Category Archives: Events and jobs

December 7, 2015

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Not many new microbiome papers, but a nice oversight of the microbiological quality of Rio de Janeiro’s Guanabara Bay, where the 2016 Olympics will be held.

Also, there was an interesting discussion online yesterday on IBM’s new campaign aimed to get more women interested to join them – which backfired and was pulled. IBM was trying to recruit more women with a video called “Hack a Hairdryer”, showing how you can use a hairdryer to iron your clothes or blow confetti. It was unclear how emphasizing feminine applications was supposed to attract smart women wanting to work at a computer company.

HackAHairDryer

Hack a hairdryer: Campaign aimed at women suddenly backfires – BBC

IBM Asks Women In Tech To Hack Hair Dryers, Women Tweet Back To Tell IBM It’s Not The 1950s – Sarah Buhr – Tech Crunch

Remember Massacred Women Engineers with a Hairdryer Hackathon – Mika McKinnon- Gizmodo

Jobs (posting again)

Two job openings in our lab / UCSF School of Dentistry (San Francisco) for our hyposalivation project: Full time study coordinator and Part time dental assistant (20 hours per week)

Animal microbiome

DGGE: Microbiological quality and bacterial diversity of the tropical oyster Crassostrea rhizophorae in a monitored farming system and from natural stocks – M.T. Silva Neta – Genet. Mol. Res

Plants, roots, and soil microbiome

Soil bacterial community responses to warming and grazing in a Tibetan alpine meadow – Yaoming Li – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi for the Biocontrol of Plant-Parasitic Nematodes: A Review of the Mechanisms Involved – Nele Schouteden – Frontiers in Microbiology

Prokaryotes in Subsoil—Evidence for a Strong Spatial Separation of Different Phyla by Analysing Co-occurrence Networks – Marie Uksa – Frontiers in Microbiology

Water microbiome

Environmental and Sanitary Conditions of Guanabara Bay, Rio de Janeiro – Giovana O. Fistarol – Frontiers in Microbiology

Microbes in the news

Metformin Users Have Different Gut Bugs: The popular type 2 diabetes drug may cause profound changes in patients’ microbiomes – Kerry Grens – The Scientist

Biologists Are Engineering Kill Switches for GM Microbes – Sarah Zhang – Wired

Bacteria containing mcr-1 gene resistant to all known antibiotics found in Denmark – News Australia

‘Bik’s Picks’ blogger describes features of a good microbiome study – Kristina Campbell in Gut microbiota

Microbiology and art

Paper Life – The artist Rogan Brown cuts thousands of microorganisms in paper – Ufunk

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December 4, 2015

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A short digest today. Microbiome of Cheyenne and Arapaho Oklahomans, and COPD. Have a great weekend!

Jobs

Full-time postdoctoral-level Chief Scientist – Azitra (Skin microbiome therapeutics startup)

Human respiratory microbiome

Not clear if just 16S rRNA gene-implied or real metagenomics: Functional Metagenomics of the Bronchial Microbiome in COPD – Laura Millares – PLOS ONE

Human gut microbiome

Gut Microbiome Diversity among Cheyenne and Arapaho Individuals from Western Oklahoma – Krithivasan Sankaranarayanan – Current Biology

Animal models of microbiome research

Prevention of Diet-Induced Obesity Effects on Body Weight and Gut Microbiota in Mice Treated Chronically with Δ9-Tetrahydrocannabinol – Nina L. Cluny – PLOS ONE

Microbes in the news

Who is in the operating room during c-section deliveries? – Anne M Estes – MicroBEnet

Toolkit for microbiota research – Science Codex

A radically simple idea might open the door to a new world of antibiotics – Carl Zimmer – STAT news

First look at gut microbes in an American Indian community – EurekAlert

Whether by Stealth or Aggression, Viruses Get to Make a Meal of it – Aswin Sai Narain Seshasayee – The Wire

Fluorescent-glowing bacteria help scientists see inside the body’s ‘dark places’ – Curt Woodward – Beta Boston

Shining light on microbial growth and death inside our guts – Wyss Institute

Artist Creates Beautiful Art Using Subway Bacteria – Gillian Mohney – ABC News

November 30, 2015

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Red algae growing in sea otter fur, noroviruses in a Thai river, virus dispersal by hand drying, and the dark side of salad.

Jobs and events

Postdoctoral Position, Evolutionary Genomics, University of California, Davis – Gregory Lanzaro – Phylogenomics

“The Dark Side of Salad: Internalization & Movement of Human Pathogenic Bacteria in Plants,” Guest Speaker: Dr. Amanda Deering – December 2, 2015, Purdue University

General microbiome

Review: Functions of innate immune cells and commensal bacteria in gut homeostasis – Hisako Kayama – Journal of Biochemistry

Human stomach microbiome

Identification of low abundance microbiome in clinical samples using whole genome sequencing – Chao Zhang – Genome Biology

Human gut microbiome

Review: The antimicrobial effects of rifaximin on the gut microbiota – H. L. DuPont – Part of a special issue: “Understanding mechanisms of the actions of rifaximin in selected gastrointestinal diseases “- Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics

Animal models

Influence of Flaxseed Oil on Fecal Microbiota, Egg Quality and Fatty Acid Composition of Egg Yolks in Laying Hens – Jun-Yeong Lee – Current Microbiology

Duodenojejunal Bypass Leads to Altered Gut Microbiota and Strengthened Epithelial Barriers in Rats – Po-Jen Yang – Obesity Surgery

