Stimulation of sewage sludge treatment by carbon sources and bioaugmentation with a sludge-derived microbial consortium
Abstract Recently, sewage sludge (SS) disposal has become one of the greatest global challenges. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the effect of faba bean straw (Straw-B), wheat straw (Straw-W), and wood-chip pellets (WCP) amended to SS, as well as bioaugmentation (BA), on the physicochemical characteristics and structure of the microbial community of the treated SS. Sixteen days of incubation of SS-containing mixtures revealed the highest efficiency of Straw-W(BA) in terms of SS stabilisation, i.e., the highest and most stable respiration intensity, the lowest ammonia emission, and the highest stimulation effect on the cress seedling growth. Shotgun sequencing data analysis showed that P…
Microbiome symbionts and diet diversity incur costs on the immune system of insect larvae
Communities of symbiotic microorganisms that colonize the gastrointestinal tract play an important role in food digestion and protection against opportunistic microbes. Diet diversity increases the number of symbionts in the intestines, a benefit that is considered to impose no cost for the host organism. However, less is known about the possible immunological investments that hosts have to make in order to control the infections caused by symbiont populations that increase due to diet diversity. By using taxonomical composition analysis of the 16S rRNA V3 region, we show that Enterococci are the dominating group of bacteria in the midgut of the larvae of the greater wax moth (Galleria mell…
Lack of significant differences between gastrointestinal tract microbial population structure of Helicobacter pylori-infected subjects before and 2 years after a single eradication event.
Background According to recent estimates 80% of Latvian population is infected with Helicobacter pylori thus their susceptibility to numerous gastric tract diseases is increased. The 1st line H. pylori eradication therapy includes treatment with clarithromycin in combination with amoxicillin or metronidazole and a proton pump inhibitor. However, potential adverse events caused by such therapies to microbiome are insufficiently studied. Objective This study aimed to evaluate the long-term effect of H. pylori eradication on human gastrointestinal tract (GIT) microbiome. Methods The assessment of H pylori eradication impact on GIT microbiome was done by analyzing 120 samples acquired from 60 s…
Transfekcijas efektivitāte HeLa, SKOV-3 un HPAF-II šūnu populācijās pēc to apstrādes ar UV starojumu
Darba mērķis bija noteikt transfekcijas efektivitāti HeLa, SKOV-3 un HPAF-II šūnu populācijās pēc to apstrādes ar UV starojumu. Pētījumā izmantotās šūnu kultūras tika apstarotas ar UV gaismu 90 min., pēc apstarošanas bija 24 un 48 stundu ilgs kontakts ar plazmīdu pGFP-N3, un līdz ar to tās tika kultivētas 24 un 48 stundas. Izmantojot fluorescences mikroskopiju, tika noteikta transfekcijas efektivitāte. Savstarpēji tika analizēts GFP ekspresējošo šūnu daudzums un ar DAPI krāsoto šūnu daudzums, kā arī procentuālais GFP ekspresējošo mikrošūnu daudzums un ar DAPI krāsoto mikrošūnu daudzums. Tika noteikts, ka visefektīvāk transfekcija noris, ja šūnas kultivē 24 stundas. Darbs izstrādāts Latvijas…
Removal of pharmaceuticals from municipal wastewaters at laboratory scale by treatment with activated sludge and biostimulation.
Abstract Municipal wastewater containing 21 pharmaceutical compounds, as well as activated sludge obtained from the aeration tank of the same wastewater treatment plant were used in lab-scale biodegradation experiments. The concentrations of pharmaceutical compounds were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to Orbitrap high-resolution mass spectrometry and ranged from 13.2 ng/L to 51.8 μg/L. Activated sludge was characterized in the terms of phylogenetic and catabolic diversity of microbial community, as well as its morphology. Proteobacteria (24.0%) represented the most abundant phylum, followed by Bacteroidetes (19.8%) and Firmicutes (13.2%). Bioaugmentation of was…
A widely used sampling device in colorectal cancer screening programmes allows for large-scale microbiome studies.
