August 3, 2017

The impact of root hairs on rhizosphere soil structure, gut virome dynamics in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, an art installation made from bacteria found in a 300-year-old copy of Ovid’s Metamorphoses.

Events and jobs

Assistant/Associate Professor of Soil Microbiomes – Colorado State University

Research Lab Tech Intermediate – University of Michigan Center for Microbial Systems Molecular Biology Laboratory

Content, Lead bioRxiv – Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

General microbiome

Perspective: The evolution of the host microbiome as an ecosystem on a leash – Kevin R Foster – Nature

Animal experiments

Gut Microbiota Modifies Olfactory-Guided Microbial Preferences and Foraging Decisions in Drosophila – Adam Chun-Nin Wong – Current Biology

Cxcr2 signaling and the microbiome suppress inflammation, bile duct injury, and the phenotype of experimental biliary atresia – Junbae Jee – PLOS ONE

Commensal microbiota-induced microRNA modulates intestinal epithelial permeability through a small GTPase ARF4 – Kazuaki Nakata – Journal of Biological Chemistry

Early life antibiotic exposure causes intestinal dysbiosis and exacerbates skin and lung pathology in experimental systemic sclerosis – Heena Mehta – Journal of Investigative Dermatology

16S rRNA genes Illumina sequencing revealed differential cecal microbiome in specific pathogen free chickens infected with different subgroup of avian leukosis viruses – Xinxin Ma – Veterinary Microbiology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

High-resolution synchrotron imaging shows that root hairs influence rhizosphere soil structure formation – Nicolai Koebernick – New Phytologist

Genome-Wide Sensitivity Analysis of the Microsymbiont Sinorhizobium meliloti to Symbiotically Important, Defensin-Like Host Peptides – Markus F F Arnold – mBio

Water and extremophile microbiome

Preprint: Metabolic roles of uncultivated bacterioplankton lineages in the northern Gulf of Mexico “Dead Zone” – J Cameron Thrash – bioRxiv

Food microbiology

Fate of Listeria innocua during production and ripening of smeared hard cheese made from raw milk – P Hammer – Journal of Dairy Science

Probiotics/prebiotics

Review: Systematic review: probiotics for functional constipation in children – Katarzyna Wojtyniak – European Journal of Pediatrics

Phages and viruses

The eukaryotic gut virome in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation: new clues in enteric graft-versus-host disease – Jérôme Legoff – Nature Medicine

Metabolomics

The Opportunities of Metabolomics in Drug Safety Evaluation – Pengcheng Wang – Current Pharmacology Reports

More microbes

SnapShot: Electrochemical Communication in Biofilms – Dong-yeon D Lee – Cell

Microbes in the news

Microbiome: Does it really matter to our health? – Jo Seed – Imperial College London

Lovers Share Colonies of Skin Microbes, Study Finds – Aneri Pattani – New York Times

Scientists map the distribution of antimicrobial resistance across Chinese major cities – EurekAlert

Bacteria could be key to freeing South Pacific of mosquitoes – Emma Maris – Nature

Microbiology: The case of the mysterious messenger – Kaitlin Johnson – Nature

Microbes on the market

World’s First DNA and Microbiome Platform Enters the UK Market – Business Wire

IDbyDNA and ARUP Laboratories Announce Partnership to Develop and Commercialize Novel Infectious Disease Testing Using Metagenomics – PR Newswire

Bacteria art

Bacteria from 300-year-old Ovid poetry volume inspires ‘bio-artist’ – Maev Kennedy – The Guardian

Science, career, and publishing

Preprint: The reproducibility of research and the misinterpretation of P values – David Colquhoun – bioRxiv

Preprint: The GSS is an unreliable indicator of biological sciences postdoc population trends – Christopher L Pickett – bioRxiv

The Plan to End Science’s Sexist #manel Problem – Sarah Scoles – WIRED

  • Featuring Elisabeth Bik!

Non-microbiology picks

Proteins evolve on the edge of supramolecular self-assembly – Hector Garcia-Seisdedos – Nature

July 20, 2017

A study of chemical interactions between fungi and ants by imaging mass spectrometry, characterization of forty-six Arthrobacter phages, influence of fruit fungal infestation on vertebrate fruit preferences.

