Today’s Digest is short, but not without highlights. The highlights all go to antibiotics. Ed Yong wrote about the history of methicillin resistance, colistin resistance was found to be increasing in Chinese hospitals, and fox poop could save us from vegetable and fruit waste.

General microbiology

A CRISPR–Cas9-based gene drive platform for genetic interaction analysis in Candida albicans – Rebecca S. Shapiro et al. – Nature Microbiology

Reduction of bacterial burden by copper alloys on high-touch athletic center surfaces – Zina Ibrahim et al. – American Journal of Infection Control

Press: New Study Shows Copper Surfaces on Athletic Equipment Reduce Bacteria by 94 Percent – Business Wire

Plant, root and soil microbiome

Assessing and characterising the repertoire of constitutive promoter elements in soil metagenomic libraries in Escherichia coli – Caua Antunes Westmann et al. – bioRxiv

Technology

Reproducibility and repeatability of six high-throughput 16S rDNA sequencing protocols for microbiota profiling – Sajan Raju et al. – bioRxiv

Microbes in the news

Flesh-eating bacteria kills man helping repair Harvey-damaged homes – Claire Z. Cardona – Dallas News

Gut bacteria found to have a role in both PTSD and Alzheimer’s disease – Rich Haridy – New Atlas

* Bacteria Can Evolve Resistance to Drugs Before Those Drugs Are Used – Ed Yong – The Atlantic

* New Study Detects Increase in MCR-1 Positive Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria in Humans – Samar Mahmoud – Contagion Live

Vaginal Microbiota Profile Predictive of Chlamydia Susceptibility – Jessica Martin – Infectious Disease Advisor

* War on waste: Antimicrobial borne by feral foxes slows decay saving food and money – Jennifer Nichols – ABC News

Microbes on the market

Video: Bioengineers recreated spider silk by fermenting E. Coli bacteria – Mashable

Kane Biotech Inc. Provides Overview of Biofilm Industry, Clinical Development and Growth Drivers in New SNNLive Video Interview with StockNewsNow.com – Global Newswire

Evivo™ Gains Health Canada Approval, Providing First International Expansion Opportunity – Global Newswire