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Sorensen, S. J.

Publications and source records attributed to Sorensen, S. J..

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

A DNA-scaffolded Retron Ring Mediates Antiphage Immunity

Retrons are a diverse family of bacterial defence systems that couple reverse transcriptase (RT) activity to antiphage immunity by producing multicopy single-stranded DNA (msDNA). Yet, the molecular mechanisms by which most systems detect infection and execute immunity remain unknown. Here, we define the structure, immune sensing and effector mechanisms of retron type IX, composed of an RT, a non-coding RNA, a tandem KH-HTH subunit and a HEPN RNase effector. Retron IX confers robust protection against diverse bacteriophages. Cryo-EM and biochemical analyses reveal a supramolecular ring assembly composed of 8-10 repeating modules, spanning up to 230 [A] in diameter. Within this assembly, the msDNA scaffolds the outer rim inhibiting the HEPN ribonuclease in a catalytically poised state, with the active site occluded within the inner layer. We identify a phage-encoded PD-(D/E)XK nuclease as the immune trigger that cleaves the exposed msDNA stem-loop, leading to ring disassembly and HEPN effector release. Upon activation, the HEPN ribonucleases cleave tRNAs indiscriminately, inducing dormancy and blocking phage propagation. Our findings unveil how ring-shaped higher-order assembly controls enzymatic activities while allowing signal-specific activation and establish the ncRNA as an evolvable scaffold underlying the remarkable structural and defensive diversity of bacterial retron immune complexes.

microbiology↗

Evolutionary history and microbial cross-feeding shape lifestyle-stratified dominance of Bifidobacterium longum subspecies in infants

Bifidobacterium longum (Bl.) is a key early-life gut symbiont, yet its evolutionary origin and mechanisms underlying the global biogeographic distribution of its subspecies remain poorly resolved. Here, we compiled a global genomic atlas of >7,000 MAGs/genomes from infants, domesticated animals, non-human primates, and ancient humans. High-resolution phylogenomic and functional analyses expanded infant-associated subspecies to five. Compared with non-human primates, B. longum was more prevalent in domesticated animals and ancient humans dating from 150 to 1,500 years ago. Moreover, human- and livestock-derived lineages from the same geographic regions clustered together, suggesting potential host-associated transmission. Ecologically, Bl. infantis and Bl. longum predominated in non-Western and Western infants, respectively, independent of breastfeeding, delivery mode, or antibiotic exposure. Instead, their distribution was associated with co-occurring microbes and HMO-driven cross-feeding interactions. These findings explain subspecies differentiation in the gut microbiota of Western and non-Western infants and provide a framework for community-mediated interventions in early life.

microbiology↗

Accurate plasmid reconstruction from metagenomics data using assembly-alignment graphs and contrastive learning

Plasmids are extrachromosomal DNA molecules that enable horizontal gene transfer in bacteria, often conferring advantages such as antibiotic resistance. Despite their significance, plasmids are underrepresented in genomic databases due to challenges in assembling them, caused by mosaicism and micro-diversity. Current plasmid assemblers rely on detecting circular paths in single-sample assembly graphs, but face limitations due to graph fragmentation and entanglement, and low coverage. We introduce PlasMAAG (Plasmid and organism Metagenomic binning using Assembly Alignment Graphs), a framework to recover plasmids and organisms from metagenomic samples that leverages an approach that we call "assembly-alignment graphs" alongside common binning features. On synthetic benchmark datasets, PlasMAAG reconstructed 50-121% more near-complete plasmids than competing methods and improved the Matthews Correlation Coefficient of geNomad contig classification by 28-106%. On hospital sewage samples, PlasMAAG outperformed all other methods, reconstructing 33% more plasmid sequences. PlasMAAG enables the study of organism-plasmid associations and intra-plasmid diversity across samples, offering state-of-the-art plasmid reconstruction with reduced computational costs.

bioinformatics↗

A comparison of short-read, HiFi long-read, and hybrid strategies for genome-resolved metagenomics

