Reinstating Microbial Diversity in Degraded Ecosystems for Enhancing Their Functioning and Sustainability

Meepegamage, Sachini Wayanthimali; Rathnathilake, Ambalangodage Thilini Dhanushka; Premarathna, Mahesh; Seneviratne, G.

doi:10.1007/978-981-16-3840-4_14

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Additionally, extracellular polymeric substances produced by microbes are important in metal biosorption [22,26]. Interestingly, microorganisms in bio lm mode, protected by an extracellular matrix are known as an e cient and safer strategy in bioremediation because the results are more signi cant than the conventional microbial bioremediation [27][28][29]. For instance, the use of fungal-bacterial bio lm-based BFBF showed the potential to remediate THM in cropland soils [28], thus showing its feasibility to reduce THM concentrations in edible parts of the crop.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biofilm biofertilizer manipulates toxic heavy metals and micronutrients in the soil-plant systems in Sri Lanka to produce high-quality rice: a sign of ecosystem intelligence

Warnakulasooriya,

Premarathna,

Ekanayake

et al. 2024

Preprint

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High toxic heavy metals (THM) and low micronutrient contents in rice grains affect adversely on human health. Here we investigated the potential of using biofilm biofertilizer (BFBF) in managing THM and micronutrients in rice by conducting field experiments that compared BFBF practice with the chemical fertilizer (CF) alone practice in Sri Lanka. Bioaccumulation and translocation factors were evaluated to assess the THM and micronutrient distribution in soil-plant systems. The human health risk was also estimated. The BFBF practice showed a significant reduction in estimated daily intakes of the THM like As, Co, Cd, and Cr compared to the CF practice, thus decreasing hazard quotient (HQ) and hazard index (HI) values for lowering health risk. In the CF practice, the translocation of As from panicle to rice seed was significantly increased, and As in rice seeds is reported to exceed the safe level in some cases in Sri Lanka. On the contrary, reduced translocation of As, and increased translocation of Cr within the safe level to rice seeds with the BFBF application were observed, implying a sign of intelligence in the paddy ecosystem. Interestingly, the HI had been kept below the threshold value by significantly reducing the HQ values of each THM, only in the BFBF practice. These results highlight the role of increased microbial diversity and abundance induced by the BFBF, in mitigating the health risks and enhancing the sustainability of the soil-plant system, a clear sign of ecosystem intelligence.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biofilm biofertilizer manipulates toxic heavy metals and micronutrients in the soil-plant systems in Sri Lanka to produce high-quality rice: a sign of ecosystem intelligence

Warnakulasooriya,

Premarathna,

Ekanayake

et al. 2024

Preprint

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“…In soil, application of microbial biofilms developed in-vitro has been reported to restore lost microbial diversity, as their biofilm exudates [BFEx, i.e. biochemicals exuded as extracellular polymeric substances (EPS)] break the dormancy of microbial seed bank formed under stress (Herath et al, 2013;Herath et al, 2017;Meepegamage et al, 2021). The most solid indication of this has come from a study where the application of a fungal-bacterial biofilm improved cyanobacterial diversity in an agroecosystem (Buddhika et al, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biofilm nutraceuticals shape gut microbiota better than diet-based interventions: a novel approach to next-generation medicine

Premarathna,

Seneviratne,

Madawala

2023

Ceylon J. Sci.

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In-vitro-developed microbial biofilms are reported to restore degraded agroecosystems via reinstating soil-plantanimal-microbial networks by supplying a mixture of diverse biochemicals that act as network components. Here we hypothesize that the same approach can be used to revitalize the gut microbiota altered due to modern lifestyle and dietary patterns. We tested biochemicals exuded by a developed fungal-bacterial biofilm (BFEx) on the dormancy-breaking of five test gut microbes. The growth and development of the microbes were evaluated in a simulated gut environment with eight different dietary patterns consisting of low and high levels of carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, and fiber. In addition, the BFEx was tested for cytotoxic activity. Results revealed that the BFEx promoted the growth and possibly dormancy-breaking of all the tested gut microbes. However, these observations were made only in mixed cultures suggesting that there is a need for the interaction of diverse microbes in order to achieve a beneficial outcome from the BFEx. Further, the BFEx showed no cytotoxicity. In conclusion, this biofilm-based method seems a better solution than that of diet-based interventions for achieving healthy gut microbiota as the latter option does not restrict peoples’ dietary preferences. The next step would be to evaluate this microbial intervention in animals and humans.

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Reinstating Microbial Diversity in Degraded Ecosystems for Enhancing Their Functioning and Sustainability

Cited by 2 publications

References 29 publications

Biofilm biofertilizer manipulates toxic heavy metals and micronutrients in the soil-plant systems in Sri Lanka to produce high-quality rice: a sign of ecosystem intelligence

Biofilm biofertilizer manipulates toxic heavy metals and micronutrients in the soil-plant systems in Sri Lanka to produce high-quality rice: a sign of ecosystem intelligence

Biofilm nutraceuticals shape gut microbiota better than diet-based interventions: a novel approach to next-generation medicine

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