Category Archives: General Microbiome

November 12, 2016

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Two papers on the detection of diseases by metabolomics of breaths or fecal gases, responses of soil bacteria to solar radiation and soil warming, genotyping of probiotics.

General microbiome

Special Issue on ‘Microbe–host interactions’ – Sven Hammerschmidt – FEBS Letters

Pregnancy and early life

Serum cathelicidin, nasopharyngeal microbiota, and disease severity among infants hospitalized with bronchiolitis – Kohei Hasegawa – Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology

Human respiratory microbiome

Feasibility of Early Detection of Cystic Fibrosis Acute Pulmonary Exacerbations by Exhaled Breath Condensate Metabolomics: A Pilot Study – Xiaoling Zang – Journal of Proteome Research

Features of the bronchial bacterial microbiome associated with atopy, asthma and responsiveness to inhaled corticosteroid treatment – Juliana Durack – Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology

Human vaginal microbiome

“Murdochiella vaginalis” sp. nov., a new bacterial species cultivated from the vaginal flora of a woman with bacterial vaginosis – Khoudia Diop – Human Microbiome Journal

Human esophagus and stomach microbiome

Editorial: The microbiome as a potential biomarker for oesophageal adenocarcinoma – Julian A Abrams – The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology

A non-endoscopic device to sample the oesophageal microbiota: a case-control study – Daffolyn R Fels Elliott – The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology

Human gut microbiome

Irritable bowel syndrome and active inflammatory bowel disease diagnosed by faecal gas analysis – R. B. M. Aggio – Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics

Review: Formation of propionate and butyrate by the human colonic microbiota – Petra Louis

Review: The Gut Microbiota : The Gateway to Improved Metabolism – Kristina B. Martinez – Gastroenterology Clinics of North America

Review: Regulation of the gut microbiome by inflammasomes – Grace Y. Chen – Free Radical Biology and Medicine

Review: The role of the microbiome in kidney stone formation – Mansi Mehta – International Journal of Surgery

Animal models

Giardia alters commensal microbial diversity throughout the murine gut – Nanelle R Barash – bioRxiv

Animal microbiome

Virus detection using metagenomic sequencing of swine nasal and rectal swabs – Ben M. Hause – J Swine Health Prod

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Bacterial active community cycling in response to solar radiation and their influence on nutrient changes in a high altitude wetland – Veronica Molina – Frontiers in Microbiology

Land-use change under different climatic conditions: Consequences for organic matter and microbial communities in Siberian steppe soils – Norbert Bischoff – Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment

Identifying the microbial taxa which consistently respond to soil warming across time and space – Angela M. Oliverio – Global Change Biology

The drivers underlying biogeographical patterns of bacterial communities in soils under sugarcane cultivation – Ademir Durrer – Applied Soil Ecology

Editorial: A small soil bacterium dominates – Ursula Hofer – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Editorial/Review: The Role of Microbial Communities in Tropical Ecosystems – Silvia Pajares – Frontiers in Microbiology

Water microbiome

Cyanobacteria in lakes on Yungui Plateau, China are assembled via niche processes driven by water physicochemical property, lake morphology and watershed land-use – Jingqiu Liao – Scientific Reports

Implications of Ecological Niche Differentiation in Marine Bacteria for Microbial Management in Aquaculture to Prevent Bacterial Disease – Tom Defoirdt – PLOS Pathogens

Bacterial composition, abundance and diversity in fish polyculture and mussel–fish integrated cultured ponds in China – Xiafei Zheng – Aquaculture Research

Food microbiome

Diversity study of microbial community in bacon using metagenomic analysis – Langbo Yi – Journal of Food Safety

Probiotics

Genotyping by PCR and High-Throughput Sequencing of Commercial Probiotic Products Reveals Composition Biases – Wesley Morovic – Frontiers in Microbiology

Review: Weight gain by gut microbiota manipulation in productive animals – Emmanouil Angelakis – Microbial Pathogenesis

Viruses and phages

VirusDetect: An automated pipeline for efficient virus discovery using deep sequencing of small RNAs – Yi Zheng – Virology

Metabolomics

Book Chapter: A Mathematical Perspective on Microbial Processes in Earth’s Biogeochemical Cycles – Christof Meile – Mathematical Paradigms of Climate Science
Bioinformatics and metagenomics

EMDUnifrac: Exact linear time computation of the Unifrac metric and identification of differentially abundant organisms – Jason McClelland – bioRxiv

Genomic and metagenomic technologies to explore the antibiotic resistance mobilome – José L. Martínez – Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

More microbiology

The planktonic relationship between fluid-like electrodes and bacteria: wiring in motion
– Sara Tejedor Sanz – ChemSusChem

Experimental study and Random Forest prediction model of microbiome cell surface hydrophobicity – Yong Liu – Expert Systems with Applications

Microbes in the news

uBiome CEO Dr. Jessica Richman to Deliver Opening Keynote at American Medical Informatics Association Symposium – PR web

The impact of the rhizosphere microbiota on root system development and tolerance to environmental constraints in cereals – International Center for Biosaline Agriculture

Miami wants to introduce MORE mosquitoes to fight Zika: Officials considers bringing in bacteria-infected insects to stop spread of virus – Daily Mail

