Category Archives: Science – Career – Publishing

March 8, 2016

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A very special edition of Bik’s Picks on this International Women’s Day: Soil decomposition on Mount Kilimanjaro, genome of a Ruminococcus associated with IBS, survival of microbes during the digestion of cheese.

Human oral microbiome

Editorial: Oral Biofilm Architecture at the Microbial Scale – Maria D. Ferrer – Trends in Microbiology

Human reproductive tract microbiome

Cervical Microbiota Associated with Risk of Higher Grade Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia in Women Infected with High-Risk Human Papillomaviruses – Chandrika J Piyathilake – Cancer Prevention Research

Human gut microbiome

Isolation and whole genome sequencing of a Ruminococcus-like bacterium, associated with irritable bowel syndrome – Ulla Hynönen – Anaerobe

Opinion: Gut microbiota impact on stroke outcome: Fad or fact? – Katarzyna Winek – J Cereb Blood Flow Metab

Review: Mechanisms linking the gut microbiome and glucose metabolism – Kristina M Utzschneider – J Clin Endocrinol Metab

Review: Gut Microbiome and Kidney Disease in Pediatrics: Does Connection Exist? – Tetyana L. Vasylyeva – Frontiers in Microbiology

Review: The complex interplay of diet, xenobiotics, and microbial metabolism in the gut: Implications for clinical outcomes – Mariia Taguer – Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics

Review: Obesity and Asthma: Microbiome-metabolome Interactions – Stephanie A Shore – American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology

Animal models

Gut Microbiota-Induced Immunoglobulin G Controls Systemic Infection by Symbiotic Bacteria and Pathogens – Melody Y. Zeng – Immunity

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Methodological Guidelines for Accurate Detection of Viruses in Wild Plant Species – Christelle Lacroix – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Rice bacterial endophytes: isolation of a collection, identification of beneficial strains and microbiome analysis – Iris Bertani – Environmental Microbiology

Sulfur Fertilization Changes the Community Structure of Rice Root-, and Soil-Associated Bacteria – Sachiko Masuda – Microbes and Environments

Do shifts in life strategies explain microbial community responses to increasing nitrogen in tundra soil? – Minna Männistö – Soil Biology and Biochemistry

Temperature sensitivity and enzymatic mechanisms of soil organic matter decomposition along an altitudinal gradient on Mount Kilimanjaro – Еvgenia Blagodatskaya – Scientific Reports

Influence of pesticide seed treatments on rhizosphere fungal and bacterial communities and leaf fungal endophyte communities in maize and soybean – Rachel Nettles – Applied Soil Ecology

Forest understory plant and soil microbial response to an experimentally induced drought and heat-pulse event: the importance of maintaining the continuum – Isabell von Rein – Global Change Biology

Water and extremophile microbiome

Abundance and Biogeography of Picoprasinophyte Ecotypes and Other Phytoplankton in the Eastern North Pacific Ocean – Melinda P. Simmons – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Metagenomic 16s rrna investigation of microbial communities in the Black Sea estuaries in South-West of Ukraine – Oleksandra Bobrova – Acta Biochimica Polonica

Waste and pollution microbiology

Contaminant-Degrading Microorganisms Identified Using Stable Isotope Probing – Alison M. Cupples – Chemical Engineering & Technology

Food microbiology

Survival of lactic acid and propionibacteria in low- and full-fat Dutch-type cheese during human digestion Ex vivo – Aleksandra Martinovic – Letters in Applied Microbiology

Metagenomics and bioinformatics

Review: Targeted metagenomics of active microbial populations with stable-isotope probing -Sara Coyotzi – Current Opinion in Biotechnology

Infection and microbiology

Diagnosis of Bacterial Bloodstream Infections: A 16S Metagenomics Approach – Saskia Decuypere – PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases

Microbes in the news

Fibre and protein enhance gut bacteria in children – Malene Sommer Christiansen – Science Nordic

Extreme Microbiome Project Aims to Characterize Microbes Living in Harsh Environments – Monica Heger – Genome Web

UTI bacteria use hooks to hang on inside you when you pee – Clare Wilson – New Scientist

Science, publishing and career

Statistical significance and its part in science downfalls – Hilda Bastian – PLOS Blogs

Microbiology and Nature in Video Games – Alex Alexiev – MicroBEnet

Tricon2016: The Microbiome: Sorting Out the Hype from the Hope – Bonnie Feldman – Storify

Leap day, giant viruses, and gene-editing – Dawn Field – Oxford University Press blog
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Happy International Women’s Day!

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Happy International Women’s Day! Unfortunately, Stanford University, where I work, has decided to not participate. Their daily Newsletter, which I get in my inbox every morning, today again does not feature any women.

The newsletter features 3 stories every day, with a picture next to it. Often these are VIPs who passed away, researchers, or a picture of the study object. It seems that men are more often pictured then women in this newsletter (I tracked it for a while in the past). Here are two older examples of what I mean. On the right, you see the Stanford Report. It features 2 photos of men, and 1 of a pile of garbage. But that story, about hoarding disorder, was an interview with a woman. Did Stanford really think that a pile of garbage is worth showing more than a photo of a Stanford professor?

Stanford Report, Feb 17 2016

Here is another example. On the right, you see the Stanford Report with three pictures, each of a “study object”. To the left, the first or leading authors whose pictures were not shown. All three happen to be women. The Report staff often appears to favor “object” photos over photos of female researchers.

Stanford Report, January 213 2016

Today, I had high hopes. It’s International Women’s Day, right? Stanford is going to let its female researchers and doctors shine, right?

But no. This is the Daily Newsletter of today. It features 2 pictures of “study objects” and 1 picture of a man. The two top articles however, refer to studies of which in both cases the lead author is a woman. Why does Stanford so often decide that a picture of the study object is more important than to let these first authors shine?

