Frontiers in Microbiology最新文献

{"title":"IMicAP: an intelligent microbial application platform for knowledge-driven microbiome research.","authors":"Chaoyu Zhu, Xing Wang, Lihui Feng, Mingzhang Xu, Zhengkun Huang, Weijie Chen, Lei Liu","doi":"10.3389/fmicb.2026.1955928","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fmicb.2026.1955928","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Microorganisms play a pivotal role in health and disease, yet microbial research is hindered by fragmented data, heterogeneous knowledge representation, and a lack of integrated analytical tools. Existing databases and knowledge graphs often focus narrowly on genomic information, leaving critical metabolomic and literature-based associations underdeveloped.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>We developed the Intelligent Microbial Application Platform (IMicAP), an AI-driven, open-access web platform that integrates 12 microbial databases and over 35 million articles. IMicAP delivers 5 core modules: (1) Knowledge Query module for rapid data retrieval; (2) Knowledge Graph module for multi-hop reasoning and hypothesis generation; (3) Intelligent Question-Answering module for professional natural language dialogue in the field of microbiology; (4) Genome Browser module for genomic visualization; and (5) 16S rRNA Sequencing Analysis module for zero-code microbial bioinformatics analysis. Using curated microbe-disease and microbe-small molecule relations extracted with biomedical language models, IMicAP enables context-aware exploration of microbial relations.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>IMicAP (available at: https://www.imicap.com:8443) is the first comprehensive, open-access, AI-powered microbial platform designed to bridge the gap between fragmented microbial data and actionable biological insights. It directly addresses 4 key limitations in existing resources: (1) Fragmented analysis without integrated workflows; (2) Narrow disease scope covering only one or two disease types; (3) Incomplete knowledge from restricted data sources; and (4) neglect of metabolomic information. IMicAP serves as a versatile resource for advancing microbiome research and translational discoveries. Future development focus on expanding microbial coverage, enhancing reasoning scalability, and evolving toward a dual knowledge-and-data-driven architecture to further support mechanistic discovery in microbial systems biology.</p>","PeriodicalId":12466,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Microbiology","volume":"17 ","pages":"1955928"},"PeriodicalIF":5.8,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13668525/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149215304","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":"4-Hydroxycoumarin inhibits biofilm formation and enhances antibiotic efficacy against <i>Escherichia coli</i> O157:H7.","authors":"Hongxing Zhang, Jing Xu, Yaxin Zhou, Zhijin Zhang, Zixuan Shang, Bing Li, Yubin Bai, Jiyu Zhang","doi":"10.3389/fmicb.2026.1934000","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fmicb.2026.1934000","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Conventional bactericidal antibiotics often fail to eradicate Escherichia coli O157:H7 (<i>E. coli</i> O157) infections due to biofilm-mediated antimicrobial tolerance, and monotherapy can inadvertently drive resistance selection. This study aimed to identify compounds capable of modulating LuxS/AI-2-related phenotypes and to evaluate their potential to disrupt biofilms and enhance antibiotic efficacy against <i>E. coli</i> O157.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>The effects of 4-HC on biofilm formation, extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) biosynthesis, and flagella-mediated motility were assessed in vitro. Antibiotic potentiation was evaluated through combination assays across multiple antibiotic classes. In vivo efficacy was tested in a murine systemic infection model, with qualitative histological observation used to evaluate splenic, hepatic, and ileal tissue damage.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>4-HC disrupted biofilm formation by suppressing EPS biosynthesis and flagella-mediated motility, thereby destabilizing biofilm architecture and impairing bacterial dissemination. 4-HC acted as a broad-range potentiator for most antibiotics tested, with the most pronounced effect observed in combination with fosfomycin sodium. This combination reduced systemic bacterial burden and restored intestinal barrier function <i>in vivo</i>. In the murine model, the 4-HC-fosfomycin regimen improved survival and markedly attenuated splenic necrosis and ileal tissue damage, with efficacy superior to monotherapy.