Today’s digest features fascinating  research articles on the potential of glycomacropeptide in modulating human gut microbiota of elderly, identifying IBD-like microbiome in at-risk healthy relatives of IBD patients with no clinical signs of inflammation,  long-term climate change affects soil microbial communities and  a reviews on the potential role of transglutaminases in autoimmunity.

General microbiome

Comparative study of the gut microbiome potentially related to milk protein in Murrah buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis) and Chinese Holstein cattle – Jiachao Zhang – Scientific Reports

The microbiome of the octocoral Lobophytum pauciflorum: minor differences between sexes and resilience to short-term stress – Wiebke Wessels – FEMS Microbiol Ecology

Microbiomic differences in tumor and paired-normal tissue in head and neck squamous cell carcinomas – Hannah Wang- Genome Medicine

Microbiota composition of simultaneously colonized mice housed under either a gnotobiotic isolator or individually ventilated cage regime – Randi Lundberg – Scientific Reports

Microbial strain-level population structure and genetic diversity from metagenomes – Duy Tin Truong – Genome Research

*Review: Transglutaminases in Dysbiosis As Potential Environmental Drivers of Autoimmunity – Aaron Lerner- Frontiers in Microbiology

Pregnancy and early life

Perspective: The maternal microbiome: Cause or consequence of obesity risk in the next generation? – Jacob E. Friedman – Obesity

Review: Charting the Maternal and Infant Microbiome: What Is the Role of Diabetes and Obesity in Pregnancy? – Sirtaj Singh – Current Diabetes Reports

Human skin microbiome

Skin Microbiome in Small- and Large-plaque Parapsoriasis – Alexander Salava – Acta Dermato-Venereologica

Human gut microbiome

*Glycomacropeptide sustains microbiota diversity and promotes specific taxa in an artificial colon model of elderly gut microbiota – Alexandra Ntemiri – Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

A Disease-Associated Microbial and Metabolomics State in Relatives of Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease Patients – Jonathan P. Jacobs – Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology

Comparative study on the in vitro effects of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and seaweed alginates on human gut microbiota – Shaofeng Bai – PLOS ONE

Review: Gut microbiota modulation and anti-inflammatory properties of dietary polyphenols in IBD: new and consolidated perspectives.  – Angelo Santino – Current Pharmaceutical Design

Animal experiments 

Changes in Microbiota in Rumen Digesta and Feces Due to a Grain-Based Subacute Ruminal Acidosis (SARA) Challenge – Jan C. Plaizier – Microbial Ecology

A maternal Western diet during gestation and lactation modifies offspring’s microbiota activity, blood lipid levels, cognitive responses, and hippocampal neurogenesis in Yucatan pigs – David Val-Laillet – FASEB Journal

Animal microbiome 

Bacterial community composition and fermentation in the rumen of Xinjiang brown cattle (Bos taurus), Tarim red deer (Cervus elaphus yarkandensis), and Karakul sheep (Ovis aries) – Wenxi Qian – Canadian Journal of Microbiology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Plants Assemble Species Specific Bacterial Communities from Common Core Taxa in Three Arcto-Alpine Climate Zones – Manoj Kumar – Frontiers in Microbiology

*Links between soil microbial communities and plant traits in a species-rich grassland under long-term climate change – Emma J. Sayer – Ecology and Evolution

Specificity of root microbiomes in native-grown Nicotiana attenuata and plant responses to UVB increase Deinococcus colonization – Rakesh Santhanam – Molecular Ecology

Water and extremophile microbiome 

Metagenomic survey of the taxonomic and functional microbial communities of seawater and sea ice from the Canadian Arctic – Etienne Yergeau – Scientific Reports

Phages and viruses

Things Are Getting Hairy: Enterobacteria Bacteriophage vB_PcaM_CBB – Colin Buttimer – Frontiers in Microbiology

Techniques

Successive DNA extractions improve characterization of soil microbial communities – Mauricio R. Dimitrov – PeerJ

Microbes in the news

Bacteria fed synthetic iron-containing molecules turn into electrical generators

Method to identify bacteria in blood samples works in hours instead of days

Characterizing Cervical Cancer by HPV Strain, Mutations, and Molecular Features

Phage In The Time Of Cholera

An Innovative New Cancer Therapy Hijacks Bacteria to Fight Tumors

Microbes on the market

Chan Zuckerberg Biohub funds first crop of 47 investigators

Anitha’s non-microbiology picks 

Could this pollinating drone replace butterflies and bees?

The physics of why valve amps sound better

Circuits survive on Venus, electronics powered by stomach acid