Human gut microbiome

The essential genomic landscape of the commensal Bifidobacterium breve UCC2003 – Lorena Ruiz – Scientific Reports

Animal experiments

Fat binding capacity and modulation of the gut microbiota both determine the effect of wheat bran fractions on adiposity – Francesco Suriano – Scientific Reports

Effects of dietary supplementation with two alternatives to antibiotics on intestinal microbiota of preweaned calves challenged with Escherichia coli K99 – Yanliang Bi – Scientific Reports

Animal microbiome

Imaging mass spectrometry and MS/MS molecular networking reveals chemical interactions among cuticular bacteria and pathogenic fungi associated with fungus-growing ants – Cristopher A Boya P – Scientific Reports

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Population structure of an orchid mycorrhizal fungus with genus-wide specificity – M P Ruibal – Scientific Reports

Water and extremophile microbiome

Review: Cultivation of microbes from the deep-sea environments – Zenghu Zhang – Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography

Food microbiology

Fungal infestation boosts fruit aroma and fruit removal by mammals and birds – Josep E Peris – Scientific Reports

Pre-print: Resilience mechanisms of small intestinal lactobacilli to the toxicity of soybean oil fatty acids – Sara C Di Rienzi – bioRxiv

Probiotics/prebiotics

Dietary lipid content reorganizes gut microbiota and probiotic L. rhamnosus attenuates obesity and enhances catabolic hormonal milieu in zebrafish – Silvia Falcinelli – Scientific Reports

Phages and viruses

Tales of diversity: Genomic and morphological characteristics of forty-six Arthrobacter phages – Karen K Klyczek – PLOS ONE

Pre-print: Isolation and characterization of BpL1, a broad acting lytic bacteriophage against Brucella – Vimlesh Gupta – bioRxiv

Microbes in the news

Bac-for good: Bacteria passed between generations benefits you more than others – Phys.org

Microbes on the market

Verily Releases Bacteria-Infected Mosquitoes To Fight Zika And Dengue: Is Wolbachia Technique Safe For Humans? – Allan Adamson – Tech Times

Science, career, and publishing

Climate scientists flock to France’s call – Declan Butler – Nature

July 14, 2017

Events and jobs

Postdoc, Lieberman Lab

General microbiome

Assembly of Microbial Communities in Replicate Nutrient-Cycling Model Ecosystems Follows Divergent Trajectories, Leading to Alternate Stable States – Eulyn Pagaling – Environmental Microbiology

Human respiratory microbiome

Influence of lung CT changes in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) on the human lung microbiome – Marion Engel – PLOS ONE

Human gut microbiome

Gut bacterial peptides with autoimmunity potential as environmental trigger for late onset complex diseases: In–silico study – Sapna Negi – PLOS ONE

Impact of environmental microbiota on human microbiota of workers in academic mouse research facilities: An observational study – Peggy S. Lai – PLOS ONE

Reduced Mass and Diversity of the Colonic Microbiome in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis and Their Improvement with Ketogenic Diet – Alexander Swidsinski – Frontiers in Microbiology

Longitudinal development of the gut microbiome and metabolome in preterm neonates with late onset sepsis and healthy controls – Christopher J. Stewart – Microbiome

Other Human microbiome

The oral bacterial microbiome of occlusal surfaces in children and its association with diet and caries – Apoena Aguiar Ribeiro – PLOS ONE

The oral fungal mycobiome: characteristics and relation to periodontitis in a pilot study – Brandilyn A. Peters – BMC Microbiology

Animal experiments

Three distinct pneumotypes characterize the microbiome of the lung in BALB/cJ mice – Julia Scheiermann – PLOS ONE

Assessment of gut microbiota populations in lean and obese Zucker rats – Reza Hakkak – PLOS ONE

Preparing the Gut with Antibiotics Enhances Gut Microbiota Reprogramming Efficiency by Promoting Xenomicrobiota Colonization – Shou K. Ji – Frontiers in Microbiology

Animal microbiome

On the core bacterial flora of Ixodes persulcatus (Taiga tick) – Shuo Sui – PLOS ONE

Skin microbiota in frogs from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest: Species, forest type, and potential against pathogens – Ananda Brito de Assis – PLOS ONE

Brackish habitat dictates cultivable Actinobacterial diversity from marine sponges – Gregory A. Ellis – PLOS ONE

Effects of Kluyveromyces marxianus supplementation on immune responses, intestinal structure and microbiota in broiler chickens – Weiwei Wang – PLOS ONE

Dominance-function relationships in the amphibian skin microbiome – Jenifer B. Walke – Environmental Microbiology

Microbial community sequencing analysis of the calf eye microbiota and relationship to infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis – J.N.Cullen – Veterinary Microbiology

Bacterial community composition in Adélie (Pygoscelis adeliae) and Chinstrap (Pygoscelis antarctica) Penguin stomach contents from Signy Island, South Orkney Islands – W. C. Yew – Polar Biology

