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Graham EB, Camargo AP, Wu R, Neches RY, Nolan M, Paez-Espino D, Kyrpides NC, Jansson JK, McDermott JE, Hofmockel KS. A global atlas of soil viruses reveals unexplored biodiversity and potential biogeochemical impacts. Nat Microbiol 2024; 9:1873-1883. [PMID: 38902374 PMCID: PMC11222151 DOI: 10.1038/s41564-024-01686-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/17/2023] [Accepted: 03/25/2024] [Indexed: 06/22/2024]
Abstract
Historically neglected by microbial ecologists, soil viruses are now thought to be critical to global biogeochemical cycles. However, our understanding of their global distribution, activities and interactions with the soil microbiome remains limited. Here we present the Global Soil Virus Atlas, a comprehensive dataset compiled from 2,953 previously sequenced soil metagenomes and composed of 616,935 uncultivated viral genomes and 38,508 unique viral operational taxonomic units. Rarefaction curves from the Global Soil Virus Atlas indicate that most soil viral diversity remains unexplored, further underscored by high spatial turnover and low rates of shared viral operational taxonomic units across samples. By examining genes associated with biogeochemical functions, we also demonstrate the viral potential to impact soil carbon and nutrient cycling. This study represents an extensive characterization of soil viral diversity and provides a foundation for developing testable hypotheses regarding the role of the virosphere in the soil microbiome and global biogeochemistry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emily B Graham
- Biological Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA.
- School of Biological Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA.
| | - Antonio Pedro Camargo
- US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Ruonan Wu
- Biological Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
| | - Russell Y Neches
- US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
- Institute for Chemical Research, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Matt Nolan
- US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - David Paez-Espino
- US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Nikos C Kyrpides
- US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Janet K Jansson
- Biological Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
| | - Jason E McDermott
- Biological Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
- Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA
| | - Kirsten S Hofmockel
- Biological Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
- Department of Agronomy, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA
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2
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Li Y, Xue Y, Roy Chowdhury T, Graham DE, Tringe SG, Jansson JK, Taş N. Genomic insights into redox-driven microbial processes for carbon decomposition in thawing Arctic soils and permafrost. mSphere 2024:e0025924. [PMID: 38860762 DOI: 10.1128/msphere.00259-24] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2024] [Accepted: 05/03/2024] [Indexed: 06/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Climate change is rapidly transforming Arctic landscapes where increasing soil temperatures speed up permafrost thaw. This exposes large carbon stocks to microbial decomposition, possibly worsening climate change by releasing more greenhouse gases. Understanding how microbes break down soil carbon, especially under the anaerobic conditions of thawing permafrost, is important to determine future changes. Here, we studied the microbial community dynamics and soil carbon decomposition potential in permafrost and active layer soils under anaerobic laboratory conditions that simulated an Arctic summer thaw. The microbial and viral compositions in the samples were analyzed based on metagenomes, metagenome-assembled genomes, and metagenomic viral contigs (mVCs). Following the thawing of permafrost, there was a notable shift in microbial community structure, with fermentative Firmicutes and Bacteroidota taking over from Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria over the 60-day incubation period. The increase in iron and sulfate-reducing microbes had a significant role in limiting methane production from thawed permafrost, underscoring the competition within microbial communities. We explored the growth strategies of microbial communities and found that slow growth was the major strategy in both the active layer and permafrost. Our findings challenge the assumption that fast-growing microbes mainly respond to environmental changes like permafrost thaw. Instead, they indicate a common strategy of slow growth among microbial communities, likely due to the thermodynamic constraints of soil substrates and electron acceptors, and the need for microbes to adjust to post-thaw conditions. The mVCs harbored a wide range of auxiliary metabolic genes that may support cell protection from ice formation in virus-infected cells. IMPORTANCE As the Arctic warms, thawing permafrost unlocks carbon, potentially accelerating climate change by releasing greenhouse gases. Our research delves into the underlying biogeochemical processes likely mediated by the soil microbial community in response to the wet and anaerobic conditions, akin to an Arctic summer thaw. We observed a significant shift in the microbial community post-thaw, with fermentative bacteria like Firmicutes and Bacteroidota taking over and switching to different fermentation pathways. The dominance of iron and sulfate-reducing bacteria likely constrained methane production in the thawing permafrost. Slow-growing microbes outweighed fast-growing ones, even after thaw, upending the expectation that rapid microbial responses to dominate after permafrost thaws. This research highlights the nuanced and complex interactions within Arctic soil microbial communities and underscores the challenges in predicting microbial response to environmental change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yaoming Li
- College of Grassland Science, Beijing Forest University, Beijing, China
- Earth and Environmental Sciences Area, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, USA
| | - Yaxin Xue
- Data Sciences and Quantitative Biology, Discovery Sciences, AstraZeneca R&D, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | | | - David E Graham
- Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA
| | - Susannah G Tringe
- DOE Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, USA
| | - Janet K Jansson
- Biological Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington, USA
| | - Neslihan Taş
- Earth and Environmental Sciences Area, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, USA
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3
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Xiao Y, Hao T. New insights on ecological roles of waste activated sludge in nutrient-stressed co-digestion. BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY 2024; 402:130836. [PMID: 38744398 DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2024.130836] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2024] [Revised: 05/10/2024] [Accepted: 05/11/2024] [Indexed: 05/16/2024]
Abstract
There have been extensive applications of waste activated sludge (WAS) in anaerobic co-digestion (AcoD). Nonetheless, mechanisms through which AcoD systems maintain stability, particularly under nutrient-stressed conditions, are under-appreciated. In this study, the role of WAS in a nutrient-stressed WAS-food waste AcoD system was re-evaluated. Our findings demonstrated that WAS-based co-digestion increased methane production (by 20-60%) as WAS bolsters such systems' resilience via establishing a core niche-based microbial balance. The carbon utilization investigation suggested a microbial niche balance is attainable if two conditions are satisfied: 1) hydrolysis efficiency is greater than 50%; and 2) both the acidogenesis-to-hydrolysis and acetogenesis-to-hydrolysis efficiencies surpass 0.5. Metagenomic assembly genome (MAG) analysis indicated that the versatile metabolic characteristics strengthened the microbial niche balance, rendering the system resilient and efficient through a syntrophic mode, contributing to both acidogenesis and acetogenesis. The findings of this study provide new insights into the ecological effects of WAS on AcoD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yihang Xiao
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Macau, Macau
| | - Tianwei Hao
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Macau, Macau.
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4
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Li X, Brejnrod A, Trivedi U, Russel J, Thorsen J, Shah SA, Vestergaard GA, Rasmussen MA, Nesme J, Bisgaard H, Stokholm J, Sørensen SJ. Co-localization of antibiotic resistance genes is widespread in the infant gut microbiome and associates with an immature gut microbial composition. MICROBIOME 2024; 12:87. [PMID: 38730321 PMCID: PMC11084089 DOI: 10.1186/s40168-024-01800-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2023] [Accepted: 03/25/2024] [Indexed: 05/12/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND In environmental bacteria, the selective advantage of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) can be increased through co-localization with genes such as other ARGs, biocide resistance genes, metal resistance genes, and virulence genes (VGs). The gut microbiome of infants has been shown to contain numerous ARGs, however, co-localization related to ARGs is unknown during early life despite frequent exposures to biocides and metals from an early age. RESULTS We conducted a comprehensive analysis of genetic co-localization of resistance genes in a cohort of 662 Danish children and examined the association between such co-localization and environmental factors as well as gut microbial maturation. Our study showed that co-localization of ARGs with other resistance and virulence genes is common in the early gut microbiome and is associated with gut bacteria that are indicative of low maturity. Statistical models showed that co-localization occurred mainly in the phylum Proteobacteria independent of high ARG content and contig length. We evaluated the stochasticity of co-localization occurrence using enrichment scores. The most common forms of co-localization involved tetracycline and fluoroquinolone resistance genes, and, on plasmids, co-localization predominantly occurred in the form of class 1 integrons. Antibiotic use caused a short-term increase in mobile ARGs, while non-mobile ARGs showed no significant change. Finally, we found that a high abundance of VGs was associated with low gut microbial maturity and that VGs showed even higher potential for mobility than ARGs. CONCLUSIONS We found that the phenomenon of co-localization between ARGs and other resistance and VGs was prevalent in the gut at the beginning of life. It reveals the diversity that sustains antibiotic resistance and therefore indirectly emphasizes the need to apply caution in the use of antimicrobial agents in clinical practice, animal husbandry, and daily life to mitigate the escalation of resistance. Video Abstract.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xuanji Li
- Section of Microbiology, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark.
| | - Asker Brejnrod
- Section of Bioinformatics, Department of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark, 2800, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Urvish Trivedi
- Section of Microbiology, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Jakob Russel
- Section of Microbiology, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Jonathan Thorsen
- COPSAC, Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood, Herlev and Gentofte Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Shiraz A Shah
- COPSAC, Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood, Herlev and Gentofte Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Gisle Alberg Vestergaard
- Section of Bioinformatics, Department of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark, 2800, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Morten Arendt Rasmussen
- COPSAC, Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood, Herlev and Gentofte Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Joseph Nesme
- Section of Microbiology, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Hans Bisgaard
- COPSAC, Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood, Herlev and Gentofte Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Jakob Stokholm
- COPSAC, Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood, Herlev and Gentofte Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Søren Johannes Sørensen
- Section of Microbiology, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark
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5
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Rolando JL, Kolton M, Song T, Liu Y, Pinamang P, Conrad R, Morris JT, Konstantinidis KT, Kostka JE. Sulfur oxidation and reduction are coupled to nitrogen fixation in the roots of the salt marsh foundation plant Spartina alterniflora. Nat Commun 2024; 15:3607. [PMID: 38684658 PMCID: PMC11059160 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-47646-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2023] [Accepted: 04/09/2024] [Indexed: 05/02/2024] Open
Abstract
Heterotrophic activity, primarily driven by sulfate-reducing prokaryotes, has traditionally been linked to nitrogen fixation in the root zone of coastal marine plants, leaving the role of chemolithoautotrophy in this process unexplored. Here, we show that sulfur oxidation coupled to nitrogen fixation is a previously overlooked process providing nitrogen to coastal marine macrophytes. In this study, we recovered 239 metagenome-assembled genomes from a salt marsh dominated by the foundation plant Spartina alterniflora, including diazotrophic sulfate-reducing and sulfur-oxidizing bacteria. Abundant sulfur-oxidizing bacteria encode and highly express genes for carbon fixation (RuBisCO), nitrogen fixation (nifHDK) and sulfur oxidation (oxidative-dsrAB), especially in roots stressed by sulfidic and reduced sediment conditions. Stressed roots exhibited the highest rates of nitrogen fixation and expression level of sulfur oxidation and sulfate reduction genes. Close relatives of marine symbionts from the Candidatus Thiodiazotropha genus contributed ~30% and ~20% of all sulfur-oxidizing dsrA and nitrogen-fixing nifK transcripts in stressed roots, respectively. Based on these findings, we propose that the symbiosis between S. alterniflora and sulfur-oxidizing bacteria is key to ecosystem functioning of coastal salt marshes.
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Affiliation(s)
- J L Rolando
- Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Biological Sciences, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA
| | - M Kolton
- Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Biological Sciences, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA
- French Associates Institute for Agriculture and Biotechnology of Drylands, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel
| | - T Song
- Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Biological Sciences, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA
| | - Y Liu
- Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Biological Sciences, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA
- The Pennsylvania State University, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University Park, PA, 16802, USA
| | - P Pinamang
- Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Biological Sciences, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA
| | - R Conrad
- Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Biological Sciences, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA
| | - J T Morris
- Belle Baruch Institute for Marine & Coastal Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, 29201, USA
| | - K T Konstantinidis
- Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Biological Sciences, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA
- Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA
| | - J E Kostka
- Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Biological Sciences, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA.
- Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA.
- Center for Microbial Dynamics and Infection, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA.
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6
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Ridley RS, Conrad RE, Lindner BG, Woo S, Konstantinidis KT. Potential routes of plastics biotransformation involving novel plastizymes revealed by global multi-omic analysis of plastic associated microbes. Sci Rep 2024; 14:8798. [PMID: 38627476 PMCID: PMC11021508 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-59279-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2023] [Accepted: 04/09/2024] [Indexed: 04/19/2024] Open
Abstract
Despite increasing efforts across various disciplines, the fate, transport, and impact of synthetic plastics on the environment and public health remain poorly understood. To better elucidate the microbial ecology of plastic waste and its potential for biotransformation, we conducted a large-scale analysis of all publicly available meta-omic studies investigating plastics (n = 27) in the environment. Notably, we observed low prevalence of known plastic degraders throughout most environments, except for substantial enrichment in riverine systems. This indicates rivers may be a highly promising environment for discovery of novel plastic bioremediation products. Ocean samples associated with degrading plastics showed clear differentiation from non-degrading polymers, showing enrichment of novel putative biodegrading taxa in the degraded samples. Regarding plastisphere pathogenicity, we observed significant enrichment of antimicrobial resistance genes on plastics but not of virulence factors. Additionally, we report a co-occurrence network analysis of 10 + million proteins associated with the plastisphere. This analysis revealed a localized sub-region enriched with known and putative plastizymes-these may be useful for deeper investigation of nature's ability to biodegrade man-made plastics. Finally, the combined data from our meta-analysis was used to construct a publicly available database, the Plastics Meta-omic Database (PMDB)-accessible at plasticmdb.org. These data should aid in the integrated exploration of the microbial plastisphere and facilitate research efforts investigating the fate and bioremediation potential of environmental plastic waste.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rodney S Ridley
- School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA.
| | - Roth E Conrad
- School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA
| | - Blake G Lindner
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA
| | - Seongwook Woo
- School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA
| | - Konstantinos T Konstantinidis
- School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA.
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA.
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7
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Feng X, Li H. Evaluating and improving the representation of bacterial contents in long-read metagenome assemblies. Genome Biol 2024; 25:92. [PMID: 38605401 PMCID: PMC11007910 DOI: 10.1186/s13059-024-03234-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2022] [Accepted: 03/29/2024] [Indexed: 04/13/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND In the metagenomic assembly of a microbial community, abundant species are often thought to assemble well given their deeper sequencing coverage. This conjuncture is rarely tested or evaluated in practice. We often do not know how many abundant species are missing and do not have an approach to recover them. RESULTS Here, we propose k-mer based and 16S RNA based methods to measure the completeness of metagenome assembly. We show that even with PacBio high-fidelity (HiFi) reads, abundant species are often not assembled, as high strain diversity may lead to fragmented contigs. We develop a novel reference-free algorithm to recover abundant metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) by identifying circular assembly subgraphs. Complemented with a reference-free genome binning heuristics based on dimension reduction, the proposed method rescues many abundant species that would be missing with existing methods and produces competitive results compared to those state-of-the-art binners in terms of total number of near-complete genome bins. CONCLUSIONS Our work emphasizes the importance of metagenome completeness, which has often been overlooked. Our algorithm generates more circular MAGs and moves a step closer to the complete representation of microbial communities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaowen Feng
- Department of Data Sciences, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, USA
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA
| | - Heng Li
- Department of Data Sciences, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, USA.
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA.
