Immunotherapy has revolutionized cancer treatment by leveraging the immune system\'s innate capabilities to combat malignancies. Despite the promise of tumor antigens in stimulating anti-tumor immune responses, their clinical utility is hampered by limitations in eliciting robust and durable immune reactions, exacerbated by tumor heterogeneity and immune evasion mechanisms. Recent insights into the immunogenic properties of host homologous microbial antigens have sparked interest in their potential for augmenting anti-tumor immunity while minimizing off-target effects. This review explores the therapeutic potential of microbial antigen peptides in tumor immunotherapy, beginning with an overview of tumor antigens and their challenges in clinical translation. We further explore the intricate relationship between microorganisms and tumor development, elucidating the concept of molecular mimicry and its implications for immune recognition of tumor-associated antigens. Finally, we discuss methodologies for identifying and characterizing microbial antigen peptides, highlighting their immunogenicity and prospects for therapeutic application.

Microorganisms co-exist and co-evolve in nature, forming intricate ecological communities. The interspecies cross-talk within these communities creates and sustains their great biosynthetic potential, making them an important source of natural medicines and high-value-added chemicals. However, conventional investigations into microbial metabolites are typically carried out in pure cultures, resulting in the absence of specific activating factors and consequently causing a substantial number of biosynthetic gene clusters to remain silent. This, in turn, hampers the in-depth exploration of microbial biosynthetic potential and frequently presents researchers with the challenge of rediscovering compounds. In response to this challenge, the coculture strategy has emerged to explore microbial biosynthetic capabilities and has shed light on the study of cross-talk mechanisms. These elucidated mechanisms will contribute to a better understanding of complex biosynthetic regulations and offer valuable insights to guide the mining of secondary metabolites. This review summarizes the research advances in microbial cross-talk mechanisms, with a particular focus on the mechanisms that activate the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites. Additionally, the instructive value of these mechanisms for developing strategies to activate biosynthetic pathways is discussed. Moreover, challenges and recommendations for conducting in-depth studies on the cross-talk mechanisms are presented.

The microorganism in rhizosphere systems has the potential to regulate the migration of arsenic (As) in coastal tidal flat wetlands. This study investigates the microbial community in the iron plaque and rhizosphere soils of Spartina alterniflora (S. alterniflora) and Suaeda salsa (S. salsa), as two common coastal tidal flat wetland plants in China, and determines the impact of the As and Fe redox bacteria on As mobility using field sampling and 16S rDNA high-throughput sequencing. The results indicated that As bound to crystalline Fe in the Fe plaque of S. salsa in high tidal flat. In the Fe plaque, there was a decrease in the presence of Fe redox bacteria, while the presence of As redox bacteria increased. Thus, the formation of Fe plaque proved advantageous in promoting the growth of As redox bacteria, thereby aiding in the mobility of As from rhizosphere soils to the Fe plaque. As content in the Fe plaque and rhizosphere soils of S. alterniflora was found to be higher than that of S. salsa. In the Fe plaque, As/Fe-reducing bacteria in S. alterniflora, and As/Fe-oxidizing bacteria in S. salsa significantly affected the distribution of As in rhizosphere systems. S. alterniflora has the potential to be utilized for wetland remediation purposes.

Antibiotic resistance genes (ARG) are widespread across various regions. While several studies have investigated the distribution of antibiotic resistance in natural environments, the occurrence and diversity of ARGs in the Three Gorges Reservoir have not been fully elucidated. In this study, we employed metagenomic sequencing techniques to investigate the abundance, diversity, and influencing factors of ARGs in the ecosystem of the Three Gorges Reservoir. A total of 874 ARGs, 20 antibiotic classes, and 6 resistance mechanisms were detected. The dominant ARG is the macB, the dominant antibiotic class is multidrug resistance (MDR), and the dominant resistance mechanism is antibiotic efflux. The microorganisms with the highest contribution to ARGs are Betaproteobacteria and Gammaproteobacteria. In this region, pH and NH4+ concentration were significantly negatively correlated with the relative abundance of most ARGs, while NO3- concentration and TN were significantly positively correlated with the relative abundance of most ARGs. The results indicate that the Three Gorges Reservoir constitutes a significant reservoir of ARGs. By studying the distribution of ARGs in the sediments of the Three Gorges Reservoir Area and the relationship between environmental factors and ARGs, we can more comprehensively understand the pollution status of ARGs in this area, and provide theoretical support for subsequent treatment.

