November 25, 2015 – another digest

Two digests today, to catch up with all literature that came out earlier this week. Gut microbiota of patients with stroke or TIAs, symbiosis within symbiosis, the coffee-machine microbiome, and chocolate making with yeasts.

Human gut microbiome

Dysbiosis of Gut Microbiota With Reduced Trimethylamine‐N‐Oxide Level in Patients With Large‐Artery Atherosclerotic Stroke or Transient Ischemic Attack – Jia Yin – Journal of the American Heart Association

Siri, What Should I Eat? – Reiner Jumpertz von Schwartzenberg, Peter J. Turnbaugh – Cell

Human skin microbiome

Microbiologic Safety of the Transareolar Approach in Breast Augmentation – Dana Mihaela Jianu – Aesthetic Surgery Journal

Microbiome models

Microbiota’s No Wasting Policy – Miguel P. Soares – Cell

Animal microbiome

Vaginal Microbiome Characterization of Nellore Cattle Using Metagenomic Analysis
Mateus Laguardia-Nascimento – PLOS ONE

Review: The natural occurrence of secondary bacterial symbionts in aphids – Sharon E. Zytynska – Ecological Entomology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Symbiosis within Symbiosis: Evolving Nitrogen-Fixing Legume Symbionts
Philippe Remigi – Trends in Microbiology

Soil microbial response to tetracycline in two different soils amended with cow manure – Luigi Chessa – Environmental Science and Pollution Research

Reviews: Friends or foes? Emerging insights from fungal interactions with plants – Susanne Zeilinger – FEMS Microbiology Reviews

Review: Extinction risk of soil biota – worrying paucity of existing information – Stavros D. Veresoglou – Nature Communications

Extremophile microbiome

Integrated ‘Omics’, Targeted Metabolite and Single-cell Analyses of Arctic Snow Algae Functionality and Adaptability – Stefanie Lutz – Frontiers in Microbiology

Water microbiome

Extracellular Lipase and Protease Production from a Model Drinking Water Bacterial Community Is Functionally Robust to Absence of Individual Members – Graham G. Willsey – PLOS ONE

Built environment microbiome

The coffee-machine bacteriome: biodiversity and colonisation of the wasted coffee tray leach – Cristina Vilanova – Scientific Reports

Food microbiology

Tuning chocolate flavor through development of thermotolerant Saccharomyces cerevisiae starter cultures with increased acetate ester production – Esther Meersman – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Microbial genomes and ecology

Migration and horizontal gene transfer divide microbial genomes into multiple niches
Rene Niehus – Nature Communications

The Good, the Bad, and the Tiny: A Simple, Mechanistic-Probabilistic Model of Virus-Nutrient Colimitation in Microbes – B. B. Cael – PLOS ONE

Microbes are trophic analogs of animals – Shawn A. Steffan – PNAS

Animal–microbe interactions and the evolution of nervous systems – Heather L. Eisthen – Philosophical Transactions B

Molecular operational taxonomic units as approximations of species in the light of evolutionary models and empirical data from Fungi – Martin Ryberg – Molecular Ecology

Review: Metagenomic cross-talk: the regulatory interplay between immunogenomics and the microbiome – Maayan Levy – Genome Medicine

Metagenomics and bioinformatics

Large-scale Machine Learning for Metagenomics Sequence Classification – Kévin Vervier – Bioinformatics

Techniques

Comparative Evaluation of DNA Extraction Methods from Feces of Multiple Host Species for Downstream Next-Generation Sequencing – Marcia L. Hart – PLOS ONE

Bacteria in the news

Your gut bacteria are controlling your appetite, study finds – Bec Crew – ScienceAlert

Beastly bacteria on extinct ancient carcasses offers ‘cure’ for modern oil pollution – Vera Salnitskaya – The Siberian Times

This ‘Plant Lamp’ uses bacteria to generate electricity – Sean Buckley – EnGadget
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November 25, 2015

My apologies for 2 missed posts (due to overseas family circumstances). Gut microbiota of infants with botulism, gut microbial diversity in US Midwest population, decomposing pig carcasses, oil-degrading microbes and sunlight.

Events

5th Annual Microbiology of the Built Environment Conference – June 1-3 2016, Boulder, CO

Jobs

Our lab at Stanford University is hiring a Clinical Study Coordinator to be based out of UCSF School of Dentistry. Great position for someone who eventually wants to go to medical or dental school.

