November 26, 2020

Greetings from Pittsburgh!

Today’s digest is heavy on environmental microbiology work, especially plant, root, and soil microbiome studies. I also want to highlight a fun research paper (and paired Wired article) on the microbiome of da Vinci’s drawings.

Happy reading! And for all of those in the U.S. who are celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday, please be safe and follow all local COVID precautions.


Multi-site human microbiome

Mycobiome changes in the vitreous of post fever retinitis patients – Arunasri et al. – PLOS ONE

Review: Metabolomics analysis of microbiota-gut-brain axis in neurodegenerative and psychiatric diseases – Konjevod et al. – Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis

Animal experiments

Cerumen microbial community shifts between healthy and otitis affected dogs – Borriello et al. – PLOS ONE

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

The difference between cellulolytic ‘culturomes’ and microbiomes inhabiting two contrasting soil types – Evdokimova et al. – PLOS ONE

Diversity of bacteria populations associated with different thallus regions of the brown alga Laminaria digitata – Ihua et al. – PLOS ONE

High nitrogen concentration alter microbial community in Allium fistulosum rhizosphere – Zhao et al. – PLOS ONE

Diversity, function and assembly of mangrove root-associated microbial communities at a continuous fine-scale – Zhuang et al. – npj Biofilms and Microbiomes

Water and extremophile microbiome

Shifts in methanogenic archaea communities and methane dynamics along a subtropical estuarine land use gradient – Euler et al. – PLOS ONE

Built environment

**The microbiome of Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings: A bio-archive of their history – Piñar et al. – Frontiers in Microbiology

Microbes in the news

**Meet the microbes living on Da Vinci’s iconic sketches – Simon – Wired

Science, publishing, and career

Postdocs under pressure: ‘Can I even do this any more?’ – Woolston – Nature

November 5, 2020

Hello, friends!

I’m an American who grew up in North Carolina, lived in Georgia for many years, and now counts Pennsylvania as home. All of this is to say, I’ve been especially consumed by the US election this morning and so today’s digest is tailor made to distract me for a few hours. It contains a heavy dose of general microbiome, environmental microbiology, and microbial ecology articles. If you need a bigger distraction than usual, I’ve highlighted a few articles that I am particularly looking forward to reading and am using this space as an opportunity to reintroduce myself and share why these articles have peaked my interest.

I completed my PhD research on the cockroach gut microbiome and through this work, I realized how complex microbiome-host-environmental interactions can be. Because of this, my first highlighted article is a review about cockroach-associated microbes. Currently, I work in a national lab studying environmental-associated microbes (and their functional capacity!) in a variety of different energy-associated environments. It’s no wonder I’m excited to read the second highlighted article focused on novel soil microbes found in an abandoned coal mine! I’m also very hungry at the moment, so as soon I read the phrase “smoked cow cheese” I was motivated to explore my cheese drawer as well as think more about microbial food safety and the microbial production of favor compounds. Finally, I love musical theater and science outreach, so I’m delighted to share a mouldy article that combines both passions.

Happy reading, everyone!


General microbiome

Review: The pneumococcal social network – Aggarawal et al. – PLOS Pathogens

Expanding magnetic organelle biogenesis in the domain Bacteria – Lin et al. – Microbiome

Gene duplication drives genome expansion in a major lineage of Thaumarchaeota – Sheridan et al. – Nature Communications

Metatranscriptomic analysis reveals active microbes and genes responded to short-term Cr(VI) stress – Yu et al. – Ecotoxicology

Effects of heavy ion particle irradiation on spore germination of Bacillus spp. from extremely hot and cold environments – Zammuto et al. – Life
Human gut microbiome

Gut microbiome

Gut microbiota ecology: Biodiversity estimated from hybrid neutral-niche model increases with health status and aging – Sala et al. – PLOS ONE

Implication of gut microbiota in the physiology of rats intermittently exposed to cold and hypobaric hypoxia – Ramos-Romero et al. – PLOS ONE

Animal microbiome

Exploring the resident gut microbiota of stranded odontocetes: high similarities between two dolphin species Tursiops truncatus and Stenella coeruleoalba – Abdelrhman et al. – Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the UK

**Review: Bacteria associated with cockroaches: health risk or biotechnological opportunity? – Guzman & Vilcinskas – Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

Water and extremophile microbiome

Impact of land uses, drought, flood, wildfire, and cascading events on water quality and microbial communities: A review and analysis – Mishra et al. – Journal of Hydrology

Dams shift microbial community assembly and imprint nitrogen transformation along the Yangtze River – Gao et al. – Water Research

Built environment

**Isolation and characterization of soil bacteria from an abandoned coal mine in southeast Kansas – Bechtold et al. – BioOne Complete

Review: Understanding building-occupant-microbiome interactions toward healthy built environments – Li et al. – Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering

Food microbiology

**Microbial quality of smoked cow cheese “Parencia” – Kačániová et al. – Scientific Papers: Animal Science and Biotechnologies

Phages and viruses

Virome of bat guano from nine northern California roosts – Li et al. – Journal of Virology

Bioinformatics

The IMG/M data management and analysis system v.6.0: new tools and advanced capabilities – Chen et al. – Nucleic Acids Research

PhANNs, a fast and accurate tool and web server to classify phage structural proteins – Cantu et al. – PLOS Computational Biology

Techniques

Low-cost biofuel-powered autoclaving machine for use in rural health care centres – Ahmed et al. – Journal of Medical Engineering & Technology

**‘The Mould that Changed the World’: Quantitative and qualitative evaluation of children’s knowledge and motivation for behavioural change following participation in an antimicrobial resistance musical – Hall et al. – PLOS ONE

Harnessing the power of eDNA metabarcoding for the detection of deep-sea fishes – McClenaghan et al. – PLOS ONE

August 21, 2020

Events
HAPPENING TODAY: Microbiome sequencing in high-host and low biomass samples. August 21, 2020.

