August 9, 2016

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 8, 2016

Sutures, preterm birth, and vaginal dysbiosis, captive Komodo Dragons, and stochastic assembly of microbial communities.

Jobs

Assistant Professor of Biology (Microbiology): background in microbiome research, molecular mechanisms of microbial pathogenesis, virulence and/or quorum sensing, or host-pathogen interactions – California State University, East Bay

Human vaginal microbiome

Relationship between vaginal microbial dysbiosis, inflammation, and pregnancy outcomes in cervical cerclage – Lindsay M. Kindinger – Science Translational Medicine

Press: Pregnancy procedure may be associated with increased risk of premature birth and neonatal loss – Science Daily
Braided Cervical Cerclage May Raise Risk for Preterm Birth – Lara C. Pullen – MedScape

Human gut microbiome

Addendum (reanalysis of published data): Partial recovery of microbiomes after antibiotic treatment – Frédéric Raymond – Gut Microbes

Review: Microbiota and chronic inflammatory arthritis: an interwoven link – Andrea Picchianti Diamanti – Journal of Translational Medicine

Review: Microbiomic and Posttranslational Modifications as Preludes to Autoimmune Diseases – Ghislain Opdenakker – Trends in Molecular Medicine

Animal microbiome

The Oral and Skin Microbiomes of Captive Komodo Dragons Are Significantly Shared with Their Habitat – Embriette R. Hyde – mSystems

Press: What Captive Komodo Dragons Might Tell Us About Our Own Microbiomes – UC San Diego Health

Dysbiosis of the Fecal Microbiota in Cattle Infected with Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis – Marie-Eve Fecteau – PLOS ONE

Microbiome Composition and Diversity of the Ice-Dwelling Sea Anemone, Edwardsiella andrillae – Alison E. Murray – Integrative & Comparative Biology

Microbiota from Rhabditis regina may alter nematode entomopathogenicity – Jesús Guillermo Jiménez-Cortés – Parasitology Research

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Soil contamination with olive mill wastes negatively affects microbial communities, invertebrates and plants – Olfa Hentati – Ecotoxicology

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi-assisted phytoremediation of a lead-contaminated site – Jerusa Schneider – Science of the Total Environment

Ecology of microbial communities

Effects of dispersal and selection on stochastic assembly in microbial communities – Sarah Evans – The ISME Journal

Microbes in the news

Microbes have no morals – Ed Yong – Aeon

A California City Is Fending Off Zika by Releasing 40,000 Mosquitoes Every Week – Sarah Zhang – Wired

New therapy could help treat skin infections without turning them into superbugs – Chelsea Harvey – Mashable

Getting down and dirty is good for us – Tim Krohn – Mankato Free Press

UNC researchers link gut bacteria to infant brain development – Stephen Ginley – The News & Observer

Hey Bear! Can I Sample Your Microbiota? – Scott Chimileski – American Society For Microbiology

August 5, 2016

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 MetabolismMicrobiota: ‘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

August 3, 2016

Saliva and Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, early colonization of honey bees, hospital air metagenomes, analysis tool for viral metagenomes.

Human oral microbiome

The Salivary Microbiome in Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) and its Association with Disease-related Parameters: A Pilot Study – Lisa Lindheim – Frontiers in Microbiology

A novel compound to maintain a healthy oral plaque ecology in vitro – Marleen M. Janus – Journal of Oral Microbiology

Human vaginal microbiome

Does the vaginal microbiota plays a role in the development of cervical cancer? – Maria Kyrgiou – Translational Research

Human skin microbiome

Diverse human skin fungal communities in children converge in adulthood – Jay-Hyun Jo – Journal of Investigative Dermatology

Human gut microbiome

A pleiotropic missense variant in SLC39A8 is associated with Crohn’s disease and human gut microbiome composition – Dalin Li – Gastroenterology

Press: Genetic Variant Newly Linked to Crohn’s Disease Also Associated with Altered Gut Microbiome Composition – PR Web

Gut microbiota associated with HIV infection is significantly enriched in bacteria tolerant to oxygen – Grégory Dubourg – BMJ Open Gastroenterology

Review: A clinical update on the significance of the gut microbiota in systemic autoimmunity – Elizabeth C. Rosser – Journal of Autoimmunity

Review: The human gut microbiome of Latin America populations: a landscape to be discovered – Fabien Magne – Current Opinion in Infectious Diseases

Animal microbiome

Early gut colonizers shape parasite susceptibility and microbiota composition in honey bee workers – Ryan S. Schwarz – PNAS

Another pika paper by the same authors (who killed all pika to obtain gut contents – booh): Pika gut may select for rare but diverse environmental bacteria – Huan Li – Frontiers in Microbiology

Review: Bacterial symbiosis in the fish gut and its role in health and metabolism – Goutam Banerjee – Symbiosis

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Diverse gene functions in a soil mobilome – Wenting Luo – Soil Biology and Biochemistry

Genetic Diversity and Association Characters of Bacteria Isolated from Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungal Spore Walls – Gopal Selvakumar – PLOS ONE