Shotgun metagenomics enables the reconstruction of complex microbial communities at a high level of detail. Such an approach can be conducted using both short-read and long-read sequencing data, as well as a combination of both. To assess the pros and cons of these different approaches, we used 22 faecal DNA extracts collected weekly for 11 weeks from two respective lab mice to study seven performance metrics over four combinations of sequencing depth and technology: i) 20 Gbp of Illumina short-read data, ii) 40 Gbp of short-read data, iii) 20 Gbp of PacBio HiFi long-read data, and iv) 40 Gbp of hybrid (20 Gbp of short-read + 20 Gbp of long-read) data. No strategy was best for all metrics, but instead, each one excelled across different metrics. The long-read approach yielded the best assembly statistics, with the highest N50 and lowest number of contigs. The 40 Gbp short-read approach yielded the highest number of refined bins. Finally, the hybrid approach yielded the longest assemblies, and the highest mapping rate to the bacterial genomes. Our results suggest that while long-read sequencing significantly improves the quality of reconstructed bacterial genomes, it is more expensive and requires deeper sequencing than short-read approaches to recover a comparable amount of reconstructed genomes. The most optimal strategy is study-specific, and depends on how researchers assess the tradeoff between the quantity and quality of recovered genomes. ImportanceOur understanding of microbial communities is limited by the technologies we employ. Here, we test several different DNA sequencing techniques to better understand the pros and cons of each. Long read DNA sequencing allowed for the reconstruction of higher quality and even complete microbial genomes, however, the cost was greater than commonly used short-read DNA sequencing. We suggest researchers consider the trade-offs between each method and decide based on the goals of their research question/s.

microbiology↗

MAGinator enables strain-level quantification of de novo MAGs

MotivationMetagenomic sequencing has provided great advantages in the characterization of microbiomes, but currently available analysis tools lack the ability to combine strain-level taxonomic resolution and abundance estimation with functional profiling of assembled genomes. In order to define the microbiome and its associations with human health, improved tools are needed to enable comprehensive understanding of the microbial composition and elucidation of the phylogenetic and functional relationships between the microbes. ResultsHere, we present MAGinator, a freely available tool, tailored for the profiling of shotgun metagenomics datasets. MAGinator provides de novo identification of subspecies-level microbes and accurate abundance estimates of metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs). MAGinator utilises the information from both gene- and contig-based methods yielding insight into both taxonomic profiles and the origin of genes as well as genetic content, used for inference of functional content of each sample by host organism. Additionally, MAGinator facilitates the reconstruction of phylogenetic relationships between the MAGs, providing a framework to identify clade-level differences within subspecies MAGs. Availability and implementationMAGinator is available as a Python module at https://github.com/Russel88/MAGinator ContactTrine Zachariasen, trine_zachariasen@hotmail.com

bioinformatics↗

The role of plasmids in the gut microbiome during the first year of life

Plasmids are extrachromosomal self-replicating genetic elements that play a key role in bacterial ecology and evolution by shuttling diverse host-beneficial traits between bacteria. However, our understanding of plasmids is still limited, particularly in the human gut microbiota, and little is known about how they are acquired and become established in infants. In this study, we explored a longitudinal fecal metagenomic dataset obtained from 98 Swedish children who were followed during their first year of life. For this, we developed a bioinformatics pipeline for the complete sequence assembly and annotation of plasmids, together with the identification of plasmid contigs. We found that gut plasmids in these children were extremely diverse, particularly in the first four months of life, and this diversity decreased with maturation of the gut microbiota. Members of genera Bacteroides and Bifidobacterium were identified as major hosts of transmissible plasmids and important hubs of horizontal gene transfer in the early human gut microbiota. Additionally, we discovered that plasmids played a substantial role in expanding the gene repertoires of their bacterial hosts: approximately a quarter of unannotated plasmid genes were found only on plasmids and not on chromosomes. Together, our results provide the first characterization of the early acquisition and development of plasmids in the infant gut microbiome. Their diversity and abundance in the first months of life could benefit a variable and rapidly proliferating microbiota by providing increased adaptability in a highly competitive environment.

