Category Archives: Human skin

June 20, 2015

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Catching up after spending all day in the lab on Friday, and all day working on figures and text today…. Here’s your weekend digest, with the microbiome of sport schools, phasing of Illumina sequencing, and happy endings for preterm infants.

Pregnancy and birth microbiome

Preterm infant gut colonization in the Neonatal ICU and Complete Restoration two years later – Laura Moles – Clinical Microbiology and Infection

Clostridium butyricum strains and dysbiosis linked to necrotizing enterocolitis in preterm neonates – Nadim Cassir – Clinical Infectious Diseases

Human respiratory microbiome

The microbiome of the human lower airways: a next generation sequencing perspective – Velma T. E. Aho – World Allergy Organization Journal

Human skin microbiome

Poster: Noma disease: 10 years of research in the quest of a microbial etiology – P François – Antimicrobial Resistance and Infection Control

Human oral microbiome

Oral Mucositis in Pediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Patients: Evaluation of Microbiological and Hematological Factors – Regina Maria Holanda de Mendonça – Pediatric Hematology-Oncology

Human gut microbiome

Composition and temporal stability of the gut microbiota in older persons – Ian B Jeffery – The ISME Journal

The Host Genotype and Environment Affect Strain Types of Bifidobacterium longum subsp. longum Inhabiting the Intestinal Tracts of Twins – Min Zhang – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

The Influence of the Gut Microbiome on Obesity, Metabolic Syndrome and Gastrointestinal Disease – Parth J Pareck – Clinical and Translational Gastroenterology

Editorial: About the gut microbiome as a pharmacological target in atherosclerosis – Julia.J. Witjes – European Journal of Pharmacology

Editorial: Diabetes, More on Merde, the Microbiome, and the Dung Beetle – Richard I. Shader – Clinical Therapeutics

Review: Effect of Dietary Resistant Starch on Prevention and Treatment of Obesity-related Diseases and Its Possible Mechanisms – Lei Zhang – Biomedical and Environmental Sciences

Animal models

In pigs: Influence of genotype and feeding strategy on pig performance, plasma concentrations of micro nutrients, immune responses and fecal microbiota composition of growing-finishing pigs in a forage-based system – A.G. Kongsted – Livestock Science

In rats: Prenatal Stress-Induced Alterations in Major Physiological Systems Correlate with Gut Microbiota Composition in Adulthood – Anna V. Golubeva – Psychoneuroendocrinology

In mice: The genetic architecture of NAFLD among inbred strains of mice – Simon T Hui – eLIFE

Animal microbiome

Cows: Ruminal Bacterial Community Composition in Dairy Cows Is Dynamic over the Course of Two Lactations and Correlates with Feed Efficiency – Kelsea A. Jewell – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Thesis: The earthworm microbiome – Daniel Antony Pass – Cardiff University

Thesis: Gut microbiota of migratory passerines at stopover – William Lewis – University of Southern Mississippi

Plant microbiome

PERN: an EU–Russia initiative for rhizosphere microbial resources – Stéphane Declerck – Trends in Biotechnology

Review: Biological control in the microbiome era: challenges and opportunities – Haissam Jijakli – Biological Control

Plant root and soil microbiome

Impact of plant domestication on rhizosphere microbiome assembly and functions
Juan E. Pérez-Jaramillo – Plant Molecular Biology

16S rRNA-based bacterial community structure is a sensitive indicator of soil respiration activity – Rongxiao Che – Journal of Soils and Sediments

Built environment microbiome

Athletic equipment microbiota are shaped by interactions with human skin – Mariah Wood – Microbiome

Food microbiology

Bacteriophages Isolated from Chicken Meat and the Horizontal Transfer of Antimicrobial Resistance Genes – Amira Shousha – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Microbiological diversity associated with the spontaneous wet method of coffee fermentation – Suzana Reis Evangelista – International Journal of Food Microbiology

Chemical and microbiological characteristics of traditional homemade fresh goat cheeses from Northern Morocco – Ouiam El Galiou – Small Ruminant Research

Metagenomics and bioinformatics

Microbial bioinformatics for food safety and production – Wynand Alkema – Briefings in Bioinformatics

Niche distribution and influence of environmental parameters in marine microbial communities: a systematic review – Felipe H. Coutinho – Peer J

Ultra-large alignments using phylogeny-aware profiles – Nam-phuong D Nguyen – Genome Biology

Techiques

Phasing amplicon sequencing on Illumina Miseq for robust environmental microbial community analysis – Liyou Wu – BMC Microbiology

Microbes in the news

Medicine’s next frontier: The microbiome – Meg Tirrell – CNBC

Microbes could be key for better yields, stronger plants – Michigan State University – AG Professional

Berkeley balcony collapse: A failure at the intersection of building science and microbiology – Brent Stephens – Microbe.net

Science, publishing, and career

Gender Differences in Physicians’ Financial Ties to Industry: A Study of National Disclosure Data – Susannah L. Rose – PLOS ONE

“If you think it’s rude to ask to look at your co-authors’ data, you’re not doing science” – C. K. Gunsalus and Drummond Rennie – Retraction Watch

Bik’s Picks

An Ant With the Right Coat for 158-Degree Weather – Sindya N. Bhanoo – New York Times

8 million mummified animals, mostly dogs, in catacombs at Egypt site – Greg Botelho – CNN

Blind Americans can now ‘see’ with a device that uses their tongues – Michelle Cortez – Mashable

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June 12, 2015

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

General microbiome

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

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

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

Human skin microbiome

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

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

Human gut microbiome

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

Microbiome models

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

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

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

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

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

Animal microbiome

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

Plant microbiome

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

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

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

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

Soil (and plant root) microbiome

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

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

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

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

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

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

Water microbiome

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

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

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

Extremophile microbiome

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

Built environment microbiome

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

Food microbiology

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

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

Functional foods

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

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

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

Metagenomics 

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

Metabolomics

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

Microbes in the news

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Science, publishing, and career

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

Bik’s Picks

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

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

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

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June 11, 2015

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

Pregnancy and birth

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

Human skin microbiome

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

Human gut microbiome

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

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

Microbiome models

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

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

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

Animal microbiome

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

Water microbiome

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

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

Food microbiology

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

More microbiology

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

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

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

Microbes in the news

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Science, publishing, and career

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

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

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

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

Bik’s Picks

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

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

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

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Another June 1, 2015

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Here’s the second update of today, completing the backlog because of my travels. 

