Journal of Microbiology

Volume 61(6); June 2023

Review

Searching for a Reliable Viral Indicator of Faecal Pollution in Aquatic Environments: Felana Harilanto Andrianjakarivony , Yvan Bettarel , Christelle Desnues; J. Microbiol. 2023;61(6):589-602. Published online June 1, 2023; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12275-023-00052-6

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Abstract: The disposal of sewage in significant quantities poses a health hazard to aquatic ecosystems. These effluents can contain a wide range of pathogens, making faecal contamination a leading source of waterborne diseases around the world. Yet monitoring bacteria or viruses in aquatic environments is time consuming and expensive. The standard indicators of faecal pollution all have limitations, including difficulty in determining the source due to lack of host specificity, poor connection with the presence of non-bacterial pathogens, or low environmental persistence. Innovative monitoring techniques are sorely needed to provide more accurate and targeted solutions. Viruses are a promising alternative to faecal indicator bacteria for monitoring, as they are more persistent in ambient water, more abundant in faeces, and are extremely host-specific. Given the range of viruses found in diverse contexts, it is not easy to find one “ideal” viral indicator of faecal pollution; however, several are of interest. In parallel, the ongoing development of molecular techniques coupled with metagenomics and bioinformatics should enable improved ways to detect faecal contamination using viruses. This review examines the evolution of faecal contamination monitoring with the following aims (i) to identify the characteristics of the main viral indicators of faecal contamination, including human enteric viruses, bacteriophages, CRESS and plant viruses, (ii) to assess how these have been used to monitor water pollution in recent years, (iii) to evaluate the reliability of recent detection methods of such viruses, and (iv) to tentatively determine which viruses may be most effective as markers of faecal pollution.

Journal Articles

Description of Luteibacter aegosomatis sp. nov., Luteibacter aegosomaticola sp. nov., and Luteibacter aegosomatissinici sp. nov. isolated from the Intestines of Aegosoma sinicum Larvae: Hae-In Joe , Jee-Won Choi , June-Young Lee , Hojun Sung , Su-Won Jeong , Yun-Seok Jeong , Jae-Yun Lee , Jin-Woo Bae; J. Microbiol. 2023;61(6):603-613. Published online May 5, 2023; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12275-023-00051-7

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Abstract: Three novel bacterial strains, 321T, 335T, and 353T, were isolated from the intestines of Aegosoma sinicum larvae collected from Paju-Si, South Korea. The strains were Gram-negative, obligate aerobe and had rod-shaped cells with a single flagellum. The three strains belonged to the genus Luteibacter in the family Rhodanobacteraceae and shared < 99.2% similarity in their 16S rRNA gene sequence and < 83.56% similarity in thier whole genome sequence. Strains 321T, 335T, and 353T formed a monophyletic clade with Luteibacter yeojuensis KACC 11405T, L. anthropi KACC 17855T, and L. rhizovicinus KACC 12830T, with sequence similarities of 98.77–98.91%, 98.44–98.58%, and 97.88–98.02%, respectively. Further genomic analyses, including the construction of the Up-to-date Bacterial Core Gene (UBCG) tree and assessment of other genome-related indices, indicated that these strains were novel species belonging to the genus Luteibacter. All three strains contained ubiquinone Q8 as their major isoprenoid quinone and iso-C15:0 and summed feature 9 ( C16:0 10-methyl and/or iso-C17:1 ω9c) as their major cellular fatty acids. Phosphatidylethanolamine and diphosphatidylglycerol were the major polar lipids in all the strains. The genomic DNA G + C contents of strains 321T, 335T, and 353T were 66.0, 64.5, and 64.5 mol%, respectively. Based on multiphasic classification, strains 321T, 335T, and 353T were classified into the genus Luteibacter as the type strains of novel species, for which the names Luteibacter aegosomatis sp. nov., Luteibacter aegosomaticola sp. nov., and Luteibacter aegosomatissinici sp. nov. are proposed, respectively.

Ship Hull‑Fouling Diatoms on Korean Research Vessels Revealed by Morphological and Molecular Methods, and Their Environmental Implications: Jaeyeong Park , Taehee Kim , Buhari Lawan Muhammad , Jang-Seu Ki; J. Microbiol. 2023;61(6):615-626. Published online May 25, 2023; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12275-023-00055-3

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Abstract: Ship biofouling is one of the main vectors for the introduction and global spread of non-indigenous organisms. Diatoms were the early colonizers of ship hulls; however, their community composition on ships is poorly understood. Herein, we investigated the diatom community on the hull samples collected from two Korean research vessels Isabu (IRV) and Onnuri (ORV) on September 2 and November 10, 2021, respectively. IRV showed low cell density (345 cells/cm2) compared to ORV (778 cells/cm2). We morphologically identified more than 15 species of diatoms from the two research vessels (RVs). The microalgae in both RVs were identified as Amphora, Cymbella, Caloneis, Halamphora, Navicula, Nitzschia, and Plagiogramma. Of them, the genus Halamphora was found to be predominant. However, both RVs had a varied dominant species with a significant difference in body size; Halamphora oceanica dominated at IRV, and Halamphora sp. at ORV, respectively. Molecular cloning showed similar results to morphological analysis, in which Halamphora species dominated in both RVs. The hull-attached species were distinct from species found in the water column. These results revealed diatoms communities that are associated with ship hull-fouling at an early stage of biofilm formation. Moreover, ships arriving from different regions could show some variation in species composition on their hull surfaces, with the potential for nonindigenous species introduction.

