Category Archives: General Microbiome

April 2, 2021

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Good morning and happy Friday!

In my last blog post I requested reader contributions and many of you reached out! Below are some of the highlights which include a commentary on phylogenetic core groups, a preprint on viral RNA methylation in Wolbachia, a database for the murine oral bacterial community, and a research article on fungal modification in the leaf-cutter ant fungal garden ecosystem.

Events and jobs

Biological Sciences Laboratory Instructor Position at Smith College in Northampton, MA

General microbiome

***Commentary: Phylogenetic Core Groups: a promising concept in search of a consistent methodological framework – Pascual-García – Microbiome

Animal microbiome

***Preprint: Differential viral RNA methylation contributes to pathogen blocking in Wolbachia-colonized arthropod – Bhattacharya et al. – bioRxiv

Preprint: Isolation and characterization of a novel Wolbachia bacteriophage from Allonemobius socius crickets in Missouri – Fischer et al. – bioRxiv

***From plants to ants: Fungal modification of leaf lipids for nutrition and communication in the leaf-cutter ant fungal garden ecosystem – Khadempour et al. – mSystems

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Preprint: Experimental evolution-driven identification of Arabidopsis rhizosphere competence genes in Pseudomonas protegens – Zhang et al. – bioRxiv

Built environment

Metagenomic profile of microbial communities in a drinking water storage tank sediment after sequential exposure to monochloramine, free chlorine, and monochloramine – Gomez-Alvarez et al. – ACS EST Water

Bioinformatics

***A 16S rRNA gene and draft genome database for the murine oral bacterial community – Joesph et al. – mSystems

April 1, 2021

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General microbiome

Viral genomic, metagenomic and human transcriptomic characterization and prediction of the clinical forms of COVID-19 – Rodrigez et al. – PLOS Pathogens

A multiomics approach to identify host-microbe alterations associated with infection severity in diabetic foot infections: a pilot study – Radzieta – et al. – NPJ Biofilms and Microbiomes

Pregnancy and early life

Interactions between gut microbiota and metabolites modulate cytokine network imbalances in women with unexplained miscarriage – Liu et al. – NPJ Biofilms and Microbiomes

Developmental trajectory of the healthy human gut microbiota during the first 5 years of life – Roswall et al. – Cell Host & Microbiome

Human gut microbiome

Compositional change of gut microbiome and osteocalcin expressing endothelial progenitor cells in patients with coronary artery disease – Toya et al. – PLOS One

Stool metabolome-microbiota evaluation among children and adolescents with obesity, overweight, and normal-weight using 1H NMR and 16S rRNA gene profiling – Jaimes et al. – PLOS One

Gut dysbiosis and mortality in hemodialysis patients – Lin et al. – NPJ Biofilms and Microbiomes

[REVIEW]The Interplay between Diet, Gut Microbes, and Host Epigenetics in Health and Disease – Shock et al. – The Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry

[REVIEW]Circadian rhythms and the gut microbiome synchronize the host’s metabolic response to diet – Lopez et al. – Cell Metabolism

Animal experiments (mouse/rat experiments, chickens/pigs on different diets)

Meta-analysis identifies the effect of dietary multi-enzyme supplementation on gut health of pigs – Ramani et al. – Scientific Reports

Silicon-containing water intake confers antioxidant effect, gastrointestinal protection, and gut microbiota modulation in the rodents – Wu et al. – PLOS One

Animal microbiome (for animals in the wild)

[PREPRINT]16S rRNA Amplicon Sequencing of Bagworm Metisa plana Walker (Lepidoptera: Psychidae) – Ting et al. – bioRxiv

Water and extremophile microbiome (sea, rivers, lakes, glaciers, permafrost, high-salt)

Metagenomic analysis exploring taxonomic and functional diversity of bacterial communities of a Himalayan urban fresh water lake – Ahmad et al. – PLOS One

Geochemical and metagenomics study of a metal-rich, green-turquoise-coloured stream in the southern Swiss Alps – Buetti-Dinh – PLOS One

