Today’s digest contains several great recent papers, but in particular I’d like to highlight a Nature Methods paper on applying network biology approaches to the microbiome, and a Nature paper which disentangles the effects of drugs and disease on host and microbiome.

General microbiome

Fast and flexible analysis of linked microbiome data with mako – Röttjers & Faust – Nature Methods. 

Combinatorial, additive and dose-dependent drug–microbiome associations – Forslund et al. Nature 

Mammalian gut metabolomes mirror microbiome composition and host phylogeny – Gregor et al. – ISME 

Human gut microbiome

Microbial co-occurrence complicates associations of gut microbiome with US immigration, dietary intake and obesity – Wang et al. – Genome Biology

Signature changes in gut microbiome are associated with increased susceptibility to HIV-1 infection in MSM – Chen et al.  – Microbiome

Cognitive behavioral therapy for irritable bowel syndrome induces bidirectional alterations in the brain-gut-microbiome axis associated with gastrointestinal symptom improvement – Jacobs et al. – Microbiome. 

Human oral microbiome

Impact of sleep on the microbiome of oral biofilms – Sotozono et al. – PLOS One

Functional screening of a human saliva metagenomic DNA reveal novel resistance genes against sodium hypochlorite and chlorhexidine – Wigand et al. BMC Oral Health

Animal Experiments

The immunotoxicity, but not anti-tumor efficacy, of anti-CD40 and anti-CD137 immunotherapies is dependent on the gut microbiota – Blake et al. – Cell Reports Medicine

Colonization of gut microbiota by plasmid-carrying bacteria is facilitated by evolutionary adaptation to antibiotic treatment – Zhang et al. – ISME

Sexual dimorphism in glucose metabolism is shaped by androgen-driven gut microbiome – Gao et al. – Nature Communications