November 19, 2016

Metformin and diabetes, lizards, Brazilian tree phyllosphere, Amazonian dark earth, air pollution in China, microbiomes of ice cream and cannabis.

General microbiome

Phylosymbiosis: Relationships and Functional Effects of Microbial Communities across Host Evolutionary History – Andrew W. Brooks – PLOS Biology

Review: A place for host–microbe symbiosis in the comparative physiologist’s toolbox – Kevin D. Kohl – Journal of Experimental Biology

Human skin and wound microbiology

Review: Cooperative Evolutionary Strategy between the Bacteriome and Mycobiome – Mahmoud Ghannoum – mBio

Human gut microbiome

Metformin Is Associated With Higher Relative Abundance of Mucin-Degrading Akkermansia muciniphila and Several Short-Chain Fatty Acid–Producing Microbiota in the Gut – Jacobo de la Cuesta-Zuluaga – Diabetes Care

News: Metformin Alters Gut Microbiota Composition in Diabetes – Doctors Lounge

Review (Blastocystis) : Modulating the Gut Micro-Environment in the Treatment of Intestinal Parasites – Luis Vitetta – Journal of Clinical Medicine

Review: Recent advances in Entamoeba biology: RNA interference, drug discovery, and gut microbiome – Pedro Morgado – F1000 Research

Microbes in blood, urine, and tissue

Changes in blood microbiota profiles associated with liver fibrosis in obese patients: A pilot analysis – Benjamin Lelouvier – Hepatology

Review: The Urinary Tract Microbiome in Health and Disease – Isabel M. Aragón – European Urology Focus

Animal experiments

A High-Fat High-Sucrose Diet Rapidly Alters Muscle Integrity, Inflammation and Gut Microbiota in Male Rats – Kelsey H. Collins – Scientific Reports

Animal microbiome

Gut microbial ecology of lizards: insights into diversity in the wild, effects of captivity, variation across gut regions, and transmission – Kevin D. Kohl – Molecular Ecology

In liver, not in feces: Metagenomic Evaluation of Bacteria from Voles – Katja A. Koskela – Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Phyllosphere Metaproteomes of Trees from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest Show High Levels of Functional Redundancy – M.R. Lambais – Microbial Ecology

Metagenome sequencing of the microbial community of two Brazilian anthropogenic Amazon dark earth sites, Brazil – Leandro Nascimento Lemos – Genomics Data

Metal-resistant rhizobacteria isolates improve Mucuna deeringiana phytoextraction capacity in multi-metal contaminated soils from a gold mining area – Cácio Luiz Boechat – Environmental Science and Pollution Research

Identification of the Core Set of Carbon-Associated Genes in a Bioenergy Grassland Soil
Adina Howe – PLOS ONE

The nutrient preference of plants influences their rhizosphere microbiome – Feng Cai – Applied Soil Ecology

Effect of microbial-based inoculants on nutrient concentrations and early root morphology of corn (Zea mays) – Pamela Calvo – Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science

The impact of winter legume and cereal cover crops on rhizosphere microbial communities of subsequent vegetable crops for contrasting crop decline – L.M. Manici – Biological Control

Impacts of protected colonial birds on soil microbial communities: When protection leads to degradation – María T. Domínguez – Soil Biology and Biochemistry

Water and pollution microbiome

Nearshore Pelagic Microbial Community Abundance Affects Recruitment Success of Giant Kelp, Macrocystis pyrifera – Megan M. Morris – Frontiers in Microbiology

Biostimulation and microbial community profiling reveal insights on RDX transformation in groundwater – Dongping Wang – Microbiology Open

Screening and In Situ Monitoring of Potential Petroleum Hydrocarbon Degraders in Contaminated Surface Water – Bulent Icgen – Clean Soil Air Water

Source tracking using microbial community fingerprints: Method comparison with hydrodynamic modelling – D.T. McCarthy – Water Research

Air microbiology

Airborne particulate matter pollution in urban China: A chemical mixture perspective from sources to impacts – Ling Jin – National Science Review

Review: Monitoring of the airborne biological particles in outdoor atmosphere. Part 1: Importance, variability and ratios – Andrés Núñez – International Microbiology

Review: Monitoring of airborne biological particles in outdoor atmosphere. Part 2: Metagenomics applied to urban environments – Andrés Núñez – International Microbiology

Food and cannabis microbiology

Metagenomic analysis of medicinal Cannabis samples; pathogenic bacteria, toxigenic fungi, and beneficial microbes grow in culture-based yeast and mold tests – Kevin McKernan – F1000 Research

Enrichment dynamics of Listeria monocytogenes and the associated microbiome from naturally contaminated ice cream linked to a listeriosis outbreak – Andrea Ottesen – BMC Microbiology

Bioinformatics

[PDF] A small-sample multivariate kernel machine test for microbiome association studies – Xiang Zhan – Fred Hutch Research

More microbiology

Quorum Sensing Controls Adaptive Immunity through the Regulation of Multiple CRISPR-Cas Systems – Adrian G. Patterson – Molecular Cell

Bacteria communicate to ramp up collective immune response to viral threats – Science Daily

A Molecular Genetic Basis Explaining Altered Bacterial Behavior in Space – Luis Zea – PLOS ONE

Alabama researcher helps solve mystery of runaway bacteria on spaceships – AL.com

Microbes in the news

PodcastThis Week in Microbiology: microbial DNA found on ATM machines in New York City, and how hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, alters microbial ecosystems deep in the Earth – TWIM

One swab from the surface of your smartphone can tell scientists all about your lifestyle
– Karen Turner – Washington Post

This bacteria is getting harder for kids to fight – Mashable

Armpit Bacteria Transplants Could Save Us From Our Stink – Kaleigh Rogers – Motherboard

Worrying traces of resistant bacteria in air – EurekAlert

 

Science, publishing, and career

An Open Letter from and to Female Scientists – Kelly Ramirez – Scientific American
500 Women Scientists: An open letter from women of science

Who Will Advise Trump on Science? – Ed Yong – The Atlantic

 

 

 

November 14, 2016

Infant gut microbiota, oral microbiota of farmworkers with pesticide exposure, critically ill patients, probiotics and Alzheimer’s, Sutterella is a commensal.

