March 31, 2016

A special mBio issue discussing the Holobiont concept, salivary microbiota in oral cancer, truffles, sinuses in germ-free mice, and Wolbachia in cave spiders.

General microbiome

Special Issue: The Holobiont Concept- mBio
Introduction to the Hologenome Special Series – Margaret McFall-Ngai
Microbes Drive Evolution of Animals and Plants: the Hologenome Concept – Eugene Rosenberg
Speciation by Symbiosis: the Microbiome and Behavior – J. Dylan Shropshire
Holes in the Hologenome: Why Host-Microbe Symbioses Are Not Holobionts – Angela E. Douglas

Pregnancy and birth

Research Highlight: Baby steps towards the microbiome – Andrea Du Toit – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Oral microbiome

Changes in the salivary microbiota of oral leukoplakia and oral cancer – Xiaosheng Hu – Oral Oncology

Human respiratory microbiome

Tonsillar microbiota in children with PFAPA (periodic fever, aphthous stomatitis, pharyngitis, and adenitis) syndrome – M. V. Tejesvi – European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases

Conference abstract: Nasal Microbiome Composition Is Associated with Chitotriosidase (Chit1) Activity in Adult Hutterites – Catherine Igartua – Annals of the American Thoracic Society

Conference abstract: Gut Microbiota and Allergic Disease. New Insights
Susan V. Lynch- Annals of the American Thoracic Society

Human gut microbiome

Association between intestinal permeability and faecal microbiota composition in Italian children with beta cell autoimmunity at risk for type 1 diabetes – Claudio Maffeis – Diabetes/Metabolism Research and Reviews

Fecal microbial transplants reduce antibiotic-resistant genes in patients with recurrent Clostridium difficile infection – Braden Millan – Clinical Infectious Diseases

Special issue with reviews: Gastric and Gut Microbiota in Health and Disease – Digestive Diseases

Animal models

Effect of a long-term high-protein diet on survival, obesity development and gut microbiota in mice – Pia Kiilerich – American Journal of Physiology

Differences in the paranasal sinuses between germ-free and pathogen-free mice – Ravi Jain – International Forum of Allergy & Rhinology

Effects of taurine on gut microbiota and metabolism in mice – Haining Yu – Amino Acids

Animal microbiome

Research Highlight: Microbiome ‘coral’ations – Ursula Hofer – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Classification of Wolbachia (Alphaproteobacteria, Rickettsiales): No evidence for a distinct supergroup in cave spiders – Michael Gerth – BioRxiv

Not a great title: Metagenomic bacterial community profiles of chicken embryo gastrointestinal tract by using T-RFLP analysis – L. A. Ilina – Doklady Biochemistry and Biophysics

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Screening of soil bacteria as potential agents for drugs biodegradation: a case study with clofibric acid – Claudia Popa Ungureanu – Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology

Metagenomes provide valuable comparative information on soil microeukaryotes
Samuel Jacquiod – Research in Microbiology

The Truffle Microbiome: Species and Geography Effects on Bacteria Associated with Fruiting Bodies of Hypogeous Pezizales – Gian Maria Niccolò Benucci – Microbial Ecology

Bioreactor microbiology

The First Space-Related Study of a Kombucha Multimicrobial Cellulose-Forming Community: Preparatory Laboratory Experiments – O. Podolich – Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres

Food microbiology

Characterisation of the yeast and mould biota in traditional white pickled cheeses by culture-dependent and independent molecular techniques – Hana Šuranská – Folia Microbiologica

Use of propidium monoazide for selective profiling of viable microbial cells during Gouda cheese ripening – Oylum Erkus – International Journal of Food Microbiology

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

Predicting microbial interactions through computational approaches – Chenhao Li – Methods

Microbes in the news

A Hidden Factor in Stroke Severity: The Microbes in Your Gut : A new study in mice demonstrates that manipulating the microbiome can influence the extent of brain damage caused by a stroke – Jordana Cepelewic – Scientific American

Pushing and Pulling on the Mosquito Microbiome – Kevin Bonham – Scientific American

Sampling an animal shelter – Holly Ganz – MicroBEnet

Intestinal Microbiome of Children with Cystic Fibrosis Promotes Gut Inflammation, Study Finds – Patricia Inacio – Cystic Fibrosis News Today
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March 24, 2016

Two papers on antibiotics in early childhood and obesity, diabetic foot ulcers, vertebrate animal microbiomes, cattle hides, kimchi, human archaeological remains, and high inter-center variability in microbiome results.

General microbiome

Review: Stress as a Normal Cue in the Symbiotic Environment – Julia A. Schwartzman – Trends in Microbiology

Pregnancy and birth

Administration of Antibiotics to Children Before Age 2 Years Increases Risk for Childhood Obesity – Frank I. Scott – Gastroenterology

Antibiotic Exposure During the First 6 Months of Life and Weight Gain During Childhood – Jeffrey S. Gerber – JAMA

Editorial: From Bottles to Diapers: How Manipulating and Exploring the Microbiome Is Defining Newborn Care – Jill L. Maron – Clinical Therapeutics

Research highlight: Gut microbiota dysbiosis precedes NEC – Hugh Thomas – Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology

Human skin microbiome

One step closer to understanding the role of bacteria in diabetic foot ulcers: characterising the microbiome of ulcers – Karen Smith – BMC Microbiology

Human gut microbiome

Colonic Mucosal Epigenome and Microbiome Development in Children and Adolescents – R. Alan Harris – Journal of Immunology Research

Defining the microbial transcriptional response to colitis through integrated host and microbiome profiling – Nicholas Edward Ilott – The ISME Journal

Targeting colorectal cancer-associated bacteria: a new area of research for personalized treatments – T. Faïs – Gut Microbes

Relative Abundance in Bacterial and Fungal Gut Microbes in Obese Children: A Case Control Study – Borgo Francesca – Childhood Obesity

Review: Can attention to the intestinal microbiota improve understanding and treatment of anorexia nervosa? – Jacquelyn Carr – Expert Review of Gastroenterology & Hepatology

Editorial: Fecal Microbiota Transplantation for Ulcerative Colitis: FoMenTing Change? – Flaviano S. Martins – Digestive Diseases and Sciences

Review: Does the Microbiome Cause B27-related Acute Anterior Uveitis? – James T. Rosenbaum – Ocular Immunology and Inflammation

Microbes in blood

The prognostic significance of bacterial DNA in patients with decompensated cirrhosis and suspected infection – Tony Bruns – Liver International

Animal models

The microbiota-derived metabolite indole decreases mucosal inflammation and injury in a murine model of NSAID enteropathy – Gut Microbes

TLR4-Dependent Secretion by Hepatic Stellate Cells of the Neutrophil-Chemoattractant CXCL1 Mediates Liver Response to Gut Microbiota – Amélie E. Bigorgne – PLOS ONE

Animal microbiome

Vertebrate bacterial gut diversity: size also matters – Jean-Jacques Godon – BMC Ecology

Larval growth rate is associated with the composition of the gut microbiota in the Glanville fritillary butterfly – L. Ruokolainen – Oecologia

Host origin and tissue-microhabitat shaping the microbiota of the terrestrial isopod Armadillidium vulgare – Jessica Dittmer – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Presence of pathogenic Escherichia coli is correlated with bacterial community diversity and composition on pre-harvest cattle hides – Jessica Chopyk – Microbiome

