Category Archives: Microbial Ecology

September 28, 2020

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In today’s digest read about ureteral stent microbiota, metagenomic growth estimators, social transmission as a major shaper of gut microbiota in wild mice [spoiler: mice with many friends in separate social circles have the richest microbiota], and give a listen to the first episode of Lonely Pipette, a brand new podcast about doing better science!

General microbiome

Review: Searching for principles of microbial physiology – Frank J Bruggeman – FEMS Microbiology Reviews

Metagenomics

*Benchmarking microbial growth rate predictions from metagenomes – Andrew M. Long – The ISME Journal

Metabolomics

Review: Gut microbial metabolites as multi-kingdom intermediates – Kimberly A. Krautkramer – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Multi-omics

Integration of absolute multi-omics reveals dynamic protein-to-RNA ratios and metabolic interplay within mixed-domain microbiomes – Francesco Delogu – Nature
Behind the paper: What can absolute multi-omics add to microbial ecology?

Gut microbiome

Macrophages Maintain Epithelium Integrity by Limiting Fungal Product Absorption – Aleksandra S. Chikina – Cell

Review: Anorexia nervosa and gut microbiota: A systematic review and quantitative synthesis of pooled microbiological data – Laura Di Lodovico – Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry

In search for interplay between stool microRNAs, microbiota and short chain fatty acids in Crohn’s disease – a preliminary study – Filip Ambrozkiewicz – BMC Gastroenterology

Vaginal microbiome

Slipped strand mispairing in the gene encoding cell wall associated sialidase NanH3 in Gardnerella spp – Shakya P. Kurukulasuriya – bioRxiv

The vaginal microbiome in pregnant women: knowledge gaps in relation to clinical relevance – Steven S. Witkin – BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology

Urinary microbiome

*Ureteral Stent Microbiota Is Associated with Patient Comorbidities but Not Antibiotic Exposure – Kait F. Al – Cell Reports Medicine

Novel Antibiotic-Loaded Particles Conferring Eradication of Deep Tissue Bacterial Reservoirs for the Treatment of Chronic Urinary Tract Infection – Wai Lau – Journal of Controlled Release

Respiratory microbiome

Altered respiratory microbiota composition and functionality associated with asthma early in life – Mohammad T. AL Bataineh – BMC Infectious Diseases

Oral microbiome

Comparative evaluation of microbial profiles of oral samples obtained at different collection time points and using different methods – Michi Omori – Clinical Oral Investigations

Alteration of salivary microbiome in periodontitis with or without type-2 diabetes mellitus and metformin treatment – Xiaoyu Sun – Scientific Reports

Animal microbiome

Habitat disturbance influences the skin microbiome of a rediscovered neotropical-montane frog – Randall R. Jiménez – BMC Microbiology

Lactobacillus spp. attenuate antibiotic-induced immune and microbiota dysregulation in honey bees – Brendan A. Daisley – Communications Biology

Animal experiment

Antibiotics increase aggression behavior and aggression-related pheromones and receptors in Drosophila melanogaster – Michal Grinberg – bioRxiv

*Social networks strongly predict the gut microbiota of wild mice – Aura Raulo – bioRxiv

Plant/root/soil microbiome

Insights into the diversity and survival strategies of soil bacterial isolates from the Atacama Desert – Alicyn Reverdy – bioRxiv

Rhizobacterial species richness improves sorghum growth and soil nutrient synergism in a nutrient-poor greenhouse soil – Mohammad Radhi Sahib – Scientific Reports

Water microbiome

Bacterial Opportunistic Pathogen Gene Markers in Municipal Drinking Water are Associated with Distribution System and Household Plumbing Characteristics – Sarah Haig – Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology

Collection system investigation microbial source tracking (CSI-MST): Applying molecular markers to identify sewer infrastructure failures – Dana Gonzalez – Journal of Microbiological Methods

New insights into the vertical distribution and microbial degradation of microplastics in urban river sediments – Lihua Niu – Water Research

Unveiling dynamics of size-dependent antibiotic resistome associated with microbial communities in full-scale wastewater treatment plants – Kaifeng Yu – Water Research

Aerobic microbial communities in the sediments of a marine oxygen minimum zone – Sabyasachi Bhattacharya – FEMS Microbiology Letters

Phages and viruses

Identification of Bacteriophages in the Vagina of Pregnant Women: A Descriptive Study – Antonio Charlys da Costa – BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology

The Protective Effect of Staphylococcus epidermidis Biofilm Matrix against Phage Predation – Luís D.R. Melo – Viruses

Bioinformatics

Inferring microbial co-occurrence networks from amplicon data: a systematic evaluation – Dileep Kishore – bioRxiv

GeneMates: an R package for detecting horizontal gene co-transfer between bacteria using gene-gene associations controlled for population structure – Yu Wan – BMC Genomics

A network approach to elucidate and prioritize microbial dark matter in microbial communities – Tatyana Zamkovaya – The ISME Journal

Podcast

*TLP #1: Navigating the path to team leader, guest: Maxim Greenberg – Renaud Pourpre and Jonathan Weitzman – The Lonely Pipette: helping scientists do better science

Burnout Syndrome, guest: Beth Thompson – Christine Boinett – Your Digital Mentor Podcast

August 2020 Pod: From the deep sea to the lost sense of smell – Bengtsson-Palme Lab – Microbiology Lab Pod

Events &c

Black In Microbiology Week [September 28 – October 4]
a vibrant celebration of Black microbiologists, with talks & panels featuring microbiologists across career stages and subdisciplines

How CHROMagar™ Revolutionized Microbe Identification – Andrea Prinzi – ASM
*Submit a Masterpiece to ASM Agar Art 2020!

