Fems Microbiology Letters最新文献

{"title":"Effects of phyto-phenolic compounds on ammonia production by select amino acid fermenting bacteria.","authors":"Jourdan E Lakes, Leah I Ramos, Maedean L Cardenas, Natasha L Mast, Michael D Flythe","doi":"10.1093/femsle/fnaf018","DOIUrl":"10.1093/femsle/fnaf018","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Bacteria that ferment amino acids to ammonia can be categorized as generalists or specialist hyper-ammonia-producing bacteria. In the rumens of ruminant animals, most of the ammonia produced is eventually excreted as urea in urine. This process can be controlled with off-label use of antibiotics, but the practice can lead to antibiotic resistance; therefore, discovery of antibiotic alternatives is pertinent. Plant-derived phenolic compounds have demonstrated antimicrobial efficacy for such purposes. This study investigated the antimicrobial and metabolic suppressive potential of six phenolic compounds on five amino acid fermenting bacteria: Clostridium sporogenes MD1, C. aminophilum F, Acetoanaerobium sticklandii SR, Peptostreptococcus sp. BG1, and Prevotella bryantii B14. Inhibitory action of the compounds was determined using a 10% v/v serial dilution method in basal media. Carvacrol (1 mM), thymol (1 mM), and eugenol (10 mM) demonstrated the greatest antimicrobial potential, where carvacrol and eugenol inhibited growth of all five species and thymol four species except BG1. The cinnamic acids (trans and hydro) demonstrated variable activity against all organisms. Suppression of metabolic activity was determined via colorimetric assay quantifying ammonia in washed stationary phase culture supernatant after 24 h of metabolism on fresh substrate. Carvacrol and eugenol yielded the greatest reduction of ammonia by all organisms except B14, which produced no ammonia under the growth conditions. Thymol greatly reduced ammonia production of four organisms except F. These data demonstrate that eugenol, carvacrol, and thymol may be worthy antimicrobial candidates for the control of ammonia-producing organisms.</p>","PeriodicalId":12214,"journal":{"name":"Fems Microbiology Letters","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143363617","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"MEEhubs2024: A hub-based conference on microbial ecology and evolution fostering sustainability.","authors":"Ariane Wenger, Erik Bakkeren, Elisa Granato, Robin Tecon, Sara Mitri, Wolfram Möbius","doi":"10.1093/femsle/fnaf022","DOIUrl":"10.1093/femsle/fnaf022","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Scientific conferences are essential to academic exchange. However, related air travel contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, while expensive registration and travel costs limit the participation of early career researchers and those from low-income countries. Virtual conferences offer promising solutions for reducing emissions and enhancing accessibility and inclusivity but often limit networking and personal interaction. Hybrid multi-hub conferences, which combine virtually connected in-person venues with individual virtual participation, combine the benefits of both conference formats. Thus, we present and discuss MEEhubs2024, a multi-hub conference on microbial ecology and evolution held in January 2024. During this 3-day conference, attendees participated virtually or at one of six hubs in Europe and North America. We analyzed the participants' and organizers' feedback to create a template and provide insights into the scientific community's adoption of this new conference format, which was positively evaluated by most participants. Because technical, logistical, and structural challenges remain, including limited opportunities to interact and network across hubs and participation modes, we provide recommendations for improvement, such as hiring technical hosts and offering virtual-only social activities. Finally, we used the participants' feedback to reflect on conference expectations, highlighting research gaps and the need for organizers to define and communicate goals when organizing conferences.</p>","PeriodicalId":12214,"journal":{"name":"Fems Microbiology Letters","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11879406/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143363809","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Determination of bacteriocin genes and antimicrobial activity of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum isolated from feta cheese samples.","authors":"Sumeyye Akbulut, Elanur Dasdemir, Hakan Ozkan, Ahmet Adiguzel","doi":"10.1093/femsle/fnaf002","DOIUrl":"10.1093/femsle/fnaf002","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In this study designed to isolate lactic acid bacteria (LAB) with bacteriocin production potential, white cheese samples were collected from different provinces of Turkey and isolation was carried out. A series of experiments were carried