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38
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May 2018 - April 2020
Publications
Publications (38)
Spillage from oil refineries, pipelines, and service stations consistently leads to soil, food and groundwater contamination. Bacterial-assisted phytoremediation is a non-invasive and sustainable solution to eliminate or decrease the concentration of xenobiotic contaminants in the environment. In the present study, a protected area interested by a...
Identifying sustainable remediation technologies means foreseeing the use of
technologies with low environmental impact, the use of renewable energy sources and
the use of environmentally friendly materials, involving the use of biological or other methods, like innovative technologies that reduce the need for excavation and earthmoving.
Safety at...
Abiotic factors and rhizosphere microbial populations influence arsenic accumulation in rice grains. Despite mineral and organic surfaces are keystones in element cycling, localization of specific microbial reactions in the root/soil/pore water system is still unclear. Here, we tested if original unplanted soil, rhizosphere soil, and pore water rep...
Chlorinated ethene contamination is a worldwide relevant health issue. In anaerobic aquifers, highly chlorinated ethenes are transformed by microbially-mediated organohalide respiration metabolism. For this reason, in the last few years, bioremediation interventions have been developed and employed in situ for aquifer decontamination. Biostimulatio...
The dark fermentation of lignocellulose hydrolysates is a promising process for the production of hydrogen from renewable sources. Nevertheless, hydrogen yields are often lower than those obtained from other carbohydrate sources due to the presence of microbial growth inhibitors in lignocellulose hydrolysates. In this study, a microbial consortium...
In this study, a biosorption system for nickel (Ni2+) and copper (Cu2+) removal by selected exopolymeric substance-producing bacterial strains was evaluated from the perspective of water remediation. A preliminary screening in a biofilm-based filtration system allowed the selection of two best-performing Serratia plymuthica strains for specific Ni2...
Studies about biodegradation potential in soils often refer to artificially contaminated and simplified systems, overlooking the complexity associated with contaminated sites in a real context. This work aims to provide a holistic view on microbiome assembly and functional diversity in the model site SIN Brescia-Caffaro (Italy), characterized by hi...
The recycling of heavy metal contaminants from wastewater as a source of valuable products perfectly fits with the principles of a Circular Economy system in view of restoring pollutants back into the system endowed with new social and economic benefits. Heavy metals are often present in such a low concentration that it makes the removal efficiency...
Microbial recycling cells (MRCs) are a category of microbial electrochemical technologies aimed at recovering plant nutrients from agro-food wastewater and recycling them as fertilizers. Here, we used terracotta as a biocompatible and low-cost material to fabricate porous air-water separators. At the interface, access to oxygen induces a red-ox gra...
In this study, a bioremediation approach was evaluated for the decontamination of an aquifer affected by the release of organohalides by an industrial landfill. After preliminary physicochemical and microbiological characterization of the landfill groundwater, the stimulation of natural organohalide respiration by the addition of a reducing substra...
Arsenic mobilization in groundwater systems is driven by a variety of functionally diverse microorganisms and complex interconnections between different physicochemical factors. In order to unravel this great ecosystem complexity, groundwaters with varying background concentrations and speciation of arsenic were considered in the Po Plain (Northern...
Iron- and sulfur-oxidizing bacteria inhabiting rice rhizoplane play a significant role on arsenic biogeochemistry in flooded rice paddies, influencing arsenic translocation to rice grains. In the present study, the selective pressure of arsenic species on these microbial populations was evaluated. Rice roots from continuously flooded plants were in...
Arsenic contamination of groundwater aquifers is an issue of global concern. Among the affected sites, in several Italian groundwater aquifers arsenic levels above the WHO limits for drinking water are present, with consequent issues of public concern. In this study, for the first time, the role of microbial communities in metalloid cycling in grou...
The industrial synthesis (Haber-Bosch process) of mineral-N has been showing its dark side. Facing the enormous challenge of feeding humankind new technological solutions should enable sustainable nitrogen (N) fixation, to preserve soil fertility. We introduce a new type of microbial electrosynthesis, aimed at simultaneously fixing N2 and inorganic...
