March 27, 2020

We begin with a few updates about the recent research news about COVID 19 and how as a scientist you might be able to help. As a result of the global lock down, many conferences and seminars have moved online. You will find some of the microbiome-related online events in today’s post. Please also have a look at a special issue of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society for conceptual challenges in microbial community ecology.

COVID-19
Coronavirus vaccines: five key questions as trials begin – Nature News


How blood from coronavirus survivors might save lives – Nature News

COVID-19 Pandemic: Scientist volunteer form

An initiative to redirect scientific resources towards the fight against COVID-19

Virtual Events
Virtual Conference: 6th Annual Translational Microbiome Conference

Guts & Bugs: A virtual GI seminar series by Edelblum Lab

Let’s go viral: online microbiology seminars in partnership with International Society of Microbial Ecology
Schedule can be found via Twitter #MicroSeminar @MicroSeminar

General microbiome
SPECIAL ISSUE: Phillosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B : Conceptual challenges in microbial community ecology

Human respiratory microbiome
Review: Respiratory microbiome and epithelial interactions shape immunity in the lungs – Invernizzi et al. – Immunology

Human oral microbiome
Polymicrobial periodontal disease triggers a wide radius of effect and unique virome – Gao et al. – npj Biofilms and Microbiomes

Metagenomic analysis of bacterial species in tongue microbiome of current and never smokers – Sato et al. – npj Biofilms and Microbiomes

Spatial Ecology of the Human Tongue Dorsum Microbiome – Wilbert et al. – Cell Reports

Oral biofilms exposure to chlorhexidine results in altered microbial composition and metabolic profile – Chatzigiannidou et al. – npj Biofilms and Microbiomes

Dysbiotic oral microbiota and infected salivary glands in Sjögren’s syndrome – Alam et al. – PLOS ONE

Animal experiments
Drosophila-associated bacteria differentially shape the nutritional requirements of their host during juvenile growth – Consuegra et al. – PLOS Biology

Bacterially produced metabolites protect C. elegans neurons from degeneration – Urrutia et al. – PLOS Biology

Dynamic interactions within the host-associated microbiota cause tumor formation in the basal metazoan Hydra – Rathje et al. – PLOS Pathogens

Association of colitis with gut-microbiota dysbiosis in clathrin adapter AP-1B knockout mice – Jangid et al. – PLOS ONE

Variations in microbiota composition of laboratory mice influence Citrobacter rodentium infection via variable short-chain fatty acid production – Osbelt et al. – PLOS Pathogens

Changes in the faecal microbiota of horses and ponies during a two-year body weight gain programme – Langner et al. – PLOS ONE

Animal microbiome
Microbiomes in the insectivorous bat species Mops condylurus rapidly converge in captivity – Edenborough et al. – PLOS ONE

Plant, root, and soil microbiome
Towards Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture: An evaluation of biocontrol effects, nutritional value, and ecological impact of bacterial inoculants – Passera et al. – Science of The Total Environment

Book Chapter: Rhizobacteria Versus Chelating Agents: Tool for Phytoremediation – Kaur et al. – Microbial Technology for Health and Environment

Book Chapter: Applications of Microorganisms in Agriculture – Doley et al. – Microbial Technology for Health and Environment

Plant Invasion Has Limited Impact on Soil Microbial alpha Diversity: A Meta-Analysis – Custer & van Diepen – Diversity

Water microbiome
Carbonate facies‐specific stable isotope data record climate, hydrology, and microbial communities in Great Salt Lake, UT – Ingalls et al. – Geobiology

The microbiome of modern microbialites in Bacalar Lagoon, Mexico – Yanez-Montalvo et al. – PLOS ONE

Food microbiology
Variations in Fungal Community and Diversity in Doushen With Different Flavors – Luo et at. – Frontiers in Microbiology

Bioinformatics
MetaBridge: An Integrative Multi‐Omics Tool for Metabolite‐Enzyme Mapping – Blimkie et al. – Current Protocols in Bioinformatics

Validating metabarcoding-based biodiversity assessments with multi-species occupancy models: A case study using coastal marine eDNA – McClenaghan et al. – PLOS ONE

PPanGGOLiN: Depicting microbial diversity via a partitioned pangenome graph – Gautreau et al. – PLOS Computational Biology

The Community Simulator: A Python package for microbial ecology – Marsland et al. – PLOS ONE

Techniques
Genome-based species-specific primers for rapid identification of six species of Lactobacillus acidophilusgroup using multiplex PCR – You & Kim – PLOS ONE

Pathogens and microbiome
Commensal Neisseria cinerea impairs Neisseria meningitidis microcolony development and reduces pathogen colonisation of epithelial cells – Custodio et al. – PLOS Pathogens

Swimming motility of a gut bacterial symbiont promotes resistance to intestinal expulsion and enhances inflammation – Wiles et al. – PLOS Biology

March 26th, 2020

This is my first post on the site! There weren’t a lot of alerts today, so I dug around for other papers I can find. Today’s digest includes mostly human microbiome research, most notably a study identifying a staph peptide that induces acute exacerbation of pulmonary fibrosis, as well as a very diverse epidemiological study of the impact of diet on the gut microbiome in the United States.

