gen. nov., sp. nov., a member of the family isolated from button mushroom compost.

Two Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, rod-shaped, orange-coloured bacterial strains, designated strain C216 and strain M2295, were isolated from mature mushroom compost from composting facilities in Victoria and South Australia, Australia, respectively. External structures such as flagella or pili were not observed on the cells under scanning electron microscopy. Optimal growth was found to occur at 45 °C, at pH 7.

Nitrogen balance and supply in Australasian mushroom composts.

Mushrooms are an important source of protein in the human diet. They are increasingly viewed as a sustainable meat replacement in an era of growing populations, with button mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus) the most popular and economically important mushroom in Europe, Australia and North America. Button mushrooms are cultivated on a defined, straw-derived compost, and the nitrogen (N) required to grow these high-protein foods is provided mainly by the addition of poultry manure and horse manure.

A novel soluble di-iron monooxygenase from the soil bacterium Solimonas soli.

Soluble di-iron monooxygenase (SDIMO) enzymes enable insertion of oxygen into diverse substrates and play significant roles in biogeochemistry, bioremediation and biocatalysis. An unusual SDIMO was detected in an earlier study in the genome of the soil organism Solimonas soli, but was not characterized. Here, we show that the S.

Bacterial interactions with the mycelium of the cultivated edible mushrooms Agaricus bisporus and Pleurotus ostreatus.

The cultivated edible mushrooms Agaricus bisporus and Pleurotus ostreatus are valuable food crops and an important source of human nutrition. Agaricus bisporus is the dominant cultivated species in the western hemisphere and in Australia, while in Asian countries P. ostreatus is more prevalent.

Dynamics of microbial community and enzyme activities during preparation of Agaricus bisporus compost substrate.

Button mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus) are grown commercially on a specialized substrate that is usually prepared from wheat straw and poultry manure in a microbially-mediated composting process. The quality and yield of the mushroom crop depends critically on the quality of this composted substrate, but details of the microbial community responsible for compost production have only emerged recently. Here we report a detailed study of microbial succession during mushroom compost production (wetting, thermophilic, pasteurization/conditioning, spawn run).

The Effects of Nitrogen and Phosphorus on Colony Growth and Zoospore Characteristics of Soil Chytridiomycota.

The Chytridiomycota phylum contributes to nutrient cycling and the flow of energy between trophic levels in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems yet remains poorly described or absent from publications discussing fungal communities in these environments. This study contributes to the understanding of three species of soil chytrids in vitro-, sp. and -in the presence of elevated concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus and with different sources of nitrogen.

Caffeine metabolism during cultivation of oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) with spent coffee grounds.

In coffee-producing countries, waste products from coffee production are useful substrates for cultivation of Pleurotus ostreatus. This species is relatively easy to grow, coffee waste substrates are readily available and the mushroom fruiting bodies are a valuable source of nutrition and income. In developed countries, cultivation of P.

Phosphorus forms affect the hyphosphere bacterial community involved in soil organic phosphorus turnover.

Interactions between bacteria and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi play a significant role in mediating organic phosphorus (P) transformations and turnover in soil. The bacterial community in soil is largely responsible for mobilization of the soil organic P pool, and the released P is taken up by extraradical AM hyphae, which mediate its use for plant growth. However, the functional microbiome involved in organic P mineralization in the hyphosphere remains poorly understood.

Bacterial population dynamics in recycled mushroom compost leachate.

Mushrooms are an important food crop throughout the world. The most important edible mushroom is the button mushroom (Agaricus bisporus), which comprises about 30% of the global mushroom market. This species is cultivated commercially on a selective compost that is produced predominantly from wheat straw/stable bedding and chicken manure, at a moisture content of around 70% (w/w) and temperatures of up to 80 °C.

Author Correction: Seasonal total methane depletion in limestone caves.

A correction to this article has been published and is linked from the HTML and PDF versions of this paper. The error has been fixed in the paper.

Compost bacteria and fungi that influence growth and development of Agaricus bisporus and other commercial mushrooms.

Mushrooms are an important food crop for many millions of people worldwide. The most important edible mushroom is the button mushroom (Agaricus bisporus), an excellent example of sustainable food production which is cultivated on a selective compost produced from recycled agricultural waste products. A diverse population of bacteria and fungi are involved throughout the production of Agaricus.

Seasonal total methane depletion in limestone caves.

Methane concentration in caves is commonly much lower than the external atmosphere, yet the cave CH depletion causal mechanism is contested and dynamic links to external diurnal and seasonal temperature cycles unknown. Here, we report a continuous 3-year record of cave methane and other trace gases in Jenolan Caves, Australia which shows a seasonal cycle of extreme CH depletion, from ambient ~1,775 ppb to near zero during summer and to ~800 ppb in winter. Methanotrophic bacteria, some newly-discovered, rapidly consume methane on cave surfaces and in external karst soils with lifetimes in the cave of a few hours.

Soil phoD and phoX alkaline phosphatase gene diversity responds to multiple environmental factors.

Alkaline phosphatases such as PhoD and PhoX are important in organic phosphorus cycling in soil. We identified the key organisms harboring the phoD and phoX genes in soil and explored the relationships between environmental factors and the phoD- and phoX-harboring community structures across three land uses located in arid to temperate climates on two continents using 454-sequencing. phoD was investigated using recently published primers, and new primers were designed to study phoX in soil.

phoD Alkaline Phosphatase Gene Diversity in Soil.

