Human microbiome, July 7

Posted on July 7, 2014 by eliesbik

Phages and CRISPRs in human mouth, new metagenomes from MetaHit, and vaginal microbiota.

General microbiome

Review: An Overview of the Microbiome and the Effects of Antibiotics – Hillary Taggart – The Journal for Nurse Practitioners

“This review provides a basic introduction of what the microbiome is and how it plays a role in obesity, gastrointestinal, immune, and mental health, including a brief mention of implications for the pediatric population.”

Oral microbiome

Characterization of bacteriophage communities and CRISPR profiles from dental plaque – Mayuri Naidu (with David Pride) – BMC Microbiology

“We sampled the saliva and dental plaque from 4 healthy human subjects to determine whether plaque was populated by viral communities, and whether there were differences in viral communities specific to subject or sample type.”

Gut microbiome

An integrated catalog of reference genes in the human gut microbiome – Junhua Li – Nature Biotechnology

“Here we combined 249 newly sequenced samples of the Metagenomics of the Human Intestinal Tract (MetaHit) project with 1,018 previously sequenced samples to create a cohort from three continents that is at least threefold larger than cohorts used for previous gene catalogs. “

Identification and assembly of genomes and genetic elements in complex metagenomic samples without using reference genomes – H Bjørn Nielsen (and 142 other authors) – Nature Biotechnology

“Here we present a method, based on binning co-abundant genes across a series of metagenomic samples, that enables comprehensive discovery of new microbial organisms, viruses and co-inherited genetic entities and aids assembly of microbial genomes without the need for reference sequences.”

Commensal microbial regulation of natural killer T cells at the frontiers of the mucosal immune system – Sebastian Zeissig, Richard S. Blumberg – FEBS Letters

“Here, we outline the mechanisms of bidirectional cross-talk between the microbiota and CD1d-restricted NKT cells and discuss how a perturbation of these processes can contribute to the pathogenesis of immune-mediated disorders at mucosal surfaces.”

Review/Book chapter Gastrointestinal microbiota – Katherine Stephens – Advanced Nutrition and Dietetics in Gastroenterology

“This chapter summarizes the functions of the human gastrointestinal tract. A main function of the GI microbiota is modulation of the immune system. The chapter focues on the factors influencing composition of the microbiota.”

Perturbation of the Human Microbiome as a Contributor to Inflammatory Bowel Disease – Bayan Missaghi – Pathogens

“This review presents an outline of the loss of a normal microbiome as an etiology of immune dysregulation and IBD pathogenesis initiation. “

37 People Want to Peer Inside Your Poop…You Know, for Science – Angus Chen – Discover Magazine

“Rob Knight, a microbiologist at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and his colleagues want poop from every person in America.”

Mediterranean Diet and Health: Food Effects on Gut Microbiota and Disease Control
Federica Del Chierico – International Journal of Molecular Sciences

“For this purpose, we present a study proposal relying on the generation of individual gut microbiota maps from MD-aware children/adolescents. “

Respiratory microbiome

Evidence that intraspecific trait variation among nasal bacteria shapes the distribution of Staphylococcus aureus – Ben Libberton – Infection and Immunity

“We characterised S. aureus growth inhibition by the culturable bacterial aerobe consortia of 60 nasal microbiomes, revealing intraspecific variation in growth inhibition and that inhibitory isolates clustered within communities that were culture-negative for S. aureus. “

Vaginal microbiome

Characterization of the vaginal microbiota of healthy Canadian women through the menstrual cycle – Bonnie Chaban – Microbiome

“Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed to amplify the universal target region of the cpn60 gene and generate amplicons representative of the microbial community. Amplicons were pyrosequenced, assembled into operational taxonomic units, and analyzed. “

Pregnancy

The effects of designation and volume of neonatal care on mortality and morbidity outcomes of very preterm infants in England: retrospective population-based cohort study – SI Watson – BMJ Open

“High-volume neonatal care provided at the hospital of birth may protect against in-hospital mortality in very preterm infants. “

Understanding the Complexity of the Immune System during Pregnancy – Karen Racicot – American Journal of Reproductive Immunology

“In this review, we discuss our present understanding of the ‘immunity of pregnancy’ in the context of the response to cervical and placental infections and how these responses affect both the mother and the fetus.”

Animal models of human microbiota or disease

Galacto‐oligosaccharides attenuate renal injury with microbiota modification – Satoshi U. Furuse – Physiological Reports

“The microbiota analysis indicated that GOS significantly increased three bacterial families and decreased five families in the Nx rats. “

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General digest, July 3

Posted on July 3, 2014 by eliesbik

CRISPRs, the yearly NAR Web Server issue, dengue, arsenic, and The Picks.

CRISPRs

Detection and characterization of spacer integration intermediates in type I-E CRISPR–Cas system – Zihni Arslan – Nucleic Acids Research

“We identified and characterized in Escherichia coli intermediate states of spacer integration and mapped the integration site at the chromosomal CRISPR array in vivo. “

Bioinformatics

Nucleic Acids Research published their yearly Web Server issue. The names of some tools alone are very entertaining (CHOPCHOP, Coffee, COGNAC, just to lists some C’s), but here are some resources that sound interesting:

Alignment-Annotator web server: rendering and annotating sequence alignments
Christoph Gille

Spaced words and kmacs: fast alignment-free sequence comparison based on inexact word matches – Sebastian Horwege

EvoCor: a platform for predicting functionally related genes using phylogenetic and expression profiles – W. James Dittmar

CFM-ID: a web server for annotation, spectrum prediction and metabolite identification from tandem mass spectra – Felicity Allen

PIQMIe: a web server for semi-quantitative proteomics data management and analysis – Arnold Kuzniar

PTHGRN: unraveling post-translational hierarchical gene regulatory networks using PPI, ChIP-seq and gene expression data – Daogang Guan

BioMet Toolbox 2.0: genome-wide analysis of metabolism and omics data – Manuel Garcia-Albornoz

deepTools: a flexible platform for exploring deep-sequencing data – Fidel Ramírez

PrecisePrimer: an easy-to-use web server for designing PCR primers for DNA library cloning and DNA shuffling – Cyrille Pauthenier

PubServer: literature searches by homology – Lukasz Jaroszewski

Arsenic metabolism

Sediment color tool for targeting arsenic-safe aquifers for the installation of shallow drinking water tubewells – Mohammed Hossain – Science of the Total Environment

“Laboratory analysis of 521 groundwater samples collected from 144 wells during 2009 to 2011 indicate that As concentrations in groundwater were generally higher in the black colored sediments with an average of 239 μg/L.”

Arsenite stimulates glutathione export and glycolytic flux in viable primary rat brain astrocytes – Nimesha Tadepalle – Neurochemistry International

“The strong stimulation of GSH export by arsenite was prevented by MK571, an inhibitor of the multidrug resistance protein 1, suggesting that this transporter mediates the accelerated GSH export.”

Trichoderma spp. alleviate phytotoxicity in lettuce plants (Lactuca sativa L.) irrigated with arsenic-contaminated water – Antonio G. Caporale – Journal of Plant Physiology

“Plant Growth-Promoting Fungi (PGPF) of both Trichoderma species alleviated, at least in part, the phytotoxicity of As, essentially by decreasing its accumulation in the tissues and enhancing plant growth, P status and net photosynthesis rate.”