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

High Diversity Revealed in Leaf Associated Protists (Rhizaria: Cercozoa) of Brassicaceae – Sebastian Ploch – The Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology

Precipitation shapes communities of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in Tibetan alpine steppe – Jing Zhang – Scientific Reports

Spatial and seasonal influences on culturable endophytic mycobiota associated with different tissues of Eugenia jambolana Lam. and their antibacterial activity against MDR strains – Manila Yadav – BMC Microbiology

Response of enzyme activities and microbial communities to soil amendment with sugar alcohols – Huili Yu – Microbiology Open

Bioprospecting plant-associated microbiomes – Christina A. Müller – Journal of Biotechnology

Water and extremophile microbiome

Abundances, diversity and seasonality of (non-extremophilic) Archaea in Alpine freshwaters – Christoph Reitschuler – Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

Anthropogenic effects on bacterial diversity and function along a river-to-estuary gradient in Northwest Greece revealed by metagenomics – Alexandra Meziti – Environmental Microbiology

Heterotrophic Proteobacteria in the vicinity of diffuse hydrothermal venting – Dimitri Meier – Environmental Microbiology

Waste and pollution microbiology

Response and resilience of soil microbial communities inhabiting in edible oil stress/contamination from industrial estates – Vrutika Patel – BMC Microbiology

Built environment microbiology

Diversity of ribosomal 16S DNA- and RNA-based bacterial community in an office building drinking water system – Jenni Inkinen – Journal of Applied Microbiology

Forensic microbiology

Complications in the study of ancient tuberculosis: Presence of environmental bacteria in human archaeological remains – Romy Müller – Journal of Archaeological Science

Food microbiology

Lentibacillus kimchii sp. nov., an extremely halophilic bacterium isolated from kimchi, a Korean fermented vegetable – Young Joon Oh – Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

Computational modeling

Host Selection of Microbiota via Differential Adhesion – Kirstie McLoughlin – Cell Host & Microbe

Techniques

The real cost of sequencing: scaling computation to keep pace with data generation – Paul Muir – Genome Biology

Multicenter quality assessment of 16S ribosomal DNA-sequencing for microbiome analyses reveals high inter-center variability – Andreas Hiergeist –
International Journal of Medical Microbiology

Genotyping bacterial and fungal pathogens using sequence variation in the gene for the CCA-adding enzyme – Paul Franz – BMC Microbiology

Proteomics

Review: Tackling probiotic and gut microbiota functionality through proteomics – Lorena Ruiz – Journal of Proteomics

Microbes in the news

Can we model how viruses move between species? – Nancy Mendoza – Microbe Post

The Virus That Could Cure Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and More – Jon Palfreman – PBS

Report: Laminate wood flooring risk was underestimated by CDC – Jonathan Eisen – MicroBEnet

Microbiota profiles in patients with colorectal cancer differ from healthy individuals – Healio

Science, publishing and career

Set up a ‘self-retraction’ system for honest errors, says Daniele Fanelli – Nature

Incorporating Primary Scientific Literature in Middle and High School Education – Sarah C. Fankhauser – ASM Science

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March 22, 2016

Eye microbiota and contact lenses, leaf-cutter ant dumps, bacteria help with platinum transformation, metagenomics from a Swedish cave, extreme habitats at home, bacteria on board the ISS, a special issue on Megaviromes, and a recipe for Poop Peeps.

Jobs

Lecturership in Human Microbiome Studies – University of Reading, UK

Pregnancy and birth

Effect of Infant Formula Containing a Low Dose of the Probiotic Bifidobacterium lactis CNCM I-3446 on Immune and Gut Functions in C-Section Delivered Babies: A Pilot Study – L. Baglatzi – Clinical Medicine Insights: Pediatrics

Infection, immunology, and transplantion microbiology

Metagenomic analysis of bloodstream infections in patients with acute leukemia and therapy-induced neutropenia – P. Gyarmati – Scientific Reports

Rifaximin preserves intestinal microbiota balance in patients undergoing allogeneic stem cell transplantation – D Weber – Bone Marrow Transplantation

Gut microbiome–derived metabolites modulate intestinal epithelial cell damage and mitigate graft-versus-host disease – Nathan D Mathewson – Nature Immunology

Crosstalk between microbiota, pathogens and the innate immune responses – Claudia Günther – International Journal of Medical Microbiology

Human oral microbiome

Commentary: Microbiota-derived metabolites modulate tissue homeostasis: relevance to the oral cavity? – Hervé Le Moual – Oral Diseases

Human eye and skin microbiome

Changes in the Eye Microbiota Associated with Contact Lens Wearing – Hakdong Shin – mBio

Human vaginal microbiome

Improvement and automation of a real-time PCR assay for vaginal fluids – E. De Vittori – Forensic Science International

Human gut microbiome

Conference report: Talking about cross-talk: the immune system and the microbiome: A report on the first EMBO conference entitled “Next Gen Immunology—From Host Genome to the Microbiome: Immunity in the Genomic Era”, Feb 2016 – David Zeevi – Genome Biology

Review: An (Anti)-Inflammatory Microbiota: Defining the Role in Inflammatory Bowel Disease? – Burman S. – Digestive Diseases

Review: Gut Microbiota: The Brain Peacekeeper – Chunlong Mu – Frontiers in Microbiology

Review [PDF]: The intestinal microbiota and its role in human health and
disease – Keiko Kataoka – The Journal of Medical Investigation

Editorial: The microbiome as a possible target to prevent celiac disease – Maureen M Leonard – Expert Review of Gastroenterology & Hepatology

Animal models

Mice: Arthritis-induced alveolar bone loss is associated with changes in the composition of oral microbiota – Jôice Dias Corrêa – Anaerobe

Chickens: Dietary High Fluorine Alters Intestinal Microbiota in Broiler Chickens – Qin Luo – Biological Trace Element Research

Tilapia: Abrupt suspension of probiotics administration may increase host pathogen susceptibility by inducing gut dysbiosis – Zhi Liu – Scientific Reports

Animal microbiome

Cellulose-Enriched Microbial Communities from Leaf-Cutter Ant (Atta colombica) Refuse Dumps Vary in Taxonomic Composition and Degradation Ability – Gina R. Lewin – PLOS ONE

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Relic DNA is abundant in soil and obscures estimates of soil microbial diversity – Paul Carini – bioRxiv

Biological role in the transformation of platinum-group mineral grains – Frank Reith – Nature Geoscience

Associations between ectomycorrhizal fungi and bacterial needle endophytes in Pinus radiata: implications for biotic selection of microbial communities – Megan A. Rúa – Frontiers in Microbiology

Functional composition of plant communities determines the spatial and temporal stability of soil microbial properties in a long-term plant diversity experiment – Tanja Strecker – Oikos

No synergistic effects of water and nitrogen addition on soil microbial communities and soil respiration in a temperate desert – Yan Gui Su – CATENA

The role of phosphorus, magnesium and potassium availability in soil fungal exploration of mineral nutrient sources in Norway spruce forests – Nicholas P. Rosenstock – New Phytologist

Climate and edaphic controllers influence rhizosphere community assembly for a wild annual grass – Erin E. Nuccio – Ecology

Temporal distance decay of similarity of ectomycorrhizal fungal community composition in a subtropical evergreen forest in Japan – Shunsuke Matsuoka – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