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>4-HC disrupts biofilm formation and enhances antibiotic efficacy against <i>E. coli</i> O157 infection, supporting the strategy of combining biofilm-modulating adjuvants with conventional antibiotics to combat antimicrobial resistance. However, rigorous safety evaluation is required before clinical translation.</p>","PeriodicalId":12466,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Microbiology","volume":"17 ","pages":"1934000"},"PeriodicalIF":5.8,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13669101/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149215489","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":"Effect of environmental conditions on two vibriophages and their host.","authors":"Marcela León, Neri Vargas, Kívely Lozano, Santiago Gacitúa, Carlos Omar Lomelí-Ortega, Irais Ramírez-Sánchez, Eduardo Quiroz-Guzmán, Roberto Bastías","doi":"10.3389/fmicb.2026.1914226","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fmicb.2026.1914226","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Bacteriophages play a key role in regulating <i>Vibrio</i> populations in marine environments, and environmental conditions may influence their replication and interactions with bacterial hosts. This study aimed to isolate and characterize the bacteriophage PvVp2, which infects the pandemic <i>Vibrio parahaemolyticus</i> strain KX, and to compare its environmental performance with that of phage CHOED, a lytic phage infecting <i>Vibrio anguillarum</i>. Phage PvVp2 possesses a 43,158 bp double-stranded DNA genome encoding a MazG-like pyrophosphatase, a putative auxiliary metabolic gene. Phylogenetic analysis clustered PvVp2 with vibriophages vB_Vc_SrVc2 and vB_Vc_SrVc9, sharing nearly 100% nucleotide identity. To evaluate the effect of environmental conditions on phage-host interactions, the replication of both phages was assessed under different temperatures, pH values and salinities. Performance curves showed that <i>V. parahaemolyticus</i> and PvVp2 were adapted to warmer conditions than <i>V. anguillarum</i> and CHOED, respectively. PvVp2 replicated efficiently between 22 °C and 40 °C, whereas CHOED replication was restricted to 14 °C-30 °C. Both phages replicated over narrower ranges of environmental conditions than their bacterial hosts, and deviations from optimal conditions increased latent periods and reduced burst sizes. Infection assays further showed that CHOED displayed greater lytic activity at 14 and 25 °C, whereas PvVp2 exhibited a lower but relatively stable lytic activity across the temperatures evaluated. These findings demonstrate that temperature, pH and salinity strongly influence phage replication and phage-host interactions, highlighting that the environmental range supporting phage replication is generally narrower than that supporting bacterial growth.</p>","PeriodicalId":12466,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Microbiology","volume":"17 ","pages":"1914226"},"PeriodicalIF":5.8,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13671069/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149215471","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":"Roles and mechanisms of halophilic/salt-tolerant microorganisms in mitigating plant salt stress and promoting growth.","authors":"Zugen Cheng, Ping Rong","doi":"10.3389/fmicb.2026.1848153","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fmicb.2026.1848153","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Soil salinization is a major constraint on global agricultural productivity and food security, largely because excess salts disrupt osmotic balance, nutrient acquisition, ion homeostasis, and redox stability in plants. Halophilic and salt-tolerant microorganisms, including plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria, endophytes, and fungi, have emerged as promising biological tools for improving crop performance in saline environments. This review synthesizes current evidence on how these microorganisms mitigate salt stress and promote plant growth across diverse crop systems. The major mechanisms include modulation of phytohormone homeostasis, especially through auxin production and ACC deaminase activity; enhanced nutrient acquisition via nitrogen fixation, phosphate solubilization, and siderophore production; maintenance of ionic balance through reduced Na+ toxicity and improved K+/Na+ homeostasis; reinforcement of antioxidant defense systems; stimulation of osmolyte accumulation; and effective rhizosphere colonization through exopolysaccharide secretion and biofilm formation. Representative studies in rice, wheat, maize, tomato, soybean, cucumber, chickpea, common