Spatio-temporal variation of core and satellite arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus communities in Miscanthus giganteus – Christopher J. Barnes – Frontiers in Microbiology

DGGE: Impacts of Grazing Intensity and Plant Community Composition on Soil Bacterial Community Diversity in a Steppe Grassland – Tong-bao Qu – PLOS ONE

Book chapter: Calling in the Dark: The Role of Volatiles for Communication in the Rhizosphere – Nicole M. van Dam – Deciphering Chemical Language of Plant Communication

Book Chapter: Truffle-Associated Bacteria: Extrapolation from Diversity to Function – Elena Barbieri – True Truffle (Tuber spp.) in the World

Water and extremophile microbiome

Yeasts from sub-Antarctic region: biodiversity, enzymatic activities and their potential as oleaginous microorganisms – A. Martinez – Extremophiles

First report of microorganisms of Caucasus glaciers (Georgia) – Nicoletta Makowska – Biologia

Species sorting along a subsidy gradient alters bacterial community stability – Mario E. Muscarella – Ecology

Air microbiome / Built environment microbiome

Longitudinal Metagenomic Analysis of Hospital Air Identifies Clinically Relevant Microbes – Paula King – PLOS ONE

Bioinformatics

MetLab: An In Silico Experimental Design, Simulation and Analysis Tool for Viral Metagenomics Studies – Martin Norling – PLOS ONE

MetaCoMET: a web platform for discovery and visualization of the core microbiome – Yi Wang – Bioinformatics

More microbiology

Tempo and mode of genome evolution in a 50,000-generation experiment – Olivier Tenaillon – Nature

Press: Still changing after all these years. Long-term evolution experiment looks at genetic changes in bacteria: Richard Lenski – Science Daily

Review: Survival of the Fittest: How Bacterial Pathogens Utilize Bile To Enhance Infection – Jeticia R. Sistrunk – Clinical Microbiology Reviews

Book: Infective Endocarditis. Epidemiology, Diagnosis, Imaging, Therapy, and Prevention – Editors: Gilbert Habib – Springer

Élie Metchnikoff (1845–1916): celebrating 100 years of cellular immunology and beyond – David M. Underhill – Nature Reviews Immunology

Microbes in the news

Understanding diverse microbial communities: An interview with A. Murat Eren (Meren) – Kelle Freel – The Molecular Ecologist

Back from vacation? Your gut bacteria picked up souvenirs, too – Meredith Knight – Genetic Literacy Project

Evelo, Mayo Clinic team up to use bacteria for cancer immunotherapies – Ben Adams – Fierce Biotech

Plop into Canada’s first poop-themed dessert café next month – Heather Dockray – Mashable
Poop Dessert Cafe to open in Koreatown.Toronto is poised to get its first poop-themed café, set to open in August – The Star
First poo-themed dessert cafe set to open in Canada – Rachael Revesz – The Independent

Council agrees to trial of microbiology treatment – Lici Beveridge – Hattiesburg American

Opinion: Goals and possibilities in microbiology – Andrea Taboada – The Independent Florida Alligator

How Do Microbes Build Resistance to Metals? – Contagion

Bacteria Needed To Save Coral Reef – The Munich Eye

WATCH: Pac-Man Faithfully Recreated with Microbes – Nathaniel Scharping – Discover Magazine

 

July 29, 2016

Bifidobacteria/Spirochaetes trade-off in Italians vs. Hadza, asthma, transferring depression with human stool to rats, sea squirts symbionts, spacial structure of biofilms, and a glowing review of Ed Yong’s book “I Contain Multitudes”.

General microbiome

Dysbiosis Across Multiple Body Sites in Critically Ill Adult Surgical Patients – Andrew Yeh – Shock

Pregnancy / human oral microbiome

Smoking, pregnancy and the subgingival microbiome – Akshay D. Paropkari – Scientific Reports

Review: An Integrated Review of Intestinal Microbiota in the Very Premature Infant – Melissa C. Dollings –  Neonatal Network

Human respiratory microbiome

Bacterial microbiota of the upper respiratory tract and childhood asthma – Martin Depner – Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology

Review: The role of anaerobic bacteria in the cystic fibrosis airway – Laura J. Sherrard – Current Opinion in Pulmonary Medicine

Human vaginal microbiome

Commentary: The relationship between the vaginal microbiome and human health – MR Millar – BJOG

Human gut microbiome

Variations in the Post-weaning Human Gut Metagenome Profile As Result of Bifidobacterium Acquisition in the Western Microbiome – Matteo Soverini – Frontiers in Microbiology

Pediatric obesity is associated with an altered gut microbiota and discordant shifts in Firmicutes populations – Alessandra Riva – Environmental Microbiology

Histamine-secreting microbes are increased in the gut of adult asthma patients – Weronika Barcik – Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology

Dietary Supplementation with Rice Bran or Navy Bean Alters Gut Bacterial Metabolism in Colorectal Cancer Survivors – Amy M. Sheflin – Molecular Nutrition & Food Research

