Recent Advances In Microbiology Research Articles

Advances in Hydrogel Polymers for Microbial Control in Water Systems.

Every year, contaminated water is responsible for over one million deaths globally. Microbiology leads other fields in the development of solutions to water contamination to reduce these deaths while advancing the achievement of SDG 6, which aims to ensure universal access to water and sanitation. This article explores hydrogel polymers as a solution to water contamination through microbial control. Using a systematic approach, this study collects, reviews, analyzes, and synthesizes the findings of studies on the structure, properties, and mechanisms used by hydrogel polymers in pathogen control in water systems, emphasizing recent advances in microbiology that have improved the antimicrobial properties of hydrogel polymers, enhanced their synthetic properties, and improved their overall ability to control the spread of pathogens in water. Other additional notable findings, including the applications of hydrogel polymers in water systems, the environmental implications of using the method to decontaminate and purify water for various purposes, and the regulatory standards needed to reinforce the viability and effectiveness of the adaptation of hydrogel polymers for the control of harmful or unwanted microorganisms in water systems, inform the presented inferences on the future of hydrogel technologies and new opportunities for the expansion of their commercial use.

Snapshot of a quantized body: Learning from the Daoist body

In Snapshots from Home, Karin Fierke calls for radically repositioning the apparatus through which we interpret the world, inviting us to bridge the seemingly insurmountable chasm between quantum science and ancient Asian thought and practice to think about a more Global International Relations. Specifically, we are daringly tasked to consider how the ‘weird’ mathematics of quantum physics and science is paralleled by deeply relational ancient non-Western systems of knowledge. Fierke’s starting point is Bohr’s wholistic quantum physics but her main interest and focus is a deep reflection on its broad similarities with Buddhism, Hinduism and Daoism. Considering the parallels Fierke draws between the relational frames of quantum science and Daoism in the context of a raving pandemic, I feel challenged to bring the body into the conversation. How does Fierke’s apparatus prompt us to think and act ethically in relation to the emerging postgenomic body arising from recent advances in microbiology including quantum microbiology ? It is a permeable body that is deeply quantum entangled in and with the natural and social-cultural environment and/or context. What can we learn from the relational strategies and actions attached to the Daoist body to thinking about the contemporary quantized bodies and the governance of their health?

Assigning cause for emerging diseases of aquatic organisms.

Resolving the cause of disease (= aetiology) in aquatic organisms is a challenging but essential goal, heightened by increasing disease prevalence in a changing climate and an interconnected world of anthropogenic pathogen spread. Emerging diseases play important roles in evolutionary ecology, wildlife conservation, the seafood industry, recreation, cultural practices, and human health. As we emerge from a global pandemic of zoonotic origin, we must focus on timely diagnosis to confirm aetiology and enable response to diseases in aquatic ecosystems. Those systems' resilience, and our own sustainable use of seafood, depend on it. Synchronising traditional and recent advances in microbiology that span ecological, veterinary, and medical fields will enable definitive assignment of risk factors and causal agents for better biosecurity management and healthier aquatic ecosystems.

Acute osteoarticular infections in children are frequently forgotten multidiscipline emergencies: beyond the technical skills.

Acute osteoarticular infections (AOI) should be treated as top emergencies. The first few days following the inception of infection are ultra-critical to long-term prognosis.A comprehensive road map for management of childhood AOI is still lacking despite recent advances in microbiology and imaging (magnetic resonance imaging). The many faces of childhood AOI warrant a multidiscipline approach to management.Laboratory and imaging findings of are still debatable and should not overshadow or delay a management plan based on the experienced physician’s clinical judgment.Ample evidence-based practice supports the use of a few days of intravenous antibiotic administration followed by oral therapy until correlative clinical and basic laboratory (acute phase reactants) results improve.The growing body of evidence on ‘high-risk’ children/neonates of AOI warrants continual clinical extra-vigilance in identifying these patient subsets.Open drainage and debridement remain the mainstay of treatment of septic hips, whereas for other joints the use of alternative surgical techniques should be individualized or on case-by-case basis.Because the consequences of misdiagnosis of AOI are usually grave and permanent, proactive treatment/overtreatment is justified in the event of unconfirmed but suspicious diagnosis.Cite this article: EFORT Open Rev 2021;6:584-592. DOI: 10.1302/2058-5241.6.200155

Recent Developments in Bacterial Chemotaxis Analysis Based on the Microfluidic System.

