Category Archives: Metagenomics & Bioinformatics

February 25, 2016

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Two papers about the gut microbiome of Japanese sea cucumbers farmed for food, effects of elevation on forest fungi, pico-eukaryotes under disappearing ice, and nitrification in the San Francisco Bay.

Human gut microbiome

Comment: Faecal microbiota transplantation is promising but not a panacea – Michael J. Sadowsky – Nature Microbiology

Models of microbiome research

In chicken (since that is not clear from the title): Bacteria within the Gastrointestinal Tract Microbiota Correlated with Improved Growth and Feed Conversion: Challenges Presented for the Identification of Performance Enhancing Probiotic Bacteria – Dragana Stanley – Frontiers in Microbiology

Animal microbiome

Gut bacterial diversity of farmed sea cucumbers Apostichopus japonicus with different growth rates – Yujie Sha – Microbiology

Characterization of the gut bacterial community of the Japanese sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus – E. A. Bogatyrenko – Microbiology

Ants: Yeast communities of Formica aquilonia colonies – I. A. Maksimova – Microbiology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Antibiotics Resistance in Rhizobium: Type, Process, Mechanism and Benefit for Agriculture – Judith Naamala – Current Microbiology

Fungi in Costa Rica: Belowground responses to elevation in a changing cloud forest – Caitlin I. Looby – Ecology and Evolution

Water and extremophile microbiome

Characterization of the structure of the prokaryotic complex of Antarctic permafrost by molecular genetic techniques – N. A. Manucharova – Microbiology

Biogeography and Photosynthetic Biomass of Arctic Marine Pico-Eukaroytes during Summer of the Record Sea Ice Minimum 2012 – Katja Metfies – PLOS ONE

Variable Nitrification Rates Across Environmental Gradients in Turbid, Nutrient-Rich Estuary Waters of San Francisco Bay – Julian Damashek – Estuaries and Coasts

Bioreactors and waste microbiology

Effects of different bulking agents on the maturity, enzymatic activity, and microbial community functional diversity of kitchen waste compost – Xiaojuan Wang – Environmental Technology

Prevalence of plasmid-mediated multidrug resistance determinants in fluoroquinolone-resistant bacteria isolated from sewage and surface water – Adriana Osińska – Environmental Science and Pollution Research

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

Comparing different mapping software using anvi’o – A. Murat Eren – Meren Lab blog

Microbes in the news

VCU spotlights internship focused on microbiology at Ardent Craft Ales: 26-year-old Ben Stone is helping the brewery with the finer points of its microbiology – Trevor Dickerson – RVA News

Ikea plans mushroom-based packaging as eco-friendly replacement for polystyrene
Swedish retail giant looks at biodegradable fungus-based packaging to replace polystyrene, which is tricky to recycle – Emily Gosden – The Telegraph

Virginia Tech scientists discover way to track, stop human, agricultural viruses – Augusta Free Press

Microbiology professor James Holden speaks about the intersection of science and religion – Tara Dowd – Daily Collegian

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February 24, 2016

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Women in space, cacti, celiac disease, and traveling dust.

Event

Not endorsing – full of quackery and folks trying to sell their books and food supplements, little science: Microbiome Medicine Summit

Human oral microbiome

Review: Porphyromonas gingivalis: An Overview of Periodontopathic Pathogen below the Gum Line – Kah Yan How – Frontiers in Microbiology

Human reproductive tract microbiome

The potential influence of the microbiota and probiotics on women during long spaceflights – Camilla Urbaniak – Future Medicine

Human gut microbiome

Study of duodenal bacterial communities by 16S rRNA gene analysis in adults with active celiac disease versus non celiac disease controls – Esther Nistal – Journal of Applied Microbiology

High Molecular Weight Barley β-Glucan Alters Gut Microbiota Toward Reduced Cardiovascular Disease Risk – Yanan Wang – Frontiers in Microbiology

Review: A glance at … dietary emulsifiers, the human intestinal mucus and microbiome, and dietary fiber – Michael J. Glade – Nutrition

Review: Chemical conversations in the gut microbiota – Jessica A. Thompson – Gut Microbes

Review: Atopic dermatitis and the intestinal microbiota in humans and dogs – J. Mark Craig – Veterinary Medicine and Science

Animal models

Composition of fecal microbiota of laboratory mice derived from Japanese commercial breeders using 16S rRNA gene clone libraries – Ryoko Nozu – Journal of Veterinary Medical Science

Animal microbiome

News in livestock research — use of Omics-technologies to study the microbiota in the gastrointestinal tract of farm animals – Simon Deusch – Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

The Cacti Microbiome: Interplay between Habitat-Filtering and Host-Specificity – Citlali Fonseca-García – Frontiers in Microbiology

Comparison of Fungal Community in Black Pepper-Vanilla and Vanilla Monoculture Systems Associated with Vanilla Fusarium Wilt Disease –
Wu Xiong – Frontiers in Microbiology

Bacterial-Plant-Interactions: Approaches to Unravel the Biological Function of Bacterial Volatiles in the Rhizosphere – Marco Kai – Frontiers in Microbiology

Short-Term Rhizosphere Effect on Available Carbon Sources, Phenanthrene Degradation, and Active Microbiome in an Aged-Contaminated Industrial Soil – François Thomas – Frontiers in Microbiology

Changes in rhizosphere bacterial gene expression following glyphosate treatment – Molli M. Newman – Science of the Total Environment

Pepino (Solanum muricatum) planting increased diversity and abundance of bacterial communities in karst area – Jinxiang Hu – Scientific Reports

Friend or foe? Biological and ecological traits of the European ash dieback pathogen Hymenoscyphus fraxineus in its native environment – Michelle Cleary – Scientific Report

An interdomain network: the endobacterium of a mycorrhizal fungus promotes antioxidative responses in both fungal and plant hosts – Candida Vannini – New Phytologist

