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Topic Review
Bacterial–Fungal Interactions
At the cell-to-cell level, bacteria and fungi interact at many different levels of intimacy that can be considered from two perspectives: in terms of physical associations and in terms of molecular communication. More often than not, multiple mechanism of interaction can be employed by one microorganism. Cumulative cell-to-cell interactions among organisms belonging to very different taxa levels and origins, such as animals, protists, fungi, bacteria, archaea, and viruses, determine the overall microbial community activity in a given habitat. These interactions have an effect not just on their surrounding environment (i.e., microenvironment), but also influence large-scale fluxes and, thus, impact global ecosystem processes.
  • 1.3K
  • 25 Oct 2021
Topic Review
The Formation of Biofilms
Biofilms are matrix-enclosed bacterial populations that are adherent to each other and to surfaces and/or interfaces and are mainly composed of polysaccharides, proteins, lipids, and extracellular DNA.
  • 1.3K
  • 23 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Development of Antifouling Strategies for Marine Applications
Marine biofouling is an undeniable challenge for aquatic systems since it is responsible for several environmental and ecological problems and economic losses. Several strategies have been developed to mitigate fouling-related issues in marine environments, including thermal stress, osmotic shock, deoxygenation, and the development of marine coatings using nanotechnology and biomimetic models, as well as the incorporation of natural compounds, peptides, bacteriophages, or specific enzymes on surfaces. 
  • 1.3K
  • 07 Jul 2023
Topic Review
Current Methods for Bacterial Infection Clinical Diagnosis
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR), defined as the ability of microorganisms to withstand antimicrobial treatment, is responsible for millions of deaths annually. The rapid spread of AMR across continents warrants systematic changes in healthcare routines and protocols. One of the fundamental issues with AMR spread is the lack of rapid diagnostic tools for pathogen identification and AMR detection. Resistance profile identification often depends on pathogen culturing and thus may last up to several days. This contributes to the misuse of antibiotics for viral infection, the use of inappropriate antibiotics, the overuse of broad-spectrum antibiotics, or delayed infection treatment.
  • 1.3K
  • 05 May 2023
Topic Review
Nutritional Therapies on the Intestinal Microbiome
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic, autoimmune disorder of the gastrointestinal tract with numerous genetic and environmental risk factors. Patients with Crohn’s disease (CD) or ulcerative colitis (UC) often demonstrate marked disruptions of their gut microbiome. The intestinal microbiota is strongly influenced by diet. The association between the increasing incidence of IBD worldwide and increased consumption of a westernized diet suggests host nutrition may influence the progression or treatment of IBD via the microbiome. Several nutritional therapies have been studied for the treatment of CD and UC. While their mechanisms of action are only partially understood, existing studies do suggest that diet-driven changes in microbial composition and function underlie the diverse mechanisms of nutritional therapy. Despite existing therapies for IBD focusing heavily on immune suppression, nutrition is an important treatment option due to its superior safety profile, potentially low cost, and benefits for growth and development. These benefits are increasingly important to patients. In this entry, we will describe the clinical efficacy of the different nutritional therapies that have been described for the treatment of CD and UC. 
  • 1.3K
  • 05 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Genus Nocardiopsis
Actinomycetes are currently one of the major sources of bioactive secondary metabolites used for medicine development. Accumulating evidence has shown that Nocardiopsis, a key class of actinomycetes, has the ability to produce novel bioactive natural products. 
  • 1.3K
  • 10 Jun 2022
Topic Review
Fungal Co-Infections in COVID-19 Patients
Fungal co-infections are reported in severely ill COVID-19 patients admitted to the ICU, with a higher rate of incidence for aspergillosis followed by candidemia, as observed from our literature analysis. Fungal co-infections may increase disease severity and lead to more severe outcomes. 
  • 1.3K
  • 16 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Nano-Microbial Remediation of Polluted Soil
Nanobiotechnology has been used to bio-remediate or reclaim soil contaminated with organic and inorganic pollutants. The removal of pollutants from industrial wastes is a major challenge. The utilization of nanomaterials is gaining popularity, which might be accredited to their enhanced physical, chemical, and mechanical qualities. The development of advanced nanobiotechnological techniques involving the use of nanomaterials for the reclamation of polluted soils has indicated promising results and future hope for sustainable agriculture. By manufacturing environment-friendly nanomaterials, the industrial expenditure on decreasing the load of pollution might be reduced. A potential emerging domain of nanotechnology for eco-friendly production and cost reduction is “green biotechnology”, alongside the utilization of microorganisms in nanoparticle synthesis.
