BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

The human nasal passages host major human pathogens. Recent research suggests that the microbial communities inhabiting the epithelial surfaces of the nasal passages play a key factor in maintaining a healthy microenvironment by affecting both resistance to pathogens and immunological responses. Colonization of the nasal cavity by different pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella aerogenes, is associated with a higher postoperative infection morbidity. Povidone-iodine (PVP-I) as an antiseptic has been proven to display high antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal properties even at low concentrations, and was shown to be effective in the control of infections to limit their impact and spread. It can be used as a topical antiseptic for skin decontamination and wound management, as a nasal spray, or as a gargle. There are different methods in testing the efficacy of potential antimicrobial suspensions. This study aimed to determine the concentration of PVP-I that is most effective in nasal decolonization using microsuspension test and colorimetric minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) determination assays, resazurin microtiter assay (REMA), and Dey-Engley (D/E) neutralizer assay. The findings of this study will contribute to knowledge regarding the intended use of PVP-I in microbial control, particularly in bacterial infections.

Several dilutions (2.0%, 1.0%, 0.5%, 0.25%, 0.1% and 0.09%) of commercially bought 10% (10 mg per 100 ml) povidone-iodine were prepared and tested against a standardized inoculum (1x105) of Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella aerogenes at different contacttimes (5 seconds, 10 seconds, 30 seconds, 1 minute, and 5 minutes). Microdilution suspension test was performed to determine the log reduction per variable, while REMA and D/E neutralizer assay were used to determine the MIC. A value of greater than or equal to 5 log reduction was considered effective for microdilution suspension test. Estimates of agreement statistics were used to interpret the results of the assay in which the overall percent agreement (OPA), positive percent agreement (PPA), negative percent agreement (NPA), and Cohen’s kappa statistics were calculated.

Povidone-iodine concentration of 0.25% exhibited ?5 log reduction against K. aerogenes at the minimum contact time of 5 seconds. On the other hand,  a slightly higher PVP-I concentration was required to achieve ?5 log reduction for S. aureus at 0.5% concentration and a minimum contact time of 1 minute. There was an observed concordance of the results of REMA and D/E neutralizer as MIC colorimetric indicators, which yielded an overall test percent agreement of 90.30% (95% CI: 84.73–94.36), and a strong level of agreement (? = 0.8, pCONCLUSION

Low povidone-iodine concentrations (i.e., 0.5% against S. aureus and 0.25% against K. aerogenes) were observed to have bactericidal activity of at least 5 log reduction as rapid as the minimum contact time of 5 seconds. Furthermore, D/E and REMA, as colorimetric indicators, had comparable performance (OPA = 90.30%; ? = 0.8, p
Human ; Bacteria ; Povidone-iodine ; Microbial Sensitivity Tests ; Anti-infective Agents, Local ; Enterobacter Aerogenes ; Staphylococcus Aureus

OBJECTIVES

The objectives of the study were to determine the antibiotic consumption of restricted antibiotics and to correlate this with resistance rate.

A retrospective review of pharmacy dispensing records was conducted in the adult internal medicine wards of a tertiary level teaching hospital in the Philippines between March 2019 to February 2020. Antibiotic consumption was determined using Defined Daily Dose (DDD) per 1000 patient-days (PD). Correlations between antibiotic consumption and antibiotic resistance of restricted antibiotics were done. Outcomes were compared between Ward 1 (with the presence of a unit-dose pharmacist) and Ward 3 (without a unit-dose pharmacist).

Both wards showed decreasing trends of piperacillin-tazobactam consumption and increasing trends of ceftazidime consumption from quarter 1 to quarter 4. It was observed that levofloxacin was the most prescribed fluoroquinolone with the highest consumption recorded from March to May 2019 in Ward 3 of 350.2 DDD/1000 PD as compared with ciprofloxacin which has the highest consumption (23.3 DDD/1000 PD) during the period June to August 2019 in Ward 1. Antibiotic resistance of Acinetobacter baumannii against ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin, and piperacillin-tazobactam were statistically significantly different between the wards. In Ward 1, ciprofloxacin consumption was strongly positively correlated with Escherichia coli resistance (r = 0.90). In Ward 3, a significantly moderately positive association was observed for ceftazidime consumption and A. baumannii resistance (r = 0.61), positive correlation between piperacillin-tazobactam and E. coli resistance (r = 0.65), and a strong positive correlation in Ward 3 between levofloxacin and Pseudomonas aeruginosa resistance (r = 0.71).

