Category Archives: Microbes in the News

July 29, 2016

Posted on by

Bifidobacteria/Spirochaetes trade-off in Italians vs. Hadza, asthma, transferring depression with human stool to rats, sea squirts symbionts, spacial structure of biofilms, and a glowing review of Ed Yong’s book “I Contain Multitudes”.

General microbiome

Dysbiosis Across Multiple Body Sites in Critically Ill Adult Surgical Patients – Andrew Yeh – Shock

Pregnancy / human oral microbiome

Smoking, pregnancy and the subgingival microbiome – Akshay D. Paropkari – Scientific Reports

Review: An Integrated Review of Intestinal Microbiota in the Very Premature Infant – Melissa C. Dollings –  Neonatal Network

Human respiratory microbiome

Bacterial microbiota of the upper respiratory tract and childhood asthma – Martin Depner – Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology

Review: The role of anaerobic bacteria in the cystic fibrosis airway – Laura J. Sherrard – Current Opinion in Pulmonary Medicine

Human vaginal microbiome

Commentary: The relationship between the vaginal microbiome and human health – MR Millar – BJOG

Human gut microbiome

Variations in the Post-weaning Human Gut Metagenome Profile As Result of Bifidobacterium Acquisition in the Western Microbiome – Matteo Soverini – Frontiers in Microbiology

Pediatric obesity is associated with an altered gut microbiota and discordant shifts in Firmicutes populations – Alessandra Riva – Environmental Microbiology

Histamine-secreting microbes are increased in the gut of adult asthma patients – Weronika Barcik – Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology

Dietary Supplementation with Rice Bran or Navy Bean Alters Gut Bacterial Metabolism in Colorectal Cancer Survivors – Amy M. Sheflin – Molecular Nutrition & Food Research

Four-week consumption of a Bifidobacterium bifidum strain modulates dominant intestinal bacterial taxa and fecal butyrate in healthy adults – Giorgio Gargari – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Fecal microbiota transplantation for patients with steroid-resistant/dependent acute graft-versus-host disease of the gut – Kazuhiko Kakihana – Blood

Trial: Effect of prebiotic intake on gut microbiota, intestinal permeability and glycemic control in children with type 1 diabetes: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial – Josephine Ho – Trials

Opinion: How stable is the human gut microbiota? And why this question matters – Harald Brüssow – Environmental Microbiology

Research highlight: Microbial mobilomes differ between societies – Naomi Attar – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Review: High-Resolution Characterization of the Human Microbiome – Cecilia Noecker – Translational Research

Review: Microbiota metabolite short chain fatty acids, GPCR, and inflammatory bowel diseases – Mingming Sun – Journal of Gastroenterology

Review: The influence of gut derived CD39 regulatory T cells in CNS demyelinating disease – Javier Ochoa-Repáraz – Translational Research

Review: Fecal microbiota transplantation in inflammatory bowel disease: the quest for the holy grail – B Pigneur – Mucosal Immunology

Review: The Gut Microbiota in Immune-Mediated Inflammatory Diseases – Jessica D. Forbes – Frontiers in Microbiology

Review: Regulation of Autoimmunity by the Microbiome – Carlos R. Zárate-Bladés – DNA and Cell Biology

Animal experiments

Transferring the blues: Depression-associated gut microbiota induces neurobehavioural changes in the rat – John R. Kelly – Journal of Psychiatric Research

The microbiota contributes to CD8+ T cell activation and nutrient malabsorption following intestinal infection with Giardia – Infection and Immunity – Aleksander Keselman

Gut Microbial Membership Modulates CD4 T Cell Reconstitution and Function after Sepsis – Javier Cabrera-Perez – Journal of Immunology

Metabolite exchange within the microbiome produces compounds that influence Drosophila behavior – Caleb N. Fischer – bioRxiv

Variation in the Gut Microbiota of Termites (Tsaitermes ampliceps) Against Different Diets – Lijuan Su – Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology

Animal microbiome

Endozoicomonas Are Specific, Facultative Symbionts of Sea Squirts – Lars Schreiber – Frontiers in Microbiology

Comparison of a modified phenol/chloroform and commercial-kit methods for extracting DNA from horse fecal material – Ali H.D. Janab -Journal of Microbiological Methods

Death Becomes Them: Bacterial community dynamics and stilbene antibiotic production in Galleria mellonella cadavers killed by Heterorhabditis/Photorhabdus – Amanda C. Wollenberg – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Comparative metagenomic analysis of PAH degradation in soil by a mixed microbial consortium – German Zafra – Journal of Hazardous Materials

Water and extremophile microbiome

Metatranscriptome analysis of active microbial communities in produced water samples from the Marcellus Shale – Amit Vikram – Microbial Ecology

Characterizing microbial diversity in production water from an Alaskan mesothermic petroleum reservoir with two independent molecular methods – Vinh D. Pham – Environmental Microbiology

Protocol: Visualizing Patterns of Marine Eukaryotic Diversity from Metabarcoding Data Using QIIME – Matthieu Leray – Marine Genomics

Protocol: Sampling of Riverine or Marine Bacterial Communities in Remote Locations: From Field to Publication – Katja Lehmann – Marine Genomics

Microbes in space

Assessment of the Forward Contamination Risk of Mars by Clean Room Isolates from Space-Craft Assembly Facilities through Aeolian Transport – a Model Study – Luc van Heereveld – Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres

Built environment microbiome

Figures appear to show a gradual change, not a break, but: Summer holidays as break-point in shaping a tannery sludge microbial community around a stable core microbiota – Cesira Giordano – Scientific Reports

Food microbiology

Detailed analyses of the bacterial populations in processed cocoa beans of different geographic origin, subject to varied fermentation conditions – Cristian Bortolini – International Journal of Food Microbiology

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

A Scalable Permutation Approach Reveals Replication and Preservation Patterns of Network Modules in Large Datasets – Scott C. Ritchie – Cell Systems

Techniques

The effect of DNA extraction methodology on gut microbiota research applications – Konstantinos Gerasimidis – BMC Research Notes

