COVID-19's environmental impacts: Challenges and implications for the future.

Strict measures have curbed the spread of COVID-19, but waste generation and movement limitations have had an unintended impact on the environment over the past 3 years (2020-2022). Many studies have summarized the observed and potential environmental impacts associated with COVID-19, however, only a few have quantified and compared the effects of these unintended environmental impacts; moreover, whether COVID-19 policy stringency had the same effects on the main environmental topic (i.e.

Long-term immersion of compostable plastics in marine aquarium: Microbial biofilm evolution and polymer degradation.

The best-selling compostable plastics, polylactic acid (PLA) and polybutylene adipate-co-terephthalate (PBAT), can accidentally end up in the marine environment due to plastic waste mismanagement. Their degradation and colonization by microbial communities are poorly documented in marine conditions. To better understand their degradation, as well as the dynamics of bacterial colonization after a long immersion time (99, 160, and 260 days), PBAT, semicrystalline, and amorphous PLA films were immersed in a marine aquarium.

Microbial biofilm composition and polymer degradation of compostable and non-compostable plastics immersed in the marine environment.

Different plastic types considered as compostable are found on the market such as petro-based (e.g., polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT)) or bio-based plastics (e.

Lead Drives Complex Dynamics of a Conjugative Plasmid in a Bacterial Community.

Plasmids carrying metal resistance genes (MRGs) have been suggested to be key ecological players in the adaptation of metal-impacted microbial communities, making them promising drivers of bio-remediation processes. However, the impact of metals on plasmid-mediated spread of MRGs through selection, plasmid loss, and transfer is far from being fully understood. In the present study, we used two-member bacterial communities to test the impact of lead on the dispersal of the IncP plasmid pKJK5 from a KT2440 plasmid donor and two distinct recipients, B4 or SPH-1 after 4 and 10 days of mating.

Metal-induced bacterial interactions promote diversity in river-sediment microbiomes.

Anthropogenic metal contamination results in long-term environmental selective pressure with unclear impacts on bacterial communities, which comprise key players in ecosystem functioning. Since metal contamination poses serious toxicity and bioaccumulation issues, assessing their impact on environmental microbiomes is important to respond to current environmental and health issues. Despite elevated metal concentrations, the river sedimentary microbiome near the MetalEurop foundry (France) shows unexpected higher diversity compared with the upstream control site.

Selection and propagation of IncP conjugative plasmids following long-term anthropogenic metal pollution in river sediments.

For a century, the MetalEurop foundry released metals into the river "La Deûle". Previous work revealed higher microbial diversity in metal impacted sediments, and horizontal gene transfer mediated by conjugative plasmids was suggested to drive the community adaptation to metals. We used an integrative state-of-the-art molecular approach coupling quantitative PCR, conjugation assays, flow cytometry, fluorescence activated cell sorting and 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing to investigate the presence of conjugative plasmids and their propagation patterns in sediment microbiomes.

The plastisphere in marine ecosystem hosts potential specific microbial degraders including Alcanivorax borkumensis as a key player for the low-density polyethylene degradation.

Most plastics are released to the environment in landfills and around 32% end up in the sea, inducing large ecological and health impacts. The plastics constitute a physical substrate and potential carbon source for microorganisms. The present study compares the structures of bacterial communities from floating plastics, sediment-associated plastics and sediments from the Mediterranean Sea.

Detection of the Enzymatic Cleavage of DNA through Supramolecular Chiral Induction to a Cationic Polythiophene.

Water-soluble π-conjugated polymers are increasingly envisioned in biosensors, in which their unique optical and electronic properties permit a highly sensitive detection of biomolecular targets. In particular, cationic π-conjugated polymers are attractive for DNA sensing technologies, through the use of the fluorescence signals either in physiological solutions or in thin films. However, in the context of enzymatic activity assays, fluorescence-based methods require covalently labeling DNA with a dye or an antibody and are limited to short time scale due to dye photobleaching.

Monitoring plasmid-mediated horizontal gene transfer in microbiomes: recent advances and future perspectives.

The emergence of antimicrobial resistant bacteria constitutes an increasing global health concern. Although it is well recognized that the cornerstone underlying this phenomenon is the dissemination of antimicrobial resistance via plasmids and other mobile genetic elements, the antimicrobial resistance transfer routes remain largely uncharted. In this review, we describe different methods for assessing the transfer frequency and host ranges of plasmids within complex microbiomes.

Long-term industrial metal contamination unexpectedly shaped diversity and activity response of sediment microbiome.

Metal contamination poses serious biotoxicity and bioaccumulation issues, affecting both abiotic conditions and biological activity in ecosystem trophic levels, especially sediments. The MetalEurop foundry released metals directly into the French river "la Deûle" during a century, contaminating sediments with a 30-fold increase compared to upstream unpolluted areas (Férin, Sensée canal). Previous metaproteogenomic work revealed phylogenetically analogous, but functionally different microbial communities between the two locations.