Human microbiome, June 30

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

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

Screen Shot 2014-06-30 at 11.18.32 PMHistorical and contemporary hypotheses on the development of oral diseases: are we there yet? – Bob T. Rosier – Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology

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

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

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

Respiratory microbiome

Screen Shot 2014-06-30 at 11.19.43 PMCharacterization of the nasopharyngeal microbiota in health and during rhinovirus challenge – Allen EK – Microbiome

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

Gut microbiome

Screen Shot 2014-06-30 at 11.20.28 PMDiarrhea in young children from low-income countries leads to large-scale alterations in intestinal microbiota composition – Mihai Pop – Genome Biology

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

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

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

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

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

Screen Shot 2014-06-30 at 11.21.29 PMCo-occurrence of driver and passenger bacteria in human colorectal cancer
Jiawei Geng – Gut Pathogens

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

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

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

Screen Shot 2014-06-30 at 11.22.43 PMDietary Intervention with Yoghurt, Synbiotic Yogurt or Traditional Fermented Sobya: Bio-Potency among Male Adolescents Using Five Bio-Markers of Relevance to Colonic Metabolic Activities – Laila Hussein – Food and Nutrition Sciences

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

Vaginal microbiome (also see pregnancy)

Screen Shot 2014-06-30 at 11.23.32 PMPrimate vaginal microbiomes exhibit species specificity without universal Lactobacillus dominance – Suleyman Yildirim – ISME J (uncorrected proof, link to Chapman Research)

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

Skin microbiome

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

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

General human microbiome 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Animal models of microbiome and disease

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pregnancy and birth

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

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

Screen Shot 2014-06-30 at 11.26.14 PMGroup B Streptococcus β-hemolysin/Cytolysin Breaches Maternal-Fetal Barriers to Cause Preterm Birth and Intrauterine Fetal Demise in Vivo – Tara M. Randis – Journal of Infectious Diseases

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Human microbiome, June 17

Gut bacteria swapping DNA segments, what happens after a fecal transplant, intestinal archaea, and more.

Gut microbiome

Evidence of Extensive DNA Transfer between Bacteroidales Species within the Human Gut – Michael J. Coyne – mBio

“Using seven coresident Bacteroidales species from one individual and eight from another, we identified five large chromosomal regions, each present in a minimum of three of the coresident strains at near 100% DNA identity.”

Recovery of the Gut Microbiome following Fecal Microbiota Transplantation – Anna M. Seekatz – mBio

“Here we investigated changes in the fecal microbiota structure following FMT in patients with recurrent C. difficile infection, and imputed a hypothetical functional profile based on the 16S rRNA profile using a predictive metagenomic tool.”

The Intestinal Archaea Methanosphaera stadtmanae and Methanobrevibacter smithii Activate Human Dendritic Cells – Corinna Bang – PLOS ONE

“Taken together, our findings strongly argue that the archaeal gut inhabitants M. stadtmanae and M. smithii are specifically recognized by the human innate immune system. “

Microbiota and Metabolome Associated with Immunoglobulin A Nephropathy (IgAN) –
Maria De Angelis – PLOS ONE

“This study aimed at investigating the fecal microbiota, and the fecal and urinary metabolome of non progressor (NP) and progressor (P) patients with immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN). “

Respiratory microbiome

Impact of Experimental Human Pneumococcal Carriage on Nasopharyngeal Bacterial Densities in Healthy Adults – Joshua R. Shak – PLOS ONE

“These data on bacterial associations are the first to be reported surrounding experimental human pneumococcal colonization and show that co-colonizing effects are likely subtle rather than absolute.”

Vaginal microbiome

Diversity and stability of cultured vaginal lactobacilli in pregnant women from a multi-ethnic urban UK population – S.M. Husain – Journal of Applied Microbiology

“Self-collected vaginal swabs at 13 and 20 weeks gestation were obtained from women attending for routine antenatal care and cultured for lactobacilli.”

