{"title":"Clostridium scindens: history and current outlook for a keystone species in the mammalian gut involved in bile acid and steroid metabolism.","authors":"Steven L Daniel, Jason M Ridlon","doi":"10.1093/femsre/fuaf016","DOIUrl":"10.1093/femsre/fuaf016","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Clostridium scindens is a keystone bacterial species in the mammalian gut that, while low in abundance, has a significant impact on bile acid and steroid metabolism. Numerous studies indicate that the two most studied strains of C. scindens (i.e. ATCC 35704 and VPI 12708) are important for a myriad of physiological processes in the host. We focus on both historical and current microbiological and molecular biology work on the Hylemon-Björkhem pathway and the steroid-17,20-desmolase pathway that were first discovered in C. scindens. Our most recent analysis now calls into question whether strains currently defined as C. scindens represent two separate taxonomic groups. Future directions include developing genetic tools to further explore the physiological role of bile acid and steroid metabolism by strains of C. scindens and the causal role of these pathways in host physiology and disease.</p>","PeriodicalId":12201,"journal":{"name":"FEMS microbiology reviews","volume":"49 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":10.1,"publicationDate":"2025-01-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12065433/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143965061","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Afzal Ansari, Roopendra Kumar, Suman Kumar Ray, Aarti Patel, Purna Dwivedi, Arup Ghosh, Edson Machado, Philip N Suffys, Pushpendra Singh
{"title":"Genetic variability, genotyping, and genomics of Mycobacterium leprae.","authors":"Afzal Ansari, Roopendra Kumar, Suman Kumar Ray, Aarti Patel, Purna Dwivedi, Arup Ghosh, Edson Machado, Philip N Suffys, Pushpendra Singh","doi":"10.1093/femsre/fuaf012","DOIUrl":"10.1093/femsre/fuaf012","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Leprosy, caused by Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis, remains a significant global health issue despite a tremendous decline in its worldwide prevalence in the last four decades. Mycobacterium leprae strains possess very limited genetic variability, making it difficult to distinguish them using traditional genotyping tools. Successful genome sequencing of a considerable number of M. leprae strains in the recent past has allowed development of improved genotyping tools for the molecular epidemiology of leprosy. Comparative genomics has identified distinct M. leprae genotypes and revealed their characteristic genomic markers. This review summarizes the progress made in M. leprae genomics, with special emphasis on the development of genotyping schemes. Further, an updated genotyping scheme is introduced that also includes the newly reported genotypes 1B_Bangladesh, 1D_Malagasy, 3K-0/3K-1, 3Q and 4N/O. Additionally, genotype-specific markers (single nucleotide polymorphisms, Insertion/Deletion) have been incorporated into the typing scheme for the first time to enable differentiation of closely related strains. This will be particularly useful for geographic regions where M. leprae strains characterized by a small number of genotypes are predominant. The detailed compilation of genomic markers will also enable accurate identification of M. leprae genotypes, using targeted analysis of variable regions. Such markers are good candidates for developing artificial intelligence-based algorithms for classifying M. leprae genomic datasets.</p>","PeriodicalId":12201,"journal":{"name":"FEMS microbiology reviews","volume":"49 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":10.1,"publicationDate":"2025-01-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12035532/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143984954","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Exploring heme and iron acquisition strategies of Porphyromonas gingivalis-current facts and hypotheses.","authors":"Michał Śmiga, Teresa Olczak","doi":"10.1093/femsre/fuaf019","DOIUrl":"10.1093/femsre/fuaf019","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Iron and heme are crucial for pathogenic bacteria living in the human host but are not available in free form due to their binding by iron- and heme-sequestering proteins. Porphyromonas gingivalis causes dysbiosis in the oral microbiome and is considered a keystone pathogen in the onset and progression of periodontal diseases. Its ability to infect and multiply in host cells and its presence in distant tissues and fluids highlights its pathogenic versatility and explains the relationship between periodontal diseases and systemic or neurodegenerative diseases. Porphyromonas gingivalis has evolved specialized mechanisms that allow it to thrive in the host under adverse nutrient-limited conditions. This review presents the updated summary of the mechanisms of iron and heme acquisition by P. gingivalis, with a central role played by gingipains and the unique Hmu system. The potential role of other iron and heme acquisition systems, such as Hus and Iht, indicates the importance of the partially conserved heme biosynthesis pathway, involving homologs of the HemN, HemG, and HemH proteins. In light of increasing antibiotic resistance, difficulties with diagnosis, and drug administration, targeting the mechanisms of heme and iron acquisition of P. gingivalis represents a promising target for developing diagnostic tests, preventive or therapeutic strategies.