Phosphatase enzymes are responsible for much of the recycling of organic phosphorus in soils. The PhoD alkaline phosphatase takes part in this process by hydrolyzing a range of organic phosphoesters. We analyzed the taxonomic and environmental distribution of phoD genes using whole-genome and metagenome databases.

Desulfurization of mucin by Pseudomonas aeruginosa: influence of sulfate in the lungs of cystic fibrosis patients.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a common cause of chronic respiratory infection in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. Infection is established within the lung epithelial mucus layer through adhesion to mucins. Terminal residues on mucin oligosaccharide chains are highly sulfated and sialylated, which increases their resistance to degradation by bacterial enzymes.

Identification of plant quantitative trait loci modulating a rhizobacteria-aphid indirect effect.

Plants simultaneously interact with a plethora of species both belowground and aboveground, which can result in indirect effects mediated by plants. Studies incorporating plant genetic variation indicate that indirect effects mediated by plants may be a significant factor influencing the ecology and evolution of species within a community. Here, we present findings of a Quantitative Trait Locus (QTL) mapping study, where we mapped a rhizobacteria-aphid indirect effect onto the barley genome.

Community genetic interactions mediate indirect ecological effects between a parasitoid wasp and rhizobacteria.

Indirect ecological effects (IEEs) clearly influence species dynamics and abundance, yet relatively little is known about how they influence the evolution of species involved. While genetic variation in the species causing and responding to the IEE has obvious effects, the influence of genetic variation in intermediate species remains unexamined. Given the often counterintuitive responses of populations to IEEs this seems a significant omission.

Structural studies on the full-length LysR-type regulator TsaR from Comamonas testosteroni T-2 reveal a novel open conformation of the tetrameric LTTR fold.

LysR-type transcriptional regulators (LTTRs) constitute the largest family of regulators in prokaryotes. The full-length structures of the LTTR TsaR from Comamonas testosteroni T-2 and its complex with the natural inducer para-toluensulfonate have been characterized by X-ray diffraction. Both ligand-free and complexed forms reveal a dramatically different quaternary structure from that of CbnR from Ralstonia eutropha, or a putative LysR-type regulator from Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the only other determined full-length structures of tetrameric LTTRs.

Sulfonate desulfurization in Rhodococcus from wheat rhizosphere communities.

Organically bound sulfur makes up about 90% of the total sulfur in soils, with sulfonates often the dominant fraction. Actinobacteria affiliated to the genus Rhodococcus were able to desulfonate arylsulfonates in wheat rhizospheres from the Broadbalk long-term field wheat experiment, which includes plots treated with inorganic fertilizer with and without sulfate, with farmyard manure, and unfertilized plots. Direct isolation of desulfonating rhizobacteria yielded Rhodococcus strains which grew well with a range of sulfonates, and contained the asfAB genes, known to be involved in sulfonate desulfurization by bacteria.

High crystallizability under air-exclusion conditions of the full-length LysR-type transcriptional regulator TsaR from Comamonas testosteroni T-2 and data-set analysis for a MIRAS structure-solution approach.

The full-length LysR-type transcriptional regulator TsaR from Comamonas testosteroni T-2 was heterologously overexpressed in Escherichia coli, purified and stabilized under conditions that favoured its rapid crystallization using the microbatch-under-oil technique. The purified protein was highly crystallizable and two different crystal forms were readily obtained. However, only monoclinic crystals gave diffraction beyond 2 A and there was a slight variation in unit-cell parameters between crystals.

The role of Variovorax and other Comamonadaceae in sulfur transformations by microbial wheat rhizosphere communities exposed to different sulfur fertilization regimes.

Sulfonates are a key component of the sulfur present in agricultural soils. Their mobilization as part of the soil sulfur cycle is mediated by rhizobacteria, and involves the oxidoreductase AsfA. In this study, the effect of fertilization regime on rhizosphere bacterial asfA distribution was examined at the Broadbalk long-term wheat experiment, Rothamsted, UK, which was established in 1843, and has included a sulfur-free treatment since 2001.

Genotype-by-genotype interactions modified by a third species in a plant-insect system.

Community genetics examines how genotypic variation within a species influences the associated ecological community. The inclusion of additional environmental and genotypic factors is a natural extension of the current community genetics framework. However, the extent to which the presence of and genetic variation in associated species influences interspecific interactions (i.

Transcriptomic analysis of the sulfate starvation response of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen that causes a number of infections in humans, but is best known for its association with cystic fibrosis. It is able to use a wide range of sulfur compounds as sources of sulfur for growth. Gene expression in response to changes in sulfur supply was studied in P.

Desulfurization of aromatic sulfonates by rhizosphere bacteria: high diversity of the asfA gene.

The plant growth-promoting effect of Pseudomonas putida S-313 is associated with its ability to desulfurize arylsulfonates. To understand this further, other plant-associated bacteria able to desulfurize a range of arylsulfonates were isolated from the rhizospheres of winter and spring barley. The isolates belonged to the beta-proteobacteria, including bacteria from the Variovorax paradoxus group and from the Acidovorax genus.