Interplay of intracellular and trans-cellular DNA methylation in natural archaeal consortia.

DNA methylation serves a variety of functions across all life domains. In this study, we investigated archaeal methylomics within a tripartite xylanolytic halophilic consortium. This consortium includes Haloferax lucertense SVX82, Halorhabdus sp.

The Genome of Strain TC8, a Metabolically Versatile Alphaproteobacterium from the Tor Caldara Gas Vents in the Tyrrhenian Sea.

Varunaivibrio type strain TC8 is a mesophilic, facultatively anaerobic, facultatively chemolithoautotrophic alphaproteobacterium isolated from a sulfidic shallow-water marine gas vent located at Tor Caldara, Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy. belongs to the family within the Alphaproteobacteria, with as its closest relative. The genome of encodes the genes involved in sulfur, thiosulfate and sulfide oxidation, as well as nitrate and oxygen respiration.

Functional diversity of nanohaloarchaea within xylan-degrading consortia.

Extremely halophilic representatives of the phylum Nanohaloarchaeota (members of the DPANN superphyla) are obligately associated with extremely halophilic archaea of the phylum (according to the GTDB taxonomy). Using culture-independent molecular techniques, their presence in various hypersaline ecosystems around the world has been confirmed over the past decade. However, the vast majority of nanohaloarchaea remain uncultivated, and thus their metabolic capabilities and ecophysiology are currently poorly understood.

Nanohaloarchaea as beneficiaries of xylan degradation by haloarchaea.

Climate change, desertification, salinisation of soils and the changing hydrology of the Earth are creating or modifying microbial habitats at all scales including the oceans, saline groundwaters and brine lakes. In environments that are saline or hypersaline, the biodegradation of recalcitrant plant and animal polysaccharides can be inhibited by salt-induced microbial stress and/or by limitation of the metabolic capabilities of halophilic microbes. We recently demonstrated that the chitinolytic haloarchaeon Halomicrobium can serve as the host for an ectosymbiont, nanohaloarchaeon 'Candidatus Nanohalobium constans'.

Adaptations to high pressure of Nautilia sp. strain PV-1, a piezophilic Campylobacterium (aka Epsilonproteobacterium) isolated from a deep-sea hydrothermal vent.

Physiological and gene expression studies of deep-sea bacteria under pressure conditions similar to those experienced in their natural habitat are critical for understanding growth kinetics and metabolic adaptations to in situ conditions. The Campylobacterium (aka Epsilonproteobacterium) Nautilia sp. strain PV-1 was isolated from hydrothermal fluids released from an active deep-sea hydrothermal vent at 9° N on the East Pacific Rise.

Bacterial biofilms on medical masks disposed in the marine environment: a hotspot of biological and functional diversity.

The present paper was aimed at investigating the role of disposable medical masks as a substrate for microbial biofilm growth and for the selection of specific microbial traits in highly impacted marine environments. In this view, we have immerged masks in a coastal area affected by a continuous input of artisanal fishery wastes and hydrocarbons pollution caused by intense maritime traffic. Masks maintained one month in the field were colonized by a bacterial community significantly different from that detected in the natural matrices from the same areas (seawater and sediments).

Wintertime Simulations Induce Changes in the Structure, Diversity and Function of Antarctic Sea Ice-Associated Microbial Communities.

Antarctic sea-ice is exposed to a wide range of environmental conditions during its annual existence; however, there is very little information describing the change in sea-ice-associated microbial communities (SIMCOs) during the changing seasons. It is well known that during the solar seasons, SIMCOs play an important role in the polar carbon-cycle, by increasing the total photosynthetic primary production of the South Ocean and participating in the remineralization of phosphates and nitrogen. What remains poorly understood is the dynamic of SIMCO populations and their ecological contribution to carbon and nutrient cycling throughout the entire annual life of Antarctic sea-ice, especially in winter.

Microbial Biofilms Along a Geochemical Gradient at the Shallow-Water Hydrothermal System of Vulcano Island, Mediterranean Sea.

Shallow water hydrothermal vents represent highly dynamic environments where strong geochemical gradients can shape microbial communities. Recently, these systems are being widely used for investigating the effects of ocean acidification on biota as vent emissions can release high CO concentrations causing local pH reduction. However, other gas species, as well as trace elements and metals, are often released in association with CO and can potentially act as confounding factors.

Anti-obesity effects of Chenpi: an artificial gastrointestinal system study.

The gut microbiota plays a significant role in human health; however, the complex relationship between gut microbial communities and host health is still to be thoroughly studied and understood. Microbes in the distal gut contribute to host health through the biosynthesis of vitamins and essential amino acids and the generation of important metabolic by-products from dietary components that are left undigested by the small intestine. Aged citrus peel (Chenpi) is used in traditional Chinese medicine to lower cholesterol, promote weight loss and treat various gastrointestinal symptoms.

