Project description:Manufactured nanomaterials (MNMs) are increasingly incorporated into consumer products that are disposed into sewage. In wastewater treatment, MNMs adsorb to activated sludge biomass where they may impact biological wastewater treatment performance, including nutrient removal. Here, we studied MNM effects on bacterial polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA), specifically polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), biosynthesis because of its importance to enhanced biological phosphorus (P) removal (EBPR). Activated sludge was sampled from an anoxic selector of a municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), and PHB-containing bacteria were concentrated by density gradient centrifugation. After starvation to decrease intracellular PHB stores, bacteria were nutritionally augmented to promote PHB biosynthesis while being exposed to either MNMs (TiO2 or Ag) or to Ag salts (each at a concentration of 5 mg L-1). Cellular PHB concentration and PhyloChip community composition were analyzed. The final bacterial community composition differed from activated sludge, demonstrating that laboratory enrichment was selective. Still, PHB was synthesized to near-activated sludge levels. Ag salts altered final bacterial communities, although MNMs did not. PHB biosynthesis was diminished with Ag (salt or MNMs), indicating the potential for Ag-MNMs to physiologically impact EBPR through the effects of dissolved Ag ions on PHB producers. 18 samples; Triplicate PHB-enriched bacterial communities recovered from activated sludge were exposed to nanoparticle (TiO2 or Ag) or AgNO3 (as a silver control) or were not exposed to an nanoparticles (control) to determine if the naoparticles affected PHB production.
Project description:Manufactured nanomaterials (MNMs) are increasingly incorporated into consumer products that are disposed into sewage. In wastewater treatment, MNMs adsorb to activated sludge biomass where they may impact biological wastewater treatment performance, including nutrient removal. Here, we studied MNM effects on bacterial polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA), specifically polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), biosynthesis because of its importance to enhanced biological phosphorus (P) removal (EBPR). Activated sludge was sampled from an anoxic selector of a municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), and PHB-containing bacteria were concentrated by density gradient centrifugation. After starvation to decrease intracellular PHB stores, bacteria were nutritionally augmented to promote PHB biosynthesis while being exposed to either MNMs (TiO2 or Ag) or to Ag salts (each at a concentration of 5 mg L-1). Cellular PHB concentration and PhyloChip community composition were analyzed. The final bacterial community composition differed from activated sludge, demonstrating that laboratory enrichment was selective. Still, PHB was synthesized to near-activated sludge levels. Ag salts altered final bacterial communities, although MNMs did not. PHB biosynthesis was diminished with Ag (salt or MNMs), indicating the potential for Ag-MNMs to physiologically impact EBPR through the effects of dissolved Ag ions on PHB producers.
Project description:Bacteria respond to changes in their environment with specific transcriptional programmes, but even within genetically identical populations these programmes are not homogenously expressed. Such transcriptional heterogeneity between individual bacteria allows genetically clonal communities to develop a complex array of phenotypes, examples of which include persisters that resist antibiotic treatment and metabolically specialized cells that emerge under nutrient-limiting conditions. Fluorescent reporter constructs have played a pivotal role in deciphering heterogeneous gene expression within bacterial populations but have been limited to recording the activity of single genes in a few genetically tractable model species, whereas the vast majority of bacteria remain difficult to engineer and/or even to cultivate. Single-cell transcriptomics is revolutionizing the analysis of phenotypic cell-to-cell variation in eukaryotes, but technical hurdles have prevented its robust application to prokaryotes. Here, using the improved poly(A)-independent single-cell RNA-sequencing protocol MATQ-seq, we report the faithful capture of growth-dependent gene expression patterns in individual Salmonella and Pseudomonas bacteria across all RNA classes and genomic regions. These transcriptomes provide important reference points for single-cell RNA-sequencing of other bacterial species, mixed microbial communities and host–pathogen interactions.
Project description:Under well-defined laboratory conditions, we grew R. pomeroyi DSS-3 and A. macleodii MIT1002 in batch cultures on a monosaccharide (glucose) and organic acid (acetate), provided either individually or in combination, and all at the same carbon equivalent. This batch culturing approach mimicked bacterial DOC assimilation in short-lived substrate ‘hot spots’, such as those formed by high phytoplankton extracellular release at peak photon availability. Measurements were made of bacterial metabolite uptake, respiration, and biomass accumulation through a growth cycle. Insights into bacterial core metabolism came from gene and protein expression measured at intervals during growth. Curated genome-scale models (flux balance analysis; FBA) were used to explore the metabolic foundation of CO2 production for insights into determinants of BGE and bCUE.
Project description:We have designed and experimentally validated the BactoChip, a 60-mer oligonucleotide microarray for simultaneous detection and quantification of multiple bacterial species of clinical interest. The Bactochip microarray targets a novel set of high-resolution marker genes, those genes that most unequivocally characterized each bacterial species. The accuracy of the BactoChip microarray was evaluated using the labeled total DNA of single bacterial species at different concentrations (from 65ng to more than 250ng). The specificity of the developed array was further validated using mixed cultures containing up to 15 different bacterial species in even or staggered amount. We employed the Agilent 'Custom HD-CGH 8x15k Array" (catalogue number: G4427A) and the Agilent'Genomic DNA ULS labeling Kit" (catalogue number: 5190-0419). The microarray successfully distinguished among bacterial species from 21 different genera. The BactoChip additionally proved accurate in determining species-level relative abundances over a 10-fold dynamic range in complex bacterial communities. In combination with the continually increasing number of sequenced bacterial genomes, future iterations of the technology could enable to highly accurate clinically-oriented tools for rapid assessment of bacterial community composition and relative abundances.
