TY - JOUR AB - Antibiotics are primarily found in the environment due to human activity, which has been reported to influence the structure of biotic communities and the ecological functions of soil and water ecosystems. Nonetheless, their effects in other terrestrial ecosystems have not been well studied. As a result of oxidative stress in organisms exposed to high levels of antibiotics, genotoxicity can lead to DNA damage and, potentially, cell death. In addition, in symbiotic organisms, removal of the associated microbiome by antibiotic treatment has been observed to have a big impact on the host, e.g., corals. The lung lichen Lobaria pulmonaria has more than 800 associated bacterial species, a microbiome which has been hypothesized to increase the lichen's fitness. We artificially exposed samples of L. pulmonaria to antibiotics and a stepwise temperature increase to determine the relative effects of antibiotic treatments vs. temperature on the mycobiont and photobiont gene expression and the viability and on the community structure of the lichen-associated bacteria. We found that the mycobiont and photobiont highly reacted to different antibiotics, independently of temperature exposure. We did not find major differences in bacterial community composition or alpha diversity between antibiotic treatments and controls. For these reasons, the upregulation of stress-related genes in antibiotic-treated samples could be caused by genotoxicity in L. pulmonaria and its photobiont caused by exposure to antibiotics, and the observed stress responses are reactions of the symbiotic partners to reduce damage to their cells. Our study is of great interest for the community of researchers studying symbiotic organisms as it represents one of the first steps to understanding gene expression in an endangered lichen in response to exposure to toxic environments, along with dynamics in its associated bacterial communities. AU - Chavarria-Pizarro, T.* AU - Resl, P.* AU - Kuhl-Nagel, T. AU - Janjic, A.* AU - Fernandez Mendoza, F.* AU - Werth, S.* C1 - 65540 C2 - 52729 TI - Antibiotic-induced treatments reveal stress-responsive gene expression in the endangered lichen Lobaria pulmonaria.. JO - J. Fungi VL - 8 IS - 6 PY - 2022 SN - 2309-608X ER - TY - JOUR AB - Objectives: COVID-19 disease can be exacerbated by Aspergillus superinfection (CAPA). However, the causes of CAPA are not yet fully understood. Recently, alterations in the gut microbiome have been associated with a more complicated and severe disease course in COVID-19 patients, most likely due to immunological mechanisms. The aim of this study was to investigate a potential association between severe CAPA and alterations in the gut and bronchial microbial composition. Methods: We performed 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing of stool and bronchial samples from a total of 16 COVID-19 patients with CAPA and 26 patients without CAPA. All patients were admitted to the intensive care unit. Results were carefully tested for potentially confounding influences on the microbiome during hospitalization. Results: We found that late in COVID-19 disease, CAPA patients exhibited a trend towards reduced gut microbial diversity. Furthermore, late-stage patients with CAPA superinfection exhibited an increased abundance of Staphylococcus epidermidis in the gut which was not found in late non-CAPA cases or early in the disease. The analysis of bronchial samples did not yield significant results. Conclusions: This is the first study showing that alterations in the gut microbiome accompany severe CAPA and possibly influence the host’s immunological response. In particular, an increase in Staphylococcus epidermidis in the intestine could be of importance. AU - Maurer, H.C.* AU - Schult, D.* AU - Koyumdzhieva, P.* AU - Reitmeier, S.* AU - Middelhoff, M.* AU - Rasch, S.* AU - List, M.* AU - Janssen, K.P.* AU - Steiger, K.* AU - Protzer, U. AU - Schmid, R.M.* AU - Neuhaus, K.* AU - Haller, D.* AU - Quante, M.* AU - Lahmer, T.* C1 - 67102 C2 - 53434 CY - St Alban-anlage 66, Ch-4052 Basel, Switzerland TI - Gut microbial disruption in critically Ill patients with COVID-19-associated pulmonary aspergillosis. JO - J. Fungi VL - 8 IS - 12 PB - Mdpi PY - 2022 SN - 2309-608X ER - TY - JOUR AB - Copper-based preparations have been used for more than 100 years in viticulture to control downy mildew caused by Plasmopara viticola. LC2017, and a new low-copper-based formula-tion, has been developed to control grapevine trunk diseases (GTDs). Previous greenhouse studies showed the potential of LC2017 to control GTDs by both fungistatic and plant defense elicitor ef-fects. Here, we further characterize the effects of LC2017 in the field determining its impact on: (i) incidence of Esca, (ii) the vine microbiome, (iii) the vine physiology and (iv) enological parameters of juices. We observed a progressive decrease of cumulate Esca incidence in treated vines over the years with annual fluctuation related to the known erratic emergence of GTD symptoms. Neither harmful effects of LC2017 on the vine microbiota, nor on vine physiology were observed (at both transcriptomic and metabolomic levels). Similarly, no impact of LC2017 was observed on the enological properties of berries except for sugar content in juice from esca-diseased vines. The most important result concerns the transcriptomic profiles: that of diseased and LC2017 treated vines differs from that of disease untreated ones, showing a treatment effect. Moreover, the transcriptomic profile of diseased and LC2017-treated vines is similar to that of untreated asymptomatic vines, suggesting control of the disease. AU - Mondello, V.* AU - Lemaître-Guillier, C.* AU - Trotel-Aziz, P.* AU - Gougeon, R.* AU - Acedo, A.* AU - Schmitt-Kopplin, P. AU - Adrian, M.* AU - Pinto, C.* AU - Fernandez, O.* AU - Fontaine, F.* C1 - 64218 C2 - 52110 TI - Assessment of a new copper-based formulation to control esca disease in field and study of its impact on the vine microbiome, vine physiology and enological parameters of the juice. JO - J. Fungi VL - 8 IS - 2 PY - 2022 SN - 2309-608X ER - TY - JOUR AB - Airborne microbial communities directly impact the health of humans, animals, plants, and receiving ecosystems. While airborne bacterial and fungal communities have been studied by both cultivation-based methods and metabarcoding surveys targeting specific molecular markers, fewer studies have used shotgun metagenomics to study the airborne mycobiome. We analyzed the diversity and relative abundance of fungi in nine airborne metagenomes collected on clear days (“background”) and during dust storms in the Eastern Mediterranean. The negative correlation between the relative abundance of fungal reads and the concentrations of atmospheric particulate matter having an aerodynamic diameter smaller than 10 µm (PM10) indicate that dust storms lower the proportion of fungi in the airborne microbiome, possibly due to the lower relative abundance of fungi in the dust storm source regions and/or more effective transport of bacteria by the dust. Airborne fungal community composition was altered by the dust storms, particularly those originated from Syria, which was enriched with xerophilic fungi. We reconstructed a high-quality fungal metagenome-assembled genome (MAG) from the order Cladosporiales, which include fungi known to adapt to environmental extremes commonly faced by airborne microbes. The negative correlation between the relative abundance of Cladosporiales MAG and PM10 concentrations indicate that its origin is dominated by local sources and likely includes the indoor environments found in the city. AU - Peng, X.* AU - Gat, D. AU - Paytan, A.* AU - Rudich, Y.* C1 - 63205 C2 - 51384 CY - St Alban-anlage 66, Ch-4052 Basel, Switzerland TI - The response of airborne mycobiome to dust storms in the eastern mediterranean. JO - J. Fungi VL - 7 IS - 10 PB - Mdpi PY - 2021 SN - 2309-608X ER -