The industrial synthesis (Haber-Bosch process) of mineral-N has been showing its dark side. Facing the enormous challenge of feeding humankind new technological solutions should enable sustainable nitrogen (N) fixation, to preserve soil fertility. We introduce a new type of microbial electrosynthesis, aimed at simultaneously fixing N 2 and inorgani...
Ingestion of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) is inevitable linked to their widespread use in food, medicines and other consumer products. However, their effects on human microbiota at non-lethal concentrations remain poorly understood. In this study, the interactions among 1 μg mL⁻¹ AgNPs, the intestinal microbiota, and the probiotic Bacillus subtilis...
A new approach to microbial electrosynthesis is proposed, aimed at producing whole biomass from N2 and inorganic carbon, by electrostimulation of complex microbial communities. On a carbon-based conductor under constant polarization (−0.7 V vs SHE), an electroactive biofilm was enriched with autotrophic nitrogen fixing microorganims and led to biom...
The industrial synthesis (Haber-Bosch process) of mineral-N has been showing its dark side. Facing the enormous challenge of feeding humankind new technological solutions should enable sustainable nitrogen (N) fixation, to preserve soil fertility. We introduce a new type of microbial electrosynthesis, aimed at simultaneously fixing N2 and inorganic...
Arsenic (As) is one of the most toxic and widely distributed element in the environment. Aquatic microorganisms are able to resist to high As concentration and/or metabolize it, with metabolic potentialities suitable for biotechnological applications. In particular, microbiological As(III)-oxidation is one of the most promising application as a pre...
Achromobacter sp. strain N2 was isolated from a pyrite-cinder-contaminated soil and presented plant growth promoting traits (ACC deaminase activity, production of indole-3-acetic and jasmonic acids, siderophores secretion, and phosphate solubilization) and arsenic transformation abilities. Achromobacter sp. strain N2 was resistant to different meta...
Nitrospirae spp. distantly related to thermophilic, sulfate-reducing Thermodesulfovibrio species are regularly observed in environmental surveys of anoxic marine and freshwater habitats. Here we present a metaproteogenomic analysis of Nitrospirae bacterium Nbg-4 as a representative of this clade. Its genome was assembled from replicated metagenomes...
Arsenic (As) is a toxic element released in aquatic environments by geogenic processes or anthropic activities. To counteract its toxicity, several microorganisms have developed mechanisms to tolerate and utilize it for respiratory metabolism. However, still little is known about identity and physiological properties of microorganisms exposed to na...
Recently, terracotta has attracted interest as low-cost and biocompatible material to build separators in microbial
fuel cells (MFCs). However, the influence of a non-conductive material like terracotta on electroactive
microbiological communities remains substantially unexplored. This study aims at describing the microbial
pools developed from two...
We propose a comparison of different microbial communities enriched in four different designs of MFCs: gas diffusion layer (GDL) cathodes exposed to MFC1) air; MFC2) photosynthetic cultures; MFC3) water; and MFC4) air-cathodes separated by a terracotta membrane. All anodic chambers were inoculated with the same swine-farming wastewater and run for...
Nitrospirae spp. distantly related to thermophilic, sulfate-reducing Thermodesulfovibrio species are regularly observed in environmental surveys of anoxic marine and freshwater habitats. However, little is known about their genetic make-up and physiology. Here, we present the draft genome of Nitrospirae bacterium Nbg-4 as a representative of this c...
In recent years, the role of microorganisms inhabiting rice rhizosphere in promoting arsenic contamination has emerged. However, little is known concerning the species and metabolic properties involved in this phenomenon. In this study, the influence of water management on the rhizosphere microbiota in relation to arsenic dissolution in soil soluti...
Dissolved oxygen (DO) at cathodic interface is a critical factor influencing microbial fuel cells (MFC) performance. In this work, three MFCs were operated with cathode under different DO conditions: i) air–breathing (A-MFC); ii) water-submerged (W-MFC) and iii) assisted by photosynthetic microorganisms (P-MFC). A plateau of maximum current was rea...
Rice paddies are indispensable for human food supply but emit large amounts of the greenhouse gas methane. Sulfur cycling occurs at high rates in these water-submerged soils and controls methane production, an effect that is increased by sulfate-containing fertilizers or soil amendments. We grew rice plants until their late vegetative phase with an...