Shaon Ray Chaudhuri

• PhD (Molecular Biology)
• Professor (Full) at Tripura University

Sulphate-reducing bacteria (SRB) have emerged as versatile bioremediation microbes, showcasing promising capabilities in treating sulphate-laden wastewater contaminated with various pollutants resulting from extreme environmental conditions induced by anthropogenic activities. This review delves into the intricacies of the mechanisms of SRB action,...

Hexamethylenetetramine (HMT) (often known as methenamine, urotropine, and hexamine) is the heterocyclic non-aromatic amine (CH2)6N4 with a symmetrical three-dimensional structure. It is one of the most recalcitrant pollutants, which is generated from rubber manufacturing units (additive), plastic manufacturing units, explosive production plants, ph...

Life on Earth had been continuously evolving for millennia, with living organisms colonizing every suitable ecosystem on the biosphere. Prokaryotes are the apex life form in this evolutionary track that has pushed the boundaries in which life can exist. Microscopic life forms have been thriving under extreme conditions on the planets like high pres...

Life on Earth had been continuously evolving for millennia, with living organisms colonizing every suitable ecosystem on the biosphere. Prokaryotes are the apex life form in this evolutionary track that has pushed the boundaries in which life can exist. Microscopic life forms have been thriving under extreme conditions on the planets like high pres...

The need for alternative sources of renewable fuel was felt in 1970–1980 with research being directed toward exploring algae as the starter material for biofuel production. Algal varieties are enormous and its potential for biofuel production is immense and much higher than any land plant-based product. However, there are limitations in terms of ma...

Freshwater scarcity is a global problem that pertains to the ever-increasing population, contamination of freshwater by wastewater generated from different anthropogenic sources as well as misuse of freshwater for secondary (non-potable) applications. Later two issues could be addressed through the appropriate implementation of Microbial Technology...

The major bottleneck of dairy effluent treatment plant operation is the generation of 10 m3 of nutrient rich wastewater per m3 of milk processed resulting in an annual production of 7.93 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2 e) gas during treatment in a 7–8 step process. It is an expensive, non-ecofriendly, laborious process which is often not ado...

Petrochemical wastewater is challenging to treat due to their multipollutant and refractory nature. Thirty-one indigenous bacterial strains belonging to Firmicutes and Proteobacteria were isolated from the effluent treatment plant of a liquid cargo terminal at Vishakhapatnam, India. Bacillus was the most abundant genera, followed by Vibrio, Staphyl...

Dairy industries are highly polluting, energy and fresh water consuming installations. The present study aims to make dairy effluent treatment plant operation less time consuming with minimal energy consumption while generating a value added product. Analysis of the temporal and spatial variation in performance of a biofilm based plug flow reactor...

Presence of higher concentration of ammonia (> 0.5 mg/L) as well as nitrite (> 0.2 mg/L) in aquaculture environment create difficulties for fish survival. The existing methods for removal of these pollutants are time-consuming. A stable biofilm-based system for ammonia removal from aquaculture wastewater was developed in the current study to overco...

Ramie, the king of natural fibers, has an important place in the global textile market. Many countries have climate suitable for growing Ramie including the north eastern region of India, but the raw material used globally comes from China, Indonesia, Philippines, Korea, Vietnam, and Japan. This study reports the implementation of organic Ramie...

The present study attempts to integrate phyco-remediation and enhanced lipid productivity using microalgae-bacterial consortium enriched from wastewater fed aquaculture pond. Metagenomic analyses and microscopic images of the consortium revealed the presence of Chlorella variabilis, Parachlorella kessleri, Thermosynechococcus elongatus, Chlamydomon...

Ammonia toxicity in water bodies is a global problem. Different approaches have been adopted to get the ammonia concentration in water back to permitted level (0.5 mg L⁻¹ for aquaculture and 5 mg L⁻¹ for environmental discharge). The existing techniques are elaborate and time consuming, often not economically viable. This study reports a single uni...

