June 22, 2017

Effects of weight loss treatment on gut microbiota and serum metabolites, mouse gut microbiota can alter visceral sensitivity, a review discussing the microbiota’s ability to shape the maternal immune system.

Pregnancy and early life

Review: The unique immunological and microbial aspects of pregnancy – Gil Mor – Nature Reviews Immunology

Human oral microbiome

Review: Microbiome and Microbial Biofilm Profiles of Peri-Implantitis: A Systematic Review – Gloria Inés Lafaurie – Journal of Periodontology

Human gut microbiome

Bifidobacterium-Rich Fecal Donor May Be a Positive Predictor for Successful Fecal Microbiota Transplantation in Patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome – S Mizuno – Digestion

Microbiota in anorexia nervosa: The triangle between bacterial species, metabolites and psychological tests – Francesca Borgo – PLOS ONE

Animal experiments

Fructo-oligosaccharides and intestinal barrier function in a methionine–choline-deficient mouse model of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis – Kotaro Matsumoto – PLOS ONE

Microbiota regulates visceral pain in the mouse – Pauline Luczynski – eLife

Metagenomic characterization of the effect of feed additives on the gut microbiome and antibiotic resistome of feedlot cattle – Milton Thomas – bioRxiv

Animal microbiome

Combining ‘omics and microscopy to visualize interactions between the Asian citrus psyllid vector and the Huanglongbing pathogen Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus in the insect gut – Angela Kruse – PLOS ONE

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Application of struvite alters the antibiotic resistome in soil, rhizosphere, and phyllosphere – Qing-Lin Chen – Environmental Science & Technology

Water and extremophile microbiome

Synergistic hydrolysis of xylan using novel xylanases, β-xylosidases, and an α-l-arabinofuranosidase from Geobacillus thermodenitrificans NG80-2 – Di Huang – Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

Longitudinal variation of microbial communitiesin benthic biofilms and association with hydrological and physicochemical conditions in glacier-fed streams – Ze Ren – Freshwater Science

Control of Sulfide Production in High Salinity Bakken Shale Oil Reservoirs by Halophilic Bacteria Reducing Nitrate to Nitrite – Biwin A An – Frontiers in Microbiology

Phages and viruses

Viral and Bacterial Communities of Colorectal Cancer – Geoffrey D Hannigan – bioRxiv

Plasmids, Viruses, And Other Circular Elements In Rat Gut – Tue Sparholt Jørgensen – bioRxiv

Bioinformatics

The metagenomic data life-cycle: standards and best practices – Petra ten Hoopen – GigaScience

PhylOligo: a package to identify contaminant or untargeted organism sequences in genome assemblies – Ludovic Mallet – Bioinformatics

Metabolomics

Gut microbiome and serum metabolome alterations in obesity and after weight-loss intervention – Ruixin Liu – Nature Medicine

Integrating Microbiome and Metabolome Data to Understand Infectious Airway Disease – Robert A Quinn – American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine

Coupling targeted and untargeted mass spectrometry for metabolome-microbiome-wide association studies of human fecal samples – Alexey V Melnik – Analytical Chemistry

Techniques

Incorporating comparative genomics into the Design-Test-Learn cycle of microbial strain engineering – Maria Sardi – FEMS Yeast Research

Different amplicon targets for sequencing-based studies of fungal diversity – Francesca De Filippis – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Microbes in the news

Modified viruses deliver death to antibiotic-resistant bacteria – Sara Reardon – Nature

Microbes on the market

EnteroBiotix raises £500k in first round of equity funding – Philip Gates – Insider.co.uk

Microbiotica To Present At Microbiome Drug Development Summit – BioSpace

Bacteria art

MIT Researchers Use Light-Illuminated Bacteria to Make ‘Living’ Pictures – Kristin Fawcett – Mental Floss

The world’s art is under attack—by microbes – Kate Baggaley – Popular Science

Science, publishing, and career

Editorial: Don’t let Europe’s open-science dream drift – Nature

June 13, 2017

Excellent reviews across all sections, with many from the Nature Journals. Also, multiple articles on the tree of life and animal experiments.

General microbiome
1,003 reference genomes of bacterial and archaeal isolates expand coverage of the tree of life – Supratim Mukherjee – Nature Biotechnology

Lokiarchaea are close relatives of Euryarchaeota, not bridging the gap between prokaryotes and eukaryotes – Violette Da Cunha – PLoS Genetics

Review: Natural Products and the Gene Cluster Revolution – Paul R. Jensen – Trends in Microbiology

Pregnancy and early life
Review: How nutrition and the maternal microbiota shape the neonatal immune system – Andrew J. MacPherson – Nature Reviews Immunology

Multi-site human microbiome
Review: Role of oral and gut microbiome in nitric oxide mediated colon motility – Miriam Y. Walker – Nitric Oxide

Human skin microbiome
Review: Chemical signaling in mosquito–host interactions: the role of human skin microbiota – William Takken – Current Opinion in Insect Science

Human oral microbiome
Reduced Susceptibility to Antiseptics Is Conferred by Heterologous Housekeeping Genes – Supathep Tansirichaiya – Microbial Drug Resistance