Biofilms

Review: Spatial structure, cooperation and competition in biofilms – Carey D. Nadell – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Microbes in the news

A glowing book review: Living in a microbial world, book review of “I Contain Multitudes The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life” by Ed Yong – Susan Perkins – Science

State College of Florida, New College graduate wins microbiology award: Stephanie Morgan’s research won an award at the Small World Initiative Symposium – Bradenton Herald

Microbiology: A budding researcher creates a stir with her LIST-supported project: Camilla Hurst – Luxembourg Institute of Science And Technology (LIST)

‘Bugs’ on the subway: Monitoring the microbial environment to improve public health – Harvard

‘Nose-y’ Bacteria Could Yield A New Way To Fight Infection – Carolyn Beans – NPR

The Marine Microbiome – A treasure trove of scientific and industrial potential – Cordis Europa
Video: Revealing the Secrets of Marine Microbes: methods that are being used to isolate and culture marine microorganisms – MaCuMBA project

July 27, 2016

Posted on by

Gut microbiome in men with pelvic pain, zebrafish stomach motility and bacterial competition, microbiomes of indoor environments, and the Microbial Olympics.

Human gut microbiome

Analysis of Gut Microbiome Reveals Significant Differences between Men with Chronic Prostatitis/Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome and Controls – Daniel A. Shoskes – Journal of Urology

Press: Gut Microbiome Diversity Lower in Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome – Medical Xpress

Animal and bioreactor experiments

Host Gut Motility Promotes Competitive Exclusion within a Model Intestinal Microbiota – Travis J Wiles – PLOS Biology

Press: Real-time imaging of fish gut ties bacterial competition to gut movements – Science Daily

Microbial Communities are Well Adapted to Disturbances in Energy Input – Nuria Fernandez-Gonzalez – bioRxiv

Built environment microbiome

What Have We Learned about the Microbiomes of Indoor Environments? – Brent Stephens – mSystems

Bioinformatics

Cloud Computing in Bioinformatics: current solutions and challenges – Barbara Calabrese – PeerJ preprint

More microbiology

Discovery of a sesamin-metabolizing microorganism and a new enzyme – Takuto Kumano – PNAS

Microbes in the news

The Microbial Olympics 2016 – Michaeline B. Nelson – Nature Microbiology

New method improves accuracy of microbiome measurement – University of Minnesota

How To Control Eczema? With Fierce Bacterial Competition – Daniel Soo – Asian Scientist

How Miraculous Microbes Help Us Evolve Better, Faster, Stronger – Ed Yong – Smithsonian

Could this household chemical mess with your body’s microbiome? – Brian Mastroianni – CBS News

Research team uses nanoparticles to break up plaque and prevent cavities – Katherine Unger Baillie

This smells promising: Nasal bacteria pump out a new antibiotic that kills MRSA – Anna Vlasits – STAT News

July 26, 2016

Posted on by

The last common ancestor, pika gut microbiome, fire-fighting chemicals and soil microbiome, improved Illumina-compatible 18S rRNA primers.

Jobs

Verily (Google-associated) is looking for a Microbiome Research Associate

Pregnancy and birth

Probiotic properties of lactic acid bacteria isolated from human milk – N.A. Reis – Journal of Applied Microbiology

Human oral microbiome

High Throughput Quantitative Method for Assessing Coaggregation among Oral Bacterial Species – Elizabeth Levin-Sparenberg – Letters in Applied Microbiology

Periodontal infectogenomics: systematic review of associations between host genetic variants and subgingival microbial detection – Luigi Nibali – Journal of Clinical Periodontology

Human respiratory microbiome

Upper airway viruses and bacteria and clinical outcomes in children with cough – Kerry-Ann F. O’Grady – Pediatric Pulmonology

Human skin microbiome

Hypothesis: The skin microbiome: Is it affected by UV-induced immune suppression? – Vijaykumar Patra – Frontiers in Microbiology

Human gut microbiome

Gut microbiota-host interactions and juvenile idiopathic arthritis – Miika Arvonen – Pediatric Rheumatology

Designing fecal microbiota transplant trials that account for differences in donor stool efficacy – Scott W. Olesen – bioRxiv

Probiotics and the Microbiome in Celiac Disease: A Randomised Controlled Trial – Joanna Harnett – Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Review: Links Between the Microbiome and Bone – Christopher J Hernandez – Journal of Bone and Mineral Research

Human vaginal microbiome

More Easily Cultivated Than Identified: Classical Isolation With Molecular Identification of Vaginal Bacteria – Sujatha Srinivasan – The Journal of Infectious Diseases

The Effects of Hormones and Vaginal Microflora on the Glycome of the Female Genital Tract: Cervical-Vaginal Fluid – Bernard J. Moncla – PLOS ONE

Review: New Systems for Studying Intercellular Interactions in Bacterial Vaginosis – Melissa M. Herbst-Kralovetz – The Journal of Infectious Diseases

Animal experiments

Lactulose differently modulates the composition of luminal and mucosal microbiota in C57BL/6J mice – Bingyong Mao – Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

American Ginseng Attenuates Colitis Associated Colon Carcinogenesis in Mice: Impact on Gut Microbiota and Metabolomics – Chong-Zhi Wang – Cancer Prevention Research

Alterations of Gut Microbiota After Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass and Sleeve Gastrectomy in Sprague-Dawley Rats – Yikai Shao – Obesity Surgery

Animal microbiome

Diet diversity is associated with beta but not alpha diversity of pika gut microbiota – Huan Li – Frontiers in Mcrobiology

The Microbial Signature Provides Insight into the Mechanistic Basis of Coral Success across Reef Habitats – Alejandra Hernandez-Agreda – mBio

Perspective: Hominid superorganisms – Julia A. Segre – Science

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Long-term response of soil microbial communities to fire and fire-fighting chemicals –
A. Barreiro – Biology and Fertility of Soils

Desert Perennial Shrubs Shape the Microbial-Community Miscellany in Laimosphere and Phyllosphere Space – Varsik Martirosyan – Microbial Ecology