The National Summer Undergraduate Research Project (NSURP) #nolabnoproblem initiative – Projects & Presentations

September 23, 2020

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General microbiome
Chemotaxis under flow disorder shapes microbial dispersion in porous media – Pietro de Anna – Nature Physics

REVIEW: A piece of the pie: engineering microbiomes by exploiting division of labor in complex polysaccharide consumption – Stephen RLindemann – Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering

Benchmarking microbial growth rate predictions from metagenomes – Andrew M. Long – The ISME Journal

Integration of absolute multi-omics reveals dynamic protein-to-RNA ratios and metabolic interplay within mixed-domain microbiomes – F. Delogu – Nature Communications

Spatial Variance of Species Distribution Predicts the Interspecies Interactions within a Microbial Metacommunity – So-Yeon Jeong & Tae Gwan Kim – Microbial Ecology

Human microbiome
The Social Distancing Imposed To Contain COVID-19 Can Affect Our Microbiome: a Double-Edged Sword in Human Health – Célia P. F. Domingues – mSphere

Gut microbiome
Auto-reactivity against gut bacterial peptides in patients with late-onset diabetes – Mohammad Sajid – Autoimmunity

REVIEW: The gut microbiome in pediatric patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation – Riccardo Masetti – Pediatric Blood & Cancer

Gut Microbiota and Metabolome Alterations Associated with Parkinson’s Disease – Sarah Vascellari – mSystems

REVIEW: Gut Microbiota Resilience: Definition, Link to Health and Strategies for Intervention – Shaillay Kumar Dogra – Frontiers in Microbiology

Deciphering the impact of diet and host physiology on the mammalian gut microbiome by multi-omics approaches – Christian Milani – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Oral microbiome
High altitude as a possible factor for dysbiosis of salivary microbiome in orthodontic patients – Ibrahim AlShahrani – Archives of Oral Biology

Pregnancy and early life microbiome
Changes in Gut Microorganism in Patients with Positive Immune Antibody-Associated Recurrent Abortion – Min Jin – BioMed Research International

Contrasting microbiota profiles observed in children carrying either Blastocystis spp. or the commensal amoebas Entamoeba coli or Endolimax nana – Juan F. Alzate – Scientific Reports

Biological observations in microbiota analysis are robust to the choice of 16S rRNA gene sequencing processing algorithm: case study on human milk microbiota – Shirin Moossavi – BMC Microbiology

Microbiome of near sterile sites
Metagenome analysis using serum extracellular vesicles identified distinct microbiota in asthmatics – Ji-Hyang Lee – Scientific Reports

Lung microbiome
REVIEW: Reconsidering ventilator-associated pneumonia from a new dimension of the lung microbiome – Laia Fernández-Barata – EBioMedicine

Animal microbiome
The impact of anthelmintic treatment on gut bacterial and fungal communities in diagnosed parasite-free sika deer Cervus nippon – Xiaolong Hu – Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

Host phylogeny and life history stage shape the gut microbiome in dwarf (Kogia sima) and pygmy (Kogia breviceps) sperm whales – Elizabeth R. Denison – Scientific Reports

Animal experiment
Altered gut microbiome accompanying with placenta barrier dysfunction programs pregnant complications in mice caused by graphene oxide – Xiaojing Liu – Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety

Comparative analysis of the pulmonary microbiome in healthy and diseased pigs – Zongjie Li – Molecular Genetics and Genomics

Diet posttranslationally modifies the mouse gut microbial proteome to modulate renal function – Lior Lobel – Science

Plant, root, and soil microbiome
REVIEW: Overhauling the assessment of agrochemical-driven interferences with microbial communities for improved global ecosystem integrity – Mengcen Wang & Tomislav Cernava – Environmental Science and Ecotechnology

Susceptibility and resilience of the soil ciliate community to high temperatures – Takaaki Oshima – Soil Science and Plant Nutrition

Food microbiology
Novel approaches for the identification of microbial communities in kimchi: MALDI-TOF MS analysis and high-throughput sequencing – Eiseul Kim – Food Microbiology

Water microbiome
The Nutrient Removal Ability and Microbial Communities in a Pilot-Scale Horizontal Subsurface Flow Constructed Wetland Fed by Slightly Polluted Lake Water – Weigang Wang – Wetland

Pre-print
Impact of temporal pH fluctuations on the coexistence of nasal bacteria – Sandra Dedrick – bioRxiv

Study of growth, metabolism, and morphology of Akkermansia muciniphila with an in vitro advanced bionic intestinal reactor – Xiaobei Zhan – bioRxiv

September 21st, 2020

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God morgon!

