Search results for "microbial"
showing 10 items of 2041 documents
Skin and gut microbiomes of a wild mammal respond to different environmental cues
2018
Background Animal skin and gut microbiomes are important components of host fitness. However, the processes that shape the microbiomes of wildlife are poorly understood, particularly with regard to exposure to environmental contaminants. We used 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing to quantify how exposure to radionuclides impacts the skin and gut microbiota of a small mammal, the bank vole Myodes glareolus, inhabiting areas within and outside the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ), Ukraine. Results Skin microbiomes of male bank voles were more diverse than females. However, the most pronounced differences in skin microbiomes occurred at a larger spatial scale, with higher alpha diversity in the skin m…
Valorization of Wild Apple (Malus spp.) By-Products as a Source of Essential Fatty Acids, Tocopherols and Phytosterols with Antimicrobial Activity
2018
The amplified production of fruit as well as burgeoning demand for plant-made food products have resulted in a sharp increase of waste. Currently, millions of tons of by-products are either being discarded or utilized rather ineffectively. However, these by-products may be processed and further incorporated as functional ingredients in making high-value food products with many physiological and biochemical effects. The chemical analysis of pomace oils using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and reversed-phase-liquid chromatography coupled with fluorescence detector (RP-HPLC/FLD) systems led to the identification and quantification of 56 individual lipophilic compounds including u…
A highly diverse, desert-like microbial biocenosis on solar panels in a Mediterranean city
2015
AbstractMicroorganisms colonize a wide range of natural and artificial environments although there are hardly any data on the microbial ecology of one the most widespread man-made extreme structures: solar panels. Here we show that solar panels in a Mediterranean city (Valencia, Spain) harbor a highly diverse microbial community with more than 500 different species per panel, most of which belong to drought-, heat- and radiation-adapted bacterial genera, and sun-irradiation adapted epiphytic fungi. The taxonomic and functional profiles of this microbial community and the characterization of selected culturable bacteria reveal the existence of a diverse mesophilic microbial community on the …
HIV infection results in metabolic alterations in the gut microbiota different from those induced by other diseases.
2016
Imbalances in gut bacteria have been associated with multiple diseases. However, whether there are disease-specific changes in gut microbial metabolism remains unknown. Here, we demonstrate that human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection (n=33) changes, at quantifiable levels, the metabolism of gut bacteria. These changes are different than those observed in patients with the auto-immune disease systemic lupus erythaematosus (n=18), and Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhoea (n=6). Using healthy controls as a baseline (n=16), we demonstrate that a trend in the nature and directionality of the metabolic changes exists according to the type of the disease. The impact on the gut microbia…
Experimental conditions improving in-solution target enrichment for ancient DNA.
2016
High-throughput sequencing has dramatically fostered ancient DNA research in recent years. Shotgun sequencing, however, does not necessarily appear as the best-suited approach due to the extensive contamination of samples with exogenous environmental microbial DNA. DNA capture-enrichment methods represent cost-effective alternatives that increase the sequencing focus on the endogenous fraction, whether it is from mitochondrial or nuclear genomes, or parts thereof. Here, we explored experimental parameters that could impact the efficacy of MYbaits in-solution capture assays of ~5000 nuclear loci or the whole genome. We found that varying quantities of the starting probes had only moderate ef…
A Naturally Occurring Antibody Fragment Neutralizes Infectivity of Diverse Infectious Agents
2016
AbstractA phosphorylated peptide, named K40H, derived from the constant region of IgMs was detected in human serum by liquid chromatography coupled to high-resolution mass spectrometry. Synthetic K40H proved to exert a potent in vitro activity against fungal pathogens, and to inhibit HIV-1 replication in vitro and ex vivo. It also showed a therapeutic effect against an experimental infection by Candida albicans in the invertebrate model Galleria mellonella. K40H represents the proof of concept of the innate role that naturally occurring antibody fragments may exert against infectious agents, shedding a new light upon the posthumous role of antibodies and opening a new scenario on the multif…
High microbial diversity promotes soil ecosystem functioning
2018
ABSTRACT In soil, the link between microbial diversity and carbon transformations is challenged by the concept of functional redundancy. Here, we hypothesized that functional redundancy may decrease with increasing carbon source recalcitrance and that coupling of diversity with C cycling may change accordingly. We manipulated microbial diversity to examine how diversity decrease affects the decomposition of easily degradable (i.e., allochthonous plant residues) versus recalcitrant (i.e., autochthonous organic matter) C sources. We found that a decrease in microbial diversity (i) affected the decomposition of both autochthonous and allochthonous carbon sources, thereby reducing global CO 2 e…
Editorial for Special Issue: The Insecticidal Bacterial Toxins in Modern Agriculture.
2017
n/a
Host and environmental factors affecting the intestinal microbiota in chickens
2018
The initial development of intestinal microbiota in poultry plays an important role in production performance, overall health and resistance against microbial infections. Multiplexed sequencing of 16S ribosomal RNA gene amplicons is often used in studies, such as feed intervention or antimicrobial drug trials, to determine corresponding effects on the composition of intestinal microbiota. However, considerable variation of intestinal microbiota composition has been observed both within and across studies. Such variation may in part be attributed to technical factors, such as sampling procedures, sample storage, DNA extraction, the choice of PCR primers and corresponding region to be sequenc…
What happens in hospitals does not stay in hospitals: antibiotic-resistant bacteria in hospital wastewater systems.
2016
Hospitals are hotspots for antimicrobial-resistant bacteria (ARB) and play a major role in both their emergence and spread. Large numbers of these ARB will be ejected from hospitals via wastewater systems. In this review, we present quantitative and qualitative data of extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Escherichia coli, vancomycin-resistant enterococci and Pseudomonas aeruginosa in hospital wastewaters compared to community wastewaters. We also discuss the fate of these ARB in wastewater treatment plants and in the downstream environment. Published studies have shown that hospital effluents contain ARB, the burden of these bacteria being dependent on their local prevalence. The…