ReviewThe Functioning of Rhizosphere Biota in Wetlands – a Review – Amir Neori – Wetlands

Water and extremophile microbiome

Experimental evidence that microbial activity lowers the albedo of glaciers – M. Musilova – Geochemical Perspectives Letters

Transcriptional analysis of sulfate reducing and chemolithoautotrophic sulfur oxidizing bacteria in the deep subseafloor – William D. Orsi – Environmental Microbiology Reports

Cave microbiome

Metagenomic Analysis from the Interior of a Speleothem in Tjuv-Ante’s Cave, Northern Sweden – Marie Lisandra Zepeda Mendoza – PLOS ONE

Built environment microbiology

Microbial diversity of extreme habitats in human homes – Amy M. Savage – PeerJ preprint

Growth of 48 built environment bacterial isolates on board the International Space Station (ISS) – David A. Coil – PeerJ

Food microbiology

Isolation and identification of biocellulose-producing bacterial strains from Malaysian acidic fruits – Wen Yi W. V – Letters in Applied Microbiology

Bioinformatics, techniques, and metagenomics

Strain-level microbial epidemiology and population genomics from shotgun metagenomics – Matthias Scholz – Nature Methods

Improving the microbial community reconstruction at the genus level by multiple 16S rRNA regions – Shengqin Wang – Journal of Theoretical Biology

A framework for inferring biological communities from environmental DNA – Andrew Olaf Shelton – Ecological Applications

Review: Next-generation sequencing (NGS) in the microbiological world: How to make the most of your money – Antony T. Vincent – Journal of Microbiological Methods

Metagenomics and viruses

A Next-Generation Sequencing Data Analysis Pipeline for Detecting Unknown Pathogens from Mixed Clinical Samples and Revealing Their Genetic Diversity – Yu-Nong Gong – PLOS ONE

Exploring the virome of cattle with non-suppurative encephalitis of unknown etiology by metagenomics – Daniel Wüthrich – Virology

The Intestinal Eukaryotic Virome in Healthy and Diarrhoeic Neonatal Piglets – Oskar E. Karlsson – PLOS ONE

Special issue of Current Opinion in Microbiology: Megaviromes
Review: Giant viruses come of age – Matthias G Fischer
Review: Giant viruses and the origin of modern eukaryotes – Patrick Forterre

To be or not to be alive: How recent discoveries challenge the traditional definitions of viruses and life – Patrick Forterre – Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences

More microbiology

The mystery of plague in medieval Iceland – Chris Callow – Journal of Medieval History

Microbes in the news

HT: Tomer Altman: Poop Peeps: Today we’re going to make Poop Peeps. Marshmallow Peeps that are shaped like the poop emoji.– Matthew Cetta – Nomageddon

Elizabethkingia, the rare and deadly bacteria that’s sickening people in the Midwest, explained – Julia Belluz – Vox

Forest resilience; can microbes help combat climate change issues faster than genetic adaptations? – Armand Séguin

Controversial New Push to Tie Microbes to Alzheimer’s Disease. A journal article says herpes virus and Lyme disease bacteria are behind the mind-robbing illness, but not all researchers are convinced – Melinda Wenner Moyer – Scientific American

Bacteria Are Revolutionizing Biotech–Here’s Why We Need To Talk About It – Catherine Feuillet – Forbes

Contact Lenses Fill Your Eyes With Bacteria – Mandy Oaklander – Time

Killing Bacteria With Gold Nanodisks And Light – Jennifer Hicks – Forbes

Space gives bacteria room to grow – Dan Satherley – NewsHub

Uncovering bacterial role in platinum formation – University of Adelaide

Top Science Fair Projects Put Stream Data, Bacteria to Work – Dan Swanson – News Channel Nebraska

The Daily Startup: Startups Look to ‘New Frontier’ of Microbiomes to Fight Disease – Wall Street Journal

The Human Microbiome Handbook – Edited by Jason Tetro, Emma Allen-Vercoe

New Bioinformatic Approach Enables Strain-Level Microbial Profiling From Metagenomic Data – Genome Web

Ulcerative Colitis Improves in Multidonor Fecal Transplant Trial – Damian McNamara – MedScape

Blog posts by me:

New papers, March 22, 2016 – Elisabeth Bik – MicroBEnet

Extreme environments at home – Elisabeth Bik – MicroBEnet

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March 21, 2016

Skin microbiome and cutaneous function, gut microbiota of children in Brazil, donor effects in FMT, how the gut prevents inflammation through PGE2, airborne microalgae and fungi, and bugs hiding in fruits and vegetables.

General microbiome

Review: Investigating a holobiont: Microbiota perturbations and transkingdom networks – Renee Greer – Gut Microbes

Pregnancy and birth

The effect of neutral oligosaccharides on fecal microbiota in premature infants fed exclusively with breast milk: A randomized clinical trial – Amir-Mohammad Armanian – Journal of Research in Pharmacy Practice

Perinatal Microbiomes Influence on Preterm Birth and Preterms’ Health: Influencing Factors and Modulation Strategies – Ruiz, Lorena – Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology & Nutrition

Review: Probiotics in early life: a preventative and treatment approach
Askhan Hashemi – Food & Function

Human skin microbiome

Review: Shaping of cutaneous function by encounters with commensals – Emma Barnard – The Journal of Physiology

Human respiratory microbiome

Relevant for CF researchVolatile Compounds Emitted by Pseudomonas aeruginosa Stimulate Growth of the Fungal Pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus – Benoit Briard – mBio

Human gut microbiome

Exclusive enteral nutrition in active pediatric Crohn disease: Effects on intestinal microbiota and immune regulation – Tobias Schwerd – Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology

Does the donor matter? Donor vs patient effects in the outcome of a next-generation microbiota-based drug trial for recurrent Clostridium difficile infection
Arnab Ray – Future Microbiology

Gut microbiota differences in children from distinct socioeconomic levels living in the
same urban area in Brazil – Carolina Santos Mello – Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition

Review: Practical Considerations and the Intestinal Microbiome in Disease: Antibiotics for IBD Therapy – Fedorak R.N. – Digestive Diseases

Editorial: Dietary metabolism, gut microbiota and acute heart failure – WH Wilson Tang – Heart

Animal models

Prostaglandin E2 constrains systemic inflammation through an innate lymphoid cell–IL-22 axis – Rodger Duffin – Science

Detection of peptidoglycan from the gut microbiota governs the lifespan of circulating phagocytes at homeostasis – Christopher B. Hergott – Blood

Intestinal Interleukin-17 Receptor Signaling Mediates Reciprocal Control of the Gut Microbiota and Autoimmune Inflammation – Pawan Kumar – Immunity

Lymphoid-Tissue-Resident Commensal Bacteria Promote Members of the IL-10 Cytokine Family to Establish Mutualism – Thomas C. Fung – Immunity

Rhubarb extract prevents hepatic inflammation induced by acute alcohol intake, an effect related to the modulation of the gut microbiota – Audrey M. Neyrinck – Molecular Nutrition & Food Research

Impact of Ethanol and Saccharin on Fecal Microbiome in Pregnant and Non-Pregnant Mice – Matthew T Labrecque – Journal of Pregnancy Child Health

Oral Samples as Non-Invasive Proxies for Assessing the Composition of the Rumen Microbial Community – Ilma Tapio – PLOS ONE

