FEMS Microbiology Letters

Xanthomonas is an important genus of plant-associated bacteria that causes significant yield losses of economically important crops worldwide. Different approaches have assessed genetic diversity and evolutionary interrelationships among the Xanthomonas species. However, information from clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) has yet to be explored. In this work, we analyzed the architecture of CRISPR-Cas loci and presented a sequence similarity-based clustering of conserved Cas proteins in different species of Xanthomonas...

Tarballs are formed from released or discharged crude oil containing sulfur compounds. A considerable amount and variety of sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) and sulfur-oxidizing bacteria (SOB) were identified in tarballs collected from the intertidal and supratidal zones of Alabama's Gulf beaches. Amplicon sequencing of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene showed that SRB were more abundantly distributed in the core than on the surface of tarballs, while no significant differences were observed in the distribution of SOB...

CrgA has been shown to be a negative regulator of carotenogenesis in some filamentous fungi, while light irradiation is an inducible environmental factor for carotenoid biosynthesis. To clarify the relationship between CrgA and light-inducible carotenogenesis in Blakeslea trispora, the cis-acting elements of the btcrgA promoter region were investigated, followed by the analyses of correlation between the expression of btcrgA and carotenoid structural genes under different irradiation conditions. A variety of cis-acting elements associated with light response was observed in the promoter region of btcrgA, and transcription of btcrgA and carotenoid structural genes under different irradiation conditions was induced by white light with a clear correlation...

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No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Autophagy is pivotal in maintaining intracellular homeostasis, which involves various biological processes, including cellular senescence and lifespan modulation. Being an important member of the protein O-mannosyltransferase (PMT) family of enzymes, Pmt1p deficiency can significantly extend the replicative lifespan (RLS) of yeast cells through an endoplasmic reticulum (ER) unfolded protein response (UPR) pathway, which is participated in protein homeostasis. Nevertheless, the mechanisms that Pmt1p regulates the lifespan of yeast cells still need to be explored...

Reduction of CO2 to formate utilizing formate dehydrogenases has been attempted biologically and electrochemically. However, the conversion efficiency is very low due to the low energy potential of electron donors and/or electron competition with other electron acceptors. To overcome such a low conversion efficiency, I focused on a direct electron transfer between two unrelated redox enzymes for the efficient reduction of CO2 and utilized quantum mechanical magnetic properties of the [Fe-S] cluster to develop a novel electron path...

In this study, a genomic approach was employed to evaluate the metabolic potentials and taxonomic classification of the halophilic genus Halarchaeum. Genomic analysis revealed that Halarchaeum members exhibit a predilection for amino acids as their primary energy source in high-salinity environments over carbohydrates. Genome analysis unveiled the presence of crucial genes associated with metabolic pathways, including the Embden-Meyerhof pathway, semi-phosphorylative Entner-Doudoroff pathway, and the urea cycle...

The characterization of cyanobacteria communities remains challenging, as taxonomy of several cyanobacterial genera is still unresolved, especially within Nostocales taxa. Nostocales cyanobacteria are capable of nitrogen fixation; nitrogenase genes are grouped into operons and are located in the same genetic locus. Structural nitrogenase genes (nifH, nifK and nifD) as well as 16 s rRNA have been shown to be adequate genetic markers for distinguishing cyanobacterial genera. However, there is no available information regarding the phylogeny of regulatory genes of the nitrogenase cluster...

Ralstonia eutropha is a facultative chemolithoautotrophic aerobic bacterium that grows using organic substrates or H2 and CO2. Hydrogenases (Hyds) are synthesized under lithoautotrophic, or energy-limited heterotrophic conditions and are used in enzyme fuel cells (EFC) as anodic catalysts. The effects of chemically synthesized gold nanoparticles (Au-NPs) on R. eutropha H16 growth, oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) kinetics, and H2-oxidizing Hyd activity were investigated in this study. Atomic force microscopy showed that thin, plate-shaped Au-NPs were in the nanoscale range with an average size of 5...

Invertebrates such as termites feeding on nutrient-poor substrate receive essential nitrogen by biological nitrogen fixation of gut diazotrophs. However, the diversity and composition of gut diazotrophs of vertebrates such as Plateau pikas living in nutrient-poor Qinghai-Tibet Plateau remain unknown. To fill this knowledge gap, we studied gut diazotrophs of Plateau pikas (Ochotona curzoniae) and its related species, Daurian pikas (Ochotona daurica), Hares (Lepus europaeus) and Rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) by high-throughput amplicon sequencing methods...

