Rapid response of moss-associated nitrogen fixation to nutrient additions in tropical montane cloud forests with different successional stages.

Unlabelled: Nitrogen (N) fixation in association with mosses could be a key source of new N in tropical montane cloud forests since these forests maintain high humidity levels and stable temperatures, both of which are important to N fixation. Here, nutrient availability could be a prominent control of N fixation processes. However, the mechanisms and extent of these controls, particularly in forests at different successional stages, remains unknown to date.

The Feather Moss Hylocomium splendens Affects the Transcriptional Profile of a Symbiotic Cyanobacterium in Relation to Acquisition and Turnover of Key Nutrients.

Moss-cyanobacteria symbioses were proposed to be based on nutrient exchange, with hosts providing C and S while bacteria provide N, but we still lack understanding of the underlying molecular mechanisms of their interactions. We investigated how contact between the ubiquitous moss Hylocomium splendens and its cyanobiont affects nutrient-related gene expression of both partners. We isolated a cyanobacterium from H.

Chemical Stimulation of Heterocyte Differentiation by the Feather Moss Hylocomium splendens: a Potential New Step in Plant-Cyanobacteria Symbioses.

Cyanobacteria associated with mosses play a key role in the nitrogen (N) cycle in unpolluted ecosystems. Mosses have been found to release molecules that induce morphophysiological changes in epiphytic cyanobionts. Nevertheless, the extent of moss influence on these microorganisms remains unknown.

Mining of Cyanobacterial Genomes Indicates Natural Product Biosynthetic Gene Clusters Located in Conjugative Plasmids.

Microbial natural products are compounds with unique chemical structures and diverse biological activities. Cyanobacteria commonly possess a wide range of biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) to produce natural products. Although natural product BGCs have been found in almost all cyanobacterial genomes, little attention has been given in cyanobacterial research to the partitioning of these biosynthetic pathways in chromosomes and plasmids.

TnCentral: a Prokaryotic Transposable Element Database and Web Portal for Transposon Analysis.

We describe here the structure and organization of TnCentral (https://tncentral.proteininformationresource.org/ [or the mirror link at https://tncentral.

Residual biomass from surfactin production is a source of arginase and adsorbed surfactin that is useful for environmental remediation.

Lipopeptides are important secondary metabolites produced by microbes. They find applications in environmental decontamination and in the chemical, pharmaceutical and food industries. However, their production is expensive.

Unraveling a Lignocellulose-Decomposing Bacterial Consortium from Soil Associated with Dry Sugarcane Straw by Genomic-Centered Metagenomics.

Second-generation biofuel production is in high demand, but lignocellulosic biomass' complexity impairs its use due to the vast diversity of enzymes necessary to execute the complete saccharification. In nature, lignocellulose can be rapidly deconstructed due to the division of biochemical labor effectuated in bacterial communities. Here, we analyzed the lignocellulolytic potential of a bacterial consortium obtained from soil and dry straw leftover from a sugarcane milling plant.

gen. nov., sp. nov., gen. nov., sp. nov. and gen. nov., sp. nov., nostocacean cyanobacteria from Brazilian environments.

The cyanobacterial genus is an important contributor to carbon and nitrogen bioavailability in terrestrial ecosystems and a frequent partner in symbiotic relationships with non-diazotrophic organisms. However, since this currently is a polyphyletic genus, the diversity of -like cyanobacteria is considerably underestimated at this moment. While reviewing the phylogenetic placement of previously isolated -like cyanobacteria originating from Brazilian Amazon, Caatinga and Atlantic forest samples, we detected 17 strains isolated from soil, freshwater, rock and tree surfaces presenting patterns that diverged significantly from related strains when ecological, morphological, molecular and genomic traits were also considered.

Toxin-Antitoxin Gene Pairs Found in Tn Family Transposons Appear To Be an Integral Part of the Transposition Module.

Much of the diversity of prokaryotic genomes is contributed by the tightly controlled recombination activity of transposons (Tns). The Tn family is arguably one of the most widespread transposon families. Members carry a large range of passenger genes incorporated into their structures.

A Practical Guide for Comparative Genomics of Mobile Genetic Elements in Prokaryotic Genomes.

Mobile genetic elements (MGEs) are an important feature of prokaryote genomes but are seldom well annotated and, consequently, are often underestimated. MGEs include transposons (Tn), insertion sequences (ISs), prophages, genomic islands (GEIs), integrons, and integrative and conjugative elements (ICEs). They are intimately involved in genome evolution and promote phenomena such as genomic expansion and rearrangement, emergence of virulence and pathogenicity, and symbiosis.

Kryptousia macronema gen. nov., sp. nov. and Kryptousia microlepis sp. nov., nostocalean cyanobacteria isolated from phyllospheres.

Tropical ecosystems worldwide host very diverse microbial communities, but are increasingly threatened by deforestation and climate change. Thus, characterization of biodiversity in these environments, and especially of microbial communities that show unique adaptations to their habitats, is a very urgent matter. Information about representatives of the phylum Cyanobacteria in tropical environments is scarce, even though they are fundamental primary producers that help other microbes to thrive in nutrient-depleted habitats, including phyllospheres.

Evaluating methods for purifying cyanobacterial cultures by qPCR and high-throughput Illumina sequencing.

Cyanobacteria are commonly found in association with other microorganisms, which constitutes a great challenge during the isolation of cyanobacterial strains. Although several methods have been published for obtaining axenic cyanobacterial cultures, their efficiency is usually evaluated by observing the growth of non-cyanobacteria in culture media. In order to verify whether uncultured bacteria should be a concern during cyanobacterial isolation, this work aimed to detect by molecular methods sequences from cyanobacteria and other bacteria present before and after a technique for obtaining axenic cultures from plating and exposure of Fischerella sp.

Aliterella atlantica gen. nov., sp. nov., and Aliterella antarctica sp. nov., novel members of coccoid Cyanobacteria.

Two Cyanobacteria isolated from South Atlantic Ocean continental shelf deep water and from a marine green algae inhabiting the Admiralty Bay, King George Island, Antarctica were investigated based on morphological and ultrastructural traits, phylogeny of 16S rRNA gene sequences, secondary structure of the 16S-23S internal transcribed spacer regions and phylogenomic analyses. The majority of these evaluations demonstrated that both strains differ from the genera of cyanobacteria with validly published names and, therefore, supported the description of the novel genus as Aliterella gen. nov.

gen. nov., sp. nov. and gen. nov., sp. nov., epiphyllic cyanobacteria associated with leaves.

Cyanobacteria dwelling on the salt-excreting leaves of the mangrove tree were isolated and characterized by ecological, morphological and genetic approaches. Leaves were collected in a mangrove with a history of oil contamination on the coastline of São Paulo state, Brazil, and isolation was achieved by smearing leaves on the surface of solid media or by submerging leaves in liquid media. Twenty-nine isolated strains were shown to belong to five cyanobacterial orders (thirteen to , seven to , seven to , one to , and one to ) according to morphological and 16S rRNA gene sequence evaluations.

Cyanobacterial diversity in the phyllosphere of a mangrove forest.

The cyanobacterial community colonizing phyllosphere in a well-preserved Brazilian mangrove ecosystem was assessed using cultivation-independent molecular approaches. Leaves of trees that occupy this environment (Rhizophora mangle,Avicennia schaueriana and Laguncularia racemosa) were collected along a transect beginning at the margin of the bay and extending upland. The results demonstrated that the phyllosphere of R.