Phages and viruses

[REVIEW]The human virome: assembly, composition and host interactions – Liang & Bushman – Nature Reviews Microbiology

[PREPRINT]Diverse viruses carrying genes for microbial extremotolerance in the Atacama Desert hyperarid soil – Hwang et al. – bioRxiv

Bioinformatics

MCPdb: The bacterial microcompartment database – Ochoa et al. – PLOS One
[Twitter]97% identity cutoff applied on humans and related species – Matthew Hahn

Techniques

Single strain control of microbial consortia – Fedorec et al. – Nature Communications

Microbes and Art

A Cultural Triumph: Microbiology Student Makes A Petri Dish Masterpiece – McCammon – npr

March 30, 2021

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Good morning!

Today’s digest is fairly light, with just a few preprints, so I’d like to do something a bit different today! If you have a recent microbiome-related publication (or have read one that’s particularly exciting) send me a direct message on Twitter (@KaraAnnTinker) or comment on this blog post. If it hasn’t been included on the blog yet, I’ll either update today’s post or cover it on my next blog post later this week.

General microbiome

Preprint: Sulfate adenylyl transferase kinetics and mechanisms of metabolic inhibitors of microbial sulfate respiration – Carlson et al. – bioRxiv

Preprint: Paraburkholderia edwinii protects Aspergillus sp. from phenazines by acting as a toxin sponge – Dahlstrom and Newman – bioRxiv

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Preprint: Strain diversity of plant-associated Lactiplantibacillus plantarum – Yu et al. – bioRxiv

Water and extremophile microbiome

Preprint: Microbial helpers allow cyanobacteria to thrive in ferruginous waters – Szeinbaum et al. – bioRxiv

March 27, 2021

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Have a nice weekend! Today, in this Digest, we have an interesting review published in Science about microbiome and cancer. We have also articles about different conditions and the effect of the microbiome in the COVID19 vaccine-based immunity. More papers about: microbiome of wild animals,  cow microbiome and glyphosate,  anorexia microbiome in a mice model, and more!

Human and General Microbiome

Review: The microbiome and human cancer – Gregory D. Sepich-Poore – Science

Alterations in mucosa-associated microbiota in the stomach of patients with gastric cancer – Yilin Deng – Cellular Oncology 

Microbial genetic and transcriptional contributions to oxalate degradation by the gut microbiota in health and disease – Menghan Liu – eLife

The gut microbiome in subclinical atherosclerosis: a population-based multi-phenotype analysis – Sibo Zhu – Rheumatology

The microbiome in atopic patients and potential modifications in the context of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 pandemic – Euna Lee – Current Opinion in Allergy and Clinical Immunology

An observational study of anaerobic bacteria in cystic fibrosis lung using culture dependant and independent approaches – Claudie Lamoureux – Scientific Reports

The Role of Mucosal Immunity and Recombinant Probiotics in SARS-CoV2 Vaccine Development – Shima Moradi-kalbolandi – Probiotics and Antimicrobial Proteins

Propionate catabolism by CD-associated adherent-invasive E. coli counteracts its anti-inflammatory effect – Allison Agus – Gut Microbes

Metabolic Syndrome Cannot Mask the Changes of Fecal Microbiota Compositions Caused by Primary Hepatocellular Carcinoma – Jiajia Ni – Letters in Applied Microbiology

Mendelian Randomization Analysis Reveals Causal Effects of the Human Gut Microbiota on Abdominal Obesity – Qian Xu – The Journal of Nutrition

Animal Microbiome

Diversity and functional landscapes in the microbiota of animals in the wild – Doron Levin – Science

Preliminary functional analysis of the subgingival microbiota of cats with periodontitis and feline chronic gingivostomatitis – Marjory Xavier Rodrigues – Scientific Reports

No hints at glyphosate-induced ruminal dysbiosis in cows – Fabian Billenkamp – npj Biofilms and Microbiomes 