Water and extremophile microbiome

The effect of temperature change on the microbial diversity and community structure along the chronosequence of the sub-arctic glacier forefield of Styggedalsbreen (Norway) – Alejandro Mateos-Rivera – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Water level changes affect carbon turnover and microbial community composition in lake sediments – Lukas Weise – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Evaluation of the treatment performance and microbial communities of a combined constructed wetland used to treat industrial park wastewater – Ming Xu – Environmental Science and Pollution Research

Bacterial Composition and Survival on Sahara Dust Particles Transported to the European Alps – Marco Meola – Frontiers in Microbiology

Review: Bridging the divide: a model-data approach to Polar and Alpine microbiology – James A. Bradley – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

ghost-tree: creating hybrid-gene phylogenetic trees for diversity analyses – Jennifer Fouquier – Microbiome

More microbiology

Peracetic Acid Treatment Generates Potent Inactivated Oral Vaccines from a Broad Range of Culturable Bacterial Species – Kathrin Moor – Frontiers in Immunology

Microbes in the news

Bacteria From the Sahara Desert Found on Swiss Glaciers – Nellie Van Driska – GlacierHub

Wolbachia Bacteria Could Be Answer To Malaria, Dengue: Bill Gates – NDTV

Student Research Focus: Drew Gukeisen discovers and visualizes new virus – Indiana University SouthEast

Bacteria swabbing trend for newborns medically in doubt – Carina Storrs – CNN

Microbes and art

Navel gazing: portraits of the bacteria in our belly buttons – in pictures by Joana Ricou – The Guardian

Science, publishing, and career

Activism: Frustrated postdocs rise up – Paul Smaglik – Nature

Don’t trust an image in a scientific paper? Manipulation detective’s company wants to help – Retraction Watch
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February 23, 2016

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An introduction to 16S rRNA gene sequencing, gut microbiome disruptions in long-term care, microbial responses to oil contamination, colors and k-mers, and how to build your own Winogradsky column.

Jobs and events

PhD position on metagenomics-driven natural product discovery from plant microbiomes – Wageningen University, The Netherlands

Festival of Genomics: Has microbiome session, 27-29 June 2016, Boston

Human skin microbiome

Good introduction for other sample types too! Research Techniques Made Simple: Bacterial 16S Ribosomal RNA Gene Sequencing in Cutaneous Research – Jay-Hyun Jo – Journal of Investigative Dermatology

Human gut microbiome

Intestinal microbiome disruption in patients in a long-term acute care hospital: A case for development of microbiome disruption indices to improve infection prevention – Alison Laufer Halpin – American Journal of Infection Control

Association of dietary type with fecal microbiota and short chain fatty acids in vegans and omnivores – Alina Reiss – Journal of International Society of Microbiota

Microbiome models

Aging and serum MCP-1 are associated with gut microbiome composition in a murine model – Melissa N. Conley – PeerJ Preprint

Isolation and Characterization of a Novel Gammaherpesvirus from a Microbat Cell Line – Reed S. Shabman – mSphere

Animal microbiome

Review: Molecular trophic markers in marine food webs and their potential use for coral ecology – Miguel Costa Leal – Marine Genomics

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Microbial diversity in European alpine permafrost and active layers – Beat Frey – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Responses of microbial community from tropical pristine coastal soil to crude oil contamination – Daniel Morais – PeerJ

Zinc treatment increases the titer of ‘Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus’ in HLB-affected citrus plants while affecting the bacterial microbiomes – Muqing Zhang – Journal of Applied Microbiology

Draft Genome Sequences of Two Vibrio splendidus Strains, Isolated from Seagrass Sediment – Ruth D. Lee – Genome Announcements

Draft Genome Sequences of Two Pseudoalteromonas Strains Isolated from Roots and Leaf Blades of the Seagrass Zostera marina – Alexandra Alexiev – Genome Announcements

Deep RNA-Seq profile reveals biodiversity, plant–microbe interactions and a large family of NBS-LRR resistance genes in walnut (Juglans regia) tissues – Sandeep Chakraborty – AMB Express

Water microbiome

Environmental heterogeneity among lakes promotes hyper β-diversity across phytoplankton communities – Selma Maloufi – Freshwater Biology

Bacterial community structure and variation in a full-scale seawater desalination plant for drinking water production – A. Belila – Water Research

Bimodal occupancy-frequency distributions uncover the importance of regional dynamics in shaping marine microbial biogeography – Markus V. Lindh – BioRxiv

Microbial Ecology

Eco-evolutionary dynamics in a coevolving host–virus system – Jens Frickel – Ecology Letters

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

Succinct Colored de Bruijn Graphs – Keith Belk – BioRxiv preprint

Metapalette: A k-mer painting approach for metagenomic taxonomic profiling and quantification of novel strain variation – David Koslicki – ArXiv

Microbes in the news

Grow a bacterial zoo in a bottle: How to build your own Winogradsky column – Steph Yin – Popular Science

Exploring the Humane and Canine Microbiome: Q&A with Dr. Robynne Chutkan – Claudia Kawczynska – The Bark

Ancient bacteria in Utah waters blamed for deaths of pets, people – Todd Tanner – Fox13

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February 22, 2016

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Effect of oxylate on microbiome of an herbivorous woodrat, sequencing 16S rRNA genes with the PacBio SMRT, and big differences in soil diversity caused by choice of extraction method.

