Screening of Shallow Groundwater in Aceh Besar and Banda Aceh Districts for Contamination with Heavy Metals

Tsunami devastated many water infrastructures including the wells. Tsunami areas, land use (rural and urban areas) and land management (agriculture land and home garden) can be leading heavy metals in water quality. The purpose of this research is to investigate how the Tsunami rehabilitation efforts affected the water quality of shallow groundwater by measuring the count of heavy metals (mercury, cadmium and lead by Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer during the rainy and dry season. Forty-eight water samples\u27 of wells were collected to determine shallow groundwater from August 2007 to December 2007. The study includes interviews with the owners of the water facilities and sanitary inspection of shallow groundwater wells. The results show the presence Hg and most of Cd in well water are still below the regulatory acceptable limit by Ministry of Health R.I (2002). On the other hand, lead exceeds the regulatory acceptable limi

A long-awaited taxogenomic investigation of the family Halomonadaceae

The family Halomonadaceae is the largest family composed of halophilic bacteria, with more than 160 species with validly published names as of July 2023. Several classifications to circumscribe this family are available in major resources, such as those provided by the List of Prokaryotic names with Standing in Nomenclature (LPSN), NCBI Taxonomy, Genome Taxonomy Database (GTDB), and Bergey’s Manual of Systematics of Archaea and Bacteria (BMSAB), with some degree of disagreement between them. Moreover, regardless of the classification adopted, the genus Halomonas is not phylogenetically consistent, likely because it has been used as a catch-all for newly described species within the family Halomonadaceae that could not be clearly accommodated in other Halomonadaceae genera. In the past decade, some taxonomic rearrangements have been conducted on the Halomonadaceae based on ribosomal and alternative single-copy housekeeping gene sequence analysis. High-throughput technologies have enabled access to the genome sequences of many type strains belonging to the family Halomonadaceae; however, genome-based studies specifically addressing its taxonomic status have not been performed to date. In this study, we accomplished the genome sequencing of 17 missing type strains of Halomonadaceae species that, together with other publicly available genome sequences, allowed us to re-evaluate the genetic relationship, phylogeny, and taxonomy of the species and genera within this family. The approach followed included the estimate of the Overall Genome Relatedness Indexes (OGRIs) such as the average amino acid identity (AAI), phylogenomic reconstructions using amino acid substitution matrices customized for the family Halomonadaceae, and the analysis of clade-specific signature genes. Based on our results, we conclude that the genus Halovibrio is obviously out of place within the family Halomonadaceae, and, on the other hand, we propose a division of the genus Halomonas into seven separate genera and the transfer of seven species from Halomonas to the genus Modicisalibacter, together with the emendation of the latter. Additionally, data from this study demonstrate the existence of various synonym species names in this family

Lactobacilli have a niche in the human nose

Although an increasing number of beneficial microbiome members are characterized for the human gut and vagina, beneficial microbes are underexplored for the human upper respiratory tract (URT). In this study, we demonstrate that taxa from the beneficial Lactobacillus genus complex are more prevalent in the healthy URT than in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS). Several URT-specific isolates are cultured, characterized, and further explored for their genetic and functional properties related to adaptation to the URT. Catalase genes are found in the identified lactobacilli, which is a unique feature within this mostly facultative anaerobic genus. Moreover, one of our isolated strains, Lactobacillus casei AMBR2, contains fimbriae that enable strong adherence to URT epithelium, inhibit the growth and virulence of several URT pathogens, and successfully colonize nasal epithelium of healthy volunteers. This study thus demonstrates that specific lactobacilli are adapted to the URT and could have a beneficial keystone function in this habitat

Correlated duplications and losses in the evolution of palmitoylation writer and eraser families

Protein post-translational modifications (PTMs) change protein properties. Each PTM type is associated with domain families that apply the modification (writers), remove the modification (erasers) and bind to the modified sites (readers) together called toolkit domains. The evolutionary origin and diversification remains largely understudied, except for tyrosine phosphorylation. Protein palmitoylation entails the addition of a palmitoyl fatty acid to a cysteine residue. This PTM functions as a membrane anchor and is involved in a range of cellular processes. One writer family and two erasers families are known for protein palmitoylation.status: publishe

Latilactobacillus fragifolii Legein & Wittouck & Lebeer 2022, SP. NOV.

