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Profiling the host-mycobiota interactions in healthy vs. diseased forest ecosystems helps understand the dynamics of understudied yet increasingly important threats to forest health that are emerging due to climate change. We analyzed the structural and functional changes of the mycobiota and the responses of Pinus contorta in the Lophodermella needle cast pathosystem through metabarcoding and metatranscriptomics. When needles transitioned from asymptomatic to symptomatic, dysbiosis of the mycobiota occurred, but with an enrichment of Lophodermella pathogens. Many pathogenicity-related genes were highly expressed by the mycobiota at the necrotrophic phase, showing an active pathogen response that are absent in asymptomatic needles. This study also revealed that Lophodermella spp. are members of a healthy needle mycobiota that have latent lifestyles suggesting that other pine needle pathogens may have similar biology. Interestingly, Pinus contorta upregulated defense genes in healthy needles, indicating response to fungal recognition, while a variety of biotic and abiotic stresses genes were activated in diseased needles. Further investigation to elucidate the possible antagonistic interplay of other biotic members leading to disease progression and/or suppression is warranted. This study provides insights into microbial interactions in non-model pathosystems and contributes to the development of new forest management strategies against emerging latent pathogens.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic is caused by a single virus, the rest of the human microbiome appears to be involved in the disease and could influence vaccine responses while offering opportunities for microbiome-directed therapeutics. The newly formed Microbiome Centers Consortium (MCC) surveyed its membership and identified four ways to leverage the strengths and experience of microbiome centers in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. To meet these needs, the MCC will provide a platform to coordinate clinical and environmental research, assist with practical obstacles, and help communicate the connections between the microbiome and COVID-19. We ask that microbiome researchers join us in these efforts to address the ongoing pandemic.

Reassortment is an evolutionary mechanism by which influenza A viruses (IAV) generate genetic novelty. Reassortment is an important driver of host jumps and is widespread according to retrospective surveillance studies. However, predicting the epidemiological risk of reassortant emergence in novel hosts from surveillance data remains challenging. IAV strains persist and co-occur in the environment, promoting co-infection during environmental transmission. These conditions offer opportunity to understand reassortant emergence in reservoir and spillover hosts. Specifically, environmental RNA could provide rich information for understanding the evolutionary ecology of segmented viruses, and transform our ability to quantify epidemiological risk to spillover hosts. However, significant challenges with recovering and interpreting genomic RNA from the environment have impeded progress towards predicting reassortant emergence from environmental surveillance data. We discuss how the fields of genomics, experimental ecology and epidemiological modelling are well positioned to address these challenges. Coupling quantitative disease models and natural transmission studies with new molecular technologies, such as deep-mutational scanning and single-virus sequencing of environmental samples, should dramatically improve our understanding of viral co-occurrence and reassortment. We define observable risk metrics for emerging molecular technologies and propose a conceptual research framework for improving accuracy and efficiency of risk prediction. This article is part of the theme issue Dynamic and integrative approaches to understanding pathogen spillover.

Extended laboratory culture and antimicrobial susceptibility testing timelines hinder rapid species identification and susceptibility profiling of bacterial pathogens associated with bovine respiratory disease, the most prevalent cause of cattle mortality in the United States. Whole-genome sequencing offers a culture-independent alternative to current bacterial identification methods, but requires a library of bacterial reference genomes for comparison. To contribute new bacterial genome assemblies and evaluate genetic diversity and variation in antimicrobial resistance genotypes, whole-genome sequencing was performed on bovine respiratory disease-associated bacterial isolates (Histophilus somni, Mycoplasma bovis, Mannheimia haemolytica, and Pasteurella multocida) from dairy and beef cattle. One hundred genomically distinct assemblies were added to the NCBI database, doubling the available genomic sequences for these four species. Computer-based methods identified 11 predicted antimicrobial resistance genes in three species, with none being detected in M. bovis While computer-based analysis can identify antibiotic resistance genes within whole-genome sequences (genotype), it may not predict the actual antimicrobial resistance observed in a living organism (phenotype). Antimicrobial susceptibility testing on 64 H. somni, M. haemolytica, and P. multocida isolates had an overall concordance rate between genotype and phenotypic resistance to the associated class of antimicrobials of 72.7% (P < 0.001), showing substantial discordance. Concordance rates varied greatly among different antimicrobial, antibiotic resistance gene, and bacterial species combinations. This suggests that antimicrobial susceptibility phenotypes are needed to complement genomically predicted antibiotic resistance gene genotypes to better understand how the presence of antibiotic resistance genes within a given bacterial species could potentially impact optimal bovine respiratory disease treatment and morbidity/mortality outcomes.

