Nocardia sp. strain BMG111209 is a non-Frankia actinobacterium isolated from root nodules of Casuarina glauca in Tunisia. Here, we report the 9.1-Mbp draft genome sequence of Nocardia sp. strain BMG111209 with a G + C content of 69.19% and 8,122 candidate protein-encoding genes. Copyright © 2016 Ghodhbane-Gtari et al.
Neisseria gonorrhoeae strains with coresistance to the first-line antimicrobial treatments azithromycin and ceftriaxone are an emerging public health threat. Here, we present the complete genome sequences of three strains of N. gonorrhoeae, including one susceptible strain and two strains with coresistance to ceftriaxone and azithromycin.© Crown copyright 2016.
We report here the complete genome sequences of 12 bacterial species of stable defined moderately diverse mouse microbiota 2 (sDMDMm2) used to colonize germ-free mice with defined microbes. Whole-genome sequencing of these species was performed using the PacBio sequencing platform yielding circularized genome sequences of all 12 species. Copyright © 2016 Uchimura et al.
Lactobacilli can exert health-promoting effects in the human oral microbiome through many mechanisms, including pathogen inhibition, maintenance of microbial balance, immunomodulation, and enhancement of the epithelial barrier function. Here, we present the complete genome sequence of a potential probiotic, Lactobacillus oris J-1, that was isolated from the oral cavity of a health child. Copyright © 2016 Jia.
Marinobacter sp. strain MCTG268 was isolated from the cosmopolitan marine diatom Skeletonema costatum and can degrade oil hydrocarbons as sole sources of carbon and energy. Here, we present the genome sequence of this strain, which is 4,449,396 bp with 4,157 genes and an average G+C content of 57.0%. Copyright © 2016 Gutierrez et al.
Serratia marcescens is an emerging nosocomial pathogen associated with urinary and respiratory tract infections. In this study, we determined the genome of a green pigment-producing clinical strain, U36365, isolated from a hospital in Southern India. De novo assembly of PacBio long-read sequencing indicates that the U36365 genome consists of a chromosome of 5.12 Mbps and no plasmids. Copyright © 2016 Sahni et al.
Drosophila melanogaster is an excellent model to explore the molecular exchanges that occur between an animal intestine and associated microbes. Previous studies in Drosophila uncovered a sophisticated web of host responses to intestinal bacteria. The outcomes of these responses define critical events in the host, such as the establishment of immune responses, access to nutrients, and the rate of larval development. Despite our steady march towards illuminating the host machinery that responds to bacterial presence in the gut, there are significant gaps in our understanding of the microbial products that influence bacterial association with a fly host. We sequenced and characterized the genomes of three common Drosophila-associated microbes: Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus brevis and Acetobacter pasteurianus For each species, we compared the genomes of Drosophila-associated strains to the genomes of strains isolated from alternative sources. We found that environmental Lactobacillus strains readily associated with adult Drosophila and were similar to fly isolates in terms of genome organization. In contrast, we identified a strain of A. pasteurianus that apparently fails to associate with adult Drosophila due to an inability to grow on fly nutrient food. Comparisons between association competent and incompetent A. pasteurianus strains identified a short list of candidate genes that may contribute to survival on fly medium. Many of the gene products unique to fly-associated strains have established roles in the stabilization of host-microbe interactions. These data add to a growing body of literature that examines the microbial perspective of host-microbe relationships. © 2016. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.