Human gut microbiome
*Alcohol-associated intestinal dysbiosis impairs pulmonary host defense against Klebsiella pneumoniae – Derrick R. Samuelson – PLoS Pathogens

Review: Fungal dysbiosis: immunity and interactions at mucosal barriers – Ilian D. Iliev – Nature Reviews Immunology

Review: Transmission of the gut microbiota: spreading of health – Hilary P. Browne – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Editorial: Post-dieting weight gain: the role of persistent microbiome changes – Christoph A Thaiss – Future Microbiology

Animal experiments
*Thermoneutral housing exacerbates nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in mice and allows for sex-independent disease modeling – Daniel A. Giles – Nature Medicine

*Cold-induced conversion of cholesterol to bile acids in mice shapes the gut microbiome and promotes adaptive thermogenesis – A. Worthmann – Nature Medicine

Integrated Metagenomic Analyses of the Rumen Microbiome of Cattles Reveals Key Biological Mechanisms Associated with Methane Traits – Haiying Wang – Methods

Long-term multi-species Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium dietary supplement enhances memory and changes regional brain metabolites in middle-aged rats – Caroline O’Hagan – Neurobiology of Learning and Memory

Soy compared with milk protein in a Western diet changes fecal microbiota and decreases hepatic steatosis in obese OLETF rats – Matthew R. Panasevich – Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry

Targeted metabolomics analysis of aromatic amino acids and their gut microbiota-host co-metabolites in rat serum and urine by liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry – Yifeng Zeng – Journal of Separation Science

Effect of cocoa’s theobromine on intestinal microbiota of rats – Sandra Martin-Pelaez – Molecular Nutrition and Food Research

Water and extremophile microbiome
Review: Microbial Extracellular Polymeric Substances (EPSs) in Ocean Systems – Alan W. Decho – Frontiers in Microbiology

Review: Linking genes to microbial biogeochemical cycling: lessons from arsenic – Yong-Guan Zhu – Environmental Science and Technology

Food microbiology
Review: Extremozymes from metagenome: Potential applications in food processing – Mahejibin Khan – Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition

Phages and viruses
Review: Interplay between viruses and bacterial microbiota in cancer development – Dariia Vyshenska – Seminars in Immunology

Bioinformatics
A novel method to determine the minimum number of sequences required for reliable microbial community analysis – Jiajia Ni – Journal of Microbiological Methods

Power and sample size calculations for high-throughput sequencing-based experiments – Chung-I Li – Briefings in Bioinformatics
Only a short section on microbiome.

Techniques
*A stabilized microbial ecosystem of self-limiting bacteria using synthetic quorum-regulated lysis – Spencer R. Scott – Nature Microbiology

Body fluid prediction from microbial patterns for forensic application – Eirik Nataas Hanssen – Forensic Science International: Genetics

Multi-locus and long amplicon sequencing approach to study microbial diversity at species level using the MinIONTM portable nanopore sequencer – Alfonso Benítez-Páez – GigaScience

Review: Phenotyping of gut microbiota: Focus on capillary electrophoresis – Manuel Ferrer – Electrophoresis

Review: Panacea in progress: CRISPR and the future of its biological research introduction – Michael Carroll – Microbiological Research

June 10, 2017

Jobs and events

Two tenure-track assistant professor or associate professors – Department of Plant and Microbial Biology – College of Biological Sciences, University of Minnesota

Sign up for the webinar by Edward Messick, GENEWIZ – Topic: Metagenomics for Biomarker Discovery: Applications in Precision Medicine – Webinar date and time: June 14, 2017 at 5 PM

 

General microbiome

Ferrous Iron Efflux Systems in Bacteria – H Pi – Metallomics

Metagenomics of microbial and viral life in terrestrial geothermal environments – A Strazzulli – Reviews in Environmental Science and Bio/Technology

Bacterial Infections in Neonates Following Mupirocin-Based MRSA Decolonization: A Multicenter Cohort Study – R Pierce – Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology

 

Human gut microbiome

Interindividual variability of soil arsenic metabolism by human gut microbiota using SHIME model –  N Yin – Chemosphere

Report: Daily Changes in Composition and Diversity of the Intestinal Microbiota in Patients with Anorexia Nervosa: A Series of Three Cases – SC Kleiman – European Eating Disorders Review

 

Animal experiment

A Targeted Metabolomics Analysis Identifies Intestinal Microbiota-Derived Urinary Biomarkers of Colonization Resistance in Antibiotic-Treated Mice – ME Obrenovich – Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy

 

Animal microbiome

Molecular dialogues with the microbiota: Lessons from the zebrafish intestine – K Guillemin – Mechanisms of Development

 

Plant, root and soil microbiome

The nodule microbiome; N2-fixing rhizobia do not live alone  – P  Martínez-Hidalgo – Phytobiomes Journal

Decreased plant productivity resulting from plant group removal experiment constrains soil microbial functional diversity – X Zhang – Global Change Biology

Turnover of carbon and phosphorus in the microbial biomass depending on phosphorus availability – M Spohn – Soil Biology and Biochemistry

Effect of soil preparation techniques on the biochemical properties and microbial communities of a citrus orchard after replanting and conversion into organic management – A Pérez-Piqueres – Applied Soil Ecology

 

