Appl Microbiol Biotechnol
January 2025
The rapid advancement of nanotechnology, particularly in the realm of pharmaceutical sciences, has significantly transformed the potential for treating life-threatening diseases. A pivotal aspect of this evolution is the emergence of "green nanotechnology," which emphasizes the environmentally sustainable synthesis of raw materials through biological processes. This review focuses on the biological synthesis and application of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles (NPs) from probiotic bacteria, particularly those sourced from wastewater.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Colloid Interface Sci
January 2025
In vitro and in vivo tests for therapeutic agents are typically conducted in sterile environments, but many target areas for drug delivery are home to thousands of microbial species. Here, we examine the behaviour of lipidic nanomaterials after exposure to representative strains of four bacterial species found in the gastrointestinal tract and skin. Small angle X-ray scattering measurements show that the nanostructure of monoolein cubic and inverse hexagonal phases are transformed, respectively, into inverse hexagonal and inverse micellar cubic phases upon exposure to a strain of live Staphylococcus aureus often present on skin and mucosa.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMicrocystins are hepatotoxic cyclic heptapeptides produced by some cyanobacterial species and usually contain the unusual β-amino acid 3-amino-9-methoxy-2,6,8-trimethyl-10-phenyl-4,6-decadienoic acid (Adda) at position-5. The full microcystin gene cluster from PCC 7806 has been expressed in . In an earlier study, the engineered strain was shown to produce MC-LR and [d-Asp]MC-LR, the main microcystins reported in cultures of PCC 7806.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnvironmental metaproteomics is a rapidly advancing field that provides insights into the structure, dynamics, and metabolic activity of microbial communities. As the field is still maturing, it lacks consistent workflows, making it challenging for non-expert researchers to navigate. This review aims to introduce the workflow of environmental metaproteomics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMicrobiol Resour Announc
June 2024
Amplicon sequencing data of the 16S rRNA (V1-V3) gene from 56 effluent and sediment samples from an Australian wastewater treatment plant are reported. Proteobacteria (3.50%-90.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDolichospermum is a cyanobacterial genus commonly associated with toxic blooms in lakes and brackish water bodies worldwide, and is a long-term resident of Lake Stechlin, northeastern Germany. In recent decades, shifts in the phosphorus loading and phytoplankton species composition have seen increased biomass of Dolichospermum during summer blooms from 1998, peaking around 2005, and declining after 2020. Cyanobacteria are known to rapidly adapt to new environments, facilitated by genome adaptation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAppl Environ Microbiol
January 2024
Toxigenic blooms periodically disrupt the stabilization ponds of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Dense proliferations of cells within the surface waters (SWs) impede the water treatment process by reducing the treatment efficacy of the latent WWTP microbiome. Further, water quality is reduced when conventional treatment leads to cell lysis and the release of intracellular microcystins into the water column.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCyanobacterial blooms are a concerning issue that threaten ecosystems, ecology and animal health. Bloom frequency has increased tremendously in recent times due to pollution, eutrophication of waterways, climate change, and changes in microbial community dynamics within the aquatic environment. Information about the spatiotemporal variation in microbial communities that drive a cyanobacterial bloom is very limited.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWorld J Microbiol Biotechnol
July 2023
Cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (CHABs) are a global environmental concern that encompasses public health issues, water availability, and water quality owing to the production of various secondary metabolites (SMs), including cyanotoxins in freshwater, brackish water, and marine ecosystems. The frequency, extent, magnitude, and duration of CHABs are increasing globally. Cyanobacterial species traits and changing environmental conditions, including anthropogenic pressure, eutrophication, and global climate change, together allow cyanobacteria to thrive.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnviron Microbiol
November 2023
