Journal: FEMS Microbiology Reviews

Abbreviation

FEMS microbiol. rev.

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Journal Volumes

ISSN

0168-6445
1574-6976

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Publications 1 - 9 of 9
  • Biophysical processes supporting the diversity of microbial life in soil
    Item type: Review Article
    Tecon, Robin; Or, Dani (2017)
    FEMS Microbiology Reviews
    Soil, the living terrestrial skin of the Earth, plays a central role in supporting life and is home to an unimaginable diversity of microorganisms. This review explores key drivers for microbial life in soils under different climates and land-use practices at scales ranging from soil pores to landscapes. We delineate special features of soil as a microbial habitat (focusing on bacteria) and the consequences for microbial communities. This review covers recent modeling advances that link soil physical processes with microbial life (termed biophysical processes). Readers are introduced to concepts governing water organization in soil pores and associated transport properties and microbial dispersion ranges often determined by the spatial organization of a highly dynamic soil aqueous phase. The narrow hydrological windows of wetting and aqueous phase connectedness are crucial for resource distribution and longer range transport of microorganisms. Feedbacks between microbial activity and their immediate environment are responsible for emergence and stabilization of soil structure—the scaffolding for soil ecological functioning. We synthesize insights from historical and contemporary studies to provide an outlook for the challenges and opportunities for developing a quantitative ecological framework to delineate and predict the microbial component of soil functioning.
  • The battle for chitin recognition in plant-microbe interactions
    Item type: Review Article
    Sánchez-Vallet, Andrea; Mesters, Jeroen R.; Thomma, Bart P.H.J. (2015)
    FEMS Microbiology Reviews
  • Multiple functions of flagellar motility and chemotaxis in bacterial physiology
    Item type: Review Article
    Colin, Remy; Ni, Bin; Laganenka, Leanid; et al. (2021)
    FEMS Microbiology Reviews
    Most swimming bacteria are capable of following gradients of nutrients, signaling molecules and other environmental factors that affect bacterial physiology. This tactic behavior became one of the most-studied model systems for signal transduction and quantitative biology, and underlying molecular mechanisms are well characterized in Escherichia coli and several other model bacteria. In this review, we focus primarily on less understood aspect of bacterial chemotaxis, namely its physiological relevance for individual bacterial cells and for bacterial populations. As evident from multiple recent studies, even for the same bacterial species flagellar motility and chemotaxis might serve multiple roles, depending on the physiological and environmental conditions. Among these, finding sources of nutrients and more generally locating niches that are optimal for growth appear to be one of the major functions of bacterial chemotaxis, which could explain many chemoeffector preferences as well as flagellar gene regulation. Chemotaxis might also generally enhance efficiency of environmental colonization by motile bacteria, which involves intricate interplay between individual and collective behaviors and trade-offs between growth and motility. Finally, motility and chemotaxis play multiple roles in collective behaviors of bacteria including swarming, biofilm formation and autoaggregation, as well as in their interactions with animal and plant hosts.
  • Synthetic microbial ecology and the dynamic interplay between microbial genotypes
    Item type: Journal Article
    Dolinšek, Jan; Goldschmidt, Felix; Johnson, David R. (2016)
    FEMS Microbiology Reviews
  • Pathogenic microbes in water and food: Changes and challenges
    Item type: Other Journal Item
    Egli, Thomas; Köster, Wolfgang; Meile, Leo (2002)
    FEMS Microbiology Reviews
  • Life under extreme energy limitation: A synthesis of laboratory- and field-based investigations
    Item type: Review Article
    Lever, Mark A.; Rogers, Karyn L.; Lloyd, Karen G.; et al. (2015)
    FEMS Microbiology Reviews
  • Evolution of bacterial virulence
    Item type: Journal Article
    Diard, Médéric; Hardt, Wolf-Dietrich (2017)
    FEMS Microbiology Reviews
  • Environmental fluctuations and their effects on microbial communities, populations, and individuals
    Item type: Journal Article
    Nguyen, Jen; Lara-Guitérrez, Juanita; Stocker, Roman (2021)
    FEMS Microbiology Reviews
    From the homeostasis of human health to the cycling of Earth’s elements, microbial activities underlie environmental, medical and industrial processes. These activities occur in chemical and physical landscapes that are highly dynamic and experienced by bacteria as fluctuations. In this review, we first discuss how bacteria can experience both spatial and temporal heterogeneity in their environments as temporal fluctuations of various timescale (seconds to seasons) and type (nutrient, sunlight, fluid flow, etc.). We then focus primarily on nutrient fluctuations to discuss how bacterial communities, populations and single cells respond to environmental fluctuations. Overall, we find that environmental fluctuations are ubiquitous, diverse, and strongly shape microbial behavior, ecology and evolution when compared to environments in which conditions remain constant over time. We hope this review may serve as a guide towards understanding the significance of environmental fluctuations in microbial life, such that their contributions and implications can be better assessed and exploited.
  • Electrical signaling in fungi: past and present challenges
    Item type: Review Article
    Buffi, Matteo; Kelliher, Julia M.; Robinson, Aaron J.; et al. (2025)
    FEMS Microbiology Reviews
    Electrical signaling is a fundamental mechanism for integrating environmental stimuli and coordinating responses in living organisms. While extensively studied in animals and plants, the role of electrical signaling in fungi remains a largely underexplored field. Early studies suggested that filamentous fungi generate action potential-like signals and electrical currents at hyphal tips, yet their function in intracellular communication remained unclear. Renewed interest in fungal electrical activity has fueled developments such as the hypothesis that mycorrhizal networks facilitate electrical communication between plants and the emerging field of fungal-based electronic materials. Given their continuous plasma membrane, specialized septal pores, and insulating cell wall structures, filamentous fungi possess architectural features that could support electrical signaling over long distances. However, studying electrical phenomena in fungal networks presents unique challenges due to the microscopic dimensions of hyphae, the structural complexity of highly modular mycelial networks, and the limitations of traditional electrophysiological methods. This review synthesizes current evidence for electrical signaling in filamentous fungi, evaluates methodological approaches, and highlights experimental challenges. By addressing these challenges and identifying best practices, we aim to advance research in this field and provide a foundation for future studies exploring the role of electrical signaling in fungal biology.
Publications 1 - 9 of 9