Category Archives: Metagenomics & Bioinformatics

December 2, 2016

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Role of microbiome in an animal model of Parkinson’s disease, benchmarking reveals false discoveries in microbiome studies, the microbes of Patagonia, and the new uBiome blog.

The  uBiome blog

* Handshakes: Sharing the Love, Sharing the Microbes – Julie Taylor – uBiome

Jobs

Assistant Professor in Microbial Systems Biology at U. Tennessee, Knoxville – MicroBE.net

Human vaginal microbiome

Informativeness of NGS Analysis for Vaginal Fluid Identification – Saverio Giampaoli – Journal of Forensic Sciences

Animal models

* Gut Microbiota Regulate Motor Deficits and Neuroinflammation in a Model of Parkinson’s Disease – Timothy R. Sampson – Cell

News: Axial Biotherapeutics Announces the Groundbreaking Discovery of a Biological Link Between the Gut Microbiome and Parkinson’s Disease Published in Cell – Businesswire
Gut check: Newest microbiome startup concentrates on autism, Parkinson’s disease – John Carroll – Endpoints News

Multiple paternity in a wild population of Armadillidium vulgare: influence of infection with Wolbachia? – V. Valette – Journal of Evolutionary Biology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Field-grown transgenic switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) with altered lignin does not affect soil chemistry, microbiology, and carbon storage potential – Jennifer M. DeBruyn – GCB Bioenergy

Vertical zonation of soil fungal community structure in a Korean pine forest on Changbai Mountain, China – World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology

* Book: Biology and Biotechnology of Patagonian Microorganisms – Editors: Nelda Lila Olivera, Diego Libkind, Edgardo Donati – Springer

Bioinformatics

* Large-scale benchmarking reveals false discoveries and count transformation sensitivity in 16S rRNA gene amplicon data analysis methods used in microbiome studies – Jonathan Thorsen – Microbiome

Microreact: visualizing and sharing data for genomic epidemiology and phylogeography – Silvia Argimón – Microbial Genomics

More microbiology

Quest for Ancestors of Eukaryal Cells Based on Phylogenetic Analyses of Aminoacyl-tRNA Synthetases – Ryutaro Furukawa – Journal of Molecular Evolution

The plastid genome of some eustigmatophyte algae harbours a bacteria-derived six-gene cluster for biosynthesis of a novel secondary metabolite – Tatiana Yurchenko – Open Biology

High levels of antibiotic tolerance and persistence are induced by the commercial anti-microbial triclosan – Corey S Westfall – bioRxiv

Microbes in the news

A citizen science project studying the microorganisms fauna found at the tip of our tongue – Euroscientist

Knowledge of skin microbiome provides insights into dermatological conditions – Skin microbes perform harmful and beneficial functions – Louise Gagnon – Dermatology Times

Digital Microbes Could Give More Insight into Gut Health – Nutrition Horizon

Healthy Gut, Healthy Brain? Microbes and Brain Health Under the Microscope During Mind, Mood & Microbes Conference – PR Newswire

Doctors warn about lung illness attributed to bacteria in showers and hot baths – Catherine Bosley – Cleveland19

Microbes on the market

Microbiome CNS upstart launches with $19.15M Series A – Ben Adams – Fierce Biotech

Boston startup hopes to use bacteria to treat autism – Robert Weisman

November 30, 2016

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Microbiota-mitochondria crosstalk in Crohn’s Disease, is there a brain microbiome, Akkermansia proteins, Koala retroviruses, New York City park soil microbiomes, gift-giving insects, mud volcanos, 2.5 billion-year-old microbial fossils.

Events

The Gut Institute Microbiome Event in Berkeley, 10/11 December– Gut Institute

General microbiome

Microbial Ecology: Where are we now? – Lisa A. Boughner – Journal of Postdoctoral Research

Human respiratory microbiome

Common Lung Microbiome Identified among Mechanically Ventilated Surgical Patients – Ashley D. Smith – PLOS ONE

Human skin microbiome

Towards a bacterial treatment for armpit malodour – Chris Callewaert – Experimental Dermatology

Review: Establishing Tolerance to Commensal Skin Bacteria: Timing Is Everything – Tiffany C. Scharschmidt – Dermatologic Clinics

Human microbes in (nearly) sterile sites

* Lots of extraction controls in this study, but they were not sequenced, and hard to accept there are thriving bacterial communities in our brain: Brain microbiota disruption within inflammatory demyelinating lesions in multiple sclerosis – W. G. Branton – Scientific Reports

Human gut microbiome

* Altered intestinal microbiota–host mitochondria crosstalk in new onset Crohn’s disease – Walid Mottawea – Nature Communications

Changes in Intestinal Microbiota Following Combination Therapy with Fecal Microbial Transplantation and Antibiotics for Ulcerative Colitis – Dai Ishikawa – Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

Urinary metabolomics of young Italian autistic children supports abnormal tryptophan and purine metabolism – Federica Gevi – Molecular Autism

Review: Interaction of gut microbiota with bile acid metabolism and its influence on disease states – Christopher Staley – Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

Animal and in vitro models

* A purified membrane protein from Akkermansia muciniphila or the pasteurized bacterium improves metabolism in obese and diabetic mice – Hubert Plovier – Nature Medicine

Stable Host Gene Expression in the Gut of Adult Drosophila melanogaster with Different Bacterial Mono-Associations – Carolyn Elya – PLOS ONE

Checks and balances – microbiota shifts in immunosuppressed mice – W. Florian Fricke – Transplantation

Dual-specificity phosphatase 6 deficiency regulates gut microbiome and transcriptome response against diet-induced obesity in mice – Jhen-Wei Ruan – Nature Microbiology

Short Chain Fatty Acids Prevent High-fat-diet-induced Obesity in Mice by Regulating G Protein-coupled Receptors and Gut Microbiota – Yuanyuan Lu – Scientific Reports

Effect of antibiotic pre-treatment and pathogen challenge on the intestinal microbiota in mice – Tadasu Iizumi – Gut Pathogens