Webinar Series on the Gut-Brain Axis and the Microbiome
August 28, 2020 – September 25, 2020

Funding
Functional effects of the human gut microbiome on autism. Biocodex Microbiota Foundation

Human microbiome
Focus on Microbiome in Health and Disease – A special microbiome issue in Cell Host Microbe

REVIEW: The Impact of the Microbiome on Immunity to Vaccination in Humans. Sanne E. de Jong et al. Cell Host & Microbe.

REVIEW: The Gut Microbiota and Unhealthy Aging: Disentangling Cause from Consequence. Erica N. DeJong et al. Cell Host & Microbe.

Helminth coinfection and COVID-19: An alternate hypothesis. Russell Hays et al. PLoS Negleced Tropical Diseases.

Gut microbiome
REVIEW: Mitochondria, the gut microbiome and ROS. and ROS. J. William O.Ballard & Samuel G. Towarnicki. Cellular Signalling.

Stool Microbiome Profiling of Patients with Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma Receiving Anti–PD-1 Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors. Nicholas J. Salgia et al. European Urology.

Programing of an Intravascular Immune Firewall by the Gut Microbiota Protects against Pathogen Dissemination during Infection. Braedon McDonald et al. Cell Host & Microbe

Oral microbiome
Analysis of microbial changes in the tonsillar formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue of Chinese patients with IgA nephropathy. Anchao Zhu. Pathology – Research and Practice

Early life microbiome
Breastmilk Feeding Practices Are Associated with the Co-Occurrence of Bacteria in Mothers’ Milk and the Infant Gut: the CHILD Cohort Study. Kelsey Fehr et al. Cell Host & Microbe.

Animal microbiome
Effects of Urbanization and Landscape on Gut Microbiomes in White-Crowned Sparrows. Mae Berlow. Microbial Ecology

Built environment
Passenger-surface microbiome interactions in the subway of Mexico City. Daniela Vargas-Robles et al. PLoS One.

Plant, root, and soil microbiome
Plant resistance and leaf chemical characteristic jointly shape phyllosphere bacterial community. Tian Xueliang. World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology.

The role of land management and elevation in shaping soil microbial communities: Insights from the Central European Alps. Nadine Praega. Soil Biology and Biochemistry.

Composition, predicted functions, and co-occurrence networks of fungal and bacterial communities_ Links to soil organic carbon under long-term fertilization in a rice-wheat cropping system. Jie Chen. European Journal of Soil Biology

Diversity and structure of prokaryotic communities within organic and conventional farming systems in central highlands of Kenya. Edward Nderitu Karanja et al. PLoS One.

Water and wastewater
Turning harmful algal biomass to electricity by microbial fuel cell: A sustainable approach for waste management. Jafar Ali. Environmental Pollution.

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

Viruses
They are what you eat: Shaping of viral populations through nutrition and consequences for virulence. Rebekah Honce & Stacey Schultz-Cherry. PLoS Pathogens.

Bioinformatics
Assembly methods for nanopore-based metagenomic sequencing: a comparative study. Adriel Latorre-Pérez. Scientific Report.

Completion of draft bacterial genomes by long-read sequencing of synthetic genomic pools. Hooman Derakhshani et al. BMC Genomics.

Modeling microbial cross-feeding at intermediate scale portrays community dynamics and species coexistence. Chen Liao et al. PLoS Computational Biology

Pre-print
Bacterial modification of the host glycosaminoglycan heparan sulfate modulates SARS-CoV-2 infectivity. Cameron Martino et al. bioRxiv

Evaluation of Compatibility of 16S rRNA V3V4 and V4 Amplicon Libraries for Clinical Microbiome Profiling. Po-Yu Liu et al.bioRxiv

Shirin’s non-microbiology picks
MICROBIOME ART: François-Joseph Lapointe, when biology meets art. Jihane Mossalim. Convergence Initiative.

BEHIND THE PAPER: Early-life microbiota diversification facilitates enterocyte proliferation. Michael Dougherty. Nature Microbiology Research Community

JOP OPPURTUNITY: PhD positions in the ecology and evolution of metabolic cross-feeding interactions in soil-living bacterial communities and the gut microbiota in protecting the host against intestinal colonisation by multidrug-resistant organisms

June 2, 2020

Happy Month of June to all,
June serves as the national month for Alzheimer’s and brain awareness. So I will start today’s digest with some news articles about the same.
Further the digest covers some very fascinating research articles about how the microbiome influences transcriptional profile in Drosophila melanogaster to peripheral blood microbial signatures in COPD. Digest also features some awesome microbe related science communication articles.
Enjoy reading!!!
Have a Safe, Healthy, Happy, and Productive month ahead.


