Diversity and taxonomic revision of methanogens and other archaea in the intestinal tract of terrestrial arthropods.

Methane emission by terrestrial invertebrates is restricted to millipedes, termites, cockroaches, and scarab beetles. The arthropod-associated archaea known to date belong to the orders , and , and in a few cases also to non-methanogenic and . However, all major host groups are severely undersampled, and the taxonomy of existing lineages is not well developed.

Comparative biodegradation analysis of three compostable polyesters by a marine microbial community.

Biodegradable plastics can be used in applications where the end product cannot be efficiently recycled due to high levels of contaminations, e.g., food or soil.

Global diversity and inferred ecophysiology of microorganisms with the potential for dissimilatory sulfate/sulfite reduction.

Sulfate/sulfite-reducing microorganisms (SRM) are ubiquitous in nature, driving the global sulfur cycle. A hallmark of SRM is the dissimilatory sulfite reductase encoded by the genes dsrAB. Based on analysis of 950 mainly metagenome-derived dsrAB-carrying genomes, we redefine the global diversity of microorganisms with the potential for dissimilatory sulfate/sulfite reduction and uncover genetic repertoires that challenge earlier generalizations regarding their mode of energy metabolism.

Gill-associated bacteria are homogeneously selected in amphibious mangrove crabs to sustain host intertidal adaptation.

Background: The transition from water to air is a key event in the evolution of many marine organisms to access new food sources, escape water hypoxia, and exploit the higher and temperature-independent oxygen concentration of air. Despite the importance of microorganisms in host adaptation, their contribution to overcoming the challenges posed by the lifestyle changes from water to land is not well understood. To address this, we examined how microbial association with a key multifunctional organ, the gill, is involved in the intertidal adaptation of fiddler crabs, a dual-breathing organism.

Abiotic selection of microbial genome size in the global ocean.

Strong purifying selection is considered a major evolutionary force behind small microbial genomes in the resource-poor photic ocean. However, very little is currently known about how the size of prokaryotic genomes evolves in the global ocean and whether patterns reflect shifts in resource availability in the epipelagic and relatively stable deep-sea environmental conditions. Using 364 marine microbial metagenomes, we investigate how the average genome size of uncultured planktonic prokaryotes varies across the tropical and polar oceans to the hadal realm.