bean, quinoa, and banana consistently show improvements in germination, biomass, physiological resilience, and, in some cases, yield under salinity stress. However, important challenges remain, including strain specificity, inconsistent field performance, limited mechanistic resolution, ecological safety concerns, and the difficulty of translating laboratory strains into stable commercial products. Future progress will depend on multi-omics-guided mechanism dissection, precision microbiome engineering, improved formulation and delivery systems, and rigorous long-term field validation. Overall, halophilic/salt-tolerant microorganisms represent a promising strategy for saline agriculture and sustainable crop production.</p>","PeriodicalId":12466,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Microbiology","volume":"17 ","pages":"1848153"},"PeriodicalIF":5.8,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13670148/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149215486","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":"A phytochemical-nanotechnology platform exhibits complementary antimicrobial and immunomodulatory effects in experimental fowl typhoid.","authors":"Afnan Saleem, Baqia Farhat, Yaawar Mir, Tasaduq Manzoor, Junaid Nazir, Sheikh F Ahmad, Abdul Majeed Ganai, Sabry M Attia, Minakshi Prasad, Syed Mudasir Ahmad","doi":"10.3389/fmicb.2026.1894409","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fmicb.2026.1894409","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p><i>Salmonella gallinarum</i>, the causative agent of fowl typhoid, poses a persistent threat to poultry health and productivity, compounded by the growing problem of antibiotic resistance. Addressing the urgent need for effective alternatives, this study evaluated a multi-component complementary approach combining the phytocompound 4-hydroxycoumarin, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), and Ajwain (<i>Trachyspermum ammi</i>) extract. <i>In vitro</i> assays, including antimicrobial susceptibility testing, cytotoxicity, and concentration optimization, confirmed the potent antibacterial activity and favorable safety profiles of the tested components. Molecular docking identified a putative interaction between 4-hydroxycoumarin and Chemokine (C-C motif) Ligand 5 (CCL5). Analysis of the archived molecular dynamics trajectory, after correction for periodic boundary conditions, revealed substantial protein conformational deviation and increasing ligand displacement toward the end of the trajectory, with a loss of close protein-ligand contact after approximately 40 ns. These findings support a predicted interaction but do not establish persistent ligand binding or a single predicted protein-ligand association mode. In the chicken infection model, the combination treatments were associated with descriptively reduced clinical severity and differences in endpoint mortality. These <i>in vivo</i> findings should be regarded as preliminary, descriptive, and exploratory proof-of-concept data, as mortality and clinical endpoint comparisons did not remain statistically significant after Holm correction. As 4-hydroxycoumarin was evaluated <i>in vivo</i> only as a component of the combination formulations, the observed effects belong strictly to the tested combinations, and their individual contributions cannot be determined independently. Gene expression analyses further revealed a downregulation of proinflammatory cytokines, providing exploratory evidence of immunomodulatory responses associated with the tested formulations. Together, these findings provide preliminary proof of concept for a multi-component approach against <i>S. gallinarum</i> infection.</p>","PeriodicalId":12466,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Microbiology","volume":"17 ","pages":"1894409"},"PeriodicalIF":5.8,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13668857/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149215502","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":"Exploration of novel ecological niches for pigmented bacteria with dye bioremediation potential.","authors":"Vasundhara More, Rucha Bagade, Vaishnavi Mokashi, Shilpa Mujumdar, Ujwala Khisti","doi":"10.3389/fmicb.2026.1895442","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fmicb.2026.1895442","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>This study explores the comparative bioremediation potential of pigmented bacteria isolated from diverse ecological niches. Three distinct isolates were identified: <i>Shewanella xiamenensis</i> (U2f, from goldfish gills), <i>Paracoccus</i> sp. (THN1, a rose thorn endophyte), and <i>Kocuria</i> sp. (YC, an incidental laboratory isolate).