February 24, 2016

Women in space, cacti, celiac disease, and traveling dust.

Event

Not endorsing – full of quackery and folks trying to sell their books and food supplements, little science: Microbiome Medicine Summit

Human oral microbiome

Review: Porphyromonas gingivalis: An Overview of Periodontopathic Pathogen below the Gum Line – Kah Yan How – Frontiers in Microbiology

Human reproductive tract microbiome

The potential influence of the microbiota and probiotics on women during long spaceflights – Camilla Urbaniak – Future Medicine

Human gut microbiome

Study of duodenal bacterial communities by 16S rRNA gene analysis in adults with active celiac disease versus non celiac disease controls – Esther Nistal – Journal of Applied Microbiology

High Molecular Weight Barley β-Glucan Alters Gut Microbiota Toward Reduced Cardiovascular Disease Risk – Yanan Wang – Frontiers in Microbiology

Review: A glance at … dietary emulsifiers, the human intestinal mucus and microbiome, and dietary fiber – Michael J. Glade – Nutrition

Review: Chemical conversations in the gut microbiota – Jessica A. Thompson – Gut Microbes

Review: Atopic dermatitis and the intestinal microbiota in humans and dogs – J. Mark Craig – Veterinary Medicine and Science

Animal models

Composition of fecal microbiota of laboratory mice derived from Japanese commercial breeders using 16S rRNA gene clone libraries – Ryoko Nozu – Journal of Veterinary Medical Science

Animal microbiome

News in livestock research — use of Omics-technologies to study the microbiota in the gastrointestinal tract of farm animals – Simon Deusch – Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

The Cacti Microbiome: Interplay between Habitat-Filtering and Host-Specificity – Citlali Fonseca-García – Frontiers in Microbiology

Comparison of Fungal Community in Black Pepper-Vanilla and Vanilla Monoculture Systems Associated with Vanilla Fusarium Wilt Disease
Wu Xiong – Frontiers in Microbiology

Bacterial-Plant-Interactions: Approaches to Unravel the Biological Function of Bacterial Volatiles in the Rhizosphere – Marco Kai – Frontiers in Microbiology

Short-Term Rhizosphere Effect on Available Carbon Sources, Phenanthrene Degradation, and Active Microbiome in an Aged-Contaminated Industrial Soil – François Thomas – Frontiers in Microbiology

Changes in rhizosphere bacterial gene expression following glyphosate treatment – Molli M. Newman – Science of the Total Environment

Pepino (Solanum muricatum) planting increased diversity and abundance of bacterial communities in karst area – Jinxiang Hu – Scientific Reports

Friend or foe? Biological and ecological traits of the European ash dieback pathogen Hymenoscyphus fraxineus in its native environment – Michelle Cleary – Scientific Report

An interdomain network: the endobacterium of a mycorrhizal fungus promotes antioxidative responses in both fungal and plant hosts – Candida Vannini – New Phytologist

Water and extremophile microbiome

The effect of temperature change on the microbial diversity and community structure along the chronosequence of the sub-arctic glacier forefield of Styggedalsbreen (Norway) – Alejandro Mateos-Rivera – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Water level changes affect carbon turnover and microbial community composition in lake sediments – Lukas Weise – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Evaluation of the treatment performance and microbial communities of a combined constructed wetland used to treat industrial park wastewater – Ming Xu – Environmental Science and Pollution Research

Bacterial Composition and Survival on Sahara Dust Particles Transported to the European Alps – Marco Meola – Frontiers in Microbiology

Review: Bridging the divide: a model-data approach to Polar and Alpine microbiology – James A. Bradley – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

ghost-tree: creating hybrid-gene phylogenetic trees for diversity analyses – Jennifer Fouquier – Microbiome

More microbiology

Peracetic Acid Treatment Generates Potent Inactivated Oral Vaccines from a Broad Range of Culturable Bacterial Species – Kathrin Moor – Frontiers in Immunology

Microbes in the news

Bacteria From the Sahara Desert Found on Swiss Glaciers – Nellie Van Driska – GlacierHub

Wolbachia Bacteria Could Be Answer To Malaria, Dengue: Bill Gates – NDTV

Student Research Focus: Drew Gukeisen discovers and visualizes new virus – Indiana University SouthEast

Bacteria swabbing trend for newborns medically in doubt – Carina Storrs – CNN

Microbes and art

Navel gazing: portraits of the bacteria in our belly buttons – in pictures by Joana Ricou – The Guardian

Science, publishing, and career

Activism: Frustrated postdocs rise up – Paul Smaglik – Nature

Don’t trust an image in a scientific paper? Manipulation detective’s company wants to help – Retraction Watch
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February 17, 2016

Microbial biomarkers for diabetes, gut sialidases,  pathogens in stranded sea turtles, microbial biodeterioration of an ancient staircase, and how bacterial stay in shape.

Events

‘Microbiome-based Foods for Health and Sustainability’ workshop, 23 February, Brussels – APC Microbiome Institute

Call for Entries! ASM’s 2016 Agar Art Contest. Deadline: May 6.

Human oral microbiome

Intracerebral hemorrhage and deep microbleeds associated with cnm-positive Streptococcus mutans; a hospital cohort study – Shuichi Tonomura – Scientific Reports

Review: Oral Microbiome: Contributions to Local and Systemic Infections – Kerri T. Simpson – Current Oral Health Reports

Human gut microbiome

Sub-clinical detection of gut microbial biomarkers of obesity and type 2 diabetes – Moran Yassour – Genome Medicine

Postoperative changes in fecal bacterial communities and fermentation products in obese patients undergoing bilio-intestinal bypass – Vania Patrone – Frontiers in Microbiology

The Effects of Bowel Preparation on Microbiota-Related Metrics Differ in Health and in Inflammatory Bowel Disease and for the Mucosal and Luminal Microbiota Compartments – Rima M Shobar – Clinical and Translational Gastroenterology

Registered report: Fusobacterium nucleatum infection is prevalent in human colorectal carcinoma – John Repass – eLIFE

Review: Sialidases from gut bacteria: a mini-review – Nathalie Juge – Biochemical Society Transactions

Review: Akkermansia muciniphila and its role in regulating host functions – Muriel Derrien – Microbial Pathogenesis

Models of microbiome research

Probiotics modulated gut microbiota suppresses hepatocellular carcinoma growth in mice – Jun Li – PNAS

The bacterial microbiome of Dermacentor andersoni ticks influences pathogen susceptibility – Cory A Gall – ISME Journal

Have clay will lay: Chicken: Dietary supplementation with the clay mineral palygorskite affects performance and beneficially modulates caecal microbiota in laying pullets – S. Chalvatzi – Journal of Applied Microbiology

Animal microbiome

Bacterial agents in 248 ticks removed from people from 2002 to 2013 – Camille Aubry – Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases

Bacterial and viral pathogens detected in sea turtles stranded along the coast of Tuscany, Italy – G. Fichi – Veterinary Microbiology

Poor English (but US lab): Identification of Host-Specific Genetic Markers within 16S rDNA Intervening Sequences of 73 Genera of Fecal Bacteria – Zhenyu Shen – Omics’ Journal of Data Mining in Genomics & Proteomics

Editorial: Developmental biology: Females have a lot of guts – Justin Fear – Nature

The sexual identity of adult intestinal stem cells controls organ size and plasticity – Bruno Hudry – Nature