Animal Models

Gut microbial communities from patients with anorexia nervosa do not influence body weight in recipient germ-free mice – Elaine M. Glenny – Gut Microbes

Environmental Microbiome

Invasive freshwater snails form novel microbial relationships – Laura Bankers – Evolutionary Applications

Preprint: Diversity and metagenome analysis of a hydrocarbon-degrading bacterial consortium from asphalt lakes located in Wietze, Germany – Michael O. Eze – Biorxiv

Built Environment

The Impacts of the Occupants on the Bacterial Communities of Classrooms – Zhou Feng – Current Microbiology 

Other

Meta-analysis methods for multiple related markers: Applications to microbiome studies with the results on multiple α-diversity indices – Hyunwook Koh – Statistics in Medicine

March 20, 2021

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Have a nice weekend! Today we have to remark a Free webinar to be online next March 24. We also have a bunch of articles about different beneficial compounds, microbes, or interventions on the microbiome (from human milk to dietary supplements). Today we also highlight articles about the potential effect of resident bacteria on opportunistic respiratory infections, a set of papers about insect microbiome, and a review about the use of Machine Learning in microbiome studies.

Webinars

Free webinar: The One You Feed: Identifying Specific Interactions Of Dietary Fiber Structures And The Microbiota That Ferment Them. March 24, 1:30-2:30 ET

Human and General Microbiome

Parasites, niche modification, and the host microbiome: A field survey of multiple parasites – Kayleigh R. O’Keeffe – Molecular Ecology

Large-scale functional network connectivity mediate the associations of gut microbiota with sleep quality and executive functions – Huanhuan Cai – Human Brain Mapping

Early Life Microbiome

Factors Associated With the Microbiome in Moderate-Late Preterm Babies: A Cohort Study From the DIAMOND Randomized Controlled Trial – Clara Yieh Lin Chong – Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology

Respiratory Tract Microbiome

Resident bacteria contribute to opportunistic infections of the respiratory tract – Yifan Wu – PLoS Pathogens

The influence of nasal microbiome diversity and inflammatory patterns on the prognosis of nasal polyps – Weigang Gan – Scientific Reports

Animal Microbiome

Persistence of the ground beetle (Coleoptera: Carabidae) microbiome to diet manipulation – Anita Silver – PLoS One

Pollinators mediate floral microbial diversity and network under agrochemical disturbance – Na Wei – Molecular Ecology

Assessment of bacterial and fungal populations in urine from clinically healthy dogs using next-generation sequencing – Tonatiuh Melgarejo – Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine

Immunosuppressive effect of mesenchymal stem cells on lung and gut CD8 + T cells in lipopolysaccharide-induced acute lung injury in mice – Yanping Xu – Cell Proliferation

Environmental Microbiome

Aerobiological study of bacterial and fungal community composition in the atmosphere of Mexico City throughout an annual cycle – María del Carmen Calderón-Ezquerro – Environmental Pollution

Beneficial Microbes and Compounds

Bio-therapeutics from Human Milk: Prospects and Perspectives – Kumar Siddharth Singh – Journal of Applied Microbiology

Low fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols diet compared with traditional dietary advice for diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome: a parallel-group, randomized controlled trial with analysis of clinical and microbiological factors associated with patient outcomes – Yawen Zhang – The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

Synergistic Protective Effects of Different Dietary Supplements Against Type 2 Diabetes via Regulating Gut Microbiota – Leilei Yu – Journal of Medicinal Food

Characterization of antibacterial activity of a N-acetylmuramoyl-L-alanine amidase produced by Latilactobacillus sakei isolated from salami – Adriana Lopez-Arvizu – World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology 

Administration of β-lactam antibiotics and delivery method correlate with intestinal abundances of Bifidobacteria and Bacteroides in early infancy, in Japan – Naruaki Imoto – Scientific Reports

Lactobacillus acidophilus LA5 improves saturated fat-induced obesity mouse model through the enhanced intestinal Akkermansia muciniphila – Thunnicha Ondee – Scientific Reports

Plant Microbiome

Review: Linking Plant Secondary Metabolites and Plant Microbiomes: A Review – Zhiqiang Pang – Frontiers in Plant Science

Bioinformatics

Review: Applications of Machine Learning in Human Microbiome Studies: A Review on Feature Selection, Biomarker Identification, Disease Prediction and Treatment – Laura Judith Marcos-Zambrano – Frontiers in Microbiology

March 18, 2021

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Greetings from Pittsburgh!

