A long digest today – lots of science on the gut, environment, and some interesting editorials on techniques, bioinformatics, and methodologies applied to microbiome studies.

General microbiome

[pre print] Oscillating bacterial expression states generate herd immunity to viral infection – Christopher J. R. Turkington – bioRxiv

Retraction: Microbiome restoration diet improves digestion, cognition and physical and emotional wellbeing – The PLOS ONE Editors – PLOS ONE

DNA metabarcoding uncovers fungal diversity of mixed airborne samples in Italy – Elisa Banchi – PLOS ONE

Mobile Technologies for the Discovery, Analysis, and Engineering of the Global Microbiome – Zachary S. Ballard – ACS Nano

Unraveling Interactions between the Microbiome and the Host Immune System To Decipher Mechanisms of Disease – Catherine A. Lozupone – mSystems

Making Millennial Medicine More Meta – Peter J. Turnbaugh – mSystems

Pregnancy and early life

Neonatal intestinal dysbiosis in necrotizing enterocolitis – Naomi-Liza Denning – Molecular Medicine

Prenatal and postnatal antibiotic exposure influences the gut microbiota of preterm infants in neonatal intensive care units – Zhi-Hui Zou – Annals of Clinical Microbiology and Antimicrobials

* The Effect of Early Limited Formula on Breastfeeding, Readmission, and Intestinal Microbiota: A Randomized Clinical Trial – Valerie J. Flaherman – The Journal of Pediatrics

Multi-site human microbiome

The Complex Interplay between Chronic Inflammation, the Microbiome, and Cancer: Understanding Disease Progression and What We Can Do to Prevent It – Heather Armstrong – Cancers

Human oral microbiome

Salivary microbial profiles in relation to age, periodontal, and systemic diseases – Ronaldo Lira-Junior – PLOS ONE

Human respiratory microbiome

Translating Lung Microbiome Profiles into the Next-Generation Diagnostic Gold Standard for Pneumonia: a Clinical Investigator’s Perspective – Georgios D. Kitsios – mSystems

Host-Microbe Interactions in Airway Disease: toward Disease Mechanisms and Novel Therapeutic Strategies – Emily K. Cope – mSystems

Human gut microbiome

The role of inflammation in temporal shifts in the inflammatory bowel disease mucosal microbiome – Christopher John Kiely – Gut Microbes

Species Level Description of the Human Ileal Bacterial Microbiota – Heidi Cecilie Villmones – Nature

* Systematic Bias Introduced by Genomic DNA Template Dilution in 16S rRNA Gene-Targeted Microbiota Profiling in Human Stool Homogenates – Francesco Multinu – mSphere

* Extensive impact of non-antibiotic drugs on human gut bacteria – Lisa Maier – Nature

In this issue: Effect of gut microbiome on mucosal immunity and enteric diseases – Kumar, Himanshu – International Reviews of Immunology

Characterization of intestinal microbiota in alcoholic patients with and without alcoholic hepatitis or chronic alcoholic pancreatitis – Dragos Ciocan – Nature

Clostridium difficile Exposures, Colonization, and the Microbiome: Implications for Prevention – Sara L. Revolinski – Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology

* Of Microbes and Minds: A Narrative Review on the Second Brain Aging – Riccardo Calvani – Frontiers in Medicine

Microbiome: Viral hormones activate human insulin signalling – Ashley York – Nature

Modulation of Gut Microbiota: A Novel Paradigm of Enhancing the Efficacy of Programmed Death-1 and Programmed Death Ligand-1 Blockade Therapy – Yiming Wang – Frontiers in Immunology

* Assessing the Influence of Vegan, Vegetarian and Omnivore Oriented Westernized Dietary Styles on Human Gut Microbiota: A Cross Sectional Study – Carmen Losasso – Frontiers in Microbiology

Nutritional preferences of human gut bacteria reveal their metabolic idiosyncrasies – Melanie Tramontano – Nature

Animal experiments

Characterization of shifts of koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) intestinal microbial communities associated with antibiotic treatment – Katherine E. Dahlhausen – PeerJ

Low dose brain estrogen prevents menopausal syndrome while maintaining the diversity of the gut microbiomes in estrogen-deficient rats – Sunmin Park – American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism

Oral supplementation of Bifidobacterium longum strain BR-108 alters cecal microbiota by stimulating gut immune system in mice irrespectively of viability – Yuko Makioka – Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Biochemistry

Animal microbiome

Mapping the virome in wild-caught Aedes aegypti from Cairns and Bangkok – Martha Zakrzewski – Nature

Changes in Larval Mosquito Microbiota Reveal Non-target Effects of Insecticide Treatments in Hurricane-Created Habitats – Joseph P. Receveur – Microbial Ecology

Dissecting cause and effect in host-microbiome interactions using the combined worm-bug model system – Marina Ezcurra – Biogerontology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

[pre print] Diversity analysis and function prediction of rhizo- and endophytic bacterial communities of Senecio vulgaris L. (Asteraceae) in an invasive range – Dandan Cheng – PeerJ pre prints

Changes in the Metagenome of Prokaryotic Community as an Indicator of Fertility of Arable Soddy-Podzolic Soils upon Fertilizer Application – A. N. Naliukhin – Eurasian Soil Science

Assessing soil bacterial community and dynamics by integrated high-throughput absolute abundance quantification – Jun Lou – PeerJ

Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria associated with avocado display antagonistic activity against Phytophthora cinnamomi through volatile emissions – Alfonso Méndez-Bravo – PLOS ONE

Composition and diversity of rhizosphere fungal community in Coptis chinensis Franch. continuous cropping fields – Xuhong Song – PLOS ONE

Genomic insights into the broad antifungal activity, plant-probiotic properties, and their regulation, in Pseudomonas donghuensis strain SVBP6 – Betina Cecilia Agaras – PLOS ONE

Water and extremophile microbiome

Microbial communities underpinning mesophilic anaerobic digesters treating food wastewater or sewage sludge: a full-scale study – Joonyeob Lee – Bioresource Technology

Bacteria from Antarctic environments: diversity and detection of antimicrobial, antiproliferative, and antiparasitic activities – Tiago R. Silva – Polar Biology

Responses of Salt Marsh Plant Rhizosphere Diazotroph Assemblages to Drought – Debra A. Davis – Microorganisms

Diversity and assembly patterns of activated sludge microbial communities: A review – Yu Xia – Biotechnology Advances

Temperature-induced changes in a microbial community under autotrophic denitrification with sulfide – Michal Sposob – Process Biochemistry

Metagenomic Exploration of Microbial Signatures on Periyar River Sediments from the Periyar Tiger Reserve in the Western Ghats – Aparna Chakkamadathil Rajeev – Genome Announcements

Occurrence and seasonal dynamics of RNA viral genotypes in three contrasting temperate lakes – Ian Hewson – PLOS One

Shifts in dissolved organic matter and microbial community composition are associated with enhanced removal of fecal pollutants in urban stormwater wetlands – Xiao Huang – Water Research

Effect of semi-permeable cover system on the bacterial diversity during sewage sludge composting – Tatiana Robledo-Mahón – Journal of Environmental Management

* Life at extreme elevations on Atacama volcanoes: the closest thing to Mars on Earth? – S. K. Schmidt – Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

Rapid alterations to marine microbiota communities following an oil spill – Brad J. Gemmell – Ecotoxicology

Microbial communities and their potential for degradation of dissolved organic carbon in cryoconite hole environments of Himalaya and Antarctica – Aritri Sanyal – Microbiological Research

Built environment

Microbiome Profiles of Commercial Broilers Through Evisceration and Immersion Chilling During Poultry Slaughter and the Identification of Potential Indicator Microorganisms – John A. Handley – Frontiers in Microbiology

Food microbiology

Characterization of Bacteria in Nigerian Yogurt as Promising Alternative to Antibiotics in Gastrointestinal Infections – Anthony Opeyemi Ayeni – Journal of Dietary Supplements

Probiotics / prebiotics

Polyphenols’ Gut Microbiota Metabolites: Bioactives or Biomarkers? -Francisco A. Tomas-Barberan – Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry

* A Multi-strain Probiotic Reduces the Fatty Liver Index, Cytokines and Aminotransferase levels in NAFLD Patients: Evidence from a Randomized Clinical Trial – Nazarii Kobyliak – Journal of Gastrointestinal and Liver Diseases

Bioinformatics

Species classifier choice is a key consideration when analysing low-complexity food microbiome data – Aaron M. Walsh – Microbiome

Data and Statistical Methods To Analyze the Human Microbiome – Levi Waldron – mSystems

* Discovery of enzymes for toluene synthesis from anoxic microbial communities – Beller HR – Nature

Techniques

Community Assembly Processes of the Microbial Rare Biosphere – Xiu Jia – Trends in Microbiology

* Metabolomics: A High-Throughput Platform for Metabolite Profile Exploration – Jing Cheng – Computational Systems Biology

[Patent] Spectrometric Analysis of Microbes – Zoltan Takats

* Development and evaluation of a culture-free microbiota profiling platform (MYcrobiota) for clinical diagnostics – Stefan A. Boers – European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases

Comparative analysis of four commercial on-farm culture methods to identify bacteria associated with clinical mastitis in dairy cattle – Jair C. Ferreira – PLOS One

Beyond Structure: Defining the Function of the Gut Using Omic Approaches for Rational Design of Personalized Therapeutics – Casey M. Theriot – mSystems

Synergy among Microbiota and Their Hosts: Leveraging the Hawaiian Archipelago and Local Collaborative Networks To Address Pressing Questions in Microbiome Research – Nicole A. Hynson – mSystems

Microbiomes In Natura: Importance of Invertebrates in Understanding the Natural Variety of Animal-Microbe Interactions – Jillian M. Petersen – mSystems

Microbial Eukaryotes: a Missing Link in Gut Microbiome Studies – Isabelle Laforest-Lapointe – mSystems

Microbes on the market 

DuPont Expands Microbiome Research Program, Adds Second Partnership with Fermentation Specialist

Science, publishing, and career

Biocodex Microbiota Foundation Awards Grants to Two Innovative Researchers in the Microbiome Field

Early-Career Systems Microbiology Scientists – Jack A. Gilbert – mSystems

Ed’s non-microbiology picks (can use your own name of course!) (cool non-microbiology science)

Self-employed people happier and more engaged at work, study finds

Health Care Spending in the United States and Other High-Income Countries

Ancient DNA Is Rewriting Human (and Neanderthal) History

Sturdy Insulator Made of Wood

How exercise in old age prevents the immune system from declining