UNASSIGNED: Broken eggs are a byproduct of the poultry industry and a potential nitrogen source for mushroom cultivation. However, its feasibility needs to be evaluated experimentally.
UNASSIGNED: In this study, a series of different addition amounts (0, 1.8, 3.6, 5.3 and 8.5%, w/w) of broken egg mixture (BEM) were applied in the composting cultivation process of oyster mushroom. The physicochemical properties and bacterial communities of composting substrate, and agronomic and nutritional properties of fruiting bodies were determined.
UNASSIGNED: The results showed that the BEM addition significantly (P < 0.05) increased the total nitrogen content in the composted substrate, and the contents of crude protein, total amino acids and essential amino acids of mushrooms. The P3 treatment (initial C/N of 26:1) showed the highest biological efficiency (BE) of 100.19% and a low contamination rate (CR) of 7.00%, while the higher dosage of BEM (P4 and P5) led to a sharp decrease in BE and a sharp increase in CR. High throughput sequencing revealed that the addition of BEM significantly (P < 0.05) changed the bacterial communities in the substrate at the beginning of composting. Streptococcus and Lactococcus were predominant bacterial genera in BEM treatments at the beginning stage of composting, while Acinetobacter became predominant at the ending stage. The co-occurrence network analysis showed that the P3 treatment demonstrated a much more complex bacterial community. The structural equation model analysis indicated that the addition of BEM affected the bacterial communities and nitrogen metabolism during composting, which further affected agronomic and nutritional properties of oyster mushrooms. An appropriate amount of BEM combined with composting processes can significantly improve the yield and quality of oyster mushroom, providing a new way for efficient utilization of BEM.

In forensic sciences, body fluids, or biological traces, are a major source of information, and their identification can play a decisive role in criminal investigations. Currently, the nature of biological fluids is assessed using immunological, physico-chemical, mRNA and epigenetic methods, but these have limits in terms of sensitivity and specificity. The emergence of next-generation sequencing technologies offers new opportunities to identify the nature of body fluids by determining bacterial communities. The aim of this pilot study was to assess whether analysis of the bacterial communities in isolated and mixed biological fluids could reflect the situation observed in real forensics labs. Several samples commonly encountered in forensic sciences were tested from healthy volunteers: saliva, vaginal fluid, blood, semen and skin swabs. These samples were analyzed alone or in combination in a ratio of 1:1. Sequencing was performed on the Ion Gene StudioTM S5 automated sequencer. Fluids tested alone revealed a typical bacterial signature with specific bacterial orders, enabling formal identification of the fluid of interest, despite inter-individual variations. However, in biological fluid mixtures, the predominance of some bacterial microbiomes inhibited interpretation. Oral and vaginal microbiomes were clearly preponderant, and the relative abundance of their bacterial communities and/or the presence of common species between samples made it impossible to detect bacterial orders or genera from other fluids, although they were distinguishable from one another. However, using the beta diversity, salivary fluids were identified and could be distinguished from fluids in combination. While this method of fluid identification is promising, further analyses are required to consolidate the protocol and ensure reliability.

The presence of fungi in the indoor environment is associated with allergies and other respiratory symptoms. The aim of this study was to use sequencing and molecular methods, including next-generation sequencing (NGS) approaches, to explore the bacterial and fungal communities and their abundance in the indoor environment of houses (n = 20) with visible \"moldy\" (HVM) and nonvisible \"non-moldy\" (HNM) in Memphis, TN, USA. Dust samples were collected from air vents and ground surfaces, and the total DNA was analyzed for bacteria and fungi by amplifying 16S rRNA and ITS genes on the Illumina Miseq. Results indicated that Leptosphaerulina was the most abundant fungal genus present in the air vent and ground samples from HNM and HVM. At the same time, the most abundant bacterial genera in the air vent and ground samples were Propionibacterium and Streptococcus. The fungi community diversity was significantly different in the air vent samples. The abundance of fungal species known to be associated with respiratory diseases in indoor dust samples was similar, regardless of the visibility of fungi in the houses. The existence of fungi associated with respiratory symptoms was compared with several parameters like dust particulate matter (PM), CO2 level, temperature, and humidity. Most of these parameters are either positively or negatively correlated with the existence of fungi associated with respiratory diseases; however, none of these correlations were significant at p = 0.05. Our results indicate that implementing molecular methods for detecting indoor fungi may strengthen common exposure and risk assessment practices.

