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Under the influence of global climate change and human activities, forest expansion has become increasingly significant in shaping ecosystems. However, its effects on soil microbial communities remain poorly understood. This study investigates the impacts of forest expansion on soil bacteria, fungi, and protists within mountaintop forest ecosystems. Soil samples were collected from three forest habitats: non-forest expansion mountaintops (NFE-Top), forest expansion mountaintops (FE-Top) and mountain bottoms (FE-Bottom). This study revealed that forest expansion promoted microbial sharing between mountaintop and bottom forests, resulting in greater community similarity between FE-Top and FE-Bottom compared to NFE-Top and FE-Bottom. Notably, forest expansion significantly reduced microbial diversity and altered community composition, particularly within bacterial communities. Microbial network analyses indicated that forest expansion mountaintops were more stable, with higher robustness, and lower vulnerability than non-forest expansion mountaintops. Stochastic assembly processes dominated the microbial communities across all forest habitats, with their relative importance increasing after forest expansion. Furthermore, forest expansion decreased the community-level habitat niche breadth of microbial communities. Distinct environmental factors were the primary indicators of microbial community dissimilarities across different habitats, with TP, pH, and moisture acting as key indicators of these differences in NFE-Top, FE-Top, and FE-Bottom, respectively. These findings highlight the important role of forest expansion in shaping microbial community dynamics and emphasize the potential of microbial communities as indicators of ecosystem changes., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2025 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Strain SYSU D00308 T , a short-rod-shaped bacterium, was isolated from a sandy soil collected from the Gurbantunggut Desert, Xinjiang, PR China. Strain SYSU D00308 T was Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, pink-pigmented, non-motile, catalase- and oxidase-positive. The strain grew at 4-37 ℃, pH 5.0-8.0 and 0-1.5% (w/v) NaCl. 16S rRNA gene sequencing analyses demonstrated that strain SYSU D00308 T belonged to the genus Rufibacter and exhibited the highest sequence similarity (97.4%) to Rufibacter glacialis MDT1-10-3 T . Summed features 3, 4, and iso-C 15:0 were the major fatty acids, and menaquinone 7 (MK-7) was the sole respiratory menaquinone. The polar lipid profiles comprised phosphatidylethanolamine, an unidentified glycolipid, an unidentified phospholipid, two unidentified aminophospholipids, and two unidentified lipids. The genome size and DNA G + C content of strain SYSU D00308 T were 5,176,683 bp and 54.8%, respectively. The average nucleotide identity (ANI) and digital DNA-DNA hybridization (dDDH) values between SYSU D00308 T and members of the genus Rufibacter were 77.7-81.8% and 20.4-23.4% respectively, which were less than the corresponding thresholds (ANI: 95-96%; dDDH: 70%) for prokaryotic species definition. According to the genotypic, phenotypic and phylogenetic characteristics, strain SYSU D00308 T represents a novel species of the genus Rufibacter. We propose the name, Rufibacter psychrotolerans sp. nov., with SYSU D00308 T (= CGMCC 1.18621 T = KCTC 82275 T = MCCC 1K04970 T ) as the type strain., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

A novel rod-shaped bacterium, designated as strain SYSU D60015 T that formed yellowish colonies was isolated from a sandy soil collected from the Kumtag Desert in Xinjiang, China. Cells were Gram-stain-negative, oxidase-positive, catalase-negative and motile with a single polar flagellum. Growth optimum occurred between 28 and 37 °C, pH 7.0 and with 0-0.5% (W/V) NaCl. The predominant cellular fatty acids (> 5%) were summed feature 8 (C 18:1 ω7c and/or C 18:1 ω6c), C 19:0 cyclo ω8c, C 18:1 ω7c 11-methyl and C 16:0 . The polar lipid profile contained one phosphatidylethanolamine, one diphosphatidylglycerol, one phosphatidylglycerol, one unidentified phospholipid, three unidentified aminolipids, two unidentified aminophospholipids and seven unidentified lipids. The only respiratory quinone was ubiquinone-10. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence phylogenetic analysis, strain SYSU D60015 T was found to form a distinct linage within the family Sneathiellaceae, and had 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities of 90.8% to Taonella mepensis H1 T , and 90.2% to Ferrovibrio denitrificans S3 T . The genome of SYSU D60015 T was 5.66 Mb in size with 68.2% of DNA G + C content. The low digital DNA-DNA hybridization (dDDH, 18.0%), average nucleotide identity (ANI, 77.5%) and amino acid identity (AAI, 56.0%) values between SYSU D60015 T and Ferrovibrio terrae K5 T indicated that SYSU D60015 T might represent a distinct genus. Based on the phylogenetic, phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and genomic data, we propose Desertibaculum subflavum gen. nov., sp. nov. as a novel species of a new genus within the family Sneathiellaceae. The type strain is SYSU D60015 T (= NBRC 112952 T  = CGMCC 1.16256 T )., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