Streptococcus tigurinus is responsible for severe invasive infections such as infective endocarditis, spondylodiscitis and meningitis. As described, S. tigurinus isolates AZ_3aT and AZ_14 were highly virulent (HV phenotype) in an experimental model of infective endocarditis and showed enhanced adherence and invasion of human endothelial cells when compared to low virulent S. tigurinus isolate AZ_8 (LV phenotype). Here, we sought whether genetic determinants could explain the higher virulence of AZ_3aT and AZ_14 isolates. Several genetic determinants specific to the HV strains were identified through extensive comparative genomics amongst which some were thought to be highly relevant for the observed HV phenotype. These included i) an iron uptake and metabolism operon, ii) an ascorbate assimilation operon, iii) a newly acquired PI-2-like pilus islets described for the first time in S. tigurinus, iv) a hyaluronate metabolism operon, v) an Entner-Doudoroff pathway of carbohydrates metabolism, and vi) an alternate pathways for indole biosynthesis. We believe that the identified genomic features could largely explain the phenotype of high infectivity of the two HV S. tigurinus strains. Indeed, these features include determinants that could be involved at different stages of the disease such as survival of S. tigurinus in blood (iron uptake and ascorbate metabolism operons), initial attachment of bacterial pathogen to the damaged cardiac tissue and/or vegetation that formed on site (PI-2-like pilus islets), tissue invasion (hyaluronate operon and Entner-Doudoroff pathway) and regulation of pathogenicity (indole biosynthesis pathway).
We examined and compared both the methylomes and the modification-related gene content of four sequenced strains of Bibersteinia trehalosi isolated from the nasopharyngeal tracts of Nebraska cattle with symptoms of bovine respiratory disease complex. The methylation patterns and the encoded DNA methyltransferase (MTase) gene sets were different between each strain, with the only common pattern being that of Dam (GATC). Among the observed patterns were three novel motifs attributable to Type I restriction-modification systems. In some cases the differences in methylation patterns corresponded to the gain or loss of MTase genes, or to recombination at target recognition domains that resulted in changes of enzyme specificity. However, in other cases the differences could be attributed to differential expression of the same MTase gene across strains. The most obvious regulatory mechanism responsible for these differences was slipped strand mispairing within short sequence repeat regions. The combined action of these evolutionary forces allows for alteration of different parts of the methylome at different time scales. We hypothesize that pleiotropic transcriptional modulation resulting from the observed methylomic changes may be involved with the switch between the commensal and pathogenic states of this common member of ruminant microflora.
Large conjugative plasmids are important drivers of bacterial evolution and contribute significantly to the dissemination of antibiotic resistance. Although plasmid borne multidrug resistance is recognized as one of the main challenges in modern medicine, the adaptive forces shaping the evolution of these plasmids within pathogenic hosts are poorly understood. Here we study plasmid-host adaptations following transfer of a 73?kb conjugative multidrug resistance plasmid to naïve clinical isolates of Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli. We use experimental evolution, mathematical modelling and population sequencing to show that the long-term persistence and molecular integrity of the plasmid is highly influenced by multiple factors within a 25?kb plasmid region constituting a host-dependent burden. In the E. coli hosts investigated here, improved plasmid stability readily evolves via IS26 mediated deletions of costly regions from the plasmid backbone, effectively expanding the host-range of the plasmid. Although these adaptations were also beneficial to plasmid persistence in a naïve K. pneumoniae host, they were never observed in this species, indicating that differential evolvability can limit opportunities of plasmid adaptation. While insertion sequences are well known to supply plasmids with adaptive traits, our findings suggest that they also play an important role in plasmid evolution by maintaining the plasticity necessary to alleviate plasmid-host constrains. Further, the observed evolutionary strategy consistently followed by all evolved E. coli lineages exposes a trade-off between horizontal and vertical transmission that may ultimately limit the dissemination potential of clinical multidrug resistance plasmids in these hosts.© The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution.