Review: The mouse gut microbiome revisited: From complex diversity to model ecosystems – Thomas Clavel – International Journal of Medical Microbiology

Review: Reversing Gut Damage in HIV Infection: Using Non-Human Primate Models to Instruct Clinical Research – Rosalie Ponte – EBioMedicine

Animal microbiome

Variability of the Sheep Lung Microbiota – Laura Glendinning – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Microbial Populations in Naked Neck Chicken Ceca Raised on Pasture Flock Fed with Commercial Yeast Cell Wall Prebiotics via an Illumina MiSeq Platform – Si Hong Park – PLOS ONE

The Bacterial Community of Entomophilic Nematodes and Host Beetles – Sneha L. Koneru – Molecular Ecology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

An Unusual Inverted Saline Microbial Mat Community in an Interdune Sabkha in the Rub’ al Khali (the Empty Quarter), United Arab Emirates – Christopher P. McKay – PLOS ONE

Effects of long term rice straw application on the microbial communities of rapeseed rhizosphere in a paddy-upland rotation system – Caijuan Peng – Science of the Total Environment

Distribution patterns of microbial communities in ultramafic landscape: a metagenetic approach highlights the strong relationships between diversity and environmental traits
L Bordez – Molecular Ecology

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in Mimosa tenuiflora (Willd.) Poir from Brazilian semi-arid – Tancredo Augusto Feitosa de Souza – Brazilian Journal of Microbiology

The impact of tropical forest logging and oil palm agriculture on the soil microbiome – Binu M. Tripathi – Molecular Ecology

Drivers of phosphorus limitation across soil microbial communities – Petr Čapek – Functional Ecology

Decreasing Nitrogen Fertilizer Input Had Little Effect on Microbial Communities in Three Types of Soils – Hailing Yu – PLOS ONE

H2-saturation of high affinity H2-oxidizing bacteria alters the ecological niche of soil microorganisms unevenly among taxonomic groups – Sarah Piché-Choquette – PeerJ

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

Water and extremophile microbiome

An association network analysis among microeukaryotes and bacterioplankton reveals algal bloom dynamics – Shangjin Tan – Journal of Phycology

More, smaller bacteria in response to ocean’s warming? – Xosé Anxelu G. Morán – Proceedings of the Royal Society B

All of these are 16S rRNA gene amplicon based:
Profiling of microbial community of Odisha hot spring based on metagenomic sequencing – Archana Singh – Genomics Data
Investigation of the microbial community in the Odisha hot spring cluster based on the cultivation independent approach – Archana Singh – Genomics Data
Structural insights of microbial community of Deulajhari (India) hot spring using 16s-rRNA based metagenomic sequencing – Archana Singh – Genomics Data
Metagenomic exploration of the bacterial community structure at Paradip Port, Odisha, India – Arnab Pramanik – Genomics Data

Air microbiome

Review: Airborne Microalgae: Insights, Opportunities, and Challenges – Sylvie V. M. Tesson – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Airborne and Grain Dust Fungal Community Compositions Are Shaped Regionally by Plant Genotypes and Farming Practices – Loïc Pellissier – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Waste and pollution microbiology

Similar Microbial Consortia and Genes Are Involved in the Biodegradation of Benzalkonium Chlorides in Different Environments – Emine Ertekin – Environmental Science & Technology

Managing microbial risks from indirect wastewater reuse for irrigation in urbanizing watersheds – Matthew Eric Verbyla – Environmental Science & Technology

Linking Microbial Community and Catabolic Gene Structures during the Adaptation of Three Contaminated Soils under Continuous Long-Term Pollutant Stress – Daiana Lima-Morales – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Comparative Genomic Analysis of Sulfurospirillum cavolei MES Reconstructed from the Metagenome of an Electrosynthetic Microbiome – Daniel E. Ross – PLOS ONE

Sediment Bacterial Communities Associated with Anaerobic Biodegradation of Bisphenol A – Yuyin Yang – Microbial Ecology

Bioreactor microbiology

Nitrification at different salinities: Biofilm community composition and physiological plasticity – Blanca M. Gonzalez-Silva – Water Research

In vitro extraction and fermentation of polyphenols from grape seeds (Vitis vinifera) by human intestinal microbiota – Li Zhou – Food & Function

Food microbiology

Hiding in Fresh Fruits and Vegetables: Opportunistic Pathogens May Cross Geographical Barriers – Zahra S. Al-Kharousi – International Journal of Microbiology

Metagenomic data of fungal internal transcribed spacer from serofluid dish, a traditional Chinese fermented food – Peng Chen – Genomics Data

More microbiology

Multispecies Swarms of Social Microorganisms as Moving Ecosystems – Eshel Ben-Jacob – Trends in Microbiology

A Deadly Path: Bacterial Spread During Bubonic Plague – Rodrigo J. Gonzalez – Trends in Microbiology

Correspondence: Bacterial Persistent Infection at the Interface between Host and Microbiota – Min Yue – Clinical Infectious Diseases

Microbes in the news

Immune study shows how gut keeps deadly infections at bay – Science Daily

Bacteria’s Achilles heel uncovered by single molecule chemistry – Phys.org

Tiny algae could block Metro Vancouver’s Roberts Bank container expansion. Migrating sandpipers depend on biofilm secreted by microscopic diatoms for fuel – Larry Pynn – Vancouver Sun

Systemic Antibody Responses To Oral Bacteria With Aging, University of Kentucky Study – BioSpace
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March 19, 2016

General microbiome

Prospect: Know your neighbor: Microbiota and host epithelial cells interact locally to control intestinal function and physiology – Felix Sommer – BioEssays

Review: Functional Redundancy-Induced Stability of Gut Microbiota Subjected to Disturbance – Andrés Moya – Trends in Microbiology

Human oral microbiome

Successful enrichment and recovery of whole mitochondrial genomes from ancient human dental calculus – Andrew T. Ozga – American Journal of Physical Anthropology

Oral microbiota species in acute apical endodontic abscesses – Noelle George – Journal of Oral Microbiology

Human gut microbiome

Changes in the Functional Potential of the Gut Microbiome Following Probiotic Supplementation during Helicobacter Pylori Treatment – Bumjo Oh – Helicobacter

Gut microbiota produce alcohol and contribute to NAFLD – Lixin Zhu – Gut

Probiotics

Probiotic Gut Microbiota Isolate Interacts with Dendritic Cells via Glycosylated Heterotrimeric Pili – Hanne L. P. Tytgat – PLOS ONE

Animal microbiome

Metagenomic Survey of Viral Diversity Obtained from Feces of Subantarctic and South American Fur Seals – Mariana Kluge – PLOS ONE

Effect of Antibiotic Treatment on the Gastrointestinal Microbiome of Free-Ranging Western Lowland Gorillas (Gorilla g. gorilla) – Klára Vlčková – Microbial Ecology

Induction of trap formation in nematode-trapping fungi by bacteria-released ammonia – H.N. Su – Letters in Applied Microbiology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

The holistic rhizosphere: integrating zones, processes, and semantics in the soil influenced by roots – Larry M. York – Journal of Experimental Botany

Impact of an invasive N2-fixing tree on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and development of native species – Alejandra, Guisande-Collazo – AoB Plants

Shifts in taxonomic and functional microbial diversity with agriculture: How fragile is the Brazilian Cerrado? – Renata Carolini Souza – BMC Microbiology

