Developing stable, simplified, functional consortia from Brachypodium rhizosphere for microbial application in sustainable agriculture.

The rhizosphere microbiome plays a crucial role in supporting plant productivity and ecosystem functioning by regulating nutrient cycling, soil integrity, and carbon storage. However, deciphering the intricate interplay between microbial relationships within the rhizosphere is challenging due to the overwhelming taxonomic and functional diversity. Here we present our systematic design framework built on microbial colocalization and microbial interaction, toward successful assembly of multiple rhizosphere-derived Reduced Complexity Consortia (RCC). We enriched co-localized microbes from Brachypodium roots grown in field soil with carbon substrates mimicking Brachypodium root exudates, generating 768 enrichments. By transferring the enrichments every 3 or 7 days for 10 generations, we developed both fast and slow-growing reduced complexity microbial communities. Most carbon substrates led to highly stable RCC just after a few transfers. 16S rRNA gene amplicon analysis revealed distinct community compositions based on inoculum and carbon source, with complex carbon enriching slow growing yet functionally important soil taxa like Acidobacteria and Verrucomicrobia. Network analysis showed that microbial consortia, whether differentiated by growth rate (fast vs. slow) or by succession (across generations), had significantly different network centralities. Besides, the keystone taxa identified within these networks belong to genera with plant growth-promoting traits, underscoring their critical function in shaping rhizospheric microbiome networks. Furthermore, tested consortia demonstrated high stability and reproducibility, assuring successful revival from glycerol stocks for long-term viability and use. Our study represents a significant step toward developing a framework for assembling rhizosphere consortia based on microbial colocalization and interaction, with future implications for sustainable agriculture and environmental management.

Ant may well destroy a whole dam: glycans of colonic mucus barrier disintegrated by gut bacteria.

The colonic mucus layer plays a critical role in maintaining the integrity of the colonic mucosal barrier, serving as the primary defense against colonic microorganisms. Predominantly composed of mucin 2 (MUC2), a glycosylation-rich protein, the mucus layer forms a gel-like coating that covers the colonic epithelium surface. This layer provides a habitat for intestinal microorganisms, which can utilize mucin glycans present in the mucus layer as a sustainable source of nutrients. Additionally, metabolites produced by the microbiota during the metabolism of mucus glycans have a profound impact on host health. Under normal conditions, the production and consumption of mucus maintain a dynamic balance. However, several studies have demonstrated that certain factors, such as dietary fiber deficiency, can enhance the metabolism of mucus glycans by gut bacteria, thereby disturbing this balance and weakening the mucus barrier function of the mucus layer. To better understand the occurrence and development of colon-related diseases, it is crucial to investigate the complex metabolic patterns of mucus glycosylation by intestinal microorganisms. Our objective was to comprehensively review these patterns in order to clarify the effects of mucus layer glycan metabolism by intestinal microorganisms on the host.

Tropical lacustrine sediment microbial community response to an extreme El Niño event.

Salinity can influence microbial communities and related functional groups in lacustrine sediments, but few studies have examined temporal variability in salinity and associated changes in lacustrine microbial communities and functional groups. To better understand how microbial communities and functional groups respond to salinity, we examined geochemistry and functional gene amplicon sequence data collected from 13 lakes located in Kiritimati, Republic of Kiribati (2° N, 157° W) in July 2014 and June 2019, dates which bracket the very large El Niño event of 2015-2016 and a period of extremely high precipitation rates. Lake water salinity values in 2019 were significantly reduced and covaried with ecological distances between microbial samples. Specifically, phylum- and family-level results indicate that more halophilic microorganisms occurred in 2014 samples, whereas more mesohaline, marine, or halotolerant microorganisms were detected in 2019 samples. Functional Annotation of Prokaryotic Taxa (FAPROTAX) and functional gene results (nifH, nrfA, aprA) suggest that salinity influences the relative abundance of key functional groups (chemoheterotrophs, phototrophs, nitrogen fixers, denitrifiers, sulfate reducers), as well as the microbial diversity within functional groups. Accordingly, we conclude that microbial community and functional gene groups in the lacustrine sediments of Kiritimati show dynamic changes and adaptations to the fluctuations in salinity driven by the El Niño-Southern Oscillation.