Bruker Moving Into PCR-Based Testing to Expand Clinical Microbiology, MALDI Biotyper Offerings – Genome Web

 

 

October 20, 2016

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Events

2016-2017 Dannon Gut Microbiome, Yogurt and Probiotics Fellowship Grant Application Form
Also see: Leading Yogurt Company Challenges Students to Unearth New Data on the Gut Microbiome, Yogurt and Probiotics with $50K Grant Program. Dannon® will award two $25K grants to further scientific research – PR Newswire

Third Annual Microbiome Symposium – Penn Vet – October 26 and 27, 2016
Penn’s microbiome conference turns eye toward antibiotic use in livestock
Text by Katherine Unger Baillie – Penn Current

Q4 microbiome conferences roundup: Are you looking for a good scientific microbiome research symposium? Over the next three months, you have six exciting microbiome conferences from which to choose. – Megan M. MacBride – Taconic

Disappointing lack of diversity here: #YAMMM: 29 speakers, 4 women. Microbiome Drug Development Summit, 24-26 January 2017, Paris, France

General microbiome

An introduction to microbiome analysis for human biology applications – Katherine R. Amato – American Journal of Human Biology

Human oral microbiome

Evaluation of oral microbiota in undernourished and eutrophic children using checkerboard DNA-DNA hybridization – M. Testa – Anaerobe

Human respiratory microbiome

Role of microbiome in the pathophysiology and disease course of asthma – Singanayagam A – Curr Opin Pulm Med

Human skin microbiome

Review: Topographical and physiological differences of the skin mycobiome in health and disease – Jay-Hyun Jo – Virulence

Human vaginal microbiome

A fruitful alliance: the synergy between Atopobium vaginae and Gardnerella vaginalis in bacterial vaginosis-associated biofilm – Liselotte Hardy – Sexually Transmitted Infections

Human gut microbiome

Prevalence and genetic diversity of Blastocystis in family units living in the United States – Pauline D. Scanlan – Infection, Genetics and Evolution

Similar Fecal Microbiota Signatures in Patients With Diarrhea-Predominant Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Patients With Depression – Yixuan Liu – Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology

Review: Roles for Intestinal Bacteria, Viruses, and Fungi in Pathogenesis of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases and Therapeutic Approaches – R. Balfour Sartor – Gastroenterology

Review: The Microbiome and Human Disease Pathogenesis: How do you do what you do to me …? – Edward N. Janoff – Translational Research

Animal models

Evaluating the association between body weight and the intestinal microbiota of weaned piglets via 16S rRNA sequencing – Geon Goo Hana – Veterinary Microbiology

Alterations of the Host Microbiome Affect Behavioral Responses to Cocaine – Drew D. Kiraly – Scientific Reports

Animal microbiome

Developmental and ecological benefits of the maternally transmitted microbiota in a dung beetle – Daniel B. Schwab – The American Naturalist

Microbiome analysis shows enrichment for specific bacteria in separate anatomical regions of the deep-sea carnivorous sponge Chondrocladia grandis – Joost T.P. Verhoeven – FEMS Microbiology Ecology Letters

Metabarcoding and metabolome analyses of copepod grazing reveal feeding preference and linkage to metabolite classes in dynamic microbial plankton communities – Jessica L. Ray – Molecular Ecology

Spatial Microbial Composition Along the Gastrointestinal Tract of Captive Attwater’s Prairie Chicken – Yan Zhang – Microbial Ecology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Nestedness in Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungal Communities along Soil pH Gradients in Early Primary Succession: Acid-Tolerant Fungi Are pH Generalists – Ai Kawahara – PLOS ONE

Review: Microbially Mediated Plant Salt Tolerance and Microbiome-based Solutions for Saline Agriculture – Yuan Qin – Biotechnology Advances

Water microbiome

Defining boundaries for the distribution of microbial communities beneath the sediment-buried, hydrothermally active seafloor – Katsunori Yanagawa – ISME J

More microbiology

Correspondence: Improving Microbiology Research: the Problems Are Less Statistical and More Biological – Dennis F. Lawler – mBio

What’s in a Name? New Bacterial Species and Changes to Taxonomic Status from 2012 through 2015 – Erik Munson – Journal of Clinical Microbiology

Microbes in the news

Tasmanian devil milk fights superbugs – BBC News
Tasmanian devil milk kills several deadly superbugs that are resistant to existing drugs – Science Alert

There’s a breast microbiome, and it’s different in women with breast cancer – Erin Blakemore – Washington Post

Research Highlight: A protective protozoan in mucosal infection – Katrina Ray – Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology

Outbreak of Biofilm-Forming Achromobacter xylosoxidans Due to Environmental Transmission – Infection Control Today

The Emergent Microbiome: A Revolution for the Life Sciences – Part VII, The Microbiome and Immunotherapy I – Dilworth IP – Lexology

New science museum exhibit explores ‘the secret world’ inside us: N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences in downtown Raleigh opens a new special exhibit this weekend – WRAL.com

Vedanta Biosciences Granted First European Patent Broadly Covering Pharmaceutical Compositions for Microbiome Therapeutics Based on Bacterial Consortia – Business Wire

