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MBio Jan 2024Bacteria known as pink-pigmented facultative methylotrophs colonize many diverse environments on earth, play an important role in the carbon cycle, and in some cases...
Bacteria known as pink-pigmented facultative methylotrophs colonize many diverse environments on earth, play an important role in the carbon cycle, and in some cases promote plant growth. However, little is known about how these organisms interact with each other and their environment. In this work, we identify one of the chemical signals commonly used by these bacteria and discover that this signal controls swarming motility in the pink-pigmented facultative methylotroph DSM5686. This work provides new molecular details about interactions between these important bacteria and will help scientists predict these interactions and the group behaviors they regulate from genomic sequencing information.
Topics: Quorum Sensing; Acyl-Butyrolactones; Methylobacterium
PubMed: 38085021
DOI: 10.1128/mbio.01999-23 -
BMC Infectious Diseases Dec 2023Roseomonas mucosa (R. mucosa) is a pink-pigmented, Gram-negative short rod bacterium. It is isolated from moist environments and skin, resistant to multiple drugs,...
BACKGROUND
Roseomonas mucosa (R. mucosa) is a pink-pigmented, Gram-negative short rod bacterium. It is isolated from moist environments and skin, resistant to multiple drugs, including broad-spectrum cephalosporins, and a rare cause of infection with limited reports. R. mucosa mostly causes catheter-related bloodstream infections, with even fewer reports of skin and soft tissue infections.
CASE PRESENTATION
A 10-year-old boy received topical steroid treatment for sebum-deficient eczema. A few days before the visit, he was bitten by an insect on the front of his right lower leg and scratched it due to itching. The day before the visit, redness, swelling, and mild pain in the same area were observed. Based on his symptoms, he was diagnosed with cellulitis. He was treated with sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim, and his symptoms improved. Pus culture revealed R. mucosa.
CONCLUSIONS
We report a rare case of cellulitis caused by R. mucosa. Infections caused by rare organisms that cause opportunistic infections, such as R. mucosa, should be considered in patients with compromised skin barrier function and regular topical steroid use. Gram stain detection of organisms other than Gram-positive cocci should be considered.
Topics: Male; Child; Humans; Cellulitis; Soft Tissue Infections; Methylobacteriaceae; Steroids
PubMed: 38082373
DOI: 10.1186/s12879-023-08875-9 -
FEMS Microbiology Letters Jan 2023Methylobacterium species are abundant colonizers of the phyllosphere due to the availability of methanol, a waste product of pectin metabolism during plant cell...
Methylobacterium species are abundant colonizers of the phyllosphere due to the availability of methanol, a waste product of pectin metabolism during plant cell division. The phyllosphere is an extreme environment, with a landscape that is heterogeneous and continuously changing as the plant grows and is exposed to high levels of ultraviolet irradiation. Geographically, New Zealand (NZ) has been isolated for over a million years, has a biologically diverse flora, and is considered a biodiversity hotspot, with most native plants being endemic. We therefore hypothesize that the phyllosphere of NZ native plants harbor diverse groups of Methylobacterium species. Leaf imprinting using methanol-supplemented agar medium was used to isolate bacteria, and diversity was determined using ARDRA and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Methylobacterium species were successfully isolated from the phyllosphere of 18 of the 20 native NZ plant species in this study, and six different species were identified: M. marchantiae, M. mesophilicum, M. adhaesivum, M. komagatae, M. extorquens, and M. phyllosphaerae. Other α, β, and γ-Proteobacteria, Actinomycetes, Bacteroidetes, and Firmicutes were also isolated, highlighting the presence of other potentially novel methanol utilizers within this ecosystem. This study identified that Methylobacterium are abundant members of the NZ phyllosphere, with species diversity and composition dependent on plant species.
