scholarly journals Microbial Communities on Plastic Polymers in the Mediterranean Sea

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annika Vaksmaa ◽  
Katrin Knittel ◽  
Alejandro Abdala Asbun ◽  
Maaike Goudriaan ◽  
Andreas Ellrott ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Amplicon Sequencing ◽  
Polymer Surfaces ◽  
Rrna Gene ◽  
Sequencing Data ◽  
Microbial Biofilms ◽  
Degrading Bacteria ◽  
The Mediterranean

Plastic particles in the ocean are typically covered with microbial biofilms, but it remains unclear whether distinct microbial communities colonize different polymer types. In this study, we analyzed microbial communities forming biofilms on floating microplastics in a bay of the island of Elba in the Mediterranean Sea. Raman spectroscopy revealed that the plastic particles mainly comprised polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), and polystyrene (PS) of which polyethylene and polypropylene particles were typically brittle and featured cracks. Fluorescence in situ hybridization and imaging by high-resolution microscopy revealed dense microbial biofilms on the polymer surfaces. Amplicon sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene showed that the bacterial communities on all plastic types consisted mainly of the orders Flavobacteriales, Rhodobacterales, Cytophagales, Rickettsiales, Alteromonadales, Chitinophagales, and Oceanospirillales. We found significant differences in the biofilm community composition on PE compared with PP and PS (on OTU and order level), which shows that different microbial communities colonize specific polymer types. Furthermore, the sequencing data also revealed a higher relative abundance of archaeal sequences on PS in comparison with PE or PP. We furthermore found a high occurrence, up to 17% of all sequences, of different hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria on all investigated plastic types. However, their functioning in the plastic-associated biofilm and potential role in plastic degradation needs further assessment.

scholarly journals Assessing species biomass contributions in microbial communities via metaproteomics

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel Kleiner ◽  
Erin Thorson ◽  
Christine E. Sharp ◽  
Xiaoli Dong ◽  
Dan Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Community ◽  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Community Composition ◽  
Microbial Mats ◽  
Soda Lakes ◽  
Microbial Community Composition ◽  
Amplicon Sequencing ◽  
Rrna Gene ◽  
Cell Numbers

AbstractAssessment of microbial community composition is the cornerstone of microbial ecology. Microbial community composition can be analyzed by quantifying cell numbers or by quantifying biomass for individual populations. However, as cell volumes can differ by orders of magnitude, these two approaches yield vastly different results. Methods for quantifying cell numbers are already available (e.g. fluorescence in situ hybridization, 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing), yet methods for assessing community composition in terms of biomass are lacking.We developed metaproteomics based methods for assessing microbial community composition using protein abundance as a measure for biomass contributions of individual populations. We optimized the accuracy and sensitivity of the method using artificially assembled microbial communities and found that it is less prone to some of the biases found in sequencing-based methods. We applied the method using communities from two different environments, microbial mats from two alkaline soda lakes and saliva from multiple individuals.

scholarly journals Minimizing spurious features in 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Wang ◽  
Qianpeng Zhang ◽  
Guojun Wu ◽  
Chenhong Zhang ◽  
Menghui Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
16S Rrna ◽  
16S Rrna Gene ◽  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Simulated Data ◽  
Amplicon Sequencing ◽  
Rrna Gene ◽  
Sequencing Data ◽  
The Real ◽  
Matthew’S Correlation Coefficient

The 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing is a widely used high-throughput method for the taxonomic inference in microbial communities. Many data analysis pipelines have been developed to enhance the accuracy in reflecting the real taxonomy, in order to better guide the downstream identification, isolation and mechanistic studies. Though rigorous quality filtration steps were adopted in these pipelines, with well-designed mock and simulated data sets, we found that there were still a widely divergent number of spurious features due to the “pseudo sequences” artificially generated during the PCR and sequencing process. These pseudo sequences were in low abundances, and were unreliable determined through a weighted re-sampling test. To minimize their influences on the characterization of taxonomy, we proposed an approach that contains two steps, an abundance filtering (AF) step and the subsequent AF-based OTU picking and remapping (AOR) step, which can efficiently decrease the spurious OTUs, sequences or oligotyping features, and improve Matthew's Correlation Coefficient (MCC) values in OTU clustering. The approach can be easily integrated with the popularly-used 16S rRNA sequencing data analysis pipelines, to make the number of OTUs, alpha and beta diversities from divergent pipelines more consistent with the real structure of microbial communities.

scholarly journals Minimizing spurious features in 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Wang ◽  
Qianpeng Zhang ◽  
Guojun Wu ◽  
Chenhong Zhang ◽  
Menghui Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
16S Rrna ◽  
16S Rrna Gene ◽  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Simulated Data ◽  
Amplicon Sequencing ◽  
Rrna Gene ◽  
Sequencing Data ◽  
The Real ◽  
Matthew’S Correlation Coefficient