Fecal microbiota manipulation prevents dysbiosis and alcohol-induced liver injury in mice – Gladys Ferrere – Journal of Hematology

Impact of red meat consumption on the metabolome of rats – Louise M. A. Jakobsen – Molecular Nutrition & Food Research

11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase-1 deficiency alters the gut microbiome response to western diet – Jethro S Johnson – Journal of Endocrinology

Microbiota induces expression of tumor necrosis factor in postnatal mouse skin – D. V. Yuzhakova – Biochemistry (Moscow)

Animal microbiome

* Phylogenetic diversity of Koala Retrovirus within a Wild Koala Population – K.J. Chappell – Journal of Virology

* Partitioning the effects of mating and nuptial feeding on the microbiome in gift-giving insects – Chad C. Smith – Environmental Microbiology Reports

The stable microbiome of inter and sub-tidal anemone species under increasing pCO2 – Erinn M. Muller – Scientific Reports

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

* Urban park soil microbiomes are a rich reservoir of natural product biosynthetic diversity – Zachary Charlop-Powers – PNAS

News: Metagenomics Hints at Natural Product Potential of Microbes in New York City Parks – Genome Web
Study: New York City Dirt Rich in Bacteria Related to Medical Treatments – Robert Lee Hotz

* Sulfur-oxidizing bacteria prior to the Great Oxidation Event from the 2.52 Ga Gamohaan Formation of South Africa -Andrew D. Czaja – Geology

Geologist uncovers 2.5 billion-year-old fossils of bacteria that predate the formation of oxygen – Phys.org

Direct evidence for microbial-derived soil organic matter formation and its ecophysiological controls – Cynthia M. Kallenbach – Nature Communications

Evidence for Ecological Flexibility in the Cosmopolitan Genus Curtobacterium – Alexander B. Chase – Frontiers in Microbiology

Molecular phylogeny, diversity, community structure, and plant growth promoting properties of fungal endophytes associated with the corms of saffron plant: An insight into the microbiome of Crocus sativus Linn. – Zahoor Ahmed Wani – Fungal Biology

Host and tissue variation overshadow the response of boreal moss-associated fungal communities to increased nitrogen load – Marie L. Davey – Molecular Ecology

Responses of Methanogenic and Methanotrophic Communities to Elevated Atmospheric CO2 and Temperature in a Paddy Field – Yuan Liu – Frontiers in Microbiology

Microbial community structure of surface sediments from a tropical estuarine environment using next generation sequencing – Lidita Khandeparker – Ecological Indicators

Fungal endophytic communities associated to the phyllosphere of grapevine cultivars under different types of management – Carla Marisa Reis Varanda – Fungal Biology

Shifting patterns of microbial N-metabolism across seasons in upland Alaskan tundra soils – Shawna McMahon – Soil Biology and Biochemistry

Disruption of plant-soil-microbial relationships influences plant growth – Daniel P. Keymer – Journal of Ecology

Review: Rhizobial diversity and function in rooibos (Aspalathus linearis) and honeybush (Cyclopia spp.) plants: A review – C. Brink – South African Journal of Botany

Water and extremophile microbiome

Landscape-scale spatial abundance distributions discriminate core from random components of boreal lake bacterioplankton – Juan Pablo Niño-García – Ecology Letters

Diversity and Distribution of Phenol Oxidase Producing Fungi from Soda Lake and Description of Curvularia lonarensis sp. nov. – Rahul Sharma – Frontiers in Microbiology

Hydrocarbon degraders establish at the costs of microbial richness, abundance and keystone taxa after crude oil contamination in permafrost environments – Sizhong Yang – Scientific Reports

* Comparative study of Dushanzi and Baiyanggou mud volcano microbial communities in Junggar Basin in Xinjiang, China – Zhiyong Huang – International Research Journal of Public and Environmental Health

Habitat generalists and specialists in microbial communities across a terrestrial-freshwater gradient – C. Monard – Scientific Reports

Review: Sources of Antibiotics: Hot springs – Girish B. Mahajan – Biochemical Pharmacology

Metagenomics and bioinformatics

Variability in Metagenomic Count Data and Its Influence on the Identification of Differentially Abundant Genes – Jonsson Viktor – Journal of Computational Biology

Alignment-free Transcriptomic and Metatranscriptomic Comparison Using Sequencing Signatures with Variable Length Markov Chains – Weinan Liao – Scientific Reports

Techniques

The Oxford Nanopore MinION: delivery of nanopore sequencing to the genomics community – Miten Jain – Genome Biology

Microbes in the news

The “Internet Of Food,” DNA Testing, And The Quest For The Perfect Diet – Fastcompany

Geologist uncovers 2.5 billion-year-old fossils of bacteria that predate the formation of oxygen – Phys.org

Major finding identifies nitrogen as key driver for gut health – Knowridge

Each animal species hosts a unique microbial community and benefits from it – David Salisbury – Vanderbilt University News

In Brazil, prestigious scientific journal “Nature Communications” focuses on Adventist lifestyle – Felipe Lemos – Adventist

Genes, early environment sculpt the gut microbiome – Science Daily

OpenBiome Now Stores Your Stool In Case of C. difficile Infection – Gastroenterology and Endoscopy News

November 28, 2016

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Chronic rhinosinusitis, quantification of vaginal lactobacilli, intestinal nitrogen constraints, the eelgrass microbiome, microbes under lake ice.