Stanford Report March 8 2016

 

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March 7, 2016

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Back to our regular program…. Today I’ve included papers on the antibiotic resistome in preterm infants, or in soils, the salt-loving Tamarix, and a critical article about the Microbiome Summit in Forbes.

Pregnancy and birth

Developmental dynamics of the preterm infant gut microbiota and antibiotic resistome – Molly K. Gibson – Nature Microbiology

Human oral microbiome

Microbial Diversity in the Early In Vivo-Formed Dental Biofilm – D. Heller – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Animal models

Effect of dietary protein sources on the small intestine microbiome of weaned piglets based on high-throughput sequencing – Kefei Cao – Letters in Applied Microbiology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Appearance of β-lactam Resistance Genes in Agricultural Soils and Clinical Isolates over the 20th Century – David W. Graham – Scientific Reports

Functional redundancy of linuron degradation in microbial communities of agricultural soil and biopurification systems – Benjamin Horemans – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Metagenomic Signatures of Bacterial Adaptation to Life in the Phyllosphere of a Salt-Secreting Desert Tree – Omri M. Finkel – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Microbial and Functional Diversity within the Phyllosphere of Espeletia Species in an Andean High-Mountain Ecosystem – Carlos A. Ruiz-Pérez – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Water and extremophile microbiome

Prokaryotic Community Structure Driven by Salinity and Ionic Concentrations in Plateau Lakes of the Tibetan Plateau – Zhi-Ping Zhong – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Functional responses of salt marsh microbial communities to long-term nutrient enrichment – Christopher J. Graves – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Waste, pollution, and bioreactor microbiology

Dynamics of size-fractionated bacterial communities during the coastal dispersal of treated municipal effluents – SiGuang Liu – Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

Biological Nitrogen Removal in a Photosequencing Batch Reactor with an Algal-Nitrifying Bacterial Consortium and Anammox Granules – Nathan D. Manser – Environmental Science & Technology Letters

Microbes in the news (notice 3 articles on antibiotic resistance from EurekAlert)

Preemies’ gut bacteria reveal vast scope of antibiotic resistance – Washington University School of Medicine – EurekAlert

Antibiotics use affects the abundance of resistant bacteria in soil – Aarhus University – EurekAlert

Daily dose of antibiotics helps bacteria develop multi-drug tolerance – KU Leuven – EurekAlert

Microbiome Monday: The Top Three Questions from Visitors – AMNH

Bacteria-laden mosquitoes can control Zika – Zeenews India

Microbes and art

BioArt : What is our True Relationship with the Human Microbiome? – Labiotech
After every 50 handshakes his assistants (white lab coats) would swab his palms, to use for later analysis of the collective microbiome.

Growing fungus and bacteria on textiles for fashion – Yuliasri Perdani – Jakarta Post

Science, publishing, and career

A critical view of the Microbiome Medicine Summit: Keep Calm And Avoid Microbiome Mayhem – Kavin Senapathy – Forbes

Everything Is Crumbling: An influential psychological theory, borne out in hundreds of experiments, may have just been debunked. How can so many scientists have been so wrong? – Daniel Engber – Slate

Not just #creatorgate: Most scandalous retractions in science – SBS

Conferences on Weekends? Good or Bad Idea? Summary of responses to query .. – Jonathan Eisen – Phylogenomics

March 5, 2016

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Lung microbes in Cystic Fibrosis, microbiota of reindeer, strawberry phyllosphere, and microbes in raindust.

Pregnancy and birth

Dynamics of Gut Microbiota According to the Delivery Mode in Healthy Korean Infants – Eun Lee- Allergy Asthma Immunol Res.

Review: Respiratory Microbiome of New-Born Infants – David J. Gallacher – Frontiers in Pediatrics

Review: Bosom Buddies: The Symbiotic Relationship Between Infants and Bifidobacterium longum ssp. longum and ssp. infantis. Genetic and Probiotic Features – Silvia Arboleya – Annual Review of Food Science and Technology

Review: Maternal microbiome – A pathway to preterm birth – Angela E. Vinturache – Seminars in Fetal and Neonatal Medicine

Human respiratory microbiome

Analysis of Lung Microbiota in Bronchoalveolar Lavage, Protected Brush and Sputum Samples from Subjects with Mild-To-Moderate Cystic Fibrosis Lung Disease – Deborah A. Hogan – PLOS ONE

Human oral microbiome

Levels of Candidate Periodontal Pathogens in Subgingival Biofilm – R.R.D.S Oliveira – Journal of Dental Research

Human gut microbiome

Effects of plant stanol ester consumption on fasting plasma oxy(phyto)sterol concentrations as related to fecal microbiota characteristics – Sabine Baumgartner – The Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Microbiome Survey of the Inflamed and Noninflamed Gut at Different Compartments Within the Gastrointestinal Tract of Inflammatory Bowel Disease Patients – Forbes, Jessica D. – Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

Metagenomic evidence for taxonomic dysbiosis and functional imbalance in the gastrointestinal tracts of children with cystic fibrosis – Ohad Manor – Scientific Reports

Research highlight: Growth impairment in undernourished children – Claire Greenhill – Nature Reviews Endocrinology

Review: Elucidating the role of the host genome in shaping microbiome composition – Emily R. Davenport – Gut Microbes

Review: The Microbiome: A Key Regulator of Stress and Neuroinflammation – Kieran Rea – Neurobiology of Stress

Review: The Brain-Gut-Microbiome Axis: What Role Does it Play in Autism Spectrum Disorder? – Ruth Ann Luna – Current Developmental Disorders Reports

