Microorganisms最新文献

{"title":"Isolate-Specific Modulation of Growth, Carbon Allocation, and Transcriptomic Responses in <i>Spirodela polyrhiza</i> by Duckweed-Associated Bacteria.","authors":"Karnjana Ruenpham, Kazuhiro Mori, Yasuhiro Tanaka, Arinthip Thamchaipenet, Masaaki Morikawa, Tadashi Toyama","doi":"10.3390/microorganisms14081850","DOIUrl":"10.3390/microorganisms14081850","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Duckweed-associated plant growth-promoting bacteria have attracted attention for their potential to enhance duckweed biomass production. However, the mechanisms underlying isolate-specific growth promotion are unclear. This study compared the effects of two duckweed-associated bacterial isolates, <i>Terrimicrobium</i> sp. PS02 and <i>Aeromicrobium</i> sp. PS05, on the growth, biomass composition, colonization behavior, and transcriptomic responses of <i>Spirodela polyrhiza.</i> Biomass composition and transcriptome analyses were performed to characterize the host responses. Both isolates enhanced duckweed biomass; PS02 increased it 1.2-fold, whereas PS05 induced a significant 1.4-fold increase compared to the uninoculated control. PS05 established bacterial populations approximately one order of magnitude higher than those of PS02 and formed dense extracellular polymeric substance-mediated microcolonies on the surface. Transcriptome analysis revealed that PS05 induced 1108 differentially expressed genes, compared with 454 in PS02, indicating greater host transcriptomic reprogramming. Functional enrichment of transcriptome responses showed that PS05 preferentially regulates carbohydrate biosynthesis, central carbon metabolism, and starch biosynthesis, significantly enhancing starch accumulation and turion formation without reducing protein or photosynthetic pigment content. This study provides evidence linking bacterial colonization, host transcriptomic regulation, carbon allocation, and biomass production in duckweed, offering a basis for engineering high-performance duckweed-microbiome systems for sustainable biomass production.</p>","PeriodicalId":18667,"journal":{"name":"Microorganisms","volume":"14 8","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13515264/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148830416","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":"Seasonal Occurrence, Population Diversity, and Mobilome Features of Environmental <i>Vibrio parahaemolyticus</i> in Coastal and Estuarine Waters of Haiyan, Zhejiang, China.","authors":"Jingyu Xu, Yangang He, Peiyan He","doi":"10.3390/microorganisms14081846","DOIUrl":"10.3390/microorganisms14081846","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p><i>Vibrio parahaemolyticus</i> is a leading cause of seafood-associated gastroenteritis, yet the ecological and genomic significance of environmental populations as potential reservoirs remains incompletely characterized. From May to October 2024, 108 water samples were collected monthly at one coastal and two estuarine sites in Haiyan, Zhejiang. Confirmed isolates (<i>n</i> = 39) underwent whole-genome sequencing, MLST/cgMLST, virulence and AMR gene screening, integron characterization with BLASTp (+2.17.0) integrase family typing, and viral-region prediction. Culture-based detection was absent in May and rose to 66.7% in October (Cochran-Armitage trend, <i>p</i> = 0.003), with descriptively higher detection at the coastal site. MLST identified 28 STs including four novel types (Simpson's diversity = 0.953). All isolates lacked <i>tdh</i>, <i>trh</i>, and T3SS2 but retained T3SS1 and MAM7. One estuarine isolate carried CALIN-associated <i>dfrA31</i> and <i>qnrVC5</i>. All integrases matched VpaIntIA (95.9-100% identity), not mobile class 1-3 integrases. Viral regions were detected in 38/39 isolates; filamentous phage annotations in 52.6%. Haiyan coastal <i>V. parahaemolyticus</i> shows seasonal and spatial patterns, high diversity, and a mobilome dominated by chromosomal super-integrons, underscoring the need for integrase family typing in environmental surveillance.</p>","PeriodicalId":18667,"journal":{"name":"Microorganisms","volume":"14 8","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13515816/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148829159","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":"Similar Virulence Gene Repertoires but Distinct Stress Tolerance and Pathogenicity-Associated Phenotypes in Representative <i>Salmonella</i> Typhimurium ST19 and ST213 Strains from Mexico.","authors":"Flor Alexia Esquivel-Barriga, Gerardo Vázquez-Marrufo, Adrián Gómez-Baltazar, Andrea Monserrat Negrete-Paz, Carlos Torres-Vega, Manuel López-Rodríguez, Elda Araceli Hernández-Díaz, Ma Soledad Vázquez-Garcidueñas","doi":"10.3390/microorganisms14081854","DOIUrl":"10.3390/microorganisms14081854","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Foodborne illnesses caused by <i>Salmonella</i> Typhimurium remain a major public health concern worldwide. Although ST19 has historically been a dominant lineage within this serotype, ST213 has become increasingly prevalent in Mexico. The biological factors underlying this epidemiological shift remain incompletely understood. In this study, we compared virulence-associated gene repertoires and stress-related phenotypes in representative <i>S.