Human respiratory microbiome

* Classification of Chronic Rhinosinusitis—Working Toward Personalized Diagnosis – Adam S. DeConde – Otolaryngologic Clinics of North America
Bacterial Pathogens and the Microbiome – Thad W. Vickery – Otolaryngologic Clinics of North America

 
Human skin microbiome

Comment on “Skin Microbiome Surveys Are Strongly Influenced by Experimental Design” – Patrick L.J.M. Zeeuwen – Journal of Investigative Dermatology

Establishing Tolerance to Commensal Skin Bacteria: Timing Is Everything – Tiffany C. Scharschmidt – Dermatologic Clinics

Human vaginal microbiome

* A novel real-time PCR assay for highly specific detection and quantification of vaginal lactobacilli – Vladimir V. Demkin – Molecular and Cellular Probes

Human gut microbiome

Review: Interaction of gut microbiota with bile acid metabolism and its influence on disease states – Christopher Staley – Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

Review: Microbes Dress for Success: Tolerance or Resistance? – Janelle S. Ayres – Trends in Microbiology

* Review: Diet-Microbiome Interactions in Health Are Controlled by Intestinal Nitrogen Source Constraints – Andrew J. Holmes – Cell Metabolism

Animal models

The gut microbiota in young and middle-aged rats showed different responses to chicken protein in their diet – Yingying Zhu – BMC Microbiology

The Drosophila transcriptional network is structured by microbiota – Adam J. Dobson – BMC Genomics

Review: Norovirus Regulation by Host and Microbe – Megan T. Baldridge – Trends in Molecular Medicine

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

* Global-scale structure of the eelgrass microbiome – Ashkaan K Fahimipour – bioRxiv

Rapid bacteria identification from environmental mining samples using MALDI-TOF MS analysis – Ingrid Regina Avanzi – Environmental Science and Pollution Research

Comparative analysis of bacterial diversity in the rhizosphere of tomato by culture-dependent and -independent approaches – Shin Ae Lee – Journal of Microbiology

Soil pH and electrical conductivity are key edaphic factors shaping bacterial communities of greenhouse soils in Korea – Jeong Myeong Kim – Journal of Microbiology

Chemical, organic and bio-fertilizer management practices effect on soil physicochemical property and antagonistic bacteria abundance of a cotton field: Implications for soil biological quality – Rui Li – Soil and Tillage Research

Water and extremophile microbiome

* Ecology under lake ice – Stephanie E. Hampton – Ecology Letters

Food microbiology

Dynamics of bacterial communities during manufacture and ripening of traditional Caciocavallo of Castelfranco cheese in relation to cows’ feeding – Marina Giello – Food Microbiology

Metagenomics and bioinformatics

MetaMIS: a metagenomic microbial interaction simulator based on microbial community profiles – Grace Tzun-Wen Shaw – BMC Bioinformatics

Metabolomics

Metabolomic profile of children with recurrent respiratory infections – Sara Bozzetto – Pharmacological Research

Microbes in the news

Infant Microbiome: Vaginal Delivery Versus C-Section – Jef Akst – The Scientist

I did not get the first part of this title. Michael Pollan didn’t invent microbiome research, he’s a demagogue: Set of 15 bacterial species protects mice from Salmonella as effectively as natural gut microbiota – Doug Powell – Barfblog

Surprise: Probiotics Don’t Do Much At All For Our Gastrointestinal Health – Drew Smith – Forbes

#BacteriaArePlural: Ravenous Bacteria Eats Poop and Produces Power – Rhett Jones – Gizmodo

Gut bacteria study could lead to new Crohn’s treatments, researchers say – CBC News

Hospital Microbiology Testing Market Positive Long-Term Growth Outlook 2016 – 2024 – Digital Journal

Bik’s Non-Microbiology Picks

Researchers discover most winter boots are too slippery to walk safely on icy surfaces – EurekAlert

 

November 25, 2016

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Human multisite microbiome (of dead bodies)

Thesis: Understanding the relationship between the human microbiome and urban decay/recovery among autopsied adults in Detroit, Michigan – Amanda T. Rzotkiewicz – Michigan State University

Human oral microbiome

The autoimmunity–oral microbiome connection – NG Nikitakis – Oral Diseases

Human reproductive and urinary tract microbiome

Potential contribution of the uterine microbiome in the development of endometrial cancer – Marina R. S. Walther-António – Genome Medicine

Proinflammatory Cytokines as Regulators of Vaginal Microbiota – E. A. Kremleva – Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine

Seven Bacteriophages Isolated from the Female Urinary Microbiota – Kema Malkia – Genome Announcements

Human gut microbiome

Altered intestinal microbiota–host mitochondria crosstalk in new onset Crohn’s disease – Walid Mottawea – Scientific Reports

Metagenomics of two severe foodborne outbreaks provides diagnostic signatures and signs of co-infection not attainable by traditional methods – Andrew D. Huang – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Review: Gut Microbiota and Autism: Key Concepts and Findings – Helen T. Din – Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders

Review: Intestinal Microbiota as an Alternative Therapeutic Target for Epilepsy – Jiaying Wu – Canadian Journal of Infectious Diseases and Medical Microbiology

Review: Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A gut microbiota-related disorder? – Yogesh Bhattarai – American Journal of Physiology – Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology

Review: Gut Microbiota, Bacterial Translocation, and Interactions with Diet: Pathophysiological Links between Major Depressive Disorder and Non-Communicable Medical Comorbidities – Slyepchenko A. – Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics

Review: Microbiome, metabolites and host immunity – Maayan Levy – Current Opinion in Microbiology

Animal and in vitro models

* Persistent microbiome alterations modulate the rate of post-dieting weight regain – Christoph A. Thaiss – Nature

Press: Yo-yo weight gain driven by gut bacteria’s ‘memory’ of obesity, says study – Hannah Devlin – The Guardian
Breakthrough in Dieting Science: Gut Bacteria Are Behind Relapsing Obesity – Ido Efrati and Ruth Schuster – Haaretz

Effects of a gut pathobiont in a gnotobiotic mouse model of childhood undernutrition – Vitas E. Wagner – Science Translational Medicine

Antibiotics impair murine hematopoiesis by depleting intestinal microbiota – Kamilla S. Josefsdottir – Blood

Pre- and post-weaning diet alters the faecal metagenome in the cat with differences vitamin and carbohydrate metabolism gene abundances – Wayne Young – Scientific Reports

Mucosa-associated biohydrogenating microbes protect the simulated colon microbiome from stress associated with high concentrations of poly-unsaturated fat – Rosemarie De Weirdt – Environmental Microbiology

Differential fecal microbiota are retained in broiler chicken lines divergently selected for fatness traits – Qiangchuan Hou – Scientific Reports

Evolutionary biologic changes of gut microbiota in an ‘adenoma-carcinoma sequence’ mouse colorectal cancer model induced by 1, 2-Dimethylhydrazine – Teng Sun – Oncotarget

