Good morning from the UK. This is my first post for Microbiome Digest, so I hope that my ‘picks’ are interesting and suitable. I have included one link which I hope will make you smile – see if you can spot it 😀 I’m on day 22 of my social isolation with the potential of many more months to come. I’ve been looking forward to doing this as I am unable to do much work as a result of this pandemic; something that most of us are suffering from, unless you are working on the latest novel Coronavirus. I  know at least one person whose workload has escalated dramatically.  It’s certainly an interesting and challenging time for microbiologists!

Covid-19

Unveiling the origin and transmission of 2019-nCov (Cell.com: Trends in Microbiology)

The spike glycoprotein of the new coronavirus 2019-nCoV contains a furin-like cleavage site absent in CoV of the same clade (Science Direct: Antiviral Research)

CD-sACE2 Inclusion Compounds: An Effective Treatment for Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) (Wiley Online Library: Preprint)

General microbiome

When bacteria meet mitochondria: The strange case of the tick symbiont Midichloria mitochondrii† (Wiley Online Library: Cellular Microbiology)

Human gut microbiome

Horizontal transfer of antibiotic resistance genes in the human gut microbiome (Science Direct: Current Opinion in Microbiology)

Gut microbiome composition and diversity-related to human personality traits  (Science Direct: Human Microbiome Journal)

Animal microbiome

Rapid multi-residue screening of antibiotics in muscle from different animal species by microbiological inhibition method (Science Direct: Microchemical Journal)

Phages and viruses

Binding of pDNA with cDNA using hybridization strategy towards monitoring of Haemophilus influenza genome in human plasma samples (Science Direct: International Journal of Biological Macromolecules)

Plant, root and soil microbiome

Unravelling spatiotemporal variability of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in a temperate grassland plot (Wiley online library: Environmental Microbiology)

Techniques

Comprehensive evaluation of complex polymicrobial specimens using next generation sequencing and standard microbiological culture(Nature.com: Scientific Reports)

Identification and quantification of bacterial genomes carrying antibiotic resistance genes and virulence factor genes for aquatic microbiological risk assessment (Science Direct: Water Research)

I hope that you have found at least one interesting paper to read. Should you be in ‘lockdown’ it beats binging on Netflix or staring at the four walls! If you’re writing up your thesis – well, everyone needs a break 😉

Karen