Taxon abundance, diversity, co-occurrence and network analysis of the ruminal microbiota in response to dietary changes in dairy cows – Ilma Tapio – PLOS ONE

Honeybee (Apis mellifera)-associated bacterial community affected by American foulbrood: detection of Paenibacillus larvae via microbiome analysis – Tomas Erban – Scientific Reports

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Shifts in the bacterial community composition along deep soil profiles in monospecific and mixed stands of Eucalyptus grandis and Acacia mangium – Arthur Prudêncio de Araujo Pereira – PLOS ONE

Maize Phyllosphere Microbial Community Niche Development Across Stages of Host Leaf Growth – Heather C. Manching – bioRxiv

Major phylum-level differences between porefluid and host rock bacterial communities in the terrestrial deep subsurface – Lily Momper – Environmental Microbiology Reports

Patterns of soil bacterial richness and composition tied to plant richness, soil nitrogen, and soil acidity in alpine tundra – Xia Yuan – Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research

Water and extremophile microbiome

Unravelling riverine microbial communities under wastewater treatment plant effluent discharge in large urban areas – Yang Huo – Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

Phages and viruses

Marine viruses discovered via metagenomics shed light on viral strategies throughout the oceans – Felipe H. Coutinho – Nature Communications

Science, publishing, and career

Jonathan Eisen named Faculty Director of the UC Davis Microbiome Initiative

June 22, 2017

Effects of weight loss treatment on gut microbiota and serum metabolites, mouse gut microbiota can alter visceral sensitivity, a review discussing the microbiota’s ability to shape the maternal immune system.

Pregnancy and early life

Review: The unique immunological and microbial aspects of pregnancy – Gil Mor – Nature Reviews Immunology

Human oral microbiome

Review: Microbiome and Microbial Biofilm Profiles of Peri-Implantitis: A Systematic Review – Gloria Inés Lafaurie – Journal of Periodontology

Human gut microbiome

Bifidobacterium-Rich Fecal Donor May Be a Positive Predictor for Successful Fecal Microbiota Transplantation in Patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome – S Mizuno – Digestion

Microbiota in anorexia nervosa: The triangle between bacterial species, metabolites and psychological tests – Francesca Borgo – PLOS ONE

Animal experiments

Fructo-oligosaccharides and intestinal barrier function in a methionine–choline-deficient mouse model of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis – Kotaro Matsumoto – PLOS ONE

Microbiota regulates visceral pain in the mouse – Pauline Luczynski – eLife

Metagenomic characterization of the effect of feed additives on the gut microbiome and antibiotic resistome of feedlot cattle – Milton Thomas – bioRxiv

Animal microbiome

Combining ‘omics and microscopy to visualize interactions between the Asian citrus psyllid vector and the Huanglongbing pathogen Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus in the insect gut – Angela Kruse – PLOS ONE

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Application of struvite alters the antibiotic resistome in soil, rhizosphere, and phyllosphere – Qing-Lin Chen – Environmental Science & Technology

Water and extremophile microbiome

Synergistic hydrolysis of xylan using novel xylanases, β-xylosidases, and an α-l-arabinofuranosidase from Geobacillus thermodenitrificans NG80-2 – Di Huang – Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

Longitudinal variation of microbial communitiesin benthic biofilms and association with hydrological and physicochemical conditions in glacier-fed streams – Ze Ren – Freshwater Science

Control of Sulfide Production in High Salinity Bakken Shale Oil Reservoirs by Halophilic Bacteria Reducing Nitrate to Nitrite – Biwin A An – Frontiers in Microbiology

Phages and viruses

Viral and Bacterial Communities of Colorectal Cancer – Geoffrey D Hannigan – bioRxiv

Plasmids, Viruses, And Other Circular Elements In Rat Gut – Tue Sparholt Jørgensen – bioRxiv

Bioinformatics

The metagenomic data life-cycle: standards and best practices – Petra ten Hoopen – GigaScience

PhylOligo: a package to identify contaminant or untargeted organism sequences in genome assemblies – Ludovic Mallet – Bioinformatics

Metabolomics

Gut microbiome and serum metabolome alterations in obesity and after weight-loss intervention – Ruixin Liu – Nature Medicine

Integrating Microbiome and Metabolome Data to Understand Infectious Airway Disease – Robert A Quinn – American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine

Coupling targeted and untargeted mass spectrometry for metabolome-microbiome-wide association studies of human fecal samples – Alexey V Melnik – Analytical Chemistry

Techniques

Incorporating comparative genomics into the Design-Test-Learn cycle of microbial strain engineering – Maria Sardi – FEMS Yeast Research