Mini review: All Together Now: Experimental Multispecies Biofilm Model Systems – Chuan Hao Tan – Environmental Microbiology

Animal microbiome

The stable microbiome of inter and sub-tidal anemone species under increasing pCO2 – Erinn M. Muller – Scientific Reports

An Enrichment of CRISPR and Other Defense-Related Features in Marine Sponge-Associated Microbial Metagenomes – Hannes Horn – Frontiers in Microbiology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Soil Bacterial Community Response to Short-Term Manipulation of the Nitrogen Deposition Form and Dose in a Chinese Fir Plantation in Southern China – Caixia Liu – Water, Air, & Soil Pollution

Microbial community composition but not diversity changes along succession in arctic sand dunes – Anbu Poosakkannu – Environmental Microbiology

Soil-covered strategy for ecological restoration alters the bacterial community structure and predictive energy metabolic functions in mine tailings profiles – Yang Li – Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

Contrasting effects of two mammalian soil engineers on microbial communities – David J. Eldridge – Austral Ecology

* Habitat-driven variation in mycorrhizal communities in the terrestrial orchid genus Dactylorhiza – Hans Jacquemyn – Scientific Reports

 * Are there keystone mycorrhizal fungi associated to tropical epiphytic orchids? – Stefania Cevallos – Mycorrhiza

Water and extremophile microbiome

Stromatolites from the Aptian Crato Formation, a hypersaline lake system in the Araripe Basin, northeastern Brazil – Lucas Veríssimo Warren – Facies

Diversity, abundance, and possible sources of fecal bacteria in the Yangtze River – Haohao Sun – Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

Climate-related changes of soil characteristics affect bacterial community composition and function of high altitude and latitude lakes – Carina Rofner – Global Change Biology

Viruses and phages

Ultrastructure and Viral Metagenome of Bacteriophages from an Anaerobic Methane Oxidizing Methylomirabilis Bioreactor Enrichment Culture – Lavinia Gambelli – Frontiers in Microbiology

Seven Bacteriophages Isolated from the Female Urinary Microbiota – Kema Malkia – Genome Announcements

Metabolomics

The role of metabolism (and the microbiome) in defining the clinical efficacy of dietary flavonoids – Aedín Cassidy – The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

Metagenomics and bioinformatics

Alignment-free Transcriptomic and Metatranscriptomic Comparison Using Sequencing Signatures with Variable Length Markov Chains – Weinan Liao – Scientific Reports

Techniques

ITS all right mama: investigating the formation of chimeric sequences in the ITS2 region by DNA metabarcoding analyses of fungal mock communities of different complexities –
Anders Bjørnsgaard Aas – Molecular Ecology Resources

Microbes in the news

Stockholmers’ poop wanted in fight against drug-resistant bacteria – RT

The modern microbiome: Are we undoing evolution? – Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello – ASM Cultures

PhD student finds surprising secret to detecting staph infections earlier – Breanne Grady – USC News

November 19, 2016

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

General microbiome

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

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

Human skin and wound microbiology

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

Human gut microbiome

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

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

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

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

Microbes in blood, urine, and tissue

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

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

Animal experiments

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

Animal microbiome

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

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

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Water and pollution microbiome

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

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

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

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

Air microbiology

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

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

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

Food and cannabis microbiology

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

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

Bioinformatics

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

More microbiology

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

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

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

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

Microbes in the news

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

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

This bacteria is getting harder for kids to fight – Mashable

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

Worrying traces of resistant bacteria in air – EurekAlert

 

Science, publishing, and career

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

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

 

 

 

November 17, 2016

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Sepsis diagnosis through fecal gases, colonic lesion detection, microbiological map of the horse GI tract, beachgrass invasion, thromobolites.

Pregnancy and early life

Detection of Sepsis in Preterm Infants by Fecal Volatile Organic Compounds Analysis: A Proof of Principle StudyDetection of Sepsis in Preterm Infants by Fecal Volatile Organic Compounds Analysis: A Proof of Principle Study – Berkhout, Daniel J.C. – Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition

Human gut microbiome

DNA from fecal immunochemical test can replace stool for detection of colonic lesions using a microbiota-based model – Nielson T. Baxter – Microbiome

Disturbances of the Perioperative Microbiome Across Multiple Body Sites in Patients Undergoing Pancreaticoduodenectomy – Rogers, Matthew B. – Pancreas

Animal experiments

Lactobacillus salivarius Isolated from Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis Suppresses Collagen-Induced Arthritis and Increases Treg Frequency in Mice – Liu Xiaofei – Journal of Interferon & Cytokine Research

Animal microbiome

Horse: A Microbiological Map of the Healthy Equine Gastrointestinal Tract – Aaron C. Ericsson – PLOS ONE

Scallop: Characterization of the microbiota associated to Pecten maximus gonads using 454-pyrosequencing – Aide Lasa – International Microbiology

Catfish: Ontogenetic Characterization of the Intestinal Microbiota of Channel Catfish through 16S rRNA Gene Sequencing Reveals Insights on Temporal Shifts and the Influence of Environmental Microbes – Jacob W. Bledsoe – PLOS ONE

Bacteria discovery offers possible new means of controlling crop pest – Phys.org

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Combined effects of reduced irrigation and water quality on the soil microbial community of a citrus orchard under semi-arid conditions – F. Bastida – Soil Biology and Biochemistry

Seasonality and partitioning of root allocation to rhizosphere soils in a midlatitude forest – Rose Z. Abramoff – Ecosphere

Beachgrass invasion in coastal dunes is mediated by soil microbes and lack of disturbance dependence – Aaron S. David – Ecosphere

Thirty-one years of rice-rice-green manure rotations shape the rhizosphere microbial community and enrich beneficial bacteria – Xiaoxia Zhang – Soil Biology and Biochemistry

Points of View: Dinner in the dark: Illuminating drivers of soil organic matter decomposition – Annemieke van der Wal – Soil Biology and Biochemistry

