Category Archives: Animal microbiome

September 13, 2016

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Infant gut microbiome and allergy risk, gut microbiome in mice and susceptibility to Plasmodium, microbiome of a stranded striped dolphin, cadavers in Canada, rRNA operon copy numbers.

Events

(repeat posting) 4th Microbiome R&D Business collaboration Forum & Probiotics Congress, October 3-4, 2016, La Jolla,San Diego, USA. Use discount code: ALLONG for a special rate of $399.

Pregnancy and birth

Neonatal gut microbiota associates with childhood multisensitized atopy and T cell differentiation – Kei E Fujimura – Nature Medicine

Press: Infant gut microbiome appears to shape allergy risk by altering immune responses – EurekAlert
Newborn gut microbiome predicts later allergy and asthma, study finds. Microbial byproducts link particular early-life gut microbes to immune dysfunction – Science Daily
Clues in microbiome of infants point to future allergies and asthma – Yvette Brazier – Medical News Today
Neonatal Gut Bacteria Might Promote Asthma. Byproducts of gut microbes in some 1-month–old babies trigger inflammation that is linked to later asthma development, researchers find. – Anna Azvolinsky – The Scientist

Human urinary tract microbiome

Urinary microbiome of kidney transplant patients reveals dysbiosis with potential for antibiotic resistance – Asha Rani – Translational Research

Human gut microbiome

Gut bacterial microbiota in psoriasis: A case control study – Doaa Masallat – African Journal of Microbiology Research

Review: Cognitive Function and the Microbiome – M.G. Gareau – International Review of Neurobiology

Review: Advances in Gut Microbiome Research and Relevance to Pediatric Diseases – Lindsey Albenberg – The Journal of Pediatrics

Animal experiments

Monitoring perinatal gut microbiota in mouse models by mass spectrometry approaches: parental genetic background and breastfeeding effects – Stefano Levi Mortera – Frontiers in Microbiology

Functional characteristics of the gut microbiome in C57BL/6 mice differentially susceptible to Plasmodium yoelii – Joshua M. Stough – Frontiers in Microbiology

Modulation of the bifidobacterial communities of the dog microbiota by zeolite – Alberto Sabbioni – Frontiers in Microbiology

Animal microbiome

The microbiome of a striped dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba) stranded in Portugal – Filipa Godoy-Vitorino – Research in Microbiology

Book Chapter: Microbial Interactions on Coral Surfaces and Within the Coral Holobiont – Max Teplitski – The Cnidaria, Past, Present and Future

Book Chapter: Association of Coral-Microbes, and the Ecological Roles of Microbial Symbionts in Corals – Wei Sun – The Cnidaria, Past, Present and Future

Human Lice in Paleoentomology and Paleomicrobiology – Rezak Drali – ASM Microbiology Spectrum

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Resource partitioning between bacteria, fungi and protists in the detritusphere of an agricultural soil – Susanne Kramer – Frontiers in Microbiology

Composition and activity of soil microbial communities in different types of temperate forests – Marcin Chodak – Biology and Fertility of Soils

The effect of the Falcon 460 EC fungicide on soil microbial communities, enzyme activities and plant growth – Małgorzata Baćmaga – Ecotoxicology

Review: Plant microbe interactions in post genomic era: perspectives and applications – Jahangir Imam – Frontiers in Microbiology

Water microbiome

Quantification of viral and prokaryotic production rates in benthic ecosystems: a methods comparison – Eugenio Rastelli – Frontiers in Microbiology

Microbiome of death

Cadavers in Canada: Book Chapter: Changes in Soil Microbial Activity Following Cadaver Decomposition During Spring and Summer Months in Southern Ontario – Heloise A. Breton – Soil in Criminal and Environmental Forensics

Wastewater and pollution microbiology

Poster: MiDAS: A curated database for the microorganisms of activated sludge and anaerobic digesters – Simon Jon McIlroy – Water Engineering and Biofilm IWA Specialist Conference, 2016

Probiotics

Layer-by-Layer Encapsulation of Probiotics for Delivery to the Microbiome – Aaron C. Anselmo – Advanced Materials