Today’s digest has a lot of food and agriculture associated articles. Several articles focus on the effects of various pathogens on dairy cows, beef steers, and poultry breeds! For those of us who are more interested in plants, there is an article on biogas production from tomato waste and a preprint on how the microbial community of food waste changes during the composting process. Finally, I included a research article about social media during the pandemic since I’m sure I’m not the only one who has relied on it a little too heavily over the last year…

Happy reading!

General microbiome

Preprint: Toward quantifying the adaptive role of bacterial pangenomes during environmental perturbations – Conrad et al. – bioRxiv

BlueFeather, the singleton that wasn’t: Shared gene content analysis supports expansion of Arthrobacter phage Cluster FE – Demo et al. – PLOS ONE

Review: The gut microbiota–brain axis in behaviour and brain disorders – Morais et al. – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Preprint: Cross-species evolutionary rewiring in the enteric bacterium Campylobacter – Taylor et al. – bioRxiv

Human gut microbiome

Gut microbiota profiles in diarrheic patients with co-occurrence of Clostridioides difficile and Blastocystis – Vega et al. – PLOS ONE

Animal experiments

Preprint: Low pathogenic avian influenza virus infection retards colon microbiome diversification in two different chicken lines – Chrzastek et al. – bioRxiv

Preprint: Borrelia infection in rodent host has dramatic effects on the microbiome of ticks – Hamilton et al. – bioRxiv

Animal microbiome

Preprint: The discovery, distribution and diversity of DNA viruses associated with Drosophila melanogaster in Europe – Wallace et al. – bioRxiv

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Effects of precipitation change and nitrogen addition on the composition, diversity, and molecular ecological network of soil bacterial communities in a desert steppe – Jia et al. – PLOS ONE

Preprint: Changes and composition of microbial community during aerobic composting of household food waste – Jin et al. – bioRxiv

Preprint: What’s under the Christmas tree? Soil acidification alters fir tree rhizosphere bacterial and eukaryotic communities, their interactions, and functional traits – Steven et al. – bioRxiv

A comparative analysis of biogas production from tomato bio-waste in mesophilic batch and continuous anaerobic digestion systems – Szilágyi et al. – PLOS ONE

Food microbiology

Red seaweed (Asparagopsis taxiformis) supplementation reduces enteric methane by over 80 percent in beef steers – Roque et al. – PLOS ONE

Prevalence and distribution of multilocus sequence types of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from bulk tank milk and cows with mastitis in Pennsylvania – Thomas et al. – PLOS ONE

Multidrug-resistant enterobacteria in newborn dairy calves in Germany – Waade et al. – PLOS ONE

Phages and viruses

Review: Viral and host heterogeneity and their effects on the viral life cycle – Jones et al. – Nature Review Microbiology

Bioinformatics

Dcmd: Distance-based classification using mixture distributions on microbiome data – Shestopaloff et al. – PLOS Computational Biology

Kara’s non-microbiology pick

Don’t put all social network sites in one basket: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and their relations with well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic – Masciantonio et al. – PLOS ONE

March 16, 2021

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Human gut microbiome

Strain-level functional variation in the human gut microbiota based on bacterial binding to artificial food particles – Patnode et al. Cell Host & Microbe. 

Debaryomyces is enriched in Crohn’s disease intestinal tissue and impairs healing in mice – Jain et al. Science.

