William Jabez Osborne

1. Synthetic pesticides play a crucial role in modern agriculture by protecting crops from pests and improving productivity. However, extensive and continuous application of these chemicals has rai...

Indoxacarb is a widely used oxadiazine insecticide that has a unique pro‐insecticidal mode of action. It functions by metabolic activation to a sodium channel‐blocking metabolite, leading to disruption of neuronal signalling and insect mortality. However, increasing evidence highlights that, beyond its target specificity, indoxacarb exerts diverse biological and environmental effects. This review provides an integrated framework linking the physicochemical properties and mode of action of indoxacarb with its toxicity, resistance development, environmental transformation and degradation while identifying key knowledge gaps and future research priorities. Indoxacarb exhibited substantial toxicity across target and non‐target organisms, with reported acute LC₅₀ values ranging from 0.0521 mg/L in Labeo rohita to 5.13 μg/mL in Artemia sp., while sublethal exposure induced developmental, reproductive, behavioural, metabolic and oxidative effects. Resistance has evolved across several major pest species, with resistance levels reaching approximately 58‐fold in Spodoptera litura , 472‐fold in Spodoptera frugiperda , 750‐fold in Plutella xylostella and 1794‐fold in Tuta absoluta through mechanisms involving enhanced metabolic detoxification, reduced bioactivation, target‐site mutations, sequestration and regulatory adaptations. Indoxacarb undergoes microbial, soil, plant, hydrolytic and photolytic transformation, with microbial degradation efficiencies reaching up to 95.7%–100% in some actinomycetes and approximately 68% degradation within 24 h by Priestia aryabhattai DPX‐1. However, transformation does not always result in detoxification, as some metabolites, such as IN‐KG433, exhibit greater toxicity than the parent compound. Overall, the evidence indicates that indoxacarb has high insecticidal efficacy with considerable ecological and resistance‐related concerns. Despite extensive research, several important knowledge gaps exist, which include limited availability of field‐scale data on indoxacarb degradation and remediation efficiency, insufficient information on chronic toxicity thresholds for pollinators and the absence of standardized approaches for monitoring and comparing indoxacarb resistance across pest populations. In addition, the complete molecular mechanisms underlying microbial degradation remain insufficiently characterized, particularly with respect to the genes and enzymes involved.

Marine microorganisms play a crucial role in maintaining oceanic ecosystem stability by mediating essential biogeochemical cycles, nutrient cycling and natural attenuation of environmental pollutants through diverse metabolic processes. Owing to their remarkable metabolic diversity, marine bacteria, fungi, and archaea possess the ability to utilize complex organic compounds as carbon and energy sources enabling them to transform and degrade a wide range of contaminants in aquatic environments, making them key agents in marine bioremediation. Among these, the most persistent pollutants threatening the marine ecosystem are the Microplastics (MPs) and hydrocarbons, both of which originate largely from anthropogenic activities including plastic waste accumulation, industrial discharge, petroleum extraction and accidental spills. MPs, are plastic particles of size less than or equal to 5 mm, produced due to the fragmentation of larger plastic debris while hydrocarbons consist of complex mixtures of aliphatic and aromatic compounds including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and BTEX compounds. In marine systems, MPs frequently act as carriers for hydrocarbons and other contaminants, facilitating the formation of specialized microbial biofilms known as the plastisphere. Microbial degradation of these pollutants involves sequential processes including surface colonization, enzymatic depolymerization, biofragmentation, assimilation and mineralization. Several studies have reported the potential of marine bacteria and fungi in the degradation of MPs and HCs through the synthesis of key enzymes such as PETase and MHETase for MPs and laccases, peroxidases for HCs. Recent advances in omics technologies including metagenomics, metabolomics, proteomics, and transcriptomics have significantly improved our understanding of microbial community dynamics, degradation pathways, and functional genes involved in pollutant degradation. Therefore, integration of recent technologies alongside conventional methods could enhance the remediation process. In this review, we have collated the collective role of marine microorganisms in the biodegradation of MPs and hydrocarbons, highlighting their key degradation mechanisms, microbial interactions and the contributions of omics based approaches in advancing marine bioremediation research.

Soil microbiota plays a pivotal role in maintaining soil fertility, plant health, and biogeochemical cycling (Basu et al. 2021). While early ecological studies focused primarily on plant and animal...

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) have emerged as bioelectrochemical systems that directly link renewable energy generation with sustainable waste management by converting organic waste into electricity through microbial metabolic activity. This review critically examines recent advancements in MFC technology, with particular emphasis on substrates, extracellular electron transfer mechanisms, biofilm engineering, and genetic and synthetic biology approaches that have significantly improved bioelectricity generation and system performance. Developments in plant‐MFCs, hybrid energy systems, and three‐dimensional conductive electrodes are highlighted as key strategies for enhancing long‐term stability and practical applicability. Despite these advances, challenges related to low power density, material cost, operational variability, and scale‐up limitations continue to restrict widespread distribution of MFCs. To address these concerns, the review provides a comparative and global feasibility analysis, considering regional waste availability, environmental conditions, technological readiness, and policy frameworks. By integrating microbial, material, and system‐level perspectives, this review positions MFCs as promising components of circular economy and zero‐waste energy systems, while identifying critical research gaps that must be addressed for their successful transition from laboratory‐scale studies to real‐world applications.

Lead (Pb) contamination severely affects plant growth and ecosystem health. The present study integrates systems biology and metabolomics to elucidate Pb stress tolerance mechanisms in Pennisetum purpureum bioaugmented with Enterobacter cloacae. Network based metabolite-gene mapping identified 31 plant metabolites and 65 microbial metabolites associated with Pb uptake and oxidative stress mitigation. Key compounds such as ascorbic acid, glutamine, enterochelin, and methionine were linked to target genes APX1, GLU1, entF, and metG, highlighting antioxidant and metal chelation roles. Pathway enrichment revealed activation of ascorbate, glutathione, methionine, and siderophore biosynthetic routes. Pot culture experiments confirmed enhanced plant growth and Pb tolerance in bioaugmented systems supplemented with 100 µg L⁻¹ of ascorbic acid and glutamine. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) profiling of root exudates validated these findings, detecting unique metabolites such as thiophene-3-ol and benzeneethanamine associated with improved plant vigour. These results provide a mechanistic framework for exploiting multi-biosystem metabolomics in phytoremediation and the design of effective plant-microbe strategies for Pb bioremoval.

Chaetomorpha antennina is a green alga and is known for its medicinal properties. Endophytes are microbes capable of synthesizing bioactive compounds which kills the pathogens without harming the host. The current study was aimed to detect the presence of endophytic bacteria that could inhibit bacterial human pathogens. The isolate VITSSSTJ4 produced secondary metabolites that restrained the development of Bacillus cereus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Escherichia coli with a zone diameter of 19 ± 0.67, 13 ± 0.67 and 12 ± 0.67 mm respectively, in n-hexane extract. Additionally, SPE and UPLC were used to purify the extract and a peak was detected in UPLC at a retention time of 7.741 min. Further, FT-IR technique was employed to detect the functional groups such as C-O, O-H, N=C=O, C=C, C-H, O-H, and N-H. Gass Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) confirmed molecular mass of the lead molecule to be 369.1638 g/mol and was identified to be 1-(4-Acetamidoanilino)-3,7-dimethylbenzo [4,5]imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine-4-carbonitrile. The effective isolate VITSSSTJ4 was found to be the closest neighbour of Bacillus stercoris in 16S rRNA gene sequencing, and the rod-shaped cell structure of VITSSSTJ4 was detected by scanning electron micrographs. Molecular docking revealed that the lead molecule had a substantial binding interaction with the methyltransferase component with a binding affinity of -7.7 kcal/mol. Graphical abstract