A gene transfer event suggests a long-term partnership between eustigmatophyte algae and a novel lineage of endosymbiotic bacteria.

Rickettsiales are obligate intracellular bacteria originally found in metazoans, but more recently recognized as widespread endosymbionts of various protists. One genus was detected also in several green algae, but reports on rickettsialean endosymbionts in other algal groups are lacking. Here we show that several distantly related eustigmatophytes (coccoid algae belonging to Ochrophyta, Stramenopiles) are infected by Candidatus Phycorickettsia gen.

A New Highly Sensitive and Specific Real-Time PCR Assay Targeting the Malate Dehydrogenase Gene of Kingella kingae and Application to 201 Pediatric Clinical Specimens.

is a significant pediatric pathogen responsible for bone and joint infections, occult bacteremia, and endocarditis in early childhood. Past efforts to detect this bacterium using culture and broad-range 16S rRNA gene PCR assays from clinical specimens have proven unsatisfactory; therefore, by the late 2000s, these were gradually phased out to explore the benefits of specific real-time PCR tests targeting the gene and the RTX locus of However, recent studies showed that real-time PCR (RT-PCR) assays targeting the sp. RTX locus that are currently available for the diagnosis of infection lack specificity because they could not distinguish between and the recently described species.

The contribution of culturomics to the repertoire of isolated human bacterial and archaeal species.

After a decade of research and metagenomic analyses, our knowledge of the human microbiota appears to have reached a plateau despite promising results. In many studies, culture has proven to be essential in describing new prokaryotic species and filling metagenomic gaps. In 2015, only 2172 different prokaryotic species were reported to have been isolated at least once from the human body as pathogens or commensals.

Characterization of a novel Gram-stain-positive anaerobic coccus isolated from the female genital tract: Genome sequence and description of Murdochiella vaginalis sp. nov.

Strain Marseille-P2341 , a nonmotile, nonspore-forming, Gram-stain-positive anaerobic coccus, was isolated in the vaginal specimen of a patient with bacterial vaginosis using culturomics. Its growth occurred at temperatures ranging from 25 to 42°C, with pH between 6.5 and 8.

Generalized tetanus in adults without antitetanus booster vaccination in southern Mauritania.

Tetanus has become rare in countries with high levels of vaccination coverage and hygiene but may still occur in adults without booster vaccination. In addition to the expanded program on immunization for children and maternal immunization against neonatal tetanus, a systematic vaccination of the population, including boosters, is recommended.

Re-visiting the evolution, dispersal and epidemiology of Zika virus in Asia.

Based on serological evidence and viral isolation, Zika virus (ZIKV) has circulated for many years relatively benignly in a sylvatic cycle in Africa and an urban cycle in South East Asia (SEA). With the recent availability of limited but novel Indian ZIKV sequences to add to the plethora of SEA sequences, we traced the phylogenetic history and spatio-temporal dispersal pattern of ZIKV in Asia prior to its explosive emergence in the Pacific region and the Americas. These analyses demonstrated that the introduction and dispersal of ZIKV on the Pacific islands were preceded by an extended period of relatively silent transmission in SEA, enabling the virus to expand geographically and evolve adaptively before its unanticipated introduction to immunologically naive populations on the Pacific islands and in the Americas.

sp. nov., a new human-associated species isolated from a patient with chronic refractory sinusitis.

Strain EL1 was isolated from a sinus sample of an 85-year-old man with chronic refractory sinusitis complicating ethmoidal adenocarcinoma. We studied its phenotypic and genomic characteristics. This is a Gram stain-positive, anaerobic and microaerophilic coccus.

Microbial culturomics to isolate halophilic bacteria from table salt: genome sequence and description of the moderately halophilic bacterium sp. nov.

strain ES3 (= CSUR P1478 = DSM 100598) is the type strain of sp. nov. It is an aerobic, Gram-positive, moderately halophilic, motile and spore-forming bacterium.

New approaches in the systematics of rickettsiae.

The development of a formal order analysis (FOA) allowed constructing a classification of 49 genomes of family representatives. Recently FOA has been extended with new tools-'Map of genes,' 'Matrix of similarity' and 'Locality-sensitive hashing'-for a more in-depth study of the structure of rickettsial genomes. The new classification confirmed and supplemented the previously constructed one by determining the position of str.

Draft genome sequence of strain SIT8, isolated from the human gut.