Alzheimer’s and brain awareness news posts

Alzheimer’s & Brain Awareness Month 2020 – Bankston – ASBMB Today

Could the gut microbiome be linked to autism? – Svoboda – Nature Outlook

General microbiome
*Interactions between the microbiome and mating influence the female’s transcriptional profile in Drosophila melanogaster – Delbare et al – bioRxiv

Phenotypic changes of bacteria through opportunity and global methylation leads to antibiotic resistance – Neerathilingam et al – bioRxiv

Human nearly-sterile sites
Peripheral blood microbial signatures in COPD – Morrow et al – bioRxiv

Human gut microbiome
Prebiotics and community composition influence gas production of the human gut microbiota – Yu et al – bioRxiv

Short-term High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) Exercise Does Not Affect Gut Bacterial Community Diversity or Composition of Lean and Overweight Men -Rettedal et al – Experimental Physiology

Animal experiments
Integrative omics analysis of the termite gut system adaptation to Miscanthus diet identifies lignocellulose degradation enzymes – Clusinska et al – Communications Biology

Water and extremophile microbiome
Phylum-level Diversity of the Microbiome of the Extremophilic Basidiomycete Fungus Pisolithus Arhizus (Scop.) Rauschert: An Island of Biodiversity in a Thermal Soil Desert – Culling et al – MicrobiologyOpen

Food microbiology
Lactobacillus Rhamnosus 2016SWU.05.0601 Regulates Immune Balance in Ovalbumin-Sensitized Mice by Modulating the Immune-Related Transcription Factors Expression and Gut Microbiota – Song et al – Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture

Techniques
Harnessing Ultrasound-Stimulated Phase Change Contrast Agents to Improve Antibiotic Efficacy Against Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Biofilms – Durham et al – bioRxiv

Microbiome Science communication articles
The hunt for a healthy microbiome – Eisenstein – Nature Outlook

The complex relationship between drugs and the microbiome – Savage -Nature Outlook

The Infant Gut Microbiome and Probiotics that Work – Smilowitz and Taft – The Scientist

Clearing up of toxic pollutants using a bacterial protein

A science communication commentary on a recently published paper


Most pollutants are introduced in our environment in the form of herbicides, pesticides, and industrial effluents. The aromatic phenolic compounds, produced by a variety of industries, including phenol-formaldehyde resin, petrochemical plants, coal conversion, and leather processing make up for a major percentage of these pollutants. Improper treatment of these toxic pollutants can lead to heavily contaminated soil and groundwater.

Microorganisms particularly the bacterial species termed as Pseudomonas sp. have been used for a long time to clean up phenol from water in treatment plants. One such (methyl) phenol-degrading strain Pseudomonas putida KCTC 1452 has been studied with respect to its metabolic pathways involved in biodegradation.  The bacterium uses a protein called as DmpR, an acronym for di-methyl phenol regulator, for phenol degradation. While DmpR protein has been used in biosensors for detection of  pollutants in environment, the exact mechanism of DmpR activation has puzzled researchers for many years.

A recent study made a breakthrough by solving the molecular structure of the protein, DmpR when bound to phenol. The challenge was overcome by an international team of researchers from three different countries. Scientists from the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB), South Korea worked together with scientists from the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience Delft, Netherlands and the Department of Molecular Biology, Umea University, Sweden to understand the mechanism of DmpR by solving its phenol-bound crystal structure. This study published in Nature Communications, provides valuable insights into the oligomerization and the signal transduction mechanism of DmpR, which eventually results in degradation of phenolic pollutants.

The team led by Dr. Eui Jeon Woo at the Disease Target Structure Research Center, KRIBB and  Dr. Chirlmin Joo at the Department of Bionanoscience, at the Kavli Institute pioneered the DmpR structural studies advancing the DmpR biosensor technology field. Their discovery of the tetrameric oligomerization state, in contrast to previously thought hexameric state, of the protein helped in understanding its binding to signal transduction factors. The researchers also discovered that protein itself does not utilize energy from hydrolysis of ATP, the cellular currency, to attain oligomeric state but rather directs the energy towards signal transduction and transcriptional activation of proteins involved in the (methyl)phenol-degradative system. With a better understanding of this protein structure and function, highly sensitive whole-cell biosensors can be engineered which can sense and degrade these toxic pollutants. Such sensors can help to prevent accumulation of toxic chemicals that could otherwise cause serious ecological damage as well as contaminate food supplies.  Similarly, DmpR related proteins could also be developed as biosensors that can be used to test different pollutant levels present in the water bodies for protection of the aquatic flora and fauna, thus helping towards preserving ecological niches.

Citation: Park, K., Kim, S., Lee, S. et al. Tetrameric architecture of an active phenol-bound form of the AAA+ transcriptional regulator DmpR. Nat Commun 11, 2728 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-16562-5


Arti Dumbrepatil is a science writer. She did her postdoctoral work at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA. During her tenure at the University of Michigan, she has worked as a Science Communication Fellow (at the Natural History Museum, UMICH) and as a Science Communication Writer (LSA, UMICH). Arti continues to write as a contributing science writer to American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB),Microbiome Digest,Bio Voice News.

Twitter @rtisciwrites

May 28, 2020

Hello and welcome to today’s microbiome digest! It’s a compact digest, but quite diverse. You will find a study investigating the effect of high-fat diet in Drosophila found a microbiota-dependent activation of stem-cells; electronic cigarettes were found to negatively influence the oral microbiome, and glycan epitopes present on enveloped viruses (as COVID-19) can be targeted and neutralized by human antibodies against these foreign glycan structures.
Finally, a helpful article during Corona-times, when more and more courses and meetings are held online, features the use of FAIR training material: Ten simple rules for making training materials FAIR. Enjoy!


