Plant traits, such as root and leaf area, influence how plants interact with their environment and the diverse microbiota living within plants can influence plant morphology and physiology. Here, we explored how three bacterial strains isolated from the Populus root microbiome, influenced plant phenotype. We chose three bacterial strains that differed in predicted metabolic capabilities, plant ...

Surface sediments are important systems for the removal of anthropogenically derived inorganic nitrogen in estuaries. They are often characterized by the presence of a microphytobenthos (MPB) biofilm, which can impact bacterial communities in underlying sediments for example by secretion of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) and competition for nutrients (including nitrogen). Pyrosequenci...

Measurements of the average growth rates of soil bacteria from a soil under three treatments; a conventional high input corn soybean rotation, a reversion to a native successional community (4 years) and a never ploughed grassland, were made by two methods. The specific rates of synthesis of bacterial DNA were determined from the specific activities of the DNA precursor, deoxythymidine triphosp...

Although aquatic bacteria are assumed to be nutrient-rich, they out-compete other foodweb osmotrophs for nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) an apparent contradiction to resource ratio theory. This paradox could be resolved if aquatic bacteria were demonstrated to be nutrient-poor relative other portions of the planktonic food web. In a survey of >120 lakes in the upper Midwest of the USA, the nutr...

A longstanding scientific enigma exists in oligotrophic subtropical waters: it appears that bacterial respiration contributes up to 90% of total community respiration even though the contribution of bacterial biomass to total biomass is much less. It has been suggested that experimental artifacts including pre-incubation filtration procedures, applied in order to separate bacteria from the rest...

Correlations between the biomass of phytoplankton and the biomass of bacteria and between the biomass of bacteria and the biomass of protozoans suggest that there is coupling between these compartments of the "microbial loop." To investigate this coupling on the species level, bacteria and protozoans from untreated lake water inocula were allowed to grow on detritus of the green alga Ankistrode...

In order to investigate whether microbial biomass and its residues are nutrient and energy sources for humivorous beetle larvae, we carried out feeding trials using soil supplemented with C-labeled fungal biomass (Penicillium chrysogenum), bacterial biomass (Bacillus megaterium), fungal or bacterial structural polysaccharide (chitin, peptidoglycan), bacterial protein, or cellulose, taking the l...

This study investigated the antibiofilm and antibacterial effects of farnesol and xylitol in a series of experiments in order to evaluate their potential use as root canal irrigants. The following substances were tested: 0.2% farnesol; 5% and 20% xylitol; 0.2% farnesol plus 20% xylitol; and saline (control). For comparison with an established endodontic irrigant, 2.5% NaOCl was included in each...

We investigated the presence, density and bacterial composition of contraceptive vaginal ring biomass and its association with the vaginal microbiome. Of 415 rings worn by 120 Rwandese women for three weeks, the biomass density was assessed with crystal violet and the bacterial composition of biomass eluates was assessed with quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). The biomass was visual...