Animal models

Metagenomic analysis of rumen microbial population in dairy heifers fed a high grain diet supplemented with dicarboxylic acids or polyphenols – Roberta De Nardi – BMC Veterinary Research

Woodrat: The Effect of Dietary Oxalate on the Gut Microbiota of the Mammalian Herbivore Neotoma albigula – Aaron W. Miller – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Built environment microbiome

Complementary microorganisms in highly corrosive biofilms from an offshore oil production facility – Adrien Vigneron – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Dominant tree species and soil type affect fungal community structure in a boreal peatland forest – Hui Sun – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Review: A review of the environmental implications of in situ remediation by nanoscale zero valent iron (nZVI): Behavior, transport and impacts on microbial communities – Emilie Lefevre – Science of the Total Environment

Water microbiome

Diversity, Productivity and Stability of an Industrial Microbial Ecosystem – Doruk Beyter – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Food microbiology

Illuminating Anaerobic Microbial Community and Co-occurrence Patterns across a Quality Gradient in Chinese Liquor Fermentation Pit Muds – Xiaolong Hu – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Techniques

Sequencing 16S rRNA gene fragments using the PacBio SMRT DNA sequencing system – Patrick D. Schloss – PeerJ

Estimates of the bacterial ribosome content and diversity in soils are significantly affected by different nucleic acid extraction methods – Pia K. Wüst – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

MetaCRAM: an integrated pipeline for metagenomic taxonomy identification and compression – Minji KimB – BMC ioinformatics

EXTRACT: interactive extraction of environment metadata and term suggestion for metagenomic sample annotation – Evangelos Pafilis – Database

More microbiology

Organization of DNA in a bacterial nucleoid – Michael Y. Tolstorukov – BMC Microbiology

Microbes in the news

Coevolution and the Microbiome – David Baltrus – My Chrobial Romance

Bacteria Are Present in Kidney Stones and May Contribute to Their Formation – Nationwide Children’s

Fatal disease by Salmonella bacteria killing California songbirds – Robert V. Boyd – Microcap Magazine

Synchrotron Being Used to Research Neutralizing Ulcer Bacteria – Adam Brilz
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February 20, 2016

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Effects of ocean acidification, structural proteins in viral dark matter, and microbiome art. Also check out my new post at MicroBE.net with new papers on microbiome of the built environment.

Human respiratory tract microbiome

Review: How Recent Advances in Molecular Tests Could Impact the Diagnosis of Pneumonia – David Murdoch – Expert Review of Molecular Diagnostics

Microbiome models

In vitro fermentation of alginate and its derivatives by human gut microbiota – Miaomiao Li – Anaerobe

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Changes of soil prokaryotic communities after clear cutting in a karst forest: evidences for cutting-based disturbance promoting deterministic processes – Xiao Zhang – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Use of mulberry–soybean intercropping in salt–alkali soil impacts the diversity of the soil bacterial community – Xin Li – Microbial Biotechnology

Distinct Habitats Select Particular Bacterial Communities in Mangrove Sediments – Lidianne L. Rocha – International Journal of Microbiology

Water and ice microbiome

Quantification of the effects of ocean acidification on sediment microbial communities in the environment: the importance of ecosystem approaches – Christiane Hassenrück – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Bacterial communities from Arctic seasonal sea ice are more compositionally variable than those from multi-year sea ice – Ido Hatam – The ISME Journal

Bioreactor and waste microbiology

Biodegradation of different petroleum hydrocarbons by free and immobilized microbial consortia – Tiantian Shen – Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

Recent Developments in Using Advanced Sequencing Technologies for the Genomic Studies of Lignin and Cellulose Degrading Microorganisms – Ayyappa kumar Sista Kameshwar – International Journal of Biological Sciences

DUDE-Seq: Fast, flexible, and robust denoising of nucleotide sequences – Byunghan Lee – Bioinformatics

HTSFinder: Powerful Pipeline of DNA Signature Discovery by Parallel and Distributed Computing – Ramin Karimi – Evolutionary Bioinformatics

FLDS: A Comprehensive dsRNA Sequencing Method for Intracellular RNA Virus Surveillance – Syun-ichi Urayama – Microbes and Environments

Based on my old discovery of the mycobacterial CRISPR: SpoTyping: fast and accurate in silico Mycobacterium spoligotyping from sequence reads – Eryu Xia – Genome Medicine

Microbial ecology

A tradeoff between the ecological and evolutionary stabilities of public goods genes in microbial populations – Joseph Rauch – BioRxiv

Agent Based Modeling of Human Gut Microbiome Interactions and Perturbations – Tatiana Shashkova – PLOS ONE

Proteomics

Illuminating structural proteins in viral “dark matter” with metaproteomics – Jennifer R. Brum – PNAS

Microbes in the news

‘Unhealthy’ Microbiomes Could Promote Metabolic Disease. UCSF Symposium Explores Vulnerability and Malleability of Microbes in Human Gut – Nicholas Weiler – University of California San Francisco

Unusual sugar in leafy greens may help gut bacteria protect health – Catharine Paddock – Medical News Today

One startup’s plan to grow more crops: put the germs back in. Indigo claims it can dramatically boost yields by restoring plant’s microbiome – Ben Popper – The Verge

The intestinal microbiota—a new ally for optimum growth – Medical Xpress

Bacteria In Contact Lenses May Cause Inflammatory Response Leading To Microbial Keratitis / Gross Science Video with Anna Rothschild – Lizette Borreli – Medical Daily

Bacteria Hysteria

Tea crawling with harmful bacteria and food trays covered in faeces: The horror health threats facing airline passengers – The Sun

Microbes and art

Faces of BioArt: Sonja Bäumel’s Microbiome Portraits and Bacterial Clothing – Labiotech

Science, publishing, and career

Put the “Ph” Back in PhD. We need big thinkers, but the current system teaches students to think small – Arturo Casadevall

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February 17, 2016

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Microbial biomarkers for diabetes, gut sialidases,  pathogens in stranded sea turtles, microbial biodeterioration of an ancient staircase, and how bacterial stay in shape.

