In situ self-induced electrical stimulation to plants: Modulates morphogenesis, photosynthesis and gene expression in Vigna radiata and Cicer arietinum.

Specific stimuli to plants influence intracellular and intercellular communications, activation of ion channels, gene expression, growth and development. The functional role of self-induced in situ electrical stimuli at the rhizosphere of the plant by placing electrode assembly in a defined circuit mode was studied on the growth and development of Vigna radiata and Cicer arietinum plants. Experiments were designed with three-circuit mode configurational variations (CC-P, OC-P and SC-P) and compared with the relative performance of control system (non-potential). The plants cultivated under the in situ electrical stimuli (low-current) showed a marked influence on growth and photosynthetic performance of the plants. CC-P operation showed improved vegetative growth, characterized by increased roots, shoots and biomass along with accelerated plant growth from seed germination to vegetation, flowering and pod formation leading towards earlier and more robust flowering compared to control system. Plants also showed higher aquaporin gene expression levels in CC-P operation. The control operation showed 10 days additional maturation time compared to CC-P operation. The strategy can be beneficially applied to augment the bioremediation capacity of complex pollutants with reference to phytoremediation or constructed wetland systems where the plant and its roots are the main enabler apart from agriculture applications specific to nursery-raised or transplanted plants.

Electrogenic engineered flow through tri-phasic wetland system for azo dye treatment: Microbial dynamics and functional metagenomics.

Electrogenic engineered flow through tri-phasic wetland (EEFW) system based on nature-based ecological principles was studied by integrating successive biological microenvironments. The potential mechanism of the plant root-based microbial community and its functional diversity with the influence of plant-microbe-electrode synergism towards dye degradation was evaluated. The EEFW system was operated at three varied dye loads of 10, 25 and 50 mg L-1, where the results from the cumulative outlets revealed a maximum dye removal efficiency of 96%, 96.5% and 93%, respectively. Microbial community analysis depicted synergistic dependence on the plant-microbe-electrode interactions, influencing their functional diversity and metabolism towards detoxification of pollutants. The core microbial taxa enriched against the microenvironment variation were mostly associated with carbon and dye removal viz., Desulfomonile tiedjei and Rhodopseudomonas palustris in Tank 1 and Chloroflexi bacterium and Steroidobacter denitrificans in Tank 2. The degradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, chloroalkane/chloroalkene, nitrotoluene, bisphenol, caprolactam and 1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(4-chlorophenyl) ethane (DDT) were observed to be predominant in Tank 1. EEFW system could be one of the option for utilizing nature-based processes for the treatment of wastewater by self-induced bioelectrogenesis to augment process efficiency.

Monitoring metabolic pathway alterations in Escherichia coli due to applied potentials in microbial electrochemical system.

Redox potential is one of the key regulators in determining the fate of the metabolic pathways of biocatalysts and of their associated product synthesis in microbial electrochemical systems. In the present study, the influence of applied potentials on fermentation products and metabolic flux was investigated using isolated E. coli HP3 as a model organism using pyruvate as a substrate. To provide insights into metabolic shifts, electro-fermentative (EF) systems were constructed and poised at both positive and negative redox potentials of 0.2 V, 0.4 V, 0.6 V and 0.8 V (vs Ag/AgCl) at the anode. The relative expression of genes encoding lactate dehydrogenase (ldhA), pyruvate formate lyase (pflB), pyruvate dehydrogenase (aceF), hydrogenase (hycE) and NADH: oxidoreductase (nuoB) enabled assessment of metabolic shifts in addition to cyclic voltammograms and short chain fatty acid profiling. Results showed that poised conditions had a significant effect on product formation and observed up-regulation of key enzymes involved in pyruvate metabolism in comparison to controls. More specifically, EF poised at -0.8 V and -0.2 V enhanced H2 production by 7.9 folds and 5.3 folds respectively, whilst at +0.8 V poised operation enhanced lactate production by 1.9 folds compared to the control. Concomitantly, the key genes involved in the pathway for H2 production viz., plfB, hycE and nuoB were all up-regulated significantly in a reactor poised at -0.8 V compared with other conditions. Similarly, transcripts for gene ldhA were up-regulated significantly in the system poised with +0.8 V. The study elucidated the role of redox potential on the product formation with respect to the relative expression of the genes encoding key enzymes in the metabolic pathway in correlation with bio-electrochemical characteristics.

