Emmanuel Gonzalez

• Phd
• McGill University

Willows can alleviate soil salinisation while generating sustainable feedstock for biorefinery, yet the metabolomic adaptations underlying their tolerance remain poorly understood. Salix miyabeana was treated with two environmentally abundant salts, NaCl and Na 2 SO 4 , in a 12‐week pot trial. Willows tolerated salts across all treatments (up to 9....

Background Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is a chronic pain syndrome typically affecting a limb. It is characterized by severe spontaneous and evoked pain, along with vasomotor, autonomic, and motor signs and symptoms. Although dysregulation in several physiologic systems has been suggested in CRPS, including aberrant inflammatory and immune...

Dietary fibers influence the composition of the human gut microbiota and directly contribute to its downstream effects on host health. As more research supports the use of glycans as prebiotics for therapeutic applications, the need to identify the gut bacteria that metabolize glycans of interest increases. Fructo-oligosaccharide (FOS) is a common...

The cervicovaginal microbiome (CVM) may contribute to human papillomavirus (HPV)‐associated cervical carcinogenesis. We summarized the literature on the CVM in cervical carcinogenesis by searching Medline, Web of Science, and Embase for articles that sequenced the CVM using metagenomics. Additionally, we identified studies assessing the diagnostic...

Background Chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyposis (CRSwNP) is associated with a high rate of disease recurrence following endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS). Type 2 disease is associated with a higher incidence of recurrence and is believed to impact disease resolution via interference with epithelial healing and pathogen immunity. We wished to ve...

Dietary fibres influence the composition of the human gut microbiota and directly contribute to its downstream effects on host health. As more research supports the use of glycans as prebiotics for therapeutic applications, the need to identify the gut bacteria that metabolize glycans of interest increases. Fructooligosaccharide (FOS) is a common d...

The cervicovaginal microbiome may contribute to human papillomavirus (HPV)‐associated cervical carcinogenesis, but studies have been limited by low‐resolution analysis methods. Using a high‐resolution bioinformatics pipeline, we evaluated the relationship of the cervicovaginal microbiome with HPV and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN). The ce...

Study of the diet of squid is hampered by the fact that these animals masticate their prey prior to ingestion and do not necessarily ingest the hard parts that allow the identification of prey remains present in the stomach. The result is a large percentage of prey in stomach contents that can be identified only according to broad categories (e.g.,...

Reducing the environmental impact of Canadian field crop agriculture, including the reliance on conventional synthesised fertilisers, are key societal targets for establishing long-term sustainable practices. Municipal bio-solids (MSB) are an abundant, residual organic material, rich in phosphate, nitrogen and other oligo-nutrients, that could be u...

Introduction Ingestion of human milk (HM) is identified as a significant factor associated with early infant gut microbial colonization, which has been associated with infant health and development. Maternal diet has been associated with the HM microbiome (HMM). However, a few studies have explored the associations among maternal diet, HMM, and inf...

The rodent habitat on the International Space Station has provided crucial insights into the impact of spaceflight on mammals, including observation of symptoms characteristic of liver disease, insulin resistance, osteopenia and myopathy. Although these physiological responses can involve the microbiome when observed on Earth, changes in host-micro...

The rodent habitat on the International Space Station has provided crucial insights into the impact of spaceflight on mammals, inducing symptoms characteristic of liver disease, insulin resistance, osteopenia, and myopathy. Although these physiological responses can involve the microbiome when observed on Earth, changes in host-microbiota interacti...

Reducing the environmental impact of Canadian field crop agriculture, including the reliance on conventional synthesised fertilisers, are key societal targets for establishing long-term sustainable practices. Municipal biosolids (MSB) are an abundant, residual organic material, rich in phosphate, nitrogen and other oligo-nutrients, that could be us...

