June 16, 2015

Human oral microbiome

The cultivable microbiota of primary and secondary infected root canals, their susceptibility to antibiotics and association with the signs and symptoms of infection – M. E. Łysakowska – International Endodontic Journal

DGGE: Profiling of Oral and Nasal Microbiome in Children With Cleft Palate – Min Zhang – The Cleft Palate–Craniofacial Journal

Human gut microbiome

Stool consistency is strongly associated with gut microbiota richness and composition, enterotypes and bacterial growth rates – Doris Vandeputte – Gut

Bacterial Composition of the Human Upper Gastrointestinal Tract Microbiome Is Dynamic and Associated with Genomic Instability in a Barrett’s Esophagus Cohort – Alevtina Gall – PLOS ONE

Alterations in Intestinal Microbiota Correlate with Susceptibility to Type 1 Diabetes – Aimon K. Alkanani – Diabetes

Specific gut microbiota features and metabolic markers in postmenopausal women with obesity – LK Brahe – Nutrition & Diabetes

Inter- and intra-individual variations in seasonal and daily stabilities of the human gut microbiota in Japanese – Takayoshi Hisada – Archives of Microbiology

Editorial: Gut bacteria feed a healthy brain – Denise Waldron – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Review: The gut microbiota of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: current methods and their interpretation – Niels van Best – Hepatology International

Review: Can we change our microbiome to prevent colorectal cancer development? – Roberta M. Manzat-Saplacan – Acta Oncologica

Human genital microbiome

Penile Microbiota and Female Partner Bacterial Vaginosis in Rakai, Uganda – Cindy M. Liu – mBio

Models of microbiome

In pigs: Neonatal environment exerts a sustained influence on the development of the intestinal microbiota and metabolic phenotype – Claire A Merrifield – ISME Journal

In goats: Postnatal bacterial succession and functional establishment of hindgut in supplemental feeding and grazing goats – J. Z. Jiao – Journal of Animal Science

In termites: Multiple analyses of microbial communities applied to the gut of the wood-feeding termite Reticulitermes flavipes fed on artificial diets – Cédric Tarayre – Symbiosis

Animal microbiome

Sponges: Pyrosequencing revealed shifts of prokaryotic communities between healthy and disease-like tissues of the Red Sea sponge Crella cyathophora – Zhao-Ming Gao – PeerJ

Sponges: Microbial diversity and putative diazotrophy in high and low microbial abundance Mediterranean sponges – Marta Ribes – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Plant root and soil microbiome

Tree genotype mediates covariance among communities from microbes to lichens and arthropods – Louis J. Lamit – Journal of Ecology

Assessment of microbial communities in mung bean (Vigna radiata) rhizosphere upon exposure to phytotoxic levels of Copper – Murali Sharaff – Journal of Basic Microbiology

Analyzing the antagonistic potential of the lichen microbiome against pathogens by bridging metagenomic with culture studies – Tomislav Cernava – Frontiers in Microbiology

Response of rhizosphere microbial community structure and diversity to heavy metal co-pollution in arable soil – Linjing Deng – Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

Soil Microbial Functions After Forest Fires Affected by the Compost Quality – René Guénon – Land Degradation & Development

Vertical Distribution of Soil Denitrifying Communities in a Wet Sclerophyll Forest under Long-Term Repeated Burning – Xian Liu – Microbial Ecology

Metagenome Sequencing Reveals Rhodococcus Dominance in Farpuk Cave, Mizoram, India, an Eastern Himalayan Biodiversity Hot Spot Region – Surajit De Mandal – Genome Announcements

The stability of textile azo dyes in soil and their impact on microbial phospholipid fatty acid profiles – Muhammad Imran – Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety

Endophyte community composition is associated with dieback occurrence in an invasive tree – Tracey V. Steinrucken – Plant and Soil

Multi-Analytical Approach Reveals Potential Microbial Indicators in Soil for Sugarcane Model Systems – Acacio Aparecido Navarrete – PLOS ONE

Resilience of soil microbial and nematode communities after biofumigant treatment with defatted seed meals – S. Mocali – Industrial Crops and Products

Effect of cassava mill effluent on biological activity of soil microbial community – Etinosa O. Igbinosa – Environmental Monitoring and Assessment

Editorial: An interkingdom partnership – Naomi Attar – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Review: Synergisms between microbial pathogens in plant disease complexes: a growing trend – Jay Ram Lamichhane – Frontiers in Plant Science

Review: Plant Virus Metagenomics: Advances in Virus Discovery – Marilyn J. Roossinck – Phytopathology

Water microbiome

Microbial ecology in a future climate: effects of temperature and moisture on microbial communities of two boreal fens – Krista Peltoniemi – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

A Multi Size-Level Assessment of Benthic Marine Communities in a Coastal Environment: Are They Different Sides of the Same Coin? – Claudia Vannini – PLOS ONE

Manganese-Cycling Microbial Communities Inside Deep-Sea Manganese Nodules – Marco Blöthe – Environmental Science & Technology

Editorial: Deep sequencing of the global oceans – Cláudio Nunes-Alves – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Extremophile microbiome

Microbial diversity of hypersaline environments: a metagenomic approach – Antonio Ventosa – Current Opinion in Microbiology

Application of a Bayesian nonparametric model to derive toxicity estimates based on the response of Antarctic microbial communities to fuel-contaminated soil – Julyan Arbel – Ecology and Evolution

Bioreactor microbiome

Evaluation of surfactants on waste activated sludge fermentation by pyrosequencing analysis – Aijuan Zhou – Bioresource Technology

Impact of the contemporary environment on denitrifying bacterial communities – Sarah K. Hathaway – Ecological Engineering

Food microbiology

Review: Wine microbiome, a dynamic world of microbial interactions – Youzhong Liu

Metagenomics and bioinformatics

Unusual biology across a group comprising more than 15% of domain Bacteria – Christopher T. Brown – Nature

Complete Genome Sequence of the Bacterium Aalborg_AAW-1, Representing a Novel Family within the Candidate Phylum SR1 – Morten Simonsen Dueholm – Genome Announcements

BUSCO: assessing genome assembly and annotation completeness with single-copy orthologs – Felipe A. Simão – Bioinformatics

Educating Future Nursing Scientists: Recommendations for Integrating Omics Content in PhD Programs – Yvette P. Conley – Nursing Outlook

Minireview: Combining metagenomics, metatranscriptomics and viromics to explore novel microbial interactions: Towards a systems-level understanding of human microbiomes – Bikel Shirley – Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal

Metabolomics and Proteomics

In dogs: Consumption of Cooked Navy Bean Powders Modulate the Canine Fecal and Urine Metabolome – M. Forster – Current Metabolomics

Needles in the Blue Sea: Sub-Species Specificity in Targeted Protein Biomarker Analyses Within the Vast Oceanic Microbial Metaproteome – Mak A. Saito – Proteomics

New aminopeptidase from “microbial dark matter” archaeon – Karolina Michalska – The FASEB Journal

Review: Recent Advances in Metabolomics – E. Smith – Current Metabolomics

Microbial Ecology

Transplantability of a circadian clock to a noncircadian organism – Anna H. Chen – Science Advances

