Soil bacteria and archaea found in long-term corn (zea mays L.) agroecosystems in Quebec, Canada

The soil microbial community controls all biological processes in soils and is considered a good indicator of general soil health. Assessment of the microbial community in intensively cropped soils that are under reduced tillage management is especially important because the microbes are the primary decomposers of the high residue input in such systems. We investigated the microbial biomass and diversity of bacteria and archaea in a sandy-loam Dystric Gleysol from a long-term (15 yr) corn (Zea mays L.) agroecosystem in Quebec, Canada, under conventional (CT), reduced tillage (RT), and no tillage (NT) and two residue inputs (high level: + R and low level: - R). Analysis included microbial biomass C and N (MBC, MBN), catalyzed reporter deposition-fluorescence in situ hybridization (CARD-FISH) and 5-(4, 6-dichlorotriazinyl) amino fluorescein hydrochloride (DTAF) cell counts, 16S rRNA polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) and an archaeal clone library. The PCR-DGGE analysis identified Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria and Firmicutes as dominant groups in all tillage and residue management treatments. The archaeal group was diverse, with most individuals identified as belonging to the Crenarchaeota phylum. We also detected soil archaea belonging to the newly proposed phylum Thaumarchaeota, the chemolithoautotrophic ammonia-oxidizing archaeota, in a corn agroecosystem in Quebec, Canada. Microbial biomass increased in the +R treatment according to MBC concentration and direct cell counts. Considering results from the CARD-FISH counts (bacterial and archaeal cell counts without fungal cells) and from MBC results (all microbial biomass including fungi) we concluded the likelihood of greater fungal biomass in the NT plots.Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye

Human osteoclast formation and bone resorption by monocytes and synovial macrophages in rheumatoid arthritis

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether synovial macrophages and monocytes isolated from patients with rheumatoid arthritis patients are capable of differentiating into osteoclastic bone resorbing cells; and the cellular and humoral conditions required for this to occur. METHODS: Macrophages isolated from the synovium and monocytes from the peripheral blood of rheumatoid arthritis patients were cultured on bone slices and coverslips, in the presence and absence of UMR 106 rat osteoblast-like cells, 1,25-dihydroxy vitamin D3 (1,25(OH)2D3) and macrophage colony stimulating factor (M-CSF), and assessed for cytochemical and functional evidence of osteoclast differentiation. RESULTS: Isolated calcitonin receptor (CTR), tartrate resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP), and vitronectin receptor (VNR) negative, CD11b and CD14 positive monocytes and macrophages differentiated into CTR, TRAP, and VNR positive multinucleated cells capable of extensive lacunar bone resorption when co-cultured for 14 d with UMR 106 cells in the presence 1,25(OH)2D3 and M-CSF. CONCLUSIONS: Mononuclear phagocytes (monocytes and macrophages) from rheumatoid arthritis patients are capable of differentiating into multinucleated cells showing all the cytochemical and functional criteria of mature osteoclasts. Synovial macrophage-osteoclast differentiation may represent an important cellular mechanism in the bone destruction associated with rheumatoid arthritis