Objective To explore the nitrogen and phosphorus removal efficiency of different immobilization strategies and mineralization methods of Bacillus licheniformis ZXT for high nitrogen-phosphorus wastewater, clarify the optimal mineralization conditions and carrier mechanism of action, and provide technical support for the green treatment and recovery of complex high nitrogen-phosphorus wastewater resources such as swine manure wastewater. Methods Four systems—free bacteria, chemical precipitation, activated carbon fiber (ACF) immobilization, and polyvinyl alcohol-sodium alginate-carbon powder (PVA-SA-CP) immobilization—were compared for their mineralization effects under Mg:N:P molar ratios of 0.6:1:1, 1:1:1, and 1.4:1:1. Characterization techniques including X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) were employed to analyze mineral properties. The application potential of the systems was verified with actual swine manure wastewater. Results The ACF immobilization system exhibited the optimal efficiency. Under the Mg:N:P ratio of 1:1:1, after seven days of cultivation, the final concentration of NH₄⁺ was only 0.59 mg/L (removal rate: 99.81%) and the final concentration of PO₄^3- was as low as 0.03 mg/L (removal rate: 99.99%), both meeting the national discharge standards (GB 8978—1996), with the formation of regular crystalline long plate-like struvite (i.e., magnesium ammonium phosphate, MAP). The PVA-SA-CP immobilization system showed significantly weaker removal effects under the same ratio, with final concentrations of NH₄⁺ and PO₄^3- being 5.07 mg/L and 0.45 mg/L, respectively. The chemical precipitation method failed to meet the standards, as the final concentration of NH₄⁺ ranged from 38.90 to 48.01 mg/L (removal rate: 84.70%-87.61%) within 24 h. Free bacteria achieved the removal rates of 99.97% for NH₄⁺ and 99.92% for PO₄^3- in actual swine manure wastewater after eight days of cultivation, with final NH₄⁺ and PO₄^3- concentrations of 0.15 mg/L and 0.05 mg/L, respectively, which complied with the discharge requirements. Conclusion Due to its developed microporous structure and good biocompatibility, ACF can efficiently enrich bacteria and promote the regular assembly of extracellular polymeric substances. The mineralization with ACF-immobilized B. licheniformis ZXT is the optimal choice, with Mg:N:P=1:1:1 as the best mineralization ratio. This technology can achieve efficient purification of high nitrogen-phosphorus wastewater and recovery of nitrogen and phosphorus resources, thus having important application value in actual wastewater treatment.

Microorganisms in high-salt environments (including halophilic and halotolerant bacteria) are widely distributed in extreme habitats such as salt lakes, oceans, and saline soils. Due to their unique metabolic adaptation mechanisms, they have become an important source of structurally novel natural products. This article outlines their taxonomic status and ecological distribution, with a focus on summarizing the chemical structures of compatible solutes such as ectoine and glycine betaine among primary metabolites, and their core roles in osmotic pressure regulation and biomacromolecule protection. The structural types of secondary metabolites, including alkaloids, terpenoids, steroids, and polyketides, are systematically reviewed. Furthermore, this article summarizes the biological activities such as antibacterial, antitumor, antioxidant, enzyme inhibitory, and photoprotective effects and discusses the structure-activity relationships of secondary metabolites. Considering the unique properties of these metabolites, this article analyzes their application prospects in fields such as medicine and health, biomaterials, and environmental remediation. This review aims to provide a theoretical reference for the in-depth development of microbial resources in high-salt environments and the discovery of novel bioactive molecules.

The dark matter of microbes, encompassing uncultivated microbial taxa and unknown biological features, has been widely accepted by microbiologists. With the advancement of microbial investigation methods, a series of dark matter concepts related to microbes have been successively proposed, and numerous research advances in this field have been well-documented. However, these concepts exhibit complex and overlapping connotations, and their inherent connections and distinctions have not yet been clearly clarified. This review work systematically summarizes the current conceptual frameworks of different dark matter types of microbes and analyzes the relevant investigation methodologies and their development trends. This article will help researchers in the microbial resource field gain a clearer understanding of the conceptual connotation and current research status of microbe-associated dark matter and promote the in-depth development of dark matter resource mining.