Different amplicon targets for sequencing-based studies of fungal diversity – Francesca De Filippis – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Microbes in the news

Modified viruses deliver death to antibiotic-resistant bacteria – Sara Reardon – Nature

Microbes on the market

EnteroBiotix raises £500k in first round of equity funding – Philip Gates – Insider.co.uk

Microbiotica To Present At Microbiome Drug Development Summit – BioSpace

Bacteria art

MIT Researchers Use Light-Illuminated Bacteria to Make ‘Living’ Pictures – Kristin Fawcett – Mental Floss

The world’s art is under attack—by microbes – Kate Baggaley – Popular Science

Science, publishing, and career

Editorial: Don’t let Europe’s open-science dream drift – Nature

Microbiome at BioData World West 2017

Last month, from April 26th to April 27th, I attended the BioData World West conference representing GENEWIZ, where I am a Bioinformatics Analyst (developer) working primarily on metagenomics.  The focus of the conference were three major areas: Genomics & Health, Precision Medicine, and Artificial Intelligence.  The conference, in San Francisco, hosted a variety of forward thinking and interdisciplinary organizations ranging from the top academic institutions to big industry players from abroad (Google, Merck, Illumina, etc.) to start ups in AI/tech/biotech/pharma.  The talks and conversations I had there were exciting and educational and the networking opportunities were amazing – I believe a number of collaborations were born there.   You can see details about the conference through this link: BioData World West 2017

My highlighted talks were by Atul Butte (UCSF), Jeff Dean (Google), Ronald Pryzgodski (MVP), Steve Miller (USCF, developed SURPI), Ali Torkamani (Scripps), and Sylvain Costes (NASA).  However, every talk was fascinating in its own way and I’d highly recommend this conference to anyone in this space – I could write 10 posts about what I learned but I’ll focus on the microbiome below.  It seemed everyone loved to talk and learn from each other about microbiome-related science, even the people focused mainly on AI.

In regard to the microbiome, many if not most talks incorporated, mentioned, or focused on the importance of this area of research.  Here are some of my high level notes related to the microbiome:

  • Phenotyping is a big area that we need to develop and are establishing right now.  The microbiome is an aspect of our phenotype and should be considered a distinct biomarker.
  • Mobile / site of study lab and metagenomic techniques are important to develop
  • We need to work together to share our genomic data, including metagenomic data
  • AI can be used to find new information where we never thought to look – this, in my opinion, will have implications in studying the massive network of interactions between microbes but also in discovery of new microbes among other things
  • Steve Miller’s (SURPI) talk was fascinating.  Without going into too many details he is moving forward clinically with using metagenomics for pathogen detection and diagnoses – something I believe will be the future of infectious disease diagnostics (or at least could be used to establish accurate SNP-based panels).  I’d highly recommend following his publications and well as Dr. Chiu.  I believe exciting things are coming from his lab in the next year or so http://profiles.ucsf.edu/steve.miller
  • Cannabis microbiome studies are paramount because microbes are the only risk for cannabis – and pesticides typically cannot be used in production

I hope this post was interesting – the conference surely was – I can’t wait to see the advances we’ve made presented there next year!

Edward Messick

May 13, 2017

Events and jobs

Microbiology/Molecular Biology/Wildlife Disease Technician: Wisconsin – USGS – National Wildlife Health Center

Sr. Associate, Quality Control Microbiology – Moderna

Staff Research Associate, Anaerobic Microbiology – UC Berkeley

General microbiome

Perspective: The Microbiome-Mitochondrion Connection: Common Ancestries, Common Mechanisms, Common Goals – Alfredo Franco-Obregón – mSystems

Human gut microbiome

Systemic sclerosis is associated with specific alterations in gastrointestinal microbiota in two independent cohorts – Elizabeth R Volkmann – BMJ Open Gastroenterology

Review: Microbiota: Clostridia protect from gut infections in early life – Irene Vacca – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Animal microbiome

The malleable gut microbiome of juvenile rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss): Diet-dependent shifts of bacterial community structures – Stéphanie Céline Michl – PLOS ONE

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Bacterial root microbiome of plants growing in oil sands reclamation covers – Eduardo Kovalski Mitter – Frontiers in Microbiology

Effect of Trichoderma harzianum on maize rhizosphere microbiome and biocontrol of Fusarium Stalk rot – Kandasamy Saravanakumar – Scientific Reports

Water and extremophile microbiome

Characterisation of Arctic Bacterial Communities in the Air above Svalbard – Lewis Cuthbertson – Biology