Pregnancy and birth

The relationship between early-life environment, the epigenome and the microbiota – Amber V Majnik – Epigenomics

Human oral microbiome

The impact of different DNA extraction methods on the analysis of microbial diversity of oral saliva from healthy youths by polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis – Ming Chen – Journal of Dental Sciences

Human gut microbiome

Characterizing the fecal microbiota of infants with botulism – T. Brian Shirey – Microbiome

Early-Life Exposure to Antibiotics, Alterations in the Intestinal Microbiome, and Risk of Metabolic Disease in Children and Adults – Sushmita G. Yallapragada – Pediatric Annals

Impact of demographics on human gut microbial diversity in a US Midwest population – Jun Chen – PeerJ Preprint

Review: Feeding the brain and nurturing the mind: Linking nutrition and the gut microbiota to brain development – Manu S. Goyal – PNAS

Review: Metagenomic cross-talk: the regulatory interplay between immunogenomics and the microbiome – Maayan Levy – Genome Medicine

Review: The relationship between early-life environment, the epigenome and the microbiota – Amber V Majnik – Future Medicine

Microbiome models

Gut Commensal E. coli Proteins Activate Host Satiety Pathways following Nutrient-Induced Bacterial Growth – Jonathan Breton – Cell Metabolism

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

From Rare to Dominant: A Fine-Tuned Soil Bacterial Bloom during Petroleum Hydrocarbon Bioremediation – Sebastián Fuentes – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Metabarcoding analysis of Phytophthora diversity using genus specific primers and 454 pyrosequencing – Maria I Prigigallo – Phytopathology

Structures of microbial communities in alpine soils: seasonal and elevational effects – Anna Lazzaro – Frontiers in Microbiology

Effects of long-term radionuclide and heavy metal contamination on the activity of microbial communities, inhabiting uranium mining impacted soils – Silvena Boteva – Environmental Science and Pollution Research

The community structures of prokaryotes and fungi in mountain pasture soils are highly correlated and primarily influenced by pH – Anders Lanzen – Frontiers in Microbiology

Water microbiome

Application of Microfluidic QPCR (MFQPCR) Technique to Monitor Bacterial Pathogens in Beach Water and Complex Environmental Matrices – Muruleedhara Byappanahalli – Environmental Science & Technology Letters

Natural sunlight shapes crude oil-degrading bacterial communities in northern Gulf of Mexico surface waters – Hernando P. Bacosa – Frontiers in MIcrobiology

Bacterioplankton community resilience to ocean acidification: evidence from microbial network analysis – Yu Wang – ICES Journal of Marine Sciences

Microbial Diversity and Bioactive Substances in Disease Suppressive Composts from India – C. M. Mehta – Compost Science & Utilization

Extremophile microbiome

Microbial metagenomics of oil sands tailings ponds: small bugs, big data – Julia M. Foght – Genome

Built environment microbiome

Changes in Microbes of the Built Environment in Early Stages of Urbanization – Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello

Microbiome of death

The impact of carrion decomposition on the fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) profiles of soil microbial communities in southern Canada – Heloise Breton – Canadian Society of Forensic Science Journal

Metagenomics and bioinformatics

Assembly: a resource for assembled genomes at NCBI – Nucleic Acid Research

Web Resources for Metagenomics Studies – Pravin Dudhagara – Genomics, Proteomics & Bioinformatics

Metagenome Analysis Exploiting High-Throughput Chromosome Conformation Capture (3C) Data – Martial Marbouty – Trends in Genetics

EBI metagenomics in 2016 – an expanding and evolving resource for the analysis and archiving of metagenomic data – Alex Mitchell – Nucleic Acids Research

probeBase—an online resource for rRNA-targeted oligonucleotide probes and primers: new features 2016 – Daniel Greuter – Nucleic Acids Research

Microbial ecology / more microbiology

Review: Microbial Invasions: The Process, Patterns, and Mechanisms – Cyrus Alexander Mallon – Trends in Microbiology

Review: Microbial diversity — exploration of natural ecosystems and microbiomes
Sean M Gibbons – Current Opinion in Genetics & Development

Microbes As Friends, Not Foes: Shifting the Focus from Pathogenesis to Symbiosis – Sheila A. Homburger – The American Biology Teacher

Microbes in the news

Leading Antibiotic Doomsayer Mellows on Infection Armageddon – Michael Byrne – Motherboard
and
I believed we would face an antibiotics apocalypse – until now – Richard James – The Guardian

TardigradesInside the Bizarre Genome of the World’s Toughest Animal – Ed Yong – The Atlantic

C&EN Talks With Microbiome Surveyor Stefanie Kandels-Lewis: The laboratory technician turned fixer kept the Tara Oceans project, an expedition to map the oceans’ microbial populations, afloat for four years – Sarah Everts – C&EN

Kiwi scientists invent stomach ulcer cure – Olivia Wannan – Stuff NZ

A Doctor Wrestles With Whether To Keep Wearing His White Coat – John Henning Schumann – NPR

When will the world wake up to the potential of poo power? – John Vidal – The Guardian

At TEDMED 2015: How microbiome studies could improve the future of humanity – ScopeBlog

Two Types of Diet May Protect Against Type 2 Through Regulation of Gut Microbiota – Diabetes in Control

Symberix lands two SBIRs for GI drug that targets the microbiome – Meghana Keshavan – MedCity News

Diet study overturns all we know about healthy eating – Israel21c

Liberia monitors over 150 Ebola contacts as virus re-emerges – James Harding Giahyue – Reuters

Now We Can Use Microbes to Make Designer Chocolate Flavors – Esther Inglis-Arkell – Gizmodo

Fossils show sign of ancient vampire microbes – Punctures in fossils suggest predation drove the evolution of self-defense systems – Thomas Sumner – Student Science

Science, publishing and career

Stepping Away from the Lab:Emilie, Can I Ask You? Why I made the decision to leave academic research and become an editor.- Cell

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November 19, 2015

Fungal dysbiosis in Crohn’s disease, a vagina monologue, stool sample storage, giraffe poop, Yellowstone lake, and extraction of bacteriophages.

