Deciphering the functional and structural complexity of the Solar Lake flat mat microbial benthic communities.

Unlabelled: The Solar Lake in Taba, Egypt, encompasses one of the few modern-day microbial mats' systems metabolically analogous to Precambrian stromatolites. Solar Lake benthic communities and their adaptation to the Lake's unique limnological cycle have not been described for over two decades. In this study, we revisit the flat mat and describe the summer's shallow water versus exposed microbial community; the latter occurs in response to the seasonal partial receding of water.

Metagenomic profiling of antibiotic resistance genes in Red Sea brine pools.

Antibiotic resistance (AR) is an alarming global health concern, causing an annual death rate of more than 35,000 deaths in the US. AR is a natural phenomenon, reported in several pristine environments. In this study, we report AR in pristine Red Sea deep brine pools.

Insights into the global freshwater virome.

Viruses are by far the most abundant life forms on this planet. Yet, the full viral diversity remains mostly unknown, especially in environments like freshwater. Therefore, we aimed to study freshwater viruses in a global context.

The Human Virome Protein Cluster Database (HVPC): A Human Viral Metagenomic Database for Diversity and Function Annotation.

Human virome, including those of bacteria (bacteriophages) have received an increasing attention recently, owing to the rapid developments in human microbiome research and the awareness of the far-reaching influence of microbiomes on health and disease. Nevertheless, human viromes are still underrepresented in literature making viruses a virtually untapped resource of diversity, functional and physiological information. Here we present the human virome protein cluster database as an effort to improve functional annotation and characterization of human viromes.

Novel thermostable antibiotic resistance enzymes from the Atlantis II Deep Red Sea brine pool.

The advent of metagenomics has greatly facilitated the discovery of enzymes with useful biochemical characteristics for industrial and biomedical applications, from environmental niches. In this study, we used sequence-based metagenomics to identify two antibiotic resistance enzymes from the secluded, lower convective layer of Atlantis II Deep Red Sea brine pool (68°C, ~2200 m depth and 250‰ salinity). We assembled > 4 000 000 metagenomic reads, producing 43 555 contigs.

Insertion sequences enrichment in extreme Red sea brine pool vent.

Mobile genetic elements are major agents of genome diversification and evolution. Limited studies addressed their characteristics, including abundance, and role in extreme habitats. One of the rare natural habitats exposed to multiple-extreme conditions, including high temperature, salinity and concentration of heavy metals, are the Red Sea brine pools.

Viruses-to-mobile genetic elements skew in the deep Atlantis II brine pool sediments.

The central rift of the Red Sea has 25 brine pools with different physical and geochemical characteristics. Atlantis II (ATIID), Discovery Deeps (DD) and Chain Deep (CD) are characterized by high salinity, temperature and metal content. Several studies reported microbial communities in these brine pools, but few studies addressed the brine pool sediments.

Antibiotic Resistome: Improving Detection and Quantification Accuracy for Comparative Metagenomics.

The unprecedented rise of life-threatening antibiotic resistance (AR), combined with the unparalleled advances in DNA sequencing of genomes and metagenomes, has pushed the need for in silico detection of the resistance potential of clinical and environmental metagenomic samples through the quantification of AR genes (i.e., genes conferring antibiotic resistance).

Clinical laboratory data: acquire, analyze, communicate, liberate.

The availability of portable healthcare devices, which can acquire and transmit medical data to remote experts would dramatically affect healthcare in areas with poor infrastructure. Smartphones, which feature touchscreen computer capabilities and sophisticated cameras, have become widely available with over billion units shipped in 2013. In the clinical laboratory, smartphones have recently brought the capabilities of key instruments such as spectrophotometers, fluorescence analyzers and microscopes into the palm of the hand.

Nanoparticle-based detection of cancer-associated RNA.

Unlabelled: According to the World Health Organization (WHO), cancer cases are expected to increase globally by 57% over the coming two decades. A critical factor in the management of cancer is early detection using highly sensitive diagnostic techniques. RNAs play a vital role in cancer pathogenesis.