Diversity of bacteria and archaea from two shallow marine hydrothermal vents from Vulcano Island – Garabed Antranikian – Extremophiles

Unique and highly variable bacterial communities inhabiting the surface microlayer of an oligotrophic lake – Mylène Hugoni – Aquatic Microbial Ecology

Distribution and activity of benthic bacteria in four lakes in the Bory Tucholskie National Park (Poland) – Łukasz Kubera – Aquatic Microbial Ecology

Role of EPS, Dispersant and Nutrients on the Microbial Response and MOS Formation in the Subarctic Northeast Atlantic – Laura Duran Suja – Frontiers in Microbiology

Food microbiology

Impact of a Microbial Cocktail Used as a Starter Culture on Cocoa Fermentation and Chocolate Flavor – Igor Magalhães da Veiga Moreir – Molecules

Techniques

Harnessing the power of digital droplet PCR to conduct real-world microbial competitions – Helen A. Murphy – Molecular Ecology Resources

Microbes in the news

Lung microbiome – Sally Robertson – News-Medical.Net

Resistant Starch from Potatoes Offers Benefits to Gut Microbiome? – Michael Crane – Nutritional Outlook

Visualizing the Microbiome through Handmade Embroidery – Clara Rodríguez Fernández – labiotech

Microbes on the market

‘Imagine being able to edit the microbiome’ – TechAccel talks animal nutrition targeted innovation – Aerin Einstein-Curtis – Feed Navigator

Science, publishing, and career

Weill Cornell Aims For ‘Precision Metagenomics’ With Quantitative Computing – Neil Versel – GenomeWeb

May 6, 2017

Events and jobs

Trainee Microbiology Analyst – Eurofins Lancaster Laboratories

General microbiome

*Review: Optimizing methods and dodging pitfalls in microbiome research – Dorothy Kim – Microbiome

*Book: Dirt Is Good: The Advantage of Germs for Your Child’s Developing Immune System – Jack Gilbert, Rob Knight

Human gut microbiome

*Review: Ménage à trois in the human gut: interactions between host, bacteria and phages – Mohammadali Khan Mirzaei – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Animal microbiome

The functional microbiome of arthropods – Mauro Degli Esposti – PLOS ONE

A comparative study of gut microbiota profiles of earthworms fed in three different substrates – Dianfeng Liu – Symbiosis

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Breaking continuous potato cropping with legumes improves soil microbial communities, enzyme activities and tuber yield – Shuhao Qin – PLOS ONE

Study on the effect of soil beneficial microorganisms on the growth of kiwifruit – Huihe Li – Biomedical Research

Water and extremophile microbiome

Contribution of different bacterial dispersal sources to lakes: Population and community effects in different seasons – Jérôme Comte – Environmental Microbiology

*Review: The life sulfuric: microbial ecology of sulfur cycling in marine sediments – Kenneth Wasmund – Environmental Microbiology Reports

Fine stratification of microbial communities through a metagenomic profile of
the photic zone – Jose M. Haro-Moreno – bioRxiv

Probiotics / prebiotics

Effect of dietary supplementation with Lactobacillus acidophilus D2/CSL (CECT 4529) on caecum microbioma and productive performance in broiler chickens – Alessandra De Cesare – PLOS ONE

Bioinformatics

BusyBee Web: metagenomic data analysis by bootstrapped supervised binning and annotation – CC Laczny – Nucleic Acids Research

Techniques

*Highlight: How to see more: double hybridization to reveal ecological differentiation among close bacterial relatives – Stefan Bertilsson – Environmental Microbiology

Comparative analysis of the sensitivity of metagenomic sequencing and PCR to detect a biowarfare simulant (Bacillus atrophaeus) in soil samples – Delphine Plaire – PLOS ONE

Microbes in the news

The Invisible Secret That Will Change Your Skin Forever – Rachel Krause – Refinery29

Improve your skin microbiome – Cassie Shortsleeve – Furthermore

Dormant bacteria trapped in ice could be released by climate change – Alayna Treene – Axios

Microbes on the market

Commense Licenses UBC’s Microbiome Therapeutic for Preventing Childhood Asthma – Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News

Bacteria Hysteria

Why Bacteria Are More Threatening Than Ever – Alice Park – Time

Science, publishing, and career

Infection and Immunity welcomes the new microbiology – Andreas J. Bäumler – Infection and Immunity

April 29, 2017

Events and jobs

Bioinformatics Scientist, Microbiome – Human Longevity Inc.

