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A total of 476 European isolates (310 Cryptococcus neoformans var. grubii, 150 C. neoformans var. neoformans, and 16 C. gattii species complex) from both clinical and environmental sources were analyzed by multi-locus sequence typing. Phylogenetic and population genetic analyses were performed. Sequence analysis identified 74 sequence types among C. neoformans var. neoformans (VNIV), 65 among C. neoformans var. grubii (56 VNI, 8 VNII, 1 VNB), and 5 among the C. gattii species complex (4 VGI and 1 VGIV) isolates. ST23 was the most frequent genotype (22%) among VNI isolates which were mostly grouped in a large clonal cluster including 50% of isolates. Among VNIV isolates, a predominant genotype was not identified. A high percentage of autochthonous STs were identified in both VNI (71%) and VNIV (96%) group of isolates. The 16 European C. gattii species complex isolates analyzed in the present study originated all from the environment and all belonged to a large cluster endemic in the Mediterranean area. Population genetic analysis confirmed that VNI group of isolates were characterized by low variability and clonal expansion while VNIV by a higher variability and a number of recombination events. However, when VNI and VNIV environmental isolates were compared, they showed a similar population structure with a high percentage of shared mutations and the absence of fixed mutations. Also linkage disequilibrium analysis reveals differences between clinical and environmental isolates showing a key role of PLB1 allele combinations in host infection as well as the key role of LAC1 allele combinations for survival of the fungus in the environment. The present study shows that genetic comparison of clinical and environmental isolates represents a first step to understand the genetic characteristics that cause the shift of some genotypes from a saprophytic to a parasitic life style. © 2019 Elsevier Inc.

