Bacillus megaterium HgT21: a Promising Metal Multiresistant Plant Growth-Promoting Bacteria for Soil Biorestoration.

The environmental deterioration produced by heavy metals derived from anthropogenic activities has gradually increased. The worldwide dissemination of toxic metals in crop soils represents a threat for sustainability and biosafety in agriculture and requires strategies for the recovery of metal-polluted crop soils. The biorestoration of metal-polluted soils using technologies that combine plants and microorganisms has gained attention in recent decades due to the beneficial and synergistic effects produced by its biotic interactions. In this context, native and heavy metal-resistant plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB) play a crucial role in the development of strategies for sustainable biorestoration of metal-contaminated soils. In this study, we present a genomic analysis and characterization of the rhizospheric bacterium Bacillus megaterium HgT21 isolated from metal-polluted soil from Zacatecas, Mexico. The results reveal that this autochthonous bacterium contains an important set of genes related to a variety of operons associated with mercury, arsenic, copper, cobalt, cadmium, zinc and aluminum resistance. Additionally, halotolerance-, beta-lactam resistance-, phosphate solubilization-, and plant growth-promotion-related genes were identified. The analysis of resistance to metal ions revealed resistance to mercury (HgII+), arsenate [AsO4]³-, cobalt (Co2+), zinc (Zn2+), and copper (Cu2+). Moreover, the ability of the HgT21 strain to produce indole acetic acid (a phytohormone) and promote the growth of Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings in vitro was also demonstrated. The genotype and phenotype of Bacillus megaterium HgT21 reveal its potential to be used as a model of both plant growth-promoting and metal multiresistant bacteria. IMPORTANCE Metal-polluted environments are natural sources of a wide variety of PGPB adapted to cope with toxic metal concentrations. In this work, the bacterial strain Bacillus megaterium HgT21 was isolated from metal-contaminated soil and is proposed as a model for the study of metal multiresistance in spore-forming Gram-positive bacteria due to the presence of a variety of metal resistance-associated genes similar to those encountered in the metal multiresistant Gram-negative Cupriavidus metallidurans CH34. The ability of B. megaterium HgT21 to promote the growth of plants also makes it suitable for the study of plant-bacteria interactions in metal-polluted environments, which is key for the development of techniques for the biorestoration of metal-contaminated soils used for agriculture.

Transcriptome Analysis Unveils Gln3 Role in Amino Acids Assimilation and Fluconazole Resistance in Candida glabrata.

After Candida albicans, Candida glabrata is one of the most common fungal species associated with candidemia in nosocomial infections. Rapid acquisition of nutrients from the host is important for the survival of pathogens which possess the metabolic flexibility to assimilate different carbon and nitrogen compounds. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, nitrogen assimilation is controlled through a mechanism known as Nitrogen Catabolite Repression (NCR). NCR is coordinated by the action of four GATA factors; two positive regulators, Gat1 and Gln3, and two negative regulators, Gzf3 and Dal80. A mechanism in C. glabrata similar to NCR in S. cerevisiae has not been broadly studied. We previously showed that in C. glabrata, Gln3, and not Gat1, has a major role in nitrogen assimilation as opposed to what has been observed in S. cerevisiae in which both factors regulate NCR-sensitive genes. Here, we expand the knowledge about the role of Gln3 from C. glabrata through the transcriptional analysis of BG14 and gln3Δ strains. Approximately, 53.5% of the detected genes were differentially expressed (DEG). From these DEG, amino acid metabolism and ABC transporters were two of the most enriched KEGG categories in our analysis (Up-DEG and Down-DEG, respectively). Furthermore, a positive role of Gln3 in AAA assimilation was described, as was its role in the transcriptional regulation of ARO8. Finally, an unexpected negative role of Gln3 in the gene regulation of ABC transporters CDR1 and CDR2 and its associated transcriptional regulator PDR1 was found. This observation was confirmed by a decreased susceptibility of the gln3Δ strain to fluconazole.

Biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles by Fusarium scirpi and its potential as antimicrobial agent against uropathogenic Escherichia coli biofilms.

