Snow microorganisms play a significant role in climate change and affecting the snow melting rate in the Arctic and Antarctic regions. While research on algae inhabiting green and red snow has been performed extensively, bacteria dwelling in this biotope have been studied to a much lesser extent. In this study, we performed 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing of two green snow samples collected from the coastal area of the eastern part of Antarctica and conducted genotypic and phenotypic profiling of 45 fast‐growing bacteria isolated from these samples. 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing of two green snow samples showed that bacteria inhabiting these samples are mostly represented by families Burkholderiaceae (46.31%), Flavobacteriaceae (22.98%), and Pseudomonadaceae (17.66%). Identification of 45 fast‐growing bacteria isolated from green snow was performed using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. We demonstrated that they belong to the phyla Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria, and are represented by the genera Arthrobacter, Cryobacterium, Leifsonia, Salinibacterium, Paeniglutamicibacter, Rhodococcus, Polaromonas, Pseudomonas, and Psychrobacter. Nearly all bacterial isolates exhibited various growth temperatures from 4°C to 25°C, and some isolates were characterized by a high level of enzymatic activity. Phenotyping using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy revealed a possible accumulation of intracellular polymer polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) or lipids in some isolates. The bacteria showed different lipids/PHA and protein profiles. It was shown that lipid/PHA and protein spectral regions are the most discriminative for differentiating the isolates.

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Gut microbiota plays an important role in human health and the development of various diseases. We describe the intestinal microbiome of 31 healthy individuals and 29 patients who have hematological malignancies from Belarus. Bacteria that belong to Faecalibacterium, Blautia, Bacteroides, Ruminococcus, Bifidobacterium, Prevotella, Lactobacillus, and Alistipes genera were predominant in the gut of healthy people. Based on the dominant microbiota species, two enterotype-like clusters that are driven by Bacteroides and Blautia, respectively, were identified. A significant decrease in alpha diversity and alterations in the taxonomic composition of the intestinal microbiota were observed in patients with hematological malignancies compared to healthy people. The microbiome of these patients contained a high proportion of Bacteroides, Blautia, Faecalibacterium, Lactobacillus, Prevotella, Alistipes, Enterococcus, Escherichia-Shigella, Ruminococcus gnavus group, Streptococcus, and Roseburia. An increased relative abundance of Bacteroides vulgatus, Ruminococcus torques, Veillonella, Tuzzerella, Sellimonas, and a decreased number of Akkermansia, Coprococcus, Roseburia, Agathobacter, Lachnoclostridium, and Dorea were observed in individuals with hematological malignancies. Generally, the composition of the gut microbiome in patients was more variable than that of healthy individuals, and alterations in the abundance of certain microbial taxa were individually specific.

Layered double hydroxides (LDHs) are regarded as potential adsorbents for water treatment from a wide range of pollutants. However, there are only a few studies concerning application of LDHs for elimination of microorganisms from aquatic systems. In this work, experiments were conducted to investigate the efficiency of commercial synthetic hydrotalcite Mg6Al2(CO3)(OH)16∙4H2O as an adsorbent for water purification from fecal indicator bacteria Escherichia coli BIM B-378 and Enterococcus faecalis BIM B-1530. Our findings indicate that exposure for 4 h to hydrotalcite (5 g/L) in suspension resulted in the removal of about 40% of coliforms and 25% of enterococci from water, at a high bacterial load (2×1010 CFU/L), and the removal efficiency of E. coli and E. faecalis did not significantly change when both bacteria were present in water. In addition, the percentage of removed bacteria increased with increasing of hydrotalcite concentration in the suspension (0.5 to 10 g/L), contact time (1-7 h) and decrease of pH (5.5), and decreased at low incubation temperature (16°C). Finally, hydrotalcite did not exhibit bactericidal activity and retention of bacteria was found to be reversible. Therefore, our findings suggest that commercial synthetic hydrotalcite could be potentially used in technologies of water treatment from bacterial contamination.

This article describes the first attempt of fecal microbiota transplantation for correction of gut microbiota in two patients suffering from hematologic malignancies made in the Republic of Belarus. Partial clinical response to the procedure was observed in the both patients. We  detected positive changes in the gastrointestinal tract state and a decrease  in the abundance of multiresistant bacteria. In addition, microorganisms from donor microbiota were observed in intestinal microbiota of the patients. However, the positive effects of fecal microbiota transplantation disappeared after re-initiation of chemotherapy and antibiotics treatment. Further research is required to improve the procedure effectiveness in patients   with hematologic malignancies.

Taxon-specific primers were developed and PCR conditions were optimized for diagnostics of bacterial and fungal plant pathogens. Methods for phytopathogens DNA isolation from plant material, soil and water were selected.

The review is devoted to the problems of identification and classification of probiotic strains of bifidobacteria that are widely used in manufacturing of medications and functional food products. It also discusses prospects of development of new probiotic products on the base of well-known commercial strains and possibilities of their wider use in different areas.