Lichen-associated Fungal Community in Hypogymnia hypotrypa (Parmeliaceae, Ascomycota) Affected by Geographic Distribution and Altitude – Yanyan Wang – Frontiers in Microbiology

Water management impacts rice methylmercury and the soil microbiome – Sarah E. Rothenberg – Science of the Total Environment

Ecological restoration of a copper polluted vineyard: Long-term impact of farmland abandonment on soil bio-chemical properties and microbial communities – Luciano Cavani – Journal of Environmental Management

Review: Soil C and N models that integrate microbial diversity – Benjamin P. Louis – Environmental Chemistry Letters

Water and extremophile microbiome

Genomes of Abundant and Widespread Viruses from the Deep Ocean – Carolina Megumi Mizuno – mBio

Microbial communities associated with Antarctic snow pack and their biogeochemical implications – Runa Antony – Microbiological Research

Novel chytrid lineages dominate fungal sequences in diverse marine and freshwater habitats – André M. Comeau – Scientific Reports

Metabolomics

Review: Gut Microbiota Profiling: Metabolomics Based Approach to Unravel Compounds Affecting Human Health – Pamela Vernocchi – Frontiers in Microbiology

Functional foods

Review: Fermented Foods: Are They Tasty Medicines for Helicobacter pylori Associated Peptic Ulcer and Gastric Cancer? – Mydhily R. B. Nair – Frontiers in Microbiology

Bioinformatics

A novel alignment-free method for detection of lateral genetic transfer based on TF-IDF – Yingnan Cong – Scientific Reports
Exploring lateral genetic transfer among microbial genomes using TF-IDF – Yingnan Cong – Scientific Reports

Techniques

Design and Evaluation of Illumina MiSeq Compatible Primers for the 18S rRNA Gene for Improved Characterization of Mixed Microalgal Communities – Ian M. Bradley – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

More microbiology

Are multi-omics enough? – Cristina Vilanova – Nature Microbiology

Review: Bacterial Communities: Interactions to Scale – Reed M. Stubbendieck – Frontiers in Microbiology

The physiology and habitat of the last universal common ancestor – Madeline C. Weiss – Nature Microbiology

Press: Scientists find Luca, a single-cell, bacterium-like organism that is the common ancestor of all life on Earth – Andrew Griffin – Independent
Behold LUCA, the Last Universal Common Ancestor of Life on Earth – Jason Daley – Smithsonian
Our last common ancestor inhaled hydrogen from underwater volcanoes – Robert F. Service – Science
Meet Luca, the Ancestor of All Living Things – Nicholas Wade – New York Times

Microbes in the news

What your gut microbiome may be telling you – Katrina Clarke – The Record

Healthy microbiome supports antibiotic-free production – World Poultry

Charlottesville Lab to Test Microbiology of Local Breweries – NBC29

Nanostructured bacterial film makes new mortar resistant to water uptake – NanoWerk

Bik’s non-microbiology Picks

The Dutchies are still holding the top positions! A century of trends in adult human height – NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC) – eLIFE

July 24, 2016

Posted on by

Songbird, soil nitrogen-cycling around the world, and parasites on an ancient butt-wipe stick.

Pregnancy and birth

Dysfunctional gut microbiota and relative co-abundance network in infantile eczema – Heping Wang – Gut Pathogens

Human oral microbiome

Review: From focal sepsis to periodontal medicine: A century of exploring the role of the oral microbiome in systemic disease – Purnima S Kumar – The Journal of Physiology

Human gut microbiome

Review: The Role of the Gut Microbiome on Chronic Kidney Disease – B. Sampaio-Maia – Advances in Applied Microbiology

Review: The Microbiota, Immunoregulation, and Mental Health: Implications for Public Health – Christopher A. Lowry – Current Environmental Health Reports

Animal and other experiments

Insulin resistance, microbiota and fat distribution changes by a new model of vertical sleeve gastrectomy in obese rats – Nicola Basso – Diabetes

Establishment of microbiota in larval culture of Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas – Katia Asmani – Aquaculture

Changes in the structure of the microbial community associated with Nannochloropsis salina following treatments with antibiotics and bioactive compounds – Haifeng Geng – Frontiers in Microbiology

Animal microbiome
Social environment has a primary influence on the microbial and odor profiles of a chemically signaling songbird – Danielle J. Whittaker – Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution

16S rRNA Amplicon Sequencing for Epidemiological Surveys of Bacteria in Wildlife – Maxime Galan – mSystems

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Global biogeography of microbial nitrogen-cycling traits in soil – Michaeline B. Nelson – PNAS

Mammalian engineers drive soil microbial communities and ecosystem functions across a disturbance gradient – David J Eldridge – Journal of Animal Ecology

Biogeochemical drivers of microbial community convergence across actively retreating glaciers – Sarah C. Castle – Soil Biology and Biochemistry

The structure of bacterial communities along two vertical profiles of a deep colluvial soil – Marketa Sagova-Mareckova – Soil Biology and Biochemistry

Silver nanoparticles, ions and shape governing soil microbial functional diversity: nano shapes micro – Yujia Zhai – Frontiers in Microbiology

Water microbiome

Metagenomic signatures of a tropical mining-impacted stream reveal complex microbial and metabolic networks – Mariana P. Reis – Chemosphere

Effects of Copper, Nickel, and Sulphate from the Smelters at Sudbury, Ontario (Canada) on Microbial Communities in Lakes – Togwell A. Jackson – Geomicrobiology Journal

Archeological microbes

Early evidence for travel with infectious diseases along the Silk Road: Intestinal parasites from 2000 year-old personal hygiene sticks in a latrine at Xuanquanzhi Relay Station in China – Hui-Yuan Yeh – Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports

Press: Ancient Faeces Provide Earliest Evidence of Infectious Disease Being Carried on Silk Road – SciCasts
Ancient bottom wipers yield evidence of diseases carried along the Silk Road – Maev Kennedy – The Guardian

Built environment microbiome

Microorganisms associated with corrosion of structural steel in diverse atmospheres – Laura L. Machuca – International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation

More microbes

Individuals hospitalized with acute mania have increased exposure to antimicrobial medications – Robert Yolken – Bipolar Disorders