Bacterial motility in response to chemicals, also called bacterial chemotaxis, is a critical ability to search for the optimal environment to ensure the survival of bacterial species. Recent advances in microbiology have allowed the engineering of bacterial chemotactic properties. Conventional methods for characterizing bacterial motility are not able to fully monitor chemotactic behavior. Developments in microfluidic technology have enabled the designing of new experimental protocols in which spatiotemporal control of the cellular microenvironment can be achieved, and in which bacterial motility can be precisely and quantitatively measured and compared. This review provides an overview of recent developments of and new insights into microfluidic systems for chemotaxis assay.

Bioeconomy – The global trend and its implications for sustainability and food security

There is a global trend into Bioeconomy: About 50 countries have newly adopted bioeconomy-related policy strategies in the past decade. A 2nd Global Bioeconomy Summit held in Berlin from April 12–14, 2018, highlighted that this trend toward bioeconomy is mainly driven by the need to address resource constraints related to climate, water, energy, and land, and by the recent advances in microbiology, and by shifts in consumer preferences. New opportunities are arising for industries and agriculture in a bioeconomy, but strategies also need to address conflicting goals with science and policy to generate accelerated innovations for food security, and resource protection policies that enhance a sustainable utilization of land, water, and biodiversity.

Genome Editing of Food-Grade Lactobacilli To Develop Therapeutic Probiotics.

Lactic acid bacteria have been used historically for food manufacturing mainly to ensure preservation via fermentation. More recently, lactic acid bacteria have been exploited to promote human health, and many strains serve as industrial workhorses. Recent advances in microbiology and molecular biology have contributed to understanding the genetic basis of many of their functional attributes. These include dissection of biochemical processes that drive food fermentation, and identification and characterization of health-promoting features that positively impact the composition and roles of microbiomes in human health. Recently, the advent of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)-based technologies has revolutionized our ability to manipulate genomes, and we are on the cusp of a broad-scale genome editing revolution. Here, we discuss recent advances in genetic alteration of food-grade bacteria, with a focus on CRISPR-associated enzyme genome editing, single-stranded DNA recombineering, and the modification of bacteriophages. These tools open new avenues for the genesis of next-generation biotherapeutic agents with improved genotypes and enhanced health-promoting functional features.

Perspectives in flow-based microfluidic gradient generators for characterizing bacterial chemotaxis.

Chemotaxis is a phenomenon which enables cells to sense concentrations of certain chemical species in their microenvironment and move towards chemically favorable regions. Recent advances in microbiology have engineered the chemotactic properties of bacteria to perform novel functions, but traditional methods of characterizing chemotaxis do not fully capture the associated cell motion, making it difficult to infer mechanisms that link the motion to the microbiology which induces it. Microfluidics offers a potential solution in the form of gradient generators. Many of the gradient generators studied to date for this application are flow-based, where a chemical species diffuses across the laminar flow interface between two solutions moving through a microchannel. Despite significant research efforts, flow-based gradient generators have achieved mixed success at accurately capturing the highly subtle chemotactic responses exhibited by bacteria. Here we present an analysis encompassing previously published versions of flow-based gradient generators, the theories that govern their gradient-generating properties, and new, more practical considerations that result from experimental factors. We conclude that flow-based gradient generators present a challenge inherent to their design in that the residence time and gradient decay must be finely balanced, and that this significantly narrows the window for reliable observation and quantification of chemotactic motion. This challenge is compounded by the effects of shear on an ellipsoidal bacterium that causes it to preferentially align with the direction of flow and subsequently suppresses the cross-flow chemotactic response. These problems suggest that a static, non-flowing gradient generator may be a more suitable platform for chemotaxis studies in the long run, despite posing greater difficulties in design and fabrication.