out for the main purpose and the actual bacteriocin producers were identified by detecting the genes encoding this bacteriocin. The experiments carried out in this direction were initially carried out with 20 isolates and as a result of various experiments, the number of isolates was reduced to 8 and the study was continued with 8 isolates. In order to determine that the eight isolates identified as a result of a phenotypic and biochemical characterization study were true bacteriocin-producing strains, their antibacterial activity was investigated and then the presence of bacteriocin genes was examined by specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using gene-specific primers. As a result, MS16 coded Lactiplantibacillus plantarum OR922652 was found to have strong antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia, Yersinia enterocolitica, Listeria monocytogenes, Bacillus cereus, and Staphylococcus aureus; the isolate was susceptible to clinically important antibiotics (ciprofloxacin, gentamicin, penicillin G, ampicillin, chloramphenicol, and vancomycin) and resistant to erythromycin, had no hemolytic activity and possessed plnA and plnD genes encoding bacteriocin production. In conclusion, the MS16 coded L. plantarum isolate has emerged as a promising strain that can be used especially in the health field and in the food industry related to LAB.</p>","PeriodicalId":12214,"journal":{"name":"Fems Microbiology Letters","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143002895","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Pseudomonas aeruginosa maintains an inducible array of novel and diverse prophages over lengthy persistence in cystic fibrosis lungs.","authors":"Ifigeneia Kyrkou, Jennifer Bartell, Ana Lechuga, Cédric Lood, Rasmus L Marvig, Rob Lavigne, Søren Molin, Helle Krogh Johansen","doi":"10.1093/femsle/fnaf017","DOIUrl":"10.1093/femsle/fnaf017","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Pseudomonas aeruginosa has increasing clinical relevance and commonly occupies the cystic fibrosis (CF) airways. Its ability to colonize and persist in diverse niches is attributed to its large accessory genome, where prophages represent a common feature and may contribute to its fitness and persistence. We focused on the CF airways niche and used 197 longitudinal isolates from 12 patients persistently infected by P. aeruginosa. We computationally predicted intact prophages for each longitudinal group and scored their long-term persistence. We then confirmed prophage inducibility and mapped their location in the host chromosome with lysate sequencing. Using comparative genomics, we evaluated prophage genomic diversity, long-term persistence, and level of genomic maintenance. Our findings support previous findings that most P. aeruginosa genomes harbour prophages some of which can self-induce, and that a common CF-treating antibiotic, ciprofloxacin, can induce prophages. Induced prophage genomes displayed high diversity and even genomic novelty. Finally, all induced prophages persisted long-term with their genomes avoiding gene loss and degradation over 4 years of host replication in the stressful CF airways niche. This and our detection of phage genes, which contribute to host competitiveness and adaptation, lends support to our hypothesis that the vast majority of prophages detected as intact and inducible in this study facilitated their host fitness and persistence.</p>","PeriodicalId":12214,"journal":{"name":"Fems Microbiology Letters","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11846083/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143074384","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Comparison of crystal violet staining, microscopy with image analysis, and quantitative PCR to examine biofilm dynamics.","authors":"So-Yeon Jeong, Ji Won Lee, Eun Ji Kim, Chi Won Lee, Tae Gwan Kim","doi":"10.1093/femsle/fnae115","DOIUrl":"10.1093/femsle/fnae115","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Crystal-violet staining, microscopy with image analysis, and quantitative PCR (qPCR) were compared to examine biofilm dynamics. Biofilms of 30 polycultures comprising 15 bacterial species were monitored for 14 days. Collectively, qPCR (representing population) revealed a different growth pattern compared to staining (biomass) and microscopy (colonization): biomass and colonization gradually increased over time, whereas population increased rapidly for the first seven days and leveled off. Temporal forms were categorized into two growth patterns: continuous increase (CI) and non-continuous increase. Staining and microscopy showed similar odds of detecting the CI pattern (27 and 23 polycultures, respectively) across polycultures, greater than that of qPCR (14 polycultures) (P < 0.05). All three methods revealed the identical patterns for 13 polycultures. Staining with microscopy, staining with qPCR, and microscopy with qPCR found the same patterns in 22, 15, and 19 polycultures, respectively. Additionally, staining was quantitatively agreed with microscopy (P < 0.05; R2 > 0.50), whereas neither staining nor microscopy strongly agreed with qPCR (P < 0.05; R2 ≤ 0.22). Collectively, staining was more compatible with microscopy than qPCR in characterizing biofilm dynamics and quantifying biofilms owing to the difference between population growth and biofilm expansion. The concurrent use of qPCR with biomass estimations allows for accurate and comprehensive biofilm quantification.