Human skin microbiome

The Cutaneous Microbiome in Outpatients Presenting With Acute Skin Abscesses – James M. Horton – Journal of Infectious Diseases

Book chapter: Skin Microbiota and Attractiveness to Mosquitoes – Niels O. Verhulst, Willem Takken – Encyclopedia of Metagenomics

Human gut microbiome

High prevalence of cannabis use among Aka foragers of the Congo Basin and its possible relationship to helminthiasis – Casey J. Roulette – American Journal of Human Biology

Hospitalization Type Predicts Risk of Subsequent Severe Sepsis – Hallie C Prescott – American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine

Review: Harnessing the Microbiome to Enhance Cancer Immunotherapy – Michelle H. Nelson – Journal of Immunology Research

Review: The functional impact of the intestinal microbiome on mucosal immunity and systemic autoimmunity – Randy S. Longman – Current Opinion in Rheumatology

Review: The intestinal microbiome in spondyloarthritis – Tejpal Gill – Current Opinion in Rheumatology

Microbiome models

Thesis: Alterations in the Fecal Microbiome of Healthy Horses in Response to Antibiotic Treatment – Rachel Sarah Liepman – Ohio State University

Thesis: Effects of Maternal Dietary Yeast Supplementation on Foal Growth and Microbial
Diversity of the Hindgut in Quarter Horse Mares and Their Offspring – Elizabeth Rebecca Share – Ohio State University

Soil, plant root, and rock microbiome

Fungal invasion of the rhizosphere microbiome – Emilie Chapelle – ISME Journal

Shifts in the phylogenetic structure of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in response to experimental nitrogen and carbon dioxide additions – Rebecca C. Mueller – Oecologia

Archean (3.33 Ga) microbe-sediment systems were diverse and flourished in a hydrothermal context – Frances Westall – Geology

Crop rotational diversity enhances belowground communities and functions in an agroecosystem – L. K. Tiemann – Ecology Letters

Evaluation of culture-based techniques and 454 pyrosequencing for the analysis of fungal diversity in potting media and organic fertilizers – Abdullah M. Al-Sadi – Journal of Applied Microbiology

Water microbiome

Aquifer community structure in dependence of lithostratigraphy in groundwater – Andrea Beyer – Environmental Science and Pollution Research

Microbial diversity in the deep-sea sediments of Iheya North and Iheya Ridge, Okinawa Trough – Jian Zhang – Microbiological Research

Urbanisation and earthquake disturbance influence microbial nutrient limitation in streams – Emma R. Moffett – Freshwater Biology

On the use of the serial dilution culture method to enumerate viable phytoplankton in natural communities of plankton subjected to ballast water treatment – John J. Cullen, Hugh L. MacIntyre – Journal of Applied Phycology

Unravelling core microbial metabolisms in the hypersaline microbial mats of Shark Bay using high-throughput metagenomics – Rendy Ruvindy – ISME Journal

Carbon export efficiency and phytoplankton community composition in the Atlantic sector of the Arctic Ocean – Frédéric A. C. Le Moigne – Journal of Geophysical Research – Oceans

Extremophile microbiome

Photoadaptation to the polar night by phytoplankton in a permanently ice-covered Antarctic lake – Morgan-Kiss R. M.- Limnology and Oceanography

Biodegradation: Updating the concepts of control for microbial clean-up in contaminated aquifers – Rainer Udo Meckenstock – Environmental Science & Technology

Bioreactor microbiome

Multi-system Nernst–Michaelis–Menten model applied to bioanodes formed from sewage sludge – Mickaël Rimboud – Bioresource Technology

Community shifts in a well-operating agricultural biogas plant: how process variations are handled by the microbiome – Susanne Theuerl – Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

Review: Tolerance engineering in bacteria for the production of advanced biofuels and chemicals – Aindrila Mukhopadhyay – Trends in Microbiology

Viruses and phages

When Competing Viruses Unify: Evolution, Conservation, and Plasticity of Genetic Identities – Luis P. Villarreal, Guenther Witzany – Journal of Molecular Evolution

Metagenomics and bioinformatics

Large-scale Machine Learning for Metagenomics Sequence Classification – Kévin Vervier – ArXiv

Review: Metagenomics as a tool for the investigation of uncultured microorganisms – N. V. Ravin – Russian Journal of Genetics

Metabolomics

Metabolic dynamics analysis by massive data integration: application to tsunami-affected field soils in Japan – Tatsuki Ogura – ACS Chemical Biology

Review: Defining the Metabolome: Size, Flux, and Regulation – Nicola Zamboni – Molecular Cell

Techniques

Review: High-Throughput Sequencing Technologies – Jason A. Reuter – Molecular Cell

Microbes in the news

One Week Change In My Microbiome – Richard Sprague – uBiome blog

Unconscious use of ‘medical marijuana? ‘ Hunter-gatherer cannabis use linked to fewer internal parasites – Science Daily

Touchy Feely: Physical contact helps determine who’s present among baboons’ gut bacteria – Kerry Grens – The Scientist

Mysteries of cat, human health revealed through microbiome – Meredith Knight – Genetic Literacy Project

Gut check: Does a hospital stay set patients up for sepsis by disrupting the body’s microbiome? – Kara Gavin – University of Michigan

Immunotherapy: Target the Gut in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis – Linda G. Hughes – HCP Live

Q&A With Pavan Bhargava of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine: Studying the Microbiome in Treatment of Multiple Sclerosis – Adam Hochron – HCP Live

Contact Lenses Can Change the Ocular Microbiome – Amanda B. Keener – The Scientist

Microbiome and money

Synthetic Biologics to Host Microbiome Analyst & Investor Meeting – Market Watch

Science, publishing, and career

Scientists Who Cheat – The Editorial Board – New York Times

Michael LaCour Probably Fabricated a Document About Research Integrity – Jesse Singal – New York Magazine

Bik’s Picks

What’s Old Is New Again: Revolutionary new methods for extracting, purifying, and sequencing ever-more-ancient DNA have opened an unprecedented window into the history of life on Earth – Bob Grant – The Scientist

See The Tiny Origami Robot That’s Going Viral — Folds Itself, Walks, Swims, And Dissolves [Video] – Inquisitr

Quick to laugh or smile? It may be in your genes – Science Daily

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May 20, 2015

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Human wound microbiome

Biochemical Association of Metabolic Profile and Microbiome in Chronic Pressure Ulcer Wounds – Mary Cloud B. Ammons – PLOS ONE

Human gut microbiome

Development and Validation of a Biomarker for Diarrhea-Predominant Irritable Bowel Syndrome in Human Subjects – Mark Pimentel – PLOS ONE

Editorial: Microbiota key to diet-associated risk of colon cancer – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Microbiome models

