Search Our Scientific Publications & Authors

mBio 2021 Apr 20;12(2). Epub 2021 Apr 20.

Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA

Soil bacteria and fungi are known to form niche-specific communities that differ between actively growing and decaying roots. Yet almost nothing is known about the cross-kingdom interactions that frame these communities and the environmental filtering that defines these potentially friendly or competing neighbors. We explored the temporal and spatial patterns of soil fungal (mycorrhizal and nonmycorrhizal) and bacterial cooccurrence near roots of wild oat grass, , growing in its naturalized soil in a greenhouse experiment. Read More

Int J Food Microbiol 2021 Apr 15;347:109199. Epub 2021 Apr 15.

Food Science Institute, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou 310021, China. Electronic address:

Zhacai is a traditional fermented vegetable that has been consumed in China for centuries. It is currently manufactured by spontaneous fermentation and therefore mostly relies on the activities of autochthonous microorganisms. Here, we characterized microbial community dynamics and associated biochemical changes in 12% salted Zhacai during a 90-day spontaneous fermentation process using high-throughput sequencing and chromatography-based approaches to identify associations between microorganisms and fermentation characteristics. Read More

Environ Int 2021 Apr 17;154:106558. Epub 2021 Apr 17.

State Key Laboratory for Marine Environmental Science, Institute of Marine Microbes and Ecospheres, College of Ocean and Earth Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiang'an Campus, Xiang'an South Road, Xiamen 361102, China; Fujian Key Laboratory of Marine Carbon Sequestration, Xiamen University, Xiang'an Campus, Xiang'an South Road, Xiamen 361102, China. Electronic address:

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) changes in quantity and quality over time and space, especially in highly dynamic coastal estuaries. Bacterioplankton usually display seasonal and spatial variations in abundance and composition in the coastal regions, and influence the DOM pool via assimilation, transformation and release of organic molecules. The change in DOM can also affect the composition of bacterial community. Read More

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021 Apr;118(15)

Epidemiology of Highly Pathogenic Organisms, Robert Koch Institute, 13353 Berlin, Germany;

Humans harbor diverse communities of microorganisms, the majority of which are bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract. These gut bacterial communities in turn host diverse bacteriophage (hereafter phage) communities that have a major impact on their structure, function, and, ultimately, human health. However, the evolutionary and ecological origins of these human-associated phage communities are poorly understood. Read More

Environ Microbiol 2021 Apr 19. Epub 2021 Apr 19.

Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Germany.

Polysaccharide particles are important substrates and microhabitats for marine bacteria. However, substrate-specific bacterial dynamics in mixtures of particle types with different polysaccharide composition, as likely occurring in natural habitats, are undescribed. Here, we studied the composition, functional diversity and gene expression of marine bacterial communities colonising a mix of alginate and pectin particles. Read More