Food microbiology

Book: Functional Nucleic Acids Detection in Food Safety: Theories and Applications – Wentao Xu – Springer

Microbial ecology

Aligning the Measurement of Microbial Diversity with Macroecological Theory – James C. Stegen – Frontiers in Microbiology

Editorial: Insights into microbe-microbe interactions in human microbial ecosystems: strategies to be competitive – Nuria Salazar – Frontiers in Microbiology

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

Exploiting rRNA operon copy number to investigate bacterial reproductive strategies – Benjamin R.K. Roller – Nature Microbiology

Diversity in a Polymicrobial Community Revealed by Analysis of Viromes, Endolysins and CRISPR Spacers – Michelle Davison – PLOS ONE

SnpFilt: A pipeline for reference-free assembly-based identification of SNPs in bacterial genomes – Carmen H.S. Chan – Computational Biology and Chemistry

Review: Advances in biodiversity: metagenomics and the unveiling of biological dark matter – Robert J. Robbins – Standards in Genomic Sciences

Microbes in the news

What we have in common with corals and their unexplored microbial world – Alejandra Hernandez – The Conversation

September 12, 2016

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Individual response of gut microbiota to diet (in mice), appendicitis, adaptive evolution of goose with its microbiome, fungi in rubber plantations.

Events

Storify of days 1-2 of the 6th ASM Beneficial Microbes Meeting, Sept 9-12, Seattle, WA.

Pregnancy and birth

Urinary Microbiota Associated with Preterm Birth: Results from the Conditions Affecting Neurocognitive Development and Learning in Early Childhood (CANDLE) Study – Nicholas J. Ollberding – PLOS ONE

Review: The role of the bacterial microbiota on reproductive and pregnancy health – Deborah B. Nelson – Anaerobe

Human skin microbiome

Skin microbiome prior to development of atopic dermatitis: early colonization with commensal staphylococci at 2 months is associated with a lower risk of atopic dermatitis at 1 year – Elizabeth A. Kennedy – Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology

Human respiratory microbiome (and Methods)

Note that 2 different amplification strategies were performed, so IMHO this is more reflection of primer differences than sequencing differences: Different next generation sequencing platforms produce different microbial profiles and diversity in cystic fibrosis sputum – Andrea Hahn – Journal of Microbiological Methods

Human gut microbiome

Evaluation of the microbiome in children’s appendicitis – Martin Salö – International Journal of Colorectal Disease

Review: Food: a new form of personalised (gut microbiome) medicine for chronic diseases? – Tess Pallister – Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine

Review: Linking the Microbiota, Chronic Disease, and the Immune System – Timothy W. Hand – Trends in Endocrinology & Metabolism

Animal and bioreactor experiments

From the Sonnenburg lab @Stanford: Individualized Responses of Gut Microbiota to Dietary Intervention Modeled in Humanized Mice – Samuel A. Smits – mSystems

An In Vitro Approach to Study Effects of Prebiotics and Probiotics on the Faecal Microbiota and Selected Immune Parameters Relevant to the Elderly – Yue Liu – PLOS ONE

Animal microbiome

Genome and metagenome analyses reveal adaptive evolution of the host and interaction with the gut microbiota in the goose – Guangliang Gao – Scientific Reports

Hold off on the orange oil: Characterization of Antibacterial Activities of Eastern Subterranean Termite, Reticulitermes flavipes, against Human Pathogens – Yuan Zeng – PLOS ONE

Use of MALDI-TOF MS and culturomics to identify mosquitoes and their midgut microbiota – Fatalmoudou Tandina – Parasites & Vectors

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Drought history affects grassland plant and microbial carbon turnover during and after a subsequent drought event – Lucia Fuchslueger – Journal of Ecology

Effect of organic matter enrichment on the fungal community in limestone cave sediments – ELS Marques – Genetics and Molecular Research

Contrasting elevational diversity patterns for soil bacteria between
two ecosystems divided by the treeline – Guixiang Li – Science China Life Sciences