Events

Cheese Cultures & Microbiology Class, December 2, 2016, Petaluma – California Artisan Cheese Guild – Eventbrite

Pregnancy and early life

A comparison of intestinal microbiota in a population of low-risk infants exposed and not exposed to intrapartum antibiotics: The Baby & Microbiota of the Intestine cohort study protocol – Julia Simioni – BMC Pediatrics

Establishment and development of the intestinal microbiota of preterm infants in a Lebanese tertiary hospital – Tarek Itania – Anaerobe

Human oral microbiome

Human Oral Buccal Microbiomes Are Associated with Farmworker Status And Azinphos-methyl Agricultural Pesticide Exposure – Ian B. Stanaway – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

News: Study finds link between pesticide exposure and microbiome changes – Brooks Hays – UPI
Pesticide exposures can cause changes in oral microbiome – ASM

Molecular detection of bacteria associated to caries activity in dentinal lesions – Beatriz Gonçalves Neves – Clinical Oral Investigations

Review: Microbial Profiles and Detection Techniques in Peri-Implant Diseases: a Systematic Review – Miguel Padial-Molina – J Oral Maxillofac Res

Human skin microbiome

A Precision Microbiome Approach Using Sucrose for Selective Augmentation of Staphylococcus epidermidis Fermentation against Propionibacterium acnes – Yanhan Wang – Int J Mol Sci

A novel enzyme with antioxidant capacity produced by the ubiquitous skin colonizer Propionibacterium acnes – Maria Allhorn – Scientific Reports

Skin bacteria could protect against disease – Science Daily

Human vaginal microbiome

Escherichia coli and Enterococcus faecalis are able to incorporate and enhance a pre-formed Gardnerella vaginalis biofilm – Joana Castro – Pathogens and Disease

Human gut microbiome

Critically ill patients demonstrate large interpersonal variation in intestinal microbiota dysregulation: a pilot study – Jacqueline M. Lankelma – Intensive Care Medicine

Mucosal Prevalence and Interactions with the Epithelium Indicate Commensalism of Sutterella spp. – Kaisa Hiippala – Frontiers in Microbiology

Review: Impact of Microbes on the Pathogenesis of Primary Biliary Cirrhosis (PBC) and Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC) – Jochen Mattner – Int J Mol Sci

Animal microbiome

Review: Microbiota-host interplay at the gut epithelial level, health and nutrition – Jean-Paul Lallès – Journal of Animal Science and Biotechnology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Root bacterial endophytes alter plant phenotype, but not physiology – Jeremiah A. Henning – Peer J

Cultivation Versus Molecular Analysis of Banana (Musa sp.) Shoot-Tip Tissue Reveals Enormous Diversity of Normally Uncultivable Endophytic Bacteria – Pious Thomas – Microbial Ecology

Water microbiome

Unraveling the microbial community of a cold groundwater catchment system – Burga Braun – Water Research

Built environment microbiome

Size-related bacterial diversity and tetracycline resistance gene abundance in the air of concentrated poultry feeding operations – Min Gao – Environmental Pollution

Metabolomics

Review: Emerging roles of xenobiotic detoxification enzymes in metabolic diseases – Michael C. Petriello – Reviews on Environmental Health

Probiotics

Effect of probiotic supplementation on cognitive function and metabolic status in Alzheimer’s disease: a randomized, double-blind, and controlled trial – Elmira Akbari -Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience

News: Probiotics improve cognition in Alzheimer’s patients – Medical Xpress

More microbiology

tRNA-mediated codon-biased translation in mycobacterial hypoxic persistence – Yok Hian Chionh – Nature Communications

Cracking the code for dormant bacteria. Newly discovered genetic code controls bacterial survival during infections – Anne Trafton – MIT News Office

Microbes in the news

Monitoring in Real Time the Formation and Removal of Biofilms From Clinically Relevant Pathogens – PR Web

From the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting: Gut bacteria may be a trigger for antiphospholipid syndrome – EurekAlert

Three University of Maryland students are sending bacteria samples into space – Rachel Kuipers – the Diamondback

University of Texas at Dallas named “Milestones in Microbiology” – Joanna Urban – ASM

Bethany professor Matthew Swearingen receives research grant – Weirton Daily Times

Scientists try bacteria to halt invasive cheatgrass overwhelming the West – Keith Ridler – LA Times

October 17, 2016

Fecal markers on child hands in Bangladesh, Clostridium difficile in pet dogs, intertidal microbes, and variability in household airborne bacteria.

Human skin microbiome

Occurrence of host-associated fecal markers on child hands, household soil, and drinking water in rural Bangladeshi households – Alexandria B. Boehm – Environmental Science & Technology Letters

Human respiratory microbiome

Data Mining of Lung Microbiota in Cystic Fibrosis Patients – Jianguo Li – PLOS ONE

Review: A future perspective on neurodegenerative diseases: Nasopharyngeal and gut microbiota – Fazlurrahman Khan – Journal of Applied Microbiology

Human urinary and reproductive tract

Methods only, no results (or: how to write two papers instead of one): Methodology for a vaginal and urinary microbiome study in women with mixed urinary incontinence – Yuko M. Komesu – International Urogynecology Journal

Human oral microbiome

Human oral microbiome and prospective risk for pancreatic cancer: a population-based nested case-control study – Xiaozhou Fan – Gut

Human gut microbiome

High-throughput sequencing identifies distinct fecal and mucosal gut microbiota correlating with different mucosal proteins – Li-na Dong – PeerJ Preprint