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8
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Garry M, Farasin J, Drevillon L, Quaiser A, Bouchez C, Le Borgne T, Coffinet S, Dufresne A. Ferriphaselus amnicola strain GF-20, a new iron- and thiosulfate-oxidizing bacterium isolated from a hard rock aquifer. FEMS Microbiol Ecol 2024; 100:fiae047. [PMID: 38573825 PMCID: PMC11044966 DOI: 10.1093/femsec/fiae047] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2023] [Revised: 02/18/2024] [Accepted: 04/03/2024] [Indexed: 04/06/2024] Open
Abstract
Ferriphaselus amnicola GF-20 is the first Fe-oxidizing bacterium isolated from the continental subsurface. It was isolated from groundwater circulating at 20 m depth in the fractured-rock catchment observatory of Guidel-Ploemeur (France). Strain GF-20 is a neutrophilic, iron- and thiosulfate-oxidizer and grows autotrophically. The strain shows a preference for low oxygen concentrations, which suggests an adaptation to the limiting oxygen conditions of the subsurface. It produces extracellular stalks and dreads when grown with Fe(II) but does not secrete any structure when grown with thiosulfate. Phylogenetic analyses and genome comparisons revealed that strain GF-20 is affiliated with the species F. amnicola and is strikingly similar to F. amnicola strain OYT1, which was isolated from a groundwater seep in Japan. Based on the phenotypic and phylogenetic characteristics, we propose that GF-20 represents a new strain within the species F. amnicola.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mélissa Garry
- Géosciences Rennes, CNRS, Univ Rennes, UMR 6118, Rennes, France
- OSUR, Univ Rennes, UMS 3343, Rennes, France
| | | | - Laetitia Drevillon
- Ecobio—Ecosystèmes, Biodiversité, Evolution, CNRS, Univ Rennes, UMR 6553, Rennes, France
| | - Achim Quaiser
- Ecobio—Ecosystèmes, Biodiversité, Evolution, CNRS, Univ Rennes, UMR 6553, Rennes, France
| | - Camille Bouchez
- Géosciences Rennes, CNRS, Univ Rennes, UMR 6118, Rennes, France
| | | | - Sarah Coffinet
- Ecobio—Ecosystèmes, Biodiversité, Evolution, CNRS, Univ Rennes, UMR 6553, Rennes, France
| | - Alexis Dufresne
- Ecobio—Ecosystèmes, Biodiversité, Evolution, CNRS, Univ Rennes, UMR 6553, Rennes, France
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9
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Cha G, Zhu KJ, Fischer JM, Flores CI, Brown J, Pinto A, Hatt JK, Konstantinidis KT, Graham KE. Metagenomic evaluation of the performance of passive Moore swabs for sewage monitoring relative to composite sampling over time resolved deployments. WATER RESEARCH 2024; 253:121269. [PMID: 38359595 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2024.121269] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2023] [Revised: 01/07/2024] [Accepted: 02/05/2024] [Indexed: 02/17/2024]
Abstract
Moore swabs have re-emerged as a versatile tool in the field of wastewater-based epidemiology during the COVID-19 pandemic and offer unique advantages for monitoring pathogens in sewer systems, especially at the neighborhood-level. However, whether Moore swabs provide comparable results to more commonly used composite samples remains to be rigorously tested including the optimal duration of Moore swab deployment. This study provides new insights into these issues by comparing the results from Moore swab samples to those of paired composite samples collected from the same sewer lines continuously over six to seventy-two hours post-deployment, during low COVID-19 prevalence periods. Our results show that Moore swabs accumulated approximately 10-fold higher PMMoV concentrations (on a basis of mL of Moore swab squeezed filtrate to mL of composite sewage) and showed comparable trends in terms of bacterial species abundance when compared to composite samples. Moore swabs also generally captured higher SARS-CoV-2 N1/N2 RNA concentrations than composite samples. Moore swabs showed comparable trends in terms of abundance dynamics of the sewage microbiome to composite samples and variable signs of saturation over time that were site and/or microbial population-specific. Based on our dual ddRT-PCR and shotgun metagenomic approach, we find that Moore swabs at our sites were optimally deployed for 6 h at a time at two sites.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gyuhyon Cha
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA
| | - Kevin J Zhu
- Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7431, USA
| | - Jamie M Fischer
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA
| | - Camryn I Flores
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA
| | - Joe Brown
- Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7431, USA
| | - Ameet Pinto
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA
| | - Janet K Hatt
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA
| | | | - Katherine E Graham
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA.
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10
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Ma B, Wang Y, Zhao K, Stirling E, Lv X, Yu Y, Hu L, Tang C, Wu C, Dong B, Xue R, Dahlgren RA, Tan X, Dai H, Zhu YG, Chu H, Xu J. Biogeographic patterns and drivers of soil viromes. Nat Ecol Evol 2024; 8:717-728. [PMID: 38383853 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-024-02347-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2023] [Accepted: 01/26/2024] [Indexed: 02/23/2024]
Abstract
Viruses are crucial in shaping soil microbial functions and ecosystems. However, studies on soil viromes have been limited in both spatial scale and biome coverage. Here we present a comprehensive synthesis of soil virome biogeographic patterns using the Global Soil Virome dataset (GSV) wherein we analysed 1,824 soil metagenomes worldwide, uncovering 80,750 partial genomes of DNA viruses, 96.7% of which are taxonomically unassigned. The biogeography of soil viral diversity and community structure varies across different biomes. Interestingly, the diversity of viruses does not align with microbial diversity and contrasts with it by showing low diversity in forest and shrubland soils. Soil texture and moisture conditions are further corroborated as key factors affecting diversity by our predicted soil viral diversity atlas, revealing higher diversity in humid and subhumid regions. In addition, the binomial degree distribution pattern suggests a random co-occurrence pattern of soil viruses. These findings are essential for elucidating soil viral ecology and for the comprehensive incorporation of viruses into soil ecosystem models.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bin Ma
- Institute of Soil and Water Resources and Environmental Science, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center, Hangzhou, China
| | - Yiling Wang
- Institute of Soil and Water Resources and Environmental Science, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Kankan Zhao
- Institute of Soil and Water Resources and Environmental Science, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Erinne Stirling
- Agriculture and Food, CSIRO, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
- Acid Sulfate Soils Centre, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
| | - Xiaofei Lv
- Department of Environmental Engineering, China Jiliang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Yijun Yu
- Arable Soil Quality and Fertilizer Administration Bureau of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, China
| | - Lingfei Hu
- Institute of Soil and Water Resources and Environmental Science, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Chao Tang
- Institute of Applied Remote Sensing and Information Technology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Chuyi Wu
- School of Earth Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Baiyu Dong
- Institute of Applied Remote Sensing and Information Technology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Ran Xue
- Institute of Soil and Water Resources and Environmental Science, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center, Hangzhou, China
| | - Randy A Dahlgren
- Department of Land, Air and Water Resources, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Xiangfeng Tan
- Institute of Digital Agriculture, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou, China
| | - Hengyi Dai
- Institute of Soil and Water Resources and Environmental Science, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Yong-Guan Zhu
- Research Center for Eco-environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Haiyan Chu
- State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China
| | - Jianming Xu
- Institute of Soil and Water Resources and Environmental Science, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
- Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
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11
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Itzhari D, Shuai W, Hartmann EM, Ronen Z. Heterogeneous Antibiotic Resistance Gene Removal Impedes Evaluation of Constructed Wetlands for Effective Greywater Treatment. Antibiotics (Basel) 2024; 13:315. [PMID: 38666991 PMCID: PMC11047525 DOI: 10.3390/antibiotics13040315] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2024] [Revised: 03/22/2024] [Accepted: 03/27/2024] [Indexed: 04/29/2024] Open
Abstract
Microorganisms carrying antimicrobial resistance genes are often found in greywater. As the reuse of greywater becomes increasingly needed, it is imperative to determine how greywater treatment impacts antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs). Using qPCR and SmartChip™ qPCR, we characterized ARG patterns in greywater microbial communities before, during, and after treatment by a recirculating vertical flow constructed wetland. In parallel, we examined the impact of greywater-treated irrigation on soil, including the occurrence of emerging micropollutants and the taxonomic and ARG compositions of microbial communities. Most ARGs in raw greywater are removed efficiently during the winter season, while some ARGs in the effluents increase in summer. SmartChip™ qPCR revealed the presence of ARGs, such as tetracycline and beta-lactam resistance genes, in both raw and treated greywater, but most abundantly in the filter bed. It also showed that aminoglycoside and vancomycin gene abundances significantly increased after treatment. In the irrigated soil, the type of water (potable or treated greywater) had no specific impact on the total bacterial abundance (16S rRNA gene). No overlapping ARGs were found between treated greywater and greywater-irrigated soil. This study indicates ARG abundance and richness increased after treatment, possibly due to the concentration effects of the filter beds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniella Itzhari
- Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research, The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheba 8499000, Israel;
| | - Weitao Shuai
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA; (W.S.); (E.M.H.)
| | - Erica M. Hartmann
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA; (W.S.); (E.M.H.)
- Center for Synthetic Biology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA
- Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Department of Medicine, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL 60611, USA
| | - Zeev Ronen
- Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research, The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheba 8499000, Israel;
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12
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Qiu Z, Yuan L, Lian CA, Lin B, Chen J, Mu R, Qiao X, Zhang L, Xu Z, Fan L, Zhang Y, Wang S, Li J, Cao H, Li B, Chen B, Song C, Liu Y, Shi L, Tian Y, Ni J, Zhang T, Zhou J, Zhuang WQ, Yu K. BASALT refines binning from metagenomic data and increases resolution of genome-resolved metagenomic analysis. Nat Commun 2024; 15:2179. [PMID: 38467684 PMCID: PMC10928208 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-46539-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2023] [Accepted: 03/01/2024] [Indexed: 03/13/2024] Open
Abstract
Metagenomic binning is an essential technique for genome-resolved characterization of uncultured microorganisms in various ecosystems but hampered by the low efficiency of binning tools in adequately recovering metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs). Here, we introduce BASALT (Binning Across a Series of Assemblies Toolkit) for binning and refinement of short- and long-read sequencing data. BASALT employs multiple binners with multiple thresholds to produce initial bins, then utilizes neural networks to identify core sequences to remove redundant bins and refine non-redundant bins. Using the same assemblies generated from Critical Assessment of Metagenome Interpretation (CAMI) datasets, BASALT produces up to twice as many MAGs as VAMB, DASTool, or metaWRAP. Processing assemblies from a lake sediment dataset, BASALT produces ~30% more MAGs than metaWRAP, including 21 unique class-level prokaryotic lineages. Functional annotations reveal that BASALT can retrieve 47.6% more non-redundant opening-reading frames than metaWRAP. These results highlight the robust handling of metagenomic sequencing data of BASALT.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhiguang Qiu
- Eco-environment and Resource Efficiency Research Laboratory, School of Environment and Energy, Shenzhen Graduate School, Peking University, Shenzhen, China
- AI for Science (AI4S)-Preferred Program, Peking University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Li Yuan
- AI for Science (AI4S)-Preferred Program, Peking University, Shenzhen, China
- School of Electronic and Computer Engineering, Peking University, Shenzhen, China
- Peng Cheng Laboratory, Shenzhen, China
| | - Chun-Ang Lian
- Eco-environment and Resource Efficiency Research Laboratory, School of Environment and Energy, Shenzhen Graduate School, Peking University, Shenzhen, China
- AI for Science (AI4S)-Preferred Program, Peking University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Bin Lin
- School of Electronic and Computer Engineering, Peking University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Jie Chen
- AI for Science (AI4S)-Preferred Program, Peking University, Shenzhen, China
- School of Electronic and Computer Engineering, Peking University, Shenzhen, China
- Peng Cheng Laboratory, Shenzhen, China
| | - Rong Mu
- Eco-environment and Resource Efficiency Research Laboratory, School of Environment and Energy, Shenzhen Graduate School, Peking University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Xuejiao Qiao
- Eco-environment and Resource Efficiency Research Laboratory, School of Environment and Energy, Shenzhen Graduate School, Peking University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Liyu Zhang
- Eco-environment and Resource Efficiency Research Laboratory, School of Environment and Energy, Shenzhen Graduate School, Peking University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Zheng Xu
- Southern University of Sciences and Technology Yantian Hospital, Shenzhen, China
- Institute of Biomedicine and Biotechnology, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
| | - Lu Fan
- Department of Ocean Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), Shenzhen, China
| | - Yunzeng Zhang
- Joint International Research Laboratory of Agriculture and Agri-Product Safety, the Ministry of Education of China, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China
| | - Shanquan Wang
- Environmental Microbiomics Research Center, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Junyi Li
- School of Computer Science and Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen), Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
| | - Huiluo Cao
- Department of Microbiology, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Bing Li
- Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Baowei Chen
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Marine Resources and Coastal Engineering, School of Marine Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai, China
| | - Chi Song
- Institute of Herbgenomics, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China
- Wuhan Benagen Technology Co., Ltd, Wuhan, China
| | - Yongxin Liu
- Shenzhen Branch, Guangdong Laboratory of Lingnan Modern Agriculture, Genome Analysis Laboratory of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shenzhen, China
| | - Lili Shi
- AI for Science (AI4S)-Preferred Program, Peking University, Shenzhen, China
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Oncogenomics, School of Chemical Biology and Biotechnology, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen, China
| | - Yonghong Tian
- AI for Science (AI4S)-Preferred Program, Peking University, Shenzhen, China
- School of Electronic and Computer Engineering, Peking University, Shenzhen, China
- Peng Cheng Laboratory, Shenzhen, China
| | - Jinren Ni
- Eco-environment and Resource Efficiency Research Laboratory, School of Environment and Energy, Shenzhen Graduate School, Peking University, Shenzhen, China
- College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Key Laboratory of Water and Sediment Sciences, Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Tong Zhang
- Department of Civil Engineering, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Jizhong Zhou
- Institute for Environmental Genomics, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA
| | - Wei-Qin Zhuang
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Ke Yu
- Eco-environment and Resource Efficiency Research Laboratory, School of Environment and Energy, Shenzhen Graduate School, Peking University, Shenzhen, China.
- AI for Science (AI4S)-Preferred Program, Peking University, Shenzhen, China.
