Environmental microbiology articles within Nature Communications

Featured

• Article
  12 May 2015 | Open Access

  Planctomycetes do possess a peptidoglycan cell wall

  Planctomycetes appear to differ from all other bacteria in their cellular organization and their apparent lack of a peptidoglycan (PG) cell wall. Here Jeske et al. show that Planctomycetes do possess a typical PG cell wall and that their cellular architecture resembles that of Gram-negative bacteria.

  • Olga Jeske
  • , Margarete Schüler
  •  & Christian Jogler

• Article | 25 March 2015

  A novel pathway producing dimethylsulphide in bacteria is widespread in soil environments

  Dimethylsulphide (DMS) is a volatile compound produced by marine microbes through degradation of dimethylsulphoniopropionate (DMSP). Here, Carrión et al.describe an alternative pathway for DMS production from methanethiol that is widespread among bacteria, especially from soil environments.

  • O. Carrión
  • , A. R. J. Curson
  •  & J. D. Todd

• Article
  20 March 2015 | Open Access

  Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli senses low biotin status in the large intestine for colonization and infection

  Enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli(EHEC) is an important foodborne pathogen that colonizes the large intestine. Here, the authors identify a signalling pathway that controls EHEC adherence to host cells in response to variations in biotin levels, ensuring selective colonization of the large intestine.

  • Bin Yang
  • , Lu Feng
  •  & Lei Wang

• Article | 27 February 2015

  Diverse uncultivated ultra-small bacterial cells in groundwater

  Little is known about certain bacterial phyla because of our current inability to grow them in the lab. Here, Luef et al.combine metagenomics and ultrastuctural analyses to show that some of these bacteria have a very small cell size, tightly packed DNA, few ribosomes and diverse pili-like structures.

  • Birgit Luef
  • , Kyle R. Frischkorn
  •  & Jillian F. Banfield

• Article | 26 November 2014

  Biology of a widespread uncultivated archaeon that contributes to carbon fixation in the subsurface

  Research on microbes that inhabit the Earth's subsurface is mostly based on metagenomic information only. Here, Probst et al. combine metagenomics with ultrastructural and functional analyses to study the biology of a group of uncultivated subsurface archaea, the SM1 Euryarchaeon lineage.

  • Alexander J. Probst
  • , Thomas Weinmaier
  •  & Christine Moissl-Eichinger

• Article | 01 September 2014

  Magnetic properties of uncultivated magnetotactic bacteria and their contribution to a stratified estuary iron cycle

  Magnetotactic bacteria synthesize magnetite or greigite magnetosomes that, when fossilized, can serve as biomarkers of past ocean redox shifts. Here, Chen et al.show that these magnetosome types have very similar coercivity distributions, with implications for the analysis of sedimentary magnetic records.

  • A.P. Chen
  • , V.M. Berounsky
  •  & N.G.F. Vella

• Article | 20 May 2014

  Evidence of global-scale aeolian dispersal and endemism in isolated geothermal microbial communities of Antarctica

  Geographical isolation is often considered an effective barrier to microbial transport. Here, the authors provide evidence of active recruitment of long-distance dispersed cosmopolitan microorganisms in fumarolic environments in Mount Erebus, Antarctica.

  • Craig W. Herbold
  • , Charles K. Lee
  •  & S. Craig Cary

• Article
  10 January 2014 | Open Access

  Multiple recent horizontal transfers of a large genomic region in cheese making fungi

  Horizontal gene transfers are known to play an important role in prokaryote evolution but their impact and prevalence in eukaryotes is less clear. Here, the authors sequence the genomes of cheese making fungi P. roqueforti and P. camemberti, and provide evidence for recent horizontal transfers of a large genomic region.

  • Kevin Cheeseman
  • , Jeanne Ropars
  •  & Yves Brygoo

• Article | 05 February 2013

  Turnover of soil bacterial diversity driven by wide-scale environmental heterogeneity

  In microbial biogeography, little is known about processes involved in soil bacterial diversity turnover. By conducting a wide-scale investigation, this study shows that dispersal limitation and environmental selection of bacteria are not mutually exclusive, highlighting the importance of landscape diversity.

  • L. Ranjard
  • , S. Dequiedt
  •  & P. Lemanceau

• Article | 27 November 2012

  Warming and nitrogen deposition lessen microbial residue contribution to soil carbon pool

  Microbes appear to play an important role in carbon sequestration. Here, the composition of microbial residues in a California grassland with elevated carbon dioxide, warming and nitrogen deposition reveals that warming and nitrogen deposition can both alter the fraction of carbon derived from microbes in soils.

  • Chao Liang
  •  & Teri C. Balser

• Review Article | 22 March 2011

  Trends in the development of environmentally friendly fouling-resistant marine coatings

  Biofouling, or the unwanted growth of biological organisms, is a particular problem in marine environments. This review considers recent advances in the development of environmentally friendly coatings to combat biofouling of submerged surfaces.

  • James A. Callow
  •  & Maureen E. Callow