Good morning from Sweden. It’s Monday, beginning of a new week and today’s digest carries a lot of preprints with interesting information.

As ususal, new knowledge about COVID-19 keeps pouring in. A library of 1200 small molecules was screened to reveal at least 20 FDA-approved small molecules that can enhance the antiviral activity of remdesivir. A human enzyme was also shown to be involved in antiviral defences. A new preprint also revealed some modifications in the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein that can increase vaccine efficacy.

Continuing with viruses, new preprint report an improved Zika vaccine, a basic study exploring reverse transcription and thereby developing a better system to study anti-HIV drugs, and a new detailed protocol for enriching viromes in water samples.

Also in today’s digest are some preprints on basic bacteriology with reports on (p)ppGpp and persister cells, Streptococcal membranes, secretory products and their role in Listeria virulence, and efflux pumps in Burkholderia.

Apart from these, there are, coincidentally, two reports on microbial diversity of the waters of Shark Bay, Australia, algal diversity in corals, a relationship between termite gut-microbiota and changes in temperature, and the role of gut microbiota in possibly affecting the sexual dimorphism in susceptibility to diseases.

Hope you enjoy the collection!

COVID-19

Preprint: Discovery of SARS-CoV-2 antiviral synergy between remdesivir and approved drugs in human lung cells – Xammy Nguyenla, et al.

Preprint: A trimeric human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 as an anti-SARS-CoV-2 agent in vitro – Tianshu Xiao, et al.

Preprint: Development of RNA-based assay for rapid detection of SARS-CoV-2 in clinical samples – Vinod Kumar, et al.

Preprint: Introduction of two prolines and removal of the polybasic cleavage site leads to optimal efficacy of a recombinant spike based SARS-CoV-2 vaccine in the mouse model – Fatima Amanat, et al.

Viruses

Preprint: Measles-based Zika vaccine induces long-term immunity and requires NS1 antibodies to protect the female reproductive tract in the mouse model of ZIKA – Drishya Kurup, et al.

Preprint: Cocculus hirsutus-derived phytopharmaceutical drug has potent anti-dengue activity – Ankur Poddar, et al.

Preprint: Three-dimensional structure of a flavivirus dumbbell RNA reveals molecular details of an RNA regulator of replication – Benjamin M. Akiyama, et al.

Preprint: Chemical Stabilization of the HIV-1 Capsid Results in Efficient HIV-1 Reverse Transcription in vitro – Jordan Jennings, et al.

Preprint: Life cycle process dependencies of positive-sense RNA viruses suggest strategies for inhibiting productive cellular infection – Harsh Chhajer, et al.

Preprint: Zika virus NS3 protease and its cellular substrates – Agnieszka Dabrowska, et al.

Preprint: A step-by-step sequence-based analysis of virome enrichment protocol for freshwater and sediment samples – Federica Pinto, et al.

Preprint: Matrix metalloproteinases and tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases in murine coronavirus-induced neuroinflammation – Sourodip Sengupta, et al.

Bacteria Hysteria

Preprint: The generation of persister cells is regulated at the initiation of translation by (p)ppGpp – Roberto C. Molina-Quiroz and Andrew Camilli.

Preprint: Spontaneous Escherichia coli persisters with week-long survival dynamics and lasting memory of a short starvation pulse – Mikkel Skjoldan Svenningsen, et al.

Preprint: Slipped strand mispairing in the gene encoding cell wall associated sialidase NanH3 in Gardnerella spp – Shakya P. Kurukulasuriya, et al.

Preprint: Membrane linkage of a Streptococcus pneumoniae Wzy capsular polysaccharide occurs through an acylglycerol – Thomas R. Larson and Janet Yother.

Preprint: Fluorescent secreted bacterial effectors reveal active intravacuolar proliferation of Listeria monocytogenes in epithelial cells – Caroline Peron-Cane, et al.

Preprint: Burkholderia collagen-like protein 8, Bucl8, is a unique outer membrane component of a tetrapartite efflux pump in Burkholderia pseudomallei and Burkholderia mallei – Megan E Grund, et al.

Preprint: Cerebrospinal fluid proteome maps detect pathogen-specific host response patterns in meningitis – Anahita Bakochi, et al.

Preprint: Piperacillin/tazobactam resistant, cephalosporin susceptible Escherichia coli bloodstream infections driven by multiple resistance mechanisms across diverse sequence types – Thomas Edwards, et al.

Preprint: Analysis of beta-lactam heteroresistance in CRE suggests a stage in the spectrum of antibiotic resistance – Victor I Band and David S Weiss

Preprint: Mechanism of selectivity reveals novel antifolate drug interactions – Shannon Lynn Kordus, et al.

Preprint: Identification of trans-AT polyketide clusters in two marine bacteria reveals cryptic similarities between distinct symbiosis factors – Dina Kačar, et al.