</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>The isolated bacterial pigments were characterized using FTIR spectroscopy. The isolates and a developed bacterial consortium were evaluated for their ability to tolerate, decolorize, and degrade various synthetic dyes (Congo red, malachite green, bromophenol blue, methylene blue, and crystal violet). The resulting decolorization and biodegradation processes were validated using UV-Vis spectroscopic analysis, FTIR spectroscopy, and HPLC.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>FTIR analysis indicated that the tan pigment from <i>S. xiamenensis</i> (U2f) was similar to melanin, the bright orange pigment from <i>Paracoccus</i> sp. (THN1) to astaxanthin, and the yellow pigment from <i>Kocuria</i> sp. (YC) to carotenoids. For bioremediation, <i>S. xiamenensis</i> (U2f) successfully decolorized the azo dye Congo red up to 200 mg/mL (70% efficiency) and tolerated levels up to 400 mg/mL. Conversely, <i>Paracoccus</i> sp. (THN1) and <i>Kocuria</i> sp. (YC) decolorized the triphenylmethane dye malachite green up to 200 mg/mL with 80-91% efficiency, tolerating concentrations up to 500 mg/mL. Notably, a consortium of <i>Paracoccus</i> sp. and <i>Kocuria</i> sp. achieved 100% degradation efficiency of malachite green (200 mg/mL) within 16 hours under shaking conditions.</p><p><strong>Discussion: </strong>These findings highlight the unique, niche-specific bioremediation capabilities of pigmented bacteria. The results demonstrate that targeted single isolates or designed consortia exhibit distinct and highly efficient degradation pathways against specific classes of toxic synthetic dyes, offering a promising tool for targeted environmental cleanup.</p>","PeriodicalId":12466,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Microbiology","volume":"17 ","pages":"1895442"},"PeriodicalIF":5.8,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13668870/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149215541","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":"Targeted long-read eukaryotic profiling of human stool by broad-range 18S-28S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing on Oxford Nanopore Technologies: a proof-of-concept study.","authors":"Ruslan Kalendar, Asset Daniyarov, Ulykbek Kairov, Samat Kozhakhmetov, Dauren Yerezhepov, Bakytgul Yermekbayeva, Dos Sarbassov, Almagul Kushugulova","doi":"10.3389/fmicb.2026.1904425","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2026.1904425","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The gut eukaryome, comprising the protists and fungi that fall within the strict definition of the microbiota together with the macroscopic helminths and arthropods that lie outside it, is under-detected by clinical microscopy and by short-read 16S/18S sequencing, yet is increasingly implicated in inflammatory and autoimmune disorders, including psoriasis. Existing 18S V4/V9 primers either lack cross-kingdom universality or fail to discriminate closely related species. We designed and evaluated broad-range PCR primers anchored in conserved blocks of nuclear 18S and 28S ribosomal genes, flanking a 1.0-3.5 kb cassette spanning the 3'-end of 18S, ITS1, 5.8S, ITS2, and the 5'-end of 28S. Stool samples from 91 plaque-psoriasis patients and 92 matched controls were collected; a subset of 32 samples was profiled by Oxford Nanopore amplicon sequencing using the EPI2ME wf-metagenomics pipeline (Kraken + Bracken) against the NCBI core_nt database. The gut eukaryome was dominated by Ascomycota and Protista, with 51 species-level entries assigned to <i>Candida</i> (37 named binomials), 27 entries assigned to <i>Blastocystis</i> (12 subtype-labelled entries), 20 entries assigned to Malassezia (15 named species), and 37 entries assigned to <i>Cladosporium</i> recovered from a single PCR tube. <i>Blastocystis hominis</i> was detected in 37.5% of subjects (≥50-read threshold; mean 7.5% in carriers), with concurrent detection of 12 subtype-labelled entries (ST1-ST4, ST7, ST10-ST15, ST24) and 11 named isolate entries. Psoriasis-relevant <i>Candida</i> species, such as <i>C. albicans</i> (34.4%), <i>C. tropicalis</i> (34.4%), <i>C. parapsilosis</i> (31.2%), and <i>Malassezia restricta</i> (9.4%; up to 12.1%) were co-detected. Long-read sequencing of a broad-range 18S -28S rRNA gene cassette provides a single-tube workflow for the simultaneous recovery of fungal, protistan, and plant-derived eukaryotic sequences from human stool.