Review: Diversity and ecology of soil fungal communities in rubber plantations – Jutamart Monkai – Fungal Biology Reviews

Illumina sequencing reveals a rhizosphere bacterial community associated with foxtail millet smut disease suppression – Yansha Han – Plant and Soil

Water and extremophile microbiome

Viruses-to-mobile genetic elements skew in the deep Atlantis II brine pool sediments – Mustafa Adel – Scientific Reports

Built environment microbiome

Review: The Microbiome of the Built Environment and Human Behavior: Implications for Emotional Health and Well-Being in Postmodern Western Societies – C.E. Stamper – International Review of Neurobiology

Microbes in the news

The Bacteria on Your Skin Are Safer Than These Two Chemicals the FDA Just Banned From Your Soap – Jill Richardson – Truth Digg

DNA in London Grave May Help Solve Mysteries of the Great Plague – Roff Smith – National Geographic

Bik’s Non-Microbiology Picks

This paper was discussed on Twitter this weekend because of a conflict of interest of one of the authors (Deepak Chopra) and the design and interpretation of the study:

Identification of Altered Metabolomic Profiles Following a Panchakarma-based Ayurvedic Intervention in Healthy Subjects: The Self-Directed Biological Transformation Initiative (SBTI) – Christine Tara Peterson – Scientific Reports

September 9, 2016

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Microbiome and tuberculosis, mangoes, lessons from amphibians, and the microbiome of buildings.

Human gut microbiome

Oral, frozen fecal microbiota transplant (FMT) capsules for recurrent Clostridium difficile infection – Ilan Youngster – BMC Medicine

Review: Microbiome Changes during Tuberculosis and Antituberculous Therapy – Bo-Young Hong – Clinical Microbiology Reviews

No consensus on how the microbiome affects tuberculosis, review finds – Science Daily

Animal models

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Mango, “hedgehog” style – Wikipedia

Mango Supplementation Modulates Gut Microbial Dysbiosis and Short-Chain Fatty Acid Production Independent of Body Weight Reduction in C57BL/6 Mice Fed a High-Fat Diet – Babajide Ojo – Journal of Nutrition

Mango and the Microbiota: New Research Reveals Potential Role of this Superfruit in Maintaining Gut Health – National Mango Board – PR Newswire

Antibiotics Suppress Activation of Intestinal Mucosal Mast Cells and Reduce Dietary Lipid Absorption in Sprague-Dawley Rats – Hirokazu Sato – Gastroenterology

Press (with ugly title): The influence of fat when gut bacteria is reduced by antibioticsm – Science Daily

Animal microbiome

Harnessing the Microbiome to Prevent Fungal Infections: Lessons from Amphibians – Jenifer B. Walke – PLOS Pathogens

Built environment microbiome

Ten questions concerning the microbiomes of buildings – Rachel I. Adams – Building and Environment

The hot new 10 questions concerning the microbiomes of buildings will surprise you – Jonathan Eisen – MicroBEnet

Microbes in the news

“I’ll never let go, Jack I promise”
Titanic expected to disappear by 2030 thanks to hungry bacteria – Matthew Humphries – Geek.com
Video: Will Bacteria Completely Destroy The Titanic’s Remains? – MSN Video

Scientists find deadly scrub typhus bacteria in South America – Reuters

Mount Sinai Beth Israel Says Legionella Bacteria Found in Several Areas of Hospital – NY1.com

Mood, mind and memory: can gut bacteria meddle with the brain? – Dyani Lewis – Cosmos Magazine
Bugs as drugs – medicine’s next frontier – Dyani Lewis – Cosmos Magazine

Driving Microbiome Science: PKU and Probiotics – Raredr

Experts urge a defensive stance in efforts against antimicrobial resistance – EurekAlert

Microbes and money

Microban Opens Microbiology Testing Services to Non-Partners – Genevieve Scarano – Sourcing Journal

Science, publishing, and career

Your toughest experiment: taking the lead in the lab. Eight scientists share the secrets of being a successful PI – Times Higher Education

September 7, 2016

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Events

International Human Microbiome Consortium, November 9-11, 2016, Houston Texas.