General microbiome

The hologenome across environments and the implications of a host-associated microbial repertoire – Tyler J. Carrier – Frontiers in Microbiology

Teleosts as Model Organisms to Understand Host-Microbe Interactions – Emily A. Lescak – Journal of Bacteriology

*Review: The Shifting Microbiome in Surgical Stress – Panna A. Codner – Current Surgery Reports

A passive mutualistic interaction promotes the evolution of spatial structure within microbial populations – Marie Marchal – BMC Evolutionary Biology

Human gut microbiome

Fecal metagenomic profiles in subgroups of patients with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome – Dorottya Nagy-Szakal – Microbiome

Study protocol on the role of intestinal microbiota in colorectal cancer treatment: a pathway to personalized medicine 2.0 – R. Aarnoutse – International Journal of Colorectal Disease

Animal experiments

Differences in microbiota membership along the gastrointestinal tract of piglets and their differential alterations following an early-life antibiotic intervention – Chunlong Mu – Frontiers in Microbiology

Animal microbiome

Biogeographic comparison of Lophelia-associated bacterial communities in the western Atlantic reveals conserved core microbiome – Christina A. Kellogg – Frontiers in Microbiology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Response of methanogenic microbial communities to desiccation stress in flooded and rain-fed paddy soil from Thailand – Andreas Reim – Frontiers in Microbiology

Metagenomics of Microbial Communities Associated with the Rhizosphere of the Saudi Desert Medicinal Plants – Mohammed N Baeshen – EC Microbiology

Rhizospheric soil enzyme activities and phytominimg potential of Aeluropus lagopoides and Cyperus conglomeratus growing in contaminated soils at the banks of artificial lake of reclaimed wastewater – Zahid Khorshid Abbas – International Journal of Phytoremediation

*Review: The unseen rhizosphere root-soil-microbe interactions for crop production – Ruifu Zhang – Current Opinion in Microbiology

Water and extremophile microbiome

Microbial Community Response to Simulated Petroleum Seepage in Caspian Sea Sediments – Marion H. Stagars – Frontiers in Microbiology

Novel large sulfur bacteria in the metagenomes of groundwater-fed chemosynthetic microbial mats in the Lake Huron basin – Allison M. Sharrar – Frontiers in Microbiology

Microbial population dynamics and ecosystem functions of anoxic/aerobic granular sludge in sequencing batch reactors operated at different organic loading rates – Enikö Szabó – Frontiers in Microbiology

Characteristics of bacterial community in cloud water at Mt Tai: similarity and disparity under polluted and non-polluted cloud episodes – Min Wei – Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics

Built environment

Density assessment and mapping of microorganisms around a biocomposting plant in Sanandaj, Iran – Sanaz Rashidi – Environmental Monitoring and Assessment

Techniques

High throughput and quantitative measurement of microbial metabolome by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry using automated alkyl chloroformate derivatization – Linjing Zhao – Analytical Chemistry

Functional Association Prediction by Community Profiling – Dazhi Jiao – Methods

*Book: Modern Tools and Techniques to Understand Microbes – Ajit Varma

Microbes on the market

Microbiome market competitive landscape technology in 2017 pipeline review published by leading research firm – WhaTech

Science, publishing, and career

Review of 3rd annual Translation Microbiome Conference – James Vitale – Taconic

April 22, 2017

General microbiome

The Microbiome – The Biochemist (full issue)

Human vaginal microbiome

*Review: What fertility specialists should know about the vaginal microbiome: a review – Juan Antonio García-Velascoa – Reproductive BioMedicine Online

Animal experiments

Microbiota-Induced Antibodies Are Essential for Host Inflammatory Responsiveness to Sterile and Infectious Stimuli – Daniel Cisalpino – Journal of Immunology

Host-Microbe Co-metabolism Dictates Cancer Drug Efficacy in C. elegans – Timothy A. Scott – Cell

Bacterial Metabolism Affects the C. elegans Response to Cancer Chemotherapeutics – Aurian P. García-González – Cell

Examining the role of the microbiome in the effectiveness of colorectal cancer treatment – Jim Fessenden – UMass Medical School Communications

Neonatal acquisition of Clostridia species protects against colonization by bacterial pathogens – Yun-Gi Kim – Science

Infant mice lack microbes that help fight intestinal infection – EurekAlert!