The ecological recharge of urban landscapes with reclaimed water plays a crucial role in alleviating urban water shortage. In Yinchuan, we examined the effects of recharging urban rivers with either Yellow River or reclaimed water on the abundance and diversity of microbial communities. This study aimed to support the effective utilization of reclaimed water. We monitored six sites: three in the reclaimed water recharge area (Lucaowa inlet (ZLJ), Lucaowa channel (ZLH), and Lucaowa outlet (ZLC)) and three in the Yellow River water recharge area (Ningcheng lock (FNCZ), Qingfengjie (FQFJ), and Laifosi (FLFS)). Various indicators (pH, turbidity, temperature (T), dissolved oxygen (DO), electrical conductivity (EC), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total phosphorus (TP), total nitrogen (TN), ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N), and nitrate nitrogen (NO3-N)) were used to assess the water quality. The microbial community abundance and diversity were evaluated using 16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing. The results indicated that throughout the monitoring period, the reclaimed water recharge area exhibited increased water transparency and greater microbial community abundance and diversity than the Yellow River water recharge area. However, the reclaimed water recharge area also showed significantly higher levels of nitrogen, phosphorus, organic matter, and electrical conductivity, along with an increase in Firmicutes. Seasonal changes significantly influenced water quality factors, significantly affecting Cyanobacteria and Campylobacter populations, as demonstrated by RDA analysis, which showed a close relationship between microbial communities and environmental factors. Further comparative analysis revealed that erythrocytic bacteria were predominant in the reclaimed water recharge area, whereas Actinobacteria, Planktonia, and Aspergillus spp. were more significant in the Yellow River water recharge area. Predictive analysis of microbial functions suggested that carbon and nitrogen cycle-related functions were more abundant in the reclaimed water recharge area, indicating that reclaimed water recharge could improve the self-purification capacity of the water body.

UNASSIGNED: Yeast culture (YC) enhances ruminant performance, but its functional mechanism remains unclear because of the complex composition of YC and the uncertain substances affecting rumen fermentation. The objective of this study was to determine the composition of effective metabolites in YC by exploring its effects on rumen fermentation in vitro, growth and slaughter performance, serum index, rumen fermentation parameters, rumen microorganisms, and metabolites in lambs.
UNASSIGNED: In Trial 1, various YCs were successfully produced, providing raw materials for identifying effective metabolites. The experiment was divided into 5 treatment groups with 5 replicates in each group: the control group (basal diet without additives) and YC groups were supplemented with 0.625‰ of four different yeast cultures, respectively (groups A, B, C, and D). Rumen fermentation parameters were determined at 3, 6, 12, and 24 h in vitro. A univariate regression model multiple factor associative effects index (MFAEI; y) was established to correlate the most influential factors on in vitro rumen fermentation with YC metabolites (x). This identified the metabolites promoting rumen fermentation and optimal YC substance levels. In Trial 2, metabolites in YC not positively correlated with MFAEI were excluded, and effective substances were combined with pure chemicals (M group). This experiment validated the effectiveness of YC metabolites in lamb production based on their impact on growth, slaughter performance, serum indices, rumen parameters, microorganisms, and metabolites. Thirty cross-generation rams (Small tail Han-yang ♀ × Australian white sheep ♂) with good body condition and similar body weight were divided into three treatment groups with 10 replicates in each group: control group, YC group, pure chemicals combination group (M group).
UNASSIGNED: Growth performance and serum index were measured on days 30 and 60, and slaughter performance, rumen fermentation parameters, microorganisms, and metabolites were measured on day 60. The M group significantly increased the dressing percentage, and significantly decreased the GR values of lambs (p  < 0.05). The concentration of growth hormone (GH), Cortisol, insulin (INS), and rumen VFA in the M group significantly increased (p < 0.05).
UNASSIGNED: These experiments confirmed that YC or its screened effective metabolites positively impact lamb slaughter performance, rumen fermentation, and microbial metabolism.