The 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing is a widely used high-throughput method for the taxonomic inference in microbial communities. Many data analysis pipelines have been developed to enhance the accuracy in reflecting the real taxonomy, in order to better guide the downstream identification, isolation and mechanistic studies. Though rigorous quality filtration steps were adopted in these pipelines, with well-designed mock and simulated data sets, we found that there were still a widely divergent number of spurious features due to the “pseudo sequences” artificially generated during the PCR and sequencing process. These pseudo sequences were in low abundances, and were unreliable determined through a weighted re-sampling test. To minimize their influences on the characterization of taxonomy, we proposed an approach that contains two steps, an abundance filtering (AF) step and the subsequent AF-based OTU picking and remapping (AOR) step, which can efficiently decrease the spurious OTUs, sequences or oligotyping features, and improve Matthew's Correlation Coefficient (MCC) values in OTU clustering. The approach can be easily integrated with the popularly-used 16S rRNA sequencing data analysis pipelines, to make the number of OTUs, alpha and beta diversities from divergent pipelines more consistent with the real structure of microbial communities.

scholarly journals Retinitis pigmentosa is associated with shifts in the gut microbiome

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Oksana Kutsyr ◽  
Lucía Maestre-Carballa ◽  
Mónica Lluesma-Gomez ◽  
Manuel Martinez-Garcia ◽  
Nicolás Cuenca ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Retinitis Pigmentosa ◽  
Gut Microbiome ◽  
Functional Decline ◽  
Retinal Disease ◽  
Photoreceptor Cells ◽  
Amplicon Sequencing ◽  
Rrna Gene ◽  
Sequencing Data ◽  
Alpha And Beta Diversity ◽  
Potential Biomarker

AbstractThe gut microbiome is known to influence the pathogenesis and progression of neurodegenerative diseases. However, there has been relatively little focus upon the implications of the gut microbiome in retinal diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa (RP). Here, we investigated changes in gut microbiome composition linked to RP, by assessing both retinal degeneration and gut microbiome in the rd10 mouse model of RP as compared to control C57BL/6J mice. In rd10 mice, retinal responsiveness to flashlight stimuli and visual acuity were deteriorated with respect to observed in age-matched control mice. This functional decline in dystrophic animals was accompanied by photoreceptor loss, morphologic anomalies in photoreceptor cells and retinal reactive gliosis. Furthermore, 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing data showed a microbial gut dysbiosis with differences in alpha and beta diversity at the genera, species and amplicon sequence variants (ASV) levels between dystrophic and control mice. Remarkably, four fairly common ASV in healthy gut microbiome belonging to Rikenella spp., Muribaculaceace spp., Prevotellaceae UCG-001 spp., and Bacilli spp. were absent in the gut microbiome of retinal disease mice, while Bacteroides caecimuris was significantly enriched in mice with RP. The results indicate that retinal degenerative changes in RP are linked to relevant gut microbiome changes. The findings suggest that microbiome shifting could be considered as potential biomarker and therapeutic target for retinal degenerative diseases.

scholarly journals Mediterranean Sea climatic indices: monitoring long term variability and climate changes

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Athanasia Iona ◽  
Athanasios Theodorou ◽  
Sarantis Sofianos ◽  
Sylvain Watelet ◽  
Charles Troupin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Time Series ◽  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Climate Changes ◽  
Salt Content ◽  
Climatic Indices ◽  
In Situ Observations ◽  
The Mediterranean

Abstract. We present a new product composed of a set of thermohaline climatic indices from 1950 to 2015 for the Mediterranean Sea such as decadal temperature and salinity anomalies, their mean values over selected depths, decadal ocean heat and salt content anomalies at selected depth layers as well as their long times series. It is produced from a new high-resolution climatology of temperature and salinity on a 1/8° regular grid based on historical high quality in situ observations. Ocean heat and salt content differences between 1980–2015 and 1950–1979 are compared for evaluation of the climate shift in the Mediterranean Sea. The spatial patterns of heat and salt content shifts demonstrate in greater detail than ever before that the climate changes differently in the several regions of the basin. Long time series of heat and salt content for the period 1950 to 2015 are also provided which indicate that in the Mediterranean Sea there is a net mean volume warming and salting since 1950 with acceleration during the last two decades. The time series also show that the ocean heat content seems to fluctuate on a cycle of about 40 years and seems to follow the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation climate cycle indicating that the natural large scale atmospheric variability could be superimposed on to the warming trend. This product is an observations-based estimation of the Mediterranean climatic indices. It relies solely on spatially interpolated data produced from in-situ observations averaged over decades in order to smooth the decadal variability and reveal the long term trends with more accuracy. It can provide a valuable contribution to the modellers' community, next to the satellite-based products and serve as a baseline for the evaluation of climate-change model simulations contributing thus to a better understanding of the complex response of the Mediterranean Sea to the ongoing global climate change. The product is available here: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1210100.

