Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Etthel M. Windels, Richard Fox, Krishna Yerramsetty, Katherine Krouse, Tom Wenseleers, Janne Swinnen, Paul Matthay, Laure Verstraete, Dorien Wilmaerts, Bram Van den Bergh, Jan Michiels
Summary: This study explores how population bottlenecking affects the evolutionary dynamics of bacterial persistence using experimental evolution and barcoded knockout libraries. The results indicate that small bottlenecks restrict the adaptive potential of populations and lead to more heterogeneous evolutionary outcomes. The evolutionary trajectories in small-bottlenecking regimes suggest a rugged fitness landscape associated with persistence, with distinct pathways towards increased persistence accessible to evolving populations.
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Celien Bollen, Elen Louwagie, Natalie Verstraeten, Jan Michiels, Philip Ruelens
Summary: Recalcitrant infections are difficult to treat and contribute to the spread of antibiotic resistance, posing a significant challenge to successful bacterial infection treatment. Antibiotic persistence, which involves the survival of transiently tolerant subpopulations of bacteria, is a potential contributing factor in persistent infections. This review discusses the clinical significance of antibiotic persistence, as well as the environmental and evolutionary factors involved, highlighting the multifaceted nature of persistence.
Review
Microbiology
Michael J. Bottery
Summary: Plasmids play a significant role in horizontal gene transfer among prokaryotes, facilitating the exchange of ecologically important traits between distantly related bacterial taxa. Recent studies have shown that the community ecology, including bacterial diversity and interspecies interactions, can influence the dynamics of conjugative plasmid transfer and persistence within microbial communities. The fate of plasmids within communities is determined by the collective factors imposed by the community, rather than individual hosts.
CURRENT OPINION IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Hugo Cayuela, Benjamin Monod-Broca, Jean-Francois Lemaitre, Aurelien Besnard, Jerome M. W. Gippet, Benedikt R. Schmidt, Antonio Romano, Thomas Hertach, Claudio Angelini, Stefano Canessa, Giacomo Rosa, Leonardo Vignoli, Alberto Venchi, Marco Carafa, Filippo Giachi, Andrea Tiberi, Alena M. Hantzschmann, Ulrich Sinsch, Emilie Tournier, Eric Bonnaire, Guenter Gollmann, Birgit Gollmann, Annemarieke Spitzen van der Sluijs, Holger Buschmann, Thierry Kinet, Arnaud Laudelout, Remi Fonters, Yoann Bunz, Marc Corail, Carlo Biancardi, Anna R. Di Cerbo, Dominique Langlois, Jean-Marc Thirion, Laurent Bernard, Elodie Boussiquault, Florian Dore, Titouan Leclerc, Nadine Enderlin, Florian Laurenceau, Lucy Morin, Megane Skrzyniarz, Mickael Barrioz, Yohan Morizet, Sam S. Cruickshank, Julian Pichenot, Andreas Maletzky, Thibaut Delsinne, Dominik Henseler, Damien Aumaitre, Miguel Gailledrat, Julien Moquet, Robert Veen, Peter Krijnen, Laurent Riviere, Matteo Trenti, Sonia Endrizzi, Paolo Pedrini, Marta Biaggini, Stefano Vanni, David Dudgeon, Jean-Michel Gaillard, Jean-Paul Lena
Summary: Habitat anthropization is a major driver of global biodiversity decline. Although most species are negatively affected, some benefit from compensatory recruitment in anthropogenic habitats. The yellow-bellied toad, occupying both natural and anthropogenic habitats, shows increased recruitment that fully offsets reduced adult survival in human-dominated environments.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2022)
Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Kang Kang, Lejla Imamovic, Maria-Anna Misiakou, Maria Bornakke Sorensen, Yoshitaro Heshiki, Yueqiong Ni, Tingting Zheng, Jun Li, Mostafa M. H. Ellabaan, Marta Colomer-Lluch, Anne A. Rode, Peter Bytzer, Gianni Panagiotou, Morten O. A. Sommer
Summary: This study used omic approaches to investigate the effects of antibiotics on the gut microbiota and resistome in healthy adults. The findings showed an increase in the number of bacterial species and an expansion of antibiotic-specific resistance gene homologs after antibiotic treatment. The results suggest that antibiotic therapy can lead to a persistent expansion of antibiotic resistance genes in the human gut microbiota.