microbiology↗

The influence of early life exposures on the infant gut virome

Large cohort studies have contributed significantly to our understanding of the factors that influence the development of the bacterial component of the gut microbiome (GM) during the first years of life. However, the factors that shape the colonization by other important GM members such as the viral fraction remain more elusive. Most gut viruses are bacteriophages (phages), i.e., viruses attacking bacteria in a host specific manner, and to a lesser extent, but also widely present, eukaryotic viruses, including viruses attacking human cells. Here, we utilize the deeply phenotyped COPSAC2010 birth cohort consisting of 700 infants to investigate how social, pre-, peri- and postnatal factors may influence the gut virome composition at one year of age, where fecal virome data was available from 645 infants. Among the different exposures studied, having older siblings and living in an urban vs. rural area had the strongest impact on gut virome composition. Differential abundance analysis from a total of 16,118 viral operational taxonomic units (vOTUs) (mainly phages, but also 6.1% eukaryotic viruses) identified 2,105 vOTUs varying with environmental exposures, of which 5.9% were eukaryotic viruses and the rest was phages. Bacterial hosts for these phages were mainly predicted to be within the Bacteroidaceae, Prevotellaceae, and Ruminococcaceae families, as determined by CRISPR spacer matches. Spearman correlation coefficients indicated strong co-abundance trends of vOTUs and their targeted bacterial host, which underlined the predicted phage-host connections. Further, our findings show that some gut viruses encode important metabolic functions and how the abundance of genes encoding these functions is influenced by environmental exposures. Genes that were significantly associated with early life exposures were found in a total of 42 vOTUs. 18 of these vOTUs had their life styles predicted, with 17 of them having a temperate lifestyle. These 42 vOTUs carried genes coding for enzymes involved in alanine, aspartate and glutamate metabolism, glycolysis-gluconeogenesis, as well as fatty acid biosynthesis. The latter implies that these phages could be involved in the utilization and degradation of major dietary components and affect infant health by influencing the metabolic capacity of their bacterial host. Given the importance of the GM in early life for maturation of the immune system and maintenance of metabolic health, these findings provide a valuable source of information for understanding early life factors that predispose for autoimmune and metabolic disorders.

microbiology↗

Co-localization of antibiotic resistance genes is widespread in the infant gut microbiome and associates with an immature gut microbial composition

Even in the absence of antibiotic exposure, the gut microbiome of infants has been shown to contain numerous antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), but the mechanism for this remains unclear. In environmental bacteria, the selective advantage of ARGs can be increased through co-localization with genes such as other ARGs, biocide resistance genes, metal resistance genes, and virulence genes. However, this phenomenon is unknown from the human gut microbiome during early life despite frequent exposures to biocides and metals from an early age. Here, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of genetic co-localization of resistance genes in a cohort of 662 Danish children and examined the association between such co-localization and environmental factors as well as gut microbial maturation. Our study showed that co-localization of ARGs with other resistance and virulence genes is common in the early gut microbiome and is associated with gut bacteria that are indicative of low maturity, especially E. coli. The most common forms of co-localization involved tetracycline and fluoroquinolone resistance genes located near other ARGs, and, on plasmids, co-localization predominantly occurred in the form of class 1 integrons. Antibiotic use caused a short-term increase in mobile ARGs, while non-mobile ARGs showed no significant change. Finally, we found that a high abundance of virulence genes was associated with low gut microbial maturity and that virulence genes showed even higher potential for mobility than ARGs. Our study highlights important constraints that need to be considered when developing strategies to combat ARG dissemination.

microbiology↗

An easily modifiable conjugative plasmid for studying horizontal gene transfer

Horizontal gene transfer is an important mechanism in bacterial evolution and can occur at striking frequencies when mediated by mobile genetic elements. Conjugative plasmids are mobile genetic elements that are main drivers of horizontal transfer and a major facilitator in the spread of antibiotic resistance genes. However, conjugative plasmid models that readily can be genetically modified with the aim to study horizontal transfer are not currently available. The aim of this study was to develop a conjugative plasmid model where the insertion of gene cassettes such as reporter genes (e.g., fluorescent proteins) or antibiotic resistance genes would be efficient and convenient. For that, we introduced a single attTn7 site into the conjugative broad-host-range IncP-1 plasmid pKJK5 in a non-disruptive manner. Furthermore, a version with lower transfer rate and a non-conjugative version of pKJK5-attTn7 were also constructed. The advantage of having the attTn7 sites is that genes of interest can be introduced in a single step with very high success rate using the Tn7 transposition system. In addition, larger genetic fragments can be inserted. To illustrate the efficacy of the constructed pKJK5 plasmids, they were complimented with sfgfp in addition to seven different {beta}-lactamase genes representing the four known classes of {beta}-lactamases.

