Microbial exopolymers for soil restoration and remediation: current progress and future perspectives

Soil degradation and pollution are pervasive global challenges caused by climate change and anthropogenic activities. To address these issues, seeking environmentally friendly and sustainable solutions to restore degraded soils and remediate polluted ones is imperative. One promising avenue lies in the utilization of microbial exopolymers, which can play a pivotal role in rejuvenating soil health by enhancing its physical, chemical, and biological properties. Microbial exopolymers, through their various functional groups, facilitate interactions that bind soil particles together, thereby promoting soil aggregation and immobilizing soil pollutants. Thus, the application of exopolymers holds the potential to enable soils to continue providing its essential ecosystem services. Despite significant progress in evaluating the impact of microbial exopolymers on soil properties, there remains a pressing need to overcome existing challenges that hinder the large-scale use of microbial exopolymers for soil restoration and remediation. The significant challenges include (i) inadequate understanding on the effectiveness and safety of exogenous microorganisms and their interactions with native soil biotic and abiotic factors, (ii) the lack of feasible methods for characterizing the constituents of exopolymers produced by soil microbial community, (iii) insufficient efforts in exploring the community diversity of soil microorganisms capable of producing exopolymers in various soils, and (iv) inadequate effort on aligning the molecular characteristics of exopolymers with the specific application purposes. To harness the full potential of microbial exopolymers, interdisciplinary approaches are paramount in achieving improved effectiveness of soil restoration and bioremediation endeavors, which are of utmost importance in the ever-changing environment. Бичил биетний экзополимерийг хөрсний нөхөн сэргээлтэд ашиглах нь: өнөөгийн төлөв байдал, ирээдүйн чиг хандлага Хураангуй. Уур амьсгалын өөрчлөлт болон хүний үйл ажиллагааны нөлөөгөөр явагдаж буй хөрсний доройтол, бохирдол нь дэлхий нийтийн тулгамдсан асуудлууд бөгөөд эдгээрийг хүрээлэн буй орчинд ээлтэй, тогтвортой технологийн тусламжтай шийдвэрлэх шаардлагатай. Бичил биетний экзополимерийг ашиглан хөрсний физик, хими, биологийн шинж чанарыг нь сайжруулах замаар хөрсний эрүүл төлөв байдлыг нэмэгдүүлэх технологийг боловсруулах боломжтой. Бичил биетний экзополимер нь төрөл бүрийн функциональ бүлгийнхээ тусламжтай хөрсний жижиг хэсгүүдийг холбож барьцалдуулан хөрсний агрегацийг нэмэгдүүлж, хөрс бохирдуулагч нэгдлүүдийг идэвхгүй (тогтвортой) болгодог. Ингэснээр хөрсөөр хангагддаг экосистемийн үүргүүд хэвийн үргэлжлэх боломж бүрдэх юм. Бичил биетний экзополимер хөрсний шинж чанарыг сайжруулдаг болохыг баталсан олон судалгаа хийгдсэн боловч тэдгээрийг хөрсний нөхөн сэргээлтэд өргөн хүрээгээр ашиглахын тулд анхаарах шаардлагатай хэд хэдэн асуудлууд байна. Үүнд: 1. Гаднаас нэмж буй бичил биетэн байгалийн хөрсөнд үр дүнтэй ажиллах эсэх болон тухайн хөрсний хэвийн микробиотад яаж нөлөөлөх талаарх ойлголт хангалтгүй, 2. Хөрсний бичил биетний бүлгэмдлийн ялгаруулж буй эзкополимерийн бүрэлдэхүүн хэсгүүдийг таньж тодорхойлоход хүндрэлтэй, 3. Шинж чанар, эрүүл төлөв байдлын хувьд ялгаатай хөрсөнд эзкополимер нийлэгжүүлэгч бичил биетний олон янз байдлыг харьцуулсан судалгаа маш бага, 4. Экзополимерийн химийн бүтэц, шинж чанарыг хэрэглэж буй зорилготойгоо уялдуулахад бага анхаарч байна. Бичил биетний экзополимерийг бүрэн ашиглаж хөрсний нөхөн сэргээлтийн үр дүнг нэмэгдүүлэхэд салбар дундын судалгаа чухал байна. Түлхүүр үгс: хөрсний агрегаци, хөрсний бичил биетний экзополимер, хөрсний биоремедиаци, хөрсний эрүүл төлөв байда