Metaproteogenomic Profiling of Chemosynthetic Microbial Biofilms Reveals Metabolic Flexibility During Colonization of a Shallow-Water Gas Vent.

Tor Caldara is a shallow-water gas vent located in the Mediterranean Sea, with active venting of CO and HS. At Tor Caldara, filamentous microbial biofilms, mainly composed of and , grow on substrates exposed to the gas venting. In this study, we took a metaproteogenomic approach to identify the metabolic potential and expression of central metabolic pathways at two stages of biofilm maturation.

Carbohydrate-dependent sulfur respiration in halo(alkali)philic archaea.

Archaea are environmentally ubiquitous on Earth, and their extremophilic and metabolically versatile phenotypes make them useful as model systems for astrobiology. Here, we reveal a new functional group of halo(natrono)archaea able to utilize alpha-d-glucans (amylopectin, amylose and glycogen), sugars, and glycerol as electron donors and carbon sources for sulfur respiration. They are facultative anaerobes enriched from hypersaline sediments with either amylopectin, glucose or glycerol as electron/carbon sources and elemental sulfur as the terminal electron acceptor.

Marine hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria breakdown poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET).

Pollution of aquatic ecosystems by plastic wastes poses severe environmental and health problems and has prompted scientific investigations on the fate and factors contributing to the modification of plastics in the marine environment. Here, we investigated, by means of microcosm studies, the role of hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria in the degradation of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET), the main constituents of plastic bottles, in the marine environment. To this aim, different bacterial consortia, previously acclimated to representative hydrocarbons fractions namely, tetradecane (aliphatic fraction), diesel (mixture of hydrocarbons), and naphthalene/phenantrene (aromatic fraction), were used as inocula of microcosm experiments, in order to identify peculiar specialization in poly(ethylene terephthalate) degradation.

Symbiosis between nanohaloarchaeon and haloarchaeon is based on utilization of different polysaccharides.

Nano-sized archaeota, with their small genomes and limited metabolic capabilities, are known to associate with other microbes, thereby compensating for their own auxotrophies. These diminutive and yet ubiquitous organisms thrive in hypersaline habitats that they share with haloarchaea. Here, we reveal the genetic and physiological nature of a nanohaloarchaeon-haloarchaeon association, with both microbes obtained from a solar saltern and reproducibly cultivated together in vitro.

Author Correction: Forearc carbon sink reduces long-term volatile recycling into the mantle.

An Amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Same Donor Laparoscopic Liver and Kidney Procurement for Sequential Living Donor Liver-Kidney Transplantation in Primary Hyperoxaluria Type I.

Sequential liver-kidney transplantation (SeqLKT) from the same living donor has shown excellent results in children with primary hyperoxaluria type 1 (PH1), yet its experience is limited due to the invasiveness of two major procedures for liver-kidney procurement in a single donor. Despite laparoscopic nephrectomy and hepatic left lateral sectionectomy (LLS) being considered standard procedures in living donation, the sequential use of the two laparoscopic approaches in the same living donor has never been reported. Herein, we present the first two case series of laparoscopic liver-kidney procurement in the same living donor for SeqLKT in children with PH1 and review of the current literature on this topic.

Author Correction: Forearc carbon sink reduces long-term volatile recycling into the mantle.

Change history: In this Article, the original affiliation 2 was not applicable and has been removed. In addition, in the Acknowledgements there was a statement missing and an error in a name. These errors have been corrected online.

Author Correction: The discovery of Lake Hephaestus, the youngest athalassohaline deep-sea formation on Earth.

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.

Forearc carbon sink reduces long-term volatile recycling into the mantle.

Carbon and other volatiles in the form of gases, fluids or mineral phases are transported from Earth's surface into the mantle at convergent margins, where the oceanic crust subducts beneath the continental crust. The efficiency of this transfer has profound implications for the nature and scale of geochemical heterogeneities in Earth's deep mantle and shallow crustal reservoirs, as well as Earth's oxidation state. However, the proportions of volatiles released from the forearc and backarc are not well constrained compared to fluxes from the volcanic arc front.

The discovery of Lake Hephaestus, the youngest athalassohaline deep-sea formation on Earth.

Hydrated, magnesium-rich minerals and subglacial brines exist on the martian surface, so the habitability of high-Mg environments on Earth has extraterrestrial (as well as terrestrial) implications. Here, we report the discovery of a MgCl-dominated (4.72 M) brine lake on the floor of the Mediterranean Ridge that underlies a 3500-m water column, and name it Lake Hephaestus.

Postoperative pain management in children: Guidance from the pain committee of the European Society for Paediatric Anaesthesiology (ESPA Pain Management Ladder Initiative).

The main remit of the European Society for Paediatric Anaesthesiology (ESPA) Pain Committee is to improve the quality of pain management in children. The ESPA Pain Management Ladder is a clinical practice advisory based upon expert consensus to help to ensure a basic standard of perioperative pain management for all children. Further steps are suggested to improve pain management once a basic standard has been achieved.