April 6, 2016

C-section and gut colonization, N. flavescens in celiac patients, Lactobacillus in the gut, bird or whiskey, bacteria attached to phytodetritus, microbiology in the classroom, and CRISPR to decipher and shape bacterial diversity. And a bad article about women in space.

Event

Microbiome: How Commensal Bacteria Can Be Our Friends – A Talk by Dr. Deepshika Ramanan – April 14, Genspace Brooklyn, NY, Genspace

Organizing 2017 Microbes of the Built Environment conference, call for community input – Lynn Schriml – MicroBEnet

Pregnancy and birth

Cesarean section changes neonatal gut colonization – Jakob Stokholm – Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology

Human respiratory microbiome

Bacterial–viral load and the immune response in stable and exacerbated COPD: significance and therapeutic prospects – Silvestro Ennio D’Anna – International Journal of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Human gut microbiome

Metagenomics Reveals Dysbiosis and a Potentially Pathogenic N. flavescens Strain in Duodenum of Adult Celiac Patients – Valeria D’Argenio – American Journal of Gastroenterology

Th17 responses and natural IgM antibodies are related to gut microbiota composition in systemic lupus erythematosus patients – Patricia López – Scientific Reports

Mining metagenomic whole genome sequences revealed subdominant but constant Lactobacillus population in the human gut microbiota – Maddalena Rossi – Environmental Microbiology Reports

Diminution of the gut resistome after a gut microbiota-targeted dietary intervention in obese children – Guojun Wu – Scientific Reports

DGGE: The Effect of Probiotic Treatment on Patients Infected with the H7N9 Influenza Virus – Xinjun Hu – PLOS ONE

Review: Use your antibiotics wisely. Consequences to the intestinal microbiome – Jorge Cervantes – FEMS Microbiology Letters

Review: Diet, Microbiota, Obesity, and NAFLD: A Dangerous Quartet – Mariana Verdelho Machado – MDPI International Journal of Molecular Sciences

Animal models

Airway bacteria drive a progressive COPD-like phenotype in mice with polymeric immunoglobulin receptor deficiency – Bradley W. Richmond – Nature Communications

Reproduction and Growth in a Murine Model of Early Life-Onset Inflammatory Bowel Disease – Eniko Nagy – PLOS ONE

Intake of Meat Proteins Substantially Increased the Relative Abundance of Genus Lactobacillus in Rat Feces – Yingying Zhu – PLOS ONE

Colitis susceptibility in p47 phox−/− mice is mediated by the microbiome – E. Liana Falcone – Microbiome

Review: Multiscale analysis of the murine intestine for modeling human diseases – Jesse Lyons – Integrative Biology

Animal microbiome

The bird, not the whiskey: Activity of urealytic microorganisms in the gastrointestinal tract of the black grouse Lyrurus tetrix – M. V. Vecherskii – Doklady Biological Sciences

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Zinc treatment increases the titre of ‘Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus’ in huanglongbing-affected citrus plants while affecting the bacterial microbiomes – M.Q. Zhang – Journal of Applied Microbiology

Species Specificity of Bacteria Associated to the Brown Seaweeds Lobophora (Dictyotales, Phaeophyceae) and Their Potential for Induction of Rapid Coral Bleaching in Acropora muricata – Christophe Vieira – Frontiers in Microbiology

Water and extremophile microbiome

Aerobic Vinyl Chloride Metabolism in Groundwater Microcosms by Methanotrophic and Etheneotrophic Bacteria – Margaret Findlay – Environmental Science & Technology

Pyrosequencing analysis of bacterial communities in Lake Bosten, a large brackish inland lake in the arid northwest of China – Lei Zhang – Canadian Journal of Microbiology

Dynamic of bacterial communities attached to lightened phytodetritus – Morgan Petit – Environmental Science and Pollution Research

Waste and pollution microbiology

Detection of the Antimicrobial Triclosan in Environmental Samples by Immunoassay – Ki Chang Ahn – Environmental Science & Technology

Lactic acid fermentation from food waste with indigenous microbiota: Effects of pH, temperature and high OLR – Jialing Tang – Waste Management

Use of PCR-DGGE based molecular methods to assessment of microbial diversity during anaerobic treatment of antibiotic combinations – Sevcan Aydin – Bioresource Technology

Microbial Ecology

Host behaviour–parasite feedback: an essential link between animal behaviour and disease ecology – Vanessa O. Ezenwa – Proceedings of the Royal Society B

Myxococcus xanthus: Positively Frequency-Dependent Interference Competition Maintains Diversity and Pervades a Natural Population of Cooperative Microbes – Olaya Rendueles – Current Biology

Review: Deciphering and shaping bacterial diversity through CRISPR – Alexandra E Briner – Current Opinion in Microbiology

Microbes and education

Nice set of papers in ASM’s Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education:

Microbes in the news

The Scary Thing About a Virus That Kills Farmed Fish – Ed Yong – The Atlantic

Seres Therapeutics: All You Need To Know About What Will Be The First Prescription Microbiome Company – Seeking Alpha

Type IV pili: Appendages Help Microbes Survive Harsh Conditions – Charles Q. Choi – Astrobiology

Not endorsing this article. Microbiotas of men and women are not that different, not much published data on effects of space flight on gut microbiome, and I did not like the suggestion that women will get sick more often. Also, antibiotics ain’t gonna help if women have breast cancer.
Gender generates biological challenges for long duration spaceflight – Evan Gough

So long lithium, hello bacteria batteries? – ScienMag (not to be confused with Science)

Microbes in the news

Targeting the gut microbiome to fight heart disease – American Society for Microbiology

Science, publishing, and career

The Immoral Landscape? Scientists Are Associated with Violations of Morality – Bastiaan T. Rutjens – PLOS ONE

April 2, 2016

Yes, it is technically already April 3, but I only got to do the daily roundup late tonight, so I did not quite get it done in time. C-section and weight influence on infant colonization, dachshunds, crops selecting fungi, post-mortem microbial transmigration

Pregnancy and birth

Birth mode-dependent association between pre-pregnancy maternal weight status and the neonatal intestinal microbiome – Noel T. Mueller – Scientific Reports

Study provides evidence that “vaginal seeding” of infants born by caesarean partially restores microbiota – Amali Lokugamage – BMJ

Relationship between milk microbiota, bacterial load, macronutrients and human cells during lactation – Alba Boix-Amoros – Frontiers in Microbiology

Mode of Delivery Determines Neonatal Pharyngeal Bacterial Composition and Early Intestinal Colonization – David E. Brumbaugh – Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology & Nutrition

Effect of Formula Containing Lactobacillus Reuteri DSM 17938 on Fecal Microbiota of Infants Born by Cesarean-Section – Rodenas, Clara L. Garcia – Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology & Nutrition

Human oral microbiome

Mucosal and salivary microbiota associated with recurrent aphthous stomatitis – Yun-ji Kim- BMC Microbiology

Assessment of oral malodor and tonsillar microbiota after gargling with benzethonium chloride – Yuki Iwamura – Journal of Oral Science

Potential screening and early diagnosis method for cancer: Tongue diagnosis – Shuwen Han – International Journal of Oncology

