Good morning and happy Saturday y’all! Today’s digest is brief, but covers some fascinating papers including: small RNAs regulating gut microbe metabolism; epigenetics linking the early-life airway microbiota with allergic rhinitis; and the impact of gut microbial composition on vagal innervation. I’ve also included a non-microbiome pick discussing how to spot and resolve common statistical mistakes in research manuscripts. The authors of the article hope this will help improve robustness of scientific research. Happy reading!

Gut Microbiome
A high-resolution transcriptome map identifies small RNA regulation of metabolism in the gut microbe Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron. Ryan, D. et al. Nature Communications.

Depicting SARS-CoV-2 faecal viral activity in association with gut microbiota composition in patients with COVID-19. Zuo, T. et al. Gut.

High microbiota reactivity of adult human intestinal IgA requires somatic mutations. Kabbert, J. et al. Journal of Experimental Medicine.

A unified catalog of 204,938 reference genomes from the human gut microbiome. Almeida, A. et al. Nature Biotechnology.

Airway Microbiome
Epigenetic landscape links upper airway microbiota in infancy with allergic rhinitis at 6 years of age. Morin, A. et al. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

Early-Life Microbiome
Butyrate producing colonic Clostridiales metabolise human milk oligosaccharides and cross feed on mucin via conserved pathways. Pichler, M.J. et al. Nature Communications.

Animal Experiments
Bile acids drive the newborn’s gut microbiota maturation. van Best, N. et al. Nature Communications.

Gut microbiota composition modulates inflammation and structure of the vagal afferent pathway. Kim, J.S. et al. Physiology & Behavior.

TNFα regulates intestinal organoids from mice with both defined and conventional microbiota. Sun, L. et al. International Journal of Biological Macromolecules.

Water Microbiome
Nutrient and microbial water quality of the upper Ganga River, India: identification of pollution sources. Bowed, M.J. et al. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment.

Plant, Root, and Soil Microbiome
Global warming shifts the composition of the abundant bacterial phyllosphere microbiota as indicated by a cultivation-dependent and -independent study of the grassland phyllosphere of a long-term warming field experiment. Aydogan, E.L. FEMS Microbiology and Ecology.

Non-Microbiome Pick
Science Forum: Ten common statistical mistakes to watch out for when writing or reviewing a manuscript. Makin, T.R. and Orban de Xivry, JJ. eLife.