</p>","PeriodicalId":12201,"journal":{"name":"FEMS microbiology reviews","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":10.1,"publicationDate":"2025-01-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12094164/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143993801","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Aleksandra Goszcz, Karolina Furtak, Robert Stasiuk, Joanna Wójtowicz, Marcin Musiałowski, Michela Schiavon, Klaudia Dębiec-Andrzejewska
{"title":"Bacterial osmoprotectants-a way to survive in saline conditions and potential crop allies.","authors":"Aleksandra Goszcz, Karolina Furtak, Robert Stasiuk, Joanna Wójtowicz, Marcin Musiałowski, Michela Schiavon, Klaudia Dębiec-Andrzejewska","doi":"10.1093/femsre/fuaf020","DOIUrl":"10.1093/femsre/fuaf020","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Soil salinization, affecting 6.5% of arable land, deteriorates soil properties, reduces microbiota activity, hinders plant growth, and accelerates soil erosion. Excessive salt induces physiological drought and toxicity stress in plants, causing chlorosis, ion imbalances, and enzyme disruptions. This paper discusses microorganisms' resistance mechanisms, plant responses to salt stress, and summarizes current knowledge on bacterial osmoprotectants and their functions. It also reviews emerging agrobiotechnological strategies using microbial osmoprotectants to remediate salinized soils and enhance plant growth and productivity under salt stress. Osmoprotectants stabilize proteins, buffer redox potential, and retain water, thus alleviating osmotic stress and promoting bacteria and plants growth. Their application improves soil properties by enhancing aggregate formation, water permeability, moisture content, cation exchange capacity, and ion availability. Despite extensive literature on the function of osmoprotectants, the knowledge about their role in soil environments and agrobiotechnology applications remains limited. This paper indicates proposed research perspectives, including discovering new osmoprotectants, their correlation with soil fertilization, interactions with the soil microbiome, and plant responses. It also identifies significant knowledge gaps in these areas, highlighting the need for further studies to consolidate existing data and assess the potential of this approach to enhance soil health and crop productivity in saline environments.</p>","PeriodicalId":12201,"journal":{"name":"FEMS microbiology reviews","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":10.1,"publicationDate":"2025-01-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12143400/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144076789","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sarah Baird, Edward C Holmes, Caroline L Ashley, James A Triccas, Megan Steain
{"title":"The Batalogue: an overview of betacoronaviruses with future pandemic potential.","authors":"Sarah Baird, Edward C Holmes, Caroline L Ashley, James A Triccas, Megan Steain","doi":"10.1093/femsre/fuaf023","DOIUrl":"10.1093/femsre/fuaf023","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The coronavirus disease-19 pandemic has intensified interest in the global diversity of RNA viruses and their ability to jump hosts, with a notable expansion in the number of known betacoronaviruses in wild mammalian species, particularly bats. This has enabled vaccine development research to shift its focus to include a range of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-1 and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 related viruses from animal species, with the intention of developing broadly protective coronavirus vaccines and therapeutics. However, there is currently a lack of synthesis of this expanding knowledge base of viruses with potential to cause another severe disease outbreak. This has led to many vaccine trials considering protection against a small subset of known betacoronaviruses that poorly approximate the true diversity of this group of viruses. This review aims to synthesize information gained from the recent surge in betacoronavirus characterization, providing a catalogue of viruses exhibiting features that pose a risk to public health, together with a framework for assessing their likelihood of emergence and subsequent transmission through human populations. This information will help inform global pandemic preparedness measures before a novel betacoronavirus outbreak occurs.</p>","PeriodicalId":12201,"journal":{"name":"FEMS microbiology reviews","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":10.1,"publicationDate":"2025-01-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144173227","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Frederik Hammes, Marco Gabrielli, Alessio Cavallaro, Antonia Eichelberg, Sofia Barigelli, Melina Bigler, Sebastien P Faucher, Hans P Füchslin, Valeria Gaia, Laura Gomez-Valero, Marianne Grimard-Conea, Charles N Haas, Kerry A Hamilton, Hannah G Healy, Yann Héchard, Tim Julian, Laurine Kieper, Ursula Lauper, Xavier Lefebvre, Daniel Mäusezahl, Catalina Ortiz, Ana Pereira, Michele Prevost, Hunter Quon, Siddhartha Roy, Ana R Silva, Émile Sylvestre, Lizhan Tang, Elliston Vallarino Reyes, Paul W J J van der Wielen, Michael Waak
