The fungal species belonging to the genus Trichoderma has been globally recognized as a potential candidate of biofertilizer and biocontrol agent to prevent devastating soil-borne fungal pathogens and enhance growth and productivity of agricultural crops. The antagonistic activity of Trichoderma to pathogenic fungi is attributed to several mechanisms including antibiosis and enzymatic hydrolysis, which are largely associated with a wide range of metabolites secreted by the Trichoderma species. Besides suppressing target pathogens, several metabolites produced by Trichoderma species may act against non-pathogenic beneficial soil microbial communities and perform unintended alterations within the structures and functions of microbial communities in the crop rhizosphere. Multiple microbial interactions have been shown to enhance biocontrol efficacy in many cases as compared to bioinoculant employed alone. The key advances in understanding the ecological functions of the Trichoderma species with special emphasis on their associations with plant roots and other microbes exist in the crop rhizosphere, which are briefly described here. This review focuses on the interactions of metabolites secreted by Trichoderma species and plant roots in the rhizosphere and their impacts on pathogenic and non-pathogenic soil microbial communities. The complex interactions among Trichoderma–plants–microbes that may occur in the crop rhizosphere are underlined and several prospective avenues for future research in this area are briefly explored. The data presented here will stipulate future research on sustainably maximizing the efficiency of Trichoderma inoculation and their secondary metabolites in the crop soil ecosystem.

Protecting food crops from viral pathogens is a significant challenge for agriculture. An integral approach to genome-editing, known as CRISPR/Cas9 (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats and CRISPR associated protein 9), is used to produce virus-resistant cultivars. The CRISPR/Cas9 tool is an essential part of modern plant breeding due to its attractive features. Advances in plant breeding programs due to the incorporation of Cas9 have enabled the development of cultivars with heritable resistance to plant viruses. The resistance to viral DNA and RNA is generally provided using the Cas9 endonuclease and sgRNAs (single-guide RNAs) complex, targeting particular virus and host plant genomes by interrupting the viral cleavage or altering the plant host genome, thus reducing the replication ability of the virus. In this review, the CRISPR/Cas9 system and its application to staple food crops resistance against several destructive plant viruses are briefly described. We outline the key findings of recent Cas9 applications, including enhanced virus resistance, genetic mechanisms, research strategies, and challenges in economically important and globally cultivated food crop species. The research outcome of this emerging molecular technology can extend the development of agriculture and food security. We also describe the information gaps and address the unanswered concerns relating to plant viral resistance mediated by CRISPR/Cas9.

Materials are the foundation in human development for improving human standards of life. This research aimed to develop microbial composite films by integrating sodium alginate with Bacillus subtilis. Sodium alginate film was fabricated as control. The microbial composite films were fabricated by integrating 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5 and 0.6 g of Bacillus subtilis into the sodium alginate. Evaluations were performed on the mechanical, physical, chemical and thermal properties of the films. It was found that films reinforced with Bacillus subtilis significantly improved all the mentioned properties. Results show that 0.5 g microbial composite films had the highest tensile strength, breaking strain and toughness, which were 0.858 MPa, 87.406% and 0.045 MJ/m³, respectively. The thickness of the film was 1.057 mm. White light opacity, black light opacity and brightness values were 13.65%, 40.55% and 8.19%, respectively. It also had the highest conductivity, which was 37 mV, while its water absorption ability was 300.93%. Furthermore, it had a higher melting point of 218.94 °C and higher decomposition temperature of 252.69 °C. SEM also showed that it had filled cross-sectional structure and smoother surface compared to the sodium alginate film. Additionally, FTIR showed that 0.5 g microbial composite films possessed more functional groups at 800 and 662 cm^-1 wavenumbers that referred to C–C, C–OH, C–H ring and side group vibrations and C-OH out-of-plane bending, respectively, which contributed to the stronger bonds in the microbial composite film. Initial conclusions depict the potential of Bacillus subtilis to be used as reinforcing material in the development of microbial composite films, which also have the prospect to be used in electronic applications. This is due to the conductivity of the films increasing as Bacillus subtilis cell mass increases.

Bacterial flagella are complex multicomponent structures that help in cell locomotion. It is composed of three major structural components: the hook, the filament and basal body. The special mechanical properties of flagellar components make them useful for the applications in nanotechnology especially in nanotube formation. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are nanometer scale tube-shaped material and it is very useful in many applications. However, the production of CNTs is costly and detrimental to the environment as it pollutes the environment. Therefore, bacterial flagella have become a highly interesting research area especially in producing bacterial nanotubes that could replace CNTs. In this review article, we will discuss about bacterial flagellum and carbon nanotubes in the context of their types and applications. Then, we will focus and review on the characteristics of bacterial flagellum in comparison to carbon nanotubes and subsequently, the advantages of bacterial flagellum as nanotubes in comparison with carbon nanotubes.

Sustainable material sources are an important agenda to protect the environment and to meet human needs. In this study, Scenedesmus sp. was used to treat municipal landfill leachate via batch and continuous cultivation modes to protect the environment and explore sufficient biomass production for bioethanol production using Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Physicochemical characteristics of leachate were determined for the phases before, during, and after the process. Batch and continuous cultivation were used to treat raw leachate to determine optimum conditions for treatment. Then, the biomass of Scenedesmus sp. with and without sonication was used as a substrate for ethanol production. Sonication was carried out for biomass cell disruption for 20 min at a frequency of 40 kHz. Through batch cultivation mode, it was found that pH 7 was the optimum condition for leachate treatment. Continuous cultivation mode had the highest removal values for COD, phosphorus, and carbohydrate, namely 82.81%, 79.70%, and 84.35%, respectively, among other modes. As for ethanol production, biomass without sonication with 9.026 mg·L⁻¹ ethanol, a biomass concentration of 3.300 µg·L⁻¹, and pH 5 were higher than biomass with sonication with 5.562 mg·L⁻¹ ethanol, a biomass concentration of 0.110 µg·L⁻¹, and pH 5. Therefore, it is evident that the leachate has the potential to be treated by Scenedesmus sp. and converted to bioethanol in line with the concept of sustainable materials.