Fibromyalgia is a chronic syndrome characterized by widespread pain in the absence of evident tissue injury or pathology, making it one of the most mysterious chronic pain conditions. Despite affecting 2-4% of the population, primarily women, the cause and underlying mechanisms of fibromyalgia remain elusive, and effective targeted treatments are c...

The snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) fishery off the east coast of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, has been impacted by annual seismic oil and gas surveying in recent decades, and commercial crab harvesters are concerned that it could potentially affect this resource. A laboratory study was performed to investigate the effects of chronic noise ex...

Organic waste decomposition can make up substantial amounts of municipal greenhouse emissions during decomposition. Composting has the potential to reduce these emissions as well as generate sustainable fertilizer. However, our understanding of how complex microbial communities change to drive the chemical and biological processes of composting is...

The herbicide glyphosate has several potential entry points into composting sites and its impact on composting processes has not yet been evaluated. To assess its impact on bacterial diversity and abundance as well as on community composition and dynamics, we conducted a mesocosm experiment at the Montreal Botanical Garden. Glyphosate had no effect...

Background The standard treatment of colorectal cancer (CRC) consists of a surgical resection of the colonic segment with the tumor, followed by a reconnection of the remaining bowel ends, or "anastomosis". The anastomosis may fail to heal in up to 20% of patients, which leads to anastomotic leak, a major complication that increases postoperative m...

The composition and metabolism of the human gut microbiota are strongly influenced by dietary complex glycans, which cause downstream effects on the physiology and health of hosts. Despite recent advances in our understanding of glycan metabolism by human gut bacteria, we still need methods to link glycans to their consuming bacteria. Here, we use...

Diet-derived polysaccharides are an important carbon source for gut bacteria and shape the human gut microbiome. Acarbose, a compound used clinically to treat type 2 diabetes, is known to inhibit the growth of some bacteria on starches based on its activity as an inhibitor of α-glucosidases and α-amylases. In contrast to acarbose, montbretin A, a n...

Objective Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most diagnosed cancer, and requires surgical resection and reconnection, or anastomosis, of the remaining bowel to re-establish intestinal continuity. Anastomotic leak (AL) is a major complication that increases mortality and cancer recurrence. Our objective is to assess the causal role of gut microbio...

Growth faltering is common in Guatemalan indigenous communities, but the possibility that it may be related to milk microbial composition has not been explored. For this cross-sectional study, unrelated mother–infant dyads ( n = 64) from eight communities in the remote Western Highlands of Guatemala were recruited. Milk samples and infant length-fo...

Human milk contains abundant commensal bacteria that colonize and establish the infant’s gut microbiome but the association between the milk microbiome and head circumference during infancy has not been explored. For this cross-sectional study, head-circumference-for-age-z-scores (HCAZ) of vaginally delivered breastfed infants were collected from 6...

There is evidence that breastfeeding practices may impact the milk microbiota diversity and differential abundance at the genera level; however, the possibility that distinct feeding practices, such as exclusive (EBF) and non-exclusive breastfeeding (non-EBF), might alter the milk microbiome at the species level has not been explored. This cross-se...

Background Colorectal cancer (CRC) induces anemia in a large proportion of patients and is usually treated with oral iron supplementation. Surgery, the main treatment for CRC, is routinely accompanied by prophylactic antibiotics to avoid infection. However, the combined effect of antibiotics and luminal iron in the gut on the microbiota and intesti...

Background The standard of care of colorectal cancer (CRC) management consists of surgical resection of the colon or rectum, followed by a reconnection, or ‘anastomosis’, of the remaining bowel ends to re-establish gastrointestinal continuity. Up to 30% of patients may present poor healing of the anastomosis, and anastomotic leak (AL), a major comp...

Floral adaptations to specific pollinators like corolla shape variation often result in reproductive isolation and thus speciation. But despite their ecological importance, the genetic bases of corolla shape transitions are still poorly understood, especially outside model species. Hence, our goal was to identify candidate genes potentially involve...