Human gut microbiome

Review: The Role of the Microbiota in Shaping Infectious Immunity – Timothy W. Hand – Trends in Immunology

Animal microbiome

Effects of host genetics and environment on egg-associated microbiotas in brown trout (Salmo trutta) – Laetitia G. E. Wilkins – Molecular Ecology

Food microbiology

Multiplex 16S rRNA-derived geno-biochip for detection of 16 bacterial pathogens from contaminated foods – Hwa Hui Shin – Biotechnology Journal

More microbiology

Acute induction of anomalous and amyloidogenic blood clotting by molecular amplification of highly substoichiometric levels of bacterial lipopolysaccharide – Etheresia Pretorius – Journal of the Royal Society Interface

Extrapolated interpretation? Bacteria lurking in blood could be culprit in countless diseases – Debora MacKenzie – New Scientist

Microbes in the news

FDA Bans Antiseptics: One Small Step for Bacteria and Humankind – Anne Estes – Mostly Microbes

How bad for you is a boring diet? – Tim Spector – BBC

Flowers critical link to bacteria transmission in wild bees – Science Daily

Doughnut in a cage holds the key to bacteria’s survival – Science Daily

Fungi contribute to delayed healing of chronic wounds – EurekAlert

Microbe tenants help – and hinder – your immune system – Dyani Lewis – Cosmos Magazine

Microbes and money

Monsanto Collaborates with Second Genome to Use Microbiome Technology Platform to Accelerate Protein Discovery – Business Wire

BioMed X Announces the Start of New Research Team on Oral Biofilm Disruption through Continued Collaboration with Johnson & Johnson Innovation – PharmaVoice

BioMed X to collaborate with Johnson & Johnson on oral biofilm research – Drug Target Review

Science, publishing, and career

Why women leave academia and why universities should be worried – Curt Rice – The Guardian

 

 

September 6, 2016

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Tongue diagnostics and bacterial communities, microbiome and ALS, flowers and bees sharing microbes, and CRISPR assembly.

Events

4th World Congress on Targeting Microbiota is organized at Institut Pasteur, Paris, France – October 17-19, 2016

How the Indoor Microbiome Influence Health, with Jack A. Gilbert – October 27, 2016 at British International School of Chicago – Lincoln Park in Chicago

Human oral microbiome

Bacillus as a potential diagnostic marker for yellow tongue coating – Juan Ye – Scientific Reports

Human skin microbiome

Redefining the Chronic-Wound Microbiome: Fungal Communities Are Prevalent, Dynamic, and Associated with Delayed Healing – Lindsay Kalan – mBio

Human respiratory tract microbiome

Review: Development of the respiratory tract microbiota in cystic fibrosis – Emma M. de Koff – Current Opinion in Pulmonary Medicine

Human urinary tract microbiome

Commentary: “Urinary tract infection” and the microbiome – Thomas E. Finucane – The American Journal of Medicine

Human gut microbiome

Pitfalls in Inferring Human Microbial Dynamics from Temporal Metagenomics Data – Hong-Tai Cao – bioRxiv

Evaluation of the microbial diversity in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis using high-throughput sequencing – Xin Fang – Frontiers in Microbiology

Review: Beyond 16S rRNA community profiling: intra-species diversity in the gut microbiota – Kirsten M. Ellegaard – Frontiers in Microbiology

Review: Epigenetic mechanisms in microbial members of the human microbiota: current knowledge and perspectives – Natacha Cureau – Future Medicine

Microbiology and immunology

Perspective: Autoimmunity and the microbiome: T-cell receptor mimicry of “self” and microbial antigens mediates self tolerance in holobionts – Robert Root-Bernstein – BioEssays

Animal models of microbiome research

Ketogenic diet modifies the gut microbiota in a murine model of autism spectrum disorder – Christopher Newell – Molecular Autism

Animal microbiome

Disentangling a holobiont – recent advances and perspectives in Nasonia wasps – Jessica Dittmer – Frontiers in Microbiology