General Human Microbiome

US nativity and dietary acculturation impact the gut microbiome in a diverse US population  – Peters, B.A., Yi, S.S., Beasley, J.M. et al. – ISME

Microbiome in Pregnancy and Birth

Maternal carriage of Prevotella during pregnancy associates with protection against food allergy in the offspring – Vuillermin, P.J., O’Hely, M., Collier, F. et al. – Nature Communications

Vaginal Microbiome of Pregnant Indian Women: Insights into the Genome of Dominant Lactobacillus Species – Mehta, O., Ghosh, T.S., Kothidar, A. et al. – Microbial Ecology

Translational human microbiome research

A Staphylococcus pro-apoptotic peptide induces acute exacerbation of pulmonary fibrosis – D’Alessandro-Gabazza, C.N., Kobayashi, T., Yasuma, T. et al. – Nature Communications

Effect of probiotics during vonoprazan‐containing triple therapy on gut microbiota in Helicobacter pylori infection: A randomized controlled trial – Kakiuchi et al. – Helicobacter

Rosuvastatin alters the genetic composition of the human gut microbiome – Kummen, M., Solberg, O.G., Storm-Larsen, C. et al. – Scientific Reports

Microbiome and Cancer

Metaproteomics characterizes human gut microbiome function in colorectal cancer – Long, S., Yang, Y., Shen, C. et al. – npj Biofilms and Microbiomes

Plant microbiome

Genome‐resolved metagenomics to study co‐occurrence patterns and intraspecific heterogeneity among plant pathogen metapopulations – Newberry et al. – Environmental Microbiology

Symbiotic nitrogen fixation and endophytic bacterial community structure in Bt-transgenic chickpea (Cicer arietinum L) – Alok, D., Annapragada, H., Singh, S. et al. – Scientific Reports

Soil microbiome

Soil Microbial Diversity Affects the Plant-Root Colonization by Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi – Ferreira et al. – Microbial Ecology

Bioinformatics/Sequencing analysis methods

Joining Illumina paired-end reads for classifying phylogenetic marker sequences – Liu et al. – BMC Bioinformatics

M2IA: a Web Server for Microbiome and Metabolome Integrative Analysis – Ni et al. – Bioinformatics

Culturomics

Alcohol pretreatment of stools effect on culturomics – Afouda, P., Hocquart, M., Pham, T. et al. – Scientific Reports

Pre-prints on bioRxiv to look forward to

Infant gut microbiome

Genetic and behavioral adaptation of Candida parapsilosis to the microbiome of hospitalized infants revealed by in situ genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics – West et al. (Side note: The Banfield lab produces a lot of good work!)

Laboratory work on bacterial motility in the gut

Bacterial Swarmers exhibit a Protective Response to Intestinal Stress – Chen et al.

Long-read sequencing of gut mycobiome

Assessing anaerobic gut fungal (Neocalliamstigomycota) diversity using PacBio D1/D2 LSU rRNA amplicon sequencing and multi-year isolation – Hanafy et al.

Databases

HumGut: A comprehensive Human Gut prokaryotic genomes collection filtered by metagenome data

 

March 25, 2020

Today’s digest features an article about colorectal cancer signatures and E. coli and a study about the microbiome and resistome of great apes and human.

COVID-19

News: How blood from coronavirus survivors might save lives – Nature

General microbiome

What is the Origin of Human Bacterial Flora? – Alen J Salerian – Journal of Applied & Environmental Microbiology

The Microbiome of the Nose—Friend or Foe? – Sofia Dimitri-Pinheiro – Allergy Rhinol.

Pregnancy and early life

Non-targeted urinary metabolomics in pregnancy and associations with fetal growth restriction – Chelsea M. Clinton – Scientific Reports

Multi-site human microbiome

Effects of Chlorhexidine mouthwash on the oral microbiome – Raul Bescos – Scientific Reports

Human gut microbiome

Mutational signature in colorectal cancer caused by genotoxic pks+ E. coli – Cayetano Pleguezuelos-Manzano – Nature

Animal experiments

Natural agents inhibit colon cancer cell proliferation and alter microbial diversity in mice – Lulu Farhana – PLOS One

Animal microbiome (for animals in the wild)

Co-abundance analysis reveals hidden players associated with high methane yield phenotype in sheep rumen microbiome – Leila Ghanbari Maman – Scientific Reports

Effects of heat stress on the gut health of poultry – Marcos H Rostagno – Journal of Animal Science

The microbiome and resistome of chimpanzees, gorillas, and humans across host lifestyle and geography – Tayte P. Campbell – THE ISME Journal

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Impact of molasses and microbial inoculants on fermentation quality, aerobic stability, and bacterial and fungal microbiomes of barley silage – Beiyi Liu – Scientific Reports

Bacterial analysis in the early developmental stages of the black tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon) – Pacharaporn Angthong – Scientific Reports

Water and extremophile microbiome

Microbial community profiling of ammonia and nitrite oxidizing bacterial enrichments from brackishwater ecosystems for mitigating nitrogen species – Viswanathan Baskaran – Scientific Reports

Vertical Beta-Diversity of Bacterial Communities Depending on Water Stratification – Wan-Hsuan Cheng – Frontiers in Microbiology

Bioinformatics/Statistics

Artificial microbiome heterogeneity spurs six practical action themes and examples to increase study power-driven reproducibility – Abigail R. Basson – Scientific Reports

Techniques

Benchmarking the MinION: Evaluating long reads for microbial profiling – Robert M. Leidenfrost – Scientific Reports

March 20, 2020

Good morning! I hope this post finds you well. There are lots of new microbiome papers to share, including work on the disruption of E. coli biofilms, inconsistent diets used in Drosophila microbiome studies, and the effects of pollution on soil microbial communities.

