June 8, 2015

General microbiome

Minireview: The brain’s Geppetto—microbes as puppeteers of neural function and behaviour? – Roman M. Stilling – Journal of NeuroVirology

Thesis: Novel computational approaches to investigate microbial diversity – Qingpeng Zhang – Michigan State University

Microbiome of pregnancy and birth

Distinctive Intestinal Lactobacillus Communities in Six-Month-Old Infants From Rural Malawi and South-Western Finland – Aakko, Juhani – Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology & Nutrition

Antenatal Microbiome: Potential Contributor to Fetal Programming and Establishment of the Microbiome in Offspring – Michelle L. Wright, Angela R. Starkweather – Nursing Research

Review: Should Abnormal Vaginal Flora in 2 nd Trimester of Pregnancy be Treated to Prevent Preterm Labor – Gunjan Kumari, Anjali Tempe – Journal of Medical Sciences

Human oral microbiome

The oral mucosal and salivary microbial community of Behcet’s syndrome and recurrent aphthous stomatitis – Noha Seoudi – Journal of Oral Microbiology

Human gut microbiome

Review: Unraveling the environmental and genetic interactions in atherosclerosis: Central role of the gut microbiota – Elin Org – Atherosclerosis

Review: The Effects of Diet and the Microbiome on Reproduction and Longevity: A Comparative Review Across 5 Continents – Stephanie N. Chilton – Nutrition and Food Sciences

Animal models of microbiome research

Lack of Vitamin D Receptor Causes Dysbiosis and Changes the Functions of the Murine Intestinal Microbiome – Dapeng Jin – Clinical Therapeutics

Animal microbiome

Acromyrmex leaf-cutting ants have simple gut microbiota with nitrogen-fixing potential – Panagiotis Sapountzis – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Anemone: Response of bacterial colonization in Nematostella vectensis to development, environment and biogeography – Benedikt Mortzfeld – Environmental Microbiology

Plant root and soil microbiome

Responses of bacterial communities in seagrass sediments to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon-induced stress – Juan Ling – Ecotoxicology

Analyses of microbial biomass and community diversity in kiwifruit orchard soils of different planting ages – Qingxia Fu – Acta Ecologica Sinica

The effects of the presence of Bt-transgenic oilseed rape in wild mustard populations on the rhizosphere nematode and microbial communities – Yongbo Liu – Science of The Total Environment

Long-term conservation tillage influences the soil microbial community and its contribution to soil CO2 emissions in a Mollisol in Northeast China – Shuxia Jia – Journal of Soils and Sediments

Microbial communities inhabiting oil-contaminated soils from two major oilfields in Northern China: Implications for active petroleum-degrading capacity – Weimin Sun – Journal of Microbiology

Differential degradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon mixtures by indigenous microbial assemblages in soil – Przemyslaw Sawulski – Letters in Applied Microbiology

A novel salt-tolerant chitobiosidase discovered by genetic screening of a metagenomic library derived from chitin-amended agricultural soil – Mariana Silvia Cretoiu – Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

Book chapter: Irrigation with Treated Wastewater: Potential Impacts on Microbial Function and Diversity in Agricultural Soils – Ana Rita Lopes – The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry 2015

Water microbiome

Response of bacteria and meiofauna to iron oxide colloids in sediments of freshwater microcosms – Sebastian Höss – Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry

Response of rare, common and abundant bacterioplankton to anthropogenic perturbations in a Mediterranean coastal site – Federico Baltar – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Book Chapter: Marine Litter as Habitat and Dispersal Vector – Tim Kiessling – Marine Anthropogenic Litter

Thesis: Metagenomic profiling of microbial metal interaction in Red Sea deep-anoxic brine pools – Hanna, Mina Magdy Abdelsayed – American University in Cairo

Built environment microbiome

Microbial community composition of a household sand filter used for arsenic, iron, and manganese removal from groundwater in Vietnam – Katja Sonja Nitzsche – Chemosphere

The role of bacterial communities and carbon dioxide on the corrosion of steel – K.M. Usher – Corrosion Science

Extremophile microbiome

Review: Metagenomics of extreme environments – DA Cowan – Current Opinion in Microbiology

Food microbiology

Review: The impact of climate change on existing and emerging microbial threats across the food chain: An island of Ireland perspective – Linda D. Stewart – Trends in Food Science & Technology

Review: Microbial decontamination of food by electron beam irradiation – Hsiang-Mei Lung – Trends in Food Science & Technology

Bioreactor microbiome

Bioreactor microbial ecosystems for thiocyanate and cyanide degradation unraveled with genome-resolved metagenomics – Rose S. Kantor – Environmental Microbiology

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

CCLasso: Correlation Inference for Compositional Data through Lasso – Huaying Fang – Bioinformatics

GAML: genome assembly by maximum likelihood: combination of diverse sequencing datasets into a single assembly – Vladimír Boža – Algorithms for Molecular Biology

Effects of library size variance, sparsity, and compositionality on the analysis of microbiome data – Sophie J Weiss – PeerJ

Review: Identification of Viruses and Viroids by Next-Generation Sequencing and Homology-Dependent and Homology-Independent Algorithms – Qingfa Wu – Annual Reviews Phytopathology

Metabolomics

Mapping microbial response metabolomes for induced natural product discovery – Dagmara K. Derewacz – ACS Chemical Biology
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acschembio.5b00001

Techniques

Analysis of microsamples of human faeces: a non-invasive approach to study the bioavailability of fat-soluble bioactive compounds – E. Hernandez-Alvarez – European Journal of Nutrition

Microbes in the news

Say hello to your little friends: Making sense of gut bacteria – Wency Leung – Globe and Mail

Surfers help science in fight against antibiotic resistant bacteria with their poop – Luigi Lugmayer – i4u

Effects of zinc oxide on intestinal microbiota – All About Feed

VideoWaxworm Bacteria Could Recycle Plastic Trash – NBC News

Is That Water Hot Enough to Kill Germs? – C. Claiborne Ray – New York Times

Gut bacteria play a vital role to your health – Sharon Ní Chonchuir – Irish Examiner

New microscope technique could speed identification of deadly bacteria – EurekAlert

Science, publishing, and career

Better advice for ‘Bothered’ – Science Careers Staff – Science Magazine

Retractions and High Profile Journals – Peter Edmonds

Bik’s Picks

Black Hole Hunters – Dennis Overbye – New York Times

Everything You Need to Know About Bill Nye’s Crazy Experimental Spaceship – Jack Linshi – Time

Under the Sea: Google Views for World Oceans Day – Patrick J. Kiger – Discovery

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June 3, 2015

Microbiomes of seahorses, diet and human stool, gut microbes influencing CNS, lichen-associated bacteria, sequencing beer, and news from #ASM2015.