The restriction and pre-authorization strategy of the AMS program has greatly contributed to the decrease in the consumption of almost all restricted antibiotics. This strategy has been helpful in minimizing unnecessary antibiotic use associated with inappropriate drug therapy. The success of the AMS program has been based on the collective efforts of the AMS team with the implementation of hospital policies, such as the AMS program, across the different sites in the hospital in order to achieve optimum patient health outcomes. It was noted that the resistance rates of A. baumannii against ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin, and piperacillin-tazobactam were higher in Ward 3 compared to Ward 1 which makes infections very difficult to treat which may result to prolonged hospital stay, increased health-care costs and increased mortality rate. This study has supported the involvement of pharmacists in the AMS team by conducting auditing activities that promote safe compliance of restricted antibiotic use among patients. Pharmacists can greatly participate on either prospective or retrospective review of antibiotic utilization and analyze trends of antibiotic consumption data to provide feedback to prescribing physicians on prescribing patterns and possible correlation with occurrence of antibiotic resistance.

Artemisia argyi (A. argyi), a plant with a longstanding history as a raw material for traditional medicine and functional diets in Asia, has been used traditionally to bathe and soak feet for its disinfectant and itch-relieving properties. Despite its widespread use, scientific evidence validating the antifungal efficacy of A. argyi water extract (AAWE) against dermatophytes, particularly Trichophyton rubrum, Trichophyton mentagrophytes, and Microsporum gypseum, remains limited. This study aimed to substantiate the scientific basis of the folkloric use of A. argyi by evaluating the antifungal effects and the underlying molecular mechanisms of its active subfraction against dermatophytes. The results indicated that AAWE exhibited excellent antifungal effects against the three aforementioned dermatophyte species. The subfraction AAWE6, isolated using D101 macroporous resin, emerged as the most potent subfraction. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of AAWE6 against T. rubrum, M. gypseum, and T. mentagrophytes were 312.5, 312.5, and 625 μg·mL^-1, respectively. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) results and assays of enzymes linked to cell wall integrity and cell membrane function indicated that AAWE6 could penetrate the external protective barrier of T. rubrum, creating breaches ("small holes"), and disrupt the internal mitochondrial structure ("granary"). Furthermore, transcriptome data, quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR), and biochemical assays corroborated the severe disruption of mitochondrial function, evidenced by inhibited tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle and energy metabolism. Additionally, chemical characterization and molecular docking analyses identified flavonoids, primarily eupatilin (131.16 ± 4.52 mg·g^-1) and jaceosidin (4.17 ± 0.18 mg·g^-1), as the active components of AAWE6. In conclusion, the subfraction AAWE6 from A. argyi exerts antifungal effects against dermatophytes by disrupting mitochondrial morphology and function. This research validates the traditional use of A. argyi and provides scientific support for its anti-dermatophytic applications, as recognized in the Chinese patent (No. ZL202111161301.9).
Antifungal Agents/chemistry* ; Arthrodermataceae ; Artemisia/chemistry* ; Molecular Docking Simulation ; Mitochondria ; Microbial Sensitivity Tests