The food safety of livestock is a critical issue between animals and humans due to their complex interactions. Pathogens have the potential to spread at every stage of the animal food handling process, including breeding, processing, packaging, storage, transportation, marketing and consumption. In addition, application of the antibiotic usage in domestic animals is a controversial issue because, while they can combat food-borne zoonotic pathogens and promote animal growth and productivity, they can also lead to the transmission of antibiotic-resistant microorganisms and antibiotic-resistant genes across species and habitats. Coevolution of microbiomes may occur in humans and animals as well which may alter the structure of the human microbiome through animal food consumption. One Health is a holistic approach to systematically understand the complex relationships among humans, animals and environments which may provide effective countermeasures to solve food safety problems aforementioned. This paper depicts the main pathogen spectrum of livestock and animal products, summarizes the flow of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and genes between humans and livestock along the food-chain production, and the correlation of their microbiome is reviewed as well to advocate for deeper interdisciplinary communication and collaboration among researchers in medicine, epidemiology, veterinary medicine and ecology to promote One Health approaches to address the global food safety challenges.

The gas vesicle (GV) is like a hollow nanoparticle consisting of an internal gas and a protein shell, which mainly consists of hydrophobic gas vesicle protein A (GvpA) and GvpC attached to the surface. GVs, first discovered in cyanobacteria, are mainly produced by photosynthetic bacteria (PSB) and halophilic archaea. After being modified and engineered, GVs can be utilized as contrast agents, delivery carriers, and immunological boosters for disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment with good results due to their tiny size, strong stability and non-toxicity advantages. Many diagnostic and therapeutic approaches based on GV are currently under development. In this review, we discuss the source, function, physical and chemical properties of GV, focus on the current application progress of GV, and put forward the possible application prospect and development direction of GV in the future.

Biochar and organic fertilizer are commonly used to maintain soil health and sustainable agroecosystems, and the alternate wet-dry management of soil moisture in dry direct-seeded paddy fields can complicate the effects of biochar and organic fertilizer on soil microhabitats. Therefore, this study used chicken manure organic fertilizer to replace some of the inorganic fertilizer and applied biochar to explore the ability of biochar and organic fertilizer to regulate the functions of the soil microhabitat in dry direct-seeded paddy fields. The coupling effect of organic fertilizer and biochar increased the diversity and richness of soil bacteria but had no significant effect on soil fungi. Biochar and organic fertilizer affected the distribution and composition of soil bacteria and fungi, and the total number of soil bacteria and fungi increased by 1365 and -71 (5 t/hm2 biochar and no organic fertilizer), 660 and 79 (10 t/hm2 biochar and no organic fertilizer), 3121 and 7 (no biochar and 20 % organic fertilizer substitution), 1873 and -72 (5 t/hm2 biochar and 20 % organic fertilizer substitution), and -544 and -65 (10 t/hm2 biochar and 20 % organic fertilizer substitution), respectively, compared with that of the control treatment. Compared with the application of biochar alone, the coupling effect of biochar and organic fertilizer increased the average degree (0.95 and 0.16), links (190 and 32), and ratio of fungal positive links (1.651 %), and decreased the modularity (0.034 and 0.052) and ratio of bacterial positive links (6.482 %) of bacterial and fungal networks. In addition, the coupling effect resulted in a more complex association between soil microbial diversity and richness and microbial ecological functions. Random forest predictions indicated that, organic fertilizer as a random factor, changes in the abundance of bacterial Bacteroidetes and Nitrospirae and fungal Monoblepharomycota were the main factors driving the differences in soil microbial ecological functions.

Due to the development and utilization of nuclear energy, the safe disposal of nuclear waste needs to be urgently addressed. In recent years, the utilization of microorganisms\' adsorption capacity to dispose of radioactive waste has received increasing attention. When compared with conventional disposal methods, microbial adsorption exhibits the characteristics of high efficiency, low cost, and no secondary pollution. In the long term, microbial biomass shows significant promise as specific chemical-binding agents. Optimization of biosorption conditions, identification of rare earth element binding sites, and studies on the sorption capacities of immobilized cells provide compelling reasons to consider biosorption for industrial applications in heavy metal removal from solutions. However, the interaction mechanism between microorganisms and radioactive nuclides is very complex. This mini-review briefly provides an overview of the preparation methods, factors affecting the adsorption capacity, and the mechanisms of microbial adsorbents.