Antagonism between heavy metal and selenium (Se) could significantly affect their biotoxicity, but little is known about the mechanisms underlying such microbial-mediated antagonistic processes as well as the formed products. In this work, we examined the cadmium (Cd)–Se interactions and their fates in Caenorhabditis elegans through in vivo and in vitro analysis and elucidated the machinery of Se-stimulated Cd detoxification. Although the Se introduction induced up to 3-fold higher bioaccumulation of Cd in C. elegans than the Cd-only group, the nematode viability remained at a similar level to the Cd-only group. The relatively lower level of reactive oxygen species in the Se & Cd group confirms a significantly enhanced Cd detoxification by Se. The Cd–Se interaction, mediated by multiple thiols, including glutathione and phytochelatin, resulted in the formation of less toxic cadmium selenide (CdSe)/cadmium sulfide (CdS) nanoparticles. The CdSe/CdS nanoparticles were mainly distributed in the pharynx and intestine of the nematodes, and continuously excreted from the body, which also benefitted the C. elegans survival. Our findings shed new light on the microbial-mediated Cd–Se interactions and may facilitate an improved understanding and control of Cd biotoxicity in complicated coexposure environments.

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BACKGROUND: The purpose of the present work was to enhance 1,3‐propanediol productivity during the batch cultivation on a type of raw glycerol by application of a two‐stage temperature control strategy. RESULTS: First, the effect of the raw glycerol on microbial growth and 1,3‐propanediol production was investigated. The highest 1,3‐propanediol productivity, 1.93 g L−1 h−1, was achieved when the initial raw glycerol concentration was 6% (v/v). Second, the effect of temperature on microbial growth and 1,3‐propanediol production was investigated and kinetic analysis was carried out. The results indicated that 37 °C favored microbial growth while 35 °C was best for 1,3‐propanediol production. Finally, a two‐stage temperature control strategy was applied in 1,3‐propanediol production. The incubation temperature was kept at 37 °C from inoculation to 2 h and then switched to 35 °C. Compared with batch cultivations at 35 and 37 °C, the fermentation time was shortened from 10 to 9.2 h, resulting in an increase in 1,3‐propanediol productivity of around 11%. CONCLUSION: 1,3‐propanediol productivity was enhanced effectively by application of a two‐stage temperature control strategy. © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry

Long-distance extracellular electron transfer has been observed in Gram-negative bacteria and plays roles in both natural and engineering processes. The electron transfer can be mediated by conductive protein appendages (in short unicellular bacteria such as Geobacter species) or by conductive cell envelopes (in filamentous multicellular cable bacteria). Here we show that Lysinibacillus varians GY32, a filamentous unicellular Gram-positive bacterium, is capable of bidirectional extracellular electron transfer. In microbial fuel cells, L. varians can form centimetre-range conductive cellular networks and, when grown on graphite electrodes, the cells can reach a remarkable length of 1.08 mm. Atomic force microscopy and microelectrode analyses suggest that the conductivity is linked to pili-like protein appendages. Our results show that long-distance electron transfer is not limited to Gram-negative bacteria.

Raw glycerol contains inhibiting impurities that render its bioconversion difficult. In this work, raw glycerol used in 1,3-propanediol fermentation by Clostridium butyricum was pretreated with activated carbon. Compared with pure glycerol, the untreated raw glycerol inhibited fermentation. Therefore, the raw glycerol was treated using dusty activated carbon as an adsorbent in batch fermentation, resulting in a shortening of the fermentation time from 18.5 to 13.3 h. The effects of pH, dusty activated carbon amount, and adsorption time on the pretreatment results were investigated using uniform design. The pH had a much lower impact and the optimal pretreatment conditions were achieved: pH 3.0, 0.5 g dusty activated carbon/150 g raw glycerol, adsorption time 3 h. Batch cultures on pretreated raw glycerol were comparable to those on pure glycerol. The 1,3-propanediol concentration in fedbatch cultivation was 49.3 g/L on pretreated raw glycerol while it was 40.8 g/L on untreated raw glycerol. The FTIR spectra of dusty activated carbon before and after adsorption indicated that the inhibiting impurities were probably aromatic compounds. This work indicates that pretreatment is necessary to ferment raw glycerol to 1,3-propanediol and that pretreatment with dusty activated carbon is an efficient, economical, and simple method.

Six Gram-stain-positive, motile, filamentous and/or rod-shaped, spherical spore-forming bacteria (strains GY32 T , L31, F01, F03, F06 and F07) showing polybrominated diphenyl ether transformation were investigated to determine their taxonomic status. After spore germination, these organisms could grow more than one hundred microns long as intact single cells and then divide into rod cells and form endospores in 33 h. The cell-wall peptidoglycan of these strains was type A4a, the predominant menaquinone was MK-7 and the major fatty acids were iso-C 16 : 0 , iso-C 15 : 0 and C 16 : 1 v7C. Diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylethanolamine were detected in the polar lipid profile. Analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that these strains should be placed in the genus Lysinibacillus and they were most closely related to Lysinibacillus sphaericus DSM 28 T (99 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity). The gyrB sequence similarity and DNA-DNA relatedness between strain GY32 T and L.sphaericus JCM 2502 T were 81 % and 52 %, respectively. The G+C content of the genomic DNA of strain GY32 T was 43.2 mol%. In addition, strain GY32 T showed differences in nitrate reduction, starch and gelatin hydrolysis, carbon resource utilization and cell morphology. The phylogenetic distance from its closest relative measured by DNA-DNA relatedness and DNA G+C content, and its phenotypic properties demonstrated that strain GY32 T represents a novel species of the genus

The key component in bacteria-based biosensors is a transcriptional reporter employed to monitor induction or repression of a reporter gene corresponding to environmental change. In this study, we made a series of reporters in order to achieve highly sensitive detection of arsenite. From these reporters, two biosensors were developed by transformation of Escherichia coli DH5α with pLHPars9 and pLLPars9, consisting of either a high or low copy number plasmid, along with common elements of ArsR-luciferase fusion and addition of two binding sequences, one each from E. coli and Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans chromosome, in front of the R773 ArsR operon. Both of them were highly sensitive to arsenite, with a low detection limit of 0.04 μM arsenite (~ 5 μg/L). They showed a wide dynamic range of detection up to 50 μM using high copy number pLHPars9 and 100 μM using low copy number pLLPars9. Significantly, they differ in metal specificity, pLLPars9 more specific to arsenite, while pLHPars9 to both arsenite and antimonite. The only difference between pLHPars9 and pLLPars9 is their copy numbers of plasmid and corresponding ratios of ArsR to its binding promoter/operator sequence. Therefore, we propose a working model in which DNA bound-ArsR is different from its free form in metal specificity.