August 27, 2016

Gut microbiome in pre-Columbian mummies, spacecraft assembly cleanrooms, smokeless tobacco products, time series data, and a return of the Musical Microbes.

Human skin microbiome

Skin fungal community and its correlation with bacterial community of urban Chinese individuals – Marcus H. Y. Leung – Microbiome

Human oral microbiome

High-throughput quantitative method for assessing coaggregation among oral bacterial species – E. Levin-Sparenberg – Letters in Applied Microbiology

Human gut microbiome

Taxonomic and predicted metabolic profiles of the human gut microbiome in pre-Columbian mummies – Tasha M. Santiago-Rodriguez – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Note: unclear definition of “redemption”; means that a medication prescription was filled. Broad-Spectrum Antibiotic Treatment and Subsequent Childhood Type 1 Diabetes: A Nationwide Danish Cohort Study – Tine D. Clausen – PLOS ONE

Animal experiments

Impact of dietary fibre:starch ratio in shaping caecal archaea revealed in rabbits – Y. Zhu – Journal of Animal Physiology and Animal Nutrition

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Endolithic microbial diversity in sandstone and granite from the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica – Stephen D. J. Archer – Polar Biology

Dry Season Constrains Bacterial Phylogenetic Diversity in a Semi-Arid Rhizosphere System – Rodrigo Gouvêa Taketani – Microbial Ecology

Review: Bacteria in decomposing wood and their interactions with wood-decay fungi – Sarah R. Johnston – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Water microbiome

Multitaxon activity profiling reveals differential microbial response to reduced seawater pH and oil pollution – Francisco J. R. C. Coelho – Molecular Ecology

High-throughput metabarcoding of eukaryotic diversity for environmental monitoring of offshore oil-drilling activities – Anders Lanzén – Molecular Ecology

Microbial source tracking in impaired watersheds using PhyloChip and machine-learning classification – Eric A. Dubinsky – Water Research

Spacecraft microbiome

Functional metagenomics of spacecraft assembly cleanrooms: Presence of virulence factors associated with human pathogens – Mina Bashir – Frontiers in Microbiology

Tobacco microbiome

Bacterial Populations Associated with Smokeless Tobacco Products – Jing Han – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Bacteria in smokeless tobacco products may be a health concern – American Society for Microbiology
http://www.asm.org/index.php/journal-press-releases/94525-bacteria-in-smokeless-tobacco-products-may-be-a-health-concern
Proteomics

Development of an Integrated Pipeline for Profiling Microbial Proteins from Mouse Fecal Samples by LC-MS/MS – Jing Wu – Journal of Proteome Research

Bioinformatics, metagenomics, and statistics

Modeling time-series data from microbial communities – Benjamin J Ridenhour – bioRxiv

Improving ancient DNA genome assembly – Alexander Seitz – PeerJ Preprint

More microbiology

The Musical Microbes are back! Influence of a mono-frequency sound on bacteria can be a function of the sound-level – Vijay Kothari – bioRxiv

Microbes in the news

Focus: California drought reducing beach bacteria: Reduced runoff has meant fewer health advisories, data show – Daniel Wheaton – San Diego Union Tribune
Mystery Solved: How Lyme Disease Bacteria Spread Around the Body – Rachael Rettner – LiveScience

In sub-Saharan Africa, cancer can be an infectious disease – ScienceDaily

#BacteriaHysteria: You Should Never Ask For a Slice Of Lemon In Your Drink – Alice Sholl – Yahoo

Science, publishing, and career

There Was A Huge Outpouring Of Support For This Little Girl Who Got Bullied For Loving Bugs. Let Sophia play with her bugs! – Ishmael N. Daro – BuzzFeed

August 26, 2016

MRI scans of colonic contents in setting of diet or defaecation, fecal transplants, the microbiome of ambulances, and a core taxa tool.

