Ecological dynamics of Enterobacteriaceae in the human gut microbiome across global populations.

Gut bacteria from the Enterobacteriaceae family are a major cause of opportunistic infections worldwide. Given their prevalence among healthy human gut microbiomes, interspecies interactions may play a role in modulating infection resistance. Here we uncover global ecological patterns linked to Enterobacteriaceae colonization and abundance by leveraging a large-scale dataset of 12,238 public human gut metagenomes spanning 45 countries.

Soft sensor for substrate characterization through the reverse application of the ADM1 model for anaerobic digestion plant operations.

Accurately characterizing the substrate used in anaerobic digestion is crucial for predicting the biogas plant's performance. This issue makes particularly challenging the application of modeling in codigestion plants. In this work, a novel methodology called substrate prediction module (SPM) has been developed and tested, using virtual codigestion data.

Microbial interactions shape cheese flavour formation.

Cheese fermentation and flavour formation are the result of complex biochemical reactions driven by the activity of multiple microorganisms. Here, we studied the roles of microbial interactions in flavour formation in a year-long Cheddar cheese making process, using a commercial starter culture containing Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactococcus strains. By using an experimental strategy whereby certain strains were left out from the starter culture, we show that S.

Reconstruction of Genome-Scale Metabolic Model for Hansenula polymorpha Using RAVEN.

Genome-scale metabolic models (GEMs) provide a useful framework for modeling the metabolism of microorganisms. While the applications of GEMs are wide and far reaching, the reconstruction and continuous curation of such models can be perceived as a tedious and time-consuming task. Using RAVEN, a MATLAB-based toolbox designed to facilitate the reconstruction analysis of metabolic networks, this protocol practically demonstrates how researchers can create their own GEMs using a homology-based approach.

Microbial communities form rich extracellular metabolomes that foster metabolic interactions and promote drug tolerance.

Microbial communities are composed of cells of varying metabolic capacity, and regularly include auxotrophs that lack essential metabolic pathways. Through analysis of auxotrophs for amino acid biosynthesis pathways in microbiome data derived from >12,000 natural microbial communities obtained as part of the Earth Microbiome Project (EMP), and study of auxotrophic-prototrophic interactions in self-establishing metabolically cooperating yeast communities (SeMeCos), we reveal a metabolically imprinted mechanism that links the presence of auxotrophs to an increase in metabolic interactions and gains in antimicrobial drug tolerance. As a consequence of the metabolic adaptations necessary to uptake specific metabolites, auxotrophs obtain altered metabolic flux distributions, export more metabolites and, in this way, enrich community environments in metabolites.