Pore-scale simulation of microbial growth using a genome-scale metabolic model: Implications for Darcy-scale reactive transport

Recent advances in microbiology have enabled the quantitative simulation of microbial metabolism and growth based on genome-scale characterization of metabolic pathways and fluxes. We have incorporated a genome-scale metabolic model of the iron-reducing bacteria Geobacter sulfurreducens into a pore-scale simulation of microbial growth based on coupling of iron reduction to oxidation of a soluble electron donor (acetate). In our model, fluid flow and solute transport is governed by a combination of the Navier–Stokes and advection–diffusion–reaction equations. Microbial growth occurs only on the surface of soil grains where solid-phase mineral iron oxides are available. Mass fluxes of chemical species associated with microbial growth are described by the genome-scale microbial model, implemented using a constraint-based metabolic model, and provide the Robin-type boundary condition for the advection–diffusion equation at soil grain surfaces.Conventional models of microbially-mediated subsurface reactions use a lumped reaction model that does not consider individual microbial reaction pathways, and describe reactions rates using empirically-derived rate formulations such as the Monod-type kinetics. We have used our pore-scale model to explore the relationship between genome-scale metabolic models and Monod-type formulations, and to assess the manifestation of pore-scale variability (microenvironments) in terms of apparent Darcy-scale microbial reaction rates. The genome-scale model predicted lower biomass yield, and different stoichiometry for iron consumption, in comparison to prior Monod formulations based on energetics considerations. We were able to fit an equivalent Monod model, by modifying the reaction stoichiometry and biomass yield coefficient, that could effectively match results of the genome-scale simulation of microbial behaviors under excess nutrient conditions, but predictions of the fitted Monod model deviated from those of the genome-scale model under conditions in which one or more nutrients were limiting.The fitted Monod kinetic model was also applied at the Darcy scale; that is, to simulate average reaction processes at the scale of the entire pore-scale model domain. As we expected, even under excess nutrient conditions for which the Monod and genome-scale models predicted equal reaction rates at the pore scale, the Monod model over-predicted the rates of biomass growth and iron and acetate utilization when applied at the Darcy scale. This discrepancy is caused by an inherent assumption of perfect mixing over the Darcy-scale domain, which is clearly violated in the pore-scale models. These results help to explain the need to modify the flux constraint parameters in order to match observations in previous applications of the genome-scale model at larger scales. These results also motivate further investigation of quantitative multi-scale relationships between fundamental behavior at the pore scale (where genome-scale models are appropriately applied) and observed behavior at larger scales (where predictions of reactive transport phenomena are needed).

Towards a processual microbial ontology.

Standard microbial evolutionary ontology is organized according to a nested hierarchy of entities at various levels of biological organization. It typically detects and defines these entities in relation to the most stable aspects of evolutionary processes, by identifying lineages evolving by a process of vertical inheritance from an ancestral entity. However, recent advances in microbiology indicate that such an ontology has important limitations. The various dynamics detected within microbiological systems reveal that a focus on the most stable entities (or features of entities) over time inevitably underestimates the extent and nature of microbial diversity. These dynamics are not the outcome of the process of vertical descent alone. Other processes, often involving causal interactions between entities from distinct levels of biological organisation, or operating at different time scales, are responsible not only for the destabilisation of pre-existing entities, but also for the emergence and stabilisation of novel entities in the microbial world. In this article we consider microbial entities as more or less stabilised functional wholes, and sketch a network-based ontology that can represent a diverse set of processes including, for example, as well as phylogenetic relations, interactions that stabilise or destabilise the interacting entities, spatial relations, ecological connections, and genetic exchanges. We use this pluralistic framework for evaluating (i) the existing ontological assumptions in evolution (e.g. whether currently recognized entities are adequate for understanding the causes of change and stabilisation in the microbial world), and (ii) for identifying hidden ontological kinds, essentially invisible from within a more limited perspective. We propose to recognize additional classes of entities that provide new insights into the structure of the microbial world, namely “processually equivalent” entities, “processually versatile” entities, and “stabilized” entities.