Science, publishing, and career

Married to the(ir) job: living with an academic. Scholars and their significant others share the good, the bad and the ugly – Times Higher Education

Investigation Finds Pathologist Guilty of Systemic Misconduct – Bob Grant – The Scientist

Women need to be seen and heard at conferences. A neuroscience initiative is boosting the number of female invited speakers at meetings. Other disciplines should do the same – Nature

The Bearded Lady Project . Q&A: Lexi Jamieson Marsh and Ellen Currano: Face to face – Alexandra Witze – Nature

October 18, 2016

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Vaginal probiotics, forensic analysis of skin bacteria on fabrics, Wolbachia in nematodes, ivy phyllosphere, microbial life in two polar extremes, how to improve the indoor environment, and mass spec analysis of human habitat molecules.

Pregnancy and early life

Vaginal Probiotic Administration in the Management of Preterm Premature Rupture of Membranes – Daskalakis G.J. – Fetal Diagnosis and Therapy

General human microbiome

Review: Health Disparities and the Microbiome – Keisha Findley – Trends in Microbiology

Human respiratory microbiome

Review: Host–Bacterial Crosstalk Determines Staphylococcus aureus Nasal Colonization – Michelle E. Mulcahy – Trends in Microbiology

Human skin and tissue microbiome

Forensic analysis using microbial community between skin bacteria and fabrics – So-Yeon Lee – Toxicology and Environmental Health Sciences

Not a word about extraction controls, so proceed with caution: Bacterial Communities Associated with Atherosclerotic Plaques from Russian Individuals with Atherosclerosis – Elvira E. Ziganshina – PLOS ONE

Human gut microbiome

Construction and Analysis of Functional Networks in the Gut Microbiome of Type 2 Diabetes Patients – Lianshuo Li – Genomics, Proteomics & Bioinformatics

Review: Metabolite and Microbiome Interplay in Cancer Immunotherapy – Caroline H. Johnson – Cancer Research

Review: The gut microbiota and gastrointestinal surgery – Kristina Guyton – Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology

Review: Gut Microbiota and Risk of Developing Celiac Disease – Cenit, Maria C. – Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology

Editorial: What’s in Your GI Microbiome? – Martin H. Floch – Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology

Animal and in vitro models

Study of the Ability of Bifidobacteria of Human Origin to Prevent and Treat Rotavirus Infection Using Colonic Cell and Mouse Models – Mélanie Gagnon – PLOS ONE

Farnesoid X Receptor Signaling Shapes the Gut Microbiota and Controls Hepatic Lipid Metabolism – Limin Zhang – mSystems

A mixture of milk and vegetable lipids in infant formula changes gut digestion, mucosal immunity and microbiota composition in neonatal piglets – Isabelle Le Huërou-Luron – European Journal of Nutrition

An Advanced In Vitro Technology Platform to Study the Mechanism of Action of Prebiotics and Probiotics in the Gastrointestinal Tract – Marzorati, Massimo – Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology

Animal microbiome

Sea lions: Protein and RNA extraction from mucosal swabs: a minimally invasive source of ecological data for studies of natural populations – W Espinosa-de Aquino – Methods in Ecology and Evolution

Mycobacteria in aquarium fish: results of a 3-year survey indicate caution required in handling pet-shop fish – D Kušar – Journal of Fish Diseases

Genomic evidence for plant-parasitic nematodes as the earliest Wolbachia hosts – Amanda M. V. Brown – Scientific Reports

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Disentangling interactions between microbial communities and roots in deep subsoil – Martina I. Gocke – Science of the Total Environment

Reconstructing a hydrogen-driven microbial metabolic network in Opalinus Clay rock – Alexandre Bagnoud – Nature Communications

Diversity and hydrocarbon-degrading potential of epiphytic microbial communities on Platanus x acerifolia leaves in an urban area – Isabella Gandolfi – Environmental Pollution

Response of soil bacterial communities to lead and zinc pollution revealed by Illumina MiSeq sequencing investigation – Xihui Xu – Environmental Science and Pollution Research

Impact of urban land use on the bacterial phyllosphere of ivy (Hedera sp.) – Wenke Smets – Atmospheric Environment

Water and extremophile microbiome

Periodic change in coastal microbial community structure associated with submarine groundwater discharge and tidal fluctuation – Eunhee Lee – Limnology and Oceanography

Microbial Community Dynamics in Two Polar Extremes: The Lakes of the McMurdo Dry Valleys and the West Antarctic Peninsula Marine Ecosystem – Jeff S. Bowman – BioScience

Diversity and physiological and biochemical properties of heterotrophic bacteria isolated from Lake Baikal neuston – A. D. Galach’yants – Microbiology

Phylogenetic and functional prokaryotic diversity in the Hoito-Gol mesothermal mineral spring (Eastern Sayan Mountains, Buryat Republic) – E.S. Kashkak – Microbiology

Metagenomic Insights into Effects of Chemical Pollutants on Microbial Community Composition and Function in Estuarine Sediments Receiving Polluted River Water – Xiao-Ming Lu – Microbial Ecology

Built environment microbiome

How do we make indoor environments and healthcare settings healthier? – Jack A. Gilbert – Microbial Biotechnology

