Assessing phage-host population dynamics by reintroducing virulent viruses to synthetic microbiomes.

Microbiomes feature complex interactions between diverse bacteria and bacteriophages. Synthetic microbiomes offer a powerful way to study these interactions; however, a major challenge is obtaining a representative bacteriophage population during the bacterial isolation process. We demonstrate that colony isolation reliably excludes virulent viruses from sample sources with low virion-to-bacteria ratios such as feces, creating "virulent virus-free" controls. When the virulent dsDNA virome is reintroduced to a 73-strain synthetic gut microbiome in a bioreactor model of the human colon, virulent viruses target susceptible strains without significantly altering community structure or metabolism. In addition, we detected signals of prophage induction that associate with virulent predation. Overall, our findings indicate that dilution-based isolation methods generate synthetic gut microbiomes that are heavily depleted, if not devoid, of virulent viruses and that such viruses, if reintroduced, have a targeted effect on community assembly, metabolism, and prophage replication.

Disentangling the microbial ecological factors impacting honey bee susceptibility to Paenibacillus larvae infection.

Paenibacillus larvae is a spore-forming bacterial entomopathogen and causal agent of the important honey bee larval disease, American foulbrood (AFB). Active infections by vegetative P. larvae are often deadly, highly transmissible, and incurable for colonies but, when dormant, the spore form of this pathogen can persist asymptomatically for years. Despite intensive investigation over the past century, this process has remained enigmatic. Here, we provide an up-to-date synthesis on the often overlooked microbiota factors involved in the spore-to-vegetative growth transition (corresponding with the onset of AFB disease symptoms) and offer a novel outlook on AFB pathogenesis by focusing on the 'collaborative' and 'competitive' interactions between P. larvae and other honey bee-adapted microorganisms. Furthermore, we discuss the health trade-offs associated with chronic antibiotic exposure and propose new avenues for the sustainable control of AFB via probiotic and microbiota management strategies.

Clutch size in the tropical scincid lizard Emoia sanfordi, a species endemic to the Vanuatu Archipelago.

The majority of species in the scincid genus Emoia (Squamata: Scincidae) have a fixed clutch size of two eggs per clutch and produce between two and four clutches per year. One lineage within Emoia, the Emoia samoensis species group, consists of 13 species occurring in Melanesia and the islands of the southwestern Pacific Ocean, and exhibits variation in clutch size, with previously reported clutch sizes of two to five eggs. Little is known about reproduction in several members of this lineage including Emoia sanfordi, a large-bodied lizard endemic to the archipelago of Vanuatu in the South Pacific. We analyzed reproduction and clutch size in E. sanfordi females and discovered that there is a substantial amount of intraspecific variation, with clutch size ranging from two to seven eggs, with a modal clutch size of five eggs. Females were reproductively active throughout the study period of June through October and appear to be laying multiple clutches. The variation in clutch size seen in E. sanfordi is congruent with the variation previously reported within other closely related species.