Bifidobacteria/Spirochaetes trade-off in Italians vs. Hadza, asthma, transferring depression with human stool to rats, sea squirts symbionts, spacial structure of biofilms, and a glowing review of Ed Yong’s book “I Contain Multitudes”.

General microbiome

Dysbiosis Across Multiple Body Sites in Critically Ill Adult Surgical Patients – Andrew Yeh – Shock

Pregnancy / human oral microbiome

Smoking, pregnancy and the subgingival microbiome – Akshay D. Paropkari – Scientific Reports

Review: An Integrated Review of Intestinal Microbiota in the Very Premature Infant – Melissa C. Dollings –  Neonatal Network

Human respiratory microbiome

Bacterial microbiota of the upper respiratory tract and childhood asthma – Martin Depner – Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology

Review: The role of anaerobic bacteria in the cystic fibrosis airway – Laura J. Sherrard – Current Opinion in Pulmonary Medicine

Human vaginal microbiome

Commentary: The relationship between the vaginal microbiome and human health – MR Millar – BJOG

Human gut microbiome

Variations in the Post-weaning Human Gut Metagenome Profile As Result of Bifidobacterium Acquisition in the Western Microbiome – Matteo Soverini – Frontiers in Microbiology

Pediatric obesity is associated with an altered gut microbiota and discordant shifts in Firmicutes populations – Alessandra Riva – Environmental Microbiology

Histamine-secreting microbes are increased in the gut of adult asthma patients – Weronika Barcik – Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology

Dietary Supplementation with Rice Bran or Navy Bean Alters Gut Bacterial Metabolism in Colorectal Cancer Survivors – Amy M. Sheflin – Molecular Nutrition & Food Research

Four-week consumption of a Bifidobacterium bifidum strain modulates dominant intestinal bacterial taxa and fecal butyrate in healthy adults – Giorgio Gargari – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Fecal microbiota transplantation for patients with steroid-resistant/dependent acute graft-versus-host disease of the gut – Kazuhiko Kakihana – Blood

Trial: Effect of prebiotic intake on gut microbiota, intestinal permeability and glycemic control in children with type 1 diabetes: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial – Josephine Ho – Trials

Opinion: How stable is the human gut microbiota? And why this question matters – Harald Brüssow – Environmental Microbiology

Research highlight: Microbial mobilomes differ between societies – Naomi Attar – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Review: High-Resolution Characterization of the Human Microbiome – Cecilia Noecker – Translational Research

Review: Microbiota metabolite short chain fatty acids, GPCR, and inflammatory bowel diseases – Mingming Sun – Journal of Gastroenterology

Review: The influence of gut derived CD39 regulatory T cells in CNS demyelinating disease – Javier Ochoa-Repáraz – Translational Research

Review: Fecal microbiota transplantation in inflammatory bowel disease: the quest for the holy grail – B Pigneur – Mucosal Immunology

Review: The Gut Microbiota in Immune-Mediated Inflammatory Diseases – Jessica D. Forbes – Frontiers in Microbiology

Review: Regulation of Autoimmunity by the Microbiome – Carlos R. Zárate-Bladés – DNA and Cell Biology

Animal experiments

Transferring the blues: Depression-associated gut microbiota induces neurobehavioural changes in the rat – John R. Kelly – Journal of Psychiatric Research

The microbiota contributes to CD8+ T cell activation and nutrient malabsorption following intestinal infection with Giardia – Infection and Immunity – Aleksander Keselman

Gut Microbial Membership Modulates CD4 T Cell Reconstitution and Function after Sepsis – Javier Cabrera-Perez – Journal of Immunology

Metabolite exchange within the microbiome produces compounds that influence Drosophila behavior – Caleb N. Fischer – bioRxiv

Variation in the Gut Microbiota of Termites (Tsaitermes ampliceps) Against Different Diets – Lijuan Su – Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology

Animal microbiome

Endozoicomonas Are Specific, Facultative Symbionts of Sea Squirts – Lars Schreiber – Frontiers in Microbiology

Comparison of a modified phenol/chloroform and commercial-kit methods for extracting DNA from horse fecal material – Ali H.D. Janab -Journal of Microbiological Methods

Death Becomes Them: Bacterial community dynamics and stilbene antibiotic production in Galleria mellonella cadavers killed by Heterorhabditis/Photorhabdus – Amanda C. Wollenberg – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Comparative metagenomic analysis of PAH degradation in soil by a mixed microbial consortium – German Zafra – Journal of Hazardous Materials

Water and extremophile microbiome

Metatranscriptome analysis of active microbial communities in produced water samples from the Marcellus Shale – Amit Vikram – Microbial Ecology

Characterizing microbial diversity in production water from an Alaskan mesothermic petroleum reservoir with two independent molecular methods – Vinh D. Pham – Environmental Microbiology

Protocol: Visualizing Patterns of Marine Eukaryotic Diversity from Metabarcoding Data Using QIIME – Matthieu Leray – Marine Genomics

Protocol: Sampling of Riverine or Marine Bacterial Communities in Remote Locations: From Field to Publication – Katja Lehmann – Marine Genomics

Microbes in space

Assessment of the Forward Contamination Risk of Mars by Clean Room Isolates from Space-Craft Assembly Facilities through Aeolian Transport – a Model Study – Luc van Heereveld – Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres

Built environment microbiome

Figures appear to show a gradual change, not a break, but: Summer holidays as break-point in shaping a tannery sludge microbial community around a stable core microbiota – Cesira Giordano – Scientific Reports

Food microbiology

Detailed analyses of the bacterial populations in processed cocoa beans of different geographic origin, subject to varied fermentation conditions – Cristian Bortolini – International Journal of Food Microbiology

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

A Scalable Permutation Approach Reveals Replication and Preservation Patterns of Network Modules in Large Datasets – Scott C. Ritchie – Cell Systems

Techniques

The effect of DNA extraction methodology on gut microbiota research applications – Konstantinos Gerasimidis – BMC Research Notes

Biofilms

Review: Spatial structure, cooperation and competition in biofilms – Carey D. Nadell – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Microbes in the news

A glowing book review: Living in a microbial world, book review of “I Contain Multitudes The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life” by Ed Yong – Susan Perkins – Science

State College of Florida, New College graduate wins microbiology award: Stephanie Morgan’s research won an award at the Small World Initiative Symposium – Bradenton Herald

Microbiology: A budding researcher creates a stir with her LIST-supported project: Camilla Hurst – Luxembourg Institute of Science And Technology (LIST)

‘Bugs’ on the subway: Monitoring the microbial environment to improve public health – Harvard

‘Nose-y’ Bacteria Could Yield A New Way To Fight Infection – Carolyn Beans – NPR

The Marine Microbiome – A treasure trove of scientific and industrial potential – Cordis Europa
Video: Revealing the Secrets of Marine Microbes: methods that are being used to isolate and culture marine microorganisms – MaCuMBA project