Animal microbiome

Characterization of the putatively introduced red alga Acrochaetium secundatum (Acrochaetiales, Rhodophyta) growing epizoically on the pelage of southern sea otters (Enhydra lutris nereis) – Gena B. Bentall – Marine Mammal Science

The mechanism for microsporidian parasite suppression of the hindgut bacteria of the migratory locust Locusta migratoria manilensis – Shu-qian Tan – Scientific Reports

Comparative Analysis of Microbial Diversity in Termite Gut and Termite Nest Using Ion Sequencing – Arumugam Manjula – Current Microbiology

Plant, root, and soil microbiology

Seasonal dynamics of the soil microbial community: assimilation of old and young carbon sources in a long-term field experiment as revealed by natural 13C abundance – G. Börjesson – European Journal of Soil Science

Aboveground litter quality is a better predictor than belowground microbial communities when estimating carbon mineralization along a land-use gradient – Nicolas Fanin – Soil Biology and Biochemistry

Effect of rice straw application on microbial community and activity in paddy soil under different water status – Fuxia Pan – Environmental Science and Pollution Research

Determinants of the biodiversity patterns of ammonia-oxidizing archaea community in two contrasting forest stands – Jie Chen – Journal of Soils and Sediments

Water and extremophile microbiome

Assessment of bacterial species present in Pasig River and Marikina River soil using 16S rDNA phylogenetic analysis – Maria Constancia O. Carrillo – International Journal of Philippine Science and Technology

Environmental switching during biofilm development in a cold seep system and functional determinants of species sorting – Weipeng Zhang – Molecular Ecology

Molecular detection and characterization of noroviruses in river water near Thailand – K. Inoue – Letters in Applied Microbiology

Biogeochemistry and microbial diversity in the marine cavity beneath the McMurdo Ice Shelf, Antarctica – Trista J. Vick-Majors – Limnology and Oceanography

Waste microbiology

New insights into the genetic and metabolic diversity of thiocyanate-degrading microbial consortia – Mathew P. Watts – Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

Diversity and Distribution of Arsenic-Related Genes Along a Pollution Gradient in a River Affected by Acid Mine Drainage – Angélique Desoeuvre – Microbial Ecology

Seasonal variations of microbial community in a full scale oil field produced water treatment plant – Q. Xie – Global Journal of Environmental Science and Management

Built environment microbiology

Microbial dynamics in mixed culture biofilms of bacteria surviving sanitation of conveyor belts in salmon processing plants – Solveig Langsrud – Journal of Applied Microbiology

Evaluation of the potential for virus dispersal during hand drying: a comparison of three methods – Patrick T. Kimmitt – Journal of Applied Microbiology

Metabolomics

Review: Genome-scale modelling of microbial metabolism with temporal and spatial resolution – Michael A. Henson – Biochemical Society Transactions

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

Assessing the Unseen Bacterial Diversity in Microbial Communities – Alejandro Caro-Quintero – Genome Biology Evolution

Finding New Order in Biological Functions from the Network Structure of Gene Annotations – Kimberly Glass – PLOS Computational Biology

Microbes in the news

Bacteria on the Brain: A brilliant surgeon offered an untested treatment to dying patients. Was it innovation or overreach? – Emily Eakin – The New Yorker

Legionnaires’ Disease Bacteria Found In Minneapolis Hospital Water Samples – Angela Laguipo – Tech Times

The four bugs that protect us from asthma – Elizabeth Finkel – Cosmos Magazine
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November 28, 2015

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Events

2nd Microbiome R&D and Business Collaboration Congress – Early registration ends Monday – February/March 2016, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Human oral microbiome

Decreased Diversity of the Oral Microbiota of Patients with Hepatitis B Virus-Induced Chronic Liver Disease: A Pilot Project – Zongxin Ling – Scientific Reports

Human gut microbiome

Altered Fecal Microbiota in Paediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease – Johanna Maukonen – Journal of Crohn’s and Colitis

Microbiome models

Perspective: Could microbial therapy boost cancer immunotherapy? – Alexandra Snyder – Science

Chronic Zinc Deficiency Alters Chick Gut Microbiota Composition and Function – Spenser Reed – Nutrients

Microbiota is an essential element for mice to initiate a protective immunity against Vaccinia virus – Maurício T. Lima – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Impacts of Extended Laboratory Rearing on Female Fitness in Florida Colonies of the Parasitoid Spalangia cameroni (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) With an Analysis of Wolbachia Strains – E.T. Machtinger – Annals of the Entomological Society of America

Animal microbiome

Fish: Increased diversity of egg-associated bacteria on brown trout (Salmo trutta) at elevated temperatures – Laetitia G. E. Wilkins – Scientific Reports

Termites: Metagenomic analysis of the microbiota in the highly compartmented hindguts of six wood- or soil-feeding higher termites – Karen Rossmassler – Microbiome

Ticks: Emerging horizons for tick-borne pathogens: from the ‘one pathogen–one disease’ vision to the pathobiome paradigm – Muriel Vayssier-Taussat – Future Microbiology

Beetles: Surveying the endomicrobiome and ectomicrobiome of bark beetles: The case of Dendroctonus simplex – Audrey-Anne Durand – Scientific Reports

Coral: Bacterial predation in a marine host-associated microbiome – Rory M Welsh – The ISME Journal

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Illumina High-Throughput Sequencing and Comparative Analysis of Bacterial Communities in Cherry Orchard Soil – Lingzhi Liu – Toxicological & Environmental Chemistry