</i> Typhimurium ST19 and ST213 strains with distinct virulotypes (VTs). Comparative genomic analysis identified 119 virulence-associated genes distributed across 26 VTs, with most genes broadly conserved between genotypes. Representative strains were evaluated under simulated gastrointestinal tract (GIT) stress conditions, in post-stress recovery assays, and in a <i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i> infection model. Under the experimental conditions evaluated, the representative ST213 strains SAL109 (VT1), SAL115 (VT1), and SAL016 (VT12) tended to show higher persistence under host-associated stress conditions and greater intestinal colonization capacity in <i>C. elegans</i> than the ST19 strain SAL004 (VT23). However, strains sharing the same VT did not necessarily exhibit similar phenotypes, indicating that virulence-associated gene repertoires alone do not fully explain stress tolerance or host colonization behavior. Overall, these findings highlight phenotypic variability among strains with similar virulence gene content and support the importance of integrating genomic and phenotypic approaches to better understand the biology of emerging <i>S.</i> Typhimurium lineages.</p>","PeriodicalId":18667,"journal":{"name":"Microorganisms","volume":"14 8","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13515107/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148829712","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":"Contrasting the Microbial Communities in Rhizosphere and Bulk Soils Across Different <i>Eucommia ulmoides</i> Planting Sites and Their Soil Chemical Driving Mechanisms.","authors":"Panfeng Liu, Huaxiang Wang, Furong Lin, Hongyan Du, Liwei Xing, Kunhao Xie, Qingxin Du","doi":"10.3390/microorganisms14081853","DOIUrl":"10.3390/microorganisms14081853","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Soil multifunctionality (SMF) is a core indicator of plantation soil ecological function, and microbial diversity plays a vital role in sustaining it. However, cross-site rhizosphere and bulk SMF disparities and their microbial driving mechanisms remain unclear in <i>Eucommia ulmoides</i> plantations. Here, we collected rhizosphere and bulk soils from three typical sites (Mengzhou, MZ; Liangyuan, LY; and Yuanyang, YY). Soil chemical properties, extracellular enzymes, microbial alpha diversity, community composition and cross-kingdom network topology were measured. Correlation heatmaps, random forest, Redundancy analysis (RDA) and Partial least path modeling (PLS-PM) were adopted to quantify SMF predictors and regulatory pathways. Rhizosphere soils possessed significantly higher alkaline hydrolyzable nitrogen (AN), available phosphorus (AP) and available potassium (AK) than bulk soils at all sites. LY rhizosphere showed the greatest soil organic carbon (SOC), total potassium (TK), available nutrients and enzyme activities, while YY had higher total nitrogen (TN) and AP, yet the lowest enzyme levels. Rhizosphere bacterial and fungal alpha diversity was consistently higher across locations. SMF varied distinctly by site and compartment: LY had substantially higher SMF than MZ and YY in both rhizosphere and bulk soils, with rhizosphere SMF being consistently greater than bulk values across all sites. The PLS-PM (GOF = 0.70) indicated that soil chemical properties regulated SMF via dual pathways: they directly promoted microbial co-occurrence networks and indirectly modified network structure by altering fungal diversity, while suppressing bacterial diversity. Total effect analysis identified soil chemical properties and microbial co-occurrence networks as the core drivers of SMF variation. This work clarifies that rhizosphere effects and soil chemical properties jointly drive SMF by regulating microbial diversity and co-occurrence networks, offering theoretical guidance for sustainable soil management in <i>E. ulmoides</i> plantations.