Review: The terrestrial isopod microbiome: An all-in-one toolbox for animal-microbe interactions of ecological relevance – Didier Bouchon – Frontiers in Microbiology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Microbial communities in passive remediation systems at three abandoned coal mine sites in the United Kingdom – Carmen Falagán – Proceedings IMWA 2016, Freiberg

Primary Succession of Nitrogen Cycling Microbial Communities Along the Deglaciated Forelands of Tianshan Mountain, China – Jun Zeng – Frontiers in Microbiology

Flowers and Wild Megachilid Bees Share Microbes – Quinn S. McFrederick – Microbial Ecology

Triclosan Resistome from Metagenome Reveals Diverse Enoyl Acyl Carrier Protein Reductases and Selective Enrichment of Triclosan Resistance Genes – Raees Khan – Scientific Reports

Water and extremophile microbiome

Oligotrophic Lagoons of the South Pacific Ocean Are Home to a Surprising Number of Novel Eukaryotic Microorganisms – Eunsoo Kim – Environmental Microbiology

Upstream freshwater and terrestrial sources are differentially reflected in the bacterial community structure along a small Arctic river and its estuary – Aviaja L. Hauptmann – Frontiers in Microbiology

Built environment microbiology

Review: Emerging Investigators Series: Sewer surveillance for monitoring antibiotic use and prevalence of antibiotic resistance: urban sewer epidemiology – Nicole Fahrenfeld – Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology

Food microbiology

High-throughput identification of the microbial biodiversity of cocoa bean fermentation by MALDI-TOF MS – S. Miescher Schwenninger – Letters in Applied Microbiology

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

Assemble CRISPRs from metagenomic sequencing data – Jikai Lei – Bioinformatics

Contig annotation tool CAT robustly classifies assembled metagenomic contigs and long sequences – Diego D. Cambuy – bioRxiv

Techniques

High throughput sequencing of multiple amplicons for barcoding and integrative taxonomy – Perrine Cruaud – bioRxiv

Microbes in the news

Podcast (12 min) with Stephen Pointing: Protecting the Earth’s Microbiome – Jesse Mulligan – Radio NZ

Biochemists’ discovery could lead to vaccine against ‘flesh-eating’ bacteria – Science Daily

Enzyme from oral bacteria could be potential therapy for celiac disease – News Medical

Bik’s Non-Microbiology Picks

Bizarre ant colony discovered in an abandoned Polish nuclear weapons bunker – Annalee Newitz – ArsTechnica

September 3, 2016

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The gut microbiome of the American cockroach is as resilient as its host, two papers on polar microbes and climate changes, two JAMA papers about transcription-based tests to distinguish viral from bacterial infections in children, and sampling Jeremy Bentham’s preserved body.

Events

7th edition of the International Course in Microbial Ecology – Publishing Dos and Don’ts for Microbial Ecologists – October 2016, Catania, Italy

Human vaginal microbiome

Alterations of the vaginal microbiota in the third trimester of pregnancy and pPROM –
C. Genovese – Eur Rev Med Pharmacol Sci

Human gut microbiome

Review: The gut microbiota: A treasure for human health – Daotong Li – Biotechnology Advances

Editorial: The Human Gutome: Journey of Microbes and Health – Dimiter Dimitrov – Frontiers in Genetics

Animal microbiome

The core gut microbiome of the American cockroach, Periplaneta americana, is stable and resilient to dietary shifts – Kara A. Tinker – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Microbiome changes through ontogeny of a tick pathogen vector – Christine P. Zolnik – Molecular Ecology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Long-lasting effects of land use history on soil fungal communities in second-growth tropical rain forests – Benedicte Bachelot – Ecological applications

Solanum lycopersicum (tomato) hosts robust phyllosphere and rhizosphere bacterial communities when grown in soil amended with various organic and synthetic fertilizers – Sarah M. Allarda – Science of the Total Environment

Microbially Mediated Plant Salt Tolerance and Microbiome-based Solutions for Saline Agriculture – Yuan Qin – Biotechnology Advances