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Human microbiome, June 16

A guide to your poop and more serious papers about oral, vaginal microbiomes and bacteria detection in joint fluids.

Oral microbiome

Screen Shot 2014-06-16 at 11.19.50 PMBacteria choose to fight and flee (commentary on a recent PNAS paper by Stacy et al. )- Christina Tobin Kåhrström – Nature Reviews Microbiology

“Together, these data suggest an elegant mechanism by which A. actinomycetemcomitans uses catalase to enzymatically ‘fight’ H2O2 and dispersin B to ‘flee’ from the close vicinity of S. gordonii, where H2O2 levels are highest, to a location where access to L-lactate is still possible. “

Oral challengesFornitersChallenges in the culture-independent analysis of oral and respiratory samples from intubated patients – Vladimir Lazarevic – Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.

“We explored the bacterial community diversity of the microbiota from oral and respiratory samples of intubated patients hospitalized in the intensive care unit and we discuss the technical challenges that may arise while using culture-independent approaches to study these types of samples.”

Vaginal microbiome

Ashok VagInfluence of the tryptophan-indole-IFNγ axis on human genital Chlamydia trachomatis infection: role of vaginal co-infections – Ashok Aiyar – Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.

“In this review, we discuss the natural history of genital chlamydial infections, morphological and molecular changes imposed by IFNγ on Chlamydia, and finally, the microenvironmental conditions associated with vaginal co-infections that can ameliorate the effects of IFNγ on C. trachomatis.”

Gut microbiome

ToiletThe Not-So-Gross Guide to Your Poop – Laura Barcella – Refinery29

“So, what is your excrement trying to tell you? Read on for clues about how to decipher your bowel movements.”

Bacteria detection in otherwise sterile sites

Screen Shot 2014-06-16 at 11.24.38 PMRapid isolation and diagnosis of live bacteria from human joint fluids by using an integrated microfluidic system – Wen-Hsin Chang – Lab on a Chip

 

“…an integrated microfluidic system capable of detecting live bacteria from clinical PJI samples within 55 minutes is developed in this study. This system employs an ethidium monoazide (EMA)-based assay and a PCR with universal bacterial primers and probes to isolate and detect only the live bacteria that commonly cause PJI. “

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Human microbiome, June 11

Bacterial community classes in HMP subjects, oral health in postmenopausal women, and gut epithelial regeneration.

Human microbiome – general

Yanjiao Zhou ExplorationExploration of bacterial community classes in major human habitats – Yanjiao Zhou – Genome Biology

“Here, we present an analysis of the groupings of bacterial communities in stool, nasal, skin, vaginal and oral habitats in a healthy cohort of 236 subjects from the Human Microbiome Project.” “We identified 2 to 6 community classes for each of the 18 habitats from the HMP healthy cohort by clustering augmented by manual inspection.”

ExploringExploring New Horizons in Microbiome Research – Christoph A. Thaiss, Eran Elinav – Cell Host & Microbe

“Leading scientists in microbiome research met at Lake Titisee, Germany, in April 2014 to discuss the current state of the field, the most urgent and unresolved questions, state-of-the-art technological advances, and new avenues of future research. “

Oral microbiome

Screen Shot 2014-06-11 at 9.35.26 PMPorphyromonas gingivalis Manipulates Complement and TLR Signaling to Uncouple Bacterial Clearance from Inflammation and Promote Dysbiosis – Tomoki Maekawa – Cell Host & Microbe

“As previously reported, P. gingivalis remodels the oral microbiota into a dysbiotic state by exploiting complement. Now we show that in neutrophils P. gingivalis disarms a host-protective TLR2-MyD88 pathway via proteasomal degradation of MyD88, whereas it activates an alternate TLR2-Mal-PI3K pathway. “

Screen Shot 2014-06-11 at 10.08.26 PMUB receives $4 million NIH grant to study oral health in postmenopausal women – Pat Donovan – University at Buffalo

“These techniques involve Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) using culture-independent techniques to identify 16S rRNA genes and allow for a more complete and detailed characterization of the microbial composition and diversity of the human oral cavity, Wactawski-Wende says.”