</p>","PeriodicalId":18667,"journal":{"name":"Microorganisms","volume":"14 8","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13515387/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148830325","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":"ESM2-Guided Context-Aware Annotation Completion Supplements Carbohydrate Metabolism Coverage in Silage Microbial Metagenomes.","authors":"Jiewei Zhang, Xinyu Du, Jinbiao Tang, Xiaoning Dong, Xusheng Guo, Mingxue Li, Dongmei Xu","doi":"10.3390/microorganisms14081848","DOIUrl":"10.3390/microorganisms14081848","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Functional annotation gaps limit the interpretation of carbohydrate metabolism in silage microbiomes. We developed Context-Aware Annotation Completion (CAAC), a framework integrating ESM2 embeddings, genomic-neighborhood features, three-class classification, confidence-tiered neighbor voting, and Enzyme Commission (EC)-to-KEGG Orthology (KO) mapping. CAAC was applied to 21 metagenomes from uninoculated and <i>Lacticaseibacillus paracasei</i>-inoculated silages sampled before ensiling and at 7 and 90 days. Five-fold cross-validation yielded an F1-macro of 84.64% for negative, positive, and hard-sequence classification. Among 800,000 selected annotation-poor sequences, 545,671 Tier 1 or Tier 2 predictions passed the annotation-validity and EC-to-KO mapping criteria, of which 524,814 were eligible for sample-level annotation supplementation. After silage-focused filtering and KO-EC summarization, these predictions yielded 102 KO-EC features repeatedly detected across the silage metagenomes and increased coverage in 25 of 47 carbohydrate-metabolism pathways, mainly by recovering enzyme-level components related to starch and sucrose, cellulose and cellobiose, xylan and hemicellulose, and pectin and glucuronate metabolism. Taxon-linked analyses further revealed treatment- and stage-associated patterns in the taxonomic sources of the supplemented annotations. A database-derived temporal benchmark using the July 2025 CAZy release showed 94.94% Tier 1 family-level annotation-transfer consistency. CAAC extends the enzyme-level interpretation of under-annotated silage metagenomes, while the inferred assignments remain computational predictions requiring experimental validation.</p>","PeriodicalId":18667,"journal":{"name":"Microorganisms","volume":"14 8","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13515629/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148830338","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":"Extraction and Purification of a Melanin from <i>Aureobasidium melanogenum</i> with Evaluation of Its Stability and In Vitro Antitumor Activity.","authors":"Yu Lin, Wei Liang, Bo Yu, Lan Ma, Lin Shu, Zhiqun Liang, Wei Zeng","doi":"10.3390/microorganisms14081859","DOIUrl":"10.3390/microorganisms14081859","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Microbial melanins are natural pigments with broad application potential, and <i>Aureobasidium melanogenum</i> is a promising strain for industrial production of melanin. However, the separation, purification, and biological activities of melanin derived from this strain remain largely unexplored. In this study, an efficient extraction and purification process for melanin from the fermentation broth of <i>A. melanogenum</i> GXZ-6 was established through single-factor optimization, and the final purity of the melanin reached 94.4%. Spectroscopic stability tests showed that the melanin was highly stable under dark, natural light, a wide pH range (2-12), and temperatures ≤ 37 °C. However, UV light, high temperature (>50 °C), ultrasonication, and certain metal ions (especially Cr³⁺) markedly altered its absorbance at 225 nm. More importantly, the purified melanin exhibited concentration-dependent antiproliferative activity against human cancer cell lines of A549, HCT116, MCF-7, and HepG2, with IC₅₀ values ranging from 25.50 to 72.33 μg/mL. HepG2 cells were the most sensitive (IC₅₀ = 25.50 μg/mL), and the melanin showed moderate selectivity toward normal hepatocytes (LO2). Mechanistic studies revealed that melanin effectively inhibited HepG2 cell migration, induced apoptosis, depolarized the mitochondrial membrane potential, and activated the caspase-3/PARP pathway. In summary, this study provides a simple, scalable, and environmentally friendly process for producing high-purity melanin with potential antitumor activity.</p>","PeriodicalId":18667,"journal":{"name":"Microorganisms","volume":"14 8","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13515041/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148830350","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":"Convergent Bacterial but Divergent Fungal Communities in the Tobacco Rhizosphere Under Intensive Management on Contrasting Soils.","authors":"Shuang Peng, Dan Song, Beibei Zhou, Yiming Wang","doi":"10.3390/microorganisms14081849","DOIUrl":"10.3390/microorganisms14081849","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The rhizosphere microbiome is critical for plant health, yet how soil type and intensive management jointly govern its assembly remain unclear. Here, we hypothesized that soil type acts as a primary environmental filter, while intensive cultivation (plant growth plus fertilization) imposes additional selective pressures that differentially shape bacterial versus fungal communities. Using flue-cured tobacco (K326) grown in clay loam and sandy loam soils under field conditions, we examined the rhizosphere microbiome at the topping stage. Intensive cultivation significantly altered rhizosphere physicochemical properties. Key