Self-sustained photocatalytic power generation using eco-electrogenic engineered systems.

An eco-electrogenic engineered system (EES) was designed to mimic the functional role of natural aquatic ecosystems and evaluated their response to bio-electrogenic activity by cascadically interlinking three tanks with functionally diverse biota viz., floating macrophytes (Tank 1), submerged plants (Tank 2) and filter feeders (fish and snails) (Tank 3). Tank 1 showed efficient power generation (voltage (series): 0.86 V; current density (parallel): 37 mA/m2) than Tank 2 (voltage (series): 0.76 V; current density (parallel): 34 mA/m2) and Tank 3 (voltage (series): 0.65 V; current density (parallel): 22 mA/m2). Integrating all three tanks enabled maximum power generation in parallel-series (P-S) connection (9.5 mW/m2) than individual series and parallel connections (6.5/5 mW/m2). Interaction of microbes and plants studied at the interface of electrochemical and engineering aspects illustrated the feasibility of EES as a self-sustainable system with innate diverse functional aquatic biota and rhizo-microbiome to produce bioelectricity.

Spatial variation of electrode position in bioelectrochemical treatment system: Design consideration for azo dye remediation.

In the present study, three bio-electrochemical treatment systems (BET) were designed with variations in cathode electrode placement [air exposed (BET1), partially submerged (BET2) and fully submerged (BET3)] to evaluate azo-dye based wastewater treatment at three dye loading concentrations (50, 250 and 500 mg L-1). Highest dye decolorization (94.5 ±â€¯0.4%) and COD removal (62.2 ±â€¯0.8%) efficiencies were observed in BET3 (fully submerged electrodes) followed by BET1 and BET2, while bioelectrogenic activity was highest in BET1 followed by BET2 and BET3. It was observed that competition among electron acceptors (electrode, dye molecules and intermediates) critically regulated the fate of bio-electrogenesis to be higher in BET1 and dye removal higher in BET3. Maximum half-cell potentials in BET3 depict higher electron acceptance by electrodes utilized for dye degradation. Study infers that spatial positioning of electrodes in BET3 is more suitable towards dye remediation, which can be considered for scaling-up/designing a treatment plant for large-scale industrial applications.

Integrated ecotechnology approach towards treatment of complex wastewater with simultaneous bioenergy production.

Sequential integration of three stage diverse biological processes was studied by exploiting the individual process advantage towards enhanced treatment of complex chemical based wastewater. A successful attempt to integrate sequence batch reactor (SBR) with bioelectrochemical treatment (BET) and finally with microalgae treatment was studied. The sequential integration has showed individual substrate degradation (COD) of 55% in SBR, 49% in BET and 56% in microalgae, accounting for a consolidated treatment efficiency of 90%. Nitrates removal efficiency of 25% was observed in SBR, 31% in BET and 44% in microalgae, with a total efficiency of 72%. The SBR treated effluents fed to BET with the electrode intervention showed TDS removal. BET exhibited relatively higher process performance than SBR. The integration approach significantly overcame the individual process limitations along with value addition as biomass (1.75g/L), carbohydrates (640mg/g), lipids (15%) and bioelectricity. The study resulted in providing a strategy of combining SBR as pretreatment step to BET process and finally polishing with microalgae cultivation achieving the benefits of enhanced wastewater treatment along with value addition.

Impact of selectively enriched microbial communities on long-term fermentative biohydrogen production.

The effect of selectively enriched inoculum for biohydrogen production and shifts in microbial communities was observed using anaerobic sequencing batch reactor (AnSBR). Significantly, combined pretreatment using acid and iodopropane resulted 3 fold increase in H2 production (8.65mol/kgCODR) over untreated control (2.63mol/kgCODR). Pretreatment showed significant shifts in the microbial communities which are thus accounted for enhanced H2 production. The high-throughput pyrosequence analysis depicted shifts in phylum Firmicutes and Proteobacteria. In the case of Proteobacteria, there was an increase in Betaproteobacterial, decrease in Epsilonproteobacterial and compositional variation in Alphaproteobacterial species. The decreased OTU number after pretreatment indicate, reduction of undesirable microbial populations while favouring conditions for microbiome that are involved in acidogenic, acetogenic and H2 production.