Events

‘Microbiome-based Foods for Health and Sustainability’ workshop, 23 February, Brussels – APC Microbiome Institute

Call for Entries! ASM’s 2016 Agar Art Contest. Deadline: May 6.

Human oral microbiome

Intracerebral hemorrhage and deep microbleeds associated with cnm-positive Streptococcus mutans; a hospital cohort study – Shuichi Tonomura – Scientific Reports

Review: Oral Microbiome: Contributions to Local and Systemic Infections – Kerri T. Simpson – Current Oral Health Reports

Human gut microbiome

Sub-clinical detection of gut microbial biomarkers of obesity and type 2 diabetes – Moran Yassour – Genome Medicine

Postoperative changes in fecal bacterial communities and fermentation products in obese patients undergoing bilio-intestinal bypass – Vania Patrone – Frontiers in Microbiology

The Effects of Bowel Preparation on Microbiota-Related Metrics Differ in Health and in Inflammatory Bowel Disease and for the Mucosal and Luminal Microbiota Compartments – Rima M Shobar – Clinical and Translational Gastroenterology

Registered report: Fusobacterium nucleatum infection is prevalent in human colorectal carcinoma – John Repass – eLIFE

Review: Sialidases from gut bacteria: a mini-review – Nathalie Juge – Biochemical Society Transactions

Review: Akkermansia muciniphila and its role in regulating host functions – Muriel Derrien – Microbial Pathogenesis

Models of microbiome research

Probiotics modulated gut microbiota suppresses hepatocellular carcinoma growth in mice – Jun Li – PNAS

The bacterial microbiome of Dermacentor andersoni ticks influences pathogen susceptibility – Cory A Gall – ISME Journal

Have clay will lay: Chicken: Dietary supplementation with the clay mineral palygorskite affects performance and beneficially modulates caecal microbiota in laying pullets – S. Chalvatzi – Journal of Applied Microbiology

Animal microbiome

Bacterial agents in 248 ticks removed from people from 2002 to 2013 – Camille Aubry – Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases

Bacterial and viral pathogens detected in sea turtles stranded along the coast of Tuscany, Italy – G. Fichi – Veterinary Microbiology

Poor English (but US lab): Identification of Host-Specific Genetic Markers within 16S rDNA Intervening Sequences of 73 Genera of Fecal Bacteria – Zhenyu Shen – Omics’ Journal of Data Mining in Genomics & Proteomics

Editorial: Developmental biology: Females have a lot of guts – Justin Fear – Nature

The sexual identity of adult intestinal stem cells controls organ size and plasticity – Bruno Hudry – Nature

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Bacterial predator–prey dynamics in microscale patchy landscapes – Felix J. H. Hol – Proceedings of the Royal Society B

Variation in soil microbial communities associated with critically endangered Wollemi pine affects fungal, but not bacterial, assembly within seedling roots – J.L. Rigg – Pedobiologia

The Effects of Nitrogen Fertilizer on Soil Microbial Communities Under Conventional and Conservation Agricultural Managements in a Tropical Clay-Rich Ultisol – Miura, Toshiko – Soil Science

Cover Crop and Irrigation Effects on Soil Microbial Communities and Enzymes in Semiarid Agroecosystems of the Central Great Plains of North America – Francisco J. Calderón – Pedosphere

Effect of soil disinfection with chemical and biological methods on bacterial communities – Md Rokunuzzaman – Egyptian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences

Water and extremophile microbiome

Metagenomic insights into the uncultured diversity and physiology of microbes in four hypersaline soda lake brines – Charlotte D. Vavourakis – Frontiers in Microbiology

Characterization of bacterial communities in wetland mesocosms receiving pharmaceutical-enriched wastewater – Dongqing Zhang – Ecological Engineering

Microbial Community Profile and Water Quality in a Protected Area of the Caatinga Biome – Fabyano Alvares Cardoso Lopes – PLOS ONE

Thesis: Tightly-coupled sulfur-cycling microbial mats of the White Point hydrothermal vent field, CA: An analog for deep-sea vents – Priscilla J Miranda – California State University Long Beach

Thesis: The microbial diversity and function of Arctic supraglacial biomes – Stefanie Lutz – University of Leeds

Built environment microbiome

Biodeterioration Risk Threatens the 3100 Year Old Staircase of Hallstatt (Austria): Possible Involvement of Halophilic Microorganisms – Guadalupe Piñar – PLOS ONE

The Black Yeast Exophiala dermatitidis and Other Selected Opportunistic Human Fungal Pathogens Spread from Dishwashers to Kitchens – Jerneja Zupančič – PLOS ONE

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

IMP: a pipeline for reproducible integrated metagenomic and metatranscriptomic analyses – Shaman Narayanasamy – BioRxiv

Colib’read on galaxy: a tools suite dedicated to biological information extraction from raw NGS reads – Yvan Le Bras – GigaScience

Shannon: An Information-Optimal de NovoRNA-Seq Assembler – Sreeram Kannan – BioRxiv

RECKONER: Read Error Corrector Based on KMC – Maciej Długosz – ArXiv

A benchmark study on error-correction by read-pairing and tag-clustering in amplicon-based deep sequencing – Tian-Hao Zhang – BMC Genomics

More microbiology

HT: Liz Costello: Universal resilience patterns in complex networks – Jianxi Gao – Nature

Microbially assisted recording of the Earth’s magnetic field in sediment – Xiangyu Zhao – Nature Communications

High coverage metabolomics analysis reveals phage-specific alterations to Pseudomonas aeruginosa physiology during infection – Jeroen De Smet – The ISME Journal

Discovery of cahuitamycins as biofilm inhibitors derived from a convergent biosynthetic pathway – Sung Ryeol Park – Nature Communications

Review: Staying in Shape: the Impact of Cell Shape on Bacterial Survival in Diverse Environments – Desirée C. Yang – Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews

Microbes in the news

Oral bacteria linked to risk of stroke – Betty Coffman – University of Louisville

Opportunistic Fungal Pathogens in Dishwashers and Kitchens – Alex Alexiev – MicroBEnet

UVA: Bacteria Overgrowth Could Be Major Cause of Stunting in Children – University of Virginia Health System – NBC29

A new method to dramatically improve the sequencing of metagenomes – EurekAlert

What your gut bacteria can tell you about type 2 diabetes – MedicalXpress

New anti-biofilm compounds show promise against drug-resistant bacteria linked to hospital infections – Ian Demsky – University of Michigan

Crowdfunding project: How Insects and Bacteria Can Solve Murder Mysteries: estimate the time since death (TSD) at a crime scene – Experiment

Crowdfunding project: E pluribus unum: how honey bee bacteria coordinate behaviors – Irene Newton – Experiment

uBiome Named One of World’s Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Healthcare by Fast Company – PR Web

MIT Spinout Synlogic Grabs $40M To Program Microbes Into Living Drugs – Luke Timmerman – Forbes

Science, publishing, and career

Biologists urged to hug a preprint: ASAPbio meeting discusses the ins and outs of posting work online before peer review – Ewen Callaway – Nature

Accelerating Science with Preprints – Peter Binfield – PeerJ Blog

XY Bias: How Male Biology Students See Their Female Peers. In three large classes, men overrated the abilities of male students above equally talented and outspoken women – Ed Yong – The Atlantic

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February 15, 2016

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Drosophila longevity, gut immunity in insects, metagenomics and beef production, secure computation, and mutualistic phages.

Pregnancy and birth

Research Highlight: Add the microbiota to your birth plan – Cláudio Nunes-Alves – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Human gut microbiome

Review: Gut microbiome and Metabolic Syndrome – Mohsen Mazidi – Diabetes & Metabolic Syndrome: Clinical Research & Reviews

Review: Role of microbes (probiotics and prebiotics) – D.M.A.E. Jonkers – Best Practice & Research Clinical Gastroenterology

Review: Intestinal Microbiota in Liver Disease – Tanvir R. Haque – Best Practice & Research Clinical Gastroenterology

Models of microbiome research

Folate Acts in E. coli to Accelerate C. elegans Aging Independently of Bacterial Biosynthesis – Bhupinder Virk – Cell Reports

Glucose modulates Drosophila longevity and immunity independent of the microbiota – Anthony Galenza – Biology Open

Bacterial successions in the gastrointestinal tract of broilers – Samir Ranjitkar – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Triclosan Exposure is Associated with Rapid Restructuring of the Microbiome in Adult Zebrafish – Christopher A Gaulke – BioRxiv

Research Highlight: How to extend your stay – Cláudio Nunes-Alves – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Animal microbiome

Review: Gut immunity in Lepidopteran insects – Kai Wu – Developmental & Comparative Immunology

Editorial: Bears Arouse Interest in Microbiota’s Role in Health – Kimberly A. Dill-McFarland – Trends in Microbiology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Impact of long-term cropping of glyphosate-resistant transgenic soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] on soil microbiome – Letícia Carlos Babujia – Transgenic Research

Food microbiology

Use of metagenomic shotgun sequencing technology to detect foodborne pathogens within their microbiome in beef production chain – Xiang Yang – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Microbial dynamics in industrial Blue veined cheeses in different packaging –
P. Duval – International Dairy Journal

Diversity of the microbiota involved in wine and organic apple cider submerged vinegar production as revealed by DHPLC analysis and next-generation sequencing – Janja Trček – International Journal of Food Microbiology

Built environment microbiome

Air dispersed essential oils combined with standard sanitization procedures for environmental microbiota control in nosocomial hospitalization rooms – Fabrizio Gelmini – Complementary Therapies in Medicine

Waste and extremophile microbiology

Anaerobic digestion of biowaste under extreme ammonia concentration: Identification of key microbial phylotypes – Simon Poirier – Bioresource Technology

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

Privacy-Preserving Microbiome Analysis Using Secure Computation – Justin Wagner – Bioinformatics

Phages and viruses

Opinion: The Significance of Mutualistic Phages for Bacterial Ecology and Evolution – Nancy Obeng – Trends in Microbiology

Techniques

Unique sequence characteristics account for good DGGE separation of almost full-length 18S rDNAs – Zhiqing Huang – World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology

Microbes in the news

New appreciation for human microbiome leads to greater understanding of human health – University of Oklahoma – EurekAlert

From Huts to Cities: How Changes in Dwellings Have Impacted Microbe Exposure for the Human Immune System – New York University Langone

Researchers outline progress in turning bacteria into mini construction workers – The Construction Index

Can we outrun Zika? Walk this street in Colombia and you’ll see how tough it is – Andrew Joseph – STATnews

Cranberries help urinary tract infections, but not as juice – Yvette Brazier – Medical News Today

Biofilm Formation Hampers Removal of Dangerous Bacteria from Hospital Surfaces – Medical Research

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February 13, 2016

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Fungal communities of bark beetles, microbiome in rhinosinusitis, deep-sea chemolithoautotrophic communities, talking walls (microbes in houses), and, for Valentine’s Day: cocoa bean fermentation. 