Water and extremophile microbiome

Spatial homogeneity of bacterial and archaeal communities in the deep eastern Mediterranean Sea surface sediments – Sabine Keuter – International Microbiology

Thrombolite fabrics and origins: Influences of diverse microbial and metazoan processes on Cambrian thrombolite variability in the Great Basin, California and Nevada – Cara Harwood Theisen – Sedimentology

Three-Dimensional Structure of the Ultra-oligotrophic Marine Bacterium Pelagibacter – Xiaowei Zhao – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Metagenomics and bioinformatics

Deconvoluting simulated metagenomes: the performance of hard- and soft- clustering algorithms applied to metagenomic chromosome conformation capture (3C) – Matthew Z. DeMaere

Proteomics and metabolomics

Discovery of MRSA active antibiotics using primary sequence from the human microbiome – John Chu – Nature Chemical Biology – DOI: 10.1038/nchembio.2207

Researchers discover new antibiotics by sifting through the human microbiome – Phys.org

Sequencing techniques

Evaluation of PacBio sequencing for full-length bacterial 16S rRNA gene classification -Josef Wagner – BMC Microbiology

Bacteria in the news

Solving how harmless bacteria become an unwelcome guest – University at Buffalo

MRSA and other superbugs: could you be at risk when flying? – Lisa Salmon – BT

‘Sweet’ solution to kill bacteria in drinking water developed – Economic Times

Prenatal stress alters gut bacteria to cause lifelong problems in offspring – Medical News Today

How Drug-Resistant Bacteria Travel from the Farm to Your Table – Melinda Wenner Moyer – Scientific American

Simple changes to antibiotic treatment of MRSA may help beat the bacteria – Medical Xpress

Gut microbiota may play important role in influencing onset of blinding wet AMD – News Medical

Gut Microbiome May Determine Immunotherapy Response – Liam Davenport – Medscape

Feeling Hangry? The Science Behind Gut Health and Mood – Dana Angelo White – FoodNetwork

Gut bacteria diversity linked to immunotherapy response in melanoma patients – LabNews

Microbes on the market

Modified Bacteria Could Cure a Fatal Genetic Disorder Found in Infants – Futurism

Bristol-Myers Squibb and Enterome Announce Immuno-Oncology Collaboration Focused on Microbiome-Derived Biomarkers, Drug Targets and Bioactive Molecules – Bristol-Myers Squibb

November 15, 2016

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Microbial profiling in the classroom, viral abundance in seawater membrane vesicles, two Akkermansia in vitro studies, the phyllospere of Phoenix’ urban forest, the (im)possibility to reconstruct plasmids, high confidence protein annotations.

General microbiome

Microorganisms as Scaffolds of Host Individuality: An Eco-Immunity Account of the Holobiont – Lynn Chiu – PhilSci Archive

Microbial Community-Level Physiological Profiling as an Inquiry Laboratory Exercise – Pamela A. Marshall – The American Biology Teacher

Human oral microbiome

Bacterial communities associated with apical periodontitis and dental implant failure – Simon Dingsdag – Microbial Ecology in Health and Disease

Human respiratory microbiome

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

Human gut microbiome

Oral application of Escherichia coli bacteriophage: safety tests in healthy and diarrheal children from Bangladesh – Shafiqul Alam Sarker – Environmental Microbiology

The SURMetaGIT study: Design and rationale for a prospective pan-omics examination of the gastrointestinal response to Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery – Priscila Sala – Journal of International Medical Research

Review: The Human Microbiome and I-Cubed: A Modern Medical Paradigm – David S. Younger – World Journal of Neuroscience

Animal and in vitro models

In vitro colonisation of the distal colon by Akkermansia muciniphila is largely mucin and pH dependent – F. Van Herreweghen – Beneficial Microbes

Akkermansia muciniphila mediates negative effects of IFNγ on glucose metabolism – Renee L. Greer – Nature Communications

Animal microbiome

Black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) and domestic horse (Equus caballus) hindgut microflora demonstrate similar fermentation responses to grape seed extract supplementation in vitro – N. F. Huntley – Journal of Animal Physiology and Animal Nutrition

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Sensitive responders among bacterial and fungal microbiome to pyrogenic organic matter (biochar) addition differed greatly between rhizosphere and bulk soils – Zhongmin Dai – Scientific Reports

Thesis: The Phyllosphere of Phoenix’s Urban Forest: Insights from a Publicly-Funded Microbial Environment – Benjamin C. MacNeille – Arizona State University

Diversity of phylloplane microflora in certain tea cultivars of Assam, North-East India – Amarjyoti Tanti – European Journal of Biological Research

Review: Do genetically modified plants affect adversely on soil microbial communities?
– Zheng-jun Guan – Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment

Water and extremophile microbiome

The Microbiota of Recreational Freshwaters and the Implications for Environmental and Public Health – Chang Soo Lee – Frontiers in Microbiology

Functional diversity of microbial communities in pristine aquifers inferred by PLFA – and sequencing – based approaches – Valerie F. Schwab – Biogeosciences

Trade-off between taxon diversity and functional diversity in European lake ecosystems – Lars Grossmann – Molecular Ecology

Glycerol enhances fungal germination at the water-activity limit for life – Andrew Stevenson – Environmental Microbiology

Bacterial and archeal community composition in hot springs from Indo-Burma region, North-east India – Amrita Kumari Panda – AMB Express

Phages and viruses

Next-generation sequencing and norovirus – Matthew Cotten & Marion Koopmans – Future Virology

Membrane vesicles in sea water: heterogeneous DNA content and implications for viral abundance estimates – Steven J Biller – ISME Journal

Metagenomics and bioinformatics

On the (im)possibility to reconstruct plasmids from whole genome short-read sequencing data – Sergio Arredondo-Alonso – bioRxiv

EMDUnifrac: Exact linear time computation of the Unifrac metric and identification of differentially abundant organisms – Jason McClelland – bioRxiv

Optimal prediction of the number of unseen species – Alon Orlitsky – PNAS

Constraint-based stoichiometric modelling from single organisms to microbial communities
– Willi Gottstein – Journal of the Royal Society Interface