Topics: Methylobacterium; Ecosystem; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; Methanol; New Zealand; Plants; Plant Leaves
PubMed: 37985695
DOI: 10.1093/femsle/fnad124 -
Microbiology Resource Announcements Nov 2023is associated with the normal skin microflora. Here, we present sequence assemblies from isolates obtained from the skin lesions of three atopic dermatitis patients.
is associated with the normal skin microflora. Here, we present sequence assemblies from isolates obtained from the skin lesions of three atopic dermatitis patients.
PubMed: 37847010
DOI: 10.1128/MRA.00521-23 -
Microbiology Resource Announcements Nov 2023is a bacterium that is found in the natural microbiota of human skin. Here, we present sequence assemblies from isolated from the skin microflora of three healthy...
is a bacterium that is found in the natural microbiota of human skin. Here, we present sequence assemblies from isolated from the skin microflora of three healthy human volunteers that were used to treat atopic dermatitis patients.
PubMed: 37819097
DOI: 10.1128/MRA.00520-23 -
Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek Dec 2023Methylorubrum extorquens is an important model methylotroph and has enormous potential for the development of C1-based microbial cell factories. During strain...
Methylorubrum extorquens is an important model methylotroph and has enormous potential for the development of C1-based microbial cell factories. During strain construction, regulated promoters with a low background expression level are important genetic tools for expression of potentially toxic genes. Here we present an accordingly optimised promoter, which can be used for that purpose. During construction and testing of terpene production strains harbouring a recombinant mevalonate pathway, strong growth defects were observed which made strain development impossible. After isolation and characterisation of suppressor mutants, we discovered a variant of the cumate-inducible promoter P used in this approach. Deletion of 28 nucleotides resulted in an extremely low background expression level, but also reduced the maximal expression strength to about 30% of the original promoter. This tightly repressed promoter version is a powerful module for controlled expression of potentially toxic genes in M. extorquens.
Topics: Promoter Regions, Genetic; Methylobacterium extorquens; Methanol
PubMed: 37751033
DOI: 10.1007/s10482-023-01880-7 -
PloS One 2023Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are ubiquitous environmental opportunistic pathogens that can cause chronic lung disease. Within the United States, Hawai'i has the...
Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are ubiquitous environmental opportunistic pathogens that can cause chronic lung disease. Within the United States, Hawai'i has the highest incidence of NTM lung disease, though the precise reasons are yet to be fully elucidated. One possibility is the high prevalence of NTM in the Hawai'i environment acting as a potential reservoir for opportunistic NTM infections. Through our previous initiatives to collect and characterize NTM in Hawai'i, community scientists of Hawai'i have collected thousands of environmental samples for sequencing. Here, these community scientists were invited for the first time into a high school lab in O'ahu for a genomic sequencing workshop, where participants sequenced four of the collected isolate genomic samples using the Oxford Nanopore Technologies MinION sequencer. Participants generated high quality long read data that when combined with short read Illumina data yielded complete bacterial genomic assemblies suitable for in-depth analysis. The gene annotation analysis identified a suite of genes that might help NTM thrive in the Hawai'i environment. Further, we found evidence of co-occurring methylobacteria, revealed from the sequencing data, suggesting that in some cases methylobacteria and NTM may coexist in the same niche, challenging previously accepted paradigms. The sequencing efforts presented here generated novel insights regarding the potential survival strategies and microbial interactions of NTM in the geographic hot spot of Hawai'i. We highlight the contributions of community scientists and present an activity that can be reimplemented as a workshop or classroom activity by other research groups to engage their local communities.
Topics: Humans; Hawaii; Nontuberculous Mycobacteria; Mycobacterium Infections, Nontuberculous; Chromosome Mapping; Data Accuracy; Methylobacterium
PubMed: 37703253
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0291072 -
Environmental Science & Technology... May 2023Compared to the myriad of known triggers for rhinitis and asthma, environmental exposure research for atopic dermatitis (AD) is not well established. We recently...
