Diversity of cultivable endophytic bacteria associated with halophytes in Xinjiang of China and their plant beneficial traits

Endophytic bacteria from halophytes have a wide range of application prospects in various fields,such as plant growth-promoting,biocontrol activity and stress resistance.The current study aimed to identify cultivable endophytic bacteria associated with halophytes grown in the salt-affected soil in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region,China and to evaluate their plant beneficial traits and enzyme-producing activity.Endophytic bacteria were isolated from Reaumuria soongorica(PalL Maxim.),Artemisia carvifolia(Buch.-Ham.ex Roxb.Hort.Beng.),Peganum harmala L.and Suaeda dendroides(C.A.Mey.Moq.)by using the cultural-dependent method.Then we classified these bacteria based on the difference between their sequences of 16S rRNA(16S ribosomal RNA)gene.Results showed that the isolated bacteria from R.soongorica belonged to the genera Brucella,Bacillus and Variovorax.The bacteria from A.carvifolia belonged to the genera Micromonospora and Brucella.The bacteria from P.harmala belonged to the genera Paramesorhizobium,Bacillus and Peribacillus.The bacteria from S.dendroides belonged to the genus Bacillus.Notably,the genus Bacillus was detected in the three above plants,indicating that Bacillus is a common taxon of endophytic bacteria in halophytes.And,our results found that about 37.50%of the tested strains showed strong protease-producing activity,6.25%of the tested strains showed strong cellulase-producing activity and 12.50%of the tested strains showed moderate lipase-producing activity.Besides,all isolated strains were positive for IAA(3-Indoleacetic acid)production,31.25%of isolated strains exhibited a moderate phosphate solubilization activity and 50.00%of isolated strains exhibited a weak siderophore production activity.Our findings suggest that halophytes are valuable resources for identifying microbes with the ability to increase host plant growth and health in salt-affected soils.

Microbial Community and Urban Water Quality

Urbanization of China is substantial and growing, and water resources are crucial for both economic and social sustainable development. Unfortunately, the frequency and intensity of water contamination events are increasing at an unprecedented rate and often accompanied by increased pollutant loading due to human activities such as irreversible industrialization and urbanization. The impacts of human pollution are most evident and of greatest concern at the microbial level. The research of the Aquatic Ecohealth Group, Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has been focusing mainly on aquatic microorganisms in the urban environment, from drinking water and landscape water to waste water. Its projects fall into three categories: biomonitoring and bioassessment, microbial ecology and diversity, ecotoxicology and environmental microbiology. Its scientif ic topics include the aquatic ecological safety and microbial food web.

Guided by the principles of microbiome engineering:Accomplishments and perspectives for environmental use

Although the accomplishments of microbiome engineering highlight its significance for the targeted manipulation of microbial communities,knowledge and technical gaps still limit the applications of microbiome engineering in biotechnology,especially for environmental use.Addressing the environmental challenges of refractory pollutants and fluctuating environmental conditions requires an adequate understanding of the theoretical achievements and practical applications of microbiome engineering.Here,we review recent cutting-edge studies on microbiome engineering strategies and their classical applications in bioremediation.Moreover,a framework is summarized for combining both top-down and bottom-up approaches in microbiome engineering toward improved applications.A strategy to engineer microbiomes for environmental use,which avoids the build-up of toxic intermediates that pose a risk to human health,is suggested.We anticipate that the highlighted framework and strategy will be beneficial for engineering microbiomes to address difficult environmental challenges such as degrading multiple refractory pollutants and sustain the performance of engineered microbiomes in situ with indigenous microorganisms under fluctuating conditions.

Microbes team with nanoscale zero-valent iron: A robust route for degradation of recalcitrant pollutants

Integrating nanoscale zero-valent iron(nZVI) with biological treatment processes holds the promise of inheriting significant advantages from both environmental nano-and biotechnologies. nZVI and microbes can perform in coalition in direct contact and act simultaneously, or be maintained in separate reactors and operated sequentially. Both modes can generate enhanced performance for wastewater treatment and environmental remediation. nZVI scavenges and eliminates toxic metals, and enhances biodegradability of some recalcitrant contaminants while bioprocesses serve to mineralize organic compounds and further remove impurities from wastewater. This has been demonstrated in a number of recent works that nZVI can substantially augment the performance of conventional biological treatment for wastewaters from textile and nonferrous metal industries. Our recent laboratory and field tests show that COD of the industrial effluents can be reduced to a record-low of 50 ppm. Recent literature on the theory and applications of the nZVI-bio system is highlighted in this mini review.