Extremophile microbiome

Polar Marine Microorganisms and Climate Change – C. Verde – Advances in Microbial Physiology

Antarctic microbial communities are functionally redundant, adapted and resistant to short term temperature perturbations – S.Z. de Scally – Soil Biology and Biochemistry

Metabolomics and other techniques

The future of NMR-based metabolomics – John L Markley – Current Opinion in Biotechnology

Microfluidics in microbiology: putting a magnifying glass on microbes – Sanya Siddiqui – Integrative Biology

Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time-of-Flight Mass-Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) Based Microbial Identifications: Challenges and Scopes for Microbial Ecologists– Praveen Rahi – Frontiers in Microbiology

More microbiology

Diagnostic Test Accuracy of a 2-Transcript Host RNA Signature for Discriminating Bacterial vs Viral Infection in Febrile Children – Jethro A. Herberg – JAMA

Association of RNA Biosignatures With Bacterial Infections in Febrile Infants Aged 60 Days or Younger – Prashant Mahajan – JAMA

Microbes in the news

The Good Gut: Discussing the stomach’s world of disease-fighting microbes – Paul Costello – Stanford Medicine

San Francisco has a crazy plan to fight pee stink with bacteria-eating enzymes – Urine trouble – Rachel Becker – The Verge

MSU researchers noted for approach to studying bacteria and viruses that live in human gut – Evelyn Boswell – MSU News Service

Yum! Digesting ASM resources for food microbiology – Julie Wolf – American Society for Microbiology

Have you ever wondered what sorts of bacteria and fungi are lurking on Jeremy Bentham? Dr Adam Roberts, thanks to UCL Collections, visited Jeremy Bentham to see if he could find any interesting bacteria. – University College of London

I Contain Multitudes by Ed Yong review – we are possessed by bacteria – Tim Radford – The Guardian

Gaming for Gut Research – American Gut researchers developed Colony B, an app that is both a fun game and a way “citizen scientists” can contribute to microbiome data analysis – UC San Diego Health Sciences News

 

August 31, 2016

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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 30, 2016

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Red-shanked douc, Wikipedia

The human gut phageome, monkey microbiome humanizes in captivity, and a Yersinia genome from the 6th century (OK, that’s not microbiome, but just cool).

Human gut microbiome

Healthy human gut phageome – Pilar Manrique – PNAS

Press: Your Gut’s Gone Viral, And That Might Be Good For Your Health – Michaeleen Doucleff – NPR

Animal experiments

Standardizing Mouse Models to Account for Host–Microbial Interactions – Maria-Luisa Alegre – American Journal of Transplantation

Note: no mention of blanks/extraction controls: Consumption of a high-fat diet alters the seminal fluid and gut microbiomes in male mice – Angela B. Javurek – Reproduction , Fertility and Development

Animal microbiome

Captivity humanizes the primate microbiome – Jonathan B. Clayton – PNAS

Press (also see yesterday’s post): Gut biome of monkeys found to change when they are kept in captivity – Bob Yirka – Phys.org
Monkeys in zoos have human gut bacteria – Science Daily

Water microbiome

Coastal connectivity and spatial subsidy from a microbial perspective – Christin Säwström – Ecology and Evolution

Taxonomic profiling of bacterial community structure from coastal sediment of Alang–Sosiya shipbreaking yard near Bhavnagar, India – Vilas Patel – Marine Pollution Bulletin

Proteobacteria become predominant during regrowth after water disinfection – Cristina Becerra-Castro – Science of the Total Environment

Microbial Ecology

Understanding How Microbiomes Influence the Systems they Inhabit: Insight from Ecosystem Ecology – Ed Hall – bioRxiv

More microbes

A high-coverage Yersinia pestis Genome from a 6th-century Justinianic Plague Victim – Michal Feldman – Molecular Biology and Evolution

Press: World’s 1st Plague Pandemic Bacteria Gets New Genetic Analysis – Greg Uyeno – Live Science
Why scientists reconstructed an ancient plague – Nikki Ferlaino – KFOR
Reconstructing the sixth century plague from a victim – Phys.org
The Same Microbe That Led to Black Death Also Caused a Huge Plague Centuries Before – Jennifer Ouellette – Gizmodo
Medieval victim reveals secrets of the Plague of Justinian – Gretchen Vogel – Science

