August 4, 2015

Diet-induced metabolic changes, rhythmicity of mouse gut microbiome, the microbiome of Lake Michigan, and chicken skin virome.

General microbiome

Antibiotics, microbiota and health: are there dangers hiding in plain sight? – A. Clinton White Jr – Current Opinion in Infectious Diseases

Short Course in the Microbiome: Meeting Dispatch – Kimberly Falana – Journal of Circulating Biomarkers

Pregnancy and birth microbiome

Influence of Intrapartum Antibiotic Prophylaxis for Group B Streptococcus on Gut Microbiota in the First Month of Life – Corvaglia, Luigi – Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition

Human gut microbiome

Quantifying Diet-Induced Metabolic Changes of the Human Gut Microbiome – Saeed Shoaie – Cell Metabolism

Effect of daily intake of pomegranate juice on fecal microbiota and feces metabolites from healthy volunteers – Juana I. Mosele – Molecular Nutrition & Food Research

Gut microbiota richness promotes its stability upon increased dietary fiber intake in healthy adults – Julien Tap – Environmental Microbiology

Review: The intestinal microbiome and health – Susan Tuddenham – Current Opinion in Infectious Diseases

Review: Trimethylamine N-Oxide From Gut Microbiota in Chronic Kidney Disease Patients: Focus on Diet – Cristiane Moraes – Journal of Renal Nutrition

Review: Gut permeability, its interaction with gut microflora and effects on metabolic health are mediated by the lymphatics system, liver and bile acid – Cuong D Tran – Future Medicine

Microbiome models

Rhythmicity of the intestinal microbiota is regulated by gender and the host circadian clock – Xue Liang – PNAS

Viability of gut microbes as a complementary earthworm biomarker of metal exposure – Shin Woong Kim – Ecological Indicators

Adaptation of the human aryl hydrocarbon receptor to sense microbiota-derived indoles – Troy D. Hubbard – Scientific Reports

Which games are growing bacterial populations playing? – Xiang-Yi Li – Interface

Animal microbiome

Chicken skin virome analyzed by high-throughput sequencing shows a composition highly different from human skin – Caroline Denesvre – Virus Genes

Variations in microbiota of culex (melanoconion) ocossa and culex (culex) declarator across periurban and rural environments – M Nelson Starkey – Honors Thesis – Andrews University

Plasmids from the gut microbiome of cabbage root fly larvae encode SaxA that catalyzes the conversion of the plant toxin 2-phenylethyl isothiocyanate – Cornelia U. Welte – Environmental Microbiology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Successional Trajectories of Rhizosphere Bacterial Communities over Consecutive Seasons
Shengjing Shi – mBio

Compositional differences in simulated root exudates elicit a limited functional and compositional response in soil microbial communities – Michael S. Strickland – Frontiers in Microbiology

Changes in soil microbial community functionality and structure in a metal-polluted site: The effect of digestate and fly ash applications – M. Garcia-Sánchez – Journal of Environmental Management

Metatranscriptome analysis reveals host-microbiome interactions in traps of carnivorous Genlisea species – Hieu X. Cao – Frontiers in Microbiology

Microbial composition alters the response of litter decomposition to environmental change – Kristin L. Matulich – Ecology

Plant community richness and microbial interactions structure bacterial communities in soil – Daniel C. Schlatter – Ecology

Plant diversity effects on soil microbial functions and enzymes are stronger than warming in a grassland experiment – Katja Steinauer – Ecology

Persistence of the dominant soil phylum Acidobacteria by trace gas scavenging – Chris Greening – PNAS

Review: Current overview on the study of bacteria in the rhizosphere by modern molecular techniques: a mini‒review – L. Lagos – Journal of soil science and plant nutrition

Review: Harnessing phytomicrobiome signaling for rhizosphere microbiome engineering – Liliana Quiza – Frontiers in Plant Science

Water microbiome

The quality of organic matter shapes the functional biogeography of bacterioplankton across boreal freshwater ecosystems – Clara Ruiz-González – Global Ecology and Biogeography

Dissimilatory Arsenate Reduction and In Situ Microbial Activities and Diversity in Arsenic-rich Groundwater of Chianan Plain, Southwestern Taiwan – Suvendu Das – Microbial Ecology

Freshwater ice as habitat: Partitioning of phytoplankton- and bacteria between ice and water in central European reservoirs – R.M.L. McKay – Environmental Microbiology Reports

Urban microbial ecology of a freshwater estuary of Lake Michigan – Jenny C. Fisher – Elementa

Review: Bacterial microcompartments: widespread prokaryotic organelles for isolation and optimization of metabolic pathways – Thomas A. Bobik – Molecular Microbiology

Metagenomics and bioinformatics

SuRankCo: supervised ranking of contigs in de novo assemblies – Mathias Kuhring – BMC Bioinformatics

More microbe research

Species-wide whole genome sequencing reveals historical global spread and recent local persistence in Shigella flexneri – Thomas R Conno – eLIFE

The Cipher Code of Simple Sequence Repeats in “Vampire Pathogens” – Geng Zou – Scientific Reports

Analysis of IS6110 insertion sites provide a glimpse into genome evolution of Mycobacterium tuberculosis – Tanmoy Roychowdhury – Scientific Reports

Protein synthesis by ribosomes with tethered subunits – Cédric Orelle – Nature

Long-term social dynamics drive loss of function in pathogenic bacteria – Sandra Breum Andersen – PNAS

New approaches to understanding the immune response to vaccination and infection
David Furman – Vaccine

Microbes in the news

Would You Wear a Face Mask Made From Bacteria? – Jenna Rosenstein – Allure

Times-Picayune asks – Did a moldy building kill 4 New Orleans Professors – Jonathan Eisen – MicroBEnet

How the bugs in your gut keep you healthy – Keri Wiginton – Chicago Tribune

Scientists successfully breed symbiotic bacteria in mosquitoes to control dengue fever – ZeeNews India

Weight-Loss Surgery Changes Gut Bacteria – Rachael Rettner – Live Science

Volcanic bacteria take minimalist approach to survival – Otago University

Science, publishing, and career

Achieving Speaker Gender Equity at the American Society for Microbiology General Meeting – Arturo Casadevall – mBio

Bik’s Picks

This one was striking: Lightning strike as a possible cause of mortality of Australian sea lions, Neophoca cinerea – Peter D. Shaughnessy – Marine Mammal Science

Chilly at Work? Office Formula Was Devised for Men – Pam Belluck – New York Times
Belongs to: Energy consumption in buildings and female thermal demand – Boris Kingma & Wouter van Marken Lichtenbelt – Nature Climate Change

This Map Shows How New Yorkers View The Rest Of The United States. Finally, proof! – Carly Ledbetter – Huffington Post

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July 23, 2015

Proteobacteria in gut dysbiosis, microbes on seagrass, viral dark matter, metabolic ups and downs in the biofilm, bacteria/whiskey/copper, The Brown Lagoon, and I’ll see you in the gut.