Mass Spectrometry-Based Visualization of Molecules Associated with Human Habitats – Daniel Petras – Analytical Chemistry

Food microbiology

Raw Ready-to-Eat Seafood Safety: Microbiological Quality of the Various Seafood Species Available at Fishery, Hyper, and Online Market – H.W. Kim – Letters in Applied Microbiology

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

MIxS-HCR: a MIxS extension defining a minimal information standard for sequence data from environments pertaining to hydrocarbon resources – Nicolas Tsesmetzis – Standards in Genomic Sciences

IMG/M: integrated genome and metagenome comparative data analysis system
I-Min A. Chen – Nucleic Acids Research

Review: The present and future of de novo whole-genome assembly – Jang-il Sohn – Briefings in Bioinformatics

Microbes in the news

Soaking A Bunch Of Toads In Their Own Bacteria Could Save Their Lives – Krista Langlois – Five Thirty Eight

Bacteria Hysteria

Why your office could be making you sick: Keyboards ‘contain 20,000 MORE bacteria than a toilet bowl’– Stephen Matthews – Daily Mail

How to clean and disinfect your keyboard and mouse – Ed Rhee – CNET

Science, publishing, and career

A Tale of Two Women and Their Careers in Science – Anna Katie – YouTube

Promoting Responsible Scientific Research – American Society for Microbiology

October 13, 2016

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Ethics and microbiome research, oversimplifying microbiome studies, viruses destroy archaea in the deep seafloor, Clostridium difficile in patients sharing hospital beds.

General microbiome

Perspective: Ethical issues in microbiome research and medicine – Rosamond Rhodes – BMC Medicine

Interview: Science communication: the dangers of oversimplifying microbiome studies – Interview with Lauren Freeman and Saray Ayala – Ben Johnson – NPJ Biofilms Community

Human gut microbiome

Preview: Making It Stick: A Compelling Case for Precision Microbiome Reconstitution – David Berry – Cell Host & Microbe

Preview: A Commensal Protozoan Strikes a Balance in the Gut – P’ng Loke – Cell Host & Microbe

Animal models

Intestinal microbiota could transfer host Gut characteristics from pigs to mice – H. Diao – BMC Microbiology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Review: How lichens impact on terrestrial community and ecosystem properties – Johan Asplund – Biological Reviews

Water (and coral) microbiology

Virus-mediated archaeal hecatomb in the deep seafloor – Roberto Danovaro – Science Advances

Press: Deep-Sea Viruses Destroy Archaea. Viruses are responsible for the majority of archaea deaths on the deep ocean floors, scientists show – Ruth Williams – The Scientist

Multifaceted impacts of the stony coral Porites astreoides on picoplankton abundance and community composition – Sean P. McNally – Limnology and Oceanography

Food microbiology

Ultrasound improves chemical reduction of natural contaminant microbiota and Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica on strawberries – Denes Kaic Alves do Rosário – International Journal of Food Microbiology

Techniques

Greater than X kb: a quantitative assessment of preservation conditions on genomic DNA quality, and a proposed standard for genome-quality DNA – Daniel G. Mulcahy – PeerJ

Metagenomics

Diverse Intestinal Bacteria Contain Putative Zwitterionic Capsular Polysaccharides with Anti-inflammatory Properties – C. Preston Neff – Cell Host & Microbe

Other microbiology

Division of labour in microorganisms: an evolutionary perspective – Stuart A. West – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Receipt of Antibiotics in Hospitalized Patients and Risk for Clostridium difficile Infection in Subsequent Patients Who Occupy the Same Bed – Daniel E. Freedberg – JAMA

Press: Antibiotics Encourage Spread of C.diff To Subsequent Patients Who Occupy the Same Bed and Haven’t Received Antibiotics: Interview with Daniel Freedberg – Medical Research

Microbes in the news

The Conversation Gut Series:

RI Hospital receives $500,000 CDC grant to research new approach for combating antibiotic resistance. Microbiome research will help prevent ongoing spread of multi-drug resistant bacteria – EurekAlert

Science, publishing, and career

How Are Scientists Using Social Media in the Workplace? – Kimberley Collins – PLOS ONE

5 retractions and a sack for Pfizer lead cancer researcher Min-Jean Yin – Leonid Schneider – For Better Science
Pfizer fires employee, requests five retractions – Alison McCook – Retraction Watch

Bik’s non-microbiology Picks

Genomics is failing on diversity – Alice B. Popejoy & Stephanie M. Fullerton – Nature
The Simons Genome Diversity Project: 300 genomes from 142 diverse populations – Swapan Mallick – Nature

September 23, 2016

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Microbial dysbiosis in familial Crohn’s Disease, probiotic treatment of captive Colorado Toads, microbiome forecasting in the ocean, a new r package for phylogenetic trees, and MacArthur winner Dianne Newman.

