Category Archives: Plant Root Soil microbiome

September 10, 2020

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Good morning from smokey, apocalyptic San Francisco! The world outside my window may be in sepia tones, but the articles I’m highlighting here are helping to brighten my day. Today’s digest has some fascinating insect and environmental microbiome research including a paper about the gut microbiota of a beetle that lives in the mixed forest of northeastern Asia and its capacity to efficiently degrade polystyrene. Additionally, there’s a paper characterizing the community structure and metabolic capacity of a biofilm-like microbial community lining the wall of the Yumugi river cave in a remote part of Western New Guinea. I’ve also included a paper examining availability of microbial community sequencing data which found that much of this data is not available and offers suggestions for improving data archiving practices. Finally, there is a very interesting technique paper about an orally ingestible microdevice that can be used to sample the gut microbiota in the upper gastrointestinal tract. Happy reading!

General Microbiome
Influence of Intratumor Microbiome on Clinical Outcome and Immune Processes in Prostate Cancer. – Ma, J. et al., Cancers

Experimental (co)evolution in a multi-species microbial community results in local maladaptation. – Castledine, M. et al., Ecology Letters

Pregnancy and Early Life
Mothers of Preterm Infants Have Individualized Breast Milk Microbiota that Changes Temporally Based on Maternal Characteristics. – Asbury, M.R et al., Cell Host Microbe

The meconium microbiota shares more features with the amniotic fluid microbiota than the maternal fecal and vaginal microbiota. – He, Q. et al., Gut Microbes

Skin microbiome
Stratum Corneum Lipidomics Analysis Reveals Altered Ceramide Profile in Atopic Dermatitis Patients Across Body Sites With Correlated Changes in Skin Microbiome. – Emmert, H. et al., Experimental Dermatology

Vaginal microbiome
Diverse vaginal microbiome was associated with pro-inflammatory vaginal milieu among pregnant women in Uganda. – Bayigga, L. et al. Human Microbiome Journal

Gut microbiome
Diet Diurnally Regulates Small Intestinal Microbiome-Epithelial-Immune Homeostasis and Enteritis. – Tuganbeav, T. et al., Cell

Microbiota-modulated CART + enteric neurons autonomously regulate blood glucose. – Muller, P.A. et al., Science

Succinate Produced by Intestinal Microbes Promotes Specification of Tuft Cells to Suppress Ileal Inflammation. -Banerjee, A. et al., Gastroenterology

Animal Experiments
Gut microbiome improves postoperative cognitive function by decreasing permeability of the blood-brain barrier in aged mice. – Wen, J. et al., Brain Research Bulletin

Indolepropionic Acid, a Metabolite of the Microbiome, Has Cytostatic Properties in Breast Cancer by Activating AHR and PXR Receptors and Inducing Oxidative Stress. – Sári, Z. et al., Cancers

Angiogenin maintains gut microbe homeostasis by balancing α-Proteobacteria and Lachnospiraceae. – Sun, D. et al., Gut

Gut Microbiota-Associated Activation of TLR5 Induces Apolipoprotein A1 Production in the Liver. – Yiu, J.H.C. et al., Circulation Research

Animal and insect microbiome
Cross-generational effects of climate change on the microbiome of a photosynthetic sponge. – Luter, H.M. et al., Environmental Microbiology

Symbionts shape host innate immunity in honeybees. – Horak, R.D. et al., Proceedings Biological Sciences

Parental Microbiota Modulates Offspring Development, Body Mass and Fecundity in a Polyphagous Fruit Fly. – Nguyen, B. et al. Microorganisms

Fast and Facile Biodegradation of Polystyrene by the Gut Microbial Flora of Plesiophthalmus davidis Larvae. – Woo, S. et al., Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Gut microbiota protects honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) against polystyrene microplastics exposure risks. – Wang, K. et al., Journal of Hazardous Materials

Plant, root, and soil microbiome
Characteristics of microbial community of soil subjected to industrial production of antibiotics. – Borčinová, M. et al., Folia Microbiologica

Host selection shapes crop microbiome assembly and network complexity. -Xiong, C. et al., The New Phytologist

Microbiome of root vegetables-a source of gluten-degrading bacteria. – Kõiv, V. et al., Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

Water and extremophile microbiome
Environmental stability impacts the differential sensitivity of marine microbiomes to increases in temperature and acidity. – Wang, Z. et al., ISME Journal