Microbes in the news

Hand dryers spread bacteria, affect health on campus – Shane Olney – The Volante

Science, publishing, and career

A Framework for Improving the Quality of Research in the Biological Sciences – Arturo Casadevall – mBio

Bik’s Non-Microbiology Picks

Dental calculus reveals Mesolithic foragers in the Balkans consumed domesticated plant foods – Emanuela Cristiani – PNAS

Surprisingly Little Evidence for the Accepted Wisdom About Teeth – Aaron E. Carroll – New York Times

August 29b, 2016

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Male grey cockatiel, Wikipedia

Factors that shape early life microbiome, pet birds, robust ambient temperature storage of stool samples, antibacterial activity of wasabi.

Pregnancy and birth

Joint effects of pregnancy, sociocultural, and environmental factors on early life gut microbiome structure and diversity – Albert M. Levin – Scientific Reports

Human gut microbiome

Theoretical Review: The shift work and health research agenda: Considering changes in gut microbiota as a pathway linking shift work, sleep loss and circadian misalignment, and metabolic disease – Amy C. Reynolds – Sleep Medicine Reviews

Review: Mechanisms of inflammation-driven bacterial dysbiosis in the gut – M Y Zeng – Mucosal Immunology

Animal experiments

Review: Experimental Models to Study the Role of Microbes in Host-Parasite Interactions – Megan A. Hahn – Frontiers in Microbiology

Animal microbiome

Comprehensive Molecular Characterization of Bacterial Communities in Feces of Pet Birds Using 16S Marker Sequencing – Jose F. Garcia-Mazcorro – Microbial Ecology

Effects of environment, dietary regime and ageing on the dengue vector microbiota: evidence of a core microbiota throughout Aedes aegypti lifespan – Mariana Rocha David – Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz

Plants, roots, and soil microbiome

Visual Comparative Omics of Fungi for Plant Biomass Deconstruction – Shingo Miyauchi – Frontiers in Microbiology

Bacterial Abilities and Adaptation Toward the Rhizosphere Colonization – Lucas D. Lopes – Frontiers in Microbiology

Review: Advances in research on Epichloë endophytes in Chinese native grasses – Hui Song – Frontiers in Microbiology

Water microbiome

Phytoplankton-associated bacterial community composition and succession during toxic diatom bloom and non-bloom events – Marilou P. Sison-Mangus – Frontiers in Microbiology

Distinct distribution patterns of prokaryotes between sediment and water in the Yellow River estuary – Guangshan Wei – Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

Waste and pollution microbiome

Evaluating robustness of a diesel-degrading bacterial consortium isolated from contaminated soil – Mateusz Sydow – New Biotechnology

Metagenomic analysis of an ecological wastewater treatment plant’s microbial communities and their potential to metabolize pharmaceuticals – Ian N. Balcom – F1000 Research Preprint

Food microbiology

Review: Navigating Microbiological Food Safety in the Era of Whole-Genome Sequencing – J. Ronholm – Clinical Microbiology Reviews

Techniques

A robust ambient temperature collection and stabilization strategy: Enabling worldwide functional studies of the human microbiome – Ericka L. Anderson – Scientific Reports

Press: DNA Genotek’s OMNIgene®Ÿ GUT Kit is Proposed as Standardized Test for Worldwide Studies of the Human Microbiome – Globe NewsWire

More microbiology

Antibacterial activities of wasabi against Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Staphylococcus aureus – Zhongjing Lu – Frontiers in Microbiology

Resource Availability Modulates the Cooperative and Competitive Nature of a Microbial Cross-Feeding Mutualism – Tim A. Hoek – PLOS Biology

Microbes in the news

The women who discovered India’s first HIV cases – Geeta Pandey – BBC News

Captivity Makes Monkey Microbiomes More Human-Like – Ed Yong – The Atlantic

Interview with author of The Germ Files – Jason Tetro – Ben Libberton – Nature Microbiology Community

UGent researchers create bacteria that turns organic waste into plastic – Toon Lambrechts – Flanders Today

First DNA Sequencing in Space a Game Changer – NASA

UCSD alumna first to sequence DNA in space – Gary Robbins – San Diego Union Tribune

 

August 29, 2016

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Breast milk protects against GBS colonization, niche segregation in the gut, drug detection and effects in streams, reconstruction of metabolic networks.