Dysbiosis in Metabolic Genes of the Gut Microbiomes of Patients with an Ileo-anal Pouch Resembles That Observed in Crohn’s Disease – Dubinsky et al. mSystems

Human-associated microbiota suppress invading bacteria even under disruption by antibiotics – Letten et al. ISME

Early life 

Key bacterial taxa and metabolic pathways affecting gut short-chain fatty acid profiles in early life – Tsukuda et al. ISME

Human oral microbiome

Tonsillar Microbiota: a Cross-Sectional Study of Patients with Chronic Tonsillitis or Tonsillar Hypertrophy – Wu et al. mSystems

Animal experiments 

Long-term evolution and short-term adaptation of microbiota strains and sub-strains in mice – Yilmaz et al. Cell Host & Microbe

Bioinformatics

ContigExtender: a new approach to improving de novo sequence assembly for viral metagenomics data – Deng & Delart. BMC Bioinformatics

February 25, 2021

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General microbiome
The evolution of coexistence from competition in experimental co-cultures of Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae – Jake N. Barber – ISME Journal

Human microbiome
Quantifying the effects of antibiotic treatment on the extracellular polymer network of antimicrobial resistant and sensitive biofilms using multiple particle tracking – Lydia C. Powell – npj Biofilms and Microbiomes

Biofilms harbour Clostridioides difficile, serving as a reservoir for recurrent infection – Charmaine Normington – npj Biofilms and Microbiomes

Gut microbiome
REVIEW: The contribution of gut bacterial metabolites in the human immune signaling pathway of non-communicable diseases – F. Hosseinkhani – Gut Microbes

The effect of acute moderate-intensity exercise on the serum and fecal metabolomes and the gut microbiota of cross-country endurance athletes – Mariangela Tabone – Scientific Reports

Oral microbiome
Candida albicans promotes tooth decay by inducing oral microbial dysbiosis – Qian Du – ISME Journal

Characterization of oral virome and microbiome revealed distinctive microbiome disruptions in paediatric patients with hand, foot and mouth disease – Si Xian Ho – npj Biofilms and Microbiomes

Skin microbiome
Characterization of the human skin resistome and identification of two microbiota cutotypes – Zhiming Li – Microbiome

Animal experiment
A gene co-association network regulating gut microbial communities in a Duroc pig population – Antonio Reverter – Microbiome

Modulating gut microbiota in a mouse model of Graves’ orbitopathy and its impact on induced disease – Sajad Moshkelgosha – Microbiome

Multi-compartment metabolomics and metagenomics reveal major hepatic and intestinal disturbances in cancer cachectic mice – Sarah A. Pötgens – Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle

Expanded catalog of microbial genes and metagenome-assembled genomes from the pig gut microbiome – Congying Chen – Nature Communications

Mining zebrafish microbiota reveals key community-level resistance against fish pathogen infection – Franziska A. Stressmann – ISME Journal

Plant, root, and soil microbiome
REVIEW: From exploration to remediation: A microbial perspective for innovation in mining – Alan Levett – Earth-Science Reviews

Food microbiology
A Combined Metagenomics and Metatranscriptomics Approach to Unravel Costa Rican Cocoa Box Fermentation Processes Reveals Yet Unreported Microbial Species and Functionalities – Marko Verce – Frontiers in Microbiology

Water and extremophile microbiome
Mechanistic strategies of microbial communities regulating lignocellulose deconstruction in a UK salt marsh – Daniel R. Leadbeater – Microbiome

Taxonomic and functional analyses of intact microbial communities thriving in extreme, astrobiology-relevant, anoxic sites – Alexandra Kristin Bashir – Microbiome

Genomic evidence for sulfur intermediates as new biogeochemical hubs in a model aquatic microbial ecosystem – Adrien Vigneron – Microbiome

REVIEW: The Seagrass Holobiont: What We Know and What We Still Need to Disclose for Its Possible Use as an Ecological Indicator – Chiara Conte – Water

Spatiotemporal variations and relationships of phosphorus, phosphomonoesterases, and bacterial communities in sediments from two Chilean rivers – Marco Camposa – Science of The Total Environment

