Download or read book Symbiotic Interactions Among Protists Archaea and Bacteria in Low Oxygen Environments written by Marissa Brett Hirst and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the natural world, most bacteria, archaea, and microbial eukaryotes live in close association with other microbes, and are often key symbiotic residents in protists (single-celled microbial eukaryotes excluding fungi) as well as multicellular eukaryotic hosts. Symbiosis, or "the living together of unlike organisms," has been a major driving force in shaping the evolution of the eukaryotic cell. Partnerships between eukaryotes and microorganisms are important because they have a wide taxonomic distribution across the tree of life, suggesting that symbioses play an essential role in the evolution of the species involved. Symbiosis-specific genes, pathways, and structures have also been identified, which are a direct result of evolution favoring the maintenance of the partnership. Lastly, microorganisms make up the greatest biomass and are also responsible for the most complex biochemical reactions on Earth, which makes symbioses between microbes and eukaryotes crucial for driving the evolution of communities. One common misconception regarding microbial eukaryotes is that they are absent from anaerobic environments, but in fact, they are common in a variety of anaerobic habitats including tidal marshes, microbial mats, anoxic marine basins, and the guts of many animals. Although the eukaryotic lineage of the tree of life is primarily composed of single-celled microbial eukaryotes, little is known about free-living protists (with the exception of pathogens). The second chapter of this dissertation focuses on a successful, new method used to describe the diversity of protists in diverse environments by linking culture-independent small subunit ribosomal RNA (SSU rRNA) sequencing to the morphology of protists. Anaerobic environments are habitats that are strongly influenced by microbially-mediated, symbiosis driven biogeochemical cycling. Many microorganisms cannot perform anaerobic respiration, but instead, ferment organic acids and generate ATP in the process. In anaerobic habitats; however, a single fermenting microbe cannot completely catabolize carbon substrates to carbon dioxide without the concerted activity with other microbial anaerobes. In this regard, one microbe lives off of the byproducts of another microorganism and neither microbe could survive on its own. This type of mutualism is known as syntrophy and is a thermodynamically interdependent lifestyle. One environment in which anaerobic microbial eukaryotes are prevalent and have intimate partnerships with bacteria and archaea, is the cow rumen. Rumen ciliates ferment organic acids to acetate or other volatile fatty acids while producing ATP and generating carbon dioxide and dihydrogen. Fermentation by rumen ciliates is an endergonic reaction in the rumen, but becomes exergonic when it is coupled to methanogenesis. Methanogens utilize carbon dioxide as a carbon source and dihydrogen as an energy source; the coupling of fermentation and methanogenesis is known as "interspecies hydrogen transfer" (IHT). IHT is known to occur between free-living methanogens and rumen ciliates, but a syntrophic symbiosis between ciliates and methanogens has not been confirmed in the literature. The third chapter of this dissertation identifies and describes the underlying metabolism of the first two putative, obligate, endosymbiotic methanogenic archaea in ciliates using fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS), metagenomic sequencing, assembly, and annotation, and rRNA-targeted fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH). Lastly, symbioses between bacteria in anaerobic environments can drive cycling in anoxic marine environments, and in particular Oxygen Minimum Zones (OMZs). In suboxic waters and OMZs specifically, denitrification (conversion of nitrate to dinitrogen) is limited by the diffusive flux of nitrate from water into the overlying sediments; however, the production of dinitrogen occurs below these limits, suggesting that an alternative, microbiologically driven metabolic process may be responsible for the loss of nitrogen from OMZs. Anammox bacteria are present in OMZs and gain valuable free energy by reducing ammonium to nitrite while producing dinitrogen (NO3− [arrow right] NO2− [arrow right] NH4+). In addition, Thioploca (macroscopic bacteria) are found in OMZs, and are chemolithoautotrophic sulfur-oxiding proteobacteria that glide vertically through marine sediments. Thioploca couples sulfide oxidation with dissimilatory nitrate/nitrite reduction at depth (NO3− + H2S + H2O [arrow right] SO4−2 + NH4+) but also converts large stores of nitrate to nitrite and generates elemental sulfur that it stores in vacuoles within its cells (NO3− + H2S [arrow right] NO2− + S0 + H2O). Based on geochemical and isotopic observations, a symbiosis between anammox bacteria and Thioploca was hypothesized to be the driving force behind the loss of dinitrogen from marine sediments underlying OMZs. The last chapter of this dissertation provides molecular (SSU rRNA sequence data), microscopic data (rRNA-targeted FISH), and isotopic evidence supporting the hypothesis that there is a symbiosis between Thioploca and anammox bacteria, responsible for upwards of 20% nitrogen loss from OMZs.