{"title":"Foresight 2035: a perspective on the next decade of research on the management of Legionella spp. in engineered aquatic environments.","authors":"Frederik Hammes, Marco Gabrielli, Alessio Cavallaro, Antonia Eichelberg, Sofia Barigelli, Melina Bigler, Sebastien P Faucher, Hans P Füchslin, Valeria Gaia, Laura Gomez-Valero, Marianne Grimard-Conea, Charles N Haas, Kerry A Hamilton, Hannah G Healy, Yann Héchard, Tim Julian, Laurine Kieper, Ursula Lauper, Xavier Lefebvre, Daniel Mäusezahl, Catalina Ortiz, Ana Pereira, Michele Prevost, Hunter Quon, Siddhartha Roy, Ana R Silva, Émile Sylvestre, Lizhan Tang, Elliston Vallarino Reyes, Paul W J J van der Wielen, Michael Waak","doi":"10.1093/femsre/fuaf022","DOIUrl":"10.1093/femsre/fuaf022","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The disease burden from Legionella spp. infections has been increasing in many industrialized countries and, despite decades of scientific advances, ranks amongst the highest for waterborne diseases. We review here several key research areas from a multidisciplinary perspective and list critical research needs to address some of the challenges of Legionella spp. management in engineered environments. These include: (i) a consideration of Legionella species diversity and cooccurrence, beyond Legionella pneumophila only; (ii) an assessment of their environmental prevalence and clinical relevance, and how that may affect legislation, management, and intervention prioritization; (iii) a consideration of Legionella spp. sources, their definition and prioritization; (iv) the factors affecting Legionnaires' disease seasonality, how they link to sources, Legionella spp. proliferation and ecology, and how these may be affected by climate change; (v) the challenge of saving energy in buildings while controlling Legionella spp. with high water temperatures and chemical disinfection; and (vi) the ecological interactions of Legionella spp. with other microbes, and their potential as a biological control strategy. Ultimately, we call for increased interdisciplinary collaboration between multiple research domains, as well as transdisciplinary engagement and collaboration across government, industry, and science as the way toward controlling and reducing Legionella-derived infections.</p>","PeriodicalId":12201,"journal":{"name":"FEMS microbiology reviews","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":10.1,"publicationDate":"2025-01-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12151150/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144149997","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Helen Callaby, Amy Belfield, Ashley D Otter, Barry Atkinson, Michael Reynolds, Helen Roberts, N Claire Gordon
{"title":"Mpox: current knowledge and understanding-a scoping review.","authors":"Helen Callaby, Amy Belfield, Ashley D Otter, Barry Atkinson, Michael Reynolds, Helen Roberts, N Claire Gordon","doi":"10.1093/femsre/fuaf025","DOIUrl":"10.1093/femsre/fuaf025","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Mpox in humans is a rash illness resulting from infection with monkeypox virus (MPXV). In 2022, a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) was declared with 115 countries reporting cases of Mpox. Most of these countries had not previously reported cases. This global outbreak was sustained primarily by human-to-human transmission within complex sexual networks. Whilst these cases were similar to previous clade II West African MPXV isolates, they were sufficiently genomically distinct to result in WHO recognizing two subclades within clade II: clade IIa and clade IIb. In 2024, a second PHEIC was declared, resulting from a marked increase in cases of clade I MPXV. In this scoping review, we compare the major clinical, epidemiological, and genomic features of the major mpox lineages and the implications for vaccination, transmission, infection control and treatment..</p>","PeriodicalId":12201,"journal":{"name":"FEMS microbiology reviews","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":10.1,"publicationDate":"2025-01-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144257688","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Miguel Ángel Salinas-García, Jonas Fernbach, Riikka Rinnan, Anders Priemé
