Emerging investigator series: the role of phage lifestyle in wastewater microbial community structures and functions: insights into diverse microbial environments
Title: Emerging investigator series: the role of phage lifestyle in wastewater microbial community structures and functions: insights into diverse microbial environments
For over a century, environmental engineers have attempted to control the prokaryotic community biological wastewater treatment processes, but there is growing interest in both understanding and harnessing the activity of phages in wastewater bioprocesses. While phages are known to be present and abundant, their ecological role, potential benefits, and impacts on wastewater biological processes are not fully understood. Fundamental knowledge on how phages infect host cells from relatively simple pure culture studies alongside environmental studies from marine and soil systems can be used to predict the potential impact of phages in diverse and dynamic wastewater environments. This frontier review is focused on what is known about the molecular mechanisms by which phages infect bacteria and how that could apply to biological process control and operation within wastewater treatment systems. Here, we specifically focus on highlights from studies on the molecular mechanisms that drive lysis and lysogeny within phage cells and the impacts on the dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes and nutrient removal within a biological wastewater process. more »« less
Kosmopoulos, James C; Campbell, Danielle E; Whitaker, Rachel J; Wilbanks, Elizabeth G
(, Applied and Environmental Microbiology)
Vives, Martha
(Ed.)
Phages, which are viruses that infect bacteria, are important components of all microbial systems, in which they drive the turnover of organic matter by lysing host cells, facilitate horizontal gene transfer (HGT), and coevolve with their bacterial hosts. Bacteria resist phage infection, which is often costly or lethal, through a diversity of mechanisms.
Gude, Veera Gnaneswar
(, Clean technologies and environmental policy)
Current wastewater treatment processes such as activated sludge process and other aeration technologies are resourceconsuming and are unsustainable. Novel and integrated processes are crucial to the development of sustainable wastewater treatment systems. In this context, anaerobic treatment technologies provide numerous opportunities for minimization of energy and resource consumption and maximization of beneficial products. Further, integration of anaerobic digestion augmented by co-digestion, fermentation, dark fermentation or photo-fermentation and other bioelectrochemical systems may result in resource-efficient waste management and environmental protection. This mini-review discusses various possibilities and highlights recent developments of integrated aerobic and anaerobic technologies with bioelectrochemical systems for sustainable wastewater treatment.
Bose, Arpita; Esteve-Núñez, Abraham; Muniesa-Merino, Fernando
(, Open Access Government)
Purple phototrophic bacteria and microbial electrochemical technologies: A new biorefinery concept for wastewater treatmentThe shift towards sustainable wastewater treatment focuses on nutrient recovery through biorefineries, highlighting the importance of microalgae, cyanobacteria, and, more recently, purple phototrophic bacteria for their metabolic flexibility and adaptability. Activated sludge has been the primary strategy for wastewater treatment worldwide for the last century. The efficiency of this process has improved the quality of life and reduced the impact of wastewater on the ecosystem by preventing eutrophication processes. However, given the energetic demand for wastewater treatment, the strategy is now shifting towards nutrient recovery from wastewater instead of pollutant removal (Verstraete et al., 2009).
Esteves, Nathaniel C.; Scharf, Birgit E.
(, International Journal of Molecular Sciences)
Bacteriophages (phages) are the most abundant biological entities in the biosphere. As viruses that solely infect bacteria, phages have myriad healthcare and agricultural applications including phage therapy and antibacterial treatments in the foodservice industry. Phage therapy has been explored since the turn of the twentieth century but was no longer prioritized following the invention of antibiotics. As we approach a post-antibiotic society, phage therapy research has experienced a significant resurgence for the use of phages against antibiotic-resistant bacteria, a growing concern in modern medicine. Phages are extraordinarily diverse, as are their host receptor targets. Flagellotropic (flagellum-dependent) phages begin their infection cycle by attaching to the flagellum of their motile host, although the later stages of the infection process of most of these phages remain elusive. Flagella are helical appendages required for swimming and swarming motility and are also of great importance for virulence in many pathogenic bacteria of clinical relevance. Not only is bacterial motility itself frequently important for virulence, as it allows pathogenic bacteria to move toward their host and find nutrients more effectively, but flagella can also serve additional functions including mediating bacterial adhesion to surfaces. Flagella are also a potent antigen recognized by the human immune system. Phages utilizing the flagellum for infections are of particular interest due to the unique evolutionary tradeoff they force upon their hosts: by downregulating or abolishing motility to escape infection by a flagellotropic phage, a pathogenic bacterium would also likely attenuate its virulence. This factor may lead to flagellotropic phages becoming especially potent antibacterial agents. This review outlines past, present, and future research of flagellotropic phages, including their molecular mechanisms of infection and potential future applications.
