Search

Exoelectrogenic bacteria (EEB) play important roles in biogeochemical cycling, environmental remediation, wastewater treatment, and bioenergy recovery. Methods for effectively and rapidly probing the abundance of EEB in environments are highly desirable. In this work, a novel approach that couples WO3 nanoclusters and the most probable number (MPN) method for rapid detection and enumeration of EEB was developed. This WO3–MPN approach allowed rapid and reliable estimation of the population size of two typical EEB, Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 and Geobacter sulfurreducens DL-1. In addition, it was successfully applied to detect and count EEB in environmental samples from the sediments of a freshwater lake (9.9 × 104 to 4.1 × 106 cells/g of dry sediment) and engineered samples of a municipal wastewater treatment plant (1.0 × 103 to 7.5 × 105 cells/mL). This work may facilitate better identification and practical applications of EEB in natural and engineered environments.

Microbes in sediments contribute to nutrient release and play an important role in lake eutrophication. However, information about the profiles of functional genes and bacterial communities and the most important environmental factor affecting them in the sediments of eutrophic lake remains unrevealed. In this work, the real-time fluorescent quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assay and 16S ribosomal RNA gene next generation sequencing analysis were used to explore the profiles of functional genes and bacterial communities in the sediments of Chaohu Lake. The selected 18 functional genes involved in C, N and P cycles were detected in most of samples. Seasonal variation and sediment variables were found to affect the profiles of functional genes and bacterial communities, and total nitrogen was the dominant environmental factor to drive the formation of bacterial community structure. Proteobacteria and Firmicutes were observed to be the two dominant phyla in the sediments with relative abundance ranging from 10.8% to 36.0% and 7.7%-46.7%, respectively. Three bacterial phyla, i.e., Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria, and Spirochaetes, were found to be significantly positively correlated with the C, N and P-cycle related functional genes. Bacterial community structure was the most important driver to shape the profiles of functional genes. Seasonal variation also influenced the co-occurrence patterns between functional genes and bacterial taxa as revealed by network analysis. The findings from this work facilitate a better understanding about the C, N, and P cycles in the sediments of eutrophic lakes.

Iron reduction mediated by Fe(III)-reducing bacteria (FeRB) occurs in aqueous environments and plays an essential role in removing contaminates in polluted freshwater lakes. Two model FeRB species, Shewanella and Geobacter, have been intensively studied because of their functions in bioremediation, iron reduction, and bioelectricity production. However, the abundance and community diversity of Shewanella and Geobacter in eutrophic freshwater lakes remain largely unknown. In this work, the distribution, abundance and biodiversity of Shewanella, Geobacter and other FeRB in the sediments of a heavily polluted lake, Chaohu Lake, China, across four successive seasons were investigated. Shewanella, Geobacter, and other FeRB were found to be widely distributed in the sediment of this heavily eutrophic lake. Geobacter was abundant with at least one order of magnitude more than Shewanella in cold seasons. Three Shewanella-related operational taxonomic units were detected and sixty one Geobacter-related operational taxonomic units were grouped into three phylogenetic clades. Thiobacillus, Desulfuromonas and Geobacter were identified as the main members of FeRB in the lake sediments. Interestingly, nutrients like carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus were found to be the key factors governing the abundance and diversity of FeRB. Total FeRB, as well as Geobacter and Shewanella, were more abundant in the heavily eutrophic zone than those in the lightly eutrophic zone. The abundance and diversity of FeRB in the sediments of freshwater lakes were highly related with the degree of eutrophication, which imply that FeRB might have a great potential in alleviating the eutrophication and contamination in aqueous environments.

Shewanella species have a diverse respiratory ability and wide distribution in environments and play an important role in bioremediation and the biogeochemical cycles of elements. Primers with more accuracy and broader coverage are required with consideration of the increasing number of Shewanella species and evaluation of their roles in various environments. In this work, a new primer set of 640F/815R was developed to quantify the abundance of Shewanella species in natural and engineered environments. In silico tools for primer evaluation, quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and clone library results showed that 640F/815R had a higher specificity and coverage than the previous primers in quantitative analysis of Shewanella. Another newly developed primer pair of 211F/815cR was also adopted to analyze the Shewanella diversity and demonstrated to be the best candidate in terms of specificity and coverage. We detected more Shewanella-related species in freshwater environments and found them to be substantially different from those in marine environments. Abundance and diversity of Shewanella species in wastewater treatment plants were largely affected by the process and operating conditions. Overall, this study suggests that investigations of abundance and diversity of Shewanella in various environments are of great importance to evaluate their ecophysiology and potential ecological roles.

Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 is a model dissimilatory iron reducing bacterium and plays an important role in bioremediation and biogeochemical cycling of elements. Understanding the potential interaction between iron and nitrate respirations by S. oneidensis MR-1 is of great significance for environmental bioremediation. In this paper, the stimulating effect of nitrate on iron reduction by S. oneidensis MR-1 was reported, which was different from previous reports. Nitrate at environmentally relevant concentrations (e.g.

In situ reduction of selenite to elemental selenium (Se(0)), by microorganisms in sediments and soils is an important process and greatly affects the environmental distribution and the biological effects of selenium. However, the mechanism behind such a biological process remains unrevealed yet. Here we use Shewanella oneidensis MR-1, a widely-distributed dissimilatory metal-reducing bacterium with a powerful and diverse respiration capability, to evaluate the involvement of anaerobic respiration system in the microbial selenite reduction. With mutants analysis, we identify fumarate reductase FccA as the terminal reductase of selenite in periplasm. Moreover, we find that such a reduction is dependent on central respiration c-type cytochrome CymA. In contrast, nitrate reductase, nitrite reductase, and the Mtr electron transfer pathway do not work as selenite reductases. These findings reveal a previously unrecognized role of anaerobic respiration reductases of S. oneidensis MR-1 in selenite reduction and geochemical cycles of selenium in sediments and soils.