Preprint: Heterologous production of 1-tuberculosinyladenosine in Mycobacterium kansasii models pathoevolution towards the transcellular lifestyle of Mycobacterium tuberculosis – Marwan Ghanem, et al.

General Microbiome

Preprint: Genomic insights into adaptations of TMA-utilizing methanogens to diverse habitats including the human gut – Jacobo de la Cuesta-Zuluaga, et al.

Preprint: Metagenomic insights into ecosystem function in the microbial mats of Blue Holes, Shark Bay – Gareth S Kindler, et al.

Preprint: Long-term cellulose enrichment selects for highly cellulolytic consortia and competition for public goods – Gina R Lewin, et al.

Preprint: Functional diversity of microboring Ostreobium algae isolated from corals – Anaïs Massé, et al.

Preprint: Experimental warming reduces gut prokaryotic diversity, survival and thermal tolerance of the eastern subterranean termite, Reticulitermes flavipes (Kollar) – Rachel A Arango, et al.

Gut microbiota steroid sexual dimorphism and its impact on gonadal steroids: influences of obesity and menopausal status – Jordi Mayneris-Perxachs, et al., Microbiome

Techniques/Models

Preprint: Cre/LoxP-HBV plasmids generating recombinant covalently closed circular DNA genome upon transfection – Robert L. Kruse, et al.

Preprint: A Novel DNA Chromatography Method to Distinguish M. abscessus Subspecies and Macrolide Susceptibility – Mitsunori Yoshida, et al.

Others

Preprint: Phytophthora sojae effector Avr1d functions as E2 competitor and inhibits ubiquitination activity of GmPUB13 to facilitate infection – Yachun Lin, et al.

Preprint: A Volatile Signal Controls Virulence in the Plant Pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae and a Strategy for Infection Control in Organic Farming – Simon Sieber, et al.

Preprint: Schistosoma mansoni lysine specific demethylase 1 (SmLSD1) is a druggable target involved in parasite survival, oviposition and stem cell proliferation – G. Padalino, et al.

Preprint: Alterations to the cardiac metabolome induced by chronic T. cruzi infection relate to the degree of cardiac pathology – Kristyn Hoffman, et al.

Preprint: Remarkable recent changes in genetic diversity of the avirulence gene AvrStb6 in global populations of the wheat pathogen Zymoseptoria tritici – Christopher Stephens, et al.

Microbes in News

Soon-to-be-launched microbiome concept symbiome raises $15mm – Beauty Matters

Finch closes $90 million series d to advance C. difficile infection product – Pharma Live

September 13, 2020

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Hello from the Sonoran Desert! In today’s digest, you’ll find quite a few exciting reads! In particular, Stepanauskas and collaborators looked at horizontal gene transfer in marine bacterial genomes in a fascinating preprint. They show that marine microorganisms form “gene exchange networks” within which organisms are able to exchange both flexible and core genes, including genes from the rRNA operon! The authors suggest a new definition of microbial species, broader than the current accepted delineation.

Today’s digest also includes few new papers and proceedings presenting novel bioinformatic tools and methods. Among them, Podlevsky and collaborators presents CasCollect, a novel computational tool allowing the assembly and annotation of Cas genes and CRISPR arrays from metagenomic datasets.

Finally, today’s non-biology piece is a very interesting review on the challenge of Big Data in biology: how modern computational frameworks can enable the storage, transfer, access, and analysis of both unstructured and structured massive biological datasets?

Have a great Sunday!

Human vaginal microbiome

Altered vaginal microbiome and relative co-abundance network in pregnant women with penicillin allergy – Li et al. – Allergy , Asthma & Clinical Immunology

Human gut microbiome

Review: Mechanisms underpinning the efficacy of faecal microbiota transplantation in treating gastrointestinal disease – Segal et al. – Therapeutic Advances in Gastroenterology

Animal microbiome

Preprint: Deep-sea mussels from a hybrid zone on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge host genetically indistinguishable symbionts – Uecker et al. – BioRxiV

Metagenomic analysis of viral communities in Baikal sponges – Butina and Bukin – Limnology and Freshwater Biology

Microbial community associated with Baicalian crustacea near gas-oil deepwater discharges – Khalzov et al. – Limnology and freshwater biology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Preprint: Investigating the role of root exudates in recruiting Streptomyces bacteria to the Arabidopsis thaliana root microbiome – Worsley et al. – BioRxiV

Water and extremophile microbiome (sea, rivers, lakes, glaciers, permafrost, high-salt)

Preprint: Gene exchange networks define species-like units in marine prokaryotes – Stepanauskas et al. – BioRxiV

Preprint: The effects of seasonal anoxia on the microbial community structure in demosponges in a marine lake (Lough Hyne, Ireland) – Schuster et al. – BioRxiV

Food microbiology

Preprint: Diversity and dynamics of fungi during spontaneous fermentations and association with unique aroma profiles in wine – Liu et al. – BioRxiV

Phages and viruses

Depicting the RNA Virome of Hematophagous Arthropods from Belgrade, Serbia – Stanojevic et al. – Viruses