Dengue

Dengue Virus Infection Induces Expansion of a CD14+CD16+ Monocyte Population that Stimulates Plasmablast Differentiation – Marcin Kwissa – Cell Host & Microbe

“Transcriptomic analysis of whole blood revealed that genes encoding proinflammatory mediators and type I interferon-related proteins were associated with high DENV levels during initial symptomatic disease. “

G3BP1, G3BP2 and CAPRIN1 Are Required for Translation of Interferon Stimulated mRNAs and Are Targeted by a Dengue Virus Non-coding RNA – Katell Bidet – PLOS Pathogens

“We examined three conserved host RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) G3BP1, G3BP2 and CAPRIN1 in dengue virus (DENV-2) infection and found them to be novel regulators of the interferon (IFN) response against DENV-2. “

Dengue Virus Persists in Stored Platelets and Red Blood Cells – Michael R. Sutherland – Transfusion Medicine Reviews

“…we investigated the persistence of DENV (serotypes 1-4) in stored platelet (PC) and red blood cell concentrates (RCC) under standard blood bank conditions. “

2013: Rise of the deadly dengue fever in Pakistan – Anum Wasim – Journal of Infection and Public Health

“Last year saw more than 17000 dengue cases being reported from all over the country, the highest number ever in the country’s history.”

Women in Science

Gender: Perception differences – Nature

“Female leaders underrate how their bosses and colleagues perceive their performance, find US researchers”

Leader self-awareness: An examination and implications of women’s under-prediction –
Rachel E. Sturm – Journal of Organizational Behavior

“…women under-predict their bosses’ ratings of their leadership compared with men, even though they self-rate the same and are rated by their bosses similarly to men”

10 Words Every Girl Should Learn – Soraya Chemaly – Huffington Post

Yes! This! “A woman, speaking clearly and out loud, can say something that no one appears to hear, only to have a man repeat it minutes, maybe seconds later, to accolades and group discussion.”

Science, Publishing, and Ethics

Science Editorial: Raising the bar – Marcia McNutt – Science

“For that reason, with much help from the American Statistical Association, Science has established, effective 1 July 2014, a Statistical Board of Reviewing Editors (SBoRE), consisting of experts in various aspects of statistics and data analysis, to provide better oversight of the interpretation of observational data.”

Science ethics: Young scientists speak – Shelly Benjaminy – Science

“What is the most challenging ethical question facing young investigators in your field? How should it be addressed? In April, we asked young scientists to tell us their thoughts.“

Science and Art

Can You Guess What These Cute Pink Tiles Are Made Of? – Francie Diep – Popular Science

“These images are from research into new techniques for medical diagnoses and biometrics.”

Dr. Bik’s Picks

Multiple evidence strands suggest that there may be as few as 19 000 human protein-coding genes – Iakes Ezkurdia – Human Molecular Genetics

“Here, we mapped peptides detected in seven large-scale proteomics studies to almost 60% of the protein-coding genes in the GENCODE annotation of the human genome. “

With Help From Extinct Humans, Tibetans Adapted To High Altitude – Rae Ellen Bichell – NPR

“According to Nielsen and a bunch of geneticists writing in the journal Nature, the Tibetans appear to have benefited from a genetic gift from the Denisovans, an extinct human ancestor known primarily from a little girl’s tooth and pinkie bone.”

NSF to decide all future grant proposals by penalty shoot-out – The Allium

““We feel that this will be a much less random way of giving out funding”, said Dr. France Cordóva, Director of the NSF.”

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Human microbiome digest, July 3

Posted on July 3, 2014 by eliesbik

Short chain fatty acids and gut microbiota, microbial eukaryotes in the human gut, Pseudomonas in stool, and a smelly Anaerococcus isolated from arm pits.

Gut microbiome

Adiposity, gut microbiota and faecal short chain fatty acids are linked in adult humans – J Fernandes – Nutrition & Diabetes

“Our objectives were to compare dietary intakes, faecal SCFA concentrations and gut microbial profiles in healthy lean (LN, BMIless than or equal to25) and overweight or obese (OWOB, BMI>25) participants.”

Ellagic Acid Metabolism by Human Gut Microbiota: Consistent Observation of Three Urolithin Phenotypes in Intervention Trials, Independent of Food Source, Age, and Health Status – Francisco A. Tomás-Barberán – Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

“Interestingly, a higher percentage of phenotype B was observed in those volunteers with chronic illness (metabolic syndrome or colorectal cancer) associated with gut microbial imbalance (dysbiosis).”

Communities of microbial eukaryotes in the mammalian gut within the context of environmental eukaryotic diversity – Laura Wegener Parfrey – Frontiers in Microbiology

“We curated the SILVA ribosomal database to reflect current knowledge of eukaryotic taxonomy and employ it as a phylogenetic framework to compare eukaryotic diversity across environment. We show that adults from the non-western population harbor a diverse community of protists, and diversity in the human gut is comparable to that in other mammals.”

Faecal carriage of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in healthy humans: antimicrobial susceptibility and global genetic lineages – Vanesa Estepa – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

“The aim of this study was to analyse the Pseudomonas aeruginosa faecal carriage rate in 98 healthy humans and to perform the phenotypic and genotypic characterization of recovered isolates. The genetic relatedness among the isolates was analysed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and multilocus sequence typing that was compared with worldwide epidemic clones. “

Helminth Infections, Type-2 Immune Response, and Metabolic Syndrome – Aprilianto E. Wiria – PLOS Pathogens

“Are Helminth Infections Associated with Metabolic Syndrome?”

Skin microbiome

A newly discovered Anaerococcus strain responsible for axillary odor and a new axillary odor inhibitor, pentagalloyl glucose – Takayoshi Fujii – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

“We aimed to investigate anaerobic bacteria that had not been previously studied for axillary odor formation. A new anaerobic Anaerococcus sp. A20, that releases 3-hydroxy-3-metyl-hexanoic acid (HMHA, main component of axillary odor) from its glutamyl conjugate, was discovered from axillary isolates. “

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Human and other microbiomes, July 2

Posted on July 2, 2014 by eliesbik

Fungi in the mouth, microbiome in celiac disease, viruses in bats, fecal microbiota of penguins, and bacteria in water and concrete.

Human oral microbiome

Molecular Analysis of Fungal Populations in Patients with Oral Candidiasis Using Internal Transcribed Spacer Region – Shinsuke Ieda – PLOS ONE

“In this study we examined the fungal flora in patients with oral candidiasis and investigated changes in the flora after antifungal treatment using length heterogeneity-polymerization chain reaction (LH-PCR) analysis of ITS regions.”

Human respiratory microbiome

Letter: No Clinical Association of Live Attenuated Influenza Virus with Nasal Carriage of Bacteria or Acute Otitis Media – Kathleen L. Coelingh, Robert B. Belshe – mBio

“We write this note to clarify the article “Live Attenuated Influenza Vaccine Enhances Colonization of Streptococcus pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus in Mice” by Mina et al. (1) in order that patients or clinicians not misinterpret the study’s clinical relevance.”