An aerobic, Gram-stain-negative bacterium, designated as SYSU D00382 T , was sourced from soil of Gurbantunggut Desert, PR China. The strain was short-rod-shaped, oxidase-positive and catalase-negative, with yellow-colored, convex, round, and smooth colonies on TSA plate. Growth and proliferation occurred at 4-37 °C (optimal: 28-30 °C), pH 5.0-8.0 (optimal: pH 6.0-7.0) and NaCl concentration of 0-2.5% (optimal: 0-0.5%). The 16S rRNA gene based phylogenetic assessment showed that SYSU D00382 T belonged to the genus Pedobacter, and was most closely related to Pedobacter ginsengisoli Gsoil 104 T with similarity of 97.7%. The genomic DNA G+C content of SYSU D00382 T was 46.4%. The average nucleotide identity (ANI) and digital DNA-DNA hybridization (dDDH) values between SYSU D00382 T and P. ginsengisoli Gsoil 104 T were 75.7% and 17.5%, respectively. The main polar lipid was phosphatidylethanolamine. The major fatty acids (> 5%) were iso-C 15:0 , iso-C 17:0 3-OH, summed features 3 and 9. The sole respiratory quinone identified was MK-7. The phylogeny based on 16S rRNA gene and whole-genome sequences revealed that SYSU D00382 T formed a robust lineage with P. ginsengisoli Gsoil 104 T . Based on phenotypic, phylogenetic and genotypic data, a novel specie named Pedobacter deserti sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is SYSU D00382 T (= CGMCC 1.18627 T  = MCCC 1K04972 T  = KCTC 82279 T )., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

Two Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, milk-white coloured, non-motile, short rod-shaped bacteria, designated as strains SYSU D60010 T and SYSU D60012 T , were isolated from sand samples collected from the Taklimakan Desert of Xinjiang Province in China. Both strains were positive for oxidase, catalase and nitrate reduction, but negative for amylase, H 2 S production, hydrolysis of gelatin and cellulase. Strains SYSU D60010 T and SYSU D60012 T grew well at 28 °C, at pH 7 and had the same NaCl tolerance range of 0-1 % (w/v). The major fatty acids (>5 %) of strains SYSU D60010 T and SYSU D60012 T were summed feature 8 (C 18 : 1  ω 7 c and/or C 18 : 1  ω 6 c ), iso-C 19 : 0 cyclo ω 8 c , C 16 : 0 and iso-C 18 : 1 2-OH. Q-10 was the only respiratory ubiquinone. Strains SYSU D60010 T and SYSU D60012 T showed high 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities to Aestuariivirga litoralis SYSU M10001 T (94.2 and 94.1 %), Rhodoligotrophos jinshengii BUT-3 T (92.0 and 91.9 %) and Rhodoligotrophos appendicifer 120-1 T (91.8 and 91.7 %), and the genomes were 7.4 and 5.8 Mbp in size with DNA G+C contents of 62.8 and 63.0 mol%, respectively. Phylogenetic, phenotypic and chemotaxonomic characteristics indicated that these two strains represent a novel genus and two novel species within the family Aestuariivirgaceae . We propose the name Taklimakanibacter deserti gen. nov., sp. nov. for strain SYSU D60010 T , representing the type strain of this species (=KCTC 52783 T =NBRC 113344 T ) and Taklimakanibacter lacteus gen. nov., sp. nov. for strain SYSU D60012 T , representing the type strain of this species (=KCTC 52785 T =NBRC 113128 T ).

Two Gram-stain-positive, aerobic, oxidase- and catalase-negative, non-motile, and short rod-shaped actinomycetes, named SYSU T00b441 T and SYSU T00b490, were isolated from tidal flat sediment located in Guangdong province, PR China. The 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, average nucleotide identity (ANI) and digital DNA-DNA hybridization (dDDH) values between SYSU T00b441 T and SYSU T00b490 were 99.3, 99.5 and 97.1 %, respectively. Strains SYSU T00b441 T and SYSU T00b490 exhibited the highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities to Actinotalea ferrariae CF 5-4 T (97.1 %/98.2 %), with ANI values of 74.01/73.88 % and dDDH values of 20.5/20.4 %. In the phylogenomic tree, the two isolates were affiliated with the genus Actinotalea . The genomes of strains SYSU T00b441 T and SYSU T00b490 were 3.31 and 3.34 Mb, and both had DNA G+C contents of 72.8 mol%, coding 3077 and 3085 CDSs, three and three rRNA genes, and 53 and 51 tRNAs, respectively. Growth occurred at 15-40 °C (optimum, 28-30 °C), pH 4.0-10.0 (optimum, 7.0) and in the presence of 0-7 % (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 3 %). The major fatty acids (>10  %) of strains SYSU T00b441 T and SYSU T00b490 were anteiso-C 15 : 0 and C 16 : 0 . The major respiratory quinone was identified as MK-10(H 4 ). The polar lipids of strains SYSU T00b441 T and SYSU T00b490 were diphosphatidyl glycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphoglycolipid, phosphatidyl ethanolamine, two phosphatidylinositol mannosides, two glycolipids and two phospholipids. Based on these data, the two strains (SYSU T00b441 T and SYSU T00b490) represent a novel species of the genus Actinotalea , for which the name Actinotalea lenta sp. nov is proposed. The type strain is SYSU T00b441 T (=GDMCC 1.3827 T =KCTC 49943 T ).