Download or read book The Social Biology of Microbial Communities written by Institute of Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2013-01-10 with total page 633 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beginning with the germ theory of disease in the 19th century and extending through most of the 20th century, microbes were believed to live their lives as solitary, unicellular, disease-causing organisms . This perception stemmed from the focus of most investigators on organisms that could be grown in the laboratory as cellular monocultures, often dispersed in liquid, and under ambient conditions of temperature, lighting, and humidity. Most such inquiries were designed to identify microbial pathogens by satisfying Koch's postulates.3 This pathogen-centric approach to the study of microorganisms produced a metaphorical "war" against these microbial invaders waged with antibiotic therapies, while simultaneously obscuring the dynamic relationships that exist among and between host organisms and their associated microorganisms-only a tiny fraction of which act as pathogens. Despite their obvious importance, very little is actually known about the processes and factors that influence the assembly, function, and stability of microbial communities. Gaining this knowledge will require a seismic shift away from the study of individual microbes in isolation to inquiries into the nature of diverse and often complex microbial communities, the forces that shape them, and their relationships with other communities and organisms, including their multicellular hosts. On March 6 and 7, 2012, the Institute of Medicine's (IOM's) Forum on Microbial Threats hosted a public workshop to explore the emerging science of the "social biology" of microbial communities. Workshop presentations and discussions embraced a wide spectrum of topics, experimental systems, and theoretical perspectives representative of the current, multifaceted exploration of the microbial frontier. Participants discussed ecological, evolutionary, and genetic factors contributing to the assembly, function, and stability of microbial communities; how microbial communities adapt and respond to environmental stimuli; theoretical and experimental approaches to advance this nascent field; and potential applications of knowledge gained from the study of microbial communities for the improvement of human, animal, plant, and ecosystem health and toward a deeper understanding of microbial diversity and evolution. The Social Biology of Microbial Communities: Workshop Summary further explains the happenings of the workshop.

Download or read book The Prokaryotes written by Edward F. DeLong and published by Springer. This book was released on 2014-10-13 with total page 567 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Prokaryotes is a comprehensive, multi-authored, peer reviewed reference work on Bacteria and Achaea. This fourth edition of The Prokaryotes is organized to cover all taxonomic diversity, using the family level to delineate chapters. Different from other resources, this new Springer product includes not only taxonomy, but also prokaryotic biology and technology of taxa in a broad context. Technological aspects highlight the usefulness of prokaryotes in processes and products, including biocontrol agents and as genetics tools. The content of the expanded fourth edition is divided into two parts: Part 1 contains review chapters dealing with the most important general concepts in molecular, applied and general prokaryote biology; Part 2 describes the known properties of specific taxonomic groups. Two completely new sections have been added to Part 1: bacterial communities and human bacteriology. The bacterial communities section reflects the growing realization that studies on pure cultures of bacteria have led to an incomplete picture of the microbial world for two fundamental reasons: the vast majority of bacteria in soil, water and associated with biological tissues are currently not culturable, and that an understanding of microbial ecology requires knowledge on how different bacterial species interact with each other in their natural environment. The new section on human microbiology deals with bacteria associated with healthy humans and bacterial pathogenesis. Each of the major human diseases caused by bacteria is reviewed, from identifying the pathogens by classical clinical and non-culturing techniques to the biochemical mechanisms of the disease process. The 4th edition of The Prokaryotes is the most complete resource on the biology of prokaryotes. The following volumes are published consecutively within the 4th Edition: Prokaryotic Biology and Symbiotic Associations Prokaryotic Communities and Ecophysiology Prokaryotic Physiology and Biochemistry Applied Bacteriology and Biotechnology Human Microbiology Actinobacteria Firmicutes Alphaproteobacteria and Betaproteobacteria Gammaproteobacteria Deltaproteobacteria and Epsilonproteobacteria Other Major Lineages of Bacteria and the Archaea

Download or read book Environmental Microbiology Fundamentals and Applications written by Jean-Claude Bertrand and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-01-26 with total page 933 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a treatise on microbial ecology that covers traditional and cutting-edge issues in the ecology of microbes in the biosphere. It emphasizes on study tools, microbial taxonomy and the fundamentals of microbial activities and interactions within their communities and environment as well as on the related food web dynamics and biogeochemical cycling. The work exceeds the traditional domain of microbial ecology by revisiting the evolution of cellular prokaryotes and eukaryotes and stressing the general principles of ecology. The overview of the topics, authored by more than 80 specialists, is one of the broadest in the field of environmental microbiology. The overview of the topics, authored by more than 80 specialists, is one of the broadest in the field of environmental microbiology.

