This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"In the absence of oxygen, some prokaryotes can degrade organic matter via anaerobic digestion. This occurs in natural settings, like wetlands, and industrial ones, like wastewater treatment or biogas production. But what about viruses? Bacteriophages can impact their hosts’ community structure through selective pressure and have been used to influence microbial communities, such as through pathogen control. A recent study examined the virome of anaerobic digestion communities undergoing prophage- inducing environmental stresses. The virome was almost entirely composed of tailed bacteriophages of the order Caudovirales. Metagenome reconstruction revealed 1,092 viral genomes and 120 prokaryotic genomes, and over half of the prokaryotic genomes contained a provirus in their genomic sequence. In general, species of viruses and prokaryotes could be grouped by having similar reactions to stressors. Archaea had the most pronounced reactions to stressors and featured behaviors unique to those species..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"In the human gut, a subpopulation of the microbiome belonging to Archaea produces methane through fermentation. Increased methane production is associated with gastrointestinal discomfort and disorders, and 20% of the healthy Western population exhales high methane levels, indicating high gut methane production. However, the mechanisms and health effects are unclear. To learn more, a recent study analysed 100 healthy young adults who were divided into high methane emitters and low methane emitters according to breath analysis. 16S rRNA sequencing revealed that the microbiomes of high and low emitters had different diversity levels and different compositions. Notably, the relative abundance of the archaeon Methanobrevibacter smithii was 1000-fold higher in high emitters than in low emitters, and M. smithii in the high emitters co-occurred with dietary fiber-degrading bacteria, including Ruminococcaceae and Christensenellaceae..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

Biology is designed for multi-semester biology courses for science majors. It is grounded on an evolutionary basis and includes exciting features that highlight careers in the biological sciences and everyday applications of the concepts at hand. To meet the needs of today’s instructors and students, some content has been strategically condensed while maintaining the overall scope and coverage of traditional texts for this course. Instructors can customize the book, adapting it to the approach that works best in their classroom. Biology also includes an innovative art program that incorporates critical thinking and clicker questions to help students understand—and apply—key concepts.

By the end of this section, you will be able to:Identify bacterial diseases that caused historically important plagues and epidemicsDescribe the link between biofilms and foodborne diseasesExplain how overuse of antibiotic may be creating “super bugs”Explain the importance of MRSA with respect to the problems of antibiotic resistance

By the end of this section, you will be able to:Explain the need for nitrogen fixation and how it is accomplishedIdentify foods in which prokaryotes are used in the processingDescribe the use of prokaryotes in bioremediationDescribe the beneficial effects of bacteria that colonize our skin and digestive tracts

By the end of this section, you will be able to:Describe the evolutionary history of prokaryotesDiscuss the distinguishing features of extremophilesExplain why it is difficult to culture prokaryotes

By the end of this section, you will be able to:Identify the macronutrients needed by prokaryotes, and explain their importanceDescribe the ways in which prokaryotes get energy and carbon for life processesDescribe the roles of prokaryotes in the carbon and nitrogen cycles

By the end of this section, you will be able to:Describe the basic structure of a typical prokaryoteDescribe important differences in structure between Archaea and Bacteria

Biology is designed for multi-semester biology courses for science majors. It is grounded on an evolutionary basis and includes exciting features that highlight careers in the biological sciences and everyday applications of the concepts at hand. To meet the needs of today’s instructors and students, some content has been strategically condensed while maintaining the overall scope and coverage of traditional texts for this course. Instructors can customize the book, adapting it to the approach that works best in their classroom. Biology also includes an innovative art program that incorporates critical thinking and clicker questions to help students understand—and apply—key concepts.

