The tart green Granny smith apples benefit the growth of friendly bacteria in the colon due to their high content of nondigestible compounds including dietary fiber and polyphenols and low content of available carbohydrates.
Once there they are fermented by bacteria in the colon which benefits the growth of friendly bacteria in the gut.
The study showed that Granny smith apples surpass Braeburn Fuji Gala Golden delicious Mcintosh and Red delicious in the amount of nondigestible compounds they contain.
The nondigestible compounds in the Granny smith apples actually changed the proportions of fecal bacteria from obese mice to be similar to that of lean mice Noratto said.
The balance of bacterial communities in the colon of obese people is disturbed. This results in microbial byproducts that lead to inflammation and influence metabolic disorders associated with obesity Noratto said.
What determines the balance of bacteria in our colon is the food we consume she said.
Reestablishing a healthy balance of bacteria in the colon stabilizes metabolic processes that influence inflammation and the sensation of feeling satisfied
#Plants prepackage beneficial microbes in their seedsplants have a symbiotic relationship with certain bacteria. These'commensal'bacteria help the pants extract nutrients
and defend against invaders--an important step in preventing pathogens from contaminating fruits and vegetables. Now scientists have discovered that plants may package their commensal bacteria inside of seeds;
thus ensuring that sprouting plants are colonized from the beginning. The researchers from the University of Notre dame presented their findings at the 5th ASM Conference on Beneficial Microbes.
Plants play host to a wide variety of bacteria; the plant microbiome. Just as in humans the plant microbiome is shaped by the types of bacteria that successfully colonize the plant's ecosystem.
Most of these bacteria are symbiotic drawing from and providing for the plant in ways such as nitrogen-fixing and leaf-protection.
Pathogenic bacteria may also colonize a plant. Pathogens can include viruses and bacteria that damage the plant itself or bacteria like the Shiga-toxin producing E coli O104:
H4. In 2011 Germany France and The netherlands experienced an outbreak of E coli that was traced ultimately to the consumption of contaminated sprouts
which was thought to be caused by feral pigs in the growing area. Such opportunistic contamination is hard to guard against as most growing takes place in open outdoor spaces with little opportunity for control.
The hypothesis behind this research is that the best way to defend against pathogenic contamination is with a healthy microbiome colonized by bacteria provide protection from invasive pathogens.
Just as with babies early colonization is crucial to establishing a beneficial microbiome. The researchers led by Dr. Shaun Lee looked inside sterilized mung beans
and were able to isolate a unique strain of Bacillus pumilus that provides the bean with enhanced microbial protection.
This was a genuine curiosity that my colleague and I had about whether commensal bacteria could be found in various plant sources including seed supplies said Dr. Lee.
The fact that we could isolate and grow a bacterium that was packaged inside a seed was quite surprising.
The researchers first sterilized and tested the outer portion of a sealed whole seed. When that was determined to be sampled sterile they
and placed them in bacterial agar which they incubated. What they found was the new strain of Bacillus pumilus a unique highly motile Gram-positive bacterium capable of colonizing the mung bean plant without causing any harm.
Genome sequencing revealed that the isolated B. pumilus contained three unique gene clusters for the production of antimicrobial peptide compounds known as bacteriocins.
Legumes such as soybean plants have the capacity to form mutually beneficial relationships with bacteria in the soil to fix nitrogen.
The plant houses the bacteria in a structure where the biochemical conditions are conducive for the bacteria to fix nitrogen Subramanian said.
The plant provides the bacteria with carbohydrates and gets nitrogen in return The bacteria called Rhizobium enter the root cells of young plants
and trigger the formation of nodules to house the bacteria he explained. Within the nodules two distinct zones--one that fixes the nitrogen
and another that transports it to the plant--are formed from the same preexisting root cells.
A group of German and French scientists under the direction of the Goethe University Frankfurt have discovered that the smell of white truffles is produced largely by soil bacteria
Yeasts and bacteria which make cheese and wine have been researched in depth but little is known about how the flavour of other organisms including truffles is created.
Over the past 10 years researchers already suspected that microorganisms trapped inside truffle fruiting bodies contributed to the flavour.
The researchers were able to show that bacteria produce a specific class of volatile cyclic sulphur compounds
We don't just want to know which part of the truffle flavour is produced by bacteria. We are interested also in how the symbiosis between fungi
and microorganisms has evolved and how this benefits both symbiotic partners. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Goethe-Universitã¤t Frankfurt am Main.