evolutionary biology↗

Droplet size and surface hydrophobicity enhance bacterial plasmid transfer rates in microscopic surface wetness

Conjugal plasmids constitute a major engine for horizontal gene transfer in bacteria, and are key drivers of the spread of antibiotic resistance, virulence, and metabolic functions. Bacteria in terrestrial habitats often inhabit surfaces that are not constantly water-saturated, where microscopic surface wetness (MSW), comprised of thin liquid films and microdroplets, permanently or intermittently occurs. How physical properties of microdroplets, and of the surfaces they reside on, affect plasmid transfer rates is not well understood. Here, building on microscopy-based microdroplet experiments, we examined the relation between droplet properties (size and spread) and plasmid transfer rates at single-cell and individual droplet resolution, using Pseudomonas putida as a model species. We show that transfer rates increase with droplet size, due to higher densities of cells on the surface in larger droplets, resulting from lower ratio between the area of the liquid-solid interface and droplet volumes. We further show that surface hydrophobicity promotes transfer rates via the same mechanism. Our results provide new insights into how physical properties of surfaces and MSW affect plasmid transfer rates, and more generally, interactions mediated by cell-to-cell contact, with important implications for our understanding of the ecology and evolution of bacteria in unsaturated environments.

microbiology↗

Genome binning of viral entities from bulk metagenomics data

Despite the accelerating number of uncultivated virus sequences discovered in metagenomics and their apparent importance for health and disease, the human gut virome and its interactions with bacteria in the gastrointestinal are not well understood. In addition, a paucity of whole-virome datasets from subjects with gastrointestinal diseases is preventing a deeper understanding of the viromes role in disease and in gastrointestinal ecology as a whole. By combining a deep-learning based metagenomics binning algorithm with paired metagenome and metavirome datasets we developed the Phages from Metagenomics Binning (PHAMB) approach for binning thousands of viral genomes directly from bulk metagenomics data. Simultaneously our methodology enables clustering of viral genomes into accurate taxonomic viral populations. We applied this methodology on the Human Microbiome Project 2 (HMP2) cohort and recovered 6,077 HQ genomes from 1,024 viral populations and explored viral-host interactions. We show that binning can be advantageously applied to existing and future metagenomes to illuminate viral ecological dynamics with other microbiome constituents.

genomics↗

Manual resolution of virome dark matter uncovers hundreds of viral families in the infant gut

The gut microbiome (GM) is shaped through infancy and plays a major role in determining susceptibility to chronic inflammatory diseases later in life. Bacteriophages (phages) are known to modulate bacterial populations in numerous ecosystems, including the gut. However, virome data is difficult to analyse because it mostly consists of unknown viruses, i.e. viral dark matter. Here, we manually resolved the viral dark matter in the largest human virome study published to date. Fecal viromes from a cohort of 647 infants at 1 year of age were deeply sequenced and analysed through successive rounds of clustering and curation. We uncovered more than ten thousand viral species distributed over 248 viral families falling within 17 viral order-level clades. Most of the defined viral families and orders were novel and belonged to the Caudoviricetes viral class. Bacterial hosts were predicted for 79% of the viral species using CRISPR spacers, including those in metagenomes from the same fecal samples. While Bacteroides-infecting Crassphages were present, novel viral families were more predominant, including phages infecting Clostridiales and Bifidobacterium. Phage lifestyles were determined for more than three thousand caudoviral species. Lifestyles were homogeneous at the family level for 149 Caudoviricetes families, including 32 families that were found to be virulent, while 117 were temperate. Virulent phage families were more abundant but temperate ones were more diverse and widespread. Together, the viral families found in this study represent a major expansion of existing bacteriophage taxonomy.

microbiology↗

Prophages in the infant gut are largely induced, and may be functionally relevant to their hosts.