Download or read book Soil Protists written by Stefan Geisen and published by Sudwestdeutscher Verlag Fur Hochschulschriften AG. This book was released on 2015-10-13 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Protists are by far the most diverse and abundant eukaryotes in soils. Nevertheless, very little is known about individual representatives, the diversity and community composition and ecological functioning of these important organisms. For instance, soil protists are commonly lumped into a single functional unit, i.e. bacterivores. This work tackles missing knowledge gaps on soil protists and common misconceptions using multi-methodological approaches including cultivation, microcosm experiments and environmental sequencing. In a first part, several new species and genera of amoeboid protists are described showing their immense unknown diversity. In the second part, the enormous complexity of soil protists communities is highlighted using cultivation- and sequence-based approaches. In the third part, the present of diverse mycophagous and nematophagous protists are shown in functional studies on cultivated taxa and their environmental importance supported by sequence-based approaches. This work is just a start for a promising future of soil Protistology that is likely to find other important roles of these diverse organisms.

Download or read book Symbiosis written by Joseph Seckbach and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2006-04-11 with total page 746 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Symbiosis is the fourth volume in the series Cellular Origin and Life in Extreme Habitats (COLE). Fifty experts, from over a dozen countries, review their current studies on different approaches to these phenomena. The chapters present various aspects of symbiosis from gene transfer, morphological features, and biodiversity to individual organisms sharing mutual cellular habitats. The origin of the eukaryotic phase is discussed with emphasis on cyanelles, H syntrophy, N2 fixation, and S-based symbiosis (as well as the origin of mitochondrion, chloroplast, and nucleus). All members of the three domains of life are presented for sharing symbiotic associations. This volume brings the concept of living together as `One plus One (plus One) equals One.' The purpose of this book is to introduce the teacher, researcher, scholar, and student as well as the open-minded and science-oriented reader to the global importance of this association.

Download or read book Prokaryotic Cell Wall Compounds written by Helmut König and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2010-03-18 with total page 518 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Microbial cell wall structures play a significant role in maintaining cells’ shape, as protecting layers against harmful agents, in cell adhesion and in positive and negative biological activities with host cells. All prokaryotes, whether they are bacteria or archaea, rely on their surface polymers for these multiple functions. Their surfaces serve as the indispensable primary interfaces between the cell and its surroundings, often mediating or catalyzing important interactions. Prokaryotic Cell Wall Compounds summarizes the current state of knowledge on the prokaryotic cell wall. Topics concerning bacterial and archaeal polymeric cell wall structures, biological activities, growth and inhibition, cell wall interactions and the applications of cell wall components, especially in the field of nanobiotechnology, are presented.

Download or read book Concepts of Biology written by Samantha Fowler and published by . This book was released on 2018-01-07 with total page 618 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Concepts of Biology is designed for the single-semester introduction to biology course for non-science majors, which for many students is their only college-level science course. As such, this course represents an important opportunity for students to develop the necessary knowledge, tools, and skills to make informed decisions as they continue with their lives. Rather than being mired down with facts and vocabulary, the typical non-science major student needs information presented in a way that is easy to read and understand. Even more importantly, the content should be meaningful. Students do much better when they understand why biology is relevant to their everyday lives. For these reasons, Concepts of Biology is grounded on an evolutionary basis and includes exciting features that highlight careers in the biological sciences and everyday applications of the concepts at hand.We also strive to show the interconnectedness of topics within this extremely broad discipline. In order to meet the needs of today's instructors and students, we maintain the overall organization and coverage found in most syllabi for this course. A strength of Concepts of Biology is that instructors can customize the book, adapting it to the approach that works best in their classroom. Concepts of Biology also includes an innovative art program that incorporates critical thinking and clicker questions to help students understand--and apply--key concepts.

