Journal of Microbiology

Journal Articles

Quantitative Analysis of RNA Polymerase Slippages for Production of P3N‑PIPO Trans‑frame Fusion Proteins in Potyvirids: Dongjin Choi , Yoonsoo Hahn; J. Microbiol. 2023;61(10):917-927. Published online October 16, 2023; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12275-023-00083-z

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Abstract: Potyvirids, members of the family Potyviridae, produce the P3N-PIPO protein, which is crucial for the cell-to-cell transport of viral genomic RNAs. The production of P3N-PIPO requires an adenine (A) insertion caused by RNA polymerase slippage at a conserved GAA AAA A ( GA6) sequence preceding the PIPO open reading frame. Presently, the slippage rate of RNA polymerase has been estimated in only a few potyvirids, ranging from 0.8 to 2.1%. In this study, we analyzed publicly available plant RNA-seq data and identified 19 genome contigs from 13 distinct potyvirids. We further investigated the RNA polymerase slippage rates at the GA6 motif. Our analysis revealed that the frequency of the A insertion variant ranges from 0.53 to 4.07% in 11 potyviruses (genus Potyvirus). For the two macluraviruses (genus Macluravirus), the frequency of the A insertion variant was found to be 0.72% and 10.96% respectively. Notably, the estimated RNA polymerase slippage rates for 12 out of the 13 investigated potyvirids were reported for the first time in this study. Our findings underscore the value of plant RNA-seq data for quantitative analysis of potyvirid genome variants, specifically at the GA6 slippage site, and contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the RNA polymerase slippage phenomenon in potyvirids.

Comparative genomics analysis of Pediococcus acidilactici species: Zhenzhen Li , Qi Song , Mingming Wang , Junli Ren , Songling Liu , Shancen Zhao; J. Microbiol. 2021;59(6):573-583. Published online May 15, 2021; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12275-021-0618-6

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Abstract: Pediococcus acidilactici is a reliable bacteriocin producer and a promising probiotic species with wide application in the food and health industry. However, the underlying genetic features of this species have not been analyzed. In this study, we performed a comprehensive comparative genomic analysis of 41 P. acidilactici strains from various ecological niches. The bacteriocin production of 41 strains were predicted and three kinds of bacteriocin encoding genes were identified in 11 P. acidilactici strains, namely pediocin PA-1, enterolysin A, and colicin-B. Moreover, whole-genome analysis showed a high genetic diversity within the population, mainly related to a large proportion of variable genomes, mobile elements, and hypothetical genes obtained through horizontal gene transfer. In addition, comparative genomics also facilitated the genetic explanation of the adaptation for host environment, which specify the protection mechanism against the invasion of foreign DNA (i.e. CRISPR/Cas locus), as well as carbohydrate fermentation. The 41 strains of P. acidilactici can metabolize a variety of carbon sources, which enhances the adaptability of this species and survival in different environments. This study evaluated the antibacterial ability, genome evolution, and ecological flexibility of P. acidilactici from the perspective of genetics and provides strong supporting evidence for its industrial development and application.

The effects of cigarettes and alcohol on intestinal microbiota in healthy men: Renbin Lin , Yawen Zhang , Luyi Chen , Yadong Qi , Jiamin He , Mengjia Hu , Ying Zhang , Lina Fan , Tao Yang , Lan Wang , Misi Si , Shujie Chen; J. Microbiol. 2020;58(11):926-937. Published online October 30, 2020; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12275-020-0006-7

