Category Archives: Archaea

April 2, 2016

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Yes, it is technically already April 3, but I only got to do the daily roundup late tonight, so I did not quite get it done in time. C-section and weight influence on infant colonization, dachshunds, crops selecting fungi, post-mortem microbial transmigration

Pregnancy and birth

Birth mode-dependent association between pre-pregnancy maternal weight status and the neonatal intestinal microbiome – Noel T. Mueller – Scientific Reports

Study provides evidence that “vaginal seeding” of infants born by caesarean partially restores microbiota – Amali Lokugamage – BMJ

Relationship between milk microbiota, bacterial load, macronutrients and human cells during lactation – Alba Boix-Amoros – Frontiers in Microbiology

Mode of Delivery Determines Neonatal Pharyngeal Bacterial Composition and Early Intestinal Colonization – David E. Brumbaugh – Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology & Nutrition

Effect of Formula Containing Lactobacillus Reuteri DSM 17938 on Fecal Microbiota of Infants Born by Cesarean-Section – Rodenas, Clara L. Garcia – Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology & Nutrition

Human oral microbiome

Mucosal and salivary microbiota associated with recurrent aphthous stomatitis – Yun-ji Kim- BMC Microbiology

Assessment of oral malodor and tonsillar microbiota after gargling with benzethonium chloride – Yuki Iwamura – Journal of Oral Science

Potential screening and early diagnosis method for cancer: Tongue diagnosis – Shuwen Han – International Journal of Oncology

In vitro: A dual-species microbial model for studying the dynamics between oral streptococci and periodontal pathogens during biofilm development on titanium surfaces by flow cytometry – Anita Manti – Research in Microbiology

Human gut microbiome

Changes in fecal microbiota and metabolomics in a child with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) responding to two treatment periods with exclusive enteral nutrition (EEN) – Lillemor Berntson – Clinical Rheumatology

Renal Failure due to Excessive Intake of Almonds in the Absence of Oxalobacter formigenes – Yngvar Lunde Haaskjold – The American Journal of Medicine

Reanalysis of published data, no apparent new findings: Host genetics is associated with the gut microbial community membership rather than the structure – Peihua Zhao – Molecular BioSystems

Review: Modulatory Effects of Gut Microbiota on the Central Nervous System: How Gut Could Play a Role in Neuropsychiatric Health and Diseases – Shadi S Yarandi – Journal of Neurogastroenterology and Motility

Commentary: Can microbiota research change our understanding of neurodegenerative diseases? – Filip Scheperjans – Neurodegenerative Disease Management

Review: Microbes and the mind: emerging hallmarks of the gut microbiota–brain axis
– Kylynda C. Bauer – Cellular Microbiology

Animal models

Distinctly altered gut microbiota in the progression of liver disease – Guoxiang Xie – Oncotarget

Wolbachia confers sex-specific resistance and tolerance to enteric but not systemic bacterial infection in Drosophila – Radhakrishnan B Vasanthakrishnan – BioRxiv

Gut Microbiota and a Selectively Bred Taste Phenotype: A Novel Model of Microbiome-Behavior Relationships – Lyte, Mark – Psychosomatic Medicine

Periodontal dysbiosis linked to periodontitis is associated with cardio-metabolic adaptation to high-fat diet in mice – Maxime Branchereau – American Journal of Physiology Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology

Protocol: The Gut Microbiome in the NOD Mouse – Jian Peng – Part of the series Methods in Molecular Biology

Animal microbiome

Fecal dysbiosis in miniature dachshunds with inflammatory colorectal polyps – Hirotaka Igarashi – Research in Veterinary Science

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Differential response of ammonia-oxidizing archaea and bacteria to the wetting of salty arid soil – Yonatan Sher – Journal of Basic Microbiology

Selection of fungi by candidate cover crops – Maria-Soledad Benitez – Applied Soil Ecology

Unravelling Linkages between Plant Community Composition and the Pathogen-Suppressive Potential of Soils – Ellen Latz – Scientific Reports

Water and extremophile microbiome

Characterization of the prokaryotic diversity through a stratigraphic permafrost core profile from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau – Weigang Hu – Extremophiles

Seasonal and Spatial Changes of Planktonic Bacterial Communities Inhabiting the Natural Thermal Lake Hévíz, Hungary – Gergely Krett – Acta Microbiologica et Immunologica Hungarica

Microbiome of Death

Fluorescently labeled bacteria provide insight on post-mortem microbial transmigration –
Z.M. Burcham – Forensic Science International

Food microbiology

Review: Hygienic characteristics and microbiological hazard identification in horse and donkey raw milk – Giampaolo Colavita – Veterinaria Italiana

Waste and pollution microbiology

Microbial communities in riparian soils of a settling pond for mine drainage treatment – Miaochun Fan – Water Research

Metagenomic analysis shows diverse, distinct bacterial communities in biofilters among different marine recirculating aquaculture systems – Zhitao Huang – Aquaculture International

More microbiology

Evaluation of genetic diversity among strains of the human gut commensal Bifidobacterium adolescentis – Sabrina Duranti – Scientific Reports

Metagenomics and bioinformatics

Not sure if this is a good approach; ignores variation between individual human microbiome strains: Reconstruction of bacterial and viral genomes from multiple metagenomes – Vineet K. Sharma – Frontiers in Microbiology

Metabolomics

Harnessing the power of microbial metabolism – Eduardo Santero – Current Opinion in Microbiology

