Bioaccumulation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and microbiota dynamics across developmental stages of the Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus exposed to urban pollutants.

Aedes albopictus mosquitoes face numerous anthropic stressors in urban areas. These xenobiotics not only impact mosquito physiology but also shape the composition of their microbiota, which play important roles in host physiological traits. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are ubiquitous environmental pollutants known to alter mosquito metabolism, but no studies have yet investigated their impact on microbiota. Using a bespoke indoor mesocosm tailored for Ae. albopictus mosquitoes, we investigated the dynamics of bacterial communities in both mosquitoes and their larval breeding sites following chronic exposure to a cocktail of PAHs consisting of benzo[a]pyrene, benz[a]anthracene, chrysene and benzo[b]fluoranthene. Our findings showed that PAHs have a stage-specific effect on mosquito microbiota, with a higher impact in larvae than in adults, contributing to 12.5 % and 4.5 % of the PAHs-induced variations, respectively. The presence of PAHs in the treated mesocosm led to the enrichment of bacterial families and genera known for their ability to catabolize PAHs, such as Comamonadaceae and Raoultella (increasing from 19 % to 30 % and from 1.2 % to 5.6 %, respectively). Conversely, prevalent taxa found in mosquito microbiota like Wolbachia and Cedecea exhibited a reduction (decreasing from 4 % to 0.8 % and from 12.8 % to 6.4 %, respectively). This reduction could be attributed to the competitive advantage gained by PAH-degrading taxa, or it could reflect a direct sensitivity to PAH exposure. Overall, this indicates a shift in microbiota composition favoring bacteria that can thrive in a PAH-contaminated environment. PAHs persisted in the water of breeding sites only the first 45 days of the experiment. Benzo[a]pyrene and benzo[b]fluoranthene were more susceptible to bioaccumulation in larval tissues over time. Overall, this study enhances our understanding of the impact of pollution on mosquitoes and could facilitate future research on the importance of symbiosis in urban-dwelling insect disease vectors. Given the recent advancements in the generation of axenic (microbe-free) and gnotobiotic (mosquitoes with a defined or specific microbiota) mosquitoes, further studies are needed to explore how changes in microbiota composition could influence mosquito responses to pollution, particularly in relation to host fitness, immunity, and vector competence.

Wheat genome architecture influences interactions with phytobeneficial microbial functional groups in the rhizosphere.

Wheat has undergone a complex evolutionary history, which led to allopolyploidization and the hexaploid bread wheat Triticum aestivum. However, the significance of wheat genomic architecture for beneficial plant-microbe interactions is poorly understood, especially from a functional standpoint. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that wheat genomic architecture was an overriding factor determining root recruitment of microorganisms with particular plant-beneficial traits. We chose five wheat species representing genomic profiles AA (Triticum urartu), BB {SS} (Aegilops speltoides), DD (Aegilops tauschii), AABB (Triticum dicoccon) and AABBDD (Triticum aestivum) and assessed by quantitative polymerase chain reaction their ability to interact with free-nitrogen fixers, 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate deaminase producers, 2,4-diacetylphloroglucinol producers and auxin producers via the phenylpyruvate decarboxylase pathway, in combination with Illumina MiSeq metabarcoding analysis of N fixers (and of the total bacterial community). We found that the abundance of the microbial functional groups could fluctuate according to wheat genomic profile, as did the total bacterial abundance. N fixer diversity and total bacterial diversity were also influenced significantly by wheat genomic profile. Often, rather similar results were obtained for genomes DD (Ae. tauschii) and AABBDD (T. aestivum), pointing for the first time that the D genome could be particularly important for wheat-bacteria interactions.

Frankia umida sp. nov., isolated from root nodules of Alnus glutinosa L.