Human gut microbiome

Review: Intestinal Microbiota and Probiotics in Celiac Disease – Luís Fernando de Sousa Moraes – Clinical Microbiology Reviews

“This review aims to discuss the characteristics of the microbiota in CD subjects and the use of probiotics as a novel therapy for CD. “

Bat microbiome

Bat Distribution Size or Shape as Determinant of Viral Richness in African Bats – Gaël D. Maganga – PLOS ONE

“We investigated the determinants of viral richness in 15 species of African bats (8 Pteropodidae and 7 microchiroptera) in Central and West Africa for which we provide new information on virus infection and bat phylogeny. “

Bird microbiome

Influence of Fasting during Moult on the Faecal Microbiota of Penguins – Meagan L. Dewar – PLOS ONE

“Therefore, the present study aimed to examine the microbial composition and diversity of the GI microbiota of fasting little (Eudyptula minor) and king penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus) penguins during early and late moult.”

Invertebrate microbiome

Bacterial Community Composition in the Gut Content and Ambient Sediment of Sea Cucumber Apostichopus japonicus Revealed by 16S rRNA Gene Pyrosequencing – Fei Gao – PLOS ONE

“The composition of the bacterial communities in the contents of the foregut and hindgut of the sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus and in the ambient surface sediment was surveyed by 16S rRNA gene 454-pyrosequencing. “

Plant microbiome

Selecting Microbial Strains from Pine Tree Resin: Biotechnological Applications from a Terpene World – Cristina Vilanova – PLOS ONE

“The taxonomic and functional diversity of the cultivated, resin-tolerant fraction of the whole microbiota were unveiled by high-throughput sequencing, which resulted in the detection of more than 40 bacterial genera among the terpene-degrading microorganisms, and a range of genes involved in the degradation of different terpene families.”

Water and concrete microbiology

Coupling Genetic and Chemical Microbiome Profiling Reveals Heterogeneity of Archaeome and Bacteriome in Subsurface Biofilms That Are Dominated by the Same Archaeal Species – Alexander J. Probst – PLOS ONE

“Here, we investigated the microbiome relatedness of subsurface biofilms of two sulfidic springs in southeast Germany that have similar physical and chemical parameters and are fed by one deep groundwater current.”

Microbial Quality and Phylogenetic Diversity of Fresh Rainwater and Tropical Freshwater Reservoir – Rajni Kaushik – PLOS ONE

“The taxonomic richness and phylogenetic relationship of the freshwater reservoir with those of the fresh rainwater were also assessed using 16 S rRNA gene clone library construction. “

Bacteria and concrete-a love-hate relationship – Embriette Hyde

“Sometimes bacteria appear to harm concrete, sometimes they appear to help it.”

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General microbiology and science digest, July 2

Posted on July 2, 2014 by eliesbik

Genome assembly, metabolomics of Salmonella infection, a brief history of women in science (but in Nature!), and Nature’s retraction of the STAP papers.

Metagenomics

Bayesian Genome Assembly and Assessment by Markov Chain Monte Carlo Sampling – Mark Howison – PLOS ONE

“We present a Markov chain Monte Carlo approach to sequence assembly that instead generates distributions of assembly hypotheses with posterior probabilities, providing an explicit statistical framework for evaluating alternative hypotheses and assessing assembly uncertainty. “

Infection and host response

Salmonella Typhi and Salmonella Paratyphi – A elaborate distinct systemic metabolite signatures during enteric fever – Elin Näsström – eLife

“To investigate metabolite signals associated with enteric fever we performed two dimensional gas chromatography with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GCxGC/TOFMS) on plasma from patients with S. Typhi and S. Paratyphi A infections and asymptomatic controls, identifying 695 individual metabolite peaks.”

and: Host-pathogen interactions: Honing in on enteric fever – Lyle R McKinnon, Quarraisha Abdool Karim – eLife

“The use of metabolomics could lead to improved diagnostics for enteric fever. “

Human Genetic Variation and Yellow Fever Mortality during 19th Century U.S. Epidemics – Lauren E Blake, Mariano A Garcia-Blanco – mBio

“Caucasians diagnosed with YF were 6.8 times more likely to succumb than non-Caucasians with the disease. No other major causes of death during the 19th century demonstrated a similar mortality skew toward Caucasians. “

Bacterial and viral detection in clinical samples

The Microbial Detection Array for Detection of Emerging Viruses in Clinical Samples – A Useful Panmicrobial Diagnostic Tool – Maiken W. Rosenstierne – PLOS ONE

“We report a modified Whole Transcriptome Amplification (WTA) method that increases unbiased amplification, particular of RNA viruses.”

The Sooner, The Better – Nicholette Zeliadt – The Scientist

“New approaches to diagnosing bacterial infections may one day allow the identification of pathogens and their antibiotic susceptibility in a matter of hours or minutes.”

Review: Biosensors for Whole-Cell Bacterial Detection – Asif Ahmed – Clinical Microbiology Reviews

” In this review, we discuss recent progress in the use of biosensors for the detection of whole bacterial cells for sensitive and earlier identification of bacteria without the need for sample processing.”

Isolation of Microorganisms Using Sub-Micrometer Constrictions – Nil Tandogan – PLOS ONE

“We present an automated method for isolating pure bacterial cultures from samples containing multiple species that exploits the cell’s own physiology to perform the separation.”

Phages and viruses

Four Escherichia coli O157:H7 Phages: A New Bacteriophage Genus and Taxonomic Classification of T1-Like Phages – Yan D. Niu – PLOS ONE

“Comparative genomic, proteomic and phylogenetic analysis suggested that the four phages along with 17 T1-like phage genomes from database of National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) can be assigned into a proposed subfamily “Tunavirinae” with further classification into five genera”

Dengue

Clinical and Virological Descriptive Study in the 2011 Outbreak of Dengue in the Amazonas, Brazil – Valquiria do Carmo Alves Martins – PLOS ONE

“The aim of the study was to describe the clinical epidemiology of dengue in Manaus, the capital city of the state of the Amazonas, where all the four DENV serotypes were co-circulating simultaneously.”

Phylogeny and taxonomy

Comparative Genomics of the Bacterial Genus Streptococcus Illuminates Evolutionary Implications of Species Groups – Xiao-Yang Gao – PLOS ONE

“We use comparative genomic approaches to yield a better understanding of the evolution of Streptococcus through genome dynamics, population structure, phylogenies and virulence factor distribution of species groups. “

Livestock-Associated MRSA Carriage in Patients without Direct Contact with Livestock – Miranda M. L. van Rijen – PLOS ONE

“Fifty-six individuals (20.7%) without animal contact carried MC398. In hospitals with high pig-densities in the adherence area, the proportion of MC398 of all MUO was higher than this proportion in hospitals without pigs in the surroundings.”

Arsenic metabolism

Michigan’s arsenic problem is among the worst in the nation. Here’s why that matters – Rebecca Williams – Michigan Radio

“If you’re on city water, your drinking water has to comply with a federal regulation that limits the amount of arsenic in it, but if you’re on a private well, the federal and state governments do not limit the amount of arsenic in your well.”

