Happy Lunar New Year of the Dog!

Today’s Digest contains many news pieces, and also features a major paper on strain tracking post fecal microbiota transplantation, a review on antibacterial proteins shaping the intestinal microbiota, and a call for action to build communities for bioinformatics programming.

Jobs

Postdoctoral Scholars of Microbiology, School of Life Sciences – University of Nevada Las Vegas

General microbiology

Book chapter: Agro-industrial Lignocellulosic Waste: An Alternative to Unravel the Future Bioenergy – Nidhi V. Maheshwari – Biofuels: Greenhouse Gas Mitigation and Global Warming

Review: Evolutionary Mechanisms Shaping the Maintenance of Antibiotic Resistance – Paulo Durão et al. – Trends in Microbiology

A single amino acid change in the response regulator PhoP acquired during Yersinia pestis evolution affects PhoP target gene transcription and polymyxin B susceptibility – Fukuto HS et al. – Journal of Bacteriology

Validated measurements of microbial loads on environmental surfaces in intensive care units before and after disinfecting cleaning – H. Frickmann et al. – Journal of Applied Microbiology

Human gut microbiome

Review: Proceedings of the 2017 ASPEN Research Workshop—Gastric Bypass: Role of the Gut – Ajay Kumar Jain et al. – Journal of Parenteral & Enteral Nutrition

A Phase 1 Study in Healthy Subjects to Assess the Safety, Tolerability, Pharmacokinetics, and Pharmacodynamics of Multiple Oral Doses of DS-2969b, a Novel GyrB Inhibitor – Vandell AG et al. – Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy

* Antibacterial Weapons: Targeted Destruction in the Microbiota – Benoit Chassaing and Eric Cascales – Trends in Microbiology

Perspective: How to train your microbiome to eat broccoli – Sam H. Au – Science Translational Medicine

* Strain Tracking Reveals the Determinants of Bacterial Engraftment in the Human Gut Following Fecal Microbiota Transplantation – Christopher S. Smillie – Cell Host & Microbe

Press: Model of fecal transplantation predicts which bacteria will flourish – Medical Xpress

Preprint: Spatial variation of the native colon microbiota in healthy adults – Kaitlin J Flynn et al. – bioRxiv

Preprint: The intestinal microbiota predisposes to traveller’s diarrhoea and to the carriage of multidrug-resistant Enterobacteriaceae after travelling to tropical regions – Stefano Leo et al. – bioRxiv

Animal experiments

Extracellular cholesterol oxidase production by Streptomyces aegyptia, in vitro anticancer activities against rhabdomyosarcoma, breast cancer cell-lines and in vivo apoptosis – Noura El-Ahmady El-Naggar et al. – Scientific Reports

Molecular analyses of two bacterial sampling methods in ligature-induced periodontitis in rats – Carla Raquel Fontana et al. – Clinical and Experimental Dental Research

Animal microbiome

Preprint: Drosophila melanogaster establishes a species-specific mutualistic interaction with stable gut-colonizing bacteria – Ines Silva Pais et al. – bioRxiv

Plant, root and soil microbiome

Removal of metals and their pools in plant in response to plant diversity in microcosms of floating constructed wetlands – Wenjuan Han et al. – Ecological Engineering

The Sesamum indicum rhizosphere associated bacterium: A source of Antifungal compound – Renu Chaudhary et al. – Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry

Intensifying rotations increases soil carbon, fungi, and aggregation in semi-arid agroecosystems – Steven T. Rosenzweig et al. – Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment

Impact of oxytetracycline and bacterial bioaugmentation on the efficiency and microbial community structure of a pesticide-degrading biomixture – Víctor Castro-Gutiérrez et al. – Environmental Science and Pollution Research

Indigenous endophytic seed bacteria promote seedling development and defend against fungal disease in browntop millet (Urochloa ramosa L.) – S.K. Verma and J.F. White – Journal of Applied Microbiology

Water and extremophile microbiome

Halophilic starch degrading bacteria isolated from Sambhar Lake, India, as potential anode catalyst in Microbial fuel cell: A promising process for saline water treatment – Ankisha Vijay et al. – Bioresource Technology

Sequestration and utilization of carbon dioxide by chemical and biological methods for biofuels and biomaterials by chemoautotrophs: Opportunities and challenges – Indu Shekhar Thakur et al. – Bioresource Technology

Small eukaryotic phytoplankton communities in tropical waters off Brazil are dominated by symbioses between Haptophyta and nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria – Catherine Gérikas Ribeiro et al. – ISME

Neobodonids are dominant kinetoplastids in the global ocean – Olga Flegontova et al. – Environmental Microbiology

Food microbiology

Review: Whole genome sequencing as a typing tool for foodborne pathogens like Listeria monocytogenes – The way towards global harmonisation and data exchange – StefanieLüth et al. – Trends in Food Science & Technology

Phages and viruses

Book chapter: Tick-Borne Viruses and Host Skin Interface – Mária Kazimírová et al. – Skin and Arthropod Vectors

Preprint: The virome of Drosophila suzukii, an invasive pest of soft fruit – Nathan C Medd et al. – bioRxiv

Technology

Microfluidics-based liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry multiple reaction monitoring approach for the relative quantification of Burkholderia cenocepacia secreted virulence factors – Sofie Depluverez et al. – Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry

Microbes in the news

Surgeon sets new frontiers in battle against bacteria! – WBWire

The effect of antibacterials on the skin – Zoe Diana Draelo – Dermatology Times

Donor, Recipient Strain Analyses Offer Fecal Transplant Engraftment Clues – Genome Web

Australian Scientist Gets $1 Million to See if Probiotics Can Help Children with CF – Carolina Henriques – Cystic Fibrosis News Today

Do probiotics work? Answers to this and other gut-wrenching questions – Joanna Clay – USC News

Monitoring bacteria on whale skin – EurekAlert

Bacteria Hidden Under Our Feet May Be a New Weapon Against Superbugs – Kristin Houser – Futurism

Which probiotic is right for you? These are the exact bacteria strains to look for – Emily Laurence – Well and Good

How can we harness the power of bacteria-killing viruses? – Claire O’Connell – Sillcon Republic

Manipulating gut bacteria may cut obesity, diabetes risk – The Peninsula

Microbes on the market

Carbiotix launches world’s lowest cost microbiome test – Nathan Gray – Nutra Ingredients

Scientific Communication and Education

* Preprint: Building a local community of practice in scientific programming for Life Scientists – Sarah L.R. Stevens et al. – bioRxiv