General microbiome

Biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles by Fusarium scirpi and its potential as antimicrobial agent against uropathogenic Escherichia coli biofilms, Candelario Rodríguez-Serrano et al., PLOS ONE


Human gut microbiome

Targeted inhibition of gut bacterial β-glucuronidase activity enhances anticancer drug efficacy, Aadra P. Bhatt et al., PNAS

Gut Microbiome Pattern Reflects Healthy Aging and Predicts Extended Survival in Humans (preprint), Tomasz Wilmanski et al., bioRxiv

Propionic Acid Shapes the Multiple Sclerosis Disease Course by an Immunomodulatory Mechanism, Alexander Duscha et al., Cell

Adjusting for age improves identification of gut microbiome alterations in multiple diseases, Tarini S Ghosh et al., eLife

Environmental remodeling of human gut microbiota and antibiotic resistome in livestock farms, Jian Sun et al., Nature Communications

Review – Altering Routine Intensive Care Unit Practices to Support Commensalism, Hamilton and Behal, Nutrition in Clinical Practice

Household Pet Ownership and the Microbial Diversity of the Human Gut Microbiota, Ashley E. Kates et al., Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology

Meta-analysis – Assessing the efficacy and safety of fecal microbiota transplantation and probiotic VSL#3 for active ulcerative colitis: A systematic review and meta-analysis, Xiaofei Dang et al., PLOS ONE


Other human microbiome

Subgingival Host-Microbial Interactions in Hyperglycemic Individuals, P.S. Kumar et al., Journal of Dental Research

Investigating Bifidobacteria and Human Milk Oligosaccharide Composition of Lactating Mothers, Gabriele Andrea Lugli et al., FEMS Microbiology Ecology


Animal experiments

Effects of intestinal flora on the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of aspirin in high-altitude hypoxia, Sun and Zhang et al., PLOS ONE

Meta-analysis of diets used in Drosophila microbiome research and introduction of the Drosophila Dietary Composition Calculator (DDCC) (preprint), Broderick and Lesperance, bioRxiv

The Carnivorous Digestive System and Bamboo Diet of Giant Pandas May Shape Their Low Gut Bacterial Diversity, Wei Gui et al., Conservation Physiology


Animal microbiome

Non-invasive evaluation of the equine gastrointestinal mucosal transcriptome, Coleman and Whitfield-Cargile et al., PLOS ONE

Dietary substitution of soybean oil with coconut oil in the absence of dietary antibiotics supports growth performance and immune function in nursery and grower pigs, Andrea G. Braundmeier-Fleming et al., Journal of Animal Science and Biotechnology

Isoflavone supplementation, via red clover hay, alters the rumen microbial community and promotes weight gain of steers grazing mixed grass pastures, Brittany E. Harlow et al., PLOS ONE

Domesticated equine species and their derived hybrids differ in their fecal microbiota, J.E. Edwards et al., Animal Microbiome

Integrative analysis of gut microbiome and metabolites revealed novel mechanisms of intestinal Salmonella carriage in chicken, Khin K.Z. Mon et al., Scientific Reports


Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Acute effects of PAH contamination on microbial community of different forest soils, Enrica Picariello et al., Environmental Pollution

Context-dependent Dynamics Lead to the Assembly of Functionally Distinct Microbial Communities, Leonora S Bittleston et al., Nature Communications

Lifting the veil on arid-to-hyperarid Antarctic soil microbiomes: a tale of two oases, Eden Zhang et al., Microbiome

Perspective – Toward Comprehensive Plant Microbiome Research, Kari Saikkonen et al., Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution


Water and extremophile microbiome

Deep-sea corals provide new insight into the ecology, evolution, and the role of plastids in widespread apicomplexan symbionts of anthozoans, Samuel A. Vohsen et al., Microbiome


Food microbiology

Lactic Acid Bacteria Isolated From Korean Kimchi Activate the Vitamin D Receptor–autophagy Signaling Pathways, Rong Lu et al., Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

Consumption of Fermented Foods Is Associated with Systematic Differences in the Gut Microbiome and Metabolome, Bryn C. Taylor et al., mSystems

Differential Microbial Composition of Monovarietal and Blended Extra Virgin Olive Oils Determines Oil Quality During Storage, Zullo and Ciafardini, Microorganisms


Phages and viruses

Honey bees harbor a diverse gut virome engaging in nested strain-level interactions with the microbiota, Germán Bonilla-Rosso et al., PNAS


Bioinformatics

FORENSIC: an Online Platform for Fecal Source Identification, Adélaïde Roguet et al., mSystems

Review – Accurate and complete genomes from metagenomes, Lin-Xing Chen et al., Genome Research

Powmic: An R Package for Power Assessment in Microbiome Case-Control Studies, Li Chen, Bioinformatics


Techniques

RapidAIM: a culture- and metaproteomics-based Rapid Assay of Individual Microbiome responses to drugs, Leyuan Li et al., Microbiome


Non-microbiology picks

Marketplace shrimp mislabeling in North Carolina, Morgan L. Korzik et al., PLOS ONE

March 16, 2020

To all the work-from-home researchers (like me!), today’s digest covers microbiome in memory recognition, enteric neuropathy and neurodevelopmental disorder in rodent models. Gut microbiome in cardiovascular disease, a dual mechanism antibiotic and shifts in human gut microbiome and metabolome following gastric bypass. An important preprint that Covid-19 could not induce reinfection in infected rhesus macaques and that Ibuprofen may aggravate Covid-19 infection.