The ability of Uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) to form biofilms, can be considered an important factor that contributes to the prevalence of Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) due to the inaccessibility of the antibiotics into the highly complex structure of the biofilm. Moreover, with the appearance of antibiotic multiresistant UPEC strains, the alternatives of treatment of UTIs are less. Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) can be useful in the treatment of the UPEC infections due to its physicochemical properties that confer them antibacterial activity against both planktonic and biofilm structured cells. A diversity of biological methods for synthesis of AgNPs with antimicrobial activity has been widely investigated during the last decades, between these methods; the fungal-biosynthesis of AgNPs highlights as an ecofriendly, scalable and low cost method. In this study, biogenic AgNPs were synthesized with extracellular metabolites secreted by the soil fungal strain Fusarium scirpi (Ag0.5-5) by an ecofriendly, simple and efficient method. The antimicrobial activity of the biosynthesized AgNPs against UPEC was evaluated. The Minimal Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) of biogenic AgNPs over planktonic UPEC cells was 25 mg/mL, whereas a sub-MIC concentration (7.5 mg/L) was sufficient to inhibit the UPEC-biofilm formation about a 97%, or produce the disruption of an 80% of mature UPEC-biofilms demonstrating the potential of fungal-derived AgNPs to prevent UPEC infections.

Biosorption of lead phosphates by lead-tolerant bacteria as a mechanism for lead immobilization.

The study of metal-tolerant bacteria is important for bioremediation of contaminated environments and development of green technologies for material synthesis due to their potential to transform toxic metal ions into less toxic compounds by mechanisms such as reduction, oxidation and/or sequestration. In this study, we report the isolation of seven lead-tolerant bacteria from a metal-contaminated site at Zacatecas, México. The bacteria were identified as members of the Staphylococcus and Bacillus genera by microscopic, biochemical and 16S rDNA analyses. Minimal inhibitory concentration of these isolates was established between 4.5 and 7.0 mM of Pb(NO3)2 in solid and 1.0-4.0 mM of Pb(NO3)2 in liquid media. A quantitative analysis of the lead associated to bacterial biomass in growing cultures, revealed that the percentage of lead associated to biomass was between 1 and 37% in the PbT isolates. A mechanism of complexation/biosorption of lead ions as inorganic phosphates (lead hydroxyapatite and pyromorphite) in bacterial biomass, was determined by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction analyses. Thus, the ability of the lead-tolerant isolates to transform lead ions into stable and highly insoluble lead minerals make them potentially useful for immobilization of lead in mining waste.

The Trichoderma reesei Cry1 protein is a member of the cryptochrome/photolyase family with 6-4 photoproduct repair activity.

DNA-photolyases use UV-visible light to repair DNA damage caused by UV radiation. The two major types of DNA damage are cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers (CPD) and 6-4 photoproducts (6-4PP), which are repaired under illumination by CPD and 6-4 photolyases, respectively. Cryptochromes are proteins related to DNA photolyases with strongly reduced or lost DNA repair activity, and have been shown to function as blue-light photoreceptors and to play important roles in circadian rhythms in plants and animals. Both photolyases and cryptochromes belong to the cryptochrome/photolyase family, and are widely distributed in all organisms. Here we describe the characterization of cry1, a member of the cryptochrome/photolyase protein family of the filamentous fungus Trichoderma reesei. We determined that cry1 transcript accumulates when the fungus is exposed to light, and that such accumulation depends on the photoreceptor Blr1 and is modulated by Envoy. Conidia of cry1 mutants show decreased photorepair capacity of DNA damage caused by UV light. In contrast, strains over-expressing Cry1 show increased repair, as compared to the parental strain even in the dark. These observations suggest that Cry1 may be stimulating other systems involved in DNA repair, such as the nucleotide excision repair system. We show that Cry1, heterologously expressed and purified from E. coli, is capable of binding to undamaged and 6-4PP damaged DNA. Photorepair assays in vitro clearly show that Cry1 repairs 6-4PP, but not CPD and Dewar DNA lesions.