The Ishaq Lab welcomes grad student Ryan Wijayanayake!

The Ishaq Lab is pleased to welcome Ryan Wijayanayake as a Master’s of Professional Studies student in Animal Science, who joined the lab in January 2023!

Ryan has a background in research from his undergraduate program at St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia, and as a research assistant at Tenza, a biotechnology company in Boston. In addition, he has a background in robotics and robotics competitions.

He is joining ‘Team Broccoli‘ to investigate the 806 bacteria we isolated from the digestive tracts of mice eating a broccoli sprout diet, in a previous experiment on broccoli sprouts, microbes, and resolving colitis.

In addition, Ryan has been helping ‘Team Scallop’, including helping organize culturing work for the undergraduate research crew.

The Ishaq Lab welcomes a new grad student, Marissa Kinney!

The Ishaq Lab is pleased to welcome Marissa Kinney as a Master’s of Science student in Microbiology, beginning in January 2023! She’ll be joining ‘Team Broccoli‘ to investigate the 806 bacteria we isolated from the digestive tracts of mice eating a broccoli sprout diet, in a previous experiment on broccoli sprouts, microbes, and resolving colitis.

Marissa is a recent graduate of the UMaine Microbiology bachelor’s program, where she was part of an interdisciplinary research group and was the first author on a scientific publication this year: Suppression of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Reduction of Other Bacteria by Black Soldier Fly Larvae Reared on Potato Substrate.

Marissa Kinney

Marissa Kinney 

Master of Science student, Microbiology and Animal and Veterinary Sciences

Blurb: Marissa is a Masters student who loves learning and bench microbiology. She completed her undergraduate at the University of Maine in 2021, earning a BS in Microbiology and a BS in Cellular/Molecular Biology. She devoted a large portion of her time in undergrad to research in the laboratories of Dr. Julie Gosse and Dr. Edward Bernard. Since graduating, she worked in the field of public health at UMaine’s Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center, collecting and processing data about violent and drug-related deaths in Maine. While her role at the Center was one she loved dearly, she feels a big pull towards laboratory work and academic research. She recently joined the Ishaq lab and is excited by the new opportunities this position brings. 

Johanna’s review published on how gut microbes can make anti-inflammatory compounds when you eat broccoli

A massive literature review led by Johanna Holman, and featuring our collaborative team of broccoli sprout and microbes researchers, was accepted for publication!

As part of her master’s of science thesis, Johanna Holman reviewed hundreds of journal articles on anti-inflammatory, health-promoting dietary compounds in broccoli and other vegetables or fruits, and how microbes in the digestive tract can transform inactive precursors from foods into those beneficial compounds. This is part of a broader research collaboration on how glucoraphanin in broccoli sprouts can be made into sulforaphane, which acts as an anti-inflammatory in humans. Humans are unable to convert glucoraphanin to sulforaphane, and a small amount of this occurs naturally thanks to enzymes in the broccoli sprouts. But, certain gut microbes can make the conversion and this has helped resolve colitis and other symptoms in mice in laboratory trials (manuscripts in preparation).

A diagram with two panels, and a cartoon mouse in the middle.  The cartoon mouse is eating broccoli, and a cartoon of the digestive tract is overlaid on the mouse's abdomen. Lines emanating from the broccoli point to the left panel, and show the compound glucoraphanin being converted into sulforaphane by the myrosinase enzyme. Lines emanating from the colon of the mouse point to the panel on the right, showing the same biochemical conversion by gut microbes.
Artwork by Johanna Holman.

If you aren’t familiar with broccoli sprouts, a lovely review on their history, current food culture, and safe production was just published by some of our colleagues: Sprout microbial safety: A reappraisal after a quarter-century.

Check out the review

Holman, J., Hurd, M., Moses, P.,  Mawe, G.,  Zhang, T., Ishaq, S.L., Li, Y. 2022. Interplay of Broccoli/Broccoli Sprout Bioactives with Gut Microbiota in Reducing Inflammation in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases. Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, in press.