Four-week consumption of a Bifidobacterium bifidum strain modulates dominant intestinal bacterial taxa and fecal butyrate in healthy adults – Giorgio Gargari – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Fecal microbiota transplantation for patients with steroid-resistant/dependent acute graft-versus-host disease of the gut – Kazuhiko Kakihana – Blood

Trial: Effect of prebiotic intake on gut microbiota, intestinal permeability and glycemic control in children with type 1 diabetes: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial – Josephine Ho – Trials

Opinion: How stable is the human gut microbiota? And why this question matters – Harald Brüssow – Environmental Microbiology

Research highlight: Microbial mobilomes differ between societies – Naomi Attar – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Review: High-Resolution Characterization of the Human Microbiome – Cecilia Noecker – Translational Research

Review: Microbiota metabolite short chain fatty acids, GPCR, and inflammatory bowel diseases – Mingming Sun – Journal of Gastroenterology

Review: The influence of gut derived CD39 regulatory T cells in CNS demyelinating disease – Javier Ochoa-Repáraz – Translational Research

Review: Fecal microbiota transplantation in inflammatory bowel disease: the quest for the holy grail – B Pigneur – Mucosal Immunology

Review: The Gut Microbiota in Immune-Mediated Inflammatory Diseases – Jessica D. Forbes – Frontiers in Microbiology

Review: Regulation of Autoimmunity by the Microbiome – Carlos R. Zárate-Bladés – DNA and Cell Biology

Animal experiments

Transferring the blues: Depression-associated gut microbiota induces neurobehavioural changes in the rat – John R. Kelly – Journal of Psychiatric Research

The microbiota contributes to CD8+ T cell activation and nutrient malabsorption following intestinal infection with Giardia – Infection and Immunity – Aleksander Keselman

Gut Microbial Membership Modulates CD4 T Cell Reconstitution and Function after Sepsis – Javier Cabrera-Perez – Journal of Immunology

Metabolite exchange within the microbiome produces compounds that influence Drosophila behavior – Caleb N. Fischer – bioRxiv

Variation in the Gut Microbiota of Termites (Tsaitermes ampliceps) Against Different Diets – Lijuan Su – Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology

Animal microbiome

Endozoicomonas Are Specific, Facultative Symbionts of Sea Squirts – Lars Schreiber – Frontiers in Microbiology

Comparison of a modified phenol/chloroform and commercial-kit methods for extracting DNA from horse fecal material – Ali H.D. Janab -Journal of Microbiological Methods

Death Becomes Them: Bacterial community dynamics and stilbene antibiotic production in Galleria mellonella cadavers killed by Heterorhabditis/Photorhabdus – Amanda C. Wollenberg – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Comparative metagenomic analysis of PAH degradation in soil by a mixed microbial consortium – German Zafra – Journal of Hazardous Materials

Water and extremophile microbiome

Metatranscriptome analysis of active microbial communities in produced water samples from the Marcellus Shale – Amit Vikram – Microbial Ecology

Characterizing microbial diversity in production water from an Alaskan mesothermic petroleum reservoir with two independent molecular methods – Vinh D. Pham – Environmental Microbiology

Protocol: Visualizing Patterns of Marine Eukaryotic Diversity from Metabarcoding Data Using QIIME – Matthieu Leray – Marine Genomics

Protocol: Sampling of Riverine or Marine Bacterial Communities in Remote Locations: From Field to Publication – Katja Lehmann – Marine Genomics

Microbes in space

Assessment of the Forward Contamination Risk of Mars by Clean Room Isolates from Space-Craft Assembly Facilities through Aeolian Transport – a Model Study – Luc van Heereveld – Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres

Built environment microbiome

Figures appear to show a gradual change, not a break, but: Summer holidays as break-point in shaping a tannery sludge microbial community around a stable core microbiota – Cesira Giordano – Scientific Reports

Food microbiology

Detailed analyses of the bacterial populations in processed cocoa beans of different geographic origin, subject to varied fermentation conditions – Cristian Bortolini – International Journal of Food Microbiology

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

A Scalable Permutation Approach Reveals Replication and Preservation Patterns of Network Modules in Large Datasets – Scott C. Ritchie – Cell Systems

Techniques

The effect of DNA extraction methodology on gut microbiota research applications – Konstantinos Gerasimidis – BMC Research Notes

Biofilms

Review: Spatial structure, cooperation and competition in biofilms – Carey D. Nadell – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Microbes in the news

A glowing book review: Living in a microbial world, book review of “I Contain Multitudes The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life” by Ed Yong – Susan Perkins – Science

State College of Florida, New College graduate wins microbiology award: Stephanie Morgan’s research won an award at the Small World Initiative Symposium – Bradenton Herald

Microbiology: A budding researcher creates a stir with her LIST-supported project: Camilla Hurst – Luxembourg Institute of Science And Technology (LIST)

‘Bugs’ on the subway: Monitoring the microbial environment to improve public health – Harvard

‘Nose-y’ Bacteria Could Yield A New Way To Fight Infection – Carolyn Beans – NPR

The Marine Microbiome – A treasure trove of scientific and industrial potential – Cordis Europa
Video: Revealing the Secrets of Marine Microbes: methods that are being used to isolate and culture marine microorganisms – MaCuMBA project

July 28, 2016

Maternal HIV status and infant microbiome development, nose bacteria producing antibiotics, gases produced by gut microbes, microbial mats in Hawaiian lava caves.