Pregnancy and birth

Longitudinal study on clinical and microbial analysis of periodontal status in pregnancy – Fernanda Campos Machado – Brazilian Oral Research

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

Human oral microbiome (also see above)

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

Review: Human neutrophils and oral microbiota: a constant tug-of-war between a harmonious and a discordant coexistence – Silvia M. Uriarte – Immunological Reviews

Human skin microbiome

Temporal stability in chronic wound microbiota is associated with poor healing – Michael Loesche – Journal of Investigative Dermatology

Human gut microbiome

Colonic content: effect of diet, meals, and defecation – R. A. Bendezú – Neurogastroenterology & Motility

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

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

Nitrogen fixation and nifH diversity in human gut microbiota – Katsura Igai – Scientific Reports

Letter: Intestinal Microbiota and Health of Adults Who Were Born by Cesarean Delivery – James J. Goedert – JAMA Pediatrics

Opinion: The microbiome, microbial generated pro-inflammatory neurotoxins, and Alzheimer’s disease – Walter J. Lukiw – Journal of Sport and Health Science

Review: Estrogen and Microbiota Crosstalk: Should We Pay Attention? – Karen L. Chen – Trends in Endocrinology & Metabolism

Review: Gender, aging and longevity in humans: an update of an intriguing/neglected scenario paving the way to a gender-specific medicine – Rita Ostan – Clinical Science

Fecal transplants

Estimating the risks of faecal transplants – K. Patel – The Journal of Hospital Infection

Effect of Fecal Microbiota Transplantation on Recurrence in Multiply Recurrent Clostridium difficile Infection: A Randomized Trial – Colleen R. Kelly – Annals of Internal Medicine

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi communities from tropical Africa reveal strong ecological structure – Susana Rodríguez-Echeverría – New Phytologist

Gall-ID: tools for genotyping gall-causing phytopathogenic bacteria – Edward W. Davis II – PeerJ

Water microbiome

Structure and function of methanogenic microbial communities in sediments of Amazonian lakes with different water types – Yang Ji – Environmental Microbiology

Built environment microbiome

Detection and characterization of surface microbial contamination in emergency ambulances – Aketza Varona-Barquin – American Journal of Infection Control

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

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

PhyloCore: A phylogenetic approach to identifying core taxa in microbial communities – Tiantian Ren – Gene

Microbes in the news

Gut reaction: the surprising power of microbes – Ed Yong – The Guardian

Want to feel better? Be kind to your bugs. Ed Yong’s new book will give you a positive outlook on your body’s trillions of bacteria – Kate Womersley – The Spectator

The world’s largest bacterial study of baby poo – MedicalXpress

What’s in Your Poo? The nonmicrobial components of feces may have important consequences as we try to grapple with microbiome research – Kevin Bonham – Scientific American

Solving a 48-year-old mystery: scientists succeed at growing noroviruses in human intestinal cell cultures in the lab – Graciela Gutierrez – Baylor College of Medicine

MSU researchers spread the buzz about bee viruses – Marshall Swearingen – Montana State University

Science, publishing, and career

Family ties ‘help scientists to get ahead’ in some countries. Levels of nepotism in scientific publishing have been revealed by report – Jack Grove  – Times Higher Education

Supervisors can do a lot more to support PhD students. Many doctoral candidates feel poorly looked after. More awareness and empathy from academics can help fight that – Geoffrey Cantor – Times Higher Education

New leader of NIH’s research watchdog faces staff revolt – Jocelyn Kaiser – Science

August 22, 2016

Human skin microbiome

Cutaneous microbiome effects of fluticasone propionate cream and adjunctive bleach baths in childhood atopic dermatitis – Mercedes E. Gonzalez – Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology

Animal microbiome

Yeasts from the microbiota of bats: a focus on the identification and antimicrobial susceptibility of cryptic species of Candida – Raimunda S. N. Brilhante – Journal of Medical Microbiology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Intrinsic factors of Peltigera lichens influence the structure of the associated soil bacterial microbiota – Diego Leiva – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Bacterial succession on decomposing leaf litter exhibits a specific occurrence pattern of cellulolytic taxa and potential decomposers of fungal mycelia – Vojtěch Tláskal – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Local Environmental Factors Drive Divergent Grassland Soil Bacterial Communities in the Western Swiss Alps – Erika Yashiro – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Watershed Assessment with Beach Microbial Source Tracking (MST) and Outcomes of Resulting Gull Management – Kelly D. Goodwin – Environmental Science & Technology

Microbial ecology

The importance of neutral and niche processes for bacterial community assembly differs between habitat generalists and specialists – Jingqiu Liao – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