General microbiome

Gut microbiota and cardiovascular disease: opportunities and challenges – Negin Kazemian – Microbiome

Human microbiome
Pharmacomicrobiomics in inflammatory arthritis: gut microbiome as modulator of therapeutic response – Jose U. Scher – Nature Reviews Rheumatology

Long-term metal exposure changes gut microbiota of residents surrounding a mining and smelting area – Mengmeng Shao – Scientific Reports

Temporospatial shifts in the human gut microbiome and metabolome after gastric bypass surgery – Zehra Esra Ilhan – NPJ biofilms and microbiomes

Animal experiments

Habitat and seasonality shape the structure of tench (Tinca tinca L.) gut microbiome – Tomasz Dulski – Scientific Reports

Microecological Koch’s postulates reveal that intestinal microbiota dysbiosis contributes to shrimp white feces syndrome – Zhijian Huang – Microbiome

Early-life microbial intervention reduces colitis risk promoted by antibiotic-induced gut dysbiosis – Jun Miyoshi – BioRxiv

Gut microbiota manipulation during the prepubertal period shapes behavioral abnormalities in a mouse neurodevelopmental disorder model – Justin M. Saunders – Scientific Reports

Minocycline-induced microbiome alterations predict cafeteria diet-induced spatial recognition memory impairments in rats – Sarah-Jane Leigh – Translational Psychiatry

A purified membrane protein from Akkermansia muciniphila or the pasteurised bacterium blunts colitis associated tumourigenesis by modulation of CD8+ T cells in mice – Lijuan Wang – Gut

PM2.5 exposure perturbs lung microbiome and its metabolic profile in mice – Jingli Li – Science of The Total Environment

High‐fat diet–induced alterations to gut microbiota and gut‐derived lipoteichoic acid contributes to the development of enteric neuropathy – Yvonne Nyavor – Neurogastroenterology and Motility

Plant, root and soil microbiome

Complementary Metagenomic Approaches Improve Reconstruction of Microbial Diversity in a Forest Soil – L. V. Alteio – mSystems

Impact of plants on the diversity and activity of methylotrophs in soil – Michael C. Macey – Microbiome

Conserved bacterial genomes from two geographically distinct peritidal stromatolite formations shed light on potential functional guilds – Samantha C. Waterworth – BioRxiv

Techniques

A framework for assessing 16S rRNA marker-gene survey data analysis methods using mixtures – Nathan D. Olson – Microbiome

Antibiotic resistance

A dual-mechanism antibiotic targets Gram-negative bacteria and avoids drug resistance – James K. Martin – BioRxiv

Non microbiology picks

Reinfection could not occur in SARS-CoV-2 infected rhesus macaques – Linlin Bao – BioRxiv

Anti-inflammatories may aggravate Covid-19, France advises – The Guardian

March 14, 2020

Events

NYSCC Microbiome Program Postponed – Happi

General microbiome

Weakest link dynamics predict apparent antibiotic interactions in a model cross-feeding community – EM Adamowicz – bioRxiv

Simultaneous copper removal and electricity production and microbial community in microbial fuel cells with different cathode catalysts – Y Wu – Bioresource Technology

Multi-site human microbiome

Disrupted tongue microbiota and detection of nonindigenous bacteria on the day of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation – S Oku – PLoS Pathogens

Human vaginal microbiome

Changes in key vaginal bacteria among postpartum African women initiating intramuscular depot-medroxyprogesterone acetate – BM Whitney – PLoS One

Human gut microbiome

Gut Microbial Protein Expression in Response to Dietary Patterns in a Controlled Feeding Study: A Metaproteomic Approach – S Pan – Microorganisms

A Story of Liver and Gut Microbes: How Does the Intestinal Flora Affect Liver Disease? A Review of the Literature – M Giuffrè – American Journal of Physiology

Fecal microbiota transplantation for the improvement of metabolism in obesity: The FMT-TRIM double-blind placebo-controlled pilot trial – EW Yu – PLoS Medicine

Animal experiments 

Early-life microbial intervention reduces colitis risk promoted by antibiotic-induced gut dysbiosis – J Miyoshi – bioRxiv

Low mutational load and high mutation rate variation in gut commensal bacteria – RS Ramiro – PLoS Biology

Response to mechanical loading in rat Achilles tendon healing is influenced by the microbiome – F Dietrich-Zagonel – PLoS One

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Testing the two-step model of plant root microbiome acquisition under multiple plant species and soil sources – HR Barajas – bioRxiv

A survey of invasive plants on grassland soil microbial communities and ecosystem services – JK Bell – Scientific Data

Host identity is more important in structuring bacterial epiphytes than endophytes in a tropical mangrove forest – H Yao – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Water and extremophile microbiome 

Metagenomic Insights into Microbial Metabolisms of a Sulfur-Influenced Glacial Ecosystem – CB Trivedi – bioRxiv

Diel, daily, and spatial variation of coral reef seawater microbial communities – L Weber – PLoS One