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13
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Wilson NG, Hernandez-Leyva A, Schwartz DJ, Bacharier LB, Kau AL. The gut metagenome harbors metabolic and antibiotic resistance signatures of moderate-to-severe asthma. FEMS MICROBES 2024; 5:xtae010. [PMID: 38560624 PMCID: PMC10981462 DOI: 10.1093/femsmc/xtae010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/29/2024] [Accepted: 03/05/2024] [Indexed: 04/04/2024] Open
Abstract
Asthma is a common allergic airway disease that has been associated with the development of the human microbiome early in life. Both the composition and function of the infant gut microbiota have been linked to asthma risk, but functional alterations in the gut microbiota of older patients with established asthma remain an important knowledge gap. Here, we performed whole metagenomic shotgun sequencing of 95 stool samples from a cross-sectional cohort of 59 healthy and 36 subjects with moderate-to-severe asthma to characterize the metagenomes of gut microbiota in adults and children 6 years and older. Mapping of functional orthologs revealed that asthma contributes to 2.9% of the variation in metagenomic content even when accounting for other important clinical demographics. Differential abundance analysis showed an enrichment of long-chain fatty acid (LCFA) metabolism pathways, which have been previously implicated in airway smooth muscle and immune responses in asthma. We also observed increased richness of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in people with asthma. Several differentially abundant ARGs in the asthma cohort encode resistance to macrolide antibiotics, which are often prescribed to patients with asthma. Lastly, we found that ARG and virulence factor (VF) richness in the microbiome were correlated in both cohorts. ARG and VF pairs co-occurred in both cohorts suggesting that virulence and antibiotic resistance traits are coselected and maintained in the fecal microbiota of people with asthma. Overall, our results show functional alterations via LCFA biosynthetic genes and increases in antibiotic resistance genes in the gut microbiota of subjects with moderate-to-severe asthma and could have implications for asthma management and treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Naomi G Wilson
- Division of Allergy and Immunology, Department of Medicine and Center for Women’s Infectious Disease Research, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 S Euclid Ave, St. Louis, MO 63110, United States
| | - Ariel Hernandez-Leyva
- Division of Allergy and Immunology, Department of Medicine and Center for Women’s Infectious Disease Research, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 S Euclid Ave, St. Louis, MO 63110, United States
| | - Drew J Schwartz
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Pediatrics and Center for Women’s Infectious Disease Research, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 S Euclid Ave, St. Louis, MO 63110, United States
| | - Leonard B Bacharier
- Division of Allergy, Immunology and Pulmonary Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Monroe Carell Jr Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 2200 Children's Way, Nashville, TN 37232, United States
| | - Andrew L Kau
- Division of Allergy and Immunology, Department of Medicine and Center for Women’s Infectious Disease Research, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 S Euclid Ave, St. Louis, MO 63110, United States
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14
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Rosenboom I, Thavarasa A, Richardson H, Long MB, Wiehlmann L, Davenport CF, Shoemark A, Chalmers JD, Tümmler B. Sputum metagenomics of people with bronchiectasis. ERJ Open Res 2024; 10:01008-2023. [PMID: 38444657 PMCID: PMC10910388 DOI: 10.1183/23120541.01008-2023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2023] [Accepted: 01/08/2024] [Indexed: 03/07/2024] Open
Abstract
Background The microbiota in the sputum of people with bronchiectasis has repeatedly been investigated in cohorts of different geographic origin, but so far has not been studied to the species level in comparison to control populations including healthy adults and smokers without lung disease. Methods The microbial metagenome from sputa of 101 European Bronchiectasis Registry (EMBARC) study participants was examined by using whole-genome shotgun sequencing. Results Our analysis of the metagenome of people with bronchiectasis revealed four clusters characterised by a predominance of Haemophilus influenzae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa or polymicrobial communities with varying compositions of nonpathogenic commensals and opportunistic pathogens. The metagenomes of the severely affected patients showed individual profiles characterised by low alpha diversity. Importantly, nearly 50% of patients with severe disease were grouped in a cluster characterised by commensals. Comparisons with the sputum metagenomes of healthy smokers and healthy nonsmokers revealed a gradient of depletion of taxa in bronchiectasis, most often Neisseria subflava, Fusobacterium periodonticum and Eubacterium sulci. Conclusion The gradient of depletion of commensal taxa found in healthy airways is a key feature of bronchiectasis associated with disease severity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ilona Rosenboom
- Department of Paediatric Pneumology, Allergology and Neonatology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany
| | - Ajith Thavarasa
- Department of Paediatric Pneumology, Allergology and Neonatology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany
| | - Hollian Richardson
- Division of Molecular and Clinical Medicine, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK
| | - Merete B. Long
- Division of Molecular and Clinical Medicine, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK
| | - Lutz Wiehlmann
- Research Core Unit Genomics, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany
| | | | - Amelia Shoemark
- Division of Molecular and Clinical Medicine, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK
| | - James D. Chalmers
- Division of Molecular and Clinical Medicine, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK
| | - Burkhard Tümmler
- Department of Paediatric Pneumology, Allergology and Neonatology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany
- Biomedical Research in Endstage and Obstructive Lung Disease (BREATH), German Centre for Lung Research, Hannover, Germany
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15
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Zhang L, Zhao H, Qin S, Hu C, Shen Y, Qu B, Bai Y, Liu B. Genome-Resolved Metagenomics and Denitrifying Strain Isolation Reveal New Insights into Microbial Denitrification in the Deep Vadose Zone. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2024; 58:2323-2334. [PMID: 38267389 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.3c06466] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/26/2024]
Abstract
The heavy use of nitrogen fertilizer in intensive agricultural areas often leads to nitrate accumulation in subsurface soil and nitrate contamination in groundwater, which poses a serious risk to public health. Denitrifying microorganisms in the subsoil convert nitrate to gaseous forms of nitrogen, thereby mitigating the leaching of nitrate into groundwater. Here, we investigated denitrifying microorganisms in the deep vadose zone of a typical intensive agricultural area in China through microcosm enrichment, genome-resolved metagenomic analysis, and denitrifying bacteria isolation. A total of 1000 metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) were reconstructed, resulting in 98 high-quality, dereplicated MAGs that contained denitrification genes. Among them, 32 MAGs could not be taxonomically classified at the genus or species level, indicating that a broader spectrum of taxonomic groups is involved in subsoil denitrification than previously recognized. A denitrifier isolate library was constructed by using a strategy combining high-throughput and conventional cultivation techniques. Assessment of the denitrification characteristics of both the MAGs and isolates demonstrated the dominance of truncated denitrification. Functional screening revealed the highest denitrification activity in two complete denitrifiers belonging to the genus Pseudomonas. These findings greatly expand the current knowledge of the composition and function of denitrifying microorganisms in subsoils. The constructed isolate library provided the first pool of subsoil-denitrifying microorganisms that could facilitate the development of microbe-based technologies for nitrate attenuation in groundwater.
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Affiliation(s)
- Linqi Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Agricultural Water Resources, Center for Agricultural Resources Research, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shijiazhuang 050021, China
| | - Huicheng Zhao
- Key Laboratory of Agricultural Water Resources, Center for Agricultural Resources Research, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shijiazhuang 050021, China
| | - Shuping Qin
- Key Laboratory of Agricultural Water Resources, Center for Agricultural Resources Research, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shijiazhuang 050021, China
| | - Chunsheng Hu
- Key Laboratory of Agricultural Water Resources, Center for Agricultural Resources Research, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shijiazhuang 050021, China
| | - Yanjun Shen
- Key Laboratory of Agricultural Water Resources, Center for Agricultural Resources Research, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shijiazhuang 050021, China
| | - Baoyuan Qu
- State Key Laboratory of Plant Genomics, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
- CAS-JIC Centre of Excellence for Plant and Microbial Sciences, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Yang Bai
- State Key Laboratory of Plant Genomics, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
- CAS-JIC Centre of Excellence for Plant and Microbial Sciences, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Binbin Liu
- Key Laboratory of Agricultural Water Resources, Center for Agricultural Resources Research, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shijiazhuang 050021, China
- Xiong'an Institute of Innovation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiong'an 071700, China
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16
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Viver T, Conrad RE, Rodriguez-R LM, Ramírez AS, Venter SN, Rocha-Cárdenas J, Llabrés M, Amann R, Konstantinidis KT, Rossello-Mora R. Towards estimating the number of strains that make up a natural bacterial population. Nat Commun 2024; 15:544. [PMID: 38228587 PMCID: PMC10791622 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-44622-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2023] [Accepted: 12/19/2023] [Indexed: 01/18/2024] Open
Abstract
What a strain is and how many strains make up a natural bacterial population remain elusive concepts despite their apparent importance for assessing the role of intra-population diversity in disease emergence or response to environmental perturbations. To advance these concepts, we sequenced 138 randomly selected Salinibacter ruber isolates from two solar salterns and assessed these genomes against companion short-read metagenomes from the same samples. The distribution of genome-aggregate average nucleotide identity (ANI) values among these isolates revealed a bimodal distribution, with four-fold lower occurrence of values between 99.2% and 99.8% relative to ANI >99.8% or <99.2%, revealing a natural "gap" in the sequence space within species. Accordingly, we used this ANI gap to define genomovars and a higher ANI value of >99.99% and shared gene-content >99.0% to define strains. Using these thresholds and extrapolating from how many metagenomic reads each genomovar uniquely recruited, we estimated that -although our 138 isolates represented about 80% of the Sal. ruber population- the total population in one saltern pond is composed of 5,500 to 11,000 genomovars, the great majority of which appear to be rare in-situ. These data also revealed that the most frequently recovered isolate in lab media was often not the most abundant genomovar in-situ, suggesting that cultivation biases are significant, even in cases that cultivation procedures are thought to be robust. The methodology and ANI thresholds outlined here should represent a useful guide for future microdiversity surveys of additional microbial species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tomeu Viver
- Marine Microbiology Group, Department of Animal and Microbial Biodiversity, Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies (IMEDEA, CSIC-UIB), Esporles, Spain.
- Department of Molecular Ecology, Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Bremen, Germany.
| | - Roth E Conrad
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Luis M Rodriguez-R
- Department of Microbiology, and Digital Science Center (DiSC), Universität of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Ana S Ramírez
- Unidad de Epidemiología y Medicina Preventiva, IUSA, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, C/Trasmontaña s/n, Arucas, 35413, Canary Islands, Spain
| | - Stephanus N Venter
- Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology, and Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI), University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
| | - Jairo Rocha-Cárdenas
- Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of the Balearic Islands, Palma, 07122, Spain
| | - Mercè Llabrés
- Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of the Balearic Islands, Palma, 07122, Spain
| | - Rudolf Amann
- Department of Molecular Ecology, Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Bremen, Germany
| | - Konstantinos T Konstantinidis
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA.
| | - Ramon Rossello-Mora
- Marine Microbiology Group, Department of Animal and Microbial Biodiversity, Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies (IMEDEA, CSIC-UIB), Esporles, Spain.
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17
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Wang J, Zhu YG, Tiedje JM, Ge Y. Global biogeography and ecological implications of cobamide-producing prokaryotes. THE ISME JOURNAL 2024; 18:wrae009. [PMID: 38366262 PMCID: PMC10900890 DOI: 10.1093/ismejo/wrae009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2023] [Revised: 01/01/2024] [Accepted: 01/19/2024] [Indexed: 02/18/2024]
Abstract
Cobamides, a class of essential coenzymes synthesized only by a subset of prokaryotes, are model nutrients in microbial interaction studies and play significant roles in global ecosystems. Yet, their spatial patterns and functional roles remain poorly understood. Herein, we present an in-depth examination of cobamide-producing microorganisms, drawn from a comprehensive analysis of 2862 marine and 2979 soil metagenomic samples. A total of 1934 nonredundant metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) potentially capable of producing cobamides de novo were identified. The cobamide-producing MAGs are taxonomically diverse but habitat specific. They constituted only a fraction of all the recovered MAGs, with the majority of MAGs being potential cobamide users. By mapping the distribution of cobamide producers in marine and soil environments, distinct latitudinal gradients were observed: the marine environment showed peak abundance at the equator, whereas soil environments peaked at mid-latitudes. Importantly, significant and positive links between the abundance of cobamide producers and the diversity and functions of microbial communities were observed, as well as their promotional roles in essential biogeochemical cycles. These associations were more pronounced in marine samples than in soil samples, which suggests a heightened propensity for microorganisms to engage in cobamide sharing in fluid environments relative to the more spatially restricted soil environment. These findings shed light on the global patterns and potential ecological roles of cobamide-producing microorganisms in marine and soil ecosystems, enhancing our understanding of large-scale microbial interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jichen Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Yong-Guan Zhu
- State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - James M Tiedje
- Center for Microbial Ecology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, United States
| | - Yuan Ge
- State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
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18
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Yu J, Lee JYY, Tang SN, Lee PKH. Niche differentiation in microbial communities with stable genomic traits over time in engineered systems. THE ISME JOURNAL 2024; 18:wrae042. [PMID: 38470313 PMCID: PMC10987969 DOI: 10.1093/ismejo/wrae042] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2023] [Revised: 02/21/2024] [Accepted: 03/07/2024] [Indexed: 03/13/2024]
Abstract
Microbial communities in full-scale engineered systems undergo dynamic compositional changes. However, mechanisms governing assembly of such microbes and succession of their functioning and genomic traits under various environmental conditions are unclear. In this study, we used the activated sludge and anaerobic treatment systems of four full-scale industrial wastewater treatment plants as models to investigate the niches of microbes in communities and the temporal succession patterns of community compositions. High-quality representative metagenome-assembled genomes revealed that taxonomic, functional, and trait-based compositions were strongly shaped by environmental selection, with replacement processes primarily driving variations in taxonomic and functional compositions. Plant-specific indicators were associated with system environmental conditions and exhibited strong determinism and trajectory directionality over time. The partitioning of microbes in a co-abundance network according to groups of plant-specific indicators, together with significant between-group differences in genomic traits, indicated the occurrence of niche differentiation. The indicators of the treatment plant with rich nutrient input and high substrate removal efficiency exhibited a faster predicted growth rate, lower guanine-cytosine content, smaller genome size, and higher codon usage bias than the indicators of the other plants. In individual plants, taxonomic composition displayed a more rapid temporal succession than functional and trait-based compositions. The succession of taxonomic, functional, and trait-based compositions was correlated with the kinetics of treatment processes in the activated sludge systems. This study provides insights into ecological niches of microbes in engineered systems and succession patterns of their functions and traits, which will aid microbial community management to improve treatment performance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jinjin Yu
- School of Energy and Environment, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Justin Y Y Lee
- School of Energy and Environment, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Siang Nee Tang
- Facility Management and Environmental Engineering, TAL Group, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Patrick K H Lee
- School of Energy and Environment and State Key Laboratory of Marine Pollution, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China
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19
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Myeong NR, Kwon MJ, Göckede M, Tripathi BM, Kim M. Responses of soil micro-eukaryotic communities to decadal drainage in a Siberian wet tussock tundra. Front Microbiol 2024; 14:1227909. [PMID: 38249484 PMCID: PMC10797069 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1227909] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2023] [Accepted: 12/14/2023] [Indexed: 01/23/2024] Open
Abstract
Climate warming holds the potential to cause extensive drying of wetlands in the Arctic, but the warming-drying effects on belowground ecosystems, particularly micro-eukaryotes, remain poorly understood. We investigated the responses of soil micro-eukaryotic communities, including fungi, protists, and microbial metazoa, to decadal drainage manipulation in a Siberian wet tundra using both amplicon and shotgun metagenomic sequencing. Our results indicate that drainage treatment increased the abundance of both fungal and non-fungal micro-eukaryotic communities, with key groups such as Ascomycota (mostly order Helotiales), Nematoda, and Tardigrada being notably abundant in drained sites. Functional traits analysis showed an increase in litter saprotrophic fungi and protistan consumers, indicating their increased activities in drained sites. The effects of drainage were more pronounced in the surface soil layer than the deeper layer, as soils dry and warm from the surface. Marked compositional shifts were observed for both communities, with fungal communities being more strongly influenced by drainage-induced vegetation change than the lowered water table itself, while the vegetation effect on non-fungal micro-eukaryotes was moderate. These findings provide insights into how belowground micro-eukaryotic communities respond to the widespread drying of wetlands in the Arctic and improve our predictive understanding of future ecosystem changes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nu Ri Myeong
- Korea Polar Research Institute (KOPRI), Incheon, Republic of Korea
- Department of Systems Biotechnology, Chung-Ang University, Anseong, Republic of Korea
| | - Min Jung Kwon
- Institute of Soil Science, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
| | | | - Binu M. Tripathi
- Division of Plant and Soil Sciences, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, United States
| | - Mincheol Kim
- Korea Polar Research Institute (KOPRI), Incheon, Republic of Korea
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20
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Goldman SL, Sanders JG, Sprockett DD, Landers A, Yan W, Moeller AH. Hackflex library preparation enables low-cost metagenomic profiling. ISME COMMUNICATIONS 2024; 4:ycae075. [PMID: 38912052 PMCID: PMC11190725 DOI: 10.1093/ismeco/ycae075] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2024] [Revised: 05/22/2024] [Accepted: 05/28/2024] [Indexed: 06/25/2024]
Abstract
Shotgun metagenomic sequencing provides valuable insights into microbial communities, but the high cost of library preparation with standard kits and protocols is a barrier for many. New methods such as Hackflex use diluted commercially available reagents to greatly reduce library preparation costs. However, these methods have not been systematically validated for metagenomic sequencing. Here, we evaluate Hackflex performance by sequencing metagenomic libraries from known mock communities as well as mouse fecal samples prepared by Hackflex, Illumina DNA Prep, and Illumina TruSeq methods. Hackflex successfully recovered all members of the Zymo mock community, performing best for samples with DNA concentrations <1 ng/μL. Furthermore, Hackflex was able to delineate microbiota of individual inbred mice from the same breeding stock at the same mouse facility, and statistical modeling indicated that mouse ID explained a greater fraction of the variance in metagenomic composition than did library preparation method. These results show that Hackflex is suitable for generating inventories of bacterial communities through metagenomic sequencing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samantha L Goldman
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, 215 Tower Rd, Ithaca, NY 14850, United States
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, 301 Guyot, Princeton, NJ 08540, United States
| | - Jon G Sanders
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, 215 Tower Rd, Ithaca, NY 14850, United States
| | - Daniel D Sprockett
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, 215 Tower Rd, Ithaca, NY 14850, United States
| | - Abigail Landers
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, 215 Tower Rd, Ithaca, NY 14850, United States
| | - Weiwei Yan
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, 215 Tower Rd, Ithaca, NY 14850, United States
| | - Andrew H Moeller
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, 215 Tower Rd, Ithaca, NY 14850, United States
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, 301 Guyot, Princeton, NJ 08540, United States
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21
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Bezuidt OKI, Makhalanyane TP. Phylogenomic analysis expands the known repertoire of single-stranded DNA viruses in benthic zones of the South Indian Ocean. ISME COMMUNICATIONS 2024; 4:ycae065. [PMID: 38800127 PMCID: PMC11128263 DOI: 10.1093/ismeco/ycae065] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2024] [Revised: 04/25/2024] [Accepted: 04/29/2024] [Indexed: 05/29/2024]
Abstract
Single-stranded (ss) DNA viruses are ubiquitous and constitute some of the most diverse entities on Earth. Most studies have focused on ssDNA viruses from terrestrial environments resulting in a significant deficit in benthic ecosystems including aphotic zones of the South Indian Ocean (SIO). Here, we assess the diversity and phylogeny of ssDNA in deep waters of the SIO using a combination of established viral taxonomy tools and a Hidden Markov Model based approach. Replication initiator protein-associated (Rep) phylogenetic reconstruction and sequence similarity networks were used to show that the SIO hosts divergent and as yet unknown circular Rep-encoding ssDNA viruses. Several sequences appear to represent entirely novel families, expanding the repertoire of known ssDNA viruses. Results suggest that a small proportion of these viruses may be circular genetic elements, which may strongly influence the diversity of both eukaryotes and prokaryotes in the SIO. Taken together, our data show that the SIO harbours a diverse assortment of previously unknown ssDNA viruses. Due to their potential to infect a variety of hosts, these viruses may be crucial for marine nutrient recycling through their influence of the biological carbon pump.
