Human oral microbiome

Mucosal Microbiome in Patients with Recurrent Aphthous Stomatitis – K. Hijazi – Journal of Dental Research

Human respiratory microbiome

Impact of saline irrigation and topical corticosteroids on the postsurgical sinonasal microbiota – Cindy M. Liu – International Forum of Allergy & Rhinology

Human gut microbiome

The Gastrointestinal Microbiota and Colorectal Cancer – Temitope O. Keku – American Journal of Physiology – Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology

The Impact of Diet and Lifestyle on Gut Microbiota and Human Health – Michael A. Conlon and Anthony R. Bird – Nutrients

Understanding How Commensal Obligate Anaerobic Bacteria Regulate Immune Functions in the Large Intestine – Eva Maier – Nutrients

Animal microbiome
Symbiotic bacteria contribute to increasing the population size of a freshwater crustacean, Daphnia magna – Saranya Peerakietkhajorn – Environmental Microbiology Reports

Antibiotic activity and microbial community of the temperate sponge, Haliclona sp. – A. Hoppers – Journal of Applied Microbiology

Plant microbiome

Secondary successional trajectories of structural and catabolic bacterial communities in oil polluted soil planted with hybrid poplar – Shinjini Mukherjee – Molecular Ecology

Fungal Endophytes of Alpinia officinarum Rhizomes: Insights on Diversity and Variation across Growth Years, Growth Sites, and the Inner Active Chemical Concentration – Li Shubin – PLOS ONE

Endophytic microbial community in two transgenic maize genotypes and in their
near-isogenic non-transgenic maize genotype – Débora Alves Ferreira da Silva – BMC Microbiology

Soil, sediment, sludge, litter microbiome

Site properties have a stronger influence than fire severity on ectomycorrhizal fungi and associated N-cycling bacteria in regenerating post-beetle-killed lodgepole pine forests – Nabla M. Kennedy – Folia Microbiologica

Influence of Azo Dye Concentration on Activated Sludge Bacterial Community in the Presence of Functionalized Polyurethane Foam – Hong Lu – Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology

The Potential of Antibiotic Alternatives for Enriching Beneficial Microbiota in Litter – Adriana A. Pedroso – SOJ Microbiology & Infectious Diseases

Water microbiome

Bacterial Community Composition in Three Freshwater Reservoirs of Different Alkalinity and Trophic Status – Marc Llirós – PLOS ONE

Bioinformatics
* Programming tools: Adventures with R – A guide to the popular, free statistics and visualization software that gives scientists control of their own data analysis – Sylvia Tippmann – Nature

Metabolomics, Proteomics

Symbiosis, dysbiosis, and rebiosis — The value of metaproteomics in human microbiome monitoring – Lei Mao and Jacqueline Franke – Proteomics

Viruses and Phages

Virus evolution towards limited dependence on the non-essential functions of the host: the bacteriophage SPP1 case – Virginija Cvirkaite-Krupovic – Journal of Virology

Microbial Ecology

Review: Metacommunity organisation, spatial extent and dispersal in aquatic systems: patterns, processes and prospects – Jani Heino – Freshwater Biology

Microbes in the news

Is the Bacteria in Our Gut the Key to Our Health? (Podcast with Ed Yong, Jack Gilbert, Jonathan Eisen, Margaret McFall-Ngai starts at 9 min) – To The Point – Barbara Bogaev – KCRW

9 Amazing and Gross Things Scientists Discovered About Microbes This Year – Greg Miller – Wired.com

The Right Chemistry: Exposure to bacteria can help keep us healthy – Joe Schwarcz – Montreal Gazette

Scientists Discover How Mouth Microbes Cause Gum Disease – Randall Mayes – Design & Trend

Microbiologists cultivate “microbial dark matter” – Eric Hopton – RedOrbit

Science, Publishing, and Career

Open Access 2014: A Year that Data Cracked Through Secrecy and Myth – Hilda Bastian- PLOS Blogs

Bik’s Picks

Watch raindrops make asteroid-like collisions (slo-mo video) – Popular Science

An ‘Otter-This-World’ Christmas! – Total cuteness courtesy of the Monterey Bay Aquarium – Susan C. Schena – Patch.com

Go Outside Tonight and Take a Look at Comet Lovejoy in the Sky – Dan Van Winkle – The Mary Sue

46 Important Things Science Taught Us In 2014 – It was a big year for robot penguins, snake penises, and space exploration. Sadly not all at the same time – Kelly Oakes – BuzzFeed

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