Review: Black Queen evolution: the role of leakiness in structuring microbial communities – J. Jeffrey Morris – Trends in Genetics

Techniques

Preferential Amplification of Pathogenic Sequences – Fang Ge – Scientific Reports

Phasing of single DNA molecules by massively parallel barcoding – Erik Borgström – Nature Communications

Minor revision to V4 region SSU rRNA 806R gene primer greatly increases detection of
SAR11 bacterioplankton – Amy Apprill – Aquatic Microbial Ecology

Microbes in the news

Newfound groups of bacteria are mixing up the tree of life – Robert Sanders – UC Berkeley

Report: Santa Cruz’s river bacteria comes from birds, not people – Samantha Clark – San Jose Mercury News

Shark Tank Product Improves Oral Health, Measuring Levels Of Bacteria That Cause Bad Breath – Samantha Olson – Medical Daily

Manatee County, not the animal: Bacteria Could Clean Manatee Water Supply – Associated Press

Bacteria Could Help Clean Groundwater Contaminated by Uranium Ore Processing, Rutgers Study Finds – Rutgers Today

BacteriaHysteria

How much bacteria is on money in your pocket? – Click2Houston

WHO: 200 disease-causing bacteria may be found in the kitchen – ABC/CBN news

Science, publishing, and career

Science forum: RIPOSTE: a framework for improving the design and analysis of laboratory-based research – Nicholas GD Masca – eLIFE

Dancers in the Dark: Scientific Careers According to a Gender-Blind Model of Promotion
Ana M. González Ramos – Interdisciplinary Science Reviews

Incidence of Data Duplications in a Randomly Selected Pool of Life Science Publications – Morten P. Oksvold – Science and Engineering Ethics

Five things I learned when my research went viral – Heidi Appel – The Conversation

Bik’s Picks

Foie Gras: The goose genome sequence leads to insights into the evolution of waterfowl and susceptibility to fatty liver – Lizhi Lu – Genome Biology

An estimate of the number of tropical tree species – JW Ferry Slik – PNAS

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June 15, 2015

Just a quick post tonight – I have been busy all day doing lab work. Which was fun! I really missed it. I did not have time yet to completely catch up, so these are mainly papers that I found on Friday/Saturday. More tomorrow!

Microbiome of pregnancy and birth

Skin Barrier Function and Staphylococcus aureus Colonization in Vestibulum Nasi and Fauces in Healthy Infants and Infants with Eczema: A Population-Based Cohort Study – Teresa Løvold Berents – PLOS ONE

Linear growth faltering in infants is associated with Acidaminococcus sp. and community-level changes in the gut microbiota – Ethan K. Gough – Microbiome Journal

Human gut microbiome

Infection with Soil-Transmitted Helminths Is Associated with Increased Insulin Sensitivity –  Aprilianto E. Wiria – PLOS ONE

Animal microbiome

New Insights into the Evolution of the Human Diet from Faecal Biomarker Analysis in Wild Chimpanzee and Gorilla Faeces – Ainara Sistiaga – PLOS ONE

Cadaver and soil microbiome
Functional and Structural Succession of Soil Microbial Communities below Decomposing Human Cadavers – Kelly L. Cobaugh – PLOS ONE

Insights into Diversity and Imputed Metabolic Potential of Bacterial Communities in the Continental Shelf of Agatti Island – Shreyas V. Kumbhare – PLOS ONE

Water microbiome

A Survey of Escherichia coli and Salmonella in the Hyporheic Zone of a Subtropical Stream: Their Bacteriological, Physicochemical and Environmental Relationships – Riccardo Mugnai – PLOS ONE

Air microbiome
Survival and ice nucleation activity of bacteria as aerosols in a cloud simulation chamber – P. Amato – Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics

Built environment microbiome

Impact of disinfectant wipes on the risk of Campylobacter jejuni infection during raw chicken preparation in domestic kitchens – G.U. Lopez – Journal of Applied Microbiology

Other microbiology

Battling Phages: How Bacteria Defend against Viral Attack – Kimberley D. Seed – PLOS Pathogens

Techniques

Monkey on a rope: Optimization of a Novel Non-invasive Oral Sampling Technique for Zoonotic Pathogen Surveillance in Nonhuman Primates – Tierra Smiley Evans – PLOS NTD

Microbes in the news

The inside story of the microbiome – Clive Cookson – Financial Times

What Microbiome Studies Would You Like To See Happen? – Alexandra Carmichael – uBiome

Amy Murtha Seeks to Understand Preterm Birth: Research to help physicians reduce the dangers of preterm births – Angela Spivey – Duke Today

Microbiome startup Seres bags a ‘breakthrough’ tag on the way to a $100M IPO – FierceBiotech

Mighty Farming Microbes: Companies Harness Bacteria To Give Crops A Boost – Dan Charles – NPR the Salt

Oil-consuming microbes: work with Dr. Brett Baker on hydrocarbon-degrading microbes in oil-contaminated water

The Microbiology Weekly – Cesar Sanchez

Bik’s Picks

Awakened Philae lander could be working on comet surface again next week – Eric Mack – CNET

Green Spaces at School May Help Kids’ Brains – Justin Worland – Time

Average American woman now weighs as much as average 1960s man – CDC

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June 12, 2015

Effects of drinking donkey milk, archaea and fungi on humans,  microbiomes of olives, spoilt wine, cold deserts, indoor air, strawberry soil, and more.

General microbiome

Review: Combining metagenomics, metatranscriptomics and viromics to explore novel microbial interactions: Towards a systems-level understanding of human microbiomes – Bikel Shirley – Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal

Review: Mycobiota: Micro-Eukaryotes Inhabiting Our Body as Commensals or
Opportunistic Pathogens – Lisa Rizzetto – Fungal Genomics & Biology

Review: Archaea in and on the Human Body: Health Implications and Future Directions – Mor N. Lurie-Weinberger, Uri Gophna – PLOS Pathogens

Human skin microbiome

Antimicrobial Efficacy of Preservatives used in Skin Care Products on Skin Micro Biota – Chintha Lalitha – International Journal of Science and Research

Review: Beneficial and deleterious bacterial–host interactions in chronic wound pathophysiology – C. Watters – Chronic Wound Care Management and Research

Human gut microbiome

Influence of Proton-Pump Inhibitors on the Luminal Microbiota in the Gastrointestinal Tract – Ayumi Tsuda – Clinical and Translational Gastroenterology

Microbiome models

A host-microbiome interaction mediates the opposing effects of omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids on metabolic endotoxemia – Kanakaraju Kaliannan – Scientific Reports

In rats: Human, donkey and cow milk differently affects energy efficiency and inflammatory state by modulating mitochondrial function and gut microbiota – Giovanna Trinchese – The Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry

Fish: A multiple endpoint analysis of the effects of chronic exposure to sediment contaminated with Deepwater Horizon oil on juvenile Southern flounder and their associated microbiomes – Nancy J. Brown-Peterson – Aquatic Toxicology