Pregnancy and birth

Maternal HIV infection influences the microbiome of HIV-uninfected infants – Jeffrey M. Bender – Science Translational Medicine

Press: Maternal HIV status may disrupt normal microbiome development in uninfected infants – Medical Xpress

Human respiratory microbiome

Human commensals producing a novel antibiotic impair pathogen colonization – Alexander Zipperer – Nature

Press: Scientists are looking everywhere, and we mean everywhere, for new antibiotics – Katherine Ellen Foley – Quartz
Nose-Dwelling Bacteria Could Be Antibiotic Factories, Study Says – Robert Lee Hotz – Wall Street Journal

Human vaginal microbiome

Desialylation of Neisseria gonorrhoeae Lipooligosaccharide by Cervicovaginal Microbiome Sialidases: The Potential for Enhancing Infectivity in Men – Margaret R. Ketterer – Journal of Infectious Diseases

Does the cervicovaginal microbiome facilitate transmission of Neisseria gonorrhoeae from women to men? Implications for understanding transmission of gonorrhea and advancing vaccine development – William M. Shafer – Journal of Infectious Diseases

Human gut microbiome

Review: Neuromodulatory effects and targets of the SCFAs and gasotransmitters produced by the human symbiotic microbiota –  Alexander V. Oleskin – Microbial Ecology in Health and Disease

Press: Explosive new findings: Farting shown to play a role in regulating your brain and behavior – Kelly Hodgkins – Yahoo Tech

Review: Progress in Our Understanding of the Gut Microbiome: Implications for the Clinician – Sara Iqbal – Current Gastroenterology Reports

 
Animal microbiome

Testosterone levels are positively correlated with cloacal bacterial diversity and the relative abundance of Chlamydiae in breeding male rufous-collared sparrows – Camilo Escallón – Functional Ecology

Review: The rich somatic life of Wolbachia – Jose E. Pietri – MicrobiologyOpen

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Diversity of root-associated arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities in a rubber tree plantation chronosequence in Northeast Thailand – Laetitia Herrmann – Mycorrhiza

Bromeliad tanks are unique habitats for microbial communities involved in methane turnover – Franziska B. Brandt – Plant and Soil

Soil compartment is a major determinant of the impact of simulated rainfall on desert microbiota – Shazia N. Aslam – Environmental Microbiology

Assessing Fungal Population in Soil Planted with Cry1Ac and CPTI Transgenic Cotton and Its Conventional Parental Line Using 18S and ITS rDNA Sequences over Four Seasons – Xiemin Qi – Frontiers in Plant Science

Systems-level proteomics of two ubiquitous leaf commensals reveals complementary adaptive traits for phyllosphere colonization – Daniel B. Müller – Molecular and Cellular Proteomics

Water and extremophile microbiome

(PDF) Microbial mat communities in Hawaiian lava caves – Michael N. Spilde – International Symposium on Vulcanospeleology

Poster, abstract only: Microbial Diversity of Culinary Salts – Galen Muske – Utah Space Grant Consortium

Built environment microbiome

Influence of carbon sources and concrete on microbially induced corrosion of carbon steel in subterranean groundwater environment – Pauliina Rajala – Corrosion

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

MBMC: An Effective Markov Chain Approach for Binning Metagenomic Reads from Environmental Shotgun Sequencing Projects – Wang Ying – OMICS: A Journal of Integrative Biology

Scalable metagenomics alignment research tool (SMART): a scalable, rapid, and complete search heuristic for the classification of metagenomic sequences from complex sequence populations – Aaron Y. Lee – BMC Bioinformatics

Review: Computational Biology in the 21st Century: Scaling with Compressive Algorithms – Bonnie Berger – Communications of the ACM

Microbes in the news

Five new studies will examine how the trillions of tiny organisms that call our bodies home can impact health – University at Buffalo

NASA releases ‘Microbiomics: The Living World In and On You’ – Video highlights Twins Study microbiome investigation – EurekAlert

The Olympians can leave. Brazil’s poor live with filthy, reeking water every day – Melissa Bailey – STAT News

Bizarre bacteria causing major cattle disease named by researchers – Pajaroellobacter abortibovis causes “foothill abortion disease” –  Science Daily

Bik’s non-microbiology Picks

From Impossible Foods, co-founded by Patrick Brown, a former Stanford professor: Impossible burger: New York’s latest food craze is a veggie burger that bleeds – Amanda Holpuch – The Guardian

July 26, 2016

The last common ancestor, pika gut microbiome, fire-fighting chemicals and soil microbiome, improved Illumina-compatible 18S rRNA primers.