In vitro: A dual-species microbial model for studying the dynamics between oral streptococci and periodontal pathogens during biofilm development on titanium surfaces by flow cytometry – Anita Manti – Research in Microbiology

Human gut microbiome

Changes in fecal microbiota and metabolomics in a child with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) responding to two treatment periods with exclusive enteral nutrition (EEN) – Lillemor Berntson – Clinical Rheumatology

Renal Failure due to Excessive Intake of Almonds in the Absence of Oxalobacter formigenes – Yngvar Lunde Haaskjold – The American Journal of Medicine

Reanalysis of published data, no apparent new findings: Host genetics is associated with the gut microbial community membership rather than the structure – Peihua Zhao – Molecular BioSystems

Review: Modulatory Effects of Gut Microbiota on the Central Nervous System: How Gut Could Play a Role in Neuropsychiatric Health and Diseases – Shadi S Yarandi – Journal of Neurogastroenterology and Motility

Commentary: Can microbiota research change our understanding of neurodegenerative diseases? – Filip Scheperjans – Neurodegenerative Disease Management

ReviewMicrobes and the mind: emerging hallmarks of the gut microbiota–brain axis
– Kylynda C. Bauer – Cellular Microbiology

Animal models

Distinctly altered gut microbiota in the progression of liver disease – Guoxiang Xie – Oncotarget

Wolbachia confers sex-specific resistance and tolerance to enteric but not systemic bacterial infection in Drosophila – Radhakrishnan B Vasanthakrishnan – BioRxiv

Gut Microbiota and a Selectively Bred Taste Phenotype: A Novel Model of Microbiome-Behavior Relationships – Lyte, Mark – Psychosomatic Medicine

Periodontal dysbiosis linked to periodontitis is associated with cardio-metabolic adaptation to high-fat diet in mice – Maxime Branchereau – American Journal of Physiology Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology

Protocol: The Gut Microbiome in the NOD Mouse – Jian Peng – Part of the series Methods in Molecular Biology

Animal microbiome

Fecal dysbiosis in miniature dachshunds with inflammatory colorectal polyps – Hirotaka Igarashi – Research in Veterinary Science

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Differential response of ammonia-oxidizing archaea and bacteria to the wetting of salty arid soil – Yonatan Sher – Journal of Basic Microbiology

Selection of fungi by candidate cover crops – Maria-Soledad Benitez – Applied Soil Ecology

Unravelling Linkages between Plant Community Composition and the Pathogen-Suppressive Potential of Soils – Ellen Latz – Scientific Reports

Water and extremophile microbiome

Characterization of the prokaryotic diversity through a stratigraphic permafrost core profile from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau – Weigang Hu – Extremophiles

Seasonal and Spatial Changes of Planktonic Bacterial Communities Inhabiting the Natural Thermal Lake Hévíz, Hungary – Gergely Krett – Acta Microbiologica et Immunologica Hungarica

Microbiome of Death

Fluorescently labeled bacteria provide insight on post-mortem microbial transmigration
Z.M. Burcham – Forensic Science International

Food microbiology

Review: Hygienic characteristics and microbiological hazard identification in horse and donkey raw milk – Giampaolo Colavita – Veterinaria Italiana

Waste and pollution microbiology

Microbial communities in riparian soils of a settling pond for mine drainage treatment – Miaochun Fan – Water Research

Metagenomic analysis shows diverse, distinct bacterial communities in biofilters among different marine recirculating aquaculture systems – Zhitao Huang – Aquaculture International

More microbiology

Evaluation of genetic diversity among strains of the human gut commensal Bifidobacterium adolescentis – Sabrina Duranti – Scientific Reports

Metagenomics and bioinformatics

Not sure if this is a good approach; ignores variation between individual human microbiome strains: Reconstruction of bacterial and viral genomes from multiple metagenomes – Vineet K. Sharma – Frontiers in Microbiology

Metabolomics

Harnessing the power of microbial metabolism – Eduardo Santero – Current Opinion in Microbiology

Microbiology and art

BioArt: Joana Ricou shows the Beautiful Similarities of the Microbiome – Labiotech

Rap song: CosmosID Metagenomics: Exploring the Universe of Microbes – CosmosID – YouTube

Microbes in the news

Mythbusters: Human Microbiota – Caroline Ayinon – Yale Scientific

Introducing the “HomeGenome”. Not endorsing this. Exploring the Microcosm Within. Adventures and insights from the microbiome – Conan Milner – Epoch Times

April Fool’s Day microbiome jokes

Thanks to Microbiome Boost, Donuts May Be Beneficial: when paired with P. tursiops – Tim De Chant – PBS

A microbiology of the built environment April Fools’ joke – Jonathan Eisen – MicroBEnet

And of course my own selection: Human-derived microbial strains used for food and beverage production – Elisabeth Bik – Microbiome Digest

Science, publishing, and career

‘Lab Girl’ Is a Fierce, Uplifting, Must-Read Memoir – Hope Jahren is an acute observer, prickly, and funny as hell. – Elizabeth Royte – Elle

March 29, 2016

Microbiota and stroke outcome, viruses and FMT, Arctic polar deserts, sex and dorm rooms (aren’t you curious?).

Pregnancy and birth

A Study of the Infant Nasal Microbiome Development over the First Year of Life and in Relation to Their Primary Adult Caregivers Using cpn60 Universal Target (UT) as a Phylogenetic Marker – Shelley W. Peterson – PLOS ONE

Human respiratory microbiome (see also above)

Pharyngeal carriage of Neisseria species in the African meningitis belt – Kanny Diallo – Journal of Infection

Human gut microbiome

Commensal microbiota affects ischemic stroke outcome by regulating intestinal γδ T cells – Corinne Benakis – Nature Medicine

Transfer of Viral Communities between Human Individuals during Fecal Microbiota Transplantation – Christel Chehoud – mBio

Correlation between diet and gut bacteria in a population of young adults – Lino Mayorga Reyes – International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition

Fecal Microbiota Transfer in Patients With Chronic Antibiotic-Refractory Pouchitis – Andreas Stallmach – American Journal of Gastroenterology

Review: Engineering Human Microbiota: Influencing Cellular and Community Dynamics for Therapeutic Applications – S. Woloszynek – International Review of Cell and Molecular Biology

Review: Metabolic role of lactobacilli in weight modification in humans and animals – Fatima Drissi – Microbial Pathogenesis

Editorial: The Dawning of Microbiome Remediation for Addressing Antibiotic Resistance – Alison Laufer Halpin – Clinical Infectious Diseases

ReviewBeyond Antibiotics: New Therapeutic Approaches For Bacterial Infections – Alan R. Hauser – Clinical Infectious Diseases

Correspondence: The Microbiome: A Biological Mechanism Underpinning the Social Gradient of Musculoskeletal Conditions? – Sharon L Brennan-Olsen – Journal of Bone and Mineral Research

Animal models

Effects of chlorpyrifos on the gut microbiome and urine metabolome in mouse (Mus musculus) – Yanping Zhao – Chemosphere

The Effect of Antibiotics on Associated Bacterial Community of Stored Product Mites – Jan Kopecky – PLOS ONE

Animal microbiome

Effects of Host Plant Factors on the Bacterial Communities Associated with Two Whitefly Sibling Species – Ming-Ming Su – PLOS ONE