A scalable assembly-free variable selection algorithm for biomarker discovery from metagenomes – Anestis Gkanogiannis – BMC Bioinformatics

Microbes in the news

The Strange Case of the Butterfly and the Male-Murdering Microbe – Ed Yong – The Atlantic

Bigelow Lab’s role in algae industry is growing – Kevin Miller – Press Herald

Science, publishing, and career

Why academics should make time for social media – Andy Miah – Times Higher Education

Introducing our special section on “The Integrity of Science” – The New Atlantis

August 17, 2016

Beneficial bacteria in the nose suppress pathogenic bacteria,  gut microbiome and Entamoeba histolytica infection, viromes of the Earth.

Jobs

Assistant/Associate Professor in Microbiology & Immunology, University of Illinois at Chicago – Science Careers

Internship: Coral microbiome under ocean acidification – King Abdullah University of Science and Technology – Saudi Arabia

Pregnancy and birth

Microbiota in Breast Milk of Chinese Lactating Mothers – Olga Sakwinska – PLOS ONE

Human skin microbiome

ReviewFactors shaping the composition of the cutaneous microbiota – K. Szabó – British Journal of Dermatology

Human respiratory microbiome

Staphylococcus aureus Shifts toward Commensalism in Response to Corynebacterium Species – Matthew M. Ramsey – Frontiers in Microbiology

Press: New findings detail how beneficial bacteria in the nose suppress pathogenic bacteria– Science Daily

Human gut microbiome

Disease Severity and Immune Activity Relate to Distinct Interkingdom Gut Microbiome States in Ethnically Distinct Ulcerative Colitis Patients – Jordan S. Mar – mBio

Stool microbiome reveals diverse bacterial ureases as confounders of oral urea breath testing for Helicobacter pylori and Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Bamako, Mali – Mamoudou Maiga – Journal of Breath Research

Review: Antibiotics as deep modulators of gut microbiota: between good and evil – Gianluca Ianiro – Gut

Review: The Intestinal Bacterial Microbiome and E. histolytica Infection – Stacey L. Burgess – Curr Trop Med Reports

Review: The microbiome and immune regulation after transplantation – Tabibian, James H. – Transplantation

Review: Experimental design considerations in microbiota/inflammation studies – Robert J Moore – Clin Transl Immunology

Animal experiments

Wolbachia Endosymbionts Modify Drosophila Ovary Protein Levels in a Context-Dependent Manner – Steen Christensen – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Composition of the Cockroach Gut Microbiome in the Presence of Parasitic Nematodes – Cláudia S. L. Vicente – Microbes and Environments

Animal microbiome

Link of a ubiquitous human coronavirus to dromedary camels – Victor M. Corman – PNAS

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Changes in the composition of the RNA virome mark evolutionary transitions in green plants – Arcady Mushegian – BMC Biology

ReviewIdentifying the role of soil microbes in plant invasions – Wayne Dawson – Journal of Ecology

Water microbiome

Uncovering Earth’s virome – David Paez-Espino – Nature

Press: Unveiled: Earth’s Viral Diversity. Environmental datasets help researchers double the number of microbial phyla known to be infected by viruses.- Joint Genome Institute
Researchers complete unprecedented study of the global virome – Katherine Lindemann – Research Gate Blog

290 Metagenome-assembled Genomes from the Mediterranean Sea: Ongoing Effort to Generate Genomes from the Tara Oceans Dataset – Benjamin J Tully – bioRxiv

The Microbiome and Mental Health: Looking Back, Moving Forward with Lessons from Allergic Diseases – Alan C. Logan

Extremophile microbiome

Yeasts from macroalgae and lichens that inhabit the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica
Alysson Wagner Fernandes Duarte – Environmental Microbiology Reports

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

Comparison of bacterial genome assembly software for MinION data and their applicability to medical microbiology – Kim Judge – Microbial Genomics

Fast comparison of genomic and meta-genomic reads with alignment-free measures based on quality values – Matteo Comin – BMC Medical Genomics

Gifted microbes for genome mining and natural product discovery – Richard H. Baltz – Journal of Industrial Microbiology & Biotechnology