Women in Science

Women in science: A temporary liberation – Patricia Fara – Nature

“The First World War ushered women into laboratories and factories. In Britain, it may have won them the vote, argues Patricia Fara, but not the battle for equality.”

Science and Ethics

Nature Editorial: STAP retracted – Nature

“This week, Nature publishes retractions of two high-profile papers that claimed a major advance in the field of stem cells… We — research funders, research practitioners, institutions and journals — need to put quality assurance and laboratory professionalism ever higher on our agendas, to ensure that the money entrusted by governments is not squandered, and that citizens’ trust in science is not betrayed.”

Dr. Bik’s Picks

PLOS ONE Publishes its 100,000th Article – Damian Pattinson – PLOS Blogs

“PLOS ONE publishes its 100,000th article – a pretty major milestone for a journal that has seen its fair share of momentous events, and a perfect opportunity to reflect on this journey.”

Leprosy, Still Claiming Victims – Natalie Angier, New York Times

““I’m absolutely convinced that leprosy must be thought of as a genetic disease as well as an infectious one,” Dr. Schurr said. In the end, he added wryly, “understanding it may help cure diseases of rich people, too.””

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General microbiome digest, July 1

Posted on July 1, 2014 by eliesbik

Diet and gut microbiome (again), Campylobacter in chicken is not a commensal, microbiomes of fish, insects, corals, plant, and hospitals, and women in science.

Human gut microbiome

Correlation network analysis reveals relationships between diet-induced changes in human gut microbiota and metabolic health – T Kelder – Nutrition & Diabetes

“We assessed fecal microbiota composition and host response patterns of metabolic and inflammatory markers in 10 apparently healthy men subjected to a high-fat high-caloric diet (HFHC, 1300 kcal/day extra) for 4 weeks. “

Pregnancy and birth

Gestational Age and Age at Sampling Influence Metabolic Profiles in Premature Infants
Reese H. Clark – Pediatrics

“Metabolic profiles (15 amino acids and 35 acylcarnitines) were obtained by using standard newborn techniques on infants born between 23 and 31 completed weeks of gestation.”

Non-invasive analysis of intestinal development in preterm and term infants using RNA-Sequencing – Jason M. Knight – Nature Scientific Reports

“we have developed a novel, noninvasive, molecular approach that utilizes next generation RNA sequencing on stool samples containing intact epithelial cells for the purpose of quantifying intestinal gene expression.”

Cesarean Section and Rate of Subsequent Stillbirth, Miscarriage, and Ectopic Pregnancy: A Danish Register-Based Cohort Study – Sinéad M. O’Neill – PLOS Medicine

“This study found that cesarean section is associated with a small increased rate of subsequent stillbirth and ectopic pregnancy.”

Bird microbiome

Campylobacter jejuni Is Not Merely a Commensal in Commercial Broiler Chickens and Affects Bird Welfare – Suzanne Humphrey – mBio

“Through experimental infection of four commercial breeds of broiler chickens, we show that breed has a significant effect on C. jejuni infection and the immune response of the animals, although these factors have limited impact on the number of bacteria in chicken ceca. “

Fish microbiome

Quorum quenching bacteria Bacillus sp. QSI-1 protect zebrafish (Danio rerio) from Aeromonas hydrophila infection – Weihua Chu – Nature Scientific Reports

“In this study, the effect of Bacillus sp. QSI-1 as an efficient quorum quencher on virulence factors production and biofilm formation of fish pathogen Aeromonas hydrophila was investigated. ”

Insect microbiome

Evolutionary origin of insect–Wolbachia nutritional mutualism – Naruo Nikoh – PNAS

“In the bedbug’s Wolbachia genome, we identified a gene cluster encoding the complete synthetic pathway for biotin (vitamin B7), which is not present in other Wolbachia genomes and is presumably acquired via lateral transfer from a coinfecting endosymbiont. “

Corals and sponges microbiome

Local genomic adaptation of coral reef-associated microbiomes to gradients of natural variability and anthropogenic stressors – Linda W. Kelly – PNAS

“The present study investigated the community structure and metabolic potential of microbes inhabiting coral reefs located across an extensive area in the central Pacific. “

Plant microbiome

The role of sulfur and phosphorus mobilizing bacteria in biochar induced growth promotion of Lolium perenne – A Fox – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

“16S rRNA gene based rhizobacteria community analysis revealed a significant biochar treatment effect. Abundance of nematodes feeding on bacteria was also significantly increased in the biochar treatments.”

Functional diversification within bacterial lineages promotes wide functional overlapping between taxonomic groups in a Mediterranean soil forest – J Curiel Yuste – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

“We investigated the relationship between taxonomy and functioning of soil bacterial communities in soils from a Mediterranean Holm-oak forest using a high throughput DNA pyrosequencing technique. “

Soil, sewage and sludge microbiome

Response of soil-associated microbial communities to intrusion of coal mine-derived acid mine drainage – Justin S Brantner and John M Senko – Environmental Science & Technology

” Evaluation of pyrosequencing-derived 16S rRNA gene sequences recovered from incubations revealed the development of microbial community characteristics that were similar to those of the mature iron mound sediment. “

Transformation Products and Human Metabolites of Triclocarban and Triclosan in Sewage Sludge Across the United States – Benny F. G. Pycke – Environmental Science & Technology

“Here, we report on the levels of eight transformation products, human metabolites, and manufacturing byproducts of TCC and TCS in raw and treated sewage sludge.”

Built Environment Microbiome

Rethinking Sterile: The Hospital Microbiome – Carrie Arnold – Environ Health Perspect

“Gilbert, an environmental microbiologist at Argonne National Laboratory, and his platoon of graduate students, postdocs, and research assistants descended on the hospital several times each day, even before it opened to the public. Armed with cotton swabs, they focused their efforts on the floors devoted to surgery and oncology. “

Bioinformatics

A cloud-compatible bioinformatics pipeline for ultrarapid pathogen identification from next-generation sequencing of clinical samples – Samia N. Naccache – Genome Research

“Here we describe SURPI (“sequence-based ultrarapid pathogen identification”), a computational pipeline for pathogen identification from complex metagenomic NGS data generated from clinical samples, and demonstrate use of the pipeline in the analysis of 237 clinical samples comprising more than 1.1 billion sequences. “

Metagenomics

Metagenomic scaffolds enable combinatorial lignin transformation
Cameron R. Strachan – PNAS

“In this study, we devised a previously unidentified biosensor responsive to lignin transformation products. We used this biosensor in a functional screen to recover metagenomic scaffolds sourced from coal bed bacterial communities. “

Arsenic metabolism

Sealing rice field boundaries in Bangladesh: a pilot study demonstrates reductions in water use, arsenic loading to field soils, and methane emissions from irrigation water – Rebecca B Neumann – Environmental Science & Technology

“Irrigation of rice fields in Bangladesh with arsenic-contaminated and methane-rich groundwater loads arsenic into field soils and releases methane into the atmosphere. We tested the water-savings potential of sealing field bunds (raised boundaries around field edges) as a way to mitigate these negative outcomes.”