Alterations in the composition and function of the gut microbiome in women with fibromyalgia have recently been demonstrated, including changes in the relative abundance of certain bile acid metabolizing bacteria. Bile acids can affect multiple physiological processes, including visceral pain, but have yet to be explored for association to the fibr...

Conventional wastewater treatment relies on a complex microbiota; however, much of this community is still to be characterised. To better understand the origin, dynamics and fate of bacteria within a wastewater treatment plant: untreated primary wastewater, activated sludge, and post‐treatment effluent were characterised. From 3,163 Exact Sequence...

Background: Significant alterations were recently identified in the composition and putative function of the gut microbiome in women with fibromyalgia. As diet can influence the composition of the gut microbiome, differences in nutritional intake could, in theory, account for some of these specific fibromyalgia microbiome alterations. The current...

This study developed and evaluated DNA metabarcoding to identify the presence of pinniped and cetacean prey DNA in fecal samples of East Greenland (EG) and Southern Beaufort Sea (SB) polar bears Ursus maritimus sampled in the spring of 2015-2019. Prey DNA was detected in half (49/92) of all samples, and when detected, ringed seal Pusa hispida was t...

Background Oral iron supplementation is commonly prescribed for anemia and may play an important role in the gut microbiota recovery of anemic individuals who received antibiotic treatment. This study aims to investigate the effects of iron supplementation on gut microbiota recovery after antibiotics exposure. Results Mice were subjected to oral a...

Soil contamination with toxic metalloids, such as arsenic, can represent a substantial human health and environmental risk. Some plants are thought to tolerate soil toxicity using root exudation, however, the nature of this response to arsenic remains largely unknown. Here, white lupin plants were exposed to arsenic in a semi-hydroponic system and...

Maintaining astronaut health throughout long-duration spaceflight is essential to the feasibility of a manned mission to Mars. The ground-based Mars500 experiment investigated long-duration health by isolating six astronauts for 520 days, the longest controlled human confinement study conducted to date. After 520 days, astronauts had uniform streng...

Background Human milk contains a diverse community of bacteria that are modified by maternal factors, but whether these or other factors are similar in developing countries has not been explored. Our objective was to determine whether the milk microbiota was modified by maternal age, BMI, parity, lactation stage, subclinical mastitis (SCM), and bre...

Despite the success of antiretroviral therapy (ART), people living with HIV (PLWH) are still at higher risk for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) that are mediated by chronic inflammation. Identification of novel inflammatory mediators with the inherent potential to be used as CVD biomarkers and also as therapeutic targets is critically needed for bet...

The eastern slope of the Grand Banks, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, represents an area where active seismic exploration overlaps extensively with an important snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) fishery. Field studies were conducted in 2016 and 2017 to investigate the potential impact of seismic oil and gas surveying exposure on the transcriptome...

Human breast milk contains a diverse community of bacteria, but as breast milk microbiome studies have largely focused on mothers from high income countries where few women breastfeed to 6 months, the temporal changes in the breast milk microbiome that occur during later lactation stages have not been explored. For this cross-sectional study, micro...

Objective: Modulation of the dysbiotic gut microbiome with “healthy” bacteria via a stool transplant or supplementation is increasingly practiced, however this approach has not been explored in the nasal passages. We wished to verify whether Lactococcus lactis W136 (L. lactis W136) bacteria could be safely applied via irrigation to the nasal and si...

Background The sinonasal microbiome is believed to play an important role in the pathophysiology of refractory chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS). We evaluated changes in the microbiome following a 4‐month course of low‐dose azithromycin. Assessing microbiome alterations following such a treatment may help identify underlying mechanisms of this drug. Me...

Human industrial activities have left millions of hectares of land polluted with trace element metals and persistent organic pollutants (POPs) around the world. Although contaminated sites are environmentally damaging, high economic costs often discourage soil remediation efforts. Phytoremediation is a potential green technology solution but can be...