Water microbiome

Interannual and cyclone-driven variability in phytoplankton communities of a tropical coastal lagoon – Suchismita Srichandan – Marine Pollution Bulletin

New insights into relationships between active and dormant organisms, phylogenetic diversity and ecosystem productivity – Jacob A. Cram – Molecular Ecology

Metagenomic Analysis of Upwelling-Affected Brazilian Coastal Seawater Reveals Sequence Domains of Type I PKS and Modular NRPS – Rafael R. C. Cuadrat – International Journal of Molecular Sciences

Assessment of bacterial species present in Pasig River and Marikina River soil using 16S rDNA phylogenetic analysis – Maria Constancia O. Carrillo – International Journal of Philippine Science and Technology

Bacterial community composition of an urban river in the North West Province, South Africa, in relation to physico-chemical water quality – K. Jordaan – Environmental Science and Pollution Research

Extremophile microbiome

The impact of temperature on microbial diversity and AOA activity in the Tengchong Geothermal Field, China – Haizhou Li – Scientific Reports

Built environment microbiome

Characterizing the Bacterial Communities in Retail Stores in the United States – A Hoisington – Indoor Air

Viruses and phages

A New Zamilon-like Virophage Partial Genome Assembled from a Bioreactor Metagenome – Meriem Bekliz – Frontiers in Microbiology

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

Bayesian identification of bacterial strains from sequencing data – Aravind Sankar – ArXiv

Microbial Ecology

Resource limitation drives spatial organization in microbial groups – Sara Mitri – The ISME Journal

Genome-scale modelling of microbial metabolism with temporal and spatial resolution – Michael A. Henson – Biochemical Society Transactions

Biofilms / Infection microbiology

Microbial biofilms associated with intravascular catheter-related bloodstream infections in adult intensive care patients – L. Zhang – European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases

Review: The limitations of in vitro experimentation in understanding biofilms and chronic infection – Aled E L Roberts – BioRxiv

Review: The Application of Metagenomic Approaches in the Management of Infectious
Diseases – Jinhua Wu – Tropical Medicine & Surgery

Food microbiology

Sourdough microbial community dynamics: An analysis during French organic bread-making processes – Emilie Lhomme – Food Microbiology

Bacteria in the news

Woolly rhino bacteria cleans up oil spills – Energy Global

A personal touch to wine microbiology – Kyanah Lawson – Food Magazine

Arizona inspectors find Theranos lab issues – AZ Central

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November 25, 2015

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My apologies for 2 missed posts (due to overseas family circumstances). Gut microbiota of infants with botulism, gut microbial diversity in US Midwest population, decomposing pig carcasses, oil-degrading microbes and sunlight.

Events

5th Annual Microbiology of the Built Environment Conference – June 1-3 2016, Boulder, CO

Jobs

Our lab at Stanford University is hiring a Clinical Study Coordinator to be based out of UCSF School of Dentistry. Great position for someone who eventually wants to go to medical or dental school.

Pregnancy and birth

The relationship between early-life environment, the epigenome and the microbiota – Amber V Majnik – Epigenomics

Human oral microbiome

The impact of different DNA extraction methods on the analysis of microbial diversity of oral saliva from healthy youths by polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis – Ming Chen – Journal of Dental Sciences

Human gut microbiome

Characterizing the fecal microbiota of infants with botulism – T. Brian Shirey – Microbiome

Early-Life Exposure to Antibiotics, Alterations in the Intestinal Microbiome, and Risk of Metabolic Disease in Children and Adults – Sushmita G. Yallapragada – Pediatric Annals

Impact of demographics on human gut microbial diversity in a US Midwest population – Jun Chen – PeerJ Preprint

Review: Feeding the brain and nurturing the mind: Linking nutrition and the gut microbiota to brain development – Manu S. Goyal – PNAS

Review: Metagenomic cross-talk: the regulatory interplay between immunogenomics and the microbiome – Maayan Levy – Genome Medicine

Review: The relationship between early-life environment, the epigenome and the microbiota – Amber V Majnik – Future Medicine

Microbiome models

Gut Commensal E. coli Proteins Activate Host Satiety Pathways following Nutrient-Induced Bacterial Growth – Jonathan Breton – Cell Metabolism

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

From Rare to Dominant: A Fine-Tuned Soil Bacterial Bloom during Petroleum Hydrocarbon Bioremediation – Sebastián Fuentes – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Metabarcoding analysis of Phytophthora diversity using genus specific primers and 454 pyrosequencing – Maria I Prigigallo – Phytopathology

Structures of microbial communities in alpine soils: seasonal and elevational effects – Anna Lazzaro – Frontiers in Microbiology

Effects of long-term radionuclide and heavy metal contamination on the activity of microbial communities, inhabiting uranium mining impacted soils – Silvena Boteva – Environmental Science and Pollution Research

The community structures of prokaryotes and fungi in mountain pasture soils are highly correlated and primarily influenced by pH – Anders Lanzen – Frontiers in Microbiology

Water microbiome

Application of Microfluidic QPCR (MFQPCR) Technique to Monitor Bacterial Pathogens in Beach Water and Complex Environmental Matrices – Muruleedhara Byappanahalli – Environmental Science & Technology Letters

Natural sunlight shapes crude oil-degrading bacterial communities in northern Gulf of Mexico surface waters – Hernando P. Bacosa – Frontiers in MIcrobiology

Bacterioplankton community resilience to ocean acidification: evidence from microbial network analysis – Yu Wang – ICES Journal of Marine Sciences

