Increasing concerns about nosocomial infection, food and environmental safety have prompted the development of rapid, accurate, specific and ultrasensitive methods for the early detection of critical pathogens. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is one of the most common pathogens that cause infection. It is ubiquitous in nature, being found in water, soil, and food, and poses a great threat to public health. The conventional detection technologies are either time consuming or readily produce false positive/negative results, which makes them unsuitable for early diagnosis and spot detection of P. aeruginosa. To circumvent these drawbacks, many efforts have been made to develop biosensors using aptamers as bio-recognition elements. Various aptamer-based biosensors for clinical diagnostics, food, and environmental monitoring of P. aeruginosa have been developed in recent years. In this review, we focus on the latest advances in aptamer-based biosensors for detection of P. aeruginosa. Representative biosensors are outlined according to their sensing mechanisms, which include optical, electrochemical and other signal transduction methods. Possible future trends in aptamer biosensors for pathogen detection are also outlined.Salmonella is an important food pathogen that can cause severe gastroenteritis with more than 600,000 deaths globally every year. Colistin (COL), a last-resort antibiotic, is ineffective in bacteria that carry a functional mcr-1 gene, which is often spread by conjugative plasmids. Our work aimed to understand the prevalence of the mcr-1 gene in clinical isolates of Salmonella, as the frequency of occurrence of the mcr-1 gene is increasing globally. Therefore, we analyzed 689 clinical strains, that were isolated between 2009 and late 2018. The mcr-1 gene was found in six strains, which we analyzed in detail by whole genome sequencing and antibiotic susceptibility testing, while we also provide the clinical information on the patients suffering from an infection. The genomic analysis revealed that five strains had plasmid-encoded mcr-1 gene located in four IncHI2 plasmids and one IncI2 plasmid, while one strain had the chromosomal mcr-1 gene originated from plasmid. Surprisingly, in two strains the mcr-1 genes were inactive due to disruption by insertion sequences (ISs) ISApl1 and ISVsa5. A detailed analysis of the plasmids revealed a multitude of ISs, most commonly IS26. The IS contained genes that meditate broad resistance toward most antibiotics underlining their importance of the mobile elements, also with respect to the spread of the mcr-1 gene. Our study revealed potential reservoirs for the transmission of COL resistance and offers insights into the evolution of the mcr-1 gene in Salmonella.Marine ecosystems serve as global carbon sinks and nutrient source or breeding ground for aquatic animals. Sponges are ancient parts of these important ecosystems and can be found in caves, the deep-sea, clear waters, or more turbid environments. Here, we studied the bacterial community composition of the calcareous sponge Clathrina clathrus sampled close to the island Corsica in the Mediterranean Sea with an emphasis on planctomycetes. We show that the phylum Planctomycetes accounts for 9% of the C. clathrus-associated bacterial community, a 5-fold enrichment compared to the surrounding seawater. Indeed, the use of C. clathrus as a yet untapped source of novel planctomycetal strains led to the isolation of strain KS4T. The strain represents a novel genus and species within the class Phycisphaerae in the phylum Planctomycetes and displays interesting cell biological features, such as formation of outer membrane vesicles and an unexpected mode of cell division.Urea is an inexpensive non-protein nitrogen source commonly supplemented to the diets of ruminants. It is cleaved to ammonia by bacterial ureases, which require Ni as a catalyst for ureolysis. The key event in the changes of the ruminal microbiome after urea supplementation remains unknown. We have therefore investigated changes in the ruminal microbiome and its community with Ni-dependent enzyme genes following urea supplementation and analyzed the associations of rumen environmental factors, including fermentation variables and Ni concentrations, with the compositional and functional changes of these communities. We found that urea supplementation increased urease activity and the concentrations of ammonia and Ni, and tended to increase concentrations of short chain fatty acids and acetate, whereas it decreased rumen pH and the L-/D-lactate ratio. With standards for genome completeness >60% and strain heterogeneity less then 10%, 20 bacterial species containing five Ni-dependent enzyme genes were detected f the community of microbes with Ni-dependent enzyme genes. Thus, the functional change of the latter community is probably an important event in the adaptation of the ruminal microbiome to urea-supplemented diets. This result provides a new perspective for the understanding of the effects of urea supplementation on rumen fermentation. Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is a common and debilitating inflammatory condition of the sinuses, afflicting 5% of the general population. Although antibiotics are frequently prescribed for the medical management of CRS, there is surprisingly little evidence to support their efficacy. In this study, we aimed to establish associations between medication usage, the sinus microbiota and patients' clinical outcomes. Antibiotic prescription patterns for the year before sample collection of 156 CRS patients, 45 disease control patients (mostly requiring septoplasty and inferior turbinate reduction) and 35 healthy control subjects were examined and analyzed together with previously published bacterial 16S rRNA gene amplicon data from our group. The highest antibiotic usage was observed among the two CRS patient categories. Despite heavy antibiotic usage, CRS patients' clinical outcomes as indicated by patient questionnaires and radiologic scores were similar to those patients that did not receive any antibiotic A 73-year-old female suffering from acute myeloid leukemia presented with progressive rhinofacial mycosis. Suspecting it to be mucormycosis, the antifungal amphotericin B (AMB) was administered empirically, but the patient did not respond as planned. The fungus was then isolated from the biopsied tissue and morphologically identified as a species of . selleck compound Necrosis progressed and she died of cerebral hemorrhage. Since is susceptible to AMB, and several other species can be misidentified as , the observed resistance necessitated a re-examination of the fungal isolate. The fungal strain was re-isolated and re-examined morphologically. Additionally, genomic DNA was extracted from the fungus and sequences were obtained from three genomic regions [the rDNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region, and portions of the β-tubulin and calmodulin genes] to more accurately identify this strain. Its antifungal susceptibility was assessed using multiple compounds and our findings were compared with literature data.