Host-Microbe Biology
- Research Article | Host-Microbe BiologyElucidating the Diversity and Potential Function of Nonribosomal Peptide and Polyketide Biosynthetic Gene Clusters in the Root Microbiome
We identified distinct secondary-metabolite-encoding genes that are enriched (relative to adjacent bulk soil) and expressed in root ecosystems yet almost completely absent in human gut and aquatic environments. Several of the genes were distantly related to genes encoding antimicrobials and siderophores, and their high sequence variability relative to known sequences suggests that they may encode novel metabolites and may have unique...
- Research Article | Host-Microbe BiologyDifferent Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Cocolonizing on a Single Plant Root System Recruit Distinct Microbiomes
Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi form tight symbiotic relationships with the majority of terrestrial plants and play critical roles in plant P acquisition, adding a further dimension of complexity. The plant-AM fungus-bacterium system is considered a continuum, with the bacteria colonizing not only the plant roots, but also the associated mycorrhizal hyphal network, known as the hyphosphere microbiome. Plant roots are usually colonized...
- Research Article | Host-Microbe BiologyRole of VapBC12 Toxin-Antitoxin Locus in Cholesterol-Induced Mycobacterial Persistence
The current TB treatment regimen involves a combination of drugs administered for an extended duration that could last for 6 months to 2 years. This could lead to noncompliance and the emergence of newer drug resistance strains.
- Research Article | Host-Microbe BiologyMultiplexed Competition in a Synthetic Squid Light Organ Microbiome Using Barcode-Tagged Gene Deletions
Beneficial microbes play essential roles in the health and development of their hosts. However, the complexity of animal microbiomes and general genetic intractability of their symbionts have made it difficult to study the coevolved mechanisms for establishing and maintaining specificity at the microbe-animal host interface.
- Research Article | Host-Microbe BiologyPhenotypic and Genomic Comparison of the Two Most Common ExoU-Positive Pseudomonas aeruginosa Clones, PA14 and ST235
The ubiquitous and metabolically versatile environmental bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa can cause infections in a wide variety of hosts, including insects, plants, animals, and humans. P. aeruginosa is one of the ESKAPE (Enterococcus...
- Research Article | Host-Microbe BiologyA Subset of Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass Bacterial Consortium Colonizes the Gut of Nonsurgical Rats without Inducing Host-Microbe Metabolic Changes
Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) surgery results in a long-term gut bacterial shift toward Gammaproteobacteria in both patients and rodents. The contribution of this compositional shift, or the RYGB bacterial consortium, to the metabolic benefit of the surgery remains debatable.
- Commentary | Host-Microbe BiologyCoordinating and Assisting Research at the SARS-CoV-2/Microbiome Nexus
Although the COVID-19 pandemic is caused by a single virus, the rest of the human microbiome appears to be involved in the disease and could influence vaccine responses while offering opportunities for microbiome-directed therapeutics. The newly formed Microbiome Centers Consortium (MCC) surveyed its membership and identified four ways to leverage the strengths and experience of microbiome centers in the response to the COVID-19...
- Minireview | Host-Microbe BiologyEcological Succession of Polymicrobial Communities in the Cystic Fibrosis Airways
Antimicrobial therapies against cystic fibrosis (CF) lung infections are largely aimed at the traditional, well-studied CF pathogens such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Burkholderia cepacia complex, despite the fact that the CF lung harbors a complex and dynamic polymicrobial community. A clinical...
- Editor's Pick Research Article | Host-Microbe BiologyInvestigating the Role of Diet and Exercise in Gut Microbe-Host Cometabolism
Improved control of dietary confounders, through the use of an objective dietary assessment score, has uncovered further insights into the complex, multifactorial relationship between diet, exercise, the gut microbiome, and metabolism. Each of the models pertaining to diet healthiness, physical exercise, or a combination of both, displayed a distinct metabolic and functional microbial signature.
- Research Article | Host-Microbe BiologySymbiotic Bacterium-Derived Organic Acids Protect Delia antiqua Larvae from Entomopathogenic Fungal Infection
The protection of associated microbiota for their animal hosts against pathogen infection has been studied widely over the last 100 years. However, how those microbes protect the animal host remains unclear. In former studies, body surface microbes of one insect, Delia antiqua, protected the insect larvae from infection with the entomopathogen...