Food microbiology

Shotgun Metagenomic Analysis Reveals New Insights on Bacterial Community Profiles in Tempeh – A Yulandi – bioRxiv

Phages and viruses

Identification of viruses belonging to the family Partitiviridae from plant transcriptomes – Y Jo – bioRxiv

The Restrictome of Flaviviruses – L Berthoux – Virologica Sinica

Plasma virome of 781 Brazilians with unexplained symptoms of arbovirus infection include a novel parvovirus and densovirus – E Fahsbender – PLoS One

Techniques

Intestinal Organoids: A Tool for Modelling Diet–Microbiome–Host Interactions – J Rubert – Trends in Endocrinology and Metabolism

Microbes in the news

Microbiome studies may require correction for PPI use – MD edge

As You Age, So Does Your Microbiome – Technology Networks

DuPont Nutrition & Biosciences and APC Microbiome Ireland on infant gut health project – Nutra Ingredients

The Role of Zinc: It’s More Important than You Think –  UMass Lowell

Microbiome Therapeutics Market to Make Great Impact in near Future by 2026 – Nyse News Times

Mapping Bacterial Neighborhoods in Gut – Mirage News

Non-microbe picks

Sorry, we’re open: Golden Open Access and inequality in the natural sciences – RJ Gray – bioRxiv

Quantifying and contextualizing the impact of bioRxiv preprints through automated social media audience segmentation – J Carlson – bioRxiv

Comparing quality of reporting between preprints and peer-reviewed articles in the biomedical literature – CFD Carneiro – bioRxiv

Studying the dynamics of the gut microbiota using metabolically stable isotopic labeling and metaproteomics – P Smyth – bioRxiv

March 10, 2020

Today’s digest features a study on the fecal microbiota transplantation and obesity, a comprehensive overview of the diversity and abundance of antibiotic resistance genes in migratory birds, and more. Happy reading!

Gut microbiome

*Fecal microbiota transplantation for the improvement of metabolism in obesity: The FMT-TRIM double-blind placebo-controlled pilot trial – Elaine W. Yu – PlosMedicine

Diet influences the functions of the human intestinal microbiome – Maria De Angelis — Scientific Reports

Bacillus coagulans SANK 70258 suppresses Enterobacteriaceae in the microbiota of ulcerative colitis in vitro and enhances butyrogenesis in healthy microbiota – Kengo Sasaki – Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

Mini review: Gut epithelial metabolism as a key driver of intestinal dysbiosis associated with noncommunicable diseases – Catherine D. Shelton and Mariana X. Byndloss – Infection and Immunity

Etiologic features of diarrheagenic microbes in stool specimens from patients with acute diarrhea in Thailand – Kazuhisa Okad – Scientific reports

Raman‐activated sorting of antibiotic‐resistant bacteria in human gut microbiota – Yi Wang – Environmental Microbiology

Animal microbiome

*Metagenomic analysis reveals the microbiome and resistome in migratory birds – Jian Cao – Microbiome

Lack of evidence for microbiota in the placental and fetal tissues of rhesus macaques – Kevin R. Theis – bioRxiv

Animal experiment

Diarrhoeal events can trigger long-term Clostridium difficile colonization with recurrent blooms – David VanInsberghe – Nature Microbiology

Plant/root/soil microbiome

Long-Term Phytoremediation of Coastal Saline Soil Reveals Plant Species-Specific Patterns of Microbial Community Recruitment – Xiaogai Wang – mSystems

Impact of Soil Microbial Amendments on Tomato Rhizosphere Microbiome and Plant Growth in Field Soil – Andrea Nuzzo – Microbial Ecology

Bioinformatics

DeepMAsED: Evaluating the quality of metagenomic assemblies– Olga Mineeva – Bioinformatics

A method for achieving complete microbial genomes and better quality bins from metagenomics data – Lauren M. Lui – bioRxiv

Estimating relative biomasses of organisms in microbiota using “phylopeptidomics” – Olivier Pible – Microbiome

March 5, 2020

Today’s Digest is heavy, so you might want to pace yourself. It’s hard to pick the highlights, but I’m biased towards fungal research, so first about a wake-up call to look at the fungi seriously. The insects might provide for remedy against antibiotic resistance and is the dust settled on the sparse fetal intestinal microbiota? Stay healthy and keep reading.

Event

Call for papers – Global Outbreaks and Responses – BMC Medicine

General microbiology

** Viewpoints: Fungal diseases as neglected pathogens: A wake-up call to public health officials – Marcio L. Rodrigues & Joshua D. Nosanchuk – PLoS NTD

Inducible cell-to-cell signaling for tunable dynamics in microbial communities – Arianna Miano et al. – Nature Communications

Antimicrobial resistance

** The insect antimicrobial peptide cecropin A disrupts uropathogenic Escherichia coli biofilms – Miriam Kalsy et al. – npj Biofilms and Microbiomes

Using comparative genomics to understand molecular features of carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii from South Korea causing invasive infections and their clinical implications – Min Hyung Kim – PLoS One

Factors associated with sufficient knowledge of antibiotics and antimicrobial resistance in the Japanese general population – Shinya Tsuzuki et al. – Scientific Reports

Faeces and vaccines could be the key to tackling antimicrobial resistance – Elisabeth Mahase – BMJ

A survey of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae in urban wetlands in southwestern Nigeria as a step towards generating prevalence maps of antimicrobial resistance – Olawale Olufemi Adelowo et al. – PLoS One