Frankia strain Ag45/Mut15T was isolated from a root nodule of Alnus glutinosa growing in a swamp at lake Grossensee, Germany. The strain forms root nodules on A. glutinosa, in which it produces hyphae and clusters of N2-fixing vesicles. N2-fixing vesicles are also produced in nitrogen-free growth medium, in addition to hyphae and sporangia. The whole-cell hydrolysates of strain Ag45/Mut15T contained meso-diaminopimelic acid in the peptidoglycan and ribose, xylose, mannose, glucose, galactose and a trace of rhamnose as cell-wall sugars. The major polar lipids were phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylinositol, diphosphatidylglycerol and glyco-phospholipid. The predominant (>20 %) menaquinones were MK-9(H6) and MK-9(H4). The major fatty acid profile (>10 %) consisted of iso-C16:0, C17 : 1 ω8c and C17 : 0. Pairwise 16S rRNA gene distances showed that strain Ag45/Mut15T was most closely related to Frankia torreyi CpI1T and Candidatus Frankia nodulisporulans with 16S rRNA gene similarity values of 0.001335 substitutions per site. An multilocus sequence analysis phylogeny based on atpD, dnaA, ftsZ, pgk and rpoB amino acid sequences positioned the strain within cluster 1 of Alnus- and Myrica-nodulating species, close to Candidatus F. nodulisporulans AgTrST and F. canadensis ARgP5T. The digital DNA-DNA hybridization (dDDH) and average nucleotide identity (ANI) values between the studied strain Ag45/Mut15T and all validly named Frankia species were below the defined threshold for prokaryotic species demarcation. Candidatus F. nodulisporulans AgTrST, which cannot be cultivated in vitro, was found to be the closest phylogenetic neighbour to strain strain Ag45/Mut15T with dDDH and ANI values of 61.8 and 97 %, respectively. Strain Ag45/Mut15T was not able to sporulate in nodule tissues like strain AgTrST.Phenotypic, physiological and phylogenomic analyses confirmed the assignment of strain Ag45/Mut15T (=DSM 114737T=LMG 326O1T) to a novel species, with Ag45/Mut15T as type strain, for which the name Frankia umida sp. nov. is proposed.

Small-Scale Variability in Bacterial Community Structure in Different Soil Types.

Microbial spatial distribution has mostly been studied at field to global scales (i.e., ecosystem scales). However, the spatial organization at small scales (i.e., centimeter to millimeter scales), which can help improve our understanding of the impacts of spatial communities structure on microbial functioning, has received comparatively little attention. Previous work has shown that small-scale spatial structure exists in soil microbial communities, but these studies have not compared soils from geographically distant locations, nor have they utilized community ecology approaches, such as the core and satellite hypothesis and/or abundance-occupancy relationships, often used in macro-ecology, to improve the description of the spatial organization of communities. In the present work, we focused on bacterial diversity (i.e., 16S rRNA gene sequencing) occurring in micro-samples from a variety of locations with different pedo-climatic histories (i.e., from semi-arid, alpine, and temperate climates) and physicochemical properties. The forms of ecological spatial relationships in bacterial communities (i.e., occupancy-frequency and abundance-occupancy) and taxa distributions (i.e., habitat generalists and specialists) were investigated. The results showed that bacterial composition differed in the four soils at the small scale. Moreover, one soil presented a satellite mode distribution, whereas the three others presented bimodal distributions. Interestingly, numerous core taxa were present in the four soils among which 8 OTUs were common to the four sites. These results confirm that analyses of the small-scale spatial distribution are necessary to understand consequent functional processes taking place in soils, affecting thus ecosystem functioning.

Datamining and functional environmental genomics reassess the phylogenetics and functional diversity of fungal monosaccharide transporters.

Sugar transporters are essential components of carbon metabolism and have been extensively studied to control sugar uptake by yeasts and filamentous fungi used in fermentation processes. Based on published information on characterized fungal sugar porters, we show that this protein family encompasses phylogenetically distinct clades. While several clades encompass transporters that seemingly specialized on specific "sugar-related" molecules (e.g., myo-inositol, charged sugar analogs), others include mostly either mono- or di/oligosaccharide low-specificity transporters. To address the issue of substrate specificity of sugar transporters, that protein primary sequences do not fully reveal, we screened "multi-species" soil eukaryotic cDNA libraries for mannose transporters, a sugar that had never been used to select transporters. We obtained 19 environmental transporters, mostly from Basidiomycota and Ascomycota. Among them, one belonged to the unusual "Fucose H+ Symporter" family, which is only known in Fungi for a rhamnose transporter in Aspergillus niger. Functional analysis of the 19 transporters by expression in yeast and for two of them in Xenopus laevis oocytes for electrophysiological measurements indicated that most of them showed a preference for D-mannose over other tested D-C6 (glucose, fructose, galactose) or D-C5 (xylose) sugars. For the several glucose and fructose-negative transporters, growth of the corresponding recombinant yeast strains was prevented on mannose in the presence of one of these sugars that may act by competition for the binding site. Our results highlight the potential of environmental genomics to figure out the functional diversity of key fungal protein families and that can be explored in a context of biotechnology. KEY POINTS: • Most fungal sugar transporters accept several sugars as substrates. • Transporters, belonging to 2 protein families, were isolated from soil cDNA libraries. • Environmental transporters featured novel substrate specificities.

