Bacteria in the environment must survive predation from bacteriophage, heterotrophic protists, and predatory bacteria. This selective pressure has resulted in the evolution of a variety of defense mechanisms, which can also function as virulence factors. Here we discuss the potential dual function of some of the mechanisms, which protect against heterotrophic protists, and how predation pressure leads to the evolution of pathogenicity. This is in accordance with the coincidental evolution hypothesis, which suggests that virulence factors arose as a response to other selective pressures, for example, predation rather than for virulence per se. In this review we discuss some of those environmental factors that may be associated with the rise of pathogens in the marine environment. In particular, we will discuss the role of heterotrophic protists in the evolution of virulence factors in marine bacteria. Finally, we will discuss the implications for expansion of current pathogens and emergence of new pathogens.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3637895 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00248-013-0189-0 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Viral niche-partitioning: comparative genomics of giant viruses across environmental gradients in a high Arctic freshwater-saltwater lake.
ISME Commun
January 2025
Department of Energy - Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720, United States.
Giant viruses (GVs; ) impact the biology and ecology of a wide range of eukaryotic hosts, with implications for global biogeochemical cycles. Here, we investigated GV niche separation in highly stratified Lake A at the northern coast of Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada. This lake is composed of a layer of ice-covered freshwater that overlies saltwater derived from the ancient Arctic Ocean, and it therefore provides a broad gradient of environmental conditions and ecological habitats, each with a distinct protist community and rich assemblages of associated GVs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMultiple plastid losses within photosynthetic stramenopiles revealed by comprehensive phylogenomics.
Curr Biol
January 2025
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI 02881, USA. Electronic address:
Ochrophyta is a vast and morphologically diverse group of algae with complex plastids, including familiar taxa with fundamental ecological importance (diatoms or kelp) and a wealth of lesser-known and obscure organisms. The sheer diversity of ochrophytes poses a challenge for reconstructing their phylogeny, with major gaps in sampling and an unsettled placement of particular taxa yet to be tackled. We sequenced transcriptomes from 25 strategically selected representatives and used these data to build the most taxonomically comprehensive ochrophyte-centered phylogenomic supermatrix to date.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnvironmental interactions between protists and bacterial communities in hydrocarbon degradation.
Protist
December 2024
C. G. Bhakta Institute of Biotechnology, Uka Tarsadia University, Maliba Campus, Bardoli, Surat 394 350, Gujarat, India. Electronic address:
Reclamation of petroleum-polluted environments is a key issue for today and in the future, as our reliance on oil will persist for decades. An eco-friendly solution is to use microbes that play a role in petroleum-hydrocarbon degradation. However, as hydrocarbon degradation involves a multi-step process involving different functional groups, focusing only on finding efficient bacterial species will not be the complete solution.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFShear stress controls prokaryotic and eukaryotic biofilm communities together with EPS and metabolomic expression in a semi-controlled coastal environment in the NW Mediterranean Sea.
Environ Microbiome
December 2024
Laboratoire MAPIEM, Université de Toulon, Toulon, France.
While waves, swells and currents are important drivers of the ocean, their specific influence on the biocolonization of marine surfaces has been little studied. The aim of this study was to determine how hydrodynamics influence the dynamics of microbial communities, metabolic production, macrofoulers and the associated vagile fauna. Using a field device simulating a shear stress gradient, a multi-scale characterization of attached communities (metabarcoding, LC-MS, biochemical tests, microscopy) was carried out for one month each season in Toulon Bay (northwestern Mediterranean).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTransportome remodeling of a symbiotic microalga inside a planktonic host.
ISME J
January 2024
Cell and Plant Physiology Laboratory, Unité Mixte de Recherche (UMR) 5168 Centre de l'Energie Atomique (CEA)-Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS)-University Grenoble Alpes- INRAE, 38000, Grenoble, France.
Metabolic exchange is one of the foundations of symbiotic associations between organisms and is a driving force in evolution. In the ocean, photosymbiosis between heterotrophic hosts and microalgae is powered by photosynthesis and relies on the transfer of organic carbon to the host (e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!