Microbial Diversity and Parasitic Load in Tropical Fish of Different Environmental Conditions – Philipp Hennersdorf – PLOS ONE

Potential bacterial core species associated with digital dermatitis in cattle herds identified by molecular profiling of interdigital skin samples – Martin W. Nielsen – Veterinary Microbiology

Plant, root, and snow microbiome

Diversity and distribution of the endophytic bacterial community at different stages of Eucalyptus growth – Paulo Sérgio Balbino Miguel – Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

Book: Microbial Inoculants in Sustainable Agricultural Productivity – Springer

Book: Microbial-mediated Induced Systemic Resistance in Plants
Editors: Devendra K. Choudhary, Ajit Varma – Springer

Water, snow, and extremophile microbiome

Microbial communities in a High Arctic polar desert landscape – Clare M. McCann – Frontiers in Microbiology

Responses of methanogenic and methanotrophic communities to warming in varying moisture regimes of two boreal fens – Krista Peltoniemi – Soil Biology and Biochemistry

Oligotyping and metagenome analyses reveal a high-resolution recurrence that frames potential ecological strategies of North Sea bacterioplankton – M. Chafee – Annual DOE JGI Genomics of Energy & Environment Meeting

Long-term increase in snow depth leads to compositional changes in arctic ectomycorrhizal fungal communities – Luis N. Morgado – Global Change Biology

Patterns and variability in geochemical signatures and microbial activity within and between diverse cold seep habitats along the lower continental slope, Northern Gulf of Mexico – Marshall Bowles – Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography

Surface waters in northern Tanzania harbor fecal coliform and antibiotic resistant Salmonella spp. capable of horizontal gene transfer – Beatus Lyimo – African Journal of Microbiology Research

Book chapter: Planktonic Bacterial Communities in Mountain Lake Ecosystems – Masanori Fujii – Structure and Function of Mountain Ecosystems in Japan

Waste and pollution microbiome

Biodegradation of dispersed Macondo crude oil by indigenous Gulf of Mexico microbial communities – Jian Wang – Science of The Total Environment

The effects of various land reclamation scenarios on the succession of soil Bacteria, Archaea, and fungi over the short and long term – Junjian Li – Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution

Illumina MiSeq sequencing reveals long-term impacts of single-walled carbon nanotubes on microbial communities of wastewater treatment systems – Yuanyuan Qu – Bioresource Technology

Predictive functional profiling using marker gene sequences and community diversity analyses of microbes in full-scale anaerobic sludge digesters – Jing Gao – Bioprocess and Biosystems Engineering

Built environment microbiome

Microbial analyses of airborne dust collected from dormitory rooms predict the sex of occupants – Julia C Luongo – Indoor Air

Microbiological characterization of stable resuspended dust – Nora Kováts – Int J Occup Med Environ Health

Food microbiome

Reducing bias in complex microbial community analysis in shrimp based on propidium monoazide combined with PCR-DGGE – Fei Zhao – Food control

A simple and rapid method for detecting living microorganisms in food using laser speckle decorrelation – Jonghee Yoon – arXiv

Viruses and phages

A strange endocytobiont revealed as largest virus – P Scheid – Current Opinion in Microbiology

More microbiology

A generalized spatial measure for resilience of microbial systems – Ryan S. Renslow – Frontiers in Microbiology

Evaluating the efficacy of the new Ion PGM Hi-Q Sequencing Kit applied to bacterial genomes – Felipe L. Pereira – Genomics

In Vitro Selection of RNA-cleaving DNAzymes for Bacterial Detection – Wenqing Zhang – Methods

Architectural transitions in Vibrio cholerae biofilms at single-cell resolution – Knut Drescher – PNAS

Book: New Weapons to Control Bacterial Growth – Editors: Tomas G. Villa, Miguel Vinas – Springer

Microbes in the news

How bacteria, fungi, and mold are finding a home in high-end kitchens
Scientists and chefs find flavor through fermentation – Lindsey J. Smith – The Verge

Could bugs in the gut offer clues for reducing the severity of stroke? – Eric Boodman – STAT news

Microbial cocktails join fecal transplants in IBD treatment trials
Mark Ratner – Nature Biotechnology News

The Fridge Laser That Detects Bacteria Crawling All Over Food – Rachel Metz – Technology Review

What bacteria lurk in stable dust? – Horsetalk

Humans use ‘sticky molecules’ to hang on to good bacteria in the gut – Stuart Gillespie – University of Oxford

Clostridium botulinum: New Details Emerge on a Notorious Bird-Killing Bacteria – Matt Soniak – Audubon

Swiss study finds E. coli bacteria in ice cubes – The Local

How Dirty Are Public Restrooms, Really? – Stephanie Pappas – Live Science

Gut Microbes Can Evolve From Foe to Friend—And Do It Fast – Ed Yong – National Geographic

Oyster research could lead to food safety strategies – Cookson Beecher – Food Safety News

Why a healthy gut may be the secret to a lean, healthy body – Jennifer Landa – Fox News

Does the 5-Second Rule When You Drop Food Really Work? Here’s What Science Says – Jessica Eggert – Science.Mic

Science, publishing, and career

The seagull of scienceGoogle’s bold bid to transform medicine hits turbulence under a divisive CEO – Charles Piller – STAT news

Andrew Kern on PLoS: Things aren’t what they seem – Storify

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March 25, 2016

A minimal bacterial genome, gut microbes/TMAO/platelets, (pro)phages and genomes, Top 50 unidentified fungi, and Propionibacterium acnes as a contaminant.

General microbiome

Review: Speciation by Symbiosis: The Microbiome and Behavior – J. Dylan Shropshire – BioRxiv

Human gut microbiome
Research highlight: Gut microbes modulate platelet function and thrombosis risk – Irene Fernández-Ruiz – Nature Reviews Cardiology

Combination of human and mouse studies: Gut Microbial Metabolite TMAO Enhances Platelet Hyperreactivity and Thrombosis Risk – Weifei Zhu – Cell

Animal microbiome

Comparison of Fecal Microbiota between German Holstein Dairy Cows with and without Left-Sided Displacement of the Abomasum – Eun-Sik Song – Journal of Clinical Microbiology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Infection with a Shoot-Specific Fungal Endophyte (Epichloë) Alters Tall Fescue Soil Microbial Communities – Xavier Rojas – Microbial Ecology

Distribution patterns of microbial communities in ultramafic landscape: a metagenetic approach highlights the strong relationships between diversity and environmental traits – L Bordez – Molecular Ecology

Spatial and temporal variation of cultivable communities of co-occurring endophytes and pathogens in wheat – Morgane Comby – Frontiers in Microbiology

Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria Inoculation to Enhance Vegetative Growth, Nitrogen Fixation and Nitrogen Remobilisation of Maize under Greenhouse Conditions – Khing Boon Kuan – PLOS ONE

Microbial control of soil organic matter mineralisation responses to labile carbon in subarctic climate change treatments – Kathrin Rousk – Global Change Biology

Water microbiome

Effects of temperature and nutrients on changes in genetic diversity of bacterioplankton communities in a semi-closed bay, South Korea – Hyun Jung Kim – Marine Pollution Bulletin

