Metabolic Pathway Analysis of Nitrogen and Phosphorus Uptake by the Consortium between C. vulgaris and P. aeruginosa.

Anthropogenic activities have increased the amount of urban wastewater discharged into natural aquatic reservoirs containing a high amount of nutrients such as phosphorus (Pi and PO 4 - 3 ), nitrogen (NH 3 and NO 3 - ) and organic contaminants. Most of the urban wastewater in Mexico do not receive any treatment to remove nutrients. Several studies have reported that an alternative to reduce those contaminants is using consortiums of microalgae and endogenous bacteria. In this research, a genome-scale biochemical reaction network is reconstructed for the co-culture between the microalga Chlorella vulgaris and the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Metabolic Pathway Analysis (MPA), is applied to understand the metabolic capabilities of the co-culture and to elucidate the best conditions in removing nutrients. Theoretical yields for phosphorus removal under photoheterotrophic conditions are calculated, determining their values as 0.042 mmol of PO 4 - 3 per g DW of C. vulgaris, 19.43 mmol of phosphorus (Pi) per g DW of C. vulgaris and 4.90 mmol of phosphorus (Pi) per g DW of P. aeruginosa. Similarly, according to the genome-scale biochemical reaction network the theoretical yields for nitrogen removal are 10.3 mmol of NH 3 per g DW of P. aeruginosa and 7.19 mmol of NO 3 - per g DW of C. vulgaris. Thus, this research proves the metabolic capacity of these microorganisms in removing nutrients and their theoretical yields are calculated.

Evaluation of nutrients removal (NO3-N, NH3-N and PO4-P) with Chlorella vulgaris, Pseudomonas putida, Bacillus cereus and a consortium of these microorganisms in the treatment of wastewater effluents.

In this research removal of NH3-N, NO3-N and PO4-P nutrients from municipal wastewater was studied, using Chlorella vulgaris, Pseudomonas putida, Bacillus cereus and an artificial consortium of them. The objective is to analyze the performance of these microorganisms and their consortium, which has not been previously studied for nutrient removal in municipal wastewater. A model wastewater was prepared simulating the physicochemical characteristics found at the wastewater plant in Chapala, Mexico. Experiments were carried out without adding an external carbon source. Results indicate that nutrient removal with Chlorella vulgaris was the most efficient with a removal of 24.03% of NO3-N, 80.62% of NH3-N and 4.30% of PO4-P. With Bacillus cereus the results were 8.40% of NO3-N, 28.80% of NH3-N and 3.80% of PO4-P. The removals with Pseudomonas putida were 2.50% of NO3-N, 41.80 of NH3-N and 4.30% of PO4-P. The consortium of Chlorella vulgaris-Bacillus cereus-Pseudomonas putida removed 29.40% of NO3-N, 4.2% of NH3-N and 8.4% of PO4-P. The highest biomass production was with Bacillus cereus (450 mg/l) followed by Pseudomonas putida (444 mg/l), the consortium (205 mg/l) and Chlorella vulgaris (88.9 mg/l). This study highlights the utility of these microorganisms for nutrient removal in wastewater treatments.

Estimation of metabolic fluxes distribution in Saccharomyces cerevisiae during the production of volatile compounds of Tequila.

A stoichiometric model for Saccharomyces cerevisiae is reconstructed to analyze the continuous fermentation process of agave juice in Tequila production. The metabolic model contains 94 metabolites and 117 biochemical reactions. From the above set of reactions, 93 of them are linked to internal biochemical reactions and 24 are related to transport fluxes between the medium and the cell. The central metabolism of S. cerevisiae includes the synthesis for 20 amino-acids, carbohydrates, lipids, DNA and RNA. Using flux balance analysis (FBA), different physiological states of S. cerevisiae are shown during the fermentative process; these states are compared with experimental data under different dilution rates (0.04-0.12 h$ ^{-1} $). Moreover, the model performs anabolic and catabolic biochemical reactions for the production of higher alcohols. The importance of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae genomic model in the area of alcoholic beverage fermentation is due to the fact that it allows to estimate the metabolic fluxes during the beverage fermentation process and a physiology state of the microorganism.

Microorganisms associated to tomato seedlings growing in saline culture act as osmoprotectant.

Less than 0.5% of total water in the world is available for human consumption and agriculture. The major part of the world's water is saline and salinity in soils interferes in germination of seeds and the posterior development of the plant. In order to increase the osmotolerance of tomato, seedlings were associated with Azospirillum brasilense Cd, Azospirillum brasilense Cd transformed bacteria with a plasmid harboring a trehalose biosynthesis gene-fusion or Chlorella vulgaris. Two plant culture media: Hydroponic and Murashige and Skoog were tested. In the first set of studies seedlings were associated to single free cells meanwhile in a second set single and combined free cells were studied. A positive interaction between transformed Azospirillum and Chlorella vulagris and tomato plants was observed. Seedlings showed a salt concentration tolerance, as sodium chloride, up to 200 mM. According to our results, the association of plants with A. brasilense Cd-BIF and C. vulgaris is a viable approach to increase their salt tolerance and biomass, as consequence the possible use of sea water to irrigate horticultural plants.

Microorganisms associated to tomato seedlings growing in saline culture act as osmoprotectant

Less than 0.5% of total water in the world is available for human consumption and agriculture. The major part of the world's water is saline and salinity in soils interferes in germination of seeds and the posterior development of the plant. In order to increase the osmotolerance of tomato, seedlings were associated with Azospirillum brasilense Cd, Azospirillum brasilense Cd transformed bacteria with a plasmid harboring a trehalose biosynthesis gene-fusion or Chlorella vulgaris. Two plant culture media: Hydroponic and Murashige and Skoog were tested. In the first set of studies seedlings were associated to single free cells meanwhile in a second set single and combined free cells were studied. A positive interaction between transformed Azospirillum and Chlorella vulagris and tomato plants was observed. Seedlings showed a salt concentration tolerance, as sodium chloride, up to 200 mM. According to our results, the association of plants with A. brasilense Cd-BIF and C. vulgaris is a viable approach to increase their salt tolerance and biomass, as consequence the possible use of sea water to irrigate horticultural plants.