TY - JOUR A1 - Sanchez-Martin, Pedro A1 - Becker, Roland A1 - Toepel, J. A1 - Gorbushina, Anna T1 - An improved test for the evaluation of hydrocarbon degradation capacities of diesel-contaminating microorganisms JF - International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation N2 - The development of a test to evaluate the degradation of semi-volatile fuels as diesel by microorganisms is presented. This method is based on the principles described in the CEC-L-103 Standard procedure that is exclusively meant for testing the biodegradability of non-volatile lubricants. Therefore, significant modifications involve aseptic conditions for testing specific microorganisms and conducting the test in closed vessels avoiding evaporation losses, while fuel quantification using gas chromatography-flame ionization detection (GC-FID) is retained. It is suggested that the modified procedure should enable routine application for semi-volatile hydrocarbon-based fuels. GC-FID provides additionally valuable information on the alteration of fuel component patterns during biodegradation. The procedure was successfully tested using two bacteria (Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Sphingomonas sp.) and two yeasts (Moesziomyces sp. and Candida sp.) isolated from real diesel contamination cases. All tested microorganisms caused a significant degradation of diesel fuel achieving hydrocarbon degradation percentages ranging from 23% to 35%. Specific aspects on the test modification and prospects for further modification regarding targeted investigations in the field of fuel contamination by microorganisms are briefly discussed. KW - Biofouling KW - Bacteria KW - Fungi KW - CEC-L-103 KW - GC-FID KW - Reference organisms PY - 2018 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ibiod.2018.01.009 SN - 0964-8305 VL - 129 SP - 89 EP - 94 PB - Elsevier AN - OPUS4-44524 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Tauber, J. P. A1 - McMahon, Dino Peter A1 - Ryabov, E.V. A1 - Kunat, M. A1 - Ptaszynska, A. A. A1 - Evans, J. D. T1 - Honeybee intestines retain low yeast titers, but no bacterial mutualists, at emergence JF - Yeast N2 - Honeybee symbionts, predominantly bacteria, play important roles in honeybee health, nutrition, and pathogen protection, thereby supporting colony health. On the other hand, fungi are often considered indicators of poor bee health, and honeybee microbiome studies generally exclude fungi and yeasts. We hypothesized that yeasts may be an important aspect of early honeybee biology, and if yeasts provide a mutual benefit to their hosts, then honeybees could provide a refuge during metamorphosis to ensure the presence of yeasts at emergence. We surveyed for yeast and fungi during pupal development and metamorphosis in worker bees using fungal-specific quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), next-generation sequencing, and standard microbiological culturing. On the basis of yeast presence in three distinct apiaries and multiple developmental stages, we conclude that yeasts can survive through metamorphosis and in naïve worker bees, albeit at relatively low levels. In comparison, known bacterial mutualists, like Gilliamella and Snodgrassella, were generally not found in pre-eclosed adult bees. Whether yeasts are actively retained as an important part of the bee microbiota or are passively propagating in the colony remains unknown. Our demonstration of the constancy of yeasts throughout development provides a framework to further understand the honeybee microbiota. KW - Fungi KW - Honeybee KW - Microbiota KW - Yeast PY - 2022 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/yea.3665 SN - 1097-0061 VL - 39 IS - 1-2 SP - 95 EP - 107 PB - John Wiley & Sons Ltd. CY - London, UK AN - OPUS4-53892 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Martin-Sanchez, Pedro Maria A1 - Gebhardt, Christopher A1 - Toepel, Jörg A1 - Barry, J. A1 - Munzke, N. A1 - Günster, Jens A1 - Gorbushina, Anna T1 - Monitoring microbial soiling in photovoltaic systems: A qPCR-based approach JF - International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation N2 - Soiling of photovoltaic (PV) systems compromises their performance causing a significant power loss and demanding periodical cleaning actions. This phenomenon raises great concerns in the solar energy field, thus leading to notable research efforts over the last decades. Soiling is caused by a dual action of dust deposition and biofouling. However, surprisingly, the microbiological contribution to PV soiling is often overlooked or underestimated. In this study, a variety of qPCR-based methods have been developed to quantify the microbial load of fungi, bacteria and phototrophs on PV panels. These protocols were evaluated by comparison with culturedependent methods, and were implemented with real solar plants for two years. The results show that the developed molecular methods are highly sensitive and reliable to monitor the microbial component of the soiling. Fungal biomass was clearly dominant in all analysed PV modules, while bacteria and phototrophs showed much lower