March 18, 2015

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

ReviewGut 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

MonkeysMetagenomic 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

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

CowsAltered 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

BeesVariation 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

PerspectiveThe 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 analysisCrossing 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

VideoAlexander 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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March 15, 2015

Microbiome of pregnancy and birth

The vaginal microbiome during pregnancy and the postpartum period in a European population – David A. MacIntyre – Scientific Reports

Probiotic potential of Enterococcus faecalis strains isolated from meconium – Ahmed Khassaf Al Atyaa – Frontiers in Microbiology

Review: The human neonatal gut microbiome: a brief review – Emily C. Gritz and Vineet Bhandari – Frontiers in Pediatrics

Human gut microbiome

Gut microbiome of the Hadza hunter-gatherers – Stephanie L. Schnorr – Nature Communications

Gut microbiome variations during hematopoietic stem cell transplant in severe combined immunodeficiency – Jonathan P. Lane – Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology

Despite the title, this is 16S rRNA gene-based analysis: Metagenomic analysis of the impact of nitrofurantoin treatment on the human faecal microbiota – Jascha Vervoort – Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy

Literature review: Mast Cell Activation Disease and Microbiotic Interactions – Lawrence B. Afrin, Alexander Khoruts- Clinical Therapeutics

Review: Autoimmune host–microbiota interactions at barrier sites and beyond – William E. Ruff, Martin A. Kriegel – Trends in Molecular Medicine

Review: Microbiota Regulation of the Mammalian Gut–Brain Axis – Aurelijus Buroka – Advances in Applied Microbiology

Review: IBD and the Gut Microbiota—from Bench to Personalized Medicine – Emanuelle Bellaguarda, Eugene B. Chang – Current Gastroenterology Reports

Review: Mutualistic presence of normal Flora in Human Intestine: A review – Karishma Kabir Nipa- Journal of Bio-Science

Animal models

Monosodium L-Glutamate and Dietary Fat Differently Modify the Composition of the Intestinal Microbiota in Growing Pigs – Feng Z-M – Obesity Facts

Altered profile of gut microbiota after subchronic exposure to neochamaejasmin A in rats – Lifeng Yan – Environmental Toxicology and Pharmacology

Effects of mulberry (Morus alba L.) leaf polysaccharides on growth performance, diarrhea, blood parameters, and gut microbiota of early-weanling pigs – Xiangjie Zhao – Livestock Science

Effect of grinding or pelleting high grain maize- or barley-based concentrates on rumen environment and microbiota of beef cattle – A. Gimeno – Animal Feed Science and Technology

Animal microbiome

Earthworms: Taxonomic and functional annotation of gut bacterial communities of Eisenia foetida and Perionyx excavatus – Arjun Singh – Microbiological Research

Plant microbiome

Diversity and community ecology of forest epiphyte testate amoebae from European Russia – Richard J. Payne – European Journal of Protistology

Soil and plant root microbiome

Effects of single-root-grafting, double-root-grafting and compost application on microbial properties of rhizosphere soils in Chinese protected cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) production systems – Yinan Gao – Scientia Horticulturae

Response of belowground communities to short-term phosphorus addition in a phosphorus-limited woodland – Uffe N. Nielsen – Plant and Soil

Composition of soil microbiome along elevation gradients in southwestern highlands of Saudi Arabia – Muhammad Yasir – BMC Microbiology

Illumina MiSeq sequencing investigation on the contrasting soil bacterial community structures in different iron mining areas – Chen Hong – Environmental Science and Pollution Research

Geomicrobiology of Iron Layers in the Sediment of Lake Superior – M. Dittrich – Aquatic Geochemistry

Water and ice microbiome

Microbial abundance in surface ice on the Greenland Ice Sheet – Marek Stibal – Frontiers in Microbiology

Diversity of thermophiles in a Malaysian hot spring determined using 16S rRNA and shotgun metagenome sequencing – Chia Sing Chan – Frontiers in Microbiology

Review: New perspectives in benthic deep-sea microbial ecology – Cinzia Corinaldesi – Frontiers in Marine Science

Bioreactor microbiome

The microbial community of a passive biochemical reactor treating arsenic, zinc, and sulfate-rich seepage – Susan Anne Baldwin – Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology

Food microbiology

Process-driven bacterial community dynamics are key to cured meat colour formation by coagulase-negative staphylococci via nitrate reductase or nitric oxide synthase activities – María Sánchez Mainar, Frédéric Leroy – International Journal of Food Microbiology

Metagenomics and Bioinformatics

Modelling Computational Resources for Next Generation Sequencing Bioinformatics Analysis of 16S rRNA Samples – Matthew J. Wade – ArXiv

Accurate multiplexing and filtering for high-throughput amplicon-sequencing – Philippe Esling – Nucleic Acids Research

Transmission and Microevolution of USA300 MRSA in U.S. Households: Evidence from Whole-Genome Sequencing – Md Tauqeer Alam – mBio

Single cell genomics indicates horizontal gene transfer and viral infections in a deep subsurface Firmicutes population – Jessica Labonté – Frontiers in Microbiology

ISMapper: Identifying insertion sequences in bacterial genomes from short read sequence data – Jane Hawkey – BioRXiv

Perspective: Wiretapping into microbial interactions by single cell genomics – Ramunas Stepanauskas – Frontiers in Microbiology

Perspective: Bridging the knowledge gap: from microbiome composition to function – Jeremiah J Faith – Molecular Systems Biology

Metabolomics and Transcriptomics

Clostridium difficile heterogeneously impacts intestinal community architecture but drives stable metabolome responses – David Rojo – ISME Journal

Study of the diversity and short-chain fatty acids production by the bacterial community in overweight and obese Mexican children – S. Murugesan – European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases

Genomic Analysis of Xylose Metabolism in Members of the Deinoccocus-Thermus Phylum from Thermophilic Biomass-Deconstructing Bacterial Consortia – Yu-Wei Wu – BioEnergy Research

Proteomics as the final step in the functional metagenomics study of antimicrobial resistance – Fiona Fouhy – Frontiers in Microbiology

Fish: Proteomic profile of the skin mucus of farmed gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) – Juan Jurado – Journal of Proteomics

Transcriptomic analysis of three Veillonella spp. present in carious dentine and in the saliva of caries-free individuals – Thuy Do – Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology

The transcriptional response of microbial communities in thawing Alaskan permafrost soils – M J. Coolen and William D. Orsi – Frontiers in Microbiology

Review: Mucin glycan foraging in the human gut microbiome – Louise Tailford – Frontiers in Genetics

More microbial science

Untangling the origin of viruses and their impact on cellular evolution – Arshan Nasir – Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

The Great Escape: Pathogen Versus Host – Eric Kong, Mary Ann Jabra-Rizk – PLOS Pathogens

A fantastic voyage for sliding bacteria – Joshua D. Shrout – Trends in Microbiology

CRISPR-Cas Adaptive Immune Systems of the Sulfolobales: Unravelling Their Complexity and Diversity – Roger A. Garrett – Life

Etiology of Pericarditis in a prospective cohort of 1162 cases – Frédérique Gouriet – The American Journal of Medicine