Jobs and events

Postdoc opportunity, University of Notre Dame: 20,000 longitudinal gut microbiome samples from wild baboons

Pregnancy and birth

Review: Prevention of Necrotizing Enterocolitis Through Manipulation of the Intestinal Microbiota of the Premature Infant – Kannikar Vongbhavit – Clinical Therapeutics

Human oral microbiome

Analysis of bacterial community profiles of endodontically infected primary teeth using pyrosequencing – Kwan Hee Yun – International Journal of Paediatric Dentistry

Human respiratory microbiome

Composition and dynamics of the respiratory tract microbiome in intubated patients – Brendan J. Kelly – Microbiome Journal

Metagenomic Sequencing of the Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Upper Bronchial Tract Microbiome Reveals Functional Changes Associated with Disease Severity – Simon J. S. Cameron- PLOS ONE

The bacterial microbiome in chronic rhinosinusitis: Richness, diversity, postoperative changes, and patient outcomes – Edward John Cleland – American Journal of Rhinology & Allergy

Review: Microbiome of the paranasal sinuses: Update and literature review – Jivianne T. Lee – American Journal of Rhinology & Allergy

Editorial: The microbiome of the sinuses and its relevance in health and disease – Simon A. Carney

Human reproductive tract microbiome

Molecular detection of intrauterine microbial colonization in women with endometriosis – Khaleque N. Khan – European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology

Review: The Basics of Bacteriuria: Strategies of Microbes for Persistence in Urine – Deepak S. Ipe – Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology

Review: The Human Microbiome during Bacterial Vaginosis – Andrew B. Onderdonk – Clinical Microbiology Reviews

Human gut microbiome

Allergy associations with the adult fecal microbiota: Analysis of the American Gut Project – Xing Hua – EBioMedicine

An Integrated Metabolomic and Microbiome Analysis Identified Specific Gut Microbiota Associated with Fecal Cholesterol and Coprostanol in Clostridium difficile Infection – Vijay C. Antharam – PLOS ONE

Review: The Role of Probiotics on the Microbiota: Effect on Obesity – Esther Nova – Nutrition in Clinical Practice

Editorial: Policing of gut microbiota by the adaptive immune system – Laurent Dollé – BMC Medicine

Review: Fostering of advanced mutualism with gut microbiota by Immunoglobulin A – Duncan B. Sutherland – Immunological Reviews

Perspective: The Second Brain: Is the Gut Microbiota a Link Between Obesity and Central Nervous System Disorders? – Javier Ochoa-Repáraz – Current Obesity Reports

Review: Butyrate, Neuroepigenetics and the Gut Microbiome: Can a High Fiber Diet Improve Brain Health? – Megan W. Bourassa – Neuroscience Letters

Gut passage

Colonic response to laxative ingestion as assessed by MRI differs in constipated irritable bowel syndrome compared to functional constipation – C. Lam – Neurogastroenterology & Motility

How do primates affect seed germination? A meta-analysis of gut passage effects on neotropical plants – Lisieux F. Fuzessy – Oikos

Models of microbiome research

Drosophila: Effects of co-occurring Wolbachia and Spiroplasma endosymbionts on the Drosophila immune response against insect pathogenic and non-pathogenic bacteria – Upasana Shokal – BMC Microbiology

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

Thesis, mice: The effects of nicotine on the gut microbiome and the serum metabolite profile of mice – Ridwan Amin Mahbub – University of Georgia

Contains several cases of image duplication (might be error): Dietary Fiber Intake Regulates Intestinal Microflora and Inhibits Ovalbumin-Induced Allergic Airway Inflammation in a Mouse Model – Zhiyu Zhang – PLOS ONE

Animal microbiome

Metabarcoding of fungal communities associated with bark beetles – Kirsten E. Miller – Ecology and Evolution

Deep 16S rRNA gene sequencing of anterior foregut microbiota from the blue-green sharpshooter (Graphocephala atropunctata) – E. E. Rogers – Journal of Applied Entomology

A bacterial filter protects and structures the gut microbiome of an insect – Michele Caroline Lanan – The ISME Journal

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Isolation and Identification of Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria from Cucumber Rhizosphere and Their Effect on Plant Growth Promotion and Disease Suppression – Shaikhul Islam – Frontiers in Microbiology

Microbial biomass and soil organic carbon accumulation on a former lakebed near Novosibirsk, Russia – Mikhail. V. Yakutin – Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science

A cost-effective and efficient strategy for Illumina sequencing of fungal communities: A case study of beech endophytes identified elevation as main explanatory factor for diversity and community composition – A.B. Siddique – Fungal Ecology

Primer: Networking in the Plant Microbiome – Marcel G. A. van der Heijden – PLOS Biology

Thesis: Next generation sequencing on soil samples from Etosha National Park: Diversity studies of an anthrax reservoir – Valseth, Karoline

Water and extremophile microbiome

Coupled RNA-SIP and metatranscriptomics of active chemolithoautotrophic communities at a deep-sea hydrothermal vent – Caroline S Fortunato – The ISME Journal

Novel microbial assemblages inhabiting crustal fluids within mid-ocean ridge flank subsurface basalt – Sean P Jungbluth – The ISME Journal

Context dependency in biodiversity patterns of central German stream metacommunities – Jonathan D. Tonkin – Freshwater Biology

Microbial community composition in the marine sediments of Jeju Island: next-generation sequencing surveys – Heebok Choi – Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology

Effects of temperature stress and aquarium conditions on the red macroalga Delisea pulchra and its associated microbial community – Enrique Zozaya-Valdés – Frontiers in Microbiology

Using in situ bacterial communities to monitor contaminants in river sediments – Yuwei Xie – Environmental Pollution

DGGE: Effects of fullerene (C60), multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT), single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) and hydroxyl and carboxyl modified single wall carbon nanotubes on riverine microbial communities – J. R. Lawrence – Environmental Science and Pollution Research

Built environment microbiome

Walls talk: Microbial biogeography of homes spanning urbanization – Jean F. Ruiz-Calderon – Science Advances

Microbial communities affecting albumen photography heritage: a methodological survey – Andrea Puškárová – Scientific Reports

Food microbiology

Characterization of microbiota in Plaisentif cheese by high-throughput sequencing –
Alessandra Dalmasso – LWT-Food Science and Technology

Metagenomic analysis of viruses associated with field-grown and retail lettuce identifies human and animal viruses – Tiong Gim Aw – International Journal of Food Microbiology