Hops β-acids and zinc bacitracin affect the performance and intestinal microbiota of broilers challenged with Eimeria acervulina and Eimeria tenella – C. Bortoluzzi – Animal Feed Science and Technology

Staphylococcus aureus nasal isolates: The effects of spatial structure, frequency dependence and resistance evolution on the dynamics of toxin-mediated microbial invasions – Ben Libberton – Evolutionary Applications

Animal microbiome

Biodiversity of the Symbiotic Bacteria Associated with Toxic Marine Dinoflagellate Alexandrium tamarense – Xiaoling Zhang – Journal of Biosciences and Medicines

Plant microbiome

Wild trees in the Amazon basin harbor a great diversity of beneficial endosymbiotic fungi: is this evidence of protective mutualism? – Romina Gazis – Fungal Ecology

A Legume Genetic Framework Controls Infection of Nodules by Symbiotic and Endophytic Bacteria – Rafal Zgadzaj – PLOS Genetics

Diversity and spatial distribution of endophytes community composition in noni (Morinda citrifolia L.) – Liu Yang – Journal of Hill Agriculture

Comparisons of microbial abundance and community among different plant species in constructed wetlands in summer – Jian Zhang – Ecological Engineering

Soil (and plant root) microbiome

Impact of cover crop in pre-plant of apple orchards: relationship between crop health, root inhabiting fungi and rhizospheric bacteria – Luisa M. Manici – Journal of Plant Science

Amplicon-based metagenomics identified candidate organisms in soils that caused yield decline in strawberry – Xiangming Xu – Horticulture Research

Positively Frequency-Dependent Interference Competition Maintains Diversity and Pervades a Natural Population of Cooperative Microbes – Olaya Rendueles – Current Biology

A predictive model for microbial counts on beaches where intertidal sand is the primary source – Zhixuan Feng – Marine Pollution Bulletin

Reintroduction of locally extinct vertebrates impacts arid soil fungal communities – Laurence J. Clarke – Molecular Ecology

A simple experimental set-up to disentangle the effects of altered temperature and moisture regimes on soil organisms – Eveline J. Krab – Methods in Ecology and Evolution

Water microbiome

Identifying homogeneity of multivariate dispersions among biofilm-dwelling microbial communities in colonization surveys for marine bioassessment – Guangjian Xu – Ecological Indicators

Bacterial diversity along a 2600 km river continuum – Domenico Savio – Environmental Microbiology

Minireview: Microbial players involved in the decline of filamentous and colonial cyanobacterial blooms with a focus on fungal parasitism – Mélanie Gerphagnon – Environmental Microbiology

Extremophile microbiome

Bacterial diversity of Drass, cold desert in Western Himalaya, and its comparison with Antarctic and Arctic – Puja Gupta – Archives of Microbiology

Built environment microbiome

Indoor air bacterial communities in Hong Kong households assemble independently of occupant skin microbiomes – David Wilkins – Environmental Microbiology

Food microbiology

Potential spoilage yeasts in winery environments: Characterization and proteomic analysis of Trigonopsis cantarellii – Cauré Portugal – International Journal of Food Microbiology

Microbiota and Metabolome of Un-started and Started Greek-type Fermentation of Bella di Cerignola Table Olives – Maria De Angelis – Food Microbiology

Functional foods

Probiotic BIFICO cocktail ameliorates Helicobacter pylori induced gastritis – Hong-Jing Yu – World Journal of Gastroenterology

Review: Prebiotics, gut microbiota and metabolic risks: Unveiling the relationship – Adeela Yasmin – Journal of Functional Foods

Review: Current evidence on the use of probiotics in liver diseases – Norberto C. Chávez-Tapia – Journal of Functional Foods

Metagenomics 

Review: Methylotrophs in natural habitats: current insights through metagenomics – Ludmila Chistoserdova – Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

Metabolomics

Editorial: Microbial metabolite triggers antimicrobial defense – Sky W. Brubaker, Denise M. Monack – Science

Microbes in the news

Soil microbial community variation correlates most strongly with plant species identity – AOB blog

Pew Names 22 Top Scientists as Scholars in the Biomedical Sciences: topics range from microbiome, to mosquito’s preferences – Pew Trusts
andMicrobiology professor becomes UC Merced’s first Pew scholar: Clarissa Nobile receives award for biofilm research – UC Merced

2015 ISCB Overton Prize Awarded to Curtis Huttenhower – Christiana N. Fogg, Diane E. Kovats – PLOS Computational Biology

“Genes in Space” Student Finalists Announced: Tarun Srinivasan, of Houston, TX, plans to examine effects on the gut microbiome of spending time on the ISS – Ricki Lewis – PLOS Blogs

Method reveals what bacteria sense in their surroundings – Leila Gray – UW Health Sciences NewsBeat

“ticks had a microbiome rich in pathogens, including Bartonella”: Ticks’ Migration Linked to Changes in Disease Prevalence – Jacquelyn Gray – HCP Live

Like “kopi luwak” coffee, just bigger: Elephant poop coffee, Thailand’s new delicacy – Doug Powell – BarfBlog

New Tool To Monitor Harmful Bacteria: Scientists offer more accurate health risk prediction model to better inform beach closure decisions – Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science

#EULAR2015: First gut microbiota alterations described in systemic sclerosis patients – Karen Blum – PM360online

Some good information here about bacteria in our gutSix myths about digestion that just won’t die – ITClips

How does Swiss cheese gets its holes?: by carbon-dioxide-burping microbe Propionibacterium freudenreichii – Nicola Twilly – New Yorker

Product candidate to target specific elimination of Streptococcus mutans may alter oral microbiome to provide long-lasting benefits – Dentistry iQ

Fungus among us, but what kind? Typing error spawns retraction for mushroom paper – Retraction Watch

Science, publishing, and career

Business decisions: stories about the entrepreneurial learning curve – Jeffrey Mervis – Science

Bik’s Picks

Polar bear caught eating dolphins and freezing the leftovers – Penny Sarchet – New Scientist

There’s A Link Between Cat Ownership And Schizophrenia – Leigh Weingus – Huffington Post

“Advice to interns: work hard and make your mark.” New planet discovered by 15-year-old intern – Monica Sarkar – CNN

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June 11, 2015

Exciting edition today, with microbiomes from scorpions, kombucha, Korean infants, and a Yosemite lake.