Download or read book Biocommunication of Archaea written by Guenther Witzany and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-09-27 with total page 335 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Archaea represent a third domain of life with unique properties not found in the other domains. Archaea actively compete for environmental resources. They perceive themselves and can distinguish between ‘self’ and ‘non-self’. They process and evaluate available information and then modify their behaviour accordingly. They assess their surroundings, estimate how much energy they need for particular goals, and then realize the optimum variant. These highly diverse competences show us that this is possible owing to sign(aling)- mediated communication processes within archaeal cells (intra-organismic), between the same, related and different archaeal species (interorganismic), and between archaea and nonarchaeal organisms (transorganismic). This is crucial in coordinating growth and development, shape and dynamics. Such communication must function both on the local level and between widely separated colony parts. This allows archaea to coordinate appropriate response behaviors in a differentiated manner to their current developmental status and physiological influences. This book will orientate further investigations on how archaeal ecosphere inhabitants communicate with each other to coordinate their behavioral patterns and whats the role of viruses in this highly dynamic interactional networks.

Download or read book Microorganisms in Environmental Management written by T. Satyanarayana and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-01-02 with total page 827 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Microbes and their biosynthetic capabilities have been invaluable in finding solutions for several intractable problems mankind has encountered in maintaining the quality of the environment. They have, for example, been used to positive effect in human and animal health, genetic engineering, environmental protection, and municipal and industrial waste treatment. Microorganisms have enabled feasible and cost-effective responses which would have been impossible via straightforward chemical or physical engineering methods. Microbial technologies have of late been applied to a range of environmental problems, with considerable success. This survey of recent scientific progress in usefully applying microbes to both environmental management and biotechnology is informed by acknowledgement of the polluting effects on the world around us of soil erosion, the unwanted migration of sediments, chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and the improper treatment of human and animal wastes. These harmful phenomena have resulted in serious environmental and social problems around the world, problems which require us to look for solutions elsewhere than in established physical and chemical technologies. Often the answer lies in hybrid applications in which microbial methods are combined with physical and chemical ones. When we remember that these highly effective microorganisms, cultured for a variety of applications, are but a tiny fraction of those to be found in the world around us, we realize the vastness of the untapped and beneficial potential of microorganisms. At present, comprehending the diversity of hitherto uncultured microbes involves the application of metagenomics, with several novel microbial species having been discovered using culture-independent approaches. Edited by recognized leaders in the field, this penetrating assessment of our progress to date in deploying microorganisms to the advantage of environmental management and biotechnology will be widely welcomed.

Download or read book Endosymbiosis of Animals with Plant Microorganisms written by P. Buchner and published by . This book was released on 1965-01-15 with total page 934 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Algal symbiosis. Symbiosis with fungi and bacteria. Wrong paths in symbiosis research. Symbiosis in insects feeding on cellulose, herbaceous plant parts, seeds, and similar substances. Symbiosis in animals which live in tree sap. Symbiosis in animals which suck plant juices. Symbiosis in animals sucking vertebrate blood and feeding on corneous substances. Symbiosis in luminous animals. Cases of symbiosis localized in excretory organs. Localization of the symbionts. Methods of transmission. Embryonic and postembryonic phenomena. Correlation between host organism and symbionts. Historical problems. The signioficance of endosymbiosis.

Download or read book Processes in Microbial Ecology written by David L. Kirchman and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2012-02-02 with total page 597 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Microbial ecology is the study of interactions among microbes in natural environments and their roles in biogeochemical cycles, food web dynamics, and the evolution of life. Microbes are the most numerous organisms in the biosphere and mediate many critical reactions in elemental cycles and biogeochemical reactions. Because microbes are essential players in the carbon cycle and related processes, microbial ecology is a vital science for understanding the role of the biosphere in global warming and the response of natural ecosystems to climate change. This novel textbook discusses the major processes carried out by viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa and other protists - the microbes - in freshwater, marine, and terrestrial ecosystems. It focuses on biogeochemical processes, starting with primary production and the initial fixation of carbon into cellular biomass, before exploring how that carbon is degraded in both oxygen-rich (oxic) and oxygen-deficient (anoxic) environments. These biogeochemical processes are affected by ecological interactions, including competition for limiting nutrients, viral lysis, and predation by various protists in soils and aquatic habitats. The book neatly connects processes occurring at the micron scale to events happening at the global scale, including the carbon cycle and its connection to climate change issues. A final chapter is devoted to symbiosis and other relationships between microbes and larger organisms. Microbes have huge impacts not only on biogeochemical cycles, but also on the ecology and evolution of more complex forms of life, including Homo sapiens..