A Report on the ‘51st Annual Conference of Association of Microbiologists of India (AMI) (December 14–17, 2010; Venue: Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi, India)

Association of Microbiologists of India (AMI) is one of the most reputed scientific organizations. It provides a scientific forum for young professionals in microbiology, biotechnology and other allied disciplines. AMI holds its annual conferences at some premier established centres of microbiology in the country. In this series, the 51st Annual Conference of AMI being organized at Birla Institute of Technology (BIT), Mesra, Ranchi, in association with Birsa Agricultural University and Central University of Jharkhand during December 14–17, 2010. The conference ‘Recent Advances in Cross-disciplinary Microbiology: Avenues and Challenges’ included plenary and panel sessions along with poster presentations. More than 1,300 delegates including 16 speakers representing countries such as USA, UK, Australia, Sweden, Slovak Republic, Germany, Nigeria, Japan, Finland and South Africa attended this conference. During inaugural programme the chief guest, Shri M. O. H. Farook, His Excellency, Hon’ble Governor of Jharkhand and Chancellor, BIT Mesra addressed the need for microbiologists in the country and emphasised the role of such conferences in bringing the researchers from academia, industry and government together towards knowledge contribution for country. Guest of honour, Shri S. K. Sahay, Hon’ble Union Minister, MoFPI, Govt. of India appreciated the organizers for their efforts and about the support of ministry on special session: ‘Food microbiology and food processing’ and reiterated the support to AMI. Prof. Ajay Chakrabarty, Vice Chancellor, BIT, Mesra welcomed all invited speakers, guests and participants. During the presidential address, Prof. Gaya Prasad, President AMI deliberated on the growth of AMI. Further, Prof. R. C. Kuhad, General Secretary, AMI and President Elect-2011 presented the overview of AMI and its recent developments and contributions of scientists and academicians in making it a stronger organization. He urged microbiologists to take initiatives for fighting new and emerging diseases and working for human society. Prof. P. Ghosh, Chairman, Organizing Committee highlighted the importance of cross-disciplinary research areas of microbiology. Prof. H. P. Klenk from DSMZ, Germany delivered the keynote lecture on “The Microbial Earth project: Genome Sequencing of all cultivated strains of bacteria and Archaea”. Prof. Klenk briefed about his project and urged all interested microbiologists to learn newer developments in cross-disciplinary microbiology. He further explained this as a grand project that was backed by over 60 leading scientists from Asia, America, Australia and Europe. He commented ‘I am one of four PIs that currently organize this world wide initiative and I hope that Indian scientists at AMI-2010 will also get fascinated by this initiative’. During ASM-AMI joint session, Dr. Sunil K. Lal from ICGEB, New Delhi discussed about ‘the molecular biology of Influenza A viruses. In the same session, Dr. Barbara J. Mann and Prof. K. Dhan from USA discussed significant issues related to medical microbiology. For the first time in AMI, an international workshop on ‘rRNA sequencing, phylogeny and next generation genome sequencing’ was also conducted, where the resource persons shared their expertise with participants. In one of important deliberations, Prof. Rup Lal from Delhi University, India discussed about sequencing bacterial genomes using different sequencing platforms. Further, during the special session on ‘food microbiology and food processing’, Dr. M. K. Rout, leading food scientist from CSIRO, Australia deliberated on ‘physical ageing, annealing and relaxation behaviour of some proteins’. Further, Prof. G. S. Randhawa from IIT Roorkee, India delivered an exceptional lecture on ‘studies on auxotrophic and stress tolerant strains of rhizobia’. In panel discussion of this session, many eminent food biotechnologists discussed the possibilities of research and technology development in food processing. During G. B. Manjrekar award lecture Dr. Amulya K. Panda from NII, India delivered his talk on vaccine development. In addition, Dr. S. Shivaji from CCMB, Hyderabad, delivered a talk on ‘Microbes from cold habitats: Biodiversity and cold adaptations’. Concisely the scientific programme of AMI 2010 was composed of 13 technical sessions, where 21 invited lectures and 850 posters were presented. The few significant themes of this conference were agricultural and soil microbiology, biofuel and bio-energy, bioinformatics and metagenomics, environmental microbiology, enzyme technology, food microbiology, industrial microbiology, IPR, medical microbiology and plant microbe interaction. During the valedictory session, Prof. A. K. Koul, Vice Chancellor, NURSL, Ranchi emphasized about the ‘Intellectual property rights in biotechnology era’. In the same session Prof. R. C. Sobti, Vice Chancellor, Punjab University, India discussed various avenues and recent advances in microbiological research and Mr. N. N. Pandey, IAS, Principal Secretary, Govt. of Jharkhand informed about policies of government in promotion of microbiology and biotechnology. There were dialogue among microbiologists towards more participation, membership and it was felt that many interdisciplinary areas can also be included in the future AMI conferences. The 52nd Annual conference of AMI will be organized from November 3–6, 2011 by Punjab University, Chandigarh. We anticipate further that more young microbiologists should step forward and contribute in AMI conferences in near future.

