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Cryoconite holes are small ponds that form on the surface of glaciers that contain a dark debris, the cryoconite, at the bottom and host active ecological communities. Differences in the structure of bacterial communities have been documented among Arctic and mountain glaciers, and among glaciers in different areas of the world. In this study, we investigated the structure of bacterial communities of cryoconite holes of Baltoro Glacier, a large (62 km in length and 524 km of surface) glacier of the Karakoram, by high-throughput sequencing of the V5-V6 hypervariable regions of the 16S rRNA gene. We found that Betaproteobacteria dominated bacterial communities, with large abundance of genera Polaromonas, probably thanks to its highly versatile metabolism, and Limnohabitans, which may have been favoured by the presence of supraglacial lakes in the area where cryoconite holes were sampled. Variation in bacterial communities among different sampling areas of the glacier could be explained by divergent selective processes driven by variation in environmental conditions, particularly pH, which was the only environmental variable that significantly affected the structure of bacterial communities. This variability may be due to both temporal and spatial patterns of variation in environmental conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite airborne microorganisms representing a relevant fraction of atmospheric suspended particles, only a small amount of information is currently available on their abundance and diversity and very few studies have investigated the environmental factors influencing the structure of airborne bacterial communities. In this work, we used quantitative PCR and Illumina technology to provide a thorough description of airborne bacterial communities in the urban area of Milan (Italy). Forty samples were collected in 10-day sampling sessions, with one session per season. The mean bacterial abundance was about 10 ribosomal operons per m of air and was lower in winter than in the other seasons. Communities were dominated by Actinobacteridae, Clostridiales, Sphingobacteriales and few proteobacterial orders ( Burkholderiales, Rhizobiales, Sphingomonadales and Pseudomonadales). Chloroplasts were abundant in all samples. A higher abundance of Actinobacteridae, which are typical soil-inhabiting bacteria, and a lower abundance of chloroplasts in samples collected on cold days were observed. The variation in community composition observed within seasons was comparable to that observed between seasons, thus suggesting that airborne bacterial communities show large temporal variability, even between consecutive days. The structure of airborne bacterial communities therefore suggests that soil and plants are the sources which contribute most to the airborne communities of Milan atmosphere, but the structure of the bacterial community seems to depend mainly on the source of bacteria that predominates in a given period of time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of airborne biological particles ('bioaerosols') has gained interest in recent years, due to an increasing amount of evidence suggesting that this fraction of airborne particulate matter may play a critical role in the negative effects of aerosols on biological systems. Pioneer investigations demonstrated that bacteria do exist in the atmosphere and can be metabolically active, although studies have not proved whether they actually form ecological communities or are merely assemblages of organisms passively transported from different sources. For a long time, cultivation-based methods have been the gold standard to describe and quantify airborne microorganisms. However, the use of culture-independent techniques and, more recently, of the next-generation sequencing-based methods, has improved the ability of the scientific community to investigate bioaerosols in detail and to address further research questions, such as the temporal and spatial variability of airborne bacterial assemblages, the environmental factors affecting this variability and the potential sources of atmospheric bacteria. This paper provides a systematic review of the state-of-the-art methodologies used in the study of airborne bacteria to achieve each of the aforementioned research objectives, as well as the main results obtained so far. Critical evaluations of the current state of the knowledge and suggestions for further researches are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rhodococcus sp. and Pseudomonas sp. bioremediation experiments were carried out using free and immobilized cells on natural carrier material (corncob powder) in order to evaluate the feasibility of its use in the bioremediation of hydrocarbon-contaminated soils. Terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis was performed on the 16S rRNA gene as molecular fingerprinting method in order to assess the persistence of inoculated strains in the soil over time. Immobilized Pseudomonas cells degraded hydrocarbons more efficiently in the short term compared to the free ones. Immobilization seemed also to increase cell growth and stability in the soil. Free and immobilized Rhodococcus cells showed comparable degradation percentages, probably due to the peculiarity of Rhodococcus cells to aggregate into irregular clusters in the presence of hydrocarbons as sole carbon source. It is likely that the cells were not properly adsorbed on the porous matrix as a result of the small size of its pores. When Rhodococcus and Pseudomonas cells were co-immobilized on the matrix, a competition established between the two strains, that probably ended in the exclusion of Pseudomonas cells from the pores. The organic matrix might act as protective agent, but it also possibly limited cell density. Nevertheless, when the cells were properly adsorbed on the porous matrix, the immobilization became a suitable bioremediation strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current knowledge about the microbial communities associated with airborne particulate matter, particularly in urban areas, is limited. This study aims to fill this gap by describing the microbial community associated with coarse (PM10) and fine (PM2.5) particulate matter using pyrosequencing. Particulate matter was sampled on Teflon filters over 3 months in summer and 3 months in winter in Milan (Italy), and the hypervariable V3 region of the gene 16S rRNA amplified from the DNA extracted from the filters. The results showed large seasonal variations in the microbial communities, with plant-associated bacteria dominating in summer and spore-forming bacteria in winter. Bacterial communities from PM10 and PM2.5 were also found to differ from each other by season. In all samples, a high species richness, comparable with that of soils, but a low evenness was found. The results suggest that not only can the sources of the particulate influence the presence of specific bacterial groups but also that environmental factors and stresses can shape the bacterial community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effectiveness of biosparging to mitigate N,N diethylaniline in aquifer was evaluated by measuring the time course of decrease in concentration of the aforementioned compound in aerobic microcosm experiments. The first-order kinetic constant for N,N diethylaniline aerobic biodegradation was estimated from microcosm data (0.037 ± 0.004 d-1), and the value was consistent with the best-fitting value in the transport and reaction model of the aquifer (0.020 d-1). Furthermore, the biodegradability of the compound was evaluated under anaerobic condition in microcosm experiments, which was supported by field modelling. There was no significant degradation in the anaerobic microcosm experiments, confirming the recalcitrance of N,N diethyl aniline under the aforementioned aquifer condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]