DESCRIPTION OF LATILACTOBACILLUS FRAGIFOLII SP. NOV. Latilactobacillus fragifolii (fra.gi.fo’li.i. L. neut. n. fragum strawberry plant; L. neut. n. folium leaf; N.L. gen. n. fragifolii of a strawberry leaf) Cells of isolates AMBP158, AMBP159, AMBP162 T, AMBP163, AMBP229, AMBP231, AMBP240, AMBP241, AMBP243, AMBP252, AMBP253, AMBP254 and AMBP256 are facultative heterofermentative, Gram-positive, catalase-positive, straight short rods of 0.8–1.6µm, which do not occur in long chains. They grow aerobically and anaerobically in MRS. Colonies grown aerobically on MRS agar at 30°C for 48 h are small, circular and white with a shiny surface. Acid is produced from L-arabinose, ribose,D-galactose, D-glucose,D-fructose,D-mannose, N -acetyl glucosamine, aesculin, salicin, cellobiose, sucrose, trehalose and gluconate. Acid is not produced from glycerol, erythritol, D-arabinose,D-xylose,L-xylose, adonitol, methyl β-xyloside, L-sorbose, rhamnose, dulcitol, inositol, mannitol, sorbitol, methyl α-D-mannopyranoside, methyl α-D-glucoside, amygdalin, arbutin, maltose, lactose, melibiose, inulin, melezitose, raffinose, starch, glycogen, xylitol, β-gentibiose, turanose, D-lyxose,D-tagatose,D-fucose,L-fucose,D-arabitol,L-arabitol and 2- or 5- keto-gluconate. Several phenotypic characteristics that are typical for this new species, such as catalase activity and utilization of L-arabinose and sucrose, could play a role in the adaptation of this species to the phyllosphere. The type strain, AMBP162 T (= LMG 32285 T = CECT 30357 T), was isolated from the leaves of a strawberry plant growing in central Portugal. The genome size of strain AMBP162 T is 1.96 Mbp and the DNA G+C content is 41 mol%.Published as part of Legein, Marie, Wittouck, Stijn & Lebeer, Sarah, 2022, Latilactobacillus fragifolii sp. nov., isolated from leaves of a strawberry plant (Fragaria x ananassa), pp. 1-9 in International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology (005193) (005193) 72 (1) on pages 7-8, DOI: 10.1099/ijsem.0.005193, http://zenodo.org/record/604876

Latilactobacillus fragifolii sp. nov., isolated from leaves of a strawberry plant (Fragaria x ananassa)

Thirteen Gram-positive, catalase-positive, rod-shaped single colonies were obtained after culturing a strawberry leaf on de Man–Rogosa–Sharpe agar. Based on 16S rRNA gene and rpoA gene sequence similarities, ranging between 99.0–100% and 96.5–100%, respectively, the 13 isolates were found to be closely related to each other. Two of the independent isolates, AMBP162(T) and AMBP252, were whole-genome sequenced, and showed to be undistinguishable with an average nucleotide identity (ANI) value of 100 %. Compared to the reference genomes for all species in the family Lactobacillaceae , the AMBP162(T) genome was most similar to the reference strain of Latilactobacillus curvatus with ANI of only 89.5 %, indicating they were a different species. Based on genotypic and phenotypic data, a novel Latilactobacillus species, Latilactobacillus fragifolii sp. nov., with the type strain AMBP162(T) (=LMG 32285(T)=CECT 30357(T)) is proposed