Applied and Environmental Microbiology This is an RSS file. You can use it to subscribe to this data in your favourite RSS reader or to display this data on your own website or blog.

Novel Alphaproteobacteria transcribe genes for nitric oxide transformation at high levels in a marine oxygen-deficient zone
Appl Environ Microbiol. 2024 Mar 6:e0209923. doi: 10.1128/aem.02099-23. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTMarine oxygen-deficient zones (ODZs) are portions of the ocean where intense nitrogen loss occurs primarily via denitrification and anammox. Despite many decades of study, the identity of the microbes that catalyze nitrogen loss in ODZs is still being elucidated. Intriguingly, high transcription of genes in the same family as the nitric oxide dismutase (nod) gene from Methylomirabilota has been reported in the anoxic core of ODZs. Here, we show that the most abundantly transcribed nod genes in the Eastern Tropical North Pa...
Source: Applied and Environmental Microbiology - March 6, 2024 Category: Microbiology Authors: Claire E Elbon Frank J Stewart Jennifer B Glass Source Type: research

Identification and characterization of a fungal cutinase-like enzyme CpCut1 from Cladosporium sp. P7 for polyurethane degradation
In this study, we identified a gene encoding a cutinase from the PU-degrading fungus Cladosporium sp. P7, which allowed the expression, purification, and characterization of the recombinant enzyme CpCut1. Furthermore, this study identified the products derived from the CpCut1 catalyzed PU degradation and proposed its underlying mechanism. These findings highlight the potential of this newly discovered fungal cutinase as a remarkably efficient tool in the degradation of PU materials.PMID:38445906 | DOI:10.1128/aem.01477-23 (Source: Applied and Environmental Microbiology)
Source: Applied and Environmental Microbiology - March 6, 2024 Category: Microbiology Authors: Jiawei Liu Kaiyuan Xin Tianyang Zhang Yuan Wen Ding Li Ren Wei Jie Zhou Zhongli Cui Weiliang Dong Min Jiang Source Type: research

Plasmid-free cheater cells commonly evolve during laboratory growth
Appl Environ Microbiol. 2024 Mar 6:e0231123. doi: 10.1128/aem.02311-23. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTIt has been nearly a century since the isolation and use of penicillin, heralding the discovery of a wide range of different antibiotics. In addition to clinical applications, such antibiotics have been essential laboratory tools, allowing for selection and maintenance of laboratory plasmids that encode cognate resistance genes. However, antibiotic resistance mechanisms can additionally function as public goods. For example, extracellular beta-lactamases produced by resistant cells that subsequently degrade penicillin and ...
Source: Applied and Environmental Microbiology - March 6, 2024 Category: Microbiology Authors: Amber M Bedore Christopher M Waters Source Type: research

Directed evolution of the fluorescent protein CGP with in situ biosynthesized noncanonical amino acids
Appl Environ Microbiol. 2024 Mar 6:e0186323. doi: 10.1128/aem.01863-23. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTThe incorporation of noncanonical amino acids (ncAAs) into proteins can enhance their function beyond the abilities of canonical amino acids and even generate new functions. However, the ncAAs used for such research are usually chemically synthesized, which is expensive and hinders their application on large industrial scales. We believe that the biosynthesis of ncAAs using metabolic engineering and their employment in situ in target protein engineering with genetic code expansion could overcome these limitations. As a pro...
Source: Applied and Environmental Microbiology - March 6, 2024 Category: Microbiology Authors: Yanhong Yang Jing Zhang Jian Yang Huiwen Luo Yingjie Sun Famin Ke Qin Wang Xiaowei Gao Source Type: research

Refermentation and maturation of lambic beer in bottles: a necessary step for gueuze production
Appl Environ Microbiol. 2024 Mar 6:e0186923. doi: 10.1128/aem.01869-23. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTThe production of gueuze beers through refermentation and maturation of blends of lambic beer in bottles is a way for lambic brewers to cope with the variability among different lambic beer batches. The resulting gueuze beers are more carbonated than lambic beers and are supposed to possess a unique flavor profile that varies over time. To map this refermentation and maturation process for gueuze production, a blend of lambic beers was made and bottled, whereby one of them was produced with the old wheat landrace Zeeuwse W...
Source: Applied and Environmental Microbiology - March 6, 2024 Category: Microbiology Authors: Dries Bongaerts Arne Bouchez Jonas De Roos Margo Cnockaert Anneleen D Wieme Peter Vandamme Stefan Weckx Luc De Vuyst Source Type: research

