September 2, 2016

Correlation between oligosaccharides and gut microbes in infants, metabolic pathways in 10 infant twin pairs, an Open-Source alternative for USEARCH, and an important new FDA rule.

Events

Unfortunately, all of the confirmed speakers are men. Nature Conference on Environmental and Human Microbiomes: Drivers of Future Sustainability, February 12-15, 2017, Singapore

Pregnancy and birth

Identification of Oligosaccharides in Feces of Breast-fed Infants and Their Correlation with the Gut Microbial Community – Jasmine C. C. Davis – Molecular & Cellular Proteomics

Membrane Vesicles of Group B Streptococcus Disrupt Feto-Maternal Barrier Leading to Preterm Birth – Manalee Vishnu Surve – PLOS Pathogens

Press: Bacteria linked to stillbirth: mouse study – Sarah Wiedersehn – Australian Associated Press

Diversity of Gut Microbiota Metabolic Pathways in 10 Pairs of Chinese Infant Twins – Shaoming Zhou – PLOS ONE

A preliminary investigation on the relationship between gut microbiota and gene expressions in peripheral mononuclear cells of infants with autism spectrum disorders – Ryo Inoue – Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Biochemistry

Human gut microbiome

Commentary: Gut microbiota: Changes in gut microbes and host metabolism: squaring the circle? – Patrice D. Cani – Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology

Animal microbiome

Bacterial diversity of the American sand fly Lutzomyia intermedia using high-throughput metagenomic sequencing – Carolina Cunha Monteiro – Parasites & Vectors

Deep COI sequencing of standardized benthic samples unveils overlooked diversity of Jordanian coral reefs in the northern Red Sea – Mamoon M.D. Al-Rshaidat – Genome

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Metagenomic Analysis of Some Potential Nitrogen-Fixing Bacteria in Arable Soils at Different Formation Processes – Agnieszka Wolińska – Microbial Ecology

Water microbiome

Microbial diversity within the Trichodesmium holobiont – Mónica Rouco – Environmental Microbiology

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

MetaProb: accurate metagenomic reads binning based on probabilistic sequence signatures – Samuele Girotto – Bioinformatics

A heritability-based comparison of methods used to cluster 16S rRNA gene sequences into operational taxonomic units – Matthew A. Jackson – PeerJ

An Open Source alternative for USEARCH: VSEARCH: a versatile open source tool for metagenomics – Torbjørn Rognes- PeerJ Preprint

Using viromes to predict novel immune proteins in non-model organisms – Steven D. Quistad – Proceedings of the Royal Society B

Microbes in the news

FDA issues final rule on safety and effectiveness of antibacterial soapsRule removes triclosan and triclocarban from over-the-counter antibacterial hand and body washes – FDA

FDA bans antibacterial soaps; “No scientific evidence” they’re safe, effective
Ban includes soaps with any of 19 chemicals, including triclosan – Beth Mole – ArsTechnica

Living Russian Dolls.They have bacteria in their cells, and smaller bacteria in those bacteria—and that’s not even the weirdest bit – Ed Yong – The Atlantic

Sydney scientists accidentally discover antibiotic to treat koalas with chlamydia – Matt Wordsworth – ABC Australia

High Demand For Antibiotics Leads To Growth In Microbiology Culture Industry In United States – MedGadget

September 1, 2016

Bedouins, urban Saoudis and monkeys, a subglacial lake, and the oldest microbial fossils.

Events

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Workshop on Viruses to be Held in Singapore, January 2017 – David Coil – MicroBEnet

Human respiratory microbiome

News: Does barnyard dust protect Amish children from asthma? – Bryant Furlow – The Lancet

Human gut microbiome

Gut microbiome and dietary patterns in different Saudi populations and monkeys – Emmanouil Angelakis – Scientific Reports

Fecal Microbiota Transplantation is Safe and Efficacious for Recurrent or Refractory Clostridium difficile Infection in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease – Monika Fischer

Animal experiments

High fat diet drives obesity regardless the composition of gut microbiota in mice – Sylvie Rabot – Scientific Reports

Gut Microbiota Promote Angiotensin II–Induced Arterial Hypertension and Vascular Dysfunction – Susanne H. Karbach – Hypertension

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Forest area and connectivity influence root-associated fungal communities in a fragmented landscape – Rachel L. Vannette – Ecology

Review: Comparative phylogenomics of symbiotic associations – Pierre-Marc Delaux – New Phytologist

Water and extremophile

Microbial Community Structure of Subglacial Lake Whillans, West Antarctica – Amanda M. Achberger – Frontiers in Microbiology

Dust microbiome

Poultry houses: DNA from dust: comparative genomics of large DNA viruses in field surveillance samples – Utsav Pandey – bioRxiv

Techniques

Direct 16S rRNA-seq from bacterial communities: a PCR-independent approach to simultaneously assess microbial diversity and functional activity potential of each taxon – Riccardo Rosselli – Scientific Reports

More microbiology

Screen Shot 2016-09-01 at 06.30PM, Sep 01

Geological map and location of microbial structures

Rapid emergence of life shown by discovery of 3,700-million-year-old microbial structures – Allen P. Nutman – Nature