Barkol Lake, a shrinking hypersaline lake situated in the northeast of Xinjiang, China, has experienced the exposure of its riverbed and the gradual drying up of its original sediment due to climate change and human activities, resulting in the formation of alkaline soils. These changes have correspondingly altered the physicochemical characteristics of the surrounding environment. Microorganisms play a crucial role, with special functioning involved in various nutrient cycling and energy transfer in saline lake environments. However, little is known about how the microbial community dynamics and metabolic functions in this shrinking saline lake relate to the degradation process. To address this knowledge gap, a cultivation-independent method of amplicon sequencing was used to identify and analyze the microbial community and its potential ecological functions in the sediment and degraded area. The microbial community diversity was found to be significantly lower in the degraded areas than in the sediment samples. The Pseudomonadota was dominant in Barkol Saline Lake. The abundance of Desulfobacterota and Bacillota in the degraded areas was lower than in the lake sediment, while Pseudomonadota , Acidobacteriota , and Actinobacteriota showed an opposite trend. The βNTI showed that microbial community assembly was primarily associated with deterministic processes in Barkol Saline Lake ecosystems and stochastic processes at the boundary between sediment and degraded areas. Functional predictions showed that sulfur metabolism, particularly sulfate respiration, was much higher in sediment samples than in the degraded areas. Overall, these findings provided a possible perspective for us to understand how microorganisms adapt to extreme environments and their role in saline lakes under environmental change., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Liu, Gao, Jiang, Fang, Huang, Li, Li, Abdugheni, Lian, Zhang, Yang, Mohamad and Li.)

Two novel bacterial strains, designated as SYSU D00823 T and SYSU D00873 T , were isolated from sandy soil of the Gurbantunggut Desert in Xinjiang, north-west China. SYSU D00823 T and SYSU D00873 T shared 99.0 % 16S rRNA gene sequence identity, and were both most closely related to Pedobacter xinjiangensis 12157 T with 96.1 % and 96.0 % similarities, respectively. Phylogenetic and phylogenomic analyses revealed that the two isolates and P. xinjiangensis 12157 T formed a separate distinct cluster in a stable subclade with the nearby species Pedobacter mongoliensis 1-32 T , as well as the genera Pararcticibacter and Arcticibacter . Furthermore, P. mongoliensis 1-32 T formed a separate deep-branching lineage and did not form a cluster with members of the genus Pedobacter . The average nucleotide identity and digital DNA-DNA hybridization values between SYSU D00823 T and SYSU D00873 T and related species were well below the thresholds for species delineation (<81.0 % and <24.0 %, respectively). The genomes of SYSU D00823 T and SYSU D00873 T were 6.19 and 6.43 Mbp in size with 40.4 % and 40.5 % DNA G+C contents, respectively. The predominant fatty acids (>10 %) of SYSU D00823 T and SYSU D00873 T were iso-C 15 : 0 , iso-C 17 : 0 3-OH and summed feature 3 (C 16 : 1 ω 7 c and/or C 16 : 1 ω 6 c ). Menaquinone-7 was the only respiratory quinone. The major polar lipids were phosphatidylethanolamine, glycosphingolipid, aminoglycolipid/glycolipid, aminophospholipid and three or four unidentified polar lipids. These data indicated that strains SYSU D00823 T and SYSU D00873 T should be assigned to two novel species of a new genus within the family Sphingobacteriaceae , for which the names Desertivirga arenae gen. nov., sp. nov. and Desertivirga brevis sp. nov. are proposed. The type strains are SYSU D00823 T (=CGMCC 1.18630 T =MCCC 1K04973 T =KCTC 82278 T ) and SYSU D00873 T (=CGMCC 1.18629 T =MCCC 1K04974 T =KCTC 82281 T ), respectively. Accordingly, the reclassification of P. xinjiangensis as Desertivirga xinjiangensis comb. nov., and P. mongoliensis as Paradesertivirga mongoliensis gen. nov., comb. nov. are also proposed.

Dryland covers >35 % of the terrestrial surface and the global extent of dryland increases due to the forecasted increase in aridity driven by climate change. Due to the climate change-driven aridity ecosystems, deserts provide one of the most hostile environments for microbial life and survival. Therefore, a detailed study was carried out to explore the deserts with different aridity levels (exposed to severe climate change) influence on microbial (bacteria, fungi, and protist) diversity patterns, assembly processes, and co-occurrence. The results revealed that the aridity (semi-arid, arid, and hyper-arid) patterns caused distinct changes in environmental heterogeneity in desert ecosystems. Similarly, microbial diversities were also reduced with increasing the aridity pattern, and it was found that environmental heterogeneity is highly involved in affecting microbial diversities under different ecological niches. Interestingly, it was found that certain microbes, including bacterial (Firmicutes), fungal (Sordariomycetes), and protistan (Ciliophora) abundance increased with increasing aridity levels, indicating that these microbes might possess the capability to tolerate the environmental stress conditions. Moreover, microbial community turnover analysis revealed that bacterial diversities followed homogenous selection, whereas fungi and protists were mostly driven by the dispersal limitation pattern. Co-occurrence network analysis showed that hyper-arid and arid conditions tightened the bacterial and fungal communities and had more positive associations compared to protistan. In conclusion, multiple lines of evidence were provided to shed light on the habitat specialization impact on microbial (bacteria, fungi, and protists) communities and composition under different desert ecosystems., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest All co-authors have seen and agree with the contents of the manuscript. We declare that we have no known competing financial and personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

