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Stress-protective effects have been reported forM. vaccaeNCTC 11659 andM. vaccaeATCC 15483^T. However, it remains to be investigated whether also closely related rapidly growing environmental saprophytic non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) species have protective effects against the negative consequences of chronic psychosocial stress. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to assess whether repeated i.g. administrations of a heat-inactivated preparation ofMycobacterium aurumDSM 33539 prior to 19 days of chronic subordinate colony housing (CSC) are able to ameliorate the negative effects of this preclinically validated mouse model for chronic psychosocial stress on subsequent dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) colitis in male C57BL/6N mice. The results of the present study show that repeated i.g. administrations ofM. aurumDSM 33539 have stabilizing effects on the composition of the gut microbiome, indicated by the findings thatM. aurumDSM 33539 prevented CSC-induced increases in the relative abundances of the colitogenic phyla Desulfobacterota and Deferribacterota. Indeed, the relative abundance of Deferribacterota on day 19 was strongly correlated with histological damage to the colon. In line with the latter,M. aurumDSM 33539 was further protective against the aggravating effects of stress on subsequent DSS colitis. Collectively, our findings confirm and extend previous findings from our group and suggest that the stress-protective effects reported forM. vaccaeNCTC 11659 andM. vaccaeATCC 15483^Tare generalizable also to other NTM species. 

Ocean microbial communities are made up of thousands of diverse taxa whose metabolic demands set the rates of both biomass production and degradation. Thus, these microscopic organisms play a critical role in ecosystem dynamics, global carbon cycling, and climate. While we have frameworks for relating phytoplankton diversity to rates of carbon fixation, our knowledge of how variations in heterotrophic microbial populations drive changes in carbon cycling is in its infancy. Here, we leverage global metagenomic datasets and metabolic models to identify a set of metabolic niches with distinct growth strategies. These groupings provide a simplifying framework for describing microbial communities in different oceanographic regions and for understanding how heterotrophic microbial populations function. This framework, predicated directly on metabolic capability rather than taxonomy, enables us to tractably link heterotrophic diversity directly to biogeochemical rates in large scale ecosystem models. 

Incorporating games in teaching can help students retain material and become innovative problem solvers through engagement and enjoyment. Here we describe a new board game, “Taphonomy: Dead and Fossilized,” and its use as an active learning tool (material available at doi: 10.18738/T8/NQV2CU). The educational objective is to teach the player about taphonomy and fossilization, while the gameplay objective is to preserve and recover the best fossil collection. Through competitive gameplay, students learn how chemical, physical, and environmental factors, as well as physiology and discovery biases can influence an organism’s preservation and collection potential. The game is modeled after an Early Jurassic fossil deposit for scientific accuracy and relevance. The game was incorporated in undergraduate classroom activities in 20 colleges and universities across the United States. Survey results show that students and teachers were overwhelmingly positive about the game, stating that it was fun and helped them learn or strengthen their knowledge of fossilization. When analyzed statistically, we find that students’ self-reported learning outcomes and opinions vary most significantly with college year, major, ethnicity, and race. White students and geoscience or STEM majors reported the highest levels of learning and enjoyment, with minorities and non-STEM majors responding less favorably. We suggest this game is most advantageous for use in upper-level paleontology classrooms, although it is still beneficial at lower levels. It is critical to use this game as part of a larger lesson plan and tailor it to fit the needs of an individual classroom. Modifications for time and class size, as well as follow-up discussion questions, are included.