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Abstract: Human intestinal microbiota is affected by the exogenous microenvironment. This study aimed to determine the effects of cigarettes and alcohol on the gut microbiota of healthy men. In total, 116 healthy male subjects were enrolled and divided into four groups: non-smoking and non-drinking (Group A), smoking only (Group B), drinking only (Group C), and smoking and drinking combined (Group D). Fecal samples were collected and sequenced using 16S rRNA to analyze the microbial composition. Short-chain fatty acid (SCFAs) levels in feces were determined by gas chromatography. We found that cigarette and alcohol consumptions can alter overall composition of gut microbiota in healthy men. The relative abundances of phylum Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes and more than 40 genera were changed with cigarette and alcohol consumptions. SCFAs decreased with smoking and alcohol consumption. Multivariate analysis indicated that when compared with group A, group B/C/D had higher Bacteroides, and lower Phascolarctobacterium, Ruminococcaceae_ UCG-002, Ruminococcaceae_UCG-003, and Ruminiclostridium_ 9 regardless of BMI and age. Additionally, the abundance of Bacteroides was positively correlated with the smoking pack-year (r = 0.207, p < 0.05), the abundance of predicted pathway of bacterial toxins (r = 0.3672, p < 0.001) and the level of carcinoembryonic antigen in host (r = 0.318, p < 0.01). Group D shared similar microbial construction with group B, but exerted differences far from group C with lower abundance of Haemophilus. These results demonstrated that cigarette and alcohol consumption separately affected the intestinal microbiota and function in healthy men; furthermore, the co-occurrence of cigarette and alcohol didn’t exacerbate the dysbiosis and cigarette played the predominated role on the alteration.

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov'ts

Microbial Community on Healthy and Diseased Leaves of an Invasive Plant Eupatorium adenophorum in Southwest China: Zhen-Xin Zhou , Huan Jiang , Chen Yang , Ming-Zhi Yang , Han-Bo Zhang; J. Microbiol. 2010;48(2):139-145. Published online May 1, 2010; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12275-010-9185-y

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Abstract: Invasive plants have caused great economic losses and environmental problems worldwide. Eupatorium adenophorum is one of the most invasive weeds in China. To better understand its invasive mechanisms, in the present paper, the microbial communities of healthy and diseased leaves of E. adenophorum were obtained using both culture-independent and -dependent methods and their diversities were compared. The bacteria obtained from culture-independent method belong to Proteobacteria (95.8%), Actinobacteria (2.1%), and Firmicutes (2.1%) and fungi belong to Ascomycota (65.2%) and Basidiomycota (34.8%). Very few overlapped microbial species were found by culture-dependent and -independent methods. Healthy leaves display higher bacterial diversity than diseased leaves. Phylogenetic structures are very different between healthy and diseased phyllosphere microbial communities. Bacteria close to Acinetobacter and Pseudomonas were dominant on healthy leaves, whereas those close to Shigella were dominant on diseased leaves. 52.9% of fungal clones from healthy leaves were Ustilaginomycetes, close to Rhodotorula phylloplana and uncultured basidomycete; by contrast, 60% of clones from diseased leaves were Lecanoromycetes, close to Umbilicaria muehlenbergii. No bacteria but four fungal strains phylogenetically close to Myrothecium sp. and Alternaria alternate were pathogenic to seedlings and detached leaves of the invasive plant. Therefore, this plant may be resistant to pathogens from bacteria but not fungi in its introduced range.

Bacterial, Archaeal, and Eukaryal Diversity in the Intestines of Korean People: Young-Do Nam , Ho-Won Chang , Kyoung-Ho Kim , Seong Woon Roh , Min-Soo Kim , Mi-Ja Jung , Si-Woo Lee , Jong-Yeol Kim , Jung-Hoon Yoon , Jin-Woo Bae; J. Microbiol. 2008;46(5):491-501. Published online October 31, 2008; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12275-008-0199-7

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81 Citations

Abstract: The bacterial, archaeal, and eukaryal diversity in fecal samples from ten Koreans were analyzed and compared by using the PCR-fingerprinting method, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). The bacteria all belonged to the Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes phyla, which were known to be the dominant bacterial species in the human intestine. Most of the archaeal sequences belonged to the methane-producing archaea but several halophilic archarea-related sequences were also detected unexpectedly. While a small number of eukaryal sequences were also detected upon DGGE analysis, these sequences were related to fungi and stramenopiles (Blastocystis hominis). With regard to the bacterial and archaeal DGGE analysis, all ten samples had one and two prominent bands, respectively, but many individual-specific bands were also observed. However, only five of the ten samples had small eukaryal DGGE bands and none of these bands was observed in all five samples. Unweighted pair group method and arithmetic averages clustering algorithm (UPGMA) clustering analysis revealed that the archaeal and bacterial communities in the ten samples had relatively higher relatedness (the average Dice coefficient values were 68.9 and 59.2% for archaea and bacteria, respectively) but the eukaryal community showed low relatedness (39.6%).

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