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Bacterial predator–prey dynamics in microscale patchy landscapes – Felix J. H. Hol – Proceedings of the Royal Society B

Variation in soil microbial communities associated with critically endangered Wollemi pine affects fungal, but not bacterial, assembly within seedling roots – J.L. Rigg – Pedobiologia

The Effects of Nitrogen Fertilizer on Soil Microbial Communities Under Conventional and Conservation Agricultural Managements in a Tropical Clay-Rich Ultisol – Miura, Toshiko – Soil Science

Cover Crop and Irrigation Effects on Soil Microbial Communities and Enzymes in Semiarid Agroecosystems of the Central Great Plains of North America – Francisco J. Calderón – Pedosphere

Effect of soil disinfection with chemical and biological methods on bacterial communities – Md Rokunuzzaman – Egyptian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences

Water and extremophile microbiome

Metagenomic insights into the uncultured diversity and physiology of microbes in four hypersaline soda lake brines – Charlotte D. Vavourakis – Frontiers in Microbiology

Characterization of bacterial communities in wetland mesocosms receiving pharmaceutical-enriched wastewater – Dongqing Zhang – Ecological Engineering

Microbial Community Profile and Water Quality in a Protected Area of the Caatinga Biome – Fabyano Alvares Cardoso Lopes – PLOS ONE

Thesis: Tightly-coupled sulfur-cycling microbial mats of the White Point hydrothermal vent field, CA: An analog for deep-sea vents – Priscilla J Miranda – California State University Long Beach

Thesis: The microbial diversity and function of Arctic supraglacial biomes – Stefanie Lutz – University of Leeds

Built environment microbiome

Biodeterioration Risk Threatens the 3100 Year Old Staircase of Hallstatt (Austria): Possible Involvement of Halophilic Microorganisms – Guadalupe Piñar – PLOS ONE

The Black Yeast Exophiala dermatitidis and Other Selected Opportunistic Human Fungal Pathogens Spread from Dishwashers to Kitchens – Jerneja Zupančič – PLOS ONE

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

IMP: a pipeline for reproducible integrated metagenomic and metatranscriptomic analyses – Shaman Narayanasamy – BioRxiv

Colib’read on galaxy: a tools suite dedicated to biological information extraction from raw NGS reads – Yvan Le Bras – GigaScience

Shannon: An Information-Optimal de NovoRNA-Seq Assembler – Sreeram Kannan – BioRxiv

RECKONER: Read Error Corrector Based on KMC – Maciej Długosz – ArXiv

A benchmark study on error-correction by read-pairing and tag-clustering in amplicon-based deep sequencing – Tian-Hao Zhang – BMC Genomics

More microbiology

HT: Liz Costello: Universal resilience patterns in complex networks – Jianxi Gao – Nature

Microbially assisted recording of the Earth’s magnetic field in sediment – Xiangyu Zhao – Nature Communications

High coverage metabolomics analysis reveals phage-specific alterations to Pseudomonas aeruginosa physiology during infection – Jeroen De Smet – The ISME Journal

Discovery of cahuitamycins as biofilm inhibitors derived from a convergent biosynthetic pathway – Sung Ryeol Park – Nature Communications

Review: Staying in Shape: the Impact of Cell Shape on Bacterial Survival in Diverse Environments – Desirée C. Yang – Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews

Microbes in the news

Oral bacteria linked to risk of stroke – Betty Coffman – University of Louisville

Opportunistic Fungal Pathogens in Dishwashers and Kitchens – Alex Alexiev – MicroBEnet

UVA: Bacteria Overgrowth Could Be Major Cause of Stunting in Children – University of Virginia Health System – NBC29

A new method to dramatically improve the sequencing of metagenomes – EurekAlert

What your gut bacteria can tell you about type 2 diabetes – MedicalXpress

New anti-biofilm compounds show promise against drug-resistant bacteria linked to hospital infections – Ian Demsky – University of Michigan

Crowdfunding project: How Insects and Bacteria Can Solve Murder Mysteries: estimate the time since death (TSD) at a crime scene – Experiment

Crowdfunding project: E pluribus unum: how honey bee bacteria coordinate behaviors – Irene Newton – Experiment

uBiome Named One of World’s Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Healthcare by Fast Company – PR Web

MIT Spinout Synlogic Grabs $40M To Program Microbes Into Living Drugs – Luke Timmerman – Forbes

Science, publishing, and career

Biologists urged to hug a preprint: ASAPbio meeting discusses the ins and outs of posting work online before peer review – Ewen Callaway – Nature

Accelerating Science with Preprints – Peter Binfield – PeerJ Blog

XY Bias: How Male Biology Students See Their Female PeersIn three large classes, men overrated the abilities of male students above equally talented and outspoken women – Ed Yong – The Atlantic

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February 13, 2016

Fungal communities of bark beetles, microbiome in rhinosinusitis, deep-sea chemolithoautotrophic communities, talking walls (microbes in houses), and, for Valentine’s Day: cocoa bean fermentation. 

Jobs and events

Postdoc opportunity, University of Notre Dame: 20,000 longitudinal gut microbiome samples from wild baboons

Pregnancy and birth

ReviewPrevention of Necrotizing Enterocolitis Through Manipulation of the Intestinal Microbiota of the Premature Infant – Kannikar Vongbhavit – Clinical Therapeutics

Human oral microbiome

Analysis of bacterial community profiles of endodontically infected primary teeth using pyrosequencing – Kwan Hee Yun – International Journal of Paediatric Dentistry

Human respiratory microbiome

Composition and dynamics of the respiratory tract microbiome in intubated patients – Brendan J. Kelly – Microbiome Journal

Metagenomic Sequencing of the Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Upper Bronchial Tract Microbiome Reveals Functional Changes Associated with Disease Severity – Simon J. S. Cameron- PLOS ONE

The bacterial microbiome in chronic rhinosinusitis: Richness, diversity, postoperative changes, and patient outcomes – Edward John Cleland – American Journal of Rhinology & Allergy

Review: Microbiome of the paranasal sinuses: Update and literature review – Jivianne T. Lee – American Journal of Rhinology & Allergy

Editorial: The microbiome of the sinuses and its relevance in health and disease – Simon A. Carney

Human reproductive tract microbiome

Molecular detection of intrauterine microbial colonization in women with endometriosis – Khaleque N. Khan – European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology

ReviewThe Basics of Bacteriuria: Strategies of Microbes for Persistence in Urine – Deepak S. Ipe – Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology

Review: The Human Microbiome during Bacterial Vaginosis – Andrew B. Onderdonk – Clinical Microbiology Reviews

Human gut microbiome

Allergy associations with the adult fecal microbiota: Analysis of the American Gut Project – Xing Hua – EBioMedicine

An Integrated Metabolomic and Microbiome Analysis Identified Specific Gut Microbiota Associated with Fecal Cholesterol and Coprostanol in Clostridium difficile Infection – Vijay C. Antharam – PLOS ONE

Review: The Role of Probiotics on the Microbiota: Effect on Obesity – Esther Nova – Nutrition in Clinical Practice

Editorial: Policing of gut microbiota by the adaptive immune system – Laurent Dollé – BMC Medicine

Review: Fostering of advanced mutualism with gut microbiota by Immunoglobulin A – Duncan B. Sutherland – Immunological Reviews