McMillan, Hannah M.; Rogers, Nicholas; Wadle, Austin; Hsu-Kim, Heileen; Wiesner, Mark R.; Kuehn, Meta J.; Hendren, Christine Ogilvie
(, Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts)
null
(Ed.)
All cells produce extracellular vesicles (EVs). These biological packages contain complex mixtures of molecular cargo and have a variety of functions, including interkingdom communication. Recent discoveries highlight the roles microbial EVs may play in the environment with respect to interactions with plants as well as nutrient cycling. These studies have also identified molecules present within EVs and associated with EV surfaces that contribute to these functions. In parallel, studies of engineered nanomaterials have developed methods to track and model small particle behavior in complex systems and measure the relative importance of various surface features on transport and function. While studies of EV behavior in complex environmental conditions have not yet employed transdisciplinary approaches, it is increasingly clear that expertise from disparate fields will be critical to understand the role of EVs in these systems. Here, we outline how the convergence of biology, soil geochemistry, and colloid science can both develop and address questions surrounding the basic principles governing EV-mediated interkingdom interactions.
Delgado Vela, Jeseth, and Al-Faliti, Mitham. Emerging investigator series: the role of phage lifestyle in wastewater microbial community structures and functions: insights into diverse microbial environments. Retrieved from https://par.nsf.gov/biblio/10429704. Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology . Web. doi:10.1039/D2EW00755J.
Delgado Vela, Jeseth, & Al-Faliti, Mitham. Emerging investigator series: the role of phage lifestyle in wastewater microbial community structures and functions: insights into diverse microbial environments. Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology, (). Retrieved from https://par.nsf.gov/biblio/10429704. https://doi.org/10.1039/D2EW00755J
Delgado Vela, Jeseth, and Al-Faliti, Mitham.
"Emerging investigator series: the role of phage lifestyle in wastewater microbial community structures and functions: insights into diverse microbial environments". Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology (). Country unknown/Code not available. https://doi.org/10.1039/D2EW00755J.https://par.nsf.gov/biblio/10429704.
@article{osti_10429704,
place = {Country unknown/Code not available},
title = {Emerging investigator series: the role of phage lifestyle in wastewater microbial community structures and functions: insights into diverse microbial environments},
url = {https://par.nsf.gov/biblio/10429704},
DOI = {10.1039/D2EW00755J},
abstractNote = {For over a century, environmental engineers have attempted to control the prokaryotic community biological wastewater treatment processes, but there is growing interest in both understanding and harnessing the activity of phages in wastewater bioprocesses. While phages are known to be present and abundant, their ecological role, potential benefits, and impacts on wastewater biological processes are not fully understood. Fundamental knowledge on how phages infect host cells from relatively simple pure culture studies alongside environmental studies from marine and soil systems can be used to predict the potential impact of phages in diverse and dynamic wastewater environments. This frontier review is focused on what is known about the molecular mechanisms by which phages infect bacteria and how that could apply to biological process control and operation within wastewater treatment systems. Here, we specifically focus on highlights from studies on the molecular mechanisms that drive lysis and lysogeny within phage cells and the impacts on the dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes and nutrient removal within a biological wastewater process.},
journal = {Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology},
author = {Delgado Vela, Jeseth and Al-Faliti, Mitham},
}
Warning: Leaving National Science Foundation Website
You are now leaving the National Science Foundation website to go to a non-government website.
Website:
NSF takes no responsibility for and exercises no control over the views expressed or the accuracy of
the information contained on this site. Also be aware that NSF's privacy policy does not apply to this site.
An official website of the United States government