Review: Microbes and the Mind: Emerging Hallmarks of the Gut Microbiota-Brain Axis – Kylynda C. Bauer – Cellular Microbiology

Review: The human gut microbiome and its dysfunctions through the meta-omics prism – Stanislas Mondot – Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

Animal models

Age, introduction of solid feed and weaning are more important determinants of gut bacterial succession in piglets than breed and nursing mother as revealed by a reciprocal cross-fostering model – Gaorui Bian – Environmental Microbiology

Effects of environmental temperature on the gut microbial communities of tadpoles – Kevin D. Kohl – Environmental Microbiology

Apple-Derived Pectin Modulates Gut Microbiota, Improves Gut Barrier Function, and Attenuates Metabolic Endotoxemia in Rats with Diet-Induced Obesity – Tingting Jiang – MDPI Nutrients

The effects of fecal microbial transplantation on microbiome and immunity in SIV-infected macaques – Tiffany Hensley-McBain – Journal of Virology

Soy Protein Compared with Milk Protein in a Western Diet Increases Gut Microbial Diversity and Reduces Serum Lipids in Golden Syrian Hamsters – Dustie N Butteiger – Journal of Nutrition

Review: The interplay between intestinal bacteria and host metabolism in health and disease: lessons from Drosophila melanogaster – Adam C. N. Wong – Disease Models & Mechanisms

Animal microbiome

New Insights into the Microbiota of the Svalbard Reindeer Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus – Sylwia Zielińska – Frontiers in Microbiology

Geographically conserved microbiomes of four temperate water tunicates – Patrick L. Cahill – Environmental Microbiology Reports

Twenty five new viruses associated with the Drosophilidae (Diptera) – Claire L Webster – bioRxiv

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Soil Microbial Community Interactions Under Tillage Systems in Australia – Vivian A. Rincon-Florez – Plant, Soil and Microbes

Variation of Bacterial Community Diversity in Rhizosphere Soil of Sole-Cropped versus Intercropped Wheat Field after Harvest – Zhenping Yang – PLOS ONE

Dispersal of Bacillus subtilis and its effect on strawberry phyllosphere microbiota under open field and protection conditions – Feng Wei – Scientific Reports

Temporally Variable Geographical Distance Effects Contribute to the Assembly of Root-Associated Fungal Communities – Christopher J. Barnes – Frontiers in Microbiology

Elevation gradient of soil bacterial communities in bamboo plantations – Yu-Te Lin – Botanical Studies

Soil microbial functional capacity and diversity in a millet-shrub intercropping system of semi-arid Senegal – S. Diakhaté – Journal of Arid Environments

Bioaugmentation of microbes to restore coastal wetland plants to protect land from coastal erosion – Regina Bledsoe – International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation

Review: Nutrient scavenging activity and antagonistic factors of non-photobiont lichen-associated bacteria: a review – M. Auður Sigurbjörnsdóttir – World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology

Water, rain, and extremophile microbiome

Remnants of marine bacterial communities can be retrieved from deep sediments in lakes of marine origin – Silke Langenheder – Environmental Microbiology Reports

Comparative summer dynamics of surface cyanobacterial communities in two connected lakes from the west of Ireland – N. Touzet – Science of The Total Environment

Dust Rains Deliver Diverse Assemblages of Microorganisms to the Eastern Mediterranean – Ghida Nouhad Itani – Scientific Reports

Protistan diversity and activity inferred from RNA and DNA at a coastal ocean site in the eastern North Pacific – Sarah K. Hu – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

A distinct and active bacterial community in cold oxygenated fluids circulating beneath the western flank of the Mid-Atlantic ridge – Julie L. Meyer – Scientific Reports

Biodigester microbiology

This one sounded wrong: Microbial diversity in an anaerobic digester with biogeographical proximity to geothermal active region – Rishi Mahajan – Environmental Technology

Food microbiology

Impact of mulches and growing season on indicator bacteria survival during lettuce cultivation – Aixia Xu – International Journal of Food Microbiology

Built environment microbiology

Seasonal Dynamics of the Airborne Bacterial Community and Selected Viruses in a Children’s Daycare Center – Aaron J. Prussin II – PLOS ONE

Bioweathering Potential of Cultivable Fungi Associated with Semi-Arid Surface Microhabitats of Mayan Buildings – Benjamín O. Ortega-Morales – Frontiers in Microbiology

Microbiome of death

Review: The Thanatomicrobiome: A Missing Piece of the Microbial Puzzle of Death – Gulnaz T. Javan – Frontiers in Microbiology

Waste and pollution microbiology

Isolation and characterization of yeasts associated with plants growing in heavy-metal- and arsenic-contaminated soils – Juan Ramos-Garza – Canadian Journal of Microbiology

Review: Understanding the development of environmental resistance among microbes: A Review – Jatin Srivastava – CLEAN – Soil, Air, Water

Review: Microbial communities, processes and functions in acid mine drainage ecosystems – Lin-xing Chen – Current Opinion in Biotechnology

Infection microbiology

Absence of Serological Evidence of Rickettsia spp., Bartonella spp., Ehrlichia spp. and Coxiella burnetii Infections in American Samoa – Colleen Lau – Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases

Comparison between a Broad-Range Real-Time and a Broad-Range End-Point PCR Assays for the Detection of Bacterial 16S rRNA in Clinical Samples – Mariam Meddeb – Annals of Clinical & Laboratory Science

Metagenomics and bioinformatics

Capturing the most wanted taxa through cross-sample correlations – Mathieu Almeida – The ISME Journal

MEGAnnotator: a user-friendly pipeline for microbial genomes assembly and annotation
Gabriele Andrea Lugli – FEMS Microbiology Letters