Nano-Polycrystalline Cu Layer Interlaced with Ti3+-Self-Doped TiO2 Nanotube Arrays as an Electrocatalyst for Reduction of Nitrate to Ammonia.

The electrochemical nitrate reduction reaction (NO3RR) is considered as a promising strategy to degrade nitrate-containing wastewater and synthesize recyclable ammonia at atmospheric pressure and room temperature. In this work, the copper oxides-derived nano-polycrystalline Cu (NPC Cu) was integrated with Ti3+-self-doped TiO2 nanotube arrays (NTA) to fabricate the NPC Cu/H-TiO2 NTA. Ti3+-self-doped TiO2 NTAs and the NPC Cu facilitate electron transfer and mass transportation and create abundant active sites. The unique nanostructure in which Cu nano-polycrystals interlace with the TiO2 nanotube accelerates the electron transfer from the substrate to surface NPC Cu. The density functional theory calculations confirm that the built-in electric field between Cu and TiO2 improves the adsorption characteristic of the NPC Cu/H-TiO2 NTA, thereby converting the endothermic NO3- adsorption step into an exothermic process. Therefore, the high NO3- conversion of 98.97%, the Faradic efficiency of 95.59%, and the ammonia production yield of 0.81 mg cm-2 h-1 are achieved at -0.45 V vs reversible hydrogen electrode in 10 mM NaNO3 (140 mg L-1)-0.1 M Na2SO4. This well-designed NPC Cu/H-TiO2 NTA as an effective electrocatalyst for the 8e- NO3RR possesses promising potential in the applications of ammonia production.

Case of concurrence of bullous pemphigoid and Norwegian scabies.

Bullous pemphigoid (BP) with scabies is a condition rarely encountered in clinical practice, and when it is encountered, it is often due to the use of immunosuppressants. This paper is a report on a patient with BP and scabies, who developed scabs after taking dexamethasone. It should be noted that BP antibody is necessary, which can distinguish BP with scabies and bullous scabies, and the treatment options for the two diseases are different.

Nail changes in pemphigus and bullous pemphigoid: A single-center study in China.

Common autoimmune bullous diseases (AIBDs) include pemphigus and bullous pemphigoid (BP), which are primarily caused by IgG autoantibodies against the structural proteins of desmosomes at the cell-cell junction and hemidesmosomes at the epidermal-dermal junction. Few studies have assessed nail changes in patients with pemphigus or BP. In the present study, we collected the clinical data of 191 patients with AIBDs (108 patients with pemphigus and 83 patients with BP) and 200 control subjects. Nail changes were observed in 77.0% (147/191), 77.8% (84/108), and 75.9% (63/83) of patients with AIBDs, pemphigus, and BP, respectively, and 14.5% (29/200) of control subjects. Beau's lines and paronychia were the most common nail involvement, observed in 22.5% (43/191) and 22.5% (43/191) of patients with AIBDs, 25.0% (27/108) and 25.9% (28/108) of patients with pemphigus, 19.3% (16/83) and 18.1% (15/83) of patients with BP, respectively. The autoimmune bullous skin disorder intensity score (ABSIS) and the onset time of patients with pemphigus or BP with nail changes were different. Onychomycosis accounted for 21.5% (41/191) of all patients with AIBDs. The ABSIS was correlated with nail involvement in patients with BP (r = 0.46, p < 0.001), and weakly correlated with nail involvement in patients with AIBDs (r = 0.37, p < 0.001), pemphigus (r = 0.29, p = 0.009), and pemphigus vulgaris (PV; r = 0.35, p = 0.008). No correlation was observed between nail involvement and disease antibody titers. In conclusion, nail changes are frequently observed in patients with pemphigus and BP. The type and onset time of nail changes may indicate the severity of pemphigus and BP, which warrants the attention of dermatologists.

Stable carbon isotope values of syndepositional carbonate spherules and micrite record spatial and temporal changes in photosynthesis intensity.