A total of 476 European isolates (310 Cryptococcus neoformans var. grubii, 150 C. neoformans var. neoformans, and 16 C. gattii species complex) from both clinical and environmental sources were analyzed by multi-locus sequence typing. Phylogenetic and population genetic analyses were performed. Sequence analysis identified 74 sequence types among C. neoformans var. neoformans (VNIV), 65 among C. neoformans var. grubii (56 VNI, 8 VNII, 1 VNB), and 5 among the C. gattii species complex (4 VGI and 1 VGIV) isolates. ST23 was the most frequent genotype (22%) among VNI isolates which were mostly grouped in a large clonal cluster including 50% of isolates. Among VNIV isolates, a predominant genotype was not identified. A high percentage of autochthonous STs were identified in both VNI (71%) and VNIV (96%) group of isolates. The 16 European C. gattii species complex isolates analyzed in the present study originated all from the environment and all belonged to a large cluster endemic in the Mediterranean area. Population genetic analysis confirmed that VNI group of isolates were characterized by low variability and clonal expansion while VNIV by a higher variability and a number of recombination events. However, when VNI and VNIV environmental isolates were compared, they showed a similar population structure with a high percentage of shared mutations and the absence of fixed mutations. Also linkage disequilibrium analysis reveals differences between clinical and environmental isolates showing a key role of PLB1 allele combinations in host infection as well as the key role of LAC1 allele combinations for survival of the fungus in the environment. The present study shows that genetic comparison of clinical and environmental isolates represents a first step to understand the genetic characteristics that cause the shift of some genotypes from a saprophytic to a parasitic life style. C1 [Cogliati, Massimo] Univ Milan, Dip Sci Biomed Sallee, Via Pascal 36, I-20133 Milan, Italy. [Desnos-Ollivier, Marie] CNRS, UMR2000, Natl Reference Ctr Invas Mycoses & Antifungal, Inst Pasteur,Mol Mycol Unit, Paris, France. [McCormick-Smith, Ilka; Rickerts, Volker] Robert Koch Inst, Berlin, Germany. [Ferreira-Paim, Kennio; Meyer, Wieland] Univ Sydney, Marie Bashier Inst Emerging Infect Dis & Biosecur, Westmead Inst Med Res,Sydney Med Sch,Westmead Cli, Mol Mycol Res Lab,Ctr Infect Dis,Fac Med & Hlth,W, Westmead, NSW, Australia. [Ferreira-Paim, Kennio] Univ Fed Triangulo Mineiro, Dept Microbiol, Uberaba, MG, Brazil. [Boekhout, Teun; Hagen, Ferry; Theelen, Bart] Westerdijk Fungal Biodivers Inst, Utrecht, Netherlands. [Boekhout, Teun] Univ Amsterdam, IBED, Amsterdam, Netherlands. [Inacio, Joao; Alonso, Beatriz] Univ Brighton, Sch Pharm & Biomol Sci, Brighton, E Sussex, England. [Alonso, Beatriz] Hosp Gegorio Maranon, Inst Invest Sanitaria Gregorio Maranon IisGM, Madrid, Spain. [Colom, Maria F.] Univ Miguel Hernandez, Alicante, Spain. [Trilles, Luciana] Fundacao Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. [Montagna, Maria Teresa] Univ Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy. [De Donno, Antonella] Univ Salento, DiSTeBA, Lecce, Italy. [Susever, Serdar] Cyprus Near East Univ, Nicosia, Cyprus. [Ergin, Cagri] Pamukkale Univ, Denizli, Turkey. [Velegraki, Aristea] Univ Athens, Med Sch, Athens, Greece. [Ellabib, Mohamed S.] Univ Tripoli, Med Coll, Tripoli, Libya. [Nardoni, Simona] Univ Pisa, Pisa, Italy. [Macci, Cristina] CNR, Res Inst Terr Ecosystems IRET, Pisa, Italy. [Trovato, Laura] Univ Catania, Catania, Italy. [Dipineto, Ludovico] Univ Napoli Federico II, Naples, Italy. [Akcaglar, Sevim] Uludag Univ, Sch Med, Bursa, Turkey. [Mlinaric-Missoni, Emilija] Croatian Natl Inst Publ Hlth, Zagreb, Croatia. [Bertout, Sebastien] Univ Montpellier, Unite Mixte Int Rech Translat Infect VIH & Malad, Montpellier, France. [Venca, Ana C. F.] Inst Higiene & Med Trop, Lisbon, Portugal. [Sampaio, Ana C.] Univ Tras os Montes & Alto Douro, CITAB, Quinta Prados, Vila Real, Portugal. [Criseoa, Giuseppe] Univ Messina, Dept Chem Biol Pharmaceut & Environm Sci, Messina, Italy. [Ranque, Stephane] Aix Marseille Univ, IHU Mediterranee Infect, AP HM, IRD,SSA,VITROME, Marseille, France. [Cerikcioglu, Nilgun] Marmara Univ, Sch Med, Istanbul, Turkey. [Marchese, Anna] Univ Genoa, IRCCS Policlin San Martino Genova, Sez Microbiol DISC, Genoa, Italy. [Vezzulli, Luigi] Univ Genoa, Dipartimento Sci Terra Ambiente & Vita DISTAV, Genoa, Italy. [Ilkit, Macit] Univ Cukurova Saricam, Adana, Turkey. [Pasquale, Vincenzo] Univ Napoli Parthenope, Naples, Italy. [Polacheck, Itzhack] Hadassah Hebrew Univ, Med Ctr, Jerusalem, Israel. [Lockhart, Shawn R.] Ctr Dis Control & Prevent, Atlanta, GA USA.

The original article published in FEMS Yeast Research Vol. 16. Iss. 4; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/femsyr/fow045 This paper has been updated to correct a spelling error concerning an author name. It previously showed as Giuseppe Griseo, however the correct spelling is Giuseppe Criseo.

Fundamental niche prediction of Cryptococcus neoformans and Cryptococcus gattii in Europe is an important tool to understand where these pathogenic yeasts have a high probability to survive in the environment and therefore to identify the areas with high risk of infection. In this study, occurrence data for C. neoformans and C. gattii were compared by MaxEnt software with several bioclimatic conditions as well as with soil characteristics and land use. The results showed that C. gattii distribution can be predicted with high probability along the Mediterranean coast. The analysis of variables showed that its distribution is limited by low temperatures during the coldest season, and by heavy precipitations in the driest season. C. neoformans var. grubii is able to colonize the same areas of C. gattii but is more tolerant to cold winter temperatures and summer precipitations. In contrast, the C. neoformans var. neoformans map was completely different. The best conditions for its survival were displayed in sub-continental areas and not along the Mediterranean coasts. In conclusion, we produced for the first time detailed prediction maps of the species and varieties of the C. neoformans and C. gattii species complex in Europe and Mediterranean area. © 2017 Society for Applied Microbiology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Fundamental niche prediction of Cryptococcus neoformans and Cryptococcus gattii in Europe is an important tool to understand where these pathogenic yeasts have a high probability to survive in the environment and therefore to identify the areas with high risk of infection. In this study, occurrence data for C. neoformans and C. gattii were compared by MaxEnt software with several bioclimatic conditions as well as with soil characteristics and land use. The results showed that C. gattii distribution can be predicted with high probability along the Mediterranean coast. The analysis of variables showed that its distribution is limited by low temperatures during the coldest season, and by heavy precipitations in the driest season. C. neoformans var. grubii is able to colonize the same areas of C. gattii but is more tolerant to cold winter temperatures and summer precipitations. In contrast, the C. neoformans var. neoformans map was completely different. The best conditions for its survival were displayed in sub-continental areas and not along the Mediterranean coasts. In conclusion, we produced for the first time detailed prediction maps of the species and varieties of the C. neoformans and C. gattii species complex in Europe and Mediterranean area.

In order to elucidate the distribution of Cryptococcus neoformans and C. gattii in the Mediterranean basin, an extensive environmental survey was carried out during 2012-2015. A total of 302 sites located in 12 countries were sampled, 6436 samples from 3765 trees were collected and 5% of trees were found to be colonized by cryptococcal yeasts. Cryptococcus neoformans was isolated from 177 trees and C. gattii from 13. Cryptococcus neoformans colonized 27% of Ceratonia, 10% of Olea, Platanus and Prunus trees and a lower percentage of other tree genera. The 13 C. gattii isolates were collected from five Eucalyptus, four Ceratonia, two Pinus and two Olea trees. Cryptococcus neoformans was distributed all around the Mediterranean basin, whereas C. gattii was isolated in Greece, Southern Italy and Spain, in agreement with previous findings from both clinical and environmental sources. Among C. neoformans isolates, VNI was the prevalent molecular type but VNII, VNIV and VNIII hybrid strains were also isolated. With the exception of a single VGIV isolate, all C. gattii isolates were VGI. The results confirmed the presence of both Cryptococcus species in the Mediterranean environment, and showed that both carob and olive trees represent an important niche for these yeasts.