Prevotella and Klebsiella proportions in fecal microbial communities are potential characteristic parameters for patients with major depressive disorder – Ping Lin – Journal of Affective Disorders

Differential Changes in Gut Microbiota After Gastric Bypass and Sleeve Gastrectomy Bariatric Surgery Vary According to Diabetes Remission – Rinki Murphy – Obesity Surgery

Review: Antibiotics and the Intestinal Microbiome : Individual Responses, Resilience of the Ecosystem, and the Susceptibility to Infections – Sophie Thiemann – Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology

Animal experiments

Chronic Sleep Disruption Alters Gut Microbiota, Induces Systemic and Adipose Tissue Inflammation and Insulin Resistance in Mice – Valeriy A. Poroyko – Scientific Reports

The impact of orally administered phages on host immune response and surrounding microbial communities – Yingying Hong – Bacteriophage

Animal microbiome

More than 50% of Clostridium difficile Isolates from Pet Dogs in Flagstaff, USA, Carry Toxigenic Genotypes – Nathan E. Stone – PLOS ONE

Press: NAU Crew Finds Bacteria Clue by Scooping Pooch Poo – Arizona Public Media

Rumen microbiota for wild boreal cervids living in the same habitat – Kjartan Østbye – FEMS Microbiology Letters

Structure and culture of the gut microbiome of the Mormon cricket Anabrus simplex – Chad C Smith – bioRxiv Preprint

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Microbial legacies alter decomposition in response to simulated global change – Jennifer BH Martiny – ISME Journal
Water microbiome

Spatial and Halophytes Associated Microbial Communities in Intertidal Coastal Region of India – Doongar R. Chaudhary – International Journal of Phytoremediation

Built environment microbiome

High temporal variability in airborne bacterial diversity and abundance inside single-family residences – Joanne B. Emerson – Indoor Air

Microbes in the news

UMass microbiologist Kristen DeAngelis awarded $2.5 million grants to study how soil microbes contribute to global warming – Lucas Ropek

Bdellovibrio, the cannibalistic drug coming to humanity’s rescue – Mallory Locklear – Ars Technica

Nuclear Waste Repositories Safer With Bacteria – iTechPost

UA Museum hopes to display giant whale skeleton after bacteria clean up the bones for a couple of years – Dermot Cole – ADN

Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition Popular Vote Gallery

October 14, 2016

The pubic hair microbiome, lung transplant virome, IBS microbiome signature, coprolites, antibacterial molecules for babies the Tasmanian Devil pouch, Archaea in Mars simulation, white pudding, functional mapping pipeline,

Human oral microbiome

Clinical, Immune, and Microbiome Traits of Gingivitis and Peri-implant Mucositis – G.P. Schincaglia – Journal of Dental Research

The microbial community shifts of subgingival plaque in patients with generalized aggressive periodontitis following non-surgical periodontal therapy: a pilot study – Jing Hang – Oncotarget

ReviewThe Autoimmunity-Oral Microbiome Connection – N Nikitakis – Oral Diseases

Human respiratory microbiome

The Perioperative Lung Transplant Virome: Torque Teno Viruses are Elevated in Donor Lungs and Show Divergent Dynamics In Primary Graft Dysfunction – A. A. Abbas – American Journal of Transplantation

Composition and immunological significance of the upper respiratory tract microbiota – L. Patrick Schenck – FEBS Letters

Human skin and hair microbiome

Individualization of pubic hair bacterial communities and the effects of storage time and temperature – Diana W. Williams – Forensic Science International: Genetics

Gram-positive anaerobe cocci (GPAC) are underrepresented in the microbiome of filaggrin-deficient human skin – Patrick L.J.M. Zeeuwen – The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology

Review: Microbiome in healthy skin, update for dermatologists – B. Dréno – Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology

Human reproductive tract microbiome

Challenging dogma: the endometrium has a microbiome with functional consequences! – Linda C. Giudice – American Journal of Obstetics & Gynecology

Human gut microbiome

Intestinal microbiota in adult patients with Short Bowel Syndrome: Preliminary results from a pilot study – Stefania Boccia – Clinical Nutrition

Identification of an Intestinal Microbiota Signature Associated With Severity of Irritable Bowel Syndrome – Julien Tap – Gastroenterology

The dual role of Escherichia coli in the course of ulcerative colitis – Magdalena Pilarczyk-Zurek – BMC Gastroenterology

Review: The gut microbiota and gastrointestinal surgery – Kristina Guyton – Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology

Review: Dysbiosis in the ICU: Microbiome science coming to the bedside – Georgios D Kitsios – Journal of Critical Care

Review: Parasites, microbiota and metabolic disease – Sonakshi Bhattacharjee – Parasite Immunology

Review: Metabolite and Microbiome Interplay in Cancer Immunotherapy – Caroline H. Johnson – Cancer Research

Review: Human Coprolites as a Source for Paleomicrobiology – Sandra Appelt – Microbiology Spectrum

Animal models

Behavioural and Neurochemical Consequences of Chronic Gut Microbiota Depletion during Adulthood in the Rat – A.E. Hoban – Neuroscience

Changes in the rumen microbiome and metabolites reveal the effect of host genetics on hybrid crosses – Zhipeng Li – Environmental Microbiology Reports

Microbial community mapping in intestinal tract of broiler chicken – Yingping Xiao – Poultry Science

Animal microbiome

Comparative Assessment of Mediterranean Gorgonian-Associated Microbial Communities Reveals Conserved Core and Locally Variant Bacteria – Jeroen A. J. M. van de Water – Microbial Ecology

Cathelicidins in the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) – E. Peel – Scientific Reports

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Ecology of the forest microbiome: Highlights of temperate and boreal ecosystems – S. Uroz – Soil Biology and Biochemistry