BackgroundBacteriophages are the most abundant biological entity on the planet, and are key components of any ecosystem they are present in. The gut virome is increasingly being implicated in disease states although these studies largely focus on lytic phages in adults. Here we identify prophages from a large infant cohort and investigate their potential functions. ResultsWe identified 10645 vOTUs from 662 metagenomes. No core virome was found: the most prevalent vOTU was identified in 70% of the samples. The most abundant and prevalent group of phages are a novel group closely related to Bacteroides phage Hanky p00. Functional annotation of this group revealed the presence of genes in the dDTP-L-rhamnose pathway, possibly involved in the production of capsular polysaccharides. We also found an abundance of diversity generating retroelements in the phages. Additionally, paired virome data allowed us to show that the majority of prophages are induced in at least one sample and that this is not affected by the use of antibiotics in the 4 weeks prior to sampling. ConclusionsProphages in the infant gut are largely unique to the individual and not shared. Most of them appear to be induced and so may be key drivers in shaping the bacterial microbiome. The most abundant group of phages are novel, and possess elements that may allow them to maintain differentially susceptible subpopulations of their host bacterium; whilst also containing diversity generating retroelements that could expand their host range. Prophages are important components of the infant gut that may have far reaching influences on the composition and function of the microbiome.

microbiology↗

Comparative genomics analysis of Chryseobacterium sp. KMC2 reveals metabolic pathways involved in keratinous utilization and natural product biosynthesis

Several efforts have been made to valorize keratinous materials, an abundant and renewable resource. Despite these attempts to valorize products generated from keratin hydrolysate, either via chemical or microbial conversion, they generally remain with an overall low value. In this study, a promising keratinolytic strain from the genus Chryseobacterium (Chryseobacterium sp. KMC2) was investigated using comparative genomic tools against publicly available reference genomes to reveal the metabolic potential for biosynthesis of valuable secondary metabolites. Genome and metabolic features of four species were compared, shows different gene numbers but similar functional categories. We successfully mined eleven different secondary metabolite gene clusters of interest from the four genomes, including five common ones shared across all genomes. Among the common metabolites, we identified gene clusters involved in biosynthesis of flexirubin-type pigment, microviridin, and siderophore, all showing remarkable conservation across the four genomes. Unique secondary metabolite gene clusters were also discovered, for example, ladderane from Chryseobacterium sp. KMC2. Additionally, this study provides a more comprehensive understanding of the potential metabolic pathways of keratin utilization in Chryseobacterium sp. KMC2, with the involvement of amino acid metabolism, TCA cycle, glycolysis/gluconeogenesis, propanoate metabolism, and sulfate reduction. This work uncovers the biosynthesis of secondary metabolite gene clusters from four keratinolytic Chryseobacterium spp. and shades lights on the keratinolytic potential of Chryseobacterium sp. KMC2 from a genome-mining perspective, providing alternatives to valorize keratinous materials into high-value natural products. ImportanceKeratin is an abundant and renewable resource from slaughterhouses or the poultry industry. Low-value products such as animal feed and fertilizer were generated from these feedstocks based on conventional processing like chemical conversion. In fact, microorganisms possess the potential to synthesize valuable natural products. In this work, we explored the metabolic potential of Chryseobacterium sp. KMC2, which was isolated with efficient keratinolytic capacity from a previous study. Comparative genomics analysis displayed similar functional categories against three publicly available reference genomes of keratin-degrading Chryseobacterium spp.. Eleven different secondary metabolite gene clusters of interest were mined among four genomes, including five common and unique ones. Furthermore, we provide a more comprehensive understanding of metabolic pathways on keratin utilization in Chryseobacterium sp. KMC2, with the involvement of amino acid assimilation and sulfate reduction. These findings contribute to expanding the application of Chryseobacterium sp. KMC2 on the valorization of keratinous materials.

microbiology↗

Extended spectrum β-lactamase and carbapenemase genes are substantially and sequentially reduced during conveyance and treatment of urban sewage