Microbes in the news

Overselling the microbiome award: Dr. Raphael Kellman at MindBodyGreen – Jonathan Eisen – The Tree of Life
belongs to:
Why The Microbiome Is Your Key To Glowing Skin & Healthy Weight – Dr. Raphael Kellman – MindBodyGreen

The Era of the Microbiome – SXSW Session on Monday March 16

Mind Altering Microbes: How your gut microbiome may influence your mood – Jill Carnahan

CDC: Misuse of garments may have led to release of bacteria at Tulane lab – Debra Goldschmidt and Ed Payne – CNN

The dawn of the cyborg bacteria is here – Robert Boos – PRI

Famous Microbiologists – Paul Ehrlich – Today we honor Paul Ehrlich who was born on March 14 in 1912 – LumiByte

Science and art – microbial edition

Bacterial Paintings? New Art Uses Tiny Life Forms – Tia Ghose – LiveScience

How microbes inspire art (Video) – BBC

Fungi on Tea – Microbe World

Louis Pasteur T-shirt – The Strange company

Bik’s Picks

Five research papers that revolutionised health – Deborah Cohen – BBC News Health

Folic acid plus blood pressure drug lowers stroke risk: study – Daily Mail

Man Credits Hot Chili Sauce Challenge for Brain Cancer Diagnosis – Youth Health Magazine

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March 12, 2015

Human gut microbiome

Gut microbiome development along the colorectal adenoma–carcinoma sequence – Qiang Feng – Nature Communications

In Vivo Selection To Identify Bacterial Strains with Enhanced Ecological Performance in Synbiotic Applications – Janina A. Krumbeck – Applied Environmental Microbiology

Animal models of microbiome research

Adipose tissue ​NAPE-PLD controls fat mass development by altering the browning process and gut microbiota – Lucie Geurts – Nature Communications

Animal microbiome

Phylogeny of Intestinal Ciliates, Including Charonina ventriculi, and Comparison of Microscopy and 18S rRNA Gene Pyrosequencing for Rumen Ciliate Community Structure Analysis – Sandra Kittelmann – – Applied Environmental Microbiology

Female-Specific Specialization of a Posterior End Region of the Midgut Symbiotic Organ in Plautia splendens and Allied Stinkbugs – Toshinari Hayashi – Applied Environmental Microbiology

Plant microbiome

Genotype-Specific Variation in the Structure of Root Fungal Communities Is Related to Chickpea Plant Productivity – Navid Bazghaleh – Applied Environmental Microbiology

Soil microbiome

Fungal Communities Respond to Long-Term CO2 Elevation by Community Reassembly
Qichao Tu – Applied Environmental Microbiology

Water microbiome

Natural Hot Spots for Gain of Multiple Resistances: Arsenic and Antibiotic Resistances in Heterotrophic, Aerobic Bacteria from Marine Hydrothermal Vent Fields – Pedro Farias – Applied Environmental Microbiology

Food microbiology

Temporal and Spatial Differences in Microbial Composition during the Manufacture of a Continental-Type Cheese – Daniel J. O’Sullivan – Applied Environmental Microbiology

Metabolomics

Another FartAlyzer? Human intestinal gas measurement systems: in vitro fermentation and gas capsules – Jian Zhen Ou – Trends in Biotechnology

Metagenomics and bioinformatics

Single gene-based distinction of individual microbial genomes from a mixed population of microbial cells – Manu V. Tamminen and Marko P. J. Virta – Frontiers in Microbiology

BioMiCo: a supervised Bayesian model for inference of microbial community structure
Mahdi Shafiei – Microbiome

Microbes in the news

Interview with Les Dethlefsen from our lab: What’s in My Gut? An Access Conversation with Dr. Les Dethlefsen – Ernesto Ramirez – Medium
Microbiome study allows participants access to own data – Ernesto Ramirez – Genetic Literacy Project

Study proves all humans have a little microorganism DNA – Paul Hamaker – Examiner
Humans may harbor more than 100 genes from other organisms – Sarah CP Williams – Science

Before The Gas Is Passed, Researchers Aim To Measure It In The Gut – Angus Chen – NPR
Your farts could tell your doctor about your digestive health – Alexandra Ossola – Popular Science
Fecal Fermentation and Electronic Pills May Help Decipher Gut Gases – Li Zhou – Smithsonian

Researchers develop tool to understand how the gut microbiome works – EurekAlert

The Life Of A Queen: Worker Bees And Queen Bees Have Vastly Different Microbiomes – Jim Algar – TechTimes

Does your microbiome make you unique? – Sergio Laínez – Mapping Ignorance

Science and art

Dancing the Microbiome: Et si on dansait le microbiote ? – YouTube

Science, career, and publishing

Advice for PhD Students: Tips From Professors, Startup Founders, and Industry Professionals – Nick Mordwinkin – The Winnower

Indecent advances: Surveys of sexual harassment and assault during field research and on campus reveal a hitherto secret problem – Virginia Gewin – Nature

Bik’s Picks

Nearly 200,000 ‘new’ marine species turn out to be duplicates – Rachel Feltman – Washington Post

Neanderthals Had Fashion Too, Unearthed Jewelry Implies – Brian Stallard – Nature World News

Antarctic Octopus Is a True Blue Blood – Jennifer Viegas – Discovery

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March 11, 2015

Animal models of microbiome research

Improving microbial fitness in the mammalian gut by in vivo temporal functional metagenomics – Stephanie J Yaung – Molecular Systems Biology

Animal microbiome

Bacterial Diversity Associated with Wild Caught Anopheles Mosquitoes from Dak Nong Province, Vietnam Using Culture and DNA Fingerprint – Chung Thuy Ngo – PLOS ONE

Soil and sediment microbiome

Selective pressure of antibiotics on ARGs and bacterial communities in manure-polluted freshwater-sediment microcosms – Wenguang Xiong – Frontiers in Microbiology

Microbial communities in dark oligotrophic volcanic ice cave ecosystems of Mt. Erebus, Antarctica – Bradley M. Tebo – Frontiers in Microbiology

Microbiome of the built environment

High-Resolution Microbial Community Succession of Microbially Induced Concrete Corrosion in Working Sanitary Manholes – Alison L. Ling – PLOS ONE

Metagenomics and bioinformatics

Metassembler: Merging and optimizing de novo genome assemblies – Alejandro Hernandez Wences , Michael Schatz – BioRxiv

Metabolomics

Introducing the FartAlyzer? Alcohol Induced Alterations to the Human Fecal VOC Metabolome – Robin D. Couch – PLOS ONE

More microbiology

Generation of Influenza Virus from Avian Cells Infected by Salmonella Carrying the Viral Genome – Xiangmin Zhang – PLOS ONE

Review: Archaeal Extrachromosomal Genetic Elements – Haina Wang – Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews

Viable Bacteria Associated with Red Blood Cells and Plasma in Freshly Drawn Blood Donations – Christian Damgaard – PLOS ONE

Microbes in the news

Predicting oral vs. gut microbiomes – Alexandra Carmichael – uBiome

Video: Guts and Genius with Joi Ito, Kevin Slavin, and David Kong – Media at MIT

The gut microbiome: how does it affect our health? – Honor Whiteman – Medical New Today

