Publications by authors named "U Rocha"
Previous studies on disease in coral reef organisms have neglected the natural distribution of potential pathogens and the genetic factors that underlie disease incidence. This study explores the intricate associations between hosts, microbial communities, putative pathogens, antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and virulence factors (VFs) across diverse coral reef biotopes. We observed a substantial compositional overlap of putative bacterial pathogens, VFs and ARGs across biotopes, consistent with the 'everything is everywhere, but the environment selects' hypothesis.
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- The study investigates how factors like species abundance, sequencing depth, and taxonomic relationships affect the recovery of metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) in microbial communities.
- Different recovery pipelines were tested, revealing that the DT pipeline offered the most accurate results, whereas the 8K pipeline produced the most MAGs but with lower accuracy.
- Findings indicate that simply having more MAGs doesn't reflect true community composition, emphasizing the importance of sequencing depth and caution in interpreting MAG recovery data for biological conclusions.
Article Synopsis
- - This study analyzed the microbial communities (bacteria, methanogenic archaea, and eukaryotes) in the guts of Pachnoda marginata larvae, specifically comparing the midgut and hindgut using sequencing methods.
- - The composition of these microbial communities varied significantly between gut sections and was influenced by the larvae's diet, with different bacterial families dominating in the midgut depending on whether they fed on leaves or straw.
- - Methanogenic communities also differed between gut compartments, showing higher diversity in the midgut compared to the hindgut, which was more specialized to the host; midgut communities resembled those found in the surrounding soil.
Sulfamethoxazole (SMX) passes through conventional wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) mainly unaltered. Under anoxic conditions sulfate-reducing bacteria can transform SMX but the fate of the transformation products (TPs) and their prevalence in WWTPs remain unknown. Here, we report the anaerobic formation and aerobic degradation of SMX TPs.
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- The study investigates the complex interactions between two bacterial species commonly found together in severe, difficult-to-treat infections.
- Researchers used both laboratory experiments and modeling to reveal how one species can partially inhibit the other and how they engage in a cross-feeding relationship, where one provides nutrients to support the other's growth.
- The findings enhance understanding of how these bacteria coexist and interact in polymicrobial infections, which could lead to new treatment strategies.