Sequence techniques

Microbial Ecology in the Era of Next Generation Sequencing – Surajit De Mandal – Omics: Next Generation: Sequencing & Applications

Microbial Ecology

Microbes as Engines of Ecosystem Function: When Does Community Structure Enhance Predictions of Ecosystem Processes? – Emily B. Graham – Frontiers in Microbiology

Microbes in the news

Would you try to vaginally “seed” your baby’s microbiome after a C-section – Jonathan Eisen – The Tree of Life

Science, publishing, and career

This Paper Should Not Have Been Retracted: #HandofGod highlights the worst aspects of science twitter – Andrew David Thaler – Southern Friend Science

The “Creator” paper, Post-pub Peer Review, and Racism Among Scientists – Dr24hours – Complex Roots

UC reclassifies master’s degrees, charges elevated tuition – Nanette Asimov – SF Chronicle

She Wanted to Do Her Research. He Wanted to Talk ‘Feelings.’ – A. Hope Jahren – NY Times

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March 4, 2015

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Long term use of protein pump inhibitors, bovine genetics and microbial methane, fungi for biodegradation, Bayesian fingerprinting.

Human oral microbiome

Impact of smoking on experimental gingivitis. A clinical, microbiological and immunological prospective study – D. C. Peruzzo – Journal of Periodontal Research

Human gut microbiome

A comparison of the gut microbiome between long-term users and non-users of proton pump inhibitors – A. G. Clooney – Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics

Animal microbiome

Bovine Host Genetic Variation Influences Rumen Microbial Methane Production with Best Selection Criterion for Low Methane Emitting and Efficiently Feed Converting Hosts Based on Metagenomic Gene Abundance – Rainer Roehe – PLOS Genetics

When Parasites Are Good for Health: Cestode Parasitism Increases Resistance to Arsenic in Brine Shrimps – Marta I. Sánchez – PLOS Pathogens

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

A New Perspective on Sustainable Soil Remediation—Case Study Suggests Novel Fungal Genera Could Facilitate in situ Biodegradation of Hazardous Contaminants – Lauren M. Czaplicki – Remediation Journal

Fungal effects on plant–plant interactions contribute to grassland plant abundances: evidence from the field – Jonathan A. Bennett – Journal of Ecology

Status of microbial diversity in agroforestry systems in Tamil Nadu, India – Srinivasan Radhakrishnan – Journal of Basic Microbiology

Water microbiome

Microfungi Potentially Pathogenic for Humans Reported in Surface Waters Utilized for Recreation – Anna Biedunkiewicz – CLEAN – Soil, Air, Water

Waste and pollution microbiology

Bait and scrape: An approach for assessing biofilm microbial communities on organic media used for gas-phase biofiltration – Jason P. Oliver – Ecological Engineering

Food microbiology

Review: Microbial Safety of Wood in Contact with Food: A Review – Florence Aviat – Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety

Bioinformatics

Species Identification by Bayesian Fingerprinting: A Powerful Alternative to DNA Barcoding – Ziheng Yang – BioRxiv

blastjs: a BLAST+ wrapper for Node.js – Martin Page – BMC Research Notes

Microbes in the news

uBiome Investigates Health Implications of Seniors’ Changing Microbiomes, Seeks Participants – Benzinga

Mystery bacteria linked to 18 deaths in Wisconsin – CBS News

Includes Pat Schloss: 78 Fellows Elected to the American Academy of Microbiology – ASM

Science, publishing, and career

A Science Journal Invokes ‘the Creator,’ and Science Pushes Back – Madison Kotack – Wired

PLOS ONE retracting paper that cites “the Creator” – Alison McCook – Retraction Watch

#IAmAResearchParasite – Marcia McNutt – Science

Making a game of science – Elizabeth Pennisi – Science

Yes, Even CRISPR Pioneer Jennifer Doudna Experiences Gender Bias – Lisa Potter and Jon Brooks – KQED

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March 1, 2016

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Colonization of the mouth in babies, biofilm in dinosaur bone, lichen symbiosis, microbial forensics, horse stool transplants, and ViromeScan.

Pregnancy and birth

Probiotic Supplementation and Late-Onset Sepsis in Preterm Infants: A Meta-analysis – Shripada C. Rao – Pediatrics

Early colonization of the oral cavity in 6- and 12-month-old infants by cariogenic and periodontal pathogens: a case-control study – Vlasta Merglova – Folia Microbiologica

Review: Perinatal nutrition: How to Take Care of the gut microbiota? – Izaskun García-Mantrana – Clinical Nutrition Experimental

Human skin microbiome

Antagonism between Staphylococcus epidermidis and Propionibacterium acnes and its genomic basis – Gitte J. M. Christensen – BMC Genomics

Human oral microbiome

Bacterial community shifts during healing of palatal wounds: comparison of two graft harvesting approaches – Suzanne L. Delima – Journal of Clinical Periodontology

Human gut microbiome

Innate Sensing of the Gut Microbiota: Modulation of Inflammatory and Autoimmune Diseases – Aline Ignacio – Frontiers in Immunology

Does the intestinal microbial community of Korean Crohn’s disease patients differ from that of western patients? – Chang Soo Eun – BMC Gastroenterology

Review: Gut Microbiota Modification: Another Piece in the Puzzle of the Benefits of Physical Exercise in Health? – Begoña Cerdá – Frontiers in Physiology

Editorial: The Microbiome in Critical Illness: Firm Conclusions or Bact to Square One?
John D. Lyons – Digestive Diseases and Sciences

Editiorial: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Does the Gut Microbiome Hold the Key? –
Sophie Leclercq – Canadian Journal of Psychiatry