Press: Life thrived on young Earth: scientists discover 3.7-billion-year-old fossils – Science Daily
The World’s Oldest Fossils Are 3.7 Billion Years Old. The newly discovered rocks suggest that life arose very quickly after the Earth was formed – Ed Yong – The Atlantic

Microbes in the news

Microbial genomics and the future of food microbiology – Julie Wolf – American Society for Microbiology

Space Microbiome? Yes Please! and I’ll take a minION sequencer as well if you don’t mind – Ben Libberton – NPJ Biofilms Community

Multitalented microbiology student is highly lauded for her scholarship – Western Michigan University

Manuka honey makes bacteria less resistant to antibiotics – Rowena Jenkins – The Conversation

Changes in Gut microflora – early warning of Equine Metabolic Syndrome (EMS)? – Jackie Bellamy-Zions – Harness Link

uBiome Hires New Vice President of Research and Development: Dr. Audrey Goddard Joins from Genomic Health and Genentech – PR Web

Samorost 3’s fairy tale of microbiology is now on iPhone – Chris Priestman – Kill Screen

Science, publishing, and career

How to Motivate Your Employees: Give Them Compliments and Pizza – Melissa Dahl – New York Magazine

Opinion: Fixing Science’s Human Bias. It’s time to accelerate the conversation about why the research community is still not diverse – Edward Courchaine and Sarah Smaga – The Scientist

Thanks to the glass ceiling breakers – Yarrow Axford – Science

Peer review

HT: Tomer AltmanStupid Patent of the Month: Elsevier Patents Online Peer Review – Electronic Frontier Foundation

Research Integrity

OMICS vs. The FTC: Plagiarism at a Predatory Publisher – Neuroskeptic – Discover

 

August 24, 2016

Revisiting obesity and microbiome links, movies of Vibrio growing in biofilms, and decomposing chickens (yum)!

My apologies for not having had a lot of time to keep up with the literature. I’m now running all searches after work hours. This week we have friends over from Europe, and after 7 pm, my friends go before work ! Here is what I have so far, but it’s not as recent as I would like it to be. Hopefully I will have some time in the weekend to catch up.

Jobs and events

Postdoc Position in Bioinformatics, Metagenomics and the Human Microbiome – Jeroen Raes group, Leuven, Belgium

Human Microbiome Journal Club, Friday August 26: What is the most appropriate method for associating microbiome data with health and disease?

Human gut microbiome

Previously on bioRxiv, now publishedLooking for a Signal in the Noise: Revisiting Obesity and the Microbiome – Marc A. Sze, Patrick D. Schloss – mBio

No, your gut bacteria ISN’T making you fat: Scientists find ‘no difference’ between the microbes in obese and thin people’s stomachs – Daily Mail

Effect of Fecal Microbiota Transplantation on Recurrence in Multiply Recurrent Clostridium difficile Infection: A Randomized Trial – Colleen R. Kelly – Annals of Internal Medicine

Systematic Review: Adverse Events of Fecal Microbiota Transplantation – Sinan Wang – PLOS ONE

Animal microbiome

Nutrition mediates the expression of cultivar–farmer conflict in a fungus-growing ant – Jonathan Z. Shik – PNAS

Water microbiome

Distinct bacterial communities in surficial seafloor sediments following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon blowout – Tingting Yang – Frontiers in Microbiology

Microbiome of death

Effect of Substrate on Identification of Microbial Communities in Poultry Carcass Composting and Microorganisms Associated with Poultry Carcass Decomposition – Jie Wang – Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

Using Dendritic Heat Maps to Simultaneously Display Genotype Divergence with Phenotype Divergence – Matthew Kellom – PLOS ONE

Microbial Ecology

Review: Biotic Interactions in Microbial Communities as Modulators of Biogeochemical Processes: Methanotrophy as a Model System – Adrian Ho – Frontiers in Microbiology

More microbiology

Vibrio cholerae biofilm growth program and architecture revealed by single-cell live imaging – Jing Yan – PNAS

Comparative genomics of biotechnologically important yeasts – Robert Riley – PNAS

Microbes in the news

Great Moments in Science: The microscopic high-tech wizardry of bacteria – Karl Kruszelnicki – ABC Australia

Bacteria are the probably cause of barnacles sticking to boats – battling biofouling with biology – Mary Beth Griggs – PopSci

Bacteria Hysteria

Your Bed Is A Hotbed Of Bacteria – Joy D’Souza – Huffington Post Canada
Bacteria in your Bed – “study” sponsored by AmeriSleep (huge CoI)

Science, publishing, and career

Including Diverse Voices in Science Stories –  Christina Selby – The Open Notebook

 

August 23, 2016

The bagpipe microbiome, antibiotic disturbance and diabetes risk, tubeworm metamorphosis, and immune tolerance to intestinal bacteria.