Pregnancy and early life

** Viable bacterial colonization is highly limited in the human intestine in utero – E. Rackaityte et al. – Nature Medicine

Perinatal Antibiotic Exposure Affects the Transmission between Maternal and Neonatal Microbiota and Is Associated with Early-Onset Sepsis – Ping Zhou et al. – mSphere

Combined analysis of microbial metagenomic and metatranscriptomic sequencing data to assess in situ physiological conditions in the premature infant gut – Yonatan Sher et al. – PLoS One

Human skin microbiome

A microbiome and metabolomic signature of phases of cutaneous healing identified by profiling sequential acute wounds of human skin: An exploratory study – Mohammed Ashrafi et al. – PLoS One

Human oral microbiome

Review: Single-Cell Genomics and the Oral Microbiome – M. Balachandran et al. – Journal of Dental Research

Insights Obtained by Culturing Saccharibacteria With Their Bacterial Hosts – B. Bor et al. – Journal of Dental Research

Electronic Cigarette Aerosol Modulates the Oral Microbiome and Increases Risk of Infection – Smruti Pushalkar et al. – iScience

Press: Oral Microbiome Changes Implicated in Gum Inflammation in E-Cigarette Users – GenomeWeb

In vitro: A salivary metabolite signature that reflects gingival host-microbe interactions: instability predicts gingivitis susceptibility – Marcela M. Fernandez-Gutierrez et al. – Scientific Reports

Human respiratory microbiome

Review: The Role of Lung and Gut Microbiota in the Pathology of Asthma – Weronika Barcik et al. – Immunity

Cancer and microbiome

Endogenous murine microbiota member Faecalibaculum rodentium and its human homologue protect from intestinal tumour growth – Elena Zagato et al. – Nature Microbiology

Escherichia coli adhesion portion FimH functions as an adjuvant for cancer immunotherapy – Wei Zhang et al. – Nature Communications

Temporal changes in gut microbiota profile in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia prior to commencement-, during-, and post-cessation of chemotherapy – Ling Ling Chua et al. – BMC Cancer

Review: Interplay between Dietary Polyphenols and Oral and Gut Microbiota in the Development of Colorectal Cancer – Carolina Cueva & Mariana Silva – Nutrients

Human gut microbiome

In vitro: Short-term supplementation of celecoxib-shifted butyrate production on a simulated model of the gut microbial ecosystem and ameliorated in vitro inflammation – Emma Hernandez-Sanabria et al. – npj Biofilms and Microbiomes

Review: Crosstalk Between Gut Microbiota and Innate Immunity and Its Implication in Autoimmune Diseases – Yuhao Jiao et al. – Frontiers in Immunology

An empirically derived method for measuring human gut microbiome alpha diversity: Demonstrated utility in predicting health-related outcomes among a human clinical sample – Sarah L. Hagerty et al. – PLoS One

Proof-of-concept study of the efficacy of a microbiota-directed complementary food formulation (MDCF) for treating moderate acute malnutrition – Ishita Mostafa et al. – BMC Public Health

Microbiota as Predictor of Mortality in Allogeneic Hematopoietic-Cell Transplantation – Jonathan U. Peled et al. – New England Journal of Medicine

Human multi-site microbiome

Age-Related Variation of Bacterial and Fungal Communities in Different Body Habitats across the Young, Elderly, and Centenarians in Sardinia – Lu Wu et al. – mSphere

Response of the human gut and saliva microbiome to urbanization in Cameroon – Ana Lokmer et al. – Scientific Reports

The gut-microbiota-brain axis

Therapeutic Effects of the In Vitro Cultured Human Gut Microbiota as Transplants on Altering Gut Microbiota and Improving Symptoms Associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder – Kainan Chen et al. – Microbial Ecology

Built environment microbiome

A preliminary study on the potential of Nanopore MinION and Illumina MiSeq 16S rRNA gene sequencing to characterize building-dust microbiomes – Anders B. Nygaard et al. – Scientific Reports

Metabolomics

Spatial metabolomics of in situ host–microbe interactions at the micrometre scale – Benedikt Geier et al. – Nature Microbiology

Global chemical effects of the microbiome include new bile-acid conjugations – Robert A. Quinn et al. – Nature

Animal experiments

PM2.5 exposure perturbs lung microbiome and its metabolic profile in mice – Jingli Li et al. – Science of the Total Environment

Growth hormone deficiency and excess alter the gut microbiome in adult male mice – Elizabeth A Jensen et al. – Endocrinology

Dissociation of Adaptive Thermogenesis from Glucose Homeostasis in Microbiome-Deficient Mice – Tibor L. Krisko et al. – Cell Metabolism

Fecal IgA Levels Are Determined by Strain-Level Differences in Bacteroides ovatus and Are Modifiable by Gut Microbiota Manipulation – Chao Yang et al. – Cell Host & Microbe

Animal microbiome

Can rumen bacteria communicate to each other? – Mi-Young Won et al. – Microbiome

Entomopathogenic nematode-associated microbiota: from monoxenic paradigm to pathobiome – Jean-Claude Ogier et al. – Microbiome

The canine oral microbiome: variation in bacterial populations across different niches – Avika Ruparell et al. – BMC Microbiology

Evolutionary analysis of Mycobacterium bovis genotypes across Africa suggests co-evolution with livestock and humans – Osvaldo Frederico Inlamea et al. – PLoS NTD