Microbiology and art

BioArt: Joana Ricou shows the Beautiful Similarities of the Microbiome – Labiotech

Rap song: CosmosID Metagenomics: Exploring the Universe of Microbes – CosmosID – YouTube

Microbes in the news

Mythbusters: Human Microbiota – Caroline Ayinon – Yale Scientific

Introducing the “HomeGenome”. Not endorsing this. Exploring the Microcosm Within. Adventures and insights from the microbiome – Conan Milner – Epoch Times

April Fool’s Day microbiome jokes

Thanks to Microbiome Boost, Donuts May Be Beneficial: when paired with P. tursiops – Tim De Chant – PBS

A microbiology of the built environment April Fools’ joke – Jonathan Eisen – MicroBEnet

And of course my own selection: Human-derived microbial strains used for food and beverage production – Elisabeth Bik – Microbiome Digest

Science, publishing, and career

‘Lab Girl’ Is a Fierce, Uplifting, Must-Read Memoir – Hope Jahren is an acute observer, prickly, and funny as hell. – Elizabeth Royte – Elle

March 24, 2016

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Two papers on antibiotics in early childhood and obesity, diabetic foot ulcers, vertebrate animal microbiomes, cattle hides, kimchi, human archaeological remains, and high inter-center variability in microbiome results.

General microbiome

Review: Stress as a Normal Cue in the Symbiotic Environment – Julia A. Schwartzman – Trends in Microbiology

Pregnancy and birth

Administration of Antibiotics to Children Before Age 2 Years Increases Risk for Childhood Obesity – Frank I. Scott – Gastroenterology

Antibiotic Exposure During the First 6 Months of Life and Weight Gain During Childhood – Jeffrey S. Gerber – JAMA

Editorial: From Bottles to Diapers: How Manipulating and Exploring the Microbiome Is Defining Newborn Care – Jill L. Maron – Clinical Therapeutics

Research highlight: Gut microbiota dysbiosis precedes NEC – Hugh Thomas – Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology

Human skin microbiome

One step closer to understanding the role of bacteria in diabetic foot ulcers: characterising the microbiome of ulcers – Karen Smith – BMC Microbiology

Human gut microbiome

Colonic Mucosal Epigenome and Microbiome Development in Children and Adolescents – R. Alan Harris – Journal of Immunology Research

Defining the microbial transcriptional response to colitis through integrated host and microbiome profiling – Nicholas Edward Ilott – The ISME Journal

Targeting colorectal cancer-associated bacteria: a new area of research for personalized treatments – T. Faïs – Gut Microbes

Relative Abundance in Bacterial and Fungal Gut Microbes in Obese Children: A Case Control Study – Borgo Francesca – Childhood Obesity

Review: Can attention to the intestinal microbiota improve understanding and treatment of anorexia nervosa? – Jacquelyn Carr – Expert Review of Gastroenterology & Hepatology

Editorial: Fecal Microbiota Transplantation for Ulcerative Colitis: FoMenTing Change? – Flaviano S. Martins – Digestive Diseases and Sciences

Review: Does the Microbiome Cause B27-related Acute Anterior Uveitis? – James T. Rosenbaum – Ocular Immunology and Inflammation

Microbes in blood

The prognostic significance of bacterial DNA in patients with decompensated cirrhosis and suspected infection – Tony Bruns – Liver International

Animal models

The microbiota-derived metabolite indole decreases mucosal inflammation and injury in a murine model of NSAID enteropathy – Gut Microbes

TLR4-Dependent Secretion by Hepatic Stellate Cells of the Neutrophil-Chemoattractant CXCL1 Mediates Liver Response to Gut Microbiota – Amélie E. Bigorgne – PLOS ONE

Animal microbiome

Vertebrate bacterial gut diversity: size also matters – Jean-Jacques Godon – BMC Ecology

Larval growth rate is associated with the composition of the gut microbiota in the Glanville fritillary butterfly – L. Ruokolainen – Oecologia

Host origin and tissue-microhabitat shaping the microbiota of the terrestrial isopod Armadillidium vulgare – Jessica Dittmer – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Presence of pathogenic Escherichia coli is correlated with bacterial community diversity and composition on pre-harvest cattle hides – Jessica Chopyk – Microbiome

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

High Diversity Revealed in Leaf Associated Protists (Rhizaria: Cercozoa) of Brassicaceae – Sebastian Ploch – The Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology

Precipitation shapes communities of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in Tibetan alpine steppe – Jing Zhang – Scientific Reports

Spatial and seasonal influences on culturable endophytic mycobiota associated with different tissues of Eugenia jambolana Lam. and their antibacterial activity against MDR strains – Manila Yadav – BMC Microbiology

Response of enzyme activities and microbial communities to soil amendment with sugar alcohols – Huili Yu – Microbiology Open

Bioprospecting plant-associated microbiomes – Christina A. Müller – Journal of Biotechnology

Water and extremophile microbiome

Abundances, diversity and seasonality of (non-extremophilic) Archaea in Alpine freshwaters – Christoph Reitschuler – Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

Anthropogenic effects on bacterial diversity and function along a river-to-estuary gradient in Northwest Greece revealed by metagenomics – Alexandra Meziti – Environmental Microbiology

Heterotrophic Proteobacteria in the vicinity of diffuse hydrothermal venting – Dimitri Meier – Environmental Microbiology

Waste and pollution microbiology

Response and resilience of soil microbial communities inhabiting in edible oil stress/contamination from industrial estates – Vrutika Patel – BMC Microbiology