We read with interest the article by Passamonti et al ,1 reporting the performance of two different faecal immunochemical tests (FITs) highlighting the importance of standardisation and validation of screening methodologies. Conventionally, laboratory-based FIT is the preferred approach in testing for occult blood in faeces, which includes colorectal cancer screening programmes.2–4 The potential of preserving stable faecal samples in a widely used FIT buffer for microbiome research would enable prospective microbiome studies in generally healthy subjects undergoing colorectal cancer screening. For this purpose, we evaluated faecal sample stability in the commonly used OC-Sensor (Eiken Chemi…
Association of metformin administration with gut microbiome dysbiosis in healthy volunteers
Background Metformin is a widely used first-line drug for treatment of type 2 diabetes. Despite its advantages, metformin has variable therapeutic effects, contraindications, and side effects. Here, for the very first time, we investigate the short-term effect of metformin on the composition of healthy human gut microbiota. Methods We used an exploratory longitudinal study design in which the first sample from an individual was the control for further samples. Eighteen healthy individuals were treated with metformin (2 × 850 mg) for 7 days. Stool samples were collected at three time points: prior to administration, 24 hours and 7 days after metformin administration. Taxonomic composition of…
Dominating taxonomic composition of the early life gut microbiota and influencing factors in infants up to seven months of age in Latvia
Abstract It has been hypothesised that the establishment of stable adult microbiota is programmed in infancy, and therefore early life gut colonisation may lead to a lifelong microbiota pattern with significant effects on health. The aim of the study was to analyse the composition of gut microbiota and influencing factors in infants up to seven months of age in Latvia. A cross-sectional study was performed at primary healthcare centres. The parents of healthy infants filled out a questionnaire and brought the child’s faecal sample. 16 rRNS gene sequencing was performed to identify the bacterial taxonomic units. The composition of gut microbiota was compared between children with different r…
Selective enrichment of heterotrophic nitrifiers <em>Alcaligenaceae</em> and <em>Alcanivorax</em> spp. from industrial wastewaters
Removal of nitrogen from wastewaters (WW) represents a global problem. The low nitrification rate during WW treatment is often caused by ecotoxicity. This problem is attributed mostly to the industrial WW. Our study was focused on the testing of industrial WW and activated sludge (AS) with the aim to reveal the abundance of nitrifiers and increase their biomass, thus, providing the additional step, i.e., bioaugmentation, within the technological process of WW treatment. Plating of AS on the selective solidified media designated for the 1st and 2nd nitrification stages, resulted in the shift in bacterial community structure with dominated Alcaligenaceae and Alcanivorax for the 1st stage, and…
The effects of ibuprofen on activated sludge: Shift in bacterial community structure and resistance to ciprofloxacin
Abstract Ibuprofen (IBP) is ranked at the 4th place among 57 pharmaceutical compounds according to the number of citations in prioritization documents. The response of microbial community of activated sludge to IBP was studied at the concentrations of 50–5000 mg/L. Batch incubation was performed in an OxiTop® device for 21 days. The reduction of biological oxygen demand depended on the IBP concentration and varied in the range from 321 to 107 mg O 2 /L. Massive DNA sequencing analysis of the activated sludge revealed that Proteobacteria became more dominant when grown in the presence of IBP. Microbial diversity was reduced in the presence of 500–1000 mg/L IBP, but increased again in the pre…
Data from: Microbiome symbionts and diet diversity incur costs on the immune system of insect larvae
Communities of symbiotic microorganisms that colonize the gastrointestinal tract play an important role in food digestion and protection against opportunistic microbes. Diet diversity increases the number of symbionts in the intestines, a benefit that is considered to impose no cost for the host organism. However, less is known about the possible immunological investments that hosts have to make in order to control the infections caused by symbiont populations that increase due to diet diversity. By using taxonomical composition analysis of the 16S rRNA V3 region, we show that Enterococci are the dominating group of bacteria in the midgut of the larvae of the greater wax moth (Galleria mell…