Contaminated sites from electronic waste (e-waste) dismantling and coking plants feature high concentrations of heavy metals (HMs) and/or polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in soil. Mixed contamination (HMs + PAHs) hinders land reclamation and affects the microbial diversity and function of soil microbiomes. In this study, we analyzed HM and PAH contamination from an e-waste dismantling plant and a coking plant and evaluated the influences of HM and PAH contamination on soil microbiomes. It was noticed that HMs and PAHs were found in all sites, although the major contaminants of the e-waste dismantling plant site were HMs (such as Cu at 5,947.58 ± 433.44 mg kg⁻¹, Zn at 4,961.38 ± 436.51 mg kg⁻¹, and Mn at 2,379.07 ± 227.46 mg kg⁻¹), and the major contaminants of the coking plant site were PAHs (such as fluorene at 11,740.06 ± 620.1 mg kg⁻¹, acenaphthylene at 211.69 ± 7.04 mg kg⁻¹, and pyrene at 183.14 ± 18.89 mg kg⁻¹). The microbiomes (diversity and abundance) of all sites were determined via high-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA genes, and redundancy analysis was conducted to investigate the relations between soil microbiomes and contaminants. The results showed that the microbiomes of the contaminated sites divergently responded to HMs and PAHs. The abundances of the bacterial genera Sulfuritalea, Pseudomonas, and Sphingobium were positively related to PAHs, while the abundances of the bacterial genera Bryobacter, Nitrospira, and Steroidobacter were positively related to HMs. This study promotes an understanding of how soil microbiomes respond to single and mixed contamination with HMs and PAHs.

Livestock excrement is a major pollutant yielded from husbandry and it has been constantly imported into various related environments. Livestock excrement comprises a variety of microorganisms including certain units with health risks and these microorganisms are transferred synchronically during the management and utilization processes of livestock excrement. The livestock excrement microbiome is extensively affecting the microbiome of humans and the relevant environments and it could be altered by related environmental factors as well. The zoonotic microorganisms, extremely zoonotic pathogens, and antibiotic-resistant microorganisms are posing threats to human health and environmental safety. In this review, we highlight the main feature of the microbiome of livestock excrement and elucidate the composition and structure of the repertoire of microbes, how these microbes transfer from different spots, and they then affect the microbiomes of related habitants as a whole. Overall, the environmental problems caused by the microbiome of livestock excrement and the potential risks it may cause are summarized from the microbial perspective and the strategies for prediction, prevention, and management are discussed so as to provide a reference for further studies regarding potential microbial risks of livestock excrement microbes.

The mechanism of cyanobacterial calcification was proved to be related to extracellular carbonic anhydrase, which enhanced CaCO ₃ precipitation through facilitating proton consumption during transformation of bicarbonate to carbon dioxide.

Strain S30A2^T, isolated from the acid mine drainage sediment of Mengzi Copper Mine, Yunnan, is proposed to represent a novel species of the sulphur-oxidizing genus Acidithiobacillus. Cells were Gram-stain-negative, non-endospore forming, highly motile with one or two monopolar flagella and rod-shaped. The strain was mesophilic, growing at 30–50 °C (optimum, 38 °C), acidophilic, growing at pH 2.0–4.5 (optimum, pH 2.5), and tolerant of 0–4 % (w/v; 684 mol l⁻¹) NaCl. The 16S rRNA gene-based sequence analysis showed that strain S30A2^T belongs to the genus Acidithiobacillus and shows the largest similarity of 96.6 % to the type strain Acidithiobacillus caldus KU^T. The genomic DNA G+C content of strain S30A2^T was 59.25 mol%. The average nucleotide identity ANIb and ANIm values between strain S30A2^T and A. caldus KU^T were 70.95 and 89.78 %, respectively and the digital DNA–DNA hybridization value was 24.9 %. Strain S30A2^T was strictly aerobic and could utilize elementary sulphur and tetrathionate to support chemolithotrophic growth. The major cellular fatty acid of S30A2^T was C_19 : 1ω7c. The respiratory quinones were ubiquinone-8 and ubiquinone-7. Based upon its phylogenetic, genetic, phenotypic, physiologic and chemotaxonomic characteristics, strain S30A2^T is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Acidithiobacillus, for which the name Acidithiobacillus acidisediminis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is S30A2^T (=CGMCC 1.17059^T=KCTC 72580^T).