COVID-19

Is social connectedness a risk factor for the spreading of COVID-19 among older adults? The Italian paradox – Giuseppe Liotta – PLOS ONE


General microbiome

Review: Enhancing bacterial survival through phenotypic heterogeneity – Leila M. Reyes Ruiz – PLOS PATHOGENS

Human respiratory microbiome

Adverse effects of electronic cigarettes on the disease-naive oral microbiome – Sukirth M. Ganesan – Science Advances

Human gut microbiome

Preprint: Shotgun Metagenomics of 361 elderly women reveals gut microbiome change in bone mass loss – Qi Wang – BioRxiv

Permissive microbiome characterizes human subjects with a neurovascular disease cavernous angioma – Sean P. Polster – Nature Communications

Persistent Diarrhea in Patients With Crohn’s Disease After Mucosal Healing Is Associated With Lower Diversity of the Intestinal Microbiome and Increased Dysbiosis – Karen Boland – Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology

Fecal microbiota transplantation in systemic sclerosis: A double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized pilot trial – Havard Fretheim – PLOS ONE


Animal experiments

A high-fat diet induces a microbiota-dependent increase in stem cell activity in the Drosophila intestine – Jakob con Frieling – PLOS GENETICS

The cecal and fecal microbiomes and metabolomes of horses before and after metronidazole administration – Carolyn E. Arnold – PLOS ONE

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Functional diversity of rhizosphere soil microbial communities in response to different tillage and crop residue retention in a double-cropping rice field – Haiming Tang – PLOS ONE

Water and extremophile microbiome

Microbiome analysis of healthy and diseased sponges Lubomirskia baicalensis by using cell cultures of primmorphs – Lubov Chernogor – PeerJ

Built environment

The use of ozone gas for the inactivation of Bacillus anthracis and Bacillus subtilis spores on building materials – Joseph P. Wood – PLOS ONE


Phages and viruses

* Harnessing the natural anti-glycan immune response to limit the transmission of enveloped viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 – Adrien Breiman – PLOS PATHOGENS

Review: A viral journey to the brain: Current considerations and future developments – Nilda Vanesa Ayala-Nunez – PLOS PATHOGENS

Bioinformatics

Preprint: A global data-driven census of Salmonella small proteins and their potential functions in bacterial virulence – Elisa Venturini – BioRxiv

Techniques

Preprint: Fluorescent secreted bacterial effectors reveal an intravacuolar replication compartment for Listeria monocytogenes – Caroline Peron Cane – BioRxiv


Science, publishing, and career

2 Art Gallery Shows to Explore From Home – The New York Times – Check out the art by Anika Yi


Judith’s non-microbiology picks

* Ten simple rules for making training materials FAIR – Leyla Garcia – PLOS COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY

May 22, 2020

We’ve got a decently sized digest today with a lot of environmental microbe papers, including descriptions of novel species. There is also the Cell paper (highlighted) from Peter Turnbaugh’s group on ketogenic diets and the gut microbiome, which has been getting a lot of press. For new bioinformatic and other techniques, we have a new R package to predict functional profiles in Tax4Fun2, an assessment of phylogenetic rooting methods for bacteria, and a description of fiber intervention used in undergraduate classes for active learning.

 Have a great weekend!

Events

Today is the last day of the Virtual Microbiome Summit.

Pregnancy and early life

Women’s multisite microbial modulation during pregnancy – Luiz G. Sparvoli – Microbial Pathogenesis

Multi-site human microbiome

Review: Bi-Directional Interactions Between Microbiota and Ionizing Radiation in Head and Neck and Pelvic Radiotherapy-Clinical Relevance – Nidhya Teresa Joseph – International Journal of Radiation Biology

Human oral microbiome

Defining the oral microbiome by whole-genome sequencing and resistome analysis: the complexity of the healthy picture – Elisabetta Caselli – BMC Microbiology

Human gut microbiome

Ketogenic diets alter the gut microbiome resulting in decreased intestinal Th17 cells – Qi Yan Ang – Cell

Preprint: Host genetic and environmental factors shape the human gut resistome – Caroline I. Le Roy – bioRxiv

MinION Sequencing of colorectal cancer tumour microbiomes—A comparison with amplicon-based and RNA-Sequencing – William S. Taylor – PLOS One (Originally posted to the Digest as a pre-print, now published)

Animal experiments

Broilers divergently selected for digestibility differ for their digestive microbial ecosystems – Marion Borey – PLOS One

Dietary Isomalto/Malto‐Polysaccharides Increase Fecal Bulk and Microbial Fermentation in Mice – Rima H. Mistry – Molecular Nutrition and Food Research

Longitudinal Effects of Dietary Oxidized Lipids on the Gut Microbiome and Mycobiome in Pigs – Folagbayi Arowolo – FASEB Journal

Animal microbiome

Single-cell amplicon sequencing reveals community structures and transmission trends of protist-associated bacteria in a termite host – Michael E. Stephens – PLOS One

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Xylella fastidiosa subsp. pauca and olive produced lipids moderate the switch adhesive versus non-adhesive state and viceversa – Valeria Scala – PLOS One

Mitochondrial genome sequence of Phytophthora sansomeana and comparative analysis of Phytophthora mitochondrial genomes – Guohong Cai – PLOS One

nirS-type denitrifying bacterial communities in relation to soil physicochemical conditions and soil depths of two montane riparian meadows in North China. – Xiaoli Han – Environmental Science and Pollution Research

Tissue-Specific Dynamics in the Endophytic Bacterial Communities in Arctic Pioneer Plant Oxyria digyna – Cindy Given – Frontiers in Plant Science

Effects of Cultured Root and Soil Microbial Communities on the Disease of Nicotiana tabacum Caused by Phytophthora nicotianae – Tianbo Liu – Frontiers in Microbiology