Water microbiome

High Bacterial Diversity and Phylogenetic Novelty in Dark Euxinic Freshwaters Analyzed by 16S Tag Community Profiling – Tomàs Llorens-Marès – Microbial Ecology

Food and medicine microbiology

Characterization of malolactic bacteria isolated from Aosta Valley wines and evidence of psychrotrophy in some strains – I. Vigentini – Journal of Applied Microbiology

A review of melanized (black) fungal contamination in pharmaceutical products—incidence, drug recall and control measures – R. Vijayakumar – Journal of Applied Microbiology

Microbes in the news

Researchers Extract and Sequence Ancient DNA From Biofilm Coating Teeth – Genome Web

New green toothpaste reveals biofilm – Maria Perno Goldie – Dentistry IQ

Video: Pink Lake Mystery Solved: Lake Hillier Bacteria – SciShow – YouTube

SlideShow: Experiments with my Microbiome – Richard Sprague – LinkedIn

Video: #GMFH2016 (5th Gut Microbiota for Health World Summit ) Interviews: Prof. Joël Doré – YouTube
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March 15, 2016

Intrapartum antibiotics and newborn gut microbiota, the seminal fluid microbiome, and xenobiotic metabolism by gut microbes.

General microbiome

Review: The interplay between the microbiome and the adaptive immune response in cancer development – Edda Russo – Therapeutic Advances in Gastroenterology

Pregnancy and birth

Evaluation of the effects of intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis on newborn intestinal microbiota using a sequencing approach targeted to multi hypervariable 16S rDNA regions – Irene Aloisio – Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

Human respiratory microbiome

Neonatal Gastrointestinal and Respiratory Microbiome in Cystic Fibrosis: Potential Interactions and Implications for Systemic Health – Juliette C. Madan – Clinical Therapeutics

Review: Host-microbiome interactions in acute and chronic respiratory infections – Steven Taylor – Cellular Microbiology

Human reproductive tract microbiome

Discovery of a Novel Seminal Fluid Microbiome and Influence of Estrogen Receptor Alpha Genetic Status – Angela B. Javurek – Scientific Reports

Human gut microbiome

Bloom and bust: intestinal microbiota dynamics in response to hospital exposures and Clostridium difficile colonization or infection – Caroline Vincent – Microbiome

Upper Versus Lower Gastrointestinal Delivery for Transplantation of Fecal Microbiota in Recurrent or Refractory Clostridium difficile Infection: A Collaborative Analysis of Individual Patient Data From 14 Studies – Luis Furuya-Kanamori – Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology

Similar depletion of protective Faecalibacterium prausnitzii in psoriasis and Inflammatory Bowel Disease, but not in Hidradenitis Suppurativa – Hester Eppinga – Journal of Crohn’s and Colitis

Review: The role of the gastrointestinal tract and microbiota on uremic toxins and chronic kidney disease development – David Briskey – Clinical and Experimental Nephrology

Review: The microbial pharmacists within us: a metagenomic view of xenobiotic metabolism – Peter Spanogiannopoulos – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Animal microbiome

Vertebrate hosts as islands: dynamics of selection, immigration, loss, persistence and potential function of bacteria on salamander skin – Andrew H. Loudon – Frontiers in Microbiology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Altered carbon turnover processes and microbiomes in soils under long-term extremely high CO2 exposure – Felix Beulig – Nature Microbiology

Metagenomic and functional analyses of the consequences of reduction of bacterial diversity on soil functions and bioremediation in diesel-contaminated microcosms – Jaejoon Jun – Scientific Reports

Bacterial Community Succession in Pine-Wood Decomposition – Anna M. Kielak – Frontiers in Microbiology

Cave microbiome

MiSeq HV4 16S rRNA gene analysis of bacterial community composition among the cave sediments of Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot – Surajit De Mandal – Environmental Science and Pollution Research

Water microbiome

Bacterial diversity and distribution in seven different estuarine sediments of Poyang Lake, China – Ping Sheng – Environmental Earth Sciences

Built environment microbiology

Detection of Balamuthia mandrillaris DNA in the storage case of contact lenses in Germany – Carsten Balczun – Parasitology Research

Viruses and phages

Characterization of Viral Communities of Biting Midges and Identification of Novel Thogotovirus Species and Rhabdovirus Genus – Sarah Temmam – MDPI Viruses

Metagenomic analysis demonstrates the diversity of the fecal virome in asymptomatic pigs in East Africa – Joshua O. Amimo – Archives of Virology

Bacteriophages to reduce gut carriage of antibiotic resistant uropathogens with low impact on microbiota composition – Matthieu Galtier – Environmental Microbiology

Review: Mutualistic viruses and the heteronomy of life – Thomas Pradeu – Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences

Microbial Ecology

Engineering microbial consortia for controllable outputs – Stephen R Lindemann – ISME Journal

Review: The Anthropocene: a conspicuous stratigraphical signal of anthropogenic changes in production and consumption across the biosphere – Mark Williams – Earth’s Future

Book, all chapters written by Thomas CG Bosch and David J Miller. Not free of plagiarism and self-citing: The Holobiont Imperative: Perspectives from Early Emerging Animals – Springer

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

Illumina error profiles: resolving fine-scale variation in metagenomic sequencing data – Melanie Schirmer – BMC Bioinformatics

Microbes in the news

Bacterial biofilms in hospital water pipes may show pathogenic properties – Phys.org

Developed in Prince William, ISOThrive feeds human microbiome – Potomac Local

The first Truth is already not true: 3 Truths and a Lie About the Microbiome. Stick to the science if you want a healthy gut. – Megan Meyer – US News

The microbial death clock – Kai Kupferschmidt – Science
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March 13, 2016

General microbiome

Review: Engineering Human Microbiota: Influencing Cellular and Community Dynamics for Therapeutic Applications – S. Woloszynek – International Review of Cell and Molecular Biology

Pregnancy and birth / Human vaginal microbiome

Review: The vaginal microbiota, host defense and reproductive physiology – Steven B Smith – The Journal of Physiology

Human gut microbiome

Review: Brain-Gut-Microbiota axis: Challenges for Translation in Psychiatry – John R. Kelly – Annals of Epidemiology

Editorial: The microbiome in celiac disease: Beyond diet-genetic interactions – Jose U. Scher – Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine
Animal models

Age, introduction of solid feed and weaning are more important determinants of gut bacterial succession in piglets than breed and nursing mother as revealed by a reciprocal cross-fostering model – Gaorui Bian – Environmental Microbiology

Heat-treated high-fat diet modifies gut microbiota and metabolic markers in apoe−/− mice – Nittaya Marungruang – Nutrition & Metabolism

Animal microbiome

Characterization of pollen and bacterial community composition in brood provisions of a small carpenter bee – Quinn S. McFrederick – Molecular Ecology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Cry1Ac Transgenic Sugarcane Does Not Affect the Diversity of Microbial Communities and Has No Significant Effect on Enzyme Activities in Rhizosphere Soil within One Crop Season – Dinggang Zhou – Frontiers in Plant Science

Succession of soil microbial communities and enzyme activities in artificial soils – Franziska Ditteric – Pedobiologia

Effect of copper and zinc on microbial tolerance to triclosan in two soil types – Gerty J. H. P. Gielen – Journal of Soils and Sediments

Microbial enzymes as an early warning management tool for monitoring mining site soils – Mohammad Wahsha – CATENA

