Category Archives: Microbial Ecology

August 19, 2022

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Today’s digest is short and sweet! We have articles on the gut microbiota in rats, the influence of host genetics on the leaf fungal microbiome, and biofilm fouling in drinking water. There are also two manuscripts which provide tips for pathway enrichment analysis and biomarker discovery.

Happy reading! Also, if you’re in Scotland, consider checking out the enormous E. coli in Edinburgh this weekend!

Animal experiments

Effects of sea salt intake on metabolites, steroid hormones, and gut microbiota in rats – Chanmuang et al. – PLOS One

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

The changing influence of host genetics on the leaf fungal microbiome throughout plant development – Karasov & Lundberg – PLOS Biology

Water and extremophile microbiome

Impacts of temperature and hydraulic regime on discolouration and biofilm fouling in drinking water distribution systems – Fish et al. – PLOS Water

Bioinformatics

Nine quick tips for pathway enrichment analysis – Chicco & Agapito – PLOS Computational Biology

Ten quick tips for biomarker discovery and validation analyses using machine learning – Diaz-Uriarte et al. – PLOS Computational Biology

August 5, 2022

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Today’s digest is brief and includes research examining the association between the gut microbiota and Gulf War illness, determining the distribution of psychrophilic microorganisms in a beef slaughterhouse, measuring the quality of DNA sequences via degradation, and more.

Happy Friday!

General microbiome

Measuring quality of DNA sequence data via degradation – Karr et al. – PLOS One

Atypical integrative element with strand-biased circularization activity assists interspecies antimicrobial resistance gene transfer from Vibrio alfacsensis – Nonaka et al. – PLOS One

Human vaginal microbiome

Association of key species of vaginal bacteria of recurrent bacterial vaginosis patients before and after oral metronidazole therapy with short- and long-term clinical outcomes – Mollin et al. – PLOS One

Human gut microbiome

Examining the association between the gastrointestinal microbiota and Gulf War illness: A prospective cohort study – Kates et al. – PLOS One

Food microbiology

Distribution of psychrophilic microorganisms in a beef slaughterhouse in Japan after cleaning – Nakamura et al. – PLOS One

Science, publishing, and career

Ten simple rules for leveraging virtual interaction to build higher-level learning into bioinformatics short courses – Bacon et al. – PLOS Computational Biology

July 28, 2022

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Today’s digest includes research on the gut microbiome of infants, ruminants, and sand flies! There is also a preprint about sewage microbiomes as well as a research article about photosynthetic bacterial communities in crop fields.

Happy reading!

Human skin microbiome

Lichen Planopilaris: The first biopsy layer microbiota inspection – Pinto et al. – PLOS One

Human gut microbiome

Adaptation of the infant gut microbiome during the complementary feeding transition – McKeen et al. – PLOS One

Animal microbiome

Metagenomic insights into the microbe-mediated B and K2 vitamin biosynthesis in the gastrointestinal microbiome of ruminants – Jiang et al. – Microbiome

Comparative analysis of the gut microbiota of sand fly vectors of zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis (ZVL) in Iran; host-environment interplay shapes diversity – Karimian et al. – PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Metagenomic analysis of the dynamical conversion of photosynthetic bacterial communities in different crop fields over different growth periods – Cheng et al. – PLOS One

Built environment

Preprint: A metagenomic investigation of spatial and temporal changes in sewage microbiomes across a university campus – Fierer et al. – bioRxiv

July 14, 2022

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Today’s digest has multiple articles on statistical and bioinformatic techniques! Also included is a job ad from my research team, so check it out if you’re interested in gaining geomicrobiology research experience at a national laboratory.

Events and jobs

Our geomicrobiology research group at the National Energy Technology Lab – Pittsburgh is looking for a technician/researcher. Exact responsibilities are somewhat flexible depending on interest and education-level; we are accepting applications from current students at all levels as well as postdocs.

