0000000000802745
AUTHOR
Kristie Tanner
Microbial communities of the Mediterranean rocky coast: ecology and biotechnological potential
AbstractMicrobial communities from harsh environments hold great promise as sources of biotechnologically-relevant strains. In the present work, we have deeply characterized the microorganisms from three different rocky locations of the Mediterranean coast, an environment characterised by being subjected to harsh conditions such as high levels of irradiation and large temperature and salinity fluctuations. Through culture-dependent and culture-independent techniques, we have retrieved a complete view of the ecology and functional aspects of these communities and assessed the biotechnological potential of the cultivable microorganisms. A culture-independent approach through high-throughput 1…
Polar solar panels: Arctic and Antarctic microbiomes display similar taxonomic profiles
Solar panels located on high (Arctic and Antarctic) latitudes combine the harshness of the climate with that of the solar exposure. We report here that these polar solar panels are inhabited by similar microbial communities in taxonomic terms, dominated by Hymenobacter spp., Sphingomonas spp. and Ascomycota. Our results suggest that solar panels, even on high latitudes, can shape a microbial ecosystem adapted to irradiation and desiccation.
The long journey towards standards for engineering biosystems: Are the Molecular Biology and the Biotech communities ready to standardise?
Standards are the basis of technology: they allow rigorous description and exact measurement of properties, reliable reproducibility and a common “language” that enables different communities to work together. Molecular biology was in part created by physicists; yet, the field did not inherit the focus on the quantitation, the definition of system boundaries and the robust, unequivocal language that is characteristic of the other natural sciences. However, synthetic biology (SynBio) increasingly requires scientific, technical, operational and semantic standards for the field to become a full‐fledged engineering discipline with a high level of accuracy in the design, manufacturing and perfor…
Warm and wet: robust lipase-producing bacteria from the indoor environment
Lipases are key biocatalysts with important biotechnological applications. With the aim of isolating robust lipolytic microbial strains, we have analyzed the bacterial communities inhabiting two domestic extreme environments: a thermophilic sauna and a dishwasher filter. Scanning electron microscopy revealed biofilm-forming and scattered microorganisms in the sauna and dishwasher sample, respectively. A culture-independent approach based on 16S rRNA analysis indicated a high abundance of Proteobacteria in the sauna sample; and, a large amount of Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Cyanobacteria and Actinobacteria in the dishwasher filter. With a culture-dependent approach, we isolated 48 bacterial …
Sphingomonas solaris sp. nov., isolated from a solar panel in Boston, Massachusetts
Solar panel surfaces, although subjected to a range of extreme environmental conditions, are inhabited by a diverse microbial community adapted to solar radiation, desiccation and temperature fluctuations. This is the first time a new bacterial species has been isolated from this environment. Strain R4DWNT belongs to the genus Sphingomonas and was isolated from a solar panel surface in Boston, MA, USA. Strain R4DWNT is a Gram-negative, non-motile and rod-shaped bacteria that tested positive for oxidase and catalase and forms round-shaped, shiny and orange-coloured colonies. It is mesophilic, neutrophilic and non-halophilic, and presents a more stenotrophic metabolism than its closest neighb…
Extremophilic microbial communities on photovoltaic panel surfaces: a two‐year study
Solar panel surfaces can be colonized by microorganisms adapted to desiccation, temperature fluctuations and solar radiation. Although the taxonomic and functional composition of these communities has been studied, the microbial colonization process remains unclear. In the present work, we have monitored this microbial colonization process during 24 months by performing weekly measurements of the photovoltaic efficiency, carrying out 16S rRNA gene high‐throughput sequencing, and studying the effect of antimicrobial compounds on the composition of the microbial biocenosis. This is the first time a long‐term study of the colonization process of solar panels has been performed, and our results…
Microbial Ecology on Solar Panels in Berkeley, CA, United States
Solar panels can be found practically all over the world and represent a standard surface that can be colonized by microbial communities that are resistant to harsh environmental conditions, including high irradiation, temperature fluctuations and desiccation. These properties make them not only ideal sources of stress-resistant bacteria, but also standard devices to study the microbial communities and their colonization process from different areas of Earth. We report here a comprehensive description of the microbial communities associated with solar panels in Berkeley, CA, United States. Cultivable bacteria were isolated to characterize their adhesive capabilities, and UV- and desiccation…
Additional file 1: Table S1. of Standards not that standard
Biobrick parts (Bb1 to Bb6) included in the different DNA constructions tested in this work. Table S2. Proteins displaying statistically significant alterations in their expression levels, as detected by iTRAQ analysis (DOCX 18 kb).