Proposal of 'Candidatus Frankia alpina', the uncultured symbiont of Alnus alnobetula and A. incana that forms spore-containing nitrogen-fixing root nodules.

The members of the genus Frankia are, with a few exceptions, a group of nitrogen-fixing symbiotic actinobacteria that nodulate mostly woody dicotyledonous plants belonging to three orders, eight families and 23 genera of pioneer dicots. These bacteria have been characterized phylogenetically and grouped into four molecular clusters. One of the clusters, cluster 1 contains strains that induce nodules on Alnus spp. (Betulaceae), Myrica spp., Morella spp. and Comptonia spp. (Myricaceae) that have global distributions. Some of these strains produce not only hyphae and vesicles, as other cluster 1 strains do, but also numerous sporangia in their host symbiotic tissues, hence their phenotype being described as spore-positive (Sp+). While Sp+ strains have resisted repeated attempts at cultivation, their genomes have recently been characterized and found to be different from those of all described species, being markedly smaller than their phylogenetic neighbours. We thus hereby propose to create a 'Candidatus Frankia alpina' species for some strains present in nodules of Alnus alnobetula and A. incana that grow in alpine environments at high altitudes or in subarctic environments at high latitudes.

Frankia canadensis sp. nov., isolated from root nodules of Alnus incana subspecies rugosa.

Strain ARgP5T, an actinobacterium isolated from a root nodule present on an Alnus incana subspecies rugosa shrub growing in Quebec City, Canada, was the subject of polyphasic taxonomic studies to clarify its status within the genus Frankia. 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities and ANI values between ARgP5T and type strains of species of the genus Frankiawith validly published names were 98.8 and 82 % or less, respectively. The in silico DNA G+C content was 72.4 mol%. ARgP5T is characterised by the presence of meso-A2pm, galactose, glucose, mannose, rhamnose (trace), ribose and xylose as whole-organism hydrolysates; MK-9(H8) as predominant menaquinone; diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylinositol and phosphatidylglycerol as polar lipids and iso-C16 : 0 and C17 : 1ω8c as major fatty acids. The proteomic results confirmed the distinct position of ARgP5T from its closest neighbours in Frankiacluster 1. ARgP5T was found to be infective on two alder (Alnus glutinosa and Alnusalnobetula subsp. crispa) and on one bayberry (Morella pensylvanica) species and to fix nitrogen in symbiosis and in pure culture. On the basis of phylogenetic (16S rRNA gene sequence), genomic, proteomic and phenotypic results, strain ARgP5T (=DSM 45898=CECT 9033) is considered to represent a novel species within the genus Frankia for which the name Frankia canadensis sp. nov., is proposed.

Efficiency and sensitivity of the digital droplet PCR for the quantification of antibiotic resistance genes in soils and organic residues.

Droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) allows absolute quantification and tolerance to inhibitors and has been proposed as the method of choice to overcome limitations of qPCR. The aim of this study was to evaluate ddPCR and qPCR performances to detect low copy number and copy number variation of antibiotic resistance genes (sul1 and qnrB genes encoding for resistance to sulfonamides and quinolones, respectively) using bacterial genomic DNA (gDNA) and metagenomic DNA extracted from soil and organic residue samples. With gDNA, qPCR showed a better range of quantification but the lower limit of quantification was at 15 copies of qnrB target vs. 1.6 in ddPCR. In the presence of background DNA or inhibitors, we observed a high loss of sensitivity in qPCR and an overestimation of target sequences. When using high amount of environmental DNA templates (70 ng per reaction), ddPCR was still allowing accurate quantification without adding PCR facilitator (i.e., T4 Gene 32 protein). Sensitivity to detect copy number variation was tenfold higher in ddPCR than in qPCR. Finally, the advantages of using ddPCR in environmental studies were confirmed with the quantification of sul1 and qnrB in soils, manures, or urban wastes.

Phylogeny of the class Actinobacteria revisited in the light of complete genomes. The orders 'Frankiales' and Micrococcales should be split into coherent entities: proposal of Frankiales ord. nov., Geodermatophilales ord. nov., Acidothermales ord. nov. and Nakamurellales ord. nov.