Pregnancy and Birth

Screen Shot 2014-06-11 at 10.09.30 PMPregnant Women With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Risk of Preterm Birth – Kimberly Ann Yonkers – JAMA Psychiatry

“Longitudinal, prospective cohort study of 2654 women who were recruited before 17 completed weeks of pregnancy from 137 obstetrical practices in Connecticut and Western Massachusetts.”

Animal models of human microbiota

Screen Shot 2014-06-11 at 10.07.04 PMThe Cytosolic Bacterial Peptidoglycan Sensor Nod2 Affords Stem Cell Protection and Links Microbes to Gut Epithelial Regeneration – Giulia Nigro – Cell Host & Microbe

“We used in vitro cultured organoids of intestinal crypts from mice, reinforced with in vivo experiments, to examine the crypt-microbiota interface.”

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Human microbiome digest, June 2, 2014

Roberto Romero and Jacques Ravel report on the vaginal microbiome in the setting of term and preterm deliveries, red wine might be good for your teeth, and secretory IgA and gut microbiota influence each other.

Pregnancy and birth

Gut microbiome

Respiratory microbiome

Oral microbiome

Skin microbiome

  • Screen Shot 2014-06-02 at 2.35.33 PMNot sure if I would pay $36 for this review, but here it is: Cutaneous microbiome studies in the times of affordable sequencing – Marjana Tomic-Canic – Journal of Dermatological Science –  “We now know that four phyla, Actinobacteria, Firmicytes, Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes, constitute preponderance of skin bacteria, while Malassezia dominates the fungal microbiome. “

More human microbiome

Metabolomics

Animal models of gut microbiome

Microbiome in the news

  • Screen Shot 2014-06-02 at 3.08.55 PMOur bodies, our bugs, and learning to love the bacteria that live inside us – Jane Macdougall – National Post – “Eating yogurt instead of taking a pill might sound crazy, but it’s worth considering why that is”
  • Blaser QA TK TK – Carl Zimmer – Wired.com – “Microbiologist Martin Blaser of New York University School of Medicine says that many species of germs are disappearing from our bodies—and that’s a problem.”
  • This appear to be a highly biased study: Experts warn over bad bacteria count – Taiwanese children compare poorly with their Asian peers in good and bad bacteria count, which could make them more susceptible to diseases – Wei Yi-chia and Jason Pan – Taipei Times – “The study, released on Thursday by the Association for Lactic Acid Bacteria (TALAB), found that Taiwanese schoolchildren have up to 30 times more Escherichia coli and 15 times more Clostridium perfringens — two of the “bad” bacteria — than kids of the same age in Japan.”
  • Shampoo and Soap Wreak Havoc on the Skin’s Microbiome Say Researchers – Donna Westlund – Guardian Libery Voice

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Human microbiome digest, May 29 2014

Today we observe World Digestive Health Day, but we will also learn more about the human reproductive organs – of both genders!

Gut microbiome

Genital microbiome

Pregnancy and Birth

Animal models of gut microbiota

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Digest May 23, 2014

Today’s digest features showering with bacteria instead of soap, bacteria on the Mars rover, phages and bacteria reading through stop-codons, and a meteor shower tonight. What do meteor showers have to do with microbiome papers, you ask? Well, nothing. They are just cool to watch. So put on that fleece, get yourself to a dark place outside, and look North. Or stay inside and read today’s new digest.

General microbiome papers

Human oral microbiome papers

Human gut microbiome papers

Human genital microbiome papers

Pregnancy and birth papers

Metagenomics

Chromosomal organization

Antibiotics and resistance papers

Pathogenicity papers

Phages and viruses

Microbes in space

More Microbes

Bacteria in the news

Dr. Bik’s Picks

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