The project is conducted by the VibrioSea consortiumincluding the following institutions and leading researchers: CNES(Murielle Lafaye), MEDIAS (Jean Pierre Lacaux), CLS (JacquesStump) and IFREMER (Dominique Hervio-Hearth) from France,University of Verona (Maria del Mar Lleò), University of Genova(Carla Pruzzo) and ISMAR-CNR Venezia (Giorgio Socal) from Italyand the Institut Pasteur from Paris (Marie Laure Quilici), Morocco(Nozha Cohen), Algeria (Fouzia Mouffok) and Tunisia (Ridha BenAissa).; International audience; We carried out a 16-month in situ study to investigate the ecology of Vibrio spp. and pathogenic Vibrio species in coastal sediments of the Mediterranean Sea, employing multiple-regression analysis to reveal the major environmental factors controlling their occurrence in the benthic environment. In addition, association between vibrios and sediment-inhabiting meiofauna, which is a major component of benthic ecosystems, was investigated. Cultur-able and total Vibrio spp. estimates by most-probable-number technique coupled with standard polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and real-time PCR methods, respectively, were at least one order of magnitude higher in sediment than in seawater. In addition, potential human pathogenic species Vibrio cholerae, Vibrio vulnificus and Vibrio parahaemolyticus occurred in the sediment with V. parahaemolyticus being the most frequently found. In the pelagic environment, 60% of total variance in culturable Vibrio data was explained by sea surface temperature (40%), salinity (13%) and organic matter concentration (7%). In the benthic environment, sea surface temperature was the only factor that significantly affected culturable Vibrio occurrence although it explained only 25% of total variance, suggesting that additional unexplored factors may play a role as well. No correlation was found between culturable Vibrio spp. concentrations and the abundance of harpacticoid copepods in the sediment whilst a negative correlation was found between Vibrio spp. and nematode abundance which accounted for almost 90% of the total meiofaunal density. Taxonomic analysis revealed that selective bacterial feeders accounted for nearly 50% of the total nematode community and included genera such as Terschellingia, Molgolaimus and Halalaimus, suggesting that top-down control by nematode grazing may be an important factor affecting Vibrio occurrence in these sediments. It is concluded that the benthic marine environment may function as a reservoir of Vibrio spp. and potential pathogenic vibrios whose ecological features appeared substantially different from the ones recognised in the pelagic environment.

The original article published in FEMS Yeast Research Vol. 16. Iss. 4; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/femsyr/fow045 This paper has been updated to correct a spelling error concerning an author name. It previously showed as Giuseppe Griseo, however the correct spelling is Giuseppe Criseo. © FEMS 2016. All rights reserved.

18 pages, 8 figures, 1 table.-- This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), Marine microorganisms are involved in a variety of biogeochemical cycles and live in diverse ecological communities where they interact with each other and with other organisms to guarantee ecosystem functions. The present study focused on a shallow marine environment located in Ría de Vigo (NW, Spain), where sediment and size-fractionated plankton samples were collected from 2016 to 2018. DNA metabarcoding was used to describe the eukaryote and prokaryote composition and diversity in sediments and plankton and to depict possible associations among the most frequent and abundant organisms by co-occurrence network analysis. High eukaryote and prokaryote diversity indices were obtained in all compartments. Significant differences among eukaryote and prokaryote communities were found between sediment and plankton samples, with a high percentage of exclusive operational taxonomic units (OTUs) associated with each compartment, especially from sediment. Despite these differences, shared taxa between water and sediment were also obtained, suggesting a relatively meaningful exchange of organisms between both environmental compartments. Significant co-occurrences were mainly obtained between prokaryotes (41%), followed by eukaryotes–prokaryotes (32%) and between eukaryotes (27%). The abundant and strong positive correlations between organisms, including representatives from the sediment and the water column, suggested an essential role of biotic interactions as community-structuring factors in shallow waters where beneficial associations likely prevail. This study provides a novel approach for the detailed description of the eukaryote and prokaryote diversity and co-occurrence patterns in a shallow marine area, including both the sediment and different water-size fractions. The high diversity obtained and the detection of predominantly coexisting interactions among organisms from sediment and the overlying water column suggest a movement of species between both habitats and therefore confirm the importance of integratively studying shallow marine ecosystems, This work was supported by the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Spain (CTM2017-83362-R), Consellería de Economía, Emprego e Industria–GAIN, Xunta de Galicia (IN607B 2019/01), Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional FEDER en el marco del programa Interreg V A España – Portugal (POCTEP) 2014-(20200474_BLUEBIOLAB), VIVALDI [678589] (EU H2020), and Controlling Microbiomes Circulations for Better Food Systems” (CIRCLES) [818290] (EU H2020). RR-C wishes to thank the Axencia Galega de Innovación (GAIN, Xunta de Galicia) for her predoctoral contract (IN606A-2018/020)

