Search results for "Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology"
showing 10 items of 1090 documents
Dysbiosis in marine aquaculture revealed through microbiome analysis: reverse ecology for environmental sustainability
2020
AbstractThe increasing demand for products for human consumption is leading to the fast-growing expansion of numerous food sectors such as marine aquaculture (mariculture). However, excessive input of nutrients and pollutants modifies marine ecosystems. Here, we applied a metagenomic approach to investigate these perturbations in samples from marine farms of gilthead seabream cultures. Results revealed dysbiosis and functional imbalance within the net cage with a unique structure, with little interference with samples from the fish microbiota or those collected far away from the coast. Remarkably, below the cage the prokaryotic community was highly similar to the marine microbiome of photic…
Bioprospecting challenges in unusual environments
2017
Editorial: The microbiome as a source of new enterprises and job creation.
Chromosome-Encoded Hemolysin, Phospholipase, and Collagenase in Plasmidless Isolates of Photobacterium damselae subsp. damselae Contribute to Virulen…
2017
ABSTRACT Photobacterium damselae subsp. damselae is a pathogen of marine animals, including fish of importance in aquaculture. The virulence plasmid pPHDD1, characteristic of highly hemolytic isolates, encodes the hemolysins damselysin (Dly) and phobalysin (PhlyP). Strains lacking pPHDD1 constitute the vast majority of the isolates from fish outbreaks, but genetic studies to identify virulence factors in plasmidless strains are scarce. Here, we show that the chromosome I-encoded hemolysin PhlyC plays roles in virulence and cell toxicity in pPHDD1-negative isolates of this pathogen. By combining the analyses of whole genomes and of gene deletion mutants, we identified two hitherto uncharacte…
Addition of milk fat globule membrane as an ingredient of infant formulas for resembling the polar lipids of human milk
2016
Polar lipid (PL) contents in human milk (HM) from two different geographic zones in Spain (central and coastal) were determined. These PLs were also analysed in several infant formulas (IFs), three of which contained milk fat globule membrane (MFGM), an ingredient used to resemble the PL profile of HM. Total PL in HM decreased significantly (p < 0.05) from transitional milk (48.62 mg 100 mL−1) to 6 months (28.66 mg 100 mL−1). In HM, sphingomyelin was the most abundant PL, followed by phosphatidylethanolamine; in IFs the most abundant PL was phosphatidylethanolamine. Only IFs with MFGM (54.79–58.07 mg 100 mL−1) could supply the total and individual PL content present in all lactation periods…
Fermentation in fish and by-products processing: an overview of current research and future prospects
2020
Fish industry has been growing continuously over the last decades and generates huge amounts of by-products. These by-products come from fish head, skin, bones, thorns, and viscera. Part of them are processed for feed, collagen and oil production, and to a lesser extent to produce biofuels and fertilizers, but many other high-value bioactive compounds can be recovered. Fish fermentation, which is traditionally used to increase fish shelf-life, results into the formation of bacteria metabolites of interest. Applied to by-products, fermentation increases the quality of protein hydrolysates, oil and produces antioxidant compounds. This technology, which is safe, environmental-friendly and poor…
Effect of resource availability on evolution of virulence and competition in an environmentally transmitted pathogen
2018
Understanding ecological and epidemiological factors driving pathogen evolution in contemporary time scales is a major challenge in modern health management. Pathogens that replicate outside the hosts are subject to selection imposed by ambient environmental conditions. Increased nutrient levels could increase pathogen virulence by pre-adapting for efficient use of resources upon contact to a nutrient rich host or by favouring transmission of fast-growing virulent strains. We measured changes in virulence and competition in Flavobacterium columnare, a bacterial pathogen of freshwater fish, under high and low nutrient levels. To test competition between strains in genotype mixtures, we devel…
Microbial Activation of Wooden Vats Used for Traditional Cheese Production and Evolution of Neoformed Biofilms.
2016
ABSTRACT Three Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris strains were used to develop ad hoc biofilms on the surfaces of virgin wooden vats used for cheese production. Two vats (TZ) were tested under controlled conditions (pilot plant), and two vats (TA) were tested under uncontrolled conditions (industrial plant). In each plant, one vat (TA1 and TZ1) was used for the control, traditional production of PDO Vastedda della Valle del Belìce (Vastedda) cheese, and one (TA2 and TZ2) was used for experimental production performed after lactococcal biofilm activation and the daily addition of a natural whey starter culture (NWSC). Microbiological and scanning electron microscopy analyses showed differenc…
Rifampicin treatment of Blattella germanica evidences a fecal transmission route of their gut microbiota
2018
Eukaryotes have established symbiotic relationship with microorganisms, which enables them to accomplish functions that they cannot perform alone. In the German cockroach, Blattella germanica, the obligate endosymbiont Blattabacterium coexists with a rich gut microbiota. The transmission of Blattabacterium is vertical, but little is known about how the gut microbiota colonizes newborn individuals. In this study, we treated B. germanica populations with rifampicin, a broad-spectrum antibiotic, during two generations and analyzed gut bacterial composition and the Blattabacterium load in control and rifampicin-treated populations. Rifampicin exerted a drastic effect on gut microbiota compositi…
Analysis of the 3H8 antigen of Candida albicans reveals new aspects of the organization of fungal cell wall proteins.
2017
The walls of both, yeast and mycelial cells of Candida albicans possess a species-specific antigen that is recognized by a monoclonal antibody (MAb 3H8). This antigen can be extracted in the form of a very high Mr complex, close or over 106 Da, by treatment, with β-1,3-glucanase, β mercaptoethanol or dithothreitol, or mild alkali, but not by saturated hydrogen fluoride (HF) in pyridine, suggesting that the complex is bound to wall β-1,3 glucans, and to proteins by disulfide bonds, but not to β-1,6 glucans. Through its sensitivity to trypsin and different deglycosylation procedures, it was concluded that the epitope is associated to a glycoprotein containing N-glycosidic, but not O-glycosidi…
It is Time for Action in the Struggle against Antibiotic-Resistance, Let’s Start Reducing or Replacing Antibiotics in Agriculture
2016
Million people around the world are infected each year and thousands of them die from pathogens that are resistant to the treatment by any of known antibiotics [1]. The excessive use and abuse of antibiotics in clinical setting and in agriculture, added to the great ability of microorganisms to evolve, are the causes of the wide spread of isolates resistant to all major classes of current antibiotics. It is time for action in order to tackle antimicrobial-resistance (AMR), which can be considered a major threat to global health care and security. While we are waiting for new antimicrobial molecules and strategies, shorter-term approaches are needed to address the menace of AMR and preserve …