Lignin is a major component of soil organic matter and also a rich source of carbon dioxide in soils. However, because of its complex structure and recalcitrant nature, lignin degradation is a major challenge. Efforts have been made from time to time to understand the lignin polymeric structure better and develop simpler, economical, and bio-friendly methods of degradation. Certain enzymes from specialized bacteria and fungi have been identified by researchers that can metabolize lignin and enable utilization of lignin-derived carbon sources. In this review, we attempt to provide an overview of the complexity of lignin’s polymeric structure, its distribution in forest soils, and its chemical nature. Herein, we focus on lignin biodegradation by various microorganism, fungi and bacteria present in plant biomass and soils that are capable of producing ligninolytic enzymes such as lignin peroxidase (LiP), manganese peroxidase (MnP), versatile peroxidase (VP), and dye-decolorizing peroxidase (DyP). The relevant and recent reports have been included in this review.

A majority of biochemical reactions are often catalysed by different types of enzymes. Adsorption of the enzyme is an imperative phenomenon, which protects it from physical or chemical degradation resulting in enzyme reserve in soil. This article summarizes some of the key results from previous studies and provides information about how enzymes are adsorbed on the surface of the soil solid phase and how different factors affect enzymatic activity in soil. Many studies have been done separately on the soil enzymatic activity and adsorption of enzymes on solid surfaces. However, only a few studies discuss enzyme adsorption on soil perspective; hence, we attempted to facilitate the process of enzyme adsorption specifically on soil surfaces. This review is remarkably unmatched, as we have thoroughly reviewed the relevant publications related to protein adsorption and enzymatic activity. Also, the article focuses on two important aspects, adsorption of enzymes and factors limiting the activity of adsorbed enzyme, together in one paper. The first part of this review comprehensively lays emphasis on different interactions between enzymes and the soil solid phase and the kinetics of enzyme adsorption. In the second part, we encircle various factors affecting the enzymatic activity of the adsorbed enzyme in soil.

Background: Recent studies have reveled the presence of a complex fungal community (mycobiome) in the oral cavity. However, the role of oral mycobiome in dental caries and its interaction with caries-associated bacteria is not yet clear. Methods: Whole-mouth supragingival plaque samples from 30 children (6–10 years old) with no caries, early caries, or advanced caries were sequenced for internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS-2). The mycobiome profiles were correlated with previously published bacteriome counterparts. Interaction among selected fungal and bacterial species was assessed by co-culture or spent media experiments. Results: Fungal load was extremely low. Candida, Malassezia, Cryptococcus, and Trichoderma spp. were the most prevalent/abundant taxa. Advanced caries was associated with significantly higher fungal load and prevalence/abundance of Candida albicans. Cryptococcus neoformans and Candida sake were significantly over-abundant in early caries, while Malassezia globosa was significantly enriched in caries-free subjects. C. albicans correlated with Streptococcus mutans and Scardovia wiggsiae among other caries-associated bacteria, while M. globosa inversely correlated with caries-associated bacteria. In-vitro, M. globosa demonstrated inhibitory properties against S. mutans. Conclusions: the results substantiate the potential role of the oral mycobiome, primarily Candida species, in dental caries. Inter-kingdom correlations and inhibition of S. mutans by M. globosa are worth further investigation.

Ascorbic acid is a bacteriostatic agent; one of the many ways by which ascorbic acid hampers bacterial growth is by the production of hydrogen peroxide, which further converts into hydroxyl free radicals. Certain amino acids can counteract the inhibitory effect of hydroxyl free radicals by checking their oxidizing effect. Though ascorbic acid is bacteriostatic in nature, it facilitates prokaryotic respiration by decarboxylation. This study was carried out to understand how microbes from different horizons of the forest soil respond to the addition of a bacteriostatic agent (ascorbic acid) and growth promoting agent (amino acids), with respect to the soil respiration. We observed that the addition of either ascorbic acid or a combination of it with amino acid consistently results in increased soil respiration, and this increase is different for different soil types depending on soil composition and origin. Furthermore, we also found that beta alanine-induced maximum respiration in basic soils and L-glutamic in acidic soils. This study is significant because it can be used to explain how a strong reducing sugar, i.e., ascorbic acid, affects the soil respiration mediated via soil microbes. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first report that demonstrates the effect of bacteriostatic and the growth promoting agent together on microbe-mediated soil respiration.