Localised Flux-Maxima of Arsenic, Lead and Iron around Root Apices in Flooded Lowland Rice – Paul Nicholas Williams – Environmental Science & Technology

“Here we use new diffusive gradients in thin-film (DGT)/planar optode sandwich sensors deployed in situ on rice roots to demonstrate a new geochemical niche of greatly enhanced As, Pb and Fe(II) mobilization into solution immediately adjacent to the root tips characterized by O2 enrichment and low pH. “

Dengue

Baicalin, a metabolite of baicalein with antiviral activity against dengue virus – Ehsan Moghaddam – Nature Scientific Reports

“Here, we examined the anti-DENV properties of baicalin in vitro, and described the inhibitory potentials of baicalin at different steps of DENV-2 (NGC strain) replication.”

Antibiotic resistance

Review: The expression of antibiotic resistance genes in antibiotic-producing bacteria – Stefanie Mak – Molecular Microbiology

“Antibiotic-producing bacteria encode antibiotic resistance genes that protect them from the biologically active molecules that they produce. The expression of these genes needs to occur in a timely manner: either in advance of or concomitantly with biosynthesis. It appears that there have been at least two general solutions to this problem. “

General microbiology

Bacterial sugar utilization gives rise to distinct single-cell behaviors – Taliman Afroz – Molecular Microbiology

“Here, we performed single-cell analyses to probe the behavior of representative pathways in the model bacterium Escherichia coli. “

Identification of essential Alphaproteobacterial genes reveals operational variability in conserved developmental and cell cycle systems – Patrick D. Curtis and Yves V. Brun – Molecular Microbiology

“These results show that while essential cell functions are conserved across varying genetic distance, much of a given organism’s essential gene pool is specific to that organism.”

Science and career

Elite male faculty in the life sciences employ fewer women – Jason M. Sheltzer and Joan C. Smith – PNAS

“To explore the current causes of women’s underrepresentation in biology, we collected publicly accessible data from university directories and faculty websites about the composition of biology laboratories at leading academic institutions in the United States. “

Americans Think We Have the World’s Best Colleges. We Don’t. – Kevin Carey – New York Times

“We see K-12 schools and colleges differently because we’re looking at two different yardsticks: the academic performance of the whole population of students in one case, the research performance of a small number of institutions in the other.”

Dr. Bik’s picks

Herbivore diet breadth mediates the cascading effects of carnivores in food webs – Michael S. Singer – PNAS

“Accounting for phylogenetic nonindependence of herbivores and plants, we show for the first time (to our knowledge) that dietary specialization of herbivore species is associated with reduced bird predation across an herbivore phylogeny, and that dietary specialization of herbivores increases the antipredator effects of camouflage and aposematism.”

Evolution of the ribosome at atomic resolution – Anton S. Petrov – PNAS

“Comparing eukaryotic and prokaryotic ribosomes allows us to identify 3D insertion fingerprints of the expansion segments. Similar fingerprints allow us to analyze the common core and detect ancestral expansion segments within it. “

Plastic debris in the open ocean – Andrés Cózar – PNAS

“In this work, we synthetize data collected across the world to provide a global map and a first-order approximation of the magnitude of the plastic pollution in surface waters of the open ocean.”

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General microbiome and science, June 30

Posted on July 1, 2014 by eliesbik

Monday is always a busy day, so lots of papers today. Phages, CRISPRs, antibiotic resistance, probiotics, archaea, biofilms and a Goldilocks planet.

Antibiotics and resistance

Horizontal gene transfer in the human gastrointestinal tract: potential spread of antibiotic resistance genes – JR Huddleston – Infection and Drug Resistance

“This review aims to give an overview of the major horizontal transfer mechanisms and their evolution and then demonstrate the human lower gastrointestinal tract as an environment in which horizontal gene transfer of resistance determinants occurs.”

Bacterial persisters: formation, eradication, and experimental systems
Sophie Helaine, Elisabeth Kugelberg – Trends in Microbiology

“Toxin–antitoxin (TA) modules have an important role in the formation of persisters and several studies show that they can form in response to different triggers.”

Antibiotic Treatment Suppresses Rotavirus Infection and Enhances Specific Humoral Immunity – Robin Uchiyama – Journal of Infectious Diseases

“Microbiota ablation resulted in reduced rotavirus infection/diarrhea and a more durable rotavirus antibody response, suggesting that antibiotic administration before rotavirus vaccination could raise low seroconversion rates that correlate with the vaccine’s inefficacy in developing regions.”

And: Antibiotics Help Control Rotavirus Infections and Enhance Antirotaviral Immunity: Are You Serious? – Luther A. Bartelt and Richard L. Guerrant – Journal of Infectious Diseases

“Yes, we must understand intriguing new findings; but no, we are far from serious about widespread use of antimicrobials with routine immunizations.”

Transferrin Iron Starvation Therapy for Lethal Bacterial and Fungal Infections – Lin Lin – Journal of Infectious Diseases

“These results provide proof of principle that bacterial infections can be treated in vivo by attacking host targets (ie, trace metal availability) rather than microbial targets.”

Bacterial detection in blood and other sites

Identification of pathogens from blood culture bottles in spiked and clinical samples using matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass-spectrometry analysis – Simone Konnerth – BMC Research Notes

“MALDI-TOF MS using the SARAMIS database was applied to 37 spiked blood culture samples. Identification rates of spiked samples were as follows: The species level was determined in 16 of 21 (76.2%) Gram negative bacteria and in 11 of 13 (84.6%) Gram positive bacteria. “

Infection and host response

Type I and III Interferon Production in Response to RNA Viruses – Elizabeth Reid and Bryan Charleston – Journal of Interferon & Cytokine Research

“There are now many examples of RNA viruses inducing type I and type III IFNs, and although these IFNs act through different receptors, in many systems studied, they induce a similar spectrum of genes. “

CRISPRs

Review: Adapting to new threats: the generation of memory by CRISPR-Cas immune systems – Robert Heler – Molecular Microbiology

“Recent studies have begun to elucidate the genetic requirements for adaptation and have demonstrated that rather than being a stochastic process, the selection of new spacers is influenced by several factors. We review here our current knowledge of the CRISPR adaptation mechanism”

The three major types of CRISPR-Cas systems function independently in CRISPR RNA biogenesis in Streptococcus thermophilus – Jason Carte – Molecular Microbiology

“Our findings indicate that multiple CRISPR-Cas systems can function independently in crRNA biogenesis within a given organism – an important consideration in engineering coexisting CRISPR-Cas pathways”

Viruses and phages

Exploiting gut bacteriophages for human health – Marion Dalmasso – Trends in Microbiology

“We emphasise the complexity and individuality of the phageome, and the link to the health state of the host. We highlight the practical applications of bacteriophages in medicine and in the food chain.”

Environmental bacteriophages : viruses of microbes in aquatic ecosystems – Télesphore Sime – Ngando – Frontiers in Microbiology

“The present chapter sought to review the literature on the diversity and functional roles of viruses of microbes in environmental microbiology, focusing primarily on prokaryotic viruses (i.e. phages) in aquatic ecosystems, which form the bulk of our knowledge in modern environmental viral ecology.”