Dairy industry generates copious amount of wastewater from its milk processing unit (1 to10 m³ of wastewater per m³ of processed milk) which needs to be treated before getting discharged. The conventional treatment processes are tedious, energy intensive, and an additional burden for the dairy industry. This study attempts to develop an alternative...

Textile industries are currently not showing much interest in Ramie fibers due to the difficulties associated with their post-harvest downstream processing. The degumming chemicals are often detrimental to the environment upon discharged. Chemical degumming alone results in fibril-released coarse and brittle fibers. This problem has been addressed...

Modified medium DSMZ 641 used for the growth of SRB consortium developed in the laboratory through enrichment of soil slurry from wastewater fed aquaculture pond at Kolkata India, contained various components that added to the Chemical Oxygen Demand of the solution, making large scale operations using this consortium non-viable. The minimal medium...

Rice ( Oryza sativa L.) is one of the main staples around the world, especially in Asia, the most consuming region. Rice cultivation currently faces many environmental problems caused by the contribution of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The objective of this review work was to document the main findings on the use of Trichoderma species in r...

Dairy wastewater (DWW) is nutritionally rich and extremely hazardous to the environment if discharged untreated. The conventional treatment is time-, labor-, and energy-intensive. A tailor-made microbial consortium converted DWW into a biofertilizer with the ability to enhance biomass and yield in mung bean (Vigna radiata var. MEHA). The consortium...

Biofilm is the predominant microbial state, an efficient means of survival in most natural habitats, in association with a surface [1]. Surface-attached microbial aggregates frequently embedded in a self-produced matrix of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) have also been reported on the leaf surface [2], which gets stimulated by aqueous phyt...

The study reports chemically characterised Myristica fragrans essential oil (MFEO) as plant based food preservative against fungal and aflatoxin B 1 (AFB 1) contamination of scented rice varieties. The chemical profile of MFEO revealed elemicin (27.08%), myristicine (21.29%) and thujanol (18.55%) as major components. The minimum inhibitory and mini...

BACKGROUND Municipal wastewater usually contains nitrate and phosphate as major contaminants, and if discharged untreated affects the health of the environment and human population. Currently available treatment technologies to treat municipal wastewater lose the essential growth nutrients ‘P’ and ‘N’ during treatment. This paper presents a strateg...

The rapid industrialization and urbanization of developing countries such as India have encroached on cultivable lands to meet the demands of an ever-increasing population. The altered land use patterns with increased fertilizer use has increased crop yields with leaching of major portion of the applied nutrients from the soil. Nitrates and phospha...

The rapid industrialization and urbanization of developing countries such as India have encroached on cultivable lands to meet the demands of an ever-increasing population. The altered land use patterns with increased fertilizer use has increased crop yields with leaching of major portion of the applied nutrients from the soil. Nitrates and phospha...

Biological treatment of wastewater is a low-cost solution for remediation of wastewater. This book focuses on the bioremediation of wastewater, its management, monitoring, role of biofilms on wastewater treatment and energy recovery. It emphasizes on organic, inorganic and micropollutants entering into the environment after conventional wastewater...

A packed bed bioreactor efficiently treated low-level radioactive waste for years with a retention time of 24 h using acetate as the sole carbon source. However, there was generation of dead biomass. This bioreactor biomass was used to develop a bacterial consortium, which could perform the function within 4 h while simultaneously accumulating nitr...

Reported here is the draft genome sequence of an amylase-, protease-, DNase-, oxidase-, gelatinase-, and catalase-producing, Gram-positive diplobacillus (Bacillus sp. SM1 strain MCC2138), which was isolated from marine coastal waters and has the ability to degum raw silk fabric as well as Ramie fiber. The genome comprises 1.76 Mb with a GC content...

[1] Department of Microbiology, Tripura University, Suryamaninagar, Tripura West, India [2] Department of Biotechnology, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology, West Bengal (formerly known as West Bengal University of Technology), Salt Lake, Kolkata, India [3] Centre of Excellence in Environmental Technology and Management, Maulana Abul K...