scholarly journals Dynamics of Soil Microbial Communities During Diazepam and Oxazepam Biodegradation in Soil Flooded by Water From a WWTP

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Crampon ◽  
Coralie Soulier ◽  
Pauline Sidoli ◽  
Jennifer Hellal ◽  
Catherine Joulian ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
16S Rrna ◽  
16S Rrna Gene ◽  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Soil Microbial Communities ◽  
Gene Sequencing ◽  
16S Rrna Gene Sequencing ◽  
Treated Wastewater ◽  
Rrna Gene ◽  
Sequencing Data ◽  
Rrna Gene Sequencing

The demand for energy and chemicals is constantly growing, leading to an increase of the amounts of contaminants discharged to the environment. Among these, pharmaceutical molecules are frequently found in treated wastewater that is discharged into superficial waters. Indeed, wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are designed to remove organic pollution from urban effluents but are not specific, especially toward contaminants of emerging concern (CECs), which finally reach the natural environment. In this context, it is important to study the fate of micropollutants, especially in a soil aquifer treatment (SAT) context for water from WWTPs, and for the most persistent molecules such as benzodiazepines. In the present study, soils sampled in a reed bed frequently flooded by water from a WWTP were spiked with diazepam and oxazepam in microcosms, and their concentrations were monitored for 97 days. It appeared that the two molecules were completely degraded after 15 days of incubation. Samples were collected during the experiment in order to follow the dynamics of the microbial communities, based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing for Archaea and Bacteria, and ITS2 gene for Fungi. The evolution of diversity and of specific operating taxonomic units (OTUs) highlighted an impact of the addition of benzodiazepines, a rapid resilience of the fungal community and an evolution of the bacterial community. It appeared that OTUs from the Brevibacillus genus were more abundant at the beginning of the biodegradation process, for diazepam and oxazepam conditions. Additionally, Tax4Fun tool was applied to 16S rRNA gene sequencing data to infer on the evolution of specific metabolic functions during biodegradation. It finally appeared that the microbial community in soils frequently exposed to water from WWTP, potentially containing CECs such as diazepam and oxazepam, may be adapted to the degradation of persistent contaminants.

scholarly journals Shaping of the Present-Day Deep Biosphere at Chicxulub by the Impact Catastrophe That Ended the Cretaceous

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles S. Cockell ◽  
Bettina Schaefer ◽  
Cornelia Wuchter ◽  
Marco J. L. Coolen ◽  
Kliti Grice ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Amplicon Sequencing ◽  
Granitic Rocks ◽  
Rrna Gene ◽  
Deep Biosphere ◽  
Deep Subsurface ◽  
Cell Biomass ◽  
Colonization Potential ◽  
The Impact

We report on the effect of the end-Cretaceous impact event on the present-day deep microbial biosphere at the impact site. IODP-ICDP Expedition 364 drilled into the peak ring of the Chicxulub crater, México, allowing us to investigate the microbial communities within this structure. Increased cell biomass was found in the impact suevite, which was deposited within the first few hours of the Cenozoic, demonstrating that the impact produced a new lithological horizon that caused a long-term improvement in deep subsurface colonization potential. In the biologically impoverished granitic rocks, we observed increased cell abundances at impact-induced geological interfaces, that can be attributed to the nutritionally diverse substrates and/or elevated fluid flow. 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing revealed taxonomically distinct microbial communities in each crater lithology. These observations show that the impact caused geological deformation that continues to shape the deep subsurface biosphere at Chicxulub in the present day.

scholarly journals Cave Drip Water-Related Samples as a Natural Environment for Aromatic Hydrocarbon-Degrading Bacteria

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Marques ◽  
Gislaine Silva ◽  
João Dias ◽  
Eduardo Gross ◽  
Moara Costa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Aromatic Hydrocarbon ◽  
Microbial Communities ◽  
16S Rdna ◽  
Aromatic Compounds ◽  
Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis ◽  
Amplicon Sequencing ◽  
Drip Water ◽  
Rdna Sequencing ◽  
Degrading Bacteria ◽  
Cave Drip Water