Insights into the Vertical Stratification of Microbial Ecological Roles across the Deepest Seawater Column on Earth. – Xue, C-X et al., Microorganisms

The microbial community of a biofilm lining the wall of a pristine cave in Western New Guinea. – Turrini, P. et al., Microbiological Research

Built environment
Airborne bacteria in outdoor air and air of mechanically ventilated buildings at city-scale in Hong Kong across seasons. – Zhou, Y. et al., Environmental Science and Technology

Phages and viruses
Review: Phages and their potential to modulate the microbiome and immunity. Federici, S. et al., Cellular and Molecular Immunology

Bioinformatics
Generalized estimating equation modeling on correlated microbiome sequencing data with longitudinal measures. – Chen, B. and Xu, W., PLoS Computational Biology

The Nubeam reference-free approach to analyze metagenomic sequencing reads. – Dai, H. and Guan, Y., Genome Research

The archives are half-empty: an assessment of the availability of microbial community sequencing data. – Jurburg, S.D. et al., Communications Biology

Techniques
An effective culturomics approach to study the gut microbiota of mammals. – Pereira, A.C. and Cunha, M.V., Research in Microbiology

Activity-based cell sorting reveals responses of uncultured archaea and bacteria to substrate amendment. – Reichart, N.J. et al., ISME Journal

An Ingestible Self-Polymerizing System for Targeted Sampling of Gut Microbiota and Biomarkers. – Chen, L. et al., ACS Nano

September 9, 2020

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SARS-CoV-2

[PREPRINT] Long-term survival of salmon-attached SARS-CoV-2 at 4°C as a potential source of transmission in seafood markets – Dai et al. – bioarxiv

Human gut microbiome

[REVIEW] Predictive values of colon microbiota in the treatment response to colorectal cancer – Galan-Ros et al. – Pharmacogenomics

Animal experiments (mouse/rat experiments, chickens/pigs on different diets)

Long-term effects of western diet consumption in male and female mice – Hasegawa et al. – Scientific Reports

Young versus aged microbiota transplants to germ-free mice: increased short-chain fatty acids and improved cognitive performance – Lee et al. – Gut Microbes

Temporal changes in the fecal bacterial community in Holstein dairy calves from birth through the transition to a solid diet – Hennessy et al. – Plos One

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Comparison of the microbial diversity during two different wine fermentation processes – Böhmer et al. – FEMS Microbiology Letters

[PREPRINT] Functional metagenomics of bark microbial communities from avocado trees (Persea americana Mill.) reveals potential for bacterial primary productivity – Aguirre-von-Wobeser – bioarxiv

Bioinformatics

[PREPRINT] BacAnt: the combination annotation server of antibiotic resistance gene, insertion sequences, integron, transposable elements for bacterial DNA sequences – Hua et al. – bioarxiv

Microbes in the news

Plant-based diets shine when looking at the gut microbiome – Zimlich

September 8, 2020

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Greetings, friends!

Today’s digest is a very heavy grab bag of articles! Included are many reviews on everything from the microbiome in forensic science to the gut-lung axis. Also included are original research articles focused on a variety of subjects including microplastics, extremophiles, and the bicycle microbiome! Finally, for those of you looking for practical advice, I’ve highlighted an article focused on best practices for writing genome announcements.

Happy reading!

General microbiome

Manipulating denitrifying sulfide removal of Pseudomonas sp. C27 with nitrite as sole nitrogen source: Shotgun proteomics analysis – Guo et al. – Bioresource Technology

Pseudomonas aeruginosa – Candida interplay: Effect on in vitro antibiotic susceptibility of Pseudomonas aeruginosa when grown in the presence Candida culture – Mcllroy et al. – British Journal of Biomedical Science

Impact of DNA extraction on whole genome sequencing analysis for characterization and relatedness of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli isolates – Nouws et al. – Scientific Reports

Evolution of diversity explains the impact of pre-adaptation of a focal species on the structure of a natural microbial community – Padfield et al. – The ISME Journal

Biomass-degrading glycoside hydrolases of archaeal origin – Suleiman et al. – Biotechnology for Biofuels

Mining for novel antibiotics in the age of antimicrobial resistance – Udaondo and Matilla – Microbial Biotechology

Multi-site human microbiome

Association between the microbiomes of tonsil and saliva samