The characterization of polutant-degrading microorganisms from contaminated soils, waste water treatment plants or biofilters for the cleaning of waste gases usually starts with enrichment cultures and ends with the taxonomical and functional characterization of the isolated strains. However, the use of cultivation independent techniques, like cloning and sequencing of marker genes, indicate th...

The goal of this study was to characterize the cellulose-degrading microorganisms in the guts of wood-inhabiting beetles. We enriched for cellulose-degrading microorganisms by inoculating Þlter paper in liquid growth medium with macerated guts from larvae and adults of the wood-boring longhorned beetle, Saperda vestita, and the phloeophagous bark beetles, Ips pini and Dendroctonus frontalis. Af...

This paper reviews recent results obtained on long-chain fatty acids (LCFA) anaerobic degradation. Two LCFA were used as model substrates: oleate, a mono-unsaturated LCFA, and palmitate, a saturated LCFA, both abundant in LCFA-rich wastewaters. 16S rRNA gene analysis of sludge samples submitted to continuous oleate- and palmitate-feeding followed by batch degradation of the accumulated LCFA dem...

Bioremediation can be defined as any process that uses microorganisms or their enzymes to remove and or neutralize contaminants within the environment (i.e., within soil and water) to their original condition. Bioremediation can be employed to remediate specific types of contaminants such as; petroleum hydrocarbons, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), polychlorinated biphenyl’s (PCB), chlor...

As a typical example of screening for a microbial biocatalyst from nature, isolation of aldoxime-degrading microorganisms, characterization of a new enzyme phenylacetaldoxime dehydratase, and application of this enzyme to nitrile synthesis are described. The pathway in which aldoximes are successively degraded via nitrile in microorganisms could be named as 'aldoxime-nitrile pathway'. As an exa...

The devastating environmental impacts of the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989 and its media notoriety made it a frequent comparison to the BP Deepwater Horizon spill in the popular press in 2010, even though the nature of the two spills and the environments impacted were vastly different. Fortunately, unlike higher organisms that are adversely impacted by oil spills, microorganisms are able to consum...

Cloning and molecular ecological studies have underestimated the diversity of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) catabolic genes by emphasizing classical nah-like (nah, ndo, pah, and dox) sequences. Here we report the description of a divergent set of PAH catabolic genes, the phn genes, which although isofunctional to the classical nah-like genes, show very low homology. This phn locus, whic...

Bioremediation refers to the use of organisms to remove environmental pollutants. Besides identifying different new plasmids capable of degrading environmental pollutants, many attempts have been taken by the genetic engineers to enhance the bioremediation potential of different microorganisms. Escherichia coli was engineered to convert chlorinated solvents such as trichloro ethylene and the hi...

Nowadays, the discovery of lignocellulolytic microorganisms that are better adapted to operational conditions while exhibiting the strong degrading activities is highly desired for successful lignocellulose biotransformation processes. In this study, microorganisms were isolated from lignocellulose-rich composting materials by selective methods. A screening of isolates known to have lignocellul...

BACKGROUND Celiac disease is a T cell mediated-inflammatory enteropathy caused by the ingestion of gluten in genetically predisposed individuals carrying HLA-DQ2 or HLA-DQ8. The immunogenic gliadin epitopes, containing multiple glutamine and proline residues, are largely resistant to degradation by gastric and intestinal proteases. Salivary microorganisms however exhibit glutamine endoprotease ...