Objective: To investigate the clinical characteristics, serogroups and antimicrobial resistance of invasive non-typhoid Salmonella infection in children at Xiamen. Methods: Retrospective cohort study. The clinical manifestations, treatment, prognosis, serogroups and antimicrobial resistance of 29 hospitalized children with invasive non-typhoid Salmonella infection confirmed by blood, cerebrospinal fluid, bone marrow and other sterile body fluids or deep pus culture at the Department of Infectious Diseases, the Department of Orthopedics and the Department of General Surgery in Xiamen Children's Hospital from January 2016 to December 2021 were analyzed. According to the clinical diagnosis criteria, the patients were divided into sepsis group and non-sepsis group (bacteremia and local suppurative infection). The inflammatory markers, serogroups distribution and drug resistance were compared between the two groups. Comparison between groups using Mann-Whitney U test and χ² test. Results: Among the 29 cases, there were 17 males and 12 females, with an onset age of 14 (9, 25) months, and 10 cases (34%) of patients were younger than 1 year old, 15 cases (52%) under 1 to 3 years old, and 4 cases (14%) greater than or equal 3 years old. The onset time of 25 cases (86%) was from April to September. The diseases included 19 cases (66%) septicemia (2 of which were combined with suppurative meningitis), 10 cases (34%) non-sepsis group, including 7 cases bacteremia and 3 cases local suppurative infection (2 cases of osteomyelitis, 1 case of appendicitis with peritonitis). The clinical manifestations were fever in 29 cases (100%), diarrhea and abdominal pain in 18 cases (62%), cough and runny nose in 10 cases (34%). Eighteen cases (62%) were cured and 11 cases (38%) were improved by effective antibiotics treatment. C-reactive protein in sepsis group was significantly higher than that in non-sepsis group (25.2 (16.1, 56.4) vs. 3.4 (0.5, 7.5) mg/L, Z=-3.81, P<0.001).The serogroups of C, B and E were the most prevalent among non-typhoid Salmonella isolates, accounting for 10 cases (34%), 9 cases (31%) and 7 cases (24%) respectively. Antibacterial drug sensitivity test showed that the sensitivity rates of imipenem, ertapenem and piperaciratazobactam were all 100% (31/31), those of ceftazidime, ceftriaxone, and cefepime were 94% (29/31), 94% (29/31) and 97% (30/31) respectively. The drug resistance rates of ampicillin, ampicillin-sulbactam and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole were 51% (16/31), 48% (15/31) and 48% (15/31) respectively, those of cefazolin, cefotetan, tobramycin, gentamicin and amikacinwere all 100% (31/31). There were no significant differences in the drug resistance rates of ceftazidime, ceftriaxone, aztreonam, ampicillin-sulbactam, ampicillin, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and ciprofloxacin between the sepsis group and the non-sepsis group (χ²=0.31,0.31,0.00,0.02,0.02,0.02,0.26, all P>0.05). Conclusions: Invasive non-typhoid Salmonella infection in children at Xiamen mainly occurred in infants younger than 3 years old.The main clinical manifestations are fever, abdominal pain and diarrhea. C-reactive protein can be served as the laboratory indicators for indicating sepsis. The third generation of cephalosporins is recommended as the first choice for treatment.
Infant ; Male ; Female ; Child ; Humans ; Child, Preschool ; Anti-Bacterial Agents/therapeutic use* ; Ceftriaxone/therapeutic use* ; Trimethoprim, Sulfamethoxazole Drug Combination/therapeutic use* ; Ceftazidime/therapeutic use* ; Retrospective Studies ; C-Reactive Protein ; Drug Resistance, Bacterial ; Salmonella Infections/microbiology* ; Ampicillin/therapeutic use* ; Salmonella ; Diarrhea/drug therapy* ; Bacteremia ; Abdominal Pain ; Microbial Sensitivity Tests

Objective: To understand the characteristics of bacterial meningitis after pediatric neurosurgical procedures. Methods: This was a retrospective observational study. From January 2016 to December 2022, 64 children diagnosed with post-neurosurgical bacterial meningitis based on positive cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) culture in Department of Neurosurgery of Shanghai Children's Medical Center were selected as the study population. The clinical characteristics, onset time, routine biochemical indexes of cerebrospinal fluid before anti infection treatment, bacteriology characteristics and sensitivity to antibiotics of bacteria cultured from cerebrospinal fluid were analyzed. Based on the CSF culture results, the patients were divided into the Gram-positive bacteria infection group and the Gram-negative bacteria infection group. The clinical characteristics of the two groups were compared using t-tests or Wilcoxon rank-sum tests, and chi-square tests. Results: There were 64 children,42 boys and 22 girls, with onset age of 0.83 (0.50, 1.75) years. Seventy cases of post-neurosurgical bacterial meningitis occurred in the 64 children, of which 15 cases (21%) in spring, 23 cases (33%) in summer, 19 cases (27%) in autumn, and 13 cases (19%) in winter. The time of onset was 3.5 (1.0, 10.0) months after surgery; 15 cases (21%) occurred within the first month after the surgery, and 55 cases (79%) occurred after the first month. There were 38 cases (59%) showing obvious abnormal clinical manifestations, fever 36 cases (56%), vomiting 11 cases (17%). Forty-eight cases (69%) were caused by Gram-positive bacteria, with Staphylococcus epidermidis 24 cases; 22 cases (31%) were caused by Gram-negative bacteria, with Acinetobacter baumannii the prominent pathogen 7 cases. The Gram-positive bacterial infection was more common in summer than the Gram-negative bacterial infection (20 cases (42%) vs. 3 cases (14%), χ²=5.37, P=0.020), while the Gram-negative bacterial infection was more in autumn and within the first month after surgery than the Gram-positive bacterial infection (11 cases (50%) vs. 8 cases (17%), 15 cases (67%) vs. 5 cases (33%), χ²=8.48, 9.02; P=0.004, 0.003). Gram-positive bacteria resistant to vancomycin and Acinetobacter baumannii resistant to polymyxin were not found. However, Acinetobacter baumannii showed only 45% (10/22) susceptibility to carbapenem antibiotics. Conclusions: The clinical presentation of post-neurosurgical bacterial meningitis in children is atypical. Gram-positive bacteria are the main pathogens causing post-neurosurgical bacterial meningitis; Gram-negative bacterial meningitis are more likely to occur in autumn and within the first month after surgery. Acinetobacter baumannii has a high resistance rate to carbapenem antibiotics, which should be taken seriously.
Male ; Female ; Humans ; Child ; China/epidemiology* ; Anti-Bacterial Agents/pharmacology* ; Meningitis, Bacterial/diagnosis* ; Gram-Negative Bacterial Infections/drug therapy* ; Gram-Positive Bacteria ; Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections/drug therapy* ; Carbapenems ; Retrospective Studies ; Microbial Sensitivity Tests ; Drug Resistance, Bacterial