Novel putative rhizobial species with different symbiovars nodulate Lotus creticus and their differential preference to distinctive soil properties – M Rejili – FEMS Microbiology Letters

Water, air, and extremophile microbiome

The microbiome of alpine snow algae shows a specific inter-kingdom connectivity and algae-bacteria interactions with supportive capacities – Lisa Krug – ISME Journal

Variation of near surface atmosphere microbial communities at an urban and a suburban site in Philadelphia, PA, USA – JD Stewart – Science of the Total Environment

Pilot-scale petroleum refinery wastewaters treatment systems: performance and microbial communities’ analysis – Fatma Karray – Process Safety and Environmental Protection

Adverse effects of levofloxacin and oxytetracycline on aquatic microbial communities – Zhigao Zhou – Science of the Total Environment

Application of microbial network analysis to discriminate environmental heterogeneity in Fildes Peninsula, Antarctica – Qian Liu – Marine Pollution Bulletin

Tools for successful proliferation: diverse strategies of nutrient acquisition by a benthic cyanobacterium – HS Tee – ISME Journal

Metabolic diversity and co-occurrence of multiple Ferrovum species at an acid mine drainage site – Christen L. Grettenberger – BMC Microbiology

Halocatena pleomorpha gen. nov. sp. nov., an extremely halophilic archaeon of family Halobacteriaceae isolated from saltpan soil – Ashish Verma – IJSEM

Unveiling Cultivable and Uncultivable Halophilic Bacteria Inhabiting Marakkanam Saltpan, India and Their Potential for Biotechnological Applications – Jojy John – Geomicrobiology Journal

Flavobacterium profundi sp. nov., isolated from a deep-sea seamount – Qian Wang – IJSEM

Food microbiology

Molecular epidemiology, genetic diversity and antimicrobial resistance of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from chicken and pig carcasses, and carcass handlers – Onyinye J. Okorie-Kanu – PLOS One

Traditional milk transformation schemes in Côte d’Ivoire and their impact on the prevalence of Streptococcus bovis complex bacteria in dairy products – Aimé R Sanhoun – PLOS One

Comparison of Microbial Communities and Amino Acid Metabolites in Different Traditional Fermentation Starters Used during the Fermentation of Hong Qu Glutinous Rice Wine – Zhang-Cheng Liang – Food Research International

Preprint: Monitoring the microbiome for food safety and quality using deep shotgun sequencing – Kristen L. Beck – bioRxiv

Viruses

Are pangolins the intermediate host of the 2019 novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2)? – Ping Liu – PLOS Pathogens

Vector competence of Aedes aegypti from New Caledonia for the four recent circulating dengue virus serotypes – Olivia O’Connor – PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases

Bioinformatics

Tax4Fun2: prediction of habitat-specific functional profiles and functional redundancy based on 16S rRNA gene sequences – Franziska Wemheuer – Environmental Microbiome

Techniques

Assessing the accuracy of phylogenetic rooting methods on prokaryotic gene families – Taylor Wade – PLOS One

Science education techniques: Fiber Force: A Fiber Diet Intervention in an Advanced Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) Course – Julia Massimelli Sewall – Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education

Science and art

This photographer creates prints with algae.

Non-microbiology picks:

Herd of fuzzy green “glacier mice” baffles scientists.

May 1, 2020

Greetings from Durham, NC!

Hope everyone is doing well and staying healthy. Today’s digest includes several host-microbiome studies, environmental microbiome studies, and an intriguing EurekAlert news article.
In this light digest of today, I wanted to highlight a cool review about correlation of the oral microbiome with children’s health and a very interesting article on cell wall architecture of the gram-positive bacteria.
COVID-19 pandemic has opened a sort of Pandora’s box filled with great science along with pseudoscience. So, the digest has these two great articles from Nature: one about chloroquine and other about the race for coronavirus vaccines.
Staying at home is difficult for everyone, here is a fun activity to do: coloring space microbes book.

Stay Safe and entertained at home!!!!

COVID-19 news articles

The race for coronavirus vaccines: a graphical guide – Callaway – Nature

Chloroquine hype is derailing the search for coronavirus treatments – Ledford – Nature

General microbiome
*The architecture of the Gram-positive bacterial cell wall– Pasquina-Lemonche et al. – Nature

Pregnancy and early life
Maternal H. pylori is associated with differential fecal microbiota in infants born by vaginal delivery – Hernandez et al. – Scientific Reports

Metabolic Effects of Bovine Milk Oligosaccharides on Selected Commensals of the Infant Microbiome—Commensalism and Postbiotic Effects – Jakobsen et al. – Metabolites

Multi-site human microbiome
*Review: Oral microbiome: possible harbinger for children’s health – Xiao et al. – Nature International Journal of Oral Science

Animal microbiome
Links between the rumen microbiota, methane emissions and feed efficiency of finishing steers offered dietary lipid and nitrate supplementation – Bowen et al. – PLOS ONE

Plant, root, and soil microbiome
Variation in rhizosphere microbial communities and its association with the symbiotic efficiency of rhizobia in soybean – Han et al. – The ISME Journal

Water and extremophile microbiome
Review: Exopolysaccharides from marine bacteria: production, recovery and applications – Dave et al. – Environmental Sustainability

Stromatolitic digitate sinters form under wide‐ranging physicochemical conditions with diverse hot spring microbial communities – Sriaporn et al. – gebiology

Built environment
Comparative analysis of bacterial community and functional species in oil reservoirs with different in situ temperatures – Tian et al. – International Microbiology

