Events

Friday May 1: Del Mar College, Corpus Christi, TX Hosts a Day of Science with “How to Train Your Superorganism: Via the Microbiome” – Record Star

Pregnancy and birth microbiome

Colostrum of Healthy Slovenian Mothers: Microbiota Composition and Bacteriocin Gene Prevalence – Tanja Obermajer – PLOS ONE

Human respiratory microbiome

The Importance of Bacterial and Viral Infections Associated with Adult Asthma Exacerbations in Clinical Practice – Motoyasu Iikura – PLOS ONE

Human gut microbiome

Fat, fibre and cancer risk in African Americans and rural Africans – Stephen J. D. O’Keefe – Nature Communications

Characterization of Bacterial and Fungal Microbiome in Children with Hirschsprung Disease with and without a History of Enterocolitis: A Multicenter Study – Philip K. Frykman – PLOS ONE

Animal models of microbiome research

Editorial: Host–microbe interactions and the enteric nervous system: a new connection? – Katrina Ray – Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology

Animal gut microbiome

Integrated Community Profiling Indicates Long-Term Temporal Stability of the Predominant Faecal Microbiota in Captive Cheetahs – Anne A. M. J. Becker – PLOS ONE

Plant microbiome

The Intracellular Scots Pine Shoot Symbiont Methylobacterium extorquens DSM13060 Aggregates around the Host Nucleus and Encodes Eukaryote-Like Proteins – Janne J. Koskimäki – mBio

Extremophile microbiome

Deep groundwater and potential subsurface habitats beneath an Antarctic dry valley –
J. A. Mikucki – Nature Communications

Microbial Diversity in a Permanently Cold and Alkaline Environment in Greenland – Mikkel A. Glaring – PLOS ONE

Bioinformatics

A Robust ANOVA Approach to Estimating a Phylogeny from Multiple Genes – Ximing Xu – Molecular Biology and Evolution

Maximum likelihood tree estimation using codon substitution models with multiple partitions – Stefan Zoller – Molecular Biology and Evolution

Techniques

Estimating Bacterial Diversity for Ecological Studies: Methods, Metrics, and Assumptions – Julia Birtel – PLOS ONE

From Benchtop to Desktop: Important Considerations when Designing Amplicon Sequencing Workflows – Dáithí C. Murray – PLOS ONE

Microbes in the news

Diet swap has dramatic effects on colon cancer risk for Americans and Africans – Science Daily

Mapping Genomes of Pine Bacteria Yields Unexpected Results – UC Merced

Salty aquifer, previously unknown microbial habitat discovered under Antarctica – Science Daily

Chemistry of seabed’s hot vents could explain emergence of life – Eureka Alert
and
Hydrothermal Vents Able to Create Simple Organic Molecules, Study Says – Sci-News

Understanding genetic diversity of bacteriophages – Phys.org

Deadly Gut Bacteria Peak in Spring (about C. difficile) – Rachael Rettner – LiveScience

30 min podcast about Antonie van Leeuwenhoek: The ‘first’ microbiologist and climate modelling – SocGenMicro – SoundCloud

Drug resistant bacteria common for nursing home residents with dementia – Science Daily

Rubella Has Been Eliminated From the Americas, Health Officials Say – Donald G. McNeil Jr. – New York Times

Science, publishing, and career

Symposium overview: Raising standards – International Symposium on Research Assessment and Evaluation in Shanghai, China – Michelle Grayson – Nature

Collateral damage: How one misconduct case brought a biology institute to its knees – The fall out from the STAP case is still being felt across Japan – David Cyranoski – Nature

Bik’s Picks

‘Obesity Signature’ Written in Pee – Rachael Rettner – LiveScience

Childhood bullying: Worse long-term mental health than maltreatment by adult – Science Daily

FDA Approves Double-Chin Eliminator Injection, Kybella – Sydney Lupkin – ABC News

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