Human gut microbiome

Fecal Microbiota in Healthy Subjects Following Omnivore, Vegetarian and Vegan Diets: Culturable Populations and rRNA DGGE Profiling – Ilario Ferrocino – PLOS ONE

Animal models of microbiome research

Host microbiota constantly control maturation and function of microglia in the CNS – Daniel Erny – Nature Neuroscience

Effects of Dietary Linseed Oil and Propionate Precursors on Ruminal Microbial Community, Composition, and Diversity in Yanbian Yellow Cattle – Xiang Z. Li – PLOS ONE

Animal microbiome

A Metagenomic Survey of Viral Abundance and Diversity in Mosquitoes from Hubei Province – Chenyan Shi – PLOS ONE

Comparison of the Intestinal Bacterial Flora in Healthy and Intestinal-diseased Seahorses Hippocampus trimaculatus, Hippocampus erectus, and Hippocampus spinosissimus – Feng Li – Journal of the World Aquaculture Society

Plant and soil microbiome

Analysis of the Peltigera membranacea metagenome indicates that lichen-associated bacteria are involved in phosphate solubilization – Margrét Auður Sigurbjörnsdóttir – Microbiology

Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Community Structure, Abundance and Species Richness Changes in Soil by Different Levels of Heavy Metal and Metalloid Concentration – Ramasamy Krishnamoorthy – PLOS ONE

Built environment microbiome

Chamber Bioaerosol Study: Outdoor Air and Human Occupants as Sources of Indoor Airborne Microbes – Rachel I. Adams – PLOS ONE

Survey of Microbial Diversity in Flood Areas during Thailand 2011 Flood Crisis Using High-Throughput Tagged Amplicon Pyrosequencing – Wuttichai Mhuantong – PLOS ONE

Metagenomic Insights into the Bioaerosols in the Indoor and Outdoor Environments of Childcare Facilities – Su-Kyoung Shin – PLOS ONE

Food microbiology

PCR-DGGE assessment of the bacterial diversity in Spanish-style green table-olive fermentations – Helena Lucena-Padrós – International Journal of Food Microbiology

Microbial ecology

Perspectives on the context-dependency of stream community responses to contaminants – William H. Clements – Freshwater Biology

Metacommunity speciation models and their implications for diversification theory – Nicolas Hubert – Ecology Letters

The complex relationship between microbial growth rate and yield and its implications for ecosystem processes – David A. Lipson – Frontiers in Microbiology

Techniques

The Effect of Sampling and Storage on the Fecal Microbiota Composition in Healthy and Diseased Subjects – Danyta I. Tedjo – PLOS ONE

Microbes in the news

Sequence your beer: BeerDeCoded: the 1,000 beer genomes

#ASM2015 – Soil microbes ally with plants to fight disease and tolerate stress – Phys.org

#ASM2015 video: A Critical Role of the Plant Microbiome for Immunocompetency – ASM

#ASM2015: Share a Bathroom With Other People? Here’s Something You May or May Not Want to Know About Your Toothbrush – Liz Klimas – The Blaze

All About Flora: How Important Gut Health Really Is. Don’t be grossed out – those little guys living in your guts are your friends – Lacie Glover – US News
Ancient algae found deep in tropical glacier – Biology News

Microbes, biodiversity and the benefits of getting dirty – David Suzuki – National Observer

Former COD Theater Major Researches Microbiology in South Africa – Mitchell11 – Chicago Tribune

Interview with Jessica Richman of uBiome – Tracy Mac – The Power of Poop

Bacteria study may curb antibiotics use – Jeremy Watson – The Times

Could remnants of the earliest life be preserved in volcanic glass? Controversy about microbial “biotextures” – Shalini Saxena – ArsTechnica

Science, publishing, and career

Why we should help people understand our scientific literature – R. W. Abrams – Conservation Biology

Announcing mSystems™: a new ASM open-access journal launching in early 2016 with Jack Gilbert as Founding Editor in Chief – ASM

Scientists Behaving Badly (On Social Media) – Brett Buttliere – PLOS Blogs

Publons and the American Society for Microbiology announce pilot partnership – ASM

Helpful websites for women scientists interested in fellowships, scholarships and funding opportunities – ASM

Bik’s Picks

Chimps Can’t Cook, But Maybe They’d Like To – Michael D. Lemonick – National Geographic

20-year-old invents ingenious system to rid ocean of trash – Olivia Solon – Mirror

Sea lions injured in chlorine attack return to ocean (video) – Chicago Tribune

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June 2, 2015

General human microbiome

The human microbiome in hematopoiesis and hematological disorders – Veronica E. Manzo and Ami S. Bhatt – Blood

Special issue of Microbial Ecology in Health and Disease: Editorial: We all need friends – Jørgen Valeur

Early Factors Leading to Later Obesity: Interactions of the Microbiome, Epigenome, and Nutrition – Lilly Chang, Josef Neu – Current Problems in Pediatric and Adolescent Health Care

Microbiome of pregnancy and birth

Opportunities to assess factors contributing to the development of the intestinal microbiota in infants living in developing countries – Dennis Lang – Microbial Ecology in Health and Disease

Review: Factors affecting infant gut microbiota and possible consequences for health
Merete Eggesbø – Microbial Ecology in Health and Disease

Human gut microbiome

Draft Genome Sequences of 24 Microbial Strains Assembled from Direct Sequencing from 4 Stool Samples – Patricio Jeraldo – Genome Announcements

Book Chapter: Physiology of Digestion and Absorption: The Functional Interdependence Between Food and the Gut – Stephen J. D. O’Keefe – The Principles and Practice of Nutritional Support

Review: With a little help from my enteric microbial friends – Ben Berkhout – Frontiers in Medicine

Editorial: AI-2 to the rescue against antibiotic-induced intestinal dysbiosis? – Zhongke Sun – Trends in Microbiology

Microbiome models

Evidence from Animal Models: Is a Restricted or Conventional Intestinal Microbiota Composition Predisposing to Risk for High-LET Radiation Injury? – Irene Maier – Radiation Research

Rumen Microbiome from Steers Differing in Feed Efficiency – Phillip R. Myer – PLOS ONE

Changes in the composition of intestinal fungi and their role in mice with dextran sulfate sodium-induced colitis – Xinyun Qiu – Scientific Reports