Bioinformatics
Medusa: Software to build and analyze ensembles of genome-scale metabolic network reconstructions – Medlock et al. – PLOS Computational Biology

Review: The National Microbiome Data Collaborative: enabling microbiome science – Wood-Charlson et al. – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Probiotics / prebiotics
Lactobacillus plantarum NA136 ameliorates nonalcoholic fatty liver disease by modulating gut microbiota, improving intestinal barrier integrity, and attenuating inflammation – Zhao et al. -Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

Microbes in the news
Scientists explore links between genetics, gut microbiome and memory – DOE/PACIFIC NORTHWEST NATIONAL LABORATORY

March 5, 2020

Today’s Digest is heavy, so you might want to pace yourself. It’s hard to pick the highlights, but I’m biased towards fungal research, so first about a wake-up call to look at the fungi seriously. The insects might provide for remedy against antibiotic resistance and is the dust settled on the sparse fetal intestinal microbiota? Stay healthy and keep reading.

Event

Call for papers – Global Outbreaks and Responses – BMC Medicine

General microbiology

** Viewpoints: Fungal diseases as neglected pathogens: A wake-up call to public health officials – Marcio L. Rodrigues & Joshua D. Nosanchuk – PLoS NTD

Inducible cell-to-cell signaling for tunable dynamics in microbial communities – Arianna Miano et al. – Nature Communications

Antimicrobial resistance

** The insect antimicrobial peptide cecropin A disrupts uropathogenic Escherichia coli biofilms – Miriam Kalsy et al. – npj Biofilms and Microbiomes

Using comparative genomics to understand molecular features of carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii from South Korea causing invasive infections and their clinical implications – Min Hyung Kim – PLoS One

Factors associated with sufficient knowledge of antibiotics and antimicrobial resistance in the Japanese general population – Shinya Tsuzuki et al. – Scientific Reports

Faeces and vaccines could be the key to tackling antimicrobial resistance – Elisabeth Mahase – BMJ

A survey of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae in urban wetlands in southwestern Nigeria as a step towards generating prevalence maps of antimicrobial resistance – Olawale Olufemi Adelowo et al. – PLoS One

Pregnancy and early life

** Viable bacterial colonization is highly limited in the human intestine in utero – E. Rackaityte et al. – Nature Medicine

Perinatal Antibiotic Exposure Affects the Transmission between Maternal and Neonatal Microbiota and Is Associated with Early-Onset Sepsis – Ping Zhou et al. – mSphere

Combined analysis of microbial metagenomic and metatranscriptomic sequencing data to assess in situ physiological conditions in the premature infant gut – Yonatan Sher et al. – PLoS One

Human skin microbiome

A microbiome and metabolomic signature of phases of cutaneous healing identified by profiling sequential acute wounds of human skin: An exploratory study – Mohammed Ashrafi et al. – PLoS One

Human oral microbiome

Review: Single-Cell Genomics and the Oral Microbiome – M. Balachandran et al. – Journal of Dental Research

Insights Obtained by Culturing Saccharibacteria With Their Bacterial Hosts – B. Bor et al. – Journal of Dental Research

Electronic Cigarette Aerosol Modulates the Oral Microbiome and Increases Risk of Infection – Smruti Pushalkar et al. – iScience

Press: Oral Microbiome Changes Implicated in Gum Inflammation in E-Cigarette Users – GenomeWeb

In vitro: A salivary metabolite signature that reflects gingival host-microbe interactions: instability predicts gingivitis susceptibility – Marcela M. Fernandez-Gutierrez et al. – Scientific Reports

Human respiratory microbiome

Review: The Role of Lung and Gut Microbiota in the Pathology of Asthma – Weronika Barcik et al. – Immunity

Cancer and microbiome

Endogenous murine microbiota member Faecalibaculum rodentium and its human homologue protect from intestinal tumour growth – Elena Zagato et al. – Nature Microbiology

Escherichia coli adhesion portion FimH functions as an adjuvant for cancer immunotherapy – Wei Zhang et al. – Nature Communications

Temporal changes in gut microbiota profile in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia prior to commencement-, during-, and post-cessation of chemotherapy – Ling Ling Chua et al. – BMC Cancer

Review: Interplay between Dietary Polyphenols and Oral and Gut Microbiota in the Development of Colorectal Cancer – Carolina Cueva & Mariana Silva – Nutrients

Human gut microbiome

In vitro: Short-term supplementation of celecoxib-shifted butyrate production on a simulated model of the gut microbial ecosystem and ameliorated in vitro inflammation – Emma Hernandez-Sanabria et al. – npj Biofilms and Microbiomes

Review: Crosstalk Between Gut Microbiota and Innate Immunity and Its Implication in Autoimmune Diseases – Yuhao Jiao et al. – Frontiers in Immunology

An empirically derived method for measuring human gut microbiome alpha diversity: Demonstrated utility in predicting health-related outcomes among a human clinical sample – Sarah L. Hagerty et al. – PLoS One

Proof-of-concept study of the efficacy of a microbiota-directed complementary food formulation (MDCF) for treating moderate acute malnutrition – Ishita Mostafa et al. – BMC Public Health

Microbiota as Predictor of Mortality in Allogeneic Hematopoietic-Cell Transplantation – Jonathan U. Peled et al. – New England Journal of Medicine

Human multi-site microbiome

Age-Related Variation of Bacterial and Fungal Communities in Different Body Habitats across the Young, Elderly, and Centenarians in Sardinia – Lu Wu et al. – mSphere