A dairy cow becomes restless four hours after it contracts bacterial mastitis. Simultaneously the other symptoms of a steadily progressing inflammation such as increased body temperature
The biological control agent contains spores of a parasitic fungus that prevents another fungus that causes the brown rot from colonising the flower.
#Search for better biofuels microbes leads to human gutscientists have scoured cow rumens and termite guts for microbes that can efficiently break down plant cell walls for the production of next-generation biofuels
but some of the best microbial candidates actually may reside in the human lower intestine researchers report.
Their study reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences is the first to use biochemical approaches to confirm the hypothesis that microbes in the human gut can digest fiber breaking it down into simple sugars
The human microbes appear to be endowed with enzymes that break down a complex plant fiber component more efficiently than the most efficient microbes found in the cow rumen the researchers report.
Their work in cows led the researchers to the human microbes said University of Illinois animal sciences
In looking for biofuels microbes in the cow rumen we found that Prevotella bryantii a bacterium that is known to efficiently break down (the plant fiber) hemicellulose gears up production of one gene more than others
When searching a database for similar genes in other organisms the researchers found them in microbes from the human gut.
The team focused on two of these human microbes Bacteroides intestinalis and Bacteroides ovatus which belong to the same bacterial phylum as Prevotella from the cow.
We expressed the human gut bacterial enzymes and found that for some related enzymes the human ones actually were more active (in breaking down hemicellulose) than the enzymes from the cow Cann said.
When the researchers looked more closely at the structure of the human enzymes they saw something unusual:
The study points to human microbes as a potentially potent source of microbes that can aid in biofuels production Cann said.
In addition to finding microbes in the cow rumen and termite gut it looks like we can actually make some contributions ourselves he said.
#Maternal breast milk is risk factor for cytomegalovirus transmission in premature infantspremature infants especially those born with very low-birth-weight (VLBW) are particularly vulnerable to cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection because of their immature immune systems.
but new research says the aroma also summons beneficial insects to the rescue. â#oewhen there is need for protection the plant signals the environment via the emission of volatile organic compounds which are recognized as a feeding queue for parasitic wasps to come to the plant that is being eaten
And thatâ##s when they observed that the parasitic wasps didnâ##t pay attention to plants without the green leaf volatile. â#oethere are actually two roles for this moleculeâ#he said. â#oefirst it activates the jasmonate hormone
Then this molecule since it is a volatile attracts parasitic wasps. They come to the plant that is being chewed up by insect herbivores
when you delete these volatiles parasitic wasps are attracted no longer to that planteven when an insect chews on the leaf.
because they send an SOS-type signal that results in attraction of parasitic wasps. â#Kolomiets tested the phenomena both in the lab
#Lymphatic fluid used for first time to detect bovine paratuberculosisparatuberculosis also known as Johne's disease is caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP.
During this time infected animals shed the bacteria putting the health of the entire herd at risk.
Lymphatic fluid suitable for early testingthe bacterium MAP enters the body via the intestine and is passed to the animal's macrophages.
Just a few millilitres are enough to detect the bacterium using PCR (polymerase chain reaction) in the lymph.
#For legume plants, a new route from shoot to roota new study shows that legume plants regulate their symbiotic relationship with soil bacteria by using cytokinins--signaling molecules--that are transmitted through the plant structure from leaves
into the roots to control the number of bacteria-holding nodules in the roots. This collaborative study was conducted by researchers from the National Institute for Basic Biology the Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI) and the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science in Japan.
they develop a symbiotic relationship with nitrogen-fixing bacteria called rhizobia allowing the bacteria to infect them within special structures known as nodules that are located along their roots.
#Each tree species has unique bacterial identity, microbiome research showseach tree species has its own bacterial identity.
That's the conclusion of University of Oregon researchers and colleagues from other institutions who studied the genetic fingerprints of bacteria on 57 species of trees growing on a Panamanian island.
This study demonstrates for the first time that host plants from different plant families and with different ecological strategies possess very different microbial communities on their leaves said lead author Steven W. Kembel a former postdoctoral researcher in the UO's Institute of Ecology
For the research--published this week in the online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences--researchers gathered bacterial samples from 57 of the more than 450 tree species growing in a lowland tropical forest
Using DNA sequencing technology housed at the UO's Genomics Core Facility scientists sequenced the bacterial 16s RIBOSOMAL RNA gene isolated from the samples.
and measure the diversity of bacteria based on millions of DNA fragments produced from bacterial communities collected from the surfaces of leaves said Jessica Green a professor at both the UO and Santa fe Institute.