The dynamic balance between the preservation and distribution of microbial patent strains, the “gene chips” of biotechnology, has become a crucial benchmark for assessing a country’s competitiveness in the bioeconomy. By comparing the global data on the preservation and distribution of patent strains from 2001 to 2023, this paper systematically analyzes the gaps between China, the United States, and other countries in terms of resource reserves and circulation efficiency. The results revealed that while China was a global leader in preservation volume, its strain distribution rate lagged far behind the international level, which restricted technological innovation and industrial transformation. This study proposes comprehensive strategies such as optimizing the preservation systems, enhancing policy coordination, promoting industry-education-research collaborative innovation, strengthening international cooperation, and applying artificial intelligence and blockchain technologies throughout the entire chain. These strategies are designed to enhance the utilization rate of microbial strains, activate the value of China’s patent microbial resources, and position China at the forefront of the global bioeconomy.

Objective To characterize the cultivable bacterial diversity patterns and extracellular enzyme-producing capacity in mangrove sediments from the Zhangjiang Estuary, with a particular focus on the distribution of dominant Bacillus sensu lato and the environmental factors shaping their assemblages. Methods Bacterial isolates were obtained by dilution plating. Taxonomic identification was performed by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Plate-based assays were used to evaluate the activities of eight extracellular enzymes. Results In total, 1 392 isolates were obtained, representing 97 genera of 4 phyla. Bacillus sensu lato constituted the dominant assemblage (57.8%). Preliminary screening suggested 263 isolates (18.9%) as putative novel taxa, largely concentrated in Bacillus and allied genera such as Halobacillus. The Shannon diversity of cultivable bacteria was higher in the core mangrove zone and at the estuarine outlet than at the inlet (P<0.05), and the community composition differed among sites (P<0.05), being mainly associated with salinity and metal ions. By contrast, the community structure of Bacillus sensu lato was comparatively stable across space and was primarily associated with pH and carbon-nitrogen nutrient variables. Enzyme screening showed the highest positive rates for proteases (64.2%) and lipases (52.6%). Isolates affiliated with Bacillus sensu lato displayed higher positive rates than the overall community across multiple enzymes, indicating broad metabolic potential. Conclusion Mangrove sediments from the Zhangjiang Estuary harbor abundant cultivable bacterial resources. In addition to the dominant Bacillus-related taxa, Pseudomonadota and Bacteroidota appear to be key components underpinning overall community diversity. The high ecological stability and multi-substrate degradation capacity of Bacillus sensu lato, together with other bacterial groups, contribute to element cycling in mangrove sediments.

Engineered microorganisms, as the core driving force of biomanufacturing and the development of the new bio-economy, demonstrate increasingly prominent strategic values. The newly built Engineered Microorganisms and Genetic Tools Collection Center of China (EMTCC) supported by the Ministry of Education aims to break through the limitations of “microbial culture collection centers” and provide a comprehensive resource innovation service platform supported by information technology and integrating resource acquisition, intelligent creation, data analysis, and open sharing functions. This platform intends to meet the needs of basic research, technology development, and industrial applications. This article elaborates on the building framework of EMTCC, which takes large-scale resource preservation as the basis, intelligent mining and analysis as the core, and digital storage and computing sharing as the link. By carrying out large-scale acquisition and standardized preservation of natural and engineered microorganisms and plasmids and integrating cutting-edge technologies such as high-throughput automation, multi-omics, single-cell analysis, artificial intelligence prediction models, and digital twins, the EMTCC achieves a complete process of “acquisition & preservation, analysis & identification, and data sharing”. On the basis of drawing on the standardization and quality control systems of internationally renowned institutions such as American Type Culture Collection (ATCC), a resource repository model integrating living “organisms, information, and intelligence” will be developed. This innovative practice is expected to provide strong resource guarantee and technical support for research innovation and industrial upgrading in the fields of synthetic biology, metabolic engineering, biomedicine, and environmental remediation.

Microorganisms, as the oldest and most diverse life forms on Earth, possess significant development value due to their differentiated metabolic potential and biosynthetic capabilities, serving as core resources for the development of novel drugs and natural active products. Currently, the deep integration of artificial intelligence (AI) with microbial strain development is driving a paradigm shift in life sciences from “empirical screening” to “rational design”. This shift is driven both by the limitations of conventional research methods in addressing the complexity of microbial resources and by the unique advantages of AI in multi-omics data analysis, model prediction, and experimental process optimization. This article systematically reviews the roles of AI in the development and application of microbial strains, covering four aspects: strain breeding, metabolite development, disease diagnosis and treatment, and xenobiotic synthesis. Additionally, it discusses the core advantages and existing limitations of AI in the strain development process. In summary, through automated modeling and scientific prediction, AI not only accelerates the efficiency of microbial strain development but also provides multi-dimensional optimization strategies, serving as a core driver for technological innovation. The integration of AI is expected to break through traditional industrial bottlenecks and promote the sustainable development of the microbial industry.

