Microbiology Commons^™

Effect Of Lactylate And Bacillus Subtilis On Growth Performance, Peripheral Blood Cell Profile, And Gut Microbiota Of Nursery Pigs, Xiaofan Wang, Tsungcheng Tsai, Xiaoyuan Wei, Bin Zuo, Ellen Davis, Tom Rehberger, Samantha Hernandez, Evelien J.M. Jochems, Charles Maxwell, Jiangchao Zhao

Animal Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

To evaluate the effects of lactylate and Bacillus subtilis on growth performance, complete blood cell count, and microbial changes, 264 weaning pigs were assigned to four treatments (1) control (Con) basal diets that met the nutrient requirement for each phase, (2) 0.2% lactylate (LA), (3) 0.05% Bacillus subtilis strains mixtures (BM), or (4) the combination of LA and BM (LA+BM) added to the control basal diet at their respective inclusion rates in each of the three phases. Dietary lactylate tended to increase weight gain, significantly increased feed intake, and reduced fecal total E. coli and enterotoxigenic E. coli counts during …

Mitochondrial Transfer From Mesenchymal Stem Cells Improves Neuronal Metabolism After Oxidant Injury In Vitro: The Role Of Miro1, Nancy Tseng, Scott C Lambie, Christopher Q Huynh, Bridget Sanford, Manisha Patel, Paco S Herson, D Ryan Ormond

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Stroke-induced cerebral ischemia is a major cause of death and disability. The disruption of blood flow results in neuronal and glial cell death leading to brain injury. Reperfusion restores oxygen to the affected tissue, but can also cause damage through an enhanced oxidative stress and inflammatory response. This study examines mitochondrial transfer from MSC to neurons and the role it plays in neuronal preservation after oxidant injury. We observed the transfer of mitochondria from MSC to mouse neurons in vitro following hydrogen peroxide exposure. The observed transfer was dependent on cell-to-cell contact and led to increased neuronal survival and improved …

Anaplasma Phagocytophilum Modulates Mammalian And Arthropod Signaling For Its Survival And Transmission, Supreet Khanal

Biomedical Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Vector-borne diseases (VBDs) are illnesses transmitted to humans and other animals by arthropods such as ticks, mosquitoes, and fleas. These arthropod vectors transmit infectious pathogens such as viruses, bacteria, and protozoa, to humans during blood-feeding. We have very few control strategies to treat or control these diseases. Human anaplasmosis, caused by the bacterium Anaplasma phagocytophilum, is the second most common tick-borne disease in the United States. This work defines three studies elucidating Anaplasma phagocytophilum-mediated modulation of cell signaling in mammalian cells and arthropod vector Ixodes scapularis ticks.

The first study focused on mammalian PI3 kinases signaling in regulating …

Evaluating The Role Of The Stringent Response Mechanism In Clostridioides Difficile Survival And Pathogenesis, Astha Pokhrel

Chemistry & Biochemistry Theses & Dissertations

The human pathogen Clostridioides difficile is increasingly tolerant of multiple antibiotics and causes infections with a high rate of recurrence, creating an urgent need for new preventive and therapeutic strategies. The stringent response, a universal bacterial response to extracellular stresses, governs antibiotic survival and pathogenesis in diverse organisms but has not previously been characterized in C. difficile. This dissertation explores the ability of C. difficile to mount the stringent response. The bacteria encode a full-length, canonical bifunctional Rel/Spo Homolog or RSH enzyme. C. difficile RSH is incapable of utilizing GTP as a substrate but readily synthesizes putative 5’-pGpp-3’ alarmones. …

Taxonomic Microbiome Profiling And Abundance Patterns In The Cacao (Theobroma Cacao L.) Rhizosphere Treated With Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi And Bamboo Biochar, Angelbert D. Cortes, Nelly S. Aggangan, Rina B. Opulencia

The Philippine Agricultural Scientist

Biochar and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are agricultural interventions adopted by farmers to improve the growth of crops in nutrient-deficient acidic soil, which relatively influence the biological properties in the rhizosphere. This greenhouse study investigated the changes in prokaryotic diversity in the rhizosphere of cacao plants grown in acidic soil with AMF and bamboo biochar (BB) for 15 months under nursery conditions. Metagenomic analysis of the V3-V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene of the rhizosphere with AMF, 15% BB, and AMF + 15% BB revealed that the addition of AMF and BB reduced the sample's diversity, but the treatments …