Isolation, Characterization, and Identification of Bacteria from Activated Sludge and Soluble Microbial Products in Wastewater Treatment Systems

Activated sludge process is the most widely used technology for municipal and industrial wastewater treatment. The microbial community of activated sludge is a mixed population of microorganisms containing many species of viruses, bacteria, protozoa, fungi, metazoa, and algae. This review focuses on the recent advances in microbiology of the activated sludge process. The bacterial population in activated sludge system is examined. The standard procedure, medium used, analytical methods and biochemical characterization techniques required for isolation, and identification of bacteria responsible for the key process of wastewater treatment systems (nutrient removal, aerobic, anaerobic, etc.) are discussed in the paper. The effect of seasonal (winter and summer) temperature variations and salinity variation on the bacterial species for wastewater treatment is examined. In addition, soluble microbial products (SMP) is one of the important factors that affects not only microbial activities, but consequently th...

Fighting Infection: Challenges and Recent Advances in Microbiology

After a long interval, this meeting took up an almost forgotten tradition of joint Scandinavia–UK meetings, and gathered approximately 150 participants, two-thirds of them from Norway, and the rest from the UK and elsewhere. The meeting was organized by Lars Haarr (University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway) and Geoffrey Schild (London, UK), who were very ably supported by the staff of the Department of Microbiology of the University in Bergen and by staff of the UK Society for General Microbiology (SGM). The meeting included sessions on (1) new and re-emerging infections and development of effective vaccines against them; (2) antimicrobial resistance and strategies for the development of novel antimicrobial compounds; (3) marine microbiology with emphasis on fish diseases and their prevention; and (4) a general discussion on where microbiology stands today in terms of public awareness, basic and higher education, and career development in both countries. This report focuses on the virology component of the meeting, with further details being available upon request.

Biological Cell Injection Using an Autonomous MicroRobotic System

Recent advances in microbiology, such as cloning, demonstrate that increasingly complex micromanipulation strategies are required for manipulating individual biological cells. In this paper, we present a microrobotic system capable of conducting automatic embryo pronuclei DNA injection (cell injection). Conventionally, cell injection has been conducted manually, however, long training, low success rates from poor reproducibility in manual operations, and contamination all call for the elimination of direct human involvement. To automate cell injections, a microrobotic system is developed that is capable of performing automatic embryo pronuclei DNA injection autonomously through a hybrid visual servoing control scheme. A Hough transform is used to detect the nuclei of embryos. Sum-of-squared-differences optical flow is used to track injection pipette motion, and auto focusing is implemented to determine the relative depth of subcellular structures. A hybrid control scheme is developed to fulfill the cell injection task. Upon the completion of injection, the DNA injected embryos are transferred into a pseudo-pregnant foster female mouse to reproduce transgenic mice for cancer studies. The experimental result shows that the injection success rate is 100%.

The role of the cytoskeleton in the life cycle of viruses and intracellular bacteria: tracks, motors, and polymerization machines.

