Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology最新文献

{"title":"The effects of tyrosol on yeasts: an overview of current knowledge","authors":"Renátó Kovács,&nbsp;Ágnes Jakab","doi":"10.1007/s00253-025-13595-y","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00253-025-13595-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Quorum sensing is a cell density-dependent microbial communication form, which can regulate several microbial properties, including virulence, biofilm formation and cell–cell competence. The phenomenon of fungal quorum sensing was first uncovered nearly 25 years ago, following the identification of farnesol and tyrosol as two key signalling molecules. Although the major roles of these regulatory molecules were elucidated, several questions primarily regarding tyrosol-mediated effects remain to be addressed, particularly with regard to molecular events influenced by tyrosol. Based on available literature data, tyrosol possesses potential antifungal activity, especially at supraphysiological concentrations. Moreover, its simultaneous usage with traditional antifungals shows potent synergistic activity against planktonic and sessile <i>Candida</i> cells, including both <i>Candida albicans</i> and certain non-albicans species. Currently, the deep molecular tyrosol-based investigations are still in their infancy compared with farnesol research. However, several promising findings were published in the past 10 years in terms of the potential usage of this compound as an alternative therapeutic treatment. Hence, this mini review summarizes the major functions of tyrosol as a signaling regulator compound in <i>Candida</i> morphogenesis. Furthermore, we discussed the most promising tyrosol-based in vitro data, which may be a foundation for the future development of in vivo models and ultimately innovative therapeutic strategies against fungal infections.</p><p>• <i>Tyrosol is a major quorum-sensing molecule in Candida species, promoting yeast-to-hyphae transition and biofilm formation</i></p><p>• <i>Tyrosol has been shown to potentiate the efficacy of conventional antifungal agents, representing a promising adjunctive strategy for the treatment of fungal biofilms</i></p><p>• <i>At supraphysiological concentrations, tyrosol induces oxidative stress, negatively influences the intracellular metal homeostasis and alters the fungal metabolism</i></p>","PeriodicalId":8342,"journal":{"name":"Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology","volume":"109 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00253-025-13595-y.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145037369","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Generation of novel polyclonal antibodies against Mycobacterium tuberculosis lipoarabinomannan, EspB, and Mtb8","authors":"Zhuohong Yan,&nbsp;Jingwei Guo,&nbsp;Jinghong Wu,&nbsp;Hongtao Zhang,&nbsp;Teng Ma","doi":"10.1007/s00253-025-13588-x","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00253-025-13588-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The unique cell wall of <i>Mycobacterium tuberculosis </i>(Mtb) creates a barrier to hydrophilic drugs, which is crucial for its survival and pathogenicity. However, the immune reactivity elicited by its components remains incompletely understood. We aimed to assess the antibody responses induced by <i>Mtb H37Rv </i>cell wall components and to develop and characterize antigen-specific polyclonal antibodies (pAbs). Rabbits were immunized with these components. Immune serum reactivity was tested against various Mtb antigens. Specific polyclonal antibodies (pAbs) were purified by affinity chromatography. The results showed that immune serum reacted with lipoarabinomannan (LAM), ESAT-6 secretion system-1 (Esx-1) secreted protein B (EspB), and Mtb8, but showed no reactivity with other tested Mtb antigens. LAM-, EspB-, or Mtb8-specific pAbs were subsequently affinity-purified. The affinity-purified LAM pAb, EspB pAb, and Mtb8 pAb each demonstrated high specificity and sensitivity, showing no cross-reactivity with non-target antigens. They recognized antigens in culture supernatants and cells from diverse mycobacterial strains, including both slow-growing mycobacteria (SGM) and rapid-growing mycobacteria (RGM). In a sandwich ELISA using LAM pAb as the capture antibody and biotinylated LAM-specific monoclonal Abs (BJRbL01-Bio, BJRbL03-Bio, BJRbL20-Bio, BJRbL52-Bio, or BJRbL76-Bio) as detection antibodies, the assay detected SGM but did not react with RGM species. EspB pAb recognized EspB in both cell lysate and culture supernatant fractions, where full-length and mature EspB are predominantly found, respectively. Mtb8 pAb reacted with monomeric and polymeric forms of Mtb8. In conclusion, we successfully generated novel pAbs against LAM, EspB, and Mtb8, providing promising research tools for investigating these critical molecules.