Article
Biology
Christopher Witzany, Roland R. R. Regoes, Claudia Igler
Summary: To combat antimicrobial resistance, it is crucial to understand the mechanisms behind bacterial treatment failure. This study reveals the presence of persister cells and hyper-mutators in Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections, which contribute to genetic resistance emergence. While persister cells cause hidden treatment failure, hyper-mutation plays a minor role. The findings emphasize the importance of considering the time and concentration dependence of bacterial mechanisms when designing effective treatments.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Hayden R. Davis, Simone Des Roches, Roger A. Anderson, Adam D. Leache
Summary: This study investigates the population dynamics and genetic structure of Western Fence Lizards at the edge of their distributional range. The findings suggest that the establishment and expansion of populations in this region were influenced by glacial retreat and habitat requirements. The study also reveals the presence of distinct genetic subpopulations in the Puget Sound area, with minimal morphological differentiation.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Freya E. Rowland, Elizabeth S. Schyling, L. Kealoha Freidenburg, Mark C. Urban, Jonathan L. Richardson, A. Z. Andis Arietta, Susan B. Rodrigues, Adriana D. Rubinstein, Michael F. Benard, David K. Skelly
Summary: This study evaluated patterns and factors influencing the population dynamics of wood frogs using 21 years of data, and found that neighboring ponds did not exhibit spatial synchrony in abundance. Local pond-scale conditions, including pond depth, had a stronger influence on population dynamics. Drought conditions and warm winters negatively affected populations.
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Riti Mann, Amy Holmes, Oliver McNeilly, Rosalia Cavaliere, Georgios A. Sotiriou, Scott A. Rice, Cindy Gunawan
Summary: The study found that silver nanoparticles can inhibit the formation and eradication of Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms, but the biofilm-forming bacteria may develop reduced sensitivity and even persister cells. Prolonged exposure to silver may lead to adaptation and potential cross-resistance to antibiotics. Furthermore, silver formulations cannot eradicate gentamicin-resistant P. aeruginosa biofilms, but they can inhibit the formation of the resistant strain, showing promise in controlling antibiotic-resistant bacteria in biofilms.
JOURNAL OF NANOBIOTECHNOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Wenqi Jiang, Wangjing Zhai, Donghui Liu, Peng Wang
Summary: This study investigated the impact of oxytetracycline on the environmental fate and metabolic profile of atrazine, revealing that oxytetracycline significantly inhibited the degradation of atrazine and altered the composition of its metabolites. Oxytetracycline also decreased the detoxification of atrazine and increased the percentage of toxic metabolites in soil. This could lead to increased environmental problems.
Article
Biology
Lea Pradier, Stephanie Bedhomme
Summary: Antibiotic consumption alone does not fully explain the persistence of antibiotic resistance, as shown by the widespread presence of aminoglycoside-modifying enzyme (AME) genes in bacteria from various ecological contexts. This study demonstrates that the prevalence of AME-carrying bacteria is influenced by ecological factors more than antibiotic use. Analysis of resistome compositions reveals the importance of exchanges between soil, wildlife, and human samples in the dissemination of AME genes. Intervention strategies should consider both reducing antibiotic use and controlling exchanges between ecosystems.
Review
Microbiology
J. Urbaniec, Ye Xu, Y. Hu, S. Hingley-Wilson, J. McFadden
Summary: This review discusses antibiotic persistence, presents the "hunker" theory of persister cell formation based on intrinsic heterogeneity of bacterial growth and metabolism, and emphasizes the urgent need to develop effective anti-persister treatment regimes to combat antimicrobial resistance.
FEMS MICROBIOLOGY REVIEWS
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Wei Sun, Xun Qian, Xiaojuan Wang, Jie Gu
Summary: Anaerobic digestion is a common method for disposing and recycling livestock manures. However, this process can contribute to the spread of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) from manures to soils. In this study, the researchers investigated the effects of enrofloxacin, a commonly used antibiotic, on the persistence and transfer of ARGs during cattle manure digestion. They found that enrofloxacin significantly increased the abundance of certain ARGs and played a role in facilitating the transfer of plasmid-mediated resistance genes. The results indicate the high persistence of ARGs in anaerobic digestion systems and highlight the importance of residual antibiotics in increasing the dissemination of resistance genes.
JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
(2023)
Biographical-Item
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Bert Holldobler
Summary: This article introduces a naturalist, conservationist and synthesizer who founded sociobiology.
Editorial Material
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Virginia Gewin, German Orizaola Pereda
Summary: Evolutionary ecologist German Orizaola Pereda analyzes the impact on species 35 years after the world's worst nuclear accident.
Review
Microbiology
Thomas Schalck, Bram Van den Bergh, Jan Michiels
Summary: Fuels and polymer precursors are widely used in daily life and industry, with bacteria and yeast offering an environmentally-friendly production alternative. However, these compounds exhibit toxic solvent properties that reduce cell viability of microbial producers. Studying how product accumulation affects microbes and understanding microbial adaptive responses to counteract these defects helps maximize yields.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Etthel M. Windels, Richard Fox, Krishna Yerramsetty, Katherine Krouse, Tom Wenseleers, Janne Swinnen, Paul Matthay, Laure Verstraete, Dorien Wilmaerts, Bram Van den Bergh, Jan Michiels
Summary: This study explores how population bottlenecking affects the evolutionary dynamics of bacterial persistence using experimental evolution and barcoded knockout libraries. The results indicate that small bottlenecks restrict the adaptive potential of populations and lead to more heterogeneous evolutionary outcomes. The evolutionary trajectories in small-bottlenecking regimes suggest a rugged fitness landscape associated with persistence, with distinct pathways towards increased persistence accessible to evolving populations.
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Noemie Luyts, Greetje Vande Velde, Matthias Vanneste, Helene De Bruyn, Annelies Janssens, Natalie Verstraeten, Thomas Voets, Wouter Everaerts
Summary: The implementation of bioluminescence imaging (BLI) in a mouse urinary tract infection model is described in this manuscript. The study found that BLI can be used to sensitively detect and quantify pathogens, enabling non-invasive longitudinal tracking, which is of great significance for UTI research.
JOVE-JOURNAL OF VISUALIZED EXPERIMENTS
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Bram Van den Bergh, Hannah Schramke, Joran Elie Michiels, Tom E. P. Kimkes, Jakub Leszek Radzikowski, Johannes Schimpf, Silke R. Vedelaar, Sabrina Burschel, Liselot Dewachter, Nikola Loncar, Alexander Schmidt, Tim Meijer, Maarten Fauvart, Thorsten Friedrich, Jan Michiels, Matthias Heinemann
Summary: Antibiotic persisters are phenotypic variants within an isogenic bacterial population that are transiently tolerant to antibiotic treatment. This study provides evidence that cytoplasmic acidification, amplified by a compromised respiratory complex I, can act as a signaling hub for perturbed metabolic homeostasis in antibiotic persisters.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Microbiology
Bram Van den Bergh
Summary: Using Drosophila as a model for antimicrobial research has high potential, offering a flexible system to test findings from in vitro assays in a broader, more complex condition. Adult flies tolerate high doses of antibiotics while germ-free larvae show impaired development. E. coli in Drosophila exhibits high antibiotic tolerance in vivo potentially due to heterogeneity in growth rates.
Article
Microbiology
Laetitia Van Wonterghem, Matteo De Chiara, Gianni Liti, Jonas Warringer, Anne Farewell, Natalie Verstraeten, Jan Michiels
Summary: This study focused on bacterial host factors that assist in the transfer of conjugative plasmids, observing significant differences in conjugation efficiency among donor Escherichia coli strains. Through genome-wide association studies, candidate genes involved in conjugation were identified, with the roles of some genes confirmed by validating defects in single-gene deletion mutants. The study suggests that factors such as motility, energy supply, intracellular pH or salinity of the donor may affect the efficiency of plasmid transfer.