Built environment microbiome

Imported anthropogenic bacteria may survive the Antarctic winter and introduce new genes into local bacterial communities – Kristian Brat – Polish Polar Research

Waste and pollution microbiome

Consistency between health risks and microbial response mechanism of various petroleum components in a typical wastewater-irrigated farmland – Juan Zhang – Journal of Environmental Management

Metagenomics and bioinformatics

DUDes: a top-down taxonomic profiler for metagenomics – Vitor C. Piro – Bioinformatics

Viruses

Genetic and life-history traits associated with the distribution of prophages in bacteria – Marie Touchon – The ISME Journal

Hyperexpansion of RNA Bacteriophage Diversity – Siddharth R. Krishnamurthy – PLOS Biology

Fungi

Top 50 most wanted fungi – Henrik Nilsson – MycoKeys

Book: Biology of Microfungi – Editors: De-Wei Li – Springer

Book: The Mycota: Environmental and Microbial Relationships – Editors: Irina S. Druzhinina, Christian P. Kubicek – Springer

Techniques

Depletion of Human DNA in Spiked Clinical Specimens for Improvement of Sensitivity of Pathogen Detection by Next-Generation Sequencing – Mohammad R. Hasan – Journal of Clinical Microbiology

Automated Broad-Range Molecular Detection of Bacteria in Clinical Samples – Andries E. Budding – Journal of Clinical Microbiology

Propionibacterium acnes: Disease-Causing Agent or Common Contaminant? Detection in Diverse Patient Samples by Next-Generation Sequencing – Sarah Mollerup

More microbiology

531 kb (473 genes): Design and synthesis of a minimal bacterial genome – Clyde A. Hutchison III – Science

How clonal are bacteria over time? – B. Jesse Shapiro – BioRxiv preprint

Microbes in the news

This man-made cell has the smallest genome ever — but a third of its genes are a mystery – Rachel Feltman – Washington Post

The Mysterious Thing About a Marvelous New Synthetic Cell – Ed Yong – The Atlantic

After 20 Year Quest, Biologists Create Synthetic Bacteria With No Extra Genes – Matthew Herper – Forbes

Scientists Create Tiniest Life Form Yet, Not Sure What It Is – Eric Roston – Bloomberg

Microbes can play games with the mind – Laura Sanders – Science News

SDSU researcher examines link between gut bacteria and metabolic disease – Adriana Millar – The Daily Aztec

What gut bacteria can teach us about cancer treatment: Studies probe link between gut bacteria and treatment effectiveness – Jenn Savedge – Mother Nature Network

ElizabethkingiaSenator seeks answers from CDC on mystery bacteria – Jonathan Stefonek – Daily Register

Study finds vast diversity among viruses that infect bacteria – EurekAlert

Bik’s Picks

Comb jelly ‘anus’ guts ideas on origin of through-gut – Amy Maxmen – Science

Funding Freeze Hits Natural History Museum Collections – Ed Yong – The Atlantic
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March 24, 2016

Two papers on antibiotics in early childhood and obesity, diabetic foot ulcers, vertebrate animal microbiomes, cattle hides, kimchi, human archaeological remains, and high inter-center variability in microbiome results.

General microbiome

Review: Stress as a Normal Cue in the Symbiotic Environment – Julia A. Schwartzman – Trends in Microbiology

Pregnancy and birth

Administration of Antibiotics to Children Before Age 2 Years Increases Risk for Childhood Obesity – Frank I. Scott – Gastroenterology

Antibiotic Exposure During the First 6 Months of Life and Weight Gain During Childhood – Jeffrey S. Gerber – JAMA

Editorial: From Bottles to Diapers: How Manipulating and Exploring the Microbiome Is Defining Newborn Care – Jill L. Maron – Clinical Therapeutics

Research highlight: Gut microbiota dysbiosis precedes NEC – Hugh Thomas – Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology

Human skin microbiome

One step closer to understanding the role of bacteria in diabetic foot ulcers: characterising the microbiome of ulcers – Karen Smith – BMC Microbiology

Human gut microbiome

Colonic Mucosal Epigenome and Microbiome Development in Children and Adolescents – R. Alan Harris – Journal of Immunology Research

Defining the microbial transcriptional response to colitis through integrated host and microbiome profiling – Nicholas Edward Ilott – The ISME Journal

Targeting colorectal cancer-associated bacteria: a new area of research for personalized treatments – T. Faïs – Gut Microbes

Relative Abundance in Bacterial and Fungal Gut Microbes in Obese Children: A Case Control Study – Borgo Francesca – Childhood Obesity

Review: Can attention to the intestinal microbiota improve understanding and treatment of anorexia nervosa? – Jacquelyn Carr – Expert Review of Gastroenterology & Hepatology

Editorial: Fecal Microbiota Transplantation for Ulcerative Colitis: FoMenTing Change? – Flaviano S. Martins – Digestive Diseases and Sciences

Review: Does the Microbiome Cause B27-related Acute Anterior Uveitis? – James T. Rosenbaum – Ocular Immunology and Inflammation

Microbes in blood

The prognostic significance of bacterial DNA in patients with decompensated cirrhosis and suspected infection – Tony Bruns – Liver International

Animal models

The microbiota-derived metabolite indole decreases mucosal inflammation and injury in a murine model of NSAID enteropathy – Gut Microbes

TLR4-Dependent Secretion by Hepatic Stellate Cells of the Neutrophil-Chemoattractant CXCL1 Mediates Liver Response to Gut Microbiota – Amélie E. Bigorgne – PLOS ONE

Animal microbiome

Vertebrate bacterial gut diversity: size also matters – Jean-Jacques Godon – BMC Ecology

Larval growth rate is associated with the composition of the gut microbiota in the Glanville fritillary butterfly – L. Ruokolainen – Oecologia

Host origin and tissue-microhabitat shaping the microbiota of the terrestrial isopod Armadillidium vulgare – Jessica Dittmer – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Presence of pathogenic Escherichia coli is correlated with bacterial community diversity and composition on pre-harvest cattle hides – Jessica Chopyk – Microbiome

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

High Diversity Revealed in Leaf Associated Protists (Rhizaria: Cercozoa) of Brassicaceae – Sebastian Ploch – The Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology

Precipitation shapes communities of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in Tibetan alpine steppe – Jing Zhang – Scientific Reports

Spatial and seasonal influences on culturable endophytic mycobiota associated with different tissues of Eugenia jambolana Lam. and their antibacterial activity against MDR strains – Manila Yadav – BMC Microbiology

Response of enzyme activities and microbial communities to soil amendment with sugar alcohols – Huili Yu – Microbiology Open

Bioprospecting plant-associated microbiomes – Christina A. Müller – Journal of Biotechnology

Water and extremophile microbiome

Abundances, diversity and seasonality of (non-extremophilic) Archaea in Alpine freshwaters – Christoph Reitschuler – Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

Anthropogenic effects on bacterial diversity and function along a river-to-estuary gradient in Northwest Greece revealed by metagenomics – Alexandra Meziti – Environmental Microbiology

Heterotrophic Proteobacteria in the vicinity of diffuse hydrothermal venting – Dimitri Meier – Environmental Microbiology

Waste and pollution microbiology

Response and resilience of soil microbial communities inhabiting in edible oil stress/contamination from industrial estates – Vrutika Patel – BMC Microbiology