Marine and lacustrine carbonate minerals preserve carbon cycle information, and their stable carbon isotope values (δ13 C) are frequently used to infer and reconstruct paleoenvironmental changes. However, multiple processes can influence the δ13 C values of bulk carbonates, confounding the interpretation of these values in terms of conditions at the time of mineral precipitation. Co-existing carbonate forms may represent different environmental conditions, yet few studies have analyzed δ13 C values of syndepositional carbonate grains of varying morphologies to investigate their origins. Here, we combine stable isotope analyses, metagenomics, and geochemical modeling to interpret δ13 C values of syndepositional carbonate spherules (>500 µm) and fine-grained micrite (<63 µm) from a ~1600-year-long sediment record of a hypersaline lake located on the coral atoll of Kiritimati, Republic of Kiribati (1.9°N, 157.4°W). Petrographic, mineralogic, and stable isotope results suggest that both carbonate fractions precipitate in situ with minor diagenetic alterations. The δ13 C values of spherules are high compared to the syndepositional micrite and cannot be explained by mineral differences or external perturbations, suggesting a role for local biological processes. We use geochemical modeling to test the hypothesis that the spherules form in the surface microbial mat during peak diurnal photosynthesis when the δ13 C value of dissolved inorganic carbon is elevated. In contrast, we hypothesize that the micrite may precipitate more continuously in the water as well as in sub-surface, heterotrophic layers of the microbial mat. Both metagenome and geochemical model results support a critical role for photosynthesis in influencing carbonate δ13 C values. The down-core spherule-micrite offset in δ13 C values also aligns with total organic carbon values, suggesting that the difference in the δ13 C values of spherules and micrite may be a more robust, inorganic indicator of variability in productivity and local biological processes through time than the δ13 C values of individual carbonate forms.

Preparation of UiO-66-NH2@PDA under Water System for Chemical Warfare Agents Degradation.

There is an urgent need to develop catalytic degradation technologies for chemical warfare agents (CWAs) that are environmentally friendly and do not require secondary treatment. UiO-66-NH2 and other metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) based on zirconium have been shown to promote the catalytic degradation of CWAs. At the same time, MOFs have been studied, and they have shown interesting properties in CWA removal because of their ultrahigh surface area, tunable structures, and periodically distributed abundant catalytic sites. However, MOFs synthesized by conventional methods are mostly powdery crystals that are difficult to process and have poor mechanical stability, which largely limit the development of MOFs in practical applications. An emerging trend in MOF research is hybridization with flexible materials. Polymers possess a variety of unique attributes, such as flexibility, thermal and chemical stability, and process ability, and these properties can be combined with MOFs to make a low-cost and versatile material that also provides convenience for the subsequent integration of such MOFs into independent substrates or textiles. In this article, we used a green and simple method to coat the surface of UiO-66-NH2 with polydopamine (PDA), PDA can promote the catalytic hydrolysis of UiO-66-NH2 to DMNP (a simulant of chemical warfare agents). Additionally, it can adsorb the toxic hydrolysis product p-nitrophenol, avoiding the trouble of secondary treatment. The half-life of UiO-66-NH2 coated with polydopamine (UiO-66-NH2@PDA) for catalytic hydrolysis is 8.9 min, and that of pure UiO-66-NH2 is 20 min. We speculate that the surface coated with PDA can improve the diffusion of DMNP to the active sites of UiO-66-NH2.

The role of an active surveillance strategy of targeting household and neighborhood contacts related to leprosy cases released from treatment in a low-endemic area of China.

OBJECTIVE: Early diagnosis remains the primary goal for leprosy management programs. This study aims to determine whether active surveillance of patients with leprosy and their contact individuals increased identification of latent leprosy cases in the low-endemic areas. METHODS: This cross-sectional survey was carried out between October 2014 and August 2016 in 21 counties throughout Shandong Province. The survey was conducted among patients with leprosy released from treatment (RFT) and their contacts from both household and neighbors. RESULTS: A total of 2,210 RFT patients and 9,742 contacts comprising 7877 household contacts (HHCs), including 5,844 genetic related family members (GRFMs) and 2033 non-genetic related family members and 1,865 contacts living in neighboring houses (neighbor contacts, NCs), were recruited. Among identified individuals, one relapsed and 13 were newly diagnosed, giving a detection rate of 0.12%, corresponding to 120 times the passive case detection rate. Detection rates were similar for HHCs and NCs (0.114% vs. 0.214%, P = 0.287). Analysis of the family history of leprosy patients revealed clustering of newly diagnosed cases and association with residential coordinates of previously-diagnosed multibacillary leprosy cases. CONCLUSION: Active case-finding programs are feasible and contributes to early case detection by tracking HHCs and NCs in low-endemic areas.

