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The native soil microbiota is very important to maintain the quality of that environment, but with the intensive use of agrochemicals, changes in microbial biomass and formation of large quantities of toxic waste were observed in soil, groundwater and surface water. Thereby, the goal of this study was to evaluate if the selective pressure exerted by the presence of the herbicides atrazine, diuron and 2,4-D changes the bacterial community structure of an agricultural soil, using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis technique. According to PERMANOVA analysis, a greater effect of the herbicide persistence time in the soil, the effect of the herbicide class and the effect of interaction between these two factors (persistence time and herbicide class) were observed. In conclusion, the results showed that the selective pressure exerted by the presence of these herbicides altered the composition of the local microbiota, being atrazine and diuron that most significantly affected the bacterial community in soil, and the herbicide 2,4-D was the one that less altered the microbial community and that bacterial community was reestablished first.

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Off-flavors in fish and water are considered a worldwide problem. Several factors, such as the presence of phosphorus, micronutrients, and organic matter, contribute to phytoplankton proliferation and the production of off-flavors. Geosmin and 2-methylisoborneol are the most common off-flavors that confer the smell of earth or mold to water and fish. These metabolites are not considered toxic, but they can be easily transferred from water to living organisms and accumulate in the biota, up the trophic levels and to consumers, including fish species. Numerous processes have been studied to eliminate or reduce the presence of off-flavors in recirculating aquaculture systems. Managing off-flavors must be eco-friendly and consumer-friendly. Strategies against off-flavors must be efficient and low-cost. However, these solutions may be different for each fish production system. We review herein the main compounds produced by cyanobacteria that can accumulate in fish used in aquaculture that can affect the quality of food, as well as production costs and consumer preference.

Atrazine is a triazine herbicide that is widely used to control broadleaf weeds. Its widespread use over the last 50 years has led to the potential contamination of soils, groundwater, rivers, and lakes. Its main route of complete degradation is via biological means, which is carried out by soil microbiota using a 6-step pathway. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether application of atrazine to soil changes the soil bacterial community. We used 16S rRNA gene sequencing and qPCR to elucidate the microbial community structure and assess the abundance of the atrazine degradation genes atzA, atzD, and trzN in a Brazilian soil. The results obtained showed that the relative abundance of atzA and trzN, encoding triazine-initiating metabolism in Gram-negative and -positive bacteria, respectively, increased in soil during the first weeks following the application of atrazine. In contrast, the abundance of atzD, encoding cyanuric acid amidohydrolase -the fourth step in the pathway-was not related to the atrazine treatment. Moreover, the overall soil bacterial community showed no significant changes after the application of atrazine. Despite this, we observed increases in the relative abundance of bacterial families in the 4 th and 8 th weeks following the atrazine treatment, which may have been related to higher copy numbers of atzA and trzN, in part due to the release of nitrogen from the herbicide. The present results revealed that while the application of atrazine may temporarily increase the quantities of the atzA and trzN genes in a Brazilian Red Latosol soil, it does not lead to significant and long-term changes in the bacterial community structure.

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Background Cyanobacteria blooms have become a major environmental problem and concern because of secondary metabolites produced by cyanobacteria released into the water. Cyanobacteria produce volatile organic compounds (VOCs), such as the compounds β-cyclocitral and β-ionone, which comprise odors, off-flavors, defense compounds, as well as growth regulators. Therefore, the general objective of this work was to evaluate the VOCs produced by two strains of Microcystis aeruginosa, differing in their ability to produce microcystins (LTPNA 01—non-producing and LTPNA 08—toxin-producing). The analysis of VOC production was carried out in (1) normal culture conditions, (2) under different light intensities (LI), and (3) after the external application of β-ionone in both cultures. Results The results showed that β-cyclocitral and β-ionone are produced in all growth phases of LTPNA 01 and LTPNA 08. Both strains were producers of β-cyclocitral and β-ionone in normal culture conditions. It was observed that the β-cyclocitral concentration was higher than β-ionone in all light intensities investigated in this study. Additionally, the strain LTPNA 01 produced more β-cyclocitral than LTPNA 08 at almost all times and LIs analyzed. However, the strain LTPNA 08 produced more β-ionone, mainly at the initial times. In addition, the experiment results with the external addition of β-ionone in the cultures showed that the strain LTPNA 01 produced more β-cyclocitral in control conditions than in treatment. Nonetheless, β-ionone production was higher in treatment conditions in LTPNA 08, indicating that the addition of β-ionone may favor the production of these compounds and inhibit the production of β-cyclocitral. Conclusion Our results showed that some abiotic factors, such as different light intensities and external application of β-ionone, can be triggers that lead to the production of VOCs.