Response of the human gut and saliva microbiome to urbanization in Cameroon – Ana Lokmer et al. – Scientific Reports

The gut-microbiota-brain axis

Therapeutic Effects of the In Vitro Cultured Human Gut Microbiota as Transplants on Altering Gut Microbiota and Improving Symptoms Associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder – Kainan Chen et al. – Microbial Ecology

Built environment microbiome

A preliminary study on the potential of Nanopore MinION and Illumina MiSeq 16S rRNA gene sequencing to characterize building-dust microbiomes – Anders B. Nygaard et al. – Scientific Reports

Metabolomics

Spatial metabolomics of in situ host–microbe interactions at the micrometre scale – Benedikt Geier et al. – Nature Microbiology

Global chemical effects of the microbiome include new bile-acid conjugations – Robert A. Quinn et al. – Nature

Animal experiments

PM2.5 exposure perturbs lung microbiome and its metabolic profile in mice – Jingli Li et al. – Science of the Total Environment

Growth hormone deficiency and excess alter the gut microbiome in adult male mice – Elizabeth A Jensen et al. – Endocrinology

Dissociation of Adaptive Thermogenesis from Glucose Homeostasis in Microbiome-Deficient Mice – Tibor L. Krisko et al. – Cell Metabolism

Fecal IgA Levels Are Determined by Strain-Level Differences in Bacteroides ovatus and Are Modifiable by Gut Microbiota Manipulation – Chao Yang et al. – Cell Host & Microbe

Animal microbiome

Can rumen bacteria communicate to each other? – Mi-Young Won et al. – Microbiome

Entomopathogenic nematode-associated microbiota: from monoxenic paradigm to pathobiome – Jean-Claude Ogier et al. – Microbiome

The canine oral microbiome: variation in bacterial populations across different niches – Avika Ruparell et al. – BMC Microbiology

Evolutionary analysis of Mycobacterium bovis genotypes across Africa suggests co-evolution with livestock and humans – Osvaldo Frederico Inlamea et al. – PLoS NTD

Nanopore sequencing of microbial communities reveals the potential role of sea lice as a reservoir for fish pathogens – Ana Teresa Gonçalves et al. – Scientific Reports

Plant, root and soil microbiome

Insights on aquatic microbiome of the Indian Sundarbans mangrove areas – Paltu Kumar Dhal et al. – PLoS One

Ganoderma lucidum cultivation affect microbial community structure of soil, wood segments and tree roots – Fei Ren et al. – Scientific Reports

Effect of long-term destocking on soil fungal functional groups and interactions with plants – Jie Wang et al. – Plant and Soil

Comparative Analysis of Root Microbiomes of Rice Cultivars with High and Low Methane Emissions Reveals Differences in Abundance of Methanogenic Archaea and Putative Upstream Fermenters – Zachary Liechty et al. – mSystems

Fungal diversity and community composition of wheat rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere soils from three different agricultural production regions of South Africa – Magalane Pheladi Gqozo et al. – Applied Soil Ecology

Microbial and volatile profiling of soils suppressive to Fusarium culmorum of wheat – Adam Ossowicki & Vittorio Tracanna et al. – Proceedings of the Royal Society B

Industrial development as a key factor explaining variances in soil and grass phyllosphere microbiomes in urban green spaces – Zhen-Zhen Yan et al. – Environmental Pollution

Plant communities mediate the interactive effects of invasion and drought on soil microbial communities – Catherine Fahey et al. – The ISME Journal

Water and extremophile microbiome

Methyl t-butyl ether-degrading bacteria for bioremediation and biocontrol purposes – Giada d’Errico et al. – PLoS One

Uncovering microbial responses to sharp geochemical gradients in a terrace contaminated by acid mine drainage – Rui Xu et al. – Environmental Pollution

Snapshot: Microbial Extremophiles – Amy K. Schmid et al. – Cell

Denitrification performance and microbial communities of solid-phase denitrifying reactors using poly (butylene succinate)/bamboo powder composite – Wanhe Qi et al. – Bioresource Technology

Meta-omics Provides Insights into the Impact of Hydrocarbon Contamination on Microbial Mat Functioning – Johanne Aubé et al. – Microbial Ecology

Role of microbial diversity for sustainable pyrite oxidation control in acid and metalliferous drainage prevention – Omy T. Ogbughalu et al. – Journal of Hazardous Materials

Phages and viruses

** Coronavirus research highlights – BMC

Fecal Viral Community Responses to High-Fat Diet in Mice – Anjelique Schulfer et al. – mSphere

Technology

Rapid MinION profiling of preterm microbiota and antimicrobial-resistant pathogens – Richard M. Leggett et al. – Nature Microbiology

Assembly-free single-molecule sequencing recovers complete virus genomes from natural microbial communities – John Beaulaurier et al. – Genome Research

Bioinformatics

Rapid inference of antibiotic resistance and susceptibility by genomic neighbour typing – Karel Břinda et al. – Nature Microbiology

Microbes in the news

Tough microbe’s DNA could be a lasting archive – Steve Nadis – Science

How Bacteria Can ‘Sculpt The Gut’ – Maya Trabulsi – KPBS

The bee microbiome can fight back against fungi that cause Colony Collapse Disorder – Lauren Sara McKee – Massive Science

Ancient gut microbiomes shed light on human evolution – Newswise

Launch of the Marine Microbiome Roadmap – NIOZ

Understanding Microbiome Resilience on a Changing Planet – Michigan State University

Adaptations in gut microbes helped our ancestors thrive in new geographical territories: Study – New Kerala