Metabolomics, culturomics, proteomics

Critical decisions in metaproteomics: achieving high confidence protein annotations in a sea of unknowns – Emma Timmins-Schiffman – The ISME Journal

Prioritizing Natural Product Diversity in a Collection of 146 Bacterial Strains Based on Growth and Extraction Protocols – Max Crüsemann – Journal of Natural Products

Probiotics

Review: Probiotics and Subclinical Psychological Symptoms in Healthy Participants: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis – Jennifer McKean – The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine

Microbes in the news

Good News at Fred Hutch: Evolutionary biologists Drs. Harmit Malik and Jesse Bloom win American Society for Microbiology awards – Fred Hutch

NTU don once downed a dish of live bacteria, for science’s sake – Straits Times

MCR-1 resistance gene could make its way into bacteria and superbugs in Australia – NT News
Biofilm battle is key to antibiotic war – University of Queensland

‘Probiotics’ on salad greens could make them safer, healthier – The University of Queensland

Monique Keiran: Laziness and hubris making us sick – Times Colonist

From the American Heart Association annual meeting: Could C-Section Birth Raise Child’s Risk of Obesity? – Dennis Thompson – Pantagraph

November 12, 2016

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Two papers on the detection of diseases by metabolomics of breaths or fecal gases, responses of soil bacteria to solar radiation and soil warming, genotyping of probiotics.

General microbiome

Special Issue on ‘Microbe–host interactions’ – Sven Hammerschmidt – FEBS Letters

Pregnancy and early life

Serum cathelicidin, nasopharyngeal microbiota, and disease severity among infants hospitalized with bronchiolitis – Kohei Hasegawa – Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology

Human respiratory microbiome

Feasibility of Early Detection of Cystic Fibrosis Acute Pulmonary Exacerbations by Exhaled Breath Condensate Metabolomics: A Pilot Study – Xiaoling Zang – Journal of Proteome Research

Features of the bronchial bacterial microbiome associated with atopy, asthma and responsiveness to inhaled corticosteroid treatment – Juliana Durack – Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology

Human vaginal microbiome

“Murdochiella vaginalis” sp. nov., a new bacterial species cultivated from the vaginal flora of a woman with bacterial vaginosis – Khoudia Diop – Human Microbiome Journal

Human esophagus and stomach microbiome

Editorial: The microbiome as a potential biomarker for oesophageal adenocarcinoma – Julian A Abrams – The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology

A non-endoscopic device to sample the oesophageal microbiota: a case-control study – Daffolyn R Fels Elliott – The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology

Human gut microbiome

Irritable bowel syndrome and active inflammatory bowel disease diagnosed by faecal gas analysis – R. B. M. Aggio – Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics

Review: Formation of propionate and butyrate by the human colonic microbiota – Petra Louis

Review: The Gut Microbiota : The Gateway to Improved Metabolism – Kristina B. Martinez – Gastroenterology Clinics of North America

Review: Regulation of the gut microbiome by inflammasomes – Grace Y. Chen – Free Radical Biology and Medicine

Review: The role of the microbiome in kidney stone formation – Mansi Mehta – International Journal of Surgery

Animal models

Giardia alters commensal microbial diversity throughout the murine gut – Nanelle R Barash – bioRxiv

Animal microbiome

Virus detection using metagenomic sequencing of swine nasal and rectal swabs – Ben M. Hause – J Swine Health Prod

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Bacterial active community cycling in response to solar radiation and their influence on nutrient changes in a high altitude wetland – Veronica Molina – Frontiers in Microbiology

Land-use change under different climatic conditions: Consequences for organic matter and microbial communities in Siberian steppe soils – Norbert Bischoff – Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment

Identifying the microbial taxa which consistently respond to soil warming across time and space – Angela M. Oliverio – Global Change Biology

The drivers underlying biogeographical patterns of bacterial communities in soils under sugarcane cultivation – Ademir Durrer – Applied Soil Ecology

Editorial: A small soil bacterium dominates – Ursula Hofer – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Editorial/Review: The Role of Microbial Communities in Tropical Ecosystems – Silvia Pajares – Frontiers in Microbiology

Water microbiome

Cyanobacteria in lakes on Yungui Plateau, China are assembled via niche processes driven by water physicochemical property, lake morphology and watershed land-use – Jingqiu Liao – Scientific Reports

Implications of Ecological Niche Differentiation in Marine Bacteria for Microbial Management in Aquaculture to Prevent Bacterial Disease – Tom Defoirdt – PLOS Pathogens

Bacterial composition, abundance and diversity in fish polyculture and mussel–fish integrated cultured ponds in China – Xiafei Zheng – Aquaculture Research

Food microbiome

Diversity study of microbial community in bacon using metagenomic analysis – Langbo Yi – Journal of Food Safety

Probiotics

Genotyping by PCR and High-Throughput Sequencing of Commercial Probiotic Products Reveals Composition Biases – Wesley Morovic – Frontiers in Microbiology

Review: Weight gain by gut microbiota manipulation in productive animals – Emmanouil Angelakis – Microbial Pathogenesis

Viruses and phages

VirusDetect: An automated pipeline for efficient virus discovery using deep sequencing of small RNAs – Yi Zheng – Virology

Metabolomics

Book Chapter: A Mathematical Perspective on Microbial Processes in Earth’s Biogeochemical Cycles – Christof Meile – Mathematical Paradigms of Climate Science
Bioinformatics and metagenomics

EMDUnifrac: Exact linear time computation of the Unifrac metric and identification of differentially abundant organisms – Jason McClelland – bioRxiv

Genomic and metagenomic technologies to explore the antibiotic resistance mobilome – José L. Martínez – Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

More microbiology

The planktonic relationship between fluid-like electrodes and bacteria: wiring in motion
– Sara Tejedor Sanz – ChemSusChem

Experimental study and Random Forest prediction model of microbiome cell surface hydrophobicity – Yong Liu – Expert Systems with Applications

Microbes in the news

uBiome CEO Dr. Jessica Richman to Deliver Opening Keynote at American Medical Informatics Association Symposium – PR web

The impact of the rhizosphere microbiota on root system development and tolerance to environmental constraints in cereals – International Center for Biosaline Agriculture

Miami wants to introduce MORE mosquitoes to fight Zika: Officials considers bringing in bacteria-infected insects to stop spread of virus – Daily Mail

Bruker Moving Into PCR-Based Testing to Expand Clinical Microbiology, MALDI Biotyper Offerings – Genome Web

 

 

November 11, 2016

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The human microbiome before birth, the HIV lung microbiome, leprosy in squirrels, and ticklish rats. That latter story has nothing to do with microbiology, but we can all use some uplifting stories.