</p>","PeriodicalId":8342,"journal":{"name":"Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology","volume":"109 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00253-025-13588-x.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145037449","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Foot-and-mouth disease virus vaccine with VP1 G-H loop substitution of the Cathay strain broadens antigen spectrum","authors":"Jingjing Zha,&nbsp;Keqiang Zhang,&nbsp;Xingze Zhang,&nbsp;Pu Sun,&nbsp;Dong Li,&nbsp;Yimei Cao,&nbsp;Xingwen Bai,&nbsp;Xueqing Ma,&nbsp;Kun Li,&nbsp;Hong Yuan,&nbsp;Yuanfang Fu,&nbsp;Jing Zhang,&nbsp;Zhixun Zhao,&nbsp;Jian Wang,&nbsp;Huifang Bao,&nbsp;Yifan OuYang,&nbsp;Shuyun Qi,&nbsp;Zaixin Liu,&nbsp;Zengjun Lu,&nbsp;Pinghua Li","doi":"10.1007/s00253-025-13561-8","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00253-025-13561-8","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Abstract</h3><p>Recently, serotype O foot-and-mouth disease viruses (FMDVs) belonging to four lineages (O/ME-SA/PanAsia, O/ME-SA/Ind2001, O/SEA/Mya-98, and O/Cathay) co-circulate in China, and the emergence of new variant viruses belonging to the Cathay lineage renders the existing vaccines less effective, which poses a serious threat to the livestock industries. The surface-exposed G-H loop of the VP1 structural protein of FMDV plays an important role in inducing neutralizing antibodies, generation of antigenic variants, and virus attachment. Here, we generated three recombinant FMDVs in which the G-H loops have been substituted with the corresponding sequences from the circulating strains of the PanAsia, Mya-98, and Cathay lineages based on an infectious cDNA clone of a chimeric FMDV, which carries amino acid substitutions in the leader protein and all surface proteins of FMDV O/XJ/CHA/2017. All mutant viruses exhibited a significantly improved replication capacity in BHK-21 cells and displayed relatively larger plaque morphologies compared with the parental virus. Chemically inactivated vaccines prepared from the parental virus and the mutant viruses all induced protective liquid-phase blocking ELISA (LPBE) antibodies against FMDVs in pigs after 28 days post vaccination (dpv), but only the vaccine with the substitution of the G-H loop of the Cathay strain induced protective neutralizing antibodies against the viruses of four lineages, while other vaccines exhibited excellent immunological cross-reactivity to the viruses of Ind2001, PanAsia, and Mya-98 lineages but did not for the Cathay virus at 28 dpv. Our studies indicated that the G-H loop of the Cathay virus plays a critical role in the antigenic drift of FMDV, which will provide key insights for designing porcinophilic FMDV vaccines in the future.</p><h3>Key points</h3><p><i>• The swapping of the G-H loops of FMDVs notably improved replication capacity of FMDV in BHK-21 cells.</i></p><p><i>• The swapping of the G-H loop of the Cathay virus obviously broadens antigenic coverage of FMDV vaccine.</i></p><p><i>• The study showed that the G-H loop of the Cathay virus plays a critical role in antigenic drift of FMDV.</i></p></div>","PeriodicalId":8342,"journal":{"name":"Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology","volume":"109 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00253-025-13561-8.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145028367","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Correction: Triptolide modulates tumour-colonisation and anti-tumour effect of attenuated Salmonella encoding DNase I","authors":"Tingtao Chen,&nbsp;Xiaoxiao Zhao,&nbsp;Yimeng Ren,&nbsp;Yuqing Wang,&nbsp;Xianyao Tang,&nbsp;Puyuan Tian,&nbsp;Huan Wang,&nbsp;Hongbo Xin","doi":"10.1007/s00253-025-13592-1","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00253-025-13592-1","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":8342,"journal":{"name":"Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology","volume":"109 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00253-025-13592-1.