scholarly journals Regional Differences in the Structure of Juglans nigra Phytobiome Reflect Geographical Differences in Thousand Cankers Disease Severity

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 388-404
Author(s):  
Aaron J. Onufrak ◽  
Geoffrey M. Williams ◽  
William E. Klingeman ◽  
Melissa A. Cregger ◽  
Dawn M. Klingeman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Geographical Variation ◽  
Disease Incidence ◽  
Juglans Nigra ◽  
Native Range ◽  
Geographical Differences ◽  
Thousand Cankers Disease ◽  
Introduced Range ◽  
Native And Introduced Ranges

Thousand cankers disease threatens Juglans nigra (Eastern Black Walnut) in urban and natural landscapes. Incidence and severity of thousand cankers disease is higher in the host’s introduced range in the western United States. We hypothesized that these differences are driven partly by geographical variation in the host phytobiome due to its roles in host stress tolerance, nutrient acquisition, and defense. To evaluate the role of the phytobiome in mediating thousand cankers disease, we characterized the J. nigra phytobiome of diseased and healthy trees in portions of its native (Indiana and Tennessee) and introduced (Washington) ranges. Grafted clones present in each state and open-pollinated populations were sampled. DNA was extracted from soil and branch (caulosphere) tissues and internal transcribed spacer and 16s regions were sequenced for characterization of fungal and bacterial communities. We found that microbial communities in the caulosphere and soil differ between native and introduced ranges of J. nigra and harbor different mutualistic and pathogenic microorganisms. Additionally, caulosphere microbial communities were more species rich and diverse in the native range of J. nigra, suggesting greater levels of functional redundancy and multifunctionality in the native-range phytobiome compared with the introduced range. We also found higher network complexity in the caulosphere of trees in the introduced range and evidence for two alternative stable community states associated with diseased and healthy trees. Our results provide support for the hypothesis that geographical variation in thousand cankers disease incidence and severity is partially driven by differences in the phytobiome of J. nigra in its introduced and native ranges. [Formula: see text] Copyright © 2020 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license .

scholarly journals Discovery of Novel Viruses Associated With the Invasive Cane Toad (Rhinella marina) in Its Native and Introduced Ranges

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice G. Russo ◽  
Emma F. Harding ◽  
Grace J. H. Yan ◽  
Daniel Selechnik ◽  
Simon Ducatez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Invasion History ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Native Range ◽  
Cane Toad ◽  
Pcr Screening ◽  
Rhinella Marina ◽  
Low Genetic Diversity ◽  
Native And Introduced Ranges ◽  
Metagenomic Approach

Cane toads (Rhinella marina) are notoriously successful invaders: from 101 individuals brought to Australia in 1935, poisonous toads now cover an area >1.2 million km2 with adverse effects on native fauna. Despite extensive research on the role of macroparasites in cane toad invasion, viral research is lagging. We compared viral prevalence and diversity between toads in their native range (French Guiana, n=25) and two introduced ranges: Australia (n=151) and Hawai’i (n=10) with a metatranscriptomic and metagenomic approach combined with PCR screening. Australian toads almost exclusively harbor one of seven viruses detected globally. Rhimavirus-A (Picornaviridae) exhibited low genetic diversity and likely actively infected 9% of sampled Australian toads extending across ~2,000km of Northern Australia and up to the current invasion front. In native range cane toads, we identified multiple phylogenetically distinct viruses (Iridoviridae, Picornaviridae, Papillomaviridae, and Nackedna-like virus). None of the same viruses was detected in both ranges, suggesting that Australian cane toads have largely escaped the viral infection experienced by their native range counterparts. The novel native range viruses described here are potential biocontrol agents, as Australian toads likely lack prior immunological exposure to these viruses. Overall, our evidence suggests that there may be differences between viruses infecting cane toads in their native vs. introduced ranges, which lays the groundwork for further studies on how these viruses have influenced the toads’ invasion history.

scholarly journals Competitive Advantage of Geosmithia morbida in Low-Moisture Wood May Explain Historical Outbreaks of Thousand Cankers Disease and Predict the Future Fate of Juglans nigra Within Its Native Range

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoffrey M. Williams ◽  
Matthew D. Ginzel
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Moisture Content ◽  
Bark Beetles ◽  
The United States ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Juglans Nigra ◽  
Native Range ◽  
Geosmithia Morbida ◽  
Thousand Cankers Disease ◽  
Fungal Competition