Animal models of microbiome research

Cognitive Impairment by Antibiotic-Induced Gut Dysbiosis: Analysis of Gut Microbiota-Brain Communication – Esther E. Fröhlich – Brain, Behavior, and Immunity

Epigenome-Microbiome crosstalk: A potential new paradigm influencing neonatal susceptibility to disease – Rene Cortese – Epigenetics

Animal microbiome

Testing the Hypothesis of Biofilm as a Source for Soft Tissue and Cell-Like Structures Preserved in Dinosaur Bone – Mary Higby Schweitzer – PLOS ONE

The holobiont concept: the case of xylophagous termites and cockroaches – Mercedes Berlanga – Symbiosis

Termites: Characterization of the Core and Caste-Specific Microbiota in the Termite, Reticulitermes flavipes – Jacquelynn Benjamino – Frontiers in Microbiology

The sea cucumber microbiome is so hot right now: Individual Apostichopus japonicus fecal microbiome reveals a link with polyhydroxybutyrate producers in host growth gaps – Yohei Yamazaki – Scientific Reports

Gut bacterial communities across tadpole ecomorphs in two diverse tropical anuran faunas – Miguel Vences – The Science of Nature

Review: Equine faecal microbiota transplant: Current knowledge, proposed guidelines and future directions – K. R. Mullen – Equine Veterinary Education

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Differential Response of Potato Toward Inoculation with Taxonomically Diverse Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria – Tahir Naqqash – Frontiers in Plant Science

Disentangling the relative importance of host tree community, abiotic environment, and spatial factors on ectomycorrhizal fungal assemblages along an elevation gradient – Shunsuke Matsuoka – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Changes of soil microbial community under different degraded gradients of alpine meadow – Yaoming Li – Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment

Responses of Soil Fungal Populations and Communities to the Thinning of Cryptomeria Japonica Forests – Wan-Rou Lin – Microbes and Environments

Land-Cover Legacy Effects on Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Abundance in Human and Wildlife Dominated Systems in Tropical Savanna – Geofrey E. Soka – Advances in Ecology

Response of Soil Microbial Properties to Long-Term Application of Organic and Inorganic Amendments in a Tropical Soil (Saria, Burkina Faso) – Ndeye Hélène Diallo-Diagne – OJSS

Microspatial variability in community structure and photophysiology of calcified macroalgal microbiomes revealed by coupling of hyperspectral and high-resolution fluorescence imaging – R. G. Perkin – Scientific Reports

Lichen: Understanding Microbial Multi-Species Symbioses – Ines A. Aschenbrenner – Frontiers in Microbiology

Water and extremophile microbiome

Protist metabarcoding and environmental biomonitoring: time for change – J. Pawlowski – European Journal of Protistology

Biogeochemical and microbial variation across 5500 km of Antarctic surface sediment implicates organic matter as a driver of benthic community structure – Deric R. Learman – Frontiers in Microbiology

Book Chapter: Life in the Anoxic Sub-Seafloor Environment: Linking Microbial Metabolism and Mega Reserves of Methane Hydrate – Varsha Honkalas – Advances in Biochemical Engineering/Biotechnology

Waste and pollution microbiology

Potential Impacts of PCBs on Sediment Microbiomes in a Tropical Marine Environment – James S. Klaus – MDPI J. Mar. Sci. Eng.

Microbial Community Structure of Activated Sludge in Treatment Plants with Different Wastewater Compositions – Nataliya M. Shchegolkova – Frontiers in Microbiology

Food microbiology

Metatranscriptomics reveals temperature-driven functional changes in microbiome impacting cheese maturation rate – Francesca De Filippis – Scientific Reports

Forensic microbiology

Review: Expansion of Microbial Forensics – Sarah E. Schmedes – Journal of Clinical Microbiology

Bioinformatics, viruses, metagenomics

ViromeScan: a new tool for metagenomic viral community profiling – Simone Rampelli – BMC Genomics

MIMIVIRE is a defence system in mimivirus that confers resistance to virophage – Anthony Levasseur – Nature

More microbiology

Culture-independent method for identification of microbial enzyme-encoding genes by activity-based single-cell sequencing using a water-in-oil microdroplet platform – Kazuki Nakamura – Scientific Reports

Expanding the Diet for DIET: Electron Donors Supporting Direct Interspecies Electron Transfer (DIET) in Defined Co-Cultures – Li-Ying Wang – Frontiers in Microbiology

Microbes and infection

Genome analysis of three Pneumocystis species reveals adaptation mechanisms to life exclusively in mammalian hosts – Liang Ma – Nature Communications

Microbes in the news

NASA’s lab rat: What astronaut Scott Kelly’s year in space can teach us – Sharon Begley – STAT news

Video: Bacteria Can Be Your Best Friend, interview with Ned Ruby and Margaret McFall-Ngai – ThinkTech Hawaii

Inside the secret defense systems of giant viruses – Carl Zimmer – STATnews

How Gut Microbiota Impacts HIV Disease. A new understanding of the role gut microbiota plays in HIV disease is beginning to emerge, suggesting potential new strategies to manage the infection – Bob Roehr – Scientific American

The Case of the Missing Microbes – Kevin Bonham – Scientific American

Faecal transplants could be useful in treating diarrhoea in horses – review – Horse Talk

Antibiotic use in preschoolers alters intestinal microbiome, increases disease risk – Healio

Altering the Gut Microbiome with Early Life Exercise – HCP Live

Obstructive sleep apnea raises hypertension risk, a possible link with gut bacteria: Study– Devon Andre – Belmarra Health

Tipping the Balance in Microbiome Standoffs.The Human Microbiome May Dispose Us toward Health or Illness On The Basis Of Tiny Shifts in Microbial Subpopulations – MaryAnn Labant – GenEngNews

Fighting Infections with Viruses, as Antibiotics Fail – NewsMax

HU develops Jerusalem sewage viruses to kill off resistant dental bacteria – Jerusalem Post

Turning bacteria into ‘SWARMBOTS’: Groups of microbes could be engineered to help combat harmful bugs in the gut – Daily Mail

Bacteria or Virus? New Tests May Identify What’s Causing Your Infection – The Wall Street Journal

Science, publishing, and career

I’m quoted here too: Blatt is back: “open debate cornerstone of scientific process” – Leonid Schneider- For Better Science

An introvert goes conferencing – Strategies to cope – Stephen B Heard – Scientist Sees Squirrel

Bik’s Picks

Ever Wonder What a Neanderthal Considered a Delicacy? – Erika Engelhaupt – National Geographic

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February 29, 2016

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Update March 2: reformatted to include hyperlinks.