Archaea

Taxonomic database and cut-off value for processing mcrA gene 454 pyrosequencing data by MOTHUR – Sizhong Yang – Journal of Microbiological Methods

“The functional mcrA gene of methanogens can generate phylogeny as congruent as the 16S rRNA gene phylogeny. “

Biofilm formation of mucosa-associated methanoarchaeal strains
Corinna Bang – Frontiers in Microbiology

“Here, the ability of three methanoarchaeal strains, Methanobrevibacter smithii and Methanosphaera stadtmanae, which form part of the human gut microbiota, and the Methanosarcina mazei strain Gö1 to grow on different surfaces and form biofilms was investigated.”

Biofilms (see also Archaea above and Probiotics below)

Development of an in vitro periodontal biofilm model for assessing antimicrobial and host modulatory effects of bioactive molecules
Emma Millhouse – BMC Oral Health

“Multi-species biofilms were either treated with either molecule, or alternatively epithelial cells were treated with these prior to biofilm co-culture. Biofilm composition was evaluated and inflammatory responses quantified at a transcriptional and protein level.“

Probiotics

Review: Enumeration of probiotic strains: Review of culture-dependent and alternative techniques to quantify viable bacteria – Catherine Davis – Journal of Microbiological Methods

“Consensus on an operational definition of viability and systematic efforts to validate these alternative techniques ultimately will strengthen the accuracy and reliability of probiotic strain enumeration.”

Inhibitory effect of Lactobacillus salivarius on Streptococcus mutans biofilm formation –
Chien-Chen Wu – Molecular Oral Microbiology

“We analyzed 64 L. salivarius strains and found that two, K35 and K43, significantly inhibited S. mutans biofilm formation with inhibitory activities more pronounced than those of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG), a prototypical probiotic that shows anti-caries activity.

General taxonomy and phylogeny

Considering external information to improve the phylogenetic comparison of microbial communities: a new approach based on constrained Double Principal Coordinates Analysis (cDPCoA) – S Dray – Molecular Ecology Resources

“In this work, we extend DPCoA to integrate the information of external variables measured on communities. The constrained Double Principal Coordinates Analysis (cDPCoA) is able to enforce a priori classifications to retrieve subtle differences and(or) remove the effect of confounding factors. “

Understanding molecular identification and polyphasic taxonomic approaches for genetic relatedness and phylogenetic relationships of microorganisms – Surajit Das – Journal of Microbiological Methods

“In this regard, a polyphasic taxonomic approach is advantageous because it exploits simultaneously both conventional as well as molecular identification techniques.”

Metabolomics

Nutrient sharing in the microbial world – Erica C. Seth and Michiko E. Taga – Frontiers in Microbiology

“Cofactor cross-feeding can contribute to both the health and nutrition of a host organism, the virulence and persistence of pathogens, and the composition and function of environmental communities. “

Metagenomics

Combination of Metagenomics and Culture Based Methods to Study the Interaction Between Ochratoxin A and Gut Microbiota – Mingzhang Guo – Toxicological Sciences

“Changes in functional genes of gut microbiota including signal transduction, carbohydrate transport, transposase, amino acid transport system and mismatch repair were observed.”

Chromosomal organization

NuChart-II: a graph-based approach for the analysis and interpretation of Hi-C data (PDF) – Fabio Tordini – Proceedings of the CIBB 2014

“NuChart-II is a highly optimized implementation of a previous prototype package developed in R, in which the graph-based representation of Hi-C data was tested, but that also showed inevitable problems of scalability while working genome-wide on large datasets.”

Science and education

Starting small: using microbiology to foster scientific literacy
Amy F. Savage, Brooke A. Jude – Trends in Microbiology

“In order to achieve scientific literacy for all students, Bard College recently implemented Citizen Science, a common January course for all first-year students. Structured around the question ‘how do we reduce the global burden of disease?’, this course uses microbiological tools to develop an understanding of potential answers.”

Dr. Bik’s Picks

Bird brains: Public asked to look out for clever rooks – Victoria Gill – BBC News

“The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) is asking the public to take part in a national survey of bird intelligence. From 1 July, the charity is asking people to submit video clips or descriptions of the behaviour or rooks – some of our cleverest garden birds.”

Potentially habitable Earth-like planet discovered; May have similar temperatures to our planet – Science Daily

“A potentially habitable Earth-like planet that is only 16 light years away has been discovered. The “super-Earth” planet, GJ 832 c, takes 16 days to orbit its red-dwarf star, GJ 832, and has a mass at least five times that of Earth.”

Study Implicates Smog In Autism And Schizophrenia – Science 2.0

“A recent paper found that exposure to air pollution early in life produces harmful changes in the brains of mice, including an enlargement of part of the brain that is seen in humans who have autism and schizophrenia, and that led them to conclude that smog causes autism.”

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Non-human microbiome, June 30

Posted on June 30, 2014 by eliesbik

Primate vaginal microbiome, birds painting eggs with bacteria, MHC and microbiota in fish, onions and tomato, bacteria on the beach, and (#BacteriaHysteria alert) “fecal veneer on climbing walls”.

Primate microbiome (also see Human digest)

Primate vaginal microbiomes exhibit species specificity without universal Lactobacillus dominance – Suleyman Yildirim – ISME J (uncorrected proof, link to Chapman Research)

“Our results indicated that all primates exhibited host-specific vaginal microbiota and that humans were distinct from other primates in both microbiome composition and extent of diversity”

Bird microbiome

Special structures of hoopoe eggshells enhance the adhesion of symbiont-carrying uropygial secretion that increase hatching success – Manuel Martín-Vivaldi – Journal of Animal Ecology

“The findings of specialized crypts on the eggshells of hoopoes, and of video-recorded females smearing secretion containing symbiotic bacteria at a high density onto the eggshells strongly support a link between secretion and bacteria on eggs. “

and: The Bird That Paints Its Eggs With Bacteria – Ed Yong – National Geographic

“Now, they’ve found evidence that these birds use the same bacteria to protect their young before they’re even born. By filming nesting females, they confirmed that the birds actively paint their eggs with their uropygial secretions.”

Fish microbiology

Major Histocompatibility Complex class II polymorphism influences gut microbiota composition and diversity – Daniel I. Bolnick – Molecular Ecology

“Here, we show that MHC II polymorphism is associated with among-individual variation in gut microbiota within a single wild vertebrate population of a small fish, the threespine stickleback. “

Insect microbiome

The Coevolutionary Period of Wolbachia pipientis Infecting Drosophila ananassae and its Impact on the Evolution of the Host Germline Stem Cell Regulating Genes – Jae Young Choi and Charles F. Aquadro – Molecular Biology and Evolution

“Phylogenetic analysis of D. ananassae mitochondrial DNA and W. pipientis DNA sequence diversity revealed the current W. pipientis infection is not recent. In addition, we examined the population genetics and molecular evolution of several Germline Stem Cell (GSC) regulating genes of D. ananassae”

Plant microbiome

Identification of bacteria pathogenic to or associated with onion (Allium cepa) based on sequence differences in a portion of the conserved gyrase B gene – Jean M. Bonasera – Journal of Microbiological Methods

“We have developed a method for the identification of Gram-negative bacteria, particularly members of the Enterobacteriaceae, based on sequence variation in a portion of the gyrB gene. Thus, we identified, in most cases to species level, over 1000 isolates from onion bulbs and leaves and soil in which onions were grown.”

