This Monday we have some quite interesting news about microbes! Microbes found inside giant crystals in caves in Chihuahua, Mexico, may have survived there for tens of thousands of years, while meadows of underwater seagrass plants might lower levels of harmful bacteria in nearby ocean waters making the whole ecosystem — from corals to fish to humans — healthier. Enjoy your reading..

Pregnancy and early life

Adenoid bacterial colonization in a paediatric population – João Subtil – European Archives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology

Human gut microbiome

Review: NLRP6: A Multifaceted Innate Immune Sensor – Maayan Levy – Trends in Immunology

Prebiotic inulin-type fructans induce specific changes in the human gut microbiota – Doris Vandeputte – Gut

Gut microbial profile is altered in primary biliary cholangitis and partially restored after UDCA therapy – Ruqi Tang – Gut

Multidonor intensive faecal microbiota transplantation for active ulcerative colitis: a randomised placebo-controlled trial – Sudarshan Paramsothy – The Lancet

Reinforcement of intestinal epithelial barrier by arabinoxylans in overweight and obese subjects: A randomized controlled trial: Arabinoxylans in gut barrier – Bouke N. Salden – Clinical Nutrition

Diet-induced obesity, gut microbiota and bone, including alveolar bone loss – Sathima Eaimworawuthikul – Archives of Oral Biology

Animal experiments

Dietary Prebiotics and Bioactive Milk Fractions Improve NREM Sleep, Enhance REM Sleep Rebound and Attenuate the Stress-Induced Decrease in Diurnal Temperature and Gut Microbial Alpha Diversity – Robert S. Thompson – Frontiers in  Behavioral Neuroscience

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Plant community and nitrogen deposition as drivers of α- and β-prokaryotic diversity in reconstructed oil-sands soils and natural boreal forest soils – Jacynthe Masse – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Plant-microbial association in petroleum and gas exploration sites in the state of Assam, north-east India—significance for bioremediation – Hemen Sarma – Environmental Science and Pollution Research

The choice of the DNA extraction method may influence the outcome of the soil microbial community structure analysis – Sylwia Zielińska – Microbiology Open

Water and extremophile microbiome

Seagrass ecosystems reduce exposure to bacterial pathogens of humans, fishes, and invertebrates – Joleah B. Lamb – Science

Phages and viruses

Cyanophage-encoded lipid-desaturases: oceanic distribution, diversity and function – Sheila Roitman – bioRxiv

Techniques

Effects of gelling agent and extracellular signaling molecules on the culturability of marine bacteria – Anita Mac Rygaard – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

A tool named Iris for versatile high-throughput phenotyping in microorganisms – George Kritikos – Nature Microbiology

Microbes in the news 

Microbes survived inside giant cave crystals for up to 50,000 years – Science News

Three-way dance between herbivores, plants and microbes unveiled  – Phys.org

Synthetic antibiotic developed by Sask. researchers to combat drug-resistant bacteria – CBC News

Salmonella ‘can kill cancer’: How bacteria that cause food poisoning could be used to attack tumour cells – Colin Fernandez for Daily Mail, UK

Brazilian peppertree packs power to knock out antibiotic-resistant bacteria – Science Daily

Bacteria Hysteria

Drug-resistant deadly bacteria more widespread than previously thought, study finds – News Medical