Antibiotics in Early Life Alter the Gut Microbiome and Increase Disease Incidence in a Spontaneous Mouse Model of Autoimmune Insulin-Dependent Diabetes – Sophie Candon – PLOS ONE

Changes in Gut Microbiota in Rats Fed a High Fat Diet Correlate with Obesity-Associated Metabolic Parameters – Virginie Lecomte – PLOS ONE

Gut Microbiota Dynamics during Dietary Shift in Eastern African Cichlid Fishes – Laura Baldo – PLOS ONE

Metaproteomics reveals major microbial players and their biodegradation functions in a large-scale aerobic composting plant – Dongming Liu – Microbial Biotechnology

Animal microbiome

The Fecal Microbiome in Cats with Diarrhea – Jan S. Suchodolski – PLOS ONE

Plant and soil microbiome

Effect of crop management and sample year on abundance of soil bacterial communities in organic and conventional cropping systems – C.H. Orr – Journal of Applied Microbiology

Water microbiome

Characterization of the relative importance of human- and infrastructure-associated bacteria in grey water: a case study – S.P. Keely – Journal of Applied Microbiology

Techniques

PCR-Based Multiple Species Cell Counting for In Vitro Mixed Culture – Ruijie Huang – PLOS ONE

Bioinformatics

FuncTree: Functional Analysis and Visualization for Large-Scale Omics Data – Takeru Uchiyama – PLOS ONE

Microbes in the news

Manipulating the Microbiome Produces Hope, but Uneven Results – Monica J. Smith – Gastroenterology & Endoscopy News

In America, is our food, in fact, too clean? – Kate Murphy – Herald Tribune

Study reveals intestinal bacteria succession during recovery from cholera in Bangladesh – Eureka Alert

Targeting Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria with CRISPR and Phages – Anna Azvolinsky – The Scientist

Marine Bacteria Can Control Chemistry of Sea Spray Ejected into Atmosphere – SciNews

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May 15, 2015

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Human skin microbiome

Pilot Study on Novel Skin Care Method by Augmentation with Staphylococcus epidermidis, an Autologous Skin Microbe – A Blinded Randomized Clinical Trial – Yuichi Nodake – Journal of Dermatological Science

Human gut microbiome

Metagenome Sequencing of the Hadza Hunter-Gatherer Gut Microbiota – Simone Rampelli – Current Biology

Deviations in human gut microbiota: a novel diagnostic test for determining dysbiosis in patients with IBS or IBD – C. Casén – Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics

Intestinal Blautia is associated with reduced death from graft-versus-host disease – Robert R. Jenq – Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation

Pubmed link only: The coeliac stomach: gastritis in patients with coeliac disease – B. Lebwohl – Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics

DGGE: Schisandra chinensis fruit modulates the gut microbiota composition in association with metabolic markers in obese women : a randomized, double-blind placebo controlled study – Mi-young Song – Nutrition Research

Review: Gut microbes, immunity, and spondyloarthritis – Matthew L. Stoll – Clinical Immunology

Microbiome models

Relationships Between Diet-Related Changes in the Gut Microbiome And Cognitive Flexibility – K.R. Magnusson – Neuroscience

Animal microbiome

Aphids: Genetic characterisation of new host-specialised biotypes and novel associations with bacterial symbionts in the pea aphid complex – Jean Peccoud – Insect Conservation and Diversity

Review: The Multi-Tasking Gut Epithelium of Insects – Jia-Hsin Huang – Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Plant and soil microbiome

On small soil beetles: Phylogenetic community ecology of soil biodiversity using mitochondrial metagenomics – Carmelo Andújar – Molecular Ecology

Changes in soil nutrient content and bacterial community after 12 years of organic amendment application to a vineyard – M. E. Calleja-Cervantes – European Journal of Soil Science

Built Environment microbiology

Self-healing bio-concrete uses bacteria to repair itself – Anthony Cuthbertson – International Business Times

Bioreactor microbiology

Rare taxa have potential to make metabolic contributions in enhanced biological phosphorus removal ecosystems – Christopher E. Lawson – Environmental Microbiology

Bioinformatics

Toward accurate molecular identification of species in complex environmental samples: testing the performance of sequence filtering and clustering methods – Jullien M. Flynn -Ecology and Evolution

More microbiology

Editorial: Sifting out virulent bacteria – Naomi Attar – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Review: Dust Devil: The Life and Times of the Fungus That Causes Valley Fever – Eric R. G. Lewis – PLOS Pathogens

Microbes in the news

Decode your kitty’s microbiome – participate in some Cat-izen science – Alexandra Ossola –
Popular science

BacteriaHysteria

Faecal matter on plane tray tables, unwashed blankets… and 80 million bacteria on suitcases: The dirty secrets of air travel revealed – John Hutchinson – Daily Mail

Science, publishing, and career

“Reframing my track record undoubtedly helped. Here’s how I did it.” Accounting for career breaks – Emily Nicholson – Science

Bik’s Picks

Denver Zoo Penguins Go ‘Extinct’ For Endangered Species Day – CBS Denver

A Simple Hand-Grip Test Could Predict Your Risk For Heart Disease And Death – Anna Almendrala – Huffington Post

An astronaut’s surprisingly helpful guide to pooping in space – Elahe Izadi – Washington Post

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April 17, 2015

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Two new papers on the microbiome of not-western populations, and the influence of the microbiome on the circadian rhythm (or is it the other way around?).

Events

Session on “The Microbiome” at the AHCJ (Association of Health Care Journalists) annual meeting, Santa Clara, CA – Friday April 24 – HT: Jonathan Eisen

Human oral microbiome

Review: Oral infections and cardiovascular disease – Karim El Kholy – Trends in Endocrinology & Metabolism

Human skin microbiome

Review: Rosacea : Part I. Introduction, categorization, histology, pathogenesis, and risk factors – Aimee M. Two – Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology

Human respiratory microbiome

Review: Emerging bacterial pathogens and changing concepts of bacterial pathogenesis in cystic fibrosis – Michael D. Parkins – Journal of Cystic Fibrosis

Human gut microbiome

The microbiome of uncontacted Amerindians – Jose C. Clemente – Science Advances

The Gut Microbiota of Rural Papua New Guineans: Composition, Diversity Patterns, and Ecological Processes – Inés Martínez – Cell Reports

Altered fecal microbiota composition in patients with major depressive disorder – Haiyin Jiang – Brain, Behavior, and Immunity

Forum: Keeping gut lining at bay: impact of emulsifiers – Patrice D. Cani, Amandine Everard

Review: Possible role of the microbiome in the development of acute malnutrition and implications for food-based strategies to prevent and treat acute malnutrition – Ellen Murray, Mark Manary – Food and Nutrition Bulletin