Water microbiome and extremophile

Review: The Vulnerability and Resilience of Reef-Building Corals – HM Putnam – Current Biology

Bacterial and archaeal community structure of pan-Arctic Ocean sediments revealed by pyrosequencing – X Lin – Acta Oceanologica Sinica

Genetic diversity of nitrate reducing bacteria in marine and brackish water nitrifying bacterial consortia generated for activating nitrifying bioreactors in recirculating aquaculture systems – PG Preena – Aquaculture Research

 

Techniques

Integrated transcriptomic, proteomic and epigenomic analysis of Plasmodium vivax salivary-gland sporozoites – A Jex – bioRxiv

Discrimination of haloarchaeal genera using Raman spectroscopy and robust methods for multivariate data analysis – NE Dina – Journal of Raman Spectroscopy

 

Metabolomics

Comparative metabolomics in vanilla pod and vanilla bean revealing the biosynthesis of vanillin during the curing process of vanilla –  F Gu – AMB Express

 

Phages

A highly specific phage defense system is a conserved feature of the Vibrio cholerae mobilome – BJ O’ Hara – PLoS Genetics

 

Built environment microbiome

Warm and wet: robust lipase-producing bacteria from the indoor environment – K Tanner – bioRxiv

Impacts of biostimulation and bioaugmentation on the performance and microbial ecology in methanogenic reactors treating purified terephthalic acid wastewater – M Liu – Water Research

 

More microbes

Viral Encephalitis of Unknown Cause: Current Perspective and Recent Advances – PGE Kennedy – Viruses

Protozoa and microbiome  – SL Burgess – Infection and Immunity

Reciprocal control of motility and biofilm formation by the PdhS2 two-component sensor kinase of Agrobacterium tumefaciens  – JE Heindl – bioRxiv

Intercellular communication via the comX-Inducing Peptide (XIP) of Streptococcus mutans – J Kaspar – bioRxiv

Hammondia hammondi has a developmental program in vitro that mirrors its stringent two host life cycle – SL Sokol – bioRxiv

 

Microbes in news

Engineering ‘good’ bacteria to kill bad ones – The Straits Times

White or wholemeal? It depends on your gut bacteria – A Middleton – Cosmos

Ixcela Announces Partnership with ORACLE TEAM USA to Improve Athletes’ Internal Health and Performance – Business Wire

New Study Finds Gut Bacteria May Inhibit Cancer Drugs – K Lant – Futurism

Therapy could stop superbugs on farms – P Ghosh – BBC News

SHU students travel to present phages research – P Parise – Setonian Online

June 9, 2017

Effects of prebiotics on body fat and gut microbiota of children, a review on the phage community of the human gut, a metabolomics study of the rodent brain to analyze the influence of gut bacteria.

Pregnancy and early life

Clostridium difficile colonization and/or infection during infancy and the risk of childhood allergic diseases – Sun Hwa Lee – Korean Journal of Pediatrics

Human vaginal microbiome

Association of vaginal dysbiosis and biofilm with contraceptive vaginal ring biomass in African women – Liselotte Hardy – PLOS ONE

Human gut microbiome

Age-Related Changes in the Composition of Gut Bifidobacterium Species – Kumiko Kato – Current Microbiology

Review: The low FODMAP diet: recent advances in understanding its mechanisms and efficacy in IBS – Heidi M Staudacher – Gut

Animal experiments

Antibiotics in 16-day-old broilers temporarily affect microbial and immune parameters in the gut – H J Wisselink – Poultry Science

Weaned beef calves fed selenium-biofortified alfalfa hay have an enriched nasal microbiota compared with healthy controls – Jean A Hall – PLOS ONE

The artificial sweetener acesulfame potassium affects the gut microbiome and body weight gain in CD-1 mice – Xiaoming Bian – PLOS ONE

Effects of different n-6 to n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids ratio on reproductive performance, fecal microbiota and nutrient digestibility of gestation-lactating sows and suckling piglets – Jia Yin – Animal Science Journal

Nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-containing protein 2 (Nod2) modulates T1DM susceptibility by gut microbiota – Yang-yang Li – Journal of Autoimmunity

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Kinetic analysis of aerobic biotransformation pathways of a perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) precursor in distinctly different soils – Lilan Zhang – Environmental Pollution

Plant breeding goes microbial – Zhong Wei – Trends in Plant Science

Atrazine, chlorpyrifos, and iprodione effect on the biodiversity of bacteria, actinomycetes, and fungi in a pilot biopurification system with a green cover – Sebastian Elgueta – Journal of Environmental Science and Health, Part B

Probiotics/prebiotics

Prebiotic Reduces Body Fat and Alters Intestinal Microbiota in Children With Overweight or Obesity – Alissa C Nicolucci – Gastroenterology

Phages and viruses

Review: The Human Gut Phage Community and Its Implications for Health and Disease – Pilar Manrique – Viruses

Metabolomics

Application of 1H NMR spectroscopy to the metabolic phenotyping of rodent brain extracts: A metabonomic study of gut microbial influence on host brain metabolism – J R Swann – Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis

More microbes

Multi-locus and ultra-long amplicon sequencing approach to study microbial diversity at species level using the MinION(TM) portable nanopore sequencer – Alfonso Benítez-Páez – bioRxiv

ComM is a hexameric helicase that promotes branch migration during natural transformation in diverse Gram-negative species – Thomas M Nero – bioRxiv

Microbes in the news

Microbiology: Many forks make light work – ScienceDaily

Fungi awake bacteria from their slumber – ScienceDaily

Microbes on the market

Seres Completes Enrollment for SER-287 Phase 1b Clinical Trial in Patients with UC – Daniela Semedo – IBD News Today

May 25, 2017

A review on the “vine and wine” microbiomes, a fungus that can infect and kill mosquitos through interaction with the gut microbiota, an introduction to the viruses of coral reefs.