Some bacteria were very abundant and present on every leaf in the forest while others were rare and only found on the leaves of a single host species Kembel said.
Each tree species of tree possessed a distinctive community of bacteria on its leaves. In the world of microbiology plant leaves are considered to be a habitat known as the phyllosphere.
They are host to millions of bacteria Kembel said. These bacteria can have important effects--both positive
and negative--on the health and functioning of their host plants he said. For example while some bacteria on leaves cause disease others may protect the plant against pathogens or produce hormones that increase plant growth rates.
In the animal microbiome the researchers noted studies comparing large numbers of species have shown that host diet--for example herbivory
We found that the abundance of some bacterial taxa was correlated with the growth mortality and function of the host Kembel said.
These included bacteria involved in nitrogen fixing and the consumption of methane as well as bacteria linked to soil and water.
Dominating the bacterial communities were a core microbiome of taxa including Actinobacteria Alpha-Beta-and Gamma-proteobacteria and Sphingobacteria.
Some types of bacteria the researcher found were more abundant when growing on the leaves of fast-growing or slow-growing tree species or on leaves with different concentrations of elements such as nitrogen or phosphorus. Because of the importance of the microbiome for the growth and function of the host understanding the factors
that influence bacteria on the leaves of different trees could have important implications for our ability to model
and conserve biological diversity and ecosystem function Kembel said. Ultimately we hope that understanding the factors that explain variation in bacterial abundances across host species will help us better manage biological diversity in forests and the health and function of forest ecosystems.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by University of Oregon. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
and gut microbes influence processes from digestion to disease resistance. Despite the fact that tropical forests are the most biodiverse terrestrial ecosystems on the planet more is known about bellybutton bacteria than bacteria on trees in the tropics.
Smithsonian scientists and colleagues working on Panama's Barro Colorado Island discovered that small leaf samples from a single tree were home to more than 400 different kinds of bacteria.
The combined sample from 57 tree species contained more than 7000 different kinds. Bacteria in tropical forests may also play a vital role protecting leaves against pathogens
and even affecting the ability of forests to respond to climate change. Just as people are realizing that microbes carried by humans can have an influence on a person's health--positive
or negative--we hope to discover what bacteria on tree leaves can tell us about the health of a forest said S. Joseph Wright a Smithsonian scientist
and co-author of the new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
In contrast to a previous study of bacteria on leaves in a temperate forest where different leaves had different bacteria there was a core group of species of common bacteria present on leaves of nearly all of the species sampled in Panama.
Just as on human skin many of the bacteria on tropical tree leaves were Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria.
The researchers from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute University of Quebec University of Arizona University of Oregon University of California--Los angeles and Santa fe Institute also looked for relationships between the composition of bacterial communities
Many bacteria were associated with certain functional traits such as leaf thickness wood density or leaf nitrogen content characteristics that directly impact tree growth survival and reproduction.
The relationships between many of the bacteria and tree species they sampled were ancient going back to the ancestors of both the bacteria
Our ability to use molecular techniques like 16s RIBOSOMAL RNA gene sequencing to characterize nearly all of the bacteria on a leaf is going to make it possible to see how very different members of forest communities interact said Wright.
The parasite Cystoisospora suis damages the intestinal mucosa to such a degree that it threatens the growth and survival of the pigs.
The results were published in the journal Parasite Immunology. Porcine neonatal coccidiosis is a serious parasitic infection of young piglets that severely damages the intestinal mucosa leading to diarrhea and reduced nutritional intake.
As the infection reduces animal growth and because secondary infections can result in increased mortality the disease is responsible for substantial economic losses at affected pig farms.
The developing immune system of neonatal piglets is not yet mature enough to deal with the parasites.
The parasite thus triggers the activation of the immune system. Our research shows which signalling pathways could be involved.
They deliberately infected sows with the parasites during gestation in order to increase the antibody levels in the maternal animals.
Plant parasitic nematodes are microorganisms that feed on the nutrients absorbed by the roots of plants;
The product affected certain gut bacteria without changing the global composition of the microbial community.
Fermented foods and especially yoghurts contain large amounts of live bacteria. We have been consuming them
Until recently technological barriers prevented from studying in details the billions of bacteria living in our gut.
and resulted in the discovery of many bacterial species hitherto unknown. Building on these new technologies teams from INRA and Danone Nutricia Research succeeded in analyzing for the first time with great accuracy the effects of consuming a fermented milk product containing probiotics such as Bifidobacterium lactis on gut bacteria.