Effects of different oligosaccharides at various dosages on the composition of gut microbiota and short-chain fatty acids in mice with constipation – Linlin Wang –  Food & Function

Short Term High Fat Diet Induces Obesity-Enhancing Changes in Mouse Gut Microbiota That are Partially Reversed by Cessation of the High Fat Diet – Yue Shang – Lipids

Animal microbiome

Resilience of the prokaryotic microbial community of Acropora digitifera to elevated temperature – Andrian P. Gajigan – Microbiology Open

Characterization of the gut microbiota in the golden takin (Budorcas taxicolor bedfordi) – Jun Chen – AMB Express

*Opinion: Mammary microbiota of dairy ruminants: fact or fiction? – Pascal Rainard – Veterinary Research

Determination of the microbial community features of Haemaphysalis flava in different developmental stages by high-throughput sequencing – Deyong Duan – Journal of Basic Microbiology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

A signature of tree health? Shifts in the microbiome and the ecological drivers of horse chestnut bleeding canker disease – Britt Koskella – New Phytologist

Soil aggregates as massively concurrent evolutionary incubators – Matthias C Rillig – ISME

Responses of soil nitrous oxide production and abundances and composition of associated microbial communities to nitrogen and water amendment – Qing Wang – Biology and Fertility of Soils

*Editorial: Signalling in the phytomicrobiome: Understanding and harnessing the plant holobiont – Donald L. Smith – Frontiers in Plant Science

Warming enhances old organic carbon decomposition through altering functional microbial communities – Lei Cheng – ISME

Effects of Short-Term Warming and Altered Precipitation on Soil Microbial Communities in Alpine Grassland of the Tibetan Plateau – Kaoping Zhang – Frontiers in Microbiology

Long-term straw returning affects Nitrospira-like nitrite oxidizing bacterial community in a rapeseed-rice rotation soil – Xuesong Luo – Journal of Basic Microbiology

Water and extremophile microbiome

Attenuation and modification of the ballast water microbial community during voyages into the Canadian Arctic – Mattias L. Johansson – Diversity and Distributions

Prokaryote species richness is positively correlated with eukaryote abundance in wastewater treatment biofilms – Inga Leena Angell – Letters in Applied Microbiology

*Review: The life sulfuric: Microbial ecology of sulfur cycling in marine sediments – Kenneth Wasmund – Environmental Microbiology Reports

Microbial community function in the bleaching disease of the marine macroalgae Delisea pulchra – Enrique Zozaya-Valdés – Environmental Microbiology

Poorly known microbial taxa dominate the microbiome of permafrost thaw ponds – Christian Wurzbacher – ISME

Built environment

Diversity changes of microbial communities into hospital surface environments – Rika Yano – Journal of Infection and Chemotherapy

Bioinformatics

A Robust Symmetric Nonnegative Matrix Factorization Framework for Clustering Multiple Heterogeneous Microbiome Data – Yuanyuan Ma – Preprints

Assessing the Impact of Assemblers on Virus Detection in a De Novo Metagenomic Analysis Pipeline – Daniel J. White – Journal of Computational Biology

Techniques

Engineered Regulatory Systems Modulate Gene Expression of Human Commensals in the Gut – Bentley Lim – Cell

‘Genetic scalpel’ can manipulate the microbiome, Yale study shows – Bill Hathaway – Yale News

What is broad-range 16S rDNA PCR? – Amani Patel – Microbiology and Infectious Disease

Microbes in the news

Microbiome: The Body’s Great Conductor –  Conan Milner – Epoch Times

Our Gut Microbes Have Circadian Rhythms, Too — And They Might Own Us – Jesslyn Shields – HowStuffWorks

The Bacteria That Can Help Find Land Mines – Daniel Akst – The Wall Street Journal

Science, publishing, and career

Grant Addresses Computational Challenges in Microbiome Research – Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Science

April 19, 2017

Exciting papers with locoregional effects of microbiota in a mouse model of colon carcinogenesis, maternal high fat diet detrimentally alterring epigenetic and gut microbiome pathways leading to fatty liver disease in mice.

Events and jobs

ASM Microbe 2017 : New Orleans

QC Microbiology Product Testing Associate – Experis : Irvine, CA
General microbiome

Review: Applying the design-build-test paradigm in microbiome engineering – Hoang Long Pham – Current Opinion in Biotechnology

Cohort Profile: African Collaborative Center for Microbiome and Genomics Research’s (ACCME) Human Papillomavirus (HPV) and Cervical Cancer Study – Sally N. Adebamowo – International Journal of Epidemiology

Review: Cultured microbes represent a substantial fraction of the human and mouse gut microbiota – Ilias Lagkouvardos – Gut Microbes

Human skin microbiome

A distinct cutaneous microbiota pofile in autoimmune bullous disease patients – Mor Miodovnika – Experimental Dermatology

Human gut microbiome

Review : A psychology of the human brain–gut–microbiome axis – Andrew P. Allen – Social and Personality Psychology Compass