Microbial Diversity and Bioactive Substances in Disease Suppressive Composts from India – C. M. Mehta – Compost Science & Utilization

Extremophile microbiome

Microbial metagenomics of oil sands tailings ponds: small bugs, big data – Julia M. Foght – Genome

Built environment microbiome

Changes in Microbes of the Built Environment in Early Stages of Urbanization – Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello

Microbiome of death

The impact of carrion decomposition on the fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) profiles of soil microbial communities in southern Canada – Heloise Breton – Canadian Society of Forensic Science Journal

Metagenomics and bioinformatics

Assembly: a resource for assembled genomes at NCBI – Nucleic Acid Research

Web Resources for Metagenomics Studies – Pravin Dudhagara – Genomics, Proteomics & Bioinformatics

Metagenome Analysis Exploiting High-Throughput Chromosome Conformation Capture (3C) Data – Martial Marbouty – Trends in Genetics

EBI metagenomics in 2016 – an expanding and evolving resource for the analysis and archiving of metagenomic data – Alex Mitchell – Nucleic Acids Research

probeBase—an online resource for rRNA-targeted oligonucleotide probes and primers: new features 2016 – Daniel Greuter – Nucleic Acids Research

Microbial ecology / more microbiology

Review: Microbial Invasions: The Process, Patterns, and Mechanisms – Cyrus Alexander Mallon – Trends in Microbiology

Review: Microbial diversity — exploration of natural ecosystems and microbiomes –
Sean M Gibbons – Current Opinion in Genetics & Development

Microbes As Friends, Not Foes: Shifting the Focus from Pathogenesis to Symbiosis – Sheila A. Homburger – The American Biology Teacher

Microbes in the news

Leading Antibiotic Doomsayer Mellows on Infection Armageddon – Michael Byrne – Motherboard
and
I believed we would face an antibiotics apocalypse – until now – Richard James – The Guardian

Tardigrades: Inside the Bizarre Genome of the World’s Toughest Animal – Ed Yong – The Atlantic

C&EN Talks With Microbiome Surveyor Stefanie Kandels-Lewis: The laboratory technician turned fixer kept the Tara Oceans project, an expedition to map the oceans’ microbial populations, afloat for four years – Sarah Everts – C&EN

Kiwi scientists invent stomach ulcer cure – Olivia Wannan – Stuff NZ

A Doctor Wrestles With Whether To Keep Wearing His White Coat – John Henning Schumann – NPR

When will the world wake up to the potential of poo power? – John Vidal – The Guardian

At TEDMED 2015: How microbiome studies could improve the future of humanity – ScopeBlog

Two Types of Diet May Protect Against Type 2 Through Regulation of Gut Microbiota – Diabetes in Control

Symberix lands two SBIRs for GI drug that targets the microbiome – Meghana Keshavan – MedCity News

Diet study overturns all we know about healthy eating – Israel21c

Liberia monitors over 150 Ebola contacts as virus re-emerges – James Harding Giahyue – Reuters

Now We Can Use Microbes to Make Designer Chocolate Flavors – Esther Inglis-Arkell – Gizmodo

Fossils show sign of ancient vampire microbes – Punctures in fossils suggest predation drove the evolution of self-defense systems – Thomas Sumner – Student Science

Science, publishing and career

Stepping Away from the Lab:Emilie, Can I Ask You? Why I made the decision to leave academic research and become an editor.- Cell

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November 17, 2015

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Detecting bacteriophage DNA in mummies, microbiome depletion reduces obesity (in mice), viruses in city rats, microbes in alkaline hotsprings and in glaciers.

Events

European Microbiome Congress 2015: 18-19 November 2015, London.

Human respiratory tract microbiome

Viral aetiology of common colds of outpatient children at primary care level and the use of antibiotics – Janete Kamikawa – Mem. Inst. Oswaldo Cruz

Human reproductive tract microbiome

A DNA tool for early detection of vaginal dysbiosis in African women – Vicky Jespers – Research in Microbiology

Human gut microbiome

Natural mummification of the human gut preserves bacteriophage DNA – Tasha M. Santiago-Rodriguez – FEMS Microbiology Letters

Review: Inhibition of methanogenic archaea by statinsas a targeted management strategy for constipation andrelated disorders – K. Gottlieb

Review: Role of the Gut Microbiome in Uremia: A Potential Therapeutic Target – Ali Ramezani – American Journal of Kidney Diseases

Opinion: The Microbiome and Cancer: Is the ‘Oncobiome’ Mirage Real? – Ryan M. Thomas – Trends in Cancer

Review: The effect of gut microbiota on drug metabolism – Mi Jeong Kang – Expert Opinion on Drug Metabolism & Toxicology

Animal and bioreactor models

Microbiota depletion promotes browning of white adipose tissue and reduces obesity –
Nicolas Suárez-Zamorano – Nature Medicine

Variable responses of human and non-human primate gut microbiomes to a Western diet –
Katherine R. Amato – Microbiome

Research Highlight: Commensal bacterium prevents wasting – Cláudio Nunes-Alves – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Impact of a probiotic, inulin, or their combination on the piglets’ microbiota at different intestinal locations – V.A. Sattler – Beneficial Microbes

Iron Modulates Butyrate Production by a Child Gut Microbiota In Vitro – Alexandra Dostal – mBio

Research Hightlight: Scaling up spatial imaging of the gut microbiota – Naomi Attar – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Metagenomic analysis of anammox communities in three different microbial aggregates – Jianhua Guo – Environmental Microbiology

