The invention relates to a method for the identification of a first microorganism potentially secreting an effector compound, said first microorganism thereby having either i. an inhibitory effect on the cell division activity of a second microorganism or ii. an enhancing effect on the cell division activity of a second microorganism, the method comprising: a. providing a cell from a first microorganism which potentially produces an effector compound of interest and a cell from a second detector microorganism; b. introducing both cells into a microdroplet for incubation; c. introducing the microdroplet into a microfluidic system; d. analyzing in said microfluidic system the cell of the second microorganism for the exhibition of an enhanced growth effect or the exhibition of an inhibited growth effect stemming from said effector compound. The invention also relates to a microorganism or effector compound identified by the method according to the invention.

The invention relates to a method for the identification of a first microorganism potentially secreting an effector compound, said first microorganism thereby having either i. an inhibitory effect on the cell division activity of a second microorganism or ii. an enhancing effect on the cell division activity of a second microorganism, the method comprising: a. providing a cell from a first microorganism which potentially produces an effector compound of interest and a cell from a second detector microorganism; b. introducing both cells into a microdroplet for incubation; c. introducing the microdroplet into a microfluidic system; d. analyzing in said microfluidic system the cell of the second microorganism for the exhibition of an enhanced growth effect or the exhibition of an inhibited growth effect stemming from said effector compound. The invention also relates to a microorganism or effector compound identified by the method according to the invention.

A reference test body for monitoring and/or verifying test conditions during a test of microbial barrier properties of at least one product, wherein the reference test body has a cavity, a nutrient medium, at least one opening, and at least one cover provided with a number of holes and covering the at least one opening. A constancy of test conditions can be monitored in this way. The invention further relates to an associated use, an associated test chamber, and an associated method.

A reference test body for monitoring and/or verifying test conditions during a test of microbial barrier properties of at least one product, wherein the reference test body has a cavity, a nutrient medium, at least one opening, and at least one cover provided with a number of holes and covering the at least one opening. A constancy of test conditions can be monitored in this way. The invention further relates to an associated use, an associated test chamber, and an associated method.

The present invention provides a recombinant sequence information of a key host factor ANP32A/B which is necessary for the replication of influenza virus in a host. More specifically, the present invention relates to a 129-130 motif and a 149 site of the host factor ANP32A/B protein, which are key active sites for exerting its ability to promote the replication of influenza virus, and are also potential targeting sites of anti-influenza drugs.

Microorganisms are prolific producers of natural products, a group of molecules that make up the majority of drugs approved by the FDA in the past 35 years. After decades of mining, the low-hanging fruit has been picked and so discovery of drug-like molecules from microorganisms has come to a near-halt. The reason for this lack of productivity is that most biosynthetic pathways that give rise to natural products are not active under typical laboratory growth conditions. These so-called ‘cryptic’ or ‘silent’ pathways are a major source of new bioactive molecules and methods that reliably activate them could have a profound impact on drug discovery. Disclosed herein is a rapid genetics-free method for eliciting and detecting cryptic metabolites using an imaging mass spectrometry-based approach. An organism of choice is challenged with elicitors from a small molecule library. The molecules elicited are then imaged by mass spec, which allows for rapid identification of cryptic metabolites. These are then isolated and characterized. Employing the disclosed approach activated production of cryptic glycopeptides from an actinomycete bacterium. The molecules that result, the keratinimicins and keratinicyclins, are metabolites with important structural features. At least two of these, keratinimicins B and C, are highly bioactive against several pathogenic strains. This approach will allow for rapid activation and identification of cryptic metabolites from diverse microorganisms in the future.

Microorganisms are prolific producers of natural products, a group of molecules that make up the majority of drugs approved by the FDA in the past 35 years. After decades of mining, the low-hanging fruit has been picked and so discovery of drug-like molecules from microorganisms has come to a near-halt. The reason for this lack of productivity is that most biosynthetic pathways that give rise to natural products are not active under typical laboratory growth conditions. These so-called ‘cryptic’ or ‘silent’ pathways are a major source of new bioactive molecules and methods that reliably activate them could have a profound impact on drug discovery. Disclosed herein is a rapid genetics-free method for eliciting and detecting cryptic metabolites using an imaging mass spectrometry-based approach. An organism of choice is challenged with elicitors from a small molecule library. The molecules elicited are then imaged by mass spec, which allows for rapid identification of cryptic metabolites. These are then isolated and characterized. Employing the disclosed approach activated production of cryptic glycopeptides from an actinomycete bacterium. The molecules that result, the keratinimicins and keratinicyclins, are metabolites with important structural features. At least two of these, keratinimicins B and C, are highly bioactive against several pathogenic strains. This approach will allow for rapid activation and identification of cryptic metabolites from diverse microorganisms in the future.

Embodiments provided herein include methods, compositions, and uses of aromatic alcohols to increase the potency of antifungal agents.

Inoculating systems/devices, methods for inoculating a target, and coating methods are disclosed. An example inoculating system may include an inoculating member having a transfer region and a handle region. A pre-determined quantity of viable microorganisms may be disposed on the transfer region. The inoculating member may be configured to transfer the pre-determined quantity of viable microorganisms to a target during an inoculation operation without having to rehydrate the pre-determined quantity of viable microorganisms prior to the inoculating operation.

The present invention relates to methods and kits for providing high throughput quantitative analysis of impact (e.g., by application of materials which affect — positively and/or negatively — microbial species) on human microbiome.