Jobs

Assistant or Associate Professor in Immunology (Tenure Track), Division of Immunology of the Department of Microbiology & Immunobiology at Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

Assistant/Associate/Professor of Microbiology and Infectious Disease, Lincoln Memorial University, Harrogate, TN

Respiratory microbiome

Bagpipe lung; a new type of interstitial lung disease? – Jenny King – Thorax

Human gut microbiome / bioinformatics

Bioinformatics support for the Tübiom community gut microbiome project – Sina Beier- PeerJ Preprint

Review: Eosinophils, probiotics, and the microbiome – Helene F. Rosenberg – Journal of Leukocyte Biology

Animal experiments

Antibiotic-mediated gut microbiome perturbation accelerates development of type 1 diabetes in mice – Alexandra E. Livanos – Nature Microbiology

Antibiotic Therapy During Infancy Increases Type 1 Diabetes Risk in Mice – Alison F. Takemura – The Scientist

Life Inside an Acorn: How Microclimate and Microbes Influence Nest Organization in Temnothorax Ants – Joseph Karlik – Ethology

Stepwise metamorphosis of the tubeworm Hydroides elegans is mediated by a bacterial inducer and MAPK signaling – Nicholas J. Shikuma – PNAS

Strange experimentGut microbiota can transfer fiber characteristics and lipid metabolic profiles of skeletal muscle from pigs to germ-free mice – Honglin Yan – Scientific Reports

pH drop impacts differentially skin and gut microbiota of the Amazonian fish tambaqui (Colossoma macropomum) – François-Étienne Sylvain – Scientific Reports

Immune tolerance to an intestine-adapted bacteria, Chryseobacterium sp., injected into the hemocoel of Protaetia brevitarsis seulensis – Jiae Lee – Scientific Reports

Alternative for antibiotics: Predatory bacteria are nontoxic to the rabbit ocular surface – Eric G. Romanowski – Scientific Reports

Animal microbiome

Multi-marker metabarcoding of coral skeletons reveals a rich microbiome and diverse evolutionary origins of endolithic algae – Vanessa Rossetto Marcelino – Scientific Reports

Techniques
Common methods for fecal sample storage in field studies yield consistent signatures of individual identity in microbiome sequencing data – Ran Blekhman – Scientific Reports

Microbes in the news

Why We Sit on One Type of Stool but, Ideally, Not on Another – Julie Taylor – uBiome Blog
Gene-modified soil bacteria promise eco-friendly computing. The US Navy is creating nanowires from one of the most renewable resources on the planet – Jon Fingas – EnGadget

Inaugural ACS Infectious Diseases Young Investigator Awards Winners Announced: Audrey Odom, Timothy Wencewicz, Marcos Pires – ACS Axial

Ghent scientist uses bacteria to remove methane from air – Andy Furniere – Flanders Today

Microbes are More Social Than You Think, But Not Always in a Good Way – Jeffrey Marlow – Discover

Science, publishing, and career

More Faculty Diversity, Not on Tenure Track – Colleen Flaherty – InsideHigherEd

 

the Macroscope – a Big Picture view of Planet Earth… articles, essays, and photographs by Jonathan Foley

August 20, 2016

Microbial eukaryotes along a pollution gradient, bacteria binding to ice, and testing the neutral theory.

Jobs and events

Assistant Professor in Genomics and Ecology of Microbial Pathogens in Food Systems Department of Food Science & Technology, University of California, Davis (via Jonathan Eisen – MicroBE.net)

Human gut microbiome

Gastrointestinal microbial populations can distinguish pediatric and adolescent Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) at the time of disease diagnosis – Seesandra V. Rajagopala – BMC Genomics

Review: Diet and Gut Microbial Function in Metabolic and Cardiovascular Disease Risk – Katie A. Meyer – Current Diabetes Reports

Review: Other Helicobacters and gastric microbiota – Chloë De Witte – Helicobacter

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Spatial Distribution of Eukaryotic Communities Using High-Throughput Sequencing Along a Pollution Gradient in the Arsenic-Rich Creek Sediments of Carnoulès Mine, France – A. Volant – Microbial Ecology

Water and extremophile microbiome

Putting life on ice: bacteria that bind to frozen water – Maya Bar Dolev – Journal of the Royal Society Interface

Genetic signatures of ecological diversity along an urbanization gradient – Ryan P. Kelly – PeerJ Preprint

Surveys, simulation and single-cell assays relate function and phylogeny in a lake ecosystem – Sarah P. Preheim – Nature Microbiology

Book: Microbes from Hell: archaea and hyperthermophiles – Patrick Forterre

Drinking water and water treatment microbiology

Elucidation of Taste- and Odor-Producing Bacteria and Toxigenic Cyanobacteria in a Midwestern Drinking Water Supply Reservoir by Shotgun Metagenomic Analysis – Timothy G. Otten – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Elucidating selection processes for antibiotic resistance in sewage treatment plants using metagenomics – Johan Bengtsson-Palme – Science of the Total Environment

Microbial Ecology

Testing the Neutral Theory of Biodiversity with Human Microbiome Datasets – Lianwei Li – Scientific Reports

Review: The Ecology and Evolution of Microbial Competition – Melanie Ghoul – Trends in Microbiology

Microbes in the news

We need to stop sanitizing everything and let bacteria back in our lives – Joselin Linder – New York Post

Bacteria may be key to environmentally friendly extraction of minerals – Angela Kean – S&P Capital IQ

Science, publishing, and career

What lurks in ageing academics’ unvisited personal archives? – Ron Iphofen – Times Higher Education
Army report says science director creating ‘environment of fear’ at USAMRIID – Sylvia Carignan – Frederick News Post

August 19, 2016

Gingivitis and periodontitis in Malawian cohort, gut Bifidobacteria during aging, picornaviruses in rats from 2 locations.