Built environment microbiology

Diversity of ribosomal 16S DNA- and RNA-based bacterial community in an office building drinking water system – Jenni Inkinen – Journal of Applied Microbiology

Forensic microbiology

Complications in the study of ancient tuberculosis: Presence of environmental bacteria in human archaeological remains – Romy Müller – Journal of Archaeological Science

Food microbiology

Lentibacillus kimchii sp. nov., an extremely halophilic bacterium isolated from kimchi, a Korean fermented vegetable – Young Joon Oh – Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

Computational modeling

Host Selection of Microbiota via Differential Adhesion – Kirstie McLoughlin – Cell Host & Microbe

Techniques

The real cost of sequencing: scaling computation to keep pace with data generation – Paul Muir – Genome Biology

Multicenter quality assessment of 16S ribosomal DNA-sequencing for microbiome analyses reveals high inter-center variability – Andreas Hiergeist –
International Journal of Medical Microbiology

Genotyping bacterial and fungal pathogens using sequence variation in the gene for the CCA-adding enzyme – Paul Franz – BMC Microbiology

Proteomics

Review: Tackling probiotic and gut microbiota functionality through proteomics – Lorena Ruiz – Journal of Proteomics

Microbes in the news

Can we model how viruses move between species? – Nancy Mendoza – Microbe Post

The Virus That Could Cure Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and More – Jon Palfreman – PBS

Report: Laminate wood flooring risk was underestimated by CDC – Jonathan Eisen – MicroBEnet

Microbiota profiles in patients with colorectal cancer differ from healthy individuals – Healio

Science, publishing and career

Set up a ‘self-retraction’ system for honest errors, says Daniele Fanelli – Nature

Incorporating Primary Scientific Literature in Middle and High School Education – Sarah C. Fankhauser – ASM Science

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February 16, 2016

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Today we’ll go to the extremes: Life in hydrogen sulfide rich environments, subsurface Archaea, subseafloor Fungi, and pit latrines.

Events

NIOO Summer course: identifying terrestrial and freshwater nematodes – June 13-24, Wageningen, The Netherlands

Human respiratory microbiome

Concealed Carry: Hidden Staphylococcus aureus Carriage: Overrated or Underappreciated? – Alex van Belkum – mBio

Human gut microbiome

Review: Imbalance of Gastrointestinal Microbiota in the Pathogenesis of Helicobacter pylori-Associated Diseases – Cong He – Helicobacter

Editorial: We are not alone: Understanding the Contributions of Intestinal Microbial Communities and the Congested Gut in Heart Failure – WH Wilson Tang – JACC Heart Failure

Research Highlight: Microbiota predicts side-effects of immunotherapy – Yvonne Bordon – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Models of microbiome research

Rats: Effects of neutrophils peptide-1 transgenic Chlorella ellipsoidea on the gut microbiota of male Sprague–Dawley rats, as revealed by high-throughput 16S rRNA sequencing – Mingzhang Guo – World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology

Fish: Correlation between microbiota and growth in Mangrove Killifish (Kryptolebias marmoratus) and Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) – Torunn Forberg – Scientific Reports

Rats: Diet-induced changes in maternal gut microbiota and metabolomic profiles influence programming of offspring obesity risk in rats – Heather A. Paul – Scientific Reports

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Beneficial Microbes Affect Endogenous Mechanisms Controlling Root Development –
Eline H. Verbon – Trends in Plant Science

Water and extremophile microbiome

Mechanisms underlying adaptation to life in hydrogen sulfide rich environments – Joanna L. Kelley – Molecular Biology and Evolution

Deep Sequencing of Subseafloor Eukaryotic rRNA Reveals Active Fungi across Marine Subsurface Provinces – William Orsi – PLOS ONE

Succession of lignocellulolytic bacterial consortia bred anaerobically from lake sediment – Elisa Korenblum – Microbial Biotechnology

Genomic inference of the metabolism of cosmopolitan subsurface Archaea, Hadesarchaea – Brett J. Baker – Nature Microbiology

Built environment microbiome

Assessment of the influence of intrinsic environmental and geographical factors on the bacterial ecology of pit latrines – Belen Torondel – Microbial Biotechnology

Efficacy of dental unit waterlines disinfectants on a polymicrobial biofilm – Damien Costa – Water Research

Food microbiology

Warning: contains graphic images: Screening for Viral Pathogens in African Simian Bushmeat Seized at A French Airport – Sarah Temmam – Transboundary and Emerging Diseases

Next-generation sequencing analysis of lager brewing yeast strains reveals the evolutionary history of interspecies hybridization – Miki Okuno – DNA Research

Development of spoilage bacterial community and volatile compounds in chilled beef under vacuum or high oxygen atmospheres – Elina Jääskeläinen – International Journal of Food Microbiology

More microbiology

My favorite structure: Ribosomal small subunit domains radiate from a central core – Burak Gulen – Scientific Reports

Selection favors incompatible signaling in bacteria – Alfonso Pérez-Escudero – PNAS

Microbes in the news

Bacteria Can Convey Electrical Messages the Same Way Neurons Do – Diana Kwon – Scientific American

40 Trillion Bacteria on and in Us? Fewer Than We Thought – Nicholas Bakalar – New York Times

Scientists discover new microbes that thrive deep in the earth – Phys.org

Europe’s Richest Microbiome Biotech Acquires Irish Start-up To Accelerate – Labiotech

There are always bacteria lurking in dental equipment, suggests research – MedicalXpress

Genes, bugs and radiation: WHO backs new weapons in Zika fight – Ben Hirschler – Reuters

Gene Linked to Patients’ Response to Infectious Diseases – GenEngNews

Science, publishing, and career

Poisoning your lab mates? Simulating Scientific Sabotage, For Fun: With a card game, researchers make light of the “wacky aspects of scientific research.” – Tracy Vence – The Scientist

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February 12, 2016

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Infant gut microbiota development and family foods, a paper on the “blood microbiome” that caused some discussion on Twitter, Penicillinum and pears, and community types in the human microbiome.

