硇洲岛牡蛎相关细菌抗菌筛选及系统发育分析

以8个敏感菌株作为指示菌,采用管碟法对分离自湛江硇洲岛（20°52′N～20°56′N,110°33′E～110°38′E）潮汐带香港巨牡蛎(Crassostrea hongkongensis)中的72株细菌的发酵液进行抗菌筛选,并对阳性菌株进行基因组DNA提取、16S rRNA基因PCR扩增和序列测定,继而进行系统发育分析。抗菌实验结果表明,受试菌株中有23株菌的发酵产物具有抗菌活性（阳性率31.9%）,其中有5个菌株（JSM 111024、JSM 111027、JSM 111029、JSM 111076、JSM 111083）具有较强的抗菌活性。基于16S rRNA基因序列的系统发育分析表明,这23株菌具有较高的类群多样性和物种多样性,属于3个系统发育群/门(Alpha Proteobacteria、Gamma Proteobacteria、Bacteroidetes)中的8个科(Aeromonadaceae、Flavobacteriaceae、Halomonadaceae、Idiomarinaceae、Phyllobacteriaceae、Pseudoalteromonadaceae、Shewanellaceae、Xanthomonadaceae)的8个属(Idiomarina、Halomonas、Myroides、Nitratireductor、Oceanimonas、Pseudoalteromonas、Shewanella、Wohlfahrtiimonas),可分为11个物种。优势类群为Gamma Proteobacteria亚门（14株）,其中优势属为Oceanimonas属（6株）;第二大类群为Bacteroidetes门（7株）,都属于Flavobacteriaceae科的Myroides属。具有较强抗菌活性的5个菌株中,有4个菌株（JSM 111024、JSM 111027、JSM 111029、JSM 111083）属于Alpha Proteobacteria 亚门Phyllobacteriaceae科〖WTBX〗Oceanimonas属,而菌株JSM 111076属于Gamma Proteobacteria 亚门Aeromonadaceae科Nitratireductor属。     

美洲大蠊内生菌的分离鉴定及酶活性、抑菌作用测定

分离美洲大蠊内生细菌并测定菌体的淀粉、纤维素降解酶活性及抑菌特性。对虫体表面消毒,以LB和高氏一号培养基分离虫体内部细菌并进行16S rRNA基因序列分析。变色圈法测定降解酶活性,抑菌圈法测定抑菌活性。结果共分离到11株细菌,4株属于链霉菌属(Streptomyces),6株分别属于肠杆菌属(Enterbacter)、变形菌属(Proteus）、肠球菌属（Enterococcus）、沙雷氏菌属（Serratia）、芽胞杆菌属（Bacillus）和漫游球菌属（Vagococcus）。另有1株菌在NCBI中与肠杆菌的相似度最高, 为95%,可能代表着一个潜在的新种。4株链霉菌均有淀粉和纤维素降解能力。有3株菌对青枯雷尔氏菌有抑制效果。研究结果表明,美洲大蠊内生菌具有某些功能,甚至含有尚未发现的新菌种,是重要的菌种资源。     

北京典型景观水体好氧反硝化菌组成特征

好氧反硝化菌对环境水体氮素的循环起到非常重要的作用。对北京市6个典型景观水体中好氧反硝化菌进行富集培养和分离,并开展菌株的16S rRNA基因测序和组成特征分析。结果表明,从6个水体中共富集分离得到80株好氧反硝化菌,均为变形菌门 (Proteobacteria),聚类于其3个纲(α-Proteobacteria、β-Proteobacteria、γ-Proteobacteria),分属于9个属,31个物种。其中90%左右的菌株具有良好的好氧反硝化能力,是水体进行生物脱氮修复的重要微生物基础。在不同景观水体中,好氧反硝化菌表现出较为明显的分布差异性和性能差异性,除了普遍存在的假单胞菌属（Pseudomonas）和不动杆菌属（Acinetobacter）外,每个水体基本都有属于自己的特异菌属,其中重要的特异菌属包括Alishewanella、Delftia、Hydrogenophaga和Rheinheimera,这对水体修复具有指导意义。     

A novel cysteine‐free venom peptide with strong antimicrobial activity against antibiotics‐resistant pathogens from the scorpion Opistophthalmus glabrifrons

Antibiotic‐resistant bacteria, such as methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus and vancomycin‐resistant Enterococcus, pose serious threat to human health. The outbreak of antibiotic‐resistant pathogens in recent years emphasizes once again the urgent need for the development of new antimicrobial agents. Here, we discovered a novel antimicrobial peptide from the scorpion Opistophthalmus glabrifrons, which was referred to as Opisin. Opisin consists of 19 amino acid residues without disulfide bridges. It is a cationic, amphipathic, and α‐helical molecule. Protein sequence homology search revealed that Opisin shares 42.1–5.3% sequence identities to the 17/18‐mer antimicrobial peptides from scorpions. Antimicrobial assay showed that Opisin is able to potently inhibit the growth of the tested Gram‐positive bacteria with the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of 4.0–10.0 μM; in contrast, it possesses much lower activity against the tested Gram‐negative bacteria and a fungus. It is interesting to see that Opisin is able to strongly inhibit the growth of methicillin‐ and vancomycin‐resistant pathogens with the MICs ranging from 2.0 to 4.0 μM and from 4.0 to 6.0 μM, respectively. We found that at a concentration of 5 × MIC, Opisin completely killed all the cultured methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus. These results suggest that Opisin is a promising therapeutic candidate for the treatment of the antibiotic‐resistant bacterial infections. Copyright © 2015 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Silencing the mob: disrupting quorum sensing as a means to fight plant disease