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Regional Similarity and Consistent Patterns of Local Variation in Beach Sand Bacterial Communities throughout the Northern Hemisphere – Christopher Staley – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Water and extremophile microbiome

Into the deep: Evaluation of SourceTracker for assessment of faecal contamination of coastal waters – Rebekah Henry – Water Research

Pronounced daily succession of phytoplankton, archaea and bacteria following a spring bloom – David M. Needham – Nature Microbiology

Review: Microbial communities, processes and functions in acid mine drainage ecosystems – Lin-xing Chen – Current Opinion in Biotechnology

Review: Microbial diversity and functional capacity in polar soils – Thulani Peter Makhalanyane – Current Opinion in Biotechnology

Waste and pollution microbiology

Shifts in microbial communities in bioaugmented grease interceptors removing fat, oil, and grease (FOG) – Xia He – Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

Built environment microbiome

Environmental Contamination in Households of Patients with Recurrent Clostridium difficile Infection – Megan K. Shaughnessy – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Food microbiology

Improving functionality of chocolate: A review on probiotic, prebiotic, and/or synbiotic characteristics – Nevzat Konar – Trends in Food Science & Technology

More microbiology

Interaction of Candida albicans with host cells: virulence factors, host defense, escape strategies, and the microbiota – Sarah Höfs – Journal of Microbiology

Microbes in the news

Restoring healthy growth in infants – Andrea Du Toit – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Dangerous intestinal bacteria back in Amarillo – Angelica Brown – Newschannel10

Maine seed potato growers contend with new bacteria – Bangor Daily News

Halifax harbour bacteria ‘zapper’ to be shut off Tuesday – Heide Pearson – Global News CA

In-N-Out Vows To Remove Antibiotics From Meat To Save Us All From Drug Resistant “Superbugs” – Matt Tinoco – LAist

Science, publishing, and career

Pre- or post-publication peer review – Jon Tennant – Science Open

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February 26, 2016

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IVF outcomes, large oral microbiota study, Pygmies and Bantu, GF animal models, correlation detection strategies, and sashimi in Portugal.

General microbiome

Opinion: Manipulating Bacterial Communities by in situ Microbiome Engineering – Ravi U. Sheth – Trends in Genetics

Pregnancy and birth

Transition from infant- to adult-like gut microbiota – E. Avershina – Environmental Microbiology

Abnormal vaginal microbiota may be associated with poor reproductive outcomes: A prospective study in IVF patients – T. Haahr – Human Reproduction

Human oral microbiome

Bacterial diversity in saliva and oral health-related conditions: the Hisayama Study – Toru Takeshita – Scientific Reports

Human gut microbiome

Gut Microbiome of Coexisting BaAka Pygmies and Bantu Reflects Gradients of Traditional Subsistence Patterns – Andres Gomez – Cell Reports

Inflammatory Bowel Disease Affects the Outcome of Fecal Microbiota Transplantation for Recurrent Clostridium difficile Infection – Alexander Khoruts – Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology

Gut microbiota composition and relapse risk in pediatric MS: A pilot study – Helen Tremlett – Journal of the Neurological Sciences

Analysis of Gastric Microbiota by Pyrosequencing: Minor Role of Bacteria Other Than Helicobacter pylori in the Gastric Carcinogenesis – Hyun Jin Jo – Helicobacter

Review: Crohn’s Disease: Evolution, Epigenetics, and the Emerging Role of Microbiome-Targeted Therapies – Ersilia M. DeFilippis – Current Gastroenterology Reports

Review: Immune recognition and response to the intestinal microbiome in type 1 diabetes – Alexandra Paun – Journal of Autoimmunity

Review: Intestinal microbiota: from sequencing to function – Julia-Stefanie Frick – International Journal of Medical Microbiology

Models of microbiome research

Growing up in a Bubble: Using Germ-Free Animals to Assess the Influence of the Gut Microbiota on Brain and Behaviour – Pauline Luczynski – International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology

Vancomycin treatment alters humoral immunity and intestinal microbiota in an aged mouse model of Clostridium difficile infection – Edward van Opstal – The Journal of Infectious Diseases

Culex quinquefasciatus larval microbiomes vary with instar and exposure to common wastewater contaminants – Marcus J. Pennington – Scientific Reports

Microbial succession in response to pollutants in batch-enrichment culture – Shuo Jiao – Scientific Reports

Manipulation of the gut microbiota using resistant starch is associated with protection against colitis-associated colorectal cancer in rats – Ying Hu – Carcinogenesis

Animal microbiome

Managing Amphibian Disease with Skin Microbiota – Douglas C. Woodhams – Trends in Microbiology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Fungal phylogenetic diversity drives plant facilitation – Alicia Montesinos-Navarro – Oecologia

Positive plant–soil feedbacks of the invasive Impatiens glandulifera and their effects on above-ground microbial communities – Z Pattison – Weed Research

Bacterial community dissimilarity between the surface and subsurface soils equals horizontal differences over several kilometers in the western Tibetan Plateau – Haiyan Chu – Environmental Microbiology

Spatial scale drives patterns in soil bacterial diversity – Sarah L. O’Brien – Environmental Microbiology

Detection of short-term cropping system-induced changes to soil bacterial communities differs among four molecular characterization methods – David S. Duncan – Soil Biology and Biochemistry

Water and extremophile microbiome

Assembly and Succession of Iron Oxide Microbial Mat Communities in Acidic Geothermal Springs – Jacob P. Beam – Frontiers in Microbiology

Food microbiology

Influence of season and type of restaurants on sashimi microbiota – S. Miguéis – The European Journal of Public Health

Mitigation of Biofilm Formation on Corrugated Cardboard Fresh Produce Packaging Surfaces Using a Novel Thiazolidinedione Derivative Integrated in Acrylic Emulsion Polymers – Michael Brandwein – Frontiers in Microbiology

Psychrophile spoilers dominate the bacterial microbiome in musculature samples of slaughter pigs – Evelyne Mann – Meat Science

Bioinformatics

Correlation detection strategies in microbial data sets vary widely in sensitivity and precision – Sophie Weiss – The ISME Journal

ghost-tree: creating hybrid-gene phylogenetic trees for diversity analyses – Jennifer Fouquier – Microbiome

An algorithm for designing minimal microbial communities with desired metabolic capacities – Alexander Eng – Bioinformatics

Posted this previously, but now peer reviewed: Comparison of three clustering approaches for detecting novel environmental microbial diversity – Dominik Forster – PeerJ

Techniques

High-resolution microbiota flow cytometry reveals dynamic colitis-associated changes in fecal bacterial composition – Jakob Zimmermann – European Journal of Immunology

More microbiology

Phenotypic Heterogeneity and the Evolution of Bacterial Life Cycle –
Jordi van Gestel – PLOS Computational Biology
Microbes in the news

Human Gut Microbiome Evolution: From Hunter-Gatherers to a Western Lifestyle – Discover

Giving up hunting and gathering changed our gut microbiome – Eric Smillie – Newsweek

The social microbiome of the social honey bee – Irene Newton – MicroBEnet

Video: The Microbiome Project: Surgery – Jack Gilbert and colleagues discuss – Argonne National Laboratory

Newly discovered microbes in marine sponges, turtles, rockfish, and termites – Microbe Post

Penn Researcher Contributes Engineering Expertise to Solving Dental Maladies – University of Pennsylvania

Living bacteria-powered lights hit the market – New Scientist

What Are You Smoking? Bacteria Found at Local Hookah Bars – Bianca Lopez – University of Tampa

Science, publishing, and career

“That was a really bad Friday for us:” WIRED warns four stories were plagiarized – Ivan Oransky – Retraction Watch

Bik’s picks

Arctic shipworm discovery alarms archaeologists: a new species of the wood-chomping mollusks is loose in the Arctic – Eli Kintisch – Science

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February 24, 2016

Posted on by

Women in space, cacti, celiac disease, and traveling dust.

Event

Not endorsing – full of quackery and folks trying to sell their books and food supplements, little science: Microbiome Medicine Summit

Human oral microbiome

Review: Porphyromonas gingivalis: An Overview of Periodontopathic Pathogen below the Gum Line – Kah Yan How – Frontiers in Microbiology

Human reproductive tract microbiome

The potential influence of the microbiota and probiotics on women during long spaceflights – Camilla Urbaniak – Future Medicine

Human gut microbiome

Study of duodenal bacterial communities by 16S rRNA gene analysis in adults with active celiac disease versus non celiac disease controls – Esther Nistal – Journal of Applied Microbiology

High Molecular Weight Barley β-Glucan Alters Gut Microbiota Toward Reduced Cardiovascular Disease Risk – Yanan Wang – Frontiers in Microbiology

Review: A glance at … dietary emulsifiers, the human intestinal mucus and microbiome, and dietary fiber – Michael J. Glade – Nutrition

Review: Chemical conversations in the gut microbiota – Jessica A. Thompson – Gut Microbes

Review: Atopic dermatitis and the intestinal microbiota in humans and dogs – J. Mark Craig – Veterinary Medicine and Science

Animal models

Composition of fecal microbiota of laboratory mice derived from Japanese commercial breeders using 16S rRNA gene clone libraries – Ryoko Nozu – Journal of Veterinary Medical Science

Animal microbiome

News in livestock research — use of Omics-technologies to study the microbiota in the gastrointestinal tract of farm animals – Simon Deusch – Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

The Cacti Microbiome: Interplay between Habitat-Filtering and Host-Specificity – Citlali Fonseca-García – Frontiers in Microbiology

Comparison of Fungal Community in Black Pepper-Vanilla and Vanilla Monoculture Systems Associated with Vanilla Fusarium Wilt Disease –
Wu Xiong – Frontiers in Microbiology

Bacterial-Plant-Interactions: Approaches to Unravel the Biological Function of Bacterial Volatiles in the Rhizosphere – Marco Kai – Frontiers in Microbiology

Short-Term Rhizosphere Effect on Available Carbon Sources, Phenanthrene Degradation, and Active Microbiome in an Aged-Contaminated Industrial Soil – François Thomas – Frontiers in Microbiology

Changes in rhizosphere bacterial gene expression following glyphosate treatment – Molli M. Newman – Science of the Total Environment

Pepino (Solanum muricatum) planting increased diversity and abundance of bacterial communities in karst area – Jinxiang Hu – Scientific Reports

Friend or foe? Biological and ecological traits of the European ash dieback pathogen Hymenoscyphus fraxineus in its native environment – Michelle Cleary – Scientific Report