The phylogeny of the class Actinobacteria remains controversial, essentially because it is very sensitive to the choice of dataset and phylogenetic methods. We used a test proposed recently, based on complete genome data, which chooses among candidate species phylogenies based on the number of lateral gene transfers (LGT) needed to explain the diversity of histories among gene trees for a set of genomes. We used 100 completely sequenced genomes representing 35 families and 17 orders of the class Actinobacteria and evaluated eight different hypotheses for their phylogeny, including one based on a concatenate of 54 conserved proteins present in single copy in all these genomes, trees based on 16S and 23S rRNA gene sequences or their concatenation, and a tree based on the concatenation of MLSA genes (encoding AtpI, GyrA, FtsZ, SecA and DnaK). We used Prunier to infer the number of LGT in 579 proteins (different from those used to build the concatenated tree) present in at least 70 species, using the different hypothetical species trees as references. The best tree, with the lowest number of lateral transfers, was the one based on the concatenation of 54 proteins. In that tree, the orders Bifidobacteriales, Coriobacteriales, 'Corynebacteriales', 'Micromonosporales', 'Propionibacteriales', 'Pseudonocardiales', Streptomycetales and 'Streptosporangiales' were recovered while the orders 'Frankiales' and Micrococcales were not. It is thus proposed that the order 'Frankiales', which has an effectively but not validly published name, be split into Frankiales ord. nov. (type family Frankiaceae), Geodermatophilales ord. nov. (Geodermatophilaceae), Acidothermales ord. nov. (Acidothermaceae) and Nakamurellales ord. nov. (Nakamurellaceae). The order Micrococcales should also be split into Micrococcales (genera Kocuria, Rothia, Micrococcus, Arthrobacter, Tropheryma, Microbacterium, Leifsonia and Clavibacter), Cellulomonales (Beutenbergia, Cellulomonas, Xylanimonas, Jonesia and Sanguibacter) and Brachybacteriales (Brachybacterium) but the formal proposal for this will have to wait until more genomes become available for a significant proportion of strains in this order.

Draft Genomes of Frankia strains AiPa1 and AiPs1 Retrieved from Soil with Monocultures of Picea abies or Pinus sylvestris using Alnus incana as Capture Plant.

The genomes of two nitrogen-fixing Frankia strains, AiPa1 and AiPs1, are described as representatives of two novel candidate species. Both strains were isolated from root nodules of Alnus incana, used as capture plants in bioassays on soils from a reforested site at Karttula, Finland, that was devoid of actinorhizal plants but contained 25 year-old monocultures of spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karsten) or pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), respectively. ANI analyses indicate that each strain represents a novel Frankia species, with genome sizes of 6.98 and 7.35 Mb for AiPa1 and AiPs1, respectively. Both genomes harbored genes typical for many other symbiotic frankiae, including genes essential for nitrogen-fixation, for synthesis of hopanoid lipids and iron-sulfur clusters, as well as clusters of orthologous genes, secondary metabolite determinants and transcriptional regulators. Genomes of AiPa1 and AiPs1 had lost 475 and 112 genes, respectively, compared to those of other cultivated Alnus-infective strains with large genomes. Lost genes included one hup cluster in AiPa1 and the gvp cluster in AiPs1, suggesting that some genome erosion has started to occur in a different manner in the two strains.

Genomic Insights of Alnus-Infective Frankia Strains Reveal Unique Genetic Features and New Evidence on Their Host-Restricted Lifestyle.

The present study aimed to use comparative genomics to explore the relationships between Frankia and actinorhizal plants using a data set made of 33 Frankia genomes. The determinants of host specificity were first explored for "Alnus-infective strains" (i.e., Frankia strains belonging to Cluster Ia). Several genes were specifically found in these strains, including an agmatine deiminase which could possibly be involved in various functions as access to nitrogen sources, nodule organogenesis or plant defense. Within "Alnus-infective strains", Sp+ Frankia genomes were compared to Sp- genomes in order to elucidate the narrower host specificity of Sp+ strains (i.e., Sp+ strains being capable of in planta sporulation, unlike Sp- strains). A total of 88 protein families were lost in the Sp+ genomes. The lost genes were related to saprophytic life (transcriptional factors, transmembrane and secreted proteins), reinforcing the proposed status of Sp+ as obligatory symbiont. The Sp+ genomes were also characterized by a loss of genetic and functional paralogs, highlighting a reduction in functional redundancy (e.g., hup genes) or a possible loss of function related to a saprophytic lifestyle (e.g., genes involved in gas vesicle formation or recycling of nutrients).