Article
Microbiology
Nele Geerts, Linda De Vooght, Ioannis Passaris, Peter Delputte, Bram Van den Bergh, Paul Cos
Summary: This study provides the first evidence of the presence of persister cells in Streptococcus pneumoniae, and shows a high level of variability in persistence among different strains, suggesting that persistence is a common trait in S. pneumoniae cultures. Our work emphasizes the importance of persistence in S. pneumoniae as a contributing factor to therapy failure and resistance development.
MICROBIOLOGY SPECTRUM
(2022)
Article
Business
Emilie Esterzon, Aurelie Lemmens, Bram van den Bergh
Summary: This research examines the impact of increasing donors' agency on fundraising effectiveness for charities. The study introduces two strategies, targeting-via-options and targeting-via-amounts, to allow donors to choose specific charitable projects. A large-scale field experiment involving over 40,000 prospective donors shows that enhancing donor agency leads to a 42% increase in fundraising revenue. The analysis also reveals significant donor heterogeneity, with certain donors being three times more responsive to the opportunity to target their gift.
JOURNAL OF MARKETING
(2023)
Review
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Paul Matthay, Thomas Schalck, Natalie Verstraeten, Jan Michiels
Summary: Driven by increasing industrial applications, the demand for unsaturated fatty acids is rising globally. However, producing monounsaturated fatty acids with a chain length of 8 to 12 carbon atoms is challenging using conventional methods. Recent progress in metabolic engineering has identified Escherichia coli as a promising species for producing these fatty acids. Enzymes such as thioesterases and desaturases can be introduced to shift the fatty acid pool towards monounsaturated fatty acids. This review summarizes these enzymes introduced in E. coli and discusses the advantages of bacterial production for designer compounds, including medium-chain monounsaturated fatty acids.
BIOTECHNOLOGY AND BIOPROCESS ENGINEERING
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Babette Deckers, Silke Vercauteren, Veerke De Kock, Charlotte Martin, Tamas Lazar, Pauline Herpels, Liselot Dewachter, Natalie Verstraeten, Eveline Peeters, Steven Ballet, Jan Michiels, Christian Galicia, Wim Versees
Summary: This study identifies the DNA-binding protein YbiB as an interactor of the bacterial protein ObgE. The study also reveals the binding site between the C-terminal domain of ObgE and the positively charged groove on the surface of YbiB. Additionally, ObgE competes with DNA for binding to YbiB, indicating its role in the cellular processes involving YbiB.
NUCLEIC ACIDS RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Microbiology
Laure Verstraete, Juliana Aizawa, Matthias Govaerts, Linda De Vooght, Rob Lavigne, Jan Michiels, Bram van den Bergh, Paul Cos
Summary: The importance of targeting persister cells in antibiotic therapies is increasingly evident as they contribute to relapsing infections and the development of antibiotic resistance. This study focused on persistence in the clinically relevant pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which is associated with chronic lung infections in cystic fibrosis patients. The researchers optimized a mouse model to simulate these lung infections and found that the survival levels of P. aeruginosa in the model correlated with survival levels measured in traditional persistence assays. These findings validate current techniques for studying persistence and provide opportunities to explore new persistence mechanisms and antipersister strategies in vivo.
MICROBIOLOGY SPECTRUM
(2023)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Celien Bollen, Elen Louwagie, Natalie Verstraeten, Jan Michiels, Philip Ruelens
Summary: Recalcitrant infections are difficult to treat and contribute to the spread of antibiotic resistance, posing a significant challenge to successful bacterial infection treatment. Antibiotic persistence, which involves the survival of transiently tolerant subpopulations of bacteria, is a potential contributing factor in persistent infections. This review discusses the clinical significance of antibiotic persistence, as well as the environmental and evolutionary factors involved, highlighting the multifaceted nature of persistence.
Article
Microbiology
Dorien Wilmaerts, Pieter-Jan De Loose, Silke Vercauteren, Sandrien De Smedt, Natalie Verstraeten, Jan Michiels
Summary: The peptides in the Hok/Gef family have different roles in cell death and persistence, with their function being influenced by conserved periplasmic tyrosine and cysteine residues. Further research is needed to understand why HokB is the only peptide that mediates persistence in the Hok/Gef family.
FEMS MICROBIOLOGY LETTERS
(2021)