Bacterial Cyclic Diguanylate Signaling Networks Sense Temperature, Henrik Almblad, Trevor E. Randall, Fanny Liu, Katherine Leblanc, Ryan A. Groves, Weerayuth Kittichotirat, Geoffrey L. Winsor, Nicolas Fournier, Emily Au, Julie Groizeleau, Jacquelyn D. Rich, Yuefei Lou, Elise Granton, Laura K. Jennings, Larissa A. Singletary, Tara M.L. Winstone, Nathan M. Good, Roger E. Bumgarner, Michael F. Hynes, Manu Singh, Maria Silvina Stietz, Fiona S.L. Brinkman, Ayush Kumar, Ann Karen Cornelia Brassinga, Matthew R. Parsek, Boo Shan Tseng, Ian A. Lewis, Bryan G. Yipp, Justin L. Maccallum, Joe Jonathan Harrison

Life Sciences Faculty Research

Many bacteria use the second messenger cyclic diguanylate (c-di-GMP) to control motility, biofilm production and virulence. Here, we identify a thermosensory diguanylate cyclase (TdcA) that modulates temperature-dependent motility, biofilm development and virulence in the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. TdcA synthesizes c-di-GMP with catalytic rates that increase more than a hundred-fold over a ten-degree Celsius change. Analyses using protein chimeras indicate that heat-sensing is mediated by a thermosensitive Per-Arnt-SIM (PAS) domain. TdcA homologs are widespread in sequence databases, and a distantly related, heterologously expressed homolog from the Betaproteobacteria order Gallionellales also displayed thermosensitive diguanylate cyclase activity. We propose, therefore, that thermotransduction …

Yeasts Isolated From Traditional Brem Bali Show Stress Tolerance Phenotype Against Fermentation-Related Stresses, Audria Bayu Lenka, Rika Indri Astuti, Sri Listiyowati

Makara Journal of Science

The search for microbes, primarily yeasts with unique characters such as the tolerance against fermentation-related-stresses, is gaining significant interest nowadays. Traditionally made alcoholic beverages can be used as sources for such yeasts, given that during fermentation and storage, microbes may develop stress tolerance responses leading to naturally stress-tolerant yeast strains. In this study, we used an alcoholic beverage, that is, Brem Bali, as the source of potential yeast isolates. We isolated nine yeast isolates from two traditional Brem Bali products. All isolates showed tolerance against high glucose stress (40–50%) and sensitivity against high-temperature stress (37–50 °C). Notably, isolate BT5 showed …

Cloning Of Pe11 (Lipx, Rv1169c) Gene Of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Beijing Strain To Pcdna3.1 Plasmid Vector, Lulut Azmi Supardi, Andriansjah Rukmana, Fithriyah Sjatha

Makara Journal of Science

Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. It is a persistent global health problem with a high mortality rate. Currently, TB is controlled by administering the Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine, but the effectiveness of its protection varies among individuals in a population. The pe/ppe gene family comprises a typical group of genes that play a role in avoiding the host immune response and inducing persistent TB infection. Based on in silico analysis, the pe11 gene has estimated immunogenicity and potential as a TB seed vaccine candidate. The pe11 gene from an Indonesian isolate of an M. …

Distribution, Diversity, And Biogeography Of Anaerobic Carbon Monoxide Uptake By Microbial Communities In Soils And Sediments, Amber N. Depoy

LSU Master's Theses

Carbon monoxide (CO) is primarily known for being a toxic gas. However, CO is used by microorganisms as an electron or carbon source in a variety of respiratory processes. Different kinds of microorganisms utilize CO aerobically and anaerobically, using two distinct CO dehydrogenases (CODHs). Aerobes oxidize CO using a molybdenum-dependent dehydrogenase (Mo-CODH), while anaerobes utilize a nickel-dependent CO dehydrogenase (Ni-CODH). Studies of the biochemistry and microbiology of aerobic and anaerobic CO oxidation are extensive, but relatively little is known about the ecology of anaerobic CO oxidation. In an effort to test new hypotheses about the ecology of anaerobic CO oxidation, …

The Effect Of Fallow Season Cover Crops On Nutrient Cycling And Soil Health In Row Crop Production In The Mid-South, Kritsanee Iamjud

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The reliance on conventional cropping has profoundly impacted agricultural sustainability and resulted in soil degradation. Winter cover crops can preserve the soil surface, recycle soil nutrients, and improve soil health. Hence, the role of cover crops in Louisiana row-crop production was examined in small-scale plots and large-scale on-farm studies at three sites in Northeast Louisiana from 2017 to 2020. Additionally, mixed cover crops degradation and nutrient release were evaluated at Macon Ridge and Dean Lee sites to determine the optimum time of nutrient availability after cover crop termination. The small-scale results showed that integrating cover crops for corn (Zea …