Soil microorganisms play an indispensable role in plant growth and are widely used to promote plant growth. However, poor microbial strains are homogeneous. The heavy application of chemical fertilizers and pesticides to agricultural soil has adversely affected the soil flora, necessitating the regulation of the soil flora to maintain soil health. In this study, X-45, a highly efficient and phosphorus-dissolving strain of the lysogenic bacterium Serratia marcescens N1.14 was isolated from bare rock slope soil samples from Yueyang Avenue, Hunan Province, China. We observed that microbial strain X-45 could release P from the rocks into solution when the sample rocks were used as the only phosphorus source. Furthermore, we observed that the P content in media increased by 3.08 X compared to the control. After applying X-45 as a bacterial fertilizer, the growth of potted Indigofera pseudotinctoria plants significantly increased, the soil physicochemical properties were significantly improved, and the relative abundance of Bradyrhizobium in the soil increased significantly from 1 to 42%. Besides, Bradyrhizobium became the most dominant genus in the soil. The indirect promotion of another beneficial microorganism by X-45 further revealed the intrinsic mechanism by which X-45 exerted its effect on plant promotion and soil improvement. Using this bacteria, the hypothesis of the superposition effect of legume plant promotion was also confirmed.

This study intended to determine the associations between gut microbiota and glucose response in healthy individuals and analyze the connection between the gut microbiome and glucose-metabolism-related parameters.
Fecal bacterial composition and anthropometric, body composition, body fat distribution, and biochemical measures were analyzed. A 75-g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was given to each participant to investigate changes in glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1), insulin, and glucose. The whole body fat and the regions of interest of local body composition were analyzed using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA), and gut microbiota composition was assessed through variable regions (V3-V4) of the bacterial 16s ribosomal RNA gene using high-throughput sequencing techniques. Spearman correlation analysis was used to evaluate the association between gut microbiota and clinical and metabolic changes.
The number of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) demonstrated a reduction in the diversity and composition of gut microbiota associated with enhanced adiposity, dyslipidemia, insulin resistance, and hyperglycemia. The alpha diversity revealed that microbiota diversity, richness, and composition were higher in the African group and lower in the Chinese group. Principal coordinates analysis (PCoA) plots of beta diversity showed significant variability in gut microbial community structure between the two groups (p = 0.0009). LEfSe analysis showed that phylum Bacteroidetes was significantly more abundant in the Chinese group, and this group also harbored members of the order Bacteroidales, family Bacteroidaceae, and genus Bacteroides. In contrast, the phylum Verrucomicrobia was significantly more prevalent in the African group (all p < 0.05). Concerning species, metastats analysis revealed 8 species in the Chinese group and 18 species in the African group that were significantly abundant. Spearman\'s correlation analysis demonstrated that gut microbiota correlated with the factors that related to glucose metabolism.
Our data suggest that there is an interaction between gut microbiota, host physiology, and glucometabolic pathways, and this could contribute to adiposity and pathophysiology of hyperlipidemia, insulin resistance, and hyperglycemia. These findings provide an important basis for determining the relation between the gut microbiota and the pathogenesis of various metabolic disorders.