Bark beetles vector symbiotic fungi and the success of these mutualisms may be limited by competition from other microbes. The outcome of fungal competition is strongly influenced by the physical and chemical conditions of the wood they inhabit. These conditions are in turn subject to climatic variation. In particular, wood moisture content (MC) influences fungal competition and, therefore, could help determine environmental suitability for thousand cankers disease (TCD) caused by Geosmithia morbida and its vector Pityophthorus juglandis. We conducted competition experiments in Juglans nigra wood that was naturally or artificially colonized by G. morbida and other fungi over a range of wood MC expected across prevailing United States climatic conditions. G. morbida outcompeted antagonistic fungi Clonostachys and Trichoderma spp. at <5% equilibrium moisture content. Aspergillus spp. outcompeted G. morbida at low moisture in wood from Indiana. We fit a logistic regression model to results of the competition experiments to predict survival of G. morbida across the United States. Expected survival of G. morbida was highest in historical TCD epicenters and accounted for the low incidence and severity of TCD in the eastern United States. Our results also predict that under future climate scenarios, the area impacted by TCD will expand into the native range of J. nigra. Given its role in emergent forest health threats, climate change should be a key consideration in the assessment of risks to hardwood resources.

scholarly journals Population genomic scans reveal novel genes underlie convergent flowering time evolution in the introduced range of Arabidopsis thaliana

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Billie Gould ◽  
John R Stinchcombe
Keyword(s):  
Arabidopsis Thaliana ◽  
Flowering Time ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Parallel Evolution ◽  
Native Range ◽  
Genetic Components ◽  
Introduced Range ◽  
Selection For ◽  
Native And Introduced Ranges ◽  
High Degree

A long-standing question in evolutionary biology is whether the evolution of convergent phenotypes results from selection on the same heritable genetic components. Using whole genome sequencing and genome scans, we tested whether the evolution of parallel longitudinal flowering time clines in the native and introduced ranges of Arabidopsis thaliana has a similar genetic basis. We found that common variants of large effect on flowering time in the native range do not appear to have been under recent strong selection in the introduced range. Genes in regions of the genome that are under selection for flowering time are also not enriched for functions related to development or environmental sensing. We instead identified a set of 53 new candidate genes putatively linked to the evolution of flowering time in the species introduced range. A high degree of conditional neutrality of flowering time variants between the native and introduced range may preclude parallel evolution at the level of genes. Overall, neither gene pleiotropy nor available standing genetic variation appears to have restricted the evolution of flowering time in the introduced range to high frequency variants from the native range or to known flowering time pathway genes.

The Seasonal End of Human Coronavirus Hospital Admissions with Implications for SARS-CoV-2 (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan T Evangelista
Keyword(s):  
Hospital Admissions ◽  
Disease Incidence ◽  
Influenza Viruses ◽  
Seasonal Effects ◽  
Human Coronavirus ◽  
Enveloped Virus ◽  
Multiplex Pcr Assay ◽  
Contact Transmission ◽  
Human Coronaviruses

UNSTRUCTURED The seasonality of influenza viruses and endemic human coronaviruses was tracked over an 8-year period to assess key epidemiologic reduction points in disease incidence for an urban area in the northeast United States. Patients admitted to a pediatric hospital with worsening respiratory symptoms were tested using a multiplex PCR assay from nasopharyngeal swabs. The additive seasonal effects of outdoor temperatures and indoor relative humidity (RH) were evaluated. The 8-year average peak activity of human coronaviruses occurred in the first week of January, when droplet and contact transmission was enabled by the low indoor RH of 20-30%. Previous studies have shown that an increase in RH to 50% has been associated with markedly reduced viability and transmission of influenza virus and animal coronaviruses. As disease incidence was reduced by 50% in early March, to 75% in early April, to greater than 99% at the end of April, a relationship was observed from colder temperatures in January with a low indoor RH to a gradual increase in outdoor temperatures in April with an indoor RH of 45-50%. As a lipid-bound, enveloped virus with similar size characteristics to endemic human coronaviruses, SARS-CoV-2 should be subject to the same dynamics of reduced viability and transmission with increased humidity. In addition to the major role of social distancing, the transition from lower to higher indoor RH with increasing outdoor temperatures could have an additive effect on the decrease in SARS-CoV-2 cases in May. Over the 8-year period of this study, human coronavirus activity was either zero or >99% reduction in the months of June through September, and the implication would be that SARS-Cov-2 may follow a similar pattern. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT RR2-doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.15.20103416

scholarly journals Influence of pig farming on human Gut Microbiota: role of airborne microbial communities

Gut Microbes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Julia Moor ◽  
Tsering Wüthrich ◽  
Suzanne Aebi ◽  
Nadezda Mostacci ◽  
Gudrun Overesch ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gut Microbiota ◽  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Human Gut ◽  
Human Gut Microbiota ◽  
Pig Farming

scholarly journals Discovery of novel community-relevant small proteins in a simplified human intestinal microbiome