</p>","PeriodicalId":12466,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Microbiology","volume":"17 ","pages":"1904425"},"PeriodicalIF":5.8,"publicationDate":"2026-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13664300/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149192266","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":"Targeted next-generation sequencing: a promising approach for pathogen and antimicrobial resistance gene detection in urinary tract infections.","authors":"Wenzhi Gao, Wencong Han, Jiachang Chen, Zihui Gao, Jingjing Gao, Rui Zhen, Ya Yuan, Yaming Gu, Chen Huang, Chunlin Liu, Gang Wang, Xiaochun Zhang, Zheng Zhao, Gengyan Xiong, Xuesong Li, Pengyuan Zhu, Jun Liu, Chaohui Hu, Yanqing Gong, Zheng Zhang","doi":"10.3389/fmicb.2026.1945070","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2026.1945070","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are common and frequently recurrent. As traditional diagnostic methods fail to meet clinical needs, this study aimed to construct and evaluate the performance of targeted next-generation sequencing (tNGS) for detecting pathogens and antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) in urine specimens.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A total of 446 urine samples from patients with suspected UTIs were tested by tNGS, routine culture, and antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST), with discordant results resolved by metagenomic NGS (mNGS) and whole-genome sequencing (WGS). The performance of tNGS was evaluated against culture and a composite reference standard (CRS) for pathogen detection, and against AST and WGS for resistance prediction.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>tNGS achieved limit of detections of 500-1,000 CFU/mL, with high precision. Compared to culture, tNGS achieved a higher positive rate (62.78%), along with an overall sensitivity of 90.05% and specificity of 56.28%, whereas against the CRS the sensitivity and specificity reached 99.54% and 97.49%, respectively. For the seven common UTI bacteria, both metrics exceeded 90% regardless of the reference standard. Additionally, tNGS outperformed culture in detecting hard-to-culture microbes and polymicrobial infections. Among 132 samples with available AST results, ARG-based prediction showed strong concordance with resistance phenotypes for carbapenems (100.00%) and third generation cephalosporins + β-lactamase inhibitors (91.67%). Factors including sex and urine leukocyte count > 10 cells/μL were found associated with positive tNGS results.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>tNGS enables rapid, sensitive and comprehensive detection of UTI pathogens and ARGs, covering hard-to-culture pathogens and mixed infections, thereby showing promise in improving diagnosis. However, it complements rather than replaces phenotypic AST, particularly for penicillin-class antibiotics.</p>","PeriodicalId":12466,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Microbiology","volume":"17 ","pages":"1945070"},"PeriodicalIF":5.8,"publicationDate":"2026-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13661925/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149192440","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":"Soil phosphorus partitioning and bacterial communities vary with prolonged <i>Camellia oleifera</i> cultivation.","authors":"Yukun Lu, Zipei Luo, Jing Yang, Lichao Wu, Sheng Lu","doi":"10.3389/fmicb.2026.1944090","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fmicb.2026.1944090","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong><i>Camellia oleifera (C. oleifera)</i> is a valuable plant whose seeds produce tea seed oil, with potential applications in food, cosmetics, and agriculture. In the allitic soils of southern China, the complexity of soil phosphorus (P) fractions and influencing factors significantly restricts plant growth, especially for <i>C. oleifera.</i></p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This study examined soil samples from <i>C. oleifera.</i> plantations with cultivation periods of 2, 10, and 40 years, focusing on variations in P bioavailability among different soil aggregate sizes and the underlying regulatory mechanisms.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Soil P availability and its fractions changed significantly with cultivation period and aggregate size. Generally, as the cultivation period extended, soil available P (AP) declined by approximately 78.3%, while the root P accumulation factor increased by 657.91%, 687.01%, and 283.16% in large macroaggregates (LM), small macroaggregates (SM), and microaggregates (Mi), respectively. Maximum P adsorption capacity was highest in SM in the 2-year plantation but shifted to the Mi fraction in the 10- and 40-year plantations. Iron-bound phosphorus (Fe-P) was the predominant inorganic P fraction and showed a consistent distribution pattern across aggregate sizes. With increasing cultivation time, calcium-bound phosphorus (Ca-P) and occluded phosphorus (O-P) decreased, whereas aluminum-bound phosphorus (Al-P) increased in larger aggregates. AP and P fractions were negatively associated with bulk soil organic matter (SOM) content, while individual P fractions showed contrasting relationships with non-hydrophilic and hydrophilic SOM functional groups. Additionally, O-P, Al-P and Fe-P were positively correlated with bacterial ɑ-diversity in LM but negatively correlated in SM and Mi. Specific bacterial taxa were associated with different P forms.