  • 1.3K
  • 31 Jan 2023
Topic Review
Yeast Communities Associated with Insects
Yeast communities associated with insects were identified either from entire insect bodies, which were previously surface-sterilized or not, or from dissected organs using culture-dependent and independent approaches. Independent cultural approaches usually involved DNA extractions from insect tissues followed by the amplification of taxonomic markers allowing a discrimination at the genus or species level, such as the Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) regions and the D1/D2 region of 26S ribosomal DNA.
  • 1.3K
  • 02 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Chlamydiae
The Chlamydiae are a bacterial phylum and class whose members are remarkably diverse, including pathogens of humans and animals, symbionts of ubiquitous protozoa, and marine sediment forms not yet well understood. All of the Chlamydiae that humans have known about for many decades are obligate intracellular bacteria; in 2020 many additional Chlamydiae were discovered in ocean-floor environments, and it is not yet known whether they all have hosts. Historically it was believed that all Chlamydiae had a peptidoglycan-free cell wall, but studies in the 2010s demonstrated a detectable presence of peptidoglycan, as well as other important proteins. Among the Chlamydiae, all of the ones long known to science grow only by infecting eukaryotic host cells. They are as small as or smaller than many viruses. They are ovoid in shape and stain Gram-negative. They are dependent on replication inside the host cells; thus, some species are termed obligate intracellular pathogens and others are symbionts of ubiquitous protozoa. Most intracellular Chlamydiae are located in an inclusion body or vacuole. Outside cells, they survive only as an extracellular infectious form. These Chlamydiae can grow only where their host cells grow, and develop according to a characteristic biphasic developmental cycle. Therefore, clinically relevant Chlamydiae cannot be propagated in bacterial culture media in the clinical laboratory. They are most successfully isolated while still inside their host cells. Of various Chlamydiae that cause human disease, the two most important species are Chlamydia pneumoniae, which causes a type of pneumonia, and Chlamydia trachomatis, which causes chlamydia. Chlamydia is the most common bacterial sexually transmitted infection in the United States, and 2.86 million chlamydia infections are reported annually.
  • 1.3K
  • 22 Nov 2022
Topic Review
The Necrobiome of Deadwood
Sustainable forest management has been increasingly recognized, promoting the diffusion of silvicultural practices aimed at considering all components of the forest system. Deadwood is an important component of the forest ecosystem. It plays a fundamental role in providing nutrients and habitats for a wide variety of saprotrophic and heterotrophic organisms and significantly contributes to soil formation and carbon storage. Deadwood is inhabited by a plethora of organisms from various kingdoms that have evolved the ability to utilize decaying organic matter. This community, consisting of both eukaryotic and prokaryotic species, can be defined as “necrobiome”. Through the interactions between its various members, the necrobiome influences the decay rates of deadwood and plays a crucial role in the balance between organic matter decomposition, carbon sequestration, and gas exchanges (e.g., CO2) with the atmosphere. 
  • 1.3K
  • 04 Jan 2023
Topic Review
Nivalenol Mycotoxin Concerns in Foods
Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites produced by fungi that infect a wide range of foods worldwide. Nivalenol (NIV), a type B trichothecene produced by numerous Fusarium species, has the ability to infect a variety of foods both in the field and during post-harvest handling and management. NIV is frequently found in cereal and cereal-based goods, and its strong cytotoxicity poses major concerns for both human and animal health. 
  • 1.3K
  • 18 Aug 2022
Topic Review
Clostridium thermocellum
Clostridium thermocellum, a Gram-positive, thermophilic anaerobic bacterium, exhibits an outstanding capability for degrading cellulolytic biomass to release fermentable sugars of different lengths by means of its powerful cellulosomes. 
  • 1.3K
  • 30 Aug 2021
Topic Review
Probiotics Influence the Gut–Brain Link
The effect of the intestinal microbiome on the gut–brain axis has received considerable attention, strengthening the evidence that intestinal bacteria influence emotions and behavior. The colonic microbiome is important to health and the pattern of composition and concentration varies extensively in complexity from birth to adulthood. That is, host genetics and environmental factors are complicit in shaping the development of the intestinal microbiome to achieve immunological tolerance and metabolic homeostasis from birth. Given that the intestinal microbiome perseveres to maintain gut homeostasis throughout the life cycle, epigenetic actions may determine the effect on the gut–brain axis and the beneficial outcomes on mood.