Preprint: An Unconventional Flavivirus and other RNA Viruses in the Sea Cucumber (Holothuroidea; Echinodermata) Virome – Hewson et al. – preprints

Bioinformatics

Review: Challenges in gene-oriented approaches for pangenome content discovery – Bonnici et al. – Briefings in Bioinformatics

Conference proceedings: A Data Driven Binning Method to Recover More Nucleotide Sequences of Species in a Metagenome – Vimukti et al. – IEEE

CasCollect: targeted assembly of CRISPR-associated operons from high-throughput sequencing data – Podlevsky et al – NAR Genomics and bioinformatics

Techniques

book: Metagenomics: Techniques, Applications, Challenges and Opportunities – Singh et al – Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

My non-microbiology pick

Review: Big data in biology: The hope and present-day challenges in it – Pal et al. – Gene reports

September 11, 2020

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Greetings, friends!

This summer I’ve spent a lot of time outside, going on hikes and enjoying nature. Pennsylvania has a high rate of lyme disease so I’m always careful to check myself for ticks after I spend time outdoors. With that in mind, I want to highlight the review article included in today’s digest that focuses on the interactions between Borrelia burgdorgei and ticks. If you’re looking for a book recommendation, Bitten: The Secret History of Lyme Disease and Biological Weapons by Kris Newby is an excellent pairing!

The summer is also a time where many undergraduates gain important research experience. For those of you thinking ahead to next year, today’s digest also includes an article which provides 10 simple rules for an inclusive summer coding program for non-computer-science undergrads.

Finally, I am very excited to promote Black in Microbiology week, which will be held on Twitter and Instagram during the week of September 28th. I’m looking forward to “meeting” lots of new microbiologists and learning about their research! Each day has unique programming and hashtags, so check out the website for more information.

Happy reading!

Events

Black in Micro Week is September 28 – October 4th, 2020 on your favorite social media platforms! Check out the Black in Microbiology website for additional information, including a full programming schedule, and follow @BlackinMicro and #BlackinMicro on Twitter and Instagram.

COVID-19

Comparative genome analysis of novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) from different geographical locations and the effect of mutations on major target proteins: An in silico insight – Khan et al. – PLOS One

In vivo antiviral host transcriptional response to SARS-CoV-2 by viral load, sex, and age – Lieberman et al. – PLOS Biology

Factors contributing to healthcare professional burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic: A rapid turnaround global survey – Morgantini et al. – PLOS ONE

General microbiome

Review: Ecology and genomics of Actinobacteria: new concepts for natural product discovery – Bergeijk et al. – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Review: Biofilm dispersion – Rumbaugh & Sauer – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Human respiratory microbiome

Whole-genome sequence of multi-drug resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains UY1PSABAL and UY1PSABAL2 isolated from human broncho-alveolar lavage, Yaoundé, Cameroon – Madaha et al. – PLOS ONE

Human gut microbiome

Regional variations in Helicobacter pylori infection, gastric atrophy and gastric cancer risk: The ENIGMA study in Chile – Herrero et al. – PLOS ONE

A comparative study of the gut microbiome in Egyptian patients with Type I and Type II diabetes – Radwan et al. – PLOS ONE

Animal experiments

Review: Interactions between Borrelia burgdorferi and ticks – Kurokawa et al. – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Antimicrobial resistance in ovine bacteria: A sheep in wolf’s clothing? – Silva et al. – PLOS ONE

Water and extremophile microbiome

Characterization of Vibrio cholerae isolates from freshwater sources in northwest Ohio – Daboul et al. – PLOS ONE

Food microbiology

Characterization of β-lactam resistance in K. pneumoniae associated with ready-to-eat processed meat in Egypt – Abdel-Rhman – PLOS ONE

Techniques

Ten simple rules for an inclusive summer coding program for non-computer-science undergraduates – Pennings et al. – PLOS Computational Biology

September 8, 2020

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Greetings, friends!

Today’s digest is a very heavy grab bag of articles! Included are many reviews on everything from the microbiome in forensic science to the gut-lung axis. Also included are original research articles focused on a variety of subjects including microplastics, extremophiles, and the bicycle microbiome! Finally, for those of you looking for practical advice, I’ve highlighted an article focused on best practices for writing genome announcements.

Happy reading!

