Hi everyone!

In today’s digest there is a range of exciting papers. The first paper looks into using a COVID-19 RBD vaccine on rodents. You will also find a great study on utilising Myxobacterium to fight cucumber wilt – even as an avid cucumber hater I appreciated this one! A third highlight is an exciting clinical study of heat-inactivated Bifidobacterium in reducing patient IBD symptoms.

COVID-19

Preprint: The SARS-CoV-2 receptor-binding domain elicits a potent neutralizing response without antibody-dependent enhancement – Quinlan et al.

Preprint: Comparison of SARS-CoV-2 infections among 3 species of non-human primates – Lu et al.

Preprint: Three adjacent nucleotide changes spanning two residues in SARS-CoV-2 nucleoprotein: possible homologous recombination from the transcription-regulating sequence – Leary et al.

Human gut microbiome

Preprint: Short-chain fatty acid production by gut microbiota from children with obesity is linked to bacterial community composition and prebiotic choice – Holmes et al.

Short Review: In sickness and health: Effects of gut microbial metabolites on human physiology – Glowacki & Martens. PLOS Pathogens.

Animal experiments

Evaluation of microbiome-host relationships in the zebrafish
gastrointestinal system reveals adaptive immunity is a target of bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) exposure – Adamovsky et al. Environmental Science & Technology.

Abnormal gut microbiota composition is associated with experimental autoimmune prostatitis‐induced depressive‐like behaviors in mice – Du et al. The Prostate.

Plant, root and soil microbiome

Impact of phages on soil bacterial communities and nitrogen availability under different assembly scenarios – P. Braga et al. Microbiome.

Predatory myxobacterium controls cucumber fusarium wilt by regulating soil microbial community – Ye et al. Microbiome.

Food Microbiology

Green tea polyphenols boost gut-microbiota-dependent mitochondrial TCA and urea cycles in Sprague–Dawley rats – Zhou et al. The Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry.

Probiotics

Heat-inactivated Bifidobacterium bifidum MIMBb75 (SYN-HI-001) in the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome: amulticentre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial – Andresen et al. The Lancet Gastroentrology & Hepatology.