Microbial community analysis of a full-scale DEMON bioreactor – Alejandro Gonzalez-Martinez – Bioprocess and Biosystems Engineering

Re-appraisal of the phylogeny and fluorescence in situ hybridization probes for the analysis of the Competibacteraceae in wastewater treatment systems – Simon J. McIlroy – Environmental Microbiology Reports

Animal microbiome

New Type of Papillomavirus and Novel Circular Single Stranded DNA Virus Discovered in Urban Rattus norvegicus Using Circular DNA Enrichment and Metagenomics – Thomas Arn Hansen – PLOS ONE

Bleaching of Baikalian sponge affects the taxonomic composition of symbiotic microorganisms – O. V. Kaluzhnaya – Russian Journal of Genetics

Experimental Infection of Snakes with Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola Causes Pathological Changes That Typify Snake Fungal Disease – Jeffrey M. Lorch – mBio

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Glyphosate effects on soil rhizosphere-associated bacterial communities – Molli M. Newman – Science of the Total Environment

Soil microarthropods support ecosystem productivity and soil C accrual: Evidence from a litter decomposition study in the tallgrass prairie – Jennifer L. Soong – Soil Biology and Biochemistry

Microbial communities and organic matter composition in surface and subsurface sediments of the Helgoland mud area, North Sea – Oluwatobi E. Oni – Frontiers in Microbiology

Shifts in the composition and potential functions of soil microbial communities responding to a no-tillage practice and bagasse mulching on a sugarcane plantation – Toshiko Miura – Biology and Fertility of Soils

Local climatic conditions constrain soil yeast diversity patterns in Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome – Andrey M. Yurkov – FEMS Yeast Research

Coal mining practices reduce the microbial biomass, richness and diversity of soil –
Patricia Dorr de Quadros – Applied Soil Ecology

Water microbiome

The Fate of Marine Bacterial Exopolysaccharide in Natural Marine Microbial Communities – Zilian Zhang – PLOS ONE

Comparative study on composition and abundance of major planktons and physico-chemical characteristics among two ponds and Lake Tana, Ethiopia – Wondie Zelalem Amanu – Journal of Coastal Life Medicine

Extremophile microbiome

Metagenomics of an alkaline hot spring in Galicia (Spain): microbial diversity analysis and screening for novel lipolytic enzymes – Olalla López-López – Frontiers in Microbiology

Taxonomic characterization and the bio-potential of bacteria isolated from glacier ice cores in the High Arctic – Purnima Singh – Journal of Basic Microbiology

Built environment microbiology

Microbiota formed on attached stainless steel coupons correlate with the natural biofilm of the sink surface in domestic kitchens – Birgitte Moen – Canadian Journal of Microbiology

Towards an antimicrobial ‘microglove’ – Ewoud Reilman – Scientific Reports

Infection microbiology

Research Highlight: The Origin of a Killer Revealed by Bronze Age Yersinia Genomes – Shijulal Nelson-Sathi – Cell Host & Microbe

Early Divergent Strains of Yersinia pestis in Eurasia 5,000 Years Ago – Simon Rasmussen – Cell

Review: The Black Death: Its origin and routes of dissemination – Kristina Lenz – Scandinavian Journal of History

Review: Emerging methodologies for pathogen identification in positive blood culture testing – Grégory Dubourg – Expert Review of Molecular Diagnostics

Microbial ecology

Integrating ecological and engineering concepts of resilience in microbial communities – Hyun-Seob Song – Frontiers in Microbiology

Perspective: Rethinking “mutualism” in diverse host-symbiont communities – Alexandra A. Mushegian – BioEssays

Techniques

Evaluating DNA Extraction Methods for Community Profiling of Pig Hindgut Microbial Community – Yang Lu – PLOS ONE

Bioinformatics, viruses, and metagenomics

The State of Software in Evolutionary Biology: code quality of 15 highly cited tools – Diego Darriba – bioRxiv

Kaiju: Fast and sensitive taxonomic classification for metagenomics – Peter Menzel – bioRxiv

A novel group of diverse Polinton-like viruses discovered by metagenome analysis – Natalya Yutin – BMC Biology

Microbes in the news

Taking Antibiotics Can Change the Gut Microbiome for Up to a Year. A new study illuminates the problems antibiotic overuse could cause for individual patients – Julie Beck – The Atlantic

Health Experts Are Explaining Drug-Resistant Bacteria Poorly: Their confusing jargon is pushing people toward bad decisions – Ed Yong – The Atlantic

5 Common Myths About Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria – Alexandra Sifferlin – Time

There’s Life in Rocks Deep Below the Sea Floor. Seriously. – Heather Goldstone – Cape and Islands

More armadillos that carry leprosy bacteria found in Southern US – Amanda Lane – Midday Daily

Blood-Gut Barrier. Scientists identify a barrier in mice between the intestine and its blood supply, and suggest how Salmonella sneaks through it – Ruth Williams – The Scientist

Microbes Play Role in Anti-Tumor Response
Gut microbiome composition can influence the effectiveness of cancer immunotherapy in mice – Anna Azvolinsky – The Scientist

How depleting the gut microbiota protects from obesity – MedicalXpress

A Complex Disorder. Factors that likely contribute to obesity include disruptions to intercellular signaling, increased inflammation, and changes to the gut microbiome – Stephen D. Hursting – The Scientist

 

Effect of feed on microbiota balance in piglets – All About Feed

Skin Must Develop Tolerance to ‘Good’ Bacteria Early In Life, Says New Study: Research Probes How Skin’s Resident Communities of Microbes Are Established – Pete Farley – University of California San Francisco

How You’re Born May Affect Your Brain Development – Stephanie Pappas – Brain Decoder

Bacteria Hysteria

Doctors say to watch out for bacteria in your makeup bag – NBC News

Proper Use Of Wipes Kills Germs, Improper Use Could Spread Them – Maria Simbra – CBS Local

Microbiology and Art

What Lives on the Subway Pole? – Jen Kirby – New York Magazine

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November 16, 2015

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Saturday’s post had a lot  of recent papers, so we’ll keep it short today.