This is a case study of successful transfer of traditional waste water aquaculture (Bheri) technology followed at East Kolkata Wetland from India to Bangladesh. The waste water aquaculture which has been failing for couple of decades in Bangladesh could be revived using the well documented and scientifically explored pond preparation and management...

Each plant has its own native epiphytic population which is distinct from that of other plants in the vicinity. Their high tolerance to physical and chemical stresses renders them unique from other bacterial population. Phyllosphere being considered most nutrient scarce terrestrial habitat provoked us to understand the underlying mechanisms of sele...

Cost effective, ecofriendly microbial degumming of Ramie bast fiber using Bacillus sp MCC2138 with the ability to utilize 86% of the fiber gum as feed was demonstrated at the laboratory scale. 72 hour incubation at room temperature with the isolate resulted in additional 48.2% gum loss as compared to natural retting. The biologically treated fibers...

Nitrate is the second largest contaminant of agriculture soil after pesticides. It also is a major pollutant from nuclear and metallurgical operations. Conventional methods for nitrate removal suffers from high cost and complexity leaving bioremediation as a viable alternative strategy. A pilot plant of 2.5 m(3) /day capacity has been functioning s...

Ammonia is required for various commercial applications while its production by standard process is immensely energy intense. Dairy industry on the other hand produces huge volume of effluent needing treatment before discharge. This study aims at developing an eco-friendly microbial approach for conversion of dairy industry effluent into ammonia un...

The draft genome sequence of an amylase-, protease-, lipase-, oxidase-, and catalase-producing Gram-negative bacillus (Aeromonas sp. MDS8 strain MCC2167) with the ability to produce ammonia during 16 h of growth at 37°C, isolated from dairy sludge, with a size of 4,841,753 bp and a G+C content of 63.1%, is reported here.

Provided in part herein are compositions that include isolated microbial enzymes, such as proteases, lipases, useful in dehairing leather. Also provided are methods for isolating proteases, lipases, from microbes, as well as methods of reusing these enzymes effectively for several cycles in an environment friendly process.

We report the draft genome sequence of an ammonia-producing, esculin-hydrolyzing, catalase-positive, gram-negative bacterium, Acinetobacter sp. strain MCC2139. This bacterium, isolated from dairy sludge and with optimum growth at 37°C, has a genome size of 2,967,280 bp with a G+C content of 42.3%.

Systems and methods for the bioremediation of soluble sulfates from an environmental effluent, include a first chamber including lactic acid bacteria immobilized on a first matrix and a second chamber including sulfate-reducing bacteria immobilized on a second matrix. The methods include providing the lactic acid bacteria a suitable medium for the...

The draft genome sequence of a nitrate- and phosphate-removing, Gram-positive Bacillus sp. with optimum growth at 37°C and pH 7 in nitrate broth (HiMedia M439) isolated from rhizosphere of a water lily, with a genome size of 5,465,157 bp and a G+C content of 35.0%, is reported here.

The draft genome sequence (5,868,741 bp) of a nitrate- and phosphate-removing Bacillus sp., WBUNB009, isolated from a raw sewage canal in nitrate broth (Himedia M439) with a G+C content of 34.9% is reported. It removes 60.23% nitrate and 96% phosphate within 16 h at 37°C.

Here, we report the draft genome sequence of the nitrate- and phosphate-accumulating Bacillus sp. strain MCC0008, isolated from a consortium enriched from municipal sewage in nitrate broth (HiMedia M439). The total size of the genome is 5,609,456 bp, with a G+C content of 35.1%.

The present study aims to develop a rapid method for antibiotic sensitivity detection and screening of natural products for antimicrobial activity. The dimension of WBC in blood film was found to get altered when seeded with bacteria and monitored under light microscope. The shrinkage was prevented in response to antibiotic treatment and validated...

Lactobacilli have the property of converting lactose and other sugars to lactic acid through fermentation. So whey water, the greenish translucent liquid rich in lactose, vitamins, proteins and mineral salts, obtained as a by-product after the precipitation of cheese can be used as a substrate for Lactobacilli for lactic acid production which other...