The application of natural microbiomes is limited by their complex composition and uncontrollable functions, which makes synthetic microbiomes a core direction in microbiome engineering. Early binary synthetic microbiomes can achieve functional synergy under controlled conditions, whereas they exhibit poor stability and limited functional persistence in real complex environments due to their simple metabolic pathways and insufficient ecological redundancy. In recent years, the research on synthetic microbiomes has shifted from an empirically driven approach to rational design, achieving significant progress in strain resource acquisition, construction strategies (top-down, bottom-up, and their hybrid paradigms), and computational tools (e.g., genome-scale metabolic models). However, current design frameworks still focus primarily on functional realization, with insufficient attention paid to the long-term stability, system robustness, and multi-level ecological interactions of communities in complex environments. This paper systematically sorts out the evolutionary trajectory of synthetic microbiome construction paradigms and reviews the key elements for enhancing community stability. By establishing a multi-level metabolic network, this paradigm significantly improves the functional persistence and ecological robustness of synthetic microbiomes in complex and fluctuating environments. The future research on synthetic microbiomes needs to further integrate multidisciplinary technologies to improve the predictability and long-term stability of engineered microbiomes, providing a systematic theoretical framework and research directions for constructing highly robust synthetic microbiomes.

Objective To elucidate the diversity and community composition of endophytic and rhizospheric bacteria associated with Apocynum venetum in northern Xinjiang and to screen the strains with efficient and specific degumming potential. Methods Samples of A. venetum were collected from four regions: Karamay, Fukang, Urumqi, and Turpan. The bacterial community structure was analyzed by 16S rRNA gene high-throughput sequencing. Pure-culture techniques were employed for strain isolation, and functional strains exhibiting xylanase and pectinase activities but lacking cellulase activity were screened by Congo red staining and enzyme activity assays. Results High-throughput sequencing identified 872 genera of bacteria belonging to 345 families of 38 phyla, among which Pseudomonadota and Actinomycetota were the dominant phyla. Bacterial abundance and diversity followed the order: rhizospheric soil>root>leaf>stem. Microbial abundance and diversity at the Turpan site were lower than those at the other sampling sites. A total of 361 bacterial strains were isolated in pure culture, belonging to 86 genera, 47 families of 4 phyla. Nine specific degumming strains were screened out, of which seven (77.78%) strains were endophytes derived from stems and leaves. The optimal functional strain, Bacillus rugosus (VFS.M1.04), showed xylanase and pectinase activities of 2 237 U/mL and 1 002 U/mL, respectively. Conclusion The community structures of endophytic and rhizospheric bacteria associated with A. venetum are significantly influenced by habitats and plant parts. Bacillus is the dominant functional genus, and the homologous screening strategy effectively enables the acquisition of elite strains with strong degumming capacity and no cellulose degradation from stem and leaf endophytes. This study provides valuable microbial resources and a theoretical basis for developing a green biological degumming process for A. venetum. These findings support the targeted exploitation of plant-associated microbial strains for sustainable fiber processing.

Kitchen waste contains recalcitrant lipids that are prone to rancidification and can cause environmental pollution. Objective To isolate efficient lipase-producing strains from kitchen waste, optimize their enzyme production conditions, and evaluate the lipid-degrading potential of their extracellular products in kitchen waste. Methods Lipase-producing strains were isolated from canteen swill via the neutral red medium and identified based on morphological characteristics and 16S rRNA gene sequences. Lipase production conditions were optimized through single-factor experiments and response surface methodology. The properties of the lipase and the emulsification performance of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) were analyzed. Results A strain designated C24202, exhibiting strong lipase- and biosurfactant-producing activity, was isolated and identified as Stenotrophomonas maltophilia. The fermentation conditions were optimized as follows: lactose 10.0 g/L, yeast extract 7.5 g/L, emulsified soybean oil 40.0 g/L, FeSO₄ 8.0 g/L, and incubation at 34 ℃ and initial pH 6.5 for 72 h. Under these conditions, the lipase activity reached (229.64±2.17) U/mL, representing a 2.55-fold increase compared with the pre-optimization level. The lipase exhibited an optimal temperature of 60 ℃ and retained 50.70% of its activity after incubation at 50 ℃ for 6 h, demonstrating good thermal stability. The EPS produced by strain C24202 showed strong emulsifying capacity, with an EI₂₄ value of 46.92%. FTIR analysis suggested that the EPS may be polymeric glycolipopeptide-type biosurfactants. Conclusion Strain C24202 possesses dual capabilities of producing thermostable lipase and biosurfactants, demonstrating promising potential for lipid degradation and the treatment of oil-containing wastewater.