Review: The gut microbiota and liver disease – Cristina Llorente – CMGH Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology

Animal and other models

Effects of Diurnal Variation of Gut Microbes and High-Fat Feeding on Host Circadian Clock Function and Metabolism – Vanessa Leone – Cell Host & Microbe

Resistant starch diet induces change in the swine microbiome and a predominance of beneficial bacterial populations – Özgün C O Umu – Microbiome Journal

In-vitro model for studying methanogens in human gut microbiota – William Tottey – Anaerobe

Relationship between the gut microbiota, lipopolysaccharide, inflammation, and metabolic osteoarthritis development: Studies in a rat model – K.H. Collins – Osteoarthritis and Cartilage

Effects of dietary supplementation with β-glucan and synbiotics on growth, haemolymph chemistry, and intestinal microbiota and morphology in the Pacific white shrimp – S. Boonanuntanasarn – Aquaculture Nutrition

Extremophiles / rock microbiome

On the rocks: Autoendoliths: a distinct type of rock-hosted microbial life – J. Marlow – Geobiology

Food microbiology

Evaluation of the Dynamics of Microbiological Quality in Lightly Pickled Napa Cabbages During Manufacture – Kazuya Masuda – Journal of Food Safety

Microbes in the news

Western lifestyle may limit the diversity of bacteria in the gut – Joseph Caputo – Cell Press
What Your Poop Says About Your Lifestyle – Agata Blaszczak-Boxe – Live Science
Is super-diverse Amazon microbiome something to strive for? – Penny Sarchet – New Scientist
Yanomami, An Amazon Tribe, Could Provide Answers To Antibiotic Resistance – Susan Scutti – Medical Daily
Study Reveals Microbiome Diversity, Antibiotic Resistance Genes in Isolated Amazon Tribe – Andrea Anderson – Genome Web
Bacteria bonanza found in remote Amazon village – Boer Deng – Nature

Gut Microbes Influence Circadian Clock – Anna Azvolinsky – The Scientist

“Computers are the new microscopes, and data is the new blood draw,” UCSD hiring ‘big data’ stars – Gary Robbins – UT San Diego

Brushing teeth regularly can save you from future heart attacks – Business Standard

Escape by dilution: dissolved organic matter in the ocean is too dilute to be consumed – Jack J. Middelburg – Science

Microbiome Researcher Also Fan Of Guns And Roses – The Allium

Science, publishing, and career

A PI is forced to close his lab: The reality that dare not speak its name – Andrew D. Hollenbach
A harsh response:
On productivity and the “unfair” grant funding game – DrugMonkey

Survey: Help solve the mystery of the disappearing Ph.D.s – Beryl Lieff Benderly – Science

Ten Simple Rules for Effective Online Outreach – Holly M. Bik – PLOS Computational Biology

The Quantitative Methods Boot Camp: Teaching Quantitative Thinking and Computing Skills to Graduate Students in the Life Sciences – Melanie I. Stefan – PLOS Computational Biology

On the ‘benefits’ of Postdocs – Michelle Collins – The Spectroscope

Claiming sexism in science is over is just wishful thinking – Lisa Grossman – New Scientist

Bik’s Picks

Through This Chemical Loop, Dogs Win Our Hearts – Ed Yong – National Geographic

Octopuses Have Moves, But No Rhythm – Laura Geggel – Live Science

The Roomba for Lawns Is Really Pissing Off Astronomers – Davey Alba – Wired

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April 7, 2015

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Lots of abstracts today that were published in the FASEB Journal. Although not clearly marked, these appear to be abstracts from an ASBMB meeting held in March 2015 in Boston, called “The Human Microbiome“. None of these have a link to a PDF.

Course: Frontiers in Host-Microbe Interactions – August 2015

Pregnancy and birth microbiome

The FASEB Journal Abstracts:

Review: Normal flora and bacterial vaginosis in pregnancy: an overview – Mathys Jacobus Redelinghuys – Critical Reviews in Microbiology

Review: The Infant Gut Microbiome: Evidence for Obesity Risk and Dietary Intervention – Petya T. Koleva – Nutrients

Human skin microbiome

The diversity and host interactions of Propionibacterium acnes bacteriophages on human skin – Jared Liu – The ISME Journal

Human oral microbiome

The Repertoire of Archaea Cultivated from Severe Periodontitis – Hong T. T. Huynh – PLOS ONE

Review: Filifactor alocis – a new emerging periodontal pathogen – A. Wilson Aruni – Microbes and Infection

Human gut microbiome

The FASEB Journal Abstracts:

Autism spectrum disorders and intestinal microbiota – Maria De Angelis – Gut Microbes

Review: Impacts of Gut Bacteria on Human Health and Diseases – Yu-Jie Zhang – International Journal of Molecular Sciences

Animal models of microbiome research

The FASEB Journal Abstracts:

Leaky intestine and impaired microbiome in an amyotrophic lateral sclerosis mouse model – Shaoping Wu – Physiological Reports

Metabolomic Modeling To Monitor Host Responsiveness to Gut Microbiota Manipulation in the BTBRT+tf/j Mouse – Matthias S. Klein – Journal of Proteome Research

Animal microbiome

The FASEB Journal Abstract: The Extraordinary Evolution of the Great Ape Microbiome
Howard Ochman

Pigs: How host gender affects the bacterial community in pig feces and its correlation to skatole production – Zhenjin Zhou – Annals of Microbiology

Pigs: Analysis of swine fecal microbiota at various growth stages – Jungman Kim – Archives of Microbiology

Fish / Review: Disinfection of teleost eggs: a review – Evelien De Swaef – Reviews in Aquaculture

Ticks: Concordance of bacterial communities of two tick species and blood of their shared rodent host – Evelyn C. Rynkiewicz – Molecular Ecology

Soil microbiome

Over 150 Years of Long-Term Fertilization Alters Spatial Scaling of Microbial Biodiversity – Yuting Liang – mBio

Analysis of Bacterial and Archaeal Communities along a High-Molecular-Weight Polyacrylamide Transportation Pipeline System in an Oil Field – Cai-Yun Li – International Journal of Molecular Sciences

Effects of Functionalized and Raw Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes on Soil Bacterial Community Composition – Dorsaf Kerfahi – PLOS ONE

Review: Effective role of indigenous microorganisms for sustainable environment – Baduru Lakshman Kumar and D. V. R. Sai Gopal – 3 Biotech

Water microbiome

Size-fractionated diversity of eukaryotic microbial communities in the Eastern Tropical North Pacific oxygen minimum zone – M.T. Duret – FEMS Microbial Ecology