Forest plant community as a driver of soil biodiversity: experimental evidence from collembolan assemblages through large-scale and long-term removal of oak canopy trees Quercus petraea – Ludovic Henneron – Oikos

Microbiome and Exudates of the Root and Rhizosphere of Brachypodium distachyon, a Model for Wheat – Akitomo Kawasaki – PLOS ONE

Review: Recent Developments in Systems Biology and Metabolic Engineering of Plant–Microbe Interactions – Vishal Kumar – Frontiers in Plant Science

Water microbiome

Microbial eukaryote communities exhibit robust biogeographical patterns along a gradient of Patagonian and Antarctic lakes – M. Romina Schiaffino – Environmental Microbiology

Microbial community diversity and composition varies with habitat characteristics and biofilm function in macrophyte-rich streams – Peter S. Levi – Oikos

Phylotype Dynamics of Bacterial P Utilization Genes in Microbialites and Bacterioplankton of a Monomictic Endorheic Lake – Patricia M. Valdespino-Castillo – Microbial Ecology

Consistent responses of the microbial community structure to organic farming along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River – Wenhui Wang – Scientific Reports

Microbes in space

Survivability and Growth Kinetics of Methanogenic Archaea at various pHs and Pressures: Implications for Deep Subsurface Life on Mars – Navita Sinha – Planetary and Space Science

Food microbiology

The use of 16S rRNA gene metagenetic monitoring of refrigerated food products for understanding the kinetics of microbial subpopulations at different storage temperatures: The example of white pudding – Emilie Cauchie – International Journal of Food Microbiology

Microbial diversity in pitted sweet cherries (Prunus avium L.) as affected by high-hydrostatic pressure treatment – Julia Toledo del Árbol – Food Research International

Built environment microbiology

Bioaerosol assessment in the library of Istanbul University and fungal flora associated with paper deterioration – Duygu Göksay Kadaifciler – Aerobiologia

Techniques / Fungi

Accurate Estimation of Fungal Diversity and Abundance Through Improved Lineage-Specific Primers Optimized for Illumina Amplicon Sequencing – D. Lee Taylor – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

Multi-omics integration accurately predicts cellular state in unexplored conditions for Escherichia coli – Minseung Kim – Nature Communications

FMAP: Functional Mapping and Analysis Pipeline for metagenomics and metatranscriptomics studies – Jiwoong Kim – BMC Bioinformatics

A critical evaluation of ecological indices for the comparative analysis of microbial communities based on molecular datasets – Rico Lucas – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Microbes in the news

Extremophiles found in a lake, and this is great news for biotech – Colm Gorey – Silicon Republic

‘I want my teeth back’: Kids infected with jaw-eating bacteria after dental treatment – Katie Mettler – Sacramento Bee

Microbiome biotech joins Peter Thiel’s Breakout Labs project – Fierce Biotech

Science, publishing, and career

Book:  Fungible Life: Experiment in the Asian City of Life – Aihwa Ong – Amazon

September 5, 2016

A microbial ecosystem created by fracking.

Human gut microbiome

Note: “All 34 PD patients were on dopaminergic drugs” Short chain fatty acids and gut microbiota differ between patients with Parkinson’s disease and age-matched controls – Marcus M. Unger – Parkisonism & Related Diseases

Effects of Proton Pump Inhibitors on the Gastric Mucosa-Associated Microbiota in Dyspeptic Patients – Francesco Paroni Sterbini – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Upcoming study: Influence of habitual dietary fibre intake on the responsiveness of the gut microbiota to a prebiotic: protocol for a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over, single-centre study – Genelle Healey – BMJ Open

Plants, roots, and soil microbiome

Screen Shot 2016-09-05 at 2.12.43 PMMicrobial metabolisms in a 2.5-km-deep ecosystem created by hydraulic fracturing in shales – Rebecca A. Daly – Nature Microbiology

Press: New genus of bacteria found living inside hydraulic fracturing wells – ‘Frackibacter’ one of dozens of microbes forming sustainable ecosystems there, study finds – EurekAlert

Air microbiology

Aerobiology of the built environment: Synergy between Legionella and fungi – Absar Alum – American Journal of Infection Control

Generic aspects of the airborne spread of human pathogens indoors and emerging air decontamination technologies – M. Khalid Ijaz – American Journal of Infection Control

Water treatment microbiology

A modified weighted mixture model for the interpretation of spatial and temporal changes in the microbial communities in drinking water reservoirs using compositional phospholipid fatty acid data – I. Stanimirova – Talanta

Point-of-use Unit Based on Gravity Ultrafiltration Removes Waterborne Gastrointestinal Pathogens from Untreated Water Sources in Rural Communities – Cristóbal Chaidez – Wilderness & Environmental Medicine

Bioinformatics

MMinte: an application for predicting metabolic interactions among the microbial species in a community – Helena Mendes-Soares – BMC Bioinformatics

Microbes in the news

Chickenpox Cases In The US Down Since 2-Dose Vaccine Program Began – Dianne Depra – Tech Times

Study shows that more people carry meningitis bacteria than previously thought – Meningitis Research Foundation

Respect the old but seek out the new: Direct 16S rRNA-seq from bacterial communities – Kelle Freel – The Molecular Ecology

Bacterial Leaf Streak, a new corn disease hitting Kansas – Vincent Marshall – Dodge City Daily Globe

Manuka proves best bacteria fighter – Rush and Mills, Whangaroa College students, investigated manuka (tea tree) oil, won a top prize at the recent Top Energy Far North Science and Technology Fair.– Stuff.co.nz

Fears CSIRO staff exposed to ‘low risk’ toxic bacteria at Canberra lab – ABC Australia

Microbes and you: a partnership millions of years old – Dyani LewisCosmos Magazine

September 1, 2016

Bedouins, urban Saoudis and monkeys, a subglacial lake, and the oldest microbial fossils.