Multivariate modelling of faecal bacterial profiles of patients with IBS predicts responsiveness to a diet low in FODMAPs – Sean M P Bennet – Gut

Animal microbiome

Temporal changes in cutaneous bacterial communities of terrestrial- and aquatic- phase newts (Amphibia) – Joana Sabino-Pinto – Environmental Microbiology

The low diverse gastric microbiome of the jellyfish Cotylorhiza tuberculata is dominated by four novel taxa – Tomeu Viver – Environmental Microbiology

Studying the effect of administration route and treatment dose on the selection of enrofloxacin resistance in commensal Escherichia coli in broilers – Ilias Chantziaras -Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy

The skin microbiome of the Common thresher shark (Alopias vulpinus) has low taxonomic and potential metabolic β-diversity – Michael P. Doane – Environmental Microbiology Reports

Animal experiments

Intestinal, extra-intestinal and systemic sequelae of Toxoplasma gondii induced acute ileitis in mice harboring a human gut microbiota – Eliane von Klitzing – PLOS ONE

Effects of the inclusion of a Bacillus direct-fed microbial on performance parameters, bone quality, recovered gut microflora, and intestinal morphology in broilers consuming a grower diet containing corn distillers dried grains with solubles – J. D. Latorre – Poultry Science

Effect of high-fat diet and growth stage on the diversity and composition of intestinal microbiota in healthy bovine livestock – Shengyin Jiao – Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture

*Locoregional effects of microbiota in a preclinical model of colon carcinogenesis – Sarah Tomkovich – Cancer Research

Selection of Cholesterol-Lowering Lactic Acid Bacteria and its Effects on Rats Fed with High-Cholesterol Diet – Yufang Liu – Current Microbiology

*Enhanced offspring predisposition to steatohepatitis with maternal high-fat diet is associated with epigenetic and microbiome alterations – Umesh D. Wankhade – PLOS ONE

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Archaea and bacteria mediate the effects of native species root loss on fungi during plant invasion – Steven D Mamet- The ISME Journal

An acid-tolerant ammonia-oxidizing γ-proteobacterium from soil – Masahito Hayatsu – The ISME Journal

Investigation of Arsenotrophic Microbiome in Arsenic-Affected Bangladesh Groundwater – Munawar Sultana – Groundwater

Unexpected associated microalgal diversity in the lichen Ramalina farinacea is uncovered by pyrosequencing analyses – Patricia Moya – Plos ONE

Tuber indicum shapes the microbial communities of ectomycorhizosphere soil and ectomycorrhizae of an indigenous tree (Pinus armandii) – Qiang Li – Plos ONE

The ‘known’ genetic potential for microbial communities to degrade organic phosphorus is reduced in low-pH soils – Ian D. E. A. Lidbury – Microbiology Open

Shifting microbial communities sustain multiyear iron reduction and methanogenesis in ferruginous sediment incubations – M. S. Bray – Gebiology

Water and extremophile microbiome

Discovery of anaerobic lithoheterotrophic haloarchaea, ubiquitous in hypersaline habitats – Dimitry Y Sorokin – The ISME Journal

Cultivation and characterization of Candidatus Nitrosocosmicus exaquare, an ammonia-oxidizing archaeon from a municipal wastewater treatment system – Laura A Sauder – The ISME Journal

Minireview: Microbial ecology of mountain glacier ecosystems: Biodiversity, ecological connections, and implications of a warming climate – Scott Hotaling – Environmental Microbiology

Probiotics / prebiotics
Colonic gas homeostasis: Mechanisms of adaptation following HOST-G904 galactooligosaccharide use in humans – M. Mego – Neurogastroenterology and Motility

Techniques

Stochastically reduced communities—Microfluidic compartments as model and investigation tool for soil microorganism growth in structured spaces – Jialan Cao – Engineering in Life Sciences

Protocol : Metagenomics and CAZyme Discovery – Benoit J. Kunath – Protein-Carbohydrate Interactions : Methods in Molecular Biology

The resident microflora of voided midstream urine of healthy controls: standard versus expanded urine culture protocols – L. Coorevits – European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases

Microbes in the news

Study finds amoeba ‘grazing,’ killing bacteria usually protected by film

How Bacteria-Laden Beetle Poop Is Killing American Squash and Melons

Glowing bacteria detect buried landmines

Science, publishing, and career

Saturday, Science Advocates Prepare for a Long March

Anitha’s non-microbiology picks

Research unlocks molecular key to animal evolution and disease

Cumulative culture can emerge from collective intelligence in animal groups – Takao Sasaki – Nature Communications