Challenges of female microbial ecologists at different stages of their academic life: a Mexican perspective.

Latin American women scientists face a double glass ceiling because of cultural, institutional, and geographic biases, including those from international journal editors. Despite under-representation, they advance in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), particularly microbiology. In Mexico, more efforts are needed to create an inclusive community, driving progress enriched by women's perspectives in science.

CAMDA 2023: Finding patterns in urban microbiomes.

The Critical Assessment of Massive Data Analysis (CAMDA) addresses the complexities of harnessing Big Data in life sciences by hosting annual competitions that inspire research groups to develop innovative solutions. In 2023, the Forensic Challenge focused on identifying the city of origin for 365 metagenomic samples collected from public transportation systems and identifying associations between bacterial distribution and other covariates. For microbiome classification, we incorporated both taxonomic and functional annotations as features.

Exploring novel alkane-degradation pathways in uncultured bacteria from the North Atlantic Ocean.

Petroleum pollution in the ocean has increased because of rapid population growth and modernization, requiring urgent remediation. Our understanding of the metabolic response of native microbial communities to oil spills is not well understood. Here, we explored the baseline hydrocarbon-degrading communities of a subarctic Atlantic region to uncover the metabolic potential of the bacteria that inhabit the surface and subsurface water.

Expansion of Armatimonadota through marine sediment sequencing describes two classes with unique ecological roles.

Marine sediments comprise one of the largest environments on the planet, and their microbial inhabitants are significant players in global carbon and nutrient cycles. Recent studies using metagenomic techniques have shown the complexity of these communities and identified novel microorganisms from the ocean floor. Here, we obtained 77 metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) from the bacterial phylum Armatimonadota in the Guaymas Basin, Gulf of California, and the Bohai Sea, China.

Assessment of the Molecular Responses of an Ancient Angiosperm against Atypical Insect Oviposition: The Case of Hass Avocados and the Tephritid Fly .

spp. (Diptera: Tephritidae) infestations cause significant economic losses in commercial fruit production worldwide. However, some plants quickly counteract the insertion of eggs by females by generating neoplasia and hindering eclosion, as is the case for Mill.

Recent Differentiation of Aquatic Bacterial Communities in a Hydrological System in the Cuatro Ciénegas Basin, After a Natural Perturbation.

Pozas Rojas is a hydrological system comprising nine isolated shallow ponds and a deep lagoon, which were temporally merged in 2010 by increased rainfall due to a tropical cyclone. In this work, we assess which components, biotic interactions, or environment filtering effects, drive the assembly of microbial communities after a natural perturbation. Arsenic, pH, and temperature are among the most significant environmental variables between each pond, clustering the samples in two main groups, whereas microbial composition is diverse and unique to each site, with no core at the operational taxonomic unit level and only 150 core genera when studied at the genus level.

Metagenomic Survey of the Highly Polyphagous Developing in Ancestral and Exotic Hosts Reveals the Lack of a Stable Microbiota in Larvae and the Strong Influence of Metamorphosis on Adult Gut Microbiota.

We studied the microbiota of a highly polyphagous insect, (Diptera: Tephritidae), developing in six of its hosts, including two ancestral ( and ), three exotic ( cv. Ataulfo, cv. Criollo, and x ) and one occasional host ( cv.

Integrating proteomics and metabolomics approaches to elucidate the ripening process in white Psidium guajava.

Psidium guajava (guava) exhibits a high content of biomolecules with nutraceutical properties. However, the biochemistry and molecular foundation of guava ripening is unknown. We performed comparative proteomics and metabolomics studies in different fruit tissues at two ripening stages to understand this process in white guava.

Design of a diagnostic system based on molecular markers derived from the ascomycetes pan-genome analysis: The case of Fusarium dieback disease.

A key factor to take actions against phytosanitary problems is the accurate and rapid detection of the causal agent. Here, we develop a molecular diagnostics system based on comparative genomics to easily identify fusariosis and specific pathogenic species as the Fusarium kuroshium, the symbiont of the ambrosia beetle Euwallaceae kuroshio Gomez and Hulcr which is responsible for Fusarium dieback disease in San Diego CA, USA. We performed a pan-genome analysis using sixty-three ascomycetes fungi species including phytopathogens and fungi associated with the ambrosia beetles.

A First Glimpse of the Mexican Fruit Fly (Diptera: Tephritidae) Antenna Morphology and Proteome in Response to a Proteinaceous Attractant.

is a key pest of mangoes and citrus from Texas to Costa Rica but the mechanisms of odorant perception in this species are poorly understood. Detection of volatiles in insects occurs mainly in the antenna, where molecules penetrate sensillum pores and link to soluble proteins in the hemolymph until reaching specific odor receptors that trigger signal transduction and lead to behavioral responses. Scrutinizing the molecular foundation of odorant perception in is necessary to improve biorational management strategies against this pest.

Population genomics of Vibrionaceae isolated from an endangered oasis reveals local adaptation after an environmental perturbation.

Background: In bacteria, pan-genomes are the result of an evolutionary "tug of war" between selection and horizontal gene transfer (HGT). High rates of HGT increase the genetic pool and the effective population size (N), resulting in open pan-genomes. In contrast, selective pressures can lead to local adaptation by purging the variation introduced by HGT and mutation, resulting in closed pan-genomes and clonal lineages.

Genomic Signals of Adaptation towards Mutualism and Sociality in Two Ambrosia Beetle Complexes.

Mutualistic symbiosis and eusociality have developed through gradual evolutionary processes at different times in specific lineages. Like some species of termites and ants, ambrosia beetles have independently evolved a mutualistic nutritional symbiosis with fungi, which has been associated with the evolution of complex social behaviors in some members of this group. We sequenced the transcriptomes of two ambrosia complexes ( sp.

Impact of Rearing Conditions on the Ambrosia Beetle's Microbiome.

Ambrosia beetles, along with termites and leafcutter ants, are the only fungus-farming lineages within the tree of life. Bacteria harbored by ambrosia beetles may play an essential role in the nutritional symbiotic interactions with their associated fungi; however, little is known about the impact of rearing conditions on the microbiota of ambrosia beetles. We have used culture-independent methods to explore the effect of rearing conditions on the microbiome associated with , , and , evaluating different media in laboratory-controlled conditions and comparing wild and laboratory conditions.

Comparative genomics of free-living Gammaproteobacteria: pathogenesis-related genes or interaction-related genes?

Bacteria have numerous strategies to interact with themselves and with their environment, but genes associated with these interactions are usually cataloged as pathogenic. To understand the role that these genes have not only in pathogenesis but also in bacterial interactions, we compared the genomes of eight bacteria from human-impacted environments with those of free-living bacteria from the Cuatro Ciénegas Basin (CCB), a relatively pristine oligotrophic site. Fifty-one genomes from CCB bacteria, including Pseudomonas, Vibrio, Photobacterium and Aeromonas, were analyzed.

Two-role model of an interaction network of free-living γ-proteobacteria from an oligotrophic environment.

Antagonistic interactions are frequently observed among bacteria in the environment and result in complex networks, which could promote co-existence, and therefore promote biodiversity. We analysed interactions of aquatic bacteria isolated by their ability to grow in Pseudomonas isolation agar from Churince, Cuatro Ciénegas, Mexico. In the resulting network, highly antagonistic and highly sensitive strains could be distinguished, forming a largely hierarchical structure.