Jianxin Xu, Mia Kristine Staal Jensen, Simon Bo Lassen, Kristian Koefoed Brandt, Arnaud Dechesne, Barth F Smets
{"title":"Aeromonas isolation reveals this genus's contribution to antimicrobial resistance fluxes across the wastewater-treated water-river interface.","authors":"Jianxin Xu, Mia Kristine Staal Jensen, Simon Bo Lassen, Kristian Koefoed Brandt, Arnaud Dechesne, Barth F Smets","doi":"10.1093/jambio/lxae302","DOIUrl":"10.1093/jambio/lxae302","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Aim: </strong>Aeromonas spp. are common members of water and wastewater microbiomes, but some are listed as opportunistic pathogens and are often reported to carry antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes. We aimed to assess the performance of isolation media for capturing their distribution and their role in AMR dissemination into aquatic environments.</p><p><strong>Methods and results: </strong>We investigated the abundance, diversity, and AMR profile of Aeromonas isolates from wastewater and receiving water bodies at five municipal wastewater treatment plants in Denmark using three isolation media. This was then compared with the diversity estimated from community-wide 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing and resistance patterns inferred from high-throughput qPCR of resistance genes. Isolates from ampicillin sheep blood agar were the most phylogenetically diverse, but the overall Aeromonas recovery on the three media was similarly good and matched the dominant amplicon sequence variants. While the dominant phylotypes were ubiquitous, some types were only detected in treated wastewater and the receiving rivers. The resistance prevalence was moderate and mostly to beta-lactams and tetracyclines. Isolates resistant to piperacilin-tazobactam, cefepime, and tetracycline downstream of the plants were linked to wastewater origin.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Overall, our work demonstrates Aeromonas and Aeromonas-mediated AMR fluxes at the wastewater/environment interfaces and provides methodological bases for monitoring aeromonads in wastewater and surface waters.</p>","PeriodicalId":15036,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Applied Microbiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-01-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142864289","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Disruption of cell wall and membrane integrity as antioomycete and antifungal mode of action by fusaric and 9,10-dehydrofusaric acids from endophytic fungus Fusarium lactis strain SME13-2.","authors":"Martha Lydia Macías-Rubalcava, Patricia Lappe-Oliveras, Rodrigo Villanueva-Silva","doi":"10.1093/jambio/lxae301","DOIUrl":"10.1093/jambio/lxae301","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Aims: </strong>This study aimed to assess the mode of action of fusaric and 9,10-dehydrofusaric acids on cell respiration by measuring the hyphal oxygen consumption rate, and the effects on cell membrane integrity by determining the electrical conductivity of the mycelium.</p><p><strong>Methods and results: </strong>Bioactivity-directed fractionation of the active culture medium and mycelium organic extracts from the Fusarium lactis strain SME13-2 isolated from Sapium macrocarpum led to the isolation of two known alkylpicolinic acid derivatives: fusaric acid and 9,10-dehydrofusaric acid, along with the known polyketide bikaverin. Fusaric acid and 9,10-dehydrofusaric acid exhibited antioomycete and antifungal activities, significantly inhibiting the radial growth of Phytophthora capsici, Pythium aphanidermatum, Alternaria alternata, and F. oxysporum. Additionally, they induced changes in colony morphology and negative effects on the ultrastructure of their hyphae. To date, the antimicrobial mode of action of fusaric acid and other alkylpicolinic acid derivatives is not thoroughly understood. Therefore, we investigated their effect on cellular respiration by measuring the oxygen consumption rate of the hyphae and their impact on cell membrane integrity by determining the electrical conductivity of the mycelium. Fusaric and 9,10-dehydrofusaric acids inhibited the respiration of the mycelium and altered the permeability of the cell membrane in the tested phytopathogenic microorganisms in a concentration and exposure time-dependent manner, exerting a greater effect on oomycetes. The disruption of cell membrane integrity resulted in the leakage of cytoplasmic electrolytes into the extracellular medium, which, coupled with respiratory inhibition, could lead to cell death.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Fusaric and 9,10-dehydrofusaric acids show potential for the development of new fungicides and anti-oomycetes agents.</p>","PeriodicalId":15036,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Applied Microbiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-01-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142864294","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Iago Torres Cortês, Kátia de Pádua Silva, Karina Cogo-Müller