General microbiome

The Role of Microbiota and Immunobiotics in Granulopoiesis of Immunocompromised Hosts – Susana Salva – Frontiers in Immunology

Successive range expansion promotes diversity and accelerates evolution in spatially structured microbial populations – Felix Goldschmidt – The ISME Journal

Human gut microbiome

TGF-β in inflammatory bowel disease: a key regulator of immune cells, epithelium, and the intestinal microbiota – Sozaburo Ihara – Journal of Gastroenterology

Review: Towards an Integrative Understanding of Diet–Host–Gut Microbiome Interactions – Mark N Read – Frontiers in Immunology

Review: Genes, emotions and gut microbiota: The next frontier for the gastroenterologist – Arturo Panduro – World Journal of Gastroenterology

Animal experiments

Modulation of the gut microbiota impacts non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: a potential role for bile acids – Aafke WF Janssen – Journal of Lipid Research

Antimicrobial peptides extend lifespan in Drosophila – Gerrit Loch – PLOS ONE

Animal microbiome

Bacterial diversity of cosmopolitan Culex pipiens and invasive Aedes japonicus from Germany – Sina Zotzmann – Parasitology Research

Comparison of Microbiomes between Red Poultry Mite Populations (Dermanyssus gallinae): Predominance of Bartonella-like Bacteria – Jan Hubert – Microbial Ecology

* Insect pathogenic fungus interacts with the gut microbiota to accelerate mosquito mortality – Ge Wei – PNAS

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Leaf bacterial diversity mediates plant diversity and ecosystem function relationships – Isabelle Laforest-Lapointe – Nature

Alpine soil carbon is vulnerable to rapid microbial decomposition under climate cooling – Linwei Wu – The ISME Journal

Review: From Vineyard Soil to Wine Fermentation: Microbiome Approximations to Explain the “terroir” Concept – Ignacio Belda – Frontiers in Microbiology

Phages and viruses

Differentiation and Structure in Sulfolobus islandicus Rod-Shaped Virus Populations – Maria A Bautista – Viruses

Review: Virus–host interactions and their roles in coral reef health and disease – Rebecca Vega Thurber – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Metabolomics

Inter-individual Recovery of the Microbiota and Metabolome Over Time Following Fecal Microbiota Transplantation in Patients with Recurrent Clostridium difficile Infection – Anna M Seekatz – bioRxiv

Metabolic profiling by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry of energy metabolism in high-fat diet-fed obese mice – Daxesh P Patel – PLOS ONE

Review: Livestock metabolomics and the livestock metabolome: A systematic review – Seyed Ali Goldansaz – PLOS ONE

Techniques

Review: A diverse community to study communities: integration of experiments and mathematical models to study microbial consortia – Antonella Succurro – Journal of Bacteriology

More microbes

Decoding and reprogramming fungal iterative nonribosomal peptide synthetases – Dayu Yu – Nature Communications

Microbes in the news

Companies Pursue Diagnostics that Mine the Microbiome – Andrea Anderson – The Scientist

The fungal microbiome contributes to alcohol-induced liver damage in mice – EurekAlert

April 15, 2017

Few interesting articles for your Saturday morning digest:   Urbanization alters the physicochemical environment: A new study suggests that urban soil archaeal and bacterial communities are not vulnerable to biodiversity loss, whereas global diversity loss of ectomycorrhizal fungi was observed.  Researchers believe they have found a method of hunting for buried landmines and explosive devices using a combination of engineered bacteria and lasers.    And another reason to be engaged in sports activities: a study highlights differences of microbiota and secondary metabolites in elite athletes.

General microbiome

Remote detection of buried landmines using a bacterial sensor – Shimshon Belkin – Nature Biotech

Next-generation approaches to understand and combat the antibiotic resistome – Terence S. Crofts – Nature Reviews

Human Oral Microbiome

Microbiomes of the normal middle ear and ears with chronic otitis media – Shujiro B. Minami – Laryngoscope

Human gut microbiome

The microbiome of professional athletes differs from that of more sedentary subjects in composition and particularly at the functional metabolic level– Wiley Barton – Gut

The MS-Associated Gut Microbiome – Sergio E Baranzini – Multiple Sclerosis Journal

Mental Health

Oral treatment with Lactobacillus rhamnosus attenuates behavioral deficits and immune changes in chronic social stress – Aadil Bharwani – BMC Medicine

Animal microbiome

Complete Genome Sequence of Akkermansia glycaniphila Strain PytT, a Mucin-Degrading Specialist of the Reticulated Python Gut – Janneke P. Ouwerkerk – Genome Announcements

Water and extremophile microbiome

Spatial variation in bacterial community in natural wetland-river-sea ecosystems
Hongxia Zhang – J. of Basic Microbiology

Built environment

Urbanization erodes ectomycorrhizal fungal diversity and may cause microbial communities to converge – Dietrich JE Schmidt -Nature Ecology & Evolution

Prebiotics

Prebiotic evaluation of red seaweed (Kappaphycus alvarezii) using in vitro colon model – DM Bajury – International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition

April 13, 2017

Profiles of ulcerative colitis patients’ microbiota after fecal microbiota transplantation, a bioinformatics software package for rarefaction analysis, an artist who uses sweat and bacteria to create scents and sculptures.

General microbiome

Review: Microbial metabolites in nutrition, healthcare and agriculture – Rajendra Singh – 3 Biotech

Review: Modified Mediterranean Diet for Enrichment of Short Chain Fatty Acids: Potential Adjunctive Therapeutic to Target Immune and Metabolic Dysfunction in Schizophrenia? – Jamie Joseph – Frontiers in Neuroscience

Human respiratory microbiome

The Nasopharyngeal Microbiota of Children with Respiratory Infections in Botswana – Matthew S Kelly – Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal

Human gut microbiome

* Microbial shifts and signatures of long-term remission in ulcerative colitis after faecal microbiota transplantation – Susana Fuentes – ISME Journal

Intestinal microbiome in children with severe and complicated acute viral gastroenteritis – Shih-Yen Chen – Scientific Reports

Unusual active site location and catalytic apparatus in a glycoside hydrolase family – Jose Munoz-Munoz – PNAS

Animal experiments

Enterococcus faecalis bacteriocin EntV inhibits hyphal morphogenesis, biofilm formation, and virulence of Candida albicans – Carrie E Graham – PNAS

The therapeutic protection of a living and dead Lactobacillus strain against aluminum-induced brain and liver injuries in C57BL/6 mice – Fengwei Tian & Leilei Yu – PLOS One

Microscale spatial analysis provides evidence for adhesive monopolization of dietary nutrients by specific intestinal bacteria – Yusuke Nagara – PLOS One

Review: Caspase recruitment domain 9, microbiota, and tryptophan metabolism: dangerous liaisons in inflammatory bowel diseases – Bruno Lamas – Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care

Individual variation of natural D. melanogaster associated bacterial communities – Yun Wang – bioRxiv

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

A new polyketide glycoside from the rhizospheric Clonostachys rogersoniana associated with Panax notoginseng – Tian-Peng Yin – Journal of Asian Natural Products Research

Bacterial carbon use plasticity, phylogenetic diversity and the priming of soil organic matter – Ember M Morrissey – ISME Journal

Population and function analysis of cultivable bacteria associated with spores of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Gigaspora margarita – Liangkun Long – 3 Biotech

Water and extremophile microbiome

Exploring the ecological coherence between the spatial and temporal patterns of bacterioplankton in boreal lakes – Juan P. Niño García – Frontiers in Microbiology

Genomic comparisons of a bacterial lineage that inhabits both marine and terrestrial deep subsurface systems – Sean P Jungbluth – PeerJ

Bacterial community composition and dynamics spanning five years in freshwater bog lakes – Alexandra M Linz – bioRxiv

Occurrence of high-diversity metazoan- to microbial-dominated bioconstructions in a shallow Kimmeridgian carbonate ramp (Jabaloyas, Spain) – G San Miguel – Facies

Expression patterns of elemental cycling genes in the Amazon River Plume – Brandon M Satinsky – ISME Journal

Built environment

Comparison of microbial community shifts in two parallel multi-step drinking water treatment processes – Jiajiong Xu – Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

Probiotics/prebiotics

Engineered probiotic Escherichia coli can eliminate and prevent Pseudomonas aeruginosa gut infection in animal models – In Young Hwang – Nature Communications

Review: Unraveling the Differences between Gram-Positive and Gram-Negative Probiotics in Modulating Protective Immunity to Enteric Infections – Sukumar Kandasamy – Frontiers in Immunology

Bioinformatics

* RTK: efficient rarefaction analysis of large datasets – Paul Saary – Bioinformatics

A geographically-diverse collection of 418 human gut microbiome pathway genome databases – Aria S Hahn – Scientific Data

Metabolomics

Indolepropionic acid and novel lipid metabolites are associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes in the Finnish Diabetes Prevention Study – Vanessa D de Mello – Scientific Reports

More microbes

Influences of dissolved oxygen concentration on biocathodic microbial communities in microbial fuel cells – Laura Rago – Bioelectrochemistry

Microbes in the news

Waste-munching bacteria could make nuclear stores safer – Sam Wong – New Scientist

‘Young poo’ makes aged fish live longer – Ewen Callaway – Nature

Microbiology: Gut microbes augment neurodegeneration – Daniel Erny – Nature

* This Artist Turns Sweat and Bacteria Into Art – Annie Tittiger – Wired

Science, publishing, and career

Why do scientists fabricate and falsify data? A matched-control analysis of papers containing problematic image duplications – Daniele Fanelli – bioRxiv

Amy’s non-microbiology picks

Human knockouts and phenotypic analysis in a cohort with a high rate of consanguinity – Danish Saleheen – Nature

April 9, 2017

Today’s digest features interesting research on how keystone microbial taxa regulate invasion of pathogens in agricultural systems. Also, interesting pre-print on how the gut microbiome influences the lifespan of fish.

Human gut microbiome

De novo assembly of microbial genomes from human gut metagenomes using barcoded short read sequences. Moss. E. Biorxiv

Review: Updating on Gut Microbiota and its Relationship with the Occurrence of Necrotizing Enterocolitis (Review). Hosny, M. Human Microbiome Journal

Supplementation of Diet with Galacto-oligosaccharides Increases Bifidobacteria, but not Insulin Sensitivity, in Obese Prediabetic Individuals. Canfora, E. Gastroenterology

Independence of Gut Bacterial Content and Neonatal Necrotizing Enterocolitis Severity Barron, LK. Journal of Pediatric Surgery

Evaluation of the impact of gut microbiota on uremic solute accumulation by a CE-TOFMS–based metabolomics approach. Mishima, E.Kidney International

Human skin microbiome

Semi-automated quantitative analysis of the human skin microbiome diversity  Kumagai, C. Journal of Dermatological Science

Human Skin Is the Largest Epithelial Surface for Interaction with Microbes. Gallo, R. Journal of Investigative Dermatology

Human milk microbiome

Human milk microbiome in urban and rural populations of India Yati, H. Meta Gene

Molecular Insight into Evolution of Symbiosis between Breast-Fed Infants and a Member of the Human Gut Microbiome Bifidobacterium longum.Yamada, C. Cell Chemical Biology

Food  microbiome

Microbial metabolites derived from colonic fermentation of non-digestible compounds. Tabernero, M. Current Opinion in Food Science

High relative humidity pre-harvest reduces post-harvest proliferation of Salmonella in tomatoes . Devleesschauwer, B. Food Microbiology

Plant and soil microbiome

Keystone microbial taxa regulate the invasion of a fungal pathogen in agro-ecosystems. Trivedi, P. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 

In-depth analysis of core methanogenic communities from high elevation permafrost-affected wetlands. Yang, S. Soil Biology and Biochemistry

Strigolactones in Plant Interactions with Beneficial and Detrimental Organisms: The Yin and Yang. López-Ráez, JA. Trends in Plant Science

Animal microbiome

Regulation of Life Span by the Gut Microbiota in The Short-Lived African Turquoise Killifish. Smith, P. Biorxiv

Factors influencing ruminal bacterial community diversity and composition and microbial fibrolytic enzyme abundance in lactating dairy cows with a focus on the role of active dry yeast. AlZahal, O. Journal of Dairy Science

Organochloride pesticides modulated gut microbiota and influenced bile acid metabolism in mice. Liu, Q. Environmental Pollution

Growth performance of the very small rotifer Proales similis is more dependent on proliferating bacterial community than the bigger rotifer Brachionus rotundiformis. Le, DVB.  Aquaculture

Evidence of Campylobacter jejuni reduction in broilers with early synbiotic administration Baffoni, L. International Journal of Food Microbiology

Raspberry pomace alters cecal microbial activity and reduces secondary bile acids in rats fed a high-fat diet. Fotschki, B.The Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry

Rumen microbial and fermentation characteristics are affected differently by acarbose addition during two nutritional types of simulated severe subacute ruminal acidosis in vitro. Wang, Y. Anaerobe.

Metabolomics 

Targeting aggression in severe mental illness: The predictive role of genetic, epigenetic, and metabolomic markers   Manchia, M. Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry

Prebiotics/Probiotics 

A three-stage continuous culture approach to study the impact of probiotics, prebiotics and fat intake on faecal microbiota relevant to an over 60 s population. Liu. Y.Journal of Functional Foods

 

April 5, 2017

Today’s digest features interesting research on the dynamic microbiome evolution in social bees and the alteration in quorum Sensing, cell motility, stress Response, and carbohydrate metabolism  of gut microbiome by the organophosphate pesticide Diazinon. Low dose penicillin in early life can induce long term changes in mice gut microbiota, brain cytokines and behavior. Interesting reviews on the microbiome and human biology, and role of gut microbiota in the development of hypertension, including that associated with obstructive sleep apnea.

General microbiome

*Review: The Microbiome and Human Biology – Rob Knight – Annual Review of Genomics and Human Genetics

*Dynamic microbiome evolution in social bees – Waldan K. Kwong – Science Advances

Anaerobic Bacterial Fermentation Products Increase Tuberculosis Risk in Antiretroviral-Drug-Treated HIV – Leopoldo N. Segal – Cell Host & Microbe

Pregnancy and early life

Vancomycin treatment is a risk factor for vancomycin-nonsusceptible Staphylococcus capitis sepsis in preterm neonates – Marine Butin – Clinical Microbiology and Infection

Human oral microbiome

Relative abundance of total subgingival plaque-specific bacteria in salivary microbiota reflects the overall periodontal condition in patients with periodontitis – Shinya Kageyama – Plos One

Review: Biofilm over teeth and restorations: What do we need to know? – Nancy J. Lin – Dental Materials

Human skin microbiome

Cutaneous Burn Injury Promotes Shifts in the Bacterial Microbiome in Autologous Donor Skin: Implications for Skin Grafting Outcomes – Jennifer K. Plichta – Shock

Human gut microbiome

Review : The gut microbiota: a possible factor influencing systemic lupus erythematosus – Hadar Neuman – Current Opinion in Rheumatology

*Organophosphate Diazinon Altered Quorum Sensing, Cell Motility, Stress Response, and Carbohydrate Metabolism of Gut Microbiome – Bei Gao -Toxicological Sciences

Baseline gut microbiota predicts clinical response and colitis in metastatic melanoma patients treated with ipilimumab – N. Chaput – Oncology

*Review: Obstructive Sleep Apnea-Induced Hypertension: Role of the Gut Microbiota – David J. Durgan – Current Hypertension Reports

Review: The Gut Microbiota and Alzheimer’s Disease – Chunmei Jiang – Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease

Fecal Microbiota Transplantation

Fecal Microbiota Transplantation in Patients with Blood Disorders Inhibits Gut Colonization with Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria: Results of a Prospective, Single-Center Study – Jaroslaw Bilinski – Clinical Infectious Diseases

Animal microbiome

Multi-Omics Analysis Reveals a Correlation between the Host Phylogeny, Gut Microbiota and Metabolite Profiles in Cyprinid Fishes – Tongtong Li – Frontiers in Microbiology

Diurnal Dynamics of Gaseous and Dissolved Metabolites and Microbiota Composition in the Bovine Rumen – Henk J. van Lingen – Frontiers in Microbiology

Microbial Biogeography and Core Microbiota of the Rat Digestive Tract – Dongyao Li – Scientific Reports

Animal experiments

Bifidobacterium in the gut microbiota confer resilience to chronic social defeat stress in mice – Chun Yang – Scientific Reports

Lack of Evidence That Selenium-Yeast Improves Chicken Health and Modulates the Caecal Microbiota in the Context of Colonization by Campylobacter jejuni – Alexandre Thibodeau – Frontiers in Microbiology

Review : Outstanding animal studies in allergy II: from atopic barrier and microbiome to allergen-specific immunotherapy – Erika Jensen-Jarolim – Current Opinion in Allergy & Clinical Immunology

Faecalibacterium prausnitzii treatment improves hepatic health and reduces adipose tissue inflammation in high-fat fed mice – Eveliina Munukka – ISME Journal

*Low-dose penicillin in early life induces long-term changes in murine gut microbiota, brain cytokines and behavior –  Sophie Leclercq – Nature Communications

Nod2 and Nod2-regulated microbiota protect BALB/c mice from diet-induced obesity and metabolic dysfunction – Ivan Rodriguez-Nunez – Scientific Reports

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Aluminum-tolerant bacteria improve the plant growth and phosphorus content in ryegrass grown in a volcanic soil amended with cattle dung manure – María de la Luz Mora- Applied Soil Ecology

Invisible but consequential: root endophytic fungi have variable effects on belowground plant–insect interactions – Huyijuie Gan – Ecosphere

Land-use types and soil chemical properties influence soil microbial communities in the semiarid Loess Plateau region in China – Qin Tian – Scientific Reports

Phylogenetic conservation of substrate use specialization in leaf litter bacteria – Kristin L. Dolan – Plos ONE

Root biomass and exudates link plant diversity with soil bacterial and fungal biomass – Nico Eisenhauer – Scientific Reports

Water and extremophile microbiome

Discrimination of Four Marine Biofilm-Forming Bacteria by LC-MS Metabolomics and Influence of Culture Parameters – Laurie Favre – Journal of Proteome Research

Iron assimilation and utilization in anaerobic ammonium oxidizing bacteria – Christina Ferousi – Current Opinion in Chemical Biology

*Potential sources of bacteria colonizing the cryoconite of an Alpine glacier – Andrea Franzetti – PLOS ONE

Spatio-Temporal Variations of Marine Biofilm Communities Colonizing Artificial Substrata Including Antifouling Coatings in Contrasted French Coastal Environments – Jean-François Briand – Microbial Ecology

Metabolomics

Review: Metabolomics: Strategies to Define the Role of Metabolism in Virus Infection and Pathogenesis – Marianne Manchester – Advances in Virus Research

Effect of Major Royal Jelly Proteins on Spatial Memory in Aged Rats: Metabolomics Analysis in Urine – Di Chen -Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

Food microbiology

Sourdough authentication: quantitative PCR to detect the lactic acid bacterial microbiota in breads – Erica Pontonio – Scientific Reports

Probiotics / prebiotics

Evaluation of Potential Probiotics Isolated from Human Milk and Colostrum – Quésia S. Damaceno – Probiotics and Antimicrobial Proteins

Bioinformatics

SLIMM: species level identification of microorganisms from metagenomes – Temesgen Hailemariam Dadi – PeerJ

Techniques

Advantages of genome sequencing by long-read sequencer using SMRT technology in medical area – Kazuma Nakano – Human Cell

High-pressure microscopy for tracking dynamic properties of molecular machines – Masayoshi Nishiyama – Biophysical Chemistry

Gut Microbiome Standardization in Control and Experimental Mice – Kathy D. McCoy – Current Protocols in Immunology

