September 30, 2016

When does a probiotic stick around, microbial diversity in 12 French cheese varieties, effects of field conditions on fecal microbiota.

Events

Microbiome Drug Development Summit Europe – 24-26 January 2017, Paris, France

Human oral microbiome

Changes in the oral ecosystem induced by the use of 8% arginine toothpaste – Jessica E. Koopman – Archives of Oral Biology

Review: Role of oral microbiome on oral cancers, a review – Pourya Gholizadeh – Biomedicine & Pharmatherapy

Human skin microbiome

Novel volatiles of skin-borne bacteria inhibit the growth of Gram-positive bacteria and affect quorum-sensing controlled phenotypes of Gram-negative bacteria – Marie Chantal Lemfack – Systematic and Applied Microbiology

Human gut microbiome

Stable Engraftment of Bifidobacterium longum AH1206 in the Human Gut Depends on Individualized Features of the Resident Microbiome – María X. Maldonado-Gómez – Cell Host & Microbe

Press: A Probiotic That Actually Lasts. The bacteria in yogurts have largely failed to live up to their hyped health benefits, but there are other microbes that might – Ed Yong – The Atlantic

Animal microbiome

Consequences of coinfection with protective symbionts on the host phenotype and symbiont titres in the pea aphid system – Mélanie Leclair – Insect Science

CoralsBacterial community diversity of the deep-sea octocoral Paramuricea placomus – Christina A. Kellogg – PeerJ

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Effects of slope exposure on soil physico-chemical and microbiological properties along an altitudinal climosequence in the Italian Alps – Tommaso Bardelli – Science of the Total Environment

Food microbiology

Highlighting the microbial diversity of 12 French cheese varieties – Eric Dugat-Bony – International Journal of Food Microbiology

Microbial ecology and more microbiology

Macroecology for microbiology – Jay T Lennon – PeerJ Preprint

Review: Fungal Super Glue: The Biofilm Matrix and Its Composition, Assembly, and Functions – Kaitlin F. Mitchell – PLOS Pathogens

Techniques

Effects of field conditions on fecal microbiota – Vanessa L. Hale – Journal of Microbiological Methods

A cost-efficient and simple protocol to enrich prey DNA from extractions of predatory arthropods for large-scale gut content analysis by Illumina sequencing – Henrik Krehenwinkel – Methods in Ecology and Evolution

Microbes in the news

The cost of cheap drugs? Toxic Indian lake is ‘superbug hotspot’ – Zeba Siddiqui – Reuters

Effects of maternal stress on newborn health: An Interview with Dr. Connie Mulligan of the University of Florida – DNA Genotek

Gene-engineered gut bacteria successfully treat sick mice — and could treat humans someday – Leah Samuel – STAT News

Microbiology retreat showcases research – Anamika Veeramani – Yale Daily News

Science, publishing, and career

Working life: Doing science while black – Edward J. Smith – Science

September 24, 2016

Eye microbiome, malnutrition and rotavirus, edible insects, vineyard management, and drones.

Human eye / skin microbiome

Impact of Microbiota on Resistance to Ocular Pseudomonas aeruginosa-Induced Keratitis – Abirami Kugadas – PLOS Pathogens

Press (scroll to halfway the page to read this item): Lab chat: Eye bacteria and contact lenses  – Megan Thielking – STAT News

Human gut microbiome

Malnutrition Is Associated with Protection from Rotavirus Diarrhea: Evidence from a Longitudinal Birth Cohort Study in Bangladesh – Hans Verkerke – Journal of Clinical Microbiology

Animal models

Immunosuppression, peripheral inflammation and invasive infection from endogenous gut microbiota activate retinal microglia in mouse models – Victoria Maneu – Microbiology and Immunology

Animal microbiome

Phenological asynchrony between host plant and gypsy moth reduces insect gut microbiota and susceptibility to Bacillus thuringiensis – Vyacheslav V. Martemyanov – Ecology and Evolution

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Vineyard soil bacterial diversity and composition revealed by 16S rRNA genes: Differentiation by vineyard management – Kayla N. Burns – Soil Biology and Biochemistry

Fungal community composition in soils subjected to long-term chemical fertilization is most influenced by the type of organic matter – Ruibo Sun – Environmental Microbiology

Change in soil fungal community structure driven by a decline in ectomycorrhizal fungi following a mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) outbreak – Gregory J. Pec – New Phytologist

