Resistant starch diets, mass spectrometry imaging, viruses in coral health and disease, mitochondrial and chloroplast blocking clamps to identify plant-associated microbiomes, vitamin D and the gut, microbes in pores, uBiome Microbiome Impact Grant winner.

Pregnancy and early life

Starter formula enriched in prebiotics and probiotics ensures normal growth of infants and promotes gut health: a randomized clinical trial – Michael Radke – Pediatric Research

Human skin microbiome

The balance of metagenomic elements shapes the skin microbiome in acne and health – Emma Barnard – Scientific Reports

Microbiome of nearly sterile sites

Correspondence: Blood microbiota as a potential non-invasive diagnostic biomarker for liver fibrosis in severely obese patients: Choose carefully – Zongxin Ling – Hepatology

Human gut microbiome

 * Diets high in resistant starch increase plasma levels of trimethylamine-N-oxide, a gut microbiome metabolite associated with CVD risk – Nathalie Bergeron – British Journal of Nutrition

Fecal Microbiota Transplant in Severe and Severe-Complicated Clostridium difficile: A Promising Treatment Approach – Monika Fischer – Gut Microbes

Evaluation of clinical safety and beneficial effects of stachyose-enriched α-galacto-oligosaccharides on gut microbiota and bowel function in humans – Ting Li – Food & Function

Low abundance of colonic butyrate-producing bacteria in HIV infection is associated
with microbial translocation and immune activation – Stephanie M. Dillon – AIDS

Meta-analysis: Pretreatment with antibiotics may enhance the efficacy of fecal microbiota transplantation in ulcerative colitis: a meta-analysis – A H Keshteli – Mucosal Immunology

Meta-analysis: Lower Level of Bacteroides in the Gut Microbiota Is Associated with Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Meta-Analysis – Yingting Zhou – BioMed Research International

Viewpoint: The Microbiome and Risk for Obesity and Diabetes – Anthony L. Komaroff – JAMA

Review: The Impact of the Gut Microbiota on Humoral Immunity to Pathogens and Vaccination in Early Infancy – Quang N. Nguyen – PLOS Pathogens

Review: Microbiota and prebiotics modulate uremic toxins generation – Laetitia Koppe – Panminerva Medica

Review: Influence of nutrition therapy on the intestinal microbiome – Monika A. Krezaleka

Review: A Possible Role of Intestinal Microbiota in the Pathogenesis of Ankylosing Spondylitis – Lianjun Yang – Int J Mol Sci

Review: Food allergy and the gut – Anna Nowak-Wegrzyn – Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology

The Gut Microbiome and the Liver, special issue of Seminars in Liver Disease with lots of reviews:

• The Microbiome: What Will the Future Hold? – Howard Paul Monsour
• Primary Biliary Cirrhosis and the Microbiome – Eamonn M. M. Quigley
• The Microbiome and Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis – Ahmad H. Ali
• Changes in the Microbiome in Cirrhosis and Relationship to Complications: Hepatic Encephalopathy, Spontaneous Bacterial Peritonitis, and Sepsis – Jatinder Lachar
• Microbiome–Host Immune System Interactions – Sylwia Smolinska
• The Microbiome and the Liver: The Basics – David W. Victor III
• Studying the Microbiome: “Omics” Made Accessible – Paul W. O’Toole
• The Metabolic Role of the Microbiome: Implications for NAFLD and the Metabolic Syndrome – Eamonn M. M. Quigley

Animal experiments

Western diet induces colonic nitrergic myenteric neuropathy and dysmotility in mice via saturated fatty acid- and LPS-induced TLR4 signaling – François Reichardt – Journal of Physiology

* Vitamin D Signaling through Induction of Paneth Cell Defensins Maintains Gut Microbiota and Improves Metabolic Disorders and Hepatic Steatosis in Animal Models – Danmei Su – Frontiers in Physiology

Vitamin D Improves Gut Microbiota, Study Finds – Sci-News

Animal microbiome

* Review: The role of viruses in coral health and disease – Michael Sweet – Journal of Invertebrate Pathology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Diverse Profiles of AI-1 Type Quorum Sensing Molecules in Cultivable Bacteria from the Mangrove (Kandelia obovata) Rhizosphere Environment – Zhi P. Ma – Frontiers in Microbiology

Bioaccumulation of metals in reeds collected from an acid mine drainage contaminated site in winter and spring – Lin Guo – Environmental Technology

* Identifying the plant associated microbiome across aquatic and terrestrial environments: the effects of amplification method on taxa discovery – Sara L. Jackrel – Molecular Ecology Resources

* Microbial competition in porous environments can select against rapid biofilm growth – Katharine Z. Coyte – PNAS

Water microbiome

Local and Regional Diversity Reveals Dispersal Limitation and Drift as Drivers for Groundwater Bacterial Communities from a Fractured Granite Formation – E. D. Beaton – Frontiers in Microbiology

Microbial Community of High Arsenic Groundwater in Agricultural Irrigation Area of Hetao Plain, Inner Mongolia – Yanhong Wang – Frontiers in Microbiology

Disturbance Increases Microbial Community Diversity and Production in Marine Sediments – Pierre E. Galand – Frontiers in Microbiology

Waste and pollution microbiology

Seafood-Processing Sludge Composting: Changes to Microbial Communities and Physico-Chemical Parameters of Static Treatment versus for Turning during the Maturation Stage – Iria Villa – PLOS ONE

Regional synchrony in full-scale activated sludge bioreactors due to deterministic microbial community assembly – James S Griffin – The ISME Journal

Metabolomics

* Mass Spectrometry Imaging of Complex Microbial Communities – Sage J. B. Dunham – Accounts Chemical Research

Techniques

* Mitochondrial and chloroplast blocking clamps: Identifying the plant associated microbiome across aquatic and terrestrial environments: the effects of amplification method on taxa discovery – Sara L. Jackrel – Molecular Ecology Resources

Microbial ecology

Probabilistic adaptation in changing microbial environments – Yarden Katz – PeerJ

Microbes in the news

* UCSF Researcher to Investigate Diabetes and the Microbiome in Filipino Populations with uBiome Microbiome Impact Grant – PR Web

An interesting year – Nature Microbiology

Microbiota: Reseeding the gut – Liam Drew – Nature

Danish researchers uncover bacteria’s secret code language – News Medical

New CRISPR-Cas Enzymes Discovered – Kerry Grens – The Scientist

Move over Cas9, CRISPR-Cas3 might hold the key to solving the antibiotics crisis – Sarah Buhr – Tech Crunch

Gut bacteria may hold key to treating autoimmune diseases – EurekAlert
The Secret To Treating Autoimmune Disease May Lie In The Gut – The Huffington Post

Science, publishing and career

The lives they lived: Ruth Hubbard. She was grateful simply to be a female biologist — until she got mad about needing to be grateful – Sara Corbett – New York Times