Insights Into Viral Genome Function Through Comparative Structural Analysis, Lydia Phillips

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Enteroviruses are single stranded RNA viruses which have caused many public health concerns, particularly in children. These viruses are responsible for polio, hand, foot, and mouth disease, many polio-like neurological diseases, and the common cold. The enterovirus called Coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3), a close relative to poliovirus, has been shown responsible for severe human disease, including pancreatitis, myocarditis, and type 1 diabetes. A unique advantage of studying CVB3 is the existence of a naturally occurring strain (CVB3/GA) which displays no known pathogenicity. Earlier comparative genomic studies have shown that the primary difference between avirulent CVB3/GA and the virulent strains of CVB3 …

A Comparison Of Intertidal Metazoan Biodiversity Between Previously Oiled Sheared And Intact Marsh Margins And Between Multiple Salinity Zones In The Coastal Marshes Of Louisiana, Patrick M. Rayle

LSU Master's Theses

Marshes in Louisiana are under threat from numerous natural and anthropogenic sources. A consequence of these threats are sheared marsh margins, which result from the impact of storm surge on previously oiled, weakened marsh. These conditions occurred in Louisiana marshes after Hurricane Isaac in 2012 followed the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, particularly in the shorelines surrounding Bay Jimmy. The second and third chapters of this thesis focus on the differences in biodiversity between the sheared and intact marsh margins in impacted sites in Bay Jimmy. Metabarcoding methods were used to determine community composition of the sediment within marsh …

Synergistic Effects Of Nisin, Lysozyme, Lactic Acid, And Citricidaltm For Enhancing Pressure-Based Inactivation Of Bacillus Amyloliquefaciens, Geobacillus Stearothermophilus, And Bacillus Atrophaeus Endospores, Sadiye Aras, Niamul Kabir, Sabrina Wadood, Jyothi George, Shahid Chowdhury, Aliyar Cyrus Fouladkhah

Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Faculty Research

The inactivation of bacterial endospores continues to be the main curtailment for further adoption of high-pressure processing in intrastate, interstate, and global food commerce. The current study investigated the effects of elevated hydrostatic pressure for the inactivation of endospore suspension of three indicator spore-forming bacteria of concern to the food industry. Additionally, the effects of four bacteriocin/bactericidal compounds were studied for augmenting the decontamination efficacy of the treatment. Elevated hydrostatic pressure at 650 MPa and at 50 °C was applied for 0 min (untreated control) and for 3, 7, and 11 min with and without 50K IU of nisin, 224 …

Microbiological Study In A Gneissic Cave From Sri Lanka, With Special Focus On Potential Antimicrobial Activities, Ethige Isuru P. Silva, Pathmakumara Jayasingha, Saman Senanayake, Anura Dandeniya, Dona Helani Munasinghe

International Journal of Speleology

The emergence of antibiotic resistance is a global health crisis, thus the search for novel antimicrobial compounds has become a continuous necessity. Underexplored and extreme environments, such as cave ecosystems, have been identified as a promising potential source for the discovery of novel microorganisms with novel antimicrobial compounds (AMC). This study presents the first cave microbiological investigation in Sri Lanka, with a special preference for bioprospecting of novel AMC. The cave sediment characterization demonstrated the presence of close to strong acidic conditions (pH 3.1 – 3.3) and thus indicates the possibility of isolating acidophilic microorganisms. Eight cave wall/ceiling fungal strains …

Characterization Of Crispr Spacer And Protospacer Sequences In Paenibacillus Larvae And Its Bacteriophages, Casey Stamereilers, Simon Wong, Philippos K. Tsourkas

Life Sciences Faculty Research

The bacterium Paenibacillus larvae is the causative agent of American foulbrood, the most devastating bacterial disease of honeybees. Because P. larvae is antibiotic resistant, phages that infect it are currently used as alternative treatments. However, the acquisition by P. larvae of CRISPR spacer sequences from the phages could be an obstacle to treatment efforts. We searched nine complete genomes of P. larvae strains and identified 714 CRISPR spacer sequences, of which 384 are unique. Of the four epidemiologically important P. larvae strains, three of these have fewer than 20 spacers, while one strain has over 150 spacers. Of the 384 …

Novel Co2 Transporters From Autotrophic Bacteria From Extreme Environments, Sarah E. Schmid