Microbial identification and antimicrobial susceptibility testing methods currently used in clinical microbiology laboratories require at least two to three days because they rely on the growth and isolation of micro-organisms. This long, but necessary, delay has enormous consequences on prophylactic usage of antimicrobial drugs. This study was an...

Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) affects all age groups, but women are more susceptible than men. These infections are typically caused by E coli, Proteus mirabilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Enterococcus fecalis and so on. Since uncultivable microbes are numerically abundant in urine samples, culture indepe...

The draft genome sequence of an amylase-, protease-, lipase-, oxidase-, and catalase-producing Gram-negative bacillus (Aeromonas sp. MDS8 strain MCC2167) with the ability to produce ammonia during 16 h of growth at 37°C, isolated from dairy sludge, with a size of 4,841,753 bp and a G+C content of 63.1%, is reported here.

Microbial enrichments from soil and water samples collected from different sites of East Calcutta Wetland (ECW) produced three bacterial isolates which were identified as Pseudomonas based on 16S rRNA sequence analysis. They were further examined for their ability to tolerate heavy metals like lead (Pb +), chromium (Cr +++), copper (Cu ++) etc.. En...

The objective of this work was to explore and exploit the extracellular protease secreting marine microbial biodiversity of the eastern coastal region of India. Culture dependent method was applied for isolation of microbes from the marine coast of West Bengal (Digha and Mandarmani) and Andhra Pradesh (Vizag) in India. Six protease secreting isolat...

Problem statement: Nitrate and phosphate are two major pollutants due to anthropogenic activity like excessive use of fertilizers in agriculture. Their contamination has emerged as a global problem and its potential threat is marked on the environmental sustainance as well as on the public health. Approach: The objective of the current study is to...

Problem statement: In the megacity Kolkata, the need for space to accomodate the ever increasing population is increasing day by day. As a result the encoarchment of the large wetland on the eastern frindge of the city is increasing and so is the threat of its loosing the status of Ramsar Status. Approach: Proper documentation of the existing tradi...

Problem statement: Dental caries is a chronic disease worldwide, caused mainly by microbes. The orthograde approaches still remain the only option of treatment. Lack of rapid antibiotic sensitivity determination of the dental pathogen is a rate limiting step in the field of Dental Microbiology. Approach: The culture dependent analysis was used for...

n the cells. Scanning Electron Micrographs showed distinct cytoskeleton changes of the cell in presence of metals. Bioremedial package was developed under immobilized condition both with pure isolates as well as mixed consortia for treating heavy metal containing waste water. Efficiency of Lead removal was measured using atomic absorption spectrosc...

In an earlier study, we had isolated and identified a protease producing bacterium as Pseudomonas aeruginosa from the Charakdanga Bheri waters of East Calcutta Wetland. The enzyme was concentrated by lyophilization and finally purified by hydrophobic interaction chromatography using Phenyl Sepharose CL-4B column resulting in 1.2 fold increase in sp...

Problem statement: This study is a unique attempt to characterize Bheri (shallow flat bottom waste water fed fishery) as a complex biological system. Approach: The characterization was done both at the qualitative and the quantitative levels. The diverse microbial community and the associated emergent behaviors resulting in integrated resource reco...

Problem statement: Condoms are widely used birth control measures which are made of natural latex or synthetic materials like polyurethane or polyisoprene as matrix with lubricants added to make them ready to use commodities. Absence of sterilization method along with presence of lubricant like petroleum jelly (that are applied on the outer surface...

Problem statement: Soluble sulfate load in effluent is a crucial problem from mining industries. The study involved isolation of efficient Sulfate Reducing Bacterial (SRB) consortium from hot water spring for bioremediatrion of sulfate contaminated waste water. Approach: The enriched bacterial consortium was isolated in medium DSMZ 16695. The sulfa...