Human gut microbiome

Review: Proteobacteria: microbial signature of dysbiosis in gut microbiota – Na-Ri Shin – Trends in Biotechnology

DGGE: Equol status and changes in faecal microbiota in menopausal women receiving long-term treatment for menopause symptoms with a soy-isoflavone concentrate – Lucía Guadamuro – Frontiers in Microbiology

Microbiome models

Editorial with a clever title. LikeEscaping Negative Selection: ILC You in the Gut – Adam M. Farkas – Immunity

Maraviroc modifies gut microbiota composition in a mouse model of obesity: a plausible therapeutic option to prevent metabolic disorders in HIV-infected patients – Patricia Perez-Matute – Rev Esp Quimioter

Plants, roots, and soil microbiome

Oxalate secretion by ectomycorrhizal Paxillus involutus is mineral-specific and controls calcium weathering from minerals – A. Schmalenberger – Scientific Reports

Cultivation-dependent analysis the microbial diversity associated with the seagrass meadows in Xincun Bay, South China Sea (sic) – Yu-Feng Jiang – Ecotoxicology

Unearthing the genomes of plant-beneficial Pseudomonas model strains WCS358, WCS374 and WCS417 – Roeland L. Berendsen – BMC Genomics

Water microbiome

Microbial communities associated with benthic faunal assemblages at cold seep sediments of the Sonora Margin, Guaymas Basin – Perrine Cruaud – Frontiers in Marine Science

Assessment of Zooplankton Community Composition along a Depth Profile in the Central Red Sea – John K. Pearman – PLOS ONE

Waste and bioreactor microbiology

Functionally redundant but dissimilar microbial communities within biogas reactors treating maize silage in co-fermentation with sugar beet silage – Susanne G. Langer – Microbial Biotechnology

Effects of Calamagrostis epigejos, Chamaenerion palustre and Tussilago farfara on nutrient availability and microbial activity in the surface layer of spoil heaps after hard coal mining – Anna M. Stefanowicz – Ecological Engineering

Degradation of Biofumigant Isothiocyanates and Allyl Glucosinolate in Soil and Their Effects on the Microbial Community Composition – Franziska S. Hanschen – PLOS ONE

Assessing hog lagoon waste contamination in the Cape Fear Watershed using Bacteroidetes 16S rRNA gene pyrosequencing – Ann M. Arfken – Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

Bacterial community structure and predicted alginate metabolic pathway in an alginate-degrading bacterial consortium – Akihisa Kita – Journal of Bioscience and Bioengineering

Metagenomics and bioinformatics

Viral dark matter and virus-host interactions resolved from publicly available microbial genomes – Simon Roux – eLIFE

Conference abstract: MetaFast: fast reference-free graph-based comparison of shotgun
metagenomic data – Sergey V. Kazakov

Microbial Ecology

Metabolic co-dependence gives rise to collective oscillations within biofilms – Jintao Liu – Nature

Neutral Models of Microbiome Evolution – Qinglong Zeng – PLOS Computational Biology

Fitness cost of antibiotic susceptibility during bacterial infection – Damien Roux – Science Translational Medicine

New Paradigms in Sepsis: From Prevention to Protection of Failing Microcirculation
J. Hawiger – Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis

Helicobacter pylori eradication for the prevention of gastric neoplasia – Alexander C Ford – Cochrane Library

Microbes in the news

Mutations that make bacteria resistant to antibiotics might also make them deadlier – Arielle Duhaime-Ross – The Verge

Bacteria are many things, but selfish isn’t one of them, scientists say – Robert Gebelhoff – Washington Post

Ulcer-causing bacteria may be key to stomach cancer: A combination of antibiotics and a drug reducing the production of gastric acid can eliminate the bacteria – Stephen Feller – UPI

Project aims to use probiotic bacteria to protect algal crops and increase ecosystem resilience – Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Bacteria makes copper from whisky waste – Tereza Pultarova – E&T Institution for Engineering and Technology

Bik’s Picks – reptile edition

HT Ed Yong: No Motherhood Yet for 100-Year-Old Turtle – John R. Platt – Scientific American

Turns Out Boa Constrictors Might Not Actually Suffocate Their Prey – Hilary Hanson – Huffington Post

A Fossil Snake With Four Legs – Ed Yong – National Geographic
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May 5, 2015, part 2

There was so much literature today (more than 600 papers!) that I am doing a second digest today.

Human reproductive tract microbiome

Investigation and Characterization of the Microbiome of the Upper Female Reproductive Tract [10] – Shana M. Miles – Obstetrics & Gynecology

Animal and other models

Akkermansia muciniphila Adheres to Enterocytes and Strengthens the Integrity of the Epithelial Cell Layer – Justus Reunanen – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Animal microbiome

Effect of Diet on the Rumen Microbial Community Composition of Growing Cattle and the Role It Plays in Methane Emissions – Allison L. Knoell – Digital Commons University of Nebraska – Lincoln

Amphibian Symbiotic Bacteria Do Not Show a Universal Ability To Inhibit Growth of the Global Panzootic Lineage of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis – Rachael E. Antwis – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Reptiles as Reservoirs of Bacterial Infections: Real Threat or Methodological Bias? – Giulia Zancolli – Microbial Ecology

Plant root, soil and sediment microbiome

Effects of cultivation ages and modes on microbial diversity in the rhizosphere soil of Panax ginseng – Chunping Xiao – Journal of Ginseng Research

Soil-foraging animals alter the composition and co-occurrence of microbial communities in a desert shrubland – David J Eldridge – The ISME Journal

The bacterial community inhabiting temperate deciduous forests is vertically stratified and undergoes seasonal dynamics – Rubén López-Mondéjar – Soil Biology and Biochemistry

Diversity of active microbial communities subjected to long-term exposure to chemical contaminants along a 40-year-old sediment core – Assia Kaci – Environmental Science and Pollution Research

Soil moisture and land use are major determinants of soil microbial community composition and biomass at a regional scale in northeastern China – L. Ma – Biogeosciences

Bacterial Community Diversity in Soil Under two Tillage Practices as Determined by Pyrosequencing – Aditi Sengupta – Microbial Ecology

Soil Microorganisms Contribute to Plant Nutrition and Root Health – Mark S. Coyne and Robert Mikkelsen – Better Crops

Changes in northern Gulf of Mexico sediment bacterial and archaeal communities exposed to hypoxia – R. Devereux – Geobiology

Effect of Nitrogen Management on Soil Microbial Community and Enzymatic Activities in Jatropha curcas L. Plantation – Doongar Ram Chaudhary – CLEAN – Soil, Air, Water

Response of maize and soil microorganisms to decomposing poplar root residues after shallow or homogenous mixing into soil – Hikal Gad – Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science

Water microbiome

Metagenome Sequencing of a Coastal Marine Microbial Community from Monterey Bay, California – Ryan S. Mueller – Genome Announcements

Enrichment experiment changes microbial interactions in an ultra-oligotrophic environment – Gabriel Y. Ponce-Soto – Frontiers in Microbiology

Review: Marine-derived fungi: diversity of enzymes and biotechnological applications
Rafaella C. Bonugli-Santos – Frontiers in Microbiology