Built environment microbiology

Diversity of ribosomal 16S DNA- and RNA-based bacterial community in an office building drinking water system – Jenni Inkinen – Journal of Applied Microbiology

Forensic microbiology

Complications in the study of ancient tuberculosis: Presence of environmental bacteria in human archaeological remains – Romy Müller – Journal of Archaeological Science

Food microbiology

Lentibacillus kimchii sp. nov., an extremely halophilic bacterium isolated from kimchi, a Korean fermented vegetable – Young Joon Oh – Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

Computational modeling

Host Selection of Microbiota via Differential Adhesion – Kirstie McLoughlin – Cell Host & Microbe

Techniques

The real cost of sequencing: scaling computation to keep pace with data generation – Paul Muir – Genome Biology

Multicenter quality assessment of 16S ribosomal DNA-sequencing for microbiome analyses reveals high inter-center variability – Andreas Hiergeist –
International Journal of Medical Microbiology

Genotyping bacterial and fungal pathogens using sequence variation in the gene for the CCA-adding enzyme – Paul Franz – BMC Microbiology

Proteomics

Review: Tackling probiotic and gut microbiota functionality through proteomics – Lorena Ruiz – Journal of Proteomics

Microbes in the news

Can we model how viruses move between species? – Nancy Mendoza – Microbe Post

The Virus That Could Cure Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and More – Jon Palfreman – PBS

Report: Laminate wood flooring risk was underestimated by CDC – Jonathan Eisen – MicroBEnet

Microbiota profiles in patients with colorectal cancer differ from healthy individuals – Healio

Science, publishing and career

Set up a ‘self-retraction’ system for honest errors, says Daniele Fanelli – Nature

Incorporating Primary Scientific Literature in Middle and High School Education – Sarah C. Fankhauser – ASM Science

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March 23, 2016

Today’s Microbiome Digest is dedicated to my sister Charlotte, who passed away last November. It would have been her birthday today.

Pregnancy and birth

Note: no mentioning of extraction controls, many of the Salter contaminants found, figures hard to read. Proceed with caution: Human gut colonisation may be initiated in utero by distinct microbial communities in the placenta and amniotic fluid – Maria Carmen Collado – Scientific Reports

Human skin microbiome

Effects of a New Emollient-Based Treatment on Skin Microflora Balance and Barrier Function in Children with Mild Atopic Dermatitis – Pascale Bianchi – Pediatric Dermatology

Human gut microbiome

Helicobacter pylori Eradication Causes Perturbation of the Human Gut Microbiome in Young Adults – Theresa Wan-Chen Yap – PLOS ONE

Review: Molecular Insight into Gut Microbiota and Rheumatoid Arthritis – Xiaohao Wu – MDPI International Journal of Molecular Sciences

Animal models

Lingonberries reduce atherosclerosis in Apoe-/- mice in association with altered gut microbiota composition and improved lipid profile – Chrysoula Matziouridou – Molecular Nutrition & Food Research

News and views: Barrier regulation: tolerance stops at cell death – Johanna Pott – Nature Immunology

Animal microbiome

Coral-Associated Bacterial Diversity is Conserved Across Two Deep-Sea Anthothela Species – Stephanie N. Lawler – Frontiers in Microbiology

Flow cytometry analysis of the microbiota associated with the midguts of vector mosquitoes – Tibebu Habtewold – Parasites & Vectors

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Distribution and diversity of bacterial communities and sulfate-reducing bacteria in a paddy soil irrigated with acid mine drainage – Han Wang – Journal of Applied Microbiology

PhD thesis: The lichen-associated microbiome: taxonomy and functional roles of lichen-associated bacteria – Margrét Auður Sigurbjörnsdóttir – University of Iceland

Air microbiome

The effect of dust storms on the atmospheric microbiome in the Eastern Mediterranean – Yinon Mazar – Environmental Science & Technology

Water and extremophile microbiome

Cyanobacterial symbionts diverged in the late Cretaceous towards lineage-specific nitrogen fixation factories in single-celled phytoplankton – Francisco M. Cornejo-Castillo – Nature Communications

More microbiology

Horizontal Gene Transfer from Bacteria Has Enabled the Plant-Parasitic Nematode Globodera pallida to Feed on Host-Derived Sucrose – Etienne G.J. Danchin – Molecular Biology and Evolution

Viruses and phages

Discovery of unfixed endogenous retrovirus insertions in diverse human populations – Julia Halo Wildschutte – PNAS

Virological factors that increase the transmissibility of emerging human viruses – Jemma L. Geoghegan – PNAS

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

MEGA7: Molecular Evolutionary Genetics Analysis version 7.0 for bigger datasets – Sudhir Kumar – Molecular Biology and Evolution

ETE 3: Reconstruction, Analysis, and Visualization of Phylogenomic Data – Jaime Huerta-Cepas – Molecular Biology and Evolution

Microbes in the news

Disease Detectives Find A Really Good Reason Not To Drink Date Palm Wine – Rae Ellen Bichell – NPR

Bacteria could be speeding up the darkening of Greenland’s ice – Tim Radford – The Guardian

Unlocking the Mechanics of the Urinary Tract Infection – Lina Zeldovich – The Atlantic

Transplant in training: Journey into the Microbiome! – Karen Gardner – The Frederick News-Post

Diversifying Your Microbiome – Academic Minute with Jack Gilbert – Inside Higher Ed

Methane-Eating Bacteria Could Be a Win-Win for Reducing Emissions, Impacts of Fish Farming – Hannah Furlong – Sustainable Brands

Artificial Sweeteners: A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing? – David A. Johnson – Medscape

Paradigm shift: ‘We need to study lumps of bacteria’ – EurekAlert

Microbial diversity and ‘unique’ cheeses – Yufan Chen – Microbe Post

Old, deep and close to home: the places that scientists are looking for new drugs – Benjamin Thompson and Matt Hutchings- Microbe Post

The bacteria that grow better in SPACE: Tests reveal a certain strain develops faster in microgravity – but no-one knows why – Sarah Griffiths – Daily Mail

Windham schools to close for two days over intestinal bacteria – Jen Steer – Fox8 Cleveland

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March 22, 2016

Eye microbiota and contact lenses, leaf-cutter ant dumps, bacteria help with platinum transformation, metagenomics from a Swedish cave, extreme habitats at home, bacteria on board the ISS, a special issue on Megaviromes, and a recipe for Poop Peeps.