Events

Advancing Microbiome Research Symposium: Microbiome & Disease – November 17, 2016 – Chicago, IL, USA

HIV Microbiome Workshop 2016 – November 17-18, 2016 – Bethesda, MD, USA.

2nd Annual European Microbiome Congress – November 30-Dec 1, 2016 – London, UK

Microbiome Drug Development Summit Europe – Jan 24-26 January 2017. Paris, France

North American Microbiome Congress / Human Microbiome Conference January 24-25 2017, San Diego, CA

Pregnancy and early life

The Human Microbiome before Birth – Martin J. Blaser and Maria G. Dominguez-Bello

Human respiratory microbiome

The bronchial epithelial cell bacterial microbiome and host response – Marc A. Sze – BMC Pulmonary Medicine

Biofilms in ventilator-associated pneumonia – Laia Fernández-Barat – Future Microbiology

Human gut microbiome

An evaluation of the therapeutic potential of fecal microbiota transplantation to treat infectious and metabolic diseases – Albert K Groen – EMBO Molecular Medicine

Association of colorectal carcinogenesis pathway with life style and intestinal microbiome based on the genome and epigenome abnormalities – Nihon Shokakibyo Gakkai Zasshi

Perspective: The Liver at the Nexus of Host-Microbial Interactions – Andrew J. MacPharson – Cell Host & Microbe

Animal experiments

Expression of recombinant human lysozyme in transgenic chicken promotes the growth of Bifidobacterium in the intestine and improves postnatal growth of chicken – Hai Wang – AMB Express

Chronic Early-life Stress in Rat Pups Alters Basal Corticosterone, Intestinal Permeability, and Fecal Microbiota at Weaning: Influence of Sex – Nabila Moussaoui – J Neurogastroenterol Motil.

Animal microbiome (and infection)

Red squirrels in the British Isles are infected with leprosy bacilli – Charlotte Avanzi – Science
Red squirrels in the British Isles are infected with leprosy bacteria – Phys.org
Leprosy Surprise: Medieval Scourge Is Lurking In British Squirrels – Michaeleen Doucleff – NPR

Bacterial Associations Across House Fly Life History: Evidence for Transstadial Carriage From Managed Manure – Klara Zurek – Journal of Insect Science

Built environment microbiology

Review: Constructed Wetlands Revisited: Microbial Diversity in the -omics Era. – Olga Sánchez – Microbial Ecology

Metagenomics and bioinformatics

Commentary: Insights into microbial ecosystems using a new computational approach – Thuy Do – Oral Diseases

Microbes in the news

Are we ready for consumer microbiome testing? – Juliet Preston – MedCityNews

Raining Cats and Dogs… and Bacteria? – Julie Taylor – uBiome

Scientists Try Bacteria to Halt Invading Cheatgrass in West – Keith Ridler – ABC News / Associated Press

Targeting pathogenic bacteria – using phage-derived proteins, proteins developed from the bacteria-invading viruses, for detection of pathogenic bacteria – Science Daily

Your flu risk may be linked to the year you were born – Jacqueline Howard – CNN

How ‘Psychobiotics’ Use Gut Bacteria To Treat Mental Illness. Targeting the gut could create a new class of psychiatric treatments – Carolyn Gregoire – The Huffington Post

Animal Science Professor Identifies Gut Microbiota Signatures of Healthy Aging – ScienceBlog

Quest to map Africa’s soil microbiome begins. Sub-Saharan project could one day help ecosystems to resist climate change and improve agriculture – Sarah Wild – Nature

Microbiome, Hidden Chemical Secrets, Being Accessed At Scripps Pier In San Diego – PR Newswrire

New Method Allows Scientists to Detect the Presence in Ham of the Parasite that Causes Toxoplasmosis – SciCasts

Bik’s non-microbiology Picks

Why are we ticklish? Scientists who tickled rats offer an intriguing answer – Karen Kaplan – LA Times
Neural correlates of ticklishness in the rat somatosensory cortex – S. Ishiyama – Science

November 8, 2016

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I’m sick at home but my inbox is exploding with new papers, so I scraped myself together for a new Microbiome Digest.

Precision medicine and the microbiome, salivary microbiome of Tsimane mothers and infants, food emulsifiers promote colon cancer in mice, microplastics in urban rivers, and a hypothetical silver Nobel prize for Jeffrey Gordon.

Events

SF Bay Area Microbiome meetup – a new LinkedIn group for people in the San Francisco area interested in all things microbiome!

Society of Nutrition Education and Behavior (SNEB) Webinar – Probiotics: Understanding The Microbiome And The Role Of Probiotics In Long Term Health – Wednesday, December 7 at 12:00 p.m. EST

This one is about me: Stanford Microbiome Pioneer Elisabeth Bik Becomes New Science Editor at uBiome – uBiome

General microbiome

Introducing the Microbiome into Precision Medicine – Thomas M. Kuntz, Jack A. Gilbert – Trends in Pharmacological Sciences

Can They Make It on Their Own? Hosts, Microbes, and the Holobiont Niche – Sarah M. Kopac – Frontiers in Microbiology

Opinion: Do antibodies select a healthy microbiota? – Jason L. Kubinak & June L. Round – Nature Reviews Immunology

Editorial: Complexity at the sub-genus level – Andrea Du Toit – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Human oral microbiome

Salivary microbiomes of indigenous Tsimane mothers and infants are distinct despite frequent premastication – Cliff S. Han – PeerJ