Compared to the myriad of known triggers for rhinitis and asthma, environmental exposure research for atopic dermatitis (AD) is not well established. We recently reported that an untargeted search of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) databases versus AD rates by United States (U.S.) postal codes revealed that isocyanates, such as toluene diisocyanate (TDI), are the pollutant class with the strongest spatiotemporal and epidemiologic association with AD. We further demonstrated that (di)isocyanates disrupt ceramide-family lipid production in commensal bacteria and activate the thermo-itch host receptor TRPA1. In this report, we reanalyzed regions of the U.S. with low levels of diisocyanate pollution to assess if a different chemical class may contribute. We identified antimony compounds as the top associated pollutant in such regions. Exposure to antimony compounds would be expected from brake dust in high-traffic areas, smelting plants, bottled water, and dust from aerosolized soil. Like TDI, antimony inhibited ceramide-family lipid production in and activated TRPA1 in human neurons. While further epidemiologic research will be needed to directly evaluate antimony exposure with surrounding AD prevalence and severity, these data suggest that compounds which are epidemiologically associated with AD, inhibit commensal lipid production, and activate TRPA1 may be causally related to AD pathogenesis.
PubMed: 37692200
DOI: 10.1021/acs.estlett.3c00142 -
Microbial Genomics Sep 2023comprises a diverse group of bacteria with various lifestyles. Although best known for their nodule-based nitrogen-fixation in symbiosis with legumes, a select group of...
comprises a diverse group of bacteria with various lifestyles. Although best known for their nodule-based nitrogen-fixation in symbiosis with legumes, a select group of bradyrhizobia are also capable of photosynthesis. This ability seems to be rare among rhizobia, and its origin and evolution in these bacteria remain a subject of substantial debate. Therefore, our aim here was to investigate the distribution and evolution of photosynthesis in using comparative genomics and representative genomes from closely related taxa in the families and . We identified photosynthesis gene clusters (PGCs) in 25 genomes belonging to three different lineages, notably the so-called Photosynthetic, and supergroups. Also, two different PGC architectures were observed. One of these, PGC1, was present in genomes from the Photosynthetic supergroup and in three genomes from a species in the supergroup. The second cluster, PGC2, was also present in some strains from the supergroup, as well as in those from the supergroup. PGC2 was largely syntenic to the cluster found in and . Bayesian ancestral state reconstruction unambiguously showed that the ancestor of lacked a PGC and that it was acquired horizontally by various lineages. Maximum-likelihood phylogenetic analyses of individual photosynthesis genes also suggested multiple acquisitions through horizontal gene transfer, followed by vertical inheritance and gene losses within the different lineages. Overall, our findings add to the existing body of knowledge on ’s evolution and provide a meaningful basis from which to explore how these PGCs and the photosynthesis itself impact the physiology and ecology of these bacteria.
Topics: Bradyrhizobium; Photosynthesis
PubMed: 37676703
DOI: 10.1099/mgen.0.001105 -
Folia Microbiologica Feb 2024The effectiveness of Methylobacterium symbioticum in maize and strawberry plants was measured under different doses of nitrogen fertilisation. The biostimulant effect of...
The effectiveness of Methylobacterium symbioticum in maize and strawberry plants was measured under different doses of nitrogen fertilisation. The biostimulant effect of the bacteria was observed in maize and strawberry plants treated with the biological inoculant under different doses of nitrogen fertiliser compared to untreated plants (control). It was found that bacteria allowed a 50 and 25% decrease in the amount of nitrogen applied in maize and strawberry crops, respectively, and the photosynthetic capacity increased compared with the control plant under all nutritional conditions. A decrease in nitrate reductase activity in inoculated maize plants indicated that the bacteria affects the metabolism of the plant. In addition, inoculated strawberry plants grown with a 25% reduction in nitrogen had a higher concentration of nitrogen in leaves than control plants under optimal nutritional conditions. Again, this indicates that Methylobacterium symbioticum provide an additional supply of nitrogen.
Topics: Zea mays; Fragaria; Methylobacterium; Nitrogen; Photosynthesis; Crops, Agricultural
PubMed: 37526803
DOI: 10.1007/s12223-023-01078-4