Microbial Ecology

Biodiversity at multiple trophic levels is needed for ecosystem multifunctionality – Santiago Soliveres – Nature

Extrapolating abundance curves has no predictive power for estimating microbial biodiversity – Amy Willis – PNAS

Synergistic elimination of bacteria by phage and the immune system – Chung Yin (Joey) Leung – bioRxiv

Microbes in the news

The Counterintuitive Way That Microbes Survive in Antarctica – And what it could mean for the search for life on other worlds – Ed Yong – The Atlantic

Human Cells Make Up Only Half Our Bodies. A New Book Explains Why – Jonathan Weiner – New York Times

Journalist Edmund Soon-Weng Yong awarded 2016 Byron H. Waksman Award for excellence in the public communication of Life Sciences – NewsWise

Mouse microbes may make scientific studies harder to replicate – Kelly Servick – Science Mag

Biome, Genome, Microbiome…Houdinisome? – Jason Tetro – Germ Guy

Tiny Stanford invention purifies water in minutes using the sun – CNET

The importance of quality pre-analytical factors and their impact on microbiome analysis – Lisa Gamwell – DNA Genotek’s Microbiome Collection and Stabilization Blog

Behind paywall: Brazilian Researchers Profile Microbiome of Rio Before, During, After Olympic Games – Genome Web
Rio 2016 organizers are confident everything is fine. I’m not reassured – Sally Jenkins – Washington Post

Science, publishing, and career

Stanford programs prepare underrepresented high schoolers for careers in science, engineering and medicine – Victoria Chesley – Stanford News

August 8, 2016

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

Jobs

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

Human vaginal microbiome

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

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

Human gut microbiome

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

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

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

Animal microbiome

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

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

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

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

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

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

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

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

Ecology of microbial communities

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

Microbes in the news

Microbes have no morals – Ed Yong – Aeon

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

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

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

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

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

August 6, 2016

Airwair microbiome at birth, fungi on strawberries, molds in a library.

Pregnancy and birth

The Airway Microbiome at Birth – Charitharth Vivek Lal – Scientific Reports

Press: Discovery of Infants’ Airway Microbiomes May Help Predict Lung Disease
A newborn’s airway — once thought to be sterile until after birth — is colonized by bacteria– University of Alabama at Birmingham
Discovery of infants’ airway microbiomes may help predict lung disease – Jeff Hansen – Medical Xpress

Gestational Diabetes is associated with changes in Placental Microbiota and Microbiome – Judit Bassols – Pediatric Research

Human respiratory microbiome (also see Pregnancy and Birth)

Characterizing human lung tissue microbiota and its relationship to epidemiological and clinical features – Guoqin Yu – Genome Biology

High Frequency and Diversity of Antimicrobial Activities Produced by Nasal Staphylococcus Strains against Bacterial Competitors – Daniela Janek – PLOS Pathogens

Human ear microbiome

Molecular microbiological profile of chronic suppurative otitis media – Michel Neeff – Journal of Clinical Microbiology

Human gut microbiome

Antibiotic-Induced Gut Microbiota Disruption Decreases TNF-α Release by Mononuclear Cells in Healthy Adults – Jacqueline M. Lankelma – Clinical and Translational Gastroenterology

Review: Fecal Microbiota Transplantation and Its Usage in Neuropsychiatric Disorders – Alper Evrensel – Clinical Psychopharmacology and Neuroscience

Review: Interactions between the gut microbiome and the central nervous system and their role in schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression – Adrian Andrzej Chrobak – Archives of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy

Animal microbiome

Strain diversity and host specificity in a specialized gut symbiont of honey bees and bumble bees – J. Elijah Powell – Molecular Ecology

Flow cytometric enumeration of bacterial in the coral surface mucus layer – Yvan Bettarel – Journal of Microbiological Methods

Worldwide exploration of the microbiome harbored by the cnidarian model, Exaiptasia pallida indicates a lack of bacterial association specificity at a lower taxonomic rank – Tanya Brown – PeerJ Preprint

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Metagenomic Analysis of Fungal Diversity on Strawberry Plants and the Effect of Management Practices on the Fungal Community Structure of Aerial Organs – Ahmed Abdelfattah – PLOS ONE