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Affiliation(s)
- Oliver K I Bezuidt
- DSI/NRF South African Research Chair in Marine Microbiomics, Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology, microbiome@UP, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, 0028, South Africa
- Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch 7600, South Africa
| | - Thulani P Makhalanyane
- Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch 7600, South Africa
- Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation, The School for Data Science and Computational Thinking, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch 7600, South Africa
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22
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Li X, Brejnrod A, Thorsen J, Zachariasen T, Trivedi U, Russel J, Vestergaard GA, Stokholm J, Rasmussen MA, Sørensen SJ. Differential responses of the gut microbiome and resistome to antibiotic exposures in infants and adults. Nat Commun 2023; 14:8526. [PMID: 38135681 PMCID: PMC10746713 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-44289-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2023] [Accepted: 12/07/2023] [Indexed: 12/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Despite their crucial importance for human health, there is still relatively limited knowledge on how the gut resistome changes or responds to antibiotic treatment across ages, especially in the latter case. Here, we use fecal metagenomic data from 662 Danish infants and 217 young adults to fill this gap. The gut resistomes are characterized by a bimodal distribution driven by E. coli composition. The typical profile of the gut resistome differs significantly between adults and infants, with the latter distinguished by higher gene and plasmid abundances. However, the predominant antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) are the same. Antibiotic treatment reduces bacterial diversity and increased ARG and plasmid abundances in both cohorts, especially core ARGs. The effects of antibiotic treatments on the gut microbiome last longer in adults than in infants, and different antibiotics are associated with distinct impacts. Overall, this study broadens our current understanding of gut resistome dynamics and the impact of antibiotic treatment across age groups.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xuanji Li
- Department of Biology, Section of Microbiology, University of Copenhagen, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Asker Brejnrod
- Department of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark, Section of Bioinformatics, 2800 Kgs, Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Jonathan Thorsen
- COPSAC, Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood, Herlev and Gentofte Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Trine Zachariasen
- Department of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark, Section of Bioinformatics, 2800 Kgs, Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Urvish Trivedi
- Department of Biology, Section of Microbiology, University of Copenhagen, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Jakob Russel
- Department of Biology, Section of Microbiology, University of Copenhagen, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Gisle Alberg Vestergaard
- Department of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark, Section of Bioinformatics, 2800 Kgs, Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Jakob Stokholm
- COPSAC, Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood, Herlev and Gentofte Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Department of Food Science, Section of Microbiology and Fermentation, University of Copenhagen, 1958, Frederiksberg C, Denmark
| | - Morten Arendt Rasmussen
- COPSAC, Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood, Herlev and Gentofte Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
- Department of Food Science, Section of Microbiology and Fermentation, University of Copenhagen, 1958, Frederiksberg C, Denmark.
| | - Søren Johannes Sørensen
- Department of Biology, Section of Microbiology, University of Copenhagen, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark.
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23
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Cullom A, Spencer MS, Williams MD, Falkinham JO, Brown C, Edwards MA, Pruden A. Premise Plumbing Pipe Materials and In-Building Disinfectants Shape the Potential for Proliferation of Pathogens and Antibiotic Resistance Genes. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2023; 57:21382-21394. [PMID: 38071676 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.3c05905] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2023]
Abstract
In-building disinfectants are commonly applied to control the growth of pathogens in plumbing, particularly in facilities such as hospitals that house vulnerable populations. However, their application has not been well optimized, especially with respect to interactive effects with pipe materials and potential unintended effects, such as enrichment of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) across the microbial community. Here, we used triplicate convectively mixed pipe reactors consisting of three pipe materials (PVC, copper, and iron) for replicated simulation of the distal reaches of premise plumbing and evaluated the effects of incrementally increased doses of chlorine, chloramine, chlorine dioxide, and copper-silver disinfectants. We used shotgun metagenomic sequencing to characterize the resulting succession of the corresponding microbiomes over the course of 37 weeks. We found that both disinfectants and pipe material affected ARG and microbial community taxonomic composition both independently and interactively. Water quality and total bacterial numbers were not found to be predictive of pathogenic species markers. One result of particular concern was the tendency of disinfectants, especially monochloramine, to enrich ARGs. Metagenome assembly indicated that many ARGs were enriched specifically among the pathogenic species. Functional gene analysis was indicative of a response of the microbes to oxidative stress, which is known to co/cross-select for antibiotic resistance. These findings emphasize the need for a holistic evaluation of pathogen control strategies for plumbing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abraham Cullom
- Civil and Environmental Engineering, Virginia Tech, 1145 Perry St., 418 Durham Hall, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061, United States
| | - Matheu Storme Spencer
- Civil and Environmental Engineering, Virginia Tech, 1145 Perry St., 418 Durham Hall, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061, United States
| | - Myra D Williams
- Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061, United States
| | - Joseph O Falkinham
- Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061, United States
| | - Connor Brown
- Department of Genetics, Bioinformatics, and Computational Biology, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061, United States
| | - Marc A Edwards
- Civil and Environmental Engineering, Virginia Tech, 1145 Perry St., 418 Durham Hall, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061, United States
| | - Amy Pruden
- Civil and Environmental Engineering, Virginia Tech, 1145 Perry St., 418 Durham Hall, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061, United States
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24
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de la Cuesta-Zuluaga J, Huus KE, Youngblut ND, Escobar JS, Ley RE. Obesity is the main driver of altered gut microbiome functions in the metabolically unhealthy. Gut Microbes 2023; 15:2246634. [PMID: 37680093 PMCID: PMC10486298 DOI: 10.1080/19490976.2023.2246634] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2023] [Revised: 08/03/2023] [Accepted: 08/07/2023] [Indexed: 09/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Obesity (OB) and cardiometabolic disease are major public health issues linked to changes in the gut microbiome. OB and poor cardiometabolic health status (CHS) are often comorbid, which hinders efforts to identify components of the microbiome uniquely linked to either one. Here, we used a deeply phenotyped cohort of 408 adults from Colombia, including subjects with OB, unhealthy CHS, or both, to validate previously reported features of gut microbiome function and diversity independently correlated with OB or CHS using fecal metagenomes. OB was defined by body mass index, waist circumference, and body fat; CHS as healthy or unhealthy according to blood biochemistry and anthropometric data. We found that OB, more so than metabolic status, drove associations with gut microbiome structure and functions. The microbiome of obese individuals with and without co-existing unhealthy CHS was characterized by reduced metagenomic diversity, reduced fermentative potential and elevated capacity to respond to oxidative stress and produce bacterial antigens. Disease-linked features were correlated with increased host blood pressure and inflammatory markers, and were mainly contributed by members of the family Enterobacteriaceae. Our results link OB with a microbiome able to tolerate an inflammatory and oxygenated gut state, and suggest that OB is the main driver of microbiome functional differences when poor CHS is a comorbidity.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Kelsey E. Huus
- Department of Microbiome Science, Max Planck Institute for Biology Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Nicholas D. Youngblut
- Department of Microbiome Science, Max Planck Institute for Biology Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Juan S. Escobar
- Vidarium–Nutrition, Health and Wellness Research Center, Grupo Empresarial Nutresa, Medellin, Colombia
| | - Ruth E. Ley
- Department of Microbiome Science, Max Planck Institute for Biology Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Cluster of Excellence EXC 2124 Controlling Microbes to Fight Infections, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
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25
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Veloso M, Waldisperg A, Arros P, Berríos-Pastén C, Acosta J, Colque H, Varas MA, Allende ML, Orellana LH, Marcoleta AE. Diversity, Taxonomic Novelty, and Encoded Functions of Salar de Ascotán Microbiota, as Revealed by Metagenome-Assembled Genomes. Microorganisms 2023; 11:2819. [PMID: 38004830 PMCID: PMC10673233 DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms11112819] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2023] [Revised: 11/12/2023] [Accepted: 11/15/2023] [Indexed: 11/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Salar de Ascotán is a high-altitude arsenic-rich salt flat exposed to high ultraviolet radiation in the Atacama Desert, Chile. It hosts unique endemic flora and fauna and is an essential habitat for migratory birds, making it an important site for conservation and protection. However, there is limited information on the resident microbiota's diversity, genomic features, metabolic potential, and molecular mechanisms that enable it to thrive in this extreme environment. We used long- and short-read metagenomics to investigate the microbial communities in Ascotán's water, sediment, and soil. Bacteria predominated, mainly Pseudomonadota, Acidobacteriota, and Bacteroidota, with a remarkable diversity of archaea in the soil. Following hybrid assembly, we recovered high-quality bacterial (101) and archaeal (6) metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs), including representatives of two putative novel families of Patescibacteria and Pseudomonadota and two novel orders from the archaeal classes Halobacteriota and Thermoplasmata. We found different metabolic capabilities across distinct lineages and a widespread presence of genes related to stress response, DNA repair, and resistance to arsenic and other metals. These results highlight the remarkable diversity and taxonomic novelty of the Salar de Ascotán microbiota and its rich functional repertoire, making it able to resist different harsh conditions. The highly complete MAGs described here could serve future studies and bioprospection efforts focused on salt flat extremophiles, and contribute to enriching databases with microbial genome data from underrepresented regions of our planet.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marcelo Veloso
- Grupo de Microbiología Integrativa, Laboratorio de Biología Estructural y Molecular BEM, Faculty of Science, Universidad de Chile, Las Palmeras 3425, Ñuñoa, Santiago 7800003, Chile; (M.V.); (A.W.); (P.A.); (C.B.-P.); (J.A.); (H.C.); (M.A.V.)
| | - Angie Waldisperg
- Grupo de Microbiología Integrativa, Laboratorio de Biología Estructural y Molecular BEM, Faculty of Science, Universidad de Chile, Las Palmeras 3425, Ñuñoa, Santiago 7800003, Chile; (M.V.); (A.W.); (P.A.); (C.B.-P.); (J.A.); (H.C.); (M.A.V.)
| | - Patricio Arros
- Grupo de Microbiología Integrativa, Laboratorio de Biología Estructural y Molecular BEM, Faculty of Science, Universidad de Chile, Las Palmeras 3425, Ñuñoa, Santiago 7800003, Chile; (M.V.); (A.W.); (P.A.); (C.B.-P.); (J.A.); (H.C.); (M.A.V.)
| | - Camilo Berríos-Pastén
- Grupo de Microbiología Integrativa, Laboratorio de Biología Estructural y Molecular BEM, Faculty of Science, Universidad de Chile, Las Palmeras 3425, Ñuñoa, Santiago 7800003, Chile; (M.V.); (A.W.); (P.A.); (C.B.-P.); (J.A.); (H.C.); (M.A.V.)
| | - Joaquín Acosta
- Grupo de Microbiología Integrativa, Laboratorio de Biología Estructural y Molecular BEM, Faculty of Science, Universidad de Chile, Las Palmeras 3425, Ñuñoa, Santiago 7800003, Chile; (M.V.); (A.W.); (P.A.); (C.B.-P.); (J.A.); (H.C.); (M.A.V.)
| | - Hazajem Colque
- Grupo de Microbiología Integrativa, Laboratorio de Biología Estructural y Molecular BEM, Faculty of Science, Universidad de Chile, Las Palmeras 3425, Ñuñoa, Santiago 7800003, Chile; (M.V.); (A.W.); (P.A.); (C.B.-P.); (J.A.); (H.C.); (M.A.V.)
| | - Macarena A. Varas
- Grupo de Microbiología Integrativa, Laboratorio de Biología Estructural y Molecular BEM, Faculty of Science, Universidad de Chile, Las Palmeras 3425, Ñuñoa, Santiago 7800003, Chile; (M.V.); (A.W.); (P.A.); (C.B.-P.); (J.A.); (H.C.); (M.A.V.)
- Millenium Institute Center for Genome Regulation, Faculty of Science, Universidad de Chile, Las Palmeras 3425, Ñuñoa, Santiago 7800003, Chile;
| | - Miguel L. Allende
- Millenium Institute Center for Genome Regulation, Faculty of Science, Universidad de Chile, Las Palmeras 3425, Ñuñoa, Santiago 7800003, Chile;
| | - Luis H. Orellana
- Department of Molecular Ecology, Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Celsiusstr. 1, D-28359 Bremen, Germany;
| | - Andrés E. Marcoleta
- Grupo de Microbiología Integrativa, Laboratorio de Biología Estructural y Molecular BEM, Faculty of Science, Universidad de Chile, Las Palmeras 3425, Ñuñoa, Santiago 7800003, Chile; (M.V.); (A.W.); (P.A.); (C.B.-P.); (J.A.); (H.C.); (M.A.V.)