Metagenomics and bioinformatics

Multiplexed Metagenomic Deep Sequencing To Analyze the Composition of High-Priority Pathogen Reagents – Michael R. Wilson – mSystems

Microbes in the news

Everyday chemicals may be messing up our microbiomes—but we don’t know – Beth Mole – Ars Technica
The jury is still out on whether antibacterial chemical impacts microbiome or causes resistance – Bob Yirka – Medical Xpress

Some Microbes Have Been With Us Since Before We Existed. Certain gut bacteria have evolved in parallel with apes, so that their family tree perfectly mirrors our own. – Ed Yong – The Atlantic

Plants have a microbiome just like humans — and it could transform how our food is produced – Ariel Schwartz – Tech Insider

New book: The Human Superorganism: How the Microbiome Is Revolutionizing the Pursuit of a Healthy Life – Rodney Dietert
Your Microbes, Yourself. In his new book, Rodney Dietert argues that it’s time to re-configure our relationship with germs: – Louise Fabiani – Pacific Standard

Science, publishing, and career

The Women and the Science
Rachel Ignotofsky tells the stories of 50 women in science in her fantastic new science art book – Scientific American
Women in Science: An Illustrated Who’s Who – Julie Leibach – Science Friday

Women in Science: An Illustrated Who’s Who

July 22, 2016

Posted on by

Fungi in human GI tract, antibiotics reduce Alzheimer’s lesions in mouse model, cospeciation of primates and gut microbes, dangerous bacteria after sewer spill.

Jobs

Research scientists to engineer microbiome engineering therapies – Eligo Bioscience

General microbiome

Perspective: Is triclosan harming your microbiome? – Alyson L. Yee – Science

Understanding How Microbiomes Influence the Systems they Inhabit: Insight from Ecosystem Ecology – Ed Hall – bioRxiv

Pregnancy and birth microbiome

Midtrimester Cervicovaginal Microbiota: Identification of Microbial Variations Associated with Puerperal Infection at Term – Akila Subramaniam – American Journal of Perinatology

Human mouth microbiome

Salivary and fecal microbiota and metabolome of celiac children under gluten-free diet – Maria De Angelis – International Journal of Food Microbiology

Human respiratory microbiome

Lung Microbiome in HIV Infection – Homer L. Twigg III – Translational Research

Human vaginal microbiome

Proceedings of the 2015 NIH/NIAID Bacterial Vaginosis Expert Consultation – The Journal of Infectious Diseases

Human gut microbiome

Age and gender affect the composition of fungal population of the human gastrointestinal tract – Francesco Strati – Frontiers in Microbiology

A reduction in the butyrate producing species Roseburia spp. and Faecalibacterium prausnitzii is associated with chronic kidney disease progression – Shuanghong Jiang – Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

Review: An update discussion on the current assessment of the safety of veterinary antimicrobial drug residues in food with regard to their impact on the human intestinal microbiome – Carl E. Cerniglia – Drug Testing and Analysis

Animal experiments

Antibiotic-induced perturbations in gut microbial diversity influences neuro-inflammation and amyloidosis in a murine model of Alzheimer’s disease – Myles R. Minter – Scientific Reports

Press: Antibiotics weaken Alzheimer’s disease progression through changes in the gut microbiome – EurekAlert
Could antibiotics reduce levels of Alzheimer’s-causing plaques? – Hannah Nichols – MedicalNewsToday

Pathogenic shifts in endogenous microbiota impede tissue regeneration via distinct activation of TAK1/MKK/p38 – Christopher P Arnold – eLIFE

Bacterial community characterization of water and intestine of the shrimp Litopenaeus stylirostris in a biofloc system – Emilie Cardona – BMC Microbiology

Impact of Helminth Infections and Nutritional Constraints on the Small Intestine Microbiota – Isabella M. Cattadori – PLOS ONE

Nutrient Deprivation Affects Salmonella Invasion and Its Interaction with the Gastrointestinal Microbiota – Sophie Yurist-Doutsch – PLOS ONE

Celecoxib alters the intestinal microbiota and metabolome in association with reducing polyp burden – David C. Montrose – Cancer Prevention Research

Review: Interactions between host genetics and gut microbiome in diabetes and metabolic syndrome – Siegfried Ussar – Molecular metabolism

Animal microbiome

Cospeciation of gut microbiota with hominids – Andrew H. Moeller – Science

Press: Primates, Gut Microbes Evolved Together. Symbiotic gut bacteria evolved and diverged along with ape and human lineages, researchers find – Anna Azvolinsky – The Scientist
Microbes in our guts have been with us for millions of years – Ann Gibbons – Science
Your gut bacteria predates appearance of humans, genetic study finds – Naomi Stewart – The Guardian

A snapshot of the microbiome of Amblyomma tuberculatum ticks infesting the gopher tortoise, an endangered species – Khemraj Budachetri – Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases

Do Vertebrate Gut Metagenomes Confer Rapid Ecological Adaptation? –
Antton Alberdi – Trends in Ecology & Evolution

Vaginal microbial communities from synchronized-heifers and cows with reproductive disorders – Candelaria Gonzalez Moreno – Journal of Applied Microbiology

Review: The woodrat gut microbiota as an experimental system for understanding microbial metabolism of dietary toxins – Kevin D. Kohl – Frontiers in Microbiology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Plant Identity Exerts Stronger Effect than Fertilization on Soil Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi in a Sown Pasture – Yong Zheng – Microbial Ecology

Beneficial cyanobacteria and eubacteria synergistically enhance bioavailability of soil nutrients and yield of okra – Mallappa Manjunath – Heliyon

Naming Potentially Endangered Parasites: Foliicolous Mycobiota of Dimorphandra wilsonii, a Highly Threatened Brazilian Tree Species– Meiriele da Silva – PLOS ONE

Contribution of the seed microbiome to weed management – D Müller-Stöver – Weed Research

Mycorrhizal associations of trees have different indirect effects on organic matter decomposition – Melanie K. Taylor – Journal of Ecology

Water and extremophile microbiome

Vancomycin resistant enterococci and bacterial community structure following a sewage spill into an aquatic environment – Suzanne Young – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Press: USF researchers find dangerous bacteria after sewer spills – EurekAlert
USF researchers say they found dangerous bacteria after sewage spill – Anne Lindberg – Saint Peters Blog

Hospital Effluents Are One of Several Sources of Metal, Antibiotic Resistance Genes, and Bacterial Markers Disseminated in Sub-Saharan Urban Rivers – Amandine Laffite – Frontiers in Microbiology

Microbial communities in sediments of Lagos Lagoon, Nigeria: Elucidation of community structure and potential impacts of contamination by municipal and industrial wastes – Chioma C. Obi – Frontiers in Microbiology

Cryoconite pans on Snowball Earth: supraglacial oases for Cryogenian eukaryotes? – P. F. Hoffman – Geobiology

Effects of multiple dimensions of bacterial diversity on functioning, stability and multifunctionality – Fabian Roger – Ecology

Heterotrophic bacteria in Antarctic lacustrine and glacial environments – Johanna Laybourn-Parry – Polar Biology

Microbial diversity and activity in seafloor brine lake sediments (Alaminos Canyon block 601, Gulf of Mexico) – M. Crespo-Medina – Geobiology

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

MetaG: a graph-based metagenomic gene analysis for big DNA data – Linkon Chowdhury – Network Modeling Analysis in Health Informatics and Bioinformatics

DFAST and DAGA: web-based integrated genome annotation tools and resources – Yasuhiro Tanizawa – Bioscience of Microbiota, Food and Health

Genome-centric resolution of microbial diversity, metabolism and interactions in anaerobic digestion – Inka Vanwonterghem – Environmental Microbiology

Microbes in the news

Breast-feeding the Microbiome (Excerpt from his book) – Ed Yong – New Yorker

Janet Jansson Among Nine Authors of Nature Review Article – PNNL

Northern Arizona University professor Bruce Hungate named a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology – Arizona Business Daily

UF scientists identify seal as source of new strain of bacteria that caused disease in hunter – Sarah Carey – University of Florida

Gut Bacteria May Drive Inflammation in Sepsis, ARDS – Salynn Boyles – MedPageToday

With Rob Knight as keynote speaker: Fermenting Knowledge at Fermentation Festivals (with Kombucha Recipe) – John D. Ivanko – Mother Earth News

Your death microbiome could catch your killer – Anna Williams – New Scientist

Microbes and money

Osel, Inc. Comments on New Study Showing Role of Vaginal Microbiome in Women’s Health – PharmiWeb

Q&A: Indigo’s CEO Reveals the Strategy Behind Its Plant Microbiome Technology – Olivia Vanni – BostInno

Eminent Harvard Geneticist Professor George Church Joins uBiome Advisory Board – Benzinga

Immuron to Cooperate with Leading Australian Universities on Autism Research – Nasdaq

July 20, 2016

Posted on by

Jobs

Postdoc: Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and associated microbiota – Boyce Thompson Institute at Cornell campus (NY) (via ASM)

Pregnancy and birth

Why Don’t All Infants Have Bifidobacteria in Their Stool? – Gerald W. Tannock – Frontiers in Microbiology

Not liking this title: I did not see that coming! It is more than bugs in the bagina – Tamsin Board – Molecular Reproduction and Development

The Probiotics in Pregnancy Study (PiP Study): rationale and design of a double-blind randomised controlled trial to improve maternal health during pregnancy and prevent infant eczema and allergy – Christine Barthow – BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth

Human skin microbiome

Age-related differences in morphological characteristics of residual skin surface components collected from the surface of facial skin of healthy male volunteers – N. E. Chalyk – Skin Research and Technology

Human respiratory microbiome

Metagenome and Metatranscriptome Profiling of Moderate and Severe COPD Sputum in Taiwanese Han Males – Shih-Wei Lee – PLOS ONE

Human gut microbiome

Bacterial and Fungal Microbiota Changes Distinguish C. difficile Infection from Other Forms of Diarrhea: Results of a Prospective Inpatient Study – William Sangster – Frontiers in Microbiology

Effects of Arabinoxylan and Resistant Starch on Intestinal Microbiota and Short-Chain Fatty Acids in Subjects with Metabolic Syndrome: A Randomised Crossover Study – Stine Hald – PLOS ONE

Review: Intestinal microbiota and chronic constipation – Ying Zhao – Springer Plus

Animal experiments

Intestinal Microbiota Promotes Psoriasis-Like Skin Inflammation by Enhancing Th17 Response – Zuzana Zákostelská – PLOS ONE

Animal microbiome

Effects of 16S rDNA sampling on estimates of the number of endosymbiont lineages in sucking lice – Julie M. Allen – PeerJ

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Patterns of natural fungal community assembly during initial decay of coniferous and broadleaf tree logs – Annemieke van der Wal – Ecosphere

Bioinformatics

CLIMB (the Cloud Infrastructure for Microbial Bioinformatics): an online resource for the medical microbiology community – Thomas Richard Connor – bioRxiv

More microbiology

Synchronized cycles of bacterial lysis for in vivo delivery – M. Omar Din – Nature

Press: Self-destructing bacteria are engineered to kill cancer cells – Sally Adee – New Scientist

Microbes in the news

Algae are melting away the Greenland ice sheet. ‘Black and Bloom’ project explores how microorganisms help to determine the pace of Arctic melting – Alexandra Witze – Nature

Science, publishing, and career

Featuring Bik’s Picks! Scientific literature: Information overload – Esther Landhuis – Nature

The unsung heroes of CRISPR. The soaring popularity of gene editing has made celebrities of the principal investigators who pioneered the field — but their graduate students and postdocs are often overlooked – Heidi Ledford – Nature

2016 Raymond and Beverly Sackler Prize in Convergence Research: QnAs with Stephen Quake – Prashant Nair – PNAS

Bik’s Picks

5 Questions: Randall Stafford advocates a plant-based diet – INterview with Randall Stafford – Stanford Medicine

July 19, 2016

Posted on by

Gut microbial translocation and liver cirrhosis, cockatiel microbiome, human thanatomicrobiome, and the Pokémon microbiome.

