Microbial induced carbonate precipitation for remediation of heavy metals, ions and radioactive elements: A comprehensive exploration of prospective applications in water and soil treatment.

Improper disposal practices have caused environmental disruptions, possessing by heavy metal ions and radioactive elements in water and soil, where the innovative and sustainable remediation strategies are significantly imperative in last few decades. Microbially induced carbonate precipitation (MICP) has emerged as a pioneering technology for remediating contaminated soil and water. Generally, MICP employs urease-producing microorganisms to decompose urea (NH2CONH2) into ammonium (NH4+and carbon dioxide (CO2), thereby increasing pH levels and inducing carbonate precipitation (CO32-), and effectively removing remove contaminants. Nonetheless, the intricate mechanism underlying heavy metal mineralization poses a significant challenge, constraining its application in contaminants engineering, particularly in the context of prolonged heavy metal leaching over time and its efficacy in adverse environmental conditions. This review provides a comprehensive idea of recent development of MICP and its application in environmental engineering, examining metabolic pathways, mineral precipitation mechanisms, and environmental factors as well as providing future perspectives for commercial utilization. The use of ureolytic bacteria in MICP demonstrates cost-efficiency, environmental compatibility, and successful pollutant abatement over tradition bioremediation techniques, and bio-synthesis of nanoparticles. limitations such as large-scale application, elevated Ca2+levels in groundwater, and gradual contaminant release need to be overcome. The possible future research directions for MICP technology, emphasizing its potential in conventional remediation, CO2 sequestration, bio-material synthesis, and its role in reducing environmental impact for long-term economic benefits.

Insight interactions of engineered nanoparticles with aquatic higher plants for phytoaccumulation, phytotoxicity, and phytoremediation applications: A review.

With the growing age of human civilization, industrialization has paced up equally which is followed by the innovation of newer concepts of science and technology. One such example is the invention of engineered nanoparticles and their flagrant use in widespread applications. While ENPs serve their intended purposes, they also disrupt the ecological balance by contaminating pristine aquatic ecosystems. This review encompasses a comprehensive discussion about the potent toxicity of ENPs on aquatic ecosystems, with a particular focus on their impact on aquatic higher plants. The discussion extends to elucidating the fate of ENPs upon release into aquatic environments, covering aspects ranging from morphological and physiological effects to molecular-level phytotoxicity. Furthermore, this level of toxicity has been correlated with the determination of competent plants for the phytoremediation process towards the mitigation of this ecological stress. However, this review further illustrates the path of future research which is yet to be explored. Determination of the genotoxicity level of aquatic higher plants could explain the entire process comprehensively. Moreover, to make it suitable to be used in natural ecosystems phytoremediation potential of co-existing plant species along with the presence of different ENPs need to be evaluated. This literature will undoubtedly offer readers a comprehensive understanding of the stress induced by the irresponsible release of engineered nanoparticles (ENP) into aquatic environments, along with insights into the resilience characteristics of these pristine ecosystems.

Biologically-induced synthetic manganese carbonate precipitate (BISMCP) for potential applications in heavy metal removal.

Heavy metal pollution of water is a burning issue of today's world. Among several strategies involved for heavy metal remediation purpose, biomineralization has shown great potential. Of late, research has been focused on developing effective mineral adsorbents with reduced time and cost consumption. In this present paper, the Biologically-Induced Synthetic Manganese Carbonate Precipitate (BISMCP) was produced based on the biologically-induced mineralization method, employing Sporosarcina pasteurii in aqueous solutions containing urea and MnCl2. The prepared adsorbent was characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), SEM-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and BET surface area analyzer. EDX analysis showed the elements in the crystal BISMCP were Mn, C, and O. XRD result of BISMCP determined the crystal structure, which is close to rhodochrosite (MnCO3). Spectral peaks of FTIR at 1641.79 cm-1 confirmed the appearance of C[bond, double bond]O binding, with strong stretching of CO32- in Amide I. From the six kinds of BISMCP produced, sample MCP-6 has the higher specific surface area by BET analysis at 109.01 m2/g, with pore size at 8.76 nm and higher pore volume at 0.178 cm3/g. These specifications will be suitable as an adsorbent for heavy metal removal by adsorption process. This study presents a preliminary analysis of the possibility of BISMCP for heavy metals adsorption using ICP multi-element standard solution XIII (As, Cr, Cd, Cu, Ni, and Zn). BISMCP formed from 0.1 MnCl2 and 30 ml of bacteria volume (MCP-6) produced a better adsorbent material than others concentrations, with the adsorption efficiency of total As at 98.9%, Cr at 97.0%, Cu at 94.7%, Cd at 88.3%, Zn at 48.6%, and Ni at 29.5%. Future work could be examined its efficiency adsorbing individual heavy metals.

Environmental DNA analysis as an emerging non-destructive method for plant biodiversity monitoring: a review.

Environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis has recently transformed and modernized biodiversity monitoring. The accurate detection, and to some extent quantification, of organisms (individuals/populations/communities) in environmental samples is galvanizing eDNA as a successful cost and time-efficient biomonitoring technique. Currently, eDNA's application to plants remains more limited in implementation and scope compared to animals and microorganisms. This review evaluates the development of eDNA-based methods for (vascular) plants, comparing its performance and power of detection with that of traditional methods, to critically evaluate and advise best-practices needed to innovate plant biomonitoring. Recent advancements, standardization and field applications of eDNA-based methods have provided enough scope to utilize it in conservation biology for numerous organisms. Despite our review demonstrating only 13% of all eDNA studies focus on plant taxa to date, eDNA has considerable environmental DNA has considerable potential for plants, where successful detection of invasive, endangered and rare species, and community-level interpretations have provided proof-of-concept. Monitoring methods using eDNA were found to be equal or more effective than traditional methods; however, species detection increased when both methods were coupled. Additionally, eDNA methods were found to be effective in studying species interactions, community dynamics and even effects of anthropogenic pressure. Currently, elimination of potential obstacles (e.g. lack of relevant DNA reference libraries for plants) and the development of user-friendly protocols would greatly contribute to comprehensive eDNA-based plant monitoring programs. This is particularly needed in the data-depauperate tropics and for some plant groups (e.g., Bryophytes and Pteridophytes). We further advocate to coupling traditional methods with eDNA approaches, as the former is often cheaper and methodologically more straightforward, while the latter offers non-destructive approaches with increased discrimination ability. Furthermore, to make a global platform for eDNA, governmental and academic-industrial collaborations are essential to make eDNA surveys a broadly adopted and implemented, rapid, cost-effective and non-invasive plant monitoring approach.

Characteristics of Doped TiO2 Nanoparticle Photocatalysts Prepared by the Rotten Egg White.

In this study, expired egg white was used as a template, and a sol-gel method was employed to prepare pure-phase TiO2 nano-powder and mixed-phase powders doped with NaF and NaI. The influences of different calcination temperatures, doping elements, and doping amounts during the preparation process on the photocatalytic performance and activity of the prepared TiO2 powders were studied. The results of the experiments showed that the F-doped TiO2 had the highest photocatalytic activity when the doping amount was 1.2%, as examined by EDS, where the sintering temperature was 500 °C. F-doped TiO2 nanoparticles were also synthesized by the sol-gel method using tetrabutyl titanate and NaF mixed with expired egg white protein as the precursor. The F-TiO2 photocatalyst was characterized using FE-SEM, HR-TEM, EDS, XPS, and UV-Vis, and the photocatalytic activity was evaluated by photodegradation of methylene blue under visible light. The results showed that doping with F reduced the energy band gap (3.04 eV) of TiO2, thereby increasing the photocatalytic activity in the visible-light region. The visible-light wavelength range and photocatalytic activity of the catalyst were also affected by the doping amount.

Reinforcement of Environmental DNA Based Methods (Sensu Stricto) in Biodiversity Monitoring and Conservation: A Review.

Recently developed non-invasive environmental DNA-based (eDNA) techniques have enlightened modern conservation biology, propelling the monitoring/management of natural populations to a more effective and efficient approach, compared to traditional surveys. However, due to rapid-expansion of eDNA, confusion in terminology and collection/analytical pipelines can potentially jeopardize research progression, methodological standardization, and practitioner adoption in several ways. Present investigation reflects the developmental progress of eDNA (sensu stricto) including highlighting the successful case studies in conservation management. The eDNA technique is successfully relevant in several areas of conservation research (invasive/conserve species detection) with a high accuracy and authentication, which gradually upgrading modern conservation approaches. The eDNA technique related bioinformatics (e.g., taxon-specific-primers MiFish, MiBird, etc.), sample-dependent methodology, and advancement of sequencing technology (e.g., oxford-nanopore-sequencing) are helping in research progress. The investigation shows that the eDNA technique is applicable largely in (i) early detection of invasive species, (ii) species detection for conservation, (iii) community level biodiversity monitoring, (iv) ecosystem health monitoring, (v) study on trophic interactions, etc. Thus, the eDNA technique with a high accuracy and authentication can be applicable alone or coupled with traditional surveys in conservation biology. However, a comprehensive eDNA-based monitoring program (ecosystem modeling and function) is essential on a global scale for future management decisions.

The AVRDC - The World Vegetable Center mungbean (Vigna radiata) core and mini core collections.

BACKGROUND: Large ex situ germplasm collections generally harbor a wide range of crop diversity. AVRDC--The World Vegetable Center is holding in trust the world's second largest mungbean (Vigna radiata) germplasm collection with more than 6,700 accessions. Screening large collections for traits of interest is laborious and expensive. To enhance the access of breeders to the diversity of the crop, mungbean core and mini core collections have been established. RESULTS: The core collection of 1,481 entries has been built by random selection of 20% of the accessions after geographical stratification and subsequent cluster analysis of eight phenotypic descriptors in the whole collection. Summary statistics, especially the low differences of means, equal variance of the traits in both the whole and core collection and the visual inspection of quantile-quantile plots comparing the variation of phenotypic traits present in both collections indicated that the core collection well represented the pattern of diversity of the whole collection. The core collection was genotyped with 20 simple sequence repeat markers and a mini core set of 289 accessions was selected, which depicted the allele and genotype diversity of the core collection. CONCLUSIONS: The mungbean core and mini core collections plus their phenotypic and genotypic data are available for distribution to breeders. It is expected that these collections will enhance the access to biodiverse mungbean germplasm for breeding.