Events

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Workshop on Viruses to be Held in Singapore, January 2017 – David Coil – MicroBEnet

Human respiratory microbiome

News: Does barnyard dust protect Amish children from asthma? – Bryant Furlow – The Lancet

Human gut microbiome

Gut microbiome and dietary patterns in different Saudi populations and monkeys – Emmanouil Angelakis – Scientific Reports

Fecal Microbiota Transplantation is Safe and Efficacious for Recurrent or Refractory Clostridium difficile Infection in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease – Monika Fischer

Animal experiments

High fat diet drives obesity regardless the composition of gut microbiota in mice – Sylvie Rabot – Scientific Reports

Gut Microbiota Promote Angiotensin II–Induced Arterial Hypertension and Vascular Dysfunction – Susanne H. Karbach – Hypertension

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Forest area and connectivity influence root-associated fungal communities in a fragmented landscape – Rachel L. Vannette – Ecology

Review: Comparative phylogenomics of symbiotic associations – Pierre-Marc Delaux – New Phytologist

Water and extremophile

Microbial Community Structure of Subglacial Lake Whillans, West Antarctica – Amanda M. Achberger – Frontiers in Microbiology

Dust microbiome

Poultry houses: DNA from dust: comparative genomics of large DNA viruses in field surveillance samples – Utsav Pandey – bioRxiv

Techniques

Direct 16S rRNA-seq from bacterial communities: a PCR-independent approach to simultaneously assess microbial diversity and functional activity potential of each taxon – Riccardo Rosselli – Scientific Reports

More microbiology

Screen Shot 2016-09-01 at 06.30PM, Sep 01

Geological map and location of microbial structures

Rapid emergence of life shown by discovery of 3,700-million-year-old microbial structures – Allen P. Nutman – Nature

Press: Life thrived on young Earth: scientists discover 3.7-billion-year-old fossils – Science Daily
The World’s Oldest Fossils Are 3.7 Billion Years Old. The newly discovered rocks suggest that life arose very quickly after the Earth was formed – Ed Yong – The Atlantic

Microbes in the news

Microbial genomics and the future of food microbiology – Julie Wolf – American Society for Microbiology

Space Microbiome? Yes Please! and I’ll take a minION sequencer as well if you don’t mind – Ben Libberton – NPJ Biofilms Community

Multitalented microbiology student is highly lauded for her scholarship – Western Michigan University

Manuka honey makes bacteria less resistant to antibiotics – Rowena Jenkins – The Conversation

Changes in Gut microflora – early warning of Equine Metabolic Syndrome (EMS)? – Jackie Bellamy-Zions – Harness Link

uBiome Hires New Vice President of Research and Development: Dr. Audrey Goddard Joins from Genomic Health and Genentech – PR Web

Samorost 3’s fairy tale of microbiology is now on iPhone – Chris Priestman – Kill Screen

Science, publishing, and career

How to Motivate Your Employees: Give Them Compliments and Pizza – Melissa Dahl – New York Magazine

Opinion: Fixing Science’s Human Bias. It’s time to accelerate the conversation about why the research community is still not diverse – Edward Courchaine and Sarah Smaga – The Scientist

Thanks to the glass ceiling breakers – Yarrow Axford – Science

Peer review

HT: Tomer AltmanStupid Patent of the Month: Elsevier Patents Online Peer Review – Electronic Frontier Foundation

Research Integrity

OMICS vs. The FTC: Plagiarism at a Predatory Publisher – Neuroskeptic – Discover

 

August 31, 2016

Screen Shot 2016-08-31 at 10.36.09 PM

ICU, Rudlavibizon, Flickr

Gut microbiota changes in the ICU, air microbiome of the Gobi desert, host response of human cells to gut microbiota.

Event

Synbiobeta SF2016, October 4-6, South San Francisco, CA

Human gut microbiome

Extreme Dysbiosis of the Microbiome in Critical Illness – Daniel McDonald – mSphere

Press: ICU patients lose helpful gut bacteria within days of hospital admission – Science Daily
Tracking Bacterial Imbalance in the ICU – Stephen Ornes -mBiosphere

Review: The human gut microbiome, diet, and health: “post hoc non ergo propter hoc” – Guus Roeselers – Trends in Food Science & Technology

Review: Interplay between gut microbiota, its metabolites and human metabolism: dissecting cause from consequence – A.V. Hartstra – Trends in Food Science & Technology

Animal and other model experiments

Bidirectional communication between the Aryl hydrocarbon Receptor (AhR) and the microbiome tunes host metabolism – Agata Korecka – NPJ Biofilms and Microbiomes

Temporal dynamics of bacterial microbiota in the human oral cavity determined using an in situ model of dental biofilms – Nanako Wake – NPJ Biofilms and Microbiomes

Normalizing Microbiota-Induced Retinoic Acid Deficiency Stimulates Protective CD8+ T Cell-Mediated Immunity in Colorectal Cancer – Nupur Bhattacharya – Immunity

Genetic and Transcriptional Analysis of Human Host Response to Healthy Gut Microbiota – Allison L. Richards – mSystems

Animal microbiome

Whole gut microbiome composition of damselfish and cardinalfish before and after reef settlement – Darren J Parris – PeerJ

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Specialized Microbiome of a Halophyte and its Role in Helping Non-Host Plants to Withstand Salinity – Zhilin Yuan – Scientific Reports

A native and an invasive dune grass share similar, patchily distributed, root-associated fungal communities – Renee B. Johansen – Fungal Ecology

Bacterial community structure and function shift across a northern boreal forest fire chronosequence – Hui Sun – Scientific Reports

Water microbiome

Complex bacterial communities in the deep-sea sediments of the Bay of Bengal and volcanic Barren Island in the Andaman Sea – Pankaj Verma – Marine Genomics