Project description:Enclosure experiments are frequently used to investigate the impact of changing environmental conditions on microbial assemblages. Yet, the question how individual members of bacterial communities respond to challenges posed by the incubation itself remained unanswered. We used metaproteomic profiling, 16S rRNA gene analysis and high nucleic acid content analysis to monitor bacterial communities during long-term incubations (55 days) under marine (M1), mesohaline (M2) and oligohaline (M3) conditions with and without the addition of terrestrial dissolved organic matter. Our results showed that early in the experiment (after one week, T2), bacterial communities were highly diverse and their composition differed significantly between marine, mesohaline and oligohaline conditions. Controls (BS) and tDOM-treated samples (FKB) showed notable differences at this stage. In contrast, in the late phase of the experiment (after 55 days, T6), bacterial communities in both, manipulated and untreated marine and mesohaline enclosures were quite similar to each other and were dominated by gammaproteobacterial Spongiibacter. In the oligohaline enclosure, the actinobacterial hgc-I clade was very abundant in this phase. Our findings suggest that individual capacities, e.g. grazing-resistance, antibiotics production, and the ability to access alternative carbon sources may enable Spongiibacter and hgc-I clade members to successfully prevail during long-term incubations. Bacterial community composition in enclosure experiments thus seems to be strongly influenced by the individual inherent bacterial strategies to cope with the incubation as such. Researchers intending to investigate the effects of manipulation on complex microbial communities may therefore want to use short incubation periods or sophisticated systems that avoid these unspecific effects of long-term experiments.
Project description:Huanglongbing (HLB) is a worldwide devastating disease of citrus. There are no effective control measures for this newly emerging but century-old disease. Previously, we reported a combination of Penicillin G and Streptomycin was effective in eliminating or suppressing the associated bacterium, M-bM-^@M-^XCandidatus Liberibacter asiaticusM-bM-^@M-^Y (Las). Here we report the bacterial composition and community structure in HLB-affected citrus plants during a growing season and while being treated with antibiotic combinations PS (Penicillin G and Streptomycin) and KO (Kasugamycin and Oxytetracycline) using the PhylochipM-bM-^DM-" G3 array. The antibiotic treatments were conducted on the randomized complete block design with four replicates. For each replicate, five HLB-affected, 7-year-old citrus trees (a unique hybrid, 10c-5-58, which is an open-pollinated seedling from the combination of Lee mandarin M-CM-^W Orlando tangelo) at the USHRL farm, 10 cm in diameter, were injected with either 100 ml of the antibiotic combination treatment PS (5 g of penicillin G potassium + 0.5 g of Streptomycin per tree) or the antibiotic treatment KO (2 g of oxytetracycline + 1.0 g of kasugamycin per tree). Five trees were injected with water as injection controls (CK). Injections were made using an Avo-Ject syringe injector (a catheter-tipped 60 ml syringe; Aongatete Coolstores Ltd., NZ) beginning in August of 2010. The tapered tip was firmly fitted into a 19/64-in (7.5 mm) diameter hole, M-bM-^IM-^H3 cm deep, drilled into the tree. The injector was kept in the tree and the treatment lasted for one week in each injection-trunk. Treatments were repeated every 2 months for one year and ceased in August of 2011. Before and during treatment more than 30 leaf samples per tree were taken from different positions around the tree canopies for qPCR assays at 2 month intervals.DNA for the PhyloChipM-bM-^DM-" G3 analysis, which was extracted from 20 samples of the same treatment, was pooled in equal amounts and quantified by the PicoGreenM-BM-. method. The PhyloChipTM G3 analysis was conducted by Second Genome Inc. (San Francisco, CA).
Project description:The host genotype has been proposed to contribute to individually composed bacterial communities in the gut. To provide deeper insight into interactions between gut bacteria and their host, we associated germ-free C3H and C57BL/10 mice with intestinal bacteria from a C57BL/10 donor mouse. Analysis of microbiota similarity between the experimental animals with denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) 13 weeks after association revealed the development of a mouse strain specific microbiota. Gene expression in the colonic mucosa was analyzed with a microarray approach taking advantage of a modified Affymetrix mouse genome chip. We detected 202 genes whose expression differed significantly by a factor of < 2. Application of bioinformatics tools demonstrated that functional terms including signaling/secretion, lipid degradation/catabolism, guanine nucleotide/guanylate binding and immune response were significantly enriched in differentially expressed genes. We had a closer look at the 56 genes with expression differences of < 4 and observed a higher expression in C57BL/10 mice of the genes coding for toll-like receptor 1 (4-fold) and angiogenin 4 (33-fold) which are involved in the recognition and response to gut bacteria. In contrast, a 70-fold higher expression of the phospholipase A2, group IIA-encoding gene (Pla2g2a) was detected in C3H mice. In addition, a number of interferon-inducible genes were higher expressed in C3H than in C57BL/10 mice including Gbp1 (18-fold), Mal (7-fold), Oasl2 (7-fold), Ifi202b (7-fold), Rtp4 (6-fold), Ly6g6c (5-fold), Ifi27l2a (5-fold), Usp18 (5-fold), Ifit1 (5-fold), Ifi44 (4-fold), and Ly6g (4-fold) indicating that these cytokines play an essential role in microbiota regulation. However, genes coding for interferons, their receptors or factors involved in interferon signaling pathways were not differentially expressed between the two mouse strains. Taken together, our study confirms that the host genotype is involved in the establishment of host-specific bacterial communities in the gut. Based on expression differences after colonization with the same bacterial inoculum, we propose that Pla2g2a and interferon-dependent genes may contribute to this phenomenon. Total RNA was extracted from the colonic mucosa and hybridization was performed using 12.5M-BM- M-bM-^@M-^SM-BM- 20M-BM- M-BM-5g of cDNA on a customized Affymetrix nugomm 1a520177 chip.