Jobs

Verily (Google-associated) is looking for a Microbiome Research Associate

Pregnancy and birth

Probiotic properties of lactic acid bacteria isolated from human milk – N.A. Reis – Journal of Applied Microbiology

Human oral microbiome

High Throughput Quantitative Method for Assessing Coaggregation among Oral Bacterial Species – Elizabeth Levin-Sparenberg – Letters in Applied Microbiology

Periodontal infectogenomics: systematic review of associations between host genetic variants and subgingival microbial detection – Luigi Nibali – Journal of Clinical Periodontology

Human respiratory microbiome

Upper airway viruses and bacteria and clinical outcomes in children with cough – Kerry-Ann F. O’Grady – Pediatric Pulmonology

Human skin microbiome

Hypothesis: The skin microbiome: Is it affected by UV-induced immune suppression? – Vijaykumar Patra – Frontiers in Microbiology

Human gut microbiome

Gut microbiota-host interactions and juvenile idiopathic arthritis – Miika Arvonen – Pediatric Rheumatology

Designing fecal microbiota transplant trials that account for differences in donor stool efficacy – Scott W. Olesen – bioRxiv

Probiotics and the Microbiome in Celiac Disease: A Randomised Controlled Trial – Joanna Harnett – Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Review: Links Between the Microbiome and Bone – Christopher J Hernandez – Journal of Bone and Mineral Research

Human vaginal microbiome

More Easily Cultivated Than Identified: Classical Isolation With Molecular Identification of Vaginal Bacteria – Sujatha Srinivasan – The Journal of Infectious Diseases

The Effects of Hormones and Vaginal Microflora on the Glycome of the Female Genital Tract: Cervical-Vaginal Fluid – Bernard J. Moncla – PLOS ONE

Review: New Systems for Studying Intercellular Interactions in Bacterial Vaginosis – Melissa M. Herbst-Kralovetz – The Journal of Infectious Diseases

Animal experiments

Lactulose differently modulates the composition of luminal and mucosal microbiota in C57BL/6J mice – Bingyong Mao – Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

American Ginseng Attenuates Colitis Associated Colon Carcinogenesis in Mice: Impact on Gut Microbiota and Metabolomics – Chong-Zhi Wang – Cancer Prevention Research

Alterations of Gut Microbiota After Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass and Sleeve Gastrectomy in Sprague-Dawley Rats – Yikai Shao – Obesity Surgery

Animal microbiome

Diet diversity is associated with beta but not alpha diversity of pika gut microbiota – Huan Li – Frontiers in Mcrobiology

The Microbial Signature Provides Insight into the Mechanistic Basis of Coral Success across Reef Habitats – Alejandra Hernandez-Agreda – mBio

Perspective: Hominid superorganisms – Julia A. Segre – Science

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Long-term response of soil microbial communities to fire and fire-fighting chemicals
A. Barreiro – Biology and Fertility of Soils

Desert Perennial Shrubs Shape the Microbial-Community Miscellany in Laimosphere and Phyllosphere Space – Varsik Martirosyan – Microbial Ecology

Lichen-associated Fungal Community in Hypogymnia hypotrypa (Parmeliaceae, Ascomycota) Affected by Geographic Distribution and Altitude – Yanyan Wang – Frontiers in Microbiology

Water management impacts rice methylmercury and the soil microbiome – Sarah E. Rothenberg – Science of the Total Environment

Ecological restoration of a copper polluted vineyard: Long-term impact of farmland abandonment on soil bio-chemical properties and microbial communities – Luciano Cavani – Journal of Environmental Management

Review: Soil C and N models that integrate microbial diversity – Benjamin P. Louis – Environmental Chemistry Letters

Water and extremophile microbiome

Genomes of Abundant and Widespread Viruses from the Deep Ocean – Carolina Megumi Mizuno – mBio

Microbial communities associated with Antarctic snow pack and their biogeochemical implications – Runa Antony – Microbiological Research

Novel chytrid lineages dominate fungal sequences in diverse marine and freshwater habitats – André M. Comeau – Scientific Reports

Metabolomics

Review: Gut Microbiota Profiling: Metabolomics Based Approach to Unravel Compounds Affecting Human Health – Pamela Vernocchi – Frontiers in Microbiology

Functional foods

Review: Fermented Foods: Are They Tasty Medicines for Helicobacter pylori Associated Peptic Ulcer and Gastric Cancer? – Mydhily R. B. Nair – Frontiers in Microbiology

Bioinformatics

A novel alignment-free method for detection of lateral genetic transfer based on TF-IDF – Yingnan Cong – Scientific Reports
Exploring lateral genetic transfer among microbial genomes using TF-IDF – Yingnan Cong – Scientific Reports

Techniques

Design and Evaluation of Illumina MiSeq Compatible Primers for the 18S rRNA Gene for Improved Characterization of Mixed Microalgal Communities – Ian M. Bradley – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

More microbiology

Are multi-omics enough? – Cristina Vilanova – Nature Microbiology

Review: Bacterial Communities: Interactions to Scale – Reed M. Stubbendieck – Frontiers in Microbiology

The physiology and habitat of the last universal common ancestor – Madeline C. Weiss – Nature Microbiology