Pregnancy and birth

Comparison of the gut microbiota profile in breast-fed and formula-fed Korean infants using pyrosequencing – Sang A Lee – Nutrition Research and Practice

Human skin microbiome

Review: Effects of Fermented Dairy Products on Skin: A Systematic Review – Alexandra R. Vaughn – The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine

Human gut microbiome

The Fecal Microbiome in Pediatric Patients With Short Bowel Syndrome – Zev H. Davidovics – Journal of Parental & Enteral Nutrition

Review: Association of the Intestinal Microbiota and Obesity – Andrea A. López-Cepero, Cristina Palacios – Puerto Rico Health Sciences Journal

Microbiome models

Alteration of the rat cecal microbiome during colonization with the helminth Hymenolepis diminuta – Erin A McKenney – Gut Microbes

Bacterial sensing underlies artificial sweetener-induced growth of gut Lactobacillus
Kristian Daly – Environmental Microbiology

Ecobiotherapy Rich in Firmicutes Decreases Susceptibility to Colitis in a Humanized Gnotobiotic Mouse Model – Jane M. Natividad – Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

Animal microbiome

Species-specific diversity of novel bacterial lineages and differential abundance of predicted pathways for toxic compound degradation in scorpion gut microbiota
Luis M. Bolaños – Environmental Microbiology

Water microbiome

Changing composition of microbial communities indicates seepage fluid difference of the Thuwal Seeps in the Red Sea – Bo Yang – Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

Microbial diversity and community structure along a lake elevation gradient in Yosemite National Park, California, USA – Curtis J. Hayden – Environmental Microbiology

Food microbiology

Metabarcoding of the kombucha microbial community grown in different microenvironments – Oleg N Reva – AMB Express

More microbiology

I thought this was a very attractive paperSingle-cell genomics of uncultivated deep-branching magnetotactic bacteria reveals a conserved set of magnetosome genes – Sebastian Kolinko – Environmental Microbiology

Review: Small but Mighty: Cell Size and Bacteria – Petra Anne Levin and Esther R. Angert – Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology

Preview: Bacteria Moving into Focus of Human Cancer – Francesco Boccellato, Thomas F. Meyer – Cell Host & Microbe

Microbes in the news

Microbe-mediated adaptation to a novel diet: Symbiotic bacteria enabled bugs to feed on plant seeds and promoted species diversity – Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology

Bespoke diets based on gut microbes could help beat disease and obesity – Ian Sample – The Guardian

Engineers create origami paper-based bacteria-powered battery – Nanowerk

Journal club: Response to May 29, 2015 Journal Club: “Modulation of Post-Antibiotic Bacterial Community Reassembly and Host Response by Candida Albicans” – Human Microbiome Journal Club

Alberta researchers hot on the trail of deadly bacteria: detection time of E. coli in meat cut in half – Alexis Kienlen – Alberta Farmer

Sauerkraut Could Be The Secret To Curing Social Anxiety – Carolyn Gregoire – Huffington Post

Microbiomes might differ between mice: Reproducibility: Use mouse biobanks or lose them – Kent Lloyd – Nature

ESCMID introduces two new study groups to create networks for forensic and veterinary microbiology – News Medical

Science, publishing, and career

Nobel Laureate Resigns Post After Comments on Female Scientists – Dan Bilefsky – New York Times

Funny article, in response to Tim Hunt’s comments: Female scientists post ‘distractingly sexy’ photos – BBC News

African academics challenge homophobic laws – Scientific report demolishes assertions used to back criminalization of homosexuality – Linda Nordling – Nature

Workforce: The joys of research in retirement – Klaus Wittmaack – Nature

Bik’s Picks

Population genomics of Bronze Age Eurasia: low-coverage genomes from 101 ancient humans from across Eurasia – Morten E. Allentoft – Nature

#CureBatten: Celebrities rally for sisters battling rare brain disease – Chris Serico – Today

Three cheers for Samantha Cristoforetti, smasher of space records – Rachel Feltman – Washington Post

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June 10, 2015

Another load of microbiome reviews, historical responses of microbes to mercury in soil layers, and different pictures of microbial diversity using culture or molecular techniques.

Microbiome of pregnancy and health

Review: Lungs, Microbes and the Developing Neonate – Warner B.B., Hamvas A. – Neonatology

Review: Placentophagy: therapeutic miracle or myth? – Cynthia W. Coyle – Archives of Women’s Mental Health

Review: Preterm delivery and intimacy during pregnancy: interaction between oral, vaginal and intestinal microbiomes – Herrera Morban DA – Medwave

Human gut microbiome

Review: Monitoring host responses to the gut microbiota – Joshua S Lichtman, Justin L Sonnenburg and Joshua E Elias – The ISME Journal

ReviewIntestinal Fucose as a Mediator of Host–Microbe Symbiosis – Joseph M. Pickard and Alexander V. Chervonsky – The Journal of Immunology

Review: Novel players in coeliac disease pathogenesis: role of the gut microbiota – Elena F. Verdu – Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology

Review: Gut Microbiome-Brain Communications Regulate Host Physiology and Behavior – Sun Hye Lee and Claire B. de La Serre – Journal of Nutritional Health & Food Science

Review: Biliary Mucosal Barrier and Microbiome – Verdier J – Viszeralmedizin

ReviewFrom Next-Generation Sequencing to Systematic Modeling of the Gut Microbiome – Boyang Ji and Jens Nielsen – Frontiers in Microbiology

Animal and other models of microbiome research

Bioimage analysis of Shigella infection reveals targeting of colonic crypts – Ellen T. Arena – PNAS

Animal microbiome

Filamentous fungi isolated from the fur microbiota of callitrichids kept in captivity in Brazil – de Freitas RA – J Zoo Wildl Med

Plant root and soil microbiome

Microbial response to simulated global change is phylogenetically conserved and linked with functional potential – Anthony S Amend – The ISME Journal

Microbial and biochemical basis of a Fusarium wilt-suppressive soil – Jae-Yul Cha – The ISME Journal

Microbial DNA records historical delivery of anthropogenic mercury – Alexandre J Poulain – The ISME Journal

Riverbed methanotrophy sustained by high carbon conversion efficiency – Mark Trimmer – The ISME Journal

Culture-Dependent and -Independent Methods Capture Different Microbial Community Fractions in Hydrocarbon-Contaminated Soils – Franck O. P. Stefani – PLOS ONE

Crop monoculture rather than agriculture reduces the spatial turnover of soil bacterial communities at a regional scale – Eva L. M. Figuerola – Environmental Microbiology

Bacteria and fungi associated with isoprene consumption in soil – Christopher M. Gray – Elementa-Science of the Anthropocene

Microbial rRNA:rRNA gene ratios may be unexpectedly low due to extracellular DNA preservation in soils – Glade Dlott – Journal of Microbiological Methods

Differences in microbial community composition between injection and production water samples of water flooding petroleum reservoirs – P. K. Gao – Biogeosciences

Commentary: Scrambled and not-so-tiny genomes of fungal endosymbionts – Chih-Horng Kuo – PNAS

Water microbiome

Sampling the Sea Surface Microlayer – Michael Cunliffe, Oliver Wurl – Springer Protocols
Built environment microbiome

Book chapter: Bacteria and Fungi in Green Roof Ecosystems – Krista L. McGuire – Green Roof Ecosystems

Extremophile microbiome

Application of artificial neural networks as a tool for moisture prediction in microbially colonized halite in the Atacama Desert – K. Wierzchos – Journal of Geophysical Research – Biogeosciences

Bioreactor microbiology

Methanobacterium Dominates Biocathodic Archaeal Communities in Methanogenic Microbial Electrolysis Cells – Michael Siegert – ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering

Metagenomics and bioinformatics

ProDeGe: a computational protocol for fully automated decontamination of genomes – Kristin Tennessen – The ISME Journal