Perspective: The Second Brain: Is the Gut Microbiota a Link Between Obesity and Central Nervous System Disorders? – Javier Ochoa-Repáraz – Current Obesity Reports

Review: Butyrate, Neuroepigenetics and the Gut Microbiome: Can a High Fiber Diet Improve Brain Health? – Megan W. Bourassa – Neuroscience Letters

Gut passage

Colonic response to laxative ingestion as assessed by MRI differs in constipated irritable bowel syndrome compared to functional constipation – C. Lam – Neurogastroenterology & Motility

How do primates affect seed germination? A meta-analysis of gut passage effects on neotropical plants – Lisieux F. Fuzessy – Oikos

Models of microbiome research

Drosophila: Effects of co-occurring Wolbachia and Spiroplasma endosymbionts on the Drosophila immune response against insect pathogenic and non-pathogenic bacteria – Upasana Shokal – BMC Microbiology

Rats: Diet-induced changes in maternal gut microbiota and metabolomic profiles influence programming of offspring obesity risk in rats – Heather A. Paul – Scientific Reports

Thesis, mice: The effects of nicotine on the gut microbiome and the serum metabolite profile of mice – Ridwan Amin Mahbub – University of Georgia

Contains several cases of image duplication (might be error): Dietary Fiber Intake Regulates Intestinal Microflora and Inhibits Ovalbumin-Induced Allergic Airway Inflammation in a Mouse Model – Zhiyu Zhang – PLOS ONE

Animal microbiome

Metabarcoding of fungal communities associated with bark beetles – Kirsten E. Miller – Ecology and Evolution

Deep 16S rRNA gene sequencing of anterior foregut microbiota from the blue-green sharpshooter (Graphocephala atropunctata) – E. E. Rogers – Journal of Applied Entomology

A bacterial filter protects and structures the gut microbiome of an insect – Michele Caroline Lanan – The ISME Journal

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Isolation and Identification of Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria from Cucumber Rhizosphere and Their Effect on Plant Growth Promotion and Disease Suppression – Shaikhul Islam – Frontiers in Microbiology

Microbial biomass and soil organic carbon accumulation on a former lakebed near Novosibirsk, Russia – Mikhail. V. Yakutin – Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science

A cost-effective and efficient strategy for Illumina sequencing of fungal communities: A case study of beech endophytes identified elevation as main explanatory factor for diversity and community composition – A.B. Siddique – Fungal Ecology

Primer: Networking in the Plant Microbiome – Marcel G. A. van der Heijden – PLOS Biology

Thesis: Next generation sequencing on soil samples from Etosha National Park: Diversity studies of an anthrax reservoir – Valseth, Karoline

Water and extremophile microbiome

Coupled RNA-SIP and metatranscriptomics of active chemolithoautotrophic communities at a deep-sea hydrothermal vent – Caroline S Fortunato – The ISME Journal

Novel microbial assemblages inhabiting crustal fluids within mid-ocean ridge flank subsurface basalt – Sean P Jungbluth – The ISME Journal

Context dependency in biodiversity patterns of central German stream metacommunities – Jonathan D. Tonkin – Freshwater Biology

Microbial community composition in the marine sediments of Jeju Island: next-generation sequencing surveys – Heebok Choi – Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology

Effects of temperature stress and aquarium conditions on the red macroalga Delisea pulchra and its associated microbial community – Enrique Zozaya-Valdés – Frontiers in Microbiology

Using in situ bacterial communities to monitor contaminants in river sediments – Yuwei Xie – Environmental Pollution

DGGE: Effects of fullerene (C60), multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT), single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) and hydroxyl and carboxyl modified single wall carbon nanotubes on riverine microbial communities – J. R. Lawrence – Environmental Science and Pollution Research

Built environment microbiome

Walls talk: Microbial biogeography of homes spanning urbanization – Jean F. Ruiz-Calderon – Science Advances

Microbial communities affecting albumen photography heritage: a methodological survey – Andrea Puškárová – Scientific Reports

Food microbiology

Characterization of microbiota in Plaisentif cheese by high-throughput sequencing
Alessandra Dalmasso – LWT-Food Science and Technology

Metagenomic analysis of viruses associated with field-grown and retail lettuce identifies human and animal viruses – Tiong Gim Aw – International Journal of Food Microbiology

Bacterial diversity of floor drain biofilms and drain waters in a Listeria monocytogenes contaminated food processing environment – Monika Dzieciol

Review: The cocoa bean fermentation process: from ecosystem analysis to starter culture development – L. De Vuyst – Journal of Applied Microbiology

Techniques

Oufti: an integrated software package for high-accuracy, high-throughput quantitative microscopy analysis – Ahmad Paintdakhi – Molecular Microbiology

Viruses and phages

PerspectiveA Virological Perspective on Cancer – Blossom Damania – PLOS Pathogens

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

Fast search of thousands of short-read sequencing experiments – Brad Solomon – Nature Biotechnology

Open-Source Sequence Clustering Methods Improve the State Of the Art – Evguenia Kopylova

Editorial: Bacterial Speciation: Genetic Sweeps in Bacterial Species -Frederick M. Cohan – Current Biology

Microbes in the news

Walls talk – or at least hold many secrets a wall whisperer can reveal – Jonathan Eisen – MicroBEnet

Country microbes, city microbes—where you live can change how you get sick – Annalee Newitz – Ars Technica

Urbanization Leads to Change in Type of Bacteria in the Home – Lauran Neergaard – ABC News

Fun listRanking the Top 10 Best Bacteria on Earth – Ben Guarino – Inverse

Science, publishing and career

The Research Pirates of the Dark Web – Kaveh Waddell  – The Atlantic

Researcher illegally shares millions of science papers free online to spread knowledge – Science Alert

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February 10, 2016

Socioeconomic status and microbiota diversity, metagenome of a carnivorous plant, microbiota of homes of CF patients, and high-resolution phylogenetic microbial community profiling.

Events

ASM Microbe 2016, June 16-20, Boston MA. With opening keynote lecture by Bill Gates

SC2: Microbiome: Sorting out the hype from the hope – March 6-11 2016, San Francisco

Probiotics and Prebiotics – June 21-23, Budapest

Pregnancy and birth

Routine Use of Probiotics in Preterm Infants: Longitudinal Impact on the Microbiome and Metabolome – Abdulkadir B. – Neonatology

Human oral microbiome

Isolation of Propionibacterium acnes among the microbiota of primary endodontic infections with and without intraoral communication – Sadia Ambreen Niazi – Clinical Oral Investigations

Human gut microbiome

Deciphering bifidobacterial-mediated metabolic interactions and their impact on gut microbiota by a multi-omics approach – Francesca Turroni – The ISME Journal

Lower Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status Associated with Reduced Diversity of the Colonic Microbiota in Healthy Adults – Gregory E. Miller – PLOS ONE

The features of mucosa-associated microbiota in primary sclerosing cholangitis
J. Torres – Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics

Review: Physiological Role of Gut Microbiota for Maintaining Human Health – Andoh A. – Digestion

Editorial: You Are What You Feed Your Gut Microbiome – Joseph E. Scherger – Health Affairs

Review: Gastroenvironmental distress: metaphorical antecedents of the gut microbiome – Nitin K Ahuja – Medical Humanities