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26
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Font-Verdera F, Liébana R, Rossello-Mora R, Viver T. Impact of dilution on stochastically driven methanogenic microbial communities of hypersaline anoxic sediments. FEMS Microbiol Ecol 2023; 99:fiad146. [PMID: 37989854 PMCID: PMC10673710 DOI: 10.1093/femsec/fiad146] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2023] [Revised: 10/02/2023] [Accepted: 11/20/2023] [Indexed: 11/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Sediments underlying the solar salterns of S'Avall are anoxic hypersaline ecosystems dominated by anaerobic prokaryotes, and with the especial relevance of putative methanogenic archaea. Slurries from salt-saturated sediments, diluted in a gradient of salinity and incubated for > 4 years revealed that salt concentration was the major selection force that deterministically structured microbial communities. The dominant archaea in the original communities showed a decrease in alpha diversity with dilution accompanied by the increase of bacterial alpha diversity, being highest at 5% salts. Correspondingly, methanogens decreased and in turn sulfate reducers increased with decreasing salt concentrations. Methanogens especially dominated at 25%. Different concentrations of litter of Posidonia oceanica seagrass added as a carbon substrate, did not promote any clear relevant effect. However, the addition of ampicillin as selection pressure exerted important effects on the assemblage probably due to the removal of competitors or enhancers. The amended antibiotic enhanced methanogenesis in the concentrations ≤ 15% of salts, whereas it was depleted at salinities ≥ 20% revealing key roles of ampicillin-sensitive bacteria.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francisca Font-Verdera
- Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies (IMEDEA, UIB-CSIC), Miquel Marquès, 21, 07190 Esporles, Illes Balears, SPAIN
| | - Raquel Liébana
- Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies (IMEDEA, UIB-CSIC), Miquel Marquès, 21, 07190 Esporles, Illes Balears, SPAIN
- AZTI, Basque Research Technology Alliance (BRTA), Txatxarramendi ugartea z/g, Sukarrieta, 48395 Sukarrieta, Bizkaia, Spain
| | - Ramon Rossello-Mora
- Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies (IMEDEA, UIB-CSIC), Miquel Marquès, 21, 07190 Esporles, Illes Balears, SPAIN
| | - Tomeu Viver
- Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies (IMEDEA, UIB-CSIC), Miquel Marquès, 21, 07190 Esporles, Illes Balears, SPAIN
- Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Celsiusstraße 1, 28359 Bremen, Germany
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27
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Li J, Huang T, Zhang M, Tong X, Chen J, Zhang Z, Huang F, Ai H, Huang L. Metagenomic sequencing reveals swine lung microbial communities and metagenome-assembled genomes associated with lung lesions-a pilot study. Int Microbiol 2023; 26:893-906. [PMID: 36933182 DOI: 10.1007/s10123-023-00345-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2022] [Revised: 02/28/2023] [Accepted: 03/11/2023] [Indexed: 03/19/2023]
Abstract
Low microbial biomass in the lungs, high host-DNA contamination and sampling difficulty limit the study on lung microbiome. Therefore, little is still known about lung microbial communities and their functions. Here, we perform a preliminary exploratory study to investigate the composition of swine lung microbial community using shotgun metagenomic sequencing and compare the microbial communities between healthy and severe-lesion lungs. We collected ten lavage-fluid samples from swine lungs (five from healthy lungs and five from severe-lesion lungs), and obtained their metagenomes by shotgun metagenomic sequencing. After filtering host genomic DNA contamination (93.5% ± 1.2%) in the lung metagenomic data, we annotated swine lung microbial communities ranging from four domains to 645 species. Compared with previous taxonomic annotation of the same samples by the 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing, it annotated the same number of family taxa but more genera and species. We next performed an association analysis between lung microbiome and host lung-lesion phenotype. We found three species (Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae, Ureaplasma diversum, and Mycoplasma hyorhinis) were associated with lung lesions, suggesting they might be the key species causing swine lung lesions. Furthermore, we successfully reconstructed the metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) of these three species using metagenomic binning. This pilot study showed us the feasibility and relevant limitations of shotgun metagenomic sequencing for the characterization of swine lung microbiome using lung lavage-fluid samples. The findings provided an enhanced understanding of the swine lung microbiome and its role in maintaining lung health and/or causing lung lesions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jingquan Li
- State Key Laboratory of Pig Genetic Improvement and Production Technology, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, 330045, China
| | - Tao Huang
- State Key Laboratory of Pig Genetic Improvement and Production Technology, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, 330045, China
| | - Mingpeng Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Pig Genetic Improvement and Production Technology, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, 330045, China
| | - Xinkai Tong
- State Key Laboratory of Pig Genetic Improvement and Production Technology, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, 330045, China
| | - Jiaqi Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Pig Genetic Improvement and Production Technology, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, 330045, China
| | - Zhou Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Pig Genetic Improvement and Production Technology, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, 330045, China
| | - Fei Huang
- State Key Laboratory of Pig Genetic Improvement and Production Technology, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, 330045, China
| | - Huashui Ai
- State Key Laboratory of Pig Genetic Improvement and Production Technology, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, 330045, China.
| | - Lusheng Huang
- State Key Laboratory of Pig Genetic Improvement and Production Technology, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, 330045, China
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28
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Cissell EC, McCoy SJ. Top-heavy trophic structure within benthic viral dark matter. Environ Microbiol 2023; 25:2303-2320. [PMID: 37381050 DOI: 10.1111/1462-2920.16457] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2022] [Accepted: 06/16/2023] [Indexed: 06/30/2023]
Abstract
A better understanding of system-specific viral ecology in diverse environments is needed to predict patterns of virus-host trophic structure in the Anthropocene. This study characterised viral-host trophic structure within coral reef benthic cyanobacterial mats-a globally proliferating cause and consequence of coral reef degradation. We employed deep longitudinal multi-omic sequencing to characterise the viral assemblage (ssDNA, dsDNA, and dsRNA viruses) and profile lineage-specific host-virus interactions within benthic cyanobacterial mats sampled from Bonaire, Caribbean Netherlands. We recovered 11,012 unique viral populations spanning at least 10 viral families across the orders Caudovirales, Petitvirales, and Mindivirales. Gene-sharing network analyses provided evidence for extensive genomic novelty of mat viruses from reference and environmental viral sequences. Analysis of coverage ratios of viral sequences and computationally predicted hosts spanning 15 phyla and 21 classes revealed virus-host abundance (from DNA) and activity (from RNA) ratios consistently exceeding 1:1, suggesting a top-heavy intra-mat trophic structure with respect to virus-host interactions. Overall, our article contributes a curated database of viral sequences found in Caribbean coral reef benthic cyanobacterial mats (vMAT database) and provides multiple lines of field-based evidence demonstrating that viruses are active members of mat communities, with broader implications for mat functional ecology and demography.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ethan C Cissell
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
| | - Sophie J McCoy
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
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29
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Pavia MJ, Finn D, Macedo-Tafur F, Tello-Espinoza R, Penaccio C, Bouskill N, Cadillo-Quiroz H. Genes and genome-resolved metagenomics reveal the microbial functional make up of Amazon peatlands under geochemical gradients. Environ Microbiol 2023; 25:2388-2403. [PMID: 37501535 DOI: 10.1111/1462-2920.16469] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2022] [Accepted: 07/12/2023] [Indexed: 07/29/2023]
Abstract
The Pastaza-Marañón Foreland Basin (PMFB) holds the most extensive tropical peatland area in South America. PMFB peatlands store ~7.07 Gt of organic carbon interacting with multiple microbial heterotrophic, methanogenic, and other aerobic/anaerobic respirations. Little is understood about the contribution of distinct microbial community members inhabiting tropical peatlands. Here, we studied the metagenomes of three geochemically distinct peatlands spanning minerotrophic, mixed, and ombrotrophic conditions. Using gene- and genome-centric approaches, we evaluate the functional potential of the underlying microbial communities. Abundance analyses show significant differences in C, N, P, and S acquisition genes. Furthermore, community interactions mediated by toxin-antitoxin and CRISPR-Cas systems were enriched in oligotrophic soils, suggesting that non-metabolic interactions may exert additional controls in low-nutrient environments. Additionally, we reconstructed 519 metagenome-assembled genomes spanning 28 phyla. Our analyses detail key differences across the geochemical gradient in the predicted microbial populations involved in degradation of organic matter, and the cycling of N and S. Notably, we observed differences in the nitric oxide (NO) reduction strategies between sites with high and low N2 O fluxes and found phyla putatively capable of both NO and sulfate reduction. Our findings detail how gene abundances and microbial populations are influenced by geochemical differences in tropical peatlands.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael J Pavia
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
- Swette Center for Environmental Biotechnology, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
| | - Damien Finn
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
| | - Franco Macedo-Tafur
- Laboratory of Soil Research, Research Institute of Amazonia's Natural Resources, National University of the Peruvian Amazon, Iquitos, Loreto, Peru
| | - Rodil Tello-Espinoza
- Laboratory of Soil Research, Research Institute of Amazonia's Natural Resources, National University of the Peruvian Amazon, Iquitos, Loreto, Peru
- School of Forestry, National University of the Peruvian Amazon, Iquitos, Loreto, Peru
| | - Christa Penaccio
- Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, USA
| | - Nicholas Bouskill
- Climate and Ecosystem Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, USA
| | - Hinsby Cadillo-Quiroz
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
- Swette Center for Environmental Biotechnology, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
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Wegner CE, Stahl R, Velsko I, Hübner A, Fagernäs Z, Warinner C, Lehmann R, Ritschel T, Totsche KU, Küsel K. A glimpse of the paleome in endolithic microbial communities. MICROBIOME 2023; 11:210. [PMID: 37749660 PMCID: PMC10518947 DOI: 10.1186/s40168-023-01647-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2022] [Accepted: 08/09/2023] [Indexed: 09/27/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The terrestrial subsurface is home to a significant proportion of the Earth's microbial biomass. Our understanding about terrestrial subsurface microbiomes is almost exclusively derived from groundwater and porous sediments mainly by using 16S rRNA gene surveys. To obtain more insights about biomass of consolidated rocks and the metabolic status of endolithic microbiomes, we investigated interbedded limestone and mudstone from the vadose zone, fractured aquifers, and deep aquitards. RESULTS By adapting methods from microbial archaeology and paleogenomics, we could recover sufficient DNA for downstream metagenomic analysis from seven rock specimens independent of porosity, lithology, and depth. Based on the extracted DNA, we estimated between 2.81 and 4.25 × 105 cells × g-1 rock. Analyzing DNA damage patterns revealed paleome signatures (genetic records of past microbial communities) for three rock specimens, all obtained from the vadose zone. DNA obtained from deep aquitards isolated from surface input was not affected by DNA decay indicating that water saturation and not flow is controlling subsurface microbial survival. Decoding the taxonomy and functional potential of paleome communities revealed increased abundances for sequences affiliated with chemolithoautotrophs and taxa such as Cand. Rokubacteria. We also found a broader metabolic potential in terms of aromatic hydrocarbon breakdown, suggesting a preferred utilization of sedimentary organic matter in the past. CONCLUSIONS Our study suggests that limestones function as archives for genetic records of past microbial communities including those sensitive to environmental stress at modern times, due to their specific conditions facilitating long-term DNA preservation. Video Abstract.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carl-Eric Wegner
- Aquatic Geomicrobiology, Institute of Biodiversity, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Dornburger Str. 159, 07743, Jena, Germany
| | - Raphaela Stahl
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Irina Velsko
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Alex Hübner
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Zandra Fagernäs
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Christina Warinner
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Cluster of Excellence Balance of the Microverse, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany
| | - Robert Lehmann
- Hydrogeology, Institute of Geosciences, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Burgweg 11, 07749, Jena, Germany
| | - Thomas Ritschel
- Hydrogeology, Institute of Geosciences, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Burgweg 11, 07749, Jena, Germany
| | - Kai U Totsche
- Cluster of Excellence Balance of the Microverse, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany
- Hydrogeology, Institute of Geosciences, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Burgweg 11, 07749, Jena, Germany
| | - Kirsten Küsel
- Aquatic Geomicrobiology, Institute of Biodiversity, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Dornburger Str. 159, 07743, Jena, Germany.
- Cluster of Excellence Balance of the Microverse, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany.
- German Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Puschstraße 4, 04103, Leipzig, Germany.
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Koirala S, Myers B, Shin GY, Gitaitis R, Kvitko BH, Dutta B. Evaluating Options to Increase the Efficacy of Biocontrol Agents for the Management of Pantoea spp. Under Field Conditions. PLANT DISEASE 2023; 107:2701-2708. [PMID: 36774574 DOI: 10.1094/pdis-11-22-2710-re] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Center rot of onion is caused by a complex of plant pathogenic Pantoea species, which can lead to significant yield losses in the field and during storage. Conventional growers use foliar protectants such as a mixture of copper bactericides and an ethylene-bis-dithiocarbamate (EBDC) fungicide to manage the disease; however, organic growers have limited management options besides copper-protectants. Biocontrol agents (BCAs) provide an alternative; however, their efficacy could be compromised due in part to their inability to colonize the foliage. We hypothesized that pretreatment with peroxide (OxiDate 2.0: a.i., hydrogen peroxide and peroxyacetic acid) enhances the colonizing ability of the subsequently applied BCAs, leading to effective center rot management. Field trials were conducted in 2020 and 2021 to assess the efficacy of peroxide, BCAs (Serenade ASO: Bacillus subtilis and BlightBan: Pseudomonas fluorescens), and an insecticide program (tank mix of spinosad and neem oil) to manage center rot. We observed no significant difference in foliar area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC) between the peroxide pretreated P. fluorescens plots and only P. fluorescens-treated plots in 2020 and 2021. Peroxide pretreatment before B. subtilis application significantly reduced the foliar AUDPC as compared with the stand-alone B. subtilis treatment in 2020; however, no such difference was observed in 2021. Similarly, peroxide pretreatment before either of the BCAs did not seem to reduce the incidence of bulb rot as compared with the stand-alone BCA treatment in any of the trials (2020 and 2021). Additionally, our foliar microbiome study showed comparatively higher P. fluorescens retention on peroxide pretreated onion foliage; however, at the end of the growing season, P. fluorescens was drastically reduced and was virtually nonexistent (<0.002% of the total reads). Overall, the pretreatment with peroxide had a limited effect in improving the foliar colonizing ability of BCAs and consequently a limited effect in managing center rot.
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Affiliation(s)
- Santosh Koirala
- Department of Plant Pathology, University of Georgia, Tifton, GA
| | - Brendon Myers
- Department of Plant Pathology, University of Georgia, Tifton, GA
| | - Gi Yoon Shin
- Department of Plant Pathology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA
| | - Ron Gitaitis
- Department of Plant Pathology, University of Georgia, Tifton, GA
| | - Brian H Kvitko
- Department of Plant Pathology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA
| | - Bhabesh Dutta
- Department of Plant Pathology, University of Georgia, Tifton, GA
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Wei ZG, Chen X, Zhang XD, Zhang H, Fan XG, Gao HY, Liu F, Qian Y. Comparison of Methods for Biological Sequence Clustering. IEEE/ACM TRANSACTIONS ON COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY AND BIOINFORMATICS 2023; 20:2874-2888. [PMID: 37028305 DOI: 10.1109/tcbb.2023.3253138] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/19/2023]
Abstract
Recent advances in sequencing technology have considerably promoted genomics research by providing high-throughput sequencing economically. This great advancement has resulted in a huge amount of sequencing data. Clustering analysis is powerful to study and probe the large-scale sequence data. A number of available clustering methods have been developed in the last decade. Despite numerous comparison studies being published, we noticed that they have two main limitations: only traditional alignment-based clustering methods are compared and the evaluation metrics heavily rely on labeled sequence data. In this study, we present a comprehensive benchmark study for sequence clustering methods. Specifically, i) alignment-based clustering algorithms including classical (e.g., CD-HIT, UCLUST, VSEARCH) and recently proposed methods (e.g., MMseq2, Linclust, edClust) are assessed; ii) two alignment-free methods (e.g., LZW-Kernel and Mash) are included to compare with alignment-based methods; and iii) different evaluation measures based on the true labels (supervised metrics) and the input data itself (unsupervised metrics) are applied to quantify their clustering results. The aims of this study are to help biological analyzers in choosing one reasonable clustering algorithm for processing their collected sequences, and furthermore, motivate algorithm designers to develop more efficient sequence clustering approaches.