{"title":"Effects of simvastatin on the mevalonate pathway and cell wall integrity of Staphylococcus aureus.","authors":"Iago Torres Cortês, Kátia de Pádua Silva, Karina Cogo-Müller","doi":"10.1093/jambio/lxaf012","DOIUrl":"10.1093/jambio/lxaf012","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Aims: </strong>To investigate the effects of simvastatin as an antimicrobial, considering its influence on the mevalonate pathway and the bacterial cell wall of S. aureus.</p><p><strong>Methods and results: </strong>S. aureus ATCC 29213 and 33591 were exposed to simvastatin in the presence of exogenous mevalonate to determine whether mevalonate could reverse the inhibition. S. aureus was also treated with simvastatin and gene expression analysis assays were performed to evaluate genes associated with the mevalonate pathway (mvaA, mvaS, mvaK1, and mvaK2), peptidoglycan synthesis (uppS, uppP, and murG), and cell wall stress (vraX, sgtB, and tcaA). Transmission electron microscopy was used to identify the presence of morphological changes. The data were compared using two-way ANOVA and Bonferroni post-test, or the Mann-Whitney test. Addition of exogenous mevalonate was able to partially or completely reverse the inhibition caused by simvastatin. A significant increase of the vraX gene and a reduction of the mvaA gene were observed, together with changes in bacterial morphology.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Simvastatin can exert its antimicrobial effect by means of changes in the cell wall associated with the mevalonate pathway.</p>","PeriodicalId":15036,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Applied Microbiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-01-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142949307","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Yiyuan Wang, Xiaoxian Song, Xiaofang Pan, Ruiru Gao, Xuejun Yang
{"title":"The multifunctional fungus Phanerochaete chrysosporium enriches metabolites while degrading seed mucilage of a sand-fixing shrub.","authors":"Yiyuan Wang, Xiaoxian Song, Xiaofang Pan, Ruiru Gao, Xuejun Yang","doi":"10.1093/jambio/lxaf009","DOIUrl":"10.1093/jambio/lxaf009","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Aims: </strong>The sand-fixing desert shrub Artemisia sphaerocephala produces a large amount of seed mucilage, which plays crucial roles in the adaptation of this species to desert environments. Seed mucilage has been shown to be degraded by Phanerochaete chrysosporium from habitat soils, but the process and products of this degradation remain unclear. To fill this gap, we explored the factors and processes involved in mucilage degradation.</p><p><strong>Methods and results: </strong>We found that P. chrysosporium had the ability to produce iron carriers and to solubilize potassium and phosphorus. Mucilage degradation was affected by multiple factors, and the optimum conditions for mucilage degradation were 30°C, pH 4.5, 10 ml of fungal solution, and 1.0 g of mucilage substrate, with a degradation rate of 93.04% ± 4.87% at 20 days. The untargeted metabolome screened 300 significantly different metabolites during mucilage degradation, of which 291 were upregulated and 9 downregulated. The main degradation products were organoxides, lipids, lipid-like molecules, phenylpropanoids, polyketides, and organic acids. The most significantly affected pathway was the valine, leucine, and isoleucine biosynthetic pathway.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Our study has elucidated the mucilage degradation process and metabolites, which may help us to better understand the ecological functions of seed mucilage and the mechanisms of plant-microbe interactions in deserts.</p>","PeriodicalId":15036,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Applied Microbiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-01-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142949263","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Unconventional approaches for the induction of microbial natural products.","authors":"Bathini Thissera, Sylvia Soldatou, Lassaad Belbahri, Rainer Ebel, Marcel Jaspars, Mostafa E Rateb","doi":"10.1093/jambio/lxaf014","DOIUrl":"10.1093/jambio/lxaf014","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Expansion of the microbial drug discovery pipeline has been impeded by a limited and skewed appreciation of the microbial world and its full chemical capabilities and by an inability to induce silent biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs). Typically, these silent genes are not expressed under standard laboratory conditions, instead requiring particular interventions to activate them. Genetic, physical, and chemical strategies have been employed to trigger these BGCs, and some have resulted in the induction of novel secondary metabolites. This review encompasses a wide range of literature and emphasizes selected successful induction of microbial secondary metabolites examples through unconventional approaches such as quorum sensing, epigenetic modulation, and ribosome engineering. Whenever applicable, we will also discuss their mechanisms and optimizations to improve the microbial drug discovery process.</p>","PeriodicalId":15036,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Applied Microbiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-01-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142965097","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Erica C Silva, Lucas M R Rodrigues, Suzete A L Destefano, Oliveiro Guerreiro Filho, Masako T Braghini, Denicezar  Baldo, José M Oliveira, Marta M D C Vila, Victor M Balcão