Press: Scientists find Luca, a single-cell, bacterium-like organism that is the common ancestor of all life on Earth – Andrew Griffin – Independent
Behold LUCA, the Last Universal Common Ancestor of Life on Earth – Jason Daley – Smithsonian
Our last common ancestor inhaled hydrogen from underwater volcanoes – Robert F. Service – Science
Meet Luca, the Ancestor of All Living Things – Nicholas Wade – New York Times

Microbes in the news

What your gut microbiome may be telling you – Katrina Clarke – The Record

Healthy microbiome supports antibiotic-free production – World Poultry

Charlottesville Lab to Test Microbiology of Local Breweries – NBC29

Nanostructured bacterial film makes new mortar resistant to water uptake – NanoWerk

Bik’s non-microbiology Picks

The Dutchies are still holding the top positions! A century of trends in adult human height – NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC) – eLIFE

July 22, 2016

Fungi in human GI tract, antibiotics reduce Alzheimer’s lesions in mouse model, cospeciation of primates and gut microbes, dangerous bacteria after sewer spill.

Jobs

Research scientists to engineer microbiome engineering therapies – Eligo Bioscience

General microbiome

Perspective: Is triclosan harming your microbiome? – Alyson L. Yee – Science

Understanding How Microbiomes Influence the Systems they Inhabit: Insight from Ecosystem Ecology – Ed Hall – bioRxiv

Pregnancy and birth microbiome

Midtrimester Cervicovaginal Microbiota: Identification of Microbial Variations Associated with Puerperal Infection at Term – Akila Subramaniam – American Journal of Perinatology

Human mouth microbiome

Salivary and fecal microbiota and metabolome of celiac children under gluten-free diet – Maria De Angelis – International Journal of Food Microbiology

Human respiratory microbiome

Lung Microbiome in HIV Infection – Homer L. Twigg III – Translational Research

Human vaginal microbiome

Proceedings of the 2015 NIH/NIAID Bacterial Vaginosis Expert Consultation – The Journal of Infectious Diseases

Human gut microbiome

Age and gender affect the composition of fungal population of the human gastrointestinal tract – Francesco Strati – Frontiers in Microbiology

A reduction in the butyrate producing species Roseburia spp. and Faecalibacterium prausnitzii is associated with chronic kidney disease progression – Shuanghong Jiang – Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

Review: An update discussion on the current assessment of the safety of veterinary antimicrobial drug residues in food with regard to their impact on the human intestinal microbiome – Carl E. Cerniglia – Drug Testing and Analysis

Animal experiments

Antibiotic-induced perturbations in gut microbial diversity influences neuro-inflammation and amyloidosis in a murine model of Alzheimer’s disease – Myles R. Minter – Scientific Reports

Press: Antibiotics weaken Alzheimer’s disease progression through changes in the gut microbiome – EurekAlert
Could antibiotics reduce levels of Alzheimer’s-causing plaques? – Hannah Nichols – MedicalNewsToday

Pathogenic shifts in endogenous microbiota impede tissue regeneration via distinct activation of TAK1/MKK/p38 – Christopher P Arnold – eLIFE

Bacterial community characterization of water and intestine of the shrimp Litopenaeus stylirostris in a biofloc system – Emilie Cardona – BMC Microbiology

Impact of Helminth Infections and Nutritional Constraints on the Small Intestine Microbiota – Isabella M. Cattadori – PLOS ONE

Nutrient Deprivation Affects Salmonella Invasion and Its Interaction with the Gastrointestinal Microbiota – Sophie Yurist-Doutsch – PLOS ONE

Celecoxib alters the intestinal microbiota and metabolome in association with reducing polyp burden – David C. Montrose – Cancer Prevention Research

Review: Interactions between host genetics and gut microbiome in diabetes and metabolic syndrome – Siegfried Ussar – Molecular metabolism

Animal microbiome

Cospeciation of gut microbiota with hominids – Andrew H. Moeller – Science

Press: Primates, Gut Microbes Evolved Together. Symbiotic gut bacteria evolved and diverged along with ape and human lineages, researchers find – Anna Azvolinsky – The Scientist
Microbes in our guts have been with us for millions of years – Ann Gibbons – Science
Your gut bacteria predates appearance of humans, genetic study finds – Naomi Stewart – The Guardian

A snapshot of the microbiome of Amblyomma tuberculatum ticks infesting the gopher tortoise, an endangered species – Khemraj Budachetri – Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases

Do Vertebrate Gut Metagenomes Confer Rapid Ecological Adaptation? –
Antton Alberdi – Trends in Ecology & Evolution

Vaginal microbial communities from synchronized-heifers and cows with reproductive disorders – Candelaria Gonzalez Moreno – Journal of Applied Microbiology

Review: The woodrat gut microbiota as an experimental system for understanding microbial metabolism of dietary toxins – Kevin D. Kohl – Frontiers in Microbiology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Plant Identity Exerts Stronger Effect than Fertilization on Soil Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi in a Sown Pasture – Yong Zheng – Microbial Ecology

Beneficial cyanobacteria and eubacteria synergistically enhance bioavailability of soil nutrients and yield of okra – Mallappa Manjunath – Heliyon

