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Microbial communities vary greatly as microbes adopt very different niches. Functional and physiological traits are underlying drivers of niche differentiation, while feeding patterns by eukaryotic predators also have a important role to play on the soil microbiota. Yet, microbial communities can have dramatically different compositions even among similar environments. This webinar will dive into the complex topic of microbial life strategies.

Broadcast: Thursday 17th November 2022

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Outstanding reviews from leading experts

Dynamic trophic shifts in bacterial and eukaryotic communities during the first 30 years of microbial succession following retreat of an Antarctic glacier

The authors examined microbial succession along a glacier forefront in the Antarctic Peninsula representing ∼30 years of deglaciation to contrast bacterial and eukaryotic successional dynamics and abiotic drivers of community assembly using sequencing and soil properties. This study provides new insights into the unexpected dynamic changes and interactions across multiple trophic groups during primary succession in a rapidly changing polar ecosystem.

Lara Vimercati, Clifton P Bueno de Mesquita, Ben W Johnson, Dana Mineart, Emelia DeForce, Ylenia Vimercati Molano, Hugh Ducklow, Steven K Schmidt

Versatile Lactococcus lactis strains improve texture in both fermented milk and soybean matrices

In this study, the authors investigated the texturing potential of LAB in plant-based fermentation by high-throughput screening of 1232 Lactococcus lactis strains for texture in milk and liquid soybean matrices. The comparative genomics approach revealed 10 texturing strains with novel eps gene clusters. Currently, the relationship between the novel genes and their functionality in milk and plant matrices is unknown.

Vera Kuzina Poulsen, Elahe Ghanei Moghadam, Stjepan Krešimir Kračun, Birgit Albrecht Svendsen, Wioleta Marta Nielsen, Gunnar Oregaard, Anders Krarup

The role of virome in the gastrointestinal tract and beyond

The human gut virome is comprised of diverse commensal and pathogenic viruses. The colonization by these viruses begins right after birth through vaginal delivery, then continues through breastfeeding, and broader environmental exposure.  In this review, the authors describe the changes in the gut virome through life, health, and disease, followed by discussing the interactions between the virome, the microbiome, and the human host as well as providing an overview of their contribution to gut disease and disease of distant organs.

Kawtar Tiamani, Shiqi Luo, Sarah Schulz, Jinling Xue, Rita Costa, Mohammadali Khan Mirzaei, Li Deng

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, we did not know how SARS-CoV-2 would interact with other respiratory pathogens that typically circulate in our communities. In the following months, the circulation of these pathogens declined while invasive pneumococcal disease also declined worldwide. At that time, it was thought to be most likely due to non-pharmaceutical interventions to stop SARS-CoV-2 transmissions.

The study “Detection of pneumococcus during hospitalization for SARS-CoV-2” in FEMS Microbes tested patients hospitalized with COVID-19 for co-infection with Streptococcus pneumoniae. Anne Stahlfeld and Anne Wyllie explain for the #FEMSmicroBlog what we can learn about the associations between pneumococcal and COVID-19 disease. #FascinatingMicrobes

Next generation host pathogen research

The yeast community journal 

Out Now: Virtual Special Issue on Climate Change

Pyp25α is required for male gametocyte exflagellation

For malaria parasite transmission, the essential sexual stage includes production of gametocytes through gametocytogenesis in vertebrate hosts and formation of gametes from gametocytes through gametogenesis in mosquito vectors. Whereas each female gametocyte forms a single immotile macrogamete, a male gametocyte produces eight flagella-like microgametes in a process called exflagellation. The authors identified a conserved protein named as Py05543 (Pyp25α), required for male gametocyte exflagellation in Plasmodium yoelii.

Chao Zhang, Deyi Li, Zhirong Meng, Jianwei Zhou, Zhenxiao Min, Shengqun Deng, Jijia Shen, Miao Liu

Modulation of the cell wall protein Ecm33p in yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae improves the production of small metabolites

This study investigated whether modulation of cell wall composition can influence the production or secretion of small metabolites by yeast cell factories. We deleted and upregulated several cell wall-related genes KRE2, CWP1, CWP2, ECM33, PUN1, and LAS21 in yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae engineered for p-coumaric acid or β-carotene production. Deletions of las21∆ and ecm33∆ impaired the yeast growth on medium with cell wall stressors, calcofluor white, and caffeine. Our results point at the cell wall-related gene ECM33 as a potential target for improving production in engineered yeast cell factories.

Verónica Ramos-Viana, Iben Møller-Hansen, Paul Kempen, Irina Borodina

Virtual Special Issue on Microbes in a Changing Climate

Climate change is having a major impact around the world and there is thus considerable interest in understanding the roles and responses of microbes in these rapidly changing environments. This virtual special issue highlights recent articles in FEMS Microbiology Ecology that explore microbes in a changing climate.

These articles take us to different biomes across the world, with studies charactering microbial responses, metabolic adaptations of microbial communities and their impacts on biogeochemical cycles, and the effect on symbioses and the interactions of complex microbial assemblages.

Associated with this Virtual Issue is our webinar on Microbial Ecology in a Changing Climate