Jobs and events

Mothur and programming in R workshop, May 23-25, Detroit

Postdoctoral Research Assistant – Microbiome – University of Oxford – Department of Plant Sciences

Pregnancy and birth

Infant Gut Microbiota Development Is Driven by Transition to Family Foods Independent of Maternal Obesity – Martin Frederik Laursen – mSphere

Human gut

A Novel Microbiome Therapeutic Increases Gut Microbial Diversity and Prevents Recurrent Clostridium difficile Infection – Sahil Khanna – The Journal of Infectious Diseases

Microbiome of blood

No carefully designed controls, no deposit of sequence reads, misleading Y-axis in Figure S1. I don’t endorse this study: Comprehensive description of blood microbiome from healthy donors assessed by 16S targeted metagenomic sequencing – Sandrine Païssé – Transfusion

Animal models

Rearing room affects the non-dominant chicken caecum microbiota, while diet affects the dominant microbiota – Jane Ludvigsen – Frontiers in Veterinary Science

Extremophiles and water microbiome

Artificial electron acceptors decouple archaeal methane oxidation from sulfate reduction – Silvan Scheller – Science

Perspective: A new diet for methane oxidizers – Amelia-Elena Rotaru – Science

The role of particle associated microbes in remineralization of fecal pellets in the upper mesopelagic of the Scotia Sea, Antarctica – Anna Belcher – Limnology and Oceanography

Growth dynamics of a laminated microbial mat in response to variable irradiance in an Antarctic lake – Ian Hawes – Freshwater Biology

Food microbiology

Profile of Penicillium species in the pear supply chain – I. Scholtz – Plant Pathology

More microbes

Survival games at the dinner table: regulation of Enterobacterial virulence through nutrient sensing and acquisition – Gaëlle Porcheron – Current Opinion in Microbiology

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

On the Origins and Control of Community Types in the Human Microbiome – Travis E. Gibson – PLOS Computational Biology

Microbes in the news

Forget chocolates. Give your sweetheart mushrooms this Valentine’s Day, says Stanford scientist – Rosemary Mena-Werth – Stanford News

Infant gut microbiome development not driven by maternal weight – Stephen Feller – UPI

Solid foods take over shaping of gut microbiota by 9 months – Yvette Brazier – Medical News Today

Why we might need to kill Australia’s koalas: Chlamydia infection is running rampant through their population, and a controlled cull might be their best hope- Katie Silver – BBC

Researchers Believe That Socialization Helps Spread Beneficial Gut Bacteria – Shariqua Ahmed – DogoNews

Novel microbiome therapy appears to prevent recurrent C. difficile infection – Healio

AbbVie Launches IBD Collaboration with Synlogic – GenEngNews

Bik’s Picks

Thursday’s massive gravitational wave news was broken by a sheet cake (really) – Rachel Feltman – Washington Post

Science and art

An Artist Asks: Whose Business Is Our DNA? – Short film on artwork by Heather Dewey-Hagborg who created masks of strangers based on genetic material left behind – The Atlantic

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January 29, 2016

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Prescription drugs and microbiome analyses, antimicrobial targets in sarcoidosis granulomas, host-microbiota interactions in antibiotic-associated diseases, and iridescence in self-organizing biofilms.

General microbiome

Perspective: Prescription drugs obscure microbiome analyses – Suzanne Devkota – Science

Review: The role of microbiota in cancer therapy – Ernesto Perez-Chanona – Current Opinion in Immunology

Human respiratory microbiome

COPD and the microbiome – Manoj J. Mammen – Respirology

Molecular Analysis of Sarcoidosis Granulomas Reveals Antimicrobial Targets – Joseph E Rotsinger – American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology

Human skin microbiome

Review: The microbiome and atopic eczema: More than skin deep – Charlotte L Thomas – Australasian Journal of Dermatology

Human gut microbiome

Gut microbiota and allergic disease in children – Sarah L. Bridgman – Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology

Effects of enteral polymeric diet on gut microbiota in children with Crohn’s disease – Chloé Guinet-Charpentier – Gut

Review: Effect of antibiotics on gut microbiota, glucose metabolism and bodyweight regulation – a review of the literature – Kristian Hallundbæk Mikkelsen – Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism

Animal models

Effects of dispersal limitation in the face of intense selection via dietary intervention on the faecal microbiota of rats – Heli J. Barron Pastor – Environmental Microbiology Reports

Fecal dysbiosis in miniature dachshunds with inflammatory colorectal polyps –
Hirotaka Igarashi – Research in Veterinary Science

Dietary antigens limit mucosal immunity by inducing regulatory T cells in the small intestine – Kwang Soon Kim – Science

Translocation of microbes and changes of immunocytes in the gut of rapid- and slow-progressor Chinese rhesus macaques infected with SIVmac239 – Lin-Tao Zhang – Immunology