In this study we studied the effect of the product on individuals afflicted with Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) a pathology affecting 20%of the population in industrialized countries says Dusko Ehrlich who led the research at INRA.
Researchers observed that upon intake of this fermented milk product comprised of probiotics the abundance of certain bacteria naturally producing butyrate increased though the global composition of the flora remained unchanged.
Previous studies have shown a decrease in butyrate producing bacteria in IBS individuals. Moreover the scientists observed a decrease of Bilophila wadsworthia bacteria
which is thought to be involved in the development of intestinal diseases. This pilot study on 28 individuals leads to relevant and reliable scientific hypotheses relating health
Up until now it was impossible to study the impact of probiotics on gut microbiota at a bacterial species level;
Probiotics are live microorganisms which when administered in adequate amounts confer a health beneï t on the host beyond the common nutritional effects (FAO/WHO 2001).
because it contains a bacterium closely related to some of the bacteria found on human skin.
This bacterium produces an aromatic compound also found in human foot odor and that is what attracted the mosquitoes.
The source of the aromatic compounds that produce body odor are bacterial colonies that exist on human skin particularly in dark moist areas such as the arm pits and between the toes.
#Hog workers carry drug-resistant bacteria even after they leave the farma new study suggests that nearly half of workers who care for animals in large industrial hog farming operations may be carrying home livestock-associated bacteria in their noses
and that this potentially harmful bacteria remains with them up to four days after exposure. Researchers had believed that livestock-associated bacteria would clear from the noses of hog workers quickly--within 24 hours.
But this small study of hog workers in North carolina reported online Sept. 8 in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine suggests it can stick around longer.
Much of the Staphylococcus aureus bacteria they carried were antibiotic resistant likely due to the use of drugs both to treat sick hogs
The longer the bacteria stick around in workers'noses the researchers say the greater the opportunity for them to potentially spread to hog workers'families their communities
and even into hospitals where the bacteria have been associated with an increased risk of staph infections.
not only how persistence of this drug-resistant bacteria may impact the health of the workers themselves
In Europe the children of livestock workers have been treated for infections caused by a new livestock-associated strain of MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) that doesn't match the more widely found community-or hospital-associated strains.
Researchers later analyzed 327 separate nose swabs to see what kind of Staph bacteria they found
or humans and whether the bacteria were drug resistant. Eighty-six percent of the hog workers--19 of them--carried at least one type of Staphylococcus aureus at some point during the study period
while 16 of them (73 percent) carried the livestock-associated strain at some point. In contrast only about one-third of the general population carry a strain of Staphylococcus aureus associated with humans.
But 10 of the 22 workers (46 percent) were what the researchers call persistent carriers of livestock-associated Staph meaning they had these strains in their noses all
or all but one of the times they provided samples even after leaving work at the animal confinements.
Researchers found that even after up to four days away from the hog operation the bacteria were still present in workers'noses.
Garden-variety staph are common bacteria that can live in our bodies without consequence. When they do cause infection most aren't life threatening
But staph can also cause more serious skin infections or infect surgical wounds the bloodstream the lungs or the urinary tract.
Strains of staph like MRSA which are resistant to some antibiotics can be the most damaging
MRSA is particularly dangerous in hospitals where the bacteria are hard to get rid of and the people there are the most vulnerable.
whether hog workers with persistent drug-resistant bacteria are spreading it to their family members and communities.
To do that we need to learn more not just about how long workers carry bacteria in their noses
Persistence of livestock-associated antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus among industrial hog operation workers in North carolina over 14 days was written by Maya Nadimpalli Jessica L. Rinsky Steve Wing Devon
#Bacteria from bees possible alternative to antibioticsraw honey has been used against infections for millennia before honey--as we now know it--was manufactured
Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have identified a unique group of 13 lactic acid bacteria found in fresh honey from the honey stomach of bees.
The bacteria produce a myriad of active antimicrobial compounds. These lactic acid bacteria have now been tested on severe human wound pathogens such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) Pseudomonas aeruginosa and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) among others.
When the lactic acid bacteria were applied to the pathogens in the laboratory it counteracted all of them.
While the effect on human bacteria has only been tested in a lab environment thus far the lactic acid bacteria has been applied directly to horses with persistent wounds.
