Applied and Environmental Science
Special Issue Perspective | Applied and Environmental ScienceDetermining Microbial Roles in Ecosystem Function: Redefining Microbial Food Webs and Transcending Kingdom BarriersMicroorganisms can have a profound and varying effect on the chemical character of environments and, thereby, ecological health. Their capacity to consume or transform contaminants leads to contrasting outcomes, such as the dissipation of nutrient pollution via denitrification, the breakdown of spilled oil, or eutrophication via primary producer overgrowth.
Special Issue Perspective | Applied and Environmental ScienceSoil Viruses: A New HopeAs abundant members of microbial communities, viruses impact microbial mortality, carbon and nutrient cycling, and food web dynamics. Although most of our information about viral communities comes from marine systems, evidence is mounting to suggest that viruses are similarly important in soil.
Special Issue Perspective | Applied and Environmental ScienceCulturing the Uncultured: Risk versus RewardIsolation of new microorganisms is challenging, but cultures are invaluable resources for experimental validation of phenotype, ecology, and evolutionary processes. Although the number of new isolates continues to grow, the majority of cultivars still come from a limited number of phylogenetic groups and environments, necessitating investment in new cultivation efforts.
Special Issue Perspective | Applied and Environmental ScienceMoving towards a Robust Definition for a “Healthy” Indoor MicrobiomeBuildings of the future should be designed to support human health, both by promoting the presence of beneficial microbes and by reducing exposure to harmful ones. However, we still do not have a robust definition of what constitutes a “healthy” indoor microbiome.
Special Issue Perspective | Applied and Environmental ScienceA “Cultural” Renaissance: Genomics Breathes New Life into an Old CraftSometimes, to move ahead, you must take a look at where you have been. Culturing microbes is a foundational underpinning of microbiology.
Research Article | Applied and Environmental ScienceCore Microbiota in Agricultural Soils and Their Potential Associations with Nutrient CyclingDisentangling the roles of the core microbiota in community maintaining and soil nutrient cycling is an important yet poorly understood topic in microbial ecology. This study presents an exploratory effort to gain predictive understanding of the spatial atlas and ecological roles of the core microbiota. A systematic, continental-scale survey was conducted using agro-soils in adjacent pairs of maize (dryland) and rice (wetland) fields...
Editor's Pick Research Article | Applied and Environmental ScienceA Phylogenetic and Functional Perspective on Volatile Organic Compound Production by ActinobacteriaSoil microbes produce a diverse array of natural products, including volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Volatile compounds are important molecules in soil habitats, where they mediate interactions between bacteria, fungi, insects, plants, and animals. We measured the VOCs produced by a broad diversity of soil- and dust-dwelling Actinobacteria in vitro. We detected a total of 126 unique volatile compounds, and each strain...
Research Article | Applied and Environmental ScienceRefSoil+: a Reference Database for Genes and Traits of Soil PlasmidsSoil-associated plasmids have the potential to transfer antibiotic resistance genes from environmental to clinical microbial strains, which is a public health concern. A specific resource is needed to aggregate the knowledge of soil plasmid characteristics so that the content, host associations, and dynamics of antibiotic resistance genes can be assessed and then tracked between the environment and the clinic. Here, we present RefSoil...
Research Article | Applied and Environmental ScienceContrasting Pathways for Anaerobic Methane Oxidation in Gulf of Mexico Cold Seep SedimentsCold seep sediments are complex and widespread marine ecosystems emitting large amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, and other hydrocarbons. Within these sediments, microbial communities play crucial roles in production and degradation of hydrocarbons, modulating oil and gas emissions to seawater. Despite this ecological importance, our understanding of microbial functions and methane oxidation pathways in cold seep ecosystems...
Research Article | Applied and Environmental ScienceUltrahigh-Throughput Multiplexing and Sequencing of >500-Base-Pair Amplicon Regions on the Illumina HiSeq 2500 PlatformAmplicon sequencing has become a popular and widespread tool for surveying microbial communities. Lower overall costs associated with high-throughput sequencing have made it a widely adopted approach, especially for projects that necessitate sample multiplexing to eliminate batch effect and reduced time to acquire data. The method for amplicon sequencing on the Illumina HiSeq 2500 platform described here provides improved multiplexing...