Drosophila male-killing spiroplasma, chitin in potting soil, temperature constraints for complex life, a book on microbial diversity, and monitoring sewer health.

General microbiome

Review: Design, analysis and application of synthetic microbial consortia – Xiaoqiang Jia – Synthetic and Systems Biotechnology

Review: Metabolic network modeling of microbial interactions in natural and engineered environmental systems – Octavio Perez-Garcia – Frontiers in Microbiology

Opinion: Mirror, mirror on the wall: which microbiomes will help heal them all? – Renuka R. Nayak – BMC Medicine

Hypothesis: Do microbiotas warm their hosts? – Eugene Rosenberg – Gut Microbes

Human respiratory microbiome

Microbiome diversity in the sputum of patients with pulmonary tuberculosis – P. Krishna – European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases

Human gut microbiome

Literature review: The gut microbiota: a major player in the toxicity of environmental pollutants? – Sandrine P Claus – NPJ Biofilms and Microbiomes

Impact of Hypocaloric Hyperproteic Diet on Gut Microbiota in Overweight or Obese Patients with Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: A Pilot Study – Zoltan Pataky – Digestive Diseases and Sciences

n=1: Six-week Diet Correction for Body Weight Reduction and Its Subsequent Changes of Gut Microbiota: A Case Report – Bumjo Oh – Clinical Nutrition Research

Conference abstract: Associations Between Physical Activity and the Intestinal Microbiome of College Freshmen – Corrie M Whisner – The FASEB Journal

Animal experiments

Male-Killing Spiroplasma Alters Behavior of the Dosage Compensation Complex during Drosophila melanogaster Embryogenesis – Becky Cheng – Current Biology

Experimental Evolution on a Wild Mammal Species Results in Modifications of Gut Microbial Communities – Kevin D. Kohl – Frontiers in Microbiology

Conference abstract: Soy positively impacts cecal microbiota of ovariectomized rats selectively bred for low aerobic capacity – Tzu-Wen Liu – the FASEB Journal

Animal microbiome

Midgut Transcriptome of the Cockroach Periplaneta americana and Its Microbiota: Digestion, Detoxification and Oxidative Stress Response – Jianhua Zhang – PLOS ONE

Plants, roots, and soil microbiome

Chitin Mixed in Potting Soil Alters Lettuce Growth, the Survival of Zoonotic Bacteria on the Leaves and Associated Rhizosphere Microbiology – Jane Debode – Frontiers in Microbiology

Litter microbial and soil faunal communities stimulated in the wake of a volcanic eruption in a semiarid woodland in Patagonia, Argentina – Paula Berenstecher – Functional Ecology

Richness and bioactivity of culturable soil fungi from the Fildes Peninsula, Antarctica – Zhuang Ding – Extremophiles

Effect of 35 years inorganic fertilizer and manure amendment on structure of bacterial and archaeal communities in black soil of northeast China – Jianli Ding – Applied Soil Ecology

Conference abstract: Multi-omics of the Soil Microbiome – Janet K Jansson – The FASEB Journal

Review: Life cycle specialization of filamentous pathogens — colonization and reproduction in plant tissues – Janine Haueisen – Current Opinion in Microbiology

Review: Interspecific hybridization impacts host range and pathogenicity of filamentous microbes – Jasper RL Depotter – Current Opinion in Microbiology

Water and extremophile microbiome

From climate models to planetary habitability: temperature constraints for complex life – Laura Silva – arXiv preprint

Macroecological drivers of archaea and bacteria in benthic deep-sea ecosystems – Roberto Danovaro – Science Advances

Snowmelt induced hydrologic perturbations drive dynamic microbiological and geochemical behaviors across a shallow riparian aquifer – Robert Danczak – Frontiers in Earth Science

External controls on the distribution, fabrics and mineralization of modern microbial mats in a coastal hypersaline lagoon, Cayo Coco (Cuba) – Anthony Bouton

Richness and bioactivity of culturable soil fungi from the Fildes Peninsula, Antarctica – Zhuang Ding – Extremophiles

Single-Cell Genome and Group-Specific dsrAB Sequencing Implicate Marine Members of the Class Dehalococcoidia (Phylum Chloroflexi) in Sulfur Cycling – Kenneth Wasmund – mBio

Book: Their World: A Diversity of Microbial Environments – Editors: Christon J. Hurst – Springer

• Life in Hypersaline Environments – Aharon Oren
• Microbiology of the Deep Subsurface Geosphere and Its Implications for Used Nuclear Fuel Repositories – J. R. McKelvie
• Microbes and the Arctic Ocean – Iain Dickinson
• Microbiology of the Deep Continental Biosphere – Thomas L. Kieft
• Endolithic Microorganisms and Their Habitats – Christopher R. Omelon

Review: Marine microorganisms as a promising and sustainable source of bioactive molecules – G. Romano – Marine Environmental Research

Waste and pollution microbiology

Hydrogeochemistry and coal-associated bacterial populations from a methanogenic coal bed – Elliott P. Barnharta – International Journal of Coal Geology

Review: Does bioleaching represent a biotechnological strategy for remediation of contaminated sediments? – Viviana Fonti – Science of The Total Environment

Review: Microbial sequencing methods for monitoring of anaerobic treatment of antibiotics to optimize performance and prevent system failure – Sevcan Aydin – Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

Viruses and phages

Editorial overview: The megaviromes – Didier Raoult – Current Opinion in Microbiology

More microbiology

Stochastic Assembly of Bacteria in Microwell Arrays Reveals the Importance of Confinement in Community Development – Ryan H. Hansen – PLOS ONE

RubisCO of a nucleoside pathway known from Archaea is found in diverse uncultivated phyla in bacteria – Kelly C Wrighton – The ISME Journal

Research Highlight: A time to gather chromosomes together – Naomi Attar – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Conference abstract: Metabolic Exchange In Microbial Communities – Andrei Osterman – The FASEB Journal

Microbes in the news

Pipe Dreams: Tapping into the Health Information in Our Sewers – Carrie Arnold – Environmental Health Perspectives

Deep sea microbes may be key to oceans’ climate change feedback – Howard Lee – The Guardian

Exploiting Male Killing Bacteria Could Control Insect Pest Species in the Future – SciCasts

Fifty people warned about possible exposure to drug-resistant bacteria at University of Alberta Hospital – Keith Gerein