RNeXML: a package for reading and writing richly annotated phylogenetic, character, and trait data in R – Carl Boettiger – arXiv

PrimerView: high-throughput primer design and visualization – Damien M. O’Halloran – Source Code for Biology and Medicine

Techniques

Whole genome capture of vector-borne pathogens from mixed DNA samples: a case study of Borrelia burgdorferi – Giovanna Carpi – BMC Genomics

Cultivation of Environmental Bacterial Communities as Multispecies Biofilms – Marc A. Demeter – Springer Protocols Handbook

Microbes in the news

Brits will swab surfers’ butts to understand antibiotic-resistant bacteria – Alexandra Ossola – Popular Science

You’ve been invaded – by your Microbiome! Video with Rob Knight – UCSD TV

Understanding the nasal microbiome – American Microbiome Institute

How gut bacteria affects your health: What we know, what we don’t – Emily Kaiser – MPR News

The Secrets of Ocular Microbiomes – Mark B. Abelson – Review of Ophthalmology

Nice graphics: To the Phyllosphere and Beyond! – Ben Wolfe – Lucky Peach

Meanwhile in the Future: When Antibiotics Stop Working – Rose Eveleth – Gizmodo

Obesity and Microbiota: What’s Hype, What’s Helpful? – Jeannette Y. Wick – HCP Live

Science, publishing, and career

Nobel Prize Winner Tim Hunt Shocks Journalists With Sexist Comments – Cat Ferguson – BuzzFeed Science

Career coaching for scientists – Joanne Kamens – Nature Biotechnology

Intel Capital Creates $125M Fund for Women-, Minority-led Startups – Deborah Gage – Wall Street Journal

UTHealth’s Kevin Morano, microbiologist receives prestigious teaching honor by Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation – EurekAlert

Bik’s Picks

Caffeine acts through neuronal adenosine A2A receptors to prevent mood and memory dysfunction triggered by chronic stress – Manuella P. Kaster – PNAS

Chimps dig palm wine, new study finds: And in case you were wondering, the apes did occasionally get tipsy – Amina Khan – Los Angeles Times

This new Google-backed app will identify a bird just from a photo – Quartz

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June 9, 2015

Job openings for microbiome leaders in Pittsburgh, functional foods and microbial growth, and lots of reviews and editorials.

Jobs

The new Center for Microbiome and Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh is hiring leader(s) in microbiome research

Microbiome of pregnancy and birth

ReviewEarly microbial contact, breast milk microbiome and child health – S. Rautava – Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease

Human oral microbiome

Screening of Probiotic Candidates in Human Oral Bacteria for the Prevention of Dental Disease – Tomohiko Terai – PLOS ONE

Review: Do oral bacteria alter the regenerative potential of stem cells? A concise review – Kyriaki Chatzivasileiou – Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine

Human gut microbiome

Editorial for David et al.’s cholera recovery paper: A gut instinct for recovery – Naomi Attar – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Letter to the Editor: Altered microbiota in microscopic colitis – Hans Fischer – Gut

Letter to the Editor: Colonisation with multidrug-resistant bacteria is associated with increased mortality in patients with cirrhosis – Oliver Waidmann – Gut

Animal microbiome

Review: The animal gut as a melting pot for horizontal gene transfer – N. Shterzer, I. Mizrahi – Canadian Journal of Microbiology

Plant root and soil microbiome

Assessment of rhizospheric culturable bacteria of Phragmites australis and Juncus effusus from polluted sites – Sofia I.A. Pereira – Journal of Basic Microbiology

Review: Dispersing misconceptions and identifying opportunities for the use of ‘omics’ in soil microbial ecology – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Built environment microbiome

The effects of different hygiene procedures in reducing bacterial contamination in a model domestic kitchen – Elin Røssvoll – Journal of Applied Microbiology

Functional foods

Pomegranate Ellagitannins Stimulate Growth of Gut Bacteria In Vitro: Implications for Prebiotic and Metabolic Effects – Zhaoping Li – Anaerobe

Prebiotics Modulate the Effects of Antibiotics on Gut Microbial Diversity and Functioning in Vitro – Laura P. Johnson – Nutrients

Microbes in the news

From World Aquaculture 2015: “The gut microbiome of farmed trout is far more complex than previous research has documented” – Alltech highlights latest research in farmed trout – Undercurrent News

How the ‘Microbiome’ Affects Your Baby’s Birth and Health – Penny Simkin – Seattle PI

MicroBiome Therapeutics Presents Clinical Data On Diabetes Drug NM505 At ADA’s 75th Scientific Sessions And Reports Issuance Of NM505 Patent – PR Newswire

Here’s What Happens When You Culture The Bacteria on an Eight Year Old’s Hand – Marissa Fessenden – Smithsonian

MERS Is Not SARS, but Control Was Poor: Seoul ID Docs – Outbreak claims seventh fatality as specialists acknowledge poor infection control – MedPage Today

Bik’s Picks

Massage-like stroking boosts the immune system in mice – Benjamin Major – Scientific Reports

Just add water: Stanford engineers develop a computer that operates on water droplets – Stanford News

A crummy dinosaur fossil turns out to hold 75 million-year-old blood and proteins – Rachel Feltman – The Washington Post

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June 8, 2015

General microbiome

Minireview: The brain’s Geppetto—microbes as puppeteers of neural function and behaviour? – Roman M. Stilling – Journal of NeuroVirology

Thesis: Novel computational approaches to investigate microbial diversity – Qingpeng Zhang – Michigan State University

Microbiome of pregnancy and birth

Distinctive Intestinal Lactobacillus Communities in Six-Month-Old Infants From Rural Malawi and South-Western Finland – Aakko, Juhani – Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology & Nutrition

Antenatal Microbiome: Potential Contributor to Fetal Programming and Establishment of the Microbiome in Offspring – Michelle L. Wright, Angela R. Starkweather – Nursing Research

Review: Should Abnormal Vaginal Flora in 2 nd Trimester of Pregnancy be Treated to Prevent Preterm Labor – Gunjan Kumari, Anjali Tempe – Journal of Medical Sciences

Human oral microbiome

The oral mucosal and salivary microbial community of Behcet’s syndrome and recurrent aphthous stomatitis – Noha Seoudi – Journal of Oral Microbiology

Human gut microbiome

Review: Unraveling the environmental and genetic interactions in atherosclerosis: Central role of the gut microbiota – Elin Org – Atherosclerosis

Review: The Effects of Diet and the Microbiome on Reproduction and Longevity: A Comparative Review Across 5 Continents – Stephanie N. Chilton – Nutrition and Food Sciences

Animal models of microbiome research

Lack of Vitamin D Receptor Causes Dysbiosis and Changes the Functions of the Murine Intestinal Microbiome – Dapeng Jin – Clinical Therapeutics

Animal microbiome

Acromyrmex leaf-cutting ants have simple gut microbiota with nitrogen-fixing potential – Panagiotis Sapountzis – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Anemone: Response of bacterial colonization in Nematostella vectensis to development, environment and biogeography – Benedikt Mortzfeld – Environmental Microbiology