The development of mucosal vaccines has been limited and could be aided by a systems vaccinology approach to identify platforms and adjuvant strategies that induce protective immune responses. The induction of local immune responses by mucosal-delivered vaccines has been difficult to evaluate from peripheral samples, as systemic responses often do not correlate with the mucosal response. Here, we utilized transcriptomics in combination with Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) to assess innate immune activation by an oral probiotic Lactobacillus acidophilus-based vaccine platform in mice. The goal was to explore the earliest immune responses elicited after oral immunization at the Peyer's patch. Twenty-four hours after oral delivery of the L. acidophilus vaccine platform, we found an abundance of L. acidophilus at Peyer's patches and detected expression of the vaccine viral proteins and adjuvants, confirming in vivo vaccine delivery. Compared to mice orally dosed with buffer or wild-type L. acidophilus, we identified enhanced responses in immune pathways related to cytokine and gene signaling, T and B cell activation, phagocytosis, and humoral responses. While more work is needed to correlate these pathways with protection from infection and/or disease, they indicate this method's potential to evaluate and aid in the iterative development of next-generation mucosal vaccines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Primary hyperhidrosis (PH) still impacts negatively the patient’s quality of life (QoL). Progressively, it leads to poorer QoL regardless of gender. The endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy has been used safely and effectively for control of palmar hyperhidrosis, but it is still questionable in palmo-plantar type. We assessed the benefits of uniportal drainless thoracoscopic sympathectomy (UDTS) for palmo-plantar hyperhidrosis patients compared to palmar ones. This prospective study comprised 213 consecutive patients with PH. They underwent bilateral simultaneous UDTS. We used the Hyperhidrosis Disease Severity Scale (HDSS) scoring system for assessment of QoL pre- and postoperatively. Follow-up was continued for 1-year that was aiming to detect the QoL improvement, recurrence, and compensatory hyperhidrosis (CH). Results All patients experienced immediate complete resolution of hyperhidrosis postoperatively. Recurrence was encountered in one patient during the first 6 months. All patients had improved QoL postoperatively, but at the end of 1-year follow-up, 2.8% of patients were still suffering moderate to severe impaired QoL. Mean hospital stay was 31.79 ± 17.5 h. We found significant longer hospital stay in palmar group than palmo-plantar group. There was no significant difference between both groups in neither operative time, recurrence, nor CH. Conclusions UDTS offers better QoL for patients with PH even the palmo-plantar type. The palmo-plantar type benefits similarly to the palmar type in terms of comparable postoperative QoL and CH incidence.

Plant damage promotes the interaction of lipoxygenases (LOXs) with fatty acids yielding 9-hydroperoxides, 13-hydroperoxides, and complex arrays of oxylipins. The action of 13-LOX on linolenic acid enables production of 12-oxo-phytodienoic acid (12-OPDA) and its downstream products, termed "jasmonates." As signals, jasmonates have related yet distinct roles in the regulation of plant resistance against insect and pathogen attack. A similar pathway involving 9-LOX activity on linolenic and linoleic acid leads to the 12-OPDA positional isomer, 10-oxo-11-phytodienoic acid (10-OPDA) and 10-oxo-11-phytoenoic acid (10-OPEA), respectively; however, physiological roles for 9-LOX cyclopentenones have remained unclear. In developing maize (Zea mays) leaves, southern leaf blight (Cochliobolus heterostrophus) infection results in dying necrotic tissue and the localized accumulation of 10-OPEA, 10-OPDA, and a series of related 14- and 12-carbon metabolites, collectively termed "death acids." 10-OPEA accumulation becomes wound inducible within fungal-infected tissues and at physiologically relevant concentrations acts as a phytoalexin by suppressing the growth of fungi and herbivores including Aspergillus flavus, Fusarium verticillioides, and Helicoverpa zea. Unlike previously established maize phytoalexins, 10-OPEA and 10-OPDA display significant phytotoxicity. Both 12-OPDA and 10-OPEA promote the transcription of defense genes encoding glutathione S transferases, cytochrome P450s, and pathogenesis-related proteins. In contrast, 10-OPEA only weakly promotes the accumulation of multiple protease inhibitor transcripts. Consistent with a role in dying tissue, 10-OPEA application promotes cysteine protease activation and cell death, which is inhibited by overexpression of the cysteine protease inhibitor maize cystatin-9. Unlike jasmonates, functions for 10-OPEA and associated death acids are consistent with specialized roles in local defense reactions.

Rotavirus diarrhea-associated illness remains a major cause of global death in children under five, attributable in part to discrepancies in vaccine performance between high- and low-middle-income countries. Next-generation probiotic vaccines could help bridge this efficacy gap. We developed a novel recombinant Lactobacillus acidophilus (rLA) vaccine expressing rotavirus antigens of the VP8* domain from the rotavirus EDIM VP4 capsid protein along with the adjuvants FimH and FliC. The upp-based counterselective gene-replacement system was used to chromosomally integrate FimH, VP8Pep (10 amino acid epitope), and VP8-1 (206 amino acid protein) into the L. acidophilus genome, with FliC expressed from a plasmid. VP8 antigen and adjuvant expression were confirmed by flow cytometry and Western blot. Rotavirus naïve adult BALB/cJ mice were orally immunized followed by murine rotavirus strain ECWT viral challenge. Antirotavirus serum IgG and antigen-specific antibody-secreting cell responses were detected in rLA-vaccinated mice. A day after the oral rotavirus challenge, fecal antigen shedding was significantly decreased in the rLA group. These results indicate that novel rLA constructs expressing VP8 can be successfully constructed and used to generate modest homotypic protection from rotavirus challenge in an adult murine model, indicating the potential for a probiotic next-generation vaccine construct against human rotavirus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]