General microbiome

Mycobacteriophages: From Petri dish to patient – Hatfull – PLOS Pathogens

Animal microbiome

Reconstructing the ecosystem context of a species: Honey-borne DNA reveals the roles of the honeybee – Wirta et al. – PLOS One

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Patterns of microbial communities were shaped by bioavailable P along the elevation gradient of Shergyla Mountain, as determined by analysis of phospholipid fatty acids – Ba et al. – PLOS One

Preprint: Soil chemistry and soil history significantly structure oomycete communities in Brassicaceae crop rotations – Blakney et al. – bioRxiv

Community succession and straw degradation characteristics using a microbial decomposer at low temperature – Zhang et al. – PLOS One

Built Environment

Indoor air microbial load, antibiotic susceptibility profiles of bacteria, and associated factors in different wards of Arba Minch General Hospital, southern Ethiopia – Kayta et al. – PLOS One

Techniques

moreThanANOVA: A user-friendly Shiny/R application for exploring and comparing data with interactive visualization – Jiang et al. – PLOS One

Preparation of biological monolayers for producing high-resolution scanning electron micrographs – Mentor et al. – PLOS One

The accuracy of absolute differential abundance analysis from relative count data – Roche & Mukherjee – PLOS Computational Biology

AC-PCoA: Adjustment for confounding factors using principal coordinate analysis – Wang et al. – PLOS Computational Biology

Microbes in the news

The Art of Science: Students Participate in University’s First-Ever Bio-Art Class – Bernardi – Syracuse University News

July 13, 2022

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Today’s digest features studies on the leaf-microbiome of 🍅 and 🍓 plants (+ bumblebees and mites), human gut and wastewater resistome, and more. Happy reading!

Reproductive tract

Female reproductive tract microbiota and recurrent pregnancy loss: a nested case-control study – Pirkko Peuranpää – Reproductive BioMedicine Online

Gut microbiome

Dynamic metabolic interactions and trophic roles of human gut microbes identified using a minimal microbiome exhibiting ecological properties – Sudarshan A. Shetty – Journal of the International Society for Microbial Ecology

*Within-patient evolution of plasmid-mediated antimicrobial resistance – Javier DelaFuente – bioRxiv

An expanded reference map of the human gut microbiome reveals hundreds of previously unknown species – Sigal Leviatan – Nature Communications

Animal microbiome

Carpenter Bees (Xylocopa) Harbor a Distinctive Gut Microbiome Related to That of Honey Bees and Bumble Bees – Jo-anne C. Holley – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Animal experiments

Gardnerella Exposures Alter Bladder Gene Expression and Augment Uropathogenic Escherichia coli Urinary Tract Infection in Mice – Nicole M. Gilbert – Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology

Plant microbiome

*The Greenhouse Phyllosphere Microbiome and Associations with Introduced Bumblebees and Predatory Mites – Marie Legein – Microbiology Spectrum

Food microbiome

Longitudinal, multi-platform metagenomics yields a high-quality genomic catalog and guides an in vitro model for cheese communities – Christina C. Saak – bioRxiv

New insights of bacterial communities in fermented vegetables from shotgun metagenomics and identification of antibiotic resistance genes and probiotic bacteria – Muhammad Yasir – Food Research International

Water microbiome

*High-resolution characterisation of short-term temporal variability in the taxonomic and resistome composition of wastewater influent – Kevin Kaibond Chau – bioRxiv

Pilot investigation on biostability of drinking water distribution systems under water source switching – Kejia Zhang – Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

Bioinformatics

*BinaRena: a dedicated interactive platform for human-guided exploration and binning of metagenomes – Michael J. Pavia – bioRxiv

getSequenceInfo: a suite of tools allowing to get genome sequence information from public repositories – Vincent Moco – BMC Bioinformatics

baseLess: Lightweight detection of sequences in raw MinION data – Ben Noordijk – bioRxiv