Water microbiome

Dense water plumes modulate richness and productivity of deep sea microbes – Gian Marco Luna – Environmental Microbiology

Food microbiology

The microbiota of marketed processed edible insects as revealed by high-throughput sequencing – Cristiana Garofalo – Food Microbiology

Metagenomics reveals flavour metabolic network of cereal vinegar microbiota – Linhuan Wu – Food Microbiology

Techniques

Detection of food and skin pathogen microbiota by means of an electronic nose based on metal oxide chemiresistors – Estefanía Núñez Carmona – Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical

A one-step matrix application method for MALDI mass spectrometry imaging of bacterial colony biofilms – Bin Li – Journal of Mass Spectrometry

Microbial ecology

The biogeography of kin discrimination across microbial neighbourhoods – Susanne A. Kraemer – Molecular Ecology

More microbiology

Microbes can flyDrone Transport of Microbes in Blood and Sputum Laboratory Specimens – Timothy K. Amukele – Journal of Clinical Microbiology

Microbes in the news

New CDC Report Shows One Quarter of Contact Lens-related Eye Infections Due to Improper Use, Modifiable Factors – PR Web

Extremely rare US leprosy case found in California elementary school student – Andrew Dalton – STAT News

How Can Science Benefit from Microbes on the ISS? – Jessica F – Nature World News

New Research Indicates Alzheimer’s and Other Neurodegenerative Diseases Are Contagious – PR Newswire

Deadly Viruses and Bacteria Mistakenly Shipped 21 Times – R. Jeffrey Smith – The Daily Beast

Science, publishing, and career

Meet the world’s top peer reviewer: Jonas Ranstam – Ivan Oransky and Adam Marcus – STAT News

September 13, 2016

Infant gut microbiome and allergy risk, gut microbiome in mice and susceptibility to Plasmodium, microbiome of a stranded striped dolphin, cadavers in Canada, rRNA operon copy numbers.

Events

(repeat posting) 4th Microbiome R&D Business collaboration Forum & Probiotics Congress, October 3-4, 2016, La Jolla,San Diego, USA. Use discount code: ALLONG for a special rate of $399.

Pregnancy and birth

Neonatal gut microbiota associates with childhood multisensitized atopy and T cell differentiation – Kei E Fujimura – Nature Medicine

Press: Infant gut microbiome appears to shape allergy risk by altering immune responses – EurekAlert
Newborn gut microbiome predicts later allergy and asthma, study finds. Microbial byproducts link particular early-life gut microbes to immune dysfunction – Science Daily
Clues in microbiome of infants point to future allergies and asthma – Yvette Brazier – Medical News Today
Neonatal Gut Bacteria Might Promote Asthma. Byproducts of gut microbes in some 1-month–old babies trigger inflammation that is linked to later asthma development, researchers find. – Anna Azvolinsky – The Scientist

Human urinary tract microbiome

Urinary microbiome of kidney transplant patients reveals dysbiosis with potential for antibiotic resistance – Asha Rani – Translational Research

Human gut microbiome

Gut bacterial microbiota in psoriasis: A case control study – Doaa Masallat – African Journal of Microbiology Research

Review: Cognitive Function and the Microbiome – M.G. Gareau – International Review of Neurobiology

Review: Advances in Gut Microbiome Research and Relevance to Pediatric Diseases – Lindsey Albenberg – The Journal of Pediatrics

Animal experiments

Monitoring perinatal gut microbiota in mouse models by mass spectrometry approaches: parental genetic background and breastfeeding effects – Stefano Levi Mortera – Frontiers in Microbiology

Functional characteristics of the gut microbiome in C57BL/6 mice differentially susceptible to Plasmodium yoelii – Joshua M. Stough – Frontiers in Microbiology

Modulation of the bifidobacterial communities of the dog microbiota by zeolite – Alberto Sabbioni – Frontiers in Microbiology

Animal microbiome

The microbiome of a striped dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba) stranded in Portugal – Filipa Godoy-Vitorino – Research in Microbiology

Book Chapter: Microbial Interactions on Coral Surfaces and Within the Coral Holobiont – Max Teplitski – The Cnidaria, Past, Present and Future

Book Chapter: Association of Coral-Microbes, and the Ecological Roles of Microbial Symbionts in Corals – Wei Sun – The Cnidaria, Past, Present and Future