Water and glacier microbiome

Bacterial communities potentially involved in iron-cycling in Baltic Sea and North Sea sediments revealed by pyrosequencing – Carolina Reyes – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

The Differing Biogeochemical and Microbial Signatures of Glaciers and Rock Glaciers – Timothy S. Fegel – Journal of Geophysical Research

Diuron tolerance and potential degradation by pelagic microbiomes in the Great Barrier Reef lagoon – Florent E. Angly – PeerJ

Infection microbiology

Whole genome sequencing identifies a novel species of the genus Capnocytophaga isolated from dog and cat bite wounds in humans – Salah Zangena – Scientific Reports

Viruses

RNA viruses as major contributors to Antarctic virioplankton – Jaclyn A Miranda – Environmental Microbiology

Review: Giant viruses of amoebas: an update – Sarah Aherfi – Frontiers in Microbiology

Microbial Ecology

Review: Dancing with the Stars: How Choreographed Bacterial Interactions Dictate Nososymbiocity and Give Rise to Keystone Pathogens, Accessory Pathogens, and Pathobionts – George Hajishengallis – Trends in Microbiology

Metagenomics and bioinformatics

LSG: An External-Memory Tool to Compute String Graphs for Next-Generation Sequencing Data Assembly – Paola Bonizzoni – Journal of Computational Biology

Microbes in the news

Cool Citizen Microbiology Project in Spain With Great Engagement – David Coil – Microbenet

Podcast: The Bacteria Behind Your Favorite Blues, Bries, and More – Science Friday

Science, publishing and career

Scientists who tweet: 3 Fred Hutch researchers talk about getting #science out into the world, 140 characters at a time – Mary Engel – Fred Hutch

This Student Adds A Woman In Science To Wikipedia Every Time She’s Harassed Online – Kelly Oakes – BuzzFeed

Bik’s Picks

Neandertals’ large lower thorax may represent adaptation to high protein diet – Miki Ben-Dor – American Journal of Physical Anthropology

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March 10, 2016

Signals within microbial communities, feeding the microbiome with milk, gut metagenomes of Japanese subjects, multiethnic cohorts, biogeography of viruses in the sea, and finding transcription start sites.

General human microbiome

Review: Signaling in Host-Associated Microbial Communities – Michael A. Fischbach and Julia A. Segre – Cell

Review: The microbiome systemic diseases connection – T.A. van der Meulen – Oral Diseases

Review: The human microbiota: novel targets for hospital-acquired infections and antibiotic resistance – Melinda M. Pettigrew – Annals of Epidemiology

Pregnancy and birth

The placental microbiome is altered among subjects with spontaneous preterm birth with and without chorioamnionitis – Amanda L. Prince – American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology

It’s in the Milk: Feeding the Microbiome to Promote Infant Growth – Stavros Bashiardes – Cell Metabolism

The Microbiome in Necrotizing Enterocolitis: A Case Report in Twins and Minireview
Suchitra K. Hourigan – Clinical Therapeutics

Comment: Gut microbiome and necrotising enterocolitis: time for intervention?
Alessio Fasano – The Lancet

Human oral microbiome

Not sure if I agree with the goal of this paper: Natural Antimicrobials and Oral Microorganisms: A Systematic Review on Herbal Interventions for the Eradication of Multispecies Oral Biofilms – Lamprini Karygianni – Frontiers in Microbiology

Human urinary tract microbiome

The Urinary Microbiome Differs Significantly between Patients with Chronic Prostatitis/Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome and Controls as Well as between Patients with Different Clinical Phenotypes – Daniel A Shoskes – Urology

Human gut microbiome

The gut microbiome of healthy Japanese and its microbial and functional uniqueness – Suguru Nishijima – DNA Research

Microbiome Heterogeneity Characterizing Intestinal Tissue and Inflammatory Bowel Disease Phenotype – Tyler, Andrea D. – Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

Perspective: Characterisation and therapeutic manipulation of the gut microbiome in inflammatory bowel disease – J. Schulberg – Internal Medicine Journal

FMT Happens: Regulating Fecal Microbiota Therapy in Canada; What You Need to Know – Shahad Salman – World Medical & Health Policy

Review: Characterization of the Gut Microbiome in Epidemiologic Studies: The Multiethnic Cohort Experience – Benjamin C. Fu – Annals of Epidemiology

Review: Antibiotics and the Human Gut Microbiome: Dysbioses and Accumulation of Resistances – M. P. Francino – Frontiers in Microbiology

Animal models

Ecological robustness of the gut microbiota in response to ingestion of transient food-borne microbes – Chenhong Zhang – ISME Journal

Review: Viruses in Rodent Colonies: Lessons Learned from Murine Noroviruses – Stephanie M. Karst – Annual Review of Virology

Animal microbiome

Study of the Aminoglycoside Subsistence Phenotype of Bacteria Residing in the Gut of Humans and Zoo Animals – Teresita de J. Bello González – Frontiers in Microbiology

Allows the consumption of toxic cabbageSaxA-mediated isothiocyanate metabolism in phytopathogenic Pectobacteria – Cornelia U. Welte – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Comparison of Fecal Microbiota of Mongolian and Thoroughbred Horses by High-Throughput Sequencing of the V4 Region of the 16S rRNA Gen (sic) – Yiping Zhao – Asian Australian Journal of Animal Sciences

Potential bacterial core species associated with digital dermatitis in cattle herds identified by molecular profiling of interdigital skin samples – Martin W. Nielsen – Veterinary Microbiology

I really feel for horses who are sick of grass.  Abstract: Analysis of the large intestinal and faecal microbiota of horses with grass sickness using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis – D. Nölkes – Journal of Equine Veterinary Science

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Phyllosphere Fungal Communities Differentiate More Thoroughly than Bacterial Communities Along an Elevation Gradient – Corinne Vacher – Microbial Ecology

A compositional shift in the soil microbiome induced by tetracycline, sulfamonomethoxine and ciprofloxacin entering a plant-soil system – Hui Lin – Environmental Pollution

Water and extremophile microbiome

Long-term warming alters richness and composition of taxonomic and functional groups of arctic fungi – József Geml – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Review: Biogeography of Viruses in the Sea – Cheryl-Emiliane T. Chow – Annual Review of Virology

DGGE: Oil removal and effects of spilled oil on active microbial communities in close to salt‑saturation brines – Yannick Y. Corsellis – Extremophiles

Bioreactors and waste microbiology

Longitudinal Analysis of Microbiota in Microalga Nannochloropsis salina Cultures – Haifeng Geng – Microbial Ecology

Ecological patterns, diversity and core taxa of microbial communities in groundwater-fed rapid gravity filters – Arda Gülay – ISME Journal

Bacterial communities in different locations, seasons and segments of a dairy wastewater treatment system consisting of six segments – Kikue Hirota – Journal of Environmental Sciences

Food microbiology

Resistome diversity in cattle and the environment decreases during beef production – Noelle R Noyes – eLIFE

Inactivation of Salmonella on tainted foods: using blue light to disinfect cucumbers and processed meat products – J. Stephen Guffey – Food Science & Nutrition

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

Review: Recovering complete and draft population genomes from metagenome datasets – Naseer Sangwan – Microbiome

Dissecting phylogenetic fuzzy weighting: theory and application in metacommunity phylogenetics – Leandro D. S. Duarte – Methods in Ecology and Evolution