Naming Potentially Endangered Parasites: Foliicolous Mycobiota of Dimorphandra wilsonii, a Highly Threatened Brazilian Tree Species– Meiriele da Silva – PLOS ONE

Contribution of the seed microbiome to weed management – D Müller-Stöver – Weed Research

Mycorrhizal associations of trees have different indirect effects on organic matter decomposition – Melanie K. Taylor – Journal of Ecology

Water and extremophile microbiome

Vancomycin resistant enterococci and bacterial community structure following a sewage spill into an aquatic environment – Suzanne Young – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Press: USF researchers find dangerous bacteria after sewer spills – EurekAlert
USF researchers say they found dangerous bacteria after sewage spill – Anne Lindberg – Saint Peters Blog

Hospital Effluents Are One of Several Sources of Metal, Antibiotic Resistance Genes, and Bacterial Markers Disseminated in Sub-Saharan Urban Rivers – Amandine Laffite – Frontiers in Microbiology

Microbial communities in sediments of Lagos Lagoon, Nigeria: Elucidation of community structure and potential impacts of contamination by municipal and industrial wastes – Chioma C. Obi – Frontiers in Microbiology

Cryoconite pans on Snowball Earth: supraglacial oases for Cryogenian eukaryotes? – P. F. Hoffman – Geobiology

Effects of multiple dimensions of bacterial diversity on functioning, stability and multifunctionality – Fabian Roger – Ecology

Heterotrophic bacteria in Antarctic lacustrine and glacial environments – Johanna Laybourn-Parry – Polar Biology

Microbial diversity and activity in seafloor brine lake sediments (Alaminos Canyon block 601, Gulf of Mexico) – M. Crespo-Medina – Geobiology

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

MetaG: a graph-based metagenomic gene analysis for big DNA data – Linkon Chowdhury – Network Modeling Analysis in Health Informatics and Bioinformatics

DFAST and DAGA: web-based integrated genome annotation tools and resources – Yasuhiro Tanizawa – Bioscience of Microbiota, Food and Health

Genome-centric resolution of microbial diversity, metabolism and interactions in anaerobic digestion – Inka Vanwonterghem – Environmental Microbiology

Microbes in the news

Breast-feeding the Microbiome (Excerpt from his book) – Ed Yong – New Yorker

Janet Jansson Among Nine Authors of Nature Review Article – PNNL

Northern Arizona University professor Bruce Hungate named a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology – Arizona Business Daily

UF scientists identify seal as source of new strain of bacteria that caused disease in hunter – Sarah Carey – University of Florida

Gut Bacteria May Drive Inflammation in Sepsis, ARDS – Salynn Boyles – MedPageToday

With Rob Knight as keynote speaker: Fermenting Knowledge at Fermentation Festivals (with Kombucha Recipe) – John D. Ivanko – Mother Earth News

Your death microbiome could catch your killer – Anna Williams – New Scientist

Microbes and money

Osel, Inc. Comments on New Study Showing Role of Vaginal Microbiome in Women’s Health – PharmiWeb

Q&A: Indigo’s CEO Reveals the Strategy Behind Its Plant Microbiome Technology – Olivia Vanni – BostInno

Eminent Harvard Geneticist Professor George Church Joins uBiome Advisory Board – Benzinga

Immuron to Cooperate with Leading Australian Universities on Autism Research – Nasdaq

July 19, 2016

Gut microbial translocation and liver cirrhosis, cockatiel microbiome, human thanatomicrobiome, and the Pokémon microbiome.

Human gut microbiome

Gut microbial translocation corrupts myeloid cell function to control bacterial infection during liver cirrhosis – Carl-Philipp Hackstein – Gut

Press: Fighting life-threatening bacteria without antibiotics. Researchers discover the cause of infections in patients with cirrhosis of the liver – Science Daily

Review: Emerging Technologies for Gut Microbiome Research – Jason W. Arnold – Trends in Microbiology

Review: Gut Microbiome and Liver Disease – Naga S. Betrapally – Translational Research

Human vaginal microbiome

Review:  Does the vaginal microbiota play a role in the development of cervical cancer?
Maria Kyrgiou – Translational Research

Animal experiments

Arsenic Dysbiosis to the Zebrafish Microbiome: An Ecological or Physiological Response?
Jonathan Michael Von Reusner – Bard College

Commensal Bacteria Aid Mate-selection in the Fruit Fly, Bactrocera dorsalis – Kamala Jayanthi Pagadala Damodaram – Microbial Ecology

Animal microbiome

Cockatiel (Nymphicus hollandicus) gut microbiomes, bacterial inhabitants of a worldwide distributed pet – Luis David Alcaraz – PeerJ Preprint

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Long-term effects of imbalanced fertilization on the composition and diversity of soil bacterial community – Jinu Eo – Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment

Built environment microbiome

Protocol: Protocols for Investigating the Microbial Communities of Oil and Gas Reservoirs – Nicolas Tsesmetzis – Springer Protocols Handouts

Thesis: A Metagenomic Analysis of Hurricane Sandy Flood-Borne Bacteria – Isabel Anna Keddy-Hector – Bard College