Two novel species isolated from wheat rhizospheres in Serbia: Pseudomonas serbica sp. nov. and Pseudomonas serboccidentalis sp. nov.

Pseudomonas strains IT-194P, IT-215P, IT-P366T and IT-P374T were isolated from the rhizospheres of wheat grown in soils sampled from different fields (some of them known to be disease-suppressive) located near Mionica, Serbia. Phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA genes and of whole genome sequences showed that these strains belong to two potentially new species, one containing strains IT-P366T and IT-194P and clustering (whole genome analysis) next to P. umsongensis DSM16611T, and another species containing strains IT-P374T and IT-215P and clustering next to P. koreensis LMG21318T. Genome analysis confirmed the proposition of novel species, as ANI was below the threshold of 95% and dDDH below 70% for strains IT-P366T (compared with P. umsongensis DSM16611T) and IT-P374T (compared with P. koreensis LMG21318T). Unlike P. umsongensis DSM16611T, strains of P. serbica can grow on D-mannitol, but not on pectin, D-galacturonic acid, L-galactonic acid lactone and α-hydroxybutyric acid. In contrary to P. koreensis LMG21318T, strains of P. serboccidentalis can use sucrose, inosine and α-ketoglutaric acid (but not L-histidine) as carbon sources. Altogether, these results indicate the existence of two novel species for which we propose the names Pseudomonas serbica sp. nov., with the type strain IT-P366T (=CFBP 9060 T = LMG 32732 T = EML 1791 T) and Pseudomonas serboccidentalis sp. nov., with the type strain IT-P374T (=CFBP 9061 T = LMG 32734 T = EML 1792 T). Strains from this study presented a set of phytobeneficial functions modulating plant hormonal balance, plant nutrition and plant protection, suggesting a potential as Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR).

Draft Genomes of Symbiotic Frankia Strains AgB32 and AgKG'84/4 from Root Nodules of Alnus Glutinosa growing under Contrasted Environmental Conditions.

The genomes of two nitrogen-fixing Frankia strains, AgB32 and AgKG'84/4, were isolated from spore-containing (spore+) and spore-free (spore-) root nodules of Alnus glutinosa, but they did not sporulate upon reinfection. The two strains are described as representatives of two novel candidate species. Phylogenomic and ANI analyses indicate that each strain represents a novel species within cluster 1, with genome sizes of 6.3 and 6.7 Mb smaller than or similar to those of other cultivated Alnus-infective cluster 1 strains. Genes essential for nitrogen-fixation, clusters of orthologous genes, secondary metabolite clusters and transcriptional regulators analyzed by comparative genomic analyses were typical of those from Alnus-infective cluster 1 cultivated strains in both genomes. Compared to other cultivated Alnus-infective strains with large genomes, those of AgB32 and AgKG'84/4 had lost 380 or 409 genes, among which one hup cluster, one shc gene and the gvp cluster, which indicates genome erosion is taking place in these two strains.

Correction: Pujic et al. The Proteogenome of Symbiotic Frankia alni in Alnus glutinosa Nodules. Microorganisms 2022, 10, 651.

The authors wish to make the following corrections to this paper [...].

Draft Genomes of Nitrogen-fixing Frankia Strains Ag45/Mut15 and AgPM24 Isolated from Root Nodules of Alnus Glutinosa.

The genomes of two nitrogen-fixing Frankia strains, Ag45/Mut15 and AgPM24, isolated from root nodules of Alnus glutinosa are described as representatives of a novel candidate species. Phylogenomic and ANI analyses confirmed that both strains are related to cluster 1 frankiae, and that both strains belong to a novel species. At 6.4 - 6.7 Mb, their genomes were smaller than those of other cultivated Alnus-infective cluster 1 strains but larger than that of the non-cultivated Alnus-infective cluster 1 Sp+ strain AgTrS that was their closest neighbor as assessed by ANI. Comparative genomic analyses identified genes essential for nitrogen-fixation, gene composition as regards COGs, secondary metabolites clusters and transcriptional regulators typical of those from Alnus-infective cluster 1 cultivated strains in both genomes. There were 459 genes present in other cultivated Alnus-infective strains lost in the two genomes, spread over the whole of the genome, which indicates genome erosion is taking place in these two strains.

Draft Genome of Frankia sp. Strain R82, an Isolate from Root Nodules of Myrica gale.

The Frankia sp. strain R82 genome is described as representative of a novel candidate species within Frankia cluster 1, as indicated by average nucleotide identity (ANI) analyses, with its closest relatives being Frankia nodulisporulans AgTrs and strains Ag45/Mut15 and AgPM24 (86% identity).