The active microbial diversity drives ecosystem multifunctionality and is physiologically related to carbon-availability in Mediterranean semiarid soils – Felipe Bastida – Molecular Ecology

Spatial and successional dynamics of microbial biofilm communities in a grassland stream ecosystem – Allison M. Veach – Molecular Ecology

Review: Phytoremediation: state-of-the-art and a key role for the plant microbiome in future trends and research prospects – Sofie Thijs – International Journal of Phytoremediation

Review: Bacterial pathogenesis of plants: future challenges from a microbial perspective. Challenges in Bacterial Molecular Plant Pathology – Sebastian Pfeilmeier – Molecular Plant Pathology

Review: Effects of Secondary Plant Metabolites on Microbial Populations: Changes in Community Structure and Metabolic Activity in Contaminated Environments – Lucie Musilova – Int J Mol Sci

Water and extremophile microbiome

Unexpected biodiversity of ciliates in marine samples from below the photic zone – Jean-David Grattepanche – Molecular Ecology

Meltwater export of prokaryotic cells from the Greenland Ice Sheet – Karen A. Cameron – Environmental Microbiology

Environmental Conditions Outweigh Geographical Contiguity in Determining the Similarity of nifH-Harboring Microbial Communities in Sediments of Two Disconnected Marginal Seas – Haixia Zhou – Frontiers in MIcrobiology

Review: Extremophilic adaptations and biotechnological applications in diverse environments – James Charlesworth – AIMS Microbiology

Built environment microbiome

Detection of volatile metabolites of moulds isolated from a contaminated library – Anna Micheluz – Journal of Microbiological Methods

Review: Shoe soles as a potential vector for pathogen transmission: A systematic review – Tasnuva Rashid – Journal of Applied Microbiology

Bioinformatics and metagenomics
PhyloBot: A Web Portal for Automated Phylogenetics, Ancestral Sequence Reconstruction, and Exploration of Mutational Trajectories – Victor Hanson-Smith – PLOS Computational BIology

The Phylogenetic LASSO and the Microbiome – Stephen T Rush – arXiv

Microbiome networks: A systems framework for identifying candidate microbial assemblages for disease management – Ravin Poudel – Phytopathology

Techniques

On the study of microbial transcriptomes using second- and third-generation sequencing technologies – Sang Chul Choi – Journal of Microbiology

Microbes in the news

Notre Dame Researcher Explores Bacteria beyond the Ability of Typical Hospital Setting: Gail Weaver – Nina Welding – Engineering

 

August 4, 2016

Human breast tissue microbes, foliar bacteria, SAR11 genomes, and a new book about babies growing up too clean.

Human oral microbiome

Oral, Intestinal, and Skin Bacteria in Ventral Hernia Mesh Implants – Odd Langbach – Journal of Oral Microbiology

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

Paper on periodontal disease by computer scientists, but no dentists involved, and no mentioning of ethics approval or informed consent…
Metagenomic Analysis and Features Selection in Human Oral Microbiota Associated with Periodontal Disease – Wen-Pei Chen – The 33rd Workshop on Combinatorial Mathematics and Computation Theory

Human skin/breast tissue microbiology

The Microbiome of Aseptically Collected Human Breast Tissue in Benign and Malignant Disease – Tina J. Hieken – Scientific Reports

Press: Researchers identify breast microbiome/bacterial differences between healthy and cancerous tissue – Medical Xpress

Also contains animal experiments: Transplantation of human skin microbiota in models of atopic dermatitis – Ian A. Myles – JCI Insight

Human gut microbiome

Effects of scFOS on the composition of fecal microbiota and anxiety in patients with irritable bowel syndrome: a randomized, double blind, placebo controlled study – F. Azpiroz – Neurogastroenterology & Motility

Letter: Dyspepsia and the microbiome: time to focus on the small intestine – Laurie Zhong – Gut

Review: Exposure to inorganic arsenic can lead to gut microbe perturbations and hepatocellular carcinoma – Jonathan Choiniere – Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B

Review: Modulation of type 1 and type 2 diabetes risk by the intestinal microbiome
Alexandra Paun – Pediatric Diabetes

Animal experiments

Pterostilbene-induced changes in gut microbiota composition in relation to obesity – Usune Etxeberria – Molecular Nutrition & Food Research