Review: Fostering of advanced mutualism with gut microbiota by Immunoglobulin A – Duncan B. Sutherland – Immunological Reviews

Models of microbiome research

Drosophila: Preventing Age-Related Decline of Gut Compartmentalization Limits Microbiota Dysbiosis and Extends Lifespan – Hongjie Li – Cell Host & Microbe

Editorial: Microbes without Borders: Decompartmentalization of the Aging Gut – Erin S. Keebaugh – Cell Host & Microbe

Mice (and humans): Intestinal REG3 Lectins Protect against Alcoholic Steatohepatitis by Reducing Mucosa-Associated Microbiota and Preventing Bacterial Translocation – Lirui Wang – Cell Host & Microbe

Editorial: Alcohol Lowers Your (Intestinal) Inhibitions – Namrata Iyer – Cell Host & Microbe

Mice: Daikenchuto (TU-100) shapes gut microbiota architecture and increases the production of ginsenoside metabolite compound K – Takumu Hasebe – Pharmacology Research & Perspectives

Editorial: Microbiota Control of Malaria Transmission – Miguel P. Soares – Trends in Parasitology

Animal microbiome

Beetles: Trophic and Non-Trophic Interactions in a Biodiversity Experiment Assessed by Next-Generation Sequencing – Julia Tiede – PLOS ONE

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

The Metagenome of Utricularia gibba’s Traps: Into the Microbial Input to a Carnivorous Plant – Luis David Alcaraz – PLOS ONE

Enhancement of drought stress tolerance in crops by plant growth promoting rhizobacteria – Sai Shiva Krishna Prasad Vurukonda – Microbiological Research

Actinobacteria from Arid and Desert Habitats: Diversity and Biological Activity
Fatemeh Mohammadipanah – Frontiers in Microbiology

Organic Fertilization in Traditional Mediterranean Grapevine Orchards Mediates Changes in Soil Microbial Community Structure and Enhances Soil Fertility – Fuensanta García-Orenes – Land Degradation & Development

Effects of plant functional group loss on soil biota and net ecosystem exchange: a plant removal experiment in the Mongolian grassland – Dima Chen – Journal of Ecology

Water microbiome

Plankton networks driving carbon export in the oligotrophic ocean – Lionel Guidi – Nature

Built environment microbiome

Assessment of the Microbial Constituents of the Home Environment of Individuals with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) and Their Association with Lower Airways Infections – Alya Heirali – PLOS ONE

Metabolomics

Microbial metabolomics in open microscale platforms – Layla J. Barkal – Nature Communications

More microbiology

Open for discussionBacterial sequences detected in 99 out of 99 serum samples from Ebola patients – Marina Manrique – bioRxiv

Ethanol Production by Selected Intestinal Microorganisms and Lactic Acid Bacteria Growing under Different Nutritional Conditions – Fouad M. F. Elshaghabee – Frontiers in Microbiology

Rapid radiation in bacteria leads to a division of labour – Wook Kim – Nature Communications

Total biosynthesis of opiates by stepwise fermentation using engineered Escherichia coli – Akira Nakagawa – Nature Communications

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

PhyloTags: High-resolution phylogenetic microbial community profiling – Esther Singer – The ISME Journal

Analysis of five complete genome sequences for members of the class Peribacteria in the recently recognized Peregrinibacteria bacterial phylum – Karthik Anantharaman – PeerJ

Microbes in the news

The Good, the Bad and the Microbiome – Rachel Reisig – University of Minnesota

Unraveling the Mysterious Function of the Microbiome – by Mike Orcutt – MIT Technology Review

Wound-healing intestinal bacteria: Like shrubs after a forest fire
Akkermansia + other anaerobic bacteria temporarily bloom – EurekAlert

San Diego Scientists Find Data Brewing In Local Fermentation Culture – David Wagner – KPBS

Bacteria Have Ability to ‘See,’ Eye-Opening Study Finds – Maggie Fox – NBC News

A gut feeling about bacteria: Men are from Mars, women are from Venus – and their gut bacteria is just as different. – The Senior

How Your Gut Affects Your Bones. The surprising new science of how intestinal bacteria control bone strength – Rana Samadfam – Scientific American

Scientists Discover New Bacteria Responsible For Lyme Disease – David Beasly – Huffington Post

OverhypedSci-Q: The Science Of Love: The role of the microbiome in romantic attraction

Science, publishing, and career

Improving the peer-review process and editorial quality: key errors escaping the review and editorial process in top scientific journals – Antoni Margalida – PeerJ

Does it take too long to publish research? – Kendall Powell – Nature

The history of publishing delays – Daniel Himmelstein

The sexual misconduct case that has rocked anthropology – Michael Balter – Science
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February 8, 2016

Plasmid-mediated salt tolerance in the gut microbiota, Tuft cells and immunity, microbes of the Cerrado, impact of sequencing technique on microbiota analysis, and a new microbiome tool on the cloud.

Events

Introducing Nephele, NIAID’s new cloud-based microbiome analysis tool. Webinar on March 7. See also under Bioinformatics below.

Human oral microbiome

Research highlight: FISHing in the oral microbiota – Naomi Attar – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Human gut microbiome

Intestinal microbiota in inflammatory bowel disease and carcinogenesis: Implication for therapeutics – Steven D. Bruner – Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics

Evidence for plasmid mediated salt tolerance in the human gut microbiome and potential mechanisms – Eileen Broaders – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Oral versus intravenous iron replacement therapy distinctly alters the gut microbiota and metabolome in patients with IBD – Thomas Lee – Gut

Review: Novel Strategies for Applied Metagenomics – Moore-Connors, Jessica M. – Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

Research highlight: ntestinal microbiota in inflammatory bowel disease and carcinogenesis: Implication for therapeutics – Steven D. Bruner – Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics

Models of microbiome research

Tuft cells, taste-chemosensory cells, orchestrate parasite type 2 immunity in the gut – Michael R. Howitt – Science

Effects of dietary resistant starch content on metabolic status, milk composition, and microbial profiling in lactating sows and on offspring performance – H. Yan – Journal of Animal Physiology and Animal Nutrition

Beneficial Effects of Fecal Microbiota Transplantation on Ulcerative Colitis in Mice – Zhihui Tian – Digestive Diseases and Sciences

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Soil bacterial communities associated with natural and commercial Cyclopia spp. – Anneke Postma – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Diversity and functional traits of culturable microbiome members, including cyanobacteria in the rice phyllosphere – Siddarthan Venkatachalam – Plant Biology

Microbial Diversity in Cerrado Biome (Neotropical Savanna) Soils – Alinne Pereira de Castro – PLOS ONE

Dissipation and effects of tricyclazole on soil microbial communities and rice growth as affected by amendment with alperujo compost – M. García-Jaramillo – Science of The Total Environment

Opinion: Plant microbiota affects seed transmission of phytopathogenic micro-organisms – Matthieu Barret – Molecular Plant Pathology

Built environment microbiome

Indoor microbial communities: Influence on asthma severity in atopic and nonatopic children – Karen C. Dannemiller – The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology

Antibiotics in drinking water in Shanghai and its contribution to antibiotic exposure of school children – Hexing Wang – Environmental Science & Technology

Pollution and waste microbiology

Characterisation of biofilm and planktonic bacterial and fungal communities transforming high molecular weight polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons – Benjamin D Folwell – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Shift in antibiotic resistance gene profiles associated with nanosilver during wastewater treatment – Yanjun Ma – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Evaluating the Metal Tolerance Capacity of Microbial Communities Isolated from Alberta Oil Sands Process Water – Mathew L. Frankel- PLOS ONE

Nutrient and metal pollution of the eastern Gulf of Finland coastline: Sediments, macroalgae, microbiota – Yulia Gubelit – Science of the Total Environment

Impacts of pristine and transformed Ag and Cu engineered nanomaterials on surficial sediment microbial communities appear short-lived – Joe D Moore – Environmental Science & Technology

Food microbiology

Diversity and Stability of Lactic Acid Bacteria in Rye Sourdoughs of Four Bakeries with Different Propagation Parameters – Ene Viiard – PLOS ONE

Techniques

Comparing Apples and Oranges?: Next Generation Sequencing and Its Impact on Microbiome Analysis – Adam G. Clooney – PLOS ONE

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket: a cost-effective and powerful method to optimize primer choice for rRNA environmental community analyses using the Fluidigm Access Array – Shawn P. Brown – Molecular Ecology Resources

Probiotics

Probiotic and Functional Characterization of Bifidobacteria of Indian Human Origin – Nancy Awasti – Journal of Applied Microbiology

Bioinformatics

Nephele, microbiome analysis without boundaries. NIAID’s new tool offering cloud-based storage, file transfer, and analysis.

Note: 16S is not the same as metagenomics: Vikodak – A Modular Framework for Inferring Functional Potential of Microbial Communities from 16S Metagenomic Datasets – Sunil Nagpal – PLOS ONE

Microbes in the news

Smart Science: Wolbachia Bacteria Might Stop Zika and Dengue Viruses – Judy Stone – Forbes

The science of treating depression during pregnancy – Josie Glausiusz – Quartz

GIANTmicrobes – When Teachers Throw Things – Anne Estes

Gut bacteria may influence alcoholics’ liver damage – Kathryn Doyle – Reuters
Scientists Seek Answers on Zika in Other Viruses – Carl Zimmer – New York Times

Bears’ Hibernation Linked To Unusual Changes In Their Gut Microbes – Samantha Mathewson – Nature World News

Bears hibernate ‘with bacterial help’ – Jonathan Webb – BBC News

The Tardigrade story a.k.a. Open Science Wins – Surya Saha – Storify

This Bacteria-Powered Microrobot Navigates via Electric Fields – Michael Byrne – Motherboard

Sainsbury’s Recall Camembert Cheese Products Over Food Poisoning Concerns – Natasha Hinde – The Huffington Post UK

EFSA update: Fully defining microbiota cause-and-effect: Yolanda Sanz provides update –
Will Chu – Nutraingredients

Satire: Trump Proposes Ban On All Microbiome Researchers “Until We Know What They Are Up To” “When I become president, we are going to make American poo great once again.” – The Allium

Bacteria Hysteria

What’s hiding in your handbag? Contact 6 tests purses for bacteria – Katrina Cravy – Fox

Bik’s Picks

Natural History Museums Are Teeming With Undiscovered Species – Ed Yong – The Atlantic

New species of tarantula found near Folsom Prison named for Johnny Cash – Rachel Feltman – Washington Post

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February 4, 2016

A late digest today – Meetings and lab work kept me busy all day! Review about gut microbiota and malnutrition, Helicobacter infection affects local microbiome, salinity tolerance in corals, rhizosphere reviews, microbial mats in Shark Bay, and missing CRISPR regions in major bacterial lineages.

Jobs

Assistant, Associate or Senior Editor (Microbiology and Infectious Disease), Nature Communications, London, New York or Shanghai

Bioinformatics Scientist, Microbiome – Synthetic Genomics, Inc. – La Jolla CA

Pregnancy and birth
Routine Amoxicillin for Uncomplicated Severe Acute Malnutrition in Children – Sheila Isanaka – New England Journal of Medicine

Review: The case in favour of probiotics before, during and after pregnancy: insights from the first 1,500 days – G. Reid – Beneficial Microbes

Review: Development of the Neonatal Intestinal Microbiome and Its Association With Necrotizing Enterocolitis – Timothy G. Elgin – Clinical Therapeutics

Human oral microbiome

Interesting choice of  journalPeriodontitis induced by Porphyromonas gingivalis drives periodontal microbiota dysbiosis and insulin resistance via an impaired adaptive immune response – Vincent Blasco-Baque

Non-oral gram-negative facultative rods in chronic periodontitis microbiota – Arie J. van Winkelhoff – Microbial Pathogenesis

Microbial profiles at baseline and not the use of antibiotics determine the clinical outcome of the treatment of chronic periodontitis – S. Bizzarro – Scientific Reports

Human respiratory microbiome

Effect of Advanced HIV Infection on the Respiratory Microbiome – Homer L Twigg III – American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine

Human gut microbiome

The emerging view of Firmicutes as key fibre degraders in the human gut – David Berry – Environmental Microbiology

Review: Gut Microbiota and Malnutrition – Matthieu Million – Microbial Pathogenesis

Review: Diet, Microbiota, And Dysbiosis: A ‘Recipe’ For Colorectal Cancer – Kishore Vipperla – Food & Function

Review: Microbiota, Immunity and the Liver – T. Vaikunthanathan – Immunology Letters

Animal and other models of microbiome research

Alterations of the Ileal and Colonic Mucosal Microbiota in Canine Chronic Enteropathies – Eric Cassmann – PLOS ONE

In a Neonatal Piglet Model of Intestinal Failure, Administration of Antibiotics and Lack of Enteral Nutrition Have a Greater Impact on Intestinal Microflora Than Surgical Resection Alone – Crystal L. Levesque – Journal of Parenteral & Enteral Nutrition

Development of the Chick Microbiome: How Early Exposure Influences Future Microbial Diversity – Anne L. Ballou – Frontiers in Veterinary Science

Gastric Helicobacter pylori Infection Affects Local and Distant Microbial Populations and Host Responses – Sabine Kienesberger – Cell Reports

Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium Exploits Inflammation to Modify Swine Intestinal Microbiota – Rosanna Drumo – Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology

Changes in intestinal microflora of Caenorhabditis elegans following Bacillus nematocida B16 infection – Qiuhong Niu – Scientific Reports

Chitosan lowers body weight through intestinal microbiota and reduces IL-17 expression via mTOR signalling – Dingfu Xiao – Journal of Functional Foods

The effect of agave fructan products on the activity and composition of the microbiota determined in a dynamic in vitro model of the human proximal large intestine – Marjorie E. Koenen – Journal of Functional Foods

Animal microbiome

Long-term salinity tolerance is accompanied by major restructuring of the coral bacterial microbiome – Till Röthig – Molecular Ecology

High-throughput sequencing reveals the core gut microbiome of Bar-headed goose (Anser indicus) in different wintering areas in Tibet – Wen Wang – Microbiology Open

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Spatial Distribution of Fungal Communities in an Arable Soil – Julia Moll – PLOS ONE

Soil Nitrogen Status Modifies Rice Root Response to Nematode-Bacteria Interactions in the Rhizosphere – Yanhong Cheng – PLOS ONE

Natural genetic variation in Arabidopsis for responsiveness to plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria – Paul C. A. Wintermans – Plant Molecular Biology

Metagenomic analysis of microbial consortia enriched from compost: new insights into the role of Actinobacteria in lignocellulose decomposition – Cheng Wang – Biotechnology for Biofuels

Microbial Profiling of a Suppressiveness-Induced Agricultural Soil Amended with Composted Almond Shells – Carmen Vida – Frontiers in Microbiology

Editorial: How does the tree root microbiome assemble? Influence of ectomycorrhizal species on Pinus sylvestris root bacterial communities – Aurélie Deveau – Environmental Microbiology

Lots of reviews on the plant rhizosphere in Trends in Plant Science: 

Review: Impact of Bacterial–Fungal Interactions on the Colonization of the Endosphere – Leonard S. van Overbeek – Trends in Plant Science

Review: Signaling in the Rhizosphere – Vittorio Venturi – Trends in Plant Science

Review: Root–Root Interactions: Towards A Rhizosphere Framework – Liesje Mommer – Trends in Plant Science

Review: Metabolomics in the Rhizosphere: Tapping into Belowground Chemical Communication – Nicole M. van Dam – Trends in Plant Science

Opinion: Mannitol in Plants, Fungi, and Plant–Fungal Interactions
Takshay K. Patel – Trends in Plant Science

Water and extremophile microbiome

Evolution of Chemical Characteristics of Technosols in an Afforested Coal Mine Dump over a 20-year Period – Ivana M. Rivas-Pérez – Land Degradation and Development

Microbial mats: New multi-scale perspectives on the stromatolites of Shark Bay, Western Australia – E. P. Suosaari – Scientific Reports

Spatial isolation and environmental factors drive distinct bacterial and archaeal communities in different types of petroleum reservoirs in China – Peike Gao – Scientific Reports

Salinity is the major factor influencing the sediment bacterial communities in a Mediterranean lagoonal complex (Amvrakikos Gulf, Ionian Sea) – Christina Pavloudi – Marine Genomics

Microbial diversity in European alpine permafrost and active layers – Beat Frey – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Nutrient and metal pollution of the eastern Gulf of Finland coastline: Sediments, macroalgae, microbiota – Yulia Gubelit – Science of the Total Environment

Food microbiology

Unraveling the Enzymatic Basis of Wine “Flavorome”: A Phylo-Functional Study of Wine Related Yeast Species – Ignacio Belda – Frontiers in Microbiology

Developmental Peculiarities and Seed-Borne Endophytes in Quinoa: Omnipresent, Robust Bacilli Contribute to Plant Fitness – Andrea Pitzschke – Frontiers in Microbiology

Viruses, phages, and CRISPRs

Major bacterial lineages are essentially devoid of CRISPR-Cas viral defence systems – David Burstein – Nature Communications

High-Throughput Isolation of Giant Viruses in Liquid Medium Using Automated Flow Cytometry and Fluorescence Staining – Jacques Y. B. Khalil – Frontiers in Microbiology

Review: Self-synthesizing transposons: unexpected key players in the evolution of viruses and defense systems – Mart Krupovic – Current Opinion in Microbiology

Techniques

Assessing the impact of long term frozen storage of faecal samples on protein concentration and protease activity – Laura S. Morris – Journal of Microbiological Methods

More microbiology

Elie Metchnikoff, the Man and the Myth – Gordon S. – Journal of Innate Immunology

Microbes in the news

What Your Low-Fiber Diet Does to Your Health – Mandy Oaklander – Time

Your beard doesn’t contain poop, but it could help develop new antibiotics – Sarah Kaplan – The Washington Post

Modern microbial ecosystems provide window to early life on Earth. UM Rosenstiel School-led team reveals new details on modern-day stromatolites – Science Daily

Two Santa Clara University Students Confirmed with Meningitis – ABC7

USDA Imposes Stricter Limit On Salmonella Bacteria In Poultry Products – NPR Morning Edition

Young scientists present intriguing and surprising research – Kristen Browning-Blas – Colorado State University

Meet the CEO of Europe’s Leading Microbiome Biotech, Pierre Belichard of Enterome – Labiotech

Podcast: As Arctic Permafrost Thaws, Microbes Kick Into Action – with Janet Jansson – Science Friday

Podcast: Bear Gut Microbes Help Prep Hibernation – Karen Hopkin – Scientific American

Podcast: The Good Side of Viruses – Medical Discovery News
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February 2, 2016, second edition

Updated status of the microbial census, bacteria in the nasopharynx, deodorant and armpit microbiome, lichen microbiome, fungi on decomposing forest materials, and metagenomics cover the amplicon gaps. So many papers I had to do a second installment today!

Events and jobs

Microbiology and bioinformatics positions at Whole Biome in San Francisco. Wearing hoodies encouraged.

General microbiome

The status of the microbial census: an update – Patrick D Schloss – BioRxiv

Getting the hologenome concept right: An eco-evolutionary framework for hosts and their microbiomes – Kevin R Theis – BioRxiv

Human oral microbiome

Interactions between Streptococcus oralis, Actinomyces oris, and Candida albicans in the development of multispecies oral microbial biofilms on salivary pellicle – Indira M.G. Cavalcanti – Molecular Oral Microbiology

Human respiratory microbiome

Unraveling the Molecular Mechanisms Underlying the Nasopharyngeal Bacterial Community Structure – Wouter A. A. de Steenhuijsen Piters – mBio 

Human skin microbiome

The effect of habitual and experimental antiperspirant and deodorant product use on the armpit microbiome – Julie Urban – PeerJ

Skin microbiome surveys are strongly influenced by experimental design – Jacquelyn S. Meisel – Journal of Investigative Dermatology

Unique features of a global human ectoparasite identified through sequencing of the bed bug genome – Joshua B. Benoit – Nature Communications

Human vaginal microbiome

Hormonal Contraceptive Effects on the Vaginal Milieu: Microbiota and Immunity – Jessica Tarleton – Current Obstetrics and Gynecology Reports

Human gut microbiome

Sex differences in the gut microbiome–brain axis across the lifespan – Eldin Jašarević – Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B

Very poor English and presentation, does not look peer reviewed: Preliminary analysis showed country-specific gut resistome based on 1267 feces samples – Zhenyu Yang – Gene

Confusing study design and interpretations: Gut Microbiota Linked to Sexual Preference and HIV Infection – Marc Noguera-Julian – EBioMedicine

Sequence-based methods for detecting and evaluating the human gut mycobiome – M.J. Suhr – Letters in Applied Microbiology

Review: Microbiota and arthritis: correlations or cause? – Bravo-Blas, Alberto – Current Opinion in Rheumatology

Perspective: Gut microbiota in 2015: Prevotella in the gut: choose carefully – Ruth E. Ley – Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology

Editorial: PPIs alter gut microbiota composition – Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology

Review: Samples and techniques highlighting the links between obesity and microbiota
Emmanouil Angelakis – Microbial Pathogenesis

Animal models of microbiome

Bidirectional interactions between indomethacin and the murine intestinal microbiota – Xue Liang – eLife

 

Mixed feelings about this study that killed turtles to look at effect of probiotics on their shellsDietary Probiotics Affect Gastrointestinal Microbiota, Histological Structure and Shell Mineralization in Turtles – Mateusz Rawski – PLOS ONE

