Greetings from Pittsburgh!

Today’s digest is heavy on plant and soil-associated research. It includes a review on the use of metagenomics in soil ecology research, original research focused on the microbiome of plants growing in a Sandhills ecosystem, as well as articles focused on the soil-associated microorganisms Marinobacter caseinilyticus sp. and Dickeya sp. This digest also features several articles focused on extremophiles found in permafrost, the South Pole, and a Mars-like environment! Finally, I also wanted to highlight an Q&A with Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett, an immunologist at the National Institute of Health and one of the designers of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.

Events and jobs

Black in Microbiology is now also the Black Microbiologists Association. If you’re interested in joining or learning more information, check out their webpage for details!

General microbiome

Biochemical characterization of a low salt-adapted extracellular protease from the extremely halophilic archaeon Halococcus salifodinae – Hou et al. – International Journal of Biological Macromolecules

Identification and characterization of a metal-resistant Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans as important potential application for bioleaching – Tavakoli et al. – Biologia

Human vaginal microbiome

Review: Lactic acid-containing products for bacterial vaginosis and their impact on the vaginal microbiota: A systematic review — Plummer et al. – PLOS One

Human gut microbiome

Effects of colon-targeted vitamins on the composition and metabolic activity of the human gut microbiome– a pilot study – Pham et al. – Gut Microbes

Animal experiments

Co-infecting pathogen lineages have additive effects on host bacterial communities – Medina et al. – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Aggregate-related changes in living microbial biomass and microbial necromass associated with different fertilization patterns of greenhouse vegetable soils – Luan et al. – European Journal of Soil Biology

Alkaline soil pH affects bulk soil, rhizosphere and root endosphere microbiomes of plants growing in a Sandhills ecosystem – Lopes et al. – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Marinobacter caseinilyticus sp. nov., isolated from saline soil – Nie et al. – Current Microbiology

Genomic diversity and organization of complex polysaccharide biosynthesis clusters in the genus Dickeya – Ranjan et al. – PLOS One

Review: Metabarcoding and Metagenomics in Soil Ecology Research: Achievements, Challenges, and Prospects – Semenov – Biology Bulletin Reviews

A DNA metabarcoding approach for recovering plankton communities from archived samples fixed in formalin – Shiozaki et al. – PLOS One

Water and extremophile microbiome

Are permafrost microorganisms as old as permafrost? – Abramov et al. – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Cultivation and characterization of snowbound microorganisms from the South Pole – Hayward et al. – Extremophiles

Survival of desert algae Chlorella exposed to Mars-like near space environment – Wang et al. – Life Sciences in Space Research

Microbes in the news

This COVID-vaccine designer is tackling vaccine hesitancy — in churches and on Twitter – Subbaraman – Nature