General microbiome

Classic Spotlight: 16S rRNA Redefines Microbiology – Igor B. Zhulin – Journal of Bacteriology

Human vaginal microbiome

Microbiome Composition and Function Drives Wound-Healing Impairment in the Female Genital Tract – Alexander S. Zevin – PLOS Pathogens

Human respiratory microbiome

Clinical implications of microbial biofilms in chronic rhinosinusitis and orbital cellulitis – Niranjan Nayak – BMC Ophthalmology

Human gut microbiome

Bacteriome and Mycobiome Interactions Underscore Microbial Dysbiosis in Familial Crohn’s Disease – G. Hoarau – mBio

Prebiotic Effects of Xylooligosaccharides on the Improvement of Microbiota Balance in Human Subjects – Shyh-Hsiang Lin – Gastroenterology Research and Practice

Metformin and the Gut Microbiome in Diabetes – Sridevi Devaraj – Clinical Chemistry

Classic Spotlight: Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, Starch Utilization, and the Birth of the Microbiome Era – George A. O’Toole – Journal of Bacteriology

Review: The human microbiome and juvenile idiopathic arthritis – Anouk Verwoerd – Pediatric Rheumatology

Animal experiments

A secreted bacterial peptidoglycan hydrolase enhances tolerance to enteric pathogens – Kavita J. Rangan – Science

Animal microbiome

Probiotic treatment restores protection against lethal fungal infection lost during amphibian captivity – Jordan G. Kueneman – Proceedings of the Royal Society B

Press: Probiotic treatment protects endangered Colorado toads from lethal fungal infection – University of Colorado Boulder

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Microbial nitrification in throughfall of a Japanese cedar associated with archaea from the tree canopy – Keiji Watanabe – Springer Plus

Spatial heterogeneity of physicochemical properties explains differences in microbial composition in arid soils from Cuatro Cienegas, Mexico – Silvia Pajares – PeerJ

Taxonomic resolution is a determinant of biodiversity effects in arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities – Haishui Yang – Journal of Ecology

Water microbiome

Integrating biogeochemistry with multiomic sequence information in a model oxygen minimum zone – Stilianos Louca – PNAS

New model could point way to microbiome forecasting in the ocean – Science Daily

Built environment microbiome

Buzz Off! An Evaluation of Ultrasonic Acoustic Vibration for the Disruption of Marine Microorganisms on Sensor Housing Materials – Jonathan S. McQuillan – Letters in Applied Microbiology

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

MetaMLST: multi-locus strain-level bacterial typing from metagenomic samples – Moreno Zolfo – Nucleic Acids Resarch

ggtree: an r package for visualization and annotation of phylogenetic trees with their covariates and other associated data – Guangchuang Yu – Methods in Ecology and Evolution

Techniques

This article is not about primer barcodes, but compares 16S rRNA V6 PCR/454 sequencing to V4 PCR/Illumina sequencing:
Choice of molecular barcode will affect species prevalence but not bacterial community composition – Karen Lebret – Marine Genomics

Webinar | Combating the “garbage-in-garbage-out” paradigm: The importance of library prep in next-gen sequencing workflows – Maura Costello – Science

Microbes in the news

Bacteria have sculpted the world we live in, and that’s why MacArthur winner Dianne Newman studies them – Deborah Netburn – LA Times

Book Review: “Let Them Eat Dirt: Saving Your Child from an Oversanitized World” provides suggestions for a microbially rich and healthy childhood – Anne Estes – Mostly Microbes

Professionally printed version of Gut Check:The Microbiome Game available for a limited time from MOBIO. See below for a chance to win a free copy! – Anne Estes – Mostly Microbes

New Research Collaboration Explores Microbiome of the Space Station – Astrobiology Magazine

Swarms of magnetic bacteria could be used to deliver drugs to tumors – Science Daily

How do antibiotic-resistant bacteria get into the environment? – Suzanne Young and Valerie Harwood – The Conversation

Using bacteria to clean up oil – Anmar Frangoul – CNBC

Penn: Plant-made Antimicrobial Peptide Targets Dental Plaque and Gum Tissues – Penn News

Bacteria Hysteria

Note: little science here other than a 1997 paper, but lots of promotion for a certain manufacturer of stainless steel coffee mugs. Proceed with caution:
You should be washing your coffee mug way more than you think – Melia Robinson – Business Insider

And this one quotes a study from 1994, which looked at plant-based, not plastic sponges that were deliberately inoculated with pathogens. Proceed with caution:
Loofahs Have More Bacteria Than You Think — In Fact, You Should Probably Throw Yours Out – Lily Feinn – Bustle

Science, publishing, and career

Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan announce $3 billion effort aimed at curing disease – Shayla Love – STAT News

With some of my tweets!
A future without women – no female Future Prize nominees – Carla Bleiker – Deutsche Welle

September 20, 2016

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A review of antibiotics’ effect on the human microbiome, the pig gut microbiome, microbiome of Green Design, expanding Unifrac, and GutCheck, the Microbiome Game.

General human microbiome

Review: Antibiotic use and microbiome function – Manuel Ferrer – Biochemical Pharmacology

Human respiratory microbiome

Taxa of the Nasal Microbiome Are Associated with Influenza-Specific IgA Response to Live Attenuated Influenza Vaccine – Hannah M. Salk – PLOS ONE

Changes in the bacterial microbiome of patients with chronic rhinosinusitis after endoscopic sinus surgery – Ravi Jain – International Forum of Allergy & Rhinology

Human gut microbiome

Gastric microbiota in the functional dyspepsia patients treated with probiotic yogurt – Hirohiko Nakae – BMJ Open Gastroenterology

Animal microbiome

A reference gene catalogue of the pig gut microbiome – Liang Xiao – Nature Microbiology

Press: Gut Microbial Genes Profiled in Pigs From Diverse Breeds, Locations – Genome Web

The Prevalence of Canine Oral Protozoa and Their Association with Periodontal Disease – Niran Patel – The Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology

Functional diversity of ant-associated bacterial communities – A. A. Dymova – Biology Bulletin

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Can inoculation with living soil standardize microbial communities in soilless potting substrates? – Petra Bukovská – Applied Soil Ecology

Effects of saline water irrigation and fertilization regimes on soil microbial metabolic activity – Li -Juan Chen – Journal of Soils and Sediments

More on the Centralia coal mine fire (see yesterday’s post): Diversity and mechanisms of arsenic resistance among soil bacteria impacted by the ongoing Centralia coal mine fire – Taylor K Dunivin – PeerJ Preprint

Water and extremophile microbiome

Metagenomics as a preliminary screen for antimicrobial bioprospecting – Soha Al-Amoudi – Gene

Built environment microbiome

The Microbiome of Green Design: Sustainable building practices may have unforeseen consequences for microbial communities and human health – Carolyn Beans – BioScience

More microbiology

Cat-Scratch Disease in the United States, 2005–2013 – Christina A. Nelson – Emerging Infectious Diseases

Press: Don’t Kiss That Kitty: Cat-Scratch Fever Is Making People Sicker – Erin Ross – NPR

Bioinformatics and proteomics

Strategies to improve usability and preserve accuracy in biological sequence databases – Johan Bengtsson-Palme – Proteomics

Expanding the UniFrac Toolbox – Ruth G. Wong – PLOS ONE

MetaStorm: A Public Resource for Customizable Metagenomics Annotation – Gustavo Arango-Argoty – PLOS ONE

Microbes in the news

Gut Check: The Microbiome Game – MoBio
Gut Check: The Microbiome Game now available for purchase – David Coil – MicroBEnet

Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria and the World’s Peril: The U.N. General Assembly is taking on a danger that threatens the health of our entire species – Laurie Garrett – Scientific American

Scientists uncover a clever ranking strategy bacteria use to fight off viruses – NewsWire Rockefeller

Oetzi Iceman Update: Bacteria Found In Mummy’s Stomach May Lead To Cancer Research – Janice Williams – International Business News

Stone Age mummy still revealing secrets, 25 years on – Simon Sturdee – Phys.org

Lake Arrowhead Microbial Genomics #LAMG16 Report: Day 1 – David Coil – MicroBEnet

September 18, 2016

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Gut fermentation bubbles might promote decompression sickness in divers, corals of the Tropical Eastern Pacific, and a new microbiome book: Let Them Eat Dirt.

General microbiome

Review: Transitioning From Descriptive to Mechanistic Understanding of the Microbiome: The Need for a Prospective Longitudinal Approach to Predicting Disease – Victoria J. Martin – The Journal of Pediatrics

Pregnancy and early life

Shifts in Lachnospira and Clostridium sp. in the 3-month stool microbiome are associated with preschool-age asthma – Leah Stiemsma – Clinical Science

Human oral microbiome

Review: The role of bacteriophages in periodontal health and disease – Graça Pinto – Future Medicine

Human urinary tract microbiome

A diverse virome in kidney transplant patients contains multiple viral subtypes with distinct polymorphisms – Asha Rani – Scientific Reports

Human vaginal microbiome

Neither vaginal nor buccal administration of 800 μg misoprostol alters mucosal and systemic immune activation or the cervicovaginal microbiome: a pilot study – Spyros A. Kalams – The European Journal of Contraception & Reproductive Health Care

Human gut microbiome

Gut fermentation seems to promote decompression sickness in humans – Sébastien de Maistre – Journal of Applied Physiology

Review: Role of gut microbiota and nutrients in amyloid formation and pathogenesis of Alzheimer disease – Francesca Pistollato – Nutrition Reviews

Review: Enteric immunity, the gut microbiome, and sepsis: Rethinking the germ theory of disease – Javier Cabrera-Perez – Experimental Biology and Medicine

Review: Probiotic supplementation can positively affect anxiety and depressive symptoms: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials – Meysam Pirbaglou – Nutrition Research

Animal experiments

Structural modulation of the gut microbiota and the relationship with body weight: compared evaluation of liraglutide and saxagliptin treatment – Lin Wang – Scientific Reports

Microbial antigen mimics activate diabetogenic CD8 T cells in NOD mice – Ningwen Tai – Journal of Experimental Medicine

Press: Yale study shows that gut microbes could trigger type 1 diabetes – Jack Woodfield – Diabetes.co.uk

Intestinal immune maturation is accompanied by temporal changes in the composition of the microbiota – G. Den Hartog – Beneficial Microbes

Animal microbiome

First deep screening of bacterial assemblages associated with corals of the Tropical Eastern Pacific – Joicye Hernández-Zulueta – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Bioinformatics

Reference point insensitive molecular data analysis – M. Altenbuchinger – Bioinformatics

Microbes in the news
New book: Let Them Eat Dirt – B. Brett Finlay and Marie-Claire Arrieta

August 25, 2016

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Microbiome of the Graduate Student Gut, allergic cats, tree phyllosphere, milk tanker trucks, and microbes of soda lakes.

