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Remediation of Organically Contaminated Soil Through the Combination of Assisted Phytoremediation and Bioaugmentation

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Authors: Mikel Anza, Oihane Salazar, Lur Epelde, José María Becerril, Itziar Alkorta and Carlos Garbisu

Journal: Applied Sciences

Vol: 9, 4757; doi:10.3390/app9224757

Date: 2019

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Here, we aimed to bioremediate organically contaminated soil with Brassica napus and a bacterial consortium. The bioaugmentation consortium consisted of four endophyte strains that showed plant growth-promoting traits (three Pseudomonas and one Microbacterium) plus three strains with the capacity to degrade organic compounds (Burkholderia xenovorans LB400, Paenibacillus sp. and Lysinibacillus sp.). The organically contaminated soil was supplemented with rhamnolipid biosurfactant and sodium dodecyl benzenesulfonate to increase the degradability of the sorbed contaminants. Soils were treated with organic amendments (composted horse manure vs. dried cow slurry) to promote plant growth and stimulate soil microbial activity. Apart from quantification of the expected decrease in contaminant concentrations (total petroleum hydrocarbons, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons), the e ectiveness of our approach was assessed in terms of the recovery of soil health, as reflected by the values of di erent microbial indicators of soil health. Although the
applied treatments did not achieve a significant decrease in contaminant concentrations, a significant improvement of soil health was observed in our amended soils (especially in soils amended with dried cow slurry), pointing out a not-so-uncommon situation in which remediation e orts fail from the point of view of the reduction in contaminant concentrations while succeeding to recover soil health.

Type IV coupling proteins as potential targets to control the dissemination of antibiotic resistance

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Authors: Álvarez-Rodríguez I, Arana L, Ugarte-Uribe B, Gómez-Rubio E, Martín-Santamaría S, Garbisu C, Alkorta I
Title: Type IV coupling proteins as potential targets to control the dissemination of antibiotic resistance
Journal:  Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences
Vol: 7, 201 Date: 2020
https://doi:10.3389/fmolb.2020.00201

The increase of infections caused by multidrug-resistant bacteria, together with the loss of effectiveness of currently available antibiotics, represents one of the most serious threats to public health worldwide. The loss of human lives and the economic costs associated to the problem of the dissemination of antibiotic resistance require immediate action. Bacteria, known by their great genetic plasticity, are capable not only of mutating their genes to adapt to disturbances and environmental changes but also of acquiring new genes that allow them to survive in hostile environments, such as in the presence of antibiotics. One of the major mechanisms responsible for the horizontal acquisition of new genes (e.g., antibiotic resistance genes) is bacterial conjugation, a process mediated by mobile genetic elements such as conjugative plasmids and integrative conjugative elements. Conjugative plasmids harboring antibiotic resistance genes can be transferred from a donor to a recipient bacterium in a process that requires physical contact. After conjugation, the recipient bacterium not only harbors the antibiotic resistance genes but it can also transfer the acquired plasmid to other bacteria, thus contributing to the spread of antibiotic resistance. Conjugative plasmids have genes that encode all the proteins necessary for the conjugation to take place, such as the type IV coupling proteins (T4CPs) present in all conjugative plasmids. Type VI coupling proteins constitute a heterogeneous family of hexameric ATPases that use energy from the ATP hydrolysis for plasmid transfer. Taking into account their essential role in bacterial conjugation, T4CPs are attractive targets for the inhibition of bacterial conjugation and, concomitantly, the limitation of antibiotic resistance dissemination. This review aims to compile present knowledge on T4CPs as a starting point for delving into their molecular structure and functioning in future studies. Likewise, the scientific literature on bacterial conjugation inhibitors has been reviewed here, in an attempt to elucidate the possibility of designing T4CP-inhibitors as a potential solution to the dissemination of multidrug-resistant bacteria.