Occurrence and distribution of tomato seed-borne mycoflora in Saudi Arabia and its correlation with the climatic variables – Abdulaziz A. Al-Askar – Microbial Biotechnology

“One hundred samples of tomato seeds were collected in 2011 and 2012 from tomato-cultivated fields in Saudi Arabia and screened for their seed-borne mycoflora. A total of 30 genera and 57 species of fungi were recovered from the collected seed samples using agar plate and deep-freezing blotter methods. “

Management of Meloidogyne incognita on tomato with endophytic bacteria and fresh residue of Wasabia japonica – Guang-Ju Li – Journal of Applied Microbiology

“By in vitro bioassay, 53 NEB strains showing nematicidal efficacies of >50% against J2 of M. incognita were isolated from wasabi. Basing on 16S rRNA gene sequences, these NEB were identified into 18 species of 11 genera.”

Lichen and fungi

A single macrolichen constitutes hundreds of unrecognized species – Robert Lücking – PNAS

“This lichen was long believed to represent a single species, but after revising this number to 16 in two genera (Cora and Corella), here we show that at least 126 phylogenetically and morphologically distinct species are contained within this group, with statistical analysis predicting more than 400. “

Soil, sand, and slurry microbiome

The Ecological Controls on the Prevalence of Candidate Division TM7 in Polar Regions – Tristrom Winsley – Frontiers in Microbiology

“We correlated chemical, physical and biological parameters of each soil with the relative abundance of the two major classes of the phylum to deduce factors that influence the groups’ seemingly ubiquitous nature. “

Review: Present status of effect of microorganisms from sand beach on public
health – Emmanuel Velonakis – Journal of Coastal Life Medicine

“Relatively, recent epidemiological studies in the USA revealed positive correlation between time spent at the beach and gastroenteritis. New parameters such as wind blowing and beach users’ density are also introduced for discussion in association with the sand microbial load”

Methanotrophs, methanogens, and microbial community structure in livestock slurry surface crusts – Yun-Feng Duan – Journal of Applied Microbiology

“Microbial communities in four crusts from cattle and swine slurries were investigated using DGGE and tag-encoded amplicon pyrosequencing. All crusts had distinct compositions of bacteria and archaea.”

Water microbiology

Biosynthesis of polybrominated aromatic organic compounds by marine bacteria
Vinayak Agarwal – Nature Chemical Biology

“Herein we report the discovery of a conserved biosynthetic gene cluster in marine bacteria responsible for the synthesis of widespread polybrominated aromatic compounds”

Environmental bacteriophages : viruses of microbes in aquatic ecosystems – Télesphore Sime – Ngando – Frontiers in Microbiology

“The present chapter sought to review the literature on the diversity and functional roles of viruses of microbes in environmental microbiology, focusing primarily on prokaryotic viruses (i.e. phages) in aquatic ecosystems, which form the bulk of our knowledge in modern environmental viral ecology.”

Built Environment

I really dislike this title …
Microbial Sequencing Analyses Suggest the Presence of a Fecal Veneer on Indoor Climbing Wall Holds – S. L. Bräuer – Current Microbiology

“In contrast to many other studies of built environments, the majority of microorganisms on holds were most closely related to microbes annotated as being recovered from environmental sources, such as soil, with human skin also representing an important source.”

[hr]

Human microbiome, June 30

Posted on June 30, 2014 by eliesbik

Hypotheses about oral microbiota and disease, effect of rhinovirus infection on nasal microbiome, the gut microbiome in children with diarrhea in low-income countries, primate vaginal microbiomes, and much more.

Oral microbiome (also see Probiotics and Biofilms in today’s General digest)

Historical and contemporary hypotheses on the development of oral diseases: are we there yet? – Bob T. Rosier – Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology

“In this comprehensive review, we describe how these different hypotheses, and the ideas around them, arose and test their current applicability to the understanding of the development of oral disease. Finally, we conclude that an all-encompassing ecological hypothesis explaining the shifts from health to disease is still lacking.”

The inflammophilic character of the periodontitis-associated microbiota – George Hajishengallis – Molecular Oral Microbiology

“This Review discusses evidence that periodontitis-associated communities are ‘inflammo-philic’ (= loving or attracted to inflammation) in that they have evolved to not only endure inflammation but also to take advantage of it. “

Respiratory microbiome

Characterization of the nasopharyngeal microbiota in health and during rhinovirus challenge – Allen EK – Microbiome

“Rhinovirus illnesses were induced by self-inoculation using the finger to nose or eye natural transmission route in ten otherwise healthy young adults.”

Gut microbiome

Diarrhea in young children from low-income countries leads to large-scale alterations in intestinal microbiota composition – Mihai Pop – Genome Biology

“We use high throughput 16S rRNA gene sequencing to compare fecal microbiota composition in children under five years of age who have been diagnosed with moderate to severe diarrhea (MSD) with the microbiota from diarrhea-free controls. “

Structure of the gut microbiome following colonization with human feces determines colonic tumor burden – Baxter NT – Microbiome

“We transplanted fecal microbiota from three CRC patients and three healthy individuals into germ-free mice, resulting in six structurally distinct microbial communities. Subjecting these mice to a chemically induced model of CRC resulted in different levels of tumorigenesis between mice. “

Commensal bacteria directly suppress in vitro degranulation of mast cells in a MyD88-independent manner – Kazumi Kasakura – Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Biochemistry

“Here, we show that heat-killed commensal bacteria suppressed degranulation of mast cells in vitro in a MyD88-independent manner.”

Co-occurrence of driver and passenger bacteria in human colorectal cancer
Jiawei Geng – Gut Pathogens

“Building on the driver-passenger model, we used 454 pyrosequencing of bacterial 16S rRNA genes associated with 10 normal, 10 adenoma, and 8 tumor biopsy samples, and found 7 potential driver bacterial genera and 12 potential passenger bacterial genera (7 being pro-inflammatory and 5 anti-inflammatory). “

Review: Intestinal Microbiota and the Efficacy of Fecal Microbiota Transplantation in Gastrointestinal Disease – Olga Aroniadis – Gastroenterology & Hepatology

“The published revelations about the human microbiome are bringing the strength of science to clinical observation and enhancing the understanding of not only disease but also how much of a person’s daily function and health depends on the microorganisms living in intimate relationship with each cell in the body.”

Dietary Intervention with Yoghurt, Synbiotic Yogurt or Traditional Fermented Sobya: Bio-Potency among Male Adolescents Using Five Bio-Markers of Relevance to Colonic Metabolic Activities – Laila Hussein – Food and Nutrition Sciences

“The mean fecal total lactobacilli counts increased (P < 0.05) three weeks after daily consumption of the three fermented supplements (P < 0.05), when compared to the pre-intervention levels. Similar trends were observed for genus bifidobacterium. On the contrary, enterobacteraceae counts were reduced in all the three groups consuming fermented supplements.”