Neutral processes and species sorting in benthic microalgal community assembly: effects of tidal resuspension – Craig J. Plante – Journal of Phycology

Air microbiome

Variations in the structure of airborne bacterial communities in Tsogt-Ovoo of Gobi desert area during dust events – Teruya Maki – Air Quality, Atmosphere & Health

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

A phylogenetic transform enhances analysis of compositional microbiota data – Justin D Silverman – bioRxiv

Higher classification sensitivity of short metagenomic reads with CLARK-S – Rachid Ounit – Bioinformatics

GRASPx: efficient homolog-search of short peptide metagenome database through simultaneous alignment and assembly – Cuncong Zhong – BMC Bioinformatics

Microbial ecology

Quantifying human impact on Earth’s microbiome – Stephen B. Pointing – Nature Microbiology

Synthetic microbial ecology and the dynamic interplay between microbial genotypes –
Jan Dolinšek – FEMS Microbiology Reviews

Microbes in the news

Engineered gut bacteria protect mice against obesity, improve liver function – Oliver Worsley – Fierce Biotech

You’re probably not doing metagenomics – Mick Watson – Opiniomics

Mayo Adds To Its List Of Gut Microbiome Startup Collaborators – Don Jacobson – Twin Cities Business

Nice analysis of Tweets from #ISME16 by Keith Turner – Jonathan Eisen – MicroBEnet

Peer review and science misconduct

Recognizing Peer Reviewers: a Webinar to Celebrate Editors and Researchers – September 19, 2016 – Elsevier Publishing Campus

Stop ignoring misconduct – Donald S. Kornfeld & Sandra L. Titus – Nature

Bik’s Non-Microbiology Picks

Paperfuge: An ultra-low cost, hand-powered centrifuge inspired by the mechanics of a whirligig toy – M. Saad Bhamla – bioRxiv

August 3, 2016

Saliva and Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, early colonization of honey bees, hospital air metagenomes, analysis tool for viral metagenomes.

Human oral microbiome

The Salivary Microbiome in Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) and its Association with Disease-related Parameters: A Pilot Study – Lisa Lindheim – Frontiers in Microbiology

A novel compound to maintain a healthy oral plaque ecology in vitro – Marleen M. Janus – Journal of Oral Microbiology

Human vaginal microbiome

Does the vaginal microbiota plays a role in the development of cervical cancer? – Maria Kyrgiou – Translational Research

Human skin microbiome

Diverse human skin fungal communities in children converge in adulthood – Jay-Hyun Jo – Journal of Investigative Dermatology

Human gut microbiome

A pleiotropic missense variant in SLC39A8 is associated with Crohn’s disease and human gut microbiome composition – Dalin Li – Gastroenterology

Press: Genetic Variant Newly Linked to Crohn’s Disease Also Associated with Altered Gut Microbiome Composition – PR Web

Gut microbiota associated with HIV infection is significantly enriched in bacteria tolerant to oxygen – Grégory Dubourg – BMJ Open Gastroenterology

Review: A clinical update on the significance of the gut microbiota in systemic autoimmunity – Elizabeth C. Rosser – Journal of Autoimmunity

Review: The human gut microbiome of Latin America populations: a landscape to be discovered – Fabien Magne – Current Opinion in Infectious Diseases

Animal microbiome

Early gut colonizers shape parasite susceptibility and microbiota composition in honey bee workers – Ryan S. Schwarz – PNAS

Another pika paper by the same authors (who killed all pika to obtain gut contents – booh): Pika gut may select for rare but diverse environmental bacteria – Huan Li – Frontiers in Microbiology

Review: Bacterial symbiosis in the fish gut and its role in health and metabolism – Goutam Banerjee – Symbiosis

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Diverse gene functions in a soil mobilome – Wenting Luo – Soil Biology and Biochemistry

Genetic Diversity and Association Characters of Bacteria Isolated from Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungal Spore Walls – Gopal Selvakumar – PLOS ONE

Spatio-temporal variation of core and satellite arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus communities in Miscanthus giganteus – Christopher J. Barnes – Frontiers in Microbiology

DGGE: Impacts of Grazing Intensity and Plant Community Composition on Soil Bacterial Community Diversity in a Steppe Grassland – Tong-bao Qu – PLOS ONE

Book chapter: Calling in the Dark: The Role of Volatiles for Communication in the Rhizosphere – Nicole M. van Dam – Deciphering Chemical Language of Plant Communication

Book Chapter: Truffle-Associated Bacteria: Extrapolation from Diversity to Function – Elena Barbieri – True Truffle (Tuber spp.) in the World

Water and extremophile microbiome

Yeasts from sub-Antarctic region: biodiversity, enzymatic activities and their potential as oleaginous microorganisms – A. Martinez – Extremophiles

First report of microorganisms of Caucasus glaciers (Georgia) – Nicoletta Makowska – Biologia

Species sorting along a subsidy gradient alters bacterial community stability – Mario E. Muscarella – Ecology

Air microbiome / Built environment microbiome

Longitudinal Metagenomic Analysis of Hospital Air Identifies Clinically Relevant Microbes – Paula King – PLOS ONE

Bioinformatics

MetLab: An In Silico Experimental Design, Simulation and Analysis Tool for Viral Metagenomics Studies – Martin Norling – PLOS ONE

MetaCoMET: a web platform for discovery and visualization of the core microbiome – Yi Wang – Bioinformatics

More microbiology

Tempo and mode of genome evolution in a 50,000-generation experiment – Olivier Tenaillon – Nature

Press: Still changing after all these years. Long-term evolution experiment looks at genetic changes in bacteria: Richard Lenski – Science Daily

Review: Survival of the Fittest: How Bacterial Pathogens Utilize Bile To Enhance Infection – Jeticia R. Sistrunk – Clinical Microbiology Reviews