Human Lice in Paleoentomology and Paleomicrobiology – Rezak Drali – ASM Microbiology Spectrum

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Resource partitioning between bacteria, fungi and protists in the detritusphere of an agricultural soil – Susanne Kramer – Frontiers in Microbiology

Composition and activity of soil microbial communities in different types of temperate forests – Marcin Chodak – Biology and Fertility of Soils

The effect of the Falcon 460 EC fungicide on soil microbial communities, enzyme activities and plant growth – Małgorzata Baćmaga – Ecotoxicology

Review: Plant microbe interactions in post genomic era: perspectives and applications – Jahangir Imam – Frontiers in Microbiology

Water microbiome

Quantification of viral and prokaryotic production rates in benthic ecosystems: a methods comparison – Eugenio Rastelli – Frontiers in Microbiology

Microbiome of death

Cadavers in Canada: Book Chapter: Changes in Soil Microbial Activity Following Cadaver Decomposition During Spring and Summer Months in Southern Ontario – Heloise A. Breton – Soil in Criminal and Environmental Forensics

Wastewater and pollution microbiology

Poster: MiDAS: A curated database for the microorganisms of activated sludge and anaerobic digesters – Simon Jon McIlroy – Water Engineering and Biofilm IWA Specialist Conference, 2016

Probiotics

Layer-by-Layer Encapsulation of Probiotics for Delivery to the Microbiome – Aaron C. Anselmo – Advanced Materials

Food microbiology

Book: Functional Nucleic Acids Detection in Food Safety: Theories and Applications – Wentao Xu – Springer

Microbial ecology

Aligning the Measurement of Microbial Diversity with Macroecological Theory – James C. Stegen – Frontiers in Microbiology

Editorial: Insights into microbe-microbe interactions in human microbial ecosystems: strategies to be competitive – Nuria Salazar – Frontiers in Microbiology

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

Exploiting rRNA operon copy number to investigate bacterial reproductive strategies – Benjamin R.K. Roller – Nature Microbiology

Diversity in a Polymicrobial Community Revealed by Analysis of Viromes, Endolysins and CRISPR Spacers – Michelle Davison – PLOS ONE

SnpFilt: A pipeline for reference-free assembly-based identification of SNPs in bacterial genomes – Carmen H.S. Chan – Computational Biology and Chemistry

Review: Advances in biodiversity: metagenomics and the unveiling of biological dark matter – Robert J. Robbins – Standards in Genomic Sciences

Microbes in the news

What we have in common with corals and their unexplored microbial world – Alejandra Hernandez – The Conversation

August 31, 2016

Screen Shot 2016-08-31 at 10.36.09 PM

ICU, Rudlavibizon, Flickr

Gut microbiota changes in the ICU, air microbiome of the Gobi desert, host response of human cells to gut microbiota.

Event

Synbiobeta SF2016, October 4-6, South San Francisco, CA

Human gut microbiome

Extreme Dysbiosis of the Microbiome in Critical Illness – Daniel McDonald – mSphere

Press: ICU patients lose helpful gut bacteria within days of hospital admission – Science Daily
Tracking Bacterial Imbalance in the ICU – Stephen Ornes -mBiosphere

Review: The human gut microbiome, diet, and health: “post hoc non ergo propter hoc” – Guus Roeselers – Trends in Food Science & Technology

Review: Interplay between gut microbiota, its metabolites and human metabolism: dissecting cause from consequence – A.V. Hartstra – Trends in Food Science & Technology

Animal and other model experiments

Bidirectional communication between the Aryl hydrocarbon Receptor (AhR) and the microbiome tunes host metabolism – Agata Korecka – NPJ Biofilms and Microbiomes

Temporal dynamics of bacterial microbiota in the human oral cavity determined using an in situ model of dental biofilms – Nanako Wake – NPJ Biofilms and Microbiomes

Normalizing Microbiota-Induced Retinoic Acid Deficiency Stimulates Protective CD8+ T Cell-Mediated Immunity in Colorectal Cancer – Nupur Bhattacharya – Immunity

Genetic and Transcriptional Analysis of Human Host Response to Healthy Gut Microbiota – Allison L. Richards – mSystems

Animal microbiome

Whole gut microbiome composition of damselfish and cardinalfish before and after reef settlement – Darren J Parris – PeerJ