Pregnancy and birth

Review: Role of microbiota function during early life and children neurodevelopment – Tomás Cerdó – Trends in Food Science & Technology

General microbiome

Now published after preprint earlier this year and article in Cell: Revised Estimates for the Number of Human and Bacteria Cells in the Body – Ron Sender – PLOS Biology

Enemies and brothers in arms: Candida albicans and gram-positive bacteria – Toni M. Förster – Cellular Microbiology

Human respiratory microbiome

General antibiotic exposure is associated with increased risk of developing chronic rhinosinusitis – Alice Z. Maxfield – The Laryngoscope

Evidence and Role for Bacterial Mucin Degradation in Cystic Fibrosis Airway Disease – Jeffrey M. Flynn – PLOS Pathogens

Human gut microbiome

Master Thesis: Characterizing Microbiome Changes in the Graduate Student Gut – Justin Roy Lund – University of Oklahoma

Altered Fecal Microbiota Correlates with Liver Biochemistry in Nonobese Patients with Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease – Baohong Wang – Scientific Reports

Prosteatotic and Protective Components in a Unique Model of Fatty Liver: Gut Microbiota and Suppressed Complement System – Long Liu – Scientific Reports

Is there a role for stool metabolomics in cystic fibrosis? – Nadeem O Kaakoush – Pediatrics International

Animal microbiome

Allergic to humans? Characterization of the cutaneous mycobiota in healthy and allergic cats using next generation sequencing – Courtney Meason-Smith – Veterinary Dermatology

Fish: The influence of weight and gender on intestinal bacterial community of wild largemouth bronze gudgeon (Coreius guichenoti, 1874) – Xuemei Li – BMC Microbiology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Tree phyllosphere bacterial communities: exploring the magnitude of intra- and inter-individual variation among host species – Isabelle Laforest-Lapointe – PeerJ

Long-Term Recovery of Microbial Communities in the Boreal Bryosphere Following Fire Disturbance – Nick A. Cutler – Microbial Ecology

Autochthonous Microbiota in Arsenic-Bearing Technosols from Zemianske Kostoľany (Slovakia) and Its Potential for Bioleaching and Biovolatilization of Arsenic – Alexandra Šimonovičová – Water, Air, & Soil Pollution

Built environment microbiology

Fungi and Bacteria in Indoor Cultural Heritage Environments: Microbial-related Risks for Artworks and Human Health – Enza Di Carlo – Environment and Ecology Research

Fitness and recovery of bacterial communities and antibiotic resistance genes in urban wastewaters exposed to classical disinfection treatments – Andrea Di Cesare – Environmental Science & Technology

Bacterial diversity and antibiotic resistances of abundant aerobic culturable bacteria in input and output samples of fifteen German biogas plants – Thorsten Schauss – Journal of Applied Microbiology

Food microbiology

The Core and Seasonal Microbiota of Raw Bovine Milk in Tanker Trucks and the Impact of Transfer to a Milk Processing Facility – Mary E. Kable – mBio

Water and extremophile microbiome

Microbial community diversity and composition varies with habitat characteristics and biofilm function in macrophyte-rich streams – Peter S. Levi – Oikos

Evaluation of Alternative High-Throughput Sequencing Methodologies for the Monitoring of Marine Picoplanktonic Biodiversity Based on rRNA Gene Amplicons – Isabel Ferrera- Frontiers in Marine Science

Book Chapter: Bacteria, Archaea and Viruses of Soda Lakes – William D. Grant – Soda Lakes of East Africa

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

ResistoMap – online visualization of human gut microbiota antibiotic resistome – Konstantin Yarygin – bioRxiv

Techniques

Protocols.io: Virtual Communities for Protocol Development and Discussion – Leonid Teytelman – PLOS Biology

More microbiology

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

Microbes in the news

How Designers and Scientists Are Using Bees to Map NYC’s Microbes – Liz Stinson – Wired

Graphic novel about World War I depicts gross realities of dysentery – Carolyn Webb – The Age Victoria

The newest food trend: fermentation – Ted Weesner – Boston Globe

 

 

August 9, 2016

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

Events

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

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

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

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

General microbiome

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

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

Human oral microbiome

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

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

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

Human respiratory microbiome

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

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

Human vaginal microbiome

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

Human gut microbiome

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

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

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

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

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

Infection microbiology

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

Animal experiments

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

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

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

Animal microbiome

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

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

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

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

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

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

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

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

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

Water and extremophile microbiome

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

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

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

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

Bioreactor microbiome

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

Viruses and phages

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

Metagenomics and bioinformatics

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

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

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

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

Techniques

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

More microbiology

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

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

Microbes in the news

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Science, publishing, and career

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

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

Bik’s non-microbiology Picks

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

August 5, 2016

Posted on by

Urinary tract microbiome, preterm gut microbiota and humanized mice, fungi of Crocus (Saffron plant), and bead-beating artefacts.