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145021714","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Biosynthetic potential of the culturable foliar fungi associated with field-grown lettuce","authors":"Neda Arad,&nbsp;Joseph Spraker,&nbsp;Kayla Garcia,&nbsp;Duke Pauli,&nbsp;A. Elizabeth Arnold","doi":"10.1007/s00253-025-13581-4","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00253-025-13581-4","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Fungal endophytes and epiphytes associated with plant leaves can play important ecological roles through the production of specialized metabolites encoded by biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs). However, their functional capacity, especially in crops like lettuce (<i>Lactuca sativa</i> L.), remains poorly understood. We sequenced the genomes of nine fungal isolates, representing <i>Fusarium</i> sp., <i>Fulvia</i> sp., <i>Alternaria alternata</i>, and <i>Alternaria postmessia</i>, from leaves of lettuce grown under field conditions in Arizona, USA. We used antibiotics and secondary metabolite analysis shell (antiSMASH) and the database for automated carbohydrate-active enzyme annotation (dbCAN3), to predict BGCs and carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes) for each strain, and then compared them to conspecific strains from other environments and substrates. Foliar lettuce-associated fungi featured 39–95 BGCs per genome, with substantial overlap between isolates occurring in association with lettuce leaves vs. from other substrates. Species identity was a significant determinant of BGC count, while host type, isolation source, and lifestyle were not. Several BGCs, including those for alternariol and 1,3,6,8-Tetrahydroxynaphthalene (T4HN), showed 100% similarity to characterized minimum information about a biosynthetic gene cluster (MIBiG) clusters based on antiSMASH predictions. Although analysis by biosynthetic gene similarity clustering and prospecting engine (BiG-SCAPE) identified gene cluster families (GCFs) across the dataset, these reference-matching clusters were not always grouped, reflecting methodological differences in how the tools assess similarity. Comparative CAZyme analysis in a focal species (<i>Fulvia</i> sp.) revealed higher gene counts in a foliar lettuce-derived isolate than in tomato (<i>Solanum lycopersicum</i>)-associated strains, challenging assumptions about host chemical complexity. These results highlight the importance of phylogenetic context in shaping fungal functional potential and suggest that selection on microbial traits in edible leafy crops may be more subtle and species-specific than previously assumed.</p><p>• <i>Lettuce-associated fungi feature diverse biosynthetic potential</i></p><p>• <i>Phylogeny predicts fungal BGC content more strongly than ecological lifestyle</i></p><p>• <i>Findings support genome-informed microbiome strategies for leafy crops</i></p>","PeriodicalId":8342,"journal":{"name":"Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology","volume":"109 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00253-025-13581-4.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145011637","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Efficient secretory expression of type III recombinant human collagen with triple-helical structure in Komagataella phaffii","authors":"Yaqian Ma,&nbsp;Yang Li,&nbsp;Nan Wang,&nbsp;Chenxiao Han,&nbsp;Qisheng Liu,&nbsp;Liqin Sun,&nbsp;Zhuqing Ma,&nbsp;Hailing Zhang","doi":"10.1007/s00253-025-13566-3","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00253-025-13566-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Recombinant human collagen (rhCol) holds broad potential in biomedical and industrial applications due to its high purity and low immunogenicity. However, large-scale production of structurally stable and functionally active rhCol remains challenging. A novel strategy integrating collagen sequence optimization and microbial prolyl-4-hydroxylase (P4H) screening was developed to enable efficient production of triple-helical rhCol in <i>Komagataella phaffii</i>. Five Type III collagen variants (ColP1 ~ ColP5) were rationally designed based on interchain salt-bridge engineering to improve structural stability and biological activity, with ColP2 showing superior expression and functionality. A systematic evaluation of four microbial P4Hs identified <i>Bacillus megaterium</i> P4H (BmP4H) as the most effective catalyst for proline hydroxylation, enabling stable triple-helix formation. Combined with strain optimization, promoter and signal peptide screening, and 5-L scale fermentation, this approach achieved a high rhCol yield of 2.54 g/L with confirmed triple-helical structure. These results demonstrate an integrated and scalable platform for high-level production of functional recombinant collagen, providing a promising foundation for its industrial and clinical applications. </p>","PeriodicalId":8342,"journal":{"name":"Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology","volume":"109 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00253-025-13566-3.