Tubulysins are Essential for the Preying of Ciliates by Myxobacteria: Uisang Yu , Jiha Kim , Seohui Park , Kyungyun Cho; J. Microbiol. 2023;61(6):627-632. Published online June 14, 2023; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12275-023-00056-2

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Abstract: Tubulysins are bioactive secondary metabolites produced by myxobacteria that promote microtubule disassembly. Microtubules are required for protozoa such as Tetrahymena to form cilia and flagella. To study the role of tubulysins in myxobacteria, we co-cultured myxobacteria and Tetrahymena. When 4000 Tetrahymena thermophila and 5.0 × 108 myxobacteria were added to 1 ml of CYSE medium and co-cultured for 48 h, the population of T. thermophila increased to more than 75,000. However, co-culturing tubulysin-producing myxobacteria, including Archangium gephyra KYC5002, with T. thermophila caused the population of T. thermophila to decrease from 4000 to less than 83 within 48 h. Almost no dead bodies of T. thermophila were observed in the culture medium. Co-culturing of T. thermophila and the A. gephyra KYC5002 strain with inactivation of the tubulysin biosynthesis gene led to the population of T. thermophila increasing to 46,667. These results show that in nature, most myxobacteria are preyed upon by T. thermophila, but some myxobacteria prey on and kill T. thermophila using tubulysins. Adding purified tubulysin A to T. thermophila changed the cell shape from ovoid to spherical and caused cell surface cilia to disappear.

Ultrasonic Treatment Enhanced Astaxanthin Production of Haematococcus pluvialis: Yun Hwan Park , Jaewon Park , Jeong Sik Choi , Hyun Soo Kim , Jong Soon Choi , Yoon-E Choi; J. Microbiol. 2023;61(6):633-639. Published online June 13, 2023; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12275-023-00053-5

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Abstract: In this study, effects of ultrasonic treatment on Haematococcus pluvialis (H. pluvialis) were investigated. It has been confirmed that the ultrasonic stimulation acted as stress resources in the red cyst stage H. pluvialis cells containing astaxanthin,
result
ing in additional astaxanthin production. With the increase in production of astaxanthin, the average diameter of H. pluvialis cells increased accordingly. In addition, to determine how ultrasonic stimulation had an effect on the further biosynthesis of astaxanthin, genes related to astaxanthin synthesis and cellular ROS level were measured. As a result, it was confirmed that astaxanthin biosynthesis related genes and cellular ROS levels were increased, and thus ultrasonic stimulation acts as an oxidative stimulus. These results support the notion on the effect of the ultrasonic treatment, and we believe our novel approach based on the ultrasonic treatment would help to enhance the astaxanthin production from H. pluvialis.

Heterologous Production and Structure Determination of a New Lanthipeptide Sinosporapeptin Using a Cryptic Gene Cluster in an Actinobacterium Sinosporangium siamense: Keita Saito , Keiichiro Mukai , Issara Kaweewan , Hiroyuki Nakagawa , Takeshi Hosaka , Shinya Kodani; J. Microbiol. 2023;61(6):641-648. Published online June 12, 2023; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12275-023-00059-z

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Abstract: Lipolanthine is a subclass of lanthipeptide that has the modification of lipid moiety at the N-terminus. A cryptic biosynthetic gene cluster comprising four genes (sinA, sinKC, sinD, and sinE) involved in the biosynthesis of lipolanthine was identified in the genome of an actinobacterium Sinosporangium siamense. Heterologous coexpression of a precursor peptide coding gene sinA and lanthipeptide synthetase coding gene sinKC in the host Escherichia coli strain BL21(DE3) resulted in the synthesis of a new lanthipeptide, sinosporapeptin. It contained unusual amino acids, including one labionin and two dehydrobutyrine residues, as determined using NMR and MS analyses. Another coexpression experiment with two additional genes of decarboxylase (sinD) and N-acetyl transferase (sinE) resulted in the production of a lipolanthine-like modified sinosporapeptin.

Letter

Proposal of Flavihumibacter fluvii sp. nov. as a replacement name for the effectively published but invalidated epithet Flavihumibacter fluminis Park et al. 2022: Miri S. Park , Hyeonuk Sa , Ilnam Kang , Jang-Cheon Cho; J. Microbiol. 2023;61(6):649-651. Published online June 12, 2023; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12275-023-00057-1

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Abstract: The name Flavihumibacter fluminis Park et al. 2022, which was effectively published but invalidated, is an illegitimate homonymic epithet of Flavihumibacter fluminis Guo et al. 2023. The low 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity and genomic relatedness between the type strains IMCC34837T and RY-1T of the two homonymic species indicated that they are different species. To avoid further confusion, we propose a new name Flavihumibacter fluvii sp. nov. to replace the effectively published but invalidated homonymic epithet Flavihumibacter fluminis Park et al. 2022.

Published Erratum

Erratum to: Fungal Catastrophe of a Specimen Room: Just One Week is Enough to Eradicate Traces of Thousands of Animals: Ji Seon Kim , Yoonhee Cho , Chang Wan Seo , Ki Hyeong Park , Shinnam Yoo , Jun Won Lee , Sung Hyun Kim , Wonjun Lee , Young Woon Lim; J. Microbiol. 2023;61(6):653-653.; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12275-023-00060-6

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Abstract: Correction to: Journal of Microbiology (2023) 61:189–197 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12275-023-00017-9 In this article two author names are given erroneaously: Written incorrectly: Ki Hyung Park · Shin Nam Yoo It should be read: Ki Hyeong Park · Shinnam Yoo

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