Plant root and soil microbiome

Responses of bacterial communities in seagrass sediments to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon-induced stress – Juan Ling – Ecotoxicology

Analyses of microbial biomass and community diversity in kiwifruit orchard soils of different planting ages – Qingxia Fu – Acta Ecologica Sinica

The effects of the presence of Bt-transgenic oilseed rape in wild mustard populations on the rhizosphere nematode and microbial communities – Yongbo Liu – Science of The Total Environment

Long-term conservation tillage influences the soil microbial community and its contribution to soil CO2 emissions in a Mollisol in Northeast China – Shuxia Jia – Journal of Soils and Sediments

Microbial communities inhabiting oil-contaminated soils from two major oilfields in Northern China: Implications for active petroleum-degrading capacity – Weimin Sun – Journal of Microbiology

Differential degradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon mixtures by indigenous microbial assemblages in soil – Przemyslaw Sawulski – Letters in Applied Microbiology

A novel salt-tolerant chitobiosidase discovered by genetic screening of a metagenomic library derived from chitin-amended agricultural soil – Mariana Silvia Cretoiu – Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

Book chapter: Irrigation with Treated Wastewater: Potential Impacts on Microbial Function and Diversity in Agricultural Soils – Ana Rita Lopes – The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry 2015

Water microbiome

Response of bacteria and meiofauna to iron oxide colloids in sediments of freshwater microcosms – Sebastian Höss – Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry

Response of rare, common and abundant bacterioplankton to anthropogenic perturbations in a Mediterranean coastal site – Federico Baltar – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Book Chapter: Marine Litter as Habitat and Dispersal Vector – Tim Kiessling – Marine Anthropogenic Litter

Thesis: Metagenomic profiling of microbial metal interaction in Red Sea deep-anoxic brine pools – Hanna, Mina Magdy Abdelsayed – American University in Cairo

Built environment microbiome

Microbial community composition of a household sand filter used for arsenic, iron, and manganese removal from groundwater in Vietnam – Katja Sonja Nitzsche – Chemosphere

The role of bacterial communities and carbon dioxide on the corrosion of steel – K.M. Usher – Corrosion Science

Extremophile microbiome

Review: Metagenomics of extreme environments – DA Cowan – Current Opinion in Microbiology

Food microbiology

Review: The impact of climate change on existing and emerging microbial threats across the food chain: An island of Ireland perspective – Linda D. Stewart – Trends in Food Science & Technology

Review: Microbial decontamination of food by electron beam irradiation – Hsiang-Mei Lung – Trends in Food Science & Technology

Bioreactor microbiome

Bioreactor microbial ecosystems for thiocyanate and cyanide degradation unraveled with genome-resolved metagenomics – Rose S. Kantor – Environmental Microbiology

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

CCLasso: Correlation Inference for Compositional Data through Lasso – Huaying Fang – Bioinformatics

GAML: genome assembly by maximum likelihood: combination of diverse sequencing datasets into a single assembly – Vladimír Boža – Algorithms for Molecular Biology

Effects of library size variance, sparsity, and compositionality on the analysis of microbiome data – Sophie J Weiss – PeerJ

Review: Identification of Viruses and Viroids by Next-Generation Sequencing and Homology-Dependent and Homology-Independent Algorithms – Qingfa Wu – Annual Reviews Phytopathology

Metabolomics

Mapping microbial response metabolomes for induced natural product discovery – Dagmara K. Derewacz – ACS Chemical Biology
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acschembio.5b00001

Techniques

Analysis of microsamples of human faeces: a non-invasive approach to study the bioavailability of fat-soluble bioactive compounds – E. Hernandez-Alvarez – European Journal of Nutrition

Microbes in the news

Say hello to your little friends: Making sense of gut bacteria – Wency Leung – Globe and Mail

Surfers help science in fight against antibiotic resistant bacteria with their poop – Luigi Lugmayer – i4u

Effects of zinc oxide on intestinal microbiota – All About Feed

VideoWaxworm Bacteria Could Recycle Plastic Trash – NBC News

Is That Water Hot Enough to Kill Germs? – C. Claiborne Ray – New York Times

Gut bacteria play a vital role to your health – Sharon Ní Chonchuir – Irish Examiner

New microscope technique could speed identification of deadly bacteria – EurekAlert

Science, publishing, and career

Better advice for ‘Bothered’ – Science Careers Staff – Science Magazine

Retractions and High Profile Journals – Peter Edmonds

Bik’s Picks

Black Hole Hunters – Dennis Overbye – New York Times

Everything You Need to Know About Bill Nye’s Crazy Experimental Spaceship – Jack Linshi – Time

Under the Sea: Google Views for World Oceans Day – Patrick J. Kiger – Discovery

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June 6, 2015

A new paper on the microbiome of the human nose, several gut microbiome reviews,  microbiomes of soils and extreme environments, microbiome models and a cool poster about defining OTU. Happy Saturday!

Human oral microbiome

Antimicrobial Effect of a Single Dose of Amoxicillin on the Oral Microbiota – Cecilia Larsson Wexell – Clinical Implant Dentistry and Related Research

Human respiratory microbiome

Staphylococcus aureus and the ecology of the nasal microbiome – Cindy M. Liu – Science Advances

Human gut microbiome

Review: Interactions between Diet, Bile Acid Metabolism, Gut Microbiota, and Inflammatory Bowel Diseases – Devkota S – Digestive Diseases

Review: Gut Microbiota, Cirrhosis, and Alcohol Regulate Bile Acid Metabolism in the Gut – Ridlon J.M – Digestive Diseases

Review: Relationship between Obesity, Gut Microbiome and Hepatocellular Carcinoma Development – Hara E. – Digestive Diseases

Animal models of microbiome research

Absence of the intestinal microbiota exacerbates hepatobiliary disease in a murine model of primary sclerosing cholangitis – James H. Tabibian – Hepatology

Effects of dietary fat profile on gut permeability and microbiota and their relationships with metabolic changes in mice – Yan Y. Lam – Obesity

Animal microbiome

Gut-Associated Bacteria of Dendroctonus valens and their Involvement in Verbenone Production – Letian Xu – Microbial Ecology

Feeding of β-1,3/1,6-glucan increases the diversity of the intestinal microflora of carp (Cyprinus carpio) – V. Jung-Schroers – Aquaculture Nutrition

Changes in coral reef communities across a natural gradient in seawater pH – Hannah C. Barkley – Science Advances

Plant root, soil and sediment microbiome

Symbiosis with an endobacterium increases the fitness of a mycorrhizal fungus, raising its bioenergetic potential – Alessandra Salvioli – ISME Journal

Bacterial Diversity in Bentonites, Engineered Barrier for Deep Geological Disposal of Radioactive Wastes – Margarita Lopez-Fernandez – Microbial Ecology

Is Planktonic Diversity Well Recorded in Sedimentary DNA? Toward the Reconstruction of Past Protistan Diversity – Eric Capo – Microbial Ecology

Water microbiome

Phytoplankton community structure in relation to vertical stratification along a north-south gradient in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean – Kristina D. A. Mojica – Limnology and Oceanography