Jobs and events

QIIME 2 workshop Nov 4-5 (just prior to SSSA meeting) in Phoenix, AZ – Greg Caporaso – Microbe.net

Three postdoctoral researchers and one Ph.D. student: role of microbes in post-fire soil organic matter dynamics – University of Wisconsin-Madison

Human oral microbiome

Distinguishing the Signals of Gingivitis and Periodontitis in Supragingival Plaque: A Cross-Sectional Cohort Study in Malawi – Liam Shaw – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Press: Investigators chart microbial ecology of gingivitis, periodontitis – EurekAlert

Association of metabolic syndrome and chronic periodontitis in Colombians – Adriana Jaramillo – Clinical Oral Investigations

Microbial Signatures of Oral Dysbiosis, Periodontitis and Edentulism Revealed by Gene Meter Methodology – M Colby Hunter – bioRxiv

Human gut microbiome

Review: Gut Bifidobacteria Populations in Human Health and Aging – Silvia Arboleya – Frontiers in Microbiology

Review: Correlations of host genetic and gut microbiome composition – Krystyna Dabrowska – Frontiers in Microbiology

Review: Gut Microbiota: a contributing factor to obesity – Steve M. Harakeh – Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology

Animal microbiome

High diversity of picornaviruses in rats from different continents revealed by deep sequencing – Thomas Arn Hansen – Emerging Microbes & Infections

Composition of Ileal Bacterial Community in Grazing Goats Varies across Non-rumination, Transition and Rumination Stages of Life – Jinzhen Jiao – Frontiers in Microbiology

Spatial and temporal dynamics of Pacific oyster hemolymph microbiota across multiple scales – Ana Lokmer – Frontiers in Microbiology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Unexpectedly high beta-diversity of root-associated fungal communities in the Bolivian Andes – Christopher J. Barnes – Frontiers in Microbiology

Fungal Assemblages in Different Habitats in an Erman’s Birch Forest – Teng Yang – Frontiers in Microbiology

Water microbiome

Chronic Polyaromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH) Contamination Is a Marginal Driver for Community Diversity and Prokaryotic Predicted Functioning in Coastal Sediments – Mathilde Jeanbille – Frontiers in Microbiology

Microbes in space

The theory and application of space microbiology: China’s experiences in space experiments and beyond – Changting Liu – Environmental Microbiology

Bioreactor microbiology

Colonic Transit Time Is a Driven Force of the Gut Microbiota Composition and Metabolism: In Vitro Evidence – William Tottey – Journal of Neurogastroenterology and Motility

Bioinformatics

Resolving microbial membership using Abundance and Variability In Taxonomy (‘AVIT ) – Anirikh Chakrabarti – Scientific Reports

Microbes in the news

Trillions of Tiny Dictators. Microbes have taken over our bodies and maybe even our minds. What, exactly, are they? – Emily Willingham – The Wall Street Journal
With a little help from my friends. The microbiome gets a worthy biography – The Economist
Eating Yogurt Is Not Enough: Rebalancing The Ecosystem Of ‘The Microbes Within Us’ – Terry Gross – NPR Fresh Air (Transcript of interview with Ed Yong)

Prebiotics Take Front and Center Stage on the 700 Club – PR NewsWire

Uncovering the female body’s secret protection against HIV – Heather Boerner – PBS Newshour

Scientific Studies Using Mice May Be Hard to Replicate Due to Gut Microbes – Paul Ratner – BigThink

Scientists Investigate How Multidrug-Resistant Pathogens are Brought into Hospitals – SciCasts

MSU team shows biofilm and mineral-producing bacteria have potential for plugging oil and gas leaks – Marshall Swearingen – Montana State University

Montana Officials Close Yellowstone River To Fight Fish-Killing ParasiteMontana Officials Close Yellowstone River To Fight Fish-Killing Parasite – Richard Gonzales – NPR

Science, publishing, and career

Peer Review Week September 2016 #RecognizeReview – Alice Meadows – The Scholarly Kitchen

With Kate Rubins, a former PhD student in our lab: NASA Astronauts Successfully Install New Space Station Docking Port – Samantha Mathewson – Space.com

August 17, 2016

Beneficial bacteria in the nose suppress pathogenic bacteria,  gut microbiome and Entamoeba histolytica infection, viromes of the Earth.

Jobs

Assistant/Associate Professor in Microbiology & Immunology, University of Illinois at Chicago – Science Careers

Internship: Coral microbiome under ocean acidification – King Abdullah University of Science and Technology – Saudi Arabia

Pregnancy and birth

Microbiota in Breast Milk of Chinese Lactating Mothers – Olga Sakwinska – PLOS ONE

Human skin microbiome

ReviewFactors shaping the composition of the cutaneous microbiota – K. Szabó – British Journal of Dermatology

Human respiratory microbiome

Staphylococcus aureus Shifts toward Commensalism in Response to Corynebacterium Species – Matthew M. Ramsey – Frontiers in Microbiology

Press: New findings detail how beneficial bacteria in the nose suppress pathogenic bacteria– Science Daily

Human gut microbiome

Disease Severity and Immune Activity Relate to Distinct Interkingdom Gut Microbiome States in Ethnically Distinct Ulcerative Colitis Patients – Jordan S. Mar – mBio

Stool microbiome reveals diverse bacterial ureases as confounders of oral urea breath testing for Helicobacter pylori and Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Bamako, Mali – Mamoudou Maiga – Journal of Breath Research

Review: Antibiotics as deep modulators of gut microbiota: between good and evil – Gianluca Ianiro – Gut

Review: The Intestinal Bacterial Microbiome and E. histolytica Infection – Stacey L. Burgess – Curr Trop Med Reports

Review: The microbiome and immune regulation after transplantation – Tabibian, James H. – Transplantation

Review: Experimental design considerations in microbiota/inflammation studies – Robert J Moore – Clin Transl Immunology

Animal experiments

Wolbachia Endosymbionts Modify Drosophila Ovary Protein Levels in a Context-Dependent Manner – Steen Christensen – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Composition of the Cockroach Gut Microbiome in the Presence of Parasitic Nematodes – Cláudia S. L. Vicente – Microbes and Environments

Animal microbiome

Link of a ubiquitous human coronavirus to dromedary camels – Victor M. Corman – PNAS

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Changes in the composition of the RNA virome mark evolutionary transitions in green plants – Arcady Mushegian – BMC Biology

ReviewIdentifying the role of soil microbes in plant invasions – Wayne Dawson – Journal of Ecology

Water microbiome

Uncovering Earth’s virome – David Paez-Espino – Nature

Press: Unveiled: Earth’s Viral Diversity. Environmental datasets help researchers double the number of microbial phyla known to be infected by viruses.- Joint Genome Institute
Researchers complete unprecedented study of the global virome – Katherine Lindemann – Research Gate Blog

290 Metagenome-assembled Genomes from the Mediterranean Sea: Ongoing Effort to Generate Genomes from the Tara Oceans Dataset – Benjamin J Tully – bioRxiv

The Microbiome and Mental Health: Looking Back, Moving Forward with Lessons from Allergic Diseases – Alan C. Logan

Extremophile microbiome

Yeasts from macroalgae and lichens that inhabit the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica
Alysson Wagner Fernandes Duarte – Environmental Microbiology Reports

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

Comparison of bacterial genome assembly software for MinION data and their applicability to medical microbiology – Kim Judge – Microbial Genomics

Fast comparison of genomic and meta-genomic reads with alignment-free measures based on quality values – Matteo Comin – BMC Medical Genomics

Gifted microbes for genome mining and natural product discovery – Richard H. Baltz – Journal of Industrial Microbiology & Biotechnology

Microbial Ecology

Biodiversity at multiple trophic levels is needed for ecosystem multifunctionality – Santiago Soliveres – Nature

Extrapolating abundance curves has no predictive power for estimating microbial biodiversity – Amy Willis – PNAS

Synergistic elimination of bacteria by phage and the immune system – Chung Yin (Joey) Leung – bioRxiv

Microbes in the news

The Counterintuitive Way That Microbes Survive in Antarctica – And what it could mean for the search for life on other worlds – Ed Yong – The Atlantic

Human Cells Make Up Only Half Our Bodies. A New Book Explains Why – Jonathan Weiner – New York Times

Journalist Edmund Soon-Weng Yong awarded 2016 Byron H. Waksman Award for excellence in the public communication of Life Sciences – NewsWise

Mouse microbes may make scientific studies harder to replicate – Kelly Servick – Science Mag

Biome, Genome, Microbiome…Houdinisome? – Jason Tetro – Germ Guy

Tiny Stanford invention purifies water in minutes using the sun – CNET

The importance of quality pre-analytical factors and their impact on microbiome analysis – Lisa Gamwell – DNA Genotek’s Microbiome Collection and Stabilization Blog

Behind paywall: Brazilian Researchers Profile Microbiome of Rio Before, During, After Olympic Games – Genome Web
Rio 2016 organizers are confident everything is fine. I’m not reassured – Sally Jenkins – Washington Post

Science, publishing, and career

Stanford programs prepare underrepresented high schoolers for careers in science, engineering and medicine – Victoria Chesley – Stanford News

August 9, 2016

Climate change and increasing Vibrio species in North Atlantic, microbiome of the aging mouth, Antarctic soil around Little Auk colony.

Events

5th Exploring Human Host-Microbiome Interactions in Health and Disease – Welcome Genome Campus, Cambridge, UK, 7-9 September 2016

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

Hot topics in microbiology: Campden BRI conference – Campden BRI, Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire, UK, October 13-14

Today & tomorrow – live webcast – Standards for Microbiome Measurements @NIST – Jonathan Eisen – MicroBEnet

General microbiome

Note: includes 16S rRNA gene studies as well, so not metagenomic sensu stricto: An overview of major metagenomic studies on human microbiomes in health and disease – Hongfei Cui – Quantitative Biology

Brazil: A Step Forward to Empower Global Microbiome Research Through Local Leadership – Victor S. Pylro – Trends in Microbiology

Human oral microbiome

Distinct interacting core taxa in co-occurrence networks enable discrimination of polymicrobial oral diseases with similar symptoms – Takahiko Shiba – Scientific Reports

Oral microbial community typing of caries and pigment in primary dentition – Yanhui Li – BMC Genomics

Review: The subgingival periodontal microbiota of the aging mouth – Magda Feres – Periodonotology 2000

Human respiratory microbiome

Review: The microbiome in chronic inflammatory airway disease: A threatened species – Robin John Green – The South African Medical Journal

Review: Lung microbiome in human immunodeficiency virus infection – Homer L. Twigg IIIa – Translational Research

Human vaginal microbiome

Evaluation of the vaginal flora in pregnant women receiving opioid maintenance therapy: a matched case-control study – Alex Farr – BMC Pregnancy Childbirth

Human gut microbiome

Microbial Factors Associated with Postoperative Crohn’s Disease Recurrence – Emily K. Wright – Journal of Crohn’s and Colitis

The mucosal microbiota in a young child with severe non-Helicobacter gastritis – Geoffrey A. Preidis – Therapeutic Advances in Gastroenterology

Profile of Gut Microbiota Associated With the Presence of Hepatocellular Cancer in Patients With Liver Cirrhosis – M. Grąt – Transplantation Proceedings

Comparison of the gut microbial community between obese and lean peoples using 16S gene sequencing in a Japanese population – Akira Andoh – Journal of Clinical Biochemistry and Nutrition

Book Chapter: The Second Brain and Possible Interactions with the Heart – Rosa Sollazzo – Psychotherapy for Ischemic Heart Disease

Infection microbiology

Comparison of methods for the identification of microorganisms isolated from blood cultures – Aydir Cecília Marinho Monteiro – Annals of Clinical Microbiology and Antimicrobials

Animal experiments

Disturbance in the Mucosa-Associated Commensal Bacteria Is Associated with the Exacerbation of Chronic Colitis by Repeated Psychological Stress; Is That the New Target of Probiotics? – Sohei Arase – PLOS ONE

Role of the Gut Microbiome in Modulating Arthritis Progression in Mice – Xiaofei Liu – Scientific Reports

Salmonella Typhimurium utilizes a T6SS-mediated antibacterial weapon to establish in the host gut – Thibault G. Sana – PNAS

Animal microbiome

Does adaptive radiation of a host lineage promote ecological diversity of its bacterial communities? A test using gut microbiota of Anolis lizards – Tiantian Ren – Molecular Ecology

The gut microbiota of the pine weevil is similar across Europe and resembles that of other conifer-feeding beetles – Aileen Berasategui – Molecular Ecology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

The Arctic soil bacterial communities in the vicinity of a little auk colony – Sylwia Zielinska – Frontiers in Microbiology

Soil Fungal:Bacterial Ratios Are Linked to Altered Carbon Cycling – Ashish A. Malik – Frontiers in Microbiology

Ancient landscapes and the relationship with microbial nitrification – Sasha N. Jenkins – Scientific Reports

Long-term antibiotic exposure in soil is associated with changes in microbial community structure and prevalence of class 1 integrons – David W. Cleary – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Are Epiphytic Microbial Communities in the Carposphere of Ripening Grape Clusters (Vitis vinifera L.) Different between Conventional, Organic, and Biodynamic Grapes? – Elizabeth Kecskeméti – PLOS ONE

Bacterial communities in Antarctic lichens – Chae Haeng Park – Antarctic Science

Water and extremophile microbiome

Climate influence on Vibrio and associated human diseases during the past half-century in the coastal North Atlantic – Luigi Vezzulli – PNAS

Press: We’re trashing the oceans — and they’re returning the favor by making us sick – Chris Mooney – The Washington Post
Deadly Bacteria Spread across Oceans as Water Temperatures Rise. Cholera bacteria and others arise in more places and in greater abundance – Umair Irfan – Scientific American
Warming seas linked to rise in cholera bacteria in Europe and US – Brian Owens – New Scientist

Microbial community structure in hypolentic zones of a brine lake in a desert plateau, China – Wenzhen Yuan – Environmental Earth Sciences

Microbial diversity in sediment ecosystems (evaporites domes, microbial mats and crusts) of hypersaline Laguna Tebenquiche, Salar de Atacama, Chile – Ana B. Fernandez – Frontiers in Microbiology

Bioreactor microbiome

The full-scale anaerobic digestion microbiome is represented by specific marker populations – Jo De Vrieze – Water Research

