Maize (Zea mays L.) is the second most cultivated cereal worldwide, covers approximately 27% of global cereal acreage, and remains a cornerstone of global food security. Climate warming increasingly threatens its yield in rainfed systems, driving the need for agronomic and genetic adaptation strategies. In dryland maize agroecosystems, soil fungal communities regulate nutrient turnover, aggregate stability, and carbon and nitrogen cycling, yet their response to common management practices remains poorly resolved. This study examined how mycobiome diversity and composition vary across agronomic management regimes and considered the possible implications for soil functioning under water-limited conditions. Four regimes were compared: pre-planting residue burning (T1), a first urea application (T2A), a second sequential urea application (T2B), and an unmanaged dry-forest soil used as a regional reference (T3). Communities were profiled by ITS-region metabarcoding using next-generation sequencing. Across the four regimes, 503 taxa were recovered; Ascomycota dominated at 69%, whereas Glomeromycota was markedly underrepresented at 0.8-1.4%. Amplicon sequence variant (ASV) richness was highest in T2B (n = 647) and lowest in T1 (n = 433). All soils were acidic (pH < 5.6): organic matter peaked in T1 (6.8%), nitrogen and phosphorus in T2B (65.9 and 14.8 ppm, respectively), and iron was exceptionally elevated in T3 (401 ppm). PCoA and PERMANOVA analyses confirmed clear treatment-level segregation (R²=0.23, F = 3.6, p < 0.05). Heat map analysis of the 20 most abundant ASVs revealed functionally coherent clusters: T1 and T2A grouped with thermotolerant, melanized taxa such as Chaetomiaceae and Neosartorya; T2B with nitrogen-tolerant Exophiala and Talaromyces; and T3 with generalist saprotrophs such as Penicillium. Sequential urea fertilization, combined with crop developmental succession, coincided with higher observed richness but lower evenness and a reduced share of mutualistic taxa, particularly arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. Pyrogenic management, by contrast, favored more specialized fungal assemblages. Although observational, these findings provide preliminary evidence linking agronomic management to soil mycobiome structure and to carbon and nitrogen cycling dynamics in dryland agroecosystems.

Prebiotics and fermentable fibre modulate gut microbiota composition and function in ways considered beneficial to health. However, both microbiota and clinical responses can vary widely among individuals, which reduces their efficacy as dietary interventions across populations and thus represents a key challenge for the field. In this Review, we discuss potential reasons for the individualized responses to prebiotics and putative prebiotic fibres and how this variability influences interactions among gut microbial species as well as between microorganisms and fibre structures. We further describe strategies for predicting and optimizing responses to prebiotic and putative prebiotic fibre treatments. Specifically, we highlight methods for targeted and predictable individual responses using systems biology, mechanistic modelling and machine learning approaches. We also consider how the physicochemical structures of fermentable fibre influence similarity in gut microbial responses. By integrating this knowledge, solutions are proposed to overcome inter-individual variability and improve the clinical efficacy and utility of prebiotic fibres.

Microbial fermentation is an effective approach to improving the nutritional value of cottonseed hulls and alleviating feed resource shortages. However, the interaction mechanisms between Bacillus and Lactobacillus within fermentation systems remain unclear. In this study, a composite Bacillus group (Group B), a composite Lactobacillus group (Group R), and a natural fermentation control group (Group C) were established for a 30-day solid-state fermentation experiment. Physicochemical parameters were measured at multiple time points, and 16 S rRNA amplicon sequencing was performed to systematically analyze fermentation quality changes and microbial community succession. It was found that, compared with Groups R and C, Group B exhibited superior performance in degrading antinutritional factors and macromolecular substrates. The degradation rate of free gossypol reached 80.52%, while crude fiber content was reduced by 14.98%. Microbial community structure analysis revealed significant differences in composition among the treatment groups. Functional prediction analysis suggested that Group B was enriched in pathways associated with carbohydrate and amino acid metabolism, whereas Group R showed higher representation of pathways related to energy metabolism and cofactor and vitamin biosynthesis. Network analysis demonstrated that the introduction of Bacillus increased microbial network complexity while reducing cooperative interactions, indicating a strong competitive effect during fermentation. LEfSe analysis further revealed that different treatments significantly shaped distinct microbial biomarkers: Group B was enriched in Acinetobacter, Brevibacterium, and Faecalibacterium; Group R was dominated by Acidobacterium and Megasphaera; and Group C was dominated by Enterobacter and Staphylococcus. Correlation analysis revealed that 19 bacterial genera were significantly associated with nutrient transformation indicators, suggesting a strong coupling between microbial structure and functional processes. In summary, Bacillus and Lactobacillus exhibit a functional division of labor, characterized by early-stage degradation and later-stage stabilization during cottonseed hull fermentation. This study provides a theoretical foundation for optimizing microbial consortia and promoting the high-value utilization of agricultural waste.