Mobile genetic elements (MGEs), also called transposable elements (TEs), represent universal components of most genomes and are intimately involved in nearly all aspects of genome organization, function and evolution. However, there is currently a gap between the fast pace of TE discovery in silico, driven by the exponential growth of comparative genomic studies, and a limited number of experimental models amenable to more traditional in vitro and in vivo studies of structural, mechanistic and regulatory properties of diverse MGEs. Experimental and computational scientists came together to bridge this gap at a recent conference, ‘Mobile Genetic Elements: in silico, in vitro, in vivo’, held at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole, MA, USA.© 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Several bacterial species from the Burkholderia cepacia complex (Bcc) are feared opportunistic pathogens that lead to debilitating lung infections with a high risk of developing fatal septicemia in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. However, the pathogenic potential of other Bcc species is yet unknown. To elucidate clinical relevance of Burkholderia contaminans, a species frequently isolated from CF respiratory samples in Ibero-American countries, we aimed to identify its key virulence factors possibly linked with an unfavorable clinical outcome. We performed a genome-wide comparative analysis of two isolates of B. contaminans ST872 from sputum and blood culture of a female CF patient in Argentina. RNA-seq data showed significant changes in expression for quorum sensing-regulated virulence factors and motility and chemotaxis. Furthermore, we detected expression changes in a recently described low-oxygen-activated (lxa) locus which encodes stress-related proteins, and for two clusters responsible for the biosynthesis of antifungal and hemolytic compounds pyrrolnitrin and occidiofungin. Based on phenotypic assays that confirmed changes in motility and in proteolytic, hemolytic and antifungal activities, we were able to distinguish two phenotypes of B. contaminans that coexisted in the host and entered her bloodstream. Whole genome sequencing revealed that the sputum and bloodstream isolates (each representing a distinct phenotype) differed by over 1,400 mutations as a result of a mismatch repair-deficient hypermutable state of the sputum isolate. The inferred lack of purifying selection against nonsynonymous mutations and the high rate of pseudogenization in the derived isolate indicated limited evolutionary pressure during evolution in the nutrient-rich, stable CF sputum environment. The present study is the first to examine the genomic and transcriptomic differences between longitudinal isolates of B. contaminans. Detected activity of a number of putative virulence factors implies a genuine pathogenic nature of this novel Bcc species.
Long read sequencing is changing the landscape of genomic research, especially de novo assembly. Despite the high error rate inherent to long read technologies, increased read lengths dramatically improve the continuity and accuracy of genome assemblies. However, the cost and throughput of these technologies limits their application to complex genomes. One solution is to decrease the cost and time to assemble novel genomes by leveraging textquotedbllefthybridtextquotedblright assemblies that use long reads for scaffolding and short reads for accuracy. To this end, we describe a novel application of a multi-string Burrows-Wheeler transform with auxiliary FM-index to correct errors in long read sequences using a set of complementary short reads. We show that our method efficiently produces significantly higher quality corrected sequence than existing hybrid error-correction methods. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our method compared to state-of-the-art hybrid and long-read only de novo assembly methods.
The most frequently encountered symbiont on tree roots is the ascomycete Cenococcum geophilum, the only mycorrhizal species within the largest fungal class Dothideomycetes, a class known for devastating plant pathogens. Here we show that the symbiotic genomic idiosyncrasies of ectomycorrhizal basidiomycetes are also present in C. geophilum with symbiosis-induced, taxon-specific genes of unknown function and reduced numbers of plant cell wall-degrading enzymes. C. geophilum still holds a significant set of genes in categories known to be involved in pathogenesis and shows an increased genome size due to transposable elements proliferation. Transcript profiling revealed a striking upregulation of membrane transporters, including aquaporin water channels and sugar transporters, and mycorrhiza-induced small secreted proteins (MiSSPs) in ectomycorrhiza compared with free-living mycelium. The frequency with which this symbiont is found on tree roots and its possible role in water and nutrient transport in symbiosis calls for further studies on mechanisms of host and environmental adaptation.
Adaptive radiations are important drivers of niche filling, since they rapidly adapt a single clade of organisms to ecological opportunities. Although thought to be common for animals and plants, adaptive radiations have remained difficult to document for microbes in the wild. Here we describe a recent adaptive radiation leading to fine-scale ecophysiological differentiation in the degradation of an algal glycan in a clade of closely related marine bacteria. Horizontal gene transfer is the primary driver in the diversification of the pathway leading to several ecophysiologically differentiated Vibrionaceae populations adapted to different physical forms of alginate. Pathway architecture is predictive of function and ecology, underscoring that horizontal gene transfer without extensive regulatory changes can rapidly assemble fully functional pathways in microbes.
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