First draft genome assembly of the desert locust, Schistocerca Gregaria

BACKGROUND: At the time of publication, the most devastating desert locust crisis in decades is affecting East Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and South-West Asia. The situation is extremely alarming in East Africa, where Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia face an unprecedented threat to food security and livelihoods. Most of the time, however, locusts do not occur in swarms, but live as relatively harmless solitary insects. The phenotypically distinct solitarious and gregarious locust phases differ markedly in many aspects of behaviour, physiology and morphology, making them an excellent model to study how environmental factors shape behaviour and development. A better understanding of the extreme phenotypic plasticity in desert locusts will offer new, more environmentally sustainable ways of fighting devastating swarms. METHODS: High molecular weight DNA derived from two adult males was used for Mate Pair and Paired End Illumina sequencing and PacBio sequencing. A reliable reference genome of Schistocerca gregaria was assembled using the ABySS pipeline, scaffolding was improved using LINKS. RESULTS: In total, 1,316 Gb Illumina reads and 112 Gb PacBio reads were produced and assembled. The resulting draft genome consists of 8,817,834,205 bp organised in 955,015 scaffolds with an N50 of 157,705 bp, making the desert locust genome the largest insect genome sequenced and assembled to date. In total, 18,815 proteinencoding genes are predicted in the desert locust genome, of which 13,646 (72.53%) obtained at least one functional assignment based on similarity to known proteins. CONCLUSIONS: The desert locust genome data will contribute greatly to studies of phenotypic plasticity, physiology, neurobiology, molecular ecology, evolutionary genetics and comparative genomics, and will promote the desert locust’s use as a model system. The data will also facilitate the development of novel, more sustainable strategies for preventing or combating swarms of these infamous insects.The Special Research Fund of KU Leuven, the Research Foundation of Flanders, the Special Research Fund of Ghent University, the Department of Research and Innovation of the University of Pretoria, the U.S. National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council UK.http://f1000research.compm2021BiochemistryGeneticsMicrobiology and Plant Patholog

Agaric acid reduces Salmonella biofilm formation by inhibiting flagellar motility

Salmonella biofilms are a common cause of contaminations in the food or feed industry. In a screening for novel compounds to combat biofilm-associated foodborne outbreaks, we identified agaric acid as a Salmonella Typhimurium biofilm inhibitor that does not affect planktonic growth. Importantly, the remaining biofilm cells after preventive treatment with agaric acid were significantly more sensitive to the common disinfectant hydrogen peroxide. Screening of a GFP-promoter fusion library of biofilm related genes revealed that agaric acid downregulates the transcription of genes responsible for flagellar motility. Concurrently, swimming motility was completely abrogated in the presence of agaric acid, indicating that biofilm inhibition occurs via interference with the motility phenotype. Moreover, agaric acid also reduced biofilm formation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. Agaric acid thus shows potential as an anti-virulence compound that inhibits both motility and biofilm formation.KU Leuven Research Fund; Leuven Research and Development (LRD) reserve fund; Institute for the Promotion of Innovation through Science and Technology in Flanders (IWT) and FWO-Vlaanderen.http://www.elsevier.com/locate/bioflmhj2021BiochemistryGeneticsMicrobiology and Plant Patholog

Complete genome sequence of collection strain acinetobacter baumannii ATCC BAA-1790, used as a model to study the antibiotic resistance reversion induced by iodine-containing complexes

The strain Acinetobacter baumannii ATCC BAA-1790 was sequenced as a model for nosocomial multidrug-resistant infections. Long-read PacBio sequencing revealed a circular chromosome of 3,963,235 bp with two horizontally transferred genomic islands and a 67,023-bp plasmid. Multiple antibiotic resistance genes and genome methylation patterns were identified.The Industrial Development and Industrial Safety Committee of the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructural Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan, South African National Research Foundation (NRF) and the University of Pretoria.https://mra.asm.orgam2021BiochemistryGeneticsMicrobiology and Plant Patholog

Complete genome sequence of a multidrug-resistant strain, Escherichia coli ATCC BAA-196, as a model for studying induced antibiotic resistance reversion

Here, we report the complete genome sequence of the multidrugresistant Escherichia coli strain ATCC BAA-196, a model organism used for studying possible antibiotic resistance reversion induced by FS-1, an iodine-containing complex. Two genomes, representing FS-1-treated and negative-control variants and composed of a chromosome and several plasmids, were assembled.The Industrial Development and Industrial Safety Committee of the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructural Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the South African National Research Foundation and the University of Pretoria.https://mra.asm.orgam2020BiochemistryGeneticsMicrobiology and Plant Patholog