The Proteogenome of Symbiotic Frankia alni in Alnus glutinosa Nodules.

Omics are the most promising approaches to investigate microbes for which no genetic tools exist such as the nitrogen-fixing symbiotic Frankia. A proteogenomic analysis of symbiotic Frankia alni was done by comparing those proteins more and less abundant in Alnus glutinosa nodules relative to N2-fixing pure cultures with propionate as the carbon source. There were 250 proteins that were significantly overabundant in nodules at a fold change (FC) ≥ 2 threshold, and 1429 with the same characteristics in in vitro nitrogen-fixing pure culture. Nitrogenase, SuF (Fe-Su biogenesis) and hopanoid lipids synthesis determinants were the most overabundant proteins in symbiosis. Nitrogenase was found to constitute 3% of all Frankia proteins in nodules. Sod (superoxide dismutase) was overabundant, indicating a continued oxidative stress, while Kats (catalase) were not. Several transporters were overabundant including one for dicarboxylates and one for branched amino acids. The present results confirm the centrality of nitrogenase in the actinorhizal symbiosis.

Pseudomonas ST1 and Pantoea Paga Strains Cohabit in Olive Knots.

Two bacteria belonging to the Pseudomonas and Pantoea genera were isolated from olive knots. Both bacterial strains were omnipresent in this study's olive orchard with high susceptibility of the autochthonous olive genotypes indicating coevolution of bacteria with host plants. Genomes of two endemic bacteria show conserved core genomes and genome plasticity. The Pseudomonas ST1 genome has conserved virulence-related genes including genes for quorum sensing, pilus, and flagella biosynthesis, two copies of indole acetic acid biosynthesis (IAA) operons, type I-VI secretions systems, and genes for alginate and levan biosynthesis. Development of knots depends only on the presence of the Pseudomonas ST1 strain which then allows Pantoea paga strain co-infection and cohabitation in developed knots. The two bacteria are sensitive to a large number of antimicrobials, antibiotics, H2O2, and Cu (II) salts that can be efficiently used in propagation of bacterial free olive cultivars.

Microbiome Analysis of New, Insidious Cave Wall Alterations in the Apse of Lascaux Cave.

Lascaux Cave is a UNESCO site that was closed to the public following wall surface alterations. Most black stains that had formed on wall surface are stable or receding, but a new type of alteration visually quite different (termed dark zones) developed in Lascaux's Apse room in the last 15 years. Here, we tested the hypothesis that dark zones displayed a different microbial community than black stains previously documented in the same room, using metabarcoding (MiSeq sequencing). Indeed, dark zones, black stains and neighboring unstained parts displayed distinct microbial communities. However, similarly to what was observed in black stains, pigmented fungi such as Ochroconis (now Scolecobasidium) were more abundant and the bacteria Pseudomonas less abundant in dark zones than in unstained parts. The collembola Folsomia candida, which can disseminate microorganisms involved in black stain development, was also present on dark zones. Illumina sequencing evidenced Ochroconis (Scolecobasidium) in all collembola samples from dark zones, as in collembola from black stains. This study shows that the microbial properties of dark zones are peculiar, yet dark zones display a number of microbial resemblances with black stains, which suggests a possible role of collembola in promoting these two types of microbial alterations on wall surfaces.

Implications of carbon catabolite repression for plant-microbe interactions.

Carbon catabolite repression (CCR) plays a key role in many physiological and adaptive responses in a broad range of microorganisms that are commonly associated with eukaryotic hosts. When a mixture of different carbon sources is available, CCR, a global regulatory mechanism, inhibits the expression and activity of cellular processes associated with utilization of secondary carbon sources in the presence of the preferred carbon source. CCR is known to be executed by completely different mechanisms in different bacteria, yeast, and fungi. In addition to regulating catabolic genes, CCR also appears to play a key role in the expression of genes involved in plant-microbe interactions. Here, we present a detailed overview of CCR mechanisms in various bacteria. We highlight the role of CCR in beneficial as well as deleterious plant-microbe interactions based on the available literature. In addition, we explore the global distribution of known regulatory mechanisms within bacterial genomes retrieved from public repositories and within metatranscriptomes obtained from different plant rhizospheres. By integrating the available literature and performing targeted meta-analyses, we argue that CCR-regulated substrate use preferences of microorganisms should be considered an important trait involved in prevailing plant-microbe interactions.