Bioprospecting from Marine Sediments of New Brunswick,Canada: Exploring the Relationship between Total Bacterial Diversity and Actinobacteria Diversity

Actinomycetes are an important resource for the discovery of natural products with therapeutic properties. Bioprospecting for actinomycetes typically proceeds without a priori knowledge of the bacterial diversity present in sampled habitats. In this study, we endeavored to determine if overall bacterial diversity in marine sediments, as determined by 16S rDNA amplicon pyrosequencing, could be correlated with culturable actinomycete diversity, and thus serve as a powerful tool in guiding future bioprospecting efforts. Overall bacterial diversity was investigated in eight marine sediments from four sites in New Brunswick, Canada, resulting in over 44,000 high quality sequences (x = 5610 per sample). Analysis revealed all sites exhibited significant diversity (H’ = 5.4 to 6.7). Furthermore, statistical analysis of species level bacterial communities (D = 0.03) indicated community composition varied according to site and was strongly influenced by sediment physiochemical composition. In contrast, cultured actinomycetes (n = 466, 98.3% Streptomyces) were ubiquitously distributed among all sites and distribution was not influenced by sediment composition, suggesting that the biogeography of culturable actinomycetes does not correlate with overall bacterial diversity in the samples examined. These actinomycetes provide a resource for future secondary metabolite discovery, as exemplified by the antimicrobial activity observed from preliminary investigation.     

The diazotrophic community in oat rhizosphere: effects of legume intercropping and crop growth stage

In this study, the abundance, diversity and structure of the diazotrophic community in oat rhizosphere soil in three cropping systems and at two oat growth stages were investigated using real-time PCR and Illumina MiSeq sequencing. The nifH gene abundance in oat-soybean intercropping (OSO) and oat-mungbean intercropping (OMO) was significantly greater than that in sole oat (O), but the nifH gene abundance significantly decreased at the later stage in all the treatments. Alpha diversity indices in OSO and OMO were higher at the heading stage, but lower at the maturity stage than that in O. Bradyrhizobium and Skermanella were the dominant genera identified in all samples, with an average proportion of 35.8% and 12.4%, respectively. The proportion of dominant genera showed significant differences and varied with cropping system and growth stage. Principal component analysis showed that growth stage had a stronger effect than intercropping on the diazotrophic community structure. However, Mantel test and redundancy analysis showed there was no environmental factor significantly correlated to the diazotrophic community structure. Our results demonstrate that intercropping had a weaker effect than growth stage on the abundance, diversity and structure of the diazotrophic community in oat rhizosphere soil.     

Comparison of rhizosphere and endophytic microbial communities of Chinese leek through high-throughput 16S rRNA gene Illumina sequencing

Chinese leek (Allium tuberosum Rottler ex Sprengel) is a common vegetable in China. In our previous study, Chinese leek in rotation was found to have significant antifungal and nematicidal activity. This study's aim was to investigate the potential antifungal and nematicidal activity associated with rhizosphere or endophytic microbes of Chinese leek. Thus, a total of 79 261 high-quality sequences were obtained from Chinese leek rhizosphere soil, leaf and root samples. In the rhizosphere soil, the bacterial community comprised five dominant phyla: Proteobacteria (37.85%), Acidobacteria (10.99%), Bacteroidetes (8.24%), Cyanobacteria (7.79%) and Planctomycetes (7.1%). The leaf and root bacterial communities comprised two dominant phyla: Cyanobacteria (83.42% in leaf and 75.44% in root) and Proteobacteria (14.75% in leaf and 21.04% in root). Microbial diversity, richness and evenness in the rhizosphere soil bacterial community were higher than that in the endophytic bacterial communities. The rhizosphere bacterial community was significantly different from the endophytic bacterial communities. The endophytic bacterial communities from the leaf and the root were slightly, but not significantly different from each other. This study's findings would contribute to the isolation and identification of nematicidal and antifungal bacterial communities in Chinese leek.     

Next Generation Sequencing of Actinobacteria for the Discovery of Novel Natural Products

Like many fields of the biosciences, actinomycete natural products research has been revolutionised by next-generation DNA sequencing (NGS). Hundreds of new genome sequences from actinobacteria are made public every year, many of them as a result of projects aimed at identifying new natural products and their biosynthetic pathways through genome mining. Advances in these technologies in the last five years have meant not only a reduction in the cost of whole genome sequencing, but also a substantial increase in the quality of the data, having moved from obtaining a draft genome sequence comprised of several hundred short contigs, sometimes of doubtful reliability, to the possibility of obtaining an almost complete and accurate chromosome sequence in a single contig, allowing a detailed study of gene clusters and the design of strategies for refactoring and full gene cluster synthesis. The impact that these technologies are having in the discovery and study of natural products from actinobacteria, including those from the marine environment, is only starting to be realised. In this review we provide a historical perspective of the field, analyse the strengths and limitations of the most relevant technologies, and share the insights acquired during our genome mining projects.     

利用DNA池技术提高基于InDel标记的种子纯度鉴定效率

为提高基于InDel-Pyrosequencing的黄瓜杂交种纯度检测通量,降低检测成本,本研究模拟10种DNA Pooling进行PCR、Pyrosequencing及等位基因频率分析。通过TTest分析不同Pooling间等位基因频率的差异性,确定3 Pooling为种子纯度检测最适Pooling数;建立3 Pooling-InDel-Pyrosequencing标准曲线,其R2达0.999 1;根据该标准曲线,检测黄瓜杂交品种"园中王"30粒杂交种种子纯度,结果为96.67%。本研究丰富了基于InDel-Pyrosequencing的黄瓜杂交种纯度检测技术体系。     

马铃薯健株与黄萎病株根际土壤真菌群落结构及其对碳源利用特征

【目的】通过研究马铃薯健康植株与黄萎病株的根际土壤真菌群落结构与功能多样性的差异,明确土壤真菌群落结构与黄萎病发生之间的关系,为最终从微生物生态学的角度解释马铃薯黄萎病的发生原因及其生态防控提供理论依据。【方法】以河北省坝上地区马铃薯健株与黄萎病株的根际土壤为研究对象,分别利用实时荧光定量PCR(real-time PCR)和高通量测序(Illumina MiSeq)技术检测根际土壤中大丽轮枝菌(Verticillium dahliae)ITS基因拷贝数量并分析真菌群落结构变化,结合冗余分析(RDA)明确真菌群落结构与土壤养分的相关性。同时利用Biolog-ECO平板法比较健株与黄萎病株根际土壤微生物对碳源的利用能力。【结果】马铃薯黄萎病的发生与土壤中大丽轮枝菌ITS基因拷贝数量存在相关性,在病株根际土壤中病原菌数量高,而在健株根际土壤中未检测到病原菌。高通量测序分析表明,病株根际土壤真菌多样性指数低于健康植株,但多样性差异不显著。在群落组成的门水平上,与健株根际土壤相比,病株根际土壤中的子囊菌门(Ascomycota)和丝孢菌门(Mortierellomycota)相对丰度上升幅度分...