A Single Mutation in the Gene Responsible for the Mucoid Phenotype of Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis Confers Surface and Functional Characteristics

Exopolysaccharides (EPS) are extracellular carbohydrate polymers synthesized by a large variety of bacteria. Their physiological functions have been extensively studied, but many of their roles have not yet been elucidated. We have sequenced the genomes of two isogenic strains of Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis that differ in their EPS-producing phenotype. The original strain displays a nonmucoid appearance, and the mutant derived thereof has acquired a mucoid phenotype. The sequence analysis of their genomes revealed a nonsynonymous mutation in the gene Balat_1410, putatively involved in the elongation of the EPS chain. By comparing a strain from which this gene had been deleted with strains containing the wild-type and mutated genes, we were able to show that each strain displays different cell surface characteristics. The mucoid EPS synthesized by the strain harboring the mutation in Balat_1410 provided higher resistance to gastrointestinal conditions and increased the capability for adhesion to human enterocytes. In addition, the cytokine profiles of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells and ex vivo colon tissues suggest that the mucoid strain could have higher anti-inflammatory activity. Our findings provide relevant data on the function of Balat_1410 and reveal that the mucoid phenotype is able to alter some of the most relevant functional properties of the cells.     

Potential Contribution of Anammox to Nitrogen Loss from Paddy Soils in Southern China

The anaerobic oxidation of ammonium (anammox) process has been observed in diverse terrestrial ecosystems, while the contribution of anammox to N₂ production in paddy soils is not well documented. In this study, the anammox activity and the abundance and diversity of anammox bacteria were investigated to assess the anammox potential of 12 typical paddy soils collected in southern China. Anammox bacteria related to “Candidatus Brocadia” and “Candidatus Kuenenia” and two novel unidentified clusters were detected, with “Candidatus Brocadia” comprising 50% of the anammox population. The prevalence of the anammox was confirmed by the quantitative PCR results based on hydrazine synthase (hzsB) genes, which showed that the abundance ranged from 1.16 × 10⁴ to 9.65 × 10⁴ copies per gram of dry weight. The anammox rates measured by the isotope-pairing technique ranged from 0.27 to 5.25 nmol N per gram of soil per hour in these paddy soils, which contributed 0.6 to 15% to soil N₂ production. It is estimated that a total loss of 2.50 × 10⁶ Mg N per year is linked to anammox in the paddy fields in southern China, which implied that ca. 10% of the applied ammonia fertilizers is lost via the anammox process. Anammox activity was significantly correlated with the abundance of hzsB genes, soil nitrate concentration, and C/N ratio. Additionally, ammonia concentration and pH were found to be significantly correlated with the anammox bacterial structure.     

Phyllosphere Bacterial Community of Floating Macrophytes in Paddy Soil Environments as Revealed by Illumina High-Throughput Sequencing

The phyllosphere of floating macrophytes in paddy soil ecosystems, a unique habitat, may support large microbial communities but remains largely unknown. We took Wolffia australiana as a representative floating plant and investigated its phyllosphere bacterial community and the underlying driving forces of community modulation in paddy soil ecosystems using Illumina HiSeq 2000 platform-based 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. The results showed that the phyllosphere of W. australiana harbored considerably rich communities of bacteria, with Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes as the predominant phyla. The core microbiome in the phyllosphere contained genera such as Acidovorax, Asticcacaulis, Methylibium, and Methylophilus. Complexity of the phyllosphere bacterial communities in terms of class number and α-diversity was reduced compared to those in corresponding water and soil. Furthermore, the bacterial communities exhibited structures significantly different from those in water and soil. These findings and the following redundancy analysis (RDA) suggest that species sorting played an important role in the recruitment of bacterial species in the phyllosphere. The compositional structures of the phyllosphere bacterial communities were modulated predominantly by water physicochemical properties, while the initial soil bacterial communities had limited impact. Taken together, the findings from this study reveal the diversity and uniqueness of the phyllosphere bacterial communities associated with the floating macrophytes in paddy soil environments.     

齐口裂腹鱼血细胞的发生

为了探讨齐口裂腹鱼(Schizothorax prenanti)血细胞发生发育的模式,采用Wright’s、碘酸雪夫氏(PAS)和苏丹黑B(SBB)染色方法对齐口裂腹鱼的头肾、中肾、脾和肝组织印片进行染色,了解其发生的具体组织和发育的一般过程。结果表明:齐口裂腹鱼血细胞可分为红细胞系、淋巴细胞系、单核细胞系、粒细胞系和其他细胞,且这些细胞系的发育均经过3个阶段,即原始阶段、幼稚阶段、成熟阶段。通过观察和统计不同阶段各种血细胞的形态、大小、比例及染色特征,发现原始阶段的血细胞体积较大,其中原始单核细胞最大,大小为(18.90±1.59)μm×(16.32±0.70)μm,在4种组织中原始阶段的红细胞和单核细胞在头肾中所占比例最大,分别为0.64%和0.59%,原粒细胞和原淋巴细胞分别在中肾和脾中比例最大,在肝中少量存在,此外在各组织印片中均发现血栓细胞的存在,在肝中发现巨噬细胞。因此头肾、中肾和脾是齐口裂腹鱼的主要造血组织,少量细胞在肝中产生。粒细胞发育过程中,除原始粒细胞PAS染色阴性外,其他阶段均呈阳性,且阳性随不断成熟逐渐增强;单核细胞从原单核细胞到成熟的单核细胞,PAS阳性逐渐增强;而SBB染色发现,粒细胞、淋巴细胞及单核细胞均呈阳性,未成熟的细胞染色程度不一致,成熟的细胞阳性染色最为强烈。在红细胞系发育过程中经历了细胞由大变小再变大的过程,而粒细胞和淋巴细胞发育过程仅出现由大变小的过程,在红细胞的发育过程中还出现了染色质固缩和血红蛋白增加。