Article
Engineering, Environmental
Xiaohan Zhang, Ying Zhang, Nan Wu, Wenjie Li, Xiaocui Song, Yongzheng Ma, Zhiguang Niu
Summary: The study investigated the bacterial communities on environmental plastic debris and found that these communities tended to exhibit local characteristics, less affected by their original attributes. The results suggested that the ecological risks of bacterial communities on plastics brought by plastic debris transportation in the environment may not be as serious as previously expected.
Article
Psychology, Biological
Tobias Grossmann
Summary: Humans are more fearful than chimpanzees, which is considered adaptive and enhances cooperation and care-based responding. This challenges the common view in Western societies that fearfulness is maladaptive and has important implications for evolutionary theories and cultural beliefs.
BEHAVIORAL AND BRAIN SCIENCES
(2022)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Dinshaw J. Patel, You Yu, Ning Jia
Summary: Second-messenger-mediated signaling by cyclic oligonucleotides plays a significant role in immune-mediated antiviral defense. Bacteria and archaea have evolved various complexes to activate effectors for viral defense. The defense mechanism includes the abortive infection mechanism and the suppression of host immunity by phages.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Alexander W. McCumber, Yeon Ji Kim, Omoanghe Samuel Isikhuemhen, Robert M. Tighe, Claudia K. Gunsch
Summary: Using a pig model, the study showed that airborne bacteria make up the largest portion of the lung microbiome. Bacteria from bronchial samples can be correctly identified by their farm of origin, while those from alveolar samples are indistinguishable.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Jonathan Filee, Hubert f F. Becker, Lucille Mellottee, Rima Zein Eddine, Zhihui Li, Wenlu Yin, Jean-Christophe Lambry, Ursula Liebl, Hannu Myllykallio
Summary: Asgard archaea are the closest known relatives of eukaryotes. The study suggests that eukaryotic and Asgard thymidylate synthases may have a bacterial origin, and lateral transfer of bacterial genes has shaped the metabolism of Asgard archaea. The capacity of eukaryotic cells to duplicate their genetic material is a combination of archaeal and bacterial characteristics, and recent prevalent lateral gene transfer from bacteria has influenced the metabolism of Asgard archaea.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Olimpia Kursa, Grzegorz Tomczyk, Anna Sawicka-Durkalec, Karolina Adamska
Summary: Bacterial communities in the reproductive tract of avian species play a crucial role in bird health and growth, with transmission to the embryo during egg formation. The microbial composition differs between individual birds, and unique taxa were detected in turkey oviducts.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Shuaibing Zhang, Ruchira Mukherji, Somak Chowdhury, Lisa Reimer, Pierre Stallforth
Summary: The study demonstrates how two unrelated bacteria are able to defend themselves against a common predator by exchanging and modifying natural products, which shows their cooperative defense strategy.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Marcelo C. R. Melo, Diego E. B. Gomes, Rafael C. Bernardi
Summary: The unbinding pathway of a protein complex can be influenced by biochemical and mechanical factors. In this study, the dissociation mechanism of adhesin/peptide complexes was investigated using molecular dynamics simulations. It was found that the Staphylococcus epidermidis adhesin SdrG uses a catch-bond mechanism to increase complex stability under mechanical stress. Through a machine learning model, the rupture forces for this complex could be successfully predicted based on selected amino acid contacts.
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Kenta I. Ito, Shuichi Nakamura, Shoichi Toyabe
Summary: Cooperativity plays a central role in biological regulation, providing robust and highly-sensitive regulation. The bacterial flagellar motor regulates torque autonomously based on the dynamic structure of the stator, with a cooperative mechanism in the assembly dynamics. External load triggers dynamic remodeling of the molecular complex sustaining torque, and non-equilibrium allostery leads to an avalanche of succeeding bindings.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Xian Xiao, Qianru Zheng, Ruofei Shen, Ke Huang, Handong Xu, Baohu Tu, Yuan Zhao
Summary: The study on groundwater bacterial communities in a petroleum hydrocarbon-contaminated site revealed that contamination reduced diversity, favored certain species, and exerted selection pressure. Geochemical variables also influenced community structure.
JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
(2022)
Article
Immunology
Tanita Wein, Rotem Sorek
Summary: This paper describes the elements of antiviral immunity that are conserved from bacteria to humans and presents possible evolutionary scenarios to explain this conservation.
NATURE REVIEWS IMMUNOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Food Science & Technology
Ivar Vagsholm, Simone Belluco, Silvia Bonardi, Fredrik Hansen, Terje Elias, Mati Roasto, Eduarda Gomes-Neves, Boris Antunovic, Arja Helena Kautto, Lis Alban, Bojan Blagojevic
Summary: The purposes of meat inspection are to protect consumer health, maintain the reputation of meats, and detect communicable diseases of animals before they become uncontrollable. It is also important to protect animal welfare and address issues of food fraud.
Article
Biology
Madeleine Bonsma-Fisher, Sidhartha Goyal
Summary: From bacteria to humans, adaptive immune systems provide learned memories of past infections. We propose a simple model of CRISPR-based adaptive immunity in microbes to understand general features of adaptive immunity. Our model shows that immune diversity in coexisting phage and bacteria populations is coupled and emerges spontaneously, bacteria track phage evolution with a context-dependent lag, and high levels of diversity are paradoxically linked to low overall CRISPR immunity. Additionally, our model reveals different modalities of coevolution and qualitatively different states of evolutionary dynamics.
Article
Fisheries
Kentaro Imaizumi, Wanlapha Molex, Chakrit Jitnavee, Sataporn Direkbusarakom, Hidehiro Kondo, Ikuo Hirono
Summary: This study analyzed the bacterial and eukaryotic microbiota in shrimp aquaculture ponds. The results showed that the bacterial communities in the water were distributed uniformly and relatively stable, while the eukaryotic plankton in the water changed dynamically. The bacterial compositions in the digestive tracts of shrimp differed between ponds and locations.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Luke Lear, Dan Padfield, Elze Hesse, Suzanne Kay, Angus Buckling, Michiel Vos
Summary: Metal pollution may decrease virulence in bacterial communities, but at a cost to diversity and productivity.
ENVIRONMENT INTERNATIONAL
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Camille E. Wendlandt, John U. Regus, Kelsey A. Gano-Cohen, Amanda C. Hollowell, Kenjiro W. Quides, Jonathan Y. Lyu, Eunice S. Adinata, Joel L. Sachs
Article
Ecology
Kelsey A. Gano-Cohen, Camille E. Wendlandt, Peter J. Stokes, Mia A. Blanton, Kenjiro W. Quides, Avissa Zomorrodian, Eunice S. Adinata, Joel L. Sachs
Article
Biology
Kelsey A. Gano-Cohen, Camille E. Wendlandt, Khadija Al Moussawi, Peter J. Stokes, Kenjiro W. Quides, Alexandra J. Weisberg, Jeff H. Chang, Joel L. Sachs
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2020)
Article
Plant Sciences
Nicole J. Forrester, Maria Rebolleda-Gomez, Joel L. Sachs, Tia-Lynn Ashman
Review
Ecology
Stephanie S. Porter, Joel L. Sachs
TRENDS IN ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION
(2020)
Article
Ecology
Kenjiro W. Quides, Fathi Salaheldine, Ruchi Jariwala, Joel L. Sachs
Summary: Microbial mutualists provide substantial benefits to hosts, but may lead to evolutionary conflicts between symbiotic partners. The alignment of fitness interests between legumes and rhizobia increases as the number of nodules formed increases, but shifts to diverging interests once the host optimum is reached.
Article
Ecology
Lorena Torres-Martinez, Stephanie S. Porter, Camille Wendlandt, Jessica Purcell, Gabriel Ortiz-Barbosa, Jacob Rothschild, Mathew Lampe, Farsamin Warisha, Tram Le, Alexandra J. Weisberg, Jeff H. Chang, Joel L. Sachs
Summary: The study found that specialization in mutualism is accompanied by specialization in other niche dimensions, with different species showing asymmetric levels of specialization in climatic and edaphic niches. This suggests support for the oscillation model of specialization, indicating a parallel narrowing of multiple niche dimensions in host species.