Researchers develop tool to understand how the gut microbiome works – Medical XPress

uBiome Analysis: Microbiome Hacking to Improve Gluten Intolerance and Acne – Animal Pharm

Bedlam excavation to examine 3,000 skeletons for plague bacteria strain – Marie Singer – Market Business News

Science and art

Dancing bacteria to invade the Eden Project – LeeTrewhela – Cornish Guardian

The egg
– S.B. Divya – Nature

Science, publishing, and career

Software: Career detective – Nature

Subscription Publisher Awkwardly Experiments with Open-Access – Jeffrey Beall – ScholarlyOA

Bik’s Picks

Gigantic ancient arthropod was really ‘a very peaceful guy’ – Will Dunham – Reuters

World’s whaling slaughter tallied – Commercial hunting wiped out almost three million animals last century – Daniel Cressey – Nature

High levels of vitamin D is suspected of increasing mortality rates – Science Daily
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March 9, 2015

Pregnancy and birth

Association between caesarean section and childhood obesity: a systematic review and meta-analysis – S. Kuhle – Obesity Reviews

Editorial: Metabolomics, milk-oriented microbiota (MOM) and multipotent stem cells: the future of research on breast milk – Vassilios Fanos – Journal of Pediatric and Neonatal Individualized Medicine

Human oral microbiome

Detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis DNA on the oral mucosa of tuberculosis patients – Rachel C. Wood – Scientific Reports

Human gut microbiome

Microbes-Gut-Brain Axis: A Possible Future Therapeutics Target for Gastrointestinal and Behavioral Disorder – Amit Ghosh – International Journal of Health Sciences and Research

Review: Collective unconscious: how gut microbes shape human behavior

Human microbiome after death

Seasonal variation of postmortem microbial communities – David O. Carter – Forensic Science, Medicine, and Pathology

Animal models of microbiome research

Perturbation and restoration of the fathead minnow gut microbiome after low-level triclosan exposure – Adrienne B Narrowe – Microbiome

Responses in gut microbiota and fat metabolism to a halogenated methane analogue in Sprague Dawley rats – Yong Su – Microbial Biotechnology

Animal microbiome

The oral and conjunctival microbiotas in cats with and without feline immunodeficiency virus infection – Scott J Weese – Veterinary Research

Phylogenetic distribution of symbiotic bacteria from Panamanian amphibians that inhibit growth of the lethal fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis – Matthew H. Becker – Molecular Ecology

Microbial ecology in Hydra: Why viruses matter – Thomas C.G. Bosch – Journal of Microbiology

Plant microbiome

Microbial communities on flower surfaces act as signatures of pollinator visitation – Masayuki Ushio – Scientific Reports

Review: The Ecology and Natural History of Foliar Bacteria with a Focus on Tropical Forests and Agroecosystems – Eric A. Griffin, Walter P. Carson – Botanical Review

Review: Chemical diversity of microbial volatiles and their potential for plant growth and productivity – Chidananda N. Kanchiswamy – Frontiers in Plant Science

Soil and plant root microbiome

Metagenomic Assessment of the Potential Microbial Nitrogen Pathways in the Rhizosphere of a Mediterranean Forest After a Wildfire – José F. Cobo-Díaz – Microbial Ecology

Evaluation of Methyl Bromide Alternatives Efficacy against Soil-Borne Pathogens, Nematodes and Soil Microbial Community – Hongwei Xie – PLOS ONE

Relative importance of soil physico-chemical characteristics and plant species identity to the determination of soil microbial community structure – André M. Massenssini – Applied Soil Ecology

Decoupled distance-decay patterns between dsrA and 16S rRNA genes among salt marsh sulfate-reducing bacteria – Angus Angermeyer – Environmental Microbiology

Long-term nickel exposure altered the bacterial community composition but not diversity in two contrasting agricultural soils – Jing Li – Environmental Science and Pollution Research

Extreme plagiarism alert: Influence of heavy metals on earthworms, soil microbial community and mammals – Ahmad Gholamalizadeh Ahangar and Abbas Keshtehgar – Journal of Novel Applied Sciences

Water (and ice) microbiome

Dynamics of marine bacterial community diversity of the coastal waters of the reefs, inlets, and wastewater outfalls of southeast Florida – Alexandra M. Campbell – MicrobiologyOpen

Temperature affects the size-structure of phytoplankton communities in the ocean – Ángel López-Urrutia – Limnology and Oceanography

Stable microbial community composition on the Greenland Ice Sheet – Michaela Musilova – Frontiers in Microbiology

Diversity and spatial distribution of autotrophic communities within and between ice-covered Antarctic lakes (McMurdo Dry Valleys) – Jenna M. Dolhi – Limnology and Oceanography

Book chapter: Microbial Life in Volcanic Lakes – Francesca Mapelli – Volcanic Lakes

Microbiome of the built environment

Urban microbiome – Orli G. Bahcall – Nature Review Genetics

Our interface with the built environment: immunity and the indoor microbiota – Simon Lax – Trends in Immunology

Microbial evolution and ecology

Extending the Conserved Phylogenetic Core of Archaea Disentangles the Evolution of the Third Domain of Life – Céline Petitjean – Molecular Biology and Evolution

The community ecology of pathogens: coinfection, coexistence and community composition – Eric W. Seabloom – Ecology Letters

Computational prediction of molecular pathogen-host interactions based on dual transcriptome data – Sylvie Schulze – Frontiers in Microbiology

Genetic isolation between two recently diverged populations of a symbiotic fungus
Sara Branco – Molecular Ecology

Review: Ecology and exploration of the rare biosphere – Michael D. J. Lynch & Josh D. Neufeld – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Metagenomics and bioinformatics

Metaxa2: Improved Identification and Taxonomic Classification of Small and Large Subunit rRNA in Metagenomic Data – Johan Bengtsson-Palme – Molecular Ecology Resources

RITA: Rapid Identification of HighConfidence Taxonomic Assignments for Metagenomic Data – Norman J. MacDonald – Genes, Genomes and Metagenomes

RIEMS: a software pipeline for sensitive and comprehensive taxonomic classification of reads from metagenomics datasets – Matthias Scheuch – BMC Bioinformatics

Poster: Possibilities and obstacles in recovery of genomes from elusive microbes in complex metagenomes – Søren M. Karst

Beyond research: a primer for considerations on using viral metagenomics in the field and clinic – Richard J. Hall – Frontiers in Microbiology

Whole genome sequencing in clinical and public health microbiology – Kwong, J. C – Pathology

Metabolomics

Genome-Wide Association Study of Metabolic Traits Reveals Novel Gene-Metabolite-Disease Links – Rico Rueedi – PLOS Genetics

Techniques

International interlaboratory study comparing single organism 16S rRNA gene sequencing data: Beyond consensus sequence comparisons – Nathan D. Olson – Biomolecular Detection and Quantification

The Effects of Freezing on Faecal Microbiota as Determined Using MiSeq Sequencing and Culture-Based Investigations – Fiona Fouhy – PLOS ONE

Parallel DNA polymerase chain reaction: Synthesis of two different PCR products from a DNA template – Vikash Bhardwaj1, Kulbhushan Sharma2 – F1000 Research