Microbiota prevents cholesterol loss from the body by regulating host gene expression in mice – Chun-Yan Zhong – Scientific Reports

Animal microbiome

Early-life establishment of the swine gut microbiome and impact on host phenotypes – Núria Mach – Environmental Microbiology Reports

Lifestyle Evolution in Cyanobacterial Symbionts of Sponges – Ilia Burgsdorf – mBio

Plant microbiome

Antagonistic interactions between endophytic cultivable bacterial communities isolated from the medicinal plant Echinacea purpurea – Isabel Maida – Environmental Microbiology

Soil microbiome

Distinct soil bacterial communities along a small-scale elevational gradient in alpine tundra – Congcong Shen – Frontiers in Microbiology

Carcass mass has little influence on the structure of gravesoil microbial communities – Sophie Weiss – International Journal of Legal Medicine

Impact of different cropping conditions and tillage practices on the soil fungal abundance of a Phaeozem luvico – Romina P. Gomez – Spanish Journal of Agricultural Research

Biological activity and microbial genetic diversity of bare-fallow and grassland soils – Anna Kot – Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica, Section B — Soil & Plant Science

Masters Thesis: Assessing soil microbial tolerance to salt – Arpita Maheshwari – Lund University

Water microbiome

Microbial metagenomics in the Baltic Sea: Recent advancements and prospects for environmental monitoring – Karolina Ininbergs – AMBIO

Characterizing microbial communities dedicated for conversion of coal to methane in situ and ex situ – Ji Zhang – International Journal of Coal Geology

Dynamics of the bacterial and archaeal communities in the northern South China Sea revealed by 454 pyrosequencing of the 16S rRNA gene – Xia Xiaomin – Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography

Editorial: Microbial symbiosis of marine sessile hosts- diversity and function – Suhelen Egan – Frontiers in Microbiology

Review: Biodiversity, community structure and function of biofilms in stream ecosystems – Katharina Besemer – Research in Microbiology

Built environment microbiome

pecunia non olet? Screening Currency Notes for Microbial Pathogens and Antibiotic Resistance Genes Using a Shotgun Metagenomic Approach – Saakshi Jalali – PLOS ONE

Phages and viruses

Dark matter of the biosphere: The amazing world of bacteriophage diversity – Graham F. Hatfull – Journal of Virology

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

VirSorter: mining viral signal from microbial genomic data – Simon Roux – PeerJ

Denoising DNA deep sequencing data—high-throughput sequencing errors and their correction – David Laehnemann – Briefings in Bioinformatics

FCMM: A comparative metagenomic approach for functional characterization of multiple metagenome samples – Jongin Lee – Journal of Microbiological Methods

PuzzleCluster: A Novel Unsupervised Clustering Algorithm for Binning DNA Fragments in Metagenomics – Current Bioinformatics

Shotgun metagenomes and multiple primer pair-barcode combinations of amplicons reveal biases in metabarcoding analyses of fungi – Leho Tedersoo – MycoKeys

ANCOM: Analysis of composition of microbiomes: a novel method for studying microbial composition – Siddhartha Mandal – Microbial Ecology in Health and Disease

Transcriptomics and Metabolomics

MetabNet: an R package for metabolic association analysis of high-resolution metabolomics data – Karan Uppal – Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology

Meta-omics uncover temporal regulation of pathways across oral microbiome genera during in vitro sugar metabolism – Anna Edlund – ISME Journal

Review: Enteric short-chain fatty acids: microbial messengers of metabolism, mitochondria, and mind: implications in autism spectrum disorders – Derrick F. MacFabe – Microbial Ecology in Health and Disease

Techniques

Co-extraction of DNA and PLFA from soil samples – Sheridan Brewer – Journal of Microbial Methods

Microbial ecology

Editorial: Flexible gene pools: hard to interpret the diversity often observed in microbial communities – Michael M. Desai – Science

Fine-scale diversity and extensive recombination in a quasisexual bacterial population occupying a broad niche – Michael J. Rosen – Science

Microbes in the news

Good craft beer can be spoiled by bacteria – Phys.org / American Society for Microbiology

Treating Koala STDs May also Quash Their Essential Gut Microbes – Katherine Harmon Courage – Scientific American

New study: Gut bacteria cooperate when life gets tough – EurekAlert

Metabolic activity and health of the skin microbiome – Medical Xpress / American Society for Microbiology

Is our first line of defense sleeping on the job? – Science Daily / American Society for Microbiology

Growing Up In an UnSterile World –The Importance of a Healthy Gut Through the Lifespan – Sarah Lobisco – Dr. Lobisco

Citizen Scientists Send Microbes Into Space – Science 2.0

Methanogens: Earth organisms survive under low-pressure Martian conditions – Science Daily

Why is the H-pylori bacteria developing a liking for Mumbai police? – Santosh Andhale – DNA India

Book review: The great microbial beauty – Vittorio Capozzi – Trends in Microbiology

Science, publishing, and career

Plagiarism is the most common cause of retractions in BioMed Central journals:
Retractions Often Due to Plagiarism: Study – Kerry Grens – The Scientist

Bik’s Picks: not-microbial science

Giant Sawfish Have Virgin Births, Rewrite Biology Textbooks – Charles Q. Choi – Live Science

These newly discovered marsupials basically sex each other to death – Elahe Izadi – Washington Post

Seals Help Scientists Probe Remote Seas – Discovery

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Another June 1, 2015

Here’s the second update of today, completing the backlog because of my travels. 

Human skin microbiome

The Cutaneous Microbiome in Outpatients Presenting With Acute Skin Abscesses – James M. Horton – Journal of Infectious Diseases

Book chapter: Skin Microbiota and Attractiveness to Mosquitoes – Niels O. Verhulst, Willem Takken – Encyclopedia of Metagenomics

Human gut microbiome

High prevalence of cannabis use among Aka foragers of the Congo Basin and its possible relationship to helminthiasis – Casey J. Roulette – American Journal of Human Biology

Hospitalization Type Predicts Risk of Subsequent Severe Sepsis – Hallie C Prescott – American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine

Review: Harnessing the Microbiome to Enhance Cancer Immunotherapy – Michelle H. Nelson – Journal of Immunology Research

Review: The functional impact of the intestinal microbiome on mucosal immunity and systemic autoimmunity – Randy S. Longman – Current Opinion in Rheumatology

Review: The intestinal microbiome in spondyloarthritis – Tejpal Gill – Current Opinion in Rheumatology

Microbiome models

Thesis: Alterations in the Fecal Microbiome of Healthy Horses in Response to Antibiotic Treatment – Rachel Sarah Liepman – Ohio State University