Background: With the decreasing cost of sequencing and the rapid developments in genomics technologies and protocols, the need for validated bioinformatics software that enables efficient large-scale data processing is growing. Findings: Here we present GenPipes, a flexible Python-based framework that facilitates the development and deployment o...

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a prevalent syndrome, characterised by chronic widespread pain, fatigue and impaired sleep, that is challenging to diagnose and difficult to treat. The microbiomes of 77 women with FM and that of 79 control participants were compared using 16S rRNA gene amplification and whole genome sequencing. When comparing FM patients to un...

Organic wastes such as biosolids, green and food residues can make up over 5% of municipal greenhouse emissions during decomposition. Composting has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas production as well as provide sustainable fertilizer. However, our understanding of how microbial communities change to drive the complex chemical and biological...

Analysis of 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene amplification data for microbial barcoding can be inaccurate across complex environmental samples. A method is presented, ANCHOR, designed for improved species level microbial identification using paired‐end sequences directly, multiple high‐complexity samples and multiple reference databases. An SOP is rep...

With the decreasing cost of sequencing and the rapid developments in genomics technologies and protocols, the need for validated bioinformatics software that enables efficient large-scale data processing is growing. Here we present GenPipes, a flexible Python-based framework that facilitates the development and deployment of multi-step workflows op...

Background Human breast milk contains a diverse population of bacteria, but factors influencing the milk microbiota have not been described. Objective We explored if maternal age, BMI, stage of lactation and infant feeding practices influenced bacterial communities in breast milk of indigenous mothers in the western highlands of Guatemala. Method...

Background: One method for rejuvenating land polluted with anthropogenic contaminants is through phytoremediation, the reclamation of land through the cultivation of specific crops. The capacity for phytoremediation crops, such as Salix spp., to tolerate and even flourish in contaminated soils relies on a highly complex and predominantly cryptic i...

Industrial and agricultural activities have caused extensive metal contamination of land throughout China and across the globe. The pervasive nature of metal pollution can be harmful to human health and can potentially cause substantial negative impact to the biosphere. To investigate the impact of anthropogenic metal pollution found in high concen...

Arsenic (As) is a toxic element for plants and one of the most common anthropogenic pollutants found at contaminated sites. Despite its severe effects on plant metabolism, several species can accumulate substantial amounts of arsenic and endure the associated stress. However, the genetic mechanisms involved in arsenic tolerance remains obscure in m...

Metatranscriptomic study of non-model organisms require strategies that retain the highly resolved genetic information generated from model organisms while allowing for identification of the unexpected. A real-world biological application of phytoremediation, the field-growth of ten Salix cultivars on polluted soils, was used as an exemplar multifa...

High concentrations of petroleum hydrocarbon (PHC) pollution can be hazardous to human health and leave soils incapable of supporting agricultural crops. A cheap solution, which can help restore biodiversity and bring land back to productivity, is cultivation of high biomass yielding willow trees. However, the genetic mechanisms which allow these f...

The ligand-field absorption spectrum of the Ni(H2O)62+ cation has been thoroughly measured and analyzed over the past sixty years, often on crystals with low symmetry at the metal site, and its absorption band maxima have been used as a benchmark for increasingly sophisticated electronic structure calculations over the last decades. We present vari...

High-throughput RNA sequencing studies are becoming increasingly popular and differential expression studies represent an important downstream analysis that often follow de novo transcriptome assembly. If a lot of attention has been given to bioinformatics tools for differential gene expression, little has yet been given to the impact of the sequen...

Presented herein is a first density functional theory (DFT) (ZORA, STO-TZP) survey of ruthenium(IV) porphyrins with monoanionic nitrogen ligands, modeled after experimentally observed ruthenium porphyrin bis(amido), bis(methyleneamido), and bis(pyrazolato) complexes. Three exchange correlation functionals--PW91, OLYP, and B3LYP, which often behave...