From the Sonnenburg lab: Host-Microbiota Interactions in the Pathogenesis of Antibiotic-Associated Diseases – Joshua S. Lichtman – Cell Reports

Effect of Antimicrobial Consumption and Production Type on Antibacterial Resistance in the Bovine Respiratory and Digestive Tract – Boudewijn Catry – PLOS ONE

Animal microbiome

Symbiotic Bacteria in Gills and Guts of Chinese Mitten Crab (Eriocheir sinensis) Differ from the Free-Living Bacteria in Water – Meiling Zhang – PLOS ONE

Earthworm: Isolation, identification, and characterization of gut microflora of Perionyx excavatus collected from Midnapore, West Bengal – Tanushree Tulsian Samanta – Journal of Basic Microbiology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Genomic reconstruction of a novel, deeply branched sediment archaeal phylum with pathways for acetogenesis and sulfur reduction – Kiley W Seitz – The ISME Journal

Not a good paper (poor figures and language problems – see my comments on PubPeer), about carnivorous plant: Microbiome and Biocatalytic Bacteria in Monkey Cup (Nepenthes Pitcher) Digestive Fluid – Xin-Yue Chan – Scientific Reports

Microbial diversity drives multifunctionality in terrestrial ecosystems – Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo – Nature Communications

Various fungal communities colonise the functional wood tissues of old grapevines externally free from grapevine trunk disease symptoms – E. Bruez – Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi regulate soil respiration and its response to precipitation change in a semiarid steppe – Bingwei Zhang – Scientific Reports

Sewage sludge addition modifies soil microbial communities and plant performance depending on the sludge stabilization process – Eva Lloret – Applied Soil Ecology

Review: Engineering the Rhizosphere – Yves Dessaux – Trends in Plant Science

Water and extremophile microbiome

Bacterial diversity in the surface sediments of the hypoxic zone near the Changjiang Estuary and in the East China Sea – Qi Ye – Microbiology Open

Ecological succession reveals potential signatures of marine–terrestrial transition in salt marsh fungal communities – Francisco Dini-Andreote – The ISME Journal

Profiling microbial community in a watershed heavily contaminated by an active antimony (Sb) mine in Southwest China – Weimin Sun – Science of The Total Environment

More microbiology

A unique self-organization of bacterial sub-communities creates iridescence in Cellulophaga lytica colony biofilms – Betty Kientz – Scientific Reports

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

Ten Simple Rules for a Bioinformatics Journal Club – Andrew Lonsdale – PLOS Computational Biology

NINJA-OPS: Fast Accurate Marker Gene Alignment Using Concatenated Ribosomes – Gabriel A. Al-Ghalith – PLOS Computational Biology

Microbes in the news

Stop pooping! You’re killing sentient beings! – PZ Myers – Pharyngula

ASM’s Commitment to Interdisciplinary Microbiome Research – American Society for Microbiology

Fermentation Farm wants you to eat better bacteria – Kathleen Luppi – LA Times

This bacteria can live for years in distilled water, and causes abscess, seizures and death: Melioidosis / Burkholderia pseudomallei – Jacinta Bowler – Science Alert

Science, publishing, and career

How to read a scientific paper – Adam Ruben – Science

High rejection rates by journals ‘pointless’– Analysis suggests higher selectivity fails to increase journals’ impact factors – David Matthews – Times Higher Education

How to stop the sexual harassment of women in science: reboot the system – Zuleyka Zevallow – The Conversation

Bik’s Picks

Arthropods of the great indoors: characterizing diversity inside urban and suburban homes – Matthew A Bertone

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November 11, 2015

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Red-pigmented haloarchaea in flamingo feathers, cyanobacteria of the Western Himalaya, and read-filtering of HT amplicon reads.

Human respiratory microbiome

Respiratory microbiota resistance and resilience to pulmonary exacerbation and subsequent antimicrobial intervention – Leah Cuthbertson – ISME Journal

Human reproductive tract microbiome

Genital tract colonization with Ureaplasma spp. and its association with abnormal vaginal flora – Ellen Vancutsem – Journal of Medical Microbiology

Impact of Bacterial Vaginosis on Perineal Tears during Delivery: A Prospective Cohort Study – Vincent Letouzey – PLOS ONE

Human gut microbiome

Carriage of enterobacteria producing extended spectrum beta-lactamases and composition of the gut microbiota in an Amerindian community – María José Gosalbes – Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy

Animal microbiome (and archaea)

Occurrence of viable, red-pigmented haloarchaea in the plumage of captive flamingoes – Kyung June Yim – Scientific Reports

DGGE: Effect of chemical stress and ultraviolet radiation in the bacterial communities of zebrafish embryos – Jacinta M.M. Oliveira – Environmental Pollution

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Some Like it High! Phylogenetic Diversity of High-Elevation Cyanobacterial Community from Biological Soil Crusts of Western Himalaya – Kateřina Čapková – Microbial Ecology

Phytostabilization of moderate copper contaminated soils using co-inoculation of Vicia faba with plant growth promoting bacteria – Imen Challougui Fatnassi – Journal of Basic Microbiology

Effects of Common Mycorrhizal Network on Plant Carbohydrates and Soil Properties in Trifoliate Orange–White Clover Association – Ze-Zhi Zhang – PLOS ONE

Distributions and compositions of old and emerging flame retardants in the rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere soil in an e-waste contaminated area of South China – Shaorui Wang – Environmental Pollution