Thesis: Effects of Maternal Dietary Yeast Supplementation on Foal Growth and Microbial
Diversity of the Hindgut in Quarter Horse Mares and Their Offspring – Elizabeth Rebecca Share – Ohio State University

Soil, plant root, and rock microbiome

Fungal invasion of the rhizosphere microbiome – Emilie Chapelle – ISME Journal

Shifts in the phylogenetic structure of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in response to experimental nitrogen and carbon dioxide additions – Rebecca C. Mueller – Oecologia

Archean (3.33 Ga) microbe-sediment systems were diverse and flourished in a hydrothermal context – Frances Westall – Geology

Crop rotational diversity enhances belowground communities and functions in an agroecosystem – L. K. Tiemann – Ecology Letters

Evaluation of culture-based techniques and 454 pyrosequencing for the analysis of fungal diversity in potting media and organic fertilizers – Abdullah M. Al-Sadi – Journal of Applied Microbiology

Water microbiome

Aquifer community structure in dependence of lithostratigraphy in groundwater – Andrea Beyer – Environmental Science and Pollution Research

Microbial diversity in the deep-sea sediments of Iheya North and Iheya Ridge, Okinawa Trough – Jian Zhang – Microbiological Research

Urbanisation and earthquake disturbance influence microbial nutrient limitation in streams – Emma R. Moffett – Freshwater Biology

On the use of the serial dilution culture method to enumerate viable phytoplankton in natural communities of plankton subjected to ballast water treatment – John J. Cullen, Hugh L. MacIntyre – Journal of Applied Phycology

Unravelling core microbial metabolisms in the hypersaline microbial mats of Shark Bay using high-throughput metagenomics – Rendy Ruvindy – ISME Journal

Carbon export efficiency and phytoplankton community composition in the Atlantic sector of the Arctic Ocean – Frédéric A. C. Le Moigne – Journal of Geophysical Research – Oceans

Extremophile microbiome

Photoadaptation to the polar night by phytoplankton in a permanently ice-covered Antarctic lake – Morgan-Kiss R. M.- Limnology and Oceanography

Biodegradation: Updating the concepts of control for microbial clean-up in contaminated aquifers – Rainer Udo Meckenstock – Environmental Science & Technology

Bioreactor microbiome

Multi-system Nernst–Michaelis–Menten model applied to bioanodes formed from sewage sludge – Mickaël Rimboud – Bioresource Technology

Community shifts in a well-operating agricultural biogas plant: how process variations are handled by the microbiome – Susanne Theuerl – Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

Review: Tolerance engineering in bacteria for the production of advanced biofuels and chemicals – Aindrila Mukhopadhyay – Trends in Microbiology

Viruses and phages

When Competing Viruses Unify: Evolution, Conservation, and Plasticity of Genetic Identities – Luis P. Villarreal, Guenther Witzany – Journal of Molecular Evolution

Metagenomics and bioinformatics

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

Review: Metagenomics as a tool for the investigation of uncultured microorganisms – N. V. Ravin – Russian Journal of Genetics

Metabolomics

Metabolic dynamics analysis by massive data integration: application to tsunami-affected field soils in Japan – Tatsuki Ogura – ACS Chemical Biology

Review: Defining the Metabolome: Size, Flux, and Regulation – Nicola Zamboni – Molecular Cell

Techniques

Review: High-Throughput Sequencing Technologies – Jason A. Reuter – Molecular Cell

Microbes in the news

One Week Change In My Microbiome – Richard Sprague – uBiome blog

Unconscious use of ‘medical marijuana? ‘ Hunter-gatherer cannabis use linked to fewer internal parasites – Science Daily

Touchy Feely: Physical contact helps determine who’s present among baboons’ gut bacteria – Kerry Grens – The Scientist

Mysteries of cat, human health revealed through microbiome – Meredith Knight – Genetic Literacy Project

Gut check: Does a hospital stay set patients up for sepsis by disrupting the body’s microbiome? – Kara Gavin – University of Michigan

Immunotherapy: Target the Gut in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis – Linda G. Hughes – HCP Live

Q&A With Pavan Bhargava of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine: Studying the Microbiome in Treatment of Multiple Sclerosis – Adam Hochron – HCP Live

Contact Lenses Can Change the Ocular Microbiome – Amanda B. Keener – The Scientist

Microbiome and money

Synthetic Biologics to Host Microbiome Analyst & Investor Meeting – Market Watch

Science, publishing, and career

Scientists Who Cheat – The Editorial Board – New York Times

Michael LaCour Probably Fabricated a Document About Research Integrity – Jesse Singal – New York Magazine

Bik’s Picks

What’s Old Is New Again: Revolutionary new methods for extracting, purifying, and sequencing ever-more-ancient DNA have opened an unprecedented window into the history of life on Earth – Bob Grant – The Scientist

See The Tiny Origami Robot That’s Going Viral — Folds Itself, Walks, Swims, And Dissolves [Video] – Inquisitr

Quick to laugh or smile? It may be in your genes – Science Daily

[hr]

June 1, 2015

Still catching up from my trip abroad – lots of new papers to share, so I will do two blog posts today.

General microbiome

Elucidating microbial codes to distinguish individuals – Allyson L. Byrd and Julia A. Segre – PNAS

Human oral microbiome

Periodontal status and pathogenic bacteria after gastric bypass: a cohort study – Sílvia Helena de Carvalho Sales-Peres – Journal of Clinical Periodontology

Inflammation-associated microbiota in pediatric eosinophilic esophagitis – Alain J Benitez – Microbiome

Global transcription of CRISPR loci in the human oral cavity – Andrew G Lum – BMC Genomics

Oral and Gastric Helicobacter Pylori: Effects and Associations – Nélio Veiga – PLOS ONE

Book Chapter: Obesity and Periodontal Disease – Simon D. Tran – Environmental Metagenomics

Human gut microbiome

Investigation of the Association Between the Fecal Microbiota and Breast Cancer in Postmenopausal Women: a Population-Based Case-Control Pilot Study – James J. Goedert – Journal of the National Cancer Institute

Review: The art of targeting gut microbiota for tackling human obesity – Marisol Aguirre, Koen Venema – Genes and Nutrition

Review article: dietary fibre–microbiota interactions – H. L. Simpson and B. J. Campbell – Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics

Animal and other microbiome models

Evolutionary transition in symbiotic syndromes enabled diversification of phytophagous insects on an imbalanced diet – Sailendharan Sudakaran – ISME Journal