Seawater mesocosm experiments in the Arctic uncover differential transfer of marine bacteria to aerosols – Camilla Fahlgren – Environmental Microbiology Reports

Book: Microbiology of the Everglades Ecosystem – CRC Press

Extremophile microbiome

Physiochemical control of bacterial and protist community composition and diversity in Antarctic sea ice – Anders Torstensson – Environmental Microbiology

Whole-Genome Shotgun Sequence of the Keratinolytic Bacterium Lysobacter sp. A03, Isolated from the Antarctic Environment – Jamile Queiroz Pereira – Genome Announcements

Food microbiome

Microbial Ecology of Watery Kimchi – Kyu Hang Kyung – Journal of Food Science

Bioreactor and biofilter microbiome

Characterization of the microbial community structure and nitrosamine-reducing isolates in drinking water biofilters – Wanfeng Wang – Science of the Total Environment

Metagenomics, Metabolomics, and Transcriptomics

The FASEB Journal Abstracts:

Proficiency testing for bacterial whole genome sequencing: an end-user survey of current capabilities, requirements and priorities – Jacob Moran-Gilad – BMC Infectious Diseases

Utilizing de Bruijn graph of metagenome assembly for metatranscriptome analysis – Yuzhen Ye, Haixu Tang – ArXiv

Single-cell genomics-based analysis of virus–host interactions in marine surface bacterioplankton – Jessica M Labonté – The ISME Journal

Applying meta-pathway analyses through metagenomics to identify the functional properties of the major bacterial communities of a single spontaneous cocoa bean fermentation process sample – Koen Illeghems – Food Microbiology

Size-fraction partitioning of community gene transcription and nitrogen metabolism in a marine oxygen minimum zone – Sangita Ganesh – The ISME Journal

Transcriptomic evidence for microbial sulfur cycling in the eastern tropical North Pacific oxygen minimum zone – Molly Carolan and J Michael Beman – Frontiers in Microbiology

Review: Progress and Challenges in Developing Metabolic Footprints from Diet in Human Gut Microbial Cometabolism – Linda C Duffy – Journal of Nutrition

Microbial Ecology

Bacterial adaptation to sublethal antibiotic gradients can change the ecological properties of multitrophic microbial communities – Ville-Petri Friman – Proceedings B

Local–global overlap in diversity informs mechanisms of bacterial biogeography – Joshua A Livermore – The ISME Journal

Techniques

Assessing the performance of the Oxford Nanopore Technologies MinION – T. Laver – Biomolecular Detection and Quantification

Next-generation sequencing data analysis on cloud computing – Taesoo Kwon – Genes & Genomics

Microbes in the news

It’s a microbe’s world…we’re just living and dying in it – Margaret Leigh Sinrod – SciTechNow

May deadline: 2015 MO BIO Microbiome Awards – MoBIO

After cancer diagnosis, MIT student 3-D prints tumor, has microbiome analyzed – Nidhi Subbaraman – BetaBoston

Most of the text appears stolen from an article by Lita Proctor:  Human Microbiome: Quiz – Target Health

Video: Why Your Beard Is Disgusting – Discovery News

Episode 4 of The Microbiome Podcast: What’s hot in the microbiome field with Kristina Campbell – American Microbiome Institute

Solving the complex problem of recurrent C. diff with a simple solution: 
Physician scientists are using fecal transplants to break the deadly cycle of a killer infection – Bryan Goodchild and Ellie Castano – University of Massachusetts Medical School

Gut Bacteria May Influence Parkinson’s Risk, Phenotype – Pauline Anderson – Medscape

Summing up: Bassis et al.’s take on the influence of the URT on other human-associated biogeographies – Fiona Whelan – Human Microbiome Journal Club:

Under the microscope, strong-swimming swamp bacteria spontaneously organize into crystals – Phys.org

Science, publishing, and career

Female peers in small work groups enhance women’s motivation, verbal participation, and career aspirations in engineering – Nilanjana Dasgupta – PNAS USA

Bik’s Picks

How California can survive the drought — State is not in complete control – Danielle Venton – Nature

The Brontosaurus Is Back, Baby – Rich Juzwiak – Gawker

Endangered Tortoises Feasting on Invasive Plants – Richard Farrell – Discovery
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March 31, 2015

Posted on by

For today’s digest, I screened over 500 papers, and thousands of Tweets for you. Here is my selection:

Pregnancy and birth microbiome

PhD thesis [PDF]: Dynamics of co-existing Escherichia coli lineages in situ of the infant gut – Heidi Kira Gumpert – Technical University of Denmark

Associations between Gut Microbial Colonization in Early Life and Respiratory Outcomes in Cystic Fibrosis – Anne G Hoen – The Journal of Pediatrics

Review: Probiotics for Preterm Infants: A Premature or Overdue Necrotizing Enterocolitis Prevention Strategy? – Sharon Anderson – Neonatal Network

Review: Preterm infant nutrition, gut bacteria, and necrotizing enterocolitis – Josef Neu –  Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition & Metabolic Care

Human oral microbiome

Periodontal Therapy Effects on Nitrite Related to Oral Bacteria: A 6-Month Randomized Clinical Trial – Sheila C Cortelli – Journal of Periodontology

Perspective: Mouthguards: Does the indigenous microbiome play a role in maintaining oral health? – Purnima S. Kumar and Matthew R. Mason – Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology

Human respiratory microbiome

Nasal Inoculation of the Commensal Neisseria lactamica Inhibits Carriage of Neisseria meningitidis by Young Adults: A Controlled Human Infection Study – Alice M. Deasy – Clinical Infectious Diseases

Human skin microbiome

Molecular cartography of the human skin surface in 3D – Amina Bouslimani – PNAS USA

Human gut microbiome

Dynamic changes in short- and long-term bacterial composition following fecal microbiota transplantation for recurrent Clostridium difficile infection – Alexa Weingarden – Microbiome Journal

Insight into alteration of gut microbiota in Clostridium difficile infection and asymptomatic C. difficile colonization – Zhang Lihua – Anaerobe

Review: The microbiota in inflammatory bowel disease – Donal Sheehan – Journal of Gastroenterology

Review: Promoting Health and Longevity through Diet: From Model Organisms to Humans – Luigi Fontana, Linda Partridge – Cell

Review: TLR4 at the crossroads of nutrients, gut microbiota and metabolic inflammation
Licio A. Velloso – Endocrine Reviews

Review: Cultivating Healthy Growth and Nutrition through the Gut Microbiota – Sathish Subramanian – Cell