The LAB was mixed with honey and applied to ten horses; where the owners had tried several other methods to no avail.
Antibiotics are mostly one active substance effective against only a narrow spectrum of bacteria. When used alive these 13 lactic acid bacteria produce the right kind of antimicrobial compounds as needed depending on the threat.
It seems to have worked well for millions of years of protecting bees'health and honey against other harmful microorganisms.
However since store-bought honey doesn't contain the living lactic acid bacteria many of its unique properties have been lost in recent times explains Tobias Olofsson.
The next step is further studies to investigate wider clinical use against topical human infections as well as on animals.
Previous studies have suggested that microbes found in rural settings can protect from asthma. An animal skin might also be a reservoir for various kinds of microbes following similar mechanisms as has been observed in rural environments.
Our findings have confirmed that it is crucial to study further the actual microbial environment within the animal fur to confirm these associations.
Streptomycin in addition to being used a drug to fight disease is used also as a pesticide in fruit to combat the growth of bacteria fungi and algae.
The laboratory recreation of a fungus-derived antibiotic viridicatumtoxin B may someday help bolster the fight against bacteria that evolve resistance to treatments in hospitals and clinics around the world.
They proved potent in initial tests on Gram-positive bacteria so named for a staining technique to mark bacteria that are more susceptible to antibiotics than their Gram-negative counterparts.
The first tetracyclines discovered in the late 1940s ushered in a new class of powerful antibacterial agents to treat high-mortality diseases among them anthrax and plague as well as such bacterial infections as chlamydia syphilis and Lyme disease.
but bacteria are building resistance to a lot of them Nicolaou said. This new tetracycline is not plentiful in nature
The lab turned synthetic samples over to biologist Shamoo and his group for testing against a number of bacterial strains and comparison with natural viridicatumtoxin B. This was very exciting for us said Nicolaou who moved his lab from the Scripps Research Institute
In order to investigate the biological properties of our synthesized compounds we turned to the Shamoo laboratory for its expertise in the area of antibiotics and drug-resistant bacteria.
and analogs lacking a hydroxyl group were even more effective against the same Gram-positive bacteria. The results also suggested the possibility of making variants by modifying certain domains of the molecule to improve its overall pharmacological properties.
and poultry because these products are the source of two main bacteria: salmonella and campylobacterâ#Koppel said.
These bacteria lead to many cases of foodborne illness and we need a better understanding of food handling practices to find the risky behaviors that may lead to contamination.
Food safety regulations vary by country. The research found that most consumers purchase their eggs from the supermarket with the exception of Argentina where consumers get their eggs from the regular open-air market.
If you use the sponge that you use to wash dishes research has shown that those sponges actually contain a lot of other bacteria
Crop pests include fungi bacteria viruses insects nematodes viroids and oomycetes. The research published in the journal Global Ecology
Ancient conversation between plants, fungi and bacteriathe mechanical force that a single fungal cell or bacterial colony exerts on a plant cell may seem vanishingly small
when fairly strong stimuli are applied to the entire growing root says Anã who just published a review of touch in the interaction between plants and microbes in the journal Current Opinion in Plant Biology.
We are looking at much more localized tiny stimuli on a single cell that is applied by microbes.
and also bacteria in symbiotic associations use a mechanical stimulation to indicate their presence says Anã.
Mechanical signaling is only part of the story--microbes and plants also communicate with chemicals says Anã.
Beyond fungi some plants engage in symbiosis with bacteria called rhizobia that fix nitrogen from the atmosphere making it available to the plant.
When Anã and his colleagues looked closer they found that rhizobium symbiosis also employs mechanical stimulation.
When the bacterium first contacts a root hair the hair curls around the bacterium trapping it.
But why would nature develop such a complicated mechanism to entrap a bacterial colony? Anã asks.
We propose the purpose is to apply mechanical stimulation so the plant will start building a home for the rhizobium--for mutual benefit.
when the plant gets a chemical signal from the bacterium --but the growing tube inside the root hair that accepts the bacteria requires something else
and nobody knew what. We propose it's a mechanical stimulation created by entrapping which gives the bacterial colony a way to push against the root.
In many respects this symbiosis parallels the older one between plants and beneficial fungi Anã says.
and then used it again for bacteria. This dual requirement for chemical and mechanical signals is present in both associations
Overtext Web Module V3.0 Alpha
Copyright Semantic-Knowledge, 1994-2011