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Huang R, Wang Y, Liu D, Wang S, Lv H, Yan Z. Long-Read Metagenomics of Marine Microbes Reveals Diversely Expressed Secondary Metabolites. Microbiol Spectr 2023; 11:e0150123. [PMID: 37409950 PMCID: PMC10434046 DOI: 10.1128/spectrum.01501-23] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/10/2023] [Accepted: 06/14/2023] [Indexed: 07/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Microbial secondary metabolites play crucial roles in microbial competition, communication, resource acquisition, antibiotic production, and a variety of other biotechnological processes. The retrieval of full-length BGC (biosynthetic gene cluster) sequences from uncultivated bacteria is difficult due to the technical constraints of short-read sequencing, making it impossible to determine BGC diversity. Using long-read sequencing and genome mining, 339 mainly full-length BGCs were recovered in this study, illuminating the wide range of BGCs from uncultivated lineages discovered in seawater from Aoshan Bay, Yellow Sea, China. Many extremely diverse BGCs were discovered in bacterial phyla such as Proteobacteria, Bacteroidota, Acidobacteriota, and Verrucomicrobiota as well as the previously uncultured archaeal phylum "Candidatus Thermoplasmatota." The data from metatranscriptomics showed that 30.1% of secondary metabolic genes were being expressed, and they also revealed the expression pattern of BGC core biosynthetic genes and tailoring enzymes. Taken together, our results demonstrate that long-read metagenomic sequencing combined with metatranscriptomic analysis provides a direct view into the functional expression of BGCs in environmental processes. IMPORTANCE Genome mining of metagenomic data has become the preferred method for the bioprospecting of novel compounds by cataloguing secondary metabolite potential. However, the accurate detection of BGCs requires unfragmented genomic assemblies, which have been technically difficult to obtain from metagenomes until recently with new long-read technologies. We used high-quality metagenome-assembled genomes generated from long-read data to determine the biosynthetic potential of microbes found in the surface water of the Yellow Sea. We recovered 339 highly diverse and mostly full-length BGCs from largely uncultured and underexplored bacterial and archaeal phyla. Additionally, we present long-read metagenomic sequencing combined with metatranscriptomic analysis as a potential method for gaining access to the largely underutilized genetic reservoir of specialized metabolite gene clusters in the majority of microbes that are not cultured. The combination of long-read metagenomic and metatranscriptomic analyses is significant because it can more accurately assess the mechanisms of microbial adaptation to the environment through BGC expression based on metatranscriptomic data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ranran Huang
- Institute of Marine Science and Technology, Shandong University, Qingdao, Shandong, China
| | - Yafei Wang
- Institute of Marine Science and Technology, Shandong University, Qingdao, Shandong, China
| | - Daixi Liu
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, China
| | - Shaoyu Wang
- Institute of Marine Science and Technology, Shandong University, Qingdao, Shandong, China
| | - Haibo Lv
- Institute of Marine Science and Technology, Shandong University, Qingdao, Shandong, China
| | - Zhen Yan
- Shandong Key Laboratory of Water Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shandong University, Qingdao, Shandong, China
- Suzhou Research Institute, Shandong University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China
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Riley R, Bowers RM, Camargo AP, Campbell A, Egan R, Eloe-Fadrosh EA, Foster B, Hofmeyr S, Huntemann M, Kellom M, Kimbrel JA, Oliker L, Yelick K, Pett-Ridge J, Salamov A, Varghese NJ, Clum A. Terabase-Scale Coassembly of a Tropical Soil Microbiome. Microbiol Spectr 2023; 11:e0020023. [PMID: 37310219 PMCID: PMC10434106 DOI: 10.1128/spectrum.00200-23] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2023] [Accepted: 05/24/2023] [Indexed: 06/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Petabases of environmental metagenomic data are publicly available, presenting an opportunity to characterize complex environments and discover novel lineages of life. Metagenome coassembly, in which many metagenomic samples from an environment are simultaneously analyzed to infer the underlying genomes' sequences, is an essential tool for achieving this goal. We applied MetaHipMer2, a distributed metagenome assembler that runs on supercomputing clusters, to coassemble 3.4 terabases (Tbp) of metagenome data from a tropical soil in the Luquillo Experimental Forest (LEF), Puerto Rico. The resulting coassembly yielded 39 high-quality (>90% complete, <5% contaminated, with predicted 23S, 16S, and 5S rRNA genes and ≥18 tRNAs) metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs), including two from the candidate phylum Eremiobacterota. Another 268 medium-quality (≥50% complete, <10% contaminated) MAGs were extracted, including the candidate phyla Dependentiae, Dormibacterota, and Methylomirabilota. In total, 307 medium- or higher-quality MAGs were assigned to 23 phyla, compared to 294 MAGs assigned to nine phyla in the same samples individually assembled. The low-quality (<50% complete, <10% contaminated) MAGs from the coassembly revealed a 49% complete rare biosphere microbe from the candidate phylum FCPU426 among other low-abundance microbes, an 81% complete fungal genome from the phylum Ascomycota, and 30 partial eukaryotic MAGs with ≥10% completeness, possibly representing protist lineages. A total of 22,254 viruses, many of them low abundance, were identified. Estimation of metagenome coverage and diversity indicates that we may have characterized ≥87.5% of the sequence diversity in this humid tropical soil and indicates the value of future terabase-scale sequencing and coassembly of complex environments. IMPORTANCE Petabases of reads are being produced by environmental metagenome sequencing. An essential step in analyzing these data is metagenome assembly, the computational reconstruction of genome sequences from microbial communities. "Coassembly" of metagenomic sequence data, in which multiple samples are assembled together, enables more complete detection of microbial genomes in an environment than "multiassembly," in which samples are assembled individually. To demonstrate the potential for coassembling terabases of metagenome data to drive biological discovery, we applied MetaHipMer2, a distributed metagenome assembler that runs on supercomputing clusters, to coassemble 3.4 Tbp of reads from a humid tropical soil environment. The resulting coassembly, its functional annotation, and analysis are presented here. The coassembly yielded more, and phylogenetically more diverse, microbial, eukaryotic, and viral genomes than the multiassembly of the same data. Our resource may facilitate the discovery of novel microbial biology in tropical soils and demonstrates the value of terabase-scale metagenome sequencing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert Riley
- Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley California, USA
| | - Robert M. Bowers
- Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley California, USA
| | - Antonio Pedro Camargo
- Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley California, USA
| | - Ashley Campbell
- Physical and Life Sciences Directorate, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California, USA
| | - Rob Egan
- Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley California, USA
| | | | - Brian Foster
- Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley California, USA
| | - Steven Hofmeyr
- Applied Math and Computational Research Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, USA
| | - Marcel Huntemann
- Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley California, USA
| | - Matthew Kellom
- Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley California, USA
| | - Jeffrey A. Kimbrel
- Physical and Life Sciences Directorate, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California, USA
| | - Leonid Oliker
- Applied Math and Computational Research Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, USA
| | - Katherine Yelick
- Applied Math and Computational Research Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, USA
- Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA
| | - Jennifer Pett-Ridge
- Physical and Life Sciences Directorate, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California, USA
- Life & Environmental Sciences Department, University of California Merced, Merced, California, USA
| | - Asaf Salamov
- Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley California, USA
| | - Neha J. Varghese
- Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley California, USA
| | - Alicia Clum
- Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley California, USA
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Trexler RV, Van Goethem MW, Goudeau D, Nath N, Malmstrom RR, Northen TR, Couradeau E. BONCAT-FACS-Seq reveals the active fraction of a biocrust community undergoing a wet-up event. Front Microbiol 2023; 14:1176751. [PMID: 37434715 PMCID: PMC10330726 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1176751] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2023] [Accepted: 06/05/2023] [Indexed: 07/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Determining which microorganisms are active within soil communities remains a major technical endeavor in microbial ecology research. One promising method to accomplish this is coupling bioorthogonal non-canonical amino acid tagging (BONCAT) with fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) which sorts cells based on whether or not they are producing new proteins. Combined with shotgun metagenomic sequencing (Seq), we apply this method to profile the diversity and potential functional capabilities of both active and inactive microorganisms in a biocrust community after being resuscitated by a simulated rain event. We find that BONCAT-FACS-Seq is capable of discerning the pools of active and inactive microorganisms, especially within hours of applying the BONCAT probe. The active and inactive components of the biocrust community differed in species richness and composition at both 4 and 21 h after the wetting event. The active fraction of the biocrust community is marked by taxa commonly observed in other biocrust communities, many of which play important roles in species interactions and nutrient transformations. Among these, 11 families within the Firmicutes are enriched in the active fraction, supporting previous reports indicating that the Firmicutes are key early responders to biocrust wetting. We highlight the apparent inactivity of many Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria through 21 h after wetting, and note that members of the Chitinophagaceae, enriched in the active fraction, may play important ecological roles following wetting. Based on the enrichment of COGs in the active fraction, predation by phage and other bacterial members, as well as scavenging and recycling of labile nutrients, appear to be important ecological processes soon after wetting. To our knowledge, this is the first time BONCAT-FACS-Seq has been applied to biocrust samples, and therefore we discuss the potential advantages and shortcomings of coupling metagenomics to BONCAT to intact soil communities such as biocrust. In all, by pairing BONCAT-FACS and metagenomics, we are capable of highlighting the taxa and potential functions that typifies the microbes actively responding to a rain event.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ryan V. Trexler
- Intercollege Graduate Degree Program in Ecology, Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States
| | - Marc W. Van Goethem
- Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, United States
- Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia
| | - Danielle Goudeau
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, DOE Joint Genome Institute, Berkeley, CA, United States
| | - Nandita Nath
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, DOE Joint Genome Institute, Berkeley, CA, United States
| | - Rex R. Malmstrom
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, DOE Joint Genome Institute, Berkeley, CA, United States
| | - Trent R. Northen
- Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, United States
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, DOE Joint Genome Institute, Berkeley, CA, United States
| | - Estelle Couradeau
- Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, United States
- Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States
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Lin L, Yi X, Liu H, Meng R, Li S, Liu X, Yang J, Xu Y, Li C, Wang Y, Xiao N, Li H, Liu Z, Xiang Z, Shu W, Guan WJ, Zheng XY, Sun J, Wang Z. The airway microbiome mediates the interaction between environmental exposure and respiratory health in humans. Nat Med 2023:10.1038/s41591-023-02424-2. [PMID: 37349537 DOI: 10.1038/s41591-023-02424-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2022] [Accepted: 05/26/2023] [Indexed: 06/24/2023]
Abstract
Exposure to environmental pollution influences respiratory health. The role of the airway microbial ecosystem underlying the interaction of exposure and respiratory health remains unclear. Here, through a province-wide chronic obstructive pulmonary disease surveillance program, we conducted a population-based survey of bacterial (n = 1,651) and fungal (n = 719) taxa and metagenomes (n = 1,128) from induced sputum of 1,651 household members in Guangdong, China. We found that cigarette smoking and higher PM2.5 concentration were associated with lung function impairment through the mediation of bacterial and fungal communities, respectively, and that exposure was associated with an enhanced inter-kingdom microbial interaction resembling the pattern seen in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Enrichment of Neisseria was associated with a 2.25-fold increased risk of high respiratory symptom burden, coupled with an elevation in Aspergillus, in association with occupational pollution. We developed an individualized microbiome-based health index, which covaried with exposure, respiratory symptoms and diseases, with potential generalizability to global datasets. Our results may inform environmental risk prevention and guide interventions that harness airway microbiome.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lifeng Lin
- Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Guangzhou, China.
| | - Xinzhu Yi
- Institute of Ecological Sciences, School of Life Sciences, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Haiyue Liu
- Xiamen Key Laboratory of Genetic Testing, Department of Laboratory Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xiamen University, School of Medicine, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
| | - Ruilin Meng
- Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Guangzhou, China
| | - Saiqiang Li
- School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Xiaomin Liu
- Institute of Ecological Sciences, School of Life Sciences, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Junhao Yang
- Institute of Ecological Sciences, School of Life Sciences, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Yanjun Xu
- Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Guangzhou, China
| | - Chuan Li
- Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Guangzhou, China
| | - Ye Wang
- Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Guangzhou, China
| | - Ni Xiao
- Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Guangzhou, China
| | - Huimin Li
- State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease, National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Disease, Guangzhou Institute for Respiratory Health, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Zuheng Liu
- Xiamen Key Laboratory of Cardiac Electrophysiology, Department of Cardiology, Xiamen Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xiamen University, School of Medicine, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
| | - Zhiming Xiang
- Department of Radiology, Panyu Central Hospital, Guangzhou, China
| | - Wensheng Shu
- Institute of Ecological Sciences, School of Life Sciences, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Wei-Jie Guan
- State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease, National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Disease, Guangzhou Institute for Respiratory Health, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
- Department of Thoracic Surgery, Guangzhou Institute for Respiratory Health, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
| | - Xue-Yan Zheng
- Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Guangzhou, China.
| | - Jiufeng Sun
- Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Guangzhou, China.
| | - Zhang Wang
- Institute of Ecological Sciences, School of Life Sciences, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China.
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Bornemann TLV, Esser SP, Stach TL, Burg T, Probst AJ. uBin: A manual refining tool for genomes from metagenomes. Environ Microbiol 2023; 25:1077-1083. [PMID: 36764661 DOI: 10.1111/1462-2920.16351] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/10/2023] [Accepted: 02/03/2023] [Indexed: 02/12/2023]
Abstract
Resolving bacterial and archaeal genomes from metagenomes has revolutionized our understanding of Earth's biomes yet producing high-quality genomes from assembled fragments has been an ever-standing problem. While automated binning software and their combination produce prokaryotic bins in high throughput, their manual refinement has been slow, sometimes difficult or missing entirely facilitating error propagation in public databases. Here, we present uBin, a GUI-based, standalone bin refiner that runs on all major operating platforms and was additionally designed for educational purposes. When applied to the public CAMI dataset, refinement of bins using GC content, coverage and taxonomy was able to improve 78.9% of bins by decreasing their contamination. We also applied the bin refiner as a standalone binner to public metagenomes from the International Space Station and demonstrate the recovery of near-complete genomes, whose replication indices indicate the active proliferation of microbes in Earth's lower orbit. uBin is an easy to instal software for bin refinement, binning of simple metagenomes and communication of metagenomic results to other scientists and in classrooms. The software and its helper scripts are open source and available under https://github.com/ProbstLab/uBin.
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Affiliation(s)
- Till L V Bornemann
- Environmental Metagenomics, Research Center One Health Ruhr of the University Alliance Ruhr, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany
| | - Sarah P Esser
- Environmental Metagenomics, Research Center One Health Ruhr of the University Alliance Ruhr, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany
| | - Tom L Stach
- Environmental Metagenomics, Research Center One Health Ruhr of the University Alliance Ruhr, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany
| | - Tim Burg
- Independent Researcher, Im Acker 59, Koblenz, Germany
| | - Alexander J Probst
- Environmental Metagenomics, Research Center One Health Ruhr of the University Alliance Ruhr, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany
- Centre of Water and Environmental Research (ZWU), University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany
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38
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Orellana LH, Krüger K, Sidhu C, Amann R. Comparing genomes recovered from time-series metagenomes using long- and short-read sequencing technologies. MICROBIOME 2023; 11:105. [PMID: 37179340 PMCID: PMC10182627 DOI: 10.1186/s40168-023-01557-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2022] [Accepted: 04/26/2023] [Indexed: 05/15/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Over the past years, sequencing technologies have expanded our ability to examine novel microbial metabolisms and diversity previously obscured by isolation approaches. Long-read sequencing promises to revolutionize the metagenomic field and recover less fragmented genomes from environmental samples. Nonetheless, how to best benefit from long-read sequencing and whether long-read sequencing can provide recovered genomes of similar characteristics as short-read approaches remains unclear. RESULTS We recovered metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) from the free-living fraction at four-time points during a spring bloom in the North Sea. The taxonomic composition of all MAGs recovered was comparable between technologies. However, differences consisted of higher sequencing depth for contigs and higher genome population diversity in short-read compared to long-read metagenomes. When pairing population genomes recovered from both sequencing approaches that shared ≥ 99% average nucleotide identity, long-read MAGs were composed of fewer contigs, a higher N50, and a higher number of predicted genes when compared to short-read MAGs. Moreover, 88% of the total long-read MAGs carried a 16S rRNA gene compared to only 23% of MAGs recovered from short-read metagenomes. Relative abundances for population genomes recovered using both technologies were similar, although disagreements were observed for high and low GC content MAGs. CONCLUSIONS Our results highlight that short-read technologies recovered more MAGs and a higher number of species than long-read due to an overall higher sequencing depth. Long-read samples produced higher quality MAGs and similar species composition compared to short-read sequencing. Differences in the GC content recovered by each sequencing technology resulted in divergences in the diversity recovered and relative abundance of MAGs within the GC content boundaries.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luis H Orellana
- Department of Molecular Ecology, Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Celsiusstraße 1, Bremen, 28359, Germany.
| | - Karen Krüger
- Department of Molecular Ecology, Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Celsiusstraße 1, Bremen, 28359, Germany
| | - Chandni Sidhu
- Department of Molecular Ecology, Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Celsiusstraße 1, Bremen, 28359, Germany
| | - Rudolf Amann
- Department of Molecular Ecology, Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Celsiusstraße 1, Bremen, 28359, Germany
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Stach TL, Sieber G, Shah M, Simon SA, Soares A, Bornemann TLV, Plewka J, Künkel J, Becker C, Meyer F, Boenigk J, Probst AJ. Temporal disturbance of a model stream ecosystem by high microbial diversity from treated wastewater. Microbiologyopen 2023; 12:e1347. [PMID: 37186231 PMCID: PMC10012233 DOI: 10.1002/mbo3.1347] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2022] [Revised: 02/02/2023] [Accepted: 02/17/2023] [Indexed: 03/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Microbial communities in freshwater streams play an essential role in ecosystem functioning via biogeochemical cycling. Yet, the impacts of treated wastewater influx into stream ecosystems on microbial strain diversity remain mostly unexplored. Here, we coupled full‐length 16S ribosomal RNA gene Nanopore sequencing and strain‐resolved metagenomics to investigate the impact of treated wastewater on a mesocosm system (AquaFlow) run with restored river water. Over 10 days, community Bray–Curtis dissimilarities between treated and control mesocosm decreased (0.57 ± 0.058 to 0.26 ± 0.046) based on ribosomal protein S3 gene clustering, finally converging to nearly identical communities. Similarly, strain‐resolved metagenomics revealed a high diversity of bacteria and viruses after the introduction of treated wastewater; these microbes also decreased over time resulting in the same strain clusters in control and treatment at the end of the experiment. Specifically, 39.2% of viral strains detected in all samples were present after the introduction of treated wastewater only. Although bacteria present at low abundance in the treated wastewater introduced additional antibiotic resistance genes, signals of naturally occurring ARG‐encoding organisms resembled the resistome at the endpoint. Our results suggest that the previously stressed freshwater stream and its microbial community are resilient to a substantial introduction of treated wastewater.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tom L. Stach
- Environmental Metagenomics, Research Center One Health Ruhr of the University Alliance Ruhr, Faculty of ChemistryUniversity of Duisburg‐EssenEssenGermany
| | - Guido Sieber
- Department of BiodiversityUniversity of Duisburg‐EssenEssenGermany
| | - Manan Shah
- Environmental Metagenomics, Research Center One Health Ruhr of the University Alliance Ruhr, Faculty of ChemistryUniversity of Duisburg‐EssenEssenGermany,Department of BiodiversityUniversity of Duisburg‐EssenEssenGermany
| | - Sophie A. Simon
- Environmental Metagenomics, Research Center One Health Ruhr of the University Alliance Ruhr, Faculty of ChemistryUniversity of Duisburg‐EssenEssenGermany
| | - André Soares
- Environmental Metagenomics, Research Center One Health Ruhr of the University Alliance Ruhr, Faculty of ChemistryUniversity of Duisburg‐EssenEssenGermany
| | - Till L. V. Bornemann
- Environmental Metagenomics, Research Center One Health Ruhr of the University Alliance Ruhr, Faculty of ChemistryUniversity of Duisburg‐EssenEssenGermany
| | - Julia Plewka
- Environmental Metagenomics, Research Center One Health Ruhr of the University Alliance Ruhr, Faculty of ChemistryUniversity of Duisburg‐EssenEssenGermany
| | - Julian Künkel
- Environmental Metagenomics, Research Center One Health Ruhr of the University Alliance Ruhr, Faculty of ChemistryUniversity of Duisburg‐EssenEssenGermany
| | | | - Folker Meyer
- Institute for Artificial IntelligenceUniversity of Duisburg‐EssenEssenGermany
| | - Jens Boenigk
- Department of BiodiversityUniversity of Duisburg‐EssenEssenGermany,Centre of Water and Environmental Research (ZWU)University of Duisburg‐EssenEssenGermany
| | - Alexander J. Probst
- Environmental Metagenomics, Research Center One Health Ruhr of the University Alliance Ruhr, Faculty of ChemistryUniversity of Duisburg‐EssenEssenGermany,Centre of Water and Environmental Research (ZWU)University of Duisburg‐EssenEssenGermany
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Gabrielli M, Dai Z, Delafont V, Timmers PHA, van der Wielen PWJJ, Antonelli M, Pinto AJ. Identifying Eukaryotes and Factors Influencing Their Biogeography in Drinking Water Metagenomes. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2023; 57:3645-3660. [PMID: 36827617 PMCID: PMC9996835 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.2c09010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2022] [Revised: 02/13/2023] [Accepted: 02/13/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
The biogeography of eukaryotes in drinking water systems is poorly understood relative to that of prokaryotes or viruses, limiting the understanding of their role and management. A challenge with studying complex eukaryotic communities is that metagenomic analysis workflows are currently not as mature as those that focus on prokaryotes or viruses. In this study, we benchmarked different strategies to recover eukaryotic sequences and genomes from metagenomic data and applied the best-performing workflow to explore the factors affecting the relative abundance and diversity of eukaryotic communities in drinking water distribution systems (DWDSs). We developed an ensemble approach exploiting k-mer- and reference-based strategies to improve eukaryotic sequence identification and identified MetaBAT2 as the best-performing binning approach for their clustering. Applying this workflow to the DWDS metagenomes showed that eukaryotic sequences typically constituted small proportions (i.e., <1%) of the overall metagenomic data with higher relative abundances in surface water-fed or chlorinated systems with high residuals. The α and β diversities of eukaryotes were correlated with those of prokaryotic and viral communities, highlighting the common role of environmental/management factors. Finally, a co-occurrence analysis highlighted clusters of eukaryotes whose members' presence and abundance in DWDSs were affected by disinfection strategies, climate conditions, and source water types.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marco Gabrielli
- Dipartimento
di Ingegneria Civile e Ambientale—Sezione Ambientale, Politecnico di Milano, Milan 20133, Italy
| | - Zihan Dai
- Research
Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
| | - Vincent Delafont
- Laboratoire
Ecologie et Biologie des Interactions (EBI), Equipe Microorganismes,
Hôtes, Environnements, Université
de Poitiers, Poitiers 86073, France
| | - Peer H. A. Timmers
- KWR
Watercycle Research Institute, 3433 PE Nieuwegein, The Netherlands
- Department
of Microbiology, Radboud University, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Paul W. J. J. van der Wielen
- KWR
Watercycle Research Institute, 3433 PE Nieuwegein, The Netherlands
- Laboratory
of Microbiology, Wageningen University, 6700 HB Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Manuela Antonelli
- Dipartimento
di Ingegneria Civile e Ambientale—Sezione Ambientale, Politecnico di Milano, Milan 20133, Italy
| | - Ameet J. Pinto
- School
of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, United States
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41
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Improved Assembly of Metagenome-Assembled Genomes and Viruses in Tibetan Saline Lake Sediment by HiFi Metagenomic Sequencing. Microbiol Spectr 2023; 11:e0332822. [PMID: 36475839 PMCID: PMC9927493 DOI: 10.1128/spectrum.03328-22] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
With the development and reduced costs of high-throughput sequencing technology, environmental dark matter, such as novel metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) and viruses, is now being discovered easily. However, due to read length limitations, MAGs and viromes often suffer from genome discontinuity and deficiencies in key functional elements. Here, by applying long-read sequencing technology to sediment samples from a Tibetan saline lake, we comprehensively analyzed the performance of high-fidelity (HiFi) reads and the possibility of integration with short-read next-generation sequencing (NGS) data. In total, 207 full-length nonredundant 16S rRNA gene sequences and 19 full-length nonredundant 18S rRNA genes were directly obtained from HiFi reads, which greatly surpassed the retrieval performance of NGS technology. We carried out a cross-sectional comparison among multiple assembly strategies, referred to as 'NGS', 'Hybrid (NGS+HiFi)', and 'HiFi'. Two MAGs and 29 viruses with circular genomes were reconstructed using HiFi reads alone, indicating the great power of the 'HiFi' approach to assemble high-quality microbial genomes. Among the 3 strategies, the 'Hybrid' approach produced the highest number of medium/high-quality MAGs and viral genomes, while the ratio of MAGs containing 16S rRNA genes was significantly improved in the 'HiFi' assembly results. Overall, our study provides a practical metagenomic resolution for analyzing complex environmental samples by taking advantage of both the short-read and HiFi long-read sequencing methods to extract the maximum amount of information, including data on prokaryotes, eukaryotes, and viruses, via the 'Hybrid' approach. IMPORTANCE To expand the understanding of microbial dark matter in the environment, we did the first comparative evaluation of multiple assembly strategies based on high-throughput short-read and HiFi data from lake sediments metagenomic sequencing. The results demonstrated great improvement of the 'Hybrid' assembly method (short-read next-generation sequencing data plus HiFi data) in the recovery of medium/high-quality MAGs and viral genomes. Further analysis showed that HiFi data is important to retrieve the complete circular prokaryotic and viral genomes. Meanwhile, hundreds of full-length 16S/18S rRNA genes were assembled directly from HiFi data, which facilitated the species composition studies of complex environmental samples, especially for understanding micro-eukaryotes. Therefore, the application of the latest HiFi long-read sequencing could greatly improve the metagenomic assembly integrity and promote environmental microbiome research.
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Ugwuanyi IR, Fogel ML, Bowden R, Steele A, De Natale G, Troise C, Somma R, Piochi M, Mormone A, Glamoclija M. Comparative metagenomics at Solfatara and Pisciarelli hydrothermal systems in Italy reveal that ecological differences across substrates are not ubiquitous. Front Microbiol 2023; 14:1066406. [PMID: 36819055 PMCID: PMC9930910 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1066406] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/10/2022] [Accepted: 01/06/2023] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction Continental hydrothermal systems (CHSs) are geochemically complex, and they support microbial communities that vary across substrates. However, our understanding of these variations across the complete range of substrates in CHS is limited because many previous studies have focused predominantly on aqueous settings. Methods Here we used metagenomes in the context of their environmental geochemistry to investigate the ecology of different substrates (i.e., water, mud and fumarolic deposits) from Solfatara and Pisciarelli. Results and Discussion Results indicate that both locations are lithologically similar with distinct fluid geochemistry. In particular, all substrates from Solfatara have similar chemistry whereas Pisciarelli substrates have varying chemistry; with water and mud from bubbling pools exhibiting high SO4 2- and NH4 + concentrations. Species alpha diversity was found to be different between locations but not across substrates, and pH was shown to be the most important driver of both diversity and microbial community composition. Based on cluster analysis, microbial community structure differed significantly between Pisciarelli substrates but not between Solfatara substrates. Pisciarelli mud pools, were dominated by (hyper)thermophilic archaea, and on average, bacteria dominated Pisciarelli fumarolic deposits and all investigated Solfatara environments. Carbon fixation and sulfur oxidation were the most important metabolic pathways fueled by volcanic outgassing at both locations. Together, results demonstrate that ecological differences across substrates are not a widespread phenomenon but specific to the system. Therefore, this study demonstrates the importance of analyzing different substrates of a CHS to understand the full range of microbial ecology to avoid biased ecological assessments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ifeoma R. Ugwuanyi
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ, United States,Ifeoma R. Ugwuanyi, ✉
| | - Marilyn L. Fogel
- EDGE Institute, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, United States
| | - Roxane Bowden
- Earth and Planets Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington, DC, United States
| | - Andrew Steele
- Earth and Planets Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington, DC, United States
| | - Giuseppe De Natale
- Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Osservatorio Vesuviano, Naples, Italy,Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche INO, Naples, Italy
| | - Claudia Troise
- Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Osservatorio Vesuviano, Naples, Italy,Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche INO, Naples, Italy
| | - Renato Somma
- Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Osservatorio Vesuviano, Naples, Italy,Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche IRISS, Naples, Italy
| | - Monica Piochi
- Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Osservatorio Vesuviano, Naples, Italy
| | - Angela Mormone
- Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Osservatorio Vesuviano, Naples, Italy
| | - Mihaela Glamoclija
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ, United States,*Correspondence: Mihaela Glamoclija, ✉
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43
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Fernandes-Martins MC, Colman DR, Boyd ES. Relationships between fluid mixing, biodiversity, and chemosynthetic primary productivity in Yellowstone hot springs. Environ Microbiol 2023; 25:1022-1040. [PMID: 36651919 DOI: 10.1111/1462-2920.16340] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2022] [Accepted: 01/14/2023] [Indexed: 01/19/2023]
Abstract
The factors that influence biodiversity and productivity of hydrothermal ecosystems are not well understood. Here we investigate the relationship between fluid mixing, biodiversity, and chemosynthetic primary productivity in three co-localized hot springs (RSW, RSN, and RSE) in Yellowstone National Park that have different geochemistry. All three springs are sourced by reduced hydrothermal fluid, but RSE and RSN receive input of vapour phase gas and oxidized groundwaters, with input of both being substantially higher in RSN. Metagenomic sequencing revealed that communities in RSN were more biodiverse than those of RSE and RSW in all dimensions evaluated. Microcosm activity assays indicate that rates of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) uptake were also higher in RSN than in RSE and RSW. Together, these results suggest that increased mixing of reduced volcanic fluid with oxidized fluids generates additional niche space capable of supporting increasingly biodiverse communities that are more productive. These results provide insight into the factors that generate and maintain chemosynthetic biodiversity in hydrothermal systems and that influence the distribution, abundance, and diversity of microbial life in communities supported by chemosynthesis. These factors may also extend to other ecosystems not supported by photosynthesis, including the vast subterranean biosphere and biospheres beneath ice sheets and glaciers.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Daniel R Colman
- Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana, USA
| | - Eric S Boyd
- Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana, USA
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44
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Wilson NG, Hernandez-Leyva A, Schwartz DJ, Bacharier LB, Kau AL. The gut metagenome harbors metabolic and antibiotic resistance signatures of moderate-to-severe asthma. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.01.03.522677. [PMID: 36711684 PMCID: PMC9882014 DOI: 10.1101/2023.01.03.522677] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
Abstract
Asthma is a common allergic airway disease that develops in association with the human microbiome early in life. Both the composition and function of the infant gut microbiota have been linked to asthma risk, but functional alterations in the gut microbiota of older patients with established asthma remain an important knowledge gap. Here, we performed whole metagenomic shotgun sequencing of 95 stool samples from 59 healthy and 36 subjects with moderate-to-severe asthma to characterize the metagenomes of gut microbiota in children and adults 6 years and older. Mapping of functional orthologs revealed that asthma contributes to 2.9% of the variation in metagenomic content even when accounting for other important clinical demographics. Differential abundance analysis showed an enrichment of long-chain fatty acid (LCFA) metabolism pathways which have been previously implicated in airway smooth muscle and immune responses in asthma. We also observed increased richness of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in people with asthma. One differentially abundant ARG was a macrolide resistance marker, ermF, which significantly co-occurred with the Bacteroides fragilis toxin, suggesting a possible relationship between enterotoxigenic B. fragilis, antibiotic resistance, and asthma. Lastly, we found multiple virulence factor (VF) and ARG pairs that co-occurred in both cohorts suggesting that virulence and antibiotic resistance traits are co-selected and maintained in the fecal microbiota of people with asthma. Overall, our results show functional alterations via LCFA biosynthetic genes and increases in antibiotic resistance genes in the gut microbiota of subjects with moderate-to-severe asthma and could have implications for asthma management and treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Naomi G. Wilson
- Division of Allergy and Immunology, Department of Medicine and Center for Women’s Infectious Disease Research, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA
| | - Ariel Hernandez-Leyva
- Division of Allergy and Immunology, Department of Medicine and Center for Women’s Infectious Disease Research, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA
| | - Drew J. Schwartz
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Pediatrics and Center for Women’s Infectious Disease Research, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA
| | - Leonard B. Bacharier
- Division of Allergy, Immunology and Pulmonary Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Monroe Carell Jr Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Andrew L. Kau
- Division of Allergy and Immunology, Department of Medicine and Center for Women’s Infectious Disease Research, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA
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Shen J, McFarland AG, Blaustein RA, Rose LJ, Perry-Dow KA, Moghadam AA, Hayden MK, Young VB, Hartmann EM. An improved workflow for accurate and robust healthcare environmental surveillance using metagenomics. MICROBIOME 2022; 10:206. [PMID: 36457108 PMCID: PMC9716758 DOI: 10.1186/s40168-022-01412-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2022] [Accepted: 11/04/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Effective surveillance of microbial communities in the healthcare environment is increasingly important in infection prevention. Metagenomics-based techniques are promising due to their untargeted nature but are currently challenged by several limitations: (1) they are not powerful enough to extract valid signals out of the background noise for low-biomass samples, (2) they do not distinguish between viable and nonviable organisms, and (3) they do not reveal the microbial load quantitatively. An additional practical challenge towards a robust pipeline is the inability to efficiently allocate sequencing resources a priori. Assessment of sequencing depth is generally practiced post hoc, if at all, for most microbiome studies, regardless of the sample type. This practice is inefficient at best, and at worst, poor sequencing depth jeopardizes the interpretation of study results. To address these challenges, we present a workflow for metagenomics-based environmental surveillance that is appropriate for low-biomass samples, distinguishes viability, is quantitative, and estimates sequencing resources. RESULTS The workflow was developed using a representative microbiome sample, which was created by aggregating 120 surface swabs collected from a medical intensive care unit. Upon evaluating and optimizing techniques as well as developing new modules, we recommend best practices and introduce a well-structured workflow. We recommend adopting liquid-liquid extraction to improve DNA yield and only incorporating whole-cell filtration when the nonbacterial proportion is large. We suggest including propidium monoazide treatment coupled with internal standards and absolute abundance profiling for viability assessment and involving cultivation when demanding comprehensive profiling. We further recommend integrating internal standards for quantification and additionally qPCR when we expect poor taxonomic classification. We also introduce a machine learning-based model to predict required sequencing effort from accessible sample features. The model helps make full use of sequencing resources and achieve desired outcomes. Video Abstract CONCLUSIONS: This workflow will contribute to more accurate and robust environmental surveillance and infection prevention. Lessons gained from this study will also benefit the continuing development of methods in relevant fields.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiaxian Shen
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208-3109, USA.