Water microbiome

High Bacterial Diversity and Phylogenetic Novelty in Dark Euxinic Freshwaters Analyzed by 16S Tag Community Profiling – Tomàs Llorens-Marès – Microbial Ecology

Bioinformatics

Fungal identification using a Bayesian classifier and the Warcup training set of internal transcribed spacer sequences – Vinita Deshpande – Mycologia

A novel conceptual approach to read-filtering in high-throughput amplicon sequencing studies – Fernando Puente-Sánchez – Nucleic Acids Research

Microbes in the news

One course of antibiotics disrupts gut microbiome for a year – Medical News Today

Science, publishing, and career

Public Data Archiving in Ecology and Evolution: How Well Are We Doing? – Dominique G. Roche – PLOS Biology
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November 7, 2015

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Human oral microbiome

Dental demineralization, radiation caries and oral microbiota in patients with head and neck cancer – Leonardo Victor Galvão-Moreira – Oral Oncology

Review: Bacterial interactions in pathogenic subgingival plaque – Hong Min Ng – Microbial Pathogenesis

Human gut microbiome

Gut Microbiota Community and Its Assembly Associated with Age and Diet in Chinese Centenarians – Fang Wang – Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology

Gut colonization with methanobrevibacter smithii is associated with childhood weight development – Catherine A. Mbakwa – Obesity

Review: Regulation of energy balance by a gut–brain axis and involvement of the gut microbiota – Paige V. Bauer – Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences

Animal and other models

Anticancer immunotherapy by CTLA-4 blockade relies on the gut microbiota – Marie Vétizou – Science

Mice: The Characterization of Novel Tissue Microbiota Using an Optimized 16S Metagenomic Sequencing Pipeline – Jérôme Lluch – PLOS ONE

Sheep: Lung Microbiota Changes Associated with Chronic Pseudomonas aeruginosa Lung Infection and the Impact of Intravenous Colistimethate Sodium – David Collie – PLOS ONE

Human cells: The effect of short-chain fatty acids on human monocyte-derived dendritic cells – Claudia Nastasi – Scientific Reports

Review: Effect of dietary components on the gut microbiota of aquatic animals. A never-ending story? – E. Ringø – Aquaculture Nutrition

Animal microbiome

Evaluation of DNA extraction kits and phylogenetic diversity of the porcine gastrointestinal tract based on Illumina sequencing of two hypervariable regions –
Katharina Burbach – Microbiology Open

Insects: Host and Symbiont Jointly Control Gut Microbiota during Complete Metamorphosis – Paul R. Johnston – PLOS Pathogens

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Microbial immigration across the Mediterranean via airborne dust – Riccardo Rosselli – Scientific Reports

The herbaceous landlord: integrating the effects of symbiont consortia within a single host – Roo Vandegrift – PeerJ

Review: The plant microbiome explored: implications for experimental botany – Gabriele Berg- Journal of Experimental Botany

The influence of hydrogeological disturbance and mining on coal seam microbial communities – M. J. Raudsepp – Geobiology

Soil DNA pyrosequencing and fruitbody surveys reveal contrasting diversity for various fungal ecological guilds in chestnut orchards – Paula Baptista – Environmental Microbiology Reports

Water microbiome

Particle-association lifestyle is a phylogenetically conserved trait in bathypelagic prokaryotes – Guillem Salazar – Molecular Ecology

Metagenomics and bioinformatics

Global Profiling of Carbohydrate Active Enzymes in Human Gut Microbiome – Tanudeep Bhattacharya – PLOS ONE

Kernel-Penalized Regression for Analysis of Microbiome Data – Timothy W. Randolph – ArXiv

Infection and microbial detection

Development of a rapid and simplified protocol for direct bacterial identification from positive blood cultures by using matrix assisted laser desorption ionization time-of- flight mass spectrometry – Aleksandra Jakovljev – BMC Microbiology

Copper surfaces are associated with significantly lower concentrations of bacteria on selected surfaces within a pediatric intensive care unit – Michael G. Schmidt – American Journal of Infection Control

Microbial ecology

An equilibrium theory signature in the island biogeography of human parasites and pathogens – Kévin Jean – Global Ecology and Biogeography

Microbes in the news

‘The Secret World Inside You’ Explores the Microbial Human – William Grimes – The New York Times
I Contain Multitudes: Microbiomes at the American Museum of Natural History –
Sean Hutchinson – Inverse
Exploring the Inner Universe. A new American Museum of Natural History exhibit introduces visitors to the microbes within their bodies – Ashley P. Taylor – The Scientist

Sexed-up beer – Nature Biotechnology

Microbes aid cancer drugs – Mitch Leslie – Science

Gut microbiota regulates antioxidant metabolism – EurekAlert

Kitchen utensils can spread bacteria between foods, UGA study finds – Sydney Devine – University of Georgia
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August 31, 2015

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Only one paper for you today!

Archaea

Review: Exploring microbial dark matter to resolve the deep archaeal ancestry of eukaryotes – Jimmy H. Saw – Philosophical Transactions B

Microbes in the news

Probiotics for weight loss: why probiotics are a $30 billion industry now – Paula Mooney – Inquisitr

With Barry Marshall cameo: Young Student Wins Eureka Prize For Video That Explains The Appendix – Dianne Depra – TechTimes
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August 25, 2015

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Microbiome of Polish Cemetery soil, microbiome and risk of Plasmodium infection, interactions between mouse gut microbiota, host Genetics and diet, and the microbiome of air at three different heights.