Abstract

Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD) are chronic, reoccurring, and debilitating conditions characterized by inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract, some of which can lead to more systemic complications and can include autoimmune dysfunction, a change in the taxonomic and functional structure of microbial communities in the gut, and complicated burdens in a person’s daily life. Like many diseases based in chronic inflammation, research on IBD has pointed towards a multifactorial origin involving factors of the host’s lifestyle, immune system, associated microbial communities, and environmental conditions. Treatment currently exists only as palliative care, and seeks to disrupt the feedback loop of symptoms by reducing inflammation and allowing as much of a return to homeostasis as possible. Various anti-inflammatory options have been explored, and this review focuses on the use of diet as an alternative means of improving gut health. Specifically, we highlight the connection between the role of sulforaphane from cruciferous vegetables in regulating inflammation and in modifying microbial communities, and to break down the role they play in IBD.

News Center Maine interviews Yanyan and Sue about broccoli sprouts!

Yanyan Li and I sat down yesterday with Carly D’Eon, a reporter with News Center Maine, to talk about our ongoing research into broccoli sprouts, gut microbes, and Inflammatory Bowel Disease!

The story and the video can be found here.

Li and Ishaq labs receive NIH R15 award to study broccoli bioactives, gut microbes, and inflammation!

The Li and Ishaq labs at UMaine, along with collaborators from multiple institutions, have been awarded R15 funding from the National Institute Of Diabetes And Digestive And Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health!

This award will complement other projects/awards led by our team, which has been investigating inflammatory bowel diseases, anti-inflammatories, gut microbes, and nutrition, separately for decades and collaboratively for over two years.

  • Dr. Yanyan Li, PhD (lead PI), Assistant Professor at the University of Maine with expertise in nutrition and food science, particularly dietary bioactives and colitis;
  • myself (co-PI), with expertise in host-associated microbiology, especially GI tract;
  • Dr. Grace Chen, MD, PhD (co-I), Associate Professor at the University of Michigan, expertise in mouse models for gut microbiome and colonic host immune responses;
  • Dr. Tao Zhang, PhD (consultant), Assistant professor at Binghamton University, with expertise in metabolism, kinetics, and bioanalysis of natural products;
  • Dr. Gary Mawe, PhD (consultant), Professor at the University of Vermont, with expertise in translational research on GI tract regulation, inflammation, and IBD;
  • Dr. Peter Moses, MD (consultant), Professor Emeritus at the University of Vermont College of Medicine and Senior Researcher at GSK, with expertise in IBD and functional gastrointestinal disorders.

R15 Research Enhancement Awards are designated for projects which involve a large number of student researchers. Between the Li and Ishaq labs, there are three current graduate students, and two former undergrads who have contributed to this research, and we anticipate bringing in 1-2 additional graduate students and almost a dozen undergrads in the next year! That will include undergrads in Honors, Top Scholars, and Capstone programs at UMaine. We’ve also been assisted by the work of students, postdocs, technicians, and investigators through our collaborators, and we are ecstatic about the opportunity to continue to grow our team across institutions. And, this project will generate research that will feed back into education at UMaine through the courses that we teach, such as my microbiomes and DNA sequence analysis courses.

“Harnessing gut microbiota to reduce inflammation using broccoli-sprout diets.”

Project Summary:

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a poorly understood gastrointestinal (GI) condition characterized by inflammation. The prevailing theory is that combined genetic and environmental factors disrupt the host immune system’s interaction with gut microbiota. Our central hypothesis is that consumption of specific broccoli sprout preparations elicits changes in the gut microbiota that not only improve the production of anti-inflammatory bioactives, but also promote intestinal homeostasis. Our labs have shown there is an anatomical pattern along the GI tract where broccoli sprout-derived bioactive levels are high which correspond to diet-induced changes in gut microbial communities. We showed that gut microbiota contribute to the transformation of inactive precursors to bioactives, and that specific broccoli sprout preparations alter their capacity for biotransformation, and the susceptibility of mice to colitis. However, a significant knowledge gap remains regarding the mechanisms by which dietary bioactives modify disease risk and the role of gut microbiota. Our immediate goal is to identify the mechanisms by which broccoli sprout diets affect susceptibility to IBD in mice. Our long-term goal is to develop a dietary preparation of
broccoli sprouts which has therapeutic effects against IBD in humans. Our innovative approach uses different preparations of broccoli sprouts to help differentiate gut microbiota versus plant-derived
enzymatic activities. We employ a combination of “omics” approaches to spatially-map the microbial community and metabolite profile changes along the GI tract, to better assess changes induced by broccoli sprout diets. We complement “omics” approaches with culturing, and validate our study design using two complementary models for strategic research.

A cartoon of three gastrointestinal tracts showing the locations of inflammation in ulcerative colitis, crohn's disease, or healthy tissue. At the bottom are cross-sections showing thickening of the intestinal wall in patients with Crohn's, and ulcers in patients with colitis.
Created by Johanna Holman.

Aim 1 tests the hypothesis of an anatomical pattern where the GI tract microbiota transform broccoli compounds into bioactives, and helps us determine whether this microbial biotransformation is sensitive to dose of broccoli compounds. We will use our established DSS-mouse-model of ulcerative colitis to investigate the effects of different broccoli sprout preparations and concentrations on the microbiota along the GI tract; on the resulting concentration of bioactives in gut tissues; and on the development of colitis in mice.

A cartoon schematic of the experimental design of the project. Four mice are at the top, two have "DSS" written above them, one of which is also holding a broccoli sprout. One of the mice without DSS written on it is holding a broccoli sprout. Below the mice is a cartoon of the digestive tract with arrows emanating from it to indicate samples of microbes will be taken from different locations. The microbe images have arrows pointing to culturing equipment, and also to a biochemical pathway showing the compound glucoraphanin being converted to sulforaphane.
Created by Sue Ishaq, made with Biorender

Aim 2 tests the benefits of using an immunosuppressed mouse model in the dietary prevention study to provide a stronger translational strategy for the use of broccoli sprouts for IBD prevention. When exposed to a specific bacterial pathogen, the immunosuppressed mice develop chronic enterocolitis resembling Crohn’s disease. This diet-based approach provides critical information for developing accessible and equitable strategies for improving health of IBD patients.

A cartoon schematic of the experimental design of the project. Two mice are at the top, with the label "IL-10" crossed out above them. One mouse is also holding a broccoli sprout.  Below the mice is a cartoon of the digestive tract with arrows emanating from it to indicate samples of microbes and tissue will be taken from different locations. The words weight and plasma indicate those will also be collected. The plasma and tissue samples will be used for mass-spectroscopy and histology, and the microbes will be used for DNA sequencing.
Created by Sue Ishaq, made with Biorender
A close-up picture of petri dishes containing a light yellow film of microbes.

Rebecca received an undergraduate research award!

Rebecca French, an undergraduate researcher in Animal and Veterinary Science, is beginning her time in the Ishaq Lab with an auspicious start: she has been awarded a 2021 research award from the J. Franklin Witter Undergraduate Research Endowment Fund! The fund supports AVS undergraduate student involvement in faculty supervised research which involves the J. Franklin Witter Teaching & Research Center.

Rebecca’s project will involve zoonotic disease tracking in rodent populations that live near farms/human development versus those which live in more natural areas, and will take place at the Witter farm and a paired natural ecosystem. Her project is part of a larger collaboration between myself and a team of researchers, which was recently funded by the University of Maine, but which has not yet been announced (details soon).

Rebecca formally joined my research lab in February of this year, but I have had the pleasure of teaching her in my data analysis class since January, which will be a handy skillset later in the project. She also learn and perform microbial culturing, qPCR, Sanger sequencing, and even some animal trapping, handling, and identification; mammal physiology data collection and analysis.

Rebecca French

Undergraduate Researcher, Animal and Veterinary Sciences

Rebecca is an animal and veterinary science student with a concentration in pre-veterinary medicine. She joined the Ishaq lab team in 2021 as a part of her capstone project, which is focused on flying squirrels and mice that are carrying zoonotic pathogens into Maine.

Of mice and many samples

The first mouse study of the Ishaq Lab (in conjunction with the Zhang and Li labs at Husson University) has concluded phase 1, which means that over a few short days, an incredible number of samples needed to be collected, preserved, and processed for further laboratory work (phase 2) which will take through the summer to complete.

Sample collection was made more challenging by the pandemic, because we needed to distance as much as possible, disinfect objects and surfaces, wear masks, and increase the amount of ventilation in a space. Luckily, this type of work lends itself to these types of precautions – not only did we already need to wear a significant amount of protective gear to work with mice or handle their feces, but biosafety work like this requires higher than usual ventilation and frequent sanitation of objects and spaces. Since some of this work could be performed simultaneously in different rooms, we were able to use both Ishaq lab spaces and the ‘mouse house’ to keep people distanced.

During the 40-day mouse study, ‘Team Broccoli’ collected:

  • 640 mouse body weight data measurements
  • 433 fecal samples, which were archived for possible culturing and/or sequencing
  • 400 additional samples collected over two days:
    • 40 blood samples for immune factor identification
    • 360 gut samples
      • Of which, 200 were PMA treated within 12 hours of collection for use in DNA sequencing
      • 160 of which will be cultured to isolate bacteria. This will create 1 ~ 8 isolates per sample that will need to be grown on its own plate, transferred to broth media, and then frozen with glycerol at -80C until they can be revived and studied later this year.

Emily awarded an undergraduate research fellowship!

The very first Ishaq Lab undergraduate researcher, Emily Pierce, has also been awarded the first fellowship of the Ishaq Lab!

Emily has been awarded a Faculty Fellows Research Assistantship for spring 2021 from the University of Maine Center for Undergraduate Research (CUGR)! The $1200 award will provide funds for salary to Emily and research materials, and will support her project for her AVS Capstone Experience (selected Capstone project summaries are here, but Emily’s is not included).

Portrait of Emily Pierce

Emily joined the lab in early 2020 to work on a project investigating calf health and gut microbes, but very soon after joining the lab, the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic emerged and changed the way we were able to interact on campus. Without missing a beat, Emily shifted her efforts from helping me wrangle the lab renovations and sorting out our inventory, to helping me improve my teaching materials, to diving deep into previous literature to dig up protocols for her experiment in 2021: “Ideal Conditions for Cryptosporidium Attachment and Infection.

We’ll be performing the experiment itself over the winter break, and then using the spring to analyze the data and write them up. As part of the CUGR award, Emily will be presenting her work at the 2021 Student Symposium in April, which will be held virtually this year. You’ll have to wait till then to get more details!

Screenshot from an online seminar. The video of the speaker is in the upper right corner, and the title slide is the rest of the image. The seminar is "A crash course in the gut microbiome" by Sue Ishaq at the University of Maine.

UMaine Institute of Medicine seminar available online

Last Friday, I gave a seminar on “A crash course in the gut microbiome” to the University of Maine Institute of Medicine as part of their fall seminar series. You can find the previous seminars in that series here.

I was delighted to have the opportunity to share my science to researchers around Maine, and to have so many engaging questions!

You can find my seminar recording here, and a pdf of the slides with my presenter notes as annotated comments can be found here:

Microbiomes Across (Agricultural) Systems

Beginning in early 2019, I participated as one of the guest editors for the Microbiomes Across Biological Systems special call hosted by three PLoS Journals. The journal collection was officially released in early 2020, but due to the global upheaval this year, the overview piece planned by the guest editors was not able to be completed. Here is a partial overview, written by myself and written by Dr. Noelle Noyes, Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota.

Diet and gut systems

Ecosystem dynamics are important at any scale

As humans, animals, and plants are key members of their environmental ecosystems, so too are microorganisms key members of the host-associated ecosystems in which they reside.  Throughout eons of interactions between microorganisms and macroorganism hosts, specialized and reproducible host-microbial interactions developed, leading to inherent differences in the microbial communities residing within even closely-related microorganism hosts (Bennett et al. 2020; Loo et al. 2020; Sun et al. 2020).  The strength and outcome of each of these host-microbial interactions can sway the trajectory of that host’s life, and decades of research has only barely uncovered the mechanisms behind the exorbitantly complicated relationships between host and microbial community.  In part, this is because the host microbiome does not develop in isolation; it is dependent on the environment (e.g. Bennett et al. 2020), on diet (e.g. Taylor et al. 2020), on the host signalment (e.g. Jacobs et al. 2020), and upon all the minute details of that hosts’s life which informs the “who”, when, why, and how of host-microbial interactions. To better understand biological systems, we must evaluate them at different scales, from the microbial ecosystems to the environmental ones, and how microbial selection and transfer are the mechanisms by which these scalable ecosystems are connected.

Your gut microbiota are what you eat

Diet is the most consistent and striking aspect of a host’s lifestyle which can select for different microbial communities in the gastrointestinal tract (Bloodgood et al. 2020; Loo et al. 2020;  Lü et al. 2020; Ogato et al. 2020; Sun et al. 2020; Taylor et al. 2020), and especially at different locations along the GI tract depending on localized anatomy and organ-specific environmental conditions (Subotic et al. 2020; Lourenco et al. 2020).  The amount of different macronutrients, such as proteins, fats, or carbohydrates, in a diet selectively encourage different biochemical capabilities in the gut microbiome and the microbial members which can thrive under those conditions (Lourenco et al. 2020).  At a finer resolution, the specific types of each nutrient, and their availability for catabolism will also affect the gut microbiome (Taylor et al. 2020).  

Yet, diet may affect the microbiome of different host species in nuanced ways, based on dissimilar anatomy of the gastrointestinal tract, the relative stability of host-microbial interactions and host reliance on their gut microbiota, and the relative stability of the diet of the host. For example, specialized herbivores which possess a four-chambered stomach, known as ruminants, are dependent on the presence of fibrolytic microbiota, yet due to the overwhelming microbial diversity present in their GI tract they have functional redundancy which allows for a great deal of latitude in the specific microbial species present in their communities.  Microbiota in the rumen of cattle are easily swayed by changes in diet composition (Lourenco et al. 2020; Ogato et al. 2020), as were microbiota in sea turtles (Bloodgood et al. 2020) and potato ladybird beetles (Lü et al. 2020), whereas diet composition seems to affect only the less abundant community members in the honeybee gut (Taylor et al. 2020).  

The impact of diet on the gut microbiome and host health is an active and long-standing research field, yet the depth and breadth of dietary effects leaves many questions yet unanswered, particularly in cases where feeding the animal host is prioritized over feeding the gut microbiota specifically.  Animal production and weight gain is a primary goal of feeding strategies in agriculture, often with detrimental effects to the functionality of gut microbiome which can lead to systemic health problems in the animal if the perturbation to the microbiome is extensive or protracted. An understanding of how host-microbial ecosystems can be altered over time to prevent such health problems is important (Ogato et al. 2020). Similarly, wild animal recovery programs opt for diets to support weight gain in malnourished animals, even when the diet composition is contrary to their natural diet. In recovering juvenile sea turtles, feeding an omnivorous diet to promote weight gain over the herbivorous diet these turtles consume at this stage of life causes changes in gut microbiota profiles and it is unknown how this may affect long-term digestive function and health (Bloodgood et al. 2020).

An interesting and understudied aspect of the effects of diet on the gut microbiome is the potential for knock-on effects across microbial ecosystems.  For example, changing the diet may impact the gut bacterial profiles based on “who” is directly catabolizing those nutrients, but may also impact other microorganisms which are supported by the byproducts of that microbial digestion.  Similarly, therapeutics targeting some microbial community members may inadvertently alter other community members.  A deeper understanding of how diet and medication affects the entire microbial community and not just selected members can reveal insight into community dynamics and the relative risk of medications to cause disruptions.  For example, anthelmintic in beagles were shown to not alter fecal microbial communities (Fujishiro et al. 2020).

Environment to host to host: microbial transfer highlights connections between systems

Yet, what constitutes a beneficial microbiome for one animal species may be detrimental to another animal species. A dramatic example of this is vector-borne infectious disease, in which symbiotic or neutral members of an insect microbiome are highly pathogenic in other animals which have not learned to tolerate or control those particular microorganisms. Bacteria carried by arthropods, such as mosquitos, flies, or ticks, may provide nutrition or disease-mitigation benefits to its arthropod host yet cause widespread disease and mortality in humans and animals (Bennett et al. 2020). Interaction with the ecosystem can recruit microbial members to a host-associated microbial community.  Habitat destruction alters the quality of the environment and thus microbial transfer from environment to insect, and this can make arthropod microbial communities more variable (Bennett et al. 2020). It is yet unknown if these knock-on changes to the arthropod microbiota will have positive or negative impacts for vector-borne diseases.  

Studies such as Bennet et al. (2020), which put host-associated gut microbial community assessment into the context of habitat quality and environmental microbial transfer, remind us that microbial communities do not exist in isolation.  Understanding how the environment shapes the microbial communities which shape the host is a critical aspect to understanding the connectedness between biological systems.  Further, it better illuminates the dynamics of microbial transmission and when they are and are not transferred.  Maternal transfer is a well-demonstrated mechanism of vertical transmission of microorganisms, and transfer between social pairs is a method of horizontal transmission of microorganisms, both often demonstrated via microbial community similarity analysis.  However, when pair-bonded tree swallows are sampled asynchronously, there is no significant level of similarity in their gut microbiota (Hernandez et al. 2020).

The need to put host-associated gut microbial community assessment into the context of environment is also highlighted in Loo et al. (2020), in which habitat and geographic location impacted the gut microbiome of island finches independently of foraging diet data. Environmental conditions, localized plant diversity, and localized niche competition can also impact the type, nutritional content, and life stage of plant life, which can in turn impact the gut microbiota recruited in those host animals consuming plants.  As discussed in Jacobs et al. (2020), when animals are removed from their natural environments and held in captivity, where local macro-biodiversity is dramatically reduced, there is often a corresponding decline in host gut microbial diversity which can impact animal health.  In semi-captive situations, such as beehives, animals may still freely encounter diverse environmental microorganisms, but the habitat or housing design may impact host behavior and/or stress response due to interactions with humans.  Chronic stress has been demonstrated to negatively impact the diversity and functionality of host-associated microbial communities in the gut by altering the host immune system and its latitude for microbial tolerance. Thus, even at the very localized scale, environmental conditions and habitat play a role in host-microbial interactions (Subotic et al. 2020).

Featured papers, which can be found here.

  • Bennett et al. Habitat disturbance and the organization of bacterial communities in Neotropical hematophagous arthropods
  • Bloodgood et al. The effect of diet on the gastrointestinal microbiome of juvenile rehabilitating green turtles (Chelonia mydas)
  • Fujishiro et al. Evaluation of the effects of anthelmintic administration on the fecal microbiome of healthy dogs with and without subclinical Giardia spp. and Cryptosporidium canis infections
  • Hernandez et al. Cloacal bacterial communities of tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor): Similarity within a population, but not between pair-bonded social partners
  • Jacobs et al. California condor microbiomes: Bacterial variety and functional properties in captive-bred individuals
  • Loo et al. An inter-island comparison of Darwin’s finches reveals the impact of habitat, host phylogeny, and island on the gut microbiome
  • Lourenco et al. Comparison of the ruminal and fecal microbiotas in beef calves supplemented or not with concentrate
  • Lü et al. Host plants influence the composition of the gut bacteria in Henosepilachna vigintioctopunctata.
  • Ogato et al. Long-term high-grain diet altered the ruminal pH, fermentation, and composition and functions of the rumen bacterial community, leading to enhanced lactic acid production in Japanese Black beef cattle during fattening
  • Subotic et al. Honey bee microbiome associated with different hive and sample types over a honey production season
  • Taylor et al. The effect of carbohydrate sources: Sucrose, invert sugar and components of mānuka honey, on core bacteria in the digestive tract of adult honey bees (Apis mellifera)

Water systems

written by Dr. Noelle Noyes, University of Minnesota

Environmental and physiochemical factors structure water-associated microbiomes

Water bodies are highly diverse ecosystems, and this is reflected in the articles of this Special Edition, which investigate the microbiomes of Indian mangroves, Icelandic cold springs, Antarctic lakes, urban lakes in Beijing, and Pacific seawater. A common theme emerging from this diverse collection is that water-associated microbiomes are highly influenced by the nutrient and physiochemical properties of the water body itself; and that these properties, in turn, are influenced by the surrounding atmospheric and environmental inputs. For example, nitrogen levels were correlated with microbial composition in Mangrove-associated and Beijing urban lake water samples (Dhal et al 2020, Wang et al 2020), and nitrogen fixation capacity of the microbiome was found to vary significantly by water depth within Antarctic benthic mats (Dillon et al 2020). pH levels were found to influence the microbiomes of Icelandic cold springs  (Guðmundsdóttir et al 2019) and Mangrove-associated waters (Dhal et al 2020); and the archaeal composition of Beijing urban lake sediment (Wang et al 2020). 

Water-associated microbiomes are dynamic across gradients, geography and time

While water bodies exhibit heterogeneous physiochemical and nutrient properties depending on their environmental and geographical circumstances, the articles in this collection demonstrate that many water-associated microbiomes fluctuate predictably and periodically. For example, the diversity of seawater microbiomes exhibited diel fluctuation, which itself was characterized by rhythmic changes in temperature and concentrations of nitrate, ammonium, phosphate and silicate (Weber et al 2020). Microbiome structure and composition also correlated with gradients established by water depth (Dillon et al 2020, Weber et al 2020), eutrophication (Dhal et al 2020), and distance from coral reefs (Weber et al 2020). These findings emphasize the importance of the physical environment from which water samples are collected, and the fact that water and water-associated samples are inherently connected to — and impacted by — features that may be located far away from the actual sampling site. This highlights the importance of contextualizing sampling sites both temporally and spatially.

Featured papers, which can be found here.

  • Paltu Kumar Dhal et al, Insights on aquatic microbiome of the Indian Sundarbans mangrove areas
  • Megan L. Dillon et al, Environmental control on the distribution of metabolic strategies of benthic microbial mats in Lake Fryxell, Antarctica
  • Ragnhildur Guðmundsdóttir et al, Bacterial diversity in Icelandic cold spring sources and in relation to the groundwater amphipod Crangonyx islandicus
  • Yuxin Wang et al, Comparative Study on Archaeal Diversity in the Sediments of Two Urban Landscape Water Bodies
  • Amy Apprill et al, Diel, daily, and spatial variation of coral reef seawater microbial communities
  • Robert Hilderbrand et al, Using the microbiome to assess the ecological condition of headwater streams