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144929341","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Transcriptional reprogramming of Novacetimonas hansenii SI1 during growth on glycerol","authors":"Małgorzata Wlaźlak,&nbsp;Izabela Cielecka,&nbsp;Maurycy Daroch","doi":"10.1007/s00253-025-13583-2","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00253-025-13583-2","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Bacterial nanocellulose (BNC) is a valuable biopolymer with immense potential in various sectors of biotechnology. However, large-scale production is hindered by low yields and high costs. Glycerol is an inexpensive and widely available carbon source for BNC biosynthesis, as it is a by-product of the biofuel industry. Compared to glucose, this polyol enhances BNC yields of <i>Novacetimonas hansenii</i> SI1 and related strains. This study investigates transcriptomic changes in <i>N. hansenii</i> SI1 after switching from glucose to glycerol using RNA-seq. The results reveal metabolic reprogramming, including upregulation of genes involved in glycerol uptake and catabolism, gluconeogenesis, the pentose phosphate pathway, and the Entner–Doudoroff pathway. Glycerol metabolism induces oxidative stress, evidenced by elevated expression of antioxidant enzymes, repair proteins, and metal ion homeostasis systems. Additionally, pathways such as riboflavin biosynthesis, methionine salvage, and sulphur assimilation are upregulated to mitigate oxidative damage. Increased oxidative conditions likely stimulate c-di-GMP synthesis, activating cellulose synthase and promoting BNC production. Furthermore, the acetan-like polymer biosynthetic pathway is significantly induced, further enhancing BNC yield. These findings expand our understanding of glycerol utilisation in BNC production, supporting cost-efficient and eco-friendly processes for maximising biopolymer exploitation.</p><p>• <i>Growth on glycerol remodels central carbohydrate metabolism</i></p><p>• <i>Glycerol metabolism induces oxidative stress</i></p><p>• <i>Acetan-like biosynthesis and posttranslational effects stimulate BNC production</i></p>","PeriodicalId":8342,"journal":{"name":"Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology","volume":"109 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00253-025-13583-2.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144926988","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Extracting regions of lipid droplets from confocal microscopy images utilizing optical properties of oleaginous yeast","authors":"Ryosuke Harakawa,&nbsp;Yuki Imai,&nbsp;Yuka Takahashi,&nbsp;Seiya Ueda,&nbsp;Hiromi Shoji,&nbsp;Ayaka Itani,&nbsp;Akihiro Nakamura,&nbsp;Yosuke Shida,&nbsp;Wataru Ogasawara,&nbsp;Masahiro Iwahashi","doi":"10.1007/s00253-025-13591-2","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00253-025-13591-2","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Non-invasive methods for observing the morphology of living oleaginous yeast are ideal for optimizing the production of various oils, such as food oils, oleochemicals, and biodiesel, from oleaginous yeast. However, existing methods have been developed to target budding yeast without high oil production ability and extract regions of entire cells. This study is the first to target oleaginous yeast, namely, <i>Lipomyces starkeyi</i>, demonstrating a method for extracting regions of <i>L. starkeyi</i> directly influencing oil production through the unique optical properties of <i>L. starkeyi</i>. Specifically, we exploited changes in the brightness along the z-stack depth of multiple z-stack images obtained using confocal microscopy. Because this brightness change was unique to lipid droplets, pixels corresponding to lipid droplets were easily identified, allowing calculations of the parameters of visual features. The obtained parameters of visual features were then used as input for a semantic segmentation algorithm to accurately distinguish lipid droplets from other organelles, including organelles similar to lipid droplets in shape. Experimental results showed that our method successfully estimated the growth status of <i>L. starkeyi</i>, which, to date, is obtainable through invasive biochemical methods only. Moreover, our method non-invasively determined the shape of each yeast cell over the cultivation period to enable single-cell analysis, which has not been achieved with conventional biochemical methods.</p><p><span>(bullet )</span> <i>We propose a method to extract regions of L. starkeyi influencing oil production.</i></p><p><span>(bullet )</span> <i>Our method requires only confocal microscopy images and is completely non-invasive.</i></p><p><span>(bullet )</span> <i>Our method estimated the growth status of L. starkeyi to enable single-cell analysis.</i></p>","PeriodicalId":8342,"journal":{"name":"Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology","volume":"109 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00253-025-13591-2.