We report the properties of a draft genome sequence of the bacterium strain SIT8 (= CSUR P1560). This strain, whose genome is described here, was isolated from the fecal flora of a healthy 28-month-old Senegalese boy. Strain SIT8 is a facultatively anaerobic Gram-negative bacillus.

Genome sequence and description of Gracilibacillus timonensis sp. nov. strain Marseille-P2481 , a moderate halophilic bacterium isolated from the human gut microflora.

Microbial culturomics represents an ongoing revolution in the characterization of the human gut microbiota. By using three culture media containing high salt concentrations (10, 15, and 20% [w/v] NaCl), we attempted an exhaustive exploration of the halophilic microbial diversity of the human gut and isolated strain Marseille-P2481 (= CSUR P2481 =  DSM 103076), a new moderately halophilic bacterium. This bacterium is a Gram-positive, strictly aerobic, spore-forming rod that is motile by use of a flagellum and exhibits catalase, but not oxidase activity.

A systematic review of emerging respiratory viruses at the Hajj and possible coinfection with Streptococcus pneumoniae.

Background: The annual Hajj to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia attracts millions of pilgrims from around the world. International health community's attention goes towards this mass gathering and the possibility of the development of any respiratory tract infections due to the high risk of acquisition of respiratory viruses.

Method: We searched MEDLINE/PubMed and Scopus databases for relevant papers describing the prevalence of respiratory viruses among Hajj pilgrims.

Coxiella burnetii: A Hidden Pathogen in Interstitial Lung Disease?

We report 7 patients with interstitial lung disease seen at computed tomographic scan review. Coxiella burnetii infection was diagnosed in situ in 1 lung biopsy specimen. Q fever may be a cofactor of interstitial lung disease, especially in endemic areas.

Alignment-based and alignment-free methods converge with experimental data on amino acids coded by stop codons at split between nuclear and mitochondrial genetic codes.

Genetic codes mainly evolve by reassigning punctuation codons, starts and stops. Previous analyses assuming that undefined amino acids translate stops showed greater divergence between nuclear and mitochondrial genetic codes. Here, three independent methods converge on which amino acids translated stops at split between nuclear and mitochondrial genetic codes: (a) alignment-free genetic code comparisons inserting different amino acids at stops; (b) alignment-based blast analyses of hypothetical peptides translated from non-coding mitochondrial sequences, inserting different amino acids at stops; (c) biases in amino acid insertions at stops in proteomic data.

Experimental Inoculation in Rats and Mice by the Giant Marseillevirus Leads to Long-Term Detection of Virus.

The presence of the giant virus of amoeba Marseillevirus has been identified at many different sites on the human body, including in the bloodstream of asymptomatic subjects, in the lymph nodes of a child with adenitis, in one adult with Hodgkin's disease, and in the pharynx of an adult. A high seroprevalence of the Marseillevirus has been recorded in the general population. Whether Marseillevirus can disseminate and persist within a mammal after entry remains unproven.

The Impact of Periodic Distribution Campaigns of Long-Lasting Insecticidal-Treated Bed Nets on Malaria Vector Dynamics and Human Exposure in Dielmo, Senegal.

The implementation of long-lasting insecticidal-treated bed nets (LLINs) has contributed to halving the mortality rate due to malaria since 2000 in sub-Saharan Africa. These tools are highly effective against indoor-feeding malaria vectors. Thus, to achieve the World Health Assembly's new target to reduce the burden of malaria over the next 15 years by 90%, it is necessary to understand how the spatiotemporal dynamics of malaria vectors and human exposure to bites is modified in the context of scaling up global efforts to control malaria transmission.

sp. nov., sp. nov. and sp. nov., three new bacterial species identified from human gut microbiota.

We report here the main characteristics of strain Marseille-P3740 (CSUR P3740), strain Marseille-P3763 (CSUR P3763) and strain Marseille-P3660 (CSUR P3660), which were isolated using culturomics from the human gut microbiota of healthy individuals living in Marseille.

Careful use of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity values for the identification of species.

In order to evaluate the suitability of 16S rRNA nucleotide sequence similarity for the classification of new isolates at the species level, we systematically studied the pairwise identity values of this gene for 131 species with standing in nomenclature. Only one of the studied species, (0.76%), strictly respected the 95% and 98.

a new bacterial species isolated from human skin.

We report the main characteristics of sp. nov., strain Marseille-P4118 (= CSUR P4118), a new species within the genus .