Microbiome ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannes Petruschke ◽  
Christian Schori ◽  
Sebastian Canzler ◽  
Sarah Riesbeck ◽  
Anja Poehlein ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Intestinal Microbiota ◽  
De Novo ◽  
Bacterial Species ◽  
Intestinal Microbiome ◽  
Single Strain ◽  
Small Proteins ◽  
Human Intestinal Microbiota ◽  
Wide Range

Abstract Background The intestinal microbiota plays a crucial role in protecting the host from pathogenic microbes, modulating immunity and regulating metabolic processes. We studied the simplified human intestinal microbiota (SIHUMIx) consisting of eight bacterial species with a particular focus on the discovery of novel small proteins with less than 100 amino acids (= sProteins), some of which may contribute to shape the simplified human intestinal microbiota. Although sProteins carry out a wide range of important functions, they are still often missed in genome annotations, and little is known about their structure and function in individual microbes and especially in microbial communities. Results We created a multi-species integrated proteogenomics search database (iPtgxDB) to enable a comprehensive identification of novel sProteins. Six of the eight SIHUMIx species, for which no complete genomes were available, were sequenced and de novo assembled. Several proteomics approaches including two earlier optimized sProtein enrichment strategies were applied to specifically increase the chances for novel sProtein discovery. The search of tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) data against the multi-species iPtgxDB enabled the identification of 31 novel sProteins, of which the expression of 30 was supported by metatranscriptomics data. Using synthetic peptides, we were able to validate the expression of 25 novel sProteins. The comparison of sProtein expression in each single strain versus a multi-species community cultivation showed that six of these sProteins were only identified in the SIHUMIx community indicating a potentially important role of sProteins in the organization of microbial communities. Two of these novel sProteins have a potential antimicrobial function. Metabolic modelling revealed that a third sProtein is located in a genomic region encoding several enzymes relevant for the community metabolism within SIHUMIx. Conclusions We outline an integrated experimental and bioinformatics workflow for the discovery of novel sProteins in a simplified intestinal model system that can be generically applied to other microbial communities. The further analysis of novel sProteins uniquely expressed in the SIHUMIx multi-species community is expected to enable new insights into the role of sProteins on the functionality of bacterial communities such as those of the human intestinal tract.

scholarly journals The microbial world in a changing environment

2021 ◽  
Vol 94 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafael Vicuña ◽  
Bernardo González
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Recent Literature ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Complete Evaluation ◽  
Microbial World ◽  
Sustainable Environment ◽  
Entire Planet ◽  
New Strategies

Abstract Background In this article we would like to touch on the key role played by the microbiota in the maintenance of a sustainable environment in the entire planet. For obvious reasons, this article does not intend to review thoroughly this extremely complex topic, but rather to focus on the main threats that this natural scenario is presently facing. Methods Recent literature survey. Results Despite the relevance of microorganisms have in our planet, the effects of climate change on microbial communities have been scarcely and not systematically addressed in literature. Although the role of microorganisms in emissions of greenhouse gases has received some attention, there are several microbial processes that are affected by climate change with consequences that are presently under assessment. Among them, host-pathogen interactions, the microbiome of built environment, or relations among plants and beneficial microbes. Conclusions Further research is required to advance in knowledge of the effect of climate change on microbial communities. One of the main targets should be a complete evaluation of the global microbial functional diversity and the design of new strategies to cope with limitations in methods to grow microorganisms in the laboratory. These efforts should contribute to raise a general public awareness on the major role played by the microbiota on the various Earth ecosystems.

scholarly journals Otolaryngology activity in two hospitals in northern and central Italy differently affected by COVID-19 pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 104 (2) ◽  
pp. 003685042199848
Author(s):  
Antonio Minni ◽  
Francesco Pilolli ◽  
Massimo Ralli ◽  
Niccolò Mevio ◽  
Luca Roncoroni ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Intensive Care ◽  
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ◽  
Intensive Care Units ◽  
Healthcare System ◽  
Central Italy ◽  
Northern Italy ◽  
Public Hospitals ◽  
Geographical Differences ◽  
Italian Regions

The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic had a significant impact on the Italian healthcare system, although geographical differences were present; regions in northern Italy have been the most severely affected while regions in the south of the country were relatively spared. Otolaryngologists were actively involved in the management of the pandemic. In this work, we analyzed and compared the otolaryngology surgical activity performed during the pandemic in two large public hospitals located in different Italian regions. In northern Italy, otolaryngologists were mainly involved in performing surgical tracheotomies in COVID-19 positive patients and contributed to the management of these patients in intensive care units. In central Italy, where the burden of the infection was significantly lower, otolaryngologists focused on diagnosis and treatment of emergency and oncology patients. This analysis confirms the important role of the otolaryngology specialists during the pandemic, but also highlights specific differences between two large hospitals in different Italian regions.

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