Human gut microbiome

Gut microbial translocation corrupts myeloid cell function to control bacterial infection during liver cirrhosis – Carl-Philipp Hackstein – Gut

Press: Fighting life-threatening bacteria without antibiotics. Researchers discover the cause of infections in patients with cirrhosis of the liver – Science Daily

Review: Emerging Technologies for Gut Microbiome Research – Jason W. Arnold – Trends in Microbiology

Review: Gut Microbiome and Liver Disease – Naga S. Betrapally – Translational Research

Human vaginal microbiome

Review:  Does the vaginal microbiota play a role in the development of cervical cancer? –
Maria Kyrgiou – Translational Research

Animal experiments

Arsenic Dysbiosis to the Zebrafish Microbiome: An Ecological or Physiological Response?
Jonathan Michael Von Reusner – Bard College

Commensal Bacteria Aid Mate-selection in the Fruit Fly, Bactrocera dorsalis – Kamala Jayanthi Pagadala Damodaram – Microbial Ecology

Animal microbiome

Cockatiel (Nymphicus hollandicus) gut microbiomes, bacterial inhabitants of a worldwide distributed pet – Luis David Alcaraz – PeerJ Preprint

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Long-term effects of imbalanced fertilization on the composition and diversity of soil bacterial community – Jinu Eo – Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment

Built environment microbiome

Protocol: Protocols for Investigating the Microbial Communities of Oil and Gas Reservoirs – Nicolas Tsesmetzis – Springer Protocols Handouts

Thesis: A Metagenomic Analysis of Hurricane Sandy Flood-Borne Bacteria – Isabel Anna Keddy-Hector – Bard College

Microbiome of death

Human Thanatomicrobiome Succession and Time Since Death – Gulnaz T. Javan – Scientific Reports

Techniques

Impact of Sample Type and DNA Isolation Procedure on Genomic Inference of Microbiome Composition – Berith E Knudsen – bioRxiv

Microbes in the news

Pokébiome: A call for Research Participants – Sea Germ – Megabiome (satire)

Understanding the microbiome of the Boston subway – BioBE

Studies Offer Fresh Hope in Fight Against HIV/AIDS in South Africa. Certain bacteria put some women at greater risk of infection and make treatment less effective – Betsy McKay – The Wall Street Journal
How vaginal bacteria could be stoking HIV cases and blocking prevention – Heather Boerner – PBS Newshour
Vaginal bacteria species can raise HIV infection risk and undermine prevention – Jon Cohen – Science

The Wild Life of Showerheads: Another great #CitizenMicrobiology project from ‏@RobRDunn – Jonathan Eisen – MicroBEnet

How Bacteria May Have Jumpstarted the First Animal Life – Heather Goldstone – Cape and Islands

Scientists grow bacteria that breathe greenhouse gases – Christoph Keuschnig – Science Nordic

QIIME 2 alpha release is now live! – Greg Caporaso – MicroBEnet

Bacteria Hysteria

How much faecal bacteria is on YOUR shopping trolley? Tests reveal unhealthy levels on trolleys and baskets at Coles and Aldi – Daily Mail

July 15, 2016

Posted on by

Symbionts and reproductive oddities, microbiota in a mouse stroke model, the plant holobiont, CRISPR spacer extraction from metagenomes.

General microbiome

Bacterial cell biology outside the streetlight: reproductive oddities displayed by bacteria associated with multicellular eukaryotes – Silvia Bulgheresi – Environmental Microbiology

New book: The Human Microbiota and Chronic Disease: Dysbiosis as a Cause of Human Pathology – Brian Henderson, Luigi Nibali – Wiley

Events

Webinar: The Microbiome and the Environment – July 26 – ACS Publications

Microbiomes of the Built Environment Meeting 2 Webcast Videos and Presentations Now Available! – Jonathan Eisen

Human gut microbiome

Severe Gut Microbiota Dysbiosis Is Associated With Poor Growth in Patients With Short Bowel Syndrome – Hannah G. Piper – Journal of Parenteral & Enteral Nutrition

Review: Corralling Colonic Flagellated Microbiota – Ruth E. Ley – The New England Journal of Medicine

Editorial: Microbiome and mental health in the modern environment – Emily Deans -Journal of Physiological Anthropology

Animal experiments

Microbiota Dysbiosis Controls the Neuroinflammatory Response after Stroke – Vikramjeet Singh – The Journal of Neuroscience

Press: Post-stroke shifts in gut bacteria could cause additional brain injury – Rachel Ehrenberg – Science News
Stroke Alters Gut Microbiome, Impacting Recovery. A bidirectional link between the brain and the gut can improve or worsen brain injury in mice, researchers report – Tanya Lewis – The Scientist

Animal microbiome

Nest Bacterial Environment Affects Microbiome of Hoopoe Eggshells, but Not That of the Uropygial Secretion – Ángela Martínez-García – PLOS ONE

Highly Variable Bacterial Communities Associated with the Octocoral Antillogorgia elisabethae – Veronica Robertson – Microorganisms

Review: Alice in microbes’ land: adaptations and counter-adaptations of vector-borne parasitic protozoa and their hosts – Guy Caljon – FEMS Microbiology Reviews

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Fires of differing intensities rapidly select distinct soil fungal communities in a Northwest US ponderosa pine forest ecosystem – C. Reazin – Forest Ecology and Management

The enzymatic and physiological response of the microbial community in semiarid soil to carbon compounds from plants – I. F. Torres – European Journal of Soil Science

DGGE: Rhizobacterial Community Structures Associated with Native Plants Grown in Chilean Extreme Environments – Milko A. Jorquera – Microbial Ecology

Review: Plant–microbe partnerships in 2020: The plant holobiont and its interactions determine plant performance. – Birgit Mitter – Microbial Biotechnology

Water and extremophile microbiome

Syntrophic associations from hypersaline soda lakes converting organic acids and alcohols to methane at extremely haloalkaline conditions – Dimitry Y. Sorokin – Environmental Microbiology