MinION nanopore sequencing identifies the position and structure of a bacterial antibiotic resistance island – Philip M Ashton- Nature Biotechnology

Microbes in the news

1h podcast with Jonathan Eisen: The Tiny World of Microbes Inside You – Inquiring Minds at Soundcloud

20m podcast: The Straight Poop – Transistor

Beyond Probiotics: Can You “Hack” Your Microbiome? – Beth Skwarecki – Vitals

The unseen world: reflections on Leeuwenhoek (1677) ‘Concerning little animals’ – Nick Lane – Royal Society

Drugging the gut microbiome – Ken Garber – Nature Biotechnology

Tummy Troubles? Your Microbiome Can Help – Isabel Smith

Sewage Bacteria Reveal Cities’ Obesity Rates – Brian Owens – Inside Science

Trend of colon cleansing generally unnecessary – Denise Cedar and Marilyn Bacon – Statesman Journal

Health focus shifts to gut microbiome and nurturing ‘good’ bacteria – Peg Moline – LA Times

How Microbes Keep Us Healthy – Scientific American

Understanding psychobiotics: John F. Cryan – Catherine Lawson – Wired

“Thinking from the Gut” – Rob Wipond – Mad In America

Prediabetes Patients Have Fewer Gut Bugs – Parker Brown – MedPageToday

Fecal microbiota present target for glucose tolerance assessment – Elena Barengolts – Healio

How gut microbiota could play a key role in protecting the brain – Nina Weisbroth – Translational Microbiome

Hand-Wringing Over Bacteria – C. Claiborne Ray – New York Times

Beer Makers To Produce Beer Replicas of 170-Year-Old Brews – Jenny Michelle Panganiban – International Business News

Gut check: With bacteria in us and all over us, researchers are finding ways to take advantage of them – Kyle Peveto – The Advocate

First Detailed Microscopy Evidence of Bacteria at the Lower Size Limit of Life – Lab Manager

Autism’s bacteria link gains credence – Jonathan Sher – LF Press

Nestlé’s research on nutrition and the human gut microbiome – Enea Rezzonico – Scientific American

Fine Focus: Microbiology Research Journal for Undergraduate Students

Science and art

New Drawings Show the Strange Beauty of Phages, the Bacteria Slayers – Brian Handwerk – Smithsonian’

Cosmos: Abstract Images Created by Destroying Star Photo Film Slides with Bacteria – Michael Zhang – Peta Pixel

Science, publishing, and career

Keys to the kingdom (academic bioentrepreneurs) – Sybil C K Wong- Nature Biotechnology

My Most Informative Error – Ami Schattner – JAMA Internal Medicine

We need post-publication peer review of journals – Lenny Teytelman – The Spectroscope

Bik’s Picks: The science of aging edition

Cavers Find Ancient Hoard of Coins and Jewelry in Israel – Megan Gannon – Live Science

Book Review: Rust’ Offers an Engrossing Look at Corrosion – Gregory Cowles – New York Times

Achieving Immortality: How Science Seeks to End Aging – Josh Nilaya – WNPR

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March 6, 2015

Pregnancy and birth

Longitudinal Analysis of the Premature Infant Intestinal Microbiome Prior to Necrotizing Enterocolitis: A Case-Control Study – Yanjiao Zhou – PLOS ONE

Effects of Bifidobacterial Supplementation to Pregnant Women and Infants in the Prevention of Allergy Development in Infants and on Fecal Microbiota – Tadao Enomoto – Allergology International

Human oral microbiome

Subgingival Microbial Communities in Leukocyte Adhesion Deficiency and Their Relationship with Local Immunopathology – Niki M. Moutsopoulos – PLOS Pathogens

Human gut microbiome

What is missing from this title? 16S gut community of the Cameron County Hispanic Cohort – Matthew C Ross – Microbiome

Review: The role of intestinal microbiota in acute graft-versus-host disease – Yuanyuan Chen – Journal of Immunology Research

Review: Type 1 diabetes and gut microbiota: Friend or foe? – Changyun Hu – Pharmacological Research

Review: Collective unconscious: how gut microbes shape human behavior
Timothy G. Dinan- Journal of Psychiatric Research

Human respiratory microbiome

2013 Workshop summary: Host–microbe interactions in distal airways: relevance to chronic airway diseases – Clémence Martin – European Respiratory Review

Review: Microbial Exposure and Onset of Allergic Diseases – Potential Prevention Strategies? – Petra Ina Pfefferle, Harald Renz – Allergology International

Animal models of microbiome research

Analysis of intestinal microbiota in hybrid house mice reveals evolutionary divergence in a vertebrate hologenome – Jun Wang – Nature Communications

Disturbance of the intestinal microbial community by ursolic acid contributes to its function as a regulator of fat deposition – Zemeng Feng – Journal of Functional Foods

Helicobacter hepaticus infection in BALB/c mice abolishes subunit-vaccine-induced protection against M. tuberculosis – Isabelle C. Arnold – Vaccine

Animal microbiome

Early life establishment of the swine gut microbiome and impact on host phenotypes – Núria Mach – Environmental Microbiology Reports

In cattle: Characterization of mucosa-associated bacterial communities in abomasal ulcers by pyrosequencing – Alexandra Hund- Veterinary Microbiology

Baby marmosets (Do a Google Image search)! Isolation and identification of cultivable Bifidobacterium spp. from the faeces of 5 baby common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus L.) – Samanta Michelini – Anaerobe

A Kazal-type inhibitor is modulated by Trypanosoma cruzi to control microbiota inside the anterior midgut of Rhodnius prolixus – Tatiane S. Soares – Biochimie

Plant microbiome

Seagrass biofilm communities at a naturally CO2-rich vent – Christiane Hassenrück – Environmental Microbiology Reports

Soil and sediment microbiome

A Method for Determining Community Level Physiological Profiles of Organic Soil Horizons – Mathew J.B. Swallow and Sylvie A. Quideau – Soil Science Society of America Journal

Influence of elevated ozone concentration on methanotrophic bacterial communities in soil under field condition – Y.Z. Huang – Atmospheric Environment

Disruption of photoautotrophic intertidal mats by filamentous fungi – Cátia Carreira – Environmental Microbiology

Phylogenetically distinct phylotypes modulate nitrification in a paddy soil – Jun Zhao – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Water microbiome

Metagenomic analysis of a high CO2 subsurface microbial community populated by chemolithoautotrophs and bacteria and archaea from candidate phyla – Joanne B. Emerson – Environmental Microbiology

Effect of historical residual hexachlorocyclohexanes and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane on bacterial communities in sediment core collected from an estuary in northeastern China by next-generation sequencing – Jianguo Guo – Marine Pollution Bulletin

Understanding diversity patterns in bacterioplankton communities from a Sub-Antarctic peatland – María Victoria Quiroga – Environmental Microbiology Reports

Metatranscriptomic analysis of diminutive Thiomargarita-like bacteria (“Candidatus Thiopilula spp.”) from abyssal cold seeps of the Barbados Accretionary Prism – Daniel S. Jones – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Bioreactor microbiome

Long-term dynamics of the microbial community in a full-scale wastewater treatment plant – A. Muszyński – International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation

Microbiome of the built environment

Metagenomic Profiling and Identification of Antimicrobial Resistance Genes from Airborne Microbial Communities – Tamar Dickerson – Online Journal of Public Health Informatics

Food microbiology

Yeast strains as potential aroma enhancers in dry fermented sausages – Mónica Flores – International Journal of Food Microbiology

Metagenomics and bioinformatics

IVA: accurate de novo assembly of RNA virus genomes – Martin Hunt – Bioinformatics

Metagenomic profiling of the viromes of plasma collected from blood donors with elevated serum alanine aminotransferase levels – Rika A. Furuta – Transfusion

Review: Fungal genome sequencing: basic biology to biotechnology – Krishna Kant Sharma – Critical Reviews in Biotechnology

Progressive genomic convergence of two Helicobacter pylori strains during mixed infection of a patient with chronic gastritis – Qizhi Cao – Gut

Proteomics

Review: Proteomics as the final step in the functional metagenomics study of antimicrobial resistance – Fiona Fouhy – Frontiers in Microbiology

Microbial Ecology

Predicting ecosystem emergent properties at multiple scales – Jack A. Gilbert and Chris Henry – Environmental Microbiology Reports

Perspective: Re-defining microbial diversity from its single-celled building blocks – Ramunas Stepanauskas – Environmental Microbiology Reports

Microbes in the news

Not Even Science Could Explain the Bacteria In My Apartment – Sarah Zhang – Gizmodo

Gut microbial mix relates to stages of blood sugar control – Medical Xpress
Gut bacteria may contribute to diabetes in black males – Sharon Parmet – University of Illinois at Chicago

Who owns my microbiome? – Gabrielle Morguelan – Transylvania Rambler

Bill Gates Foundation backs microbiome engineering to boost infant health – Shane Starling – Nutraingredients

Antarctic lakes are full of small surprises – Sarah Payne – Australian Antarctic Magazine

Long list of food items in alphabetical order, but not much science: The human microbiome: How to feed your gut – Mindy Athas – Baltimore Sun

Science, publishing, and career

Need registration to read: It starts with a poster: Most researchers learn how to talk about science at meetings – Marcia McNutt – Science

Why has the scholarly journal endured? – Alice Meadows – Exchanges at Wiley

Reflecting on Fifty Years of Progress for Women in Science – Nancy Hopkins – DNA and Cell Biology

Bik’s Picks

Video: Giant Octopus makes slippery escape from tank in Seattle aquarium – Ben Axelson – Syracuse

CCTV unexpectedly catches rare wild giant panda on midnight stroll – Rose Troup Buchanan – Independent

Turning yogurt waste into new products – University of Wisconsin-Madison – Science Daily

[hr]

March 4, 2015

Human vaginal microbiome

Development of a microarray-based tool to characterize vaginal bacterial fluctuations: application to a novel antibiotic treatment for bacterial vaginosis – Federica Cruciani – Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy

Human skin microbiome

Cutaneous Na+ Storage Strengthens the Antimicrobial Barrier Function of the Skin and Boosts Macrophage-Driven Host Defense – Jonathan Jantsch – Cell Metabolism

Review: Obesity, psoriasis, and microbiota: an unexplored dangerous connection? – Maria Grazia Roccia – Dermatologic Therapy

Animal and other models

The Gut Bacterium Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron Influences the Virulence Potential of the Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O103:H25 – Hildegunn Iversen – PLOS ONE

Insights into the Staphylococcus aureus-Host Interface: Global Changes in Host and Pathogen Gene Expression in a Rabbit Skin Infection Model – Natalia Malachowa – PLOS ONE

Editorial: SIGNing a symbiotic treaty with gut microbiota – Geanncarlo Lugo-Villarino – The EMBO Journal

Animal microbiome

A sting in the spit: widespread cross-infection of multiple RNA viruses across wild and managed bees – Dino P. McMahon – Journal of Animal Ecology

Plant microbiome

Review: Nitrogen fixing bacteria in the family Acetobacteraceae and their role in agriculture – Veronica Massena Reis and Kátia Regina dos Santos Teixeira – Journal of Basic Microbiology

Review: Navigating the labyrinth: a guide to sequence-based, community ecology of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi – Miranda M. Hart – New Phytologist

Soil microbiome

Multi-omics of permafrost, active layer and thermokarst bog soil microbiomes – Jenni Hultman – Nature

Microbiome of the built environment

Spatial and Temporal Variations in Indoor Environmental Conditions, Human Occupancy, and Operational Characteristics in a New Hospital Building – Tiffanie Ramos – PLOS ONE

Metabolomics

Programmed Evolution for Optimization of Orthogonal Metabolic Output in Bacteria – Todd T. Eckdahl – PLOS ONE

Microbes in the news

Salty Diet May Fight Invading Microbes – Cell Press – Laboratory Equipment

Characterizing permafrost microbes in a changing climate – Phys.org

Pollution, human health tracked with sewage microbes – Elizabeth Pennisi – Science Magazine News

New light shed on microbial battleground between soil, roots – Max Planck Institute – AG Professional

McDonald’s to Curb Purchases of Chicken Raised With Antibiotics in U.S. – David Kesmodel – Wall Street Journal

Widespread risk of infectious diseases to wild bees, new study reveals – Science Daily

Note: the plague bacterium itself was NOT found. NYC Rats Harbor Plague Fleas – Bob Grant – The Scientist

American Society for Microbiology receives grant to support ICAAC – EurekaAlert

Cause of tree-killing fungus uncovered: Extra genes – Science Daily

Hope from the Deeps for Coral Reefs – Veronique Greenwood – PBS Nova

Science, publishing, and career

Congrats Young Scientists, You Face The Worst Research Funding In 50 Years – Sam Stein – Huffington Post

Data visualization: Science on the map — Easy-to-use mapping tools give researchers the power to create beautiful visualizations of geographic data – Mark Zastrow – Nature

Satire: Evolutionist Loses It As Colleague Conflates Homology and Similarity Yet Again – The Allium

Bik’s Picks

Genetically speaking, mammals are more like their fathers – Science Daily

Where to Go When the Zombies Strike – Maggie Fox – NBC News

A Scientist Accidentally Developed Sunglasses That Could Correct Color Blindness — Li Zhou – Smithsonian Magazine

[hr]

March 3, 2015

Human microbiome general

Manuscript: Humans as Superorganisms: How Microbes, Viruses, Imprinted Genes and Other Selfish Entities Shape Our Behavior – Peter Kramer and Paola Bressan

Microbiome of pregnancy and birth

Gut bacteria are rarely shared by co-hospitalized premature infants, regardless of necrotizing enterocolitis development – Tali Raveh-Sadka – eLIFE

Human respiratory microbiome

Analysis of the Upper Respiratory Tract Microbiotas as the Source of the Lung and Gastric Microbiotas in Healthy Individuals – Christine M. Bassis – mBio

Human gut microbiome

The relevance of intestinal dysbiosis in liver transplant candidates – M. Grąt – Transplant Infectious Disease

Fecal Microbial Transplant Effect on Clinical Outcomes and Fecal Microbiome in Active Crohn’s Disease – Suskind, David L. – Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

Review: The Guts of Obesity: Progress and Challenges in Linking Gut Microbes to Obesity  – Gabriel A. Al-Ghalith – Discovery Medicine

Animal models of microbiome research

Thesis: Exercise is more effective at producing robust, lasting changes in gut microbial composition in juvenile than in adult male F344 rats – Agnieszka Mika – University of Colorado at Boulder

The gut microbiome restores intrinsic and extrinsic nerve function in germ-free mice accompanied by changes in calbindin – K. A. McVey Neufeld – Neurogastroenterology & Motility

Cystic fibrosis mouse model-dependent intestinal structure and gut microbiome – Mark Bazett – Mammalian Genome

Use of bacteriocin-producing, probiotic strain Enterococcus faecium AL41 to control intestinal microbiota in farm ostriches – Andrea Lauková – Letters in Applied Microbiology

Animal microbiome

Deciphering chicken gut microbial dynamics based on high-throughput 16S rRNA metagenomics analyses – Shaufi M Mohd Asrore – Gut Pathogens

Antifungal isolates database of amphibian skin-associated bacteria and function against emerging fungal pathogens – Douglas C. Woodhams – Ecological Archives

Diet shapes the gut microbiota of the omnivorous cockroach Blatella germanica – Ana Elena Pérez-Cobas – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Characterization of the honey bee microbiome throughout the queen-rearing process – David R. Tarpy – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Bacterial community composition and predicted functional ecology of sponges, sediment and seawater from the thousand-islands reef complex, West-Java, Indonesia – Nicole J. de Voogd – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Symbiodinium thermophilum sp. nov., a thermotolerant symbiotic alga prevalent in corals of the world’s hottest sea, the Persian/Arabian Gulf – B. C. C. Hume – Scientific Reports

Plant microbiome

Grazing livestock are exposed to terrestrial cyanobacteria – Bruce C McGorum – Veterinary Research

Soil and root microbiome

Nitrogen fertilizer dose alters fungal communities in sugarcane soil and rhizosphere
Chanyarat Paungfoo-Lonhienne – Scientific Reports

Changes in soil microbial community structure and activity in a cedar plantation invaded by moso bamboo – Ed-Haun Chang, Chih-Yu Chiu – Applied Soil Ecology

Wild plant species growing closely connected in a subalpine meadow host distinct root-associated bacterial communities – Kristin Aleklett – PeerJ

Stable isotope probing reveals the importance of Comamonas and Pseudomonadaceae in RDX degradation in samples from a Navy detonation site – Indumathy Jayamani, Alison M. Cupples – Environmental Science and Pollution Research

Impact of metal pollution on fungal diversity and community structures – Michiel Op De Beeck – Environmental Microbiology

Water microbiome

Diverse uncultivated ultra-small bacterial cells in groundwater – Birgit Luef – Nature Communications

Impacts of the Three Gorges Dam on microbial structure and potential function – Qingyun Yan – Scientific Reports

Nitrogen-fixing bacteria associated with copepods in coastal waters of the North Atlantic Ocean – Rosemary E. Scavotto – Environmental Microbiology

Bacterial diversity in relatively pristine and anthropogenically-influenced mangrove ecosystems (Goa, India) – Sheryl Oliveira Fernandes – Brazilian Journal of Microbiology

Bioreactor microbiology

Start-up strategies in manure-fed biogas reactors: Process parameters and methanogenic communities – M. Goberna – Biomass and Bioenergy

Microbiome of the built environment

Characterization, Microbial Community Structure, and Pathogen Occurrence in Urban Faucet Biofilms in South China – Huirong Lin – BioMed Research International

Observational scores of dampness and mold associated with measurements of microbial agents and moisture in three public schools – S. J. Cho – Indoor Air

Food microbiology

Biotic Stress Shifted Structure and Abundance of Enterobacteriaceae in the Lettuce Microbiome – Armin Erlacher – PLOS ONE

Phages and viruses

‘Ménage à trois’: a selfish genetic element uses a virus to propagate within Thermotogales – Julien Lossouarn – Environmental Microbiology

Microbial Ecology

Disentangling mechanisms that mediate the balance between stochastic and deterministic processes in microbial succession – Francisco Dini-Andreote – PNAS USA

The community ecology of pathogens: coinfection, coexistence and community composition – Eric W. Seabloom – Ecology Letters

Tuberculosis: Fighting an old disease with next-generation sequencing – Anzaan Dippenaar, Robin M. Warren – eLIFE

Horizontal gene transfer and gene dosage drives adaptation to wood colonization in a tree pathogen – Braham Dhillon – PNAS USA

A tortoise-infecting picornavirus expands the host range of the family Picornaviridae
Terry Fei Fan Ng – Archives of Virology

Metagenomics and bioinformatics

Review: Insights from 20 years of bacterial genome sequencing – Miriam Land – Functional & Integrative Genomics

Review: The Current Status and Challenges in Computational Analysis of Genomic Big Data – Yiming Qin – Big Data Research

Metabolomics

Impact of storage conditions on metabolite profiles of sputum samples from persons with cystic fibrosis – Jiangchao Zhao – Journal of Cystic Fibrosis

Microbes in the news

Enter the Vaginome: Meet the Microbes that Live in Our Vaginas – A.V. Flox – Motherboard

New paper on diseased vs healthy infants in a NICU, possible impacts for future hospital microbiome work – Bubba Brooks – MicroBEnet

ArchaeaMysterious microbes hold big possibilities for Sloan Research Fellow Alyson Santoro – EurekaAlert

Genes & cells: Jet lag disrupts microbes in the gut: Mice with time-shifted bacteria develop metabolic problems – Tina Hesman Saey – Science News

The environment may change, but the microbiome of queen bees does not – Matt Shipman

Cheesey Microbial Communities – Daniel P. Haeusser – Small Things Considered

150,000 of these bacteria could fit on the tip of a hair (and that’s about as small as life can get) – Rachel Feltman – Washington Post

Unusual Bacteria Discovered In Deepest Ocean Trench – Ocean Leadership

Link Identified Between Virus Recognition, Destruction in Bacterial Immune System – Infection Control Today
Researchers Discover How Bacteria ‘Steal’ Genetic Information – Jim Algar – Tech Times

Science, publishing, and career

Different personal propensities among scientists relate to deeper vs. broader knowledge contributions – Thomas S. Bateman, and Andrew M. Hess – PNAS USA
Attention, All Scientists: Do Improv, With Alan Alda’s Help – Kenneth Chang – New York Times

Bik’s Picks

Hippos stem from the longest sequence of terrestrial cetartiodactyl evolution in Africa
Fabrice Lihoreau – Nature Communications

Termites: Guardians of the Soil – Natalie Angier – New York Times

A social chemosignaling function for human handshaking – Idan Frumin – eLIFE

Snip, Snap, Slurp: Misophonia Makes Them Unbearable – What sound most grates on your nerves? – Karen Barrow – New York Times
[hr]

March 2, 2015

General microbiome papers

Review: The Microbiome: A Contributor to Health and Disease – Bailus Walker Jr. – Journal of the Health Care for the Poor and Underserved

Human oral microbiome

Transduction-mediated horizontal gene transfer in the oral microbiome – Roy H. Stevens – Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology

Human respiratory microbiome

Review: The lung mycobiome: an emerging field of the human respiratory microbiome – Linh D. N. Nguyen – Frontiers in Microbiology

Human gut microbiome

Comparative analysis of gut microbiota in elderly people of urbanized towns and longevity villages – Se-Hoon Park – BMC Microbiology

Gut dysbiosis in acute-on-chronic liver failure and its predictive value for mortality – Yanfei Chen – Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology

Acquisition of extended-spectrum cephalosporin- and colistin-resistant Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serotype Newport by pilgrims during Hajj – Abiola Olumuyiwa Olaitan – International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents

Functional characterization of IgA-targeted bacterial taxa from undernourished Malawian children that produce diet-dependent enteropathy – Andrew L. Kau – Science Translational Medicine

Human vaginal microbiome

Correlates of the molecular vaginal microbiota composition of African women – Raju Gautam – BMC Infectious Diseases

Animal microbiome

In chickens: Comparison of fecal and cecal microbiotas reveals qualitative similarities but quantitative differences – Dragana Stanley – BMC Microbiology

Community Structure of Skin Microbiome of Gulf Killifish, Fundulus grandis, Is Driven by Seasonality and Not Exposure to Oiled Sediments in a Louisiana Salt Marsh – Andrea M. Larsen – Microbial Ecology

Microbial Consortium Associated with the Antarctic Marine Ciliate Euplotes focardii: An Investigation from Genomic Sequences – Sandra Pucciarelli – Microbial Ecology

Plant microbiome

Phenotypic and genetic characterization of rhizobia isolated from Hedysarum flexuosum in Northwest region of Morocco – Fatima Ezzakkioui – Journal of Basic Microbiology

Biotic and abiotic predictors of fungal colonization in grasses of the Colorado Rockies – Luciana B. Ranelli – Diversity and Distributions

Agroforestry leads to shifts within the gammaproteobacterial microbiome of banana plants cultivated in Central America – Martina Köberl – Frontiers in Microbiology

Rhizobiales as functional and endosymbiontic members in the lichen symbiosis of Lobaria pulmonaria L. – Armin Erlacher – Frontiers in Microbiology

Soil and sediment microbiome

Agricultural intensification and the functional capacity of soil microbes on smallholder African farms – Stephen A. Wood – Journal of Applied Ecology

Microbial community dynamics during the early stages of plant polymer breakdown in paddy soil – Carl-Eric Wegner andWerner Liesack – Environmental Microbiology

Composition of fungal and bacterial communities in forest litter and soil is largely determined by dominant trees – Michaela Urbanová – Soil Biology and Biochemistry

Exploring Actinobacteria assemblages in coastal marine sediments under contrasted Human influences in the West Istria Sea, Croatia – Robert Duran – Environmental Science and Pollution Research

Oxygen availability is a major factor in determining the composition of microbial communities involved in methane oxidation – Maria E. Hernandez – PeerJ

Water microbiome

Comparative Metagenomics of Eight Geographically Remote Terrestrial Hot Springs – Peter Menzel – Microbial Ecology

Phylogenetic shifts of bacterioplankton community composition along the Pearl Estuary: the potential impact of hypoxia and nutrients – Jiwen Liu – Frontiers in Microbiology

Microbiome of the built environment

Thesis: Longitudinal and spatial characterization of microbial communities in offices – John Chase – Northern Arizona University

Bacterial transfer to beverages during drinking games: ‘beer pong’ – Paul L. Dawson – Int. J. Food Safety, Nutrition and Public Health

Food microbiology

High-throughput sequencing for the detection of the bacterial and fungal diversity in Mongolian naturally fermented cow’s milk in Russia – Wenjun Liu – BMC Microbiology

Microbiological Changes and Biodiversity of Cultivable Indigenous Bacteria in Sanbao Larger Yellow Croaker (Pseudosciaena crocea), a Chinese Salted and Fermented Seafood – He Zhang – Journal of Food Sciences

Bioreactor microbiology

A methodological framework for linking bioreactor function to microbial communities and environmental conditions – Francis L de los Reyes III – Current Opinion in Biotechnology

Ignored sediment fungal populations in water supply reservoirs are revealed by quantitative PCR and 454 pyrosequencing – Haihan Zhang – BMC Microbiology

Phages and viruses

No evidence of inhibition of horizontal gene transfer by CRISPR–Cas on evolutionary timescales – Uri Gophna – ISME Journal

Inactivation of an Enveloped Surrogate Virus in Human Sewage – Lisa M. Casanova – Environ. Sci. Technol. Lett.

Phage-mediated Dispersal of Biofilm and Distribution of Bacterial Virulence Genes Is Induced by Quorum Sensing – Friederike S. Rossmann – PLOS Pathogens

Archaea

Diversity of Human-Associated Methanobrevibacter smithii Isolates Revealed by Multispacer Sequence Typing – Vanessa D. Nkamga – Current Microbiology

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

The QRS (Quantification of Representative Sequences) pipeline for amplicon sequencing: Case study on within-population ITS1 sequence variation in a microparasite infecting Daphnia – E. González-Tortuero – Molecular Ecology Resources

MetCap: a bioinformatics probe design pipeline for large-scale targeted metagenomics – Sandeep K Kushwaha – BMC Bioinformatics

Spaced seeds improve metagenomic classification – Karel Bˇrinda – ArXiv

Clumpak: a program for identifying clustering modes and packaging population structure inferences across K – Naama M. Kopelman – Molecular Ecology Resources

PhD thesis: Metagenomic systems biology: frameworks for modeling and characterizing the gut microbiome – Sharon I. Greenblum – University of Washington

Masters thesis: MR-CUDASW – GPU accelerated Smith-Waterman algorithm for medium-length (meta)genomic data – Amir Muhammadzadeh

Testing ecological theories with sequence similarity networks: marine ciliates
exhibit similar geographic dispersal patterns as multicellular organisms – Dominik Forster – BMC Biology

A Brief Review of Software Tools for Pangenomics – Jingfa Xiao – Genomics, Proteomics & Bioinformatics

ClonalFrameML: Efficient Inference of Recombination in Whole Bacterial Genomes – Xavier Didelot – PLOS Computational Biology

Ten years of pan-genome analyses – George Vernikos – Current Opinion in Microbiology

Metabolomics and proteomics

Towards further defining the proteome of mouse saliva – Anne A Blanchard – Proteome Science

Protein Complexes in Bacteria – J. Harry Caufield – PLOS Computational Biology

ReviewMetabolomics and Diabetes: Analytical and Computational Approaches – Kelli M. Sas – Diabetes

Techniques

Inosine at Different Primer Positions to Study Structure and Diversity of Prokaryotic Populations – Eitan Ben-Dov and Ariel Kushmaro – Current Issues Molecular Biology

Negligible effect of X-ray μ-CT scanning on archaea and bacteria in an agricultural soil – Hannes Schmidt – Soil Biology and Biochemistry

Microbes in the news

Diet, Location And Your Kid’s Gut Bacteria – Stefania Hartley – Asian Scientist Magazine

Killing off one Bacterium Can Lead to Obesity – Noel Angeles – SMN Weekly

The Human Microbiome Through an Oral Healthcare Lens – Natasha Singh – Oral Health Group

Yes Virginia, there is a paper on microbial transfer during beer pong – Jonathan Eisen

First detailed evidence of bacteria at the lower size limit of life – Science Codex

How Small Can Life Get? These Ultra-Small Bacteria May Be At The Limit – Science 2.0

Title Fail: Deadly bacteria outbreak linked to UCLA microscopes – Standard Examiner

The bioMASON Startup Grows Bricks from Bacteria – Annie Pilon – Small Biz Trends

Deadly bacteria release sparks concern at Louisiana lab – Alison Young – USA Today

Science, publishing and career

Riding Out Rejection: How to navigate the choppy waters of scientific publication – Kate Yandell – The Scientist

Medical Journals and Free Speech – Joel Bakan – Pediatrics

How to Write a Presubmission Inquiry – Thomas Lengauer, Ruth Nussinov – PLOS Computational Biology

Chill GPS: Keeping track of frozen biological samples – Jeffrey M. Perkel – The Scientist

Science and Art

Move over #TheDress and #LlamaDrama, this weekend’s Twitter storm was all about #SciArt – Twitter

Bik’s Picks

Scientists have created the perfect music for cats – Fiona MacDonald – Science Alert

Gulf of Mexico Turns Deadly for Dolphins – Rachel Nuwer – New York Times

‘Skeletorus’ and ‘Sparklemuffin’ the Newest Spiders – Agata Blaszczak Boxe – Live Science

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February 25, 2015

Nature and Scientific American have a joint Microbiome special: “Innovations in the Microbiome” with several overview papers from Rob Knight, Ruth Ley,  Justin Sonnenburg et al. Articles include:

The Microbes Within – David Grogan
Why Microbiome Treatments Could Pay Off Soon – Rob Knight
Your Microbes at Work: Fiber Fermenters Keep Us Healthy
Mental Health: Thinking from the Gut – Charles Schmidt
Gut Microbiome: The Peacekeepers – Moises Velasquez-Manoff
The Gene–Microbe Link – Ruth E. Ley
Microbiome Engineering – Justin L. Sonnenburg
The Diverse Microbiome of the Hunter-Gatherer – Stephanie L. Schnorr

Human oral microbiome

Environment and Colonisation Sequence Are Key Parameters Driving Cooperation and Competition between Pseudomonas aeruginosa Cystic Fibrosis Strains and Oral Commensal Streptococci – Robert A. Whiley – PLOS ONE

Human skin microbiome

Malassezia Intra-Specific Diversity and Potentially New Species in the Skin Microbiota from Brazilian Healthy Subjects and Seborrheic Dermatitis Patients – Renan Cardoso Soares – PLOS ONE

Human gut microbiome

From the Gordon lab: Functional characterization of IgA-targeted bacterial taxa from undernourished Malawian children that produce diet-dependent enteropathy – Andrew L. Kau – Science Translational Medicine

Complementary Amplicon-Based Genomic Approaches for the Study of Fungal Communities in Humans – Timothy Heisel – PLOS ONE

Animal models of microbiome research

Dietary emulsifiers impact the mouse gut microbiota promoting colitis and metabolic syndrome – Benoit Chassaing – Nature

Animal microbiome

Heritable symbiosis: The advantages and perils of an evolutionary rabbit hole – Gordon M. Bennett and Nancy A. Moran

Endosymbiont Dominated Bacterial Communities in a Dwarf Spider – Bram Vanthournout, Frederik Hendrickx – PLOS ONE

Phylogenetic diversity of Archaea in the intestinal tract of termites from different lineages – Yu Shi – Journal of Basic Microbiology

Plant microbiome

Intercropped Silviculture Systems, a Key to Achieving Soil Fungal Community Management in Eucalyptus Plantations – Caio T. C. C. Rachid – PLOS ONE

Soil microbiome

Microbial dynamics in glacier forefield soils show succession is not just skin deep – Arwyn Edwards and Sophie Cook – Molecular Ecology

Microbial deposits in the aftermath of the end-Permian mass extinction: A diverging case from the Mineral Mountains (Utah, USA) – Emmanuelle Vennin – Sedimentology

Water microbiome

Characterizing variability in marine protist communities via ARISA fingerprints—a method evaluation – E.S. Kilias – Limnology and Oceanography: Methods

Characterisation of the Physical Composition and Microbial Community Structure of Biofilms within a Model Full-Scale Drinking Water Distribution System – Katherine E. Fish – PLOS ONE

Microbiome of the built environment

Sewage Reflects the Microbiomes of Human Populations – Ryan J. Newton – mBio

Phages and viruses

The targeted recognition of Lactococcus lactis phages to their polysaccharide receptors – Orla McCabe – Molecular Microbiology

Bioinformatics

Tools for Bacterial Comparative Genomics – Kat Holt – Holt Lab

Techniques

Comparison of different methods for the recovery of DNA from spores of mycotoxin producing moulds in spiked food samples – Sabrina Grube – Letters in Applied Microbiology

Metabolomics

Nutritional stress induces exchange of cell material and energetic coupling between bacterial species – Saida Benomar – Nature Communications

Other papers of interest

Climate-driven introduction of the Black Death and successive plague reintroductions into Europe – Boris V. Schmid – PNAS USA

Analysis of 13 cell types reveals evidence for the expression of numerous novel primate- and tissue-specific microRNAs – Eric Londin – PNAS USA

Microbes in the news

Fishing For the Microbes Behind Malnutrition – Ed Yong – National Geographic

4th World Summit ‘Gut Microbiota For Health’ to be held in Barcelona – Phys.org

Indian scientist awarded 1.5 million euros grant to investigate the role of gut microbiota in autoimmune diseases – Economic Times India

Johnson & Johnson Bets On Alzheimer’s Vaccine, Disease Prediction, Human ‘Microbiome’ – Amy Nordrum – International Business Times

Altered microbiome may lead to liver disease in patients with cystic fibrosis – Healio

Cystic Fibrosis Liver Cirrhosis Associated with Intestinal Microbiome – Maureen Newmn – LungDiseaseNews

Linoleic acid role balanced by changes to gut microbiota: Study – Annie-Rose Harrison-Dunn – NutraIngredients

My Microbiome Experience from Start to Results – Alexandra Carmichael – uBiome Blog

Session Report: Citizen Microbiology at Citizen Science 2015 – David Coil – MicroBEnet

Bacteria pipe food to each other using tiny tubes – Francie Diep – Popular Science

CSU study finds that Leprosy bacteria can survive in unusual environments – Emily Vavra – Collegian

Science, publishing and career

Scientists are cautious about public outreach – Chris Woolston – Nature

It’s Time for More Racial Diversity in STEM Toys – Maia Weinstock – Scientific American

Science and art

Science and Culture: Data visualization nurtures an artistic movement – J. D. Talasek – PNAS USA

Bik’s Picks

Wanted: 80,000 British babies for massive study – Helen Pearson – Nature

28.8 million tons of Sahara desert fertilize the Amazon – Deborah Netburn – LA Times

Your Eyelashes Should Be This Long, Science Says – Megan Gannon – Scientific American [hr]