Animal microbiome

The Role of the Microbial Environment in Drosophila Post-Embryonic Development
Maura Strigini – Developmental & Comparative Immunology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Review about lichen bacterial microbiome: Understanding microbial multi-species symbioses – Ines A. Aschenbrenner – Frontiers in Microbiology

Dead fungal mycelium in forest soil represents a decomposition hotspot and a habitat for a specific microbial community – Vendula Brabcová – New Phytologist

Litter decomposition, residue chemistry and microbial community structure under two subtropical forest plantations: A reciprocal litter transplant study
Zongming He – Applied Soil Ecology

Disentangling nematode-bacteria interactions using a modular soil model system and biochemical markers – Michael Ackermann – Nematology

Using native trees and cacti to improve soil potential nitrogen fixation during long-term restoration of arid lands – Nguyen E. Lopez-Lozano – Plant and Soil

Warming and nitrogen deposition are interactive in shaping surface soil microbial communities near the alpine timberline zone on the eastern Qinghai–Tibet Plateau, southwestern China – Qinli Xiong – Applied Soil Ecology

Short-term effects of mechanical drainage on fungal and bacterial community structure in a managed grassland soil – B.J. Fay – Applied Soil Ecology

Water and extremophile microbiome

Microbial Communities in Methane- and Short Chain Alkane-Rich Hydrothermal Sediments of Guaymas Basin – Frederick Dowell – Frontiers in Microbiology

Bioreactor and crude oil microbiology

Illumina MiSeq sequencing reveals the key microorganisms involved in partial nitritation followed by simultaneous sludge fermentation, denitrification and anammox process – Bo Wang – Bioresource Technology

Microbial communities of light crude from Nigeria and potential for in situ biodegradation, souring, and corrosion – Okoro Chuma Conlette – Petroleum Science and Technology

Built environment microbiome

Rhinitis, Ocular, Throat and Dermal Symptoms, Headache and Tiredness among Students in Schools from Johor Bahru, Malaysia: Associations with Fungal DNA and Mycotoxins in Classroom Dust – Dan Norbäck – PLOS ONE

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

Metagenomics uncovers gaps in amplicon-based detection of microbial diversity – Emiley A. Eloe-Fadrosh – Nature Microbiology

Development of an Analysis Pipeline Characterizing Multiple Hypervariable Regions of 16S rRNA Using Mock Samples – Jennifer J. Barb – PLOS ONE

Optimization of alignment-based methods for taxonomic binning of metagenomics reads – Magali Jaillard – Bioinformatics

Sequence element enrichment analysis to determine the genetic basis of bacterial phenotypes – John A Lees – BioRxiv

Proteomics

Review: Recent development of mass spectrometry and proteomics applications in identification and typing of bacteria – Keding Cheng – Proteomics – Clinical Applications

Microbes in the news

Study shows maternal diet alters the breast milk microbiome and microbial gene content – EurekAlert

Deodorant And Antiperspirant Alter The Skin Microbiome, But Researchers Can’t Be Sure Of Long-Term Effects – Stephanie Castillo – Medical Daily

Beard bacteria could lead to new antibiotics – Matthew Stock – Reuters

Science, publishing, and career

“Those who can, publish. Those who can’t, blog.” Jingmai O’Connor – Current Biology

Chill out about Jingmai O’Connor’s criticism of bloggers – Jeremy Fox – Dynamic Ecology

Paul Knoepfler: Stem cell scientist finds his ‘niche’ in blogging – Karen Weintraub – STAT News

How to (not) write a microbiome grant, part I

How to (not) write a microbiome grant, part II. A deeper dive on preliminary data – David Baltrus – My Chrobial Romance

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February 2, 2016

Events

Note: website was working yesterday, but not this morning. I hope to fix this soon. SCDA Workshop on Statistical and Algorithmic Challenges in Microbiome Data Analysis, Feb 25-26, New York

Pregnancy and birth microbiome

Not carefully worded, and not novel: New Insight into the Analysis of Amniotic Fluid Microflora using 16S rRNA Sequencing – Young-Ah You – JMM Case Reports

Human oral microbiome

Perspective: What Are We Learning and What Can We Learn from the Human Oral Microbiome Project? – Benjamin Cross – Current Oral Health Reports

Animal microbiome

Increasing the Richness of Culturable Arsenic-Tolerant Bacteria from Theonella swinhoei by Addition of Sponge Skeleton to the Growth Medium – Keren Ray – Microbial Ecology

Comparative studies of the composition of bacterial microbiota associated with the ruminal content, ruminal epithelium and in the faeces of lactating dairy cows
Jun-hua Liu – Microbial Biotechnology

Experimental exposure to trace metals affects plumage bacterial community in the feral pigeon – M. Chatelain – Journal of Avian Biology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Effects of biogas and raw slurries on grass growth and soil microbial indices – Stefanie Wentzel – Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science

Impact of soil heat on reassembly of bacterial communities in the rhizosphere microbiome and plant disease suppression – Menno van der Voor – Ecology Letters

Impact of grassland management regimes on bacterial endophyte diversity differs with grass species – Franziska Wemheuer – Letters in Applied Microbiology

Novel soil fumigation method for suppressing cucumber Fusarium wilt disease associated with soil microflora alterations – Rong Li – Applied Soil Ecology

Water and extremophile microbiome

‘Candidatus Kryptonia’: Global metagenomic survey reveals a new bacterial candidate phylum in geothermal springs – Emiley A. Eloe-Fadrosh – Nature Communications

Novel Virophages Discovered in a Freshwater Lake in China – Chaowen Gong – Frontiers in Microbiology

Metagenomics and bioinformatics

Studying long 16S rDNA sequences with ultrafast-metagenomic sequence classification using exact alignments (Kraken) – Fabiola Valenzuela-González – Journal of Microbiological Methods

Opinion: From barcodes to genomes: extending the concept of DNA barcoding – Eric Coissac – Molecular Ecology

More microbes

Streptomyces thermoautotrophicus does not fix nitrogen – Drew MacKellar – Scientific Reports

Microbes in the news

How to (not) write a microbiome grant, Part I by David Baltrus

Does Having a C-Section Alter Baby’s First Microbiome? – Brian Handwerk – Smithsonian

Vaginal Microbes Can Be Partially Restored to C-Section Babies – Heather Buschman – UC San Diego Health

George Weinstock Discusses the Human Microbiome at Eastern – Michael Rouleau – Connecticut State University

‘Holy grail’ bacteria for crop farming debunked by scientists – Hayley Dunning – Imperial College London

Orange slime confirmed to be iron bacteria: Crenothrix polyspora – Herald Net

Iranian Researchers: Extraction of gold, copper from e-waste by two types of bacteria – The Iran Project

Microbes in an ancient mummy : We spoke to study author and microbiologist Dr Frank Maixner about the significance of this new research – MicrobePost
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January 25, 2016

Today’s digest features biogeography of the human mouth, MALDI-TOF-MS, and microbes from ancient halite. OK, it is technically already Tuesday, but I was busy life tweeting from the Microbiome Symposium today at Stanford. The symposium featured many of the microbiome stars of our University – see my combined life tweets during the conference at Storify

Events

Gut microbiota in health and disease – from concept to evidence – March 17, 2016, Stockholm, Sweden. The symposium will be webcasted live at kva.se and will later be available as video-on-demand at kvatv.se.