The skin microbiome in allergen-induced canine atopic dermatitis – Felipe Pierezan – Veterinary Dermatology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Foliar bacteria and soil fertility mediate seedling performance: a new and cryptic dimension of niche differentiation – Eric A. Griffin – Ecology

DGGE: Effect of karst rocky desertification on soil fungal communities in Southwest China – P.C. Wang – Genetics and Molecular Research

Water and extremophile microbiome

SAR11 bacteria linked to ocean anoxia and nitrogen loss – Despina Tsementzi – Nature

Press: Global warming, a dead zone and surprising bacteria – Phys.org

Sulfate reduction and inorganic carbon assimilation in acidic thermal springs of the Kamchatka peninsula – E. N. Frolov – Microbiology

Book Chapter: Bacterial Diversity of the Boka Kotorska Bay – Sandra Jokanović – The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

An integrated metagenomics pipeline for strain profiling reveals novel patterns of transmission and global biogeography of bacteria – Stephen Nayfach – bioRxiv

Advances in the recovery of haplotypes from the metagenome – Samuel M Nicholls – bioRxiv

Techniques

Virtual microfluidics for digital quantification and single-cell sequencing – Liyi Xu – Nature Methods

Microbial Nanoculture as an Artificial Microniche – Tagbo H. R. Niepa – Scientific Reports

Considerations for optimizing microbiome analysis using a marker gene – Jacobo de la Cuesta-Zuluaga – Frontiers in Nutrition

Microbes in the news

Dirty baby: Just how clean does your child need to be? – Bill Daley – Chicago Tribune

New book: Let Them Eat Dirt. Saving Your Child From an Oversanitized World – B. Brett Finlay and Marie-Claire Arrieta

Cloud computing used to analyze microbiological samples – Tim Sandle – Digital Journal

Bacteria Show Capacity for Rapid, Beneficial Mutations – University of Texas News

Video: Vibrio cholerae swimming in the gut of a live zebrafish – Phys.org

How the microbiome will lead a revolution in the consumerization of personalized medicine and diet – Kobi Gershoni – Tech Crunch
Science, publishing, and career

Scholarly Olympics: How the games have shaped research. A graphical guide to the impact of the Olympics on science – Ramin Skibba – Nature

‘Kudos’ promises to help scientists promote their papers to new audiences
Increasingly popular social-media tool says it can maximize reach and impact of research – Jeffrey Perkel – Nature

August 3, 2016

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

Human oral microbiome

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

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

Human vaginal microbiome

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

Human skin microbiome

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

Human gut microbiome

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

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

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

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

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

Animal microbiome

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

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

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

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

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

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

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

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

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

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

Water and extremophile microbiome

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

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

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

Air microbiome / Built environment microbiome

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

Bioinformatics

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

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

More microbiology

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

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

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

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

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

Microbes in the news

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

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

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

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

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

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

How Do Microbes Build Resistance to Metals? – Contagion

Bacteria Needed To Save Coral Reef – The Munich Eye

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

 

August 1, 2016

Storage conditions of infant fecal microbiota, microbial pinnacles, bioaerosols in chicken production facilities.

General microbiome

Special issue of Microbial Biotechnology, including:
Biome engineering-2020 – Harald Brüssow
Microbial bioinformatics 2020 – Mark J. Pallen
Next-generation studies of microbial biofilm communities – Scott A. Rice
Plant–microbe partnerships in 2020 – Birgit Mitter

Opinion: Controlling the Microbiome: Microhabitat Adjustments for Successful Biocontrol Strategies in Soil and Human Gut – Eveline Adam – Frontiers in Microbiology

Pregnancy and birth

Latitude in sample handling and storage for infant faecal microbiota studies: the elephant in the room? – Alexander G Shaw – Microbiome

Gut Microbiota Richness and Composition and Dietary Intake of Overweight Pregnant Women Are Related to Serum Zonulin Concentration, a Marker for Intestinal Permeability – Kati Mokkala – The Journal of Nutrition

ReviewMicrobial Changes during Pregnancy, Birth, and Infancy – Meital Nuriel-Ohayon – Frontiers in Microbiology