Scientists Announce VIRGO, First Comprehensive Gene Catalog To Decode the Vaginal Microbiome – PR Newswire

Metabolomics Reveals Connection Between Gut Microbiome and Blood – Metabolon

Study shows universally positive effect of cover crops on soil microbiome – Phys.org

New Center of Microbiome Science is in the works at Ohio State – Emily Caldwell – Ohio State University News

Common diseases may be communicable through microbiome, says UBC researcher – Stephanie Blain – The Ubyssey

The microbes in your mouth, and a reminder to floss and go to the dentist – Science Daily

For Your Microbiome, How You Eat Could Be As Important As What You Eat – Technology Networks

Study: Infectious gut bacteria may predict UTI risk – Sue Treiman – Cornell Chronicle

The Best Way to Avoid Getting Sick Is to Wash Your Hands — But You’re Probably Doing It Wrong – Bojana Galic – Live Strong

Microbes on the market

DuPont carries on microbiome momentum with metabolic disease collaboration – Will Chu – Nutraingredients

Non-microbiology picks

Invest 5% of research funds in ensuring data are reusable – Barend Mons – Nature

 

February 18, 2020

Highlights for today’s Digest: a study takes us deep into bacterial community of the dermal compartment of the skin, skin microbiota predicts chronological age most accurately, and a review on network analyses using multi-omics data. Enjoy!

General microbiology

A biphasic growth model for cell pole elongation in mycobacteria – Mélanie T. M. Hannebelle et al. – Nature Communications

Press: Bacteria under the microscope: A new growth model for tuberculosis – Lionel Pousaz, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne – Phys.org

Metabolic dependencies govern microbial syntrophies during methanogenesis in an anaerobic digestion ecosystem – Xinyu Zhu et al. – Microbiome

Antimicrobial resistance

Stepwise evolution and convergent recombination underlie the global dissemination of carbapenemase-producing Escherichia coli – afael Patiño-Navarrete et al. – Genome Medicine

Pregnancy and early life

The effect of legume supplementation on the gut microbiota in rural Malawian infants aged 6 to 12 months – M Isabel Ordiz et al. – The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

Human skin microbiome

** Universal Dermal Microbiome in Human Skin – Lene Bay et al. – mBio

Human cancer microbiome

Opinion: The Cancer Microbiome: Distinguishing Direct and Indirect Effects Requires a Systemic View – Joao B. Xavier et al. – Trends in Cancer

Human gut microbiome

Interactions between the gut microbiome and host gene regulation in cystic fibrosis – Gargi Dayama et al. – Genome Medicine

Human multi-site microbiome

Review: Blood Microbiota and Circulating Microbial Metabolites in Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease – Ganesan Velmurugan et al. – Trends in Endocrinology & Metabolism

** Human Skin, Oral, and Gut Microbiomes Predict Chronological Age – Shi Huang et al. – mSystems

Press: Human Skin, Oral Microbiomes Can Estimate People’s Ages to Within Few Years – GenomeWeb

Animal experiments

Self-reinoculation with fecal flora changes microbiota density and composition leading to an altered bile-acid profile in the mouse small intestine – Said R. Bogatyrev et al. – Microbiome

Mouse: It’s the fiber, not the fat: significant effects of dietary challenge on the gut microbiome – Kathleen E. Morrison et al. – Microbiome

Animal microbiome

Trait-Based Comparison of Coral and Sponge Microbiomes – Cara L. Fiore et al. – Scientific Reports

Plant, root and soil microbiome

Functional relationships between aboveground and belowground spinach (Spinacia oleracea L., cv. Racoon) microbiomes impacted by salinity and drought – A. Mark Ibekwe et al. – Science of the Total Environment

Water and extremophile microbiome

Constraints on microbial communities, decomposition and methane production in deep peat deposits – Laurel A. Kluber et al. – PLoS One

Machine learning-aided analyses of thousands of draft genomes reveal specific features of activated sludge processes – Lin Ye et al. – Microbiome

Phages and viruses

Pearls: Virus interactions with bacteria: Partners in the infectious dance – Ursula Neu & Bernardo A. Mainou – PLoS Pathogens

Coronavirus: hospitals must learn from past pandemics – Nahid Bhadelia – Nature

Review: Phage diversity, genomics and phylogeny – Moïra B. Dion et al. – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Technology

Uncovering a hidden diversity: optimized protocols for the extraction of dsDNA bacteriophages from soil – Pauline C. Göller et al. – Microbiome

Review: Combining omics technologies with CRISPR-based genome editing to study food microbes – Meichen Pan & Rodolphe Barrangou – Current Opinion in Biotechnology

Complete, closed bacterial genomes from microbiomes using nanopore sequencing – Eli L. Moss et al. – Nature Biotechnology

Press: Closing bacterial genomes from the human gut microbiome using long-read sequencing – Dylan Maghini – Nature Bioengineering Community

Bioinformatics

A pipeline for targeted metagenomics of environmental bacteria – Anissa Grieb et al. Microbiome

** Review: Network analyses in microbiome based on high-throughput multi-omics data – Zhaoqian Liu et al. – Briefings in Bioinformatics

Microbes in the news

Getting the Band (of Microbes) Back Together – Jessica Messier – Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Gut microbe imbalance may stunt CF babies’ growth – Leila Gray – University of Washington

The Big Idea: The Microbiome – Purdue University

Moscow’s Subway Microbiome Looks Similar to that of New York’s – GenEngNews

A guide to caring for the Indian gut – Cherylann Mollan – Hindustan Times