Resource partitioning of phytoplankton metabolites that support bacterial heterotrophy – Frank Xavier Ferrer-González – ISME Journal

Phages and virues
Next-generation diagnostics: virus capture facilitates a sensitive viral diagnosis for epizootic and zoonotic pathogens including SARS-CoV-2 – Claudia Wylezich – Microbiome

Preliminary Assessment of Viral Metagenome from Cancer Tissue and Blood from Patients with Lung Adenocarcinoma – Hua‐Zhong Cai – Journal of Medical Virology

Bioinformatics
PathoFact: a pipeline for the prediction of virulence factors and antimicrobial resistance genes in metagenomic data – Laura de Nies – Microbiome

CANTARE: finding and visualizing network-based multi-omic predictive models – Janet C. Siebert – BMC Bioinformatics

kLDM: Inferring Multiple Metagenomic Association Networks based on the Variation of Environmental Factors – Yuqing Yang – Genomics, Proteomics & Bioinformatics

Methods
REVIEW: Cross-species RNA-seq for deciphering host–microbe interactions – Alexander J. Westermann – Nature Review Genetics

A community resource for paired genomic and metabolomic data mining – Michelle A. Schorn – Nature Chemical Biology

Pre-prints
Cross-sectional analysis of the microbiota of the human gut and their direct environment (exposome) in a household cohort in northern Vietnam – Bich Vu Thi Ngoc – bioRxiv

HumGut: A comprehensive Human Gut prokaryotic genomes collection filtered by metagenome data – Pranvera Hiseni – bioRxiv

Comparative analysis of 16S rRNA gene and metagenome sequencing in pediatric gut microbiomes – Danielle Peterson – bioRxiv

Unifying the known and unknown microbial coding sequence space – Chiara Vanni – bioRxiv

February 24, 2021

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Today’s digest is about functional analyses of microbial community in anoxic sites, microbial life in billions of years old fluid inclusions, development and use of human skin commensal, expanded pig metagenome catalogue and a brilliant review on advances in RNAseq technologies to decipher host-microbiota interactions. Happy reading!

General microbiome

Taxonomic and functional analyses of intact microbial communities thriving in extreme, astrobiology-relevant, anoxic sites – Alexandra Kristin Bashir – Microbiome

Pseudomonas kielensis sp. nov. and Pseudomonas baltica sp. nov., isolated from raw milk in Germany – Stefanie Gieschler – International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology

Human microbiome

Development of a human skin commensal microbe for bacteriotherapy of atopic dermatitis and use in a phase 1 randomized clinical trial – Teruaki Nakatsuji – Nature Medicine

Gut microbiome diversity is an independent predictor of survival in cervical cancer patients receiving chemoradiation – Travis T. Sims – Communications Biology

Characterization of the human skin resistome and identification of two microbiota cutotypes – Zhiming Li – Microbiome

Microbial analyses of blood spot surfaces collected from a laboratory and the bathroom of a female single-person household under different environmental conditions – Hee Sang You – FEMS Microbiology Letters

Animal microbiome

Antidepressants fluoxetine and amitriptyline induce alterations in intestinal microbiota and gut microbiome function in rats exposed to chronic unpredictable mild stress – Weijie Zhang – Translational Psychiatry

Ginsenoside Rk3 Ameliorates Obesity-Induced Colitis by Regulating of Intestinal Flora and the TLR4/NF-κB Signaling Pathway in C57BL/6 Mice – Hongwei Chen – Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

Dietary anthocyanin-rich extract of açai protects from diet-induced obesity, liver steatosis, and insulin resistance with modulation of gut microbiota in mice – Haizhao Song – Nutrition

Effects of supplementing sow diets during late gestation with Pennisetum purpureum on antioxidant indices, immune parameters and faecal microbiota – Peng‐Fei Huang – veterinary Medicine and Science

Alterations in the gut microbiome and metabolic profile in rats acclimated to high environmental temperature – Yang Cao – Microbial Biotechnology

The pelvic flexure separates distinct microbial communities in the equine hindgut – Kailee J. Reed – Scientific Reports