Human eye microbiome

Ocular surface microbiome in meibomian gland dysfunction in Auckland, New Zealand
Grant A. Watters – Clinical & Experimental Ophtalmology

Human gut microbiome

Microbial diversity in individuals and their household contacts following typical antibiotic courses – Shira R. Abeles – Microbiome

Microbial Factors Associated with Post-Operative Crohn’s Disease Recurrence – Emily K Wright – Journal of Crohn’s and Colitis

Efficacy of antineoplastic treatment is associated with the use of antibiotics that modulate intestinal microbiota – Natali Pflug – OncoImmunology

Review: The oesophageal microbiome: an unexplored link in obesity-associated oesophageal adenocarcinoma – Nadeem O. Kaakoush – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Review: Normal, Regular and Standard: Scaling the Body through Fecal Microbial Transplants – Matthew J. Wolf-Meyer – Medical Anthropology Quarterly

Review: Gut Microbiota Imbalance and Base Excision Repair Dynamics in Colon Cancer – Debolina Ray – Journal of Cancer

Review: Fine-Tuning Cancer Immunotherapy: Optimizing the Gut Microbiome – Jonathan M. Pitt – Cancer Research

Review: Irritable bowel syndrome, the microbiota and the gut-brain axis – Hans Raskov – Gut Microbes

Animal microbiome

Fish: Alterations of the gut microbiome of largemouth bronze gudgeon (Coreius guichenoti) suffering from furunculosis – Tongtong Li – Scientific Reports

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Structure of bacterial communities in soil following cover crop and organic fertilizer incorporation – Adria L. Fernandez – Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

Correlation analysis of enzyme activities and deconstruction of ammonia-pretreated switchgrass by bacterial-fungal communities – Abhiney Jain – Bioresource Technology

Variations of rhizosphere bacterial communities in tea (Camellia sinensis L.) continuous cropping soil by high-throughput pyrosequencing approach – Y.C. Li – Journal of Applied Microbiology

High culturability of epiphytic bacteria and frequency of biosurfactant producers on leaves – Adrien Y. Burch – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Desiccation of sediments affects assimilate transport within aquatic plants and carbon transfer to microorganisms – Isabell von Rein – Plant Biology

Review: Emergence of plant and rhizospheric microbiota as stable interactomes – Prasun Bandyopadhyay – Protoplasma

Water and extremophile microbiome

Growth of elaborate microbial pinnacles in Lake Vanda, Antarctica – D. Y. Sumner – Geobiology

Diversity and succession of autotrophic microbial community in high-elevation soils along deglaciation chronosequence – Jinbo Liu – FEMS Microbial Ecology

Air microbiome

High throughput genomic sequencing of bioaerosols in broiler chicken production facilities – Kate M. O’Brien – Microbial Biotechnology

Bioinformatics

RevEcoR: an R package for the reverse ecology analysis of microbiomes – Yang Cao – BMC Bioinformatics

Metabolomics

Review: Metabolites: messengers between the microbiota and the immune system – Maayan Levy – Genes & Development

Techniques

Phylogenetically Structured Differences in rRNA Gene Sequence Variation among Species of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi and Their Implications for Sequence Clustering – Geoffrey L. House – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Microbes in the news
Why is microbiome so important? Gut instinct tells you – Jessica le Roux – FoodMed

Science, publishing, and career

Intentional equity – France A. Córdova – Science

Lost in Translation: From scientists to the press and to the public – The Microbial Menagerie

July 26, 2016

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

Jobs

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

Pregnancy and birth

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

Human oral microbiome

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

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

Human respiratory microbiome

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

Human skin microbiome

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

Human gut microbiome

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

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

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

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

Human vaginal microbiome

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

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

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

Animal experiments

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

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

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

Animal microbiome

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

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

Perspective: Hominid superorganisms – Julia A. Segre – Science

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

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

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

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

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

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

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

Water and extremophile microbiome

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

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

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

Metabolomics

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

Functional foods

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

Bioinformatics

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

Techniques

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

More microbiology

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

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

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

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

Microbes in the news

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

Healthy microbiome supports antibiotic-free production – World Poultry

Charlottesville Lab to Test Microbiology of Local Breweries – NBC29

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

Bik’s non-microbiology Picks

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