Nanopore sequencing of microbial communities reveals the potential role of sea lice as a reservoir for fish pathogens – Ana Teresa Gonçalves et al. – Scientific Reports

Plant, root and soil microbiome

Insights on aquatic microbiome of the Indian Sundarbans mangrove areas – Paltu Kumar Dhal et al. – PLoS One

Ganoderma lucidum cultivation affect microbial community structure of soil, wood segments and tree roots – Fei Ren et al. – Scientific Reports

Effect of long-term destocking on soil fungal functional groups and interactions with plants – Jie Wang et al. – Plant and Soil

Comparative Analysis of Root Microbiomes of Rice Cultivars with High and Low Methane Emissions Reveals Differences in Abundance of Methanogenic Archaea and Putative Upstream Fermenters – Zachary Liechty et al. – mSystems

Fungal diversity and community composition of wheat rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere soils from three different agricultural production regions of South Africa – Magalane Pheladi Gqozo et al. – Applied Soil Ecology

Microbial and volatile profiling of soils suppressive to Fusarium culmorum of wheat – Adam Ossowicki & Vittorio Tracanna et al. – Proceedings of the Royal Society B

Industrial development as a key factor explaining variances in soil and grass phyllosphere microbiomes in urban green spaces – Zhen-Zhen Yan et al. – Environmental Pollution

Plant communities mediate the interactive effects of invasion and drought on soil microbial communities – Catherine Fahey et al. – The ISME Journal

Water and extremophile microbiome

Methyl t-butyl ether-degrading bacteria for bioremediation and biocontrol purposes – Giada d’Errico et al. – PLoS One

Uncovering microbial responses to sharp geochemical gradients in a terrace contaminated by acid mine drainage – Rui Xu et al. – Environmental Pollution

Snapshot: Microbial Extremophiles – Amy K. Schmid et al. – Cell

Denitrification performance and microbial communities of solid-phase denitrifying reactors using poly (butylene succinate)/bamboo powder composite – Wanhe Qi et al. – Bioresource Technology

Meta-omics Provides Insights into the Impact of Hydrocarbon Contamination on Microbial Mat Functioning – Johanne Aubé et al. – Microbial Ecology

Role of microbial diversity for sustainable pyrite oxidation control in acid and metalliferous drainage prevention – Omy T. Ogbughalu et al. – Journal of Hazardous Materials

Phages and viruses

** Coronavirus research highlights – BMC

Fecal Viral Community Responses to High-Fat Diet in Mice – Anjelique Schulfer et al. – mSphere

Technology

Rapid MinION profiling of preterm microbiota and antimicrobial-resistant pathogens – Richard M. Leggett et al. – Nature Microbiology

Assembly-free single-molecule sequencing recovers complete virus genomes from natural microbial communities – John Beaulaurier et al. – Genome Research

Bioinformatics

Rapid inference of antibiotic resistance and susceptibility by genomic neighbour typing – Karel Břinda et al. – Nature Microbiology

Microbes in the news

Tough microbe’s DNA could be a lasting archive – Steve Nadis – Science

How Bacteria Can ‘Sculpt The Gut’ – Maya Trabulsi – KPBS

The bee microbiome can fight back against fungi that cause Colony Collapse Disorder – Lauren Sara McKee – Massive Science

Ancient gut microbiomes shed light on human evolution – Newswise

Launch of the Marine Microbiome Roadmap – NIOZ

Understanding Microbiome Resilience on a Changing Planet – Michigan State University

Adaptations in gut microbes helped our ancestors thrive in new geographical territories: Study – New Kerala

Scientists Announce VIRGO, First Comprehensive Gene Catalog To Decode the Vaginal Microbiome – PR Newswire

Metabolomics Reveals Connection Between Gut Microbiome and Blood – Metabolon

Study shows universally positive effect of cover crops on soil microbiome – Phys.org

New Center of Microbiome Science is in the works at Ohio State – Emily Caldwell – Ohio State University News

Common diseases may be communicable through microbiome, says UBC researcher – Stephanie Blain – The Ubyssey

The microbes in your mouth, and a reminder to floss and go to the dentist – Science Daily

For Your Microbiome, How You Eat Could Be As Important As What You Eat – Technology Networks

Study: Infectious gut bacteria may predict UTI risk – Sue Treiman – Cornell Chronicle

The Best Way to Avoid Getting Sick Is to Wash Your Hands — But You’re Probably Doing It Wrong – Bojana Galic – Live Strong

Microbes on the market

DuPont carries on microbiome momentum with metabolic disease collaboration – Will Chu – Nutraingredients

Non-microbiology picks

Invest 5% of research funds in ensuring data are reusable – Barend Mons – Nature

 

February 21, 2020

This Friday, read about the potential influence of microbiomes in hominin evolution, gut microbiome in patients with Sjögren’s syndrome, new antibiotics discovered through comparative genomics, and more. Happy reading!

General microbiome

*The Internal, External and Extended Microbiomes of Hominins – Robert R. Dunn – Front. Ecol. Evol.