Fecal Microbial Transplant After Ileocolic Resection Reduces Ileitis but Restores Colitis in IL-102/2 Mice – Troy Perry – IBD Journal

Alteration of gut microbiota by vancomycin and bacitracin improves insulin resistance via glucagon-like peptide 1 in diet-induced obesity – Injae Hwang – The FASEB Journal

Pheromone killing of multidrug-resistant Enterococcus faecalis V583 by native commensal strains – Michael S. Gilmore – PNAS

Human Microbiota-Associated Swine: Current Progress and Future Opportunities – Mei Wang and Sharon M. Donovan – ILAR Journal

Animal microbiome

Marked seasonal variation in the wild mouse gut microbiota – Corinne F Maurice – ISME Journal

Evolution of host specialization in gut microbes: the bee gut as a model – Waidan K Kwong – Gut Microbes

Soil microbiome

Soil bacterial diversity patterns and drivers along an elevational gradient on Shennongjia Mountain, China – Yuguang Zhang – Microbial Biotechnology

High resolution dynamics of microbial communities during dissimilatory selenate reduction in an anoxic soil – Ronald Ragudo Navarro – Environmental Science & Technology

Study and assessment of microbial communities in natural and commercial bioleaching – Arevik Vardanyan – Minerals Engineering

Benefactor and allelopathic shrub species have different effects on the soil microbial community along an environmental severity gradient – S. Hortal – Soil Biology and Biochemistry

Evaluation of soil microbial communities as influenced by crude oil pollution – Eucharia Oluchi Nwaichi and Magdalena Frac – African Journal of Biotechnology

Water microbiome

Aquarium microbiome response to ninety-percent system water change: Clues to microbiome management – William Van Bonn – Zoo Biology

Frequency-based haplotype reconstruction from deep sequencing data of bacterial populations – Sergio Pulido-Tamayo – Nucleic Acids Research

Manganese and iron as structuring parameters of microbial communities in Arctic marine sediments from the Baffin Bay – Camelia Algora – FEMS Microbial Ecology

Quantitative analysis of commensal Escherichia coli populations reveals host-specific enterotypes at the intra-species level – Mounira Smati – Microbiology Open

Manganese cycling microbial communities inside deep-sea manganese nodules – Marco Blöthe – Environmental Science & Technology

Effects of Misgurnus anguillicaudatus and Cipangopaludina cathayensis on Pollutant Removal and Microbial Community in Constructed Wetlands – Pengfei Li – Water

Thesis: Evaluating changes in diversity and functional gene abundance of denitrifying microbe communities and nutrient concentrations in runoff following the implementation of low-grade weirs in agricultural drainage systems – Beth Baker – Mississippi State University/ Gradworks

Bioreactor microbiome

Lipid hydrolysis products affect the composition of infant gut microbial communities in vitro – Rikke G. Nejrup – British Journal of Nutrition

Effect of phospholipid on pyrite oxidation and microbial communities under simulated acid mine drainage (AMD) conditions – Andro-Marc Pierre-Louis – Environmental Science & Technology

Antibiotic resistome and its association with bacterial communities during sewage sludge composting – Jianqiang Su – Environmental Science & Technology

Food microbiology

Microbiota dynamics associated with environmental conditions and potential roles of cellulolytic communities in traditional Chinese cereal starter solid-state fermentation – Pan Li- Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

Note: not metagenomics but Single Locus Sequencing / OTU defining: MICCA: a complete and accurate software for taxonomic profiling of metagenomic data – Davide Albanese – Scientific Reports

An efficient and scalable analysis framework for variant extraction and refinement from population-scale DNA sequence data: GotCloud – Goo Jun – Genome Research

GITIRBio: A Semantic and Distributed Service OrientedArchitecture for Bioinformatics Pipeline – Luis F. Castillo – Journal of Integrative Bioinformatics

mmnet: an R package for metagenomics systems biology analysis: community-level metabolic network reconstruction – Yang Cao – BioMed Research International

Techniques

How to evaluate PCR assays for the detection of low-level DNA – Frederik Banch Clausen – APMIS
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/apm.12405/full

A Novel Microbial Source Tracking Microarray for Pathogen Detection and Fecal Source Identification in Environmental Systems – Xiang Li – Environmental Science & Technology

Functional Foods

Programmable probiotics for detection of cancer in urine – Tal Danino – Science Translational Medicine

Microbes in the news

Alterations to the eye microbiome of contact lens wearers may increase infections – Medical News Today

U.S. defense chief monitoring military anthrax investigation – Reuters

Deadly Bacteria Now a Proven Cancer Detector? – Samantha Solomon – Wall Street Daily’

Gut Bacteria Impacts Toddlers’ Behavior, Particularly Boys – Traci Pederson – PsychCentral

Cervicovaginal Bacteria May Increase the risk of HIV Acquisition in Women – University of Kwazulu – Natal

DNA Genotek’s microbiome collection and stabilization blog: Microbiome learnings from the Weizmann Institute – Cindy MacCullough – DNA Genotek

Scientists probe mysterious wave of antelope deaths – Rory Galloway – BBC News

Bacteria may cause Type 2 diabetes – University of Iowa Now

Should we care about fungi? The mycobiome: an emerging field of the human microbiome research – Human Microbiome Club

Hardy bacteria thrive under hot desert rocks – Nola Taylor Redd – Phys.org

Colon Cancer Diagnosis With Lumninescent Bacteria: Modified Probiotics Can Successfully Detect Tumors In Liver – Colon Cancer News Today

Scientists Find Link Between Ocean Bacteria and Atmosphere – Simon Yu – UCSD Guardian

Woman goes blind after cat licks her and transmits rare bacteria that could affect the brain, eyes, heart, and internal organs – Daily Mail

Science, career, and publishing

This poor advice blog post was retracted from Science today, but the internet never forgets.

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May 22, 2015

Several special issues this week: Science features results from the Tara ocean plankton biodiversity expedition, Microbes and Infection has a special on the oral microbiome, and Frontiers bundled several papers under the not-so-pretty name The Human Gutome.