</p>","PeriodicalId":12214,"journal":{"name":"Fems Microbiology Letters","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142893391","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"About two French cases of disseminated Cryptococcus neoformans infection associated with COVID-19.","authors":"Wendy Pulby, Jérémy Lafolie, Chloé Belot, Loïc Dopeux, Sébastien Loiseau, Maxime Moniot, Philippe Poirier, Céline Nourrisson","doi":"10.1093/femsle/fnaf012","DOIUrl":"10.1093/femsle/fnaf012","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>SARS-CoV-2 infection is an acute respiratory distress syndrome associated with immune dysfunction, causing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) disease. The use of immunosuppressive drugs in its treatment increases the risk of opportunistic infections. In particular, opportunistic fungal infections have been described in initially non-immunocompromised patients with severe COVID-19 disease. Among them, rare cases of cryptococcosis have been described. Here we present the first two French cases of non-HIV non-transplant patients who developed disseminated Cryptococcus neoformans fungal infection in the setting of severe COVID-19 disease. Blood cultures appear to be an interesting diagnostic tool for post-COVID-19 cryptococcosis, which is an often fatal complication.</p>","PeriodicalId":12214,"journal":{"name":"Fems Microbiology Letters","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143022544","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Reach of the Instagram profile @microbioworld in popularizing mycology and microbiology.","authors":"Jefferson Brendon Almeida Dos Reis, Sofia Coradini Schirmer","doi":"10.1093/femsle/fnaf019","DOIUrl":"10.1093/femsle/fnaf019","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Online social networks have revolutionized scientific communication, making platforms like Instagram indispensable for sharing complex topics, including mycology. This study evaluated three key factors in assessing the impact of social media on scientific dissemination: follower profiles, reach, and engagement levels. We used the professional Instagram account @microbioworld as a case study. Account performance data were collected over a 90-day period (12 August-9 November 2024). Post performance was evaluated using data from selected posts published between 11 January and 11 November 2024. By the end of our sampling period, the account reached a total of 45 959 followers, with the majority aged 25-34 years (44.8%). It reached 108 631 unique accounts, with 22.4% being followers and 77.6% non-followers, generating 236 860 impressions and 15 750 interactions. Likes accounted for 83.3% of engagement. Posts featuring microorganism cultures achieved the highest engagement and reach. Sentiment analysis, using Bing and AFINN lexicons, revealed that over 89% of sentiments expressed in comments were positive. These findings demonstrate how Instagram can disseminate microbial content, foster positive perceptions of microorganisms, and emphasize their ecological importance, encouraging audience involvement with mycology and microbiology.</p>","PeriodicalId":12214,"journal":{"name":"Fems Microbiology Letters","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143122539","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Azospirillum brasilense and cytidine enhance lateral roots of peas.","authors":"Fatema A Nisha, Shelley M Horne, Birgit M Prüß","doi":"10.1093/femsle/fnaf025","DOIUrl":"10.1093/femsle/fnaf025","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Azospirillum brasilense is a plant growth beneficial rhizobacterium (PGBR) that is used as an inoculant to enhance root architecture in grassland and crop plants. The intent of our study was to develop A. brasilense into a probiotic inoculant for peas and supplement with a seedling exudate compound, to be used together or separately. As an initial characterization of the association of A. brasilense with pea roots, we performed several pea growth experiments. Azospirillum brasilense Sp7T increased the lengths of the five longest lateral roots from each plant by 63.6% and the top 10 lateral roots across 14 plants by 30%, an effect that was abolished in an rpoN mutant and a ΔcheA1/cheA4 mutant. Azospirillum brasilense Cd increased the number of lateral roots by 76%. We detected colonization by this PGBR within the epiphytic root microbiome. To identify a pea seedling exudate compound capable of enhancing lateral pea roots, we tested 15 such compounds. Cytidine was the only one that increased the number of lateral roots, by approximately two-fold, an effect that did not require A. brasilense. We conclude that both A. brasilense and cytidine might be suitable as supplements to enhance lateral roots of pea plants.