Download or read book Marine Algae written by Leonel Pereira and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2014-09-26 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is divided into three thematic areas. The first covers a revision of the taxonomy of algae, based on the algae portal, as well as the general aspects of biology and the methodologies used in this branch of marine biology. The second subject area focuses on the use of algae in environmental assessment, with an intensive implementation in Western economies and some emerging economies. The third topic is the potential use of algae in various industries including food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, agricultural fertilizers, and the emerging biofuels industries.

Download or read book Cyanobacteria in Symbiosis written by A.N. Rai and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2007-05-08 with total page 357 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cyanobacterial symbioses are no longer regarded as mere oddities but as important components of the biosphere, occurring both in terrestrial and aquatic habitats worldwide. It is becoming apparent that they can enter into symbiosis with a wider variety of organisms than hitherto known, and there are many more still to be discovered, particularly in marine environments. The chapters cover cyanobacterial symbioses with plants (algae, bryophytes, Azolla, cycads, Gunnera), cyanobacterial symbioses in marine environments, lichens, Nostoc-Geosiphon (a fungus closely related to arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi) symbiosis, and artificial associations of cyanobacteria with economically important plants. In addition, cyanobiont diversity, sensing-signalling, and evolutionary aspects of the symbiosis are dealt with. Renowned experts actively involved in research on cyanobacterial symbioses deal with ecological, physiological, biochemical, molecular, and applied aspects of all known cyanobacterial symbioses. This volume on cyanobacteria in symbiosis complements the two earlier volumes on cyanobacteria published by Kluwer (Molecular Biology of Cyanobacteria, edited by D.A. Bryant and Ecology of Cyanobacteria, edited by B.A. Whitton and M. Potts). Together, the three volumes provide the most comprehensive treatment of cyanobacterial literature as a whole. The book will serve as a valuable reference work and text for teaching and research in the field of plant-microbe interactions and nitrogen fixation.

Download or read book Algal And Cyanobacteria Symbioses written by Martin Grube and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2016-12-29 with total page 679 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Owing to their importance as primary producers of energy and nutrition, algae and cyanobacteria are found as symbiotic partners across diverse lineages of prokaryotic and eukaryotic kingdoms.Algal and Cyanobacteria Symbioses presents a compilation of recent, updated research in fields of diverse symbioses, including in marine, freshwater, and terrestrial habitats. It gives a comprehensive overview of algal and cyanobacteria symbioses, including reviews on their diversity and information on symbiotic specificity and stress tolerance. Also covered is a review of regulatory mechanisms in the communication between symbiotic partners.The highly interdisciplinary character of this book is demonstrated through the range of algae and cyanobacteria as energy-providing symbionts in organismal lineages which are discussed. It is a valuable source of knowledge for researchers, university lecturers, professors and students of biology and life sciences, specifically biochemistry, mycology, cell biology and plant-microbe interactions.

Download or read book Algal Ecology written by and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 1996-06-03 with total page 781 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Algae are an important component of aquatic benthic ecosystems because they reflect the health of their environment through their density, abundance, and diversity. This comprehensive and authoritative text is divided into three sections to offer complete coverage of the discussion in this field. The first section introduces the locations of benthic algae in different ecosystems, like streams, large rivers, lakes, and other aquatic habitats. The second section is devoted to the various factors, both biotic and abiotic, that affect benthic freshwater algae. The final section of the book focuses on the role played by algae in a variety of complex freshwater ecosystems. As concern over environmental health escalates, the keystone and pivotal role played by algae is becoming more apparent. This volume in the Aquatic Ecology Series represents an important compilation of the latest research on the crucial niche occupied by algae in aquatic ecosystems. Presents algae as the important player in relation to environmental health Prepared by leading authorities in the field Includes comprehensive treatment of the functions of benthic algae as well as the factors that affect these important aquatic organisms Acts as an important reference for anyone interested in understanding and managing freshwater ecosystems

Download or read book Nineteenth International Seaweed Symposium written by Michael A. Borowitzka and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2009-02-11 with total page 551 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Proceedings of the 19th International Seaweed Symposium provides an invaluable reference to a wide range of fields in applied phycology. Papers cover topics as diverse as the systematics, ecology, physiology, integrated multitrophic aquaculture, commercial applications, carbohydrate chemistry and applications, harvesting biology, cultivation of seaweeds and microalgae and more. Contributions from all parts of the world give the volume exceptional relevance in an increasingly global scientific and commercial climate. Like its predecessors, this volume provides a benchmark of progress in all fields of applied seaweed science and management, and will be referred to for many years to come.