Vibrio parahaemolyticus (V. parahaemolyticus) is commonly found in seawater and seafood products, but evidence is limited of its presence in seafood marketed in locations very distant from coastal sources. This study determined the prevalence and characterization of V. parahaemolyticus in seafood from markets in landlocked Phayao province, Northern Thailand. Among 120 samples, 26 (21.7%) were positive for V. parahaemolyticus, being highest in shrimp (43.3%), followed by shellfish (36.7%), and squid (6.7%), but was not found in fish...

In recent years, more and more evidence has shown that the disorder of gut microbiota (GM) is closely correlated with myocardial ischemia (MI). Even though Danshen and Honghua herb pair (DHHP) is widely used in treating cardiovascular disease in China and exhibits obvious clinical efficacy on MI, the anti-MI mechanism of DHHP remains and needs to be explored in depth. Thus, in this study, we investigated whether the amelioration effect and molecular mechanism of DHHP on MI was related to regulating GM through pharmacodynamics evaluation and metagenomic sequencing...

YnbB is a paralogue of CdsA, a CDP-diacylglycerol synthase. While the cdsA gene is essential, the ynbB gene is dispensable. So far, no phenotype of ynbB knockout has been observed. We found that a ynbB knockout strain acquired cold-sensitivity on growth under CdsA-limited conditions. We found that MPIase, a glycolipid involved in protein export, is cold-upregulated to facilitate protein export in the cold, by increasing the mRNA levels of not only CdsA but also that of YnbB. Under non-permissive conditions, phospholipid biosynthesis proceeded normally, however, MPIase upregulation was inhibited with accumulation of precursors of membrane and secretory proteins such as M13 procoat and proOmpA, indicating that YnbB is dedicated to MPIase biosynthesis, complementing the CdsA function...

BACKGROUND: The pathogenic characteristics of V. parahaemolyticus isolated from a gastroenteritis outbreak event in Deqing County of Huzhou City in 2022 were analyzed. METHODS: Pathogen detection was performed on 30 anal swabs (26 patients, 1 chef and 3 waiters). The isolates of V. parahaemolyticus were analyzed by serum typing, pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) molecular typing, multiplex fluorescent PCR detection of tdh/trh virulence gene and drug sensitivity test...

This study aimed to investigate the changes of gut microbiota and allergic inflammation in mice with allergic enteritis caused by milk protein. In this study, female BALB\C mice in the whey protein (WP-sensitized) group were gavaged with WP and normal saline, the sham-sensitized group was given normal saline once a week for 5 weeks. One week later, the WP-sensitized mice were administered 60 mg β-lactoglobulin (BLG). The results showed that mice's body weight decreased, feces with loose and bloody, and systemic allergic reactions and ear swelling increased in the WP-sensitized group...

Climate change is affecting fungal communities and their function in terrestrial ecosystems. Despite making progress in the understanding of how the fungal community responds to global change drivers in natural ecosystems, little is known on how fungi respond at the species level. Understanding how fungal species respond to global change drivers, such as warming, is critical, as it could reveal adaptation pathways to help us to better understand ecosystem functioning in response to global change. Here, we present a model study to track species-level responses of fungi to warming -and associated drying- in a decade-long global change field experiment; we focused on two free-living saprotrophic fungi which were found in high abundance in our site, Mortierella and Penicillium...

Usually, show business depicts viruses, bacteria, and other microorganisms as one of the worse menaces to mankind. Entertainment movies influence the way audiences understand and perceive these topics. Few films accurately portray the science of microbiology and its social implications. Movies and TV series often feature outbreaks of deadly diseases and the efforts of scientists and medical professionals to contain them. But entertainment movies can also be used to educate the public about the importance and the impact that microorganisms have on our lives, helping to increase public awareness and appreciation of the world of microbiology...

Inonotus obliquus is a medicinal fungus with potential for use in various health applications. To better utilize this fungus, this study focused on epidermis and internal tissues of five sclerotia from different regions in Jilin, Inner Mongolia, and Heilongjiang, examining their polyphenols, polysaccharides, flavonoids, and total triterpenes contents. And evaluated the extracts from sclerotia for their total antioxidant capacity and scavenging ability of DPPH free radicals. The study also isolated the associated fungi from the epidermis and internal tissues of three sclerotia...

Massive sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene has become a standard first step to describe and compare microbial communities from various samples. Parallel analysis of high numbers of samples makes it relevant to the statistical testing of the influence of natural or experimental factors and variables. However, these descriptions fail to document changes in community or ecosystem functioning. Non-targeted metabolomics are a suitable tool to bridge this gap, yet extractions protocols are different. In this study, prokaryotic community compositions are documented by 16S rRNA gene sequencing after direct DNA extraction, or after metabolites extraction followed by DNA extraction...