FEMSEC-thematic issue "Rhizosphere-a One Health concept".

The strength of the microbial biogeographic patterns decreased along the increasing gradient of habitat specificity (from sediment to gut tissue) provided by a benthic sea urchin in the Southern Ocean.

Resilience of aerobic methanotrophs in soils; spotlight on the methane sink under agriculture.

Aerobic methanotrophs are a specialized microbial group, catalyzing the oxidation of methane. Disturbance-induced loss of methanotroph diversity/abundance, thus results in the loss of this biological methane sink. Here, we synthesized and conceptualized the resilience of the methanotrophs to sporadic, recurring, and compounded disturbances in soils.

Setting new standards: Multiphasic analysis of microplastic mineralization by fungi.

Plastic materials provide numerous benefits. However, properties such as durability and resistance to degradation that make plastic attractive for variable applications likewise foster accumulation in the environment. Fragmentation of plastics leads to the formation of potentially hazardous microplastic, of which a considerable amount derives from polystyrene.

Specialized biopolymers: versatile tools for microbial resilience.

Bacteria produce a wide range of specialized biopolymers that can be classified into polysaccharides, polyamides, and polyesters and are considered to fulfill storage functions. In this review, we highlight recent developments in the field linking metabolism of biopolymers to stress and signaling physiology of the producers and demonstrating that biopolymers contribute to bacterial stress resistance and shape structure and composition of microenvironments. While specialized biopolymers are currently the focus of much attention in biotechnology as innovative and biodegradable materials, our understanding about the regulation and functions of these valuable compounds for the producers, microbial communities, and our environment is still very limited.

Interkingdom interaction: the soil isopod Porcellio scaber stimulates the methane-driven bacterial and fungal interaction.

Porcellio scaber (woodlice) are (sub-)surface-dwelling isopods, widely recognized as "soil bioengineers", modifying the edaphic properties of their habitat, and affecting carbon and nitrogen mineralization that leads to greenhouse gas emissions. Yet, the impact of soil isopods on methane-cycling processes remains unknown. Using P.

Biodegradable polymers boost reproduction in the earthworm Eisenia fetida.

Microplastic contamination in soil has become a global environmental threat as it adversely affects terrestrial organisms like earthworms as well as soil properties. Especially biodegradable polymers have recently been used as an alternative to conventional polymer types, although their impact remains poorly understood. Thus, we studied the effect of conventional (polystyrene: PS, polyethylene terephthalate: PET, polypropylene: PP) versus aliphatic polyesters classified as biodegradable polymers (poly-(l-lactide): PLLA, polycaprolactone: PCL) on the earthworm Eisenia fetida and soil properties (pH and cation exchange capacity).

Mitomycin C-induced effects on aerobic methanotrophs in a landfill cover soil; implications of a viral shunt?

A viral shunt can occur when phages going through a lytic cycle, including lysogenic phages triggered by inducing agents (e.g. mitomycin C), results in host lysis and the release of cell constituents and virions.

Microplastic ingestion affects hydrogen production and microbiomes in the gut of the terrestrial isopod Porcellio scaber.

Microplastic (MP) is an environmental burden and enters food webs via ingestion by macrofauna, including isopods (Porcellio scaber) in terrestrial ecosystems. Isopods represent ubiquitously abundant, ecologically important detritivores. However, MP-polymer specific effects on the host and its gut microbiota are unknown.

Genomic evidence for two pathways of formaldehyde oxidation and denitrification capabilities of the species sp. nov.

Three strains (H4-D09, S2-D11 and S9-F39) of a member of the genus attributed to a novel species were isolated from topsoil of temperate grasslands. The genome sequence of the type strain H4-D09 exhibited a complete set of genes required for denitrification as well as methylotrophy. The genome of H4-D09 included genes for two alternative pathways of formaldehyde oxidation.

Consumption of NO by sp. nov. Isolated from Decomposing Leaf Litter of (Cav.).

Microorganisms acting as sinks for the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (NO) are gaining increasing attention in the development of strategies to control NO emissions. Non-denitrifying NO reducers are of particular interest because they can provide a real sink without contributing to NO release. The bacterial strain under investigation (IGB 4-14), isolated in a mesocosm experiment to study the litter decomposition of (Cav.

A globally relevant stock of soil nitrogen in the Yedoma permafrost domain.

Nitrogen regulates multiple aspects of the permafrost climate feedback, including plant growth, organic matter decomposition, and the production of the potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide. Despite its importance, current estimates of permafrost nitrogen are highly uncertain. Here, we compiled a dataset of >2000 samples to quantify nitrogen stocks in the Yedoma domain, a region with organic-rich permafrost that contains ~25% of all permafrost carbon.

Microplastic polymer properties as deterministic factors driving terrestrial plastisphere microbiome assembly and succession in the field.

Environmental microplastic (MP) is ubiquitous in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems providing artificial habitats for microbes. Mechanisms of MP colonization, MP polymer impacts, and effects on soil microbiomes are largely unknown in terrestrial systems. Therefore, we experimentally tested the hypothesis that MP polymer type is an important deterministic factor affecting MP community assembly by incubating common MP polymer types in situ in landfill soil for 14 months.

Intermediate Levels of Predation and Nutrient Enrichment Enhance the Activity of Ibuprofen-Degrading Bacteria.