An interdomain network: the endobacterium of a mycorrhizal fungus promotes antioxidative responses in both fungal and plant hosts – Candida Vannini – New Phytologist

Water and extremophile microbiome

The effect of temperature change on the microbial diversity and community structure along the chronosequence of the sub-arctic glacier forefield of Styggedalsbreen (Norway) – Alejandro Mateos-Rivera – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Water level changes affect carbon turnover and microbial community composition in lake sediments – Lukas Weise – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Evaluation of the treatment performance and microbial communities of a combined constructed wetland used to treat industrial park wastewater – Ming Xu – Environmental Science and Pollution Research

Bacterial Composition and Survival on Sahara Dust Particles Transported to the European Alps – Marco Meola – Frontiers in Microbiology

Review: Bridging the divide: a model-data approach to Polar and Alpine microbiology – James A. Bradley – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

ghost-tree: creating hybrid-gene phylogenetic trees for diversity analyses – Jennifer Fouquier – Microbiome

More microbiology

Peracetic Acid Treatment Generates Potent Inactivated Oral Vaccines from a Broad Range of Culturable Bacterial Species – Kathrin Moor – Frontiers in Immunology

Microbes in the news

Bacteria From the Sahara Desert Found on Swiss Glaciers – Nellie Van Driska – GlacierHub

Wolbachia Bacteria Could Be Answer To Malaria, Dengue: Bill Gates – NDTV

Student Research Focus: Drew Gukeisen discovers and visualizes new virus – Indiana University SouthEast

Bacteria swabbing trend for newborns medically in doubt – Carina Storrs – CNN

Microbes and art

Navel gazing: portraits of the bacteria in our belly buttons – in pictures by Joana Ricou – The Guardian

Science, publishing, and career

Activism: Frustrated postdocs rise up – Paul Smaglik – Nature

Don’t trust an image in a scientific paper? Manipulation detective’s company wants to help – Retraction Watch
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February 20, 2016

Posted on by

Effects of ocean acidification, structural proteins in viral dark matter, and microbiome art. Also check out my new post at MicroBE.net with new papers on microbiome of the built environment.

Human respiratory tract microbiome

Review: How Recent Advances in Molecular Tests Could Impact the Diagnosis of Pneumonia – David Murdoch – Expert Review of Molecular Diagnostics

Microbiome models

In vitro fermentation of alginate and its derivatives by human gut microbiota – Miaomiao Li – Anaerobe

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Changes of soil prokaryotic communities after clear cutting in a karst forest: evidences for cutting-based disturbance promoting deterministic processes – Xiao Zhang – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Use of mulberry–soybean intercropping in salt–alkali soil impacts the diversity of the soil bacterial community – Xin Li – Microbial Biotechnology

Distinct Habitats Select Particular Bacterial Communities in Mangrove Sediments – Lidianne L. Rocha – International Journal of Microbiology

Water and ice microbiome

Quantification of the effects of ocean acidification on sediment microbial communities in the environment: the importance of ecosystem approaches – Christiane Hassenrück – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Bacterial communities from Arctic seasonal sea ice are more compositionally variable than those from multi-year sea ice – Ido Hatam – The ISME Journal

Bioreactor and waste microbiology

Biodegradation of different petroleum hydrocarbons by free and immobilized microbial consortia – Tiantian Shen – Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

Recent Developments in Using Advanced Sequencing Technologies for the Genomic Studies of Lignin and Cellulose Degrading Microorganisms – Ayyappa kumar Sista Kameshwar – International Journal of Biological Sciences

DUDE-Seq: Fast, flexible, and robust denoising of nucleotide sequences – Byunghan Lee – Bioinformatics

HTSFinder: Powerful Pipeline of DNA Signature Discovery by Parallel and Distributed Computing – Ramin Karimi – Evolutionary Bioinformatics

FLDS: A Comprehensive dsRNA Sequencing Method for Intracellular RNA Virus Surveillance – Syun-ichi Urayama – Microbes and Environments

Based on my old discovery of the mycobacterial CRISPR: SpoTyping: fast and accurate in silico Mycobacterium spoligotyping from sequence reads – Eryu Xia – Genome Medicine

Microbial ecology

A tradeoff between the ecological and evolutionary stabilities of public goods genes in microbial populations – Joseph Rauch – BioRxiv

Agent Based Modeling of Human Gut Microbiome Interactions and Perturbations – Tatiana Shashkova – PLOS ONE

Proteomics

Illuminating structural proteins in viral “dark matter” with metaproteomics – Jennifer R. Brum – PNAS

Microbes in the news

‘Unhealthy’ Microbiomes Could Promote Metabolic Disease. UCSF Symposium Explores Vulnerability and Malleability of Microbes in Human Gut – Nicholas Weiler – University of California San Francisco

Unusual sugar in leafy greens may help gut bacteria protect health – Catharine Paddock – Medical News Today

One startup’s plan to grow more crops: put the germs back in. Indigo claims it can dramatically boost yields by restoring plant’s microbiome – Ben Popper – The Verge

The intestinal microbiota—a new ally for optimum growth – Medical Xpress

Bacteria In Contact Lenses May Cause Inflammatory Response Leading To Microbial Keratitis / Gross Science Video with Anna Rothschild – Lizette Borreli – Medical Daily

Bacteria Hysteria

Tea crawling with harmful bacteria and food trays covered in faeces: The horror health threats facing airline passengers – The Sun

Microbes and art

Faces of BioArt: Sonja Bäumel’s Microbiome Portraits and Bacterial Clothing – Labiotech

Science, publishing, and career

Put the “Ph” Back in PhD. We need big thinkers, but the current system teaches students to think small – Arturo Casadevall

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