Archaea represent a diverse group of microorganisms often associated with extreme environments. However, an integrated understanding of biogeographical patterns of the specialist Haloarchaea and the potential generalist ammonia‐oxidizing archaea (AOA) across large‐scale environmental gradients remains limited. We hypothesize that niche differentiation determines their distinct distributions along environmental gradients. To te...

Summary Aspergillus flavus is an opportunistic fungal pathogen that colonizes agriculture crops with aflatoxin contamination. We found that Perillaldehyde (PAE) effectively inhibited A . flavus viability and aflatoxin production by inducing excess reactive oxygen species (ROS). Transcriptome analysis indicated that the Gα protein FadA was significantly induced by PAE. Functional characterization of FadA showed it is important...

Summary Bacteroidetes are thought to be specialized for the degradation of algae‐derived ocean polysaccharides. Here, we show that Bacteroidetes are the predominant phylum in deep‐sea sediments and possess more genes associated with polysaccharides degradation than other bacteria. We have isolated a novel Bacteroidetes species from the deep‐sea sediments by using a special polysaccharide containing medium, Maribellus comscasis...

Summary Photoreceptors are found in all kingdoms of life and bacteriophytochromes (Bphps) are the most abundant photo‐sensing receptors in bacteria. Interestingly, BphPs have been linked to some bacterial physiological responses, yet most of the biological processes they regulate are still elusive, especially in non‐photosynthetic bacteria. Here, we show that a bacteriophytochrome (CmoBphp) from a deep‐sea bacterium Croceicocc...

Summary The cell wall integrity (CWI) signaling activates the transcription factor Swi6 through a MAPK signaling cascade in response to cell wall stresses. In this study, we observed two different mRNA variants of swi6 ( GlSwi6A and GlSwi6B ) existed, due to alternative splicing. Besides, the expression level of GlSwi6B was higher than that of the GlSwi6A mRNA variant. The co‐silencing of GlSwi6A and GlSwi6B was more sensitive...

Summary Cadmium (Cd) is a common toxic heavy metal in the environment, and bacteria have evolved different strategies against Cd‐toxicity. Here, we found that marine bacterium Bacillus sp. 98 could significantly alleviate Cd‐toxicity by recruiting calcium (Ca) for reducing excessive intracellular nitric oxide (NO) and enhancing iron acquisition. To investigate the underlying mechanisms, mass spectrometry‐based proteomic analys...

Summary As the most abundant and genetically diverse biological entities, viruses significantly influence ecological, biogeographical and evolutionary processes in the ocean. However, the biogeography of marine viruses and the drivers shaping viral community are unclear. Here, the biogeographic patterns of T4‐like viruses and the relative impacts of deterministic (environmental selection) and dispersal (spatial distance) proce...

Summary A LuxI/R‐like quorum sensing (QS) system (AfeI/R) has been reported in the acidophilic and chemoautotrophic Acidithiobacillus spp. However, the function of AfeI/R remains unclear because of the difficulties in the genetic manipulation of these bacteria. Here, we constructed different afeI mutants of the sulfur‐ and iron‐oxidizer A . ferrooxidans , identified the N‐acyl homoserine lactones (acyl‐HSLs) synthesized by Afe...

Summary Nitric oxide (NO) is an important signalling molecule in stress response of organisms. We previously reported that NO decreases heat stress (HS)‐induced ganoderic acid (GA) accumulation in Ganoderma lucidum . To explore the mechanisms by which NO modulates GA biosynthesis under HS, the effect of NO on the reactive oxygen species (ROS) content was examined. The results showed that NO decreased the production of mitochon...

Summary In our previous study, we found that pumilacidin‐like cyclic lipopeptides (CLPs) derived from marine bacterium Bacillus sp. strain 176 significantly suppressed the mobile capability and virulence of Vibrio alginolyticus . Here, to further disclose the mechanism of CLPs inhibiting the motility of V . alginolyticus , we first applied transcriptomic analysis to V . alginolyticus treated with or without CLPs. The transcrip...

Summary The HprK serine kinase is a component of the phosphoenolpyruvate phosphotransferase system (PTS) of bacteria that generally regulates catabolite repression through phosphorylation/dephosphorylation of the PTS protein PtsH at a conserved serine residue. However, many bacteria do not encode a complete PTS or even have an HprK homologue. Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris ( Xcc ) is a pathogen that cause black rot dise...

Summary Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a common disease worldwide that is strongly associated with the gut microbiota. However, little is known regarding the gut microbiota after surgical treatment. 16S rRNA gene sequencing was used to evaluate differences in gut microbiota among colorectal adenoma patients, CRC patients, CRC postoperative patients and healthy controls by comparing gut microbiota diversity, overall composition and...

Summary The ADP ribosylation factor (Arf) and the coat protein complex I (COPI) are involved in vesicle transport. Together with GTPase‐activating proteins (ArfGAPs) and guanine exchange factors (ArfGEFs) that regulate the activity of Arf, they govern vesicle formation, COPI trafficking and the maintenance of the Golgi complex. In an ongoing effort to study the role of membrane trafficking in pathogenesis of the rice blast fun...

Summary Ganoderma lucidum is one of the most important medicinal fungi, but the lack of basic study on the fungus has hindered the further development of its value. To investigate the roles of the redox system in G. lucidum , acetic acid (HAc) was applied as a reactive oxygen species (ROS) stress inducer, and hydrogen‐rich water (HRW) was used to relieve the ROS stress in this study. Our results demonstrate that the treatment...

Summary The biosynthesis of mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (DON) in Fusarium graminearum is regulated by two pathway‐specific transcription factors Tri6 and Tri10 and affected by various host and environmental factors. In this study, we showed that cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) treatment induced DON production by stimulating TRI gene expression and DON‐associated cellular differentiation in F. graminearum . Interestingly, ex...

Summary Viruses have been detected in the different stages of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) at concentrations of 10 8 –10 10 ml −1 of virus‐like particles (VLPs), 10–1000 times higher than in natural aquatic environments, suggesting that WWTPs can be considered as an important reservoir and source of viruses. This study revealed novel diversity and function with the DNA viral communities in the influent, activated sludge...