nutrients, including organic matter (OM), dissolved total nitrogen (DTN), available phosphorus (AP), and available potassium (AK), were markedly enriched. Rhizosphere soil pH exhibited a bidirectional shift relative to the corresponding bulk soil, converging to a narrow range (7.4-7.8) in both soil types. Root activity and fertilization imposed contrasting selective pressures on the two microbial kingdoms: bacterial diversity declined slightly, indicating strong deterministic selection, whereas fungal diversity increased, reflecting adaptation to root-generated niches. Differential abundance analysis identified 38 bacterial OTUs as a core rhizosphere-adapted microbiome shared across both soil types, demonstrating robust fitness in the nutrient-enriched rhizosphere environment under intensive management. No shared core fungal OTUs were detected, underscoring strong soil legacy effects and higher habitat specificity in fungi. Notably, the core bacterial microbiome was dominated by K-strategists (slow-growing, resource-efficient taxa) that exhibited opportunistic traits capable of rapidly exploiting nutrient pulses in the rhizosphere. Together, these findings reveal that soil type acts as a critical filter modulating plant-microbe interactions under intensive agriculture, while bacteria and fungi employ divergent ecological strategies in response to selection pressures. This work provides both theoretical and practical insights for optimizing tobacco cultivation and sustaining soil microecological health.</p>","PeriodicalId":18667,"journal":{"name":"Microorganisms","volume":"14 8","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13515114/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148830334","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":"Forensic Microbiomics and Trace Microbial Evidence: Molecular Innovations for Linking Suspects, Objects, and Environments.","authors":"Badal Mavry, Sneha Lohar, Garima Awasthi, Kumud Kant Awasthi, Mahipal Singh Sankhla, Anuj Sharma, Rajeev Kumar, Yogesh Kumar, Ruchi Pathania, Theodoros Varzakas","doi":"10.3390/microorganisms14081858","DOIUrl":"10.3390/microorganisms14081858","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Microbial forensics has beneficial characteristics for investigating crimes. Law and order are fundamental to any nation and carry significant responsibilities. Failure in this domain may result in wrongful convictions or the guilty remaining free. Key duties include managing criminal cases and addressing threats to public order. While identifying the culprit, establishing their connection to the crime is paramount. Since legal systems require evidence for conviction, law enforcement increasingly relies on advancing scientific methods to meet this need. For example, in this case, after applying conventional techniques like DNA analysis and fingerprinting, a new technique, such as microbial forensics or fingerprints, can be applied. Trace evidence can be in the form of microbial fingerprints, and this evidence can play an important role in solving the crime. Microbial communities are dense and active in living and non-living things and in the environment. The classification and roles of these bacterial populations could be used as markers. The distinction between forensic samples is achievable because there is a diversity of microbial communities found in the human body from one location to another, and even in identical twins. The specific microbiome, which can be found on the skin or in specific body areas, may precisely identify the suspect's connection with the crime scene for the purposes of human identification. This paper discusses the objects and latest advancements in the science of microbial forensics and their significance within the law enforcement process.</p>","PeriodicalId":18667,"journal":{"name":"Microorganisms","volume":"14 8","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13515961/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148830353","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":"Biochar Application Improves Soil Aggregate Stability and Aggregate-Associated Carbon Fractions Through Microbial Community Regulation in <i>Eucalyptus</i> Plantations-A Seven-Year Field Experiment.","authors":"Jialin Liao, Yuyi Shen, Denan Zhang, Yingjie Sun, Qiumei Teng, Guangping Xu, Yunhuang Luo, Kechao Huang, Hao Shi, Zhiwen Tan, Junzhi Chu, Yu Cao","doi":"10.3390/microorganisms14081847","DOIUrl":"10.3390/microorganisms14081847","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Biochar has been used to improve soils and promote sustainable agricultural development. The effects of applying different doses of biochar on soil aggregate structure and stability, aggregate-associated microbial communities, aggregate carbon fractions, and underlying mechanisms in planted forest soil ecosystems remain unclear. This study aimed to explore the effects of biochar amendment (7 years) on carbon stabilization in