Objective: To explore the clinical characteristics, common pathogens in children with vulvovaginitis. Methods: This was a retrospective cases study. A total of 3 268 children with vulvovaginitis were enrolled, who visited the Department of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology, Children's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine from January 2009 to December 2019. Patients were divided into 3 groups according to the age of <7, 7-<10 and 10-18 years. Patients were also divided in to 4 groups according to the season of first visit. The pathogen distribution characteristics of infective vulvovaginitis were compared between the groups. Their clinical data were collected and then analyzed by χ² test. Results: The were 3 268 girls aged (6.2±2.5) years. There were 1 728 cases (52.9%) aged <7 years, 875 cases (26.8%) aged 7-<10 years, and 665 cases (20.3%) aged 10-18 years. Of these cases, 2 253 cases (68.9%) were bacterial vulvovaginitis, 715 cases (21.9%) were fungal vulvovaginitis and 300 cases (9.2%) were vulvovaginitis infected with other pathogens. Bacterial culture of vaginal secretions was performed in 2 287 cases, and 2 287 strains (70.0%) of pathogens were detected, of which the top 5 pathogens were Streptococcus pyogenes (745 strains, 32.6%), Haemophilus influenzae (717 strains, 31.4%), Escherichia coli (292 strains, 12.8%), Staphylococcus aureus (222 strains, 9.7%) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (67 strains, 2.9%). Regarding different age groups, H.influenzae was the most common in children under 7 years of age (40.3%, 509/1 263), S.pyogenes (41.9%, 356/849) was predominantly in children aged 7 to 10 years, and E.coli was predominant in children aged 10 to 18 years (26.3%, 46/175). Susceptibility results showed that S.pyogenes was susceptible to penicillin G (610/610, 100.0%), ceftriaxone (525/525, 100.0%), and vancomycin (610/610, 100.0%); the resistance rates to erythromycin and clindamycin were 91.9% (501/545)and 90.7% (495/546), respectively. For H.influenzae, 32.5% (161/496) produced β-elactamase, and all strains were sensitive to meropenem (489/489, 100.0%) and levofloxacin (388/388, 100.0%), while 40.5% (202/499) were resistant to ampicillin. Among E.coli, all strains were sensitive to imipenem(100%, 175/175). The resistance rates of E.coli to levofloxacin and ceftriaxone were 29.1% (43/148) and 35.1% (59/168), respectively. A total of 48 strains of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) were isolated with a proportion of 28.3% (45/159) in 3 268 patients. The results of drug susceptibility test showed that all MRSA strains were sensitive to linezolid 100.0% (40/40), vancomycin (45/45, 100.0%), and tigecycline (36/36, 100.0%); the resistance rates of MRSA to penicillin G, erythromycin and clindamycin were 100% (45/45), 95.6% (43/45) and 88.9% (40/45), respectively. All methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) strains were sensitive to oxacillin (114/114, 100.0%), linezolid (94/94, 100.0%), vancomycin (114/114, 100.0%), and tigecycline (84/84, 100.0%); it's resistance rates to penicillin G, erythromycin and clindamycin were 78.1% (89/114), 59.7% (68/114) and 46.5% (53/114), respectively. The drug resistance rate of MSSA to penicillin G, erythromycin and clindamycin were lower than those of MRSA (χ²=11.71,19.74,23.95, respectively, all P<0.001). Conclusions: The age of consultation for pediatric infectious vulvovaginitis is mainly around 6 years. The most common pathogens are S.pyogenes, H.influenzae and Escherichia coli. Third generation cephalosporins can be used as the first choice of empirical anti-infection drugs. However, the results of drug susceptibility should be considered for targeted treatment.
Female ; Adolescent ; Child ; Humans ; Anti-Bacterial Agents/therapeutic use* ; Vancomycin/therapeutic use* ; Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus ; Clindamycin/therapeutic use* ; Ceftriaxone/therapeutic use* ; Tigecycline/therapeutic use* ; Linezolid/therapeutic use* ; Levofloxacin/therapeutic use* ; Retrospective Studies ; Microbial Sensitivity Tests ; Staphylococcus aureus ; Staphylococcal Infections/drug therapy* ; Erythromycin/therapeutic use* ; Methicillin ; Penicillin G/therapeutic use* ; Escherichia coli ; Drug Resistance, Bacterial