Promising carbon utilization for nitrogen recovery in low strength wastewater treatment: Ammonia nitrogen assimilation, protein production and microbial community structure.

Acetic acid and sodium acetate are generally supplied to wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in China to improve total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) removal, and the addition of carbon source also facilitates to increase sludge growth rate and further provides material basis for the extraction of proteins and amino acids from activated sludge. To recycle ammonia nitrogen resources, a system that combined adsorption and anaerobic-anoxic-oxic (A/AAO) process for treating low strength wastewater was established. Experimental results showed that by the addition of carbon substrate from a mixture of anaerobically fermented adsorption sludge, the average removal efficiency of chemical oxygen demand (COD), ammonia nitrogen, TN, and TP were 88%, 96.9%, 93.9%, and 92.1%, respectively, and the ratio of nitrogen assimilation to nitrogen dissimilation significantly increased by a factor of 2.5. Through energy analysis (based on adenosine triphosphate, ATP), sludge flocculation capacity and settling property, it was found that the AAO process sludge presented the logarithmic growth characteristics. The respective sludge protein and amino acids contents increased by over 11.4% and 40.3%, and the synthetic products of glutamic acid, alanine and aspartate increased through the assimilation of ammonia nitrogen, thereby indicating that replenishing the carbon substrate could markedly enhance protein and amino acids contents in AAO process sludge. Moreover, the diversity of the microbial community in adsorption process was relatively rich, the diversity in the adsorption process sludge was the highest, while the diversity of the AAO process sludge evidently decreased. The microbial community in each process was similarly based on 16S rDNA gene sequence analysis, microflora was prominent in the AAO process, with Dechloromonas, Flavobacterium, Zoogloea, Unclassified_Rhodocyclaceae and Thauera as the dominant species. Promising carbon utilization facilitates contaminants removal in low strength wastewater treatment and is conducive to protein production through ammonia nitrogen assimilation.

[Pollution Characteristics and Enhanced Removal of Organic Phosphorus in Effluent from a Wastewater Treatment Plant].

Given the presence of organic phosphorus (OP) pollution in wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluents, contaminant properties and enhanced removal approaches were investigated. The experimental results showed that the respective levels of effluent total phosphorus (TP), PO43--P, Poly-P, and OP were 0.62, 0.22, 0.03, and 0.37 mg·L-1, respectively, for which the ratio of OP reached up to 59.7%. Based on the flow analysis, the proportions of influent PO43--P, Poly-P, and OP changed from 54.4%, 6.3%, and 39.3% to 16.9%, 14.5%, and 68.6% within the effluent. The OP content was positively correlated with the DOC content (R2=0.65), and the average contents of hydrophilic and hydrophobic OP were 0.12 mg·L-1 and 0.31 mg·L-1, respectively. C/P in hydrophobic OP was relatively lower than that in hydrophilic OP, which indicated that the bioavailability of hydrophobic OP was higher. However, the bioavailability of hydrophobic OP was only 20%, which implied that the effluent OP basically consisted of refractory components. A total of 32.6% of OP within the effluent was removed through bioadsorption reactions with activated coke, while the removal of OP was up to 79.1% when 30 mg·L-1 of O3 was applied, which suggested that advanced oxidation was more beneficial for the enhancement of OP removal.

Different gut microbiome composition in obese Guizhou minipigs between female and castrated male.