  • 1.3K
  • 02 Jun 2023
Topic Review
Anaerobic Soil Disinfestation
Anaerobic soil disinfection (ASD) has been identified as an alternative soil-borne pathogen control strategy to chemical fumigation. ASD involves the application of an easily liable carbon source followed by irrigation to field capacity and maintenance of an anaerobic condition for a certain period.
  • 1.3K
  • 07 Mar 2021
Topic Review
Occupational Exposure to Mycotoxins
In occupational settings where exposure to organic dust occurs (e.g., intensive animal production, waste management, farming) workers can be exposed to mycotoxins. However, the recognition of mycotoxins in workplace environments and as an occupational risk factor is still not performed. In the last decade, work developed in different occupational settings, using different sampling approaches reported that occupational exposure to mycotoxins occurs and it is of upmost importance to be considered as an occupational concern that needs to be tackled.
  • 1.3K
  • 26 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Microorganisms in the Nucleation of Carbonates
Microbially induced carbonate precipitation (MICP) is an important process in the synthesis of carbonate minerals, and thus, it is widely explored as a novel approach with potential for many technological applications. The processes and mechanisms involved in carbonate mineral formation in the presence of microbes are not yet fully understood. This research covers the current knowledge regarding the role of microbial cells and metabolic products (e.g., extracellular polymeric substances, proteins and amino acids) on the adsorption of divalent metals, adsorption of ionic species and as templates for crystal nucleation. Moreover, they can play a role in the mineral precipitation, size, morphology and lattice. By understanding how microbes and their metabolic products promote suitable physicochemical conditions (pH, Mg/Ca ratio and free carbonate ions) to induce carbonate nucleation and precipitation, the manipulation of the final mineral precipitates could be a reality for (geo)biotechnological approaches. The applications and implications of biogenic carbonates in areas such as geology and engineering are presented and discussed in this research, with a major focus on biotechnology.
  • 1.3K
  • 03 Jan 2023
Topic Review
Dinoflagellate Amphiesmal Dynamics
Dinoflagellates are a major aquatic protist group with amphiesma, multiple cortical membranous “cell wall” layers that contain large circum-cortical alveolar sacs (AVs). AVs undergo extensive remodeling during cell- and life-cycle transitions, including ecdysal cysts (ECs) and resting cysts that are important in some harmful algal bloom initiation–termination. AVs are large cortical vesicular compartments, within which are elaborate cellulosic thecal plates (CTPs), in thecate species, and the pellicular layer (PL). AV-CTPs provide cellular mechanical protection and are targets of vesicular transport that are replaced during EC-swarmer cell transition, or with increased deposition during the cellular growth cycle.
  • 1.3K
  • 06 May 2023
Topic Review
Hidden World of Gut Microbiota
Metabolites generated from the gut microbiota play an essential role in the host’s health by regulating metabolic homeostasis. A disruption in this equilibrium can lead to the emergence of numerous illnesses and their etiology. Pesticides have been shown in a few recent studies to harm the host’s gut microbiome.
  • 1.3K
  • 12 Mar 2024
Topic Review
Antiviral Bioactive Compounds of Mushrooms
Mushrooms are used in their natural form as a food supplement and food additive. In addition, several bioactive compounds beneficial for human health have been derived from mushrooms. Among them, polysaccharides, carbohydrate-binding protein, peptides, proteins, enzymes, polyphenols, triterpenes, triterpenoids, and several other compounds exert antiviral activity against DNA and RNA viruses. Their antiviral targets were mostly virus entry, viral genome replication, viral proteins, and cellular proteins and influenced immune modulation, which was evaluated through pre-, simultaneous-, co-, and post-treatment in vitro and in vivo studies. In particular, they treated and relieved the viral diseases caused by herpes simplex virus, influenza virus, and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Some mushroom compounds that act against HIV, influenza A virus, and hepatitis C virus showed antiviral effects comparable to those of antiviral drugs. Therefore, bioactive compounds from mushrooms could be candidates for treating viral infections. 
  • 1.3K
  • 24 Mar 2021
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