Bacterial diversity of floor drain biofilms and drain waters in a Listeria monocytogenes contaminated food processing environment – Monika Dzieciol

Review: The cocoa bean fermentation process: from ecosystem analysis to starter culture development – L. De Vuyst – Journal of Applied Microbiology

Techniques

Oufti: an integrated software package for high-accuracy, high-throughput quantitative microscopy analysis – Ahmad Paintdakhi – Molecular Microbiology

Viruses and phages

Perspective: A Virological Perspective on Cancer – Blossom Damania – PLOS Pathogens

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

Fast search of thousands of short-read sequencing experiments – Brad Solomon – Nature Biotechnology

Open-Source Sequence Clustering Methods Improve the State Of the Art – Evguenia Kopylova

Editorial: Bacterial Speciation: Genetic Sweeps in Bacterial Species -Frederick M. Cohan – Current Biology

Microbes in the news

Walls talk – or at least hold many secrets a wall whisperer can reveal – Jonathan Eisen – MicroBEnet

Country microbes, city microbes—where you live can change how you get sick – Annalee Newitz – Ars Technica

Urbanization Leads to Change in Type of Bacteria in the Home – Lauran Neergaard – ABC News

Fun list: Ranking the Top 10 Best Bacteria on Earth – Ben Guarino – Inverse

Science, publishing and career

The Research Pirates of the Dark Web – Kaveh Waddell  – The Atlantic

Researcher illegally shares millions of science papers free online to spread knowledge – Science Alert

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February 11, 2016

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Sulphate reducing bacteria impair memory in mice, gastric microbiota after partial gastrectomy, geomicrobiology of the earth’s deep subsurface, and a viral genome assembly pipeline.

Events

Third International Workshop on Biological Soil Crusts, September 26-30, 2016 – Moab, Utah, USA

Human gut microbiota

Gastric microbiota and predicted gene functions are altered after subtotal gastrectomy in patients with gastric cancer – Ching-Hung Tseng – Scientific Reports

Research highlight: Gut microbiota: Microbes offer engineering strategies to combat cancer – Susan E. Erdman – Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology

Review: The Reciprocal Interactions between Polyphenols and Gut Microbiota and Effects on Bioaccessibility – Tugba Ozdal – MDPI Nutrients

Review: Learning from microbial strategies for polysaccharide degradation – Glyn R. Hemsworth – Biochemical Society Transactions

Book chapter: Interactions Between Wine Polyphenols and Gut Microbiota – Carolina Cueva – Wine Safety, Consumer Preference, and Human Health

Microbiome models

Mice: Sulfate-reducing bacteria impairs working memory in mice – Nathaniel L. Ritz – Physiology & Behavior

Rats: Whole Rye Consumption Improves Blood and Liver n-3 Fatty Acid Profile and Gut Microbiota Composition in Rats – Fayçal Ounnas – PLOS ONE

Animal microbiome

Nematodes: Microbial communities in Globodera pallida females raised in potato monoculture soil – Caroline Eberlein – Phytopathology

Sponges: Distinctive features of the microbial diversity and the polyketide synthase genes spectrum in the community of the endemic Baikal sponge Swartschewskia papyracea – O. V. Kaluzhnaya – Russian Journal of Genetics

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Medicago truncatula Gaertn. as a model for understanding the mechanism of growth promotion by bacteria from rhizosphere and nodules of alfalfa – Anna Kisiel – Planta

Relationship between in vitro characterization and comparative efficacy of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria for improving cucumber salt tolerance – Sajid Mahmood Nadeem – Archives of Microbiology

Geomicrobiology and Metagenomics of Terrestrial Deep Subsurface Microbiomes –
M. Itävaara – Advances in Applied Microbiology

Soil Nitrogen Status Modifies Rice Root Response to Nematode-Bacteria Interactions in the Rhizosphere – Yanhong Cheng – PLOS ONE

Water microbiome

Pollution-induced community tolerance for in situ assessment of recovery in river microbial communities following the ban of the herbicide diuron – Stéphane Pesce – Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment

Built environment microbiology

Characterization of a drinking water distribution pipeline terminally colonized by Naegleria fowleri – Matthew J. Morgan – Environmental Science & Technology

Mitigation of biofilm formation on corrugated cardboard fresh produce packaging surfaces using a novel thiazolidinedione derivative integrated in acrylic emulsion polymers – Michael Brandwein – Frontiers in Microbiology

Bioreactor microbiology

Anaerobic digestion of biowaste under extreme ammonia concentration: Identification of key microbial phylotypes – Simon Poirier – Bioresource Technology

Bioinformatics, viruses, metabolomics, and metagenomics

VirusTAP: Viral Genome-Targeted Assembly Pipeline – Akifumi Yamashita – Frontiers in Microbiology

The secondary metabolite bioinformatics portal: Computational tools to facilitate synthetic biology of secondary metabolite production – Tilmann Weber – Synthetic and Systems Biotechnology

Microbes in the news

Inhibiting age-related inflammation maintains healthy gut microbiota and extends lifespan – MedicalXpress

An Occupy Movement for the Symbiome – Marti Davidson Sichel – GenEngNews

Middletown High students make bacteria glow in mobile lab – Sylvia Carignan – Frederick News Post
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Electric-car battery materials could harm key soil bacteria – American Chemical Society

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February 10, 2016

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Socioeconomic status and microbiota diversity, metagenome of a carnivorous plant, microbiota of homes of CF patients, and high-resolution phylogenetic microbial community profiling.