General microbiome

The Microbiome and Autoimmune Disease: Report from a Noel R. Rose Colloquium – Jobert G. Barin – Clinical Immunology

New developments providing mechanistic insight into the impact of the microbiota on allergic disease – Kathy D. McCoy – Clinical Immunology

Review: Self or non-self? The multifaceted role of the microbiota in immune-mediated diseases – Martin A. Kriegel – Clinical Immunology

Human oral microbiome

Special issue of Microbes and Infection (7 papers but most have already been posted in this blog). Editorial with links to 7 papersA New Frontier: Oral Microbes without Borders – Özlem Yilmaz
Extracellular DNA in oral microbial biofilms – Nicholas S. Jakubovics

Not microbiome but cool: The Diet of Three Medieval Individuals from Caravate (Varese, Italy). Combined Results of ICP-MS Analysis of Trace Elements and Phytolith Analysis Conducted on Their Dental Calculus – A. M. B. Lazzati – International Journal of Osteoarchaeology

Human gut microbiome

Frontiers Research Topic (papers have been posted previously in this blog): The Human Gutome: Nutrigenomics of Host-Microbiome Interactions

Systematic genome assessment of B-vitamin biosynthesis suggests co-operation among gut microbes – Stefanía Magnúsdóttir – Frontiers in Genetics

Model: Anoxic Conditions Promote Species-Specific Mutualism between Gut Microbes In Silico – Almut Heinken – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Review: Intestinal microbiota and allergic diseases: A systematic review – L.C.F.L. Melli – Allergologia et Immunopathologia

Human urogenital microbiome

Editorial: Cervicovaginal Microbiota: Simple Is Better – Smita Gopinath – Immunity

Cervicovaginal Bacteria Are a Major Modulator of Host Inflammatory Responses in the Female Genital Tract – Melis N. Anahtar – Immunity

The New World of the Urinary Microbiome in Women – Linda Brubaker, Alan J Wolfe – American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology

Plant and soil microbiome

Root-associated bacterial endophytes from Ralstonia solanacearum resistant and susceptible tomato cultivars and their pathogen antagonistic effects – Reshmi Upreti and Pious Thomas – Frontiers in Microbiology

Distinct Circular Single-Stranded DNA Viruses Exist in Different Soil Types – Brian Reavy – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Water microbiome

Special Science issue: Tara Oceans studies plankton at Planetary Scale – P. Bork- Science

pH levels drive bacterial community structure in sediments of the Qiantang River as determined by 454 pyrosequencing – Shuai Liu – Frontiers in Microbiology

Distribution and diversity of fungi in freshwater sediments on a river catchment scale – Jie Liu – Frontiers in Microbiology

Dynamic Succession of Groundwater Functional Microbial Communities in Response to Emulsified Vegetable Oil Amendment during Sustained In Situ U(VI) Reduction
Ping Zhang – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Extremophile microbiome

Diel metabolomics analysis of a hot spring chlorophototrophic microbial mat leads to new hypotheses of community member metabolisms – Young-Mo Kim – Frontiers in Microbiology

Abundance and Distribution of Dimethylsulfoniopropionate Degradation Genes and the Corresponding Bacterial Community Structure at Dimethyl Sulfide Hot Spots in the Tropical and Subtropical Pacific Ocean – Yingshun Cui – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Built environment microbiome

Feasibility study involving the search for natural strains of microorganisms capable of degrading graffiti from heritage materials – Patricia Sanmartín – International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation

Bioreactor microbiology

Next-Generation Pyrosequencing Analysis of Microbial Biofilm Communities on Granular Activated Carbon in Treatment of Oil Sands Process-Affected Water – M. Shahinoor Islam – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Metagenomics

Systematic genome assessment of B-vitamin biosynthesis suggests co-operation among gut microbes – Stefanía Magnúsdóttir – Frontiers in Genetics

Metabolomics

Microbial communication leading to the activation of silent fungal secondary metabolite gene clusters – Tina Netzker – Frontiers in Microbiology

Species interactions differ in their genetic robustness – Lon M. Chubiz – Frontiers in Microbiology

Functional foods

Probiotics for Weight Loss: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis – Sunmin Parka, Ji-Hyun Baeb – Nutrition Research

Viruses and phages

Badger, mongoose, otterFecal virome analysis of three carnivores reveals a novel nodavirus and multiple gemycircularviruses – Nádia Conceição-Neto – Virology Journal

Review: The Virome in Host Health and Disease – Ken Cadwell – Immunity

More microbiology

Editorial: recent discoveries in evolutionary and genomic microbiology – Anton G. Kutikhin and Arseniy E. Yuzhalin – Frontiers in Microbiology

Financial evaluations of antibiotic stewardship programs—a systematic review – Jan-Willem H. Dik – Frontiers in Microbiology

Antagonistic interactions are sufficient to explain self-assemblage of bacterial communities in a homogeneous environment: a computational modeling approach – Román Zapién-Campos – Frontiers in Microbiology

Microbes in the news

What’s Next for the Microbiome? – Jo Handelsman and Elizabeth R. Stulberg – Whitehouse.gov
The White House wants input on the future of microbiome research (by June 15) – Jonathan Eisen – Microbe.net

Ocean’s microbiome has incredible diversity – and human likeness – Colin Barras – New Scientist
Three-year ocean voyage discovered thousands of new, unfamiliar virusesA study of plankton reveals just how little we know about the ocean – Arielle Duhaime-Ross – The Verge
Scientists Map 5,000 New Ocean Viruses – Carl Zimmer – Quanta Magazine

Help fund koala microbiome study – Andy Fell – Egghead Research at UC Davis

Nurturing a baby’s microbiome, before and after birth – Kate Gammo – Populair Science

Meet the caesarean mums who are ‘seeding their baby’s microbiome’ – Best Daily

Long-gone bacteria blows the whistle on gold deposits – Geology Page

Microbes and money

Why bacteria is becoming big business – Stephen Valdivia – Fortune
Danone’s big bet on tiny bacteria – Erica Fry – Fortune

uBiome Partners with PicnicHealth: Participants diagnosed with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) will receive a complementary PicnicHealth account as well as a complementary uBiome research kit. – PR Rocket

Science, publishing, and career

(Satire) The Allium Top Tips For Scientists and Engineers – The Allium
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May 21, 2015

Nature has a special this week about bees, and how to cure appendicitis without surgery.