July 12, 2022

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Human and General Microbiome

Metagenomic prediction of antimicrobial resistance in critically ill patients with lower respiratory tract infections – Paula Hayakawa Serpa – Genome Medicine

Alterations in gut microbiota of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma patients – Man Kit Cheung – Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology

Altered Pattern of Immunoglobulin A-Targeted Microbiota in Inflammatory Bowel Disease After Fecal Transplantation – Wen-Qi Huang – Frontiers in Microbiology

16S rRNA gene sequencing reveals an altered composition of gut microbiota in children with Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia treated with azithromycin – Qiong Deng – The Journal of General and Applied Microbiology

Clinical and metagenomic profiling of hormonal acne-prone skin in different populations – Nina Hrapovic – Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology

Microbiota diversity in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and in drug-induced liver injury – Cristina Rodriguez-Diaza – Pharmacological Research

Beneficial Microbes and Compounds

Review: The potential role of prebiotics, probiotics, and synbiotics in adjuvant cancer therapy especially colorectal cancer – Zahoor Alam – Journal of Food Biochemistry

Review: Probiotics, prebiotics and postbiotics for better sleep quality: a narrative review – J E Haarhuis – Beneficial Microbes

Review: Gut Microbiota: A Novel Therapeutic Target for Parkinson’s Disease – Manlian Zhu – Frontiers in Immunology

Animal Model Microbiome

Obesity enriches for tumor protective microbial metabolites and treatment refractory cells to confer therapy resistance in PDAC – Kousik Kesh – Gut Microbes

Profiling of d-alanine production by the microbial isolates of rat gut microbiota – Cindy J. Lee – The FASEB Journal

Non-Model Animal Microbiome

Within-community variation of interspecific divergence patterns in passerine gut microbiota – Jan Kubovčiak – Ecology and Evolution

Bacteriophages

Phage defence by deaminase-mediated depletion of deoxynucleotides in bacteria – Brian Y. Hsueh – Nature Microbiology

Bioinformatics and Microbiome Analysis

Preprint: CheckM2: a rapid, scalable and accurate tool for assessing microbial genome quality using machine learning – Alex Chklovski – biorXiv

Cancer type classification using plasma cell-free RNAs derived from human and microbes – Shanwen Chen – eLife

Temporal Alignment of Longitudinal Microbiome Data – Ran Armoni – Frontiers in Microbiology

A Bottom-up Approach to Testing Hypotheses That Have a Branching Tree Dependence Structure, with Error Rate Control – Yunxiao Li – Journal of the American Statistical Association

July 2, 2022

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Have a nice weekend!

Highlights!

Priority effects shape the structure of infant-type Bifidobacterium communities on human milk oligosaccharides – Miriam N. Ojima – The ISME Journal → this paper contributes to the understanding of the configuration of different bifidobacteria in response to human milk oligosaccharides. 

Genomes of six viruses that infect Asgard archaea from deep-sea sediments – Ian M. Rambo – Nature Microbiology →By using metagenomics, authors describe six relatively large viral genomes, capable to infect members of the Asgard superphylum. The paper remarks on the strange features found in those viral genomes.

TLR4 regulates RORγt+ regulatory T-cell responses and susceptibility to colon inflammation through interaction with Akkermansia muciniphila – Yaojiang Liu – Microbiome → This article demonstrates the existence of “a novel protective role of TLR4 against intestinal inflammation, wherein it can modulate A. muciniphila-associated immune responses”. 

Human and General Microbiome

Review: The microbiome and gut homeostasis – Jee-Yon Lee – Science 

Review: The role of microbiome: a novel insight into urolithiasis – Sen-Yuan Hong – Critical Reviews in Microbiology

Review: Symbiosis: the other cells in development – Tyler J Carrier – Development 

Dysbiosis of the Gut Microbiome Is Associated With Histopathology of Lung Cancer – Xiong Qin – Frontiers in Microbiology

Beneficial Microbes and Compounds

Perspective: Leveraging the Gut Microbiota to Predict Personalized Responses to Dietary, Prebiotic, and Probiotic Interventions – Sean M Gibbons – Advances in Nutrition

Akkermansia muciniphila Alters Gut Microbiota and Immune System to Improve Cardiovascular Diseases in Murine Model – Xin He – Frontiers in Microbiology

Impact of probiotics use on clinical outcomes of immune checkpoint inhibitors therapy in cancer patients – Luying Wan – Cancer Medicine

Review: The gut microbiome as possible mediator of the beneficial effects of very low calorie ketogenic diet on type 2 diabetes and obesity: a narrative review – G Defeudis – Eating and Weight Disorders

Animal Microbiome

The coral pathogen Vibrio coralliilyticus kills non-pathogenic holobiont competitors by triggering prophage induction – Weiquan Wang – Nature Ecology & Evolution

Milk microbiomes of three great ape species vary among host species and over time – Sally L Bornbusch – Scientific Reports

Plant Microbiome

Fungal microbiome shifts on avocado fruit associated with a combination of postharvest chemical and physical interventions – Malick Bill – Journal of Applied Microbiology

Environmental Microbiome

Review: Priorities for ocean microbiome research – the Tara Ocean Foundation – Nature Microbiology

Microbiome Analysis Techniques and Tools

Protocol for correlation analysis of the murine gut microbiome and meta-metabolome using 16S rDNA sequencing and UPLC-MS – Xiaoqing Li – STAR Protocols

microbiomeMarker: an R/Bioconductor package for microbiome marker identification and visualization – Yang Cao – Bioinformatics

July 1, 2022

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We made it to the end of the week, we made it through the end of June. To celebrate, check out the two (!) articles about the pig gut microbiome, try out a new tool for network analysis (MicNet Toolbox), or enjoy an NPR Short Waves podcast episode about Agar Art. Or maybe you’re spending the afternoon preparing a research talk or fieldwork event? If that’s the case, check out the article presenting 10 rules for improving communication among scientists or the one on the hidden labor of managing threats to safety by women in fieldwork.

General microbiome

Assessment of disinfectant efficacy in reducing microbial growth – Alajlan et al. – PLOS One

Animal experiments

Metagenomic analysis of the gut microbiota in piglets either challenged or not with enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli reveals beneficial effects of probiotics on microbiome composition, resistome, digestive function and oxidative stress responses – Apiwatsiri et al. – PLOS One

Phylogenetic diversity analysis of shotgun metagenomic reads describes gut microbiome development and treatment effects in the post-weaned pig – Gaio et al. – PLOS One

Preprint: Using axenic and gnotobiotic insects to examine the role of different microbes on the development and reproduction of the kissing bug Rhodnius prolixus (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) – Gilliland et al. – bioRxiv

Bioinformatics

MicNet toolbox: Visualizing and unraveling a microbial network – Favila et al. – PLOS One
Techniques

Evaluating the impact of sample storage, handling, and technical ability on the decay and recovery of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater – Beattie et al. – PLOS One

Microbes in the news

NPR’s Short Wave Podcast: Let’s Get Crafty With Agar Art (11 minute episode)!

Science, publishing, and career

Ten simple rules for improving communication among scientists – Bautista et al. – PLOS Computational Biology

You can’t report your feelings: The hidden labor of managing threats to safety by women in global public health fieldwork – McAuliffe et al. – PLOS Global Public Health

June 8, 2022

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Happy Friday! Today’s digest includes articles about Gardnerella vaginalis clades in pregnancy, how a Japanese herbal medicine may alleviate a leaky gut, and a feasibility study of the impact of oral activated charcoal on healthy volunteers.

General microbiome

Clinical Burkholderia pseudomallei isolates from north Queensland carry diverse bimABm genes that are associated with central nervous system disease and are phylogenomically distinct from other Australian strains – Burnard et al. – PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases

Preprint: The energy requirements of ion homeostasis determine the lifespan of starving bacteria – Schink et al. – bioRxiv

Preprint: A novel bacterial speciation process observed in a symbiotic marine population – Wang et al. – bioRxiv

Human vaginal microbiome

Gardnerella vaginalis clades in pregnancy: New insights into the interactions with the vaginal microbiome – Severgnini et al. – PLOS One

Human gut microbiome

Saireito, a Japanese herbal medicine, alleviates leaky gut associated with antibiotic-induced dysbiosis in mice – Ozaka et al. – PLOS One

A dose-finding safety and feasibility study of oral activated charcoal and its effects on the gut microbiota in healthy volunteers not receiving antibiotics – Rashidi et al. – PLOS One

Water and extremophile microbiome

The microbial community and functional potential in the Midland Basin reveal a community dominated by both thiosulfate and sulfate-reducing microorganisms – Tinker et al. – Microbiology Spectrum

Techniques

Performance of the TaqMan COVID-19 Pooling Kit for detection of SARS-CoV-2 in asymptomatic and symptomatic populations – Ganz et al.- PLOS One

June 13, 2022

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Today’s digest features metagenomics for clinical UTI diagnostics, microbial diversity in kombucha tea, microbial source tracking using single nucleotide variants, and more. Happy reading!

Neonatal microbiome

Editorial: More data needed on neonatal microbiome seeding – W. Florian Fricke & Jacques Ravel – Microbiome

Urinary microbiome

The Urobiomes of Adult Women With Various Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms Status Differ: A Re-Analysis – Cara Joyce – Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology

*Metagenomic DNA sequencing for semi-quantitative pathogen detection from urine: a prospective, laboratory-based, proof-of-concept study – Victoria A Janes – The Lancet Microbe

Gut microbiome

Perspective: Tiny Gatekeepers: Microbial Control of Host Drug Transporters – Than S. Kyaw and Peter J. Turnbaugh – Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics

Host hepatic metabolism is modulated by gut microbiota-derived sphingolipids – Henry H. Le – Cell Host & Microbe

Linking gastrointestinal microbiota and metabolome dynamics to clinical outcomes in paediatric haematopoietic stem cell transplantation – Gintare Vaitkute – Microbiome

Animal microbiome

Microbiomes of microscopic marine invertebrates do not reveal signatures of phylosymbiosis – Vittorio Boscaro – Nature Microbiology

Water microbiome

Cyanopeptides restriction and degradation co-mediate microbiota assembly during a freshwater cyanobacterial harmful algal bloom (CyanoHAB) – Han Gao – Water Research

Low diversity and microdiversity of comammox bacteria in wastewater systems suggests wastewater-specific adaptation within the Ca. Nitrospira nitrosa cluster – Irmarie Cotto – bioRxiv

Soil microbiome

Substrate Utilization and Competitive Interactions Among Soil Bacteria Vary With Life-History Strategies – Ying Wang – Frontiers in Microbiology

In-depth characterization of denitrifier communities across different soil ecosystems in the tundra – Igor S. Pessi – bioRxiv

Food

*Microbial Diversity and Interaction Specificity in Kombucha Tea Fermentations – Elizabeth A. Landis – mSystems

Spontaneous Riboflavin-Overproducing Limosilactobacillus reuteri for Biofortification of Fermented Foods – Irina Spacova, Sarah Ahannach – Frontiers in Nutrition

Bioinformatics

coda4microbiome: compositional data analysis for microbiome studies – M.Luz Calle & Antoni Susin – bioRxiv

GeneToList: A web application to assist with gene identifiers for the non-bioinformatics-savvy scientist – Joshua D. Breidenbach – bioRxiv

*Microbiome source tracking using single nucleotide variants – Leah Briscoe – bioRxiv