General microbiome

Introduction to special issue of Molecular Metabolism: Microbiota: ‘bugging’ insights into metabolic regulation – Thomas Schwarz-Romond – Molecular Metabolism

Human oral microbiome

Transcriptome Analysis of B Cell Immune Functions in Periodontitis: Mucosal Tissue Responses to the Oral Microbiome in Aging – Jeffrey L. Ebersole – Frontiers in Immunology

Human respiratory microbiome

Randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial with azithromycin selects for anti-inflammatory microbial metabolites in the emphysematous lung – Leopoldo N Segal – Thorax

Review: Microbiome in the pathogenesis of cystic fibrosis and lung transplant-related disease – Sushma K. Cribbs – Translational Research

Human urinary tract microbiome

Evaluation of the Urinary Microbiota of Women With Uncomplicated Stress Urinary Incontinence – Krystal J. Thomas-White – American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology

Human gut microbiome

Review: Microbiota as Mediator of Cancer Progression and Therapy – Jilian L. Pope – Translational Research

Review: The human microbiome in rheumatic autoimmune diseases: A comprehensive review – Patrick Coit – Clinical Immunology

Review: Human gut microbiota plays a role in the metabolism of drugs – Lenka Jourova – Biomed Pap Med Fac Univ Palacky Olomouc Czech Repub

Animal experiments

Preterm infant gut microbiota affects intestinal epithelial development in a humanized gnotobiotic mouse model – Yueyue Yu – American Journal of Physiology – Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology

Symbiotic gut commensal bacteria act as host cathepsin S activity regulators – Alex Steimle – Journal of Autoimmunity

Research Highlight (but very harsh title): Gut microbiota: Microbiota and behaviour: visiting the sins of the mother – Paul Forsythe – Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology

Animal microbiome

A high-resolution map of the gut microbiota in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar): A basis for comparative gut microbial research – Karina Gajardo – Scientific Reports

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Molecular phylogeny, diversity, community structure and plant growth promoting properties of fungal endophytes associated with the corms of Saffron plant: an insight into the microbiome of Crocus sativus Linn – Zahoor Ahmed Wani – Fungal Biology

Leaf Treatments with a Protein-Based Resistance Inducer Partially Modify Phyllosphere Microbial Communities of Grapevine – Martina Cappelletti – Frontiers in Plant Science

The Resilience of Microbial Community under Drying and Rewetting Cycles of Three Forest Soils – Xue Zhou – Frontiers in Microbiology

Fungus-associated bacteriome in charge of their host behavior – Kristin Schulz-Bohm – Fungal Genetics and Biology

Microbiota Characterization of Compost Using Omics Approaches Opens New Perspectives for Phytophthora Root Rot Control – Josefa Blaya – PLOS ONE

Water and extremophile microbiome

Microbes on a Bottle: Substrate, Season and Geography Influence Community Composition of Microbes Colonizing Marine Plastic Debris Microbes on a Bottle: Substrate, Season and Geography Influence Community Composition of Microbes Colonizing Marine Plastic Debris – Sonja Oberbeckmann – PLOS ONE

Microbial Community Responses to Increased Water and Organic Matter in the Arid Soils of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica – Heather N. Buelow – Frontiers in Microbiology

Microbial community structure shifts are associated with temperature, dispersants and nutrients in crude oil-contaminated seawaters – Long Meng – Marine Pollution Bulletin

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

Rapid resistome mapping using nanopore sequencing – Eric van der Helm – bioRxiv

Metabolomics

Metabolomics evaluation of the impact of smokeless tobacco exposure on the oral bacterium Capnocytophaga sputigena – Jinchun Sun – Toxicology in Vitro

Training in metabolomics research. II. Processing and statistical analysis of metabolomics data, metabolite identification, pathway analysis, applications of metabolomics and its future – S. Barnes – Journal of Mass Spectrometry

Techniques

Bead-beating artefacts in the Bacteroidetes to Firmicutes ratio of the human stool metagenome – Heidi C. Vebø – Journal of Microbiological Methods

Pipeline for amplifying and analyzing amplicons of the V1–V3 region of the 16S rRNA gene – Heather K. Allen – BMC Research Notes

A Single-Batch Fermentation System to Simulate Human Colonic Microbiota for High-Throughput Evaluation of Prebiotics – Risa Takagi – PLOS ONE

More microbiology

Metabolic engineering of microbial competitive advantage for industrial fermentation processes – A. Joe Shaw – Science

Microbes in the news

AGA establishes NIH-funded registry to track fecal microbiota transplants – EurekAlert

Maternal microbial inheritance—benefits of breastfeeding – Md Zohorul Islam

ASM Agar Art Calendar 2016/2017

Science, publishing, and career

What Is the Key Best Practice for Collaborating with a Computational Biologist? – Cell Systems

University of Waterloo boosts salaries of female faculty after discrepancy found – Paola Loriggio – CP24

Bik’s Non-Microbiology Picks

Circadian regulation of sunflower heliotropism, floral orientation, and pollinator visits – Hagop S. Atamian – Science
How do sunflowers follow the Sun—and to what end? – Winslow R. Briggs – Science