OBJECTIVE: Agar dilution method (ADM) was used as the golden standard to evaluate the consistency of Epsilometer test (E-test) in detecting the sensitivity of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) to metronidazole. METHODS: From August 2018 to July 2020, patients with H. pylori infection treated for the first time in Peking University Third Hospital for gastroscopy due to dyspepsia were included in this study. Gastric mucosas were taken from the patients with H. pylori infection. H. pylori culture was performed. Both the ADM and E-test were applied to the antibiotic susceptibility of H. pylori to metro-nidazole, and the consistency and correlation between the two methods were validated. RESULTS: In the study, 105 clinical isolates of H. pylori were successfully cultured, and the minimum inhibitory concentration ≥ 8 mg/L was defined as drug resistance. Both ADM and the E-test showed high resistance rates to metronidazole, 64.8% and 62.9%, respectively. Among them, 66 drug-resistant strains were detected by ADM and E-test, and 37 were sensitive strains, so the consistency rate was 98.1%. Two strains were evaluated as drug resistance by ADM, but sensitive by the E-test, with a very major error rate of 1.9%. There was zero strain sensitive according to ADM but assessed as resistant by the E-test, so the major error rate was 0%. Taking ADM as the gold standard, the sensitivity of E-test in the detection of metronidazole susceptibility was 97.1% (95%CI: 0.888-0.995), and the specificity was 100% (95%CI: 0.883-1.000). Cohen's kappa analysis showed substantial agreement, and kappa coefficient was 0.959 (95%CI: 0.902-1.016, P < 0.001). Spearmans correlation analysis confirmed this correlation was significant (r=0.807, P < 0.001). The consistency evaluation of Bland-Altman method indicated that it was good, and there was no measured value outside the consistency interval. In this study, cost analysis, including materials and labor, showed a 32.2% higher cost per analyte for ADM as compared with the E-test (356.6 yuan vs. 269.8 yuan). CONCLUSION The susceptibility test of H. pylori to metronidazole by E-test presents better agreement with ADM. Because it is less expensive, less labor intensive, and more rapid, it is an easy and reliable method for H. pylori susceptibility testing.
Humans ; Metronidazole/therapeutic use* ; Helicobacter pylori ; Agar/therapeutic use* ; Disk Diffusion Antimicrobial Tests ; Microbial Sensitivity Tests ; Helicobacter Infections/drug therapy* ; Anti-Bacterial Agents/therapeutic use*