Microbialite response to an anthropogenic salinity gradient in Great Salt Lake, Utah – M. R. Lindsay – Geobiology

Chemodenitrification in the cryoecosystem of Lake Vida, Victoria Valley, Antarctica – N. E. Ostrom – GeoBiology

Speciation and ecological success in dimly lit waters: horizontal gene transfer in a green sulfur bacteria bloom unveiled by metagenomic assembly – Tomàs Llorens–Marès – ISME Journal

Metagenomics and bioinformatics

MetaCRAST: Reference-guided extraction of CRISPR spacers from unassembled metagenomes – Abraham G Moller – PeerJ Preprints

Microbes in the news

Yale engineers think our future homes should be designed with microbes in mind – Dyllan Furness – Digital Trends

How to get Funding for your Human Microbiome Startup – Global Engage

 

July 14, 2016

Posted on by

Gut microbes and diabetes risk, llama sausages, urban greenness, and the sea turtle microbiome.

Pregnancy and birth

The Infant Gut Bacterial Microbiota and Risk of Pediatric Asthma and Allergic Diseases – Christine Cole Johnson – Translational Research

Human gut microbiome

Human gut microbes impact host serum metabolome and insulin sensitivity – Helle Krogh Pedersen – Nature

Press: Gut bacteria imbalance increases diabetes risk – EurekAlert
Gut bacteria imbalance increases diabetes risk – BioMed Central blog

Effects of Gut Microbiota Manipulation by Antibiotics on Host Metabolism in Obese Humans: A Randomized Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Trial – Dorien Reijnders – Cell Metabolism

The Gut Microbiota from Lean and Obese Subjects Contribute Differently to the Fermentation of Arabinogalactan and Inulin – Marisol Aguirre – PLOS ONE

Review: The esophageal microbiota in health and disease – Vincenzo Di Pilato – Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

Review: Colon microbiota fermentation of dietary prebiotics towards short-chain fatty acids and their roles as anti-inflammatory and antitumour agents: A review – Javier Fernández – Journal of Functional Foods

Animal and other experiments

Microbial Mat Functional and Compositional Sensitivity to Environmental Disturbance –
Eva Christine Preisner – bioRxiv

Gut microbiota directs PPARγ-driven reprogramming of the liver circadian clock by nutritional challenge – Mari Murakami – EMBO Reports

Preview: Microbially Produced Acetate: A “Missing Link” in Understanding Obesity? – Chad M. Trent – Cell Metabolism

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Glyphosate and aminomethylphosphonic acid chronic risk assessment for soil biota – Georg von Mérey – Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry

Zonal Soil Type Determines Soil Microbial Responses to Maize Cropping and Fertilization – Mengxin Zhao – mSystems

Built environment microbiome

Urban greenness influences airborne bacterial community composition – Gwynne Mhuireach – Science of The Total Environment

Research Watch: Dirty environment for adult life: the bad, the good, the unknown – Jun Sun – Genes & Diseases

Food microbiology

Microbial ecology involved in the ripening of naturally fermented llama meat sausages. A focus on lactobacilli diversity – Fontana Cecilia – International Journal of Food Microbiology

Metabolomics

Free eBook: Metabolomics – A Key Technology for Microbiome Research – Kirk Beebe – Metabolon

Techniques

Evaluation of VITEK matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization–time of flight mass spectrometry for identification of anaerobes – Zheng Xiao – Microbiology and Immunology

Fungal identification biases in microbiome projects – Leho Tedersoo – Environmental Microbiology Reports

Rapid and Selective Detection of Pathogenic Bacteria in Bloodstream Infection with Aptamer-based Recognition – Haijing Shen – Applied Materials and Interfaces

Microbes in the news

Project to study sea turtle microbiomes in captivity and in the wild – Holly Ganz – MicroBEnet

Gonorrhea may soon become resistant to all antibiotics and untreatable – Helen Branswell – STAT news

Bacteriophage Therapy Grows as Alternative to Antibiotics – Michael McGrady – Heartland

Getting to the guts: Studying the gut microbiome to manage pain – Shay Stowell – Missouri State University

Career

Men cite themselves more than women do. The apparent trend has been on the rise over the past two decades – Dalmeet Singh Chawla – Nature

Bik’s non-microbiology Picks

A Gathering of Giants. A photographer slips into the ocean to swim among hundreds of sperm whales – witnessing a rarely seen social spectacle – Tony Wu – Biographic

The people who don’t get ‘Eleanor Rigby’. Happy music and sad sounds are not universal. – Nature

July 13, 2016

Posted on by

So many great new papers that it’s hard to choose! Liver quickly clears bacteria from blood, microbiology of death, mobile genes in human microbiomes from Fiji and the USA, Splenda makes fly more hungry, feather degrading bacilli, underwater microscopy, and what is being transferred in a stool transplant.

Events and jobs

Annual Meeting of the Microbial Ecology Division – November 4, 2016, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Senior/Tenure Track scientists for the Department of Marine Microbiology and Biochemistry – NIOZ The Netherlands

Microbiome of Death

“Biology of Death” Special Issue – Current Biology
Microbiology of death – Jessica L. Metcalf
Also read (non-microbiology but sadly beautiful): Death and the octopus – Florian Maderspacher

Also appropriate in this category is this video protocol: Removal of Exogenous Materials from the Outer Portion of Frozen Cores to Investigate the Ancient Biological Communities Harbored Inside – Robyn A. Barbato – JOVE

Pregnancy and birth

Early Life Antibiotic Exposure and Weight Development in Children – Catherine A. Mbakwa – The Journal of Pediatrics

Preview: Tummy Time: The Infant Microbiota–IgA Connection – Tyler A. Rice – Cell Host & Microbe

Review: The microbiome in early life: implications for health outcomes – Sabrina Tamburini – Nature Medicine

Special issue with abstracts from the 3rd International Congress on Pre- and Probiotics
in Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition

A Prebiotic Formula Improves the Gastrointestinal Bacterial Flora in Toddlers – Ya-Ling Chen – Gastroenterology Research and Practice