The reaction of PhBCl(2) with free base triarylcorroles results in a spontaneous reduction to give diboron corrole complexes (PhBHBPh)(Cor) in which a proton has been captured to form a bridging B-H-B group encapsulated within the corrole ligand. The proposed mechanism is supported by the reaction of PhBF(2) with H(3)Cor to give (PhBF)(BPh)(Cor) in...

We present here a relatively comprehensive theoretical study, based on nonlocal density functional theory calculations, of the energetics, electron distributions, and structural features of the low-lying electronic states of various high-valent intermediates of manganese porphyrins. Two classes of molecules have been examined: (a) compounds with th...

X-ray crystallographic analyses of two sterically unhindered copper meso-triarylcorroles, Cu[5,15-P(2)-10-(4-MeOP)C] and Cu[5,15-(4-CF(3)P)(2)-10-(4-MeOP)C] (P = phenyl and C = corrole), revealed substantially saddled corrole rings. These results are in marked contrast to those on highly sterically hindered cobalt(III) and iridium(III) corroles, wh...

DFT calculations, using the PW91, OLYP, and B3LYP functionals, have provided some of the first estimates of the relative energies of the Ni(I) and Ni(II) ligand anion radical states of hydroporphyrin complexes. Although the three functionals chosen sometimes yield discordant results, the results of this study are essentially functional-independent....

The nature of the nickel center in the ox1 form of methylcoenzyme M reductase (MCRox1), the enzyme that catalyzes the last step of biological methanogenesis, has long been controversial. A recent pulse electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) study suggested a NiIII-thiolate, or equivalently a high-spin NiII thiyl radical, description. The MCRox1 hype...

Trigonal-planar, middle transition metal diiminato-imido complexes do not exhibit high-spin states, as might be naively expected on the basis of their low coordination numbers. Instead, the known Fe(III), Co(III), and Ni(III) complexes exhibit S = 3/2, S = 0, and S = 1/2 ground states, respectively. Kohn-Sham DFT calculations have provided a basic...

Absorption spectra of octahedral nickel(II) complexes are used to illustrate that the limitation to only the initial and Born–Oppenheimer final states of an electronic transition is not adequate in order to rationalize the intensity and vibronic structure of the lowest-energy spin-forbidden transition of these compounds. Qualitative and quantitativ...

Insight Into the electronic structures of I high-valent intermediates with the {FeIV2(μ-O)2} "diamond core" is provided by density theory calculations. These electronic structures are contrasted with nitrido-bridged heme dimers that contain metal centers with the same oxidation state. Such diamond-core intermediates might actually occur in the cata...

Density functional theory (DFT) calculations have been carried out for a variety of iron and manganese porphyrin complexes with metal oxidation states of +3 and above. In general, DFT gives very good descriptions of molecular structure and electron distributions, but appears less reliable in predictions of the relative energetics of different spin...

Nonlocal density functional calculations with full geometry optimization have been carried out on the low-lying electronic states of oxidized nickel porphyrins. For [NiIII(P)(Py)2]+, the ground state corresponds to a t2g6(z2)1 configuration and the t2g6(x2−y2)1 configuration is 0.43 eV higher in energy. In contrast, the ground state of [NiIII(P)(CN...

Abstract: Low-basicity pyridines and other strong -acceptors as axial ligands in six-coordinate iron(III) porphyrins (ferrihemes) result in a (dxz,dyz)4(dxy)1 configuration of the iron(III) center as opposed to the usual (dxz,dyz)3(dxy)2 configuration. Density functional calculations have been used to characterize and visualize these variable elect...

Emmanuel Gonzalez, Julie Marleau, Frederic Pitre, Michel Labrecque, Simon Joly Several agronomical, physiological and ecological attributes make willow species suitable for their use in land reclamation and phytoremediation of polluted soils. Their ability to reduce inorganic and organic contamination in soils of brownfields is studied as part of...