Aspergillus fumigatus is a major opportunistic fungal pathogen and an important cause of invasive aspergillosis in immunocompromised patients. Azole antifungals remain central to treatment, but azole resistance is increasingly reported. Azole resistance in A. fumigatus is often linked to canonical cyp51A mechanisms, but many resistant isolates lack these mutations, suggesting additional contributions. This study analysed 12 newly sequenced azole-susceptible clinical isolates from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, together with publicly available clinical and environmental A. fumigatus genomes using a uniform AF293 reference-based workflow for variant calling, population structure correction and genome wide association studies (GWAS). A filtered SNP-alignment matrix was used to infer population structure and perform structure-aware genome-wide association testing with azole susceptibility status as a binary phenotype. Overall, 194 of 227 genomes met predefined quality thresholds, and 31 949 biallelic SNPs were tested using ten PCoA axes as covariates. After adjustment using SNP-derived PCoA covariates, 16 SNPs exceeded the Bonferroni threshold and 206 SNPs passed BH-FDR correction. The strongest association signals were distributed across multiple genomic regions rather than being restricted to a single canonical resistance locus, with candidate annotations linked to sterol and lipid metabolism, membrane transport, transcriptional regulation, cell-wall remodelling and stress response. Transporter-focused analysis showed that all 12 South African isolates had negative CDR1 and MFS transporter-balance scores, placing them among the most transporter-depleted susceptible backgrounds in the dataset. Phylogenetic reconstruction showed interspersed resistant and susceptible isolates, supporting repeated emergence or local amplification rather than expansion of a single resistant clone. Overall, these findings support a cautious model in which azole resistance-associated variation in A. fumigatus is distributed across multiple functional pathways within a structured population background. The South African isolates provide a local susceptible clinical baseline for future expanded surveillance.Keywords: Aspergillus fumigatus, Azole resistance, Genome Wide Association, SNPs.

Fusarium head blight (FHB), caused by Fusarium graminearum, is a globally significant fungal disease affecting wheat and barley crops. Chemical fungicides remain the primary control method. However, fungicide resistance remains a big challenge. This study assessed the sensitivity of field populations of F. graminearum from the Huang-Huai-Hai wheat region of China to the triazole fungicide propiconazole. All 101 isolates collected were sensitive, exhibiting EC50 values ranging from 0.0210 to 0.4520 µg/mL with a mean of 0.1740 µg/mL. The unimodal frequency distribution of EC50 values indicated no detectable resistance, establishing these values as a baseline sensitivity for monitoring regional F. graminearum populations. To evaluate the resistance risk, four propiconazole-resistant F. graminearum laboratory mutants were characterized. Stability testing across generations (1st, 3rd, 7th, and 10th) cultured without fungicide confirmed stable inheritance of the resistance phenotype. Evaluation of the biological fitness revealed significant (p < 0.05) reductions in mycelial growth, sporulation, and pathogenicity in resistant mutants, although the spore germination rate increased. Molecular analysis of the CYP51 genes (FgCYP51A, FgCYP51B, and FgCYP51C), encoding sterol 14α-demethylase that target propiconazole, identified multiple point mutations conferring amino acid substitutions, including A101T, E102G, V104I, S168G, D247N, and G251R in FgCYP51A, V31A, and N272D in FgCYP51B and E164K, S256A, M273T, V307A, and V424E in FgCYP51C. Gene expression analysis showed consistent up-regulation of FgCYP51A and down-regulation of FgCYP51B and FgCYP51C in resistant mutants. Meanwhile, the study demonstrated cross-resistance between propiconazole and the demethylase inhibitor (DMI) fungicides prochloraz and difenoconazole. However, there is no cross-resistance between propiconazole and tebuconazole, difenoconazole, fluazinam, and carbendazim, this provides a basis for resistance management strategies such as rotating applications or mixing fungicides with different modes of action.