In this work, a novel fluorescence sensor UiO-66-PSM based on post-synthetic modified metal-organic frameworks was prepared for the detection of berberine hydrochloride (BBH) in the traditional Chinese herb Coptis . UiO-66-PSM was synthesized by a simple Schiff base reaction with UiO-66-NH 2 and phthalaldehyde (PAD). The luminescence quenching can be attributed to the photo-induced electron transfer process from the ligand of UiO-66-PSM to BBH. The UiO-66-PSM sensor exhibited fast response time, low detection limit, and high selectivity to BBH. Moreover, the UiO-66-PSM sensor was successfully applied to the quantitative detection of BBH in the traditional Chinese herb Coptis , and the detection results obtained from the as-fabricated fluorescence sensing assay were consistent with those of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), indicating that this work has potential applicability for the detection of BBH in traditional Chinese herbs., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts to declare., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

A pink-pigmented bacterium, designated as strain SYSU D00476 T , was isolated from sandy soil collected from the Kumtag Desert in China. Colonies were opaque, smooth and of a slight convexity with a clearly defined border. Cells were rod-shaped, Gram-stain-negative, catalase- and oxidase-positive. Growth occurred at 4-45 ℃ (optimum at 28-30 ℃), pH 6.0-8.0 (optimum at 7.0), and with 0-3.0% NaCl (w/v, optimum at 0-2.0%). Major fatty acids (> 10%) were C 16:0 , summed feature 3 (C 16:1 ω7c and/or C 16:1 ω6c), iso-C 17:0 3-OH and iso-C 15:0 . Polar lipids comprised of three unidentified polar aminolipids (ALs), two unidentified aminophosphoglycolipids (APLs), one unidentified glycolipid (GL) and three unidentified phospholipids (PLs). The predominant respiratory quinone was MK-7. The genomic DNA G + C content was 50.5%. The low digital DNA-DNA hybridization (dDDH, 27.4%) and average nucleotide identity (ANI, 85%) values between strain SYSU D00476 T and Telluribacter humicola KCTC 42819 T indicated that SYSU D00476 T represent a distinct species. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain SYSU D00476 T belonged to the genus Telluribacter, showing 97.5% similarity with T. humicola KCTC 42819 T . All these data support that strain SYSU D00476 T represent a novel species of the genus Telluribacter within the family Spirosomataceae, named as Telluribacter roseus sp. nov. The type strain is SYSU D00476 T (= KCTC 82285 T  = CGMCC 1.18647 T  = MCCC 1K04983 T )., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

A Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, short rod-shaped, yellow bacterium, designated SYSU DXS3180 T , was isolated from forest soil of Danxia Mountain in PR China. Growth occurred at 15-37 °C (optimum, 28-30 °C), pH 6.0-10.0 (optimum, pH 7.0-8.0) and with 0-2.0 % NaCl (optimum, 0-0.5 %, w/v). Strain SYSU DXS3180 T was positive for hydrolysis of Tween 20, Tween 60, Tween 80 and starch, but negative for urease, H 2 S production, nitrate reduction, Tween 40 and gelatin. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene and genome sequences showed that SYSU DXS3180 T belonged to the family Chitinophagaceae . The closely related members were Foetidibacter luteolus YG09 T (94.2 %), Limnovirga soli KCS-6 T (93.9 %) and Filimonas endophytica SR 2-06 T (93.7 %). The genome of strain SYSU DXS3180 T was 7287640 bp with 5782 protein-coding genes, and the genomic DNA G+C content was 41.4 mol%. The main respiratory quinone was MK-7 and the major fatty acids (>10 %) were iso-C 15 : 0 , iso-C 17 : 0 3-OH and iso-C 15 : 1 G. The major polar lipids consisted of phosphatidylethanolamine, two unidentified aminolipids and two unidentified polar lipids. Based on the phylogenetic, phenotypic and chemotaxonomic characteristics, strain SYSU DXS3180 T is proposed to represent a novel species of a novel genus named Danxiaibacter flavus gen. nov., sp. nov., within the family Chitinophagaceae . The type strain is SYSU DXS3180 T (=KCTC 92895 T =GDMCC 1.3825 T ).

Two novel bacterial strains, designated as SYSU D00344 T and SYSU D00433 T , were isolated from soil of Gurbantunggut Desert in Xinjiang, north-west PR China. Cells of both strains were Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, short-rod-shaped, catalase-positive and non-motile. Oxidase activities of SYSU D00344 T and SYSU D00433 T were negative and positive, respectively. Optimal growth occurred at 30 °C, with 0-0.5 % (w/v) NaCl and at pH 7.0. The results of phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that they represented members of the genus Rufibacter and were closely related to Rufibacter hautae NBS58-1 T . The results of phylogenomic analysis indicated that the two strains formed two independent and robust branches distinct from all reference type strains. The analyses of average nucleotide identity (ANI), digital DNA-DNA hybridisation (dDDH) values and 16S rRNA gene similarities between the two strains and their relatives further demonstrated that SYSU D00344 T and SYSU D00433 T represented two different novel genospecies. The polar lipids consisted of phosphatidylethanolamine, one unidentified glycolipid, two unidentified aminophospholipids, and two or four unidentified lipids. MK-7 was the only respiratory quinone. The major fatty acids (>10 %) for both strains were identified as iso-C 15 : 0 , anteiso-C 15 : 0 and summed feature 3 (C 16 : 1 ω7 c and/or C 16 : 1 ω6 c ), as well as summed feature 4 (anteiso-C 17 : 1 B and/or iso-C 17 : 1 I) for SYSU D00344 T and C 16 : 1 ω5 c for SYSU D00433 T . On the basis of the phylogenetic, phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and genotypic characteristics, we propose Rufibacter roseolus sp. nov. and Rufibacter aurantiacus sp. nov. as two novel species in the genus Rufibacter . The type strains are SYSU D00344 T (=CGMCC 1.8625 T =MCCC 1K04971 T =KCTC 82274 T ) and SYSU D00433 T (=CGMCC 1.8617 T =MCCC 1K04982 T =KCTC 82277 T ), respectively.