Review, but contains mostly plagiarized text: The Importance of Marine Genomics to Life – Popoola Raimot Titilade – Journal of Ocean Research

Extremophiles

Spatial microbial community structure and biodiversity analysis in “extreme” hypersaline soils of a semiarid Mediterranean area – Loredana Canfora – Applied Soil Ecology

Ecoenzymatic stoichiometry at the extremes: How microbes cope in an ultra-oligotrophic desert soil – Yunuen Tapia-Torres – Soil Biology and Biochemistry

Microbial and Enzyme Activities of Saline and Sodic Soils – Kripal Singh – Land Degradation & Development

Identification of Anthraquinone-Degrading Bacteria in Soil Contaminated with Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons – Elyse A. Rodgers-Vieira – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Carbon Source Preference in Chemosynthetic Hot Spring Communities – Matthew R. Urschel – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Isolating the effects of storm events on arctic aquatic bacteria: temperature, nutrients, and community composition as controls on bacterial productivity – Heather E. Adams – Frontiers in Microbiology

Bioreactor microbiology

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

Viruses

Combining genomic sequencing methods to explore viral diversity and reveal potential virus-host interactions – Cheryl-Emiliane T. Chow – Frontiers in Microbiology

More microbiology

Global trends in antimicrobial use in food animals – Thomas P. Van Boeckel – PNAS USA

Review: Sugar coating: bacterial protein glycosylation and host–microbe interactions – Felicia Y.Y. Tan – Trends in Biochemical Sciences

Assay for estimating total bacterial load: relative qPCR normalization of bacterial load with associated clinical implications – Ivan Brukner – Diagnostic Microbiology and Infectious Disease

Review: A review on computational systems biology of pathogen–host interactions – Saliha Durmuş – Frontiers in Microbiology

Metagenomics and bioinformatics

Contact genomics: Scaffolding and phasing (meta)genomes using chromosome 3D physical signatures – Jean-Francois Flot – FEBS Letters

Eco-Evolutionary Dynamics of Episomes among Ecologically Cohesive Bacterial Populations – Hong Xue – mBio

Whole genome sequencing of extended-spectrum β-lactamase producing Klebsiella pneumoniae isolated from a patient in Lebanon – Sima Tokajian – Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology

A taxonomic framework for emerging groups of ecologically important marine gammaproteobacteria based on the reconstruction of evolutionary relationships using genome-scale data – Stefan Spring – Frontiers in Microbiology

Review: Strategies and approaches in plasmidome studies – uncovering plasmid diversity disregarding of linear elements? – Julian R. Dib – Frontiers in Microbiology

Microbes in the news

Your Beard Is Covered in Bacteria: So is everything else. Don’t fall for the latest viral freak-out – David Coil – Slate

LongreadGut Feelings – The Mysteries of the Microbiome – Jo Chandler – The Monthly

Bik’s Picks

Dolphins Living in Closer Quarters Are Friendlier – Lori Cuthbert – Discovery

Space might make astronauts dumber, study shows – Craig Hlavaty – Chron.com

We could use some in California – pipeline, please! Where does all the water go? Watch Oregon’s mysterious Lost Lake disappear down a lava tube – Aileen Donnelly – National Post
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April 16, 2015

Human gut microbiome

Alcoholic Liver Disease: The Gut Microbiome and Liver Cross Talk – Phillipp Hartmann – Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research

Animal models of microbiome research

Xylo-oligosaccharides and virginiamycin differentially modulate gut microbial composition in chickens – Mohsen Pourabedin – Microbiome

Taking advantage of quorum sensing – Cláudio Nunes-Alves – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Changes in the colon microbiota and intestinal cytokine gene expression following minimal intestinal surgery – Susan Lapthorne – World Journal of Gastroenterology

Animal microbiome

Insect life history and the evolution of bacterial mutualism – Lee M. Henry – Ecology Letters

Bugs full of viruses – Astrid Gall – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Similar sponge-associated bacteria can be acquired via both vertical and horizontal transmission – Detmer Sipkema – Environmental Microbiology

Transcriptional activity of the giant barrel sponge, Xestospongia muta Holobiont: Molecular Evidence for Metabolic Interchange – Cara L. Fiore – Frontiers in Microbiology

Water microbiome

Shift of anammox bacterial community structure along the Pearl Estuary and the impact of environmental factors – Bingbing Fu – Journal of Geophysical Research

Metatranscriptome analyses indicate resource partitioning between diatoms in the field – Harriet Alexander – PNAS USA

Microbiome of the built environment

Total Concentrations of Virus and Bacteria in Indoor and Outdoor Air – Aaron J. Prussin – Environmental Science and Technology Letters
See also my blog post on MicroBE.net about this paper, with a lively discussion on filters and pore sizes

Food microbiology

Effect of Gamma Irradiation on the Bacteriological and Sensory Analysis of Raw Whole Milk under Refrigeration – Adriana Cristina de Oliveira Silva

Bioreactor microbiology

Disturbance opens recruitment sites for bacterial colonization in activated sludge – David C. Vuono – Environmental Microbiology

Metaproteomics of complex microbial communities in biogas plants – Robert Heyer – Microbial Biotechnology

16S rRNA gene analysis, not metagenomics: Metagenomic analysis for the microbial consortium of anaerobic CO oxidizers – Ying Guo – Microbial Biotechnology

Bioinformatics

Protocol: Bioinformatics and Microarray Data Analysis on the Cloud – Barbara Calabrese, Mario Cannataro – Methods in Molecular Biology

An Ontology-Based GIS for Genomic Data Management of Rumen Microbes – Saber Jelokhani-Niaraki – Genomics & Informatics

Behind a very thick paywall: Application of Meta-Mesh on the analysis of microbial communities from human associated-habitats – Xiaoquan Su – Quantitative Biology

Metagenomics

The metagenomic approach and causality in virology – Silvana Beres Castrignano and Teresa Keico Nagasse-Sugahara – Rev Saúde Pública

Techniques

Use of pressure cycling technology for cell lysis and recovery of bacterial and fungal communities from soil – Emily A. Bruner – BioTechniques

Microbial Ecology

Estimating and Mapping Ecological Processes Influencing Microbial Community Assembly – James C. Stegen – Frontiers in Microbiology

More microbiology

The Infallible Microbial Identification Test: Does It Exist? – Alex van Belkum – Journal of Clinical Microbiology

Microbes in the news

Synthetic Cheese and the Microbiome – Alex A. — MicroBE.net

Total Concentrations of Virus and Bacteria in Indoor and Outdoor Air – Elisabeth Bik – MicroBE.net

A Review of the Oral Microbiome: Orli Reports – Orli Kadoch – uBiome Blog

To fight nasty digestive bugs, scientists set out to build a better gut—using stem cells – Medical Xpress

#BacteriaArePlural The bacteria that steals DNA from its surroundings – Mette Risbråthe – Norwegian University of Life Sciences

#BacteriaHysteria: Germ warfare: Kitchens can harbor hidden bacteria – Katherine Roth – The Pueble Chieftain

Science, publishing, and career

A resource for cell line authentication, annotation and quality control – Mamie Yu – Nature

Science AMA Series: We are Charon Pierson, journal editor and elected member of the Governing Council for the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and Ivan Oransky, co-founder of Retraction Watch. AUA about publication ethics and retractions.

Rule rewrite aims to clean up scientific software – Nature Biotechnology asks peer reviewers to check accessibility of code used in computational studies – Erika Check Hayden – Nature

Bik’s Picks

Response of seafloor ecosystems to abrupt global climate change – Sarah E. Moffitt – PNAS USA

Longread: The Pollen Detective – He’d used science to crack cases from art forgery to bank robbery. But then a murder took place in his own backyard – David Wolman – Medium

This professor measured his fingernail growth for 35 years. The results will amaze you! – Seriously, Science? – Discover

April 14, 2015

Human oral microbiome

Bacteriophage and their potential roles in the human oral cavity – Anna Edlund – Journal of Oral Microbiology

A Potential Biofilm Metabolite Signature for Caries Activity – A Pilot Clinical Study
Zandona F – Metabolomics

Human gut microbiome

Functional Dynamics of the Gut Microbiome in Elderly People during Probiotic Consumption – Emiley A. Eloe-Fadrosh – mBio

Siblings of patients with Crohn’s disease exhibit a biologically relevant dysbiosis in mucosal microbial metacommunities – Charlotte Hedin – Gut

Effect of iron supplementation with or without vitamin E (VE) on gut microbiome (MB) in iron deficient (ID) infants and toddlers – Minghua Tang – The FASEB Journal

Molecular assessment of differences in the duodenal microbiome in subjects with irritable bowel syndrome – Evangelos Giamarellos-Bourboulis – Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology

Review: Viruses, Other Pathogenic Microorganisms and Esophageal Cancer – Xu W. – Gastrointestinal Tumors

Human genital tract microbiome

True love: Complementary seminovaginal microbiome in couples – Reet Mändar – Research in Microbiology

Metabolic Signatures of Bacterial Vaginosis – Sujatha Srinivasan – mBio

Pregnancy and birth microbiome

Low birthweight, gestational age, need for surgical intervention and gram-negative bacteraemia predict intestinal failure following necrotising enterocolitis – Anders Elfvin – Acta Paediatrica

Animal models of microbiome research

Gut microbiota depletion from early adolescence in mice: Implications for brain and behaviour – Lieve Desbonnet – Brain, Behavior, and Immunity

Animal microbiome

Dog: Draft Genome Sequences of 26 Porphyromonas Strains Isolated from the Canine Oral Microbiome – David A. Coil – Genome Announcements

Ragworm: Polychaete burrows harbour distinct microbial communities in oil-contaminated coastal sediments – Joe D Taylor and Michael Cunliffe – Environmental Microbiology Reports

Just dropping by (Aphids): Do Bacterial Symbionts Govern Aphid’s Dropping Behavior? – Omer Lavy – Environmental Entomology

Review (corals): Nitrogen cycling in corals: the key to understanding holobiont functioning? – Nils Rädecker – Trends in Microbiology

Plant and soil microbiome

Below-ground abiotic and biotic heterogeneity shapes above-ground infection outcomes and spatial divergence in a host–parasite interaction – Ayco J. M. Tack – New Phytologist

A pyrosequencing insight into sprawling bacterial diversity and community dynamics in decaying deadwood logs of Fagus sylvatica and Picea abies – Björn Hoppe – Scientific Reports

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

Phylogenetic community ecology of soil biodiversity using mitochondrial metagenomics – Carmelo Andújar – Molecular Ecology

Soil treatment-induced differential gene expression in tomato: Relationships between defense gene expression and soil microbial community composition – Shawn T. Lucas – Applied Soil Ecology

Diversity and characterization of Cd-tolerant dark septate endophytes (DSEs) associated with the roots of Nepal alder (Alnus nepalensis) in a metal mine tailing of southwest China – Runbing Xu – Applied Soil Ecology

Plant traits related to nitrogen uptake influence plant-microbe competition – Delphine Moreau – Ecology

Soil microbial functionality in response to dairy sewage sludge and mineral fertilisers application under winter rape – K. Oszust – International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology

Water microbiome

Dynamic succession of groundwater functional microbial communities in response to emulsified vegetable oil amendment during sustained in situ U(VI) reduction – Ping Zhang – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Distribution of PAHs and the PAH-degrading bacteria in the deep-sea sediments of the high-latitude Arctic Ocean – C. Dong – Biogeosciences

Sulfate-reducing bacterial communities in the water column of the Gdansk Deep (Baltic Sea) – V. A. Korneeva – Microbiology

Bioreactor microbiology

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

Extremophile microbiome

Archaeal Viruses Multiply: Temporal Screening in a Solar Saltern – Nina S. Atanasova – Viruses

Review: 40 Years of archaeal virology: Expanding viral diversity – Jamie C. Snyder – Virology

Methane Yield Database: Online Infrastructure and Bioresource for Methane Yield Data and Related Metadata – Boštjan Murovec – Bioresource Technology

Call for papers: BIODESERT: Exploring and Exploiting the Microbial Resource of Hot and Cold Deserts – Hindawi BioMed Research International

Metagenomics and metabolomics

Reconstructing Rare Soil Microbial Genomes using in situ Enrichments and Metagenomics – Tom O. Delmont – Frontiers in Microbiology

Characterization and Detection of a Widely Distributed Gene Cluster That Predicts Anaerobic Choline Utilization by Human Gut Bacteria – Ana Martínez-del Campo – mBio

Metabolic Signatures of Bacterial Vaginosis – Sujatha Srinivasan – mBio

Review: Prokaryotic functional gene diversity in the sunlit ocean: Stumbling in the dark
Isabel Ferrera – Current Opinion in Microbiology

Techniques

Specific amplification of bacterial DNA by optimized so-called universal bacterial primers in samples rich of plant DNA – Samart Dorn-In – Journal of Microbiological Methods

More microbiology papers

Bacterial Raincoats: Interfacial self-assembly of a bacterial hydrophobin – Keith M. Bromley – PNAS USA

A New Synthesis for Dual Use Research of Concern – Michael J. Imperiale, Arturo Casadevall – PLOS Biology

Microbes in the news

Here’s Your New Science-Backed Reason to Eat More Cheese Your good bacteria love stinky fromage as much as you do – Mandy Oaklander – Time

Making a microbe subway map – Bethany Brookshire – Student Science

Video: Can gut bacteria help us live longer? – Simin Nikbin Meydani – Tufts University

Bacterial raincoat discovery paves way to better crop protection – Phys.org

CRISPR Shows How A Bacterial Cell Can Recognize Its Own DNA – Science 2.0

Spotlight on the Banfield labLonger DNA fragments reveal rare species diversity  – TANN – Archaeology News Network

Submission for the ASM Global Video Challenge 2015: Bacterial Friends Within You – YouTube

Spread of bacteria an issue in doctors’ white coat debate – Murray Feingold – Standard Speaker

Science, publishing, and career

How should journalists cover quacks like Dr. Oz or the Food Babe? – Julia Belluz – Vox

Great news: National hiring experiments reveal 2:1 faculty preference for women on STEM tenure track – Wendy M. Williams and Stephen J. Ceci – PNAS USA

Bik’s Picks

Four Corners Methane ‘Hot Spot’: NASA Joins Team Of Scientists Attempting To Pinpoint Source Of Gas – Avaneesh Pandey – International Business Times

Natural Selection May Help Account for Dutch Height Advantage – Carl Zimmer – New York Times

This Doughnut In Space Went Where No Breakfast Pastry Has Been Before – Cameron Keady – Huffington Post
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April 8, 2015

Events

#UMassMedChat on the microbiome is Thursday at 11:30 a.m.- UMass Center for Microbiome Research to answer questions on gut health

Microbes in the City: Mapping the Urban Genome, Friday, June 19, 2015 – The New York Academy of Sciences

Human respiratory microbiome

Analysis of microbiota in stable patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease – Estefania Aguirre – APMIS

Human gut microbiome

Site-specific programming of the host epithelial transcriptome by the gut microbiota – Felix Sommer – Genome Biology

Animal microbiome

Horses and pigs: Lactobacillus ruminis strains cluster according to their mammalian gut source – Michelle M O’ Donnell1 – BMC Microbiology

Turkeys: Rye Affects Bacterial Translocation, Intestinal Viscosity, Microbiota Composition and Bone Mineralization in Turkey Poults – Guillermo Tellez – PLOS ONE

Amphibians: Larval exposure to polychlorinated biphenyl 126 (PCB-126) causes persistent alteration of the amphibian gut microbiota – Kevin D. Kohl – Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry

Tsetse fly: Paternal transmission of a secondary symbiont during mating in the viviparous tsetse fly – Linda De Vooght – Molecular Biology and Evolution

Squid and Vibrio fisheri: Signaling between two interacting sensor kinases promotes biofilms and colonization by a bacterial symbiont – Allison N. Norsworthy and Karen L. Visick – Molecular Microbiology
Sponges: Phylogenetic diversity of sulphate-reducing Desulfovibrio associated with three South China Sea sponges – D. Zhang – Letters in Applied Microbiology

Plant root and soil microbiome

Plant diversity increases soil microbial activity and soil carbon storage – Markus Lange – Nature Communications

Phylogenetic relatedness determined between antibiotic resistance and 16S rRNA
genes in actinobacteria – Marketa Sagova-Mareckova – BMC Microbiology

Water microbiome

Functional Gene Composition, Diversity and Redundancy in Microbial Stream Biofilm Communities – Andrew Dopheide – PLOS ONE

Metabolomics

Distributing a metabolic pathway among a microbial consortium enhances production of natural products – Kang Zhou – Nature Biotechnology

Metabolite-sensing receptors ​GPR43 and ​GPR109A facilitate dietary fibre-induced gut homeostasis through regulation of the inflammasome – Laurence Macia – Nature Communications

Molecular Signatures of Nicotinoid-Pathogen Synergy in the Termite Gut – Ruchira Sen – PLOS ONE

Unique Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) Hive Component-Based Communities as Detected by a Hybrid of Phospholipid Fatty-Acid and Fatty-Acid Methyl Ester Analyses – Kirk J. Grubbs – PLOS ONE

Bioinformatics

A Robust ANOVA Approach to Estimating A Phylogeny from Multiple Genes – Ximing Xu – Molecular Biology and Evolution

More microbiology papers

Eighteenth-century genomes show that mixed infections were common at time of peak tuberculosis in Europe – Gemma L. Kay – Nature Communications

Microbes in the news

Beneficial bacteria – Ella Nonni – The Cornell Daily Sun

Mapping All The Chemicals And Tiny Bacteria Living On Our Skin – Adele Peters – FastCoExist

uBiome and HelloFlo are teaming up to explore how the vaginal microbiome changes during pregnancy and postpartum

Video: Gut Microbiome and Its Role in Allergy and Asthma – Christine Cole Johnson – JSPRQ.com

Colorado startup’s microbiome-modulating drug could improve metformin tolerability – Meghana Keshavan – MedCityNews

Race to stamp out animal plague begins – Ewen Callaway – Nature

Science, publishing, and career

The future of the postdoc: There is a growing number of postdocs and few places in academia for them to go. But change could be on the way – Kendall Powell – Nature

Opinion: Addressing systemic problems in the biomedical research enterprise – Bruce Alberts – PNAS USA

History: Women at the edge of science – Jennifer Rampling – Nature

Bik’s Picks

Efficacy of Commercial Weight-Loss Programs: An Updated Systematic Review
Kimberly A. Gudzune – Annals of Internal Medicine

Ecology: Recovering the potential of coral reefs – Nicholas K. Dulvy & Holly K. Kindsvater – Nature
Complex organic molecules discovered in infant star system: Hints that building blocks of chemistry of life are universal – Science Daily

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March 25, 2015

General microbiome

Introducing npj Biofilms and Microbiomes – Staffan Normark – NPJ Biofilms and Microbiomes – includes:

Clinical Implications of Basic Science Discoveries: Immune Homeostasis and the Microbiome—Dietary and Therapeutic Modulation and Implications for Transplantation – J. A. Fishman, and A. W. Thomson – American Journal of Transplantation

Human respiratory microbiome

Clinical Outcomes and Microbiological Characteristics of Severe Pneumonia in Cancer Patients: A Prospective Cohort Study – Ligia S. C. F. Rabello – PLOS ONE

Human gut microbiome

Subsistence strategies in traditional societies distinguish gut microbiomes – Alexandra J. Obregon-Tito – Nature Communications

Variation in rural African gut microbiomes is strongly shaped by parasitism and diet – Elise R Morton – BioRxiv

Some problems with JAMA website, not sure if link works: Association of Gastrointestinal Symptoms With Autism – JAMA Psychiatry

Contrasting effects of fresh and fermented kimchi consumption on gut microbiota composition and gene expression related to metabolic syndrome in obese Korean women – Kyungsun Han – Molecular Nutrition & Food Research

Review: Alcohol and gut microbiota – the possible role of gut microbiota modulation in the treatment of alcoholic liver disease – G. Vassallo – Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics

Perspective: Studies of the Gut: Overhyped or Underappreciated? – Tom Bartlett – The Chronicle of Higher Education

Review: Microbial biofilms and the human intestinal microbiome – Willem M de Vos – NPJ Biofilms and Microbiomes

Review: Microbial endocrinology: host-bacteria communication within the gut microbiome – Sara Sandrini – Journal of Endocrinology

Dead body microbiome

Potential Use of Bacterial Community Succession in Decaying Human Bone for Estimating Postmortem Interval – Franklin E. Damann – Journal of Forensic Sciences

Life after death: shallow-water Mediterranean invertebrate communities associated with mammal bones – Sergi Taboada – Marine Ecology

Animal microbiome

Monkeys: Adenovirus and Herpesvirus Diversity in Free-Ranging Great Apes in the Sangha Region of the Republic of Congo – Tracie A. Seimon – PLOS ONE

Birds (not birds and bees): Pathogenic bacteria and timing of laying – Anders Pape Møller – Ecology and Evolution

Arthropods: Metagenomic Profile of the Viral Communities in Rhipicephalus spp. Ticks from Yunnan, China – Han Xia – PLOS ONE

Nematodes: Associated bacteria of different life stages of Meloidogyne incognita using pyrosequencing-based analysis – Yi Cao – Journal of Basic Microbiology

Corals: Microbial Communities Associated with Healthy and White Syndrome-Affected Echinopora lamellosa in Aquaria and Experimental Treatment with the Antibiotic Ampicillin – David Smith – PLOS ONE

Water microbiome

Plant pathogenic bacteria in open irrigation systems: what risk for crop health? – J. R. Lamichhane and C. Bartoli – Plant Pathology

Elements of metacommunity structure and community-environment relationships in stream organisms – Jani Heino – Freshwater Biology

Opportunistic Pathogens and Elements of the Resistome that Are Common in Bottled Mineral Water Support the Need for Continuous Surveillance – Maria Fernanda Falcone-Dias – PLOS ONE

Bioinformatics

MUSiCC: a marker genes based framework for metagenomic normalization and accurate profiling of gene abundances in the microbiome – Ohad Manor and Elhanan Borenstein – Genome Biology

Average genome size estimation improves comparative metagenomics and sheds light on the functional ecology of the human microbiome – Stephen Nayfach and Katherine S Pollard – Genome Biology

Novel R Pipeline for Analyzing Biolog Phenotypic Microarray Data – Minna Vehkala – PLOS ONE

Ecology

Probabilistic Models to Describe the Dynamics of Migrating Microbial Communities – Joanna L Schroeder – PLOS ONE

Scanning the Landscape of Genome Architecture of Non-O1 and Non-O139 Vibrio cholerae by Whole Genome Mapping Reveals Extensive Population Genetic Diversity – Carol Chapman – PLOS ONE

Archaea

Phylogeny and Taxonomy of Archaea: A Comparison of the Whole-Genome-Based CVTree Approach with 16S rRNA Sequence Analysis – Guanghong Zuo – Life

Techniques

Open Labware: 3-D Printing Your Own Lab Equipment – Tom Baden – PLOS Biology

Microbes in the news

Treponema are not “ancient” but absence from some human’s guts is very interesting – Jonathan Eisen – Tree of Life
Refers to:
Ancient bacteria found in hunter-gatherer guts – Ann Gibbons – Science

With recipes: Upcoming book by Justin and Erica Sonnenburg: “The Good Gut” – Amazon

The ‘intraterrestrials’: New viruses discovered in ocean depths – National Science Foundation

Martian Microbes Could Be Eating Carbon Monoxide From the Atmosphere – Popular Mechanics

Kids with Autism Are More Likely to Have Gastrointestinal Problems – Rachael Rettner – LiveScience

Examining the connection between infant gut bacteria and food allergies – HealthCanal

Repeated Use of Antibiotics May Raise Diabetes Risk – Agata Blaszczak-Boxe – LiveScience

Bacteria in bud prompts B.C. medical marijuana firm to recall product – Canadian Press

Twin astronauts provide Earth-bound control for orbital health study – Phys.org

Baylor College of Medicine: Certain makeup can cause bacterial infections – John Brannen – Click2Houston

The Bathroom Blast Radius (And Your Toothbrush) – Dollar Shave Club

The Antibiotics Problem in Meat – Olga Khazan – The Atlantic

Satire: Biotechnology pressure group calls for an end to Saccharomyces abuse – The Allium

Science, publishing, and career

The 2015 Salary Survey Is Here – The Scientist

Women still find it tough to reach the top in science – Sharon Bell – The Conversation

Bik’s Picks

Ancient Egyptian skeleton shows signs of breast cancer – Elahe Izadi – Washington Post

Unravelling the hidden ancestry of American admixed populations – Francesco Montinaro – Nature Communications

Short Circuit in Magnets Postpone Re-Launch of CERN Collider – InsightTicker

Why the world needs biodiversity – Scientists have engineered the food that will help save a starving, warming planet – Jack Aldwinckle – Quartz

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February 20, 2015

Human microbiome, general

Article collection (n=1?): Microbiota: Coevolution and the Modern Environment – Martin Katzman, Alan C. Logan – Journal of Physiological Anthropology

Review: Natural environments, ancestral diets, and microbial ecology: is there a modern “paleo-deficit disorder”? Part I – Alan C Logan – Journal of Physiological Anthropology

Human respiratory microbiome

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Lung Microbiota Diversity May Be Mediated by Age or Inhaled Corticosteroid Use – Alexa A. Pragman – Journal of Clinical Microbiology

Reply to “Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Lung Microbiota Diversity May Be Mediated by Age or Inhaled Corticosteroid Use” – Marian Garcia-Nuñez – Journal of Clinical Microbiology

Fecal microbiota transplantation

ECCO congress abstract: FMT not effective in active UC patients – Haelio

MALDI-Tof MS

Microbial Typing by Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization–Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry: Do We Need Guidance for Data Interpretation? – Sébastien Spinali – Journal of Clinical Microbiology

Immunology

Perspective: A common origin for immunity and digestion – Nichole A. Broderick – Frontiers in Immunology

Microbes in the news

Engineering the Human Microbiome Shows Promise for Treating Disease – Justin L. Sonnenburg – Scientific American

Book Review: “Philosophy of Microbiology”, by Maureen A. O’Malley – Adrian Woolfson – Science

UCLA Outbreak Highlights Challenge Of Curbing Infections – Jordan Rau – NPR

Title seems incorrect: Your Genes May Be Part Mom, Part Dad and Part Bacteria – Krystnell Storr – Science.Mic

Host influences bacterial metabolism – Phys.org

Bacteria-killing virus may help prevent root canal infections – DrBicuspid

Virus-cutting enzyme helps bacteria remember a threat – Phys.org

Science, publishing, and career

Putting the ‘Media’ in ‘Academia’ – Stewart Barker – MicrobeStew

College Faculties Have a Serious Diversity Problem – Marcus Woo – Wired.com

Satire: Grad Student Diagnosed With Early-Onset Thesis Fear – The Allium

Bik’s Picks

Nest Etiquette—Where Ants Go When Nature Calls – Tomer J. Czaczkes, Jürgen Heinze, Joachim Ruther – PLOS ONE

Why I’m Volunteering to Die on Mars – Sonia Van Meter – Time.com

How the sun can damage your skin even in the dark – Deborah Netburn – LA Times

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February 18, 2015

There has been an incredible amount of microbiome papers that came out in the past three days. If this is an increasing trend (and I have every reason to believe it is) I will be needing some help in the future getting this daily digest out. Any volunteers in the fields of plant, soil, or water microbiome research to help me out?

Human oral microbiome

Metagenomic Sequencing Indicates That the Oropharyngeal Phageome of Individuals With Schizophrenia Differs From That of Controls – Robert H. Yolken – Schizophrenia Bulletin

Comparative genome analysis and identification of competitive and cooperative interactions in a polymicrobial disease (Periodontitis, EB) – Akiko Endo – ISME Journal

Human skin microbiome

Review: Are Demodex Mites Principal, Conspirator, Accomplice, Witness or Bystander in the Cause of Rosacea? – WenChieh Chen, Gerd Plewig – American Journal of Clinical Dermatology $

Human respiratory microbiome

High Individuality of Respiratory Bacterial Communities in a Large Cohort of Adult Cystic Fibrosis Patients under Continuous Antibiotic Treatment – Rolf Kramer – PLOS ONE

Human vaginal microbiome

Rapid and profound shifts in the vaginal microbiota following antibiotic treatment for bacterial vaginosis – Bryan T. Mayer – The Journal of Infectious Diseases

The Impact of Hormonal Contraception and Pregnancy on Sexually Transmitted Infections and on Cervicovaginal Microbiota in African Sex Workers – Hanneke Borgdorff – Sexually Transmitted Diseases

Human gut microbiome

Potential use of probiotic and commensal bacteria as non-antibiotic strategy against vancomycin-resistant enterococci – Laureen Couzet – FEMS Microbiology Letters

Review: Can inflammatory bowel disease be permanently treated with short-term interventions on the microbiome? – Dana Berg – Expert Review of Gastroenterology & Hepatology

Review: Biotic interactions and temporal dynamics of the human gastrointestinal microbiota – Pål Trosvik – ISME Journal

Animal and other models

Development and pyrosequencing analysis of an in-vitro oral biofilm model – James O Kistler – BMC Microbiology

Respiratory Microbiota Dynamics following Streptococcus pneumoniae Acquisition in Young and Elderly Mice – Cassandra L. Krone – Infection and Immunity

Animal microbiome

Potential functional gene diversity involved in methanogenesis and methanogenic community structure in Indian buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) rumen – Krishna M. Singh – Journal of Applied Genetics

Experimental replacement of an obligate insect symbiont – Nancy A. Morana,1 and Yueli Yun – PNAS USA
Microbial communities present in the lower respiratory tract of clinically healthy birds in Pakistan – Muhammad Zubair Shabbir – Poultry Science

The Microbiome of Field-Caught and Laboratory-Adapted Australian Tephritid Fruit Fly Species with Different Host Plant Use and Specialisation – J. L. Morrow – Microbial Ecology

New insights into the fungal community from the raw genomic sequence data of fig wasp
Ceratosolen solmsi – Li-Hua Niu – BMC Microbiology
Metagenomic characterisation of viral communities in corals: Mining biological signal from methodological noise – Elisha M. Wood-Charlson – Environmentl Microbiology Reports

Phylogenetic diversity of sulfate-reducing Desulfovibrio associated with three South China Sea Sponges – Dan Zhang – Letters in Applied Microbiology

Diversity of Actinobacteria Associated with the Marine Ascidian Eudistoma toealensis – Georg Steinert – Marine Biotechnology

Species specificity of symbiosis and secondary metabolism in ascidians – Ma Diarey B Tianero – ISME Journal

Plant microbiome

Editorial: Focus on The Good, the Bad and the Unknown: Genomics-Enabled Discovery of Plant-Associated Microbial Processes and Diversity – Gwyn Beattie – Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions

Seasonal Community Succession of the Phyllosphere Microbiome – Julia K. Copeland – Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions

The Linkages between Plant Species Composition and Soil Microbial Communities: What about Symbiotic Microorganisms within Man-Made Tree Plantations? – Godar Sene – Biodiversity Management & Forestry

High-Throughput Sequencing in Studies of Lichen Population Biology – Silke Werth – Recent Advances in Lichenology $

Short-term impacts of energy wood harvesting on ectomycorrhizal fungal communities of Norway spruce saplings – Karoliina Huusko – ISME Journal

Editorial: Root surface as a frontier for plant microbiome research – Marcel G. A. van der Heijden and Klaus Schlaeppi – PNAS USA

Soil microbiome

Long-term nitrogen fertilization of paddy soil shifts iron-reducing microbial community revealed by RNA-13C-acetate probing coupled with pyrosequencing – Long-Jun Ding –

Carbon flow from volcanic CO2 into soil microbial communities of a wetland mofette – Felix Beulig – ISME Journal

Effect of Monospecific and Mixed Sea-Buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides) Plantations on the Structure and Activity of Soil Microbial Communities – Xuan Yu – PLOS ONE

Microbial community composition shapes enzyme patterns in topsoil and subsoil horizons along a latitudinal transect in Western Siberia – Jörg Schnecker – Soil Biology and Biochemistry

Perspective: Protection of Antarctic microbial communities – ‘out of sight, out of mind’ – Kevin A. Hughes – Frontiers in Microbiology

Water microbiome

Genomes of Planktonic Acidimicrobiales: Widening Horizons for Marine Actinobacteria by Metagenomics – Carolina Megumi Mizuno – mBio

A comprehensive analysis of the microbial communities of healthy and diseased marine macroalgae and the detection of known and potential bacterial pathogens
Enrique Zozaya-Valdes – Frontiers in Microbiology

Metagenomics Reveals Planktonic Bacterial Community Shifts across a Natural CO2 Gradient in the Mediterranean Sea – Ashvini Chauhan – Genome Announcements
Shifts in the meso- and bathypelagic archaea communities composition during recovery and short-term handling of decompressed deep-sea samples – Violetta La Cono – Environmental Microbiology Reports

Review: Rethinking the marine carbon cycle: Factoring in the multifarious lifestyles of microbes – Alexandra Z. Worden – Science

Microbes of the Built Environment

Pyrosequencing analysis of microbial community and food-borne bacteria on restaurant cutting boards collected in Seri Kembangan, Malaysia, and their correlation with grades of food premises – Noor-Azira Abdul-Mutalib – International Journal of Food Microbiology $

Review: The dual role of microbes in corrosion – Nardy Kip and Johannes A van Veen – ISME Journal

Bioreactor microbiology

Metagenomic Analysis of the Sludge Microbial Community in a Lab-Scale Denitrifying Phosphorus Removal Reactor – Xiao-Mei Lv – Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology $

Comparative metagenomics of biogas-producing microbial communities from production-scale biogas plants operating under wet or dry fermentation conditions – Yvonne Stolze – Biotechnology for Biofuels

Comparative metagenomics demonstrating different degradative capacity of activated biomass treating hydrocarbon contaminated wastewater – Trilok Chandra Yadav – Bioresource Technology

Phages, viruses, CRISPRs

EditorialHow bacteria get spacers from invaders – Ido Yosef & Udi Qimron – Nature
refers to the following 2 papers:

Cas9 specifies functional viral targets during CRISPR–Cas adaptation – Robert Heler – Nature

Integrase-mediated spacer acquisition during CRISPR–Cas adaptive immunity – James K. Nuñez – Nature

Review: Big things in small packages: the genetics of filamentous phage and effects on fitness of their host – Anne Mai-Prochnow – FEMS Microbiology Reviews

Coevolution with bacteriophages drives genome-wide host evolution and constrains the acquisition of abiotic-beneficial mutations – Pauline D. Scanlan – Molecular Biology and Evolution

Virus characterization and discovery in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues – Rogier Bodewes – Journal of Virological Methods

Archaea

Culturable diversity of aerobic halophilic archaea (Fam. Halobacteriaceae) from hypersaline, meromictic Transylvanian lakes – Andreea Baricz – Extremophiles $

Microbial Ecology

DNA (meta)barcoding of biological invasions: a powerful tool to elucidate invasion processes and help managing aliens – Thierry Comtet – Biological Invasions

Bioinformatics

Will solid-state drives accelerate your bioinformatics? In-depth profiling, performance analysis, and beyond – Sungmin Lee – ArXiv

Indexing arbitrary-length k-mers in sequencing reads – Tomasz Kowalski – ArXiv

MetaVelvet-SL: an extension of the Velvet assembler to a de novo metagenomic assembler utilizing supervised learning – Afiahayati, Kengo Sato and Yasubumi Sakakibara – DNA Research

Metagenomics

Perspective: The Newest “Omics”—Metagenomics and Metabolomics—Enter the Battle against the Neglected Tropical Diseases – Geoffrey A. Preidis, Peter J. Hotez – PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases

Metabolomics, proteomics

Review: Exopolysaccharides Produced by Lactic Acid Bacteria and Bifidobacteria as Fermentable Substrates by the Intestinal Microbiota – Nuria Salazar – Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition

A Metaproteomics Approach to Elucidate Host and Pathogen Protein Expression during Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections – Christian Lassek – Molecular and Cellular Proteomics

Microbes Promote Amino Acid Harvest to Rescue Undernutrition in Drosophila – Ryuichi Yamada – Cell Reports

PhD Dissertation: The human microbiome and interactions with disease states, medical interventions, and the metabolome – Luke Kenneth Ursell – University of Colorado at Boulder

Review: Interaction of dietary compounds, especially polyphenols, with the intestinal microbiota: a review – Aleksandra Duda-Chodak – European Journal of Nutrition

Other articles of interest

Editorial: Balancing copy number in ribosomal DNA – John H. Malone – PNAS USA

Review: Epithelial Cell Contributions to Intestinal Immunity – Lora V. Hooper – Advances in Immunology $

Microbes in the News

Among Trillions of Microbes in the Gut, a Few Are Special – Moises Velasquez-Manoff – Scientific American

New Emphasis on Microbiome in Upper Airways Could Advance URTI Treatment in Cystic Fibrosis – Ana Pamplona – Cystic Fibrosis News Today

Mental Health May Depend on Creatures in the Gut: The microbiome may yield a new class of psychobiotics for the treatment of anxiety, depression and other mood disorders – Charles Schmidt – Scientific American

Gut Feelings: Diet, Depression and Bacteria – Paul Spector – Huffington Post

Inflammatory Bowel Disease Transmitted by Maternal Bacteria – Christopher Wanjek – Scientific American

Mapping the gut microbiome to better understand its role in obesity – Medical Xpress

Ghent University Hospital Researchers Find That Young Mice Microbiome Influences Later Onset of Autoimmune Disease – Daniela Semedo – Scleroderma News

Scientists Say that Bacteria Live in Placenta – Noel Angeles – SMN Weekly

Distemper virus affects wild carnivores of all stripes – Merry R. Buckley – Cornell University

Oil Eating Microbes Have Worldwide Underground Connections – David Biello – Scientific American (Podcast 2 min)

Science, publishing, and career

AnnouncementNature journals offer double-blind review: Starting in March, Nature and the monthly Nature research journals will offer an alternative to conventional peer review – Nature
Workplace safety: Risky encounters – Chris Woolston – Nature

Motherhood: Biases in US academia – Nature

Same Behavior, Different Consequences: Reactions to Men’s and Women’s Altruistic Citizenship Behavior – Heilman, Madeline E.; Chen, Julie J. – Journal of Applied Psychology

Bik’s Picks

Moth tails divert bat attack: Evolution of acoustic deflection – Jesse R. Barber – PNAS USA

Sea Snail Teeth Tops Spider Silk as Strongest Material on Earth – Becky Oskin – LiveScience / NBC News

Caffeine and Nicotine May Protect Bees Against Intestinal Parasites – Entomology Today

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February 11, 2015

Human oral microbiome

Extensive Description and Comparison of Human Supra-Gingival Microbiome in Root Caries and Health – Lin Chen – PLOS ONE

Human gut microbiome

Characterization of the Gut Microbiota of Papua New Guineans Using Reverse Transcription Quantitative PCR – Andrew R. Greenhill – PLOS ONE

Animal models

Uncovering effects of antibiotics on the host and microbiota using transkingdom gene networks – Andrey Morgun – Gut

Long-Lasting Effects of Early-Life Antibiotic Treatment and Routine Animal Handling on Gut Microbiota Composition and Immune System in Pigs – Dirkjan Schokker – PLOS ONE

Plant microbiome

A Genomic Encyclopedia of the Root Nodule Bacteria: assessing genetic diversity through a systematic biogeographic survey – Wayne Reeve – Standards in Genomics Sciences

More microbes

Use of 16S rRNA Gene for Identification of a Broad Range of Clinically Relevant Bacterial Pathogens – Ramya Srinivasan – PLOS ONE

Mutualism Breakdown by Amplification of Wolbachia Genes – Ewa Chrostek – Luis Teixeira – PLOS Biology

Intranuclear bacteria: inside the cellular control center of eukaryotes – Frederik Schulz, Matthias Horn – Trends in Cell Biology

Microbes in the news

Satire: Fitbiotics: A secret supplements company, until now known only by high levels athletes, sells the fittest microbiome on Earth – The Megabiome

Must-read for anyone interested in the New York subway microbiome paper: There’s No Plague on the NYC Subway. No Platypuses Either – Ed Yong

Metagenomics best hit analysis: caveat emptor – Nick Loman – Github blog

Win a home microbiome analysis plus 50 giant microbes (if you subscribe to New Scientist) – New Scientist

Drs. Cardelli and Woolard Funded to Study Bacteria in the Intestine – LSU Health

From Solar Energy To Liquid Fuel: Scientists Use Bacteria The Way Plants Do – James Maynard – Tech Times

Science, publishing, and career

Science Communication in Less Than 140 Characters – Lauren Dobischok – Future Science Leaders

How Elementary School Teachers’ Biases Can Discourage Girls From Math and Science – Claire Cain Miller – New York Times

And the winner is: not science – Portrayals of science in the cinema are growing in sophistication — but not exactly at the speed of light – Colin Macilwain – Nature

Bik’s Picks

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Gets a New Name – Karen Barrow – New York Times

Google Now Serving Fact-Checked Medical Search Results – Dan Van Winkle – The Mary Sue

Evolution of Darwin’s finches and their beaks revealed by genome sequencing – Sangeet Lamichhaney – Nature

Long read: The Food Babe: Enemy of Chemicals – James Hamblin – The Atlantic

Why Your Cat May Be More Human Than You Think – Karen Becker – Huffington Post

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