To explore the clinical distribution and drug resistance characteristics of carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CRKP), in order to provide reference for the prevention and treatment of CRKP infection. Retrospective analysis was performed on 510 clinical isolates of CRKP from January 2017 to December 2021, and strain identification and drug sensitivity tests were conducted by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometer and VITEK-2 Compact microbial drug sensitivity analyzer. The carbapenemase phenotype of CRKP strain was detected by carbapenemase inhibitor enhancement test. The CRKP strain was further categorized by immunochromogenic method and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used for gene detection. The results showed that 302 strains (59.2%) were derived from sputum, 127 strains (24.9%) from urine and 47 strains (9.2%) from blood. 231 (45.3%) were mainly distributed in intensive care, followed by 108 (21.2%) in respiratory medicine and 79 (15.5%) in neurosurgery. Drug susceptibility test result shows that the resistant rate of tigecycline increased from 1.0% in 2017 to 10.1% in 2021, the difference was statistically significant (χ²=14.444,P<0.05). The results of carbapenemase inhibitor enhancement test showed that 461 carbapenemase strains (90.4%) of 510 CRKP strains, including 450 serinase strains (88.2%), 9 metalloenzyme strains (1.8%), and 2 strains (0.4%) produced both serine and metalloenzyme. 49 strains (9.6%) did not produce enzymes. Further typing by immunochromogenic assay showed that 461 CRKP strains were KPC 450 (97.6%) and IMP 2 (0.4%). 7 NDM (1.5%); 2 strains of KPC+NDM (0.4%); PCR results were as follows: 450 strains of blaKPC (97.6%), 2 strains of blaIMP (0.4%), 7 strains of blaNDM (1.5%), and 2 strains of blaKPC+NDM (0.4%). In conclusion, CRKP strains mainly originated from sputum specimens and distributed in intensive care department, and the drug resistance characteristics were mainly KPC type in carbapenemase production. Clinical microbiology laboratory should strengthen the monitoring of CRKP strains, so as to provide reference for preventing CRKP infection and reducing the production of bacterial drug resistance.
Anti-Bacterial Agents/pharmacology* ; Carbapenems/pharmacology* ; Klebsiella pneumoniae/genetics* ; Hospital Distribution Systems ; Retrospective Studies ; Microbial Sensitivity Tests ; beta-Lactamases/genetics* ; Bacterial Proteins/genetics* ; Drug Resistance, Bacterial/genetics*

This article summarizes the reviews and original research papers published in Chinese Journaol of Biotechnology in the area of biomanufacturing driven by engineered organisms in the year of 2022. The enabling technologies including DNA sequencing, DNA synthesis, and DNA editing as well as regulation of gene expression and in silico cell modeling were highlighted. This was followed by discussing the biomanufacturing of biocatalytics products, amino acids and its derivatives, organic acids, natural products, antibiotics and active peptides, functional polysaccharides, and functional proteins. Lastly, the technologies for utilizing C1 compounds and biomass as well as synthetic microbial consortia were discussed. The aim of this article was to help the readers to gain insights into this rapidly developing field from the journal point of view.
Biotechnology ; Microbial Consortia ; DNA ; Biological Products ; Publications ; Synthetic Biology

Synthetic electroactive microbial consortia, which include exoelectrogenic and electrotrophic communities, catalyze the exchange of chemical and electrical energy in cascade metabolic reactions among different microbial strains. In comparison to a single strain, a community-based organisation that assigns tasks to multiple strains enables a broader feedstock spectrum, faster bi-directional electron transfer, and greater robustness. Therefore, the electroactive microbial consortia held great promise for a variety of applications such as bioelectricity and biohydrogen production, wastewater treatment, bioremediation, carbon and nitrogen fixation, and synthesis of biofuels, inorganic nanomaterials, and polymers. This review firstly summarized the mechanisms of biotic-abiotic interfacial electron transfer as well as biotic-biotic interspecific electron transfer in synthetic electroactive microbial consortia. This was followed by introducing the network of substance and energy metabolism in a synthetic electroactive microbial consortia designed by using the "division-of-labor" principle. Then, the strategies for engineering synthetic electroactive microbial consortiums were explored, which included intercellular communications optimization and ecological niche optimization. We further discussed the specific applications of synthetic electroactive microbial consortia. For instance, the synthetic exoelectrogenic communities were applied to biomass generation power technology, biophotovoltaics for the generation of renewable energy and the fixation of CO₂. Moreover, the synthetic electrotrophic communities were applied to light-driven N₂ fixation. Finally, this review prospected future research of the synthetic electroactive microbial consortia.
Microbial Consortia ; Synthetic Biology ; Electron Transport ; Electricity ; Biodegradation, Environmental