</p><p><strong>Discussion: </strong>Overall, the results show that aggregate specific P partitioning, SOM composition, P adsorption characteristics and bacterial community patterns are closely associated with soil P availability during prolonged <i>C. oleifera.</i> cultivation.</p>","PeriodicalId":12466,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Microbiology","volume":"17 ","pages":"1944090"},"PeriodicalIF":5.8,"publicationDate":"2026-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13661960/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149180560","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":"Multi-compartment omics identifies a reproducible association between circulating 5-androstene-3β,17β-diol and mastitis clinical status in dairy cows.","authors":"Yuqiong Li, Haihui Gao, Zhen Dong, Jian Gao, Liang Huang, Song Hua, Zhuming Zhang, Hongbing Li, Chenglian Zhang, Meizhou Huang","doi":"10.3389/fmicb.2026.1955642","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fmicb.2026.1955642","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Bovine mastitis is generally viewed as a localized intramammary infection, but the extent to which gastrointestinal, circulating, and mammary tissue features covary across clinical phenotypes remains unclear. We aimed to characterize concurrent alterations across the rumen, hindgut, serum, milk, and mammary gland in healthy control (HC), subclinical mastitis (SCM), and clinical mastitis (CM) cows and to evaluate circulating 5-androstene-3β,17β-diol (5-AED) as a correlate of mastitis phenotype.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>In a discovery cohort, fecal and rumen microbiota were characterized by 16S rRNA gene sequencing, and untargeted metabolomics was performed across four biological matrices. Mammary tissue was analyzed using tandem mass tag (TMT)-based proteomics, parallel reaction monitoring (PRM), and histology, while circulating inflammatory and metabolic mediators were measured in serum. A later cohort from the same herd was analyzed independently to replicate the serum 5-AED findings using targeted analysis.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Systemic inflammatory and lipid mediators differed in SCM cows despite the absence of overt clinical signs. Fecal and rumen microbial community structures differed among HC, SCM, and CM groups, with lower rumen microbial richness in mastitis cows. 16S rRNA-based functional predictions indicated differences in carbohydrate- and amino acid-related functional potential. Serum 5-AED showed the highest distribution in HC, an intermediate distribution in SCM, and the lowest distribution in CM, and this group ordering was reproduced in the later cohort. Mammary tissue exhibited lower abundance of claudin-8, fatty acid synthase, acetyl-CoA carboxylase, and ABCG2, together with enrichment of complement and coagulation pathways and annotation of a neutrophil extracellular trap-associated pathway. Targeted proteomics supported the direction of selected barrier-, lipid-, complement-, and fibrinogen-related differences. Hydroxysteroid 17β-dehydrogenase abundance also differed among groups; however, enzyme activity and a direct biochemical relationship with 5-AED were not established.</p><p><strong>Discussion: </strong>These findings reveal coordinated differences across gastrointestinal, circulating, and mammary compartments associated with distinct mastitis phenotypes, including subclinical disease. However, the cross-sectional design does not establish temporal progression, mastitis specificity, or a causal gut-mammary pathway. The association between circulating 5-AED and mastitis phenotype warrants prospective evaluation in independent herds using an independently validated analytical assay before its potential clinical utility can be assessed.</p>","PeriodicalId":12466,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Microbiology","volume":"17 ","pages":"1955642"},"PeriodicalIF":5.8,"publicationDate":"2026-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13661477/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149180502","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}