Acute respiratory infections (ARIs) are a major cause of morbidity and mortality across the life span. Globally, an estimated 17 billion ARIs occur each year, accounting for 2.4 million deaths (740,000 deaths among children). Although the majority of …
Bacterial secondary metabolites, synthesized by enzymes encoded in biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs), can underlie microbiome homeostasis and serve as commercialized products, which have historically been mined from a select group of taxa. While …
Moraxella catarrhalis is a pathobiont of the respiratory tract, responsible for ear infections in children and wheezing illnesses in children and adults with chronic respiratory diseases. Detection of M. catarrhalis during wheezing episodes in early …
Bacteria produce specialized metabolites to compete with other microbes. Though the biological activities of many specialized metabolites have been determined, our understanding of their ecology is limited, particularly within the human microbiome. …
Symbiotic microbes are essential to the ecological success and evolutionary diversification of multicellular organisms. The establishment and stability of bipartite symbioses are shaped by mechanisms ensuring partner fidelity between host and …
The study of interactions between microorganisms has led to numerous discoveries, from novel antimicrobials to insights in microbial ecology. Many approaches used for the study of microbial interactions require specialized equipment and are expensive …
Low-cost, high-throughput nucleic acid sequencing ushered the field of microbial ecology into a new era in which the microbial composition of nearly every conceivable environment on the planet is under examination. However, "static" screenshots …
Resources available in the human nasal cavity are limited. Therefore, to successfully colonize the nasal cavity, bacteria must compete for scarce nutrients. Competition may occur directly through interference (e.g., antibiotics) or indirectly by …