Bacteria are able to sense their population's density through a cell–cell communication system, termed ‘quorum sensing’ (QS). This system regulates gene expression in response to cell density through the constant production and detection of signalling molecules. These molecules commonly act as auto‐inducers through the up‐regulation of their own synthesis. Many pathogenic bacteria, including those of plants, rely on this communication system for infection of their hosts. The finding that the countering of QS‐disrupting mechanisms exists in many prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms offers a promising novel method to fight disease. During the last decade, several approaches have been proposed to disrupt QS pathways of phytopathogens, and hence to reduce their virulence. Such studies have had varied success in vivo, but most lend promising support to the idea that QS manipulation could be a potentially effective method to reduce bacterial‐mediated plant disease. This review discusses the various QS‐disrupting mechanisms found in both bacteria and plants, as well as the different approaches applied artificially to interfere with QS pathways and thus protect plant health.     

Sternal gland structures in males of bean flower thrips,Megalurothrips sjostedti,and Poinsettia thrips,Echinothrips americanus,in comparison with those of western flower thrips,Frankliniella occidentalis (Thysanoptera: Thripidae)

Sternal pores are important features for identification of male thrips, especially within the subfamily Thripinae. They vary in shape, size and distribution even between species of one genus. Their functional role is speculated to be that of sex- and/or aggregation pheromone production. Yet, sexual aggregations are not reported in Echinothrips americanus, known to have sternal pores, while we observed aggregations in Megalurothrips sjostedti, previously reported to lack them.We examined the sternal glands and pores of the thripine species E. americanus and M. sjostedti males, in comparison with those of Frankliniella occidentalis using light microscopy, as well as scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Pore plates of F. occidentalis were ellipsoid and medial on sternites III–VII, while in E. americanus they were distributed as multiple micro pore plates on sternites III–VIII. In M. sjostedti they appeared as an extremely small pore in front of the posterior margin of each of sternites IV–VII. Pore plate and pore plate area were distributed similarly on sternites III–VII in F. occidentalis. However, in E. americanus the total pore plate area increased significantly from sternites III to VIII. Ultrastructure of cells associated with sternal glands showed typical characteristics of gland cells that differ in size, shape and number. The function of sternal glands is further discussed on the basis of morphological comparisons with other thrips species.     

Human TLR8 senses UR/URR motifs in bacterial and mitochondrial RNA

Toll‐like receptor (TLR) 13 and TLR2 are the major sensors of Gram‐positive bacteria in mice. TLR13 recognizes Sa19, a specific 23S ribosomal (r) RNA‐derived fragment and bacterial modification of Sa19 ablates binding to TLR13, and to antibiotics such as erythromycin. Similarly, RNase A‐treated Staphylococcus aureus activate human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) only via TLR2, implying single‐stranded (ss) RNA as major stimulant. Here, we identify human TLR8 as functional TLR13 equivalent that promiscuously senses ssRNA. Accordingly, Sa19 and mitochondrial (mt) 16S rRNA sequence‐derived oligoribonucleotides (ORNs) stimulate PBMCs in a MyD88‐dependent manner. These ORNs, as well as S. aureus‐, Escherichia coli‐, and mt‐RNA, also activate differentiated human monocytoid THP‐1 cells, provided they express TLR8. Moreover, Unc93b1 ^−/−‐ and Tlr8 ^−/−‐THP‐1 cells are refractory, while endogenous and ectopically expressed TLR8 confers responsiveness in a UR/URR RNA ligand consensus motif‐dependent manner. If TLR8 function is inhibited by suppression of lysosomal function, antibiotic treatment efficiently blocks bacteria‐driven inflammatory responses in infected human whole blood cultures. Sepsis therapy might thus benefit from interfering with TLR8 function.     

Effects of chemical control agents and microbial biocontrol agents on numbers of non-target microbial soil organisms: a meta-analysis

Our aim was to investigate the non-target effects on soil micro-organisms in agricultural environments caused by chemical control agents (CCAs) and microbial biocontrol agents (mBCAs), including the recovery from these effects. This was a desk study in which quantifiable endpoints, such as numbers of colony forming units (CFU), were derived from a series of studies and the combined data then analysed with a meta-regression analysis. Three analyses of the same dataset were performed. The first analysis, which was performed at the level of the CCAs and mBCAs in general, revealed that the effects of CCAs differed significantly from those of mBCAs. The second analysis, which included the type of non-target group (bacteria, fungi, actinomycetes, and protozoa) as additional input, revealed that mBCAs have greater effects than CCAs on fungi at study initiation, that CCAs had greater effects than mBCAs on bacteria and protozoa and that when effects were measured, recovery occurred within 100 days post-treatment initiation. The final analysis, which included the type of CCA (fungicide, insecticide, herbicide) or mBCA (antagonist) as additional input, revealed that (1) antagonists had a greater effect on fungi than insecticides and fungicides, (2) insecticides and to a lesser extent fungicides had a larger effect on bacteria than fungicides and antagonists, and (3) recovery of the CFU occurred within 100 days for all types of pesticides, mBCAs as well as CCAs, and for all non-target groups. The findings are discussed in view of the regulatory context of admittance of mBCAs to the market.