Assessing potential cathodes for resource recovery through wastewater treatment and salinity removal using non-buffered microbial electrochemical systems.

The present study evaluates relative functioning of microbial electrochemical systems (MES) for simultaneous wastewater treatment, desalination and resource recovery. Two MES were designed having abiotic cathode (MES-A) and algal biocathode (MES-B) which were investigated with synthetic feed and saline water as proxy of typical real-field wastewater. Comparative anodic and cathodic efficiencies revealed a distinct disparity in both the MES when operated in open circuit (OC) and closed circuit (CC). The maximum open circuit voltage (OCV) read in MES-A and MES-B was about 700mV and 600mV, respectively. Salinity and organic carbon removal efficiencies were noticed high during CC operation as 72% and 55% in MES-A and 60% and 63% in MES-B. These discrete observations evidenced ascribe to the influence of microbial electrochemical induced ion-migration over cathodic reduction reactions (CRR).

Polarized potential and electrode materials implication on electro-fermentative di-hydrogen production: Microbial assemblages and hydrogenase gene copy variation.

This study examined the changes in microbial diversity in response to different electrode materials viz., stainless steel mesh (SS) and graphite plate as anodes in two microbial electrolysis cell (MEC) each poised at 0.2V, 0.4V, 0.6V and 0.8V. Changes in microbiota prior to and after pretreatment along with microbiota enriched in response to various poised potentials with SS and graphite are monitored by 16S rRNA gene based DGGE profiling. Significant shifts in microbial community were noticed at all these experimental conditions. Correspondingly, the level of hydrogenase belonging to genera Bacillus, Pseudomonas, Rhodopseudomonas and Clostridium was studied by quantitative real time PCR (RT-PCR) at various applied potentials. DGGE based 16S rRNA gene profiling revealed enriched members belonging to phylum Firmicutes predominantly present at 0.8V in both MECs contributing to high hydrogen production. This study first time explored the growth behavior of mixed consortia in response to poised potentials and electrode materials.

Closed circuitry operation influence on microbial electrofermentation: Proton/electron effluxes on electro-fuels productivity.

A novel biocatalyzed electrofermentor (BEF) was designed which uncovers the intricate role of biocatalyst involved in cogeneration of electro-fuels (hydrogen and electricity). The specific role of external resistance (Rext, electrical load) on the performance of BEF was evaluated. Four BEFs were operated separately with different resistances (25, 50, 100 and 200 Ω) at an organic load of 5 g/L. Among the tested conditions, external resistance (R3) with 100 Ω revealed maximum power and cumulative H2 production (148 mW and 450 mL, respectively). The competence of closed circuitry comparatively excelled because it facilitates congenial ambiance for the enriched EAB (electroactive bacteria) resulting high rate of metabolic activity that paves way for higher substrate degradation and electro-fuel productivity. Probing of electron kinetics was studied using voltammetric analyses wherein electron transfer by redox proteins was noticed. The designed BEF is found to be sustainable system for harnessing renewable energy through wastewater treatment.

Integrating sequencing batch reactor with bio-electrochemical treatment for augmenting remediation efficiency of complex petrochemical wastewater.

The present study evaluates the sequential integration of two advanced biological treatment methods viz., sequencing batch reactor (SBR) and bioelectrochemical treatment systems (BET) for the treatment of real-field petrochemical wastewater (PCW). Initially two SBR reactors were operated in aerobic (SBR(Ae)) and anoxic (SBR(Ax)) microenvironments with an organic loading rate (OLR) of 9.68 kg COD/m(3)-day. Relatively, SBR(Ax) showed higher substrate degradation (3.34 kg COD/m(3)-day) compared to SBR(Ae) (2.9 kg COD/m(3)-day). To further improve treatment efficiency, the effluents from SBR process were fed to BET reactors. BET(Ax) depicted higher SDR (1.92 kg COD/m(3)-day) with simultaneous power generation (17.12 mW/m(2)) followed by BET(Ae) (1.80 kg COD/m(3)-day; 14.25 mW/m(2)). Integrating both the processes documented significant improvement in COD removal efficiency due to the flexibility of combining multiple microenvironments sequentially. Results were supported with GC-MS and FTIR, which confirmed the increment in biodegradability of wastewater.