Gut microbiome lives in the intestinal tract of animals and plays an important role in almost all life processes. Gut microbiome balance is beneficial to health, and imbalance leads to many diseases, one of which is obesity epidemic. However, gut microbiome is also influenced by host hormone, and different gut microbiome composition is observed between the sexes. Here, we studied whether castrated male Guizhou minipigs with obesity own the same gut microbiome composition and microbial function predictions with those in obese females. We sequenced the hypervariable regions V3 to V4 of bacterial 16s rRNA of fecal samples collected from our study subjects. We observed that the operational taxonomic units were small, which suggested that the abundance of gut microbiome may be influenced by low genetic diversity of host. Our results also suggested that the castrated male has different gut microbial composition compared to the obese female. An increasing Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio was observed in both castrated male and obese female groups, which suggested that the main adipogenic gut microorganism in obese Guizhou minipigs in our studies is the same with that in other obese mammals. However, we also observed that there were function prediction differences of obese Guizhou minipigs between female and castrated male, which suggested that the influence of gut microbiome on obesity between them is different.

Distributed Extremum Seeking for Optimal Resource Allocation and Its Application to Economic Dispatch in Smart Grids.

This paper proposes a first-order extremum-seeking algorithm to solve the resource allocation problem, where the specific expression form and gradient information of the local cost functions are not required. Agents take advantage of measurements of local cost functions to minimize the sum of their cost functions while satisfying the resource constraint, where agents exchange the estimated decisions with their neighbors under an undirected and connected graph. Making use of the Lyapunov stability theory and the average analysis method, the convergence of the proposed algorithm to the neighborhood of the optimal solution is presented. In addition, it is obtained that the designed algorithm is semiglobally practically asymptotically stable. Then, the first-order algorithm is extended to the second-order algorithm with low-pass filters, which achieves better convergence performance than the first-order algorithm. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is illustrated by numerical examples and its application to economic dispatch in smart grids.

Prediction of leprosy in the Chinese population based on a weighted genetic risk score.

Genome wide association studies (GWASs) have revealed multiple genetic variants associated with leprosy in the Chinese population. The aim of our study was to utilize the genetic variants to construct a risk prediction model through a weighted genetic risk score (GRS) in a Chinese set and to further assess the performance of the model in identifying higher-risk contact individuals in an independent set. The highest prediction accuracy, with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.743 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.729-0.757), was achieved with a GRS encompassing 25 GWAS variants in a discovery set that included 2,144 people affected by leprosy and 2,671 controls. Individuals in the high-risk group, based on genetic factors (GRS > 28.06), have a 24.65 higher odds ratio (OR) for developing leprosy relative to those in the low-risk group (GRS≤18.17). The model was then applied to a validation set consisting of 1,385 people affected by leprosy and 7,541 individuals in contact with leprosy, which yielded a discriminatory ability with an AUC of 0.707 (95% CI: 0.691-0.723). When a GRS cut-off value of 22.38 was selected with the optimal sensitivity and specificity, it was found that 39.31% of high risk contact individuals should be screened in order to detect leprosy in 64.9% of those people affected by leprosy. In summary, we developed and validated a risk model for the prediction of leprosy that showed good discrimination capabilities, which may help physicians in the identification of patients coming into contact with leprosy and are at a higher-risk of developing this condition.

A large-scale genome-wide association and meta-analysis identified four novel susceptibility loci for leprosy.

Leprosy, a chronic infectious disease, results from the uncultivable pathogen Mycobacterium leprae (M. leprae), and usually progresses to peripheral neuropathy and permanent progressive deformity if not treated. Previously published genetic studies have identified 18 gene/loci significantly associated with leprosy at the genome-wide significant level. However as a complex disease, only a small proportion of leprosy risk could be explained by those gene/loci. To further identify more susceptibility gene/loci, we hereby performed a three-stage GWAS comprising 8,156 leprosy patients and 15,610 controls of Chinese ancestry. Four novel loci were identified including rs6807915 on 3p25.2 (P=1.94 × 10-8, OR=0.89), rs4720118 on 7p14.3 (P=3.85 × 10-10, OR=1.16), rs55894533 on 8p23.1 (P=5.07 × 10-11, OR=1.15) and rs10100465 on 8q24.11 (P=2.85 × 10-11, OR=0.85). Altogether, these findings have provided new insight and significantly expanded our understanding of the genetic basis of leprosy.