Standards not that standard
There is a general assent on the key role of standards in Synthetic Biology. In two consecutive letters to this journal, suggestions on the assembly methods for the Registry of standard biological parts have been described. We fully agree with those authors on the need of a more flexible building strategy and we highlight in the present work two major functional challenges standardization efforts have to deal with: the need of both universal and orthogonal behaviors. We provide experimental data that clearly indicate that such engineering requirements should not be taken for granted in Synthetic Biology. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s1303…
Life under the sun: microbial ecology and applications of the solar panel microbiota
El mundo procariota es vasto y diverso, y aún queda una gran fracción por explorar. La diversidad microbiana es el resultado de la evolución y la adaptación. Esta diversidad nos proporciona un increíble arsenal de herramientas únicas y útiles que se pueden utilizar en una amplia gama de aplicaciones industriales y farmacéuticas. La búsqueda de estas herramientas biológicas es lo que conocemos como bioprospección y, teniendo en cuenta que hasta la fecha sólo se ha explorado una fracción de la diversidad microbiana global, el número de cepas, herramientas genéticas o metabolitos con aplicaciones en biotecnología o en biomedicina que aún quedan por descubrir es abrumador. Esto abre una gran op…
A round trip to the desert: In situ nanopore sequencing informs targeted bioprospecting
Bioprospecting expeditions are often performed in remote locations, in order to access previously unexplored samples. Nevertheless, the actual potential of those samples is only assessed once scientists are back in the laboratory, where a time-consuming screening must take place. This work evaluates the suitability of using Nanopore sequencing during a journey to the Tabernas Desert (Spain) for forecasting the potential of specific samples in terms of bacterial diversity and prevalence of radiation- and desiccation-resistant taxa, which were the target of the bioprospecting activities. Samples collected during the first day were analyzed through 16S rRNA gene sequencing using a mobile labor…
Bioprospecting challenges in unusual environments
Editorial: The microbiome as a source of new enterprises and job creation.
Microbial communities of the Mediterranean rocky shore: ecology and biotechnological potential of the sea‐land transition
Microbial communities from harsh environments hold great promise as sources of biotechnologically relevant strains and compounds. In the present work, we have characterized the microorganisms from the supralittoral and splash zone in three different rocky locations of the Western Mediterranean coast, a tough environment characterized by high levels of irradiation and large temperature and salinity fluctuations. We have retrieved a complete view of the ecology and functional aspects of these communities and assessed the biotechnological potential of the cultivable microorganisms. All three locations displayed very similar taxonomic profiles, with the genus Rubrobacter and the families Xenoco…
Bioprospecting the solar panel microbiome: High-throughput screening for antioxidant bacteria in a caenorhabditis elegansModel
Microbial communities that are exposed to sunlight typically share a series of adaptations to deal with the radiation they are exposed to, including efficient DNA repair systems, pigment production and protection against oxidative stress, which makes these environments good candidates for the search of novel antioxidant microorganisms. In this research project, we isolated potential antioxidant pigmented bacteria from a dry and highly-irradiated extreme environment: solar panels. High-throughput in vivo assays using Caenorhabditis elegans as an experimental model demonstrated the high antioxidant and ultraviolet-protection properties of these bacterial isolates that proved to be rich in car…