The microbiome of death

Microbiological Analysis of Necrosols Collected from Urban Cemeteries in Poland – Ireneusz Całkosiński – BioMed Research International

Book: Carrion Ecology, Evolution, and Their Applications – M. Eric Benbow – CRC Press

Pregnancy and birth

Review: Rate of establishing the gut microbiota in infancy has consequences for future health – Shaillay Dogra – Gut Microbes

Editorial with disturbing title: Can establishment of human microbiome be customized after birth with local traditions of first feed and intimate kissing? – Sarman Singh – Journal of Laboratory Physicians

Human oral microbiome

Alterations of the Subgingival Microbiota in Pediatric Crohn’s Disease Studied Longitudinally in Discovery and Validation Cohorts – Judith Kelsen – Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

Review: Human microbiome: From the bathroom to the bedside – Stephen Malnick, Ehud Melzer – World J Gastrointest Pathophysiol

Human gut microbiota / transcriptomics

Stool microbiota composition is associated with the prospective risk of Plasmodium falciparum infection – Shibu Yooseph – BMC Genomics

Strand-specific community RNA-seq reveals prevalent and dynamic antisense transcription in human gut microbiota – Guanhui Bao – Frontiers in Microbiology

The Fecal Virome of Children with Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease that Tested PCR Negative for Pathogenic Enteroviruses – Piyada Linsuwanon – PLOS ONE

Review: Gut microbiota and allogeneic transplantation – Weilin Wang – Journal of Translational Medicine

Animal models

Interactions between Gut Microbiota, Host Genetics and Diet Modulate the Predisposition to Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome – Siegfried Ussar – Cell Metabolism

Physical Activity Differentially Affects the Cecal Microbiota of Ovariectomized Female Rats Selectively Bred for High and Low Aerobic Capacity – Tzu-Wen Liu – PLOS ONE

Animal microbiome

Isolation of oxalotrophic bacteria associated with Varroa destructor mites – M. Maddaloni – Letters in Applied Microbiology

Diversity of bacterial communities in the midgut of Bactrocera cucurbitae (Diptera: Tephritidae) populations and their potential use as attractants – Ashok B. Hadapad – Pest Management Science

Midgut bacterial communities in the giant Asian honeybee (Apisdorsata) across four developmental stages: a comparative study – Prakaimuk Saraithong – Insect Science

Bacterial communities associated with four ctenophore genera from the German Bight (North Sea) – Wenjin Hao – FEMS Microbial Ecology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome
(also see study above filed under Microbiome of Death)

The effect of D123 wheat as a companion crop on soil enzyme activities, microbial biomass and microbial communities in the rhizosphere of watermelon – Wei H. Xu – Frontiers in Microbiology

Archaeal Communities in a Heterogeneous Hypersaline-Alkaline Soil – Yendi E. Navarro-Noya – Archaea

Molecular characterization of microbial communities in the rhizosphere soils and roots of diseased and healthy Panax notoginseng – Zhaoxiang Wu – Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

The diversity changes of soil microbial communities stimulated by climate, soil type and vegetation type analyzed via a functional gene array – Fu Chen – World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology

Water microbiome

Carbon fixation by basalt-hosted microbial communities – Beth N. Orcutt – Frontiers in Microbiology

Annual dynamics of North Sea bacterioplankton: Seasonal variability superimposes short-term variation – Judith Lucas – Microbiology Ecology

Ecology and Distribution of Thaumarchaea in the Deep Hypolimnion of Lake Maggiore –
Manuela Coci – Archaea

Viral and grazer regulation of prokaryotic growth efficiency in temperate freshwater pelagic environments – A.S. Pradeep Ram – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Air / built environment microbiome

Vertical distribution of airborne bacterial communities in an Asian-dust downwind area, Noto Peninsula – Teruya Maki – Atmospheric Environment

Microbiological consequences of indoor composting – Alexandre Naegele – Indoor Air

Extremophiles

Response of the rare biosphere to environmental stressors in a highly diverse ecosystem (Zodletone spring, OK, USA) – Suzanne Coveley – PeerJ

Food microbiology

Wine fermentation microbiome: a landscape from different Portuguese wine appellations – Cátia Pinto – Frontiers in Microbiology

Difference of microbial community stressed in artificial pit muds for Luzhou-flavour liquor brewing revealed by multiphase culture-independent technology – Liqiang Zhang – Journal of Applied Microbiology

Monitoring of Yeast Communities and Volatile Flavor Changes During Traditional Korean Soy Sauce Fermentation – Young-Ran Song – Journal of Food Science

Bioreactor microbiology

Microbial community in a hydrogenotrophic denitrification reactor based on pyrosequencing – Hongyu Wang – Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

Techniques and other microbiology

Application of iChip to Grow “Uncultivable” Microorganisms and its Impact on Antibiotic Discovery – Rinzhin T. Sherpa – Journal of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences

Cultivating the uncultured: growing the recalcitrant cluster-2 Frankia strains – Maher Gtari – Scientific Reports

Isolation of Genetically Tractable Most-Wanted Bacteria by Metaparental Mating – Páraic Ó Cuív – Scientific Reports

Burkholderia bacteria infectiously induce the proto-farming symbiosis of Dictyostelium amoebae and food bacteria – Susanne DiSalvo – PNAS

Science, publishing, and career

A call to arms for women in science – Women’s Agenda
Microbes in the news

The Bacteria That Turn Amoebas Into Farmers – Ed Yong – National Geographic

Testers find twice as many ‘superbugs’ in conventional hamburger as organic ones – Lena H. Sun – Washington Post

Humans carry more antibiotic-resistant bacteria than animals they work with – Medical Xpress
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August 19, 2015

Posted on by

Guidelines and principles to use “holobionts”, microbiome and provoking autoimmunity in uveitis, bacteria in confiscated passerines, and ecology of the Miscellaneous Crenarchaeotic Group archaea.

