The oceans represent an understudied resource for the isolation of bacteria with the potential to produce novel secondary metabolites. In particular, actinomyces are well known to produce chemically diverse metabolites with a wide range of biological activities. This study characterised spore-forming bacteria from both Scottish and Antarctic sediments to assess the influence of isolation locati...

Normal platelet function is critical to blood hemostasis and maintenance of a closed circulatory system. Heightened platelet reactivity, however, is associated with cardiometabolic diseases and enhanced potential for thrombotic events. We now show gut microbes, through generation of trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO), directly contribute to platelet hyperreactivity and enhanced thrombosis potential....

The metabolites and enzymes synthesized by microorganisms have been widely used as food (Mitsuhashi, 2014; Wendisch, 2014), pharmaceuticals (Elander, 2003; Endo, 2010), biofuels (Geddes et al., 2011), pesticides (Waldron et al., 2001; Yoon et al., 2004), and detergents (Shaligram and Singhal, 2010), as well as in the manufacturing process of these industrial products (Kirk et al., 2002; Merino ...

Microorganisms and in particular actinomycetes and microfungi are known to produce a vast number of bioactive secondary metabolites. For industrially important fungal genera such as Penicillium and Aspergillus the production of these compounds has been demonstrated to be very consistent at the species level. This means that direct metabolite profiling techniques such as direct injection mass sp...

Over the past decade, the gut microbiota has emerged as an essential mediator in the pathophysiology of obesity and related metabolic disorders. In this context, the reciprocal interactions of the gut microbiota structure and their metabolite profiles with host metabolism predisposing to a range of pathological conditions (e.g., insulin resistance) related to energy homeostasis have been increa...

Fermentation of 17-hydroxyprogesterone with a Bacillus species (IICB-301) in a modified nutrient medium under aerobic conditions yielded androst-4-ene-3,17-dione and 15 alpha,17-dihydroxypregn-4-ene-3,20-dione in addition to a new pregnane analogue, 6 beta,17,20 alpha-trihydroxypregn-4-ene-3-one. Each microbial metabolite was characterized by the application of various spectroscopic techniques....

Studying microbial interactions by MALDI mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) directly from growing media is a difficult task if high sensitivity is demanded. We present a quick and robust sample preparation strategy for growing fungi (Trichoderma atroviride, Rhizoctonia solani) on glass slides to establish a miniaturized confrontation assay. By this we were able to visualize metabolite distribution...

Trimethylamine (TMA) N-oxide (TMAO), a gut-microbiota-dependent metabolite, both enhances atherosclerosis in animal models and is associated with cardiovascular risks in clinical studies. Here, we investigate the impact of targeted inhibition of the first step in TMAO generation, commensal microbial TMA production, on diet-induced atherosclerosis. A structural analog of choline, 3,3-dimethyl-1-...

The Human Microbiome Project defined microbial community interactions with the human host, and provided important molecular insight into how epigenetic factors can influence intestinal ecosystems. Given physiological context, changes in gut microbial community structure are increasingly found to associate with alterations in enteric neurotransmission and disease. At present, it is not known whe...