A Deep Learning Approach to Antibiotic Discovery– Jonathan M. Stokes – Cell

Review: Next-generation physiology approaches to study microbiome function at single cell level – Roland Hatzenpichler – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Patterns of partnership: surveillance and mimicry in host-microbiota mutualisms – Travis J Wiles & Karen Guillemin – Current Opinion in Microbiology

Review: Innovative and rapid antimicrobial susceptibility testing systems – Alex van Belkum – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Gut microbiome

*Gut dysbiosis is prevailing in Sjögren’s syndrome and is related to dry eye severity– Jayoon Moon – PlosOne

Review: Healthy Human Gastrointestinal Microbiome: Composition and Function After a Decade of Exploration – Wenly Ruan – Digestive Diseases and Sciences

Review: Gut microbiota-derived metabolites as key actors in inflammatory bowel disease– Aonghus Lavelle & Harry Sokol – Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology

Review: Microbiome in Colorectal Cancer: How to Get from Meta-omics to Mechanism?–Dominik Ternes – Trends in Microbiology

Urinary microbiome

Review: Urinary tract infections: microbial pathogenesis, host–pathogen interactions and new treatment strategies – Roger D. Klein & Scott J. Hultgren – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Vaginal microbiome

The microbiome and gynaecological cancer development, prevention and therapy – Paweł Łaniewski – Nature Reviews Urology

Animal microbiome

Coordinated transformation of the gut microbiome and lipidome of bowhead whales provides novel insights into digestion – Carolyn A. Miller – The ISME Journal

Animal experiment

*Evolution-guided discovery of antibiotics that inhibit peptidoglycan remodelling – Elizabeth J. Culp – Nature

The Gene Expression Profile of Uropathogenic Escherichia coli in Women with Uncomplicated Urinary Tract Infections Is Recapitulated in the Mouse Model – Arwen E. Frick-Cheng – bioRxiv

Sustained IFN-I stimulation impairs MAIT cell responses to bacteria by inducing IL-10 during chronic HIV-1 infection – X. Tang – Science Advance

Bioinformatics

Microbial resolution of whole genome shotgun and 16S amplicon metagenomic sequencing using publicly available NEON data– Kyle D. Brumfield – PlosOne

Viruses & Phages

Respiratory viruses in mechanically ventilated patients: a pilot study – Raquel Nazareth – BMC Pulmonary Medicine

February 12, 2020

This Wednesday, read about the microbiome in “flammable ice”, gastric bypass surgery in a rat model, virulence genes of the coral reef phage, and more. Happy reading!

Gut microbiome

Changes in microbiome and metabolomic profiles of fecal samples stored with stabilizing solution at room temperature: a pilot study– Mi Young Lim — Scientific Reports

Fecal microbiota transplantation to maintain remission in Crohn’s disease: a pilot randomized controlled study – Harry Soko – Microbiome

Identification of Clostridioides difficile-Inhibiting Gut Commensals Using Culturomics, Phenotyping, and Combinatorial Community Assembly – Sudeep Ghimire – mySystems

Neonatal microbiota development and the effect of early life antibiotics are determined by two distinct settler types – Anat Eck – plosOne

Oral Microbiome

Patterns of Oral Microbiota Diversity in Adults and Children: A Crowdsourced Population Study – Zachary M. Burcham – Scientific Reports

Sub-species niche specialization in the oral microbiome is associated with nasopharyngeal carcinoma risk – Justine W. Debelius – bioRxiv

Animal experiments

*Gastric bypass surgery in a rat model alters the community structure and functional composition of the intestinal microbiota independently of weight loss – Sven-Bastiaan Haange – Microbiome

Growth phase-dependent responses of an in vitro gut microbiome to metformin – Zikai Hao – bioRxiv

Ursolic acid improves the bacterial community mapping of the intestinal tract in liver fibrosis mice – Sizhe Wan – bioRxiv

Animal microbiome

Beef cattle that respond differently to fescue toxicosis have distinct gastrointestinal tract microbiota – Lucas R Koester – bioRxiv

Variation in gut bacterial composition is associated with Haemonchus contortus parasite infection of sheep – Md. Abdullah Al Mamun – Animal microbiome

Water microbiome

Microbial diversity, ecological networks and functional traits associated to materials used in drinking water distribution systems – Isabel Douterelo – Water Research

Diverse Arctic lake sediment microbiota shape methane emission temperature sensitivity – Joanne B. Emerson – bioRxiv

Coral microbiome composition along the northern Red Sea suggests high plasticity of bacterial and specificity of endosymbiotic dinoflagellate communities – Eslam O. Osman – Microbiome

Extremophile microbiome

*Evidence in the Japan Sea of microdolomite mineralization within gas hydrate microbiomes – Glen T. Snyder – Scientific Reports

Textile waste and microplastic induce activity and development of unique hydrocarbon-degrading marine bacterial communities – Elsa B. Girard – bioRxiv

Plant/root/soil microbiome

Maize (Zea mays L. Sp.) varieties significantly influence bacterial and fungal community in bulk soil, rhizosphere soil, and phyllosphere – Xiao Kong – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

A Small Effort for Researchers, a Big Gain for Soil Metaproteomics– Marco Chiapello – Frontiers in Microbiology

Viruses and phages

*Genomic and ecological attributes of marine bacteriophages encoding bacterial virulence genes – Cynthia B. Silveira – BMC Genomics

Profiling of Human Gut Virome with Oxford Nanopore Technology – Jiabao Cao – bioRxiv

Bioinformatics

MICHELINdb: a web-based tool for mining of helminth-microbiota interaction datasets, and a meta-analysis of current research – Riccardo Scotti – Microbiome