Pullulan for advanced sustainable body- and skin-contact applications

The present review had the aim of describing the methodologies of synthesis and properties of biobased pullulan, a microbial polysaccharide investigated in the last decade because of its interesting potentialities in several applications. After describing the implications of pullulan in nano-technology, biodegradation, compatibility with body and skin, and sustainability, the current applications of pullulan are described, with the aim of assessing the potentialities of this biopolymer in the biomedical, personal care, and cosmetic sector, especially in applications in contact with skin

Pullulan for advanced sustainable body- And skin-contact applications

The present review had the aim of describing the methodologies of synthesis and properties of biobased pullulan, a microbial polysaccharide investigated in the last decade because of its interesting potentialities in several applications. After describing the implications of pullulan in nano-technology, biodegradation, compatibility with body and skin, and sustainability, the current applications of pullulan are described, with the aim of assessing the potentialities of this biopolymer in the biomedical, personal care, and cosmetic sector, especially in applications in contact with skin

Nuclear magnetic resonance applications in fermented foods and plant-based beverages: challenges and opportunities

Currently, there has been a growing interest in fermented foods and plant-based beverages (PBBs) by the consumers because of the benefits they provide to human health or due to restrictions in the diet associated to some pathologies or personal choices. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is a versatile technique that presents many advantages for the identification and quantification of metabolites in food with a variety of one- and two-dimensional experiments. This review delves into the current applications of NMR in the fields of fermented foods and PBBs. The interest from researchers in the analysis of fermented foods by NMR in the recent literature mainly focused on three main sub-areas: characterization of exopolysaccharides (EPS) and their functional, and rheological properties; metabolomics to find discriminant markers during and after the process of fermentation for the optimization of the productive process or development of products; and characterization of traditional and novel foods. However, the area of plant-based beverages studies by NMR presented a remarkable literature gap. The opportunities for future investigations concerning food authentication, traceability, and functional food development, among others, are presented

High Performance Functional Bio-based Polymers for Skin-contact Products

Beauty masks, diapers, wound dressings, wipes, protective clothes and biomedical products: all these high-value and/or large-volume products must be highly compatible with human skin and they should have specific functional properties, such as anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties. They are currently partially or totally produced using fossil-based sources, with evident issues linked to their end of life, as their waste generates an increasing environmental concern. On the contrary, biopolymers and active biomolecules from biobased sources could be used to produce new materials that are highly compatible with the skin and also biodegradable. The final products can be obtained by exploiting safe and smart nanotechnologies such as the extrusion of bionanocomposites and electrospinning/electrospray, as well as innovative surface modification and control methodologies. For all these reasons, recently, many researchers, such as those involved in the European POLYBIOSKIN project activities, have been working in the field of biomaterials with anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties, as well as biobased materials which are renewable and biodegradable. The present book gathered research and review papers dedicated to materials and technologies for high-performance products where the attention paid to health and environmental impact is efficiently integrated, considering both the skin-compatibility of the selected materials and their source/end of life

Various Adsorbents for Water Purification Processes

The development of effective treatment methods or the synthesis of new effective adsorbents capable of selective sorption of toxic substances is now of great importance. This reprint contains articles focused on wastewater treatment containing heavy metal ions, and hormones from synthetic and real solutions using different types of adsorbent, such as synthetic ion exchangers, natural and synthetic aluminosilicates, zeolites, magnetic multiwall carbon nanotubes, biosorbents, imprinted polymers, and magnetic adsorbents, as well as cost estimation of activated carbon production from waste nutshells by physical activation could be found

Chapter 34 - Biocompatibility of nanocellulose: Emerging biomedical applications

Nanocellulose already proved to be a highly relevant material for biomedical applications, ensued by its outstanding mechanical properties and, more importantly, its biocompatibility. Nevertheless, despite their previous intensive research, a notable number of emerging applications are still being developed. Interestingly, this drive is not solely based on the nanocellulose features, but also heavily dependent on sustainability. The three core nanocelluloses encompass cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs), cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs), and bacterial nanocellulose (BNC). All these different types of nanocellulose display highly interesting biomedical properties per se, after modification and when used in composite formulations. Novel applications that use nanocellulose includewell-known areas, namely, wound dressings, implants, indwelling medical devices, scaffolds, and novel printed scaffolds. Their cytotoxicity and biocompatibility using recent methodologies are thoroughly analyzed to reinforce their near future applicability. By analyzing the pristine core nanocellulose, none display cytotoxicity. However, CNF has the highest potential to fail long-term biocompatibility since it tends to trigger inflammation. On the other hand, neverdried BNC displays a remarkable biocompatibility. Despite this, all nanocelluloses clearly represent a flag bearer of future superior biomaterials, being elite materials in the urgent replacement of our petrochemical dependence