Microbiome of death

Human Thanatomicrobiome Succession and Time Since Death – Gulnaz T. Javan – Scientific Reports

Techniques

Impact of Sample Type and DNA Isolation Procedure on Genomic Inference of Microbiome Composition – Berith E Knudsen – bioRxiv

Microbes in the news

Pokébiome: A call for Research Participants – Sea Germ – Megabiome (satire)

Understanding the microbiome of the Boston subway – BioBE

Studies Offer Fresh Hope in Fight Against HIV/AIDS in South AfricaCertain bacteria put some women at greater risk of infection and make treatment less effective – Betsy McKay – The Wall Street Journal
How vaginal bacteria could be stoking HIV cases and blocking prevention – Heather Boerner – PBS Newshour
Vaginal bacteria species can raise HIV infection risk and undermine prevention – Jon Cohen – Science

The Wild Life of Showerheads: Another great #CitizenMicrobiology project from ‏@RobRDunn – Jonathan Eisen – MicroBEnet

How Bacteria May Have Jumpstarted the First Animal Life – Heather Goldstone – Cape and Islands

Scientists grow bacteria that breathe greenhouse gases – Christoph Keuschnig – Science Nordic

QIIME 2 alpha release is now live! – Greg Caporaso – MicroBEnet

Bacteria Hysteria

How much faecal bacteria is on YOUR shopping trolley? Tests reveal unhealthy levels on trolleys and baskets at Coles and Aldi – Daily Mail

July 12, 2016

Two papers on plant/root/soil microbiomes of interest, analysis of transcriptional regulatory networks, and too much non-prescription antibiotic use  in the US.

Human vaginal microbiome

Review: Bacterial vaginosis: a critical analysis of current knowledge – D Nasioudis – BJOG

Human gut microbiome

Gut microbiome analysis in neuromyelitis optica reveals over-abundance of Clostridium perfringens – Bruce A.C. Cree – Annals of Neurology

Review: Gut Microbiota and Intestinal Decolonization of Pathogenic Microorganisms – De-Chang Chen – Chinese Medical Journal

Animal experiments

Human Gut-Derived Prevotella histicola Suppresses Inflammatory Arthritis in Humanized Mice – Eric V. Marietta – Arthritis & Rheumatology

Press: Gut bacteria can cause, predict and prevent rheumatoid arthritis – Science Daily

Gastric Bypass Surgery Reverses Diabetic Phenotypes in Bdnf-Deficient Mice – Shujun Jiang – American Journal of Pathology

Press: New study suggests potential role for gut microbiota in diabetes remission after bypass surgery – News Medical

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Host genotype and age shape the leaf and root microbiomes of a wild perennial plant – Maggie R. Wagner – Nature Communications

Press: Breeding plants with more beneficial bacteria to feed the world won’t be simple, study says – Robin A. Smith – Phys.org

Soil inoculation steers restoration of terrestrial ecosystems – E. R. Jasper Wubs – Nature Plants

Soil microbes transplants could help restore damaged ecosystems – The dirt makes all the difference – Meaghan Lee Callaghan – PopSci

Combined Flux Chamber and Genomics Approach Links Nitrous Acid Emissions to Ammonia Oxidizing Bacteria and Archaea in Urban and Agricultural Soil – Nicole K. Scharko – Environmental Science & Technology

Opinion: Plant microbiota affects seed transmission of phytopathogenic microorganisms – Matthieu Barret – Molecular Plant Pathology

Metagenomics and bioinformatics

A Bayesian inference method for the analysis of transcriptional regulatory networks in metagenomic data – Elizabeth T. Hobbs – Algorithms for Molecular Biology

Metagenome and Metatranscriptome Analyses Using Protein Family Profiles – Cuncong Zhong – PLOS Computational Biology

Machine Learning Meta-analysis of Large Metagenomic Datasets: Tools and Biological Insights – Edoardo Pasolli – PLOS Computational Biology

Review: Metagenome-wide association studies: fine-mining the microbiome – Jun Wang – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Proteomics

An alignment-free ‘metapeptide’ strategy for metaproteomic characterization of microbiome samples using shotgun metagenomic sequencing – Damon H. May – Journal of Proteome Research

Bioreactor microbiology

A light-induced shortcut in the planktonic microbial loop – Robert Ptacnik – Scientific Reports

More microbiology

Non-prescription antimicrobial use in a primary care population in the United States: evidence for action – Roger Zoorob – Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy

Press: Self-prescribing antibiotics is a big problem – American Society for Microbiology – EurekAlert

Transfer of DNA from Bacteria to Eukaryotes – Benoît Lacroix – mBio

Origins of pandemic clones from environmental gene pools – B. Jesse Shapiro – bioRxiv

UTSA professor’s study describes new strategies for investigating microbial outbreaks – EurekAlert

Microbes in the news

Railroad spanning Great Salt Lake helps MSU scientists understand origins of reef-like structures – Skip Anderson – Montana State University

The colon is defended from bacteria by a self-sacrificing sentinel cell – EurekAlert