Jobs

Lecturership in Human Microbiome Studies – University of Reading, UK

Pregnancy and birth

Effect of Infant Formula Containing a Low Dose of the Probiotic Bifidobacterium lactis CNCM I-3446 on Immune and Gut Functions in C-Section Delivered Babies: A Pilot Study – L. Baglatzi – Clinical Medicine Insights: Pediatrics

Infection, immunology, and transplantion microbiology

Metagenomic analysis of bloodstream infections in patients with acute leukemia and therapy-induced neutropenia – P. Gyarmati – Scientific Reports

Rifaximin preserves intestinal microbiota balance in patients undergoing allogeneic stem cell transplantation – D Weber – Bone Marrow Transplantation

Gut microbiome–derived metabolites modulate intestinal epithelial cell damage and mitigate graft-versus-host disease – Nathan D Mathewson – Nature Immunology

Crosstalk between microbiota, pathogens and the innate immune responses – Claudia Günther – International Journal of Medical Microbiology

Human oral microbiome

Commentary: Microbiota-derived metabolites modulate tissue homeostasis: relevance to the oral cavity? – Hervé Le Moual – Oral Diseases

Human eye and skin microbiome

Changes in the Eye Microbiota Associated with Contact Lens Wearing – Hakdong Shin – mBio

Human vaginal microbiome

Improvement and automation of a real-time PCR assay for vaginal fluids – E. De Vittori – Forensic Science International

Human gut microbiome

Conference report: Talking about cross-talk: the immune system and the microbiome: A report on the first EMBO conference entitled “Next Gen Immunology—From Host Genome to the Microbiome: Immunity in the Genomic Era”, Feb 2016 – David Zeevi – Genome Biology

Review: An (Anti)-Inflammatory Microbiota: Defining the Role in Inflammatory Bowel Disease? – Burman S. – Digestive Diseases

Review: Gut Microbiota: The Brain Peacekeeper – Chunlong Mu – Frontiers in Microbiology

Review [PDF]: The intestinal microbiota and its role in human health and
disease – Keiko Kataoka – The Journal of Medical Investigation

Editorial: The microbiome as a possible target to prevent celiac disease – Maureen M Leonard – Expert Review of Gastroenterology & Hepatology

Animal models

Mice: Arthritis-induced alveolar bone loss is associated with changes in the composition of oral microbiota – Jôice Dias Corrêa – Anaerobe

Chickens: Dietary High Fluorine Alters Intestinal Microbiota in Broiler Chickens – Qin Luo – Biological Trace Element Research

Tilapia: Abrupt suspension of probiotics administration may increase host pathogen susceptibility by inducing gut dysbiosis – Zhi Liu – Scientific Reports

Animal microbiome

Cellulose-Enriched Microbial Communities from Leaf-Cutter Ant (Atta colombica) Refuse Dumps Vary in Taxonomic Composition and Degradation Ability – Gina R. Lewin – PLOS ONE

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Relic DNA is abundant in soil and obscures estimates of soil microbial diversity – Paul Carini – bioRxiv

Biological role in the transformation of platinum-group mineral grains – Frank Reith – Nature Geoscience

Associations between ectomycorrhizal fungi and bacterial needle endophytes in Pinus radiata: implications for biotic selection of microbial communities – Megan A. Rúa – Frontiers in Microbiology

Functional composition of plant communities determines the spatial and temporal stability of soil microbial properties in a long-term plant diversity experiment – Tanja Strecker – Oikos

No synergistic effects of water and nitrogen addition on soil microbial communities and soil respiration in a temperate desert – Yan Gui Su – CATENA

The role of phosphorus, magnesium and potassium availability in soil fungal exploration of mineral nutrient sources in Norway spruce forests – Nicholas P. Rosenstock – New Phytologist

Climate and edaphic controllers influence rhizosphere community assembly for a wild annual grass – Erin E. Nuccio – Ecology

Temporal distance decay of similarity of ectomycorrhizal fungal community composition in a subtropical evergreen forest in Japan – Shunsuke Matsuoka – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

ReviewThe Functioning of Rhizosphere Biota in Wetlands – a Review – Amir Neori – Wetlands

Water and extremophile microbiome

Experimental evidence that microbial activity lowers the albedo of glaciers – M. Musilova – Geochemical Perspectives Letters

Transcriptional analysis of sulfate reducing and chemolithoautotrophic sulfur oxidizing bacteria in the deep subseafloor – William D. Orsi – Environmental Microbiology Reports

Cave microbiome

Metagenomic Analysis from the Interior of a Speleothem in Tjuv-Ante’s Cave, Northern Sweden – Marie Lisandra Zepeda Mendoza – PLOS ONE

Built environment microbiology

Microbial diversity of extreme habitats in human homes – Amy M. Savage – PeerJ preprint

Growth of 48 built environment bacterial isolates on board the International Space Station (ISS) – David A. Coil – PeerJ

Food microbiology

Isolation and identification of biocellulose-producing bacterial strains from Malaysian acidic fruits – Wen Yi W. V – Letters in Applied Microbiology

Bioinformatics, techniques, and metagenomics

Strain-level microbial epidemiology and population genomics from shotgun metagenomics – Matthias Scholz – Nature Methods

Improving the microbial community reconstruction at the genus level by multiple 16S rRNA regions – Shengqin Wang – Journal of Theoretical Biology

A framework for inferring biological communities from environmental DNA – Andrew Olaf Shelton – Ecological Applications

Review: Next-generation sequencing (NGS) in the microbiological world: How to make the most of your money – Antony T. Vincent – Journal of Microbiological Methods

Metagenomics and viruses

A Next-Generation Sequencing Data Analysis Pipeline for Detecting Unknown Pathogens from Mixed Clinical Samples and Revealing Their Genetic Diversity – Yu-Nong Gong – PLOS ONE

Exploring the virome of cattle with non-suppurative encephalitis of unknown etiology by metagenomics – Daniel Wüthrich – Virology

The Intestinal Eukaryotic Virome in Healthy and Diarrhoeic Neonatal Piglets – Oskar E. Karlsson – PLOS ONE

Special issue of Current Opinion in Microbiology: Megaviromes
Review: Giant viruses come of age – Matthias G Fischer
Review: Giant viruses and the origin of modern eukaryotes – Patrick Forterre

To be or not to be alive: How recent discoveries challenge the traditional definitions of viruses and life – Patrick Forterre – Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences

More microbiology

The mystery of plague in medieval Iceland – Chris Callow – Journal of Medieval History

Microbes in the news

HT: Tomer Altman: Poop Peeps: Today we’re going to make Poop Peeps. Marshmallow Peeps that are shaped like the poop emoji.– Matthew Cetta – Nomageddon

Elizabethkingia, the rare and deadly bacteria that’s sickening people in the Midwest, explained – Julia Belluz – Vox

Forest resilience; can microbes help combat climate change issues faster than genetic adaptations? – Armand Séguin

Controversial New Push to Tie Microbes to Alzheimer’s Disease. A journal article says herpes virus and Lyme disease bacteria are behind the mind-robbing illness, but not all researchers are convinced – Melinda Wenner Moyer – Scientific American

Bacteria Are Revolutionizing Biotech–Here’s Why We Need To Talk About It – Catherine Feuillet – Forbes

Contact Lenses Fill Your Eyes With Bacteria – Mandy Oaklander – Time

Killing Bacteria With Gold Nanodisks And Light – Jennifer Hicks – Forbes

Space gives bacteria room to grow – Dan Satherley – NewsHub

Uncovering bacterial role in platinum formation – University of Adelaide

Top Science Fair Projects Put Stream Data, Bacteria to Work – Dan Swanson – News Channel Nebraska

The Daily Startup: Startups Look to ‘New Frontier’ of Microbiomes to Fight Disease – Wall Street Journal

The Human Microbiome Handbook – Edited by Jason Tetro, Emma Allen-Vercoe

New Bioinformatic Approach Enables Strain-Level Microbial Profiling From Metagenomic Data – Genome Web

Ulcerative Colitis Improves in Multidonor Fecal Transplant Trial – Damian McNamara – MedScape

Blog posts by me:

New papers, March 22, 2016 – Elisabeth Bik – MicroBEnet

Extreme environments at home – Elisabeth Bik – MicroBEnet

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March 17, 2016

Metagenomics of Necrotizing Enterocolitis, sinus irrigation, variation in mice in German facilities, and bacteria vs phage.