After a skin injury, many complex metabolic events are triggered to ensure proper wound healing. Particularly for chronic, non-healing wounds or burns several risk factors such as persistent bacterial infections and fast dehydration can counteract the healing process. Intelligent wound dressings should help accelerate the healing process, while maintaining the wound bed clean and disinfected for several days at a time. Ideally, they should be self-adherent to both moist and dry skin surfaces and be transparent enough to allow prolonged wound inspection. These requirements pose challenges both in terms of materials science and pharmaceutics. Herein, we describe fabrication of a transparent bilayer construct for the sequential release and delivery of a cutaneous antiseptic and a widely used antibiotic, potentially suitable for wound dressing applications. The fabrication is a scalable waterborne and ecofriendly solution casting process. The first layer (for direct wound contact) is polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) containing a commercial antiseptic, Neomercurocromo® (Neo), while the second layer is a blend of hyaluronic acid (HA) and PVP containing ciprofloxacin. We show that the bilayer films have satisfactory self-adhering strength to human skin and that PVP and HA can interact via hydrogen bonds causing sustained release of the antibiotic over a period of 5 days. Biocompatibility was demonstrated on human foreskin fibroblast HFF-1 cells. Antibacterial activity was evaluated against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa while the wound resorption behavior was assessed through an in vivo full-thickness excisional wound healing mice model. These observations indicate that such bilayer constructs can be potentially implemented as wound care products for diverse range of skin wounds, including large area skin infections.

Infectious agents such as the bacteria Vibrio aestuarianus or Ostreid herpesvirus 1 have been repeatedly associated with dramatic disease outbreaks of Crassostrea gigas beds in Europe. Beside roles played by these pathogens, microbial infections in C. gigas may derive from the contribution of a larger number of microorganisms than previously thought, according to an emerging view supporting the polymicrobial nature of bivalve diseases. In this study, the microbial communities associated with a large number of C. gigas samples collected during recurrent mortality episodes at different European sites were investigated by real‐time PCR and 16SrRNA gene‐based microbial profiling. A new target enrichment next‐generation sequencing protocol for selective capturing of 884 phylogenetic and virulence markers of the potential microbial pathogenic community in oyster tissue was developed allowing high taxonomic resolution analysis of the bivalve pathobiota. Comparative analysis of contrasting C. gigas samples conducted using these methods revealed that oyster experiencing mortality outbreaks displayed signs of microbiota disruption associated with the presence of previously undetected potential pathogenic microbial species mostly belonging to genus Vibrio and Arcobacter. The role of these species and their consortia should be targeted by future studies aiming to shed light on mechanisms underlying polymicrobial infections in C. gigas. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the EU project H2020 VIVALDI Grant No. 678589. We thank all the producers and people helping with sampling collection at the farming sites. We also thank the Ifremer ECOSCOPA network for producing and maintaining the oysters in the Bay of Brest. SI

This review aims to present the current status of studies on geochemical (major minor and trace elements), biochemical (total organic carbon, total nitrogen, isotopic carbon composition, Bacteria, Archaea, phytopigments, proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, humic and fulvic acids), mineralogical (light and heavy minerals, clay minerals) and pollutant (trace metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls, pesticides, organic stannic compounds) parameters, grain-size composition and sediment-water interactions (early diagenesis and benthic fluxes) for the bottom sediments of the central and southern Adriatic Sea. The review highlighted gaps in or completeness of the parameters needed for research, of areas in which the parameters were investigated, as well as the interdisciplinary nature of the studies. In general, biogeochemical, mineralogical, grain-size and pollutant studies in the central and southern Adriatic Sea are restricted to limited areas, consider only single parameters without an interdisciplinary approach and, except for some more recent projects, are predominatly out of date. On the whole, there is a lack of an organised study concerning the various parameters for the entire central and southern Adriatic Sea and their evolution over time.