Human oral microbiome

Biogeography of a human oral microbiome at the micron scale – Jessica L. Mark Welch – PNAS

Animal models of microbiome research

Experimental modulation of external microbiome affects nestmate recognition in harvester ants (Pogonomyrmex barbatus) – Andy Dosmann – PeerJ

Review: Incorporating the gut microbiota into models of human and non-human primate ecology and evolution – Katherine R. Amato – American Journal of Physical Anthropology

Animal microbiome

Faecal contamination of echinoderms: first report of heavy Escherichia coli loading of sea urchins from a natural growing area – M. Bouchoucha – Letters in Applied Microbiology

Extremophile microbiome

Review: Buried Alive: Microbes from Ancient Halite – Salla T. Jaakkola – Trends in Microbiology

Food microbiology

Effect of X-ray treatments on Escherichia coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes, Shigella flexneri, Salmonella enterica and inherent microbiota on whole mangoes – B.S.M. Mahmoud – Letters in Applied Microbiology

Techniques

Advantage of MALDI-TOF-MS over biochemical-based phenotyping for microbial identification illustrated on industrial applications – S.K. Urwyler – Letters in Applied Microbiology

More microbiology

Fueling the Bio-economy: European Culture Collections and Microbiology Education and Training – André Antunes – Trends in Microbiology

Microbes in the news

Do probiotics cure asthma? Don’t believe the hype: Jonathan Eisen awards “prizes” to those who “oversell the microbiome” – Emma Bryce – Wired

The Forest In Your Mouth – Ed Yong – Phenomena National Geographic

Take your kids to the bugs on a Sunday afternoon – Micropia, the world’s only microbe zoo in Amsterdam – Mathias Grote – ASM Blog

IS-diagnostics Publishes Validation of PCR-Based Clinical Metagenomic MDx –  Madeleine Johnson – Genome Web

Bacteria Hysteria

Bacteria won’t wash, with the Brushield toothbrush cover – GizMag

Science, publishing, and career

#ResearchParasites and #ScienceColonialism – featuring Tweets from @DNLee5 & some discussion – Jonathan Eisen – Storify

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January 23, 2016

Maturation of the mucin layer, periodontitis in Sjögren’s, Caenorhabditis elegans gut microbiota assembly, the rice-osphere, archaea in moonmilk, and microbial arsenic metabolism.

General human microbiome

The Human Microbiome and Public Health: Social and Ethical Considerations – Kieran C. O’Doherty – American Journal of Public Health

Pregnancy and birth

Review: Mucin–Microbiota Interaction During Postnatal Maturation of the Intestinal Ecosystem: Clinical Implications – Sana Rokhsefat- Digestive Diseases and Sciences

Human oral microbiome

Periodontitis prevalence and serum antibody reactivity to periodontal bacteria in primary Sjögren’s syndrome: a pilot study – Bozo Lugonja – Journal of Periodontology

Temporal Stability of the Salivary Microbiota in Oral Health – Daniel Belstrøm – PLOS ONE

Review: Immune dysregulation mediated by the oral microbiome: potential link to chronic inflammation and atherosclerosis – C. Slocum – Journal of Internal Medicine

Human gut microbiome

Review: Microbiota manipulation for weight change – Tal Dror – Microbial Pathogenesis

Review: Antibiotics and the Human Gut Microbiome: Dysbioses and Accumulation of Resistances – M. P. Francino – Frontiers in Microbiology

Models of microbiome research

Modulating the Gut Microbiota Improves Glucose Tolerance, Lipoprotein Profile and Atherosclerotic Plaque Development in ApoE-Deficient Mice – Ida Rune – PLOS ONE

Dysbiosis of the fecal microbiota in the TNBS-induced Crohn’s disease mouse model – Qing He – Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

Animal microbiome

Note that the worms did not develop into adults without having veggies to eatAssembly of the Caenorhabditis elegans gut microbiota from diverse soil microbial environments – Maureen Berg – The ISME Journal

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Rice-osphere? Rice Genotype Differences in Tolerance of Zinc-Deficient Soils: Evidence for the Importance of Root-Induced Changes in the Rhizosphere – Asako Mori – Frontiers in Plant Science

A perspective on inter-kingdom signaling in plant–beneficial microbe interactions – Amanda Rosier – Plant Molecular Biology

Chemotaxis signaling systems in model beneficial plant–bacteria associations – Birgit E. Scharf – Plant Molecular Biology

Water and extremophile microbiome

Deciphering associations between dissolved organic molecules and bacterial communities in a pelagic marine system – Helena Osterholz – The ISME Journal

Unique pioneer microbial communities exposed to volcanic sulfur dioxide – Reiko Fujimura – Scientific Reports

Archaeal Distribution in Moonmilk Deposits from Alpine Caves and Their Ecophysiological Potential – Christoph Reitschuler – Microbial Ecology

Chemotaxis toward phytoplankton drives organic matter partitioning among marine bacteria – Steven Smriga – PNAS

Review: The microbial genomics of arsenic – Jérémy Andres – FEMS Microbiology Reviews

Food microbiology

Kombucha tea fermentation: Microbial and biochemical dynamics – Somnath Chakravorty – International Journal of Food Microbiology

PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis analysis of microbial community in soy-daddawa, a Nigerian fermented soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) condiment – Obinna T. Ezeokoli – International Journal of Food Microbiology

Check your fridge for Thanksgiving leftovers: Direct Dynamic Kinetic Analysis and Computer Simulation of Growth of Clostridium perfringens in Cooked Turkey during Cooling – Lihan Huang – Journal of Food Science

Bioinformatics, metagenomics, and protocols

Protocol collection: Microbial Environmental Genomics (MEG)
MG-RAST, a Metagenomics Service for Analysis of Microbial Community Structure and Function – Kevin P. Keegan
Reconstruction of Transformation Processes Catalyzed by the Soil Microbiome Using Metagenomic Approaches – Anne Schöler
Hybridization of Environmental Microbial Community Nucleic Acids by GeoChip – Joy D. Van Nostrand
Targeted Gene Capture by Hybridization to Illuminate Ecosystem Functioning – Céline Ribière
Fungal Communities in Soils: Soil Organic Matter Degradation – Tomáš Větrovský
GenoSol Platform: A Logistic and Technical Platform for Conserving and Exploring Soil Microbial Diversity – Samuel Dequiedt

Microbes in the news

Exploring the human gut microbiome. Scientific interest in this diverse world of bacteria has flipped from fear to fascination – Sabin Russell – Fred Hutch

Fungi Prevalent in Urine of Women With Chronic Pelvic Pain – Pam Harrison – MedPageToday

Microscopic subway passengers with a ticket to ride: Interview with Chris Mason – Labnews

To Fight Growing Threat From Germs, Scientists Try Old-Fashioned Killer – Gautam Naik – The Wall Street Journal

http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/22/health/flint-water-legionnaires-disease/Flint hospital reports finding Legionnaires’ bacteria in water – Ralph Ellis – CNN

Breast milk protein could be used in fight against antibiotic resistance – The Guardian

Listeria outbreak: Dole packaged salad linked to 12 bacteria infections and one death – John Houck – Inquisitr

Science, publishing, and career

By a 13 year old girl: Letter to BBC Wildlife Magazine on sexism in nature conservation – Mya-Rose Craig – BirdGirl

Bik’s Picks

Secular trends in family dinner frequency among adolescents – Kathryn Walton – BMC Research Notes
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