Deserts occupy one-third of the Earth's terrestrial surface and represent a potentially significant reservoir of microbial biodiversity, yet the majority of desert microorganisms remain uncharacterized and are seen as "microbial dark matter". Here, we introduce a multi-omics strategy, culturomics-based metagenomics (CBM) that integrates large-scale cultivation, full-length 16S rRNA gene amplicon, and shotgun metagenomic sequencing. The results showed that CBM captured a significant amount of taxonomic and functional diversity missed in direct sequencing by increasing the recovery of amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) and high/medium-quality metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs). Importantly, CBM allowed the post hoc recovery of microbes of interest (e.g., novel or specific taxa), even those with extremely low abundance in the culture. Furthermore, strain-level analyses based on CBM and direct sequencing revealed that the desert soils harbored a considerable number of novel bacterial candidates (1941, 51.4%), of which 1095 (from CBM) were culturable. However, CBM would not exactly reflect the relative abundance of true microbial composition and functional pathways in the in situ environment, and its use coupled with direct metagenomic sequencing could provide greater insight into desert microbiomes. Overall, this study exemplifies the CBM strategy with high-resolution is an ideal way to deeply explore the untapped novel bacterial resources in desert soils, and substantially expands our knowledge on the microbial dark matter hidden in the vast expanse of deserts., (© 2023. Springer Nature Limited.)

Molecularly imprinted polymers have received wide attention from various fields owing to their pre-designable, recognition ability, and practicality. However, the disadvantages of the traditional embedding method, which include a slow recognition rate, uneven site recognition, low binding capacity, and incomplete template molecule elution, limit the development of molecular imprinting technology. Surface molecular imprinting techniques have been developed to effectively solve these problems, and different materials are used as carriers in the synthesis of molecularly imprinted polymers. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) show great potential as carriers. Because of their high porosity and specific surface area, MOFs can provide a large number of active sites for molecular imprinting, which can improve their detection sensitivity. The variable metal centers and organic ligands of MOF materials can also lead to multiple structures and functions. Numerous types of MOF materials have been synthesized, and the properties of these materials can be tailored by adjusting their pore size and introducing functional groups. MOFs and molecular imprinting technology can be combined to take full advantage of the specific adsorption of molecular imprinting technology and the large specific surface area and multiple active sites of MOFs, thereby expanding the application range of the resulting materials. In this paper, five aspects of the concept of MOF functionalization are discussed: introduction of special ligands, regulation of metal central sites, formation of MOF complexes, derivatization of MOFs, and sacrificial MOFs. The applications of MOF-based molecularly imprinted materials in catalysis, sample pretreatment, drug carriers, fluorescence sensors, and electrochemical sensors are also reviewed. Finally, the existing problems and future development of MOF-based molecularly imprinted materials are discussed and prospected.

Two Gram-stain-negative strains, designated as SYSU D00286 T and SYSU D00782, were isolated from a sand sample collected from the Kumtag Desert in Xinjiang, north-west China. Cells were aerobic, non-motile and positive for both oxidase and catalase. Growth occurred at 4-37 °C (optimum, 28-30 °C), pH 6.0-7.0 (optimum, pH 7.0) and NaCl concentration of 0-1.5 % (w/v; optimum, 0%). Growth was observed on Reasoner's 2A agar and nutrient agar, but not on Luria-Bertani agar and trypticase soy agar. The polar lipids were identified as diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylglycerol, three unidentified aminolipids, one unidentified glycolipid and two unidentified phospholipids. The major respiratory quinone was ubiquinone-10 and the major fatty acids (>10 %) were C 16 : 0 and summed feature 8 (C 18 : 1  ω 7 c and/or C 18 : 1  ω 6 c ). The 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity between strains SYSU D00286 T and SYSU D00782 was 100%, and their average nucleotide identity (ANI), average amino acid identity and (AAI) digital DNA-DNA hybridization (dDDH) values were all 100.0 %. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that these two strains belong to the same species of the genus Rubellimicrobium and show the highest sequence similarity to Rubellimicrobium rubrum KCTC 72461 T (98.2 %) and Rubellimicrobium roseum CCTCC AA 208029 T (97.5 %). The ANI, AAI and dDDH values between SYSU D00286 T (as well as SYSU D00782) and the other five Rubellimicrobium type strains were all less than or equal to 83.2, 80.1 and 23.6 %, respectively. Based on their phylogenetic, phenotypic and chemotaxonomical features, strains SYSU D00286 T and SYSU D00782 represent a novel species of the genus Rubellimicrobium , for which the name Rubellimicrobium arenae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is SYSU D00286 T (=MCCC 1K04981 T =CGMCC 1.8626 T =KCTC 82271 T ).

A novel orange-coloured bacterium, designated strain SYSU D00508 T , was isolated from a sandy soil sampled from the Kumtag Desert in China. Strain SYSU D00508 T was aerobic, Gram-stain-negative, oxidase-positive, catalase-positive and non-motile. Growth occurred at 4-45°C (optimum 28-30°C), pH 6.0-9.0 (optimum pH 7.0-8.0) and with 0-2.5 % NaCl (w/v, optimum 0-1.0 %). The major polar lipids consisted of phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), unidentified aminolipids (AL1-3) and unidentified polar lipids (L1-5) were also detected. The major respiratory quinone was MK-7 and the major fatty acids (>10 %) were iso-C 17 : 0 3-OH, iso-C 15 : 0 and iso-C 15 : 1 G. The genomic DNA G+C content was 42.6 %. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain SYSU D00508 T belonged to the family Chitinophagaceae and showed 93.9 % ( Segetibacter koreensis DSM18137 T ), 92.9 % ( Segetibacter aerophilus NBRC 106135 T ), 93.0 % ( Terrimonas soli JCM 32095 T ) and 92.8 % ( Parasegetibacter terrae JCM 19942 T ) similarities. Based on the phylogenetic, phenotypic and chemotaxonomic data, strain SYSU D00508 T is proposed to represent a novel species of a new genus, named Aridibaculum aurantiacum gen. nov., sp. nov., within the family Chitinophagaceae . The type strain is SYSU D00508 T (=KCTC 82286 T =CGMCC 1.18648 T =MCCC 1K05005 T ).

An actinobacterium, designated as SYSU T00001 T , was isolated from a tidal flat sediment sample from Guangdong province, China. Cells were Gram-stain-positive, aerobic, motile and short rod-shaped. Colonies on marine agar 2216 were smooth, yellow-pigmented, and circular with low convexity. The isolate was able to grow at the temperature range 4-37 °C (optimum 30 °C), at pH 4.0-10.0 (optimum 7.0) and in the presence of 0-10% (w/v) NaCl. The major menaquinones were MK-11 and MK-10. The cell wall contained alanine, glutamic acid, lysine and ornithine. The major fatty acids were C 19:0 cyclo ω8c (35.7%) and anteiso C 15:0 (26.0%). The polar lipids consisted of one diphosphatidyl glycerol, one unidentified glycolipid and one unknown lipid. Whole genome sequencing of strain SYSU T00001 T revealed 2,837,702 bp with a DNA G + C content of 67.8%. Phylogenetic analyses clearly demonstrated that strain SYSU T00001 T belonged to the genus Salinibacterium, and the highest 16S rRNA gene similarity to Salinibacterium hongtaonis 194 T (97.8%). The ANI and dDDH values of strain SYSU T00001 T relative to Salinibacterium hongtaonis 194 T were 74.5% and 19.5%, respectively. According to our data, strain SYSU T00001 T represents a novel species of the genus Salinibacterium, for which the name Salinibacterium sedimenticola sp. nov. is proposed, the type strain is SYSU T00001 T (= GDMCC 1.3283 T  = KCTC 49758 T )., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Background: The microbiome of the Sinai Desert farming system plays an important role in the adaptive strategy of growing crops in a harsh, poly-extreme, desert environment. However, the diversity and function of microbial communities under this unfavorable moisture and nutritional conditions have not yet been investigated. Based on culturomic and metagenomic methods, we analyzed the microbial diversity and function of a total of fourteen rhizosphere soil samples (collected from twelve plants in four farms of the Sinai desert), which may provide a valuable and meaningful guidance for the design of microbial inoculants., Results: The results revealed a wide range of microbial taxa, including a high proportion of novel undescribed lineages. The composition of the rhizosphere microbial communities differed according to the sampling sites, despite similarities or differences in floristics. Whereas, the functional features of rhizosphere microbiomes were significantly similar in different sampling sites, although the microbial communities and the plant hosts themselves were different. Importantly, microorganisms involved in ecosystem functions are different between the sampling sites, for example nitrogen fixation was prevalent in all sample sites while microorganisms responsible for this process were different., Conclusion: Here, we provide the first characterization of microbial communities and functions of rhizosphere soil from the Sinai desert farming systems and highlight its unexpectedly high diversity. This study provides evidence that the key microorganisms involved in ecosystem functions are different between sampling sites with different environment conditions, emphasizing the importance of the functional microbiomes of rhizosphere microbial communities. Furthermore, we suggest that microbial inoculants to be used in future agricultural production should select microorganisms that can be involved in plant-microorganism interactions and are already adapted to a similar environmental setting., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Two strains designated as SYSU D01084 T and SYSU D00799 T , were isolated from a sandy soil sample collected from Gurbantunggut Desert in Xinjiang, north-west China. Cells of both strains were Gram-stain-negative, strictly aerobic, long-rod-shaped, oxidase- and catalase-negative, motile or non-motile. Colonies were circular, translucent, convex, smooth and light-yellow in color on R2A agar. The two isolates were found to grow at 4-50 ºC, at pH 6.0-8.0 and with 0-1.0% (w/v) NaCl. Analysis of their 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that they belonged to the family Chitinophagaceae, and closely related to the genera Paraflavitalea, Niastella, Pseudoflavitalea and Flavitalea. The two novel strains shared 98.1% 16S rRNA sequence similarity and represent different species on the basis of low average nucleotide identity (ANI, 83.8%) and digital DNA-DNA hybridization (dDDH, 51.4%) values. The genomic DNA G + C contents of strains SYSU D01084 T and SYSU D00799 T were 46.0 and 45.6%, respectively. Phylogenetic trees showed that the two isolates were clustered in an individual lineage and not grouped consistently into any specific genus. The polar lipids contained of phosphatidylethanolamine, four unidentified aminolipids, two unidentified aminoglycolipids, and three or four unidentified lipids. The predominant respiratory quinone was MK-7 and the major fatty acids (> 10%) were identified as iso-C 15:0 , iso-C 17:0 3-OH, and iso-C 15:1 G. Based on the combined phenotypic, genomic and phylogenetic analyses, the two strains represent two novel species of a new genus in the family Chitinophagaceae, for which the name Longitalea gen. nov. is proposed, comprising the type species Longitalea arenae sp. nov. (type strain SYSU D01084 T  = CGMCC 1.18641 T  = MCCC 1K05006 T  = KCTC 82283 T ) and Longitalea luteola sp. nov. (type strain SYSU D00799 T  = MCCC 1K04987 T  = KCTC 82282 T  = NBRC 114888 T )., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