Extremophile microbiome

Supratidal Extremophiles—Cyanobacterial Diversity in the Rock Pools of the Croatian Adria – Maria Brandes – Microbial Ecology

Pyrosequencing-Based Assessment of the Microbial Community Structure of Pastoruri Glacier Area (Huascarán National Park, Perú), a Natural Extreme Acidic Environment – Elena González-Toril – Microbial Ecology

Metagenomics and bioinformatics

Bioinformatic Amplicon Read Processing Strategies Strongly Affect Eukaryotic Diversity and the Taxonomic Composition of Communities – Markus Majaneva

Microbiome models, on computers and in lab dishes, see progress – Jop de Vrieze – Nature Medicine

Don’t miss this cool poster: OTU robustness, reproducibility and ecological consistency in the demarcation of operational taxonomic units – Thomas SB Schmidt

Microbes in the news

Nasal Microbiome Study Examines Influence of Host Genetics, Types of Bacterial Communities – Genome Web

The fastest-growing biome on Earth is in our homes. Forget your kids and pets. Your house’s biodiversity hotspots shelter tons of microorganisms – Mary Jo DiLonardo

Socialising Baboons and Gut Microbes – deSciphered: summarising research with simple graphics

Exploring the Link Between Gut Microbes and Diabetes – Betul Hatipoglu

Kaiser Permanente Fresno uses ‘zapper’ to get rid of deadly bacteria – ABC30

This Man Believes Mushrooms Can Solve Virtually All of Humanity’s Problems: next probiotic? – Munchies

Bik’s Picks

Eating placenta ‘does not benefit health’: There is no scientific evidence that eating the placenta after childbirth can protect women against depression and boost energy, US research suggests –  – BBC News

Ancient Shark Fossil Found in Texas – Deborah Grace – Pioneer News

VideoRobots Falling Down at DARPA Robotics Challenge – IEEE Spectrum – Youtube

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June 5, 2015

A new test that reveals past viral infections using one drop of blood, subgingival microbiota in HIV-infected adults, and influencing horse behavior through diet.

Human oral microbiome

The oral mucosal and salivary microbial community of Behçet’s syndrome and recurrent aphthous stomatitis – Seoudi N – J Oral Microbiology

Subgingival bacterial community profiles in HIV-infected Brazilian adults with chronic periodontitis – D. C. Ferreira – Journal of Periodontal Research

Human bladder microbiome

Decreased microbiota diversity associated with urinary tract infection in a trial of bacterial interference – Deborah Horwitz – Journal of Infection

Human gut microbiome

Use of T-RFLP and seven restriction enzymes to compare the faecal microbiota of obese and lean Japanese healthy men – T. Kobayashi – Beneficial Microbes

The Gut Microbiome and Childhood Obesity: Connecting the Dots – An interview with Mueller Noel Theodore – Childhood Obesity

Review: Metagenomics of the Human Intestinal tract: From who is there to what is done there – Antonietta Cultrone – Current Opinion in Food Science

Editorial: On the Gut Microbiome-Brain Axis and Altruism – Theoharis C. Theoharides – Clinical Therapeutics

Review: Potential Etiologic Factors of Microbiome Disruption in Autism – Timothy Buie – Clinical Therapeutics

Conference abstract: Dietary supplementation with a type 3 resistant starch induces butyrate producing bacteria within the gut microbiota of human volunteers – J. Kelly – Appetite

Review: Immunogenetic control of the intestinal microbiota – Eric Marietta – Immunology

Book chapter: Fecal Microbiota Transplantation for Clostridium Difficile Infection: A Systematic Review of the Evidence – Dimitri Drekonja – Department of Veterans Affairs

Review: Gut bacteria and cancer – Susan E. Erdman – Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) – Reviews on Cancer

Review: The Gut Microbiota and Type 1 Diabetes – Elke Gülden – Clinical Immunology

Animal models of microbiome research

Transmissible microbial and metabolomic remodeling by soluble dietary fiber improves metabolic homeostasis – Baokun He – Scientific Reports

Antibiotics promote inflammation through the translocation of native commensal colonic bacteria – Kathryn A Knoop – Gut

Pyrosequencing reveals shifts in the bacterial epimural community relative to dietary concentrate amount in goats – S.U. Wetzels – Journal of Dairy Science

Programming rumen bacterial communities in newborn Merino lambs – I. De Barbieri – Small Ruminant Research

Changes of the hindgut microbiota due to high-starch diet can be associated with behavioral stress response in horses – Alexandra Destrez – Physiology & Behavior

Animal microbiome

Bats: Phyllostomid bat microbiome composition is associated to host phylogeny and feeding strategies – Mario Carrillo-Araujo – Frontiers in Microbiology

Squirrels: An Invasive Mammal (the Gray Squirrel, Sciurus carolinensis) Commonly Hosts Diverse and Atypical Genotypes of the Zoonotic Pathogen Borrelia burgdorferi Sensu Lato
Caroline Millins – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Fish: High diversity of skin-associated bacterial communities of marine fishes is promoted by their high variability among body parts, individuals and species – Marlène Chiarello

Snakes: Phylogenetic Analysis of Bacterial Communities in Different Regions of the Gastrointestinal Tract of Agkistrodon piscivorus, the Cottonmouth Snake – Timothy J. Colston – PLOS ONE

Insects: Leaf-Cutter Ant Fungus Gardens Are Biphasic Mixed Microbial Bioreactors That Convert Plant Biomass to Polyols with Biotechnological Applications – Alexandre F. Somera – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Nematodes: Xenorhabdus bovienii Strain Diversity Impacts Coevolution and Symbiotic Maintenance with Steinernema spp. Nematode Hosts – Kristen E. Murfin – mBio

Coral: Microbial invasion of the Caribbean by an Indo-Pacific coral zooxanthella – D. Tye Pettay – PNAS

Plant root and soil microbiome

Linking jasmonic acid signalling, root exudates and rhizosphere microbiomes – Lilia C Carvalhais – Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions

Changes in microbial communities along redox gradients in polygonized Arctic wet tundra soils – David A. Lipson – Environmental Microbiology Reports

Two decades of warming increases diversity of a potentially lignolytic bacterial community  – Grace Pold – Frontiers in Microbiology

Water microbiome

Patterns and Determinants of Halophilic Archaea (Class Halobacteria) Diversity in Tunisian Endorheic Salt Lakes and Sebkhet Systems – Afef Najjari – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Microbial community structure and function on sinking particles in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre – Kristina M. Fontanez – Frontiers in Microbiology

Metagenomic resolution of microbial functions in deep-sea hydrothermal plumes across the Eastern Lau Spreading Center – Karthik Anantharaman – The ISME Journal

Built environment microbiome

Inflammatory potential in relation to the microbial content of settled dust samples collected from moisture-damaged and reference schools: results of HITEA study – K. Huttunen

Pyrosequencing analysis of bacterial diversity in dental unit waterlines – Damien Costa – Water Research

Viruses and phages

Comprehensive serological profiling of human populations using a synthetic human virome – George J. Xu – Science

