It is well known that microbial pathogens and herbivores elicit defence responses in plants. Moreover, microorganisms associated with herbivores, such as bacteria or viruses, can modulate the plant's response to herbivores. Herbivorous spider mites can harbour different species of bacterial symbionts and exert a broad range of effects on host-plant defences. Hence, we tested the extent to which...

As part of their symbiotic association with humans, intestinal bacteria sometimes need and sometimes lend a helping hand. In this Select, we examine how commensal microorganisms or the inflammation they produce cause undesirable outcomes, such as the development of type 2 diabetes or cancer. In addition, we see how commensal bacteria can receive assistance in colonization from resident phages a...

The genus Burkholderia represents a challenge to the fields of taxonomy and phylogeny and, especially, to the understanding of the contrasting roles as either opportunistic pathogens or bacteria with biotechnological potential. Few genomes of nonpathogenic strains, especially of diazotrophic symbiotic bacteria, have been sequenced to improve understanding of the genus. Here, we contribute with ...

Ensifer adhaerens is a soil bacterium that attaches to other bacteria and may cause lysis of these other bacteria. Based on the sequence of its small-subunit rRNA gene, E. adhaerens is related to Sinorhizobium spp. E. adhaerens ATCC 33499 did not nodulate Phaseolus vulgaris (bean) or Leucaena leucocephala, but with symbiotic plasmids from Rhizobium tropici CFN299 it formed nitrogen-fixing nodul...

Bacteria of the genus Photobacterium thrive worldwide in oceans and show substantially varied lifestyles, including free-living, commensal, pathogenic, symbiotic, and piezophilic. Here, we present the genome sequence of a luminous, piezophilic Photobacterium phosphoreum strain, ANT-2200, isolated from a water column at 2,200 m depth in the Mediterranean Sea. It is the first genomic sequence of ...

Arsenic and barium are ubiquitous environmental toxins that accumulate in higher trophic-level organisms. Whereas metazoans have detoxifying organs to cope with toxic metals, sponges lack organs but harbour a symbiotic microbiome performing various functions. Here we examine the potential roles of microorganisms in arsenic and barium cycles in the sponge Theonella swinhoei, known to accumulate ...

Photobacterium mandapamensis is one of three luminous Photobacterium species able to form species-specific bioluminescent symbioses with marine fishes. Here, we present the draft genome sequence of P. mandapamensis strain svers.1.1, the bioluminescent symbiont of the cardinal fish Siphamia versicolor, the first genome of a symbiotic, luminous Photobacterium species to be sequenced. Analysis of ...

Most plant lectins exhibit other properties. Some also bind plant growth regulators, the cytokinins, which are small hydrophobic molecules derivate from adenine [5,6]. They are secreted proteins and are found in vacuoles, cell walls, or intercellular spaces, of just about every plant organ [7]. Legume root lectins, are involved in the recognition and binding of Rhizobium and Brudyrhizobium sp. ...

Plant-associated bacteria exhibit a number of different strategies and specific genes allow bacteria to communicate and metabolically interact with plant tissues. Among the genes found in the genomes of plant-associated bacteria, the gene encoding the enzyme 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) deaminase (acdS) is one of the most diffused. This gene is supposed to be involved in the cleaving...