Viruses and phages

Challenges in the analysis of viral metagenomes – Rebecca Rose – Virus Evolution

Metagenomics and bioinformatics

Bipartite graph analyses reveal inter-domain LGT involving ultrasmall prokaryotes and their divergent, membrane-related proteins – Alexander L. Jaffe – Environmental Microbiology

FARAO – The Flexible All-Round Annotation Organizer – Rickard Hammarén – Bioinformatics

Identifying wrong assemblies in de novo short read primary sequence assembly contigs – Vandna Chawla – Journal of Biosciences

A Bayesian Framework for the Classification of Microbial Gene Activity States – Craig Disselkoen – Frontiers in Microbiology

Techniques

Evaluation of 16S rRNA gene primer pairs for monitoring microbial community structures showed high reproducibility within and low comparability between datasets generated with multiple archaeal and bacterial primer pairs – Martin A. Fischer – Frontiers in Microbiology

More microbiology

Editorial: New insights into microbial ecology through subtle nucleotide variation – A M. Eren – Frontiers in Microbiology

Neisseria meningitides Can Survive in Corpses for At Least Eleven Days – Antonio Osculati – Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology

Microbes in the news

List of papers about bias in microbiome techniques: The unbearable madness of microbiome – Mick Watson – Opiniomics

Book Review: Follow your gut – The Enormous Impact of Tiny Microbes – Daniel K. Morais – Frontiers in Microbiology

Brito went to Fiji to study mobile genes in human microbiome – Tom Fleischman – Cornell Chronicle

MSU graduate awarded NSF fellowship to study disease affecting world’s citrus crops – Denise Hoepfner – Montana State University

Bacteria Could Aid Search for Creatures On Other Planets – Elizabeth Howell – Astrobiology Magazine

U.Va. scientists make important discovery about dangerous bacteria strains
Researchers pinpoint mechanisms of C. difficile strains – Daisy Xu – Cavalier Daily

Did farming practices in China create an antibiotic resistant bacteria that’s spreading around the world? – Alanna Shaikh – United Nations Dispatch

Science, publishing, and career

Dog eat dog: is a troubled expedition to Kenya causing the Smithsonian to devour its young?
A star scientist stands accused of misconduct, but colleagues say he’s being railroaded
– Michael Balter – The Verge

A “Scientific Diversity” Intervention to Reduce Gender Bias in a Sample of Life Scientists – Corinne A. Moss-Racusin – CBE Life Sciences Education

Bik’s non-microbiology Picks

Innate Immunity and Asthma Risk in Amish and Hutterite Farm Children – Michelle M. Stein – New England Journal of Medicine

August 8, 2016

Sutures, preterm birth, and vaginal dysbiosis, captive Komodo Dragons, and stochastic assembly of microbial communities.

Jobs

Assistant Professor of Biology (Microbiology): background in microbiome research, molecular mechanisms of microbial pathogenesis, virulence and/or quorum sensing, or host-pathogen interactions – California State University, East Bay

Human vaginal microbiome

Relationship between vaginal microbial dysbiosis, inflammation, and pregnancy outcomes in cervical cerclage – Lindsay M. Kindinger – Science Translational Medicine

Press: Pregnancy procedure may be associated with increased risk of premature birth and neonatal loss – Science Daily
Braided Cervical Cerclage May Raise Risk for Preterm Birth – Lara C. Pullen – MedScape

Human gut microbiome

Addendum (reanalysis of published data): Partial recovery of microbiomes after antibiotic treatment – Frédéric Raymond – Gut Microbes

Review: Microbiota and chronic inflammatory arthritis: an interwoven link – Andrea Picchianti Diamanti – Journal of Translational Medicine

Review: Microbiomic and Posttranslational Modifications as Preludes to Autoimmune Diseases – Ghislain Opdenakker – Trends in Molecular Medicine

Animal microbiome

The Oral and Skin Microbiomes of Captive Komodo Dragons Are Significantly Shared with Their Habitat – Embriette R. Hyde – mSystems

Press: What Captive Komodo Dragons Might Tell Us About Our Own Microbiomes – UC San Diego Health

Dysbiosis of the Fecal Microbiota in Cattle Infected with Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis – Marie-Eve Fecteau – PLOS ONE

Microbiome Composition and Diversity of the Ice-Dwelling Sea Anemone, Edwardsiella andrillae – Alison E. Murray – Integrative & Comparative Biology

Microbiota from Rhabditis regina may alter nematode entomopathogenicity – Jesús Guillermo Jiménez-Cortés – Parasitology Research

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Soil contamination with olive mill wastes negatively affects microbial communities, invertebrates and plants – Olfa Hentati – Ecotoxicology

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi-assisted phytoremediation of a lead-contaminated site – Jerusa Schneider – Science of the Total Environment

Ecology of microbial communities

Effects of dispersal and selection on stochastic assembly in microbial communities – Sarah Evans – The ISME Journal

Microbes in the news

Microbes have no morals – Ed Yong – Aeon

A California City Is Fending Off Zika by Releasing 40,000 Mosquitoes Every Week – Sarah Zhang – Wired

New therapy could help treat skin infections without turning them into superbugs – Chelsea Harvey – Mashable

Getting down and dirty is good for us – Tim Krohn – Mankato Free Press

UNC researchers link gut bacteria to infant brain development – Stephen Ginley – The News & Observer

Hey Bear! Can I Sample Your Microbiota? – Scott Chimileski – American Society For Microbiology

August 2, 2016

Microbial mercury in Antarctic sea ice, bacteria and magnetic field, and what is living in your showerhead.