General microbiome

Manipulating denitrifying sulfide removal of Pseudomonas sp. C27 with nitrite as sole nitrogen source: Shotgun proteomics analysis – Guo et al. – Bioresource Technology

Pseudomonas aeruginosa – Candida interplay: Effect on in vitro antibiotic susceptibility of Pseudomonas aeruginosa when grown in the presence Candida culture – Mcllroy et al. – British Journal of Biomedical Science

Impact of DNA extraction on whole genome sequencing analysis for characterization and relatedness of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli isolates – Nouws et al. – Scientific Reports

Evolution of diversity explains the impact of pre-adaptation of a focal species on the structure of a natural microbial community – Padfield et al. – The ISME Journal

Biomass-degrading glycoside hydrolases of archaeal origin – Suleiman et al. – Biotechnology for Biofuels

Mining for novel antibiotics in the age of antimicrobial resistance – Udaondo and Matilla – Microbial Biotechology

Multi-site human microbiome

Association between the microbiomes of tonsil and saliva samples isolated from pediatric patients subjected to tonsillectomy for the treatment of tonsillar hyperplasia – Choi et al. – Experimental & Molecular Medicine

Review: The impact of the human microbiome in forensic sciences: A systematic review – García et al. – Applied and Enviornmental Microbiology

Human respiratory microbiome

Review: The evolving role of the lung microbiome in pulmonary fibrosis – Lipinski et al. – Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology

Review: Recent advances in understanding the ecology of the lung microbiota and deciphering the gut-lung axis – Willis et al. – Lung Cellcular and Molecular Physiology

Human gut microbiome

Altered gut microbiota correlated with systemic inflammation in children with Kawasaki disease – Chen et al. – Scientific Reports

Review: Gut microbiota in human metabolic health and disease – Fan and Pedersen – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Lactose-reduced infant formula with added corn syrup solids is associated with a distinct gut microbiota in Hispanic infants – Jones et al. – Gut Microbes

Animal experiments

Gut bacterial communities and their contribution to performance of specialist Altica flea beetles – Wei et al. – Microbial Ecology

Dynamic changes of gut microbiota of discus fish (Symphysodon haraldi) at different feeding stages – Zhang et al. – Aquaculture

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Diversity of cultivable microbes from soil of the Fildes Peninsula, Antarctica, and their potential application – Cong et al. – Frontiers in Microbiology

Structural and functional microbial diversity of sandy soil under cropland and grassland – Frąc et al. – PeerJ

Microbiome–environment interactions in antimony-contaminated rice paddies and the correlation of core microbiome with arsenic and antimony contamination – Li et al. – Chemosphere

Review: Implications of endophytic microbiota in Camellia Sinensis: A review on current understanding and future insights – Xie et al. – Bioengineered

Characterizing the nectar microbiome of the non-native tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica, in an urban environment – Warren et al. – PLOS ONE

Water and extremophile microbiome

Prokaryotic diversity in stream sediments affected by acid mine drainage – Carlier et al. – Extremophiles

Combination of genetic tools to discern Bacillus species isolated from hot springs in South Africa – Jardine and Ubomba-Jaswa – African Journal of Mirobiology Research

Bioleaching of pyritic coal wastes: bioprospecting and efficiency of selected consortia – Joulian et al. – Research in Microbiology

Genotypic and phylogenetic diversity of new isolates of terrestrial Xanthophyceae (Stramenopiles) from maritime sandy habitats – Rybalka et al. – Phycologia

Paucihalobacter ruber gen. nov., sp. nov., isolated from a haloalkaline lake sediment sample – Wu et al. – Microbiology Society

Comparative analysis of bacterial diversity and community structure in the rhizosphere and root endosphere of two halophytes, Salicornia europaea and Glaux maritima, collected from two brackish lakes in Japan – Yamamoto et al. – Microbes and Environments

Fungal diversity in deep-sea sediments from Magellan seamounts environment of the western Pacific revealed by high-throughput Illumina sequencing – Yang et al. – Journal of Microbiology

Effect of Ferrous Iron Addition on Ammonium Nitrogen Removal and Microbial Communities in Horizontal Subsurface Flow Constructed Wetlands – Zhang et al. – Wetlands

Built environment

Microplastics negatively affect soil fauna but stimulate microbial activity: insights from a field-based microplastic addition experiment – Lin et al. – Proceedings of the Royal Society B

Shared bicycle microbial community: a potential antibiotic-resistant bacteria warehouse – Wu et al. – Folia Microbiologica

Microbial carrying capacity and carbon biomass of plastic marine debris – Zhao et al. – The ISME Journal

Food microbiology

Proteolysis, lipolysis, texture and sensory properties of cheese ripened by Monascus fumeus – Xia et al. – Food Research International

Bioinformatics

Announcement: Best practices for successfully writing and publishing a genome announcement in microbiology resource announcements – Hotopp et al. – Microbiology Resource Announcements

Techniques

Flow-through stable isotope probing (Flow-SIP) minimizes cross-feeding in complex microbial communities – Mooshammer et al. – The ISME Journal

September 1, 2020

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Today’s post consists of review article on short chain fatty acids, research articles on efficacy of fecal microbiota transplant in patients with C. difficle infection and comorbities, identification of potential microbial biomarkers for preterm birth and a new technique to perform ultrafast microbial community analysis. Happy reading!

General microbiome

A systematic review of the effect of dietary pulses on microbial populations inhabiting the human gut – C.P.F. Marinangeli – Beneficial Microbes

Short chain fatty acids in human gut and metabolic health – E E Blaak – Beneficial Microbes

Human microbiome

The gut microbiome–derived metabolite trimethylamine N-oxide modulates neuroinflammation and cognitive function with aging – Vienna E. Brunt – Geroscience

Impact of investigational microbiota therapeutic RBX2660 on the gut microbiome and resistome revealed by a placebo-controlled clinical trial – Suryang Kwak – Microbiome

Fecal Microbiota Transplantation for Recurrent Clostridium difficile Infection in Patients With Multiple Comorbidities: Long-Term Safety and Efficacy Results From a Tertiary Care Community Hospital – Charumathi Raghu Subramanian – Gastroenterology Research

Gut commensal microbiota and decreased risk for Enterobacteriaceae bacteriuria and urinary tract infection – Matthew Magruder – Gut Microbes

Leveraging sequence‐based faecal microbial community survey data to identify alterations in gut microbiota among patients with Parkinson’s disease – Tianyi Ji – European Journal of Neuroscience

Plasma enterobacterial ClpB levels and ClpB- and α-MSH–reactive immunoglobulins in lung cancer patients with and without anorexia – Alessio Molfino – Nutrition

Identification of Potential Biomarkers in the Cervicovaginal Fluid by Metabolic Profiling for Preterm Birth – AbuZar Ansari – Metabolites

Plant microbiome

Suppression of rice planthopper populations without affecting the rice microbiota by the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae – Yifan Peng – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Cold Plasma Treatment of Sunflower Seeds Modulates Plant-Associated Microbiome and Stimulates Root and Lateral Organ Growth – Inga Tamošiūnė – Frontiers in Plant Science

Water microbiome

Bradymonabacteria, a novel bacterial predator group with versatile survival strategies in saline environments – Da-Shuai Mu – Microbiome

Techniques

Ultrafast and accurate 16S rRNA microbial community analysis using Kraken 2 – Jennifer Lu – Microbiome

Non-microbiology picks

Clinical characteristics of children and young people hospitalised with covid-19 in the United Kingdom: prospective multicentre observational cohort study – Olivia V Swann – BMJ

August 28, 2020

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Greetings!

Today’s microbiome digest has something for everyone. We have several articles focused on the human microbiome, a few animal studies, and quite a few articles focused on environmental bacteria found in soil, water, and even a cave! I want to highlight one article focused on the impact of spatial proximity on territory among bacteria. Although the article specifically focuses on skin bacteria, it’s relevant to anyone studying microbial communities!

Enjoy!

General microbiome

Horizontal transmission and recombination maintain forever young bacterial symbiont genomes – Russel et al. – PLOS GENETICS

Human skin microbiome

Impact of spatial proximity on territoriality among human skin bacteria – Hernandez-Valdes et al. – npj BIofilms and Microbiomes

Human gut microbiome

Gut microbiota and dysbiosis in Alzheimer’s disease: Implications for pathogenesis and treatment – Liu et al. – Molecular Neurobiology

Animal experiments

Caecal microbiota compositions from 7-day-old chicks reared in high-performance and low-performance industrial farms and systematic culturomics to select strains with anti-Campylobacter activity – Duquenoy et al. – PLOS ONE

Effect of FHA and Prn on Bordetella pertussis colonization of mice is dependent on vaccine type and anatomical site – Zeddeman et al. – PLOS ONE

Animal microbiome

Lactobacilli and other gastrointestinal microbiota of Peromyscus leucopus, reservoir host for agents of Lyme disease and other zoonoses in North America – Milovic et al. – PLOS ONE

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Simple kinetics, assay, and trends for soil microbial catalases – Chabot et al. – Analytical Biochemistry

Sustaining the growth of Pinaceae trees under nutrient-limited edaphic conditions via plant-beneficial bacteria – Puri et al. – PLOS ONE

Soil properties, bacterial and fungal community compositions and the key factors after 5-year continuous monocropping of three minor crops – Yang et al. – PLOS ONE

Water and extremophile microbiome

Oleaginous potential of indigenously isolated fresh water microalgae for biofuel production – Saraf & Dutt – International Journal of Sustainable Energy

Bacteria and archaea communities in Cerrado natural pond sediments – Silveira et al. – Microbiology of Aquatic Systems

The microbial community of a biofilm lining the wall of a pristine cave in Western New Guinea – Turrini et al. – Microbiological Research

On microbial community of Pyropia haitanensis by metagenomic analysis – Wang et al. – Journal of Oceanology and Limnology

August 23, 2020

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Hello from the Sonoran Desert! In today’s digest, you’ll find quite a few exciting papers! For those interested in soil microbiology, you’ll find in today’s digest a very interesting piece on the the biodiversity and ecology of protists in the soils of the McMurdo Dry Valleys (Antarctica). This piece is particularly exciting given that the role and impact of protists in polar regions is largely unknown and understudied.

Curious readers should also take a look at the amazing study by Dunaj and collaborators focusing on spider’s associated microbiome. This piece examines the host-microbe co-evolution of different widow spider species showing a strong congruence of the microbiome beta-diversity and the host phylogeny.

Finally, in today’s non-microbiology pick, I recommend a preprint, that explored the relationship between the use of jargon and citations in cave research articles. Interestingly the authors suggest that the juse of jargon in title and abstract significantly reduces the number of citations a paper recieves!

Have a great Sunday!

Human vaginal microbiome

Review: The vaginal microbiome of sub-Saharan African women: revealing important gaps in the era of next-generation sequencing – Martina Odogwy et al. – PeerJ

Human gut microbiome

Review: Association or Causation? Exploring the Oral Microbiome and Cancer Links – Teles et al. – Journal of Dental research

Animal microbiome

Learning machine approach reveals microbial signatures of diet and sex in dog – Scarsella et al.- Plos One

Spider phylosymbiosis: divergence of widow spider species and their tissues’ microbiomes – Dunaj et al. – BMC Evolutionary Biology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Review: The rhizosphere microbiome: functions, dynamics, and role in plant protection – Rabelo de Faria et al. – Tropical Plant Pathology

Review: The Floral Microbiome: Plant, Pollinator, and Microbial Perspectives – Vannette – Annual review of Ecology, Evolution and systematics

Response of soil microbial communities to natural and managed vegetation restoration in a subtropical karst region – Hu et al. – CATENA

Water and extremophile microbiome

Shotgun metagenomics reveal a diverse assemblage of protists in a model Antarctic soil ecosystem – Thompson et al.- Envirmental Microbiology

Phages and viruses

Evolution of a major virion protein of the giant pandoraviruses from an inactivated bacterial glycoside hydrolase – Krupovic et al. – Virus Evolution

Bioinformatics

Predicting Host Phenotype Based on Gut Microbiome Using a Convolutional Neural Network Approach – Reiman et al.- Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2190. Humana, New York, NY.

Database limitations for studying the human gut microbiome – Dias et al. – PeerJ

Techniques

Review: Microbial High Throughput Phenomics: The Potential of an Irreplaceable Omics – Acin-Albiac et al. – Computational and Structural Biotechnolgy Journal

My non-microbiology pick

Preprint: Specialized terminology limits the reach of new scientific knowledge – Martinez et al. – BioRxiv

August 19, 2020

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Greetings!

Today’s digest is heavy on environmental microbiology with topics ranging from marine microplastics to carbon budgets to kitchen waste. I want to especially highlight a study that examines the phyllosphere of the mānuka. They found that the mānuka, or tea tree, has a stable core microbiome and variation in the non-core taxa is explained by biogeographical patterns.

Enjoy!

Events and jobs

Virtual Microbiome Bioinformatics Qiime2 Workshop – October 5-9, 2020

General microbiome

Opinion: Oceanic hitchhikers – Assessing pathogen risks from marine microplastic – Bowley et al. – Trends in Microbiology

Multi-site human microbiome

Analysis of the composition and functions of the microbiome in diabetic foot osteomyelitis based on 16S rRNA and metagenome sequencing technology – Mengchen et al. – Diabetes

Animal experiments

Developmental stage-associated microbiota profile of the peach fruit fly, Bactrocera zonata (Diptera: Tephritidae) and their functional prediction using 16S rRNA gene metabarcoding sequencing – Naaz et al. – 3 Biotech

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

A core phyllosphere microbiome exists across distant populations of a tree species indigenous to New Zealand – Noble et al. – PLOS One

Water and extremophile microbiome

Carbon budgets for soil and plants respond to long-term warming in an Alaskan boreal forest – Alster et al. – Biogeochemistry

First insights to the microbial communities in the plant process water of the multi-metal Kevitsa mine – Bomberg et al. – Research in Microbiology

Halomicroarcula amylolytica sp. nov., a novel halophilic archaeon isolated from a salt mine – Chen et al. – International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology

Spatial patterns of microbial communities across surface waters of the Great Barrier Reef – Frade et al. – Communications Biology

Isolation and characterization of a novel acidophilic zero-valent sulfur- and ferric iron-respiring Firmicute – Holanda and Johnson – Research and Microbiology

Combining physicochemical properties and microbiome data to evaluate the water quality of South African drinking water production plants – Maguvu et al. – PLOS One

Transient dynamics of archaea and bacteria in sediments and brine Across a salinity gradient in a solar saltern of Goa, India – Mani et al. – Frontiers in Microbiology

Diversity and distribution of cultivable fungi present in acid sulphate soils in chronosequence under para-periglacial conditions in King George Island, Antarctica – Porto et al. – Extremophiles

Investigation of the ecological roles of putative keystone taxa during tailing revegetation – Sun et al. – Environmental Science & Technology

Geochemistry and microbiology predict environmental niches with conditions favoring potential microbial activity in the Bakken shale – Tinker et al. – Frontiers in Microbiology

Spatial patterns of selenium and profiling of Se-tolerant Bacillus strains in Shiwalik foot-hills – Tiwana et al. – Geomicrobiology Journal

Bacterial laccase of Anoxybacillus ayderensis SK3-4 from hot springs showing potential for industrial dye decolorization – Wang et al. – Annals of Microbiology

Built environment

Comparison of microbial communities during anaerobic digestion of kitchen waste: Effect of substrate sources and temperatures – Jiang et al. – Bioresource Technology