Pregnancy and birth

Role of human milk oligosaccharides in Group B Streptococcus colonisation – Nicholas J Andreas – Clinical & Translational Immunology

Press: Breast Milk Sugar May Protect Newborns Against Deadly Bacterial Infection – Dianne Depra – Tech Times

Human skin microbiome

News and Views: Microbiome: Ecology of eczema – Ian D. Odell – Nature Microbiology

Human respiratory microbiome

Changes in the prevalence and biofilm formation of Haemophilus influenzae and Haemophilus parainfluenzae from the respiratory microbiota of patients with sarcoidosis – Urszula Kosikowska – BMC Infectious Diseases

Human vaginal microbiome

The cervico-vaginal microbiota in women notified for Chlamydia trachomatis infection: A case-control study at the STI outpatient clinic in Amsterdam, the Netherlands – C van der Veer – Clinical Infectious Diseases

Human gut microbiome

Transcriptional interactions suggest niche segregation among microorganisms in the human gut – Damian Rafal Plichta – Nature Microbiology

Review: Alzheimer’s disease and gut microbiota – Xu Hu – Science China Life Sciences

Review: In Sickness and in Health: The Relationships Between Bacteria and Bile in the Human Gut – A.J. Hay – Advances in Applied Microbiology

Animal experiments

Enterococcus faecalis readily colonizes the entire gastrointestinal tract and forms biofilms in a germ-free mouse model – Aaron M.T. Barnes – Virulence

Animal microbiome

Distinct Bacterial Microbiomes in Sexual and Asexual Potamopyrgus antipodarum, a New Zealand Freshwater Snail – Cristina Takacs-Vesbach – PLOS ONE

Water and extremophile microbiome

Occurrence and Potential Biological Effects of Amphetamine on Stream Communities – Sylvia S. Lee – Environmental Science & Technology

Press: Ecological consequences of amphetamine pollution in urban streams – Cary Institute
Your drain on drugs: Amphetamines seep into Baltimore’s streams – Jen Christensen – CNN
Comment from PubMed Commons by Daniel Himmelstein 

Diversity of culturable bacteria recovered from Pico Bolívar’s glacial and subglacial environments, at 4950 m, in Venezuelan tropical Andes – Johnma Rondón – Canadian Journal of Microbiology

Metabolomics

Efficient Reconstruction of Predictive Consensus Metabolic Network Models – Ruben G. A. van Heck – PLOS Computational Biology

Bioinformatics and Metagenomics

Review: Toward Accurate and Quantitative Comparative Metagenomics – Stephen Nayfach – Cell

Techniques

Thousands of primer-free, high-quality, full-length SSU rRNA sequences from all domains of life – Soeren M Karst – bioRxiv

A method for assessing efficiency of bacterial cell disruption and DNA release – Olle M. de Bruin – BMC Microbiology

Microbes in the news

Findings from the American Physiological Society’s Inflammation, Immunity and Cardiovascular Disease conference: Targeting gut bacteria to reduce weight gain – Science Daily

Microbes at work in your Kimchi – Jennifer – The Microbial Menagerie

Artist’s 46-year-old loo paper to be studied: Billy Apple’s decades-old lavatory paper is now part of a scientific study at Auckland University – Jamie Morton – NZ Herald

BacteriaHysteria: The ultimate embodiment of modern day germophobia: Squix – Jonathan Eisen – MicroBEnet

Science misconduct

Leading scientist suspended amid misconduct claims: Robert Ryan, award-winning Scottish microbiologist now under investigation – Victoria Weldon – Herald Scotland