Human blood “microbiome”

Editorial: Fast-Track Clearance of Bacteria from the Liver – Cristina Llorente – Cell Host & Microbe
Dual-Track Clearance of Circulating Bacteria Balances Rapid Restoration of Blood Sterility with Induction of Adaptive Immunity – Steven P. Broadley – Cell Host & Microbe
CRIg Functions as a Macrophage Pattern Recognition Receptor to Directly Bind and Capture Blood-Borne Gram-Positive Bacteria – Zhutian Zeng – Cell Host & Microbe

Human skin microbiome

What if scalp flora was involved in sensitive scalp onset? – A. Guichard – International Journal of Cosmetic Science

Human gut microbiome

Mobile genes in the human microbiome are structured from global to individual scales – I. L. Brito – Nature

Press: Microbiome ‘social network’ revealed by gene swaps
Movement of genes across and between microorganism species could influence humans’ susceptibility to disease – Peter Andrey Smith – Nature News

Fecal Transplants: What Is Being Transferred? – Diana P. Bojanova – PLOS Biology

Press: Poo transplants transfer much more than bacteria. Viruses, fungi – even sloughed colon cells – may affect how well a faecal transplant works – Belinda Smith – Cosmos

Animal experiments

Sucralose Promotes Food Intake through NPY and a Neuronal Fasting Response – Qiao-Ping Wang – Cell Metabolism

Press: Artificial sweeteners trick flies into thinking they’re starving – Lindzi Wessel – STAT News

Investigation into Host Selection of the Cecal Acetogen Population in Rabbits after Weaning – Chunlei Yang – PLOS ONE

Animal microbiome

Genome evolution in the obligate but environmentally active luminous symbionts of flashlight fish – Tory A. Hendry – Genome Biology and Evolution

Deep divergence and rapid evolutionary rates in gut-associated Acetobacteraceae of ants – Bryan P. Brown – BMC Microbiology

Feather-degrading bacilli in the plumage of wild birds: Prevalence and relation to feather wear – Cody M. Kent – The Auk Ornithological Advances

Press: Feather-munching bacteria damage wild bird plumage – EurekAlert

Multi-scale ecological filters shape the crayfish microbiome – James Skelton – PeerJ Preprint

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Rapid response of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities to short-term fertilization in an alpine grassland on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau – Xingjia Xiang – PeerJ

High-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA Gene Reveals Substantial Bacterial Diversity on the Municipal Dumpsite – Kilaza Samson Mwaikono – BMC Microbiology

Temporal and Spatial Variation of Soil Bacteria Richness, Composition, and Function in a Neotropical Rainforest – Stephanie N Kivlin – PLOS ONE

Land use intensification in the humid tropics increased both alpha and beta diversity of soil bacteria – Teotonio Soares de Carvalho = Ecology

The role of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in plant uptake, fractions, and speciation of antimony – Yuan Wei – Applied Soil Ecology

Review: Bidirectional Interaction between Phyllospheric Microbiotas and Plant Volatile Emissions – Gerard Farré-Armengol – Trends in Plant Science

Water microbiome

Underwater microscopy for in situ studies of benthic ecosystems – Andrew D. Mullen – Nature Communications

Press: Underwater microscope provides new views of ocean-floor sea creatures in their natural setting – Jules Jaffe – The Conversation

Identifying the key taxonomic categories that characterize microbial community diversity using full-scale classification: a case study of microbial community in the sediments of Hangzhou Bay – Tianjiao Dai – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Novel acsF gene primers revealed a diverse phototrophic bacterial population including Gemmatimonadetes in the Lake Taihu – Yili Huang – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Allelopathic interactions involving benthic phototrophic microorganisms – Joey L. Allen – Environmental Microbiology Reports

Metagenomics and bioinformatics

Metagenomics and Bioinformatics in Microbial Ecology: Current Status and Beyond – Satoshi Hiraoka – Microbes and Environments

Metabolites

Research Highlight: Keeping microbial metabolites at bay – Andrea Du Toit – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Techniques

New Primers for Discovering Fungal Diversity Using Nuclear Large Ribosomal DNA – Asma Asemaninejad – PLOS ONE

Not sure what is new here, but: Multiplex amplicon sequencing for microbe identification in community-based culture collections – Jaderson Silveira Leite Armanhi – Scientific Reports

Applying CRISPR–Cas9 tools to identify and characterize transcriptional enhancers – Rui Lopes – Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology

Phages and viruses

Perspective: Piggyback-the-Winner in host-associated microbial communities – Cynthia B Silveira – NPJ Biofilms

Microbes in the news

Fill Your House With Microbes and Live With an Animal, Say Yale Researchers – Drake Baer

Unfortunately, no update from his DIY stool transplant with Hadza feces: The Human Microbiome as Road Kill in the Age of the Anthropocene – Jeff Leach – Human Food Project

Studies find that manipulating gut microbes may reverse the negative effect of a high fat – EurekAlert

Archaea: Breakthrough in Reconstruction of Warm Climate Phases – Marine Technology News

Alarming Antibiotic-Resistant Superbug Discovered In NYer’s Bacteria Sample – Miranda Katz – Gothamist

How bacteria can help prospectors find oil – Fram Dinshaw – The Chronicle Herald

With link to video: Tiny ‘racetracks’ show how bacteria get organized – EurekAlert

Microbes and Money

uBiome and University of Oxford Investigate the Relationship Between the Human Microbiome and Personality – PR web

Commercializing the Microbiome: No Guts, No Glory – Michael Darcy – DRG

Evelo and Epiva Merge to Become a Leading Immuno-Microbiome Platform Company – BioSpace

Merck to open new Cambridge facility for microbiome research this year – Boston Business Journal

Science, publishing, and career

How Australia fails mid-career scientists – Catherine Osborne – ABC Australia

How President Obama could really lead on open access – Michael Eisen – it is NOT junk

Where are all the award winning women scientists? – Tenure, she wrote

Bik’s Picks

Organ delivery by 1,000 drones – Michael Francisco – Nature Biotechnology