Analysis of a population of magnetotactic bacteria of the Gulf of Gabès,Tunisia

The occurrence of magnetotactic bacteria (MTB) on a Tunisian marine coast exposed to heavy metals pollution (Sfax, Gulf of Gabès, Mediterranean Sea) was investigated. The MTB population of this Southern Mediterranean coast was compared to the MTB populations previously investigated on the French Northern Mediterranean coast. A dominant MTB coccus morphotype was observed by microscopy analysis. By pyrosequencing technology, the analysis of the 16S ribosomal RNA (rDNA) revealed as much as 33 operational taxonomic sequence units (OTUs) close to sequences of MTB accessible in the databases. The majority were close to MTB sequences of the “Med group” of α-Proteobacteria. Among them, a dominant OTU_001 (99 % of the MTB sequences) affiliated within the Magnetococcales order was highlighted. Investigating the capacities of this novel bacterium to be used in bioremediation and/or depollution processes could be envisaged.     

Effect of phosphogypsum addition in the composting process on the physico-chemical proprieties and the microbial diversity of the resulting compost tea

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Phosphoric acid production and olive oil production are among the most important economical sectors in Tunisia. However, they generate huge amounts of...     

Production and structure prediction of amylases from Chlorella vulgaris

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Amylases are enzymes required for starch degradation and are naturally produced by many microorganisms. These enzymes are used in several fields such...     

Biological treatment of fish processing wastewater: A case study from Sfax City (Southeastern Tunisia)

The present work presents a study of the biological treatment of fish processing wastewa at salt concentration of 55 g/L. Wastewater was treated by both continuous stirred-ta reactor(CSTR) and membrane bioreactor(MBR) during 50 and 100 days, respectively. Th biological processes involved salt-tolerant bacteria from natural hypersaline environme at different organic loading rates(OLRs). The phylogenetic analysis of the correspond excised DGGE bands has demonstrated that the taxonomic affiliation of the most domin species includes Halomonadaceae and Flavobacteriaceae families of the Proteobacteria(Gamm proteobacteria class) and the Bacteroidetes phyla, respectively. The results of MBR w better than those of CSTR in the removal of total organic carbon with efficiencies from 97 to 98.6%. Nevertheless, salinity with increasing OLR aggravates fouling that requires m cleaning for a membrane in MBR while leads to deterioration of sludge settleability a effluent quality in CSTR.     

Isolation of bacterial strains from compost teas and screening of their PGPR properties on potato plants

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The beneficial effect of compost and compost tea on plant growth and protection is mainly associated with the microbial diversity and the presence of...