society focuses more on environmentally friendly pollution reduction methods. After both substantial and elemental degradation, biodegradation occurs, weakening the arrangement of polymers. Natural resource microbes have a significant effect on the reduction of plastic waste in the environment. The current review article discusses microbial colonization and degradation of microplastics present in aquatic ecosystems and the processes involved. While studying and considering how these microplastic particles have now turn out to be a recent environmental position within various aquatic environments, we emphasized the significance of colonization and microbial-assisted degradation of aquatic microplastics in this article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Probiotics are potential health-promoting microorganisms representing a significant health aid with diverse pharmaceutical applications. But its role in modulating the human gut microbiome necessities a profound analysis. Undoubtedly, the human gut is a reservoir of infinite species such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, etc. But host with chronic illness bids enrichment of the pathogenic strain which may alter the composition gut microbiome. Culture-based techniques are providing unclear taxonomic data where the possibility of the discrepancy is very high. Therefore the use of next-generation sequencing (NGS) analysis helps to explore depth understanding of the curd microbiome and can generate big genomic data. The present investigation aims to explore the microbial diversity of curd samples from different local dairy farms of Odisha, India using a metagenomic approach. The data read comprising 304,725 sequences totaling 148,546,295 base pairs were interpreted. Taxonomical distribution at different levels unfolded the absolute abundance of phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species within each microbial community. The most dominant species found to be Lactobacillus at order level is 49%, whereas phyla proteobacteria and firmicutes have shown taxonomic percentage abundance of 50.01% and 48.77%, respectively. However, nearly 26.41% of unclassified species from the Lactococcus genus were identified in the sample at different taxonomic levels. The metagenomics sequence data has been deposited to sequence read archive (SRA) of NCBI database under Bioproject PRJNA383620. The present study has vital implications in understanding the microbial diversity in curd samples with their role in human health and application in future pharmaceutical probiotic research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The release of petroleum and petroleum derivatives, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), in the environment owing to anthropogenic activities, has become a major global threat to human health and ecological equilibrium. It causes a number of diseases and petroleum hydrocarbon (PH) compounds bind to soil components, making their removal very difficult. In order to find an eco-friendly, convenient, and non-expensive way, indigenous PH degrading microorganisms are employed. Biofilm, being a syntrophic association plays an important role in PAH degradation. The three-dimensional structure of the biofilm matrix is found to facilitate the efficient and rapid degradation of PAH. Various physicochemical parameters of biofilm are found to regulate the efficacy of PAH degradation. In order to amend certain drawbacks of biofilm mediated remediation, these days microbial electrochemical systems are increasingly being used for redressal of PH contamination, where the solid anode functions as an endless electron acceptor and the microbial activity is stimulated by bio-current in situ to guarantee the PH removal from contaminated soil and water. Following uptake of emulsified PH, it may be denatured by biofilm-associated enzymes or by biosurfactant molecules (such as rhamnolipids). The biomolecules synthesized by the bacterial cells further help in the expression of the specific genes thereby helping in the enhancement of PH degradation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mineral resources have been counted as public assets with economic benefit since time immemorial. Due to the rising issue of decreasing mineral deposits, recovery of metals from several waste residues has become progressively more essential. Novel and efficient recycling processes have been on the rise globally. Manganese (Mn) as the fourth most industrially applicable metal generates an extensive quantity of metallic waste which not only leads to loss of precious metal but also results in environmental toxicity. Globally, around 7 million tons of high-grade ores are produced, whereas 8 million tons of Mn alloys are produced yearly. Therefore, it is of greater significance to recover and recycle Mn from various waste residues. Various physical and biological techniques have been developed for recycling Mn from waste residues. Traditional Mn extraction processes are costly and labor intensive in nature, on the contrary, bioleaching techniques using diverse microorganism's, form the basis of an efficient, eco-friendly, and economically sustainable process of metal recovery. The quick progress in current methodologies to counteract the fast consumption of innate mineral resources involves the proper utilization of unused waste residues containing industrially important metals like Mn. This review focuses to enumerate diverse features of Mn recovery, efficient methodologies, bioleaching of Mn, merits of Mn bioleaching, and applications of recycled Mn along with the futuristic applications. Manganese recovery by means of bioleaching will play a major role in changing the present situation where innate assets are quickly diminishing and substitute for metal recovery methodologies are the demand of this time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]