{"title":"Control of coffee canker associated with Pseudomonas coronafaciens pv. garcae using a cocktail integrating two virulent polyvalent bacteriophages encapsulated in nanoparticles: in planta studies.","authors":"Erica C Silva, Lucas M R Rodrigues, Suzete A L Destefano, Oliveiro Guerreiro Filho, Masako T Braghini, Denicezar  Baldo, José M Oliveira, Marta M D C Vila, Victor M Balcão","doi":"10.1093/jambio/lxae310","DOIUrl":"10.1093/jambio/lxae310","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Aims: </strong>In this study, we report the use of two novel lytic polyvalent phages as a cocktail in in planta assays and their efficacy in the control of bacterial halo blight (BHB) caused by Pseudomonas coronafaciens pv. garcae (Pcg) in coffee plants.</p><p><strong>Methods and results: </strong>Phages were isolated from samples of coffee plant leaves collected at two different locations in Brazil. Both phages belong to the class Caudoviricetes and present myovirus-like morphotypes, and both exhibited specificity to their host, Pcg strain IBSBF-158. The two phages were encapsulated in chitosan-coated Ca-alginate nanoparticles, which demonstrated promising performance, promoting reductions in disease severity ranging from 66.83% to 83.37%, depending on the timing of application relative to infection. Both phages were somewhat susceptible to the effects of abiotic factors when in free form, with solar radiation seriously negatively impacting their lytic activity. However, nanoencapsulation of both phages as a lytic cocktail within chitosan-coated Ca-alginate nanoparticles proved successful in fully stabilizing both phages from the deleterious action of UV radiation.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Application of such lytic nanoparticles in pre- and post-inoculated coffee seedlings in in planta greenhouse assays proved successful in controlling the phytopathogen responsible for BHB of coffee, Pcg, with a significant decrease in the progression of the disease. The results suggest that lytic nanoparticles may become an effective and sustainable strategy for coffee BHB control, as an alternative to conventional approaches relying on chemical (copper hydroxide or oxychloride or kasugamycin hydrochloride) or biological agents, but more studies are needed in the field to confirm this. The phage protection system developed represents a potential alternative treatment for bacterial plant diseases with minimum damage to the environment.</p>","PeriodicalId":15036,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Applied Microbiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-01-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142872149","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Antifungal activity of bamemacrolactine C against Talaromyces marneffei and its possible mechanisms of action.","authors":"Cuiping Jiang, Guangfu Feng, Zhou Wang, Kai Liu, Xinjian Qu, Yonghong Liu, Xiangxi Yi, Chenghai Gao","doi":"10.1093/jambio/lxae297","DOIUrl":"10.1093/jambio/lxae297","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Aims: </strong>The present study aims to investigate the in vitro antifungal activity and mechanism of action of bamemacrolactine C (BAC), a new 24-membered macrolide compound, against Talaromyces marneffei.</p><p><strong>Methods and results: </strong>The test drug BAC initially demonstrated antifungal activity through a paper disk diffusion assay, followed by determination of the minimum inhibitory concentration value of 35.29 μg ml-1 using microdilution. The association study revealed that combination therapy exhibited additive effects (0.5 < FICI < 1.0) when combined BAC with either amphotericin B or fluconazole. A time-growth assay confirmed that treatment with 35.29 μg ml-1 of BAC completely inhibited the growth of T. marneffei and exhibited antifungal effects. Micromorphological analysis using scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy photomicrographs revealed that BAC treatment induced morphological damage in fungal cells compared to the control group. Transmembrane protein assays showed a significant reduction in the levels of Na+/K+-ATPase (P < .05) and Ca2+-ATPase (P < .01) compared to the control group. Intracellular enzyme assays demonstrated that BAC treatment significantly decreased ATP, malate dehydrogenase, and succinate dehydrogenase content (P < .01). The combination of proteomics and parallel reaction monitoring (PRM) verification indicated that BAC exhibits an antifungal mechanism against T. marneffei by downregulating ATP citric acid lyase (ACLY) levels , potentially affecting the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle. Besides, the binding model of BAC and the ACLY also shows a good docking score.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The findings suggest that BAC exhibits antifungal activity against T. marneffei, elucidating its multifaceted mechanism of action involving disruption of cell membranes' integrity and inhibition of intracellular enzyme activities, in which the modulation of ACLY in the TCA cycle may play an important role.</p>","PeriodicalId":15036,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Applied Microbiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142828702","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Dan He, Ying Zhang, Jinxu Liu, Xiao Wang, Yunlong Hu, Weihui Xu, Wenjing Chen, Zhenyu Fan, Zhigang Wang