Transcriptomics

A novel enrichment strategy reveals unprecedented number of novel transcription start sites at single base resolution in a model prokaryote and the gut microbiome – Laurence Ettwiller – BMC Genomics

Fungi

Perspective: The invisible dimension of fungal diversity – David Hibbett – Science

Microbes in the news

At StanfordCenter launched to explore, exploit human microbiome – Bruce Goldman – Stanford Medicine

Columbia Expands Its Microbiome Research – Christopher Williams – Columbia University Medical Center

UT professor develops technique to enhance desirable traits of plants, animals through microbiology – Maluly Martinez Benavides – The Daily Texan

5th World Summit “Gut Microbiota For Health”: Media Information on Top Issues Ready for Download

Gut bacteria make cabbage poison harmless – Radboud University

Scientists developed a robust method for analysis of intestinal bacteria – Science Codex

Nukadoko: rich in beneficial bacteria: Nukadoko is made by fermenting rice bran, a byproduct of milling brown rice, with lactic acid bacteria and yeast. – Natsuko Tamaki – The Japan News

A mouse’s house may ruin experiments. Environmental factors lie behind many irreproducible rodent experiments – Sara Reardon – Nature

Viral infections may affect respiratory microbiome of patients with CF – Healio

Science, publishing, and career

German Defense Minister to keep doctoral degree – plagiarism found on 44% – Debora Weber-Wulff – Copy, Shake, and Paste

Bik’s Picks

How long can you chew on goat meat? Impact of meat and Lower Palaeolithic food processing techniques on chewing in humans – Katherine D. Zink – Nature

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Microbiome Medicine Summit, part 3 – Gittleman

Here is another transcript from the Microbiome Medicine Summit – a talk by Ann Louise Gittleman, PhD, CNS, Nutritionist called: “Parasites May be the Hidden Cause of Your Health Issues“. Here is what Wikipedia’s entry about her has to say about her PhD degree:

In 2002 she was given a PhD in Holistic Nutrition from Clayton College of Natural Health, an unaccredited and now defunct diploma mill whose notable graduates are surrounded in controversy. In 2010, Clayton College closed due to financial difficulties.

Also note how in her talk, she first tries to scare the audience about an invisible (and non-existing!) problem, then will offer a solution: her cleansing products. Also note that, when asked for possible signs for parasite infection, she will list a long list of health conditions most of us might experience. Also note that she says that most of these parasites cannot be detected by conventional tests. Finally, note that she states to not use probiotics during parasite cleaning, but that her own Colon Cleanse kit contains…. probiotics.

Start of (partial) transcript:

This is a very strange subject for someone like myself. I have always been involved with English and drama and religion and metaphysics.

Many many years ago, I studied with a woman …. who changed my whole career in 5 days. It was Dr Hazel Parcells who taught me that 8 out 10 of all Americans – and this was back in 1974 – were infested with of one or more parasites.

In that little class, she showed all of these creatures that came out of all of these individuals who did parasite cleanses.

So we all went on the program, and sure enough, many of our health problems in those days truly did disappear or certainly dissapated, and we learned how parasites were the most immunosuppresive agent in the human body. And I dare to say today, with the human microbiome, it is still a problem that is not being detected, not being suspected (inaudible) need to be treated.

Dr. Parcells was very ahead or her time. She was able to diagnose individuals using a sample of blood and she was extraordinarily accurate.

It was an 8-day milk diet. (…) It was her belief that the milk acted as bait for the parasites, they came out of their hiding places, because many of them live within the gut wall. Which is why when you do traditional stool samples, you don’t see them.

The milk acted as bait, it took them out of the gut wall, and then she zapped them with a speciality blend of herbs.

Quite frankly, we saw all kinds of things coming out.

Host Raphael Kellman: What does the average person do today? Cause you can’t really test for it, the tests are not very accurate, they miss it most of the time. What should they do next?

ALG: Number 1. There are a lot of foods that really help to debilitate parasites. One of them (…) is the cranberry. These are very tart fruits that are quite rich in organic acids. They break down their protein structure, and then stimulating the release of parasitic wastes. So on a daily basis I would suggest for a 2-3 week stint that you do my CranWater daily.

Number 2: Pumpkin seeds on a daily basis. In that way, you clear up any parasite infection by at least 25%.
Another one is garlic. Another one is cayenne peppers. Parasites cannot take the heat.
They really love instant sugars.

Host: Who should be suspicious that they may have parasites hurting their microbiome and their gut?

ALG: If you have symptoms with your intestines, constant constipation or diarrhea or gas, that is not due to certain sensitivities or any other situation, then I really think that you have to suspect parasites. If you’ve gut unresolved joint or muscle pain (…) if you have difficulty sleeping and are constantly waking up between 1 to 3 I would suspect parasites. If you got frequent infections, if you got cold or yeast infections, or any kind of autoimmune situation, think of the parasites. Anxiety, nervousness, depression –

Q What about cancer?

ALG: Well we gotta be very careful but one of my great parasitologist friends .. told me he had never seen a case of cancer that also wasn’t accompanied by parasites. He always cleared out parasites first and foremost, which then led to the development of the parasite products that I have developed and promoted for the last 25 years.

So I’ll tell you that parasites are a real problem, no matter what disease you’re suffering from or if you wanna look good.

It is so amazing to think of all of the seemingly disconnected symptoms and effects of the lowly parasites that behooves all of us, like Europeans to eat certain foods or take certain herbs or bitters to try to eliminate these things from the digestive tract.

Q What are your favorite herbs to reduce or eliminate worms?

ALG: The favorite herb that we put into our product which is my colon cleansing kit is one that you won’t find in any other. and it’s because of the research I was able to do. That herb is Centaury. It allows the parasites to release all their hookers or sucker agents from your gut.

The nutrients that parasites don’t do well with, would be the zinc and vitamin A. They don’t seem to hold on to the intestinal lining as prolifically in the presence of the vitamin A and the zinc.

Q What’s the connection between these parasites and the microbiome?

If you have a healthy microbiome, these little buggers can’t exist. It’s very simple.
We gotta be eating foods that are very high in fermenting agents.

Q Do you recommend fermented foods to everyone across the board?

ALG: No, I don’t. I very rarely recommend that to individuals who have a lot of GI problems, because it creates so much more gas and discomfort.

I have found that the same conditions that give root to parasites or protozoa are those that actually feed back to pathogenic bacteria. So a course of the treatment that I recommend is the My Colon Cleansing kit which has natural herbs that are also very antibacterial.

I was taught, that when you are clearing out parasites, one should not be taking any kind of probiotics or beneficial bacteria because it would actually feed and strengthening the parasites. (taking probiotics/fermented foods) comes later in the entire protocol.

After that first inititial weakening of the agents that are crowding out the microbiome, and are feeding off of the microbiome, we then add back a healthy probiotic.

A microbiome imbalance and a parasite issue, they always go together.

Q Tell us the symptoms that might point to the possibility that there is a microbiome/parasite issue?

ALG: GERD is a primary symptom. Indigestion. A weakened lower esophageal sphincter muscle. That’s for starters. I would also say that IBS may be connected, Crohn’s disease, constipation, diarrhea. Allergy, majorly connected. Joint and muscle aches and pains in arthritis. Skin conditions, very connected because the skin is a detoxification organ.

Q Do you feel there is any value in stool testing?