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Autotrophic organisms are responsible for introducing carbon into food webs. These organisms take up dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and use it as their major carbon source, converting it to biomass using a variety of carbon fixing pathways (e.g., the Calvin-Benson-Bassham cycle). In nature, DIC concentrations can be low or temporally heterogeneous, so autotrophic organisms adapt with CO2 concentrating mechanisms (CCMs) to facilitate the acquisition and fixation of this dissolved gas. CCMs consist of membrane-spanning DIC transporters, which elevate intracellular DIC concentrations, which in turn are harvested by carboxysomes, proteinaceous microcompartments that contain the carboxylase Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase-oxygenase (RubisCO) and carbonic anhydrase. …

Primer Payload System For Higher-Order Multiplex Lamp: Design And Development Of Unit Processes, Tochukwu Dubem Anyaduba

KGI Theses and Dissertations

Design and Development of Platforms for the Application of Loop-mediated Isothermal Nucleic Acid Amplification, LAMP, in the Diagnosis of Polymicrobial Diseases

Tochukwu Dubem Anyaduba, Travis Schlappi (PI)

For the past two decades, several isothermal nucleic acid amplification technologies have emerged. These are mostly in response to the need for robust molecular diagnostic tools amenable to point-of-care and limited-resource settings. Of these, loop-mediated isothermal amplification, LAMP, stands out as a highly specific and rapid alternative to the polymerase chain reaction, PCR. One of LAMP's significant characteristics involves using four essential and two loop (rate increasing) primers to recognize six to eight …

Presence Of Antibody-Dependent Cellular Cytotoxicity (Adcc) Against Sars-Cov-2 In Covid-19 Plasma, For Yue Tso, Salum J. Lidenge, Lisa K. Poppe, Phoebe B. Pena, Sara R. Privatt, Sydney J. Bennett, John R. Ngowi, Julius Mwaiselage, Michael Belshan, Jacob A. Siedlik, Morgan A. Raine, Juan B. Ochoa, Julia Garcia-Diaz, Bobby Nossaman, Lyndsey Buckner, W Mark Roberts, Matthew J. Dean, Augusto C. Ochoa, John T. West, Charles Wood

Nebraska Center for Virology: Faculty Publications

Background Neutralizing-antibody (nAb) is the major focus of most ongoing COVID-19 vaccine trials. However, nAb response against SARS-CoV-2, when present, decays rapidly. Given the myriad roles of antibodies in immune responses, it is possible that antibodies could also mediate protection against SARS-CoV-2 via effector mechanisms such as antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC), which we sought to explore here. Methods Plasma of 3 uninfected controls and 20 subjects exposed to, or recovering from, SARS CoV-2 infection were collected from U.S. and sub-Saharan Africa. Immunofluorescence assay was used to detect the presence of SARS-CoV-2 specific IgG antibodies in the plasma samples. SARS-CoV-2 specific …

The International Scientific Association For Probiotics And Prebiotics (Isapp) Consensus Statement On Fermented Foods, Maria L. Marco, Mary Ellen Sanders, Michael Gänzle, Marie Claire Arrieta, Paul D. Cotter, Luc De Vuyst, Colin Hill, Wilhelm Holzapfel, Sarah Lebeer, Dan Merenstein, Gregor Reid, Benjamin E. Wolfe, Robert Hutkins

Microbiology & Immunology Publications

An expert panel was convened in September 2019 by The International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP) to develop a definition for fermented foods and to describe their role in the human diet. Although these foods have been consumed for thousands of years, they are receiving increased attention among biologists, nutritionists, technologists, clinicians and consumers. Despite this interest, inconsistencies related to the use of the term ‘fermented’ led the panel to define fermented foods and beverages as “foods made through desired microbial growth and enzymatic conversions of food components”. This definition, encompassing the many varieties of fermented foods, is …

Life Line March 2021, Otterbein Biology And Earth Science Department

Life Line - The Biology Department Newsletter

In this issue:

A Note from the Chair; The Department Welcomes Dr. Rich; Senior Research Symposium Goes Virtual; Three Department Faculty Members Win Teaching Awards; Svitana Helps NGWA Go Online; Carter '15 Earns Ph.D. in Nuclear Forensics; Revamping a Campus to Return to our Cardinal Community; Professor Uses Novel Teaching Practices During Pandemic; Otterbein Introduces Signature STEM Series to Increase Connection; Young Receives Career Award; Malacogy in a Time of COVID; COVID Conversations; Canine Rabies Vaccination in Ethiopia; The Cardinal Science Scholar Program; Bird Anatomy.