{"title":"Changes in metabolite profiles in solid fermentation of glutamate waste treatment solution by Aspergillus niger and Candida tropicalis.","authors":"Dan He, Ying Zhang, Jinxu Liu, Xiao Wang, Yunlong Hu, Weihui Xu, Wenjing Chen, Zhenyu Fan, Zhigang Wang","doi":"10.1093/jambio/lxae304","DOIUrl":"10.1093/jambio/lxae304","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Aims: </strong>Glutamate wastewater poses a great environmental challenge to the monosodium glutamate production industry. However, its treatment solution is rich in crude protein, which has the potential to be developed as a new protein source for animal feed.</p><p><strong>Methods and results: </strong>Given that the fermentation process generates functionally different metabolites, this study innovatively utilized two strains of feed microorganisms, Aspergillus niger and Candida tropicalis, to perform solid-state fermentation of glutamate wastewater treatment solution. The aim was to investigate and analyse the metabolite profiles during fermentation. The significant differences in metabolite profiles between the samples were determined using correlation analysis, principal component analysis, orthogonal partial least-squares discriminant analysis, variable importance in projection analysis, Kyoto Encyclopaedia of Genomes, and Human Metabolome Data Bank analysis. These variations were mainly manifested in essential feed components, such as amino acids, peptides, and their analogues. These included Ile-Pro-Asn, Pro-Gly-Val, alanylvaline, histidylisoleucine, Lys-Leu-Tyr, Ile-Arg, glycyl-leucine, leucyl-lysine, N-palmitoyl histidine, alanylisoleucine, l-glutamate, N-methylisoleucine, Isoleucylproline, dl-m-tyrosine, Isoleucyl-threonine, phenylalanine amide, carboxyethyllysine, N6-acetyl-l-lysine, citrulline, N-alpha-acetyl-l-lysine, N(6)-methyllysine, and l-aspartate-semialdehyde.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>This study investigates the metabolite profiles of glutamate wastewater treatment solutions after co-fermentation with A. niger and C. tropicalis using solid-state fermentation. These findings provide a new strategy for efficiently utilizing glutamate wastewater treatment solutions.</p>","PeriodicalId":15036,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Applied Microbiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142864292","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Correction to: The antimicrobial peptide Microcin C7 inhibits the growth of Porphyromonas gingivalis and improves the perodontal status in a rat model.","authors":"","doi":"10.1093/jambio/lxae314","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jambio/lxae314","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":15036,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Applied Microbiology","volume":"135 12","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142882099","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Bernd Kramer, Daniela Warschat, Anna Meepool, Peter Muranyi
{"title":"How to validate UV-C based air cleaners using viruses containing aerosols in a test room.","authors":"Bernd Kramer, Daniela Warschat, Anna Meepool, Peter Muranyi","doi":"10.1093/jambio/lxae287","DOIUrl":"10.1093/jambio/lxae287","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Aims: </strong>UV-C based air cleaners may reduce the transmission of infectious diseases. However, microbiological validation is necessary to quantify their efficiency. In this study, the stability of aerosolized bacteriophages for validation purposes was investigated in a test room, before a UV-C based air cleaner was exemplarily evaluated regarding the inactivation of airborne bacteriophages.</p><p><strong>Methods and results: </strong>The bacteriophage Phi6 was selected as virus surrogate and aerosolized in a room of 30 m³ volume. The recovery of infectious bacteriophages was first analyzed under variation of the relative humidity (20%-55% RH) and sampling time. The aerosol studies showed that a low humidity between 20% RH and 30% RH provides a high and stable recovery of bacteriophages Phi6 over 1 h. However, with increasing humidity, the number of infectious airborne bacteriophages Phi6 decreased significantly. At 50% RH, the recovery of Phi6 was 4 orders of magnitude lower compared to 20% RH. The validation of a UV-C based air cleaner was then demonstrated in the test room whereat the decline of infectious airborne bacteriophages was recorded over time. The nonenveloped bacteriophage MS2 was used as a reference. The validation results were significantly different for Phi6 when the humidity in the test room was either 40% RH or 30% RH, whereas comparable results were obtained for MS2 at both humidities.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>A rising humidity in the test room caused a significant decline in the recovery of infectious airborne bacteriophages Phi6. The result of a quantitative validation of UV-C based air cleaners may therefore be affected by the respective humidity.</p>","PeriodicalId":15036,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Applied Microbiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142621001","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}