Book: Infective Endocarditis. Epidemiology, Diagnosis, Imaging, Therapy, and Prevention – Editors: Gilbert Habib – Springer

Élie Metchnikoff (1845–1916): celebrating 100 years of cellular immunology and beyond – David M. Underhill – Nature Reviews Immunology

Microbes in the news

Understanding diverse microbial communities: An interview with A. Murat Eren (Meren) – Kelle Freel – The Molecular Ecologist

Back from vacation? Your gut bacteria picked up souvenirs, too – Meredith Knight – Genetic Literacy Project

Evelo, Mayo Clinic team up to use bacteria for cancer immunotherapies – Ben Adams – Fierce Biotech

Plop into Canada’s first poop-themed dessert café next month – Heather Dockray – Mashable
Poop Dessert Cafe to open in Koreatown.Toronto is poised to get its first poop-themed café, set to open in August – The Star
First poo-themed dessert cafe set to open in Canada – Rachael Revesz – The Independent

Council agrees to trial of microbiology treatment – Lici Beveridge – Hattiesburg American

Opinion: Goals and possibilities in microbiology – Andrea Taboada – The Independent Florida Alligator

How Do Microbes Build Resistance to Metals? – Contagion

Bacteria Needed To Save Coral Reef – The Munich Eye

WATCH: Pac-Man Faithfully Recreated with Microbes – Nathaniel Scharping – Discover Magazine

 

August 1, 2016

Storage conditions of infant fecal microbiota, microbial pinnacles, bioaerosols in chicken production facilities.

General microbiome

Special issue of Microbial Biotechnology, including:
Biome engineering-2020 – Harald Brüssow
Microbial bioinformatics 2020 – Mark J. Pallen
Next-generation studies of microbial biofilm communities – Scott A. Rice
Plant–microbe partnerships in 2020 – Birgit Mitter

Opinion: Controlling the Microbiome: Microhabitat Adjustments for Successful Biocontrol Strategies in Soil and Human Gut – Eveline Adam – Frontiers in Microbiology

Pregnancy and birth

Latitude in sample handling and storage for infant faecal microbiota studies: the elephant in the room? – Alexander G Shaw – Microbiome

Gut Microbiota Richness and Composition and Dietary Intake of Overweight Pregnant Women Are Related to Serum Zonulin Concentration, a Marker for Intestinal Permeability – Kati Mokkala – The Journal of Nutrition

ReviewMicrobial Changes during Pregnancy, Birth, and Infancy – Meital Nuriel-Ohayon – Frontiers in Microbiology

Human eye microbiome

Ocular surface microbiome in meibomian gland dysfunction in Auckland, New Zealand
Grant A. Watters – Clinical & Experimental Ophtalmology

Human gut microbiome

Microbial diversity in individuals and their household contacts following typical antibiotic courses – Shira R. Abeles – Microbiome

Microbial Factors Associated with Post-Operative Crohn’s Disease Recurrence – Emily K Wright – Journal of Crohn’s and Colitis

Efficacy of antineoplastic treatment is associated with the use of antibiotics that modulate intestinal microbiota – Natali Pflug – OncoImmunology

Review: The oesophageal microbiome: an unexplored link in obesity-associated oesophageal adenocarcinoma – Nadeem O. Kaakoush – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Review: Normal, Regular and Standard: Scaling the Body through Fecal Microbial Transplants – Matthew J. Wolf-Meyer – Medical Anthropology Quarterly

Review: Gut Microbiota Imbalance and Base Excision Repair Dynamics in Colon Cancer – Debolina Ray – Journal of Cancer

Review: Fine-Tuning Cancer Immunotherapy: Optimizing the Gut Microbiome – Jonathan M. Pitt – Cancer Research

Review: Irritable bowel syndrome, the microbiota and the gut-brain axis – Hans Raskov – Gut Microbes

Animal microbiome

Fish: Alterations of the gut microbiome of largemouth bronze gudgeon (Coreius guichenoti) suffering from furunculosis – Tongtong Li – Scientific Reports

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Structure of bacterial communities in soil following cover crop and organic fertilizer incorporation – Adria L. Fernandez – Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

Correlation analysis of enzyme activities and deconstruction of ammonia-pretreated switchgrass by bacterial-fungal communities – Abhiney Jain – Bioresource Technology

Variations of rhizosphere bacterial communities in tea (Camellia sinensis L.) continuous cropping soil by high-throughput pyrosequencing approach – Y.C. Li – Journal of Applied Microbiology

High culturability of epiphytic bacteria and frequency of biosurfactant producers on leaves – Adrien Y. Burch – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Desiccation of sediments affects assimilate transport within aquatic plants and carbon transfer to microorganisms – Isabell von Rein – Plant Biology

Review: Emergence of plant and rhizospheric microbiota as stable interactomes – Prasun Bandyopadhyay – Protoplasma

Water and extremophile microbiome

Growth of elaborate microbial pinnacles in Lake Vanda, Antarctica – D. Y. Sumner – Geobiology

Diversity and succession of autotrophic microbial community in high-elevation soils along deglaciation chronosequence – Jinbo Liu – FEMS Microbial Ecology

Air microbiome

High throughput genomic sequencing of bioaerosols in broiler chicken production facilities – Kate M. O’Brien – Microbial Biotechnology

Bioinformatics

RevEcoR: an R package for the reverse ecology analysis of microbiomes – Yang Cao – BMC Bioinformatics

Metabolomics

Review: Metabolites: messengers between the microbiota and the immune system – Maayan Levy – Genes & Development

Techniques

Phylogenetically Structured Differences in rRNA Gene Sequence Variation among Species of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi and Their Implications for Sequence Clustering – Geoffrey L. House – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Microbes in the news
Why is microbiome so important? Gut instinct tells you – Jessica le Roux – FoodMed

Science, publishing, and career

Intentional equity – France A. Córdova – Science

Lost in Translation: From scientists to the press and to the public – The Microbial Menagerie

July 30, 2016

Honey bee gut microbiome altered by pesticides, colobine primates, sulfur vents, bioaerosol, failed microbiome spore transplant trial.