</p>","PeriodicalId":12214,"journal":{"name":"Fems Microbiology Letters","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143556214","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"An engineered peptide derived from the innate immune effector high-mobility group box 1 disrupts and prevents dual-genera biofilms formed by common respiratory tract pathogens.","authors":"Jaime D Rhodes, Tyler J Kelly, Steven D Goodman, Lauren O Bakaletz","doi":"10.1093/femsle/fnaf029","DOIUrl":"10.1093/femsle/fnaf029","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Bacterial biofilms mediate chronic and recurrent bacterial infections that are extremely difficult to treat by currently available standards of care. In nature, these encased bacterial communities are typically comprised of more than one genus or species. Specifically, in the airway, nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHI) predominates and is commonly isolated with one or more of the following co-pathogens with which it forms unique relationships: methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Burkholderia cenocepacia, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Streptococcus pneumoniae, and Moraxella catarrhalis. We recently showed that dual-genera biofilms comprised of NTHI plus a co-pathogen are disrupted when the biofilm matrix is destabilized by a pathogen-directed strategy that uses a humanized monoclonal antibody directed against the protective domains of bacterial DNABII proteins found at vertices of crossed strands of eDNA within the biofilm matrix. We also recently showed that a peptide synthesized from the host innate immune effector High Mobility Group Box 1 (HMGB1), called mB Box-97syn, competitively inhibits binding of the bacterial DNABII proteins to eDNA, which thereby also destabilizes single-species biofilms to release biofilm-resident bacteria into a transient yet highly vulnerable state that is more effectively cleared by the host innate immune system and/or antibiotics. Here, we expanded upon these studies to assess the ability of host-augmenting mB Box-97syn to both disrupt two-genera biofilms formed by NTHI plus a common co-pathogen, and prevent their formation. Disruption of established two-genera biofilms ranged from 57% to 88%, whereas prevention of two-genera biofilm formation ranged from 65% to 80% (P = .002 to P < .0001). The sobering recalcitrance of chronic and recurrent respiratory tract infections, combined with growing global concern of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), demands development of more effective management and prevention options. Ideally, novel treatment strategies would both target the pathogens and augment the host's natural abilities to eradicate them. Herein, we provide additional data to support continued development of the latter concept via demonstration of mB Box-97syn's efficacy against polymicrobial biofilms.</p>","PeriodicalId":12214,"journal":{"name":"Fems Microbiology Letters","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11895510/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143556212","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Biochemical characterization of diaminopimelate decarboxylase from the hyperthermophile Thermotoga maritima.","authors":"Tetsuya Miyamoto, Akari Yazawa, Rio Mishima, Kumiko Sakai-Kato","doi":"10.1093/femsle/fnaf024","DOIUrl":"10.1093/femsle/fnaf024","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The peptidoglycan stem peptides of the hyperthermophile Thermotoga maritima contain an unusual D-lysine (D-Lys) alongside the usual D-alanine and D-glutamate. We identified a Lys racemase that catalyzes racemization between L-Lys and D-Lys, and a diaminopimelate (Dpm) epimerase that catalyzes epimerization between LL-Dpm and meso-Dpm. Herein, we characterized a Dpm decarboxylase (TM1517) that catalyzes the conversion of meso-Dpm to L-Lys. TM1517 displayed high decarboxylase activity toward meso-Dpm but no activity toward LL-Dpm. D-Lys was not detected in the decarboxylation of meso-Dpm. The pH and temperature dependencies and kinetic parameters of decarboxylase activity were determined. Although other amino acid metabolizing activities of TM1517 were investigated, TM1517 did not exhibit any activities. Therefore, TM1517 is a Dpm decarboxylase associated with L- and D-Lys biosynthesis in T. maritima.</p>","PeriodicalId":12214,"journal":{"name":"Fems Microbiology Letters","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143370713","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}