General microbiome

Host Biology in Light of the Microbiome: Ten Principles of Holobionts and Hologenomes – Seth R. Bordenstein , Kevin R. Theis – PLOS Biology

Human eye microbiome

Uveitis (Eye): Microbiota-Dependent Activation of an Autoreactive T Cell Receptor Provokes Autoimmunity in an Immunologically Privileged Site – Reiko Horai – Immunity

Human gut microbiome

Review: Diagnostic and Prognostic Microbial Biomarkers in IBD – Marla Dubinsky – Gastroenterology

Letter to the editor: Can inflammatory bowel disease really be solved by the multiple -omics and meta-omics analyses? – Xiaofa Qin – Immunology Letters

Animal models

In vivo imaging and tracking of host–microbiota interactions via metabolic labeling of gut anaerobic bacteria – Naama Geva-Zatorsky – Nature Medicine

Associative patterns among anaerobic fungi, methanogenic archaea, and bacterial communities in response to changes in diet and age in the rumen of dairy cows – Sanjay Kumar – Frontiers in Microbiology

Diet- and Genetically-Induced Obesity Differentially Affect the Fecal Microbiome and Metabolome in Apc1638N Mice – Anna C. Pfalzer – PLOS ONE

Animal microbiome

Detection of bacteria and fungi and assessment of the molecular aspects and resistance of E. coli isolated from confiscated passerines intended for reintroduction programs – Patricia Braconaro – Microbial Pathogenesis

Mining of luxS genes from rumen microbial consortia by metagenomic and metatranscriptomic approaches – Ines Ghali – Animal Science Journal

Isolation and identification of marine fish tumour (odontoma) associated bacteria – Ramalingam Vijayakumar – Journal of Coastal Life Medicine

A facultative endosymbiont in aphids can provide diverse ecological benefits – E. R. Heyworth andJ. Ferrari – Journal of Evolutionary Biology

Not sure why a study on RNAseq and 16S rRNA PCR on voles in France was published in PLOS NTD: A Comparison between Transcriptome Sequencing and 16S Metagenomics for Detection of Bacterial Pathogens in Wildlife – Maria Razzauti – PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases

Plant, roots, and soil microbiome

Assembly of Active Bacterial and Fungal Communities Along a Natural Environmental Gradient – Rebecca C Mueller – Microbial Ecology

Effects of imidacloprid on soil microbial communities in different saline soils– Qingming Zhang – Environmental Science and Pollution Research

Water microbiome

Microbial Communities Can Be Described by Metabolic Structure: A General Framework and Application to a Seasonally Variable, Depth-Stratified Microbial Community from the Coastal West Antarctic Peninsula – Jeff S. Bowman – PLOS ONE

Diazotrophic bacterial community variability in a subtropical deep reservoir is correlated with seasonal changes in nitrogen – Lina Wang – Environmental Science and Pollution Research

Built environment microbiome

Assessment of contamination using an ATP bioluminescence assay on doorknobs in a university-affiliated hospital in Japan – Naoko Kajigaya – BMC Research Notes

Diversity and antibiotic resistance profiles of Pseudomonads from a hospital wastewater treatment plant – D.O. Santoro – Journal of Applied Microbiology

Cleanroom Maintenance Significantly Reduces Abundance but Not Diversity of Indoor Microbiomes – Alexander Mahnert – PLOS ONE

Archaea

Insights in the ecology and evolutionary history of the Miscellaneous Crenarchaeotic Group lineage – Mireia Fillol – ISME Journal

Metabolomics

Plasma metabolomic profiles enhance precision medicine for volunteers of normal health –
Lining Guo – PNAS

Techniques

Single-Molecule Real-Time Sequencing Combined with Optical Mapping Yields Completely Finished Fungal Genome – Luigi Faino – mBio

Microbes in the news

Bacteria’s secret weapon against pesticides and antibiotics revealed – Aarhus University – EurekAlert

Die, Bacteria! Engineered particles deliver targeted antibiotics – Helen Knight – Technology Review

Bacteria with synthetic DNA create protein never found in Nature – For when the usual four nucleotides can’t give you what you want – Alexandra Ossola – PopSci

Second Plague Case Traced to Yosemite National Park – Maggie Fox – NBC News

Science, publishing, and career

Increasing disparities between resource inputs and outcomes, as measured by certain health deliverables, in biomedical research – Anthony Bowena and Arturo Casadevall – PNAS
Return on Investment Slipping in Biomedical Research – Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Science Week Australia: UNSW moves to strengthen women’s role in science – Marcus Strom – Sydney Morning Herald

Bik’s Picks

Stanford’s Angel of Grief Statue Has Arm Chopped Off By Vandals: The arm, made of fine Italian marble, is worth an estimated $20,000 – NBC Bay Area

Hummingbird tongues are way weirder than we thought – Rachel Feltman – Washington Post

Can’t go to Mars? At least sign the card – Jillian Kestler-D’Amours – The Star

Flying Spiders Found—and They Can Steer in Mid-Air – Traci Watson – National Geographic

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