plantation soils. The effects of biochar application (0%, 0.5%, 1.0%, 2%, 4%, and 6%) on water-stable aggregate distribution, stability indices such as mean weight diameter (MWD), geometric mean diameter (GMD), and fractal dimension (<i>D</i>), aggregate-associated microbial communities (fungal and bacterial phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs)), and carbon fractions such as soil organic carbon (SOC), easily oxidized organic carbon (EOC), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), particulate organic carbon (POC), microbial biomass carbon (MBC), recalcitrant organic carbon (ROC) and black carbon (BC) were investigated based on a seven-year in situ field experiment in a <i>Eucalyptus</i> plantation in northern Guangxi. The results showed that after 7 years, biochar application significantly increased the proportion of macroaggregates (≥0.25 mm). The MWD and GMD increased significantly with increasing biochar application rates, whereas D decreased significantly, indicating enhanced soil structural stability. Biochar significantly increased the abundance of fungi and bacteria across all aggregate size classes and changed the microbial community structure towards conditions that promoted increased carbon stabilization. Additionally, biochar application significantly increased both recalcitrant (ROC and BC) and labile carbon (EOC, POC, DOC, and MBC) in all aggregate fractions, with the largest increments in macroaggregates. Based on correlation analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM), we speculated that biochar might enhance the physical protection and chemical sequestration of organic carbon by optimizing the physical structure of the aggregates and synergizing with the microbial carbon pump. The 7-year application of biochar significantly enhanced the SOC content in plantation soils, primarily by increasing recalcitrant organic carbon, demonstrating that biochar application constitutes a viable approach to augmenting persistent soil carbon stabilization in plantation ecosystems. The 4% and 6% treatments produced the largest responses for most of the measured indicators, underscoring the importance of biochar application.</p>","PeriodicalId":18667,"journal":{"name":"Microorganisms","volume":"14 8","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13515593/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148830372","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":"Stage-Specific Dynamic of Gut Microbiota Across the Musk-Secretion Cycle in Forest Musk Deer (<i>Moschus berezovskii</i>).","authors":"Gangning Wei, Jianhao Ji, Mengheng Feng, Zhixiang Xiao, Biao Chen, Huirong Mao, Yunlin Zheng, Xiaolong Hu","doi":"10.3390/microorganisms14081835","DOIUrl":"10.3390/microorganisms14081835","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Musk secretion in forest musk deer (<i>Moschus berezovskii</i>) involves unique physiological processes, yet the paradox of heightened energy expenditure concurrent with voluntary fasting during this period remains poorly understood. Given the role of gut microbiota in host energy metabolism and health, we characterized its compositional and functional dynamics across the musk-secretion cycle. Fecal samples were collected from male forest musk deer at three stages-before (BMS), during (DMS), and after musk secretion (AMS)-and analyzed via full-length 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Results showed that alpha diversity differed significantly among groups (Simpson index: <i>p</i> = 0.027). Beta diversity analysis revealed significant community restructuring across stages (Adonis, R² = 0.173, <i>p</i> < 0.01), while LEfSe analysis (LDA > 4.0) identified a series of stage-specific taxa, further corroborating the existence of inter-group differences. In terms of species composition, Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes dominated across all stages. Significant inter-stage differences were observed in Verrucomicrobiota (highest in DMS), Patescibacteria (lowest in DMS), Proteobacteria (progressively declining), and Actinobacteria (progressively declining). At the genus level, <i>Akkermansia</i>, <i>Candidatus Saccharimonas</i>, <i>Roseburia</i>, and <i>Butyricicoccus</i> showed significant variation across the musk-secretion cycle. Notably, <i>Akkermansia muciniphila</i> varied significantly across stages despite high inter-individual variability. Functional prediction revealed the enrichment of hydrocarbon degradation and nitrogen fixation in BMS, and anaerobic respiration and reductive acetogenesis in DMS. This study provides foundational insights into the gut microecological mechanisms underlying musk secretion in forest musk deer.</p>","PeriodicalId":18667,"journal":{"name":"Microorganisms","volume":"14 8","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13515588/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148830134","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}