Browsing by Author "Gonzalez, Bernardo"

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    An Engineered Device for Indoleacetic Acid Production under Quorum Sensing Signals Enables Cupriavidus pinatubonensis JMP134 To Stimulate Plant Growth
    (2018) Zuniga, Ana; de la Fuente, Francisco; Federici, Fernán; Lionne, Corinne; Bonnet, Jerome; de Lorenzo, Victor; Gonzalez, Bernardo
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    CHANGES IN BACTERIAL COMMUNITY STRUCTURE ASSOCIATED WITH COASTAL COPPER ENRICHMENT
    (SOC ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY & CHEMISTRY-SETAC, 2008) Moran, Ana C.; Hengst, Martha B.; De la Iglesia, Rodrigo; Andrade, Santiago; Correa, Juan A.; Gonzalez, Bernardo
    Marine bacterial communities isolated from the water column, sediment, the rock surface, and the green seaweed Ulva compressa were studied in an intertidal ecosystem. The study area included a coastal zone chronically affected by copper mine waste disposals. Bacterial community composition was analyzed by terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) of 16S rRNA genes, and multivariate analyses of T-RFLP data sets were used for comparisons. Results showed that diversity and richness indexes were not able to detect differences among compartments. However, comparisons within the same compartment clearly showed that copper enrichment was associated with changes in the composition of the bacterial communities and revealed that the magnitude of the effect depends on the compartment being considered. In this context, communities from sediments appeared as the most affected by copper enrichment. The present study also demonstrated that intertidal bacterial communities were dominated by Gammaproteobacteria, Firmicutes, and Actinobacteria and the changes in these communities were mainly due to changes in their relative abundances.
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    The microbial community from the early-plant colonizer (Baccharis linearis) is required for plant establishment on copper mine tailings
    (NATURE RESEARCH, 2021) Consuelo Gazitua, Maria; Morgante, Veronica; Josefina Poupin, Maria; Ledger, Thomas; Rodriguez Valdecantos, Gustavo; Herrera, Catalina; Del Carmen Gonzalez Chavez, Maria; Ginocchio, Rosanna; Gonzalez, Bernardo
    Plants must deal with harsh environmental conditions when colonizing abandoned copper mine tailings. We hypothesized that the presence of a native microbial community can improve the colonization of the pioneer plant, Baccharis linearis, in soils from copper mining tailings. Plant growth and microbial community compositions and dynamics were determined in cultivation pots containing material from two abandoned copper mining tailings (Huana and Tambillos) and compared with pots containing fresh tailings or surrounding agricultural soil. Controls without plants or using irradiated microbe-free substrates, were also performed. Results indicated that bacteria (Actinobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, and Firmicutes groups) and fungi (Glomus genus) are associated with B. linearis and may support plant acclimation, since growth parameters decreased in both irradiated (transiently without microbial community) and fresh tailing substrates (with a significantly different microbial community). Consistently, the composition of the bacterial community from abandoned copper mining tailings was more impacted by plant establishment than by differences in the physicochemical properties of the substrates. Bacteria located at B. linearis rhizoplane were clearly the most distinct bacterial community compared with those of fresh tailings, surrounding soil and non-rhizosphere abandoned tailings substrates. Beta diversity analyses showed that the rhizoplane bacterial community changed mainly through species replacement (turnover) than species loss (nestedness). In contrast, location/geographical conditions were more relevant than interaction with the plants, to explain fungal community differences.
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    Tobacco Smoke Mediated Induction of Sinonasal Microbial Biofilms
    (PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE, 2011) Goldstein Daruech, Natalia; Cope, Emily K.; Zhao, Ke Qing; Vukovic, Katarina; Kofonow, Jennifer M.; Doghramji, Laurel; Gonzalez, Bernardo; Chiu, Alexander G.; Kennedy, David W.; Palmer, James N.; Leid, Jeffery G.; Kreindler, James L.; Cohen, Noam A.
    Cigarette smokers and those exposed to second hand smoke are more susceptible to life threatening infection than nonsmokers. While much is known about the devastating effect tobacco exposure has on the human body, less is known about the effect of tobacco smoke on the commensal and commonly found pathogenic bacteria of the human respiratory tract, or human respiratory tract microbiome. Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is a common medical complaint, affecting 16% of the US population with an estimated aggregated cost of $6 billion annually. Epidemiologic studies demonstrate a correlation between tobacco smoke exposure and rhinosinusitis. Although a common cause of CRS has not been defined, bacterial presence within the nasal and paranasal sinuses is assumed to be contributory. Here we demonstrate that repetitive tobacco smoke exposure induces biofilm formation in a diverse set of bacteria isolated from the sinonasal cavities of patients with CRS. Additionally, bacteria isolated from patients with tobacco smoke exposure demonstrate robust in vitro biofilm formation when challenged with tobacco smoke compared to those isolated from smoke naive patients. Lastly, bacteria from smoke exposed patients can revert to a non-biofilm phenotype when grown in the absence of tobacco smoke. These observations support the hypothesis that tobacco exposure induces sinonasal biofilm formation, thereby contributing to the conversion of a transient and medically treatable infection to a persistent and therapeutically recalcitrant condition.