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is predicted to cause a worldwide annual toll of 10 million deaths by 2050. This looming public health threat has been linked to antibiotic overuse and pollution, which places selective pressures on AMR maintenance and transfer in and between microbial populations. We examined the distribution, diversity and potential mobility of AMR genes in cyanobacteria.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBacteria residing in the guts of pollinating insects play a key role in nutrient acquisition, digestion, and resistance to pests and diseases. Imbalances in microbial flora in response to environmental change and stress can therefore impact insect health and resilience. This study is aimed at defining the core gut microbiome of the Australian native stingless bee, Tetragonula carbonaria, and exploring the impact of colony transplantation on gut health.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe soil surface of drylands can typically be colonized by cyanobacteria and other microbes, forming biological soil crusts or 'biocrusts'. Biocrusts provide critical benefits to ecosystems and are a common component of the largely arid and semi-arid Australian continent. Yet, their distribution and the parameters that shape their microbial composition have not been investigated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCyanobacteria represent an attractive source of natural bioactive compounds, ranging from sunscreens to cancer treatments. While many biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) that encode cyanobacterial natural products are known, the slow growth and lack of genetic tools in the native producers hampers their modification, characterization, and large-scale production. By engineering heterologous hosts for the expression of cyanobacterial BGCs, sufficient material can be produced for research or industry.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMicrobialites are sedimentary rocks created in association with benthic microorganisms. While they harbour complex microbial communities, Cyanobacteria perform critical roles in sediment stabilisation and accretion. Microbialites have been described from permanent and ephemeral saline lakes in South Australia; however, the microbial communities that generate and inhabit these biogeological structures have not been studied in detail.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSiderophores are low molecular weight iron-chelating molecules that many organisms secrete to scavenge ferric iron from the environment. While cyanobacteria inhabit a wide range of environments with poor iron availability, only two siderophore families have been characterized from this phylum. Herein, we sought to investigate siderophore production in the marine genus, .
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMicrobial palaeontology is largely reliant on the interpretation of geologically stable biomarkers or molecular fossils. Biomolecules that are both specific to particular groups of organisms and stable on a geological scale are invaluable for tracing the emergence and diversification of lifeforms, particularly in cases where mineral fossils are lacking. 2-Methylhopanoids and their diagenic product, 2-methylhopanes, are highly abundant bacterial membrane lipids, recoverable from samples in excess of a billion years old.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIndolactam alkaloids are activators of protein kinase C (PKC) and are of pharmacological interest for the treatment of pathologies involving PKC dysregulation. The marine cyanobacterial nonribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS) pathway for lyngbyatoxin biosynthesis, which we previously expressed in E. coli, was studied for its amenability towards the biosynthesis of indolactam variants.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe contamination of water catchments by nonpoint source faecal pollution is a major issue affecting the microbial quality of receiving waters and is associated with the occurrence of a range of enteric illnesses in humans. The potential sources of faecal pollution in surface waters are diverse, including urban sewage leaks, surface runoff and wildlife contamination originating from a range of hosts. The major contributing hosts require identification to allow targeted management of this public health concern.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAims: Microbial endophytes produce specialized metabolites, including antibiotics and other compounds of pharmaceutical and agricultural value. This study aimed to investigate the diversity and bioactivity of endophytes from medicinal plants used by the Dharawal People of Gamay (Botany Bay), Australia.
Methods And Results: Of the 48 endophytes isolated, 19 tested positive for polyketide synthase or non-ribosomal peptide synthetase genes via a PCR incorporating degenerate primers.
Cyanobacteria are prolific producers of natural products, including polyketides and hybrid compounds thereof. Type III polyketide synthases (PKSs) are of particular interest, due to their wide substrate specificity and simple reaction mechanism, compared with both type I and type II PKSs. Surprisingly, only two type III PKS products, hierridins, and (7.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFspecies produce a diverse range of biologically active compounds, including those biosynthesized by nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs) and polyketide synthases (PKSs). Here, we report the biochemical and genomic analysis of sp. strain HM-SA03, isolated from the blue-ringed octopus, sp.
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