Diastereomer-specific Quantification of Bioactive Hexosylceramides from Bacteria and Mammals – Johanna von Gerichten – Journal of Lipid Research

Microbes in the news

Genetically engineered microbes make their own fertilizer, could feed the world’s poorest

The Next Plague (5) Bacteria: The Coming And Going And Coming Again Of Bacterial Plagues

Latest Helicobacter pylori breakthrough could lead to eradication of bacteria

Science, publishing, and career

Journal editor calls for ‘culture change’ around clinical trial data

Anitha’s non-microbiology picks

In the quest of Planet 9

March 31, 2017

Microbiome research

Potential role of fecal microbiota from patients with slow transit constipation in the regulation of gastrointestinal motility – Xiaolong Ge, Scientific Reports

Opinion: Gut microbiome as a clinical tool in gastrointestinal disease management: are we there yet? – Eamonn M. M. Quigley – Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology

Relevance of secretor status genotype and microbiota composition in susceptibility to rotavirus and norovirus infections in humans  – Jesús Rodríguez-Díaz – Scientific Reports

Milk Fat Globule Membrane Supplementation in Formula Modulates the Neonatal Gut Microbiome and Normalizes Intestinal Development – Ganive Bhinder – Scientific Reports

Critical Review: Microbiota-Gut-Brain Axis: Modulator of Host Metabolism and Appetite – Marcel van de Wouw – The Journal of Nutrition

Comparison of stool versus rectal swab samples and storage conditions on bacterial community profiles – Christine M. Bassis – BMC Microbiology

Ethnic and diet-related differences in the healthy infant microbiome – Jennifer C. Stearns – Genome Medicine (BMC)

Intestinal Barrier Function and the Gut Microbiome Are Differentially Affected in Mice Fed a Western-Style Diet or Drinking Water Supplemented with Fructose – Valentina Volynets – The Journal of Nutrition

The gut microbiota of insecticide-resistant insects houses insecticide-degrading bacteria: A potential source for biotechnological exploitation – Luis Gustavo de Almeida – PLOS One

Probiotics / Synbiotics

A comparative characterization of different host-sourced Lactobacillus ruminis strains and their adhesive, inhibitory, and immunomodulating functions – Xia Yu – Frontiers in Microbiology

Rice bran and Probiotics Alter the Porcine Large Intestine and Serum Metabolomes for Protection Against Human Rotavirus Diarrhea  – Nora Jean Nealon – Frontiers in Microbiology

Development of a synbiotic beverage enriched with bifidobacteria strains and fortified with whey proteins – Federico Baruzzi – Frontiers in Microbiology

Inferring Microbial Interactions in the Gut of the Hong Kong Whipping Frog (Polypedates megacephalus) and a Validation Using Probiotics – Francis Cheng-Hsuan Weng – Frontiers in Microbiology

The effects of probiotic and synbiotic supplementation on metabolic syndrome indices in adults at risk of type 2 diabetes: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial – Nazila Kassaian – Trials (BMC)

Good Bugs vs Bad Bugs: Evaluation of Inhibitory Effect of Selected Probiotics against Enterococcus faecalis – Aarti A Bohora – The Journal of Contemporary Dental Practice (PDF here)

Probiotic bacteria prevent Salmonella – induced suppression of lymphoproliferation in mice by an immunomodulatory mechanism – R. Doug Wagner – BMC Microbiology

Exogenous lactobacilli mitigate microbial changes associated with grain fermentation (corn, oats, and wheat) by equine fecal microflora ex vivo – Brittany E. Harlow – PLOS One

 

Pathogens

Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus emerged long before the introduction of methicillin in to clinical practice – Catriona Harkins – BioRxiv

Azathioprine, Mercaptopurine, and 5-Aminosalicylic Acid Affect the Growth of IBD-Associated Campylobacter Species and Other Enteric Microbes – Fang Liu –  Frontiers in Microbiology

Untargeted metabolomics analysis reveals key pathways responsible for the synergistic killing of colistin and doripenem combination against Acinetobacter baumannii – Mohd Hafidz Mahamad Maifiah – Scientific Reports

 

Other Genomics / Metagenomics

Untangling Genomes of Novel Planctomycetal and Verrucomicrobial Species from Monterey Bay Kelp Forest Metagenomes by Refined Binning – John Vollmers – Frontiers in Microbiology

Genome-Scale Reconstruction of the Metabolic Network in Oenococcus oeni to Assess Wine Malolactic Fermentation – Sebastián N. Mendoza – Frontiers in Microbiology

Comparative genomics of transport proteins in probiotic and pathogenic Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica strains – Jimmy Do – Microbial Pathogenesis (Elsevier)

 

Bioinformatics

STITCHER 2.0: primer design for overlapping PCR applications  – Damien M. O’Halloran – Scientific Reports

 

Evolution

Phylogenomic evolutionary surveys of subtilase superfamily genes in fungi – Juan Li – Scientific Reports

Evolutionary dynamics on any population structure – Benjamin Allen – Nature

On the origins of oxygenic photosynthesis and aerobic respiration in Cyanobacteria – Rochelle M. Soo – Science

A perspective article about the latter paper here: How Cyanobacteria went green by Robert E. Blankenship

Structural reconstruction of protein ancestry – Romain Rouet – PNAS