abundance. Light microscopy and qPCR results revealed that melanised microcolonial fungi and phototrophs are the main biofilm-forming microorganisms on the studied solar panels. In particular, the fungal qPCR protocol is proposed as a useful tool for monitoring of PV soiling, and investigating the microbial contribution to specific soiling cases. KW - Solar panels KW - PV modules KW - Real-time qPCR KW - Bacteria KW - Fungi KW - Phototrophs PY - 2018 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ibiod.2017.12.008 SN - 0964-8305 VL - 129 SP - 13 EP - 22 PB - Elsevier Science AN - OPUS4-43892 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Nilsson, R. H. A1 - Taylor, A. F. S. A1 - Adams, R. I. A1 - Baschien, C. A1 - Bengtsson-Palme, J. A1 - Cangren, P. A1 - Coleine, C. A1 - Iršėnaitė, R. A1 - Martin-Sanchez, Pedro Maria A1 - Meyer, W. A1 - Oh, S.-Y. A1 - Sampaio, J. P. A1 - Seifert, K. A. A1 - Sklenář, F. A1 - Stubbe, D. A1 - Suh, S.-O. A1 - Summerbell, R. A1 - Svantesson, S. A1 - Unterseher, M. A1 - Visagie, C. M. A1 - Weiss, M. A1 - Woudenberg, J. HC. A1 - Wurzbacher, C. A1 - Van den Wyngaert, S. A1 - Yilmaz, N. A1 - Yurkov, A. A1 - Kõljalg, U. A1 - Abarenkov, K. A1 - Daniel, H.-M. A1 - Glassman, S. I. A1 - Hirooka, H. A1 - Irinyi, L. T1 - Taxonomic annotation of public fungal ITS sequences from the built environment – a report from an April 10–11, 2017 workshop (Aberdeen, UK) JF - MycoKeys N2 - Recent DNA-based studies have shown that the built environment is surprisingly rich in fungi. These indoor fungi – whether transient visitors or more persistent residents – may hold clues to the rising levels of human allergies and other medical and building-related health problems observed globally. The taxo¬nomic identity of these fungi is crucial in such pursuits. Molecular identification of the built mycobiome is no trivial undertaking, however, given the large number of unidentified, misidentified, and technically compromised fungal sequences in public sequence databases. In addition, the sequence metadata required to make informed taxonomic decisions – such as country and host/substrate of collection – are often lacking even from reference and ex-type sequences. Here we report on a taxonomic annotation workshop (April 10–11, 2017) organized at the James Hutton Institute/University of Aberdeen (UK) to facilitate reproducible studies of the built mycobiome. The 32 participants went through public fungal ITS bar¬code sequences related to the built mycobiome for taxonomic and nomenclatural correctness, technical quality, and metadata availability. A total of 19,508 changes – including 4,783 name changes, 14,121 metadata annotations, and the removal of 99 technically compromised sequences – were implemented in the UNITE database for molecular identification of fungi (https://unite.ut.ee/) and shared with a range of other databases and downstream resources. Among the genera that saw the largest number of changes were Penicillium, Talaromyces, Cladosporium, Acremonium, and Alternaria, all of them of significant importance in both culture-based and culture-independent surveys of the built environment. KW - Indoor mycobiome KW - Built environment KW - Molecular identification KW - Fungi KW - Taxonomy KW - Systematics KW - Sequence annotation KW - Metadata KW - Open data PY - 2018 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-438949 DO - https://doi.org/10.3897/mycokeys.28.20887 SN - 1314-4049 SN - 1314-4057 VL - 28 SP - 65 EP - 82 PB - Pensoft Publishers CY - Washington, DC AN - OPUS4-43894 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wild, B. A1 - Gerrits, Ruben A1 - Bonneville, S. T1 - The contribution of living organisms to rock weathering in the critical zone JF - npj Materials degradation N2 - Rock weathering is a key process in global elemental cycling. Life participates in this process with tangible consequences observed from the mineral interface to the planetary scale. Multiple lines of evidence show that microorganisms may play a pivotal—yet overlooked—role in weathering. This topic is reviewed here with an emphasis on the following questions that remain unanswered: What is the quantitative contribution of bacteria and fungi to weathering? What are the associated mechanisms and do they leave characteristic imprints on mineral surfaces or in the geological record? Does biogenic weathering fulfill an ecological function, or does it occur as a side effect of unrelated metabolic functions and biological processes? An overview of efforts to integrate the contribution of living organisms into reactive transport models is provided. We also highlight prospective opportunities to harness microbial weathering in order to support sustainable agroforestry practices and mining activities, soil remediation, and carbon sequestration. KW - Bio-weathering KW - Fungi KW - Mineral PY - 2022 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-566748 DO - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41529-022-00312-7 SN - 2397-2106 VL - 6 SP - 1 EP - 16 PB - Macmillan CY - London AN - OPUS4-56674 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -