Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the most important global health concerns; therefore, the identification of AMR reservoirs and vectors is essential. Attention should be paid to the recognition of potential hazards associated with wildlife as this field still seems to be incompletely explored. In this context, the role of free-living birds as AMR carriers is noteworthy. Therefore, we applied methods used in AMR monitoring, supplemented by colistin resistance screening, to investigate the AMR status of Escherichia coli from free-living birds coming from natural habitats and rescue centers. Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) of strains enabled to determine resistance mechanisms and investigate their epidemiological relationships and virulence potential. As far as we know, this study is one of the few that applied WGS of that number (n = 71) of strains coming from a wild avian reservoir. The primary concerns arising from our study relate to resistance and its determinants toward antimicrobial classes of the highest priority for the treatment of critical infections in people, e.g., cephalosporins, quinolones, polymyxins, and aminoglycosides, as well as fosfomycin. Among the numerous determinants, bla CTX-M-15, bla CMY-2, bla SHV-12, bla TEM-1B, qnrS1, qnrB19, mcr-1, fosA7, aac(3)-IIa, ant(3″)-Ia, and aph(6)-Id and chromosomal gyrA, parC, and parE mutations were identified. Fifty-two sequence types (STs) noted among 71 E. coli included the global lineages ST131, ST10, and ST224 as well as the three novel STs 11104, 11105, and 11194. Numerous virulence factors were noted with the prevailing terC, gad, ompT, iss, traT, lpfA, and sitA. Single E. coli was Shiga toxin-producing. Our study shows that the clonal spread of E. coli lineages of public and animal health relevance is a serious avian-associated hazard.Corynebacterium glutamicum has been considered a promising synthetic biological platform for biomanufacturing and bioremediation. However, there are still some challenges in genetic manipulation of C. glutamicum. Recently, more and more genetic parts or elements (replicons, promoters, reporter genes, and selectable markers) have been mined, characterized, and applied. In addition, continuous improvement of classic molecular genetic manipulation techniques, such as allelic exchange via single/double-crossover, nuclease-mediated site-specific recombination, RecT-mediated single-chain recombination, actinophages integrase-mediated integration, and transposition mutation, has accelerated the molecular study of C. glutamicum. More importantly, emerging gene editing tools based on the CRISPR/Cas system is revolutionarily rewriting the pattern of genetic manipulation technology development for C. glutamicum, which made gene reprogramming, such as insertion, deletion, replacement, and point mutation, much more efficient and simpler. This review summarized the recent progress in molecular genetic manipulation technology development of C. glutamicum and discussed the bottlenecks and perspectives for future research of C. glutamicum as a distinctive microbial chassis.Disbalancing envelope stress responses was investigated as a strategy for sensitization of Escherichia coli to antimicrobial agents. Seventeen isogenic strains were selected from the KEIO collection with deletions in genes corresponding to the σE, Cpx, Rcs, Bae, and Psp responses. Antimicrobial activity against 20 drugs with different targets was evaluated by disk diffusion and gradient strip tests. Growth curves and time-kill curves were also determined for selected mutant-antimicrobial combinations. An increase in susceptibility to ampicillin, ceftazidime, cefepime, aztreonam, ertapenem, and fosfomycin was detected. Growth curves for Psp response mutants showed a decrease in optical density (OD) using sub-MIC concentrations of ceftazidime and aztreonam (ΔpspA and ΔpspB mutants), cefepime (ΔpspB and ΔpspC mutants) and ertapenem (ΔpspB mutant). Time-kill curves were also performed using 1xMIC concentrations of these antimicrobials. For ceftazidime, 2.9 log10 (ΔpspA mutant) and 0.9 log10 (ΔpspB mutant) decreases were observed at 24 and 8 h, respectively. For aztreonam, a decrease of 3.1 log10 (ΔpspA mutant) and 4 log1010 (ΔpspB mutant) was shown after 4-6 h. For cefepime, 4.2 log10 (ΔpspB mutant) and 2.6 log10 (ΔpspC mutant) decreases were observed at 8 and 4 h, respectively. For ertapenem, a decrease of up to 6 log10 (ΔpspB mutant) was observed at 24 h. A deficient Psp envelope stress response increased E. coli susceptibility to beta-lactam agents such as cefepime, ceftazidime, aztreonam and ertapenem. Its role in repairing extensive inner membrane disruptions makes this pathway essential to bacterial survival, so that disbalancing the Psp response could be an appropriate target for sensitization strategies.Long-term supplementation of a high-concentrate diet enhances the accumulation of lactate and decrease in pH in goat rumen, thereby disrupting the composition of microbial community. Studies have shown that incorporation of thiamine in high-concentrate diet increases ruminal pH and decreases rumen lactate concentration. To explore the effects of thiamine supplementation with a high-concentrate diet on alteration of the whole ruminal microbiota and their metabolites, 18 mid-lactating Saanen goats were randomly fed with one of three diets (1) control diet (CON; n = 6; concentrateforage 3070), (2) high-concentrate diet (HG; n = 6; concentrateforage 7030), and (3) high-concentrate diet with 200 mg of thiamine/kg of DMI (HGT; n = 6; concentrateforage 7030). The goats received experimental diets for 8 weeks. Ruminal samples were collected on the last day of the 8 weeks for 16S rRNA gene sequencing and the liquid chromatograph-mass spectrometer (LC-MS) analysis. The results revealed significant alterations of the rulial inflammation. Correlation analysis revealed the potential relationships between ruminal metabolites and microbial community. These findings demonstrate that thiamine supplementation can alleviate subacute ruminal acidosis (SARA) by stabilizing the microbial community and reducing toxic unnatural compounds.Aerobic vaginitis (AV) can occur if normal vaginal microflora are dominated by aerobic bacteria, seriously affects not only female health, but also fetal health while they are pregnant. Besides, pregnant status also aggravates the symptoms and consequences of the infection. Here, we infected pregnant BALB/c mice with Escherichia coli on embryonic day 4.5 (E4.5) (study group), and administered an equivalent volume of phosphate-buffered saline in another cohort of pregnant mice (control group). We recorded the weight of pregnant mice and their fetuses. The maternal and fetal weight of the study group decreased in comparison with that of the control group, whereas the weight of placenta increased in the study group. Then, five genes with significant upregulation and 15 genes with downregulation were screened. Expression of interleukin 4 (IL-4) mRNA in the study group decreased to 18.5%. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay results showed IL-4 expression in mouse plasma declined in the study group at E11.5 and E18.5. mRNA expression of chemokine (c-c motif) ligand (CCL)-17, CCL-22, CCL-24, IL-4, Janus Kinase (JAK)-1, signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT)-6, and GATA-3 showed significant downregulation in placental and uterine tissues. Flow cytometry of primary decidual macrophages (DMs) revealed more M1-like macrophages in the study group. And after addition of IL-4 to DMs, more M1 macrophages polarized to M2 type macrophages. We did not discover bacteria existed in mouse placentas. Our study affords a feasible method for exploring and managing AV during pregnancy.Cowpea mild mottle virus (CPMMV; genus Carlavirus) can be a destructive pathogen of soybean but there is little information about its distribution on soybean in China. Here, we collected soybean plants with virus-like symptoms from 11 fields widely scattered within China, and used high-throughput sequencing to determine their virome. Most samples (8/11) were co-infected by the well-studied potyvirus soybean mosaic virus (SMV) and CPMMV, and the remaining three samples were singly infected with CPMMV. The near-complete genome sequences of the 11 CPMMV isolates were determined and phylogenetic analysis showed that they constituted a new genetic clade. One recombination event was detected among the CPMMV sequences, and the isolate CPMMV_JL_CC was identified as recombinant. In mechanical inoculation assays, co-infection by CPMMV and SMV resulted in an enhancement of disease symptoms, but decreased the expression level of the genomic RNAs and CP of CPMMV, without significantly affecting SMV accumulation. The interaction between these viruses needs further investigation.Plant-associated microorganisms are involved in important functions related to growth, performance and health of their hosts. Understanding their modes of action is important for the design of promising microbial inoculants for sustainable agriculture. Plant-associated microorganisms are able to interact with their hosts and often exert specific functions toward potential pathogens; the underlying in vitro interactions are well studied. In contrast, in situ effects of inoculants, and especially their impact on the plant indigenous microbiome was mostly neglected so far. Recently, microbiome research has revolutionized our understanding of plants as coevolved holobionts but also of indigenous microbiome-inoculant interactions. Here we disentangle the effects of microbial inoculants on the indigenous plant microbiome and point out the following types of plant microbiome modulations (i) transient microbiome shifts, (ii) stabilization or increase of microbial diversity, (iii) stabilization or increase of plant microbiome evenness, (iv) restoration of a dysbiosis/compensation or reduction of a pathogen-induced shift, (v) targeted shifts toward plant beneficial members of the indigenous microbiota, and (vi) suppression of potential pathogens. Therefore, we suggest microbiome modulations as novel and efficient mode of action for microbial inoculants that can also be mediated via the plant.Photosynthetic biomanufacturing is a promising route for green production of biofuels and biochemicals utilizing carbon dioxide and solar energy. Cyanobacteria are important microbial platforms for constructing photosynthetic cell factories. Toward scaled outdoor cultivations in the future, high light and high temperature tolerances of cyanobacterial chassis strains and cell factories would be determinant properties to be optimized. We proposed a convenient strategy for rapidly improving high light and high temperature tolerances of an important cyanobacterial chassis Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942 and the derived cell factories. Through introduction and isolation of an AtpA-C252F mutation, PCC 7942 mutants with improved high light and high temperature tolerances could be obtained in only 4 days with an antibiotics-free mode. Adopting this strategy, cellular robustness and sucrose synthesizing capacities of a PCC 7942 cell factory were successfully improved.The hydrolyzation of raffinose into melibiose by using invertases under mild conditions improves the nutritional value of soybean products. However, this strategy has received little attention because a suitable invertase remains lacking. In this study, a novel invertase named InvDz13 was screened and purified from Microbacterium trichothecenolyticum and characterized. InvDz13 was one of the invertases with the highest specific activity toward raffinose. Specifically, it had a specific activity of 229 U/mg toward raffinose at pH 6.5 and 35°C. InvDz13 retained more than 80% of its maximum activity at pH 5.5-7.5 and 25-40°C and was resistant to or stimulated by most cations that presented in soymilk. In soymilk treated with InvDz13 under mild conditions, melibiose concentration increased from 3.1 ± 0.2 to 6.1 ± 0.1 mM due to raffinose hydrolyzation by InvDz13. Furthermore, the prebiotic property of InvDz13-treated soymilk was investigated via in vitro fermentation by human gut microbiota. Results showed that InvDz13 treatment increased the proportion of the beneficial bacteria Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus by 1.