A challenge of synthetic biology is the creation of cooperative microbial systems that exhibit population-level behaviors. Such systems use cellular signaling mechanisms to regulate gene expression across multiple cell types. We describe the construction of a synthetic microbial consortium consisting of two distinct cell types—an "activator" strain and a "repressor" strain. These strains produc...

The small scale industries located at Mira Road, Mumbai, are engaged in various processes/operations which generate the wastes. The waste generated are collected and disposed of at the dumping ground near the industrial estate. In the present study, the physico-chemical and microbial status of the contaminated sites has been carried out. The heavy metal with special reference to copper was expo...

Distillery effluent is perilous and hazardous to human race by polluting the water bodies and soil. In whole world every year the total production of distillery products is less then the production of distillery effluents. And due to this the ecological balance continuously disturbing and the food web and food chain of organism also ill effected with the toxic pollutants released from distiller...

Atrazine degradation by anaerobic mixed culture microorganism in co-metabolic process and in absence of external carbon and nitrogen source was studied at influent atrazine concentration range of 0.5-15 mg/l. Wastewater of desired characteristic was prepared by the addition of various constituents in distilled water spiked with atrazine. In co-metabolic process, dextrose of various concentratio...

This study investigated the aerobic biodegradation of methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE) by a microbial consortium in a continuous up-flow packed-bed biofilm reactor using tezontle stone particles as a supporting material for the biofilm. Although MTBE is toxic for microbial communities, the microbial consortium used here was able to resist MTBE loading rates up to 128.3 mg L-1 h-1, with remova...

This report summarizes the proceedings of the Metagenomics, Metadata, Metaanalysis, Models and Metainfrastructure (M5) Roundtable at the 13th International Society for Microbial Ecology Meeting in Seattle, WA, USA August 22-27, 2010. The Genomic Standards Consortium (GSC) hosted this meeting as a community engagement exercise to describe the GSC to the microbial ecology community during this im...

The widespread use of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) as a gasoline additive has resulted in a large number of cases of groundwater contamination. Bioremediation is often proposed as the most promising alternative after treatment. However, MTBE biodegradation appears to be quite different from the biodegradation of usual gasoline contaminants such as benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene and xylene (B...

Community structures of submerged microbial slime streamers (SMSS) in sulfide-containing hot springs at 72 to 80 degrees C at Nakabusa and Yumata, Japan, were investigated by molecular analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene. The SMSS were classified into two consortia; consortium I occurred at lower levels of sulfide in the hot springs (less than 0.1 mM), and consortium II dominated when the sulfi...

Background: The presence of pharmaceuticals at low concentrations (ng to μg) in the environment has become a hot spot for researchers in the past decades due to the unknown environmental impact and the possible damages they might have to the plantae and fauna present in the aquatic systems, as well as to the other living organisms.Objectives: The aim of t...