Many of these little critters live in the small intestine, not in the large intestine, some of them live in the intestinal wall so you are not seeing them in a stool sample, and then they may not be reproducing at the time you take the stool sample. They are most active the 4 days before and after the full moon. I’ve always seen much better results around that time.

(ALG talking about all the great parasitologists who passed away.)

I’ve always been interested. A search for God is what I call it. I studied many of the religions, but I love all the religions where I feel there is some kind of truth.
Maybe this was a search of truth. I don’t know. Truly I think there’re underlying issues, underlying laws of nature, of God, that we all have to observe because if we don’t we get into trouble.

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Microbiome Medicine Summit, part 2, Donna Gates

Part two of me listening to the podcasts provided by self-proclaimed microbiome experts on the Microbiome Medicine Summit. Today features Donna Gates, who – quite frankly – provided the talk with the most quackery I heard so far. Here is a transcript of some of the things she had to say. Please note that English is not my first language, but I did try my best. You can hear the full MP3 here, but it’s over an hour long.

Donna Gates, MEd, ABAAHP, The Power of Developing a Strong Inner Ecosystem

25 years ago, I began to study microbiologists and their journals. And they were always reporting in their journals and to each other things they were finding, but it wasn’t ever coming down to us.

What I used to say years ago, I said it because it made sense, and now there is science behind it. Like, I would say: “Bacteria talk to each other”. And then the quorum sensing came out. And I used to say; “They’re inside the gut and the gut is connected to the brain”, and sure enough, science started.

Host Raphael Kellman: You felt something about the inner ecosystem that you know existed, something that you focused on for a while, way before scientists confirmed that in fact there is a microbiome and an inner ecosystem.

DG: We should all develop this intuition. Probably everyone has it. Certainly healers have it. Especially today, we’re all so busy, we can’t access that part of ourselves. You have to be quiet.

RK: I get the feeling that the bacteria really love you. And they really give you their insights. And if that’s the case, give us the insights that the microbiome is giving you.

DG: There is research showing that the microbiome are very much influenced by our thoughts and I used to think that too.

Over the years I collected vast amounts of fascinating information. For example, we’re so much alike, we human beings, and the bacteria and the other microbes inside of us, they’re just like us.

Bacteria work together in guilds. They even sacrifice themselves, for the sake of the community.

They’re highly intelligent, in a microbe kind of way.

Leo Galland has brought up a new concept which is pretty brilliant. There are certain bacteria in the gut that are “Alexander organisms”. Alexander the Great was this fantastic leader. 1000s of people followed him into battle and they conquered a huge part of the world.

In the gut, the guilds of these communities, they do need a leader. So certain bacteria have been identified as Alexander organisms. That’s one of the things that scientists are looking at: who are the leaders. Who do all these other microbes follow.

The microbiome also consists of viruses, and then there are bacteriophages that are actually controlling the viruses.

A lot of people are talking lately about archaea, this new species that was thought to be a bacteria, but now got moved into its own species. If you have a lot of archaea, which about 50% of us do, we tend to be constipated all the time. They produce methane gas which causes constipation.

The bacteria produce toxins called endotoxins. And they inflame the gut wall, and things leak in that are not supposed to be there, so we end up with diabetes and insulin resistance, hypertension, cardiovascular disease. Endotoxins are like a gun. What really pulls that gun is our high fat diet.

Bacteria are controlling our genes, too. The bacteria have trillions of their own genes. Those, the bacteria and their genes are expressing our genes. They can be turning on the genes we don’t want to turn on, the ones that cause gut problems, or make us age, or cause cancer.

Finally scientists are focusing on this. For many many years I was that lone voice up there saying why don’t people not wake up and see how critical this is? It’s how we prevent autism so consistently over the last 15 years.

I have the moms feed my fermented coconut kefir to their newborn babies, and they grow up to be completely different. They’re so smart, they’re so happy. Every single one of them are really physically beautiful children. They’re so happy, consistently. They’re delightful to raise. Compare that to an autistic child, that’s a pure nightmare for the parent.

Plant foods are full of oxalates, like little shards of glass. There many oxalates in plant food, especially in spinach and chocolate and soy and beets. We’re eating a lot of those today. If you don’t have Oxalobacter formigenes, these oxalates cause calcifications in our bodies, they cause stones. They’re finding stones now in peoples bones, in their brains, in their lungs during an autopsy. These stones can go anywhere in the body. Lactobacillus plantarum degrades oxalates, and can help to compensate for this.

On adding Lp to fermentation cultures: Lactobacillus plantarum is an Alexander Organism. If you put him – or her – in there, they’re telling everybody how to behave, who can grow, and you end up with a very special food.

Plantarum is naturally growing on the plants.

I don’t use the term sauerkraut. That’s a jar of sauerkraut, it’s dead, it has vinegar and lots of salt. I start using the term fermented vegetables, cultured vegetables.

43.00 (lots of loud banging in background – maybe an exploding jar of sauerkraut?)

Bacteria are so intelligent. One of the things they are designed to do is look for parasites and eggs and larva which are on our food, and they will eat them up. They love them, it’s like caviar to them.

All cultures have fermented food.
But we are spraying our foods with glyphosate.

For me, every diet needs to be gluten-free. Grains are OK, but only in the evening, soaked in water, cooked and drained to remove the oxalates, and eaten with vegetables for balance.

Dr. William Shaw was called in by these prisoners only being fed soy. They were very very sick all the time, esp the ones that had been there a while. They sued the state to get real meat into the prison. He told me he was sure to win the case, because when they X-rayed their stomachs, they had stalactites growing down from the top of their stomach, from the oxalates.

And then the oxalate kids, they are super sensitive. There was this little boy, he literally pulled his eye out, because that’s another symptom, aching joints. This little boy, his left eye ached so badly, that’s a common… that’s when I knew that I was – tended to be sensitive, because when I at them, or too many of them, my *left* eye would ache.

I was just at this conference and there is this app, that I’m going to invite everybody on my mailing list to subscribe to this app, but’s it’s kind of fun. It shows up on your iPhone, or your phone, and you can put it over things. If you put this app, your phone, right over your wine glass, all these special Tesla or energy waves go into it, and change it, completely change it. It’s so different afterwards, it’s delicious. You can do it to your coffee, do it to your water, it’s kind of fascinating. We can change things with energy. We are energetic beings, the water is, the wine is. And also they do it for gluten. So I tested it, there was a difference! There were some little crackers on the table, so I thought, ok I will eat gluten. And I ate them, and nothing happened.

Cell wellbeing test, it tells you if you are low in B12 or not. It’s a very sophisticated scan. You pull out some hairs from the back of your neck, put them on this little scanner. All this information goes to Germany, comes back in 15 min, and then you know what your deficiency is.

Host: What would be the 3 main points you would want to leave the audience with?

DG: It’s so simple.
1. Drop the bad fats and oils. Only eat the ones that are good, like coconut oil and olive oil.
2. Don’t eat so much sugar. Stevia is a wonderful substitute. I introduced it into the US.
3. Eat something fermented. That’s the most important.

Host : Where can people get more information about you?

DG: Thanks for bringing that up. I always forget to mention my products. The most important product we have is our knowledge.

I’m one year away from turning 70. But I have no symptoms of aging. I don’t hurt, my hair’s not grey. We don’t have to age. Why am I holding up?

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