Article
Biology
Kenjiro W. Quides, Alexandra J. Weisberg, Jerry Trinh, Fathi Salaheldine, Paola Cardenas, Hsu-Han Lee, Ruchi Jariwala, Jeff H. Chang, Joel L. Sachs
Summary: This study explores the evolution of rhizobia to provide benefits to novel hosts by simulating cycles of interactions with different plant genotypes. The results show that rhizobia evolved enhanced host benefits in some cases, but not consistently. Host-symbiont genotype interactions may play a role in mediating the evolution of enhanced benefits from symbionts.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Gabriel S. Ortiz-Barbosa, Lorena Torres-Martinez, Angela Manci, Sierra Neal, Tarek Soubra, Fizzah Khairi, Jerry Trinh, Paola Cardenas, Joel L. Sachs
Summary: Modern agriculture tends to focus on the aboveground structures of plants and overlooks the belowground features that influence microbiota. The domestication process in crops, along with drift, inbreeding, and relaxed selection for symbiosis, may lead to degradation of plant mechanisms that support beneficial microbes. However, domesticated cowpea does not show evidence of degradation in symbiosis unlike other crops.
Article
Ecology
Camille E. Wendlandt, Kelsey A. Gano-Cohen, Peter J. N. Stokes, Basava N. R. Jonnala, Avissa J. Zomorrodian, Khadija Al-Moussawi, Joel L. Sachs
Summary: The effects of nitrogen enrichment on plants and soil microbial communities mainly depend on the differences among plant lines rather than soil nitrogen levels. Despite elevated soil nitrogen levels, plant populations still impose strong selection on rhizobial nitrogen fixation, suggesting that host control traits are stable under long-term nutrient enrichment.
Article
Evolutionary Biology
Alexandra J. Weisberg, Joel L. Sachs, Jeff H. Chang
Summary: The chromosome architecture of Bradyrhizobium bacteria is largely conserved despite variations in genome composition and location of attachment sites recognized by integrases of symICEs. Simulated nonnative chromosome-symICE combinations are predicted to result in lethal deletions or disruptions to architecture. The findings suggest compatibility between chromosomes and symICEs.
GENOME BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2022)
Review
Ecology
David C. Fronk, Joel L. Sachs
Summary: Diverse organisms have evolved specialized structures to interact with beneficial microbes, forming symbiotic organs that play crucial roles in shaping microbial genomes. Future research should consider the emergent forces that shape these symbiotic organs.
TRENDS IN ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION
(2022)
Article
Microbiology
Alexandra J. Weisberg, Arafat Rahman, Dakota Backus, Parinita Tyavanagimatt, Jeff H. Chang, Joel L. Sachs
Summary: Genetic variation in symbiotic nitrogen fixation is maintained through a modular system that allows for flexibility and reshuffling of genes. This results in variation in the services provided by symbionts and can lead to the evolution of uncooperative genotypes. However, the overall symbiosis between legume hosts and Bradyrhizobium bacteria is evolutionarily stable.
Article
Agronomy
M. Manci, O. G. Mercado, R. X. Camantigue, T. Nguyen, J. Rothschild, F. Khairi, S. Neal, W. F. Farsamin, M. T. Lampe, I. A. Perez, T. H. Le, G. S. Ortiz-Barbosa, L. Torres-Martinez, J. L. Sachs
Summary: This study investigated the benefits that cowpeas receive from microbiota, depending on plant genotype, domestication status, and soil source. The results showed that the variation in root nodulation and growth benefits to the host were observed among different soil sites, with soil microbiota being the predominant factor shaping plant performance.
Article
Agronomy
G. S. Ortiz-Barbosa, L. Torres-Martinez, J. Rothschild, J. L. Sachs
Summary: Legumes have the ability to optimize growth by discriminating between fixed nitrogen from rhizobia and nitrogen in the soil. However, the recognition and regulation of symbiotically fixed nitrogen remain poorly understood. This study manipulated the molecular form and concentration of nitrogen available to investigate the adaptability of Lotus japonicus plants in downregulating investment into symbiosis when exposed to different nitrogen sources. The results suggest that L. japonicus can selectively downregulate symbiosis when exposed to certain nitrogen sources, but fails to do so in the presence of aspartic acid, indicating that aspartic acid may interfere with the main signal used by L. japonicus to detect nitrogen fixation.