A Pilot Study to Evaluate the Oral Microbiome and Dental Health in Primary Open-Angle Glaucoma – Polla, Daniel – Journal of Glaucoma

Sputum microbiology predicts health status in COPD – DCW Braeken – International Journal of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Human respiratory microbiome

Assessing the Airway Microbiota in Cystic Fibrosis – Jordana E. Hoppe – Clinical Microbiology Newsletter

Review: The microbiome-metabolome crosstalk in the pathogenesis of respiratory fungal diseases – Samuel M. Gonçalves – Virulence

Human vaginal microbiome

Effects of pelvic organ prolapse ring pessary therapy on intravaginal microbial flora – Kazuaki Yoshimura – International Urogynecology Journal

Review: Why do lactobacilli dominate the human vaginal microbiota? – SS Witkin – BJOG

Human gastric microbiome

Characterization of the Gastric Microbiota in a Pediatric Population According to Helicobacter pylori Status – Llorca, Laura – The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal

Human gut microbiome

Shotgun Metagenomics of 250 Adult Twins Reveals Genetic and Environmental Impacts on the Gut Microbiome – Hailiang Xie – Cell Systems

Culture of previously uncultured members of the human gut microbiota by culturomics – Jean-Christophe Lagier – Nature Microbiology

Impact of Cystic Fibrosis Disease on Archaea and Bacteria Composition of Gut Microbiota – Francesco Miragoli – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Animal models

Systems-level metabolism of the altered Schaedler flora, a complete gut microbiota
– Matthew B Biggs – The ISME Journal

Gut microbiota induce IGF-1 and promote bone formation and growth – Jing Yan – PNAS

Dietary emulsifier-induced low-grade inflammation promotes colon carcinogenesis – Emilie Viennois – Cancer Research

Chronic Opisthorchis viverrini Infection Changes the Liver Microbiome and Promotes Helicobacter Growth – Upsornsawan Itthitaetrakool – PLOS ONE

Sex-specific modulation of the gut microbiome and behavior in Siberian hamsters – Kristyn E. Sylvia – Brain, Behavior, and Immunity

Animal microbiome

Optimised scat collection protocols for dietary DNA metabarcoding in vertebrates – Julie C. McInnes – Methods in Ecology and Evolution

High-throughput sequencing highlights the significant influence of seasonal housing and teat preparation on the raw milk microbiota – Conor J Doyle – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Metagenomic analysis reveals the influences of milk containing antibiotics on the rumen microbes of calves – Wei Li – Archives of Microbiology

Repeated sampling of white syndrome-affected corals reveals distinct microbiome at disease lesion fronts – F. Joseph Pollock – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Relationships between soil fungal and woody plant assemblages differ between ridge and valley habitats in a subtropical mountain forest – Cheng Gao – New Phytologist

AMF, phylogeny, and succession: specificity of response to mycorrhizal fungi increases for late-successional plants – Liz Koziol – Ecosphere

Microbial Community Functional Potential and Composition Are Shaped by Hydrologic Connectivity in Riverine Floodplain Soils – William A. Argiroff – Microbial Ecology

Effect of disturbance by oil pollution on the diversity and activity of bacterial communities in biological soil crusts from the Sultanate of Oman – Raeid M.M. Abed – Applied Soil Ecology

Book chapter: Root-Microbe Interactions in Response to Soil Conditions – Anil Somenahally – Global Soil Security

Water and extremophile microbiome

Microplastic in surface waters of urban rivers: concentration, sources, and associated bacterial assemblages – Amanda R. McCormick – Ecosphere

Evidence for microbial mediation of subseafloor nitrogen redox processes at Loihi Seamount, Hawaii – Jason B. Sylvan – Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta

Bacterial metacommunity organization in a highly-connected aquatic system – Silke Langenheder – FEMS Microbial Ecology

Microbial communities and their predicted metabolic characteristics in deep fracture groundwaters of the crystalline bedrock at Olkiluoto, Finland – Malin Bomberg – Biogeosciences

Extremophile microbiomes in acidic and hypersaline river sediments of Western Australia
– Shipeng Lu – Environmental Microbiology Reports

Review: Microbial Community Assessment in Wetlands for Water Pollution Control: Past, Present, and Future Outlook – Kela P. Weber – Water

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

Alternative for PiCRUST: Piphillin: Improved Prediction of Metagenomic Content by Direct Inference from Human Microbiomes – Shoko Iwai – PLOS ONE

Measurement of bacterial replication rates in microbial communities – Christopher T Brown – Nature Biotechnology

Microbes in the news

If there was a Nobel silver medal, I’d award it to Jeffrey Gordon and our gut microbes – Tim Spector – The Conversation

The Microbiome Hits #1 for 2017: Cleveland Clinic’s announcement of the Top 10 Medical Innovations came at the conclusion of the 2016 Medical Innovation Summit.

Gut Instincts: The Link Between Diet, the Gut Microbiota and the Brain – Kiana West – Imperial College London

Q&A with Stanford statistics Professor Susan Holmes: Statistics in the era of big data – Stanford News

Conference report: Gut microbes linked to immunotherapy response in melanoma patients – EurekAlert

Gut bacteria ‘may help drugs fight cancer’ – James Gallagher – BBC

Assistant professor Joanna Slusky recognized for work with antibiotic-resistant bacteria – The University Daily Kansan

Three Soundcloud episodes by the Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine on the microbiome, to accompany their September issue:

  1. Microbiome: Episode I: history of the field, current techniques used in microbiome research, and how the microbiome influences our health
  2. Microbiome: Episode IIMicrobiome: Episode II: Dr. Martin Kriegel discusses articles published in our issue, – Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine
  3. Microbiome: Episode III: Dr. Camille Konopnicki, talks about current on going research on the microbiome here at Yale and how microbiome research is evolving and changing.

Companies Bet on Designer Bacteria as New Way to Treat Disease – MIT Technology Review

About Bethany Rader: Researcher studying squid-human bacteria connection – Tim Crosby – The Southern Illinoisan

Horrible title, but nice student work: Students create Frankenstein’s monster of bacteria to detect toxic chemicals – New Atlas