Events

London Microbiome Workshop – September 7th 2016, Royal College of Physicians, London

Pregnancy and birth

Antibiotic perturbation of the preterm infant gut microbiome and resistome – Andrew J. Gasparrini – Gut Microbes

Multisite microbiome

Acquisition of a high diversity of bacteria during Hajj pilgrimage, including Acinetobacter baumannii with blaOXA-72, and Escherichia coli with blaNDM-5 carbapenemases – Thongpan Leangapichart – Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy

Human gut microbiome

Limited prolonged effects of rifaximin treatment on irritable bowel syndrome-related differences in the fecal microbiome and metabolome – Natalia Zeber-Lubecka –
Gut Microbes

Altered gut microbiota in Rett syndrome – Francesco Strati – Microbiome

Animal experiments

Honey bee gut microbiome is altered by in-hive pesticide exposures – Madhavi Kakumanu – Frontiers in Microbiology

Animal microbiome

The antibiotic resistome of swine manure is significantly altered by association with the Musca domestica larvae gut microbiome – Hang Wang – The ISME Journal

Using the gut microbiota as a novel tool for examining colobine primate GI health – Katherine R. Amato – Global Ecology and Conservation

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Bioprospecting metagenomics of a microbial community on cotton degradation: mining for new glycoside hydrolases – Guoxiu Zhang – Journal of Biotechnology

Dramatic Increases of Soil Microbial Functional Gene Diversity at the Treeline Ecotone of Changbai Mountain – Congcong Shen – Frontiers in Microbiology

Review: Plant litter decomposition: drivers insight to the ecological process – Gaurav Mishra – European Journal of Biological Research

Water and extremophile microbiome

Transcriptional control in marine copiotrophic and oligotrophic bacteria with streamlined genomes – Matthew T. Cottrell – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Distribution and niche separation of planktonic microbial communities in the water columns from the surface to the hadal waters of the Japan Trench under the eutrophic ocean – Takuro Nunoura – Frontiers in Microbiology

Diversity and Composition of Bacterial Community in Soils and Lake Sediments from an Arctic Lake Area – Neng Fei Wang – Frontiers in Microbiology

Characterization of Chemosynthetic Microbial Mats Associated with Intertidal Hydrothermal Sulfur Vents in White Point, San Pedro, CA, USA – Priscilla J. Miranda – Frontiers in Microbiology

Hydrogen limitation and syntrophic growth among natural assemblages of thermophilic methanogens at deep-sea hydrothermal vents – Begüm D. Topçuoğlu – Frontiers in Microbiology

Review: Halophiles: Champions of Environmental Adaptations and Their Industrial Applications – Rachana Singh – Current Biological Engineering (WTF: $63.00)

Review: An overview of siderophores for iron acquisition in microorganisms living in the extreme – Luis O. De Serrano – BioMetals

Air microbiome

Review: Approach of molecular methods for the detection and monitoring of microbial communities in bioaerosols: A review – Keunje Yoo – Journal of Environmental Sciences

Oil reservoir microbiome

Species divergence vs functional convergence characterizes crude oil microbial community assembly – Yong Nie – Frontiers in Microbiology

Metagenomics

Editorial: From Genes to Species: Novel Insights from Metagenomics – Eamonn P. Culligan – Frontiers in Microbiology

Sequencing techniques

Streaming algorithms for identification of pathogens and antibiotic resistance potential from real-time MinIONTM sequencing – Minh Duc Cao – GigaScience

Microbes in the news

Poop Pill’s Surprise Failure Shows That the Microbiome is Still a Mystery – Ryan Cross – MIT Technology Review
Gut check: Seres Therapeutics shares plunge after microbiome drug fails in trial – CNBC
Seres Therapeutics Announces Interim Results from SER-109 Phase 2 ECOSPOR Study in Multiply Recurrent Clostridium Difficile Infection – Seres

I, microbe: Book Review of “I Contain Multitudes” by Ed Yong – Silvia Bulgheresi – Nature Microbiology
Hot off the press: Interview with Ed Yong – Andrew Jermy – Nature Microbiology

Teasing out the microbiome of the Kansas prairie. One teaspoonful of soil holds DNA of tens of thousands of microbial species – EurekAlert
Teasing out the microbiome of the Kansas prairieOne teaspoonful of soil holds DNA of tens of thousands of microbial species – Science Daily

Parasitic infection may have spoiled zebrafish experiments.Common contaminant may change shoaling behaviour, a proxy for stress and anxiety in behavioural studies. – Petra Szilagyi – Nature
What Does Your Poop Say About Your Evolution, and Other Ecological Connections to the Microbiome – Jens Hegg – PLOS Blogs

Powerful new bacteria discovered in Cookeville hot tub – Daily News Journal

Could a new CREAM fight off superbugs? Scientists develop lotion which stops bacteria getting into wounds – Madlen Davies – Daily Mail

There’s Nothing Green About Jill Stein’s Vaccine Stance – Emily Willingham – Forbes

Your soap and toothpaste could be messing with your microbiome – Alison Moodie – The Guardian

Anthrax sickens 13 in western Siberia, and a thawed-out reindeer corpse may be to blame – Ben Guarino – Washington Post

Bik’s not-microbiology Picks

Khloe Kardashian’s Vagina Oil Is a Bad Idea. Koko is telling her young female followers to moisturize their ‘vaginal lining’ with Vitamin E. Definitely do not do this– Samantha Allen – The Daily Beast

The Physicians Committee Releases Seven Dietary Guidelines for a Healthy Microbiota
The Key to Optimal Gut Health? Eat 50 to 55 Grams of Daily Fiber – PCRM