This includes materials to be used for a General Biology II course (or Introduction to Biology II course) for non-science majors.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Coral reefs are known to partner with a number of organisms for survival. including nitrogen-fixing microbes known as diazotrophs. A new study examined how these and other microbes vary among corals of different species and from different parts of the world— namely, Hawai’i, Curaçao, and Australia. The microbial makeup of the coral microbiome was found to vary with coral species, location, and ecological life history. For example, while diazotrophs of the order Rhizobiales were common to all coral microbiomes, they were 8 times as abundant in corals from Hawai’i than in corals from Curaçao or Australia. Interestingly, however, the factor contributing to the biggest differences in community structure was coral shape. Plate-like, branching, and solitary corals, for instance, showed communities that were genetically distinct from boulder-like corals. These findings confirm the known effects of coral shape and size on attributes such as light and food capture, gas exchange, and metabolism..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"The ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene approach to sequencing genetic material has revolutionized microbiome science. But it isn’t perfect. The method relies on the assumption that counts of rRNA genes translate into microbial abundance. Exceptions to that rule, however, are known, such as the observation that rRNA gene counts can be higher in fast-growing microbes. Now, researchers report a new relationship between rRNA genes and cell volume that could help correct for biases inherent to microbiome studies. An analysis of previously reported data showed that the number of 16S or 18S RNA genes per cell follows an allometric power law of cell volume. Applying this relationship to a dataset for bacteria found in intertidal rocks allowed for more accurate biovolume and cell count distributions to be estimated for all taxa detected. The development of more comprehensive cell-size databases could help strengthen the bias-correcting relationship and boost the power of current microbiome analyses..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"A new study published in Genome Medicine adds to the growing body of evidence that Parkinson’s disease is linked to microbes in the gut. Investigating the composition and function of this microbial community, the research team found pronounced differences between healthy patients and those in the early stages of the disease. Parkinson’s disease is most commonly associated with tremors, muscle stiffness, and impaired movement. While these symptoms are caused by the breakdown of nerve cells in the brain, the root cause and progression of this disorder are still not fully understood. Emerging evidence, however, suggests microorganisms found in the intestines may have something to do with it. The human gut contains trillions of microbes, including bacteria, archaea, fungi, and viruses. These organisms, collectively termed the microbiome, have been suggested to profoundly impact human health and disease..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Underneath Earth’s surface, a layer of permafrost covers 25% of the Northern Hemisphere and 20% of Earth as a whole. This continuously frozen layer contains microorganisms that remain active in subzero temperatures, but although ancient permafrost contains both dead and living microbes, typical metagenomic sequencing does not discriminate between the two. In a new study combining DNA repair protocols with high-throughput sequencing, researchers constructed a total of 52 metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) from ancient microbial DNA entrapped in Siberian coastal permafrost. Comparing the MAGs to those obtained without prior DNA repair protocols, they found that the MAGs from the youngest area showed minimal DNA damage. Thus, they likely came from viable, active microbes, while MAGs from older and deeper sediment appeared to be related to past aerobic microbial populations that died upon freezing. In contrast to aerobic species, anaerobic microbes such as Asgard archaea exhibited minimal DNA damage..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"The chemicals certain microbes produce to defend themselves are often just as useful to humans, providing protection against infection. One sect of microbial life that remains underexplored for this purpose, however, is archaea. Known for their ability to survive extreme conditions, archaea were recently discovered to produce their own antimicrobial defenses. These came in the form of two lanthipeptides labeled archalan α and β. Lanthipeptides, sometimes called lantibiotics, are being explored for their potential to stop or prevent infection - especially by otherwise antibiotic-resistant microbes. Researchers discovered archalan α and β by mining thousands of archaeal genomes and then collected the lanthipeptides in the lab by culturing the archaea responsible for producing them. Experiments showed that archalan α exhibited anti-archaeal activity against specific halophilic archaea..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Dental calculus, or mineralized dental plaque, preserves various microfossils and biomolecules, including DNA. Dental calculus from ancient human remains therefore contains information about the oral microbiomes, health, and diets of our ancestors. However, little is known about the non-bacterial microbes in ancient calculus. In a new study, researchers used metagenomics to study calculus from 20 sets of human remains dating to the Neolithic period through the Early Middle Ages. Compared with modern calculus in publicly available datasets, the ancient calculus had a much higher abundance of archaea belonging to the phylum Euryarchaeota. Compared with modern calculus in publicly available datasets, the ancient calculus had a much higher abundance of archaea belonging to the phylum Euryarchaeota, specifically archaea in the genus Methanobrevibacter. The only known Methanobrevibacter species in modern calculus, M..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Nanotechnology has enabled numerous advances in communications, medicine, energy, and agriculture. But as the proliferation of nanomaterials ramps up, unintended consequences are becoming increasingly visible. A recent study examined the effects of silver nanoparticles on soils supporting the growth of maize. Findings revealed a 30% decrease in the relative abundance of members of the archaea community, which are important for nitrogen cycling in soil, vital for plant growth. Nanosilver also increased the abundance of certain possibly phytopathogenic fungi, possibly by eliminating bacteria that normally keep these harmful fungi in check. Finally, increased root growth seems unsustainable because it is probably caused by these stress factors, and not by beneficial effects. While this study was limited to relatively small, pot experiments, the findings suggest that the microbiome is an essential inclusion for studying the long-term effects of nanomaterials on the environment..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.