Vaginal microbiome (also see pregnancy)

Primate vaginal microbiomes exhibit species specificity without universal Lactobacillus dominance – Suleyman Yildirim – ISME J (uncorrected proof, link to Chapman Research)

“Our results indicated that all primates exhibited host-specific vaginal microbiota and that humans were distinct from other primates in both microbiome composition and extent of diversity”

Skin microbiome

New Molecular Techniques to Study the Skin Microbiota of Diabetic Foot Ulcers
Jean-Philippe Lavigne – Advances in Wound Care

“Molecular tools have better documented the composition and organization of the skin flora. Further advances are required to elucidate which among the many bacteria in the DFU flora are likely to be pathogens, rather than colonizers.”

General human microbiome

Shrinkage of the human core microbiome and a proposal for launching microbiome biobanks – Abolfazl Barzegari – Future Microbiology

“This article suggests launching microbiome biobanks for archiving native microbiomes, supervising antibiotic use, probiotic design and native starter production, as well as advertising a revisit to native lifestyles.”

Review: Blowing on Embers: Commensal Microbiota and our Immune System
Darina S. Spasova and Charles D. Surh – Frontiers in Immunology

“This review discusses the recent advances in this field, focusing on the close relationship between the adaptive immune system and commensal microbiota, a constant and abundant source of foreign antigens.”

Microbiome: Second Genome Is Finding Disease Mechanisms, Biomarkers, And Therapeutics – Wayne Koberstein – Life Science Leader

“We now understand that biological processes such as inflammation, barrier function, metabolism, and energy homeostasis are directly linked to our microbiome,” says Peter DiLaura, president and CEO of Second Genome.

Mayo Clinic and Whole Biome Announce Collaboration to Research the Role of the Human Microbiome in Women’s Diseases Using Unique Medical Laboratory Tests – DarkDaily

“This joint research effort will initiate a new field of clinical laboratory diagnostic tests that target the human microbiome”

Prokaryotes versus Eukaryotes: Who is hosting whom? – Guillermo Tellez – Frontiers in Veterinary Science

“Our aim here is to encourage empirical inquiry into the relationship between mutualism and evolutionary diversification between prokaryotes and eukaryotes which encourage us to postulate: Who is hosting whom?”

Animal models of microbiome and disease

Combination of Metagenomics and Culture Based Methods to Study the Interaction Between Ochratoxin A and Gut Microbiota – Mingzhang Guo

“Changes in functional genes of gut microbiota including signal transduction, carbohydrate transport, transposase, amino acid transport system and mismatch repair were observed.”

Functional divergence in gastrointestinal microbiota in physically-separated genetically identical mice – G. B. Rogers – Scientific Reports

“We report significant divergence in both the composition and metabolism of gut microbiota in genetically-identical adult C57BL/6 mice housed in separate controlled units within a single commercial production facility.”

Alteration of Gut Bacteria and Metabolomes After Glucaro-1,4-Lactone Treatment Contributes to the Prevention of Hypercholesterolemia – Baogang Xie – J. Agric. Food Chem

“Colonic flora test results reveal that the quantity of Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus in the intestines respectively increase by about 1.7- and 4.2-fold in rats treated with 1,4-GL compared with those in the control group. “

Pregnancy and birth

Oral presentation: The evolution of the vaginal microbiome throughout uncomplicated pregnancy in a UK population – M Chandiramani – Arch Dis Child Fetal Neonatal Ed

“Vaginal swabs were collected at time points across gestation (8–12, 20–22, 28–30 and 34–36 weeks) and the postpartum period (6 weeks) from 43 women delivered at term. Resident bacterial communities were determined using the Illumina MiSeq platform generated from bar-coded amplicons of 16S rRNA gene fragments.”

Group B Streptococcus β-hemolysin/Cytolysin Breaches Maternal-Fetal Barriers to Cause Preterm Birth and Intrauterine Fetal Demise in Vivo – Tara M. Randis – Journal of Infectious Diseases

“We used a new murine model to evaluate the contribution of the pore-forming GBS β-hemolysin/cytolysin (βH/C) to vaginal colonization, ascension, and fetal infection.”

Zinc and copper levels in low birth weight deliveries in Medani Hospital, Sudan –
Abass RM – BMC Research Notes

“Maternal zinc and copper levels, as well as cord copper levels, are lower in LBW newborns than in those with normal weight.”

Effective Biomarkers for Diagnosis of Neonatal Sepsis – Vineet Bhandari – Journal of Pediatric Infectious Diseases

“The diagnostic utility of the following biomarkers seems to be most practical in the early (interleukin [IL]-6, IL-8, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, neutrophil CD64), mid (procalcitonin) and late (C-reactive protein) phases of neonatal sepsis.”

Review: Association of Periodontal Disease and Pre-term Low Birth Weight Infants
Manjusha Varadan, Jaiganesh Ramamurthy – The Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology of India

“The association of periodontitis as risk factor for pre-term birth has been in extensive research in the past two decades when a number of studies investigated this relationship.”

[hr]

Human microbiome, June 27

Posted on June 27, 2014 by eliesbik

How to grow the “Most Wanted” gut bacteria in microfluidic chips, effect of Vitamin D on gut microbiota, and probiotics for your skin.

Human gut microbiome

Gene-targeted microfluidic cultivation validated by isolation of a gut bacterium listed in Human Microbiome Project’s Most Wanted taxa – Liang Ma – PNAS

“We developed a microfluidics-based, genetically targeted approach to address these challenges. This approach corrects sampling bias from differential bacterial growth kinetics, enables the use of growth stimulants available only in small quantities, and allows targeted isolation and cultivation of a previously uncultured microbe from the human cecum that belongs to the high-priority group of the Human Microbiome Project’s “Most Wanted” list.”

From the ICE/ENDO meeting: Vitamin D May Improve Metabolic Health of African American Men – Lara C. Pullen – Medscape.com

“Vitamin-D supplementation not only improved insulin sensitivity but also shifted the microbiome from a prediabetes spectrum to a healthy signature. “

Exploring the Microbiome – Chris Anderson – Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News

““These cover a broad range of options including complex approaches like fecal transplants that could include early uncharacterized strains of bacteria and other microorganisms, all the way to reductionist approaches,” noted Bernat Olle, a partner in the venture capital firm Puretech Ventures, who moderated a panel “Microbiome modulators: Opportunities and Challenges to Creating a New Drug Class” Thursday at BIO 2014.”

Human skin microbiome

Probiotics Hold Promise for 4 Skin Conditions – Cari Nierenberg – Live Science

“Bowe said probiotics — whether they are eaten as foods, taken as supplements or spread topically — are not a stand-alone treatment for skin problems, but could be used by patients in combination with their current treatment.”

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Microbiome Digest – Bik's Picks

A daily digest of scientific microbiome papers, by the MD team. Founded by Elisabeth Bik, microbiome and science integrity consultant. Twitter: @microbiomdigest

Category Archives: General Microbiome

Human microbiome, July 7

General digest, July 3

Human microbiome digest, July 3

Human and other microbiomes, July 2

General microbiology and science digest, July 2

General microbiome digest, July 1

General microbiome and science, June 30

Non-human microbiome, June 30

Human microbiome, June 30

Human microbiome, June 27