Events

Future podcast: The social life of bacteria: collapse of a culture – January 20, 2016, with E. Peter Greenberg

Extremophile microbiome

Microbial mat communities along an oxygen gradient in a perennially ice-covered Antarctic lake – Anne D. Jungblut – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Techniques

Live from under the lens: exploring microbial motility with dynamic imaging and microfluidics – Kwangmin Son – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Microbes in the news

Ignorance about antibiotics propelling global ‘superbug’ crisis – Helen Branswell – STAT

Viruses lurking in lab freezers could trigger next outbreak – Helen Branswell – STAT

The Mysterious Rise of Valley Fever: An outbreak investigation spotlights a common regional illness that’s become more prevalent – US News

Broomfield Enterprise Gardening Nov. 15: Soil is much more than dirt – Ann Montague – Broomfield Enterprise

Insurer for Broad Institute suing MIT over infected mice – Travis Anderson – Boston Globe

Student group successfully pushes Subway to go antibiotic-free – Daily Emerald

Book Review: ‘The Microbiome Solution’ asks, ‘are you too clean?’ – Alysa Selby – Steamboat Today

Science, publishing, and career

Stanford researchers uncover patterns in how scientists lie about their data – Bjorn Carey – Stanford News

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November 14, 2015

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A paper from our lab(s) on inbred mouse strain gut microbiota variation, bacteria reduce fungi on toads, 20 years of bacterial genome sequencing, and 100 years of phage research.

Jobs

Tenure Track Position in Microbial Metagenomics – Texas Tech University in Lubbock, TX

Human oral microbiome

In Vitro Culture of Previously Uncultured Oral Bacterial Phylotypes – Hayley Thompson – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Oral microbiome in chinese patients with aggressive periodontitis and their family members – Yi Li – Journal of Clinical Periodontology

Human gut microbiome

Probiotic supplementation influences faecal short chain fatty acids in infants at high risk for eczema – H.K. Kim – Beneficial Microbes

Review: Establishing a causal link between gut microbes, body weight gain and glucose metabolism in humans – towards treatment with probiotics – L.K. Stenman – Beneficial Microbes

Review: An Integrated Outlook on the Metagenome and Metabolome of Intestinal Diseases – Wanping Aw – Diseases

Animal models

I’m a co-author: Variation in Taxonomic Composition of the Fecal Microbiota in an Inbred Mouse Strain across Individuals and Time – Yana Emmy Hoy – PLOS ONE

Akkermansia muciniphila inversely correlates with the onset of inflammation, altered adipose tissue metabolism and metabolic disorders during obesity in mice – Marc Schneeberger – Scientific Reports

Effect of Clostridium perfringens infection and antibiotic administration on microbiota in the small intestine of broiler chickens – Yewande O. Fasina – Poultry Science

Host genetic control of the microbiota mediates Drosophila nutritional phenotype – John M. Chaston – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Bromochloromethane, a methane analogue, affects the gut microbiota and metabolic profiles of the rat gastrointestinal tract – Yu-Xiang Yang – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Animal microbiome

Inhibitory bacteria reduce fungi on early life stages of endangered Colorado boreal toads (Anaxyrus boreas) – Jordan G Kueneman – The ISME Journal

Leptospira and Bats: Story of an Emerging Friendship – Muriel Dietrich – PLOS Pathogens

Intraspecific variation in microbial symbiont communities of the sun sponge, Hymeniacidon heliophila, from intertidal and subtidal habitats – Brooke L. Weigel – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Successive shifts in the microbial community of the surface mucus layer and tissues of the coral Acropora muricata under thermal stress – Sonny T.M. Lee – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Invasive ants carry novel viruses in their new range and form reservoirs for a honeybee pathogen – Alexandra Sébastien – Biology Letters

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Proteomic Analysis of Microbial Community Inhabiting Asian Dust Source Region – Simranjeet Singh Sekhon – CLEAN – Soil, Air, Water

Landscape Position Influences Microbial Composition and Function via Redistribution of Soil Water across a Watershed – Zhe Du – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Common foliar fungi of Populus trichocarpa modify Melampsora rust disease severity – Posy E. Busby – New Phytologist

Cave microbial community composition in oceanic islands: disentangling the effect of different colored mats in diversity patterns of Azorean lava caves – Cristina Riquelme – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Mini-review: Lichens as natural sources of biotechnologically relevant bacteria – Marcelino T. Suzuki – Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

Water / extremophile microbiome

Single Cells within the Puerto Rico Trench Suggest Hadal Adaptation of Microbial Lineages – Rosa León-Zayas – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Cyanobacterial community composition in Arctic soil crusts at different stages of development – Ekaterina Pushkareva – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Effects of Volcanic Pumice Inputs on Microbial Community Composition and Dissolved C/P Ratios in Lake Waters: an Experimental Approach – B. E. Modenutti – Microbial Ecology