UNASSIGNED: In cystic fibrosis (CF), loss of CFTR-mediated bicarbonate secretion reduces the airway surface liquid (ASL) pH causing airway host defense defects. Aerosolized sodium bicarbonate can reverse these defects, but its effects are short-lived. Aerosolized tromethamine (THAM) also raises the ASL pH but its effects are much longer lasting. In this pilot study, we tested the hypothesis that nasally administered THAM would alter the nasal bacterial composition in adults with and without CF.
UNASSIGNED: Subjects (n = 32 total) received intranasally administered normal saline or THAM followed by a wash out period prior to receiving the other treatment. Nasal bacterial cultures were obtained prior to and after each treatment period.
UNASSIGNED: At baseline, nasal swab bacterial counts were similar between non-CF and CF subjects, but CF subjects had reduced microbial diversity. Both nasal saline and THAM were well-tolerated. In non-CF subjects, nasal airway alkalinization decreased both the total bacterial density and the gram-positive bacterial species recovered. In both non-CF and CF subjects, THAM decreased the amount of Corynebacterium accolens detected, but increased the amount of Corynebacterium pseudodiphtheriticum recovered on nasal swabs. A reduction in Staphylococcus aureus nasal colonization was also found in subjects who grew C. pseudodiphtheriticum.
UNASSIGNED: This study shows that aerosolized THAM is safe and well-tolerated and that nasal airway alkalinization alters the composition of mucosal bacterial communities.
UNASSIGNED: NCT00928135 (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00928135).

While it is now appreciated that the millions of tons of plastic pollution travelling through marine systems carry complex communities of microorganisms, it is still unknown to what extent these biofilm communities are specific to the plastic or selected by the surrounding ecosystem. To address this, we characterized and compared the microbial communities of microplastic particles, nonplastic (natural and wax) particles, and the surrounding waters from three marine ecosystems (the Baltic, Sargasso and Mediterranean seas) using high-throughput 16S rRNA gene sequencing. We found that biofilm communities on microplastic and nonplastic particles were highly similar to one another across this broad geographical range. The similar temperature and salinity profiles of the Sargasso and Mediterranean seas, compared to the Baltic Sea, were reflected in the biofilm communities. We identified plastic-specific operational taxonomic units (OTUs) that were not detected on nonplastic particles or in the surrounding waters. Twenty-six of the plastic-specific OTUs were geographically ubiquitous across all sampled locations. These geographically ubiquitous plastic-specific OTUs were mostly low-abundance members of their biofilm communities and often represented uncultured members of marine ecosystems. These results demonstrate the potential for plastics to be a reservoir of rare and understudied microbes, thus warranting further investigations into the dynamics and role of these microbes in marine ecosystems. IMPORTANCE This study represents one of the largest comparisons of biofilms from environmentally sampled plastic and nonplastic particles from aquatic environments. By including particles sampled through three separate campaigns in the Baltic, Sargasso, and Mediterranean seas, we were able to make cross-geographical comparisons and discovered common taxonomical signatures that define the plastic biofilm. For the first time, we identified plastic-specific bacteria that reoccur across marine regions. Our data reveal that plastics have selective properties that repeatedly enrich for similar bacteria regardless of location, potentially shifting aquatic microbial communities in areas with high levels of plastic pollution. Furthermore, we show that bacterial communities on plastic do not appear to be strongly influenced by polymer type, suggesting that other properties, such as the absorption and/or leaching of chemicals from the surface, are likely to be more important in the selection and enrichment of specific microorganisms.

Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) are emerging contaminants in the environment and have been highlighted as a worldwide environmental and health concern. As important participants in the biogeochemical cycles, mangrove ecosystems are subject to various anthropogenic disturbances, and its microbiota may be affected by various contaminants such as ARGs. This study selected 13 transects of mangrove-covered areas in Hainan, China for sediment sample collection. The abundance and diversity of ARGs and mobile genetic elements (MGEs) were investigated using high-throughput quantitative polymerase chain reaction (HT-qPCR), and high-throughput sequencing was used to study microbial structure and diversity. A total of 179 ARGs belonging to 9 ARG types were detected in the study area, and the detection rates of vanXD and vatE-01 were 100%. The abundance of ARGs was 8.30 × 107-6.88 × 108 copies per g sediment (1.27 × 10-2-3.39 × 10-2 copies per 16S rRNA gene), which was higher than similar studies, and there were differences in the abundance of ARGs in these sampling transects. The multidrug resistance genes (MRGs) accounted for the highest proportion (69.0%), which indicates that the contamination of ARGs in the study area was very complicated. The ARGs significantly positively correlated with MGEs, which showed that the high level of ARGs was related to its self-enhancement. The dominant bacteria at the genus level were Desulfococcus, Clostridium, Rhodoplanes, Bacillus, Vibrio, Enterococcus, Sedimentibacter, Pseudoalteromonas, Paracoccus, Oscillospira, Mariprofundus, Sulfurimonas, Aminobacterium, and Novosphingobium. There was a significant positive correlation between 133 bacterial genera and some ARGs. Chthoniobacter, Flavisolibacter, Formivibrio, Kaistia, Moryella, MSBL3, Perlucidibaca, and Zhouia were the main potential hosts of ARGs in the sediments of Hainan mangrove area, and many of these bacteria are important participants in biogeochemical cycles. The results contribute to our understanding of the distribution and potential hosts of ARGs and provide a scientific basis for the protection and management of Hainan mangrove ecosystem.

The microplastics pollution in wild aquatic organisms has been described by many studies. However, few studies focused on the farmed ones and MPs impacts on their gut microbiota under natural conditions. Here, we present the first detection of MPs in shrimp ponds and Litopenaeus vannamei. We also globally, firstly and preliminarily investigate the association between colonization of microorganism on MPs and intestinal microbiota under natural conditions. Microplastics (5129 ± 1176 items/kg d.w.) in sediments were mainly pellets, mostly white and blue, and in size less than 1 mm. Microplastics (14.08 ± 5.70 items/g w.w.) in shrimps were higher than that in mostly wild aquatic organisms and positively correlated with that in sediments. Blue fibers in small size (<0.5 mm) were dominant in shrimps. The bacterial communities and their microbial function on MPs were similar with that in shrimp gut, with higher diversity and richness in bacteria communities colonized on MPs. Network analysis demonstrated that the colonization of microorganism on MPs were associated with shrimp intestinal microbiota. Results suggest that except for toxicity reported previously, the effects on intestinal microbiota induced by MPs were possibly because of the biofilm on their surfaces as well, causing notable impacts on aquatic animals.

Investigation of the compositional and functional characteristics of the gastrointestinal bacterial community in beef cattle breeds can improve our understanding of the influence of gastrointestinal tract (GIT) regions and host breeds on the bacterial community. In this study, 16S ribosomal RNA (16S rRNA) gene amplicon sequencing was used to characterize the bacterial communities in the rumen, duodenum, jejunum, ileum, caecum, and colon of Xuanhan yellow cattle (XHC) and Simmental crossbred cattle (SXC). The results showed that the diversity of the bacterial population was different in GIT regions of XHC and SXC (P < 0.05). In total, ten bacterial phyla, sixteen bacterial genera, and nine metabolic pathways were identified in the core bacteria. The phyla Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, and Proteobacteria were predominant, but their proportions were different in GIT regions (P < 0.05). The diversity, structure, and composition of the bacteria in the rumen were similar between the breeds (P > 0.05), and the indices in the intestine showed significant differences (P < 0.05). Moreover, the composition and structure of the bacterial communities in the rumen, small intestine, and large intestine were different regardless of the breed. Thus, the bacterial communities were different among the gastrointestinal regions in each breed, and the bacterial community in the rumen had more stable characteristics than that in the intestine between two breeds. Further studies may focus on the minor microbial communities and the functions of GIT bacteria to better understand gut-microbe interactions. KEY POINTS: • Differences in bacteria among gastrointestinal regions differ in cattle breeds. • Differences between the breeds in the ruminal bacteria are less pronounced than differences in the intestinal bacteria.