God morgon!

Good morning from Sweden. This is my first post and following the current trend, it starts with some articles on the COVID19 pandemic. Today’s digest is headlined by some interesting preprints reporting inhibitors of SARS-CoV2 virus, followed by another interesting read suggesting the link between the gut microbiome and ADHD, some articles on our struggle against pathogenic bacteria, virus and fungi, and capped off with a small but informative news article on things one should not do during the COVID19 lockdown.

You might notice that today’s post is dominated by preprints. These preprints, while being an excellent way to disperse information as rapidly as it emerges, aren’t peer-reviewed. Hence, always read them with a pinch of salt!

COVID19

Preprint: In vitro screening of a FDA approved chemical library reveals potential inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 replication – Franck Touret, et al.

Preprint: LY6E Restricts the Entry of Human Coronaviruses, including the currently pandemic SARS-CoV-2 – Xuesen Zhao, et al.

Preprint: Indomethacin has a potent antiviral activity against SARS CoV-2 in vitro and canine coronavirus in vivo – Tianhong Xu, et al.

Preprint: Potent Antiviral Activities of Type I Interferons to SARS-CoV-2 Infection – Emily K. Mantlo, et al.

Microbial interactions

Preprint: Enhanced nutrient uptake is sufficient to drive emergent cross-feeding between bacteria – Ryan K Fritts, et al.

Structure and function of the Arctic and Antarctic marine microbiota as revealed by metagenomics – Weipeng Zhang, et al. – Microbiome

Preprint: Accumulation of dead cells from contact killing facilitates coexistence in bacterial biofilms – Gabi Steinbach, et al.

Human microbiome

Preprint: Gut microbiota from persons with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder affects the brain in mice – Anouk C. Tengeler, et al.

Lung function and microbiota diversity in cystic fibrosis – Leah Cuthbertson, et al. – Microbiome

Animal microbiome

Preprint: Functional maturation of the gut microbiota at weaning is influenced by maternal environment in piglets – Martin Beaumont, et al.

Bacteria Hysteria

Preprint: The adaptive transcriptional response of pathogenic Leptospira to peroxide reveals new defenses against infection-related oxidative stress – Crispin Zavala-Alvarado, et al.

Preprint: Cytotoxicity of the effector protein BteA was attenuated in Bordetella pertussis by insertion of an alanine residue – Jan Bayram, et al.

Preprint: Antimicrobial peptide induced-stress renders Staphylococcus aureus susceptible to toxic nucleoside analogues – Alexandro Rodriguez-Rojas, et al.

Preprint: (p)ppGpp and malonyl-CoA set the pace for Staphylococcus aureus adaptation to FASII antibiotics and provide a basis for bi-therapy inhibition – Amit Pathania, et al.

Phages and viruses

Preprint: Viral RNA is a target for Wolbachia-mediated pathogen blocking – Tamanash Bhattacharya, et al.

Preprint: Synchronized infection identifies early rate-limiting steps in the hepatitis B virus life cycle – Anindita Chakraborty, et al.

Techniques

Preprint: Evaluation of DNA extraction protocols from liquid-based cytology specimens for studying cervical microbiota – Takeo Shibata, et al.

Preprint: Biotinylated surfome profiling identifies potential biomarkers for diagnosis and therapy of Aspergillus fumigatus infection – Lei-Jie Jia, et al.

Bioinformatics

Preprint: Interpretable machine learning framework reveals novel gut microbiome features in predicting type 2 diabetes – Wanglong Gou, et al.

Preprint: Comprehensive single cell analysis of pandemic influenza A virus infection in the human airways uncovers cell-type specific host transcriptional signatures relevant for disease progression and pathogenesis – Jenna N Kelly, et al.

MetaEuk—sensitive, high-throughput gene discovery, and annotation for large-scale eukaryotic metagenomics – Eli Levy Karin, et al. – Microbiome

Preprint: Whole genome sequences of multi-drug resistant Escherichia coli isolated in a Pastoralist Community of Western Uganda: Phylogenomic changes, virulence and resistant genes – Jacob Stanley Iramiot, et al.

Microbes in news

News article: Experts study banana disease in Tanzania – The Guardian

News article: What not to do while on COVID-19 lockdown – Jamaica Observer

I know a lot of my fellow researchers are unable to continue their experiments and are yearning to get back to their respective labs. It is a testing time and I believe that patience and perseverance are the biggest strengths of a researcher. So, let’s bank on our strength and hope to see each other on the other side of this global pandemic soon!

With new information emerging every day about COVID19, there is a plethora of misinformation and myths surrounding the virus and the disease. As science enthusiasts, it is pertinent for us to dispel these myths. Here is a small list that I complied a few days back. Check it out!