Restricted contact with the external environment has allowed the development of microbial communities adapted to the oligotrophy of caves. However, nutrients can be transported to caves by drip water and affect the microbial communities inside the cave. To evaluate the influence of aromatic compounds carried by drip water on the microbial community, two limestone caves were selected in Brazil. Drip-water-saturated and unsaturated sediment, and dripping water itself, were collected from each cave and bacterial 16S rDNA amplicon sequencing and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) of naphthalene dioxygenase (ndo) genes were performed. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) were performed to evaluate inorganic nutrients, and GC was performed to estimate aromatic compounds in the samples. The high frequency of Sphingomonadaceae in drip water samples indicates the presence of aromatic hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria. This finding was consistent with the detection of naphthalene and acenaphthene and the presence of ndo genes in drip-water-related samples. The aromatic compounds, aromatic hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria and 16S rDNA sequencing indicate that aromatic compounds may be one of the sources of energy and carbon to the system and the drip-water-associated bacterial community contains several potentially aromatic hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work to present compelling evidence for the presence of aromatic hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria in cave drip water.

scholarly journals Change in Bacterial Community Structure during In Situ Biostimulation of Subsurface Sediment Cocontaminated with Uranium and Nitrate

2004 ◽  
Vol 70 (8) ◽  
pp. 4911-4920 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadia N. North ◽  
Sherry L. Dollhopf ◽  
Lainie Petrie ◽  
Jonathan D. Istok ◽  
David L. Balkwill ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
16S Rrna ◽  
16S Rrna Gene ◽  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Quantitative Pcr ◽  
Rrna Gene ◽  
Gene Sequences ◽  
16S Rrna Gene Sequences ◽  
Clone Libraries ◽  
Subsurface Sediments

ABSTRACT Previous studies have demonstrated that metal-reducing microorganisms can effectively promote the precipitation and removal of uranium from contaminated groundwater. Microbial communities were stimulated in the acidic subsurface by pH neutralization and addition of an electron donor to wells. In single-well push-pull tests at a number of treated sites, nitrate, Fe(III), and uranium were extensively reduced and electron donors (glucose, ethanol) were consumed. Examination of sediment chemistry in cores sampled immediately adjacent to treated wells 3.5 months after treatment revealed that sediment pH increased substantially (by 1 to 2 pH units) while nitrate was largely depleted. A large diversity of 16S rRNA gene sequences were retrieved from subsurface sediments, including species from the α, β, δ, and γ subdivisions of the class Proteobacteria, as well as low- and high-G+C gram-positive species. Following in situ biostimulation of microbial communities within contaminated sediments, sequences related to previously cultured metal-reducing δ-Proteobacteria increased from 5% to nearly 40% of the clone libraries. Quantitative PCR revealed that Geobacter-type 16S rRNA gene sequences increased in biostimulated sediments by 1 to 2 orders of magnitude at two of the four sites tested. Evidence from the quantitative PCR analysis corroborated information obtained from 16S rRNA gene clone libraries, indicating that members of the δ-Proteobacteria subdivision, including Anaeromyxobacter dehalogenans-related and Geobacter-related sequences, are important metal-reducing organisms in acidic subsurface sediments. This study provides the first cultivation-independent analysis of the change in metal-reducing microbial communities in subsurface sediments during an in situ bioremediation experiment.

scholarly journals Cellulolytic and Xylanolytic Microbial Communities Associated With Lignocellulose-Rich Wheat Straw Degradation in Anaerobic Digestion

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mads Borgbjerg Jensen ◽  
Nadieh de Jonge ◽  
Maja Duus Dolriis ◽  
Caroline Kragelund ◽  
Christian Holst Fischer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Community ◽  
Anaerobic Digestion ◽  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Wheat Straw ◽  
Lignocellulosic Biomass ◽  
Correlation Method ◽  
Amplicon Sequencing ◽  
Lignocellulose Degradation ◽  
Rrna Gene ◽  
Key Species

The enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulosic polymers is generally considered the rate-limiting step to methane production in anaerobic digestion of lignocellulosic biomass. The present study aimed to investigate how the hydrolytic microbial communities of three different types of anaerobic digesters adapted to lignocellulose-rich wheat straw in continuous stirred tank reactors operated for 134 days. Cellulase and xylanase activities were monitored weekly using fluorescently-labeled model substrates and the enzymatic profiles were correlated with changes in microbial community compositions based on 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing to identify key species involved in lignocellulose degradation. The enzymatic activity profiles and microbial community changes revealed reactor-specific adaption of phylogenetically different hydrolytic communities. The enzymatic activities correlated significantly with changes in specific taxonomic groups, including representatives of Ruminiclostridium, Caldicoprobacter, Ruminofilibacter, Ruminococcaceae, Treponema, and Clostridia order MBA03, all of which have been linked to cellulolytic and xylanolytic activity in the literature. By identifying microorganisms with similar development as the cellulase and xylanase activities, the proposed correlation method constitutes a promising approach for deciphering essential cellulolytic and xylanolytic microbial groups for anaerobic digestion of lignocellulosic biomass.

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