{"title":"Extreme smells-microbial production of volatile organic compounds at the limits of life.","authors":"Miguel Ángel Salinas-García, Jonas Fernbach, Riikka Rinnan, Anders Priemé","doi":"10.1093/femsre/fuaf004","DOIUrl":"10.1093/femsre/fuaf004","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Microbial volatile organic compounds (MVOCs) are diverse molecules produced by microorganisms, ranging from mere waste byproducts to important signalling molecules. While the interest in MVOCs has been increasing steadily, there is a significant gap in our knowledge of MVOCs in extreme environments with e.g. extreme temperatures or acidity. Microorganisms in these conditions are subjected to additional stress compared to their counterparts in moderate environments and in many cases have evolved unique adaptations, including the production of specialized MVOCs. This review highlights the diversity of MVOCs identified in extreme environments or produced by isolated extremophiles. Furthermore, we explore potential applications already investigated and discuss broader implications for biotechnology, environmental biology, and astrobiology.</p>","PeriodicalId":12201,"journal":{"name":"FEMS microbiology reviews","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":10.1,"publicationDate":"2025-01-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11837334/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143064751","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sophia U J Hitzler, Candela Fernández-Fernández, Dolly E Montaño, Axel Dietschmann, Mark S Gresnigt
{"title":"Microbial adaptive pathogenicity strategies to the host inflammatory environment.","authors":"Sophia U J Hitzler, Candela Fernández-Fernández, Dolly E Montaño, Axel Dietschmann, Mark S Gresnigt","doi":"10.1093/femsre/fuae032","DOIUrl":"10.1093/femsre/fuae032","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Pathogenic microorganisms can infect a variety of niches in the human body. During infection, these microbes can only persist if they adapt adequately to the dynamic host environment and the stresses imposed by the immune system. While viruses entirely rely on host cells to replicate, bacteria and fungi use their pathogenicity mechanisms for the acquisition of essential nutrients that lie under host restriction. An inappropriate deployment of pathogenicity mechanisms will alert host defence mechanisms that aim to eradicate the pathogen. Thus, these adaptations require tight regulation to guarantee nutritional access without eliciting strong immune activation. To work efficiently, the immune system relies on a complex signalling network, involving a myriad of immune mediators, some of which are quite directly associated with imminent danger for the pathogen. To manipulate the host immune system, viruses have evolved cytokine receptors and viral cytokines. However, among bacteria and fungi, selected pathogens have evolved the capacity to use these inflammatory response-specific signals to regulate their pathogenicity. In this review, we explore how bacterial and fungal pathogens can sense the immune system and use adaptive pathogenicity strategies to evade and escape host defence to ensure their persistence in the host.</p>","PeriodicalId":12201,"journal":{"name":"FEMS microbiology reviews","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":10.1,"publicationDate":"2025-01-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11737513/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142893312","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Louis Berrios, T Bertie Ansell, Peter D Dahlberg, Kabir G Peay
{"title":"Standardizing experimental approaches to investigate interactions between bacteria and ectomycorrhizal fungi.","authors":"Louis Berrios, T Bertie Ansell, Peter D Dahlberg, Kabir G Peay","doi":"10.1093/femsre/fuae035","DOIUrl":"10.1093/femsre/fuae035","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Bacteria and ectomycorrhizal fungi (EcMF) represent two of the most dominant plant root-associated microbial groups on Earth, and their interactions continue to gain recognition as significant factors that shape forest health and resilience. Yet, we currently lack a focused review that explains the state of bacteria-EcMF interaction research in the context of experimental approaches and technological advancements. To these ends, we illustrate the utility of studying bacteria-EcMF interactions, detail outstanding questions, outline research priorities in the field, and provide a suite of approaches that can be used to promote experimental reproducibility, field advancement, and collaboration. Though this review centers on the ecology of bacteria, EcMF, and trees, it by default offers experimental and conceptual insights that can be adapted to various subfields of microbiology and microbial ecology.</p>","PeriodicalId":12201,"journal":{"name":"FEMS microbiology reviews","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":10.1,"publicationDate":"2025-01-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11753295/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142893314","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}