Effects of urolithins on obesity-associated gut dysbiosis in rats fed on a high-fat diet – Abdulrasheed O. Abdulrahman – International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition

Functional Foods

Prebiotic Lactulose Ameliorates the Cognitive Deficit in Alzheimer’s Disease Mouse Model through Macroautophagy and Chaperone-Mediated Autophagy Pathways – Yan-Suan Lee – Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

Water microbiome

Ingredients for microbial life preserved in 3.5 billion-year-old fluid inclusions – Helge Mißbach – Nature Communications

Techniques

Expanded catalog of microbial genes and metagenome-assembled genomes from the pig gut microbiome – Congying Chen – Nature Communications

Cross-species RNA-seq for deciphering host–microbe interactions – Alexander J. Westermann – Nature Reviews Genetics

Computational modeling of the gut microbiota reveals putative metabolic mechanisms of recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection – Michael A. Henson – Plos Computational Biology

An ambient-temperature storage and stabilization device performs comparably to flash-frozen collection for stool metabolomics in infants – Sivapriya Ramamoorthy – BMC Microbiology

Ecological rules for the assembly of microbiome communities – Katharine Z. Coyte – Plos Biology

February 23, 2021

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Greetings from Pittsburgh!

Today’s digest is heavy on plant and soil-associated research. It includes a review on the use of metagenomics in soil ecology research, original research focused on the microbiome of plants growing in a Sandhills ecosystem, as well as articles focused on the soil-associated microorganisms Marinobacter caseinilyticus sp. and Dickeya sp. This digest also features several articles focused on extremophiles found in permafrost, the South Pole, and a Mars-like environment! Finally, I also wanted to highlight an Q&A with Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett, an immunologist at the National Institute of Health and one of the designers of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.

Events and jobs

Black in Microbiology is now also the Black Microbiologists Association. If you’re interested in joining or learning more information, check out their webpage for details!

General microbiome

Biochemical characterization of a low salt-adapted extracellular protease from the extremely halophilic archaeon Halococcus salifodinae – Hou et al. – International Journal of Biological Macromolecules

Identification and characterization of a metal-resistant Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans as important potential application for bioleaching – Tavakoli et al. – Biologia

Human vaginal microbiome

Review: Lactic acid-containing products for bacterial vaginosis and their impact on the vaginal microbiota: A systematic review — Plummer et al. – PLOS One

Human gut microbiome

Effects of colon-targeted vitamins on the composition and metabolic activity of the human gut microbiome– a pilot study – Pham et al. – Gut Microbes

Animal experiments

Co-infecting pathogen lineages have additive effects on host bacterial communities – Medina et al. – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Aggregate-related changes in living microbial biomass and microbial necromass associated with different fertilization patterns of greenhouse vegetable soils – Luan et al. – European Journal of Soil Biology

Alkaline soil pH affects bulk soil, rhizosphere and root endosphere microbiomes of plants growing in a Sandhills ecosystem – Lopes et al. – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Marinobacter caseinilyticus sp. nov., isolated from saline soil – Nie et al. – Current Microbiology

Genomic diversity and organization of complex polysaccharide biosynthesis clusters in the genus Dickeya – Ranjan et al. – PLOS One

Review: Metabarcoding and Metagenomics in Soil Ecology Research: Achievements, Challenges, and Prospects – Semenov – Biology Bulletin Reviews

A DNA metabarcoding approach for recovering plankton communities from archived samples fixed in formalin – Shiozaki et al. – PLOS One

Water and extremophile microbiome

Are permafrost microorganisms as old as permafrost? – Abramov et al. – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Cultivation and characterization of snowbound microorganisms from the South Pole – Hayward et al. – Extremophiles

Survival of desert algae Chlorella exposed to Mars-like near space environment – Wang et al. – Life Sciences in Space Research

Microbes in the news

This COVID-vaccine designer is tackling vaccine hesitancy — in churches and on Twitter – Subbaraman – Nature