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Specialized Microbiome of a Halophyte and its Role in Helping Non-Host Plants to Withstand Salinity – Zhilin Yuan – Scientific Reports

A native and an invasive dune grass share similar, patchily distributed, root-associated fungal communities – Renee B. Johansen – Fungal Ecology

Bacterial community structure and function shift across a northern boreal forest fire chronosequence – Hui Sun – Scientific Reports

Water microbiome

Complex bacterial communities in the deep-sea sediments of the Bay of Bengal and volcanic Barren Island in the Andaman Sea – Pankaj Verma – Marine Genomics

Neutral processes and species sorting in benthic microalgal community assembly: effects of tidal resuspension – Craig J. Plante – Journal of Phycology

Air microbiome

Variations in the structure of airborne bacterial communities in Tsogt-Ovoo of Gobi desert area during dust events – Teruya Maki – Air Quality, Atmosphere & Health

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

A phylogenetic transform enhances analysis of compositional microbiota data – Justin D Silverman – bioRxiv

Higher classification sensitivity of short metagenomic reads with CLARK-S – Rachid Ounit – Bioinformatics

GRASPx: efficient homolog-search of short peptide metagenome database through simultaneous alignment and assembly – Cuncong Zhong – BMC Bioinformatics

Microbial ecology

Quantifying human impact on Earth’s microbiome – Stephen B. Pointing – Nature Microbiology

Synthetic microbial ecology and the dynamic interplay between microbial genotypes –
Jan Dolinšek – FEMS Microbiology Reviews

Microbes in the news

Engineered gut bacteria protect mice against obesity, improve liver function – Oliver Worsley – Fierce Biotech

You’re probably not doing metagenomics – Mick Watson – Opiniomics

Mayo Adds To Its List Of Gut Microbiome Startup Collaborators – Don Jacobson – Twin Cities Business

Nice analysis of Tweets from #ISME16 by Keith Turner – Jonathan Eisen – MicroBEnet

Peer review and science misconduct

Recognizing Peer Reviewers: a Webinar to Celebrate Editors and Researchers – September 19, 2016 – Elsevier Publishing Campus

Stop ignoring misconduct – Donald S. Kornfeld & Sandra L. Titus – Nature

Bik’s Non-Microbiology Picks

Paperfuge: An ultra-low cost, hand-powered centrifuge inspired by the mechanics of a whirligig toy – M. Saad Bhamla – bioRxiv

August 30, 2016

Screen Shot 2016-08-30 at 11.07.12 PM

Red-shanked douc, Wikipedia

The human gut phageome, monkey microbiome humanizes in captivity, and a Yersinia genome from the 6th century (OK, that’s not microbiome, but just cool).

Human gut microbiome

Healthy human gut phageome – Pilar Manrique – PNAS

Press: Your Gut’s Gone Viral, And That Might Be Good For Your Health – Michaeleen Doucleff – NPR

Animal experiments

Standardizing Mouse Models to Account for Host–Microbial Interactions – Maria-Luisa Alegre – American Journal of Transplantation

Note: no mention of blanks/extraction controls: Consumption of a high-fat diet alters the seminal fluid and gut microbiomes in male mice – Angela B. Javurek – Reproduction , Fertility and Development

Animal microbiome

Captivity humanizes the primate microbiome – Jonathan B. Clayton – PNAS

Press (also see yesterday’s post): Gut biome of monkeys found to change when they are kept in captivity – Bob Yirka – Phys.org
Monkeys in zoos have human gut bacteria – Science Daily

Water microbiome

Coastal connectivity and spatial subsidy from a microbial perspective – Christin Säwström – Ecology and Evolution

Taxonomic profiling of bacterial community structure from coastal sediment of Alang–Sosiya shipbreaking yard near Bhavnagar, India – Vilas Patel – Marine Pollution Bulletin

Proteobacteria become predominant during regrowth after water disinfection – Cristina Becerra-Castro – Science of the Total Environment

Microbial Ecology

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

More microbes

A high-coverage Yersinia pestis Genome from a 6th-century Justinianic Plague Victim – Michal Feldman – Molecular Biology and Evolution

Press: World’s 1st Plague Pandemic Bacteria Gets New Genetic Analysis – Greg Uyeno – Live Science
Why scientists reconstructed an ancient plague – Nikki Ferlaino – KFOR
Reconstructing the sixth century plague from a victim – Phys.org
The Same Microbe That Led to Black Death Also Caused a Huge Plague Centuries Before – Jennifer Ouellette – Gizmodo
Medieval victim reveals secrets of the Plague of Justinian – Gretchen Vogel – Science

Microbes in the news

Hand dryers spread bacteria, affect health on campus – Shane Olney – The Volante

Science, publishing, and career

A Framework for Improving the Quality of Research in the Biological Sciences – Arturo Casadevall – mBio

Bik’s Non-Microbiology Picks

Dental calculus reveals Mesolithic foragers in the Balkans consumed domesticated plant foods – Emanuela Cristiani – PNAS

Surprisingly Little Evidence for the Accepted Wisdom About Teeth – Aaron E. Carroll – New York Times

August 25, 2016

Microbiome of the Graduate Student Gut, allergic cats, tree phyllosphere, milk tanker trucks, and microbes of soda lakes.

Pregnancy and birth

Review: Role of microbiota function during early life and children neurodevelopment – Tomás Cerdó – Trends in Food Science & Technology

General microbiome

Now published after preprint earlier this year and article in Cell: Revised Estimates for the Number of Human and Bacteria Cells in the Body – Ron Sender – PLOS Biology

Enemies and brothers in arms: Candida albicans and gram-positive bacteria – Toni M. Förster – Cellular Microbiology

Human respiratory microbiome

General antibiotic exposure is associated with increased risk of developing chronic rhinosinusitis – Alice Z. Maxfield – The Laryngoscope

Evidence and Role for Bacterial Mucin Degradation in Cystic Fibrosis Airway Disease – Jeffrey M. Flynn – PLOS Pathogens

Human gut microbiome

Master Thesis: Characterizing Microbiome Changes in the Graduate Student Gut – Justin Roy Lund – University of Oklahoma

Altered Fecal Microbiota Correlates with Liver Biochemistry in Nonobese Patients with Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease – Baohong Wang – Scientific Reports

Prosteatotic and Protective Components in a Unique Model of Fatty Liver: Gut Microbiota and Suppressed Complement System – Long Liu – Scientific Reports

Is there a role for stool metabolomics in cystic fibrosis? – Nadeem O Kaakoush – Pediatrics International

Animal microbiome

Allergic to humans? Characterization of the cutaneous mycobiota in healthy and allergic cats using next generation sequencing – Courtney Meason-Smith – Veterinary Dermatology

Fish: The influence of weight and gender on intestinal bacterial community of wild largemouth bronze gudgeon (Coreius guichenoti, 1874) – Xuemei Li – BMC Microbiology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Tree phyllosphere bacterial communities: exploring the magnitude of intra- and inter-individual variation among host species – Isabelle Laforest-Lapointe – PeerJ

Long-Term Recovery of Microbial Communities in the Boreal Bryosphere Following Fire Disturbance – Nick A. Cutler – Microbial Ecology

Autochthonous Microbiota in Arsenic-Bearing Technosols from Zemianske Kostoľany (Slovakia) and Its Potential for Bioleaching and Biovolatilization of Arsenic – Alexandra Šimonovičová – Water, Air, & Soil Pollution

Built environment microbiology

Fungi and Bacteria in Indoor Cultural Heritage Environments: Microbial-related Risks for Artworks and Human Health – Enza Di Carlo – Environment and Ecology Research

Fitness and recovery of bacterial communities and antibiotic resistance genes in urban wastewaters exposed to classical disinfection treatments – Andrea Di Cesare – Environmental Science & Technology

Bacterial diversity and antibiotic resistances of abundant aerobic culturable bacteria in input and output samples of fifteen German biogas plants – Thorsten Schauss – Journal of Applied Microbiology

Food microbiology

The Core and Seasonal Microbiota of Raw Bovine Milk in Tanker Trucks and the Impact of Transfer to a Milk Processing Facility – Mary E. Kable – mBio

Water and extremophile microbiome

Microbial community diversity and composition varies with habitat characteristics and biofilm function in macrophyte-rich streams – Peter S. Levi – Oikos

Evaluation of Alternative High-Throughput Sequencing Methodologies for the Monitoring of Marine Picoplanktonic Biodiversity Based on rRNA Gene Amplicons – Isabel Ferrera- Frontiers in Marine Science

Book Chapter: Bacteria, Archaea and Viruses of Soda Lakes – William D. Grant – Soda Lakes of East Africa

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

ResistoMap – online visualization of human gut microbiota antibiotic resistome – Konstantin Yarygin – bioRxiv

Techniques

Protocols.io: Virtual Communities for Protocol Development and Discussion – Leonid Teytelman – PLOS Biology

More microbiology

The Ecology and Evolution of Microbial Competition – Melanie Ghoul – Trends in Microbiology

Microbes in the news

How Designers and Scientists Are Using Bees to Map NYC’s Microbes – Liz Stinson – Wired

Graphic novel about World War I depicts gross realities of dysentery – Carolyn Webb – The Age Victoria

The newest food trend: fermentation – Ted Weesner – Boston Globe

 

 

August 24, 2016

Revisiting obesity and microbiome links, movies of Vibrio growing in biofilms, and decomposing chickens (yum)!

My apologies for not having had a lot of time to keep up with the literature. I’m now running all searches after work hours. This week we have friends over from Europe, and after 7 pm, my friends go before work ! Here is what I have so far, but it’s not as recent as I would like it to be. Hopefully I will have some time in the weekend to catch up.

Jobs and events

Postdoc Position in Bioinformatics, Metagenomics and the Human Microbiome – Jeroen Raes group, Leuven, Belgium

Human Microbiome Journal Club, Friday August 26: What is the most appropriate method for associating microbiome data with health and disease?

Human gut microbiome

Previously on bioRxiv, now publishedLooking for a Signal in the Noise: Revisiting Obesity and the Microbiome – Marc A. Sze, Patrick D. Schloss – mBio

No, your gut bacteria ISN’T making you fat: Scientists find ‘no difference’ between the microbes in obese and thin people’s stomachs – Daily Mail

Effect of Fecal Microbiota Transplantation on Recurrence in Multiply Recurrent Clostridium difficile Infection: A Randomized Trial – Colleen R. Kelly – Annals of Internal Medicine

Systematic Review: Adverse Events of Fecal Microbiota Transplantation – Sinan Wang – PLOS ONE

Animal microbiome

Nutrition mediates the expression of cultivar–farmer conflict in a fungus-growing ant – Jonathan Z. Shik – PNAS

Water microbiome

Distinct bacterial communities in surficial seafloor sediments following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon blowout – Tingting Yang – Frontiers in Microbiology

Microbiome of death

Effect of Substrate on Identification of Microbial Communities in Poultry Carcass Composting and Microorganisms Associated with Poultry Carcass Decomposition – Jie Wang – Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

Using Dendritic Heat Maps to Simultaneously Display Genotype Divergence with Phenotype Divergence – Matthew Kellom – PLOS ONE

Microbial Ecology

Review: Biotic Interactions in Microbial Communities as Modulators of Biogeochemical Processes: Methanotrophy as a Model System – Adrian Ho – Frontiers in Microbiology

More microbiology

Vibrio cholerae biofilm growth program and architecture revealed by single-cell live imaging – Jing Yan – PNAS

Comparative genomics of biotechnologically important yeasts – Robert Riley – PNAS

Microbes in the news

Great Moments in Science: The microscopic high-tech wizardry of bacteria – Karl Kruszelnicki – ABC Australia

Bacteria are the probably cause of barnacles sticking to boats – battling biofouling with biology – Mary Beth Griggs – PopSci

Bacteria Hysteria

Your Bed Is A Hotbed Of Bacteria – Joy D’Souza – Huffington Post Canada
Bacteria in your Bed – “study” sponsored by AmeriSleep (huge CoI)

Science, publishing, and career

Including Diverse Voices in Science Stories –  Christina Selby – The Open Notebook

 

August 22, 2016

Human skin microbiome

Cutaneous microbiome effects of fluticasone propionate cream and adjunctive bleach baths in childhood atopic dermatitis – Mercedes E. Gonzalez – Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology

Animal microbiome

Yeasts from the microbiota of bats: a focus on the identification and antimicrobial susceptibility of cryptic species of Candida – Raimunda S. N. Brilhante – Journal of Medical Microbiology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Intrinsic factors of Peltigera lichens influence the structure of the associated soil bacterial microbiota – Diego Leiva – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Bacterial succession on decomposing leaf litter exhibits a specific occurrence pattern of cellulolytic taxa and potential decomposers of fungal mycelia – Vojtěch Tláskal – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Local Environmental Factors Drive Divergent Grassland Soil Bacterial Communities in the Western Swiss Alps – Erika Yashiro – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Watershed Assessment with Beach Microbial Source Tracking (MST) and Outcomes of Resulting Gull Management – Kelly D. Goodwin – Environmental Science & Technology

Microbial ecology

The importance of neutral and niche processes for bacterial community assembly differs between habitat generalists and specialists – Jingqiu Liao – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

A scalable assembly-free variable selection algorithm for biomarker discovery from metagenomes – Anestis Gkanogiannis – BMC Bioinformatics

Microbes in the news

The Strange Case of the Butterfly and the Male-Murdering Microbe – Ed Yong – The Atlantic

Bigelow Lab’s role in algae industry is growing – Kevin Miller – Press Herald

Science, publishing, and career

Why academics should make time for social media – Andy Miah – Times Higher Education

Introducing our special section on “The Integrity of Science” – The New Atlantis

August 20, 2016

Microbial eukaryotes along a pollution gradient, bacteria binding to ice, and testing the neutral theory.

Jobs and events

Assistant Professor in Genomics and Ecology of Microbial Pathogens in Food Systems Department of Food Science & Technology, University of California, Davis (via Jonathan Eisen – MicroBE.net)

Human gut microbiome

Gastrointestinal microbial populations can distinguish pediatric and adolescent Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) at the time of disease diagnosis – Seesandra V. Rajagopala – BMC Genomics

Review: Diet and Gut Microbial Function in Metabolic and Cardiovascular Disease Risk – Katie A. Meyer – Current Diabetes Reports

Review: Other Helicobacters and gastric microbiota – Chloë De Witte – Helicobacter

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Spatial Distribution of Eukaryotic Communities Using High-Throughput Sequencing Along a Pollution Gradient in the Arsenic-Rich Creek Sediments of Carnoulès Mine, France – A. Volant – Microbial Ecology

Water and extremophile microbiome

Putting life on ice: bacteria that bind to frozen water – Maya Bar Dolev – Journal of the Royal Society Interface

Genetic signatures of ecological diversity along an urbanization gradient – Ryan P. Kelly – PeerJ Preprint

Surveys, simulation and single-cell assays relate function and phylogeny in a lake ecosystem – Sarah P. Preheim – Nature Microbiology

Book: Microbes from Hell: archaea and hyperthermophiles – Patrick Forterre

Drinking water and water treatment microbiology

Elucidation of Taste- and Odor-Producing Bacteria and Toxigenic Cyanobacteria in a Midwestern Drinking Water Supply Reservoir by Shotgun Metagenomic Analysis – Timothy G. Otten – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Elucidating selection processes for antibiotic resistance in sewage treatment plants using metagenomics – Johan Bengtsson-Palme – Science of the Total Environment

Microbial Ecology

Testing the Neutral Theory of Biodiversity with Human Microbiome Datasets – Lianwei Li – Scientific Reports

Review: The Ecology and Evolution of Microbial Competition – Melanie Ghoul – Trends in Microbiology

Microbes in the news

We need to stop sanitizing everything and let bacteria back in our lives – Joselin Linder – New York Post

Bacteria may be key to environmentally friendly extraction of minerals – Angela Kean – S&P Capital IQ

Science, publishing, and career

What lurks in ageing academics’ unvisited personal archives? – Ron Iphofen – Times Higher Education
Army report says science director creating ‘environment of fear’ at USAMRIID – Sylvia Carignan – Frederick News Post

August 17, 2016

Beneficial bacteria in the nose suppress pathogenic bacteria,  gut microbiome and Entamoeba histolytica infection, viromes of the Earth.

Jobs

Assistant/Associate Professor in Microbiology & Immunology, University of Illinois at Chicago – Science Careers

Internship: Coral microbiome under ocean acidification – King Abdullah University of Science and Technology – Saudi Arabia

Pregnancy and birth

Microbiota in Breast Milk of Chinese Lactating Mothers – Olga Sakwinska – PLOS ONE

Human skin microbiome

ReviewFactors shaping the composition of the cutaneous microbiota – K. Szabó – British Journal of Dermatology

Human respiratory microbiome

Staphylococcus aureus Shifts toward Commensalism in Response to Corynebacterium Species – Matthew M. Ramsey – Frontiers in Microbiology

Press: New findings detail how beneficial bacteria in the nose suppress pathogenic bacteria– Science Daily

Human gut microbiome

Disease Severity and Immune Activity Relate to Distinct Interkingdom Gut Microbiome States in Ethnically Distinct Ulcerative Colitis Patients – Jordan S. Mar – mBio

Stool microbiome reveals diverse bacterial ureases as confounders of oral urea breath testing for Helicobacter pylori and Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Bamako, Mali – Mamoudou Maiga – Journal of Breath Research

Review: Antibiotics as deep modulators of gut microbiota: between good and evil – Gianluca Ianiro – Gut

Review: The Intestinal Bacterial Microbiome and E. histolytica Infection – Stacey L. Burgess – Curr Trop Med Reports

Review: The microbiome and immune regulation after transplantation – Tabibian, James H. – Transplantation

Review: Experimental design considerations in microbiota/inflammation studies – Robert J Moore – Clin Transl Immunology

Animal experiments

Wolbachia Endosymbionts Modify Drosophila Ovary Protein Levels in a Context-Dependent Manner – Steen Christensen – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Composition of the Cockroach Gut Microbiome in the Presence of Parasitic Nematodes – Cláudia S. L. Vicente – Microbes and Environments

Animal microbiome

Link of a ubiquitous human coronavirus to dromedary camels – Victor M. Corman – PNAS

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Changes in the composition of the RNA virome mark evolutionary transitions in green plants – Arcady Mushegian – BMC Biology

ReviewIdentifying the role of soil microbes in plant invasions – Wayne Dawson – Journal of Ecology

Water microbiome

Uncovering Earth’s virome – David Paez-Espino – Nature

Press: Unveiled: Earth’s Viral Diversity. Environmental datasets help researchers double the number of microbial phyla known to be infected by viruses.- Joint Genome Institute
Researchers complete unprecedented study of the global virome – Katherine Lindemann – Research Gate Blog

290 Metagenome-assembled Genomes from the Mediterranean Sea: Ongoing Effort to Generate Genomes from the Tara Oceans Dataset – Benjamin J Tully – bioRxiv

The Microbiome and Mental Health: Looking Back, Moving Forward with Lessons from Allergic Diseases – Alan C. Logan

Extremophile microbiome

Yeasts from macroalgae and lichens that inhabit the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica
Alysson Wagner Fernandes Duarte – Environmental Microbiology Reports

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

Comparison of bacterial genome assembly software for MinION data and their applicability to medical microbiology – Kim Judge – Microbial Genomics

Fast comparison of genomic and meta-genomic reads with alignment-free measures based on quality values – Matteo Comin – BMC Medical Genomics

Gifted microbes for genome mining and natural product discovery – Richard H. Baltz – Journal of Industrial Microbiology & Biotechnology

Microbial Ecology

Biodiversity at multiple trophic levels is needed for ecosystem multifunctionality – Santiago Soliveres – Nature

Extrapolating abundance curves has no predictive power for estimating microbial biodiversity – Amy Willis – PNAS

Synergistic elimination of bacteria by phage and the immune system – Chung Yin (Joey) Leung – bioRxiv

Microbes in the news

The Counterintuitive Way That Microbes Survive in Antarctica – And what it could mean for the search for life on other worlds – Ed Yong – The Atlantic

Human Cells Make Up Only Half Our Bodies. A New Book Explains Why – Jonathan Weiner – New York Times

Journalist Edmund Soon-Weng Yong awarded 2016 Byron H. Waksman Award for excellence in the public communication of Life Sciences – NewsWise

Mouse microbes may make scientific studies harder to replicate – Kelly Servick – Science Mag

Biome, Genome, Microbiome…Houdinisome? – Jason Tetro – Germ Guy

Tiny Stanford invention purifies water in minutes using the sun – CNET

The importance of quality pre-analytical factors and their impact on microbiome analysis – Lisa Gamwell – DNA Genotek’s Microbiome Collection and Stabilization Blog

Behind paywall: Brazilian Researchers Profile Microbiome of Rio Before, During, After Olympic Games – Genome Web
Rio 2016 organizers are confident everything is fine. I’m not reassured – Sally Jenkins – Washington Post

Science, publishing, and career

Stanford programs prepare underrepresented high schoolers for careers in science, engineering and medicine – Victoria Chesley – Stanford News