Pregnancy and birth

The maternal microbiota drives early postnatal innate immune development – Mercedes Gomez de Agüero – Science

Metagenomic Sequencing with Strain-Level Resolution Implicates Uropathogenic E. coli in Necrotizing Enterocolitis and Mortality in Preterm Infants – Doyle V. Ward – Cell Reports

Human respiratory microbiome

Evaluation of bacterial transmission to the paranasal sinuses through sinus irrigation – Leah J. Hauser – International Forum of Allergy & Rhinology

Human gut microbiome

Fecal Microbiota Transplantation in Children: A Brief Review – Suchitra K Hourigan – Pediatric Research

Forum: Oscillospira: a Central, Enigmatic Component of the Human Gut Microbiota – Tom Konikoff – Trends in Microbiology

Commentary: Recognizing that the microbiome is part of the human immune system will advance treatment of both cancer and infections – Richard L. Gallo – Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology

Review: Low calorie sweeteners and gut microbiota – Kristian Daly – Physiology & Behavior

Animal models

Analysis of factors contributing to variation in the C57BL/6J fecal microbiota across German animal facilities – Philipp Rausch – International Journal of Medical Microbiology

Plant, soil, and root microbiome

Plant versus microbial controls on soil aggregate stability in a seasonally dry ecosystem – Joseph C. Blankinship – Geoderma

Soil microbial communities following bush removal in a Namibian savanna – Jeffrey S. Buyer – Soil

Monitoring benthic microflora in river bed sediments: a case study in the Anllóns River (Spain) – Diego Martiñá Prieto – Journal of Soils and Sediments

Biodiversity gradients in obligate symbiotic organisms: exploring the diversity and traits of lichen propagules across the United States – Erin A. Tripp – Journal of Biogeography

Viruses and phages

Classic Spotlight: Bacteria versus Phage—the Battle Rages! – Tina M. Henkin – Journal of Bacteriology

Techniques

Review: Confocal Microscopy Imaging of the Biofilm Matrix – Sebastian Schlafer – Journal of Microbiological Methods

Metabolomics

Optimization of Metabolomics of defined in vitro gut microbial ecosystems – Dirk K. Wissenbach – International Journal of Medical Microbiology

Review: Challenges of metabolomics in human gut microbiota research – Kirill S. Smirnov – International Journal of Medical Microbiology

Microbes in the News

Subset of E. coli bacteria linked to deadly disease in pre-term infants – Medical Xpress

Our gut microbiome is always changing; it’s also remarkably stable – Science Codex

Meeting report: Microbes in the City: Mapping the Urban Genome – New York Academy of Sciences

Viral Infections May Affect Cystic Fibrosis Patients’ Respiratory Microbiome, Study Says – Daniela Semedo – Lung Disease News

Diverse diets enrich gut microbes – Catharine Paddock – Medical News Today

Mother’s Microbiome Shapes Offspring’s Immunity – The maternal gut microbiome guides neo- and postnatal immune system development, a mouse study shows – Anna Azvolinsky – The Scientist

How bacteria get their magnetic compass – Robert Sanders – Berkeley News

Science, publishing, and career

Blogging for beginners – Andrew David Thaler – Science

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March 16, 2016

Events

Strategies & Techniques for Analyzing Microbial Population Structures (STAMPS) Course 8/3-8/13 – MicroBEnet

Human skin microbiome

An in Vitro Model for the Human Cutaneous Microbial Ecosystem – Danique A. van der Krieken – Acta Dermato-Venereologica

Human oral microbiome

Interactions between Streptococcus oralis, Actinomyces oris, and Candida albicans in the development of multispecies oral microbial biofilms on salivary pellicle – I.M.G. Cavalcanti – Molecular Oral Microbiology

Human respiratory tract microbiome

High genetic diversity of Staphylococcus aureus strains colonising the nasopharynx of Gambian villagers before widespread use of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines – Chinelo Ebruke – BMC Microbiology

Human gut microbiome

Note: data segregate according to studyGene expression profiling gut microbiota in different races of humans – Lei Chen – Scientific Reports

Review: A healthy gastrointestinal microbiome is dependent on dietary diversity – Mark L. Heiman

Review: Gut Microbiota and Obesity: Potential Therapeutic Targets and Probiotic 
Nicole D. White – American Journal of Life Sciences

Animal models

Fuzhuan tea consumption imparts hepatoprotective effects and alters intestinal microbiota in high saturated fat diet-fed rats – Michelle T. Foster – Molecular Nutrition & Food Research

Long-term effects of early life microbiota disturbance on adaptive immunity in laying 
K. Simon – Poultry Science

Rapid evolution of microbe-mediated protection against pathogens in a worm host
Kayla C King – ISME Journal

Impact of 4-epi-oxytetracycline on the gut microbiota and blood metabolomics of Wistar rats
Hongxing Han – Scientific Reports

Animal microbiome

Genomic Analysis of Companion Rabbit Staphylococcus aureus – Mark A. Holmes – PLOS ONE

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Influences of Plant Species, Season and Location on Leaf Endophytic Bacterial Communities of Non-Cultivated Plants – Tao Ding – PLOS ONE

Water and extremophile microbiome

Ecosystem function decays by fungal outbreaks in Antarctic microbial mats – David Velázquez – Scientific Reports

Multi-laboratory survey of qPCR enterococci analysis method performance in U.S. coastal and inland surface waters – Richard A. Haugland – Journal of Microbiological Methods

Built environment microbiome

Potentially harmful secondary metabolites produced by indoor Chaetomium species on artificially and naturally contaminated building materials – I. Došen – Indoor AIr

Food microbiology

Helicobacter pylori in bottled mineral water: genotyping and antimicrobial resistance properties – Reza Ranjbar – BMC Microbiology

Effects of Temperature on Bacterial Communities and Metabolites during Fermentation of Myeolchi-Aekjeot, a Traditional Korean Fermented Anchovy Sauce – Ji Young Jung – PLOS ONE

Viruses and phages

The Formulation of Bacteriophage in a Semi Solid Preparation for Control of Propionibacterium acnes Growth – Teagan L. Brown – PLOS ONE

News & Views: Microbial oceanography: Viral strategies at sea – T. Frede Thingstad – Nature

Lytic to temperate switching of viral communities – B. Knowles – Nature

Microbial Ecology

Closely coupled evolutionary history of ecto- and endosymbionts from two distantly related animal phyla – Judith Zimmerman – Molecular Ecology

Bioinformatics

RiboFR-Seq: a novel approach to linking 16S rRNA amplicon profiles to 
Yanming Zhang – Nucleic Acids Research

Techniques

The US Culture Collection Network lays the foundation for progress in preservation of valuable microbial resources – Kevin McCluskey – Phytopathology

Assessing the impact of long term frozen storage of faecal samples on protein concentration and protease activity – Laura S. Morris – Journal of Microbiological Methods

A modified micro chamber agar spot slide culture technique for microscopic examination of filamentous fungi – Peralam Yegneswaran Prakash – Journal of Microbiological Methods

Microbes in the news

uBiome is World’s First Company to Appoint Citizen-Scientist-in-Residence – PR Web

Incredible images reveal bacteria motor parts in unprecedented detail – Science Codex

Ancient Bacteria With Photosynthesis Were Much More Common Than Previously Thought, Study Finds – Catherine Griffin – HNGN

Viral Remnants Help Regulate Human Immunity: Endogenous retroviruses in the human genome can regulate genes involved in innate immune responses – Jyoti Madhusoodanan – The Scientist

Plastic That Mimics Insect Wings Kills Bacteria, University of California, Irvine Study – Biospace

Early heavy metal exposure can cause permanent changes to gut microbiome and cause a host of diseases – Dave Mihalovic – SOTT

Slice of PLOS: Bacteria’s Social Media – Lauren Richardson – PLOS ONE

“Unsurprisingly, Perlmutter has his critics.” Neurologist David Perlmutter gets to the guts of brain health with surprising advice – SMH.com

Opinion: A Mother’s Microbes: On “vaginal seeding” and the challenge of evidence-based parenting – Rob Knight and Jack Gilbert – The Scientist

Australian Scientists Discover How Gut Bacteria May Prevent Stomach Cancer – MSN

Reduction in dietary diversity impacts richness of human gut microbiota – Science Codex
http://www.nature.com/articles/srep23075

Press might be overinterpreting Mouse seminal microbiome study:
Scientists discover microbiome that may be responsible for male reproductive disorders – EurekAlert

Seminal work. How unruly data led MU scientists to discover a new microbiome – Roger Meissen – Decoding Science

Microbiome: This Type Of Bacteria May Increase Risk Of Reproductive Disorders – Kathleen Lees – HNGN

Science, publishing, and career

Handful of Biologists Went Rogue and Published Directly to Internet – Amy Harmon

Peer-Led Team Learning Helps Minority Students Succeed – Julia J. Snyder – PLOS Biology

Video parody: PloS ANNA VS ELSAvier – For The First Time – Luisa Hugerth -YouTube

Bik’s Picks

A Month in Mammoth. Two sleep researchers braved the subterranean environment of a Kentucky cave to see if they could train their bodies to abandon the cyclical rhythms of the 24-hour day – The Scientist

Night Night, Flipper – Watch underwater footage of a dolphin sleeping in the wild – The Scientist

Scientists Find That Getting Multiple Tattoos Strengthens Your Immune System – Kelly Tatera – Science Explorer

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March 15, 2016

Intrapartum antibiotics and newborn gut microbiota, the seminal fluid microbiome, and xenobiotic metabolism by gut microbes.

General microbiome

Review: The interplay between the microbiome and the adaptive immune response in cancer development – Edda Russo – Therapeutic Advances in Gastroenterology

Pregnancy and birth

Evaluation of the effects of intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis on newborn intestinal microbiota using a sequencing approach targeted to multi hypervariable 16S rDNA regions – Irene Aloisio – Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

Human respiratory microbiome

Neonatal Gastrointestinal and Respiratory Microbiome in Cystic Fibrosis: Potential Interactions and Implications for Systemic Health – Juliette C. Madan – Clinical Therapeutics

Review: Host-microbiome interactions in acute and chronic respiratory infections – Steven Taylor – Cellular Microbiology

Human reproductive tract microbiome

Discovery of a Novel Seminal Fluid Microbiome and Influence of Estrogen Receptor Alpha Genetic Status – Angela B. Javurek – Scientific Reports

Human gut microbiome

Bloom and bust: intestinal microbiota dynamics in response to hospital exposures and Clostridium difficile colonization or infection – Caroline Vincent – Microbiome

Upper Versus Lower Gastrointestinal Delivery for Transplantation of Fecal Microbiota in Recurrent or Refractory Clostridium difficile Infection: A Collaborative Analysis of Individual Patient Data From 14 Studies – Luis Furuya-Kanamori – Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology

Similar depletion of protective Faecalibacterium prausnitzii in psoriasis and Inflammatory Bowel Disease, but not in Hidradenitis Suppurativa – Hester Eppinga – Journal of Crohn’s and Colitis

Review: The role of the gastrointestinal tract and microbiota on uremic toxins and chronic kidney disease development – David Briskey – Clinical and Experimental Nephrology

Review: The microbial pharmacists within us: a metagenomic view of xenobiotic metabolism – Peter Spanogiannopoulos – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Animal microbiome

Vertebrate hosts as islands: dynamics of selection, immigration, loss, persistence and potential function of bacteria on salamander skin – Andrew H. Loudon – Frontiers in Microbiology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Altered carbon turnover processes and microbiomes in soils under long-term extremely high CO2 exposure – Felix Beulig – Nature Microbiology

Metagenomic and functional analyses of the consequences of reduction of bacterial diversity on soil functions and bioremediation in diesel-contaminated microcosms – Jaejoon Jun – Scientific Reports

Bacterial Community Succession in Pine-Wood Decomposition – Anna M. Kielak – Frontiers in Microbiology

Cave microbiome

MiSeq HV4 16S rRNA gene analysis of bacterial community composition among the cave sediments of Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot – Surajit De Mandal – Environmental Science and Pollution Research

Water microbiome

Bacterial diversity and distribution in seven different estuarine sediments of Poyang Lake, China – Ping Sheng – Environmental Earth Sciences

Built environment microbiology

Detection of Balamuthia mandrillaris DNA in the storage case of contact lenses in Germany – Carsten Balczun – Parasitology Research

Viruses and phages

Characterization of Viral Communities of Biting Midges and Identification of Novel Thogotovirus Species and Rhabdovirus Genus – Sarah Temmam – MDPI Viruses

Metagenomic analysis demonstrates the diversity of the fecal virome in asymptomatic pigs in East Africa – Joshua O. Amimo – Archives of Virology

Bacteriophages to reduce gut carriage of antibiotic resistant uropathogens with low impact on microbiota composition – Matthieu Galtier – Environmental Microbiology

Review: Mutualistic viruses and the heteronomy of life – Thomas Pradeu – Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences

Microbial Ecology

Engineering microbial consortia for controllable outputs – Stephen R Lindemann – ISME Journal

Review: The Anthropocene: a conspicuous stratigraphical signal of anthropogenic changes in production and consumption across the biosphere – Mark Williams – Earth’s Future

Book, all chapters written by Thomas CG Bosch and David J Miller. Not free of plagiarism and self-citing: The Holobiont Imperative: Perspectives from Early Emerging Animals – Springer

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

Illumina error profiles: resolving fine-scale variation in metagenomic sequencing data – Melanie Schirmer – BMC Bioinformatics

Microbes in the news

Bacterial biofilms in hospital water pipes may show pathogenic properties – Phys.org

Developed in Prince William, ISOThrive feeds human microbiome – Potomac Local

The first Truth is already not true: 3 Truths and a Lie About the Microbiome. Stick to the science if you want a healthy gut. – Megan Meyer – US News

The microbial death clock – Kai Kupferschmidt – Science
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