Chinese mushroom might help with weight loss (in mice), asthma and the microbiome (also in mice), metabolic networks in the gut, and benefits of resistant starch. Plus: Taylor Swift won’t be doing anymore reviewing for Nature.
Human oral microbiome
Alterations of Bacteroides sp., Neisseria sp., Actinomyces sp., and Streptococcus sp. populations in the oropharyngeal microbiome are associated with liver cirrhosis and pneumonia – Haifeng Lu – BMC Infectious Diseases
Intra-Genomic Heterogeneity in 16S rRNA Genes in Strictly Anaerobic Clinical Isolates from Periodontal Abscesses – Jiazhen Chen – PLOS ONE
Human gut microbiome
Akkermansia muciniphila and improved metabolic health during a dietary intervention in obesity: relationship with gut microbiome richness and ecology – Maria Carlota Dao – Gut
Animal models
Ganoderma lucidum reduces obesity in mice by modulating the composition of the gut microbiota – Chih-Jung Chang – Nature Communications
Evidence that asthma is a developmental origin disease influenced by maternal diet and bacterial metabolites – Alison N. Thorburn – Nature Communications
Characterization of the bacterial gut microbiota of piglets suffering from new neonatal porcine diarrhoea – Marie Louise Hermann-Bank – BMC Veterinary Research
Animal microbiome
Allometry of animal–microbe interactions and global census of animal-associated microbes – Thomas L. Kieft, Karen A. Simmons – Proceedings B
Introduction of Non-Native Pollinators Can Lead to Trans-Continental Movement of Bee-Associated Fungi – Shannon M. Hedtke – PLOS ONE
Effect of poly-β-hydroxybutyrate on growth, enzyme activity and intestinal microbial community of Chinese mitten crab, Eriocheir sinensis (Milne-Edwards) juveniles – Liying Sui – Aquaculture Research
Small stonefly predators affect microbenthic and meiobenthic communities in stream leaf packs – Nabil Majdi – Freshwater Biology
Plant, root and soil microbiome
Hologenome theory supported by co-occurrence networks of species-specific bacterial communities in siphonous algae (Caulerpa) – T. Aires – FEMS Microbial Ecology
Land Use History Shifts In Situ Fungal and Bacterial Successions following Wheat Straw Input into the Soil – Vincent Tardy – PLOS ONE
Water microbiome
Inefficient microbial production of refractory dissolved organic matter in the ocean – Helena Osterholz – Nature Communications
The Link between Microbial Diversity and Nitrogen Cycling in Marine Sediments Is Modulated by Macrofaunal Bioturbation – Maryam Yazdani Foshtomi – PLOS ONE
Functional foods
Review: Preparation, health benefits and applications of resistant starch—a review – Bilal Ahmad Ashwar – Starch – Stärke
Metabolic networks and metabolomics
Inference of Network Dynamics and Metabolic Interactions in the Gut Microbiome – Steven N. Steinway – PLOS Computational Biology
A genome-wide systems analysis reveals strong link between colorectal cancer and trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO), a gut microbial metabolite of dietary meat and fat – Rong Xu – BMC Genomics
Application of a hierarchical enzyme classification method reveals the role of gut microbiome in human metabolism – Akram Mohammed – BMC Genomics
Comparative integrated omics: identification of key functionalities in microbial community-wide metabolic networks – Hugo Roume – NPJ Biofilms and Microbiomes
Use of the Analysis of the Volatile Faecal Metabolome in Screening for Colorectal Cancer – Claire A Batty – PLOS ONE
Microbes in the news
IndieGoGo project: A Probiotic Life: Microbiome Documentary
New colon cancer culprit found in gut microbiome – EurekAlert
Mushroom used in Chinese medicine ‘slows weight gain’ – James Gallagher – BBC News
Announcing the uBiome Studies Portal “We’re aiming to launch one new study every week.” – uBiome
What is the role of the gut microbiome in developing Parkinson’s disease? – EurekAlert
Microbiology and art
Artists Reveal the Bacterial Beauty of the Human Microbiome – Shaunacy Ferro – Mental Floss
Science, publishing, and career
A day in the life of a malaria researcher – Lin Lee – BioMedCentral Blogs
Towards an unbiased view of science: Authors at Nature Communications now have the option to choose double-blind peer review – Nature Communications
Satire: Taylor Swift Announces She Will No Longer Review For Nature – The Allium
Bik’s Picks
A Middle Triassic stem-turtle and the evolution of the turtle body plan – Rainer R. Schoch & Hans-Dieter Sues – Nature
Scientists Finally Decide Which Bit of This Weird Animal is the Head – Ed Yong – National Geographic
America’s Next Top Chef is a Supercomputer From IBM – Liz Stinson – Wired
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