Review: The human gut microbiome, a taxonomic conundrum – Senthil Alias Sankar – Systematic and Applied Microbiology

Review: The Role of Infectious Mediators and Gut Microbiome in the Pathogenesis of Celiac Disease – Mohammad Rostami-Nejad – Archives of Iranian Medicine

Review: Exercise and the microbiota – Orla O’Sullivan – Gut Microbes

Animal models of microbiome research

Abnormal Pregnancy Outcomes in Mice Using an Induced Periodontitis Model and the Haematogenous Migration of Fusobacterium nucleatum Sub-Species to the Murine Placenta – Sara Stockham – PLOS ONE

Lactobacillus rhamnosus lowers zebrafish lipid content by changing gut microbiota and host transcription of genes involved in lipid metabolism – Silvia Falcinelli – Scientific Reports

Interactive effects of oligofructose and obesity predisposition on gut hormones and microbiota in diet-induced obese rats – Nina L. Cluny – Obesity

Animal microbiome

Editorial to Baboon microbiome paper: Metagenomics: Social behavior and the microbiome – Jack A Gilbert – eLIFE

More baboons: Development, diet, and dynamism: longitudinal and cross-sectional predictors of gut microbial communities in wild baboons – Tiantian Ren – Environmental Microbiology

Spider monkey: Effect of preservation method on spider monkey (Ateles geoffroyi) fecal microbiota over 8 weeks – Vanessa L. Hale – Journal of Microbiological Methods

Cats: Molecular identification of black-pigmented bacteria from subgingival samples of cats suffering from periodontal disease – L. Pérez-Salcedo – Journal of Small Animal Practice

Desert wool rat: Validating the use of trap-collected feces for studying the gut microbiota of a small mammal (Neotoma lepida) – Journal of Mammalogy

Tortoise: Kinship, inbreeding, and fine-scale spatial structure influence gut microbiota in a hindgut-fermenting tortoise – Michael L. Yuan – Molecular Ecology

Trout: Bacterial community structure in the intestinal ecosystem of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) as revealed by pyrosequencing-based analysis of 16S rRNA genes
Miray Etyemez, José Luis Balcázar – Research in Veterinary Science

Fruit fly: Pyrosequencing reveals a shift in symbiotic bacteria populations across life stages of Bactrocera dorsalis – Awawing A. Andongma – Scientific Reports

Aphids: Bacterial Communities Associated with Host-Adapted Populations of Pea Aphids Revealed by Deep Sequencing of 16S Ribosomal DNA – Jean-Pierre Gauthier – PLOS ONE

Plant microbiome

A metagenome for lacustrine Cladophora (Cladophorales) reveals remarkable diversity of eukaryotic epibionts and genes relevant to materials cycling – Linda E. Graham – Journal of Phycology

Soil and plant root microbiome

A novel pathway producing ​dimethylsulphide in bacteria is widespread in soil environments – O. Carrión – Nature Communications

Metabolic characteristics of microbial communities of Aeolian sandy soils induced by saline water drip irrigation in shelter forests – Z. Jin – European Journal of Soil Science

Field experimental evidence that stochastic processes predominate in the initial assembly of bacterial communities – Yi-Qi Hao – Environmental Microbiology

Effects of monoculture and mixed culture of grass and legume forage species on soil microbial community structure under different levels of nitrogen fertilization – Jie Zhao – European Journal of Soil Biology

Soil microbial community variation correlates most strongly with plant species identity, followed by soil chemistry, spatial location and plant genus – Jean H. Burns – AoB Plants

Long-term oil contamination causes similar changes in microbial communities of two distinct soils – Jingqiu Liao – Frontiers in Environmental Science

Soil Microbial Community Structure and Target Organisms under Different Fumigation Treatments – Sadikshya R. Dangi – Applied and Environmental Soil Science

Water microbiome

Carbonate fabrics in the modern microbialites of Pavilion Lake: two suites of microfabrics that reflect variation in microbial community morphology, growth habit, and lithification – C. Harwood Theisen – Geobiology

The Unique Chemistry of Eastern Mediterranean Water Masses Selects for Distinct Microbial Communities by Depth – Stephen M. Techtmann – PLOS ONE

Planktonic eukaryote molecular diversity: discrimination of minerotrophic and ombrotrophic peatland pools in Tierra del Fuego (Argentina) – Enrique Lara – J. Plankton Research

Extremophile microbiome

Ice cover extent drives phytoplankton and bacterial community structure in a large north-temperate lake: implications for a warming climate – B. F. N. Beall – Environmental Microbiology

Marine microbes rapidly adapt to consume ethane, propane, and butane within the dissolved hydrocarbon plume of a natural seep – Stephanie D. Mendes – Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans

Built environment microbiome

Are microbial communities in green roof substrates comparable to those in post-industrial sites?—a preliminary study – Chloe J. Molineux – Urban Ecosystems

Food microbiology

Some journals just have great titles: Microbial community changes in Makgeolli during brewing – Changhoon Chai – Journal of the Institute of Brewing

Review: Fermented Foods as Experimentally Tractable Microbial Ecosystems – Benjamin E. Wolfe, Rachel J. Dutton – Cell

Metagenomics and bioinformatics

Assessing the limits of restraint-based 3D modeling of genomes and genomic domains
Marie Trussart – Nucleic Acids Research

CRISPR Detection from Short Reads Using Partial Overlap Graphs – Ilan Ben-Bassat, Benny Chor – Research in Computational Molecular Biology

CLARK: fast and accurate classification of metagenomic and genomic sequences using
discriminative k-mers – Rachid Ounit – BMC Genomics

FlowClus: efficiently filtering and denoising pyrosequenced amplicons – John M Gaspar and W Kelley Thomas – BMC Bioinformatics

Review: 16S rRNA gene high-throughput sequencing data mining of microbial diversity and interactions – Feng Ju, Dr. Tong Zhang – Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

Book Chapter: Single-Cell Sequencing of Microorganisms – Ying Chen – Single Cell Sequencing and Systems Immunology

Metabolomics

Review: Rumen Nutrition Symposium How to use data on the rumen microbiome to improve our understanding of ruminant nutrition – J. L. Firkins and Z. Yu – Journal of Animal Science

Microbes in the news

Modeling microbial metabolism on indoor surfaces – Jack Gilbert – MicroBEnet

Body Maps Expose the Chemical Residue That Coats Our Skin – Marcus Woo – Wired.com
Crazy maps reveal colonies of bacteria and chemicals all over the human body – Kevin Loria – Business Insider
3D Human Skin Maps Aid Study of Relationships Between Molecules, Microbes and Environment – Heather Buschman – UC San Diego

Advancing the understanding of the dental microbiome – Maria Perno Goldie – Dentistry IQ

Who Let the Microbes Out: A Paw Print of Doggy Skin Bacteria – Daniella Lowenberg – PLOS blogs

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are not match for medieval potion – Alexandra Ossola – Popular Science

Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria From Texan Cattle Yards Are Now Airborne, Study Finds
Kevin McSpadden – Time

Growing a Baby Microbiome – Kevin Bonham – Scientific American

Poop Transplants Can Treat Severe Infection In Patients – FPJ Bureau – The Free Press Journal

Poo transplants could save thousands – Geoff Egan – Range News
Healthy Microbiome Changes Last After Fecal Transplant in New Research – Elizabeth Gough-Gordon – MPR

With sample collection videos: GoViral – collecting nasal and saliva samples from sick people – Boston Children’s Hospital

Northwestern leads research on effects of long-term stay in space – Peter Kotecki – The Daily Northwestern
Conference paper: Research from the NASA Twins Study and Omics in Support of Mars Missions – NASA Technical Reports

Podcast (1min30): Donate Your Health Data To Medical Science – Cynthia Graber – Scientific American – American Gut, GoViral

You Act What You Eat: How Gut Microbes Modify Our Behavior – Monica Thunder – ResetMe

Meet The Bacteria That Make A Stink In Your Pits – Poncie Rutsch – NPR
Bacterial genetic pathway involved in body odor production discovered – Science Daily

Should Gut Bugs Influence the 2015 Dietary Guidelines? – Cameron Wells – US News

Glowing Tampons Help Detect Sewage Leaks – Gwen Pearson – Wired

Nearly half of hospital uniforms are washed in temperatures too cool to kill bacteria, says DMU research – De Montfort University
Egyptians Brewed Beer in Tel Aviv 5,000 Years Ago – Megan Gannon – Live Science

Conferences

#IHMC2015: 5th International Human Microbiome Congress, March 31-April 2, 2015, Luxembourg (6/23 plenary speakers are women)

The 2nd Microbiome R&D and Business Collaboration Forum Europe, May 07 – 08, 2015, London, UK (10/36 listed speakers are women)

1st Annual Translational Microbiome Conference, 13–14 May 2015, Boston, United States (5/11 speakers are women)

ASM General Meeting, May 30 – June 2, 2015, New Orleans, LA, USA

Symbiomes: Systems Biology of Host-Microbiome Interactions, 5-10 June 2015, Pultusk, Poland (5/17 speakers are women)

The Human Microbiome, 10-12 Jun 2015, EMBL Heidelberg, Germany (8/23 confirmed speakers are women)

Exploring Human Host-Microbiome Interactions in Health and Disease, June 29 – July 1, 2015 , Cambridge, UK (7/17 speakers are women)

Science, publishing, and career

How Articles Get Noticed and Advance the Scientific Conversation – Victoria Costello – PLOS Blogs

Writing a Good Peer Review to Improve Scholarship: What Editors Value and Authors Find Helpful – H. McLaughlin – Social Work Education: The International Journal

Discussion: Mistake index as a surrogate of quality in scientific manuscripts – Antoni Margalida – PNAS USA

What if you could replace performance evaluations with four simple questions? – Jena McGregor – Washington Post

Bik’s Picks

What 60 Minutes Got Right And Wrong On Duke’s Polio Virus Trial Against Glioblastoma – David Kroll – Forbes.com

The Astonishing beauty of Ordinary Sand magnified 250X – Aetherforce

What Elephants and Whales Look Like From Space – Robinson Meyer – The Atlantic

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March 18, 2015

Posted on by

Human skin microbiome

Book (hopefully also covering women’s skin): The Epidermis of Man: Co-existing with Commensals – Eds. Peter J Heidt et al.

Human oral microbiome

Salivary Microbiota Associated with Immunoglobulin A Nephropathy – Maria Piccolo – Microbial Ecology

Human gut microbiome

Review: Gut bacteria in children with autism spectrum disorders: challenges and promise of studying how a complex community influences a complex disease – Rosa Krajmalnik-Brown – Microbial Ecology in Health and Disease

Microbiome of pregnancy and birth

The Perinatal Microbiome and Pregnancy: Moving Beyond the Vaginal Microbiome –
Prince AL – CSH Perspect Med (only NCBI link available as of now)

Association between breastfeeding and intelligence, educational attainment, and income at 30 years of age: a prospective birth cohort study from Brazil – Cesar G Victora – The Lancet

Review: Individualized medicine and the microbiome of the reproductive tract – Andrea G. Braundmeier – Frontiers in Physiology

Animal and other models

The Quorum Sensing Peptides PhrG, CSP and EDF Promote Angiogenesis and Invasion of Breast Cancer Cells In Vitro – Bart De Spiegeleer – PLOS ONE

Registered report of a replication study: Intestinal inflammation targets cancer-inducing activity of the microbiota – Kate Eaton – eLIFE

Ablation of Tumor Necrosis Factor Is Associated with Decreased Inflammation and Alterations of the Microbiota in a Mouse Model of Inflammatory Bowel Disease – Yava L. Jones-Hall – PLOS ONE

Phytase Modulates Ileal Microbiota and Enhances Growth Performance of the Broiler Chickens – Anna Ptak – PLOS ONE

Intestinal Microbiota Succession and Immunomodulatory Consequences after Introduction of Lactobacillus reuteri I5007 in Neonatal Piglets – Chengli Hou – PLOS ONE

Animal microbiome

Monkeys: Metagenomic analysis of the Rhinopithecus bieti fecal microbiome reveals a broad diversity of bacterial and glycoside hydrolase profiles related to lignocellulose degradation – Bo Xu – BMC Genomics

Frogs: Composition of symbiotic bacteria predicts survival in Panamanian golden frogs infected with a lethal fungus – Matthew H. Becker – Proceedings of the Royal Society B

Cows: Altered Microbiomes in Bovine Digital Dermatitis Lesions, and the Gut as a Pathogen Reservoir – Martin Zinicola – PLOS ONE

Culture based, horses: Occurrence of bacteria and polymorphonuclear leucocytes (PMNLs) in foetal compartments at parturition; relationships with foal and mare health in the peripartum period- E. Hemberg – Theriogenology

Bees: Variation in Honey Bee Gut Microbial Diversity Affected by Ontogenetic Stage, Age and Geographic Location – Zuzana Hroncova – PLOS ONE

Bees: Deep Sequencing and Ecological Characterization of Gut Microbial Communities of Diverse Bumble Bee Species – Haw Chuan Lim – PLOS ONE

Sponges: Molecular investigation of the microbial community associated with the fire sponge, Tedania ignis, in Bermuda – Nicholas J Jouett – PeerJ

Millipedes: Microbial dynamics in food, intestine and fecal pellets of two endemic pill-millipedes (Arthrosphaera: Sphaerotheriida) of the Western Ghats [PDF] – C.N. Ambarish and K.R. Sridhar – Journal of Agricultural Technology

Mosquitoes: RNA shotgun metagenomic sequencing of northern California (USA) mosquitoes uncovers viruses, bacteria, and fungi – James Angus Chandler – Frontiers in Microbiology

Soil and plant root microbiome

Impact of metagenomic DNA extraction procedures on the identifiable endophytic bacterial diversity in Sorghum bicolor (L. Moench) – Mapula Kgomotso Annah Maropola – Journal of Microbiological Methods

Rhizosphere microbial community manipulated by 2 years of consecutive biofertilizer application associated with banana Fusarium wilt disease suppression – Zongzhuan Shen – Biology and Fertility of Soils

The Effect of Phylogenetically Different Bacteria on the Fitness of Pseudomonas fluorescens in Sand Microcosms – Olaf Tyc – PLOS ONE

Organic amendments in avocado crops induce suppressiveness and influence the composition and activity of soil microbial communities – Nuria Bonilla – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Water microbiome

The biogeography of abundant and rare bacterioplankton in the lakes and reservoirs of China – Lemian Liu – The ISME Journal

Marine Fungi from Deep Subseafloor Sediments: Species richness and Adaptation -Vanessa Rédou – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Microbial Methane Potential for the South Sumatra Basin Coal: Formation Water Screening and Coal Substrate Bioavailability – Rita Susilawati – Energy Procedia

Site history and edaphic features override the influence of plant species on microbial communities in restored tidal freshwater wetlands – Christine E. Prasse – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Spatial variability of microbial assemblages associated with a dominant habitat-forming seaweed – Alexandra H. Campbell – Frontiers in Microbiology

Bioreactor microbiome

Dissecting microbial community structure and methane-producing pathways of a full-scale anaerobic reactor digesting activated sludge from wastewater treatment by metagenomic sequencing – Jianhua Guo – Microbial Cell Factories

Anaerobic codigestion of pretreated wheat straw with cattle manure and analysis of the microbial community – Zilin Song – Bioresource Technology

Analysis of Microbial Communities in the Oil Reservoir Subjected to CO2-Flooding by Using Functional Genes as Molecular Biomarkers for Microbial CO2 Sequestration – Jin-Feng Liu – Frontiers in Microbiology

Bacterial and archaeal guilds associated with electrogenesis and methanogenesis in paddy field soil – Bo Lin – Geoderma

Food microbiology

Comparing natural and selected starter cultures in meat and cheese fermentations – Daniela Bassi – Current Opinion in Food Science

Phages and viruses

Perspective: The Next Epidemic — Lessons from Ebola – Bill Gates – The New England Journal of Medicine

Genomic characteristics and environmental distributions of the uncultivated Far-T4 phages – Simon Roux – Frontiers in Microbiology

Isolation of Phages for Phage Therapy: A Comparison of Spot Tests and Efficiency of Plating Analyses for Determination of Host Range and Efficacy – Mohammadali Khan Mirzaei – PLOS ONE

Evaluation of a Viral Microarray Based on Simultaneous Extraction and Amplification of Viral Nucleotide Acid for Detecting Human Herpesviruses and Enteroviruses – Yi Liu – PLOS ONE

Review: Origins and evolution of viruses of eukaryotes: The ultimate modularity – Eugene V. Koonin – Virology

Metagenomics and bioinformatics

Accurate read-based metagenome characterization using a hierarchical suite of unique signatures – Tracey Allen K. Freitas – Nucleic Acid Research

k-mer analysis: Crossing the streams: a framework for streaming analysis of short DNA sequencing reads – Qingpeng Zhang – PeerJ

Essential genome of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in cystic fibrosis sputum – Keith H. Turner – PNAS USA

Hypothesis: Systems modeling approaches for microbial community studies: From metagenomics to inference of the community structure – Mark Hanemaaijer – Frontiers in Microbiology

Metabolomics

Review: Role of Resistant Starch in Improving Gut Health, Adiposity, and Insulin Resistance – Michael J Keenan – Advances in Nutrition

Microbial Degradation of Whole-Grain Complex Carbohydrates and Impact on Short-Chain Fatty Acids and Health – Knud Erik Bach Knudsen – Advances in Nutrition

Microbes in the news

Pet Peeves on 16S rRNA gene sequencing – Noah Fierer – Fierer lab

Can Probiotic Bacteria Save An Endangered Frog? – Ed Yong – National Geographic

New paper examines social effects on the gut microbiome of wild baboons – William G. Gilroy – Notre Dame News

Breast-Feeding Boosts Chances Of Success, Study In Brazil Finds – Rob Stein – NPR

Breast-Feeding May Have Benefits Decades Later – Nicholas Bakalar – New York Times

Lab creates bioinformatics tool for metagenome analysis – Phys.org

Could Man’s Best Friend Be Man’s Best Medicine? – Alexis Blue – University of Arizona

Dog germs may be good for you – Bradley J. Fikes – UT San Diego

The vaginal microbiome changes during and after pregnancy – American Microbiome Institute

Can the bacteria in your bowels increase your cancer risk? – Amy Yurkanin – AL.com

Your microbiome: groundbreaking research about our gut bacteria shows it could be the key to health – Jacqui Gibbons – High 50 Health

From human gut to the smartphone, new health monitoring – Tim Sandle – Digital Journal

Parasite turns shrimp into voracious cannibals – Chris Bunting – University of Leeds

Gut Bacteria, ASD, and Probiotics: Exploring the Relationship – Elizabeth Gough-Gordon – EMPR

New Molecular Tool Assesses Vaginal Microbiome Health, Diagnosis Infections-Fast – ASM

Technology helps unlock secrets of rare bacteria – Phys.org

Stanford researchers unravel secrets of shape-shifting bacteria – Tom Abate and Chris Cesare – Stanford News

Video: Alexander Fleming – Inventor of Penicillin – Scientiflix

Bik’s Picks

Ultrasoundings: monitoring a pregnant dolphin – Bill Van Bonn – Shedd Aquarium

Why are there so many freaking beetles? Science may finally have the answer. – Rachel Feltman – Washington Post

The myopia boom: Short-sightedness is reaching epidemic proportions. Some scientists think they have found a reason why – Elie Dolgin – Nature

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