Dietary potential of the symbiotic fungus Penicillium herquei for the larvae of a nonsocial fungus-cultivating weevil Euops chinensis 
Appl Environ Microbiol. 2024 Mar 6:e0153723. doi: 10.1128/aem.01537-23. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTMany insect taxa cultivate fungi for food. Compared to well-known fungus cultivation in social insects, our knowledge on fungus cultivation in nonsocial insects is still limited. Here, we studied the nutritional potentials of the fungal cultivar, Penicillium herquei, for the larvae of its nonsocial insect farmer, Euops chinensis, a specialist on Japanese knotweed Reynoutria japonica. Overall, fungal hyphae and leaf rolls contained significantly higher carbon (C), stable isotopes of C (δ13C), and nitrogen (δ15N) but signi...
Source: Applied and Environmental Microbiology - March 6, 2024 Category: Microbiology Authors: Wenfeng Guo Yu Song Hu Chen Xiaoqiong Li Source Type: research

The microbiome dynamics and interaction of endosymbiotic Symbiodiniaceae and fungi are associated with thermal bleaching susceptibility of coral holobionts
In this study, we analyzed the diversity, community structure, functions, and potential interaction of Symbiodiniaceae and fungi among 18 coral species from a high thermal bleaching risk atoll using next-generation sequencing. The results showed that heat-tolerant C3u sub-clade and Durusdinium dominated the Symbiodiniaceae community of corals and that there were no core amplicon sequence variants in the coral-associated fungal community. Fungal richness and the abundance of confirmed functional animal-plant pathogens were significantly positively correlated with the coral thermal bleaching percentage. Fungal indicators, in...
Source: Applied and Environmental Microbiology - March 6, 2024 Category: Microbiology Authors: Biao Chen Yuxin Wei Kefu Yu Yanting Liang Xiaopeng Yu Zhiheng Liao Zhenjun Qin Lijia Xu Zeming Bao Source Type: research

Composting reduces the risks of resistome in beef cattle manure at the transcriptional level
The objective of this study is to compare composting and stockpiling for their effectiveness in reducing the risk of antibiotic resistance in beef cattle manure. Samples collected from the center and the surface of full-size manure stockpiling and composting piles were subject to metagenomic and metatranscriptomic analyses. While the distinctions in resistome between stockpiled and composted manure were not evident at the DNA level, the advantages of composting over stockpiling were evident at the transcriptomic level in terms of the abundance of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), the number of ARG subtypes, and the preva...
Source: Applied and Environmental Microbiology - March 6, 2024 Category: Microbiology Authors: Yuepeng Sun Zachery R Staley Bryan Woodbury Jean-Jack Riethoven Xu Li Source Type: research

Halocin H4 is activated through cleavage by halolysin HlyR4
Appl Environ Microbiol. 2024 Mar 6:e0228423. doi: 10.1128/aem.02284-23. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTHalocins are antimicrobial peptides secreted by haloarchaea capable of inhibiting the growth of other haloarchaea or bacteria. Halocin H4 (HalH4) is secreted by the model halophilic archaeon Haloferax mediterranei ATCC 33500. Despite attempts to express halH4 heterologously in Escherichia coli and subsequent careful renaturation procedures commonly employed for haloarchaeal proteins, no active halocin was obtained. However, it was discovered that the antihaloarchaeal activity of this halocin could be activated through clea...
Source: Applied and Environmental Microbiology - March 6, 2024 Category: Microbiology Authors: Shaoxing Chen Yongpei Dai Juntao Ke Yuqing Luo Chuangming Wang Yuling Hao Aodi Zhang Jing Han Hua Xiang Source Type: research

Investigating the association between nitrate dosing and nitrite generation by the human oral microbiota in continuous culture
Appl Environ Microbiol. 2024 Mar 5:e0203523. doi: 10.1128/aem.02035-23. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTThe generation of nitrite by the oral microbiota is believed to contribute to healthy cardiovascular function, with oral nitrate reduction to nitrite associated with systemic blood pressure regulation. There is the potential to manipulate the composition or activities of the oral microbiota to a higher nitrate-reducing state through nitrate supplementation. The current study examined microbial community composition and enzymatic responses to nitrate supplementation in sessile oral microbiota grown in continuous culture. Ni...
Source: Applied and Environmental Microbiology - March 5, 2024 Category: Microbiology Authors: Thomas Willmott Hannah J Serrage Elizabeth C Cottrell Gavin J Humphreys Jenny Myers Paul M Campbell Andrew J McBain Source Type: research