Phages and viruses

Multiple approaches for the detection and characterization of viral and plasmid symbionts from a collection of marine fungi – L. Nerva – Virus Research

Review: A century of the phage: past, present and future – George P. C. Salmond & Peter C. Fineran – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Genome sequencing and metagenomics

Intrinsic challenges in ancient microbiome reconstruction using 16S rRNA gene amplification – Kirsten A. Ziesemer – Scientific Reports

Automated and Accurate Estimation of Gene Family Abundance from Shotgun Metagenomes – Stephen Nayfach – PLOS Computational Biology

SONEC: Metabolic Network-Guided Binning of Metagenomic Sequence Fragments – Matthew B. Biggs – Bioinformatics

Decreases in average bacterial community rRNA operon copy number during succession – Diana R Nemergut – The ISME Journal

Review: Twenty years of bacterial genome sequencing – Nicholas J. Loman & Mark J. Pallen – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Techniques

Community-Level Physiological Profiling of Microbial Communities in Constructed Wetlands: Effects of Sample Preparation – Mark Button – Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology

Microbes in the news

Your Gut May Be Home To An Entirely New Form Of Life – Maddie Stone – Gizmodo

Growth Rate of Gut Bacteria Related to Specific Diseases – Rachel Lutz – HCP Live

Sweaty feet, stinky cheese, and the microbiome – Matt McCarthy – STAT

Parasitic fungi and the battle against coffee rust disease – Jim Erickson – University of Michigan

Body’s Microorganisms Could Keep Humans More Healthy – Gene Marcial – Forbes

Not creepy at all! 13 creepy pictures of the microbes that are living inside of you – Julia Calderone – Tech Insider

You’ve been fighting morning breath all wrong – Lydia Ramsey – Business Insider Australia

Bacteria-Infused Material Pulls Energy Out of Poop – But don’t get too excited, because this poop battery is terribly inefficient – William Herkewitz – Popular Mechanics

This Little Bot Walks on Water and Runs on Bacteria – Maddie Stone – Gizmodo

Why do potatoes grow pink slime? Clostridium puniceum could fight MRSA – Alexandra Sarabia – PBS NewsHour

Bacteria Hysteria

Your Unwashed Bras Are Growing (Mostly Harmless) Bacteria – Beth Skwarecki – LifeHacker

November 6, 2015

Posted on by

Dog skin, kangaroo methane emissions, flea microbiome and ecology, domestication of wine yeast, and surface reflectance by roof microbes.

Events

11th International Meeting on Microbial Epidemiological Markers (IMMEM XI), March 2016, Portugal – Abstract submission deadline: November 10

General microbiome

Microbiomes in light of traits: A phylogenetic perspective – Jennifer B. H. Martiny – Science

The ecology of the microbiome: Networks, competition, and stability – Katharine Z. Coyte – Science

What makes the gut microbiome stable? – Caroline Ash – Science

Microbiome, a new dimension in cancer research – Antonio Galvao Neto – Annals of Translational Medicine

Human gut microbiome

Characterization of the salivary microbiome in patients with pancreatic cancer – Pedro J. Torres – PeerJ

Animal microbiome

What is living on your dog’s skin? Characterization of the canine cutaneous mycobiota and fungal dysbiosis in canine allergic dermatitis – C.M. Smith – FEMS Microbial Ecology

Decreasing methane yield with increasing food intake keeps daily methane emissions constant in two foregut fermenting marsupials, the western grey kangaroo and red kangaroo – Catharina Vendl – Journal of Experimental Biology

Evaluation of the bacterial microbiome of two flea species using different DNA isolation techniques provides insights into flea host ecology  – Andrea L. Lawrence – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

The functional gene composition and metabolic potential of coral-associated microbial communities – Yanying Zhang – Scientific Reports

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Can commercial soil microbial treatments remediate plant–soil feedbacks to improve restoration seedling performance? – Lora B. Perkins – Restoration Ecology

Anthropogenic impact on diazotrophic diversity in the mangrove rhizosphere revealed by nifH pyrosequencing – Hongmei Jing – Frontiers in Microbiology

Phylogenetic diversity of culturable fungi in the Heshang Cave, central China –
Baiying Man – Frontiers in Microbiology

Review: Ongoing domestication of wine yeast: past, present and future – P.J. Chambers – Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research

Built environment microbiology

Surface reflectance degradation by microbial communities – Meng-Dawn Cheng – Journal of Building Physics

Metagenomics and bioinformatics

The single-species metagenome: subtyping Staphylococcus aureus core genome sequences from shotgun metagenomic data – Sandeep J Joseph – BioRxiv

Metagenomics: A New Way to Illustrate the Crosstalk between Infectious Diseases and Host Microbiome – Yinfeng Zhang – International Journal of Molecular Sciences

Fizzy: feature subset selection for metagenomics – Gregory Ditzler – BMC Bioinformatics

Evaluation of shotgun metagenomics sequence classification methods using in silico and in vitro simulated communities – Michael A. Peabody – BMC Bioinformatics

Microbes in the news

Our Dust, Ourselves – Emily Anthes – The New Yorker
Emily Anthes writes about Wildlife of Your Homes microbiome studies in the New Yorker – Jonathan Eisen – MicroBEnet

The Hottest New Cancer Drugs Depend on Gut Microbes – Ed Yong – The Atlantic
Gut bacteria may affect the success of cancer treatments – Sam Wong – New Scientist

This New Exhibition Is a Tour of the Human Body’s ‘Hidden Organ’ – Becky Ferreira – Motherboard

Podcast (20 min) We are a constellation of our microbiome and ourselves – Meg Tirrell and Luke Timmerman – Stat News

The strange case of the man infected with tapeworm cancer – Helen Branswell – StatNews

With a picture of human cells? 30 mind-blowing facts about the microbes that live inside of you – Julia Calderone – TechInsider
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November 5, 2015

Posted on by

Context and the human microbiome, review about respiratory tract, gut microbiome in UC patients, arsenic effects on mouse microbiome, and microbiome of a river-to-ocean transition.

Jobs

3 PhD fellowship in Evolutionary and Ecological Metagenomics – Natural History Museum of Denmark

General microbiome

Review: Context and the human microbiome – Daniel McDonald, Amanda Birmingham and Rob Knight – Microbiome

Pregnancy and birth

Breastfeeding and the risk of dental caries: a systematic review and meta-analysis – R Tham – Acta Paediatrica

Breastfeeding and asthma and allergies: a systematic review and meta-analysis – CJ Lodge – Acta Paediatrica

Human respiratory microbiome

Review: The Microbiome and the Respiratory Tract – Robert P. Dickson – Annual Review of Physiology

Human gut microbiome

Characterization of Intestinal Microbiota in Ulcerative Colitis Patients with and without Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis – David Kevan – Journal of Crohn’s and Colitis

Extensive Modulation of the Fecal Metagenome in Children With Crohn’s Disease During Exclusive Enteral Nutrition – Christopher Quince – American Journal of Gastroenterology

Disruptions of the intestinal microbiome in necrotizing enterocolitis, short bowel syndrome, and Hirschsprung’s associated enterocolitis – Holger Till – Frontiers in Microbiology

eBook chapter: Human GI Tract Microbiota in Health and Disease: A Focus on Inflammatory Bowel Diseases – Clarissa Santos Rocha – Innovative Immunology

Review: Factors determining colorectal cancer: the role of the intestinal microbiota – Esther Nistal – Frontiers in Oncology

Animal models

In cattle: Characterising the bacterial microbiota across the gastrointestinal tracts of dairy cattle: membership and potential function – Shengyong Mao – Scientific Reports

In cattle: Manipulating rumen microbiome and fermentation through interventions during early life: a review – David R. Yáñez-Ruiz – Frontiers in Microbiology

 

In mice: Administration of defined microbiota is protective in a murine Salmonella infection model – Sarah-Lynn E. Martz – Scientific Reports

In mice: Arsenic induces structural and compositional colonic microbiome change and promotes host nitrogen and amino acid metabolism – Rishu Dheer – Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology

Drosophila: Glucose modulates Drosophila longevity and immunity independent of the microbiota – Anthony Galenza – BioRxiv

In rats: The microbiota-gut-brain axis as a potential therapeutic approach for HIV-1+ cocaine abuse – Steven B. Harrod – Drug and Alcohol Dependence

In mice: Alteration of the intestinal microbiota by short-time antibiosis protects mice from CNS-specific autoimmunity – C. Gödel – Journal of the Neurological Sciences

 

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Water management impacts on arsenic behavior and rhizosphere bacterial communities and activities in a rice agro-ecosystem – Suvendu Das – Science of the Total Environment

Caffeine fostering of mycoparasitic fungi against phytopathogens – Akifumi Sugiyama – Plant Signaling & Behavior

Key Edaphic Properties Largely Explain Temporal and Geographic Variation in Soil Microbial Communities across Four Biomes – Kathryn M. Docherty – PLOS ONE

Fungal association and utilization of phosphate by plants: success, limitations, and future prospects – Atul K. Johri – Frontiers in Microbiology

Thesis: Manipulating the soil microbiome to increase plant health and productivity – Chaparro, Jacqueline Michelle – Colorado State University

Water and extremophile microbiome

Bacterial responses to environmental change on the Tibetan Plateau over the past half century – Yongqin Liu – Environmental Microbiology

Microbial Gene Abundance and Expression Patterns across a River to Ocean Salinity Gradient – Caroline S. Fortunato – PLOS ONE

First Insights into the Viral Communities of the Deep-sea Anoxic Brines of the Red Sea –
André Antunes – Genomics, Proteomics & Bioinformatics

Salt resistance genes revealed by functional metagenomics from brines and moderate-salinity rhizosphere within a hypersaline environment – Salvador Mirete – Frontiers in Microbiology

Research topic and call for papers: Microbiology of the rapidly changing polar environments – Frontiers in Microbiology

Food microbiology

The diversity and evolution of microbiota in traditional Turkish Divle Cave cheese during ripening – Sebnem Ozturkoglu Budak – International Dairy Journal

More microbes

Ion channels enable electrical communication in bacterial communities – Arthur Prindle – Nature

Bioinformatics

De novo clustering methods out-perform reference-based methods for assigning 16S rRNA gene sequences to operational taxonomic units – Sarah L Westcott, Patrick Schloss – PeerJ Preprint

Unpublished manuscript: Improving De Novo Metatranscriptome Assembly via Machine Learning Algorithms – Hussein Mohsen – not published

Microbes in the news

eBook: Welcome to the Microbiome: Getting to Know the Trillions of Bacteria and Other Microbes In, On, and Around You – Rob DeSalle, Susan L. Perkins – eBook

Fighting Cancer With Microbes, Flagship Bets on a $35M Startup– Luke Timmerman – Forbes

Toxin Taints Crabs and Kills Sea Mammals, Scientists Warn – Jonah Bromwich – The New York Times
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