Integrated and quantitative observations of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in urban water systems (UWSs) are lacking. We sampled three UWSs for clinically important extended spectrum {beta}-lactamase (ESBL) and carbapenemase (CP) genes, mobile genetic elements and microbial communities. Sewage - especially from hospitals - carried substantial loads of ESBL and CP genes (106 - 107 per person equivalent), but those loads progressively declined along the UWS, resulting in minimal emissions (101 - 104 copies per person equivalent). Removal was primarily during sewage conveyance (65% {+/-} 36%) rather than within sewage treatment (34% {+/-} 23%). The ARGs clustered in groups based on their persistence; less persistent groups were associated to putative host taxa (especially Enterobacteriaceae and Moraxellaceae), while more persistent groups appear horizontally transferred as they correlated with mobile genetic elements. This first documentation of a substantial ARG reduction during sewage conveyance provides opportunities for antibiotic resistance management and a caution for sewage-based ARG surveillance.

ecology↗

Adaptive evolution of phenotypic switching during environmental change

Microbes are faced with environmental fluctuations and it is therefore important to understand how change affects bacterial evolution and population dynamics. Here, we evolved a model bacterium, Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA14, under both constant and changing conditions where settlement by biofilm formation or migration by swimming motility was induced. In changing environments, a heterogeneous population evolved with both specialists and generalists. Interestingly, over time, generalists were outcompeted despite being better at both phenotypes compared to the ancestor. However, generalists became dominant when faced with local competition after resettlement. Reintroduction into a burn wound model, the environment PA14 originally was isolated from, further suggested a tradeoff between niche breadth and peak fitness in agreement with the evolution experiments. Mutations in the c-di-GMP system were key for adaptation of the phenotypes. No mutants lost their ability to regulate c-di-GMP, but generalists acquired mutations that optimized their phenotypic response by efficiently adjusting c-di-GMP levels.

evolutionary biology↗

CRISPRCasTyper: An automated tool for the identification, annotation and classification of CRISPR-Cas loci

CRISPR-Cas loci encode for highly diversified prokaryotic adaptive defense systems that have recently become popular for their applications in gene editing and beyond. The increasing demand for bioinformatic tools that systematically detect and classify CRISPR-Cas systems has been largely challenged by their complex dynamic nature and rapidly expanding classification. Here, we developed CRISPRCasTyper, a new automated software tool with improved capabilities for identifying and typing CRISPR arrays and cas loci across prokaryotic sequences, based on the latest classification and nomenclature (39 subtypes/variants) (Makarova et al. 2020; Pinilla-Redondo et al. 2019). As a novel feature, CRISPRCasTyper uses a machine learning approach to subtype CRISPR arrays based on the sequences of the direct repeats. This allows the typing of orphan and distant arrays which, for example, are commonly observed in fragmented metagenomic assemblies. Furthermore, the tool provides a graphical output, where CRISPRs and cas operon arrangements are visualized in the form of colored gene maps, thus aiding annotation of partial and novel systems through synteny. Moreover, CRISPRCasTyper can resolve hybrid CRISPR-Cas systems and detect loci spanning the ends of sequences with a circular topology, such as complete genomes and plasmids. CRISPRCasTyper was benchmarked against a manually curated set of 31 subtypes/variants with a median accuracy of 98.6%. Altogether, we present an up-to-date and freely available software pipeline for significantly improved automated predictions of CRISPR-Cas loci across genomic sequences. ImplementationCRISPRCasTyper is available through conda and PyPi under the MIT license (https://github.com/Russel88/CRISPRCasTyper), and is also available as a web server (http://cctyper.crispr.dk).

bioinformatics↗

Stability of the vaginal microbiota during pregnancy and its importance for early infant colonization

Early life microbiota has been linked to the development of chronic inflammatory diseases. It has been hypothesized that maternal vaginal microbiota is an important initial seeding source and therefore can have lifelong effects on disease risk. To understand maternal vaginal microbiotas role in seeding the childs microbiota and the extent of delivery mode-dependent transmission, we studied 700 mother-child dyads from the COPSAC2010 cohort. The maternal vaginal microbiota was evaluated in the third trimester and compared with the childrens fecal and airway microbiota. The vaginal samples displayed known stable community state types and only 1:6 changed over time. Only one OTU was significantly transferred to childrens fecal compartment, but an inflated number had positive transfer odds. A few taxonomic families showed early transfer enrichment to vaginally-born children, indicating vertical transfer, while half of the observed transfer effects were delivery mode independent enrichment with attenuating strength over time, indicating a common reservoir.

bioinformatics↗