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144926976","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The CYP152-family P450 enzyme CypC of Bacillus subtilis converts non-natural substrates in plasma-driven biocatalysis","authors":"Tim Dirks,&nbsp;Sabrina Klopsch,&nbsp;Davina Stoesser,&nbsp;Sophie Desdemona Trenkle,&nbsp;Abdulkadir Yayci,&nbsp;Steffen Schüttler,&nbsp;Judith Golda,&nbsp;Julia Elisabeth Bandow","doi":"10.1007/s00253-025-13568-1","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00253-025-13568-1","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Plasma-driven biocatalysis utilizes in situ H₂O₂ production by atmospheric pressure plasmas to drive H₂O₂-dependent enzymatic reactions. Having previously established plasma-driven biocatalysis using recombinant unspecific peroxygenase from <i>Agrocybe aegerita</i> (r<i>Aae</i>UPO) to produce (<i>R</i>)-1-phenylethanol from ethylbenzene, we here employed CypC from <i>Bacillus subtilis</i> 168 (synonyms: YbdT, P450BSβ), an integral enzyme of surfactin and fengycin biosynthesis. CypC naturally hydroxylates medium and long-chain carboxylic acids. With short-chain carboxylic acids as decoy molecules, it also converts non-natural substrates such as ethylbenzene. We optimized production and heme loading of CypC and established guaiacol and ABTS-based reactions to assess compatibility of CypC with plasma-driven biocatalysis regarding temperature and H₂O₂ operating windows. With heptanoic acid as the decoy molecule and H₂O₂ from stock solution, guaiacol and ABTS conversion yielded 18.28 and 21.13 nmol product min⁻¹ nmol⁻¹_CypC, respectively. We then supplied H₂O₂ using a capillary plasma jet operated with 1280 ppm H₂O in helium to convert ethylbenzene with immobilized CypC in a rotating bed reactor (5 ml reaction volume). After 120 min run time, a turnover number (TON) of 18.82 mol_{(<i>R</i>)-1-PhOl} mol⁻¹_CypC was reached, demonstrating that plasma-driven biocatalysis can be extended to H₂O₂-dependent enzymes beyond r<i>Aae</i>UPO to expand the product range.\u0000</p></div>","PeriodicalId":8342,"journal":{"name":"Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology","volume":"109 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00253-025-13568-1.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144926977","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"South African Myxococcota: an untapped resource for microbial ecolo gy and biotechnology","authors":"Benjamin Havenga,&nbsp;Karin Jacobs","doi":"10.1007/s00253-025-13586-z","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00253-025-13586-z","url":null,"abstract":"<p>An extraordinary multicellular life cycle, ecological versatility, and prolific production of bioactive secondary metabolites characterise the phylum Myxococcota. While research has predominantly focused on Myxococcota in Asia, Europe, and North America, their potential occurrence in Sub-Saharan Africa remains largely unexplored. To date, only one study has isolated Myxococcota in South Africa, with additional findings limited to incidental detection through metagenomic studies. Considering South Africa’s ecological diversity, its biomes may represent promising but under-examined environments for systematic bioprospecting aimed at discovering novel Myxococcota with ecological or biotechnological potential. The recent reclassification of Myxococcota from the former Deltaproteobacteria has provided a more coherent taxonomic framework to guide future ecological and systematic studies. This review presents an overview of the taxonomic revision and explores the potential occurrence of Myxococcota in South African biomes. It covers the challenges associated with conventional culture-based isolation methods and highlights potential genome- and metagenome-based approaches, including the use of metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) to identify cryptic biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs), while acknowledging current limitations. Considering the increasing resistance to chemical fungicides in South African agriculture, this review further explores the potential of Myxococcota-derived secondary metabolites as candidate bioprotective alternatives. By identifying current research gaps, it aims to support future efforts towards systematic bioprospecting to investigate the ecological and biotechnological potential of Myxococcota in South Africa.</p><p>• South African biomes may harbour novel Myxococcota with biosynthetic potential.</p><p>• Genome mining could reveal cryptic biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs).</p><p>• Myxococcota metabolites may help control resistant fungal phytopathogens.</p>","PeriodicalId":8342,"journal":{"name":"Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology","volume":"109 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-08-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00253-025-13586-z.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144918656","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}