Soluble sulfate contamination in water is observed due to various industrial activities. Chemical means of reduction are available yet the biological approach is the preferred one. Problem statement: The problem addressed in this study was the isolation of efficient sulfate reducing bacterial consortia for bioremediation of soluble sulfate from min...

Problem statement: This study was an attempt to isolate anaerobic micr obes with potential for DNA double strand break repair using methanogen specific medium (DSMZ 120) from East Calcutta Wetland in India. It also intended to veri fy the specificity of the medium for isolation of t he desired family of microbe. Approach: Culture based technique wa...

Waste water fed fisheries are a common feature in different parts of the world. Yet not all work as efficiently as those operating at East Calcutta Wetland for more than 70 years now. The objective of this study is to unravel the reason for the markedly greater efficiency of the Bheris in fish production compared to other water bodies like rain wat...

This research note is an attempt to understand the role of water hyacinth vis-à-vis metal removal mechanism operating in “Bheris” – the shallow flat bottom waste water fed fisheries, which are unique ecosystems found in West Bengal, India. This study approaches the question by analysing the extent of heavy metal accumulation in water bodies of vari...

Nine bacterial isolates were screened from different sites of East Calcutta Wetland, an ecosystem located at the eastern fringes of Calcutta. Other than being a biodiversity rich area, the important feature of this system is that it is a natural sewage treatment plant for the city of Calcutta. In addition to daily sewage including solid and soluble...

Since the site selected for screening was a source of magnetite, theobjective of this study was to isolate some groups of magnetotactic bacteria and microbes with potential of metal accumulation. Approach: The culture based approach was used for the study. Pure isolates obtained were characterized on the basis of morphology, biochemical tests, phys...

Urinary Tract Infection, commonly known as UTI, affects as many as 50% women at least once during their lifetime. All individuals are susceptible to Urinary Tract Infection (UTI); however the prevalence of infection differs with age, sex and certain predisposing factors. With the above background in mind we conducted a survey of the local populatio...

The current study is on East Calcutta Wetland (ECW) which is a model for multi-use resource recovery system with activities like pisciculture and agriculture. The entire city's soluble wasteis disposed into the raw sewage canals which finally drains into the shallow, flat bottom fish ponds called Bheri. These sewage fed fisheries act simultaneously...

Extracellular protease from a novel bacterial isolate showing maximum similarity of 98.22% with Microbacterium luteolum was obtained from East Calcutta Wetland, India. It showed compatibility with commercial detergents. The enzyme retains more than 60% of its activity between 6.0 to 10.5 pH. The maximum activity is at pH 7.5 with 71% activity at pH...

The present paper put forth the isolation and complete characterization of three bacterial isolates from different sites of East Calcutta Wetland (ECW). These isolates show tolerance to heavymetals like Ag, Al, Cu, Cr, Co, Ni, Pb and were found to be efficient metal accumulators as evident from Energy Dispersive X Ray Fluorescence (EDXRF) analysis...

The present study was conducted to determine the microbial profile in urine samples. Differential and selective chromogenic culture media were used for the rapid detection, identification and enumeration of urinary tract pathogens namely, E. coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, Proteus m...

The impact of four different soil DNA extraction methods on the quantity and quality of isolated community DNA was evaluated using agarose gel electrophoresis, DNA spectrum study and PCR-based 16S ribosomal DNA analysis. The modified direct lysis method was optimized for environmental water samples (wastewater fed-fisheries and raw liquid sewage ca...

East Calcutta Wetland (ECW) is the world's largest natural treatment plant for solid and soluble waste, where bioremediation and biodegradation of complex compounds is mainly based on microbial activity and is recognized as a potential source of bacteria of biotechnological impact. Here we discuss the microbial resource mapping of this important Ra...

Archaea are expected to be highly repair proficient since they survived the vicious onslaught of radiation damage at the time of their early appearance. The DNA double strand break repairing ability of mesophilic archaea Methanosarcina barkeri (DSM 804) was studied using (7)Li, (12)C and (16)O heavy ions and compared with that of (60)Co gamma-rays....