Recent advances in microbiology implicate the cytoskeleton in the life cycle of some pathogens, such as intracellular bacteria, Rickettsia and viruses. The cellular cytoskeleton provides the basis for intracellular movements such as those that transport the pathogen to and from the cell surface to the nuclear region, or those that produce cortical protrusions that project the pathogen outwards from the cell surface towards an adjacent cell. Transport in both directions within the neuron is required for pathogens such as the herpesviruses to travel to and from the nucleus and perinuclear region where replication takes place. This trafficking is likely to depend on cellular motors moving on a combination of microtubule and actin filament tracks. Recently, Bearer et al. reconstituted retrograde transport of herpes simplex virus (HSV) in the giant axon of the squid. These studies identified the tegument proteins as the viral proteins most likely to recruit retrograde motors for the transport of HSV to the neuronal nucleus. Similar microtubule-based intracellular movements are part of the biological behavior of vaccinia, a poxvirus, and of adenovirus. Pathogen-induced surface projections and motility within the cortical cytoplasm also play a role in the life cycle of intracellular pathogens. Such motility is driven by pathogen-mediated actin polymerization. Virulence depends on this actin-based motility, since virulence is reduced in Listeria ActA mutants that lack the ability to recruit Arp2/3 and polymerize actin and in vaccinia virus mutants that cannot stimulate actin polymerization. Inhibition of intracellular movements provides a potential strategy to limit pathogenicity. The host cell motors and tracks, as well as the pathogen factors that interact with them, are potential targets for novel antimicrobial therapy.

BOOK REVIEWS

Australian Veterinary JournalVolume 78, Issue 5 p. 354-354 BOOK REVIEWS First published: 10 March 2008 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-0813.2000.tb11794.xAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onEmailFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Abstract Book reviewed in this article: The Mineral Nutrition of Livestock. 3rd edn. Underwood EJ and Suttle NF, Recent Advances in Microbiology. 6th volume. Edited by Asche V, Feeding Systems and Feed Evaluation Models. MK Theodorou and J France, Volume78, Issue5May 2000Pages 354-354 RelatedInformation

THE FACIAL NERVE: Current Trends in Diagnosis, Treatment, and Rehabilitation

Facial paralysis is a potentially devastating disorder with numerous implications. Multiple entities must be considered in its etiology, and recent advances in microbiology, radiographic imaging, electrodiagnostic testing, and microsurgery have provided great insight into the pathophysiology, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of the facial nerve. Recent DNA PCR testing has shed new insight into the potential cause for Bell's palsy. This article focuses on the evaluation, differential diagnosis, medical treatment, and rehabilitation of facial nerve pathology with primary emphasis on facial paralysis. Surgical management is also discussed, including reanimation of the paralyzed face.

The Impact of Recent Advances in Microbiology and Immunology on Perinatal and Wome’s Health Care

Microbiology and immunology have offered important advances in the care of women and newborns. Understanding of the interplay between individuals and the microorganisms associated with them has provided the framework for important changes in practice. An excellent historical example of this idea, well known to nurses, involves puerperal fever. A recent example is knowledge of the relationship of breastfeeding and human immunodeficiency virus. Recent advances in microbiology and immunology that have improved women's health include improved diagnostic tests and a more complete understanding of the vaginal biofilm.

Molecular evolution in bacteria

Recent advances in microbiology and molecular biology have a unifying influence on our understanding of genetic diversity/similarity and evolutionary relationships in microorganisms. This article attempts to unify information from diverse areas such as microbiology, molecular biology, microbial physiology, clay crystal genes, metals-microbe-clay interactions and bacterial DNA restriction-modification systems (R-M) as they may apply to molecular evolution of bacteria. The possibility is discussed that the first informational molecules may have been catalytic RNA (micro-assembler) not DNA (now the master copy) and these first micro-assemblers may have been precursors of ribosomes.

The Restless Tide: The Persistent Challenge of the Microbial World

The Restless Tide , a collection of delightful essays, provides an absorbing overview of the historical origins of and recent advances in microbiology and immunology. The book also addresses issues concerning the usefulness of biomedical research and the quality of medical education and medical care. These essays were adapted from public lectures that the author delivered during his first five years as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health. Written in an entertaining, narrative style, these 11 essays present a current and broad perspective on different aspects of medicine. Each recalls the origins of current achievements, traces their evolution, gives an up-to-date account of each field discussed, and comments on the future research strategies required for over-coming present obstacles. Topics covered include recent advances in the control of infectious diseases by treatment or immunizations; the chameleon nature of microbes—shifts in antigenic constitution