Water is the most indispensable natural resource; yet, organic pollution of freshwater sources is widespread. In recent years, there has been increasing concern over the vast array of emerging organic contaminants (EOCs) in the effluent of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Several of these EOCs are degraded within the pore space of riverbeds by active microbial consortia.

Microbial iron reduction compensates for phosphorus limitation in paddy soils.

Limitation of rice growth by low phosphorus (P) availability is a widespread problem in tropical and subtropical soils because of the high content of iron (Fe) (oxyhydr)oxides. Ferric iron-bound P (Fe(III)-P) can serve as a P source in paddies after Fe(III) reduction to Fe(II) and corresponding HPO release. However, the relevance of reductive dissolution of Fe(III)-P for plant and microbial P uptake is still an open question.

The methane-driven interaction network in terrestrial methane hotspots.

Background: Biological interaction affects diverse facets of microbial life by modulating the activity, diversity, abundance, and composition of microbial communities. Aerobic methane oxidation is a community function, with emergent community traits arising from the interaction of the methane-oxidizers (methanotrophs) and non-methanotrophs. Yet little is known of the spatial and temporal organization of these interaction networks in naturally-occurring complex communities.

Aerobic Methanotrophy and Co-occurrence Networks of a Tropical Rainforest and Oil Palm Plantations in Malaysia.

Oil palm (OP) plantations are gradually replacing tropical rainforest in Malaysia, one of the largest palm oil producers globally. Conversion of lands to OP plantations has been associated with compositional shifts of the microbial community, with consequences on the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. While the impact of the change in land use has recently been investigated for microorganisms involved in NO emission, the response of the aerobic methanotrophs to OP agriculture remains to be determined.

Biodegradation of metoprolol in oxic and anoxic hyporheic zone sediments: unexpected effects on microbial communities.

Metoprolol is widely used as a beta-blocker and considered an emerging contaminant of environmental concern due to pseudo persistence in wastewater effluents that poses a potential ecotoxicological threat to aquatic ecosystems. Microbial removal of metoprolol in the redox-delineated hyporheic zone (HZ) was investigated using streambed sediments supplemented with 15 or 150 μM metoprolol in a laboratory microcosm incubation under oxic and anoxic conditions. Metoprolol disappeared from the aqueous phase under oxic and anoxic conditions within 65 and 72 days, respectively.

Microplastics accumulate fungal pathogens in terrestrial ecosystems.

Microplastic (MP) is a pervasive pollutant in nature that is colonised by diverse groups of microbes, including potentially pathogenic species. Fungi have been largely neglected in this context, despite their affinity for plastics and their impact as pathogens. To unravel the role of MP as a carrier of fungal pathogens in terrestrial ecosystems and the immediate human environment, epiplastic mycobiomes from municipal plastic waste from Kenya were deciphered using ITS metabarcoding as well as a comprehensive meta-analysis, and visualised via scanning electron as well as confocal laser scanning microscopy.

Transformation of organic micropollutants along hyporheic flow in bedforms of river-simulating flumes.

Urban streams receive increasing loads of organic micropollutants from treated wastewaters. A comprehensive understanding of the in-stream fate of micropollutants is thus of high interest for water quality management. Bedforms induce pumping effects considerably contributing to whole stream hyporheic exchange and are hotspots of biogeochemical turnover processes.

Methanotrophs: Discoveries, Environmental Relevance, and a Perspective on Current and Future Applications.

Methane is the final product of the anaerobic decomposition of organic matter. The conversion of organic matter to methane (methanogenesis) as a mechanism for energy conservation is exclusively attributed to the archaeal domain. Methane is oxidized by methanotrophic microorganisms using oxygen or alternative terminal electron acceptors.

sp. nov., a nitrate-reducing bacterium isolated from grassland soil.

A novel strain was isolated from grassland soil that has the potential to assimilate ammonium by the reduction of nitrate in the presence of oxygen. Whole genome sequence analysis revealed the presence of an assimilatory cytoplasmic nitrate reductase gene and the assimilatory nitrite reductase genes which are involved in the sequential reduction of nitrate to nitrite and further to ammonium, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that the isolate represents a member of the genus .

Are Key Acetate Assimilators During Complete Denitrification in Acidic Cryoturbated Peat Circles of the Arctic Tundra.

Cryoturbated peat circles (pH 4) in the Eastern European Tundra harbor up to 2 mM pore water nitrate and emit the greenhouse gas NO like heavily fertilized agricultural soils in temperate regions. The main process yielding NO under oxygen limited conditions is denitrification, which is the sequential reduction of nitrate/nitrite to NO and/or N. NO reduction to N is impaired by pH < 6 in classical model denitrifiers and many environments.

Fungal and Bacterial Diversity Patterns of Two Diversity Levels Retrieved From a Late Decaying Under Two Temperature Regimes.

Environmental fluctuations are a common occurrence in an ecosystem, which have an impact on organismic diversity and associated ecosystem services. The aim of this study was to investigate how a natural and a species richness-reduced wood decaying community diversity were capable of decomposing dead wood under a constant and a fluctuating temperature regime. Therefore, microcosms with both diversity levels (natural and species richness-reduced) were prepared and incubated for 8 weeks under both temperature regimes.