| | - Alexander G McFarland
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208-3109, USA
| | - Ryan A Blaustein
- Department of Nutrition and Food Science, University of Maryland, College Park, USA
| | - Laura J Rose
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, USA
| | | | - Anahid A Moghadam
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208-3109, USA
| | - Mary K Hayden
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Rush Medical College, Chicago, USA
| | - Vincent B Young
- Department of Internal Medicine/Division of Infectious Diseases, The University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, USA
| | - Erica M Hartmann
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208-3109, USA
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Qi Q, Zhao J, Tian R, Zeng Y, Xie C, Gao Q, Dai T, Wang H, He JS, Konstantinidis KT, Yang Y, Zhou J, Guo X. Microbially enhanced methane uptake under warming enlarges ecosystem carbon sink in a Tibetan alpine grassland. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2022; 28:6906-6920. [PMID: 36191158 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.16444] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/12/2022] [Revised: 08/10/2022] [Accepted: 09/02/2022] [Indexed: 05/25/2023]
Abstract
The alpine grasslands of the Tibetan Plateau store 23.2 Pg soil organic carbon, which becomes susceptible to microbial degradation with climate warming. However, accurate prediction of how the soil carbon stock changes under future climate warming is hampered by our limited understanding of belowground complex microbial communities. Here, we show that 4 years of warming strongly stimulated methane (CH4 ) uptake by 93.8% and aerobic respiration (CO2 ) by 11.3% in the soils of alpine grassland ecosystem. Due to no significant effects of warming on net ecosystem CO2 exchange (NEE), the warming-stimulated CH4 uptake enlarged the carbon sink capacity of whole ecosystem. Furthermore, precipitation alternation did not alter such warming effects, despite the significant effects of precipitation on NEE and soil CH4 fluxes were observed. Metagenomic sequencing revealed that warming led to significant shifts in the overall microbial community structure and the abundances of functional genes, which contrasted to no detectable changes after 2 years of warming. Carbohydrate utilization genes were significantly increased by warming, corresponding with significant increases in soil aerobic respiration. Increased methanotrophic genes and decreased methanogenic genes were observed under warming, which significantly (R2 = .59, p < .001) correlated with warming-enhanced CH4 uptakes. Furthermore, 212 metagenome-assembled genomes were recovered, including many populations involved in the degradation of various organic matter and a highly abundant methylotrophic population of the Methyloceanibacter genus. Collectively, our results provide compelling evidence that specific microbial functional traits for CH4 and CO2 cycling processes respond to climate warming with differential effects on soil greenhouse gas emissions. Alpine grasslands may play huge roles in mitigating climate warming through such microbially enhanced CH4 uptake.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qi Qi
- State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
| | - Jianshu Zhao
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering and School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
| | - Renmao Tian
- Institute for Food Safety and Health, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, Illinois, USA
| | - Yufei Zeng
- State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
| | - Changyi Xie
- State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
| | - Qun Gao
- State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
| | - Tianjiao Dai
- State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
| | - Hao Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, and College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China
| | - Jin-Sheng He
- State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, and College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China
- College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, and Key Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes of the Ministry of Education, Institute of Ecology, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Konstantinos T Konstantinidis
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering and School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
| | - Yunfeng Yang
- State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
| | - Jizhong Zhou
- Institute for Environmental Genomics, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, USA
- Department of Microbiology and Plant Biology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, USA
- Earth and Environmental Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, USA
| | - Xue Guo
- State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
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Wei S, Jespersen ML, Baunwall SMD, Myers PN, Smith EM, Dahlerup JF, Rasmussen S, Nielsen HB, Licht TR, Bahl MI, Hvas CL. Cross-generational bacterial strain transfer to an infant after fecal microbiota transplantation to a pregnant patient: a case report. MICROBIOME 2022; 10:193. [PMID: 36352460 PMCID: PMC9647999 DOI: 10.1186/s40168-022-01394-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2022] [Accepted: 10/13/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) effectively prevents the recurrence of Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI). Long-term engraftment of donor-specific microbial consortia may occur in the recipient, but potential further transfer to other sites, including the vertical transmission of donor-specific strains to future generations, has not been investigated. Here, we report, for the first time, the cross-generational transmission of specific bacterial strains from an FMT donor to a pregnant patient with CDI and further to her child, born at term, 26 weeks after the FMT treatment. METHODS A pregnant woman (gestation week 12 + 5) with CDI was treated with FMT via colonoscopy. She gave vaginal birth at term to a healthy baby. Fecal samples were collected from the feces donor, the mother (before FMT, and 1, 8, 15, 22, 26, and 50 weeks after FMT), and the infant (meconium at birth and 3 and 6 months after birth). Fecal samples were profiled by deep metagenomic sequencing for strain-level analysis. The microbial transfer was monitored using single nucleotide variants in metagenomes and further compared to a collection of metagenomic samples from 651 healthy infants and 58 healthy adults. RESULTS The single FMT procedure led to an uneventful and sustained clinical resolution in the patient, who experienced no further CDI-related symptoms up to 50 weeks after treatment. The gut microbiota of the patient with CDI differed considerably from the healthy donor and was characterized as low in alpha diversity and enriched for several potential pathogens. The FMT successfully normalized the patient's gut microbiota, likely by donor microbiota transfer and engraftment. Importantly, our analysis revealed that some specific strains were transferred from the donor to the patient and then further to the infant, thus demonstrating cross-generational microbial transfer. CONCLUSIONS The evidence for cross-generational strain transfer following FMT provides novel insights into the dynamics and engraftment of bacterial strains from healthy donors. The data suggests FMT treatment of pregnant women as a potential strategy to introduce beneficial strains or even bacterial consortia to infants, i.e., neonatal seeding. Video Abstract.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shaodong Wei
- National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark, Kemitorvet 202, 2800, Kgs Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Marie Louise Jespersen
- National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark, Kemitorvet 202, 2800, Kgs Lyngby, Denmark
- Clinical-Microbiomics A/S, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Simon Mark Dahl Baunwall
- Department of Hepatology and Gastroenterology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark
- Institute of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | | | - Emilie Milton Smith
- National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark, Kemitorvet 202, 2800, Kgs Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Jens Frederik Dahlerup
- Department of Hepatology and Gastroenterology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Simon Rasmussen
- Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | | | - Tine Rask Licht
- National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark, Kemitorvet 202, 2800, Kgs Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Martin Iain Bahl
- National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark, Kemitorvet 202, 2800, Kgs Lyngby, Denmark.
| | - Christian Lodberg Hvas
- Department of Hepatology and Gastroenterology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark
- Institute of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
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Roux S, Emerson JB. Diversity in the soil virosphere: to infinity and beyond? Trends Microbiol 2022; 30:1025-1035. [PMID: 35644779 DOI: 10.1016/j.tim.2022.05.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2021] [Revised: 05/02/2022] [Accepted: 05/03/2022] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
Viruses are key members of Earth's microbiomes, shaping microbial community composition and metabolism. Here, we describe recent advances in 'soil viromics', that is, virus-focused metagenome and metatranscriptome analyses that offer unprecedented windows into the soil virosphere. Given the emerging picture of high soil viral activity, diversity, and dynamics over short spatiotemporal scales, we then outline key eco-evolutionary processes that we hypothesize are the major diversity drivers for soil viruses. We argue that a community effort is needed to establish a 'global soil virosphere atlas' that can be used to address the roles of viruses in soil microbiomes and terrestrial biogeochemical cycles across spatiotemporal scales.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simon Roux
- DOE (Department of Energy) Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA.
| | - Joanne B Emerson
- Department of Plant Pathology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA; Genome Center, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA.
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Truu M, Ligi T, Nõlvak H, Peeb A, Tiirik K, Devarajan AK, Oopkaup K, Kasemets K, Kõiv-Vainik M, Kasak K, Truu J. Impact of synthetic silver nanoparticles on the biofilm microbial communities and wastewater treatment efficiency in experimental hybrid filter system treating municipal wastewater. JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS 2022; 440:129721. [PMID: 35963093 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2022.129721] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2022] [Revised: 07/22/2022] [Accepted: 08/04/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) threaten human and ecosystem health, and are among the most widely used engineered nanomaterials that reach wastewater during production, usage, and disposal phases. This study evaluated the effect of a 100-fold increase in collargol (protein-coated AgNP) and Ag+ ions concentrations in municipal wastewater on the microbial community composition of the filter material biofilms (FMB) and the purification efficiency of the hybrid treatment system consisting of vertical (VF) and horizontal (HF) subsurface flow filters. We found that increased amounts of collargol and AgNO3 in wastewater had a modest effect on the prokaryotic community composition in FMB and did not significantly affect the performance of the studied system. Regardless of how Ag was introduced, 99.9% of it was removed by the system. AgNPs and AgNO3 concentrations did not significantly affect the purification efficiency of the system. AgNO3 induced a higher increase in the genetic potential of certain Ag resistance mechanisms in VFs than collargol; however, the increase in Ag resistance potential was similar for both substances in HF. Hence, the microbial community composition in biofilms of vertical and horizontal flow filters is largely resistant, resilient, or functionally redundant in response to AgNPs addition in the form of collargol.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marika Truu
- Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Tartu, Riia 23, 51010 Tartu, Estonia.
| | - Teele Ligi
- Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Tartu, Riia 23, 51010 Tartu, Estonia.
| | - Hiie Nõlvak
- Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Tartu, Riia 23, 51010 Tartu, Estonia.
| | - Angela Peeb
- Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Tartu, Riia 23, 51010 Tartu, Estonia.
| | - Kertu Tiirik
- Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Tartu, Riia 23, 51010 Tartu, Estonia.
| | - Arun Kumar Devarajan
- Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Tartu, Riia 23, 51010 Tartu, Estonia.
| | - Kristjan Oopkaup
- Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Tartu, Riia 23, 51010 Tartu, Estonia.
| | - Kaja Kasemets
- Laboratory of Environmental Toxicology, National Institute of Chemical Physics and Biophysics, Akadeemia tee 23, 12618 Tallinn, Estonia.
| | - Margit Kõiv-Vainik
- Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Vanemuise 46, 51014 Tartu, Estonia.
| | - Kuno Kasak
- Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Vanemuise 46, 51014 Tartu, Estonia.
| | - Jaak Truu
- Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Tartu, Riia 23, 51010 Tartu, Estonia.
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Kim M, Rodriguez-R LM, Hatt JK, Kayali O, Nalá R, Dunlop AL, Brennan PA, Corwin E, Smith AK, Brown J, Konstantinidis KT. Higher pathogen load in children from Mozambique vs. USA revealed by comparative fecal microbiome profiling. ISME COMMUNICATIONS 2022; 2:74. [PMID: 37938667 PMCID: PMC9723681 DOI: 10.1038/s43705-022-00154-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2022] [Revised: 07/08/2022] [Accepted: 07/20/2022] [Indexed: 07/05/2023]
Abstract
The infant gut microbiome has lifelong implications on health and immunity but there is still limited understanding of the microbiome differences and similarities between children in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) vs. high-income countries (HICs). Here, we describe and compare the microbiome profile of children aged under 48 months in two urban areas: Maputo, Mozambique and Atlanta, USA using shotgun metagenomics. The gut microbiome of American children showed distinct development, characterized by higher alpha diversity after infancy, compared to the same age group of African children, and the microbiomes clustered separately based on geographic location or age. The abundances of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and virulence factors (VFs) were significantly higher in Maputo children, driven primarily by several primary and opportunistic pathogens. Most notably, about 50% of Maputo children under the age of two were positive for enterotoxigenic (ETEC) and typical enteropathogenic (EPEC) Escherichia coli diagnostic genes while none of the Atlanta age-matched children showed such a positive signal. In contrast, commensal species such as Phocaeicola vulgatus and Bacteroides caccae were more abundant in Atlanta, potentially reflecting diets rich in animal protein and susceptibility to inflammatory diseases. Overall, our results suggest that the different environments characterizing the two cities have significant, distinctive signatures on the microbiota of children and its development over time. Lack of safe water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) conditions and/or unsafe food sources may explain the higher enteric pathogen load among children in Maputo.
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Affiliation(s)
- Minjae Kim
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA
- Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 80523, USA
| | - Luis M Rodriguez-R
- Department of Microbiology and Digital Science Center (DiSC), University of Innsbruck, 6020, Innsbruck, Tyrol, Austria
| | - Janet K Hatt
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA
| | - Osman Kayali
- School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA
| | - Rassul Nalá
- Instituto Nacional de Saúde, Marracuene, Mozambique
| | - Anne L Dunlop
- Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA
| | | | - Elizabeth Corwin
- School of Nursing, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10032, USA
| | - Alicia K Smith
- Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA
| | - Joe Brown
- Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North, Carolina, NC, 27599, USA.
| | - Konstantinos T Konstantinidis
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA.
- School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA.
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