To kick off October, we have a Microbiome Digest filled with ecological approaches to microbial communities and techniques for analysis. Plus: what the Nobels are doing to encourage diversity, and what ecstasy does to octopuses. Happy reading!

General Microbiome
Neutral and selective dynamics in a synthetic microbial community. – Nate J. Cira – PNAS

Microbiomes as Metacommunities: Understanding Host-Associated Microbes through Metacommunity Ecology. – Elizabeth Theresa Miller – Trends in Ecology and Evolution

Clinician Guide to Microbiome Testing – Christopher Staley – Digestive Diseases and Sciences

Human Urinary Microbiome
NMR-based metabonomic approach reveals changes in the urinary and fecal metabolome caused by resveratrol. – Gabriela Torres Santiago – Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis

Urinary microbes and postoperative urinary tract infection risk in urogynecologic surgical patients – Krystal J. Thomas-White – International Urogynecology Journal

Human Gut Microbiome
Metagenomic insights into resistant starch degradation by human gut microbiota. – Marius Vital – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Pathogenic functions of host microbiota. – Silke Rath – Microbiome

Prebiotics and Probiotics in Digestive Health – Eamonn M.M. Quigley – Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology

Animal Experiments
Isolation and characterization of the Bacillus cereus BC7 strain, which is capable of zearalenone removal and intestinal flora modulation in mice. – Yue Wang – Toxicon

Sulfated Polysaccharide from Sea Cucumber and its Depolymerized Derivative Prevent Obesity in Association with Modification of Gut Microbiota in High‐Fat Diet‐Fed Mice – Zhenjun Zhu – Molecular Nutrition and Food Research

Animal Microbiome
Cultivable microbiome and its resistance to antimicrobials isolated from Zaprionus indianus – Graziele Aparecida Fernandes da Cruz – Environmental Monitoring and Assessment

Plant, root, and soil microbiome
Impact of weather conditions, leaf age and irrigation water disinfection on the major epiphytic bacterial genera of baby spinach grown in an open field – Pilar Truchado – Food Microbiology

Influence of light on plant – phyllosphere interaction – Sofia D. Carvalho – Frontiers in Plant Science

Techniques
PCR-based quantification of taxa-specific abundances in microbial communities: Quantifying and avoiding common pitfalls. – Fabian Bonk – Journal of Microbiological Methods

Genomes from uncultivated prokaryotes: a comparison of metagenome-assembled and single-amplified genomes. – Johannes Alneberg – Microbiome

Progress of analytical tools and techniques for human gut microbiome research – Eun-Ji Song – Journal of Microbiology

Preprint: Dynamic interaction network inference from longitudinal microbiome data – Jose Lugo-Martinez – bioRxiv

Science, Publishing, and Career
What the Nobels are — and aren’t — doing to encourage diversity – Elizabeth Gibney -Nature

Alyson’s Non-Microbiology Pick
What Ecstasy Does to Octopuses – Ed Yong – The Atlantic