Events and jobs

Microbiomes of the Built Environment – Meeting #3  (will also be web-casted) – Monday October 17, 2016, at UC Irvine, CA

Postdoctoral position in microbial physiology/environmental microbiology, self-healing concrete, Aarhus University Denmark – Science Careers

General microbiome

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B themed issue: ‘From DNA barcodes to biomes
A new way to contemplate Darwin’s tangled bank: how DNA barcodes are reconnecting biodiversity science and biomonitoring – Mehrdad Hajibabaei
Dissecting host-associated communities with DNA barcodes – Christopher C. M. Baker
Scaling up discovery of hidden diversity in fungi: impacts of barcoding approaches – Rebecca Yahr
Insect symbionts in food webs – Ailsa H. C. McLean

Pregnancy and birth

Review: The mode of delivery affects the diversity and colonization pattern of the gut microbiota during the first year of infants’ life: a systematic review – Erigene Rutayisire – BMC Gastroenterology

Human (and animal) oral microbiome

Review: Gene Sequence Analyses of the Healthy Oral Microbiome in Humans and Companion Animals: A Comparative Review – Eric M. Davis – Journal of Veterinary Dentistry

Human respiratory microbiome

Association between Staphylococcus aureus nasal carriage and disease phenotype in patients affected by systemic lupus erythematosus – Fabrizio Conti – Arthritis Research & Therapy

Human gut microbiome

Alterations in the Fecal Microbiota of Patients with HIV-1 Infection: An Observational Study in A Chinese Population – Zongxin Ling – Scientific Reports

Animal experiments

Chronic Repression of mTOR Complex 2 Induces Changes in the Gut Microbiota of Diet-induced Obese Mice – Mi-Ja Jung – Scientific Reports

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Environmental metabarcoding reveals contrasting microbial communities at two poplar phytomanagement sites – Julie Foulon – Science of the Total Environment

Coupling among Microbial Communities, Biogeochemistry, and Mineralogy across Biogeochemical Facies – James C. Stegen – Scientific Reports

Water and extremophile microbiome

Microbial mercury methylation in Antarctic sea ice – Caitlin M. Gionfriddo – Nature Microbiology

Press: Antarctic sea ice may be a source of mercury in southern ocean fish and birds – Phys.org

Magnetic properties of iron minerals produced by natural iron- and manganese-reducing groundwater bacteria – Alexandra Abrajevitch – Geophysical Journal International

Press: Bacteria Preserve Record of Earth’s Magnetic Fields – EOS

Evidence of small-scale spatial structuring of phytoplankton alpha- and beta-diversity in the open ocean – Erik Askov Mousing – Journal of Ecology

Food microbiology

Bacterial microbiota compositions of naturally fermented milk are shaped by both geographic origin and sample type – Z. Zhong – Journal of Dairy Science

Viruses and phages

The Double-Stranded DNA Virosphere as a Modular Hierarchical Network of Gene Sharing – Jaime Iranzo – mBio

Bioinformatics and metagenomics/metabolomics

Updated version: GutCyc: a Multi-Study Collection of Human Gut Microbiome Metabolic Models – Aria S. Hahn – bioRxiv

Microbes in the news

Is your gut making you sick?. New research suggests that the range and quantity of microbes that live in our guts could have a powerful effect on a range of conditions including depression, MS and obesity – Ann Robinson – The Guardian

How purple bacteria could help save amphibians in the Rockies A Colorado researcher is using boreal toads’ microbiomes to help them ward off a deadly fungus – Krista Langlois – High Country News

A short and weird storyBacteria Filled Water Almost Sends ‘Naked and Afraid’ Contestant Home – Natalie D’Alacio – Yahoo News

Your Showerhead Is Crammed Full of Bacteria That Scientists Want to Study – Kate Lunau – Motherboard

If You Had Really Good Eyesight, Could You See a Single Bacterium? – Julie Taylor – uBiomeBlog

Letter: The microbiologist who didn’t wash his hands after urinating – Peter Dawson – The Guardian

Women more likely to die from bacterial blood infection – Adrian O’Dowd – OnMedica

Sham Poo Washes Out. A bacterial pill that tried to duplicate the benefits of a fecal transplant has failed a clinical trial. What does that mean for the microbiome field? – Ed Yong – The Atlantic

Science, publishing, and career

Not “Pulling up the Ladder”: Women Who Organize Conference Symposia Provide Greater Opportunities for Women to Speak at Conservation Conferences – Stephanie Sardelis – PLOS ONE

In AustraliaStella Count: Women write twice as many books as men, but receive less than half the reviews – Daisy Dumas – Daily Life