Human gut microbiome

Survival of Lactobacillus casei strain Shirota in the intestines of healthy Chinese adults – Ran Wang – Microbiology and Immunology

Animal microbiome

Special in Nature: Bees – Michelle Grayson – Nature

Microbiome: The puzzle in a bee’s gut – Alla Katsnelson – Nature

Plant and soil microbes

Optimization of isolation and cultivation of bacterial endophytes through addition of plant extract to nutrient media – N. Eevers – Microbial Biotechnology

Metagenomic Next-Generation Sequencing of Viruses Infecting Grapevines – Johan T. Burger – Plant Pathology

Metagenomics Approaches Based on Virion-Associated Nucleic Acids (VANA): An Innovative Tool for Assessing Without A Priori Viral Diversity of Plants – Denis Filloux – Plant Pathology

Taxonomic diversity of bacterial populations inhabiting gametophytes of Sphagnum mosses from different geographic regions of Russia – A.V. Shcherbakov – Agronomy Research

Biotic interactions mediate soil microbial feedbacks to climate change – Thomas W. Crowther – PNAS

Extremophile microbiology

Halophiles – Shiladitya DasSarma – eLS

Other microbiology papers

157 fungal genomes: Fungal Traits That Drive Ecosystem Dynamics on Land – Kathleen K. Treseder – Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews

Spread of tetracycline resistance genes at a conventional dairy farm – Martina Kyselkova – Frontiers in Microbiology

Temperate and lytic bacteriophages programmed to sensitize and kill antibiotic-resistant bacteria – Ido Yosef – PNAS

Microbiology: Taking the bad with the good – Carl T. Bergstrom & Benjamin Kerr – Nature

Counteraction of antibiotic production and degradation stabilizes microbial communities – Eric D. Kelsic – Nature

Microbes in the news

From Germ Theory to the Microbiome: Why Microbes Still Rule Our Lives – Alanna Collen – Huffington Post

The diet of worms: Soil dwellers emerge as climate change heroes in study – Renee Lewis – Al Jazeera

Richman of uBiome: Scientists can accelerate FMT research – Gut Microbiota For Health

Antibiotics resurface as alternative to removing appendix – Gina Colata – New York Times

VideoSchool Microbiome Art Project: Students quickly draw and discuss some of their thoughts about the microbial world we live in – Kat Gilbert – YouTube

How a Tiny Bacterium Called Wolbachia Could Defeat Dengue – Scott O’Neill – Scientific American

Science, publishing, and career

No more hidden solutions in bioinformatics: Precision medicine cannot advance without full disclosure of how commercial genome sequencing and interpretation software works – Mauno Vihinen – Nature

Publish or perish: Universities should release reports to show what they are doing to tackle misconduct — and funders should help them to do so effectively – Nature

UK universities slow to publish reports of misconduct investigations: Few institutions have followed research integrity guidelines to the letter – Elizabeth Gibney – Nature
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May 16, 2015

Posting might be irregular in the coming days because of international travel, but I will try to keep you all updated as best as I can.

Human oral microbiome

Increased infection with key periodontal pathogens during gestational diabetes mellitus – Himabindu Gogeneni – Journal of Clinical Periodontology

Human respiratory microbiome

Airway microbiota and acute respiratory infection in children – Kohei Hasegawa – Expert Review of Clinical Immunology

Human gut microbiome

Microbiota—implications for immunity and transplantation – Jonathan S. Bromberg – Nature Reviews Nephrology

Poster: Association of classical microbiology and 16S rDNA metagenetic Aanalysis to evaluate the presence of Clostridium difficile ina a belgian nursing home (sic) – Rodriguez Diaz, Cristina – 5th International Human Microbiome Congres

Review: Probiotics, antibiotics and the immune responses to vaccines – Ira Praharaj – Philosophical Transactions B

Microbiome models

Exposure to soil, house dust, and decaying plants increases gut microbial diversity and decreases serum IgE levels in BALB/c mice – Dongrui Zhou – Environmental Microbiology

Water microbiome

Metagenomics reveals the high PAH-degradation potential of abundant uncultured bacteria from chronically-polluted subantarctic and temperate coastal marine environments – Claudia L. Loviso – Journal of Applied Microbiology

Plant root and soil microbiome

Early rhizosphere microbiome composition is related to the growth and Zn uptake of willows introduced to a former landfill – Terrence H. Bell – Environmental Microbiology

Not all are free-living: high-throughput DNA metabarcoding reveals a diverse community of protists parasitizing soil metazoa – S. Geisen – Molecular Ecology

Soil microbial communities vary as much over time as with chronic warming and nitrogen additions – Alexandra R. Contosta – Soil Biology and Biochemistry

Soil ecotoxicity assessment of glyphosate use under field conditions: microbial activity and community structure of Eubacteria and ammonia oxidizing bacteria – María C. Zabaloy – Pest Management Science

Changes in soil aggregation and microbial community structure control carbon sequestration after afforestation of semiarid shrublands – N. Garcia-Francoa – Soil Biology and Biochemistry

Air microbiome

Challenges and Opportunities of Airborne Metagenomics – Hayedeh Behzad – Genome Biology and Evolution

Food microbiology

Bacteriophages isolated from chicken meat and the horizontal transfer of antimicrobial resistance genes– Amira Shousha – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Techniques

A simple method of normalization of DNA extraction for improving the quantitative detection of soil-borne plant pathogenic oomycetes by real-time PCR – M. Li – Letters in Applied Microbiology

Microbes in the news

The kittybiome Project – background and some plans – Jonathan Eisen – MicroBEnet

Science, publishing, and career

Why Medicine is Plagued with Fake Research – Chloe Della Costa – Business Cheat Sheet

Physics Paper on the Higgs Boson Has Record 5,154 Authors – Softpedia (link to actual pdf)

Bik’s Picks

Giant Squid Lore and Legends Date Back Centuries – Benjamin Radford – Discovery

Cocaine Use Could be Determined by a Fingerprint, New Study – Silvia Fernandez – Pierce Pioneer

New map shows most distinct causes of death by state – Marilyn Malara – UPI

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May 14, 2015

General microbiome

Yesterday’s Cell Host & Microbe issue contains a special on “The Host-Microbiota Balance”. Lots of great papers and editorials here! Several papers are listed below in their respective categories, or I already included them in previous posts.