A novel Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, oxidase-positive, catalase-positive, non-motile, short rod-shaped, red-pigmented strain, designated as SYSU D00434 T , was isolated from a dry sandy soil sample collected from the Gurbantunggut desert in Xinjiang, north-west PR China. Strain SYSU D00434 T was found to grow at 4-37 °C (optimum, 28-30 °C), pH 6.0-8.0 (optimum, pH 7.0) and with 0-1.5 % (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 0-0.5 %). The predominant respiratory quinone was MK-7 and the major fatty acids (>10 %) were C 16 : 1  ω 5 c , iso-C 15 : 0 , summed feature 3 (C 16 : 1  ω 6 c and/or C 16 : 1  ω 7 c ) and summed feature 4 (anteiso-C 17 : 1 B and/or iso-C 17 : 1 I). The polar lipids consisted of phosphatidylethanolamine, two unidentified polar lipids, two unidentified aminolipids, two unidentified phospholipids and two unidentified glycolipids. The genomic DNA G+C content of strain SYSU D00434 T was 50.6 mol%. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain SYSU D00434 T belonged to the family Hymenobacteraceae , and shared a sequence similarity of less than 94.6 % to all validly named taxa. Based on the phenotypic, phylogenetic and chemotaxonomic properties, strain D00434 T is proposed to represent a new species of a new genus, named Sabulibacter ruber gen. nov., sp. nov., within the family Hymenobacteraceae . The type strain is SYSU D00434 T (=CGMCC 1.18624 T =KCTC 82276 T =MCCC 1K04975 T ).

Two bacterial strains, designated as SYSU D00720 T and SYSU D00722, were isolated from a desert sandy soil sample collected from Gurbantunggut Desert in Xinjiang, north-west China. Cells were Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, non-motile, rod-shaped, oxidase-positive and catalase-negative. Colonies were circular, opaque, convex, smooth, orange on Reasoner's 2A (R2A) agar. The isolates were found to grow at 4-45 °C (optimum, 28-30 °C), at pH 6.0-7.0 (optimum, 7.0) and with 0-1.5 % (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 0%). Growth was observed on R2A agar, Luria-Bertani agar and nutrient agar, but not on trypticase soy agar. The polar lipids consisted of diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylcholine, sphingoglycolipid, two unidentified aminolipids, one unidentified glycolipid, one unidentified aminoglycolipid, one unidentified aminophospholipid, one unidentified phospholipid and two unidentified lipids. The main fatty acids (>10%) were C 17 : 1  ω 6 c , summed feature 8 (C 18 : 1  ω 7 c and/or C 18 : 1  ω 6 c ) and C 16 : 0 . The major respiratory quinone was ubiquinone-10 and the major polyamine was sym -homospermidine. The genomic DNA G+C content was 66.0 mol%. Strains SYSU D00720 T and SYSU D00722 were nearly identical with a 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity of 99.6 %, and 100.0 % average nucleotide identity (ANI), average amino acid identity (AAI) and digital DNA-DNA hybridization (dDDH) values. Phylogenetic analyses clearly demonstrated that these two strains belonged to the same species of the genus Sphingomonas , and had highest sequence similarity to Sphingomonas lutea KCTC 23642 T (97.3 %). The ANI, AAI and dDDH values of strains SYSU D00720 T and SYSU D00722 to S. lutea KCTC 23642 T were both 73.2, 69.9 and 19.2 %, respectively. Based on phylogenetic, phenotypic and chemotaxonomic distinctiveness, strains SYSU D00720 T and SYSU D00722 represent a novel species of the genus Sphingomonas , for which the name Sphingomonas arenae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is SYSU D00720 T (=MCCC 1K05154 T =NBRC 115061 T ).

Strain SYSU D01096 T was isolated from a sandy soil sample collected from Gurbantunggut Desert in Xinjiang, PR China. Phylogenetic analysis of the nearly full-length 16S rRNA gene sequence revealed that strain SYSU D01096 T belonged to the family Acetobacteraceae and was closest to Rubritepida flocculans DSM 14296 T (96.0% similarity). Cells of strain SYSU D01096 T were observed to be non-motile, short rod-shaped and Gram-staining negative. The colonies were observed to be translucent, reddish orange, circular, convex and smooth. Growth occurred at 15-37 °C (optimum, 28-30 °C), pH 4.0-8.0 (optimum, pH 7.0) and 0-0.5% NaCl (w/v; optimum, 0%) on Reasoner's 2A medium. The predominant ubiquinone was identified as ubiquinone 9 and the major fatty acids were Summed Feature 8 (C 18:1 ω7c and/or C 18:1 ω6c) and C 16:0 . The polar lipids consisted of diphosphatidylglycerol (DPG), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), phosphatidylcholine (PC), phosphatidylglycerol (PG), one unidentified phospholipid (PL), three unidentified aminolipids (AL1-3) and one unidentified aminophospholipid (APL). The genomic DNA G + C content was 69.1%. Phylogenetic tree based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated strain SYSU D01096 T represented an individual lineage in the family Acetobacteraceae, which was supported by 30 core gene-based phylogenomic tree. Based on the multi-analysis including physiological, chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic comparison, strain SYSU D01096 T was proposed to represent a novel species of a novel genus, named Sabulicella rubraurantiaca gen. nov., sp. nov., within the family Acetobacteraceae. The type strain is SYSU D01096 T (= CGMCC 1.8619 T  = KCTC 82268 T  = MCCC 1K04998 T )., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Streptomycetes have been, for over 70 years, one of the most abundant sources for the discovery of new antibiotics and clinic drugs. However, in recent decades, it has been more and more difficult to obtain new phylotypes of the genus Streptomyces by using conventional samples and culture strategies. In this study, we combined culture-dependent and culture-independent approaches to better explore the Streptomyces communities in desert sandy soils. Moreover, two different culture strategies termed Conventional Culture Procedure (CCP) and Streptomycetes Culture Procedure (SCP) were employed to evaluate the isolation efficiency of Streptomyces spp. with different intensities of selectivity. The 16S rRNA gene amplicon analysis revealed a very low abundance (0.04-0.37%, average 0.22%) of Streptomyces in all the desert samples, conversely the percentage of Streptomyces spp. obtained by the culture-dependent method was very high (5.20-39.57%, average 27.76%), especially in the rhizospheric sand soils (38.40-39.57%, average 38.99%). Meanwhile, a total of 1589 pure cultures were isolated successfully, dominated by Streptomyces (29.52%), Microvirga (8.06%) and Bacillus (7.68%). In addition, 400 potential new species were obtained, 48 of which belonged to the genus Streptomyces. More importantly, our study demonstrated the SCP strategy which had highly selectivity could greatly expand the number and phylotypes of Streptomyces spp. by almost 4-fold than CCP strategy. These results provide insights on the diversity investigation of desert Streptomyces, and it could be reference for researchers to bring more novel actinobacteria strains from the environment into culture., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest All co-authors have seen and agree with the contents of the manuscript. We declare that we have no known competing financial and personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

A novel pale orange-coloured bacterium, designated strain SYSU D00532 T , was isolated from sandy soil collected from the Gurbantunggut desert in Xinjiang, PR China. Cells of strain SYSU D00532 T were found to be aerobic, Gram-stain-negative, oxidase-positive, catalase-positive, motile and rod-shaped with a single polar or subpolar flagellum. Growth occurred at 15-45 °C (optimum, 28-37 °C, pH 5.0-8.0 (optimum, pH 6.0-7.0) and with 0-1.5% NaCl (w/v; optimum, 0.5 %). The major polar lipids consisted of diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylglycerol. Unidentified aminolipids, unidentified polar lipids, an unidentified aminophospholipid and an unidentified phospholipid were also detected. The major respiratory quinone was ubiquinone-10 and the major fatty acids were summed feature 8 (C 18:1 ω 7 c and/or C 18:1 ω 6 c ), C 16:0 and C 19:0 cyclo ω 8 c . The genomic DNA G+C content was 69.8 mol%. Results of phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain SYSU D00532 T belonged to the family Azospirillaceae and showed 93.4% ( Desertibacter roseus 2622 T ), 93.2% ( Skermanella xinjiangensis 10-1-101 T ), 93.2% (' Skermanella rubra ' YIM 93097 T ) and 92.4% ( Desertibacter xinjiangensis M71 T ) similarities. Based on the phylogenetic, phenotypic and chemotaxonomic data, strain SYSU D00532 T is proposed to represent a new species of a new genus, named Arenibaculum pallidiluteum gen. nov., sp. nov., within the family Azospirillaceae . The type strain is SYSU D00532 T (=KCTC 82269 T =CGMCC 1.18631 T =MCCC 1K04984 T ). We also propose the reclassification of Skermanella xinjiangensis to a new genus Deserticella as Deserticella xinjiangensis comb. nov., and the transfer of the genera Indioceanicola and Oleisolibacter from the family Rhodospirillaceae to the family Azospirillaceaewe based on the phylogenetic results.