Latest Articles
- Research ArticleRepresentative Diatom and Coccolithophore Species Exhibit Divergent Responses throughout Simulated Upwelling Cycles
Coastal upwelling regions are among the most biologically productive ecosystems. During upwelling events, nutrient-rich water is delivered from depth resulting in intense phytoplankton blooms typically dominated by diatoms.
- Research ArticleGlobal Transcriptional Regulators Fine-Tune the Translational and Metabolic Efficiency for Optimal Growth of Escherichia coli
Cellular proteome allocation in response to environmental or internal perturbations governs their eventual phenotypic outcome. This entails striking an effective balance between amino acid biosynthesis by metabolic proteins and its consumption by ribosomes.
- Research ArticleFrom Plants to Ants: Fungal Modification of Leaf Lipids for Nutrition and Communication in the Leaf-Cutter Ant Fungal Garden Ecosystem
In this work, we examined the role of lipids in the mutualism between leaf-cutter ants and fungus. These ants cut fresh leaf material, which they provide to their fungal cultivar, that converts energy and nutrients from the plants and provides it to the ants in specialized hyphal swellings called gongylidia.
- Research ArticleGAUGE-Annotated Microbial Transcriptomic Data Facilitate Parallel Mining and High-Throughput Reanalysis To Form Data-Driven Hypotheses
GEO archives transcriptomic data from over 5,800 microbial experiments and allows researchers to answer questions not directly addressed in published papers. However, less than 4% of the microbial data sets include the sample group annotations required for high-throughput reanalysis.
- Research ArticleFungal and Bacterial Loads: Noninvasive Inflammatory Bowel Disease Biomarkers for the Clinical Setting
Next-generation sequence data analysis has allowed a better understanding of the pathophysiology of IBD, relating microbiome composition and functions to the disease. Microbiome composition profiling may provide efficient diagnosis and prognosis tools in IBD.
- Research ArticleLinking Bacterial-Fungal Relationships to Microbial Diversity and Soil Nutrient Cycling
The relationships between soil biodiversity and ecosystem functions are an important yet poorly understood topic in microbial ecology. This study presents an exploratory effort to gain predictive understanding of the factors driving the relationships between microbial diversity and potential soil nutrient cycling in complex terrestrial ecosystems.
- Editor's Pick Research ArticleEngineering High-Yield Biopolymer Secretion Creates an Extracellular Protein Matrix for Living Materials
Engineered living materials (ELM) aim to mimic characteristics of natural occurring systems, bringing the benefits of self-healing, synthesis, autonomous assembly, and responsiveness to traditional materials. Previous research has shown the potential of replicating the bacterial extracellular matrix (ECM) to mimic biofilms.
- Research ArticleA Small Cysteine-Free Protein Acts as a Novel Regulator of Fungal Insect-Pathogenic Lifecycle and Genomic Expression
Small cysteine-rich proteins secreted during plant-pathogenic fungal infection comprise virulence effectors. Our study confirms that only a cysteine-free protein (CFP) is determinant to insect-pathogenic fungal virulence among 10 small putatively secreted proteins containing 0 to 12 Cys residues.
- Research ArticlePresence of Bromotyrosine Alkaloids in Marine Sponges Is Independent of Metabolomic and Microbiome Architectures
Our work demonstrates that phylogenetically and geographically distant sponges with very different microbiomes can harbor natural product chemical classes that are united in their core chemical structures and biosynthetic logic. Furthermore, we show that independent of geographical dispersion, natural product chemistry, and microbial abundance, overall sponge metabolomes tightly correlate with their microbiomes.
- Research ArticleMaternal Emulsifier P80 Intake Induces Gut Dysbiosis in Offspring and Increases Their Susceptibility to Colitis in Adulthood
The main findings of this research showed that maternal P80 intake could disrupt the intestinal barrier, induce gut dysbiosis, and promote colitis susceptibility in adulthood. This study will enhance understanding of the prevention of IBD.