In natural environments microorganisms commonly exist as communities of multiple species that are capable of performing more varied and complicated tasks than clonal populations. Synthetic biologists have engineered clonal populations with characteristics such as differentiation, memory, and pattern formation, which are usually associated with more complex multicellular organisms. The prospect ...

The molecular biology revolution has brought forth significant new advances with application in microbiological analysis during wine production and storage. For example, traditional methods for microbial strain identification have been mostly supplanted in favor of ribosomal RNA-based methods for speciation of cultured yeast and bacterial populations in wine. Moreover culture-independent molecu...

Isolated, clonal populations of cells are rarely found in nature. The emergent properties of microbial consortia present a challenge for the systems approach to biology, as chances for competition, communication, or collaboration multiply with the number of interacting agents. This review focuses on recent work on intercourse within biofilms, among quorum-sensing populations, and between cross-...

Effectively and accurately assessing total microbial community diversity is one of the primary challenges in modern microbial ecology. This is particularly true with regard to the detection and characterization of unculturable populations and those present only in low abundance. We report a novel strategy, GC fractionation combined with denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (GC-DGGE), which c...

Background: Tuber aestivum Vittad., known as black summer truffle, represents high-value food especially used as garnishment in nouvelle cuisine. The aim of this study was to investigate on the viable microbial populations associated with T. aestivum ascomata collected in different sites of Sicily and one locality of Umbria (Italy). Methods: The ripe ascomata of black summer truffles were coll...

The soil environment immediately around a root frequently has a larger number of microorganisms compared to soil just a few millimeters away from a root. This zone of influence is called the rhizosphere (Rovira, 1991), which is composed of many groups of organisms that are capable of affecting plant health beneficially and deleteriously (Schippers et al., 1987). Putting greens are artificially ...

Water draining abandoned mines or mine sites is often acidic and contains relatively high concentrations of dissolved metals and sulfate. Such water (AMD) arises from the oxidative dissolution of sulfidic minerals, such as iron pyrite (FeS2), exposed by mining activities. As AMD production can occur over a very long time scale, passive remediation systems are becoming increasingly important in ...

The objectives of this study were to characterize development of bacterial and archaeal populations during biodegradation of municipal solid waste (MSW) and to link specific methanogens to methane generation. Experiments were conducted in three 0.61-m-diameter by 0.90-m-tall laboratory reactors to simulate MSW bioreactor landfills. Pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA genes was used to characterize micro...

Soil bacterial population dynamics were examined in several crude-oil-contaminated soils to identify those organisms associated with alkane degradation and to assess patterns in microbial response across disparate soils. Seven soil types obtained from six geographically distinct areas of the United States (Arizona, Oregon, Indiana, Virginia, Oklahoma, and Montana) were used in controlled contam...

The microorganisms are in the different of habitants, they are also on the surface of seeds of cultivated plants. Quantitive and generic composition of saprophagan air-plant microflora is very diversified and still it is not well known. Microbial populations of seeds depend on numerous factors. Chemical constitution of seeds and different abiotic environment factors have the significant influen...