Microbiota and Host Nutrition across Plant and Animal Kingdoms – Stéphane Hacquard – Cell Host & Microbe

Microbiota and Autoimmunity: Exploring New Avenues – Leonid A. Yurkovetskiy – Cell Host & Microbe

Pregnancy and birth

Dynamics and Stabilization of the Human Gut Microbiome during the First Year of Life – Fredrik Bäckhed – Cell Host & Microbe – with editorial: Birth of the Infant Gut Microbiome: Moms Deliver Twice! – Steven A. Frese, David A. Mills – Cell Host & Microbe

Restricted access: Bacterial communities in neonatal feces are similar to mothers’ placentae – Xu-Dong Dong – Canadian Journal of Infectious Diseases & Medical Microbiology

Review: Antibiotics, Pediatric Dysbiosis, and Disease – Pajau Vangay – Cell Host & Microbe

Human oral microbiome

Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Periodontal Pathogens in the Oral Cavity and Lungs of Cystic Fibrosis Patients: a Case-Control Study – Rocio Rivas Caldas – Journal of Clinical Microbiology

Human gut microbiome

Review: An Integrative View of Microbiome-Host Interactions in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases – Marta Wlodarska – Cell Host & Microbe

Review: Control of Brain Development, Function, and Behavior by the Microbiome – Timothy R. Sampson, Sarkis K. Mazmanian – Cell Host & Microbe

Review: Microbiota in Allergy and Asthma and the Emerging Relationship with the Gut Microbiome – Kei E. Fujimura – Cell Host & Microbe

EditorialPrevention: Tending the gut. Drugs, lifestyle changes and other measures might lower the risk of colorectal cancer — but the evidence is a long time coming. – Lauren Gravitz – Nature

Editorial: Microbiome: Microbial mystery. Gut bacteria have an important but elusive role in the formation of colorectal cancer. – Sarah DeWeerdt – Nature

Animal models

Editorial: Message in a Biota: Gut Microbes Signal to the Circadian Clock – Emily V. Marcinkevicius, Mimi M. Shirasu-Hiza – Cell Host & Microbe

Animal microbiome

Coprophilic dipteran community associated with horse dung in Malaysia – C.C. Heo – Halteres

Water microbiome

Bacteria in the injection water differently impacts the bacterial communities of production wells in high-temperature petroleum reservoirs – Hongyan Ren – Frontiers in Microbiology

Assessment of nitrogen and sulphur cycle bacteria and shrimp production in ponds treated with biological products – Thangapalam Jawahar Abraham – Journal of Coastal Life Medicine

 

More microbiology

Rapid Quantification of Mutant Fitness in Diverse Bacteria by Sequencing Randomly Bar-Coded Transposons – Kelly M. Wetmore – mBio

Microbes in the news

Maturation of the Infant Microbiome – Kerry Grens – The Scientist
Infant antibiotic use linked to adult diseases – Science Daily

Bacteria on shoes could help forensic teams catch suspects – Stefano Vanin – The Conversation
Forensic scientists could use bacteria to catch criminals – Brooks Hays – UPI

The microbiome and the midnight snack: How gut microbes influence the body’s clock – Matt Wood – ScienceLife

Bacteria the Newest Tool in Detecting Environmental Damage – University of Tennessee

Bacteria May Be Remaking Drugs in Sewage: Microbes that clean our water may also be piecing some pharmaceuticals back together – Brian Bienkowski – Scientific American

If Microbes Could Tweet… Small Things Considered – Daniel P. Haeusser

Microbiology: Fungus against the wall. Paul O’Maille – Nature

Science, publishing, and career

“It’s invigorating to be around that student energy the first time they learn about science,” Adjunct teaching: For love of the lecture – Kendall Powell – Nature

This scientific paper has 2,863 authors. How? – Danielle Wiener-Bronner – Fusion

Bik’s Picks

MIT And UC Berkeley Duking It Out Over CRISPR – Cas 9 – Clayton Browne – Value Walk

Survey: Almost half of all bee hives in the U.S. died in the past year – Mashable

Scientists have discovered the first fully warm-blooded fish – Chelsea Harvey – Washington Post
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May 8, 2015

Human oral microbiome

Published in Gut but also oral: Human buccal epithelium acquires microbial hyporesponsiveness at birth, a role for secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor – Celia L Menckeberg – Gut

 

Human gut microbiome

Cholesterol gallstones and bile host diverse bacterial communities with potential to promote the formation of gallstones – Yuhong Peng – Microbial Pathogenesis

Development of an enhanced human gastrointestinal epithelial culture system to facilitate patient-based assays – Kelli L VanDussen – Gut

Gut microbiome and innate immune response patterns in IgE-associated eczema – Christina E West – Clinical & Experimental Allergy

Review: The gut microbiome in autoimmunity: Sex matters – Andres Gomez – Clinical Immunology

Review: Chemical communication in the gut: Effects of microbiota-generated metabolites on gastrointestinal bacterial pathogens – Stefanie L. Vogt – Anaerobe

Special issue of Clinical Liver Disease about “Liver and the Microbiome”. Reviews include:

Human genital microbiome

The vaginal and gastrointestinal microbiomes in gynecologic cancers: A review of applications in etiology, symptoms and treatment – Dana Chase – Gynecologic Oncology

Animal models of microbiome

Effects of dietary inulin on bacterial growth, short-chain fatty acid production and hepatic lipid metabolism in gnotobiotic mice – Karolin Weitkunat – The Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry

Plant root and soil microbiome

Covariation of soil bacteria functional diversity and vegetation diversity along an altitudinal climatic gradient in the Western Carpathians – Beata Klimek – Pedobiologia

Changes in fungal communities along a boreal forest soil fertility gradient – Erica Sterkenburg – New Phytologist

Water microbiome

Editorial without citation to the original Nature paper: Deep-ocean microbe is closest living relative of complex cells – Mitch Leslie – Science

Parasites

Not all parasites are protective – Derek M. McKay – Parasite Immunology

Helminths and the microbiota: parts of the hygiene hypothesis – P. Loke – Parasite Immunology

Bioinformatics

Testing in Microbiome-Profiling Studies with MiRKAT, the Microbiome Regression-Based Kernel Association Test – Ni Zhao – AJHG

Sparse and Compositionally Robust Inference of Microbial Ecological Networks – Zachary D. Kurtz – PLOS Computational Biology

Demystifying computer science for molecular ecologists – Mahdi Belcaid and Robert J. Toonen

Techniques

TM7 detection in human microbiome: Are PCR primers and FISH probes specific enough? – Maria V. Sizova – Journal of Microbiological Methods

Microbes in the news

Man’s Best Germs: Does Your Dog Influence Your Health? – Heather Buschman – UC San Diego

Video: Can Poop Cure an Infection? – Anna Rothschild – Gross science

Science, publishing, and career

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to a Neuroscience Career – Marian Joels – Neuron

Recommendation letters: Give women an even chance – Marcia McNutt – Science

Bik’s Picks
Spiders Sprayed with Graphene Spin Super-Strong Silk – Renee Morad – Discovery

Mmm, I always have mixed feelings about papers using these types of animal models. “We made this mouse blind. And then we cured it!” Light in sight: A step towards a potential therapy for acquired blindness – Science Daily

Grocery lists may help shoppers stick to healthier diet, lower weight – Reuters

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