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Genetics of Biodegradation and Bioremediation 2.0
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Genetics of Biodegradation and Bioremediation 2.0

A special issue of Genes (ISSN 2073-4425). This special issue belongs to the section "Microbial Genetics and Genomics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 February 2022) | Viewed by 1968

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Regina-Michaela Wittich

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Environmental Protection, Environmental Microbiology and Biodegradation Group, Estación Experimental del Zaidín, Spanish High Council for Scientific Research – CSIC, Calle Profesor Albareda 1, E-18008 Granada, Spain
Interests: molecular biology, biochemistry and physiology of the bacterial biodegradation of toxic organic contaminants such as dioxins, PCBs, explosives, pesticides, and pharmaceuticals of environmental concern; aerobic processes and anaerobic dehalogenations; metabolic engineering
Dr. Pieter van Dillewijn

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Estación Experimental del Zaidín, Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), 1, 18008 Granada, Spain
Interests: bioremediation; biodegradation; emerging contaminants; explosives; PAHs; pesticides; microbiology; microbial biodiversity
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the exploitation of natural resources and the mass production of chemical goods, accompanied by the generation of unwanted by-products together with inappropriate disposal, has led to considerable contamination of the entire environment, with substantial detrimental side-effects. Apart from deposition in special disposal sites (contained landfills) and the physico-chemical treatment of such wastes and contaminated environments, biological processes driven by the catalytic activities of microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, and algae have been used as green alternatives in the process of bioremediation. In order to deepen our understanding and to further improve this technology of biodegradation and bioremediation, a more profound scientific background needs to be investigated at the physiological, taxonomical, biochemical (enzymatic), and genetic level. Whilst there was first a focus on singular organisms, newer approaches using the “omics” methodologies have led to a more intense understanding of the very complex activities and interactions of microbial consortia involved.

This Special Issue is a follow-up of a preceding Special Issue on this topic (see: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/genes/special_issues/biodeg_biorem#editors). As before, this Special Issue intends to publish original research and reviews covering the identification and characterization of biodegradative and associative genes and their respective operons, catabolic mobile genetic elements, and all related aspects of regulation, including the use of omics or metagenomics techniques toward this end.

Prof. Dr. Regina-Michaela Wittich
Dr. Pieter van Dillewijn
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Genes is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • environmental pollution biodegrading single organisms and microbial consortia
  • metabolic pathways
  • microbial production of value-added products
  • molecular biology of catabolic plasmids
  • metagenomics
  • anaerobic degradation and anoxic dehalogenation
  • bioremediation
  • mobile DNA
  • gene regulation
  • transport
  • regulatory circuits
  • biomonitoring

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

14 pages, 2158 KiB  
Article
Biodegradation of Microtoxic Phenylpropanoids (Phenylpropanoic Acid and Ibuprofen) by Bacteria and the Relevance for Their Removal from Wastewater Treatment Plants
by Regina-Michaela Wittich, Ali Haïdour, Inés Aguilar-Romero, Jesús de la Torre-Zúñiga and Pieter van Dillewijn
Genes 2023, 14(2), 442; https://doi.org/10.3390/genes14020442 - 09 Feb 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1565
Abstract
The NSAID ibuprofen (2-(4-isobutylphenyl)propanoic acid) and the structurally related 3-phenylpropanoic acid (3PPA), are widely used pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) which enter municipal waste streams but whose relatively low rates of elimination by wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are leading to the contamination [...] Read more.
The NSAID ibuprofen (2-(4-isobutylphenyl)propanoic acid) and the structurally related 3-phenylpropanoic acid (3PPA), are widely used pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) which enter municipal waste streams but whose relatively low rates of elimination by wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are leading to the contamination of aquatic resources. Here, we report the isolation of three bacterial strains from a municipal WWTP, which as a consortium are capable of mineralizing ibuprofen. These were identified as the Pseudomonas citronellolis species, termed RW422, RW423 and RW424, in which the first two of these isolates were shown to contain the catabolic ipf operon responsible for the first steps of ibuprofen mineralization. These ipf genes which are associated with plasmids could, experimentally, only be transferred between other Sphingomonadaceae species, such as from the ibuprofen degrading Sphingopyxis granuli RW412 to the dioxins degrading Rhizorhabdus wittichii RW1, generating RW421, whilst a transfer from the P. citronellolis isolates to R. wittichii RW1 was not observed. RW412 and its derivative, RW421, as well as the two-species consortium RW422/RW424, can also mineralize 3PPA. We show that IpfF can convert 3PPA to 3PPA-CoA; however, the growth of RW412 with 3PPA produces a major intermediate that was identified by NMR to be cinnamic acid. This and the identification of other minor products from 3PPA allows us to propose the major pathway used by RW412 to mineralize 3PPA. Altogether, the findings in this study highlight the importance of ipf genes, horizontal gene transfer, and alternative catabolic pathways in the bacterial populations of WWTPs to eliminate ibuprofen and 3PPA. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Genetics of Biodegradation and Bioremediation 2.0)
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