Events

ASM Microbe 2016, June 16-20, Boston MA. With opening keynote lecture by Bill Gates

SC2: Microbiome: Sorting out the hype from the hope – March 6-11 2016, San Francisco

Probiotics and Prebiotics – June 21-23, Budapest

Pregnancy and birth

Routine Use of Probiotics in Preterm Infants: Longitudinal Impact on the Microbiome and Metabolome – Abdulkadir B. – Neonatology

Human oral microbiome

Isolation of Propionibacterium acnes among the microbiota of primary endodontic infections with and without intraoral communication – Sadia Ambreen Niazi – Clinical Oral Investigations

Human gut microbiome

Deciphering bifidobacterial-mediated metabolic interactions and their impact on gut microbiota by a multi-omics approach – Francesca Turroni – The ISME Journal

Lower Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status Associated with Reduced Diversity of the Colonic Microbiota in Healthy Adults – Gregory E. Miller – PLOS ONE

The features of mucosa-associated microbiota in primary sclerosing cholangitis –
J. Torres – Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics

Review: Physiological Role of Gut Microbiota for Maintaining Human Health – Andoh A. – Digestion

Editorial: You Are What You Feed Your Gut Microbiome – Joseph E. Scherger – Health Affairs

Review: Gastroenvironmental distress: metaphorical antecedents of the gut microbiome – Nitin K Ahuja – Medical Humanities

Review: Fostering of advanced mutualism with gut microbiota by Immunoglobulin A – Duncan B. Sutherland – Immunological Reviews

Models of microbiome research

Drosophila: Preventing Age-Related Decline of Gut Compartmentalization Limits Microbiota Dysbiosis and Extends Lifespan – Hongjie Li – Cell Host & Microbe

Editorial: Microbes without Borders: Decompartmentalization of the Aging Gut – Erin S. Keebaugh – Cell Host & Microbe

Mice (and humans): Intestinal REG3 Lectins Protect against Alcoholic Steatohepatitis by Reducing Mucosa-Associated Microbiota and Preventing Bacterial Translocation – Lirui Wang – Cell Host & Microbe

Editorial: Alcohol Lowers Your (Intestinal) Inhibitions – Namrata Iyer – Cell Host & Microbe

Mice: Daikenchuto (TU-100) shapes gut microbiota architecture and increases the production of ginsenoside metabolite compound K – Takumu Hasebe – Pharmacology Research & Perspectives

Editorial: Microbiota Control of Malaria Transmission – Miguel P. Soares – Trends in Parasitology

Animal microbiome

Beetles: Trophic and Non-Trophic Interactions in a Biodiversity Experiment Assessed by Next-Generation Sequencing – Julia Tiede – PLOS ONE

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

The Metagenome of Utricularia gibba’s Traps: Into the Microbial Input to a Carnivorous Plant – Luis David Alcaraz – PLOS ONE

Enhancement of drought stress tolerance in crops by plant growth promoting rhizobacteria – Sai Shiva Krishna Prasad Vurukonda – Microbiological Research

Actinobacteria from Arid and Desert Habitats: Diversity and Biological Activity –
Fatemeh Mohammadipanah – Frontiers in Microbiology

Organic Fertilization in Traditional Mediterranean Grapevine Orchards Mediates Changes in Soil Microbial Community Structure and Enhances Soil Fertility – Fuensanta García-Orenes – Land Degradation & Development

Effects of plant functional group loss on soil biota and net ecosystem exchange: a plant removal experiment in the Mongolian grassland – Dima Chen – Journal of Ecology

Water microbiome

Plankton networks driving carbon export in the oligotrophic ocean – Lionel Guidi – Nature

Built environment microbiome

Assessment of the Microbial Constituents of the Home Environment of Individuals with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) and Their Association with Lower Airways Infections – Alya Heirali – PLOS ONE

Metabolomics

Microbial metabolomics in open microscale platforms – Layla J. Barkal – Nature Communications

More microbiology

Open for discussion: Bacterial sequences detected in 99 out of 99 serum samples from Ebola patients – Marina Manrique – bioRxiv

Ethanol Production by Selected Intestinal Microorganisms and Lactic Acid Bacteria Growing under Different Nutritional Conditions – Fouad M. F. Elshaghabee – Frontiers in Microbiology

Rapid radiation in bacteria leads to a division of labour – Wook Kim – Nature Communications

Total biosynthesis of opiates by stepwise fermentation using engineered Escherichia coli – Akira Nakagawa – Nature Communications

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

PhyloTags: High-resolution phylogenetic microbial community profiling – Esther Singer – The ISME Journal

Analysis of five complete genome sequences for members of the class Peribacteria in the recently recognized Peregrinibacteria bacterial phylum – Karthik Anantharaman – PeerJ

Microbes in the news

The Good, the Bad and the Microbiome – Rachel Reisig – University of Minnesota

Unraveling the Mysterious Function of the Microbiome – by Mike Orcutt – MIT Technology Review

Wound-healing intestinal bacteria: Like shrubs after a forest fire
Akkermansia + other anaerobic bacteria temporarily bloom – EurekAlert

San Diego Scientists Find Data Brewing In Local Fermentation Culture – David Wagner – KPBS

Bacteria Have Ability to ‘See,’ Eye-Opening Study Finds – Maggie Fox – NBC News

A gut feeling about bacteria: Men are from Mars, women are from Venus – and their gut bacteria is just as different. – The Senior

How Your Gut Affects Your Bones. The surprising new science of how intestinal bacteria control bone strength – Rana Samadfam – Scientific American

Scientists Discover New Bacteria Responsible For Lyme Disease – David Beasly – Huffington Post

Overhyped: Sci-Q: The Science Of Love: The role of the microbiome in romantic attraction

Science, publishing, and career

Improving the peer-review process and editorial quality: key errors escaping the review and editorial process in top scientific journals – Antoni Margalida – PeerJ

Does it take too long to publish research? – Kendall Powell – Nature

The history of publishing delays – Daniel Himmelstein

The sexual misconduct case that has rocked anthropology – Michael Balter – Science
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