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BackgroundEnterobacter sp. AA26 was recently isolated from the midgut of Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) and it was shown to have positive effects in rearing efficiency when used as larval probiotics. In this study, biomass production was carried out in bench-scale bioreactors to elucidate the biokinetic properties of Enterobacter sp. AA26 and its nutritional value.ResultsStrain AA26 is a psychrotolerant, halotolerant, facultatively anaerobic bacterium with broad pH range for growth (pH 4 to 10.2), which possessed the typical biochemical profile of Enterobacter spp. The specific oxygen uptake rate (SOUR) was calculated as 63.2 ± 1.26 and 121 ± 1.73 mg O2 g− 1 VSS h− 1, with the yield coefficients in acetate and glucose being equal to 0.62 ± 0.03 and 0.67 ± 0.003 g biomass produced/g substrate consumed, respectively. The maximum specific growth rate (μmax) of strain AA26 grown in fill-and-draw bioreactors at 20 °C and 35 °C was 0.035 and 0.069 h− 1, respectively. Strain AA26 grew effectively in agro-industrial wastewaters, i.e. cheese whey wastewater (CWW), as alternative substrate for replacing yeast-based media. Biomass of strain AA26 could provide all the essential amino acids and vitamins for the artificial rearing of C. capitata. Greater intracellular α- and β-glucosidase activities were observed during growth of strain AA26 in CWW than in yeast-based substrate, although the opposite pattern was observed for the respective extracellular activities (p < 0.01). Low protease activity was exhibited in cells grown in yeast-based medium, while no lipase activities were detected.ConclusionsThe ability of strain AA26 to grow in agro-industrial wastes and to provide all the essential nutrients can minimize the cost of commercial media used for mass rearing and large scale sterile insect technique applications.

Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) highly contribute to the transmission of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in the environment. In this work, the diversity of ermF, ermB, sul1 and int1-enconding genes was examined in the influent, the mixed liquor and the effluent of a full-scale WWTP. Based on the clones analyzed, similar genotypes were recorded at all process stages. However, distinct genotypes of int1 were responsible for the expression of sul1 and ermF genes in Gammaproteobacteria and Bacteroidetes, respectively. Due to the detection of similar ARGs profiles throughout the biological process, it is concluded that additional treatment is needed for their retention.

The orange juice processing sector produces worldwide massive amounts of waste, which is characterized by high lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose content, and which exceeds 40% of the fruit’s dry weight (d.w.). In this work, the diversity and the biotechnological potential of xylan-degrading microbiota in orange juice processing waste were investigated through the implementation of an enrichment isolation strategy followed by enzyme assays for the determination of xylanolytic activities, and via next generation sequencing for microbial diversity identification. Intracellular rather than extracellular endo-1,4-β-xylanase activities were detected, indicating that peripheral cell-bound (surface) xylanases are involved in xylan hydrolysis by the examined microbial strains. Among the isolated microbial strains, bacterial isolates belonging to Pseudomonas psychrotolerans/P. oryzihabitans spectrum (99.9%/99.8% similarity, respectively) exhibited activities of 280 U/mg protein. In contrast, almost all microbial strains isolated exerted low extracellular 1,4-β-xylosidase activities (<5 U/mg protein), whereas no intracellular 1,4-β-xylosidase activities were detected for any of them. Illumina data showed the dominance of lactic and acetic acid bacteria and of the yeasts Hanseniaspora and Zygosaccharomyces. This is the first report on indigenous xylanolytic microbiota isolated from orange juice processing waste, possessing the biotechnological potential to serve as biocatalysts for citrus biomass valorization through the production of high-added value products and energy recovery.

Cellulases can be applied as macerating and peeling enzymes in the orange juice processing industry. In this work, indigenous cellulose-degrading microorganisms were isolated from orange juice processing waste through successive enrichment procedures using carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) as the sole carbon source. A total of 24 microbial isolates were screened for their ability to grow in CMC liquid medium, resulting in the selection of seven isolates. The latter were further assessed by determining their endo-1,4-β-d-glucanase, exo-1,4-β-d-glucanase, and β-1,4-d-glucosidase activities, of which their respective activities were as high as 3.89, 10.67, and 10.69 U/mg protein. All cellulose-degraders selected belonged to the genus Paenibacillus, although to distinct operational taxonomic units related to P. xylanexedens, P. tundrae, and P. pabuli (operational taxonomic unit—OTU#1) and to P. wynnii, P. odorifer, and P. donghaensis (OTU#2) spectrum. Regarding the cellulase activities of the orange juice processing waste, endo-1,4-β-d-glucanase activity (4.00 ± 0.11 U/g) was exerted only extracellularly, whereas exo-1,4-β-d-glucanase (2.60 ± 0.19 U/g) and β-1,4-d-glucosidase (5.69 ± 0.23 U/g) activities were exhibited both extracellularly and intracellularly. In conclusion, orange juice processing waste can be considered as a valuable source for the isolation of cellulose-degrading microbiota with potential uses in beverage industry, solid state fermentation and energy production.

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The evaluation of effluent wastewater quality mainly relies on the assessment of conventional bacterial indicators, such as fecal coliforms and enterococci; however, little is known about opportunistic pathogens, which can resist chlorination and may be transmitted in aquatic environments. In contrast to conventional microbiological methods, high-throughput molecular techniques can provide an accurate evaluation of effluent quality, although a limited number of studies have been performed in this direction. In this work, high-throughput amplicon sequencing was employed to assess the effectiveness of chlorination as a disinfection method for secondary effluents. Common inhabitants of the intestinal tract, such as Bacteroides, Arcobacter and Clostridium, and activated sludge denitrifiers capable of forming biofilms, such as Acidovorax, Pseudomonas and Thauera, were identified in the chlorinated effluent. Chloroflexi with dechlorination capability and the bacteria involved in enhanced biological phosphorus removal, i.e., Candidatus Accumulibacter and Candidatus Competibacter, were also found to resist chlorination. No detection of Escherichia indicates the lack of fecal coliform contamination. Mycobacterium spp. were absent in the chlorinated effluent, whereas toxin-producing cyanobacteria of the genera Anabaena and Microcystis were identified in low abundances. Chlorination significantly affected the filamentous bacteria Nocardioides and Gordonia, whereas Zoogloea proliferated in the disinfected effluent. Moreover, perchlorate/chlorate- and organochlorine-reducing bacteria resisted chlorination.