Metagenomics and 16S rRNA sequencing

Viewpoint: Improving the quality of genome, protein sequence, and taxonomy databases: a prerequisite for microbiome meta-omics 2.0 – Olivier Pible and Jean Armengaud – Proteomics

Opinion: Confusion about the species richness of human gut microbiota – E. Avershina, K. Rudi – Beneficial Microbes

Metabolomics

Microbial secondary metabolites in homes in association with moisture damage and asthma – P. V. Kirjavainen – Indoor Air

In Silico Analysis of the Metabolic Potential and Niche Specialization of Candidate Phylum “Latescibacteria” (WS3) – Noha H. Youssef – PLOS ONE

Bioinformatics

BEMOVI, software for extracting behavior and morphology from videos, illustrated with analyses of microbes – Frank Pennekamp – Ecology and Evolution

Techniques

Evaluation of the Ion Torrent Personal Genome Machine for Gene-Targeted Studies Using Amplicons of the Nitrogenase Gene nifH – Bangzhou Zhang – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Revisiting the Dilution Procedure Used To Manipulate Microbial Biodiversity in Terrestrial Systems – Yan Yan – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Microbes in the news

How Many Viruses Have Infected You? – Nell GreenfieldBoyce – NPR

A Lifetime of Viruses: Scientists devise an antibody-based test that can generate a person’s complete “viral history” with just one drop of blood. – Amanda B. Keener – The Scientist

Single Test for All Virus Exposure Opens Doors for Researchers – Denise Grady – New York Times

Shielded Microbes Could Spread Life Far Beyond Earth – Elizabeth Howell – Discovery

Unregulated faecal transplants could squander gut-bug promise – New Scientist

Antibiotics affect piglets’ immune system – All About Feed

Good, good, good, good bacteria – Elisabeth Winkler – Sustainable Food Trust

#ASM2015: Many Skin Bacteria Are Dead or Inactive, Study Finds – Health.com

Invasive microbe protects corals from global warming, but at a cost – A’ndrea Elyse Messer, Penn State – Steam Register

Bik’s Picks

India is building millions of toilets. Getting people to use them is a bigger task. – Rama Lakshmi – Washington Post

There Is No Global Warming Hiatus After All – Sarah Zielinski – Smithsonian

New ‘Hellboy’ Dinosaur Unveiled In Scientific Paper With A Romantic Twist – Hilary Hanson – The Huffington Post

Two Newfound Marsupials Do It to Death – Laura Geggel – Discovery

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June 3, 2015

Microbiomes of seahorses, diet and human stool, gut microbes influencing CNS, lichen-associated bacteria, sequencing beer, and news from #ASM2015.

Human gut microbiome

Fecal Microbiota in Healthy Subjects Following Omnivore, Vegetarian and Vegan Diets: Culturable Populations and rRNA DGGE Profiling – Ilario Ferrocino – PLOS ONE

Animal models of microbiome research

Host microbiota constantly control maturation and function of microglia in the CNS – Daniel Erny – Nature Neuroscience

Effects of Dietary Linseed Oil and Propionate Precursors on Ruminal Microbial Community, Composition, and Diversity in Yanbian Yellow Cattle – Xiang Z. Li – PLOS ONE

Animal microbiome

A Metagenomic Survey of Viral Abundance and Diversity in Mosquitoes from Hubei Province – Chenyan Shi – PLOS ONE

Comparison of the Intestinal Bacterial Flora in Healthy and Intestinal-diseased Seahorses Hippocampus trimaculatus, Hippocampus erectus, and Hippocampus spinosissimus – Feng Li – Journal of the World Aquaculture Society

Plant and soil microbiome

Analysis of the Peltigera membranacea metagenome indicates that lichen-associated bacteria are involved in phosphate solubilization – Margrét Auður Sigurbjörnsdóttir – Microbiology

Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Community Structure, Abundance and Species Richness Changes in Soil by Different Levels of Heavy Metal and Metalloid Concentration – Ramasamy Krishnamoorthy – PLOS ONE

Built environment microbiome

Chamber Bioaerosol Study: Outdoor Air and Human Occupants as Sources of Indoor Airborne Microbes – Rachel I. Adams – PLOS ONE

Survey of Microbial Diversity in Flood Areas during Thailand 2011 Flood Crisis Using High-Throughput Tagged Amplicon Pyrosequencing – Wuttichai Mhuantong – PLOS ONE

Metagenomic Insights into the Bioaerosols in the Indoor and Outdoor Environments of Childcare Facilities – Su-Kyoung Shin – PLOS ONE

Food microbiology

PCR-DGGE assessment of the bacterial diversity in Spanish-style green table-olive fermentations – Helena Lucena-Padrós – International Journal of Food Microbiology

Microbial ecology

Perspectives on the context-dependency of stream community responses to contaminants – William H. Clements – Freshwater Biology

Metacommunity speciation models and their implications for diversification theory – Nicolas Hubert – Ecology Letters

The complex relationship between microbial growth rate and yield and its implications for ecosystem processes – David A. Lipson – Frontiers in Microbiology

Techniques

The Effect of Sampling and Storage on the Fecal Microbiota Composition in Healthy and Diseased Subjects – Danyta I. Tedjo – PLOS ONE

Microbes in the news

Sequence your beer: BeerDeCoded: the 1,000 beer genomes

#ASM2015 – Soil microbes ally with plants to fight disease and tolerate stress – Phys.org

#ASM2015 video: A Critical Role of the Plant Microbiome for Immunocompetency – ASM

#ASM2015: Share a Bathroom With Other People? Here’s Something You May or May Not Want to Know About Your Toothbrush – Liz Klimas – The Blaze

All About Flora: How Important Gut Health Really Is. Don’t be grossed out – those little guys living in your guts are your friends – Lacie Glover – US News
Ancient algae found deep in tropical glacier – Biology News

Microbes, biodiversity and the benefits of getting dirty – David Suzuki – National Observer

Former COD Theater Major Researches Microbiology in South Africa – Mitchell11 – Chicago Tribune

Interview with Jessica Richman of uBiome – Tracy Mac – The Power of Poop

Bacteria study may curb antibiotics use – Jeremy Watson – The Times

Could remnants of the earliest life be preserved in volcanic glass? Controversy about microbial “biotextures” – Shalini Saxena – ArsTechnica

Science, publishing, and career

Why we should help people understand our scientific literature – R. W. Abrams – Conservation Biology

Announcing mSystems™: a new ASM open-access journal launching in early 2016 with Jack Gilbert as Founding Editor in Chief – ASM

Scientists Behaving Badly (On Social Media) – Brett Buttliere – PLOS Blogs

Publons and the American Society for Microbiology announce pilot partnership – ASM

Helpful websites for women scientists interested in fellowships, scholarships and funding opportunities – ASM

Bik’s Picks

Chimps Can’t Cook, But Maybe They’d Like To – Michael D. Lemonick – National Geographic

20-year-old invents ingenious system to rid ocean of trash – Olivia Solon – Mirror

Sea lions injured in chlorine attack return to ocean (video) – Chicago Tribune

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