Pregnancy and birth

Helminth infection, fecundity, and age of first pregnancy in women – Aaron D. Blackwell – Science

A Vagina Monologue: Mom’s Stress, Bugs, and Baby’s Brain – William A. Banks – Endocrinology

Human respiratory microbiome

The sinonasal bacterial microbiome in health and disease – Vijay R. Ramakrishnan – Current Opinion in Otolaryngology & Head & Neck Surgery

Human vaginal microbiome

Cervical intraepithelial neoplasia disease progression is associated with increased vaginal microbiome diversity – A. Mitra – Scientific Reports

Human urinary tract microbiome

Role of the Gut Microbiome in Uremia: A Potential Therapeutic Target – Ali Ramezani – American Journal of Kidney Diseases

Human gut microbiome

Fungal dysbiosis in mucosa-associated microbiota of Crohn’s disease patients
Giuseppina Liguori – Journal of Crohn’s and Colitis

Celiac Disease Genomic, Environmental, Microbiome, and Metabolomic (CDGEMM) Study Design: Approach to the Future of Personalized Prevention of Celiac Disease – Maureen M. Leonard – Nutrients

Sample storage conditions significantly influence faecal microbiome profiles – Jocelyn M Choo – Scientific Reports

Analysis of the Bacterial Diversity in Liver Abscess: Differences between
Pyogenic and Amoebic Abscesses – Miriam E. Reyna-Fabian – Am J Trop Med Hyg

Review: Gut microbiota regulates key modulators of social behavior – Arun Parashar – European Neuropsychopharmacology

Review: Metabolomic insights into the intricate gut microbial–host interaction in the development of obesity and type 2 diabetes – Magali Palau-Rodriguez – Frontiers in Microbiology

Animal models

The effect of microbial colonization on the host proteome varies by gastrointestinal location – Joshua S Lichtman – The ISME Journal

Animal microbiome

Analysis of the distal gut bacterial community by 454-pyrosequencing in captive giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis) – Ousama AlZahal – Zoo Biology

Panamanian frog species host unique skin bacterial communities – Lisa K. Belden – Frontiers in Microbiology

Climate change stressors destabilize the microbiome of the Caribbean barrel sponge, Xestospongia muta – Michael P. Lesser – Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Bacteria in a wood fungal disease: characterization of bacterial communities in wood tissues of esca-foliar symptomatic and asymptomatic grapevines – Emilie Bruez – Frontiers in Microbiology

Water and extremophile microbiome

Shifts in the pelagic ammonia-oxidizing microbial communities along the eutrophic estuary of Yong River in Ningbo City, China – Qiufang Zhang – Frontiers in Microbiology

Distribution of cold adaptation proteins in microbial mats in Lake Joyce, Antarctica: Analysis of metagenomic data by using two bioinformatics tools – Hyunmin Koo – Journal of Microbiological Methods

Geomicrobiology of sublacustrine thermal vents in Yellowstone Lake: geochemical controls on microbial community structure and function – William P. Inskeep – Frontiers in Microbiology

Genome reconstructions indicate the partitioning of ecological functions inside a phytoplankton bloom in the Amundsen Sea, Antarctica – Tom O. Delmont – Frontiers in Microbiology

Book Chapter: Microbiological Monitoring of Lake Baikal – Valentina V. Parfenova – Novel Methods for Monitoring and Managing Land and Water Resources in Siberia

Waste microbiology

Effects of long-term radionuclide and heavy metal contamination on the activity of microbial communities, inhabiting uranium mining impacted soils – Silvena Boteva – Environmental Science and Pollution Research

Seasonal Changes in Bacterial Communities Cause Foaming in a Wastewater Treatment Plant – Ping Wang – Microbial Ecology

Temporal–spatial variation of bacterial diversity in estuary sediments in the south of Zhejiang Province, China – Xiao-Ming Lu – Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

Viruses, metagenomics and bioinformatics

Optimizing protocols for extraction of bacteriophages prior to metagenomic analyses of phage communities in the human gut – Josué L. Castro-Mejía – Microbiome

Comparison of Illumina de novo assembled and Sanger sequenced viral genomes: A case study for RNA viruses recovered from the plant pathogenic fungus Sclerotinia sclerotiorum – Mahmoud E. Khalifa – Virus Research

ve-SEQ: Robust, unbiased enrichment for streamlined detection and whole-genome sequencing of HCV and other highly diverse pathogens – David Bonsall – F1000 Research

More microbiology

Emergence of plasmid-mediated colistin resistance mechanism MCR-1 in animals and human beings in China: a microbiological and molecular biological study – Yi-Yun Liu – The Lancet Infectious Diseases

Microbes in the news

Seafloor communities create electricity. In the digital age, we’re all connected by electricity — and some microbes are too – Meghan Bartels – ScienceLine

Microbe cheerleader: interview with Richard Roberts – Gijsbert Werner – Nature
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November 4, 2015

Lots of upcoming workshops and seminars, genome-wide association of the human gut microbiota, contamination of cord blood units, and bacteria with the rRNA genes on a plasmid, not on their chromosome.

Events

Webinar: The ageing microbiota by Gemma Walton and Annie-Rose Harrison-Dunn – November 17, 2015 – 10AM Paris

Mothur 3-day workshop organized by Pat Schloss – December 16-18, Detroit.

2nd Microbiome R&D and Business Collaboration Congress: Asia – February 29-March 1 2016, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Early career workshop on Microbiology of the built environment (Chicago, IL) – Jack Gilbert lab – April 26-29 2016

Human oral microbiome

Pyrosequencing of Plaque Microflora In Twin Children with Discordant Caries Phenotypes – Meng Zhang – PLOS ONE

Human gut microbiome

In HutteritesGenome-Wide Association Studies of the Human Gut Microbiota – Emily R. Davenport – PLOS ONE

Lactobacillus casei Shirota Supplementation Does Not Restore Gut Microbiota Composition and Gut Barrier in Metabolic Syndrome: A Randomized Pilot Study – Vanessa Stadlbauer – PLOS ONE

Infection microbiology

Microbial Contaminants of Cord Blood Units Identified by 16S rRNA Sequencing and by API Test System, and Antibiotic Sensitivity Profiling – Luís França – PLOS ONE

More microbes

Bacterial clade with the ribosomal RNA operon on a small plasmid rather than the chromosome – Mizue Anda – PNAS

High-throughput 3D tracking of bacteria on a standard phase contrast microscope
K.M. Taute – Nature Communications

Automated image analysis for quantification of filamentous bacteria – Marlene Fredborg – BMC Microbiology

Microbial ecology

Community rescue in experimental metacommunities – Etienne Low-Décarie – PNAS

Microbes in the news

Family dog lowers kids’ asthma risk, proving dirt and bacteria are good for children – Shelley Hazen – Inquisitr

Microbiome expert Martin Blaser to receive Georgetown’s Cura Personalis Award Nov. 3 – EurekAlert

Microbiomes could prove essential in various fields of science, study suggests – Kimberly Nielsen – The Daily Californian

Salivary microbiome of whitetail deer: Mature doe set the rut timetable – Oak Duke – Wellsville Daily Reporter

Finally! New germ exhibit opening at the American Museum of Natural History – Rebecca Rosenthal – North Jersey

Thank heavens, someone figured out which bacteria live on a donkey’s penis – Discover
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/2015/11/03/thank-heavens-

How was the bacteria at York Hospital found?– Dylan Segelbaum – York Daily Record

Worms (and germs) may be the answer to preventing allergies – Jason Tetro – Popular Science

Two Million-Year-Old Bacteria Used Iron “Sunscreen” – Charlotte Ward – RedBrick

Bacteria infecting orange groves is driving up cost of juice; threatens nation’s supply – Sandy Miller – Fox2Now

Science, publishing, and career

EU urges science publishers to adapt to open access: European research commissioner Carlos Moedas has urged journal publishing companies to reshape their business models to an open access system. – LabNews

Supervision: Clear direction: Managing laboratory members as well as a research strategy can be difficult for early-career principal investigators, but help is at hand. – Boer Deng – Nature

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October 29, 2015

Library prep technology, skin communities in urban and rural populations, rarity in aquatic microbes, and the microbiome of solar panels.

Pregnancy and birth

The commensal infant gut meta-mobilome as a potential reservoir for persistent multidrug resistance integrons – Anuradha Ravi – Scientific Reports

Associations between human milk oligosaccharides and infant body composition in the first 6 mo of life – Tanya L Alderete – The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

Human skin microbiome

The Influence of Age and Gender on Skin-Associated Microbial Communities in Urban and Rural Human Populations – Shi Ying – PLOS ONE

Human respiratory microbiome

Review: A comprehensive review of the nasal microbiome in chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) – Mahboobeh Mahdavinia – Clinical & Experimental Allergy

Human gut microbiome

Lactobacillus casei Shirota Supplementation Does Not Restore Gut Microbiota Composition and Gut Barrier in Metabolic Syndrome: A Randomized Pilot Study – Vanessa Stadlbauer – PLOS ONE

DGGE: The duodenal microbiota composition in children with active coeliac disease is influenced for the degree of enteropathy – F. Girón Fernández-Crehuet – Anales de Pediatría (English Edition)

Review: The microbiome and its pharmacological targets: therapeutic avenues in cardiometabolic diseases – Ana Luisa Neves – Current Opinion in Pharmacology

Review: Microbiome impact on metabolism and function of sex, thyroid,
growth and parathyroid hormones – Michał Kunc – Acta Biochimica Polonica

Review: Intestinal Microbiota: From Inflammatory Bowel Disease to Bone Marrow Transplantation – Ernst Holler – Blood

Review: Dysbiotic gut microbiome: A key element of Crohn’s disease – Styrk Furnes Øyri – Comparative Immunology, Microbiology and Infectious Diseases

Infection microbiology

Serum bacterial DNA detection in patients with cholangitis after Kasai procedure – Qianfu Luo – Pediatrics International

Deceiving title (not about microbiome but infection): Breast Implant–Associated Infections: The Role of the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program and the Local Microbiome – Cohen, Justin B. – Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery

Influence of microbiome species in hard-to-heal wounds on disease severity and treatment duration – Dagmar Chudobova – The Brazilian Journal of Infectious Diseases

Animal and bioreactor models

The gut microbiota plays a protective role in the host defence against pneumococcal pneumonia – Tim J Schuijt – Gut

In mice: The Intestinal Microbiota Contributes to the Ability of Helminths to Modulate Allergic Inflammation – Mario M. Zaiss – Cell

Normalization of Host Intestinal Mucus Layers Requires Long-Term Microbial Colonization – Malin E.V. Johansson – Cell Host & Microbe

Microbiota-Dependent Hepatic Lipogenesis Mediated by Stearoyl CoA Desaturase 1 (SCD1) Promotes Metabolic Syndrome in TLR5-Deficient Mice – Vishal Singh – Cell Metabolism

Influences of graphene on microbial community and antibiotic resistance genes in mouse gut as determined by high-throughput sequencing – Yongchao Xie – Chemosphere

The longitudinal effect of a multi-strain probiotic on the intestinal bacterial microbiota of neonatal foals – A. Schoster – Equine Veterinary Journal

A longitudinal assessment of changes in bacterial community composition associated with the development of periodontal disease in dogs – Corrin Wallis – Veterinary Microbiology

Assessment of prebiotic potential of Akpan-yoghurt-like product and effects on the human intestinal microbiota – Beatriz Gullón – Journal of Functional Foods

Relationship between inflammation, the gut microbiota, and metabolic osteoarthritis development: studies in a rat model – K.H. Collins – Osteoarthritis and Cartilage

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Long-term reactive nitrogen loading alters soil carbon and microbial community properties in a subalpine forest ecosystem – Claudia M. Boot – Soil Biology and Biochemistry

Do arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi stabilize litter-derived carbon in soil? – Erik Verbruggen – Journal of Ecology

Editorial: Does Microbial Diversity Confound General Predictions? – Marie Duhamel – Trends in Plant Science

Water microbiome

Review: Rarity in aquatic microbes: placing protists on the map – Ramiro Logares – Research in Microbiology

Waste microbiology

Functional responses and adaptation of mesophilic microbial communities to psychrophilic anaerobic digestion – Eoin Gunnigle – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

An ‘omics’ approach towards the characterisation of laboratory scale anaerobic digesters treating municipal sewage sludge – D.J. Beale – Water Research

Extremophile microbiome

Functional analysis of the archaea, bacteria, and viruses from a halite endolithic microbial community – Alexander Crits-Christoph – BioRxiv

A highly diverse, desert-like microbial biocenosis on solar panels in a Mediterranean city – Pedro Dorado-Morales – BioRxiv

Food microbiology

Microbial community dynamics in thermophilic undefined milk starter cultures – Eugenio Parente – International Journal of Food Microbiology

Metagenomics and bioinformatics

ARK: Aggregation of Reads by K-Means for Estimation of Bacterial Community Composition – David Koslicki – PLOS ONE

Linear-time superbubble identification algorithm for genome assembly – Ljiljana Brankovic – Theoretical Computer Science

Bifidobacteria exhibit social behavior through carbohydrate resource sharing in the gut – Christian Milani – Scientific Reports

Power law analysis of the human microbiome – Zhanshan (Sam) Ma – Molecular Ecology

More microbiology

Bioactive natural products from novel microbial sources – Victoria L. Challinor – Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

Conference report: Bacterial Networks in Cells and Communities – Victor Sourjik – Journal of Molecular Biology

Self-establishing communities enable cooperative metabolite exchange in a eukaryote – Kate Campbell – eLife

Techniques

Library preparation methodology can influence genomic and functional predictions in human microbiome research – Marcus B. Jones – PNAS

Microbes in the news

Scientists Urge National Initiative on Microbiomes – Carl Zimmer – New York Times

Fecal transplant pills: Large-scale production begins: Nonprofit stool bank launched by MIT researchers completes first dose-finding study – GlobeNewsWire
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October 28, 2015

A global microbiome initiative, diversity of bumblebee gut microbes and rhizophere, and the microbiome of Brazilian banknotes.

General microbiome

Microbiology: Create a global microbiome effort – Nicole Dubilier, Margaret McFall-Ngai& Liping Zhao – Nature

A unified initiative to harness Earth’s microbiomes – A. P. Alivisatos – Science

Human gut microbiome

Two healthy diets modulate gut microbial community improving insulin sensitivity in a human obese population – Carmen Haro – Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism

Animal microbiome

Mollusk: Characterization of Bacterial Communities Associated with the Tyrian Purple Producing Gland in a Marine Gastropod – Ajit Kumar Ngangbam – PLOS ONE

Bees: Colony contact contributes to the diversity of gut bacteria in bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) – Annelies Billiet – Insect Science

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Complementarity among plant growth promoting traits in rhizospheric bacterial communities promotes plant growth – Mangal Singh – Scientific Reports

Analysis of the community compositions of rhizosphere fungi in soybeans continuous cropping fields – Li Bai – Microbiological Research

Plant Invasions Associated with Change in Root-Zone Microbial Community Structure and Diversity – Richard R. Rodrigues – PLOS ONE

Water microbiome

Large-Scale Biomonitoring of Remote and Threatened Ecosystems via High-Throughput Sequencing – Joel F. Gibson – PLOS ONE

Food microbiome

A Novel Bacteriophage Targeting Cronobacter sakazakii is a Potential Biocontrol Agent in Foods – Ju-Hoon Lee – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Money microbiome

Molecular Analysis of Bacterial Microbiota on Brazilian Currency Note Surfaces
Tairacan Augusto Pereira da Fonseca – Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health

Microbial Ecology, more microbes

Fungal communities as an experimental approach to Darwin’s naturalization hypothesis
María Camila Morales – Research in Microbiology

Inferring Infection Patterns Based on a Connectivity Map of Host Transcriptional Responses – Lu Han – Scientific Reports

Techniques

DNA Barcoding through Quaternary LDPC Codes – Elizabeth Tapia – PLOS ONE

Metagenomics

Highly divergent ancient gene families in metagenomic samples are compatible with additional divisions of life – Philippe Lopez – Biology Direct

Microbes in the news

Hey Obama, Can We Have a Unified Microbiome Initiative? Yours, the microbiologists – Ed Yong – The Atlantic

Intestinal Worms ‘Talk’ With Gut Bacteria – Talal Al-Khatib – Discovery

Intestinal Worms May Boost Our Immune System By Communicating With Gut Bacteria – Ed Cara – Medical Daily

Collecting dust from the International Space Station: an author Q+A – Sophie Marchant – BioMedCentral Blogs

Antarctic Bacteria Prove Resilient – Glacier Hub

Bacteria-Powered Shirts Vent When You Sweat – Glenn McDonald – Discovery

New Sherwin-Williams paint kills infection-causing bacteria – Nathan Bomey – USA Today

Bacteria Hysteria

Nasty Bacteria Found In Halloween Masks – MSN
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October 22, 2015

Digesting from LAX: Risk of childhood asthma, antibiotic effects on fish microbiome, and interactions between the gut microbiome and Clostridium difficile.

Pregnancy and birth

Claims that placenta has a rich microbiome, which I disagree with. The maternal microbiome and pregnancy outcomes – Chelsea Fox – Fertility and Sterility

Human gut microbiome

Altered fecal short chain fatty acid composition in children with a history of Hirschsprung-associated enterocolitis – Farokh R. Demehri – Journal of Pediatric Surgery

Gut microbiota and the risk of childhood asthma – Priya Venkatesan – The Lancet Respiratory Medicine

Can Helminth Infection Reverse Microbial Dysbiosis? – P’ng Loke – Trends in Parasitology

Can a Bug in the Gut Act Like a Drug in the Brain? – Robert H. Howland – Journal of Psychosocial Nursing

Review: Interactions Between the Gastrointestinal Microbiome and Clostridium difficile – Casey M. Theriot – Annual Review of Microbiology

Animal models

Risperidone-induced weight gain is mediated through shifts in the gut microbiome and suppression of energy expenditure – Sarah M. Bahr – EBioMedicine

Fish: The host effects of Gambusia affinis with an antibiotic-disrupted microbiome – Jeanette M. Carlson – Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part C: Toxicology & Pharmacology

Host and microbiota interactions are critical for development of murine Crohn’s-like ileitis – M Roulis – Mucosal Immunology

Plant, root, and soil biology

Drought-induced piñon mortality alters the seasonal dynamics of microbial activity in piñon–juniper woodland – Daniel D. Warnock – Soil Biology and Biochemistry

Long-term oil contamination increases deterministic assembly processes in soil microbes – Yuting Liang – Ecological Applications

Water microbiome

A Fungal-Prokaryotic Consortium at the Basalt-Zeolite Interface in Subseafloor Igneous Crust – Magnus Ivarsson – PLOS ONE

Food microbiology

Review: Microbial terroir and food innovation: the case of yeast biodiversity in wine – Vittorio Capozzi – Microbiological Research

Review: Microbiome profiling in fresh-cut products – Chiara Gorni – Trends in Food Science & Technology

Infection

Why Do We Feel Sick When Infected—Can Altruism Play a Role? – Keren Shakhar, Guy Shakhar – PLOS Biology

Microbes in the news

Gut researcher issues warning on DIY poo transplants: Q&A with Dr Paul Bertrand on the pros and cons of poo transplants to treat bacterial infections – Jess Davis
– SBS

Surprising source for ancient life biomarker found: It was thought that tetrahymanol was produced primarily by eukaryotes, but a new study suggests many bacteria might also produce the lipid – Stanford

Science, publishing, and career

Why biomedical superstars are signing on with Google. Tech firm’s ambitious goals and abundant resources attract life scientists – Erika Check Hayden – Nature

The Rise of “Quit Lit”: Soon-to-be former academics are taking their grievances public – Colleen Flaherty – Slate
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October 20, 2015

Cohabitation of helminths, bacteria, and host in the gut, diurnal sampling bias in plankton biodiversity, contaminant influence on groundwater microbiome, volatile affairs, and new tools for metagenomics.

Events

Postdoc and grad student Summit — preceding the EMBO Symposium on Aquatic Microeukaryotes: Abstract deadline October 22 – Jonathan Eisen – MicroBEnet

Human oral microbiome

Periodontal clinical and microbiological characteristics in healthy versus generalized aggressive periodontitis families – Mabelle de F. Monteiro – Journal of Clinical Periodontology

Masters Thesis: Caries and the Oral Microbiome of a Native American Population – Michael Tuan – Ohio State University

Human gut microbiome

Review: Cohabitation in the Intestine: Interactions among Helminth Parasites, Bacterial Microbiota, and Host Immunity – Lisa A. Reynolds – The Journal of Immunology

Review: Influences of diet and the gut microbiome on epigenetic modulation in cancer and other diseases – Bidisha Paul – Clinical Epigenetics

Review: Intestinal Microbiota Metabolism and Atherosclerosis – Tian-Xing Liu – Chinese Medical Journal

Animal models

Colonic Lesions, Cytokine Profiles, and Gut Microbiota in Plasminogen-Deficient Mice – Bill Vestergaard – Comparative Medicine

Plant, root, and soil microbiomes

Cyanobacterial composition and spatial distribution based on pyrosequencing data in the Gurbantunggut Desert, Northwestern China – Bingchang Zhang – Journal of Basic Microbiology

Disease in apple orchards: Different bacterial communities in heat and gamma irradiation treated replant disease soils revealed by 16S rRNA gene analysis – contribution to improved aboveground apple plant growth? – Bunlong Yim – Frontiers in Microbiology

A fragrant neighborhood: Volatile mediated bacterial interactions in soil – Kristin Schulz-Bohm – Frontiers in Microbiology

Responses of soil microeukaryotic communities to short-term fumigation-incubation revealed by MiSeq amplicon sequencing – Lin Chen – Frontiers in Microbiology

Epidemic Spread of Symbiotic and Non-Symbiotic Bradyrhizobium Genotypes Across California – A. C. Hollowell – Plant Microbe Interactions

Water microbiome

Influences of diurnal sampling bias on fixed-point monitoring of plankton biodiversity determined using a massively parallel sequencing-based technique – Satoshi Nagai – Gene

Microbial metagenomes from three aquifers in the Fennoscandian shield terrestrial deep biosphere reveal metabolic partitioning among populations – Xiaofen Wu – The ISME Journal

Viral impact on prokaryotic and microalgal activities in the microphytobenthic biofilm of an intertidal mudflat (French Atlantic coast) – Hélène Montanié – Frontiers in Microbiology

Comparative metagenomics reveals impact of contaminants on groundwater microbiomes – Christopher L. Hemme – Frontiers in Microbiology

Particle-association lifestyle is a phylogenetically conserved trait in bathypelagic prokaryotes – Guillem Salazar – Molecular Ecology

Effects of Seasonal Thermal Stratification on the Functional Diversity and Composition of the Microbial Community in a Drinking Water Reservoir – Xiao Yang – Water

Extremophile microbiology

Review: Extremely Thermophilic Microorganisms as Metabolic Engineering Platforms for Production of Fuels and Industrial Chemicals – Benjamin M. Zeldes – Frontiers in Microbiology

Metagenomics and bioinformatics

Snowball: Strain aware gene assembly of Metagenomes – I. Gregor – ArXiv

PEPR: Pipelines for Evaluating Prokaryotic References – Nathan D. Olson – PeerJ preprint

cual­id: globally unique, correctable, and human­friendly sample identifiers for
comparative ­omics studies – John H Chase – PeerJ preprint

Why we need more algal metagenomes – Linda E. Graham – Journal of Phycology

Phages and viruses

Subdiffusive motion of bacteriophage in mucosal surfaces increases the frequency of bacterial encounters – Jeremy J. Barr – PNAS

Microbial Ecology

Interspecies interactions are an integral determinant of microbial community dynamics
Fatma A. A. Aziz – Frontiers in Microbiology

Differentiating between niche and neutral assembly in metacommunities using null models of β-diversity – Caroline M. Tucker – Oikos

Review: Role of the Environment in the Transmission of Antimicrobial Resistance to Humans: A Review – Patricia M. C. Huijbers – Environmental Science & Technology

More microbiology

Self-Protected Nitrate Reducing Culture for Intrinsic Repair of Concrete Cracks
Yusuf C. Ersan – Frontiers in Microbiology

Metabolomics

Review: Volatile affairs in microbial interactions – Ruth Schmidt – The ISME Journal

Microbes in the news

Society for Neuroscience meeting in Chicago : Probiotic bacteria may aid against anxiety and memory problems – Ian Sample – The Guardian

ID Week: How Babies’ Gut Bacteria May Help Find Treatments for C. Diff – Rachael Rettner – Live Science

Video: Speaking of Chemistry: What is the Gut Microbiome? Matt Davenport – American Chemical Society

Study reveals a key role your gut bacteria play in body’s self-defense – David Callahan – Medical Xpress

Gut Microbiome Insights; Obesity and Digestive Health Risks; Delivery Options and Predictors of Failure for Fecal Microbiota Transplantation; among Featured Topics Presented at the American College of Gastroenterology’s 80th Annual Meeting – PR NewsWire

MS conference, Barcelona: Q&A With Helen Tremlett From the University of British Columbia: Gut Microbiome And Its Role In Multiple Sclerosis -HCP Live

Virginia Tech scientists reveal more about how body copes with common gut bacterium – Augusta Free Press

High Starch Diets’ Effects on Stress Response in Horses – Casie Bazay – The Horse

These Bacteria Could Live in Europa’s Ocean – Irene Klotz – Discovery

Local news: Dozens Sick With Shigella Bacteria After Eating At San Jose Restaurant – CBS Local

The Phage is a Lonely Hunter: New research reveals that bacteriophages use slow, staccato movements to hunt bacteria on cell surfaces – Michael Price – SDSU

Creating Healthier Microbiomes, from Conception to Childhood: A Clinical Conversation with Geeta Maker-Clark, MD, and Robert Rountree, MD -Alternative and Complementary Therapies

Microbes and art

Very cool: A Microbiologist Recreated ‘Starry Night’ With Bacteria In A Petri Dish And it’s not too shabby – Priscilla Frank – Huffington Post

Bik’s Picks

Poo turns naked mole rats into better babysitters – Oestrogen in queen mole rat’s faeces drives subordinates to care for her pups – Sara Reardon – Nature News
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October 19, 2015

None of the Elsevier links from my PubMed alert worked today, and I could not find the articles through other searches. So just a short digest with polymicrobial DNA in sepsis patients and a collection of pre-antibiotic bacteria.

Infection microbiome

The development and application of a molecular community profiling strategy to identify polymicrobial bacterial DNA in the whole blood of septic patients – MMP Faria – BMC Microbiology

Rapid metagenomic identification of viral pathogens in clinical samples by real-time nanopore sequencing analysis – Alexander L. Greninger – Genome Medicine

Microbiome models

The gut microbiota modulates host amino acid and glutathione metabolism in mice – Adil Mardinoglu – Molecular Systems Biology

Microbiome engineering could select for more virulent pathogens – Luke McNally – BioRxiv

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Culture-dependent and culture-independent methods reveal diverse methylotrophic communities in terrestrial environments – Özge Eyice – Archives of Microbiology

Other microbiology

The Murray collection of pre-antibiotic era Enterobacteriacae: a unique research resource – Kate S. Baker – Genome Medicine

Microbes in the news

Mac researcher eyes gut bacteria in preventing celiac disease: Elena Verdú – Joanna Frketich – Hamilton Spectator

This is of concern: No time to take safety training, says infected microbiology lab supervisor: report – Ruth Bonneville – Winnipeg Free Press

A super short microbial tour of Paris tombs – Rosin Cerate

How a 500-year experiment to revive dormant microbes could reveal the secrets to cheating time – Alex Riley – Aeon
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October 14, 2015

Gut microbes and the brain, transgenic goats, Salmonella infection of pigs, viral infection in honey bees, and a catalogue of microbial culture media.

Human gut microbiome

Feature: The tantalizing links between gut microbes and the brain – Peter Andrey Smith – Nature

Animal models

Changes in the Porcine Intestinal Microbiome in Response to Infection with Salmonella enterica and Lawsonia intracellularis – Klaudyna A. Borewicz – PLOS ONE

The Effects of GH Transgenic Goats on the Microflora of the Intestine, Feces and Surrounding Soil – Zekun Bao – PLOS ONE

Research highlight: Culinary traditions—revealing the effect of travel and diet on gut microbiota and motility – Gillian Patman – Nature Gastroenterology & Hepatology

Animal microbiome

No apparent correlation between honey bee forager gut microbiota and honey production – Melissa A. Horton – PeerJ

Four Categories of Viral Infection Describe the Health Status of Honey Bee Colonies – Esmaeil Amiri – PLOS ONE

Variable genetic architectures produce virtually identical molecules in bacterial symbionts of fungus-growing ants – Clarissa S. Sit – PNAS

More microbes

Harnessing the landscape of microbial culture media to predict new organism–media pairings – Matthew A. Oberhardt – Nature Communications

Single-Cell Analysis of RNA Virus Infection Identifies Multiple Genetically Diverse Viral Genomes within Single Infectious Units – Marine Combe – Cell Host & Microbe

Microbes in the news

What does your gut microbiome look like? – Katherine Harmon Courage – Popular Science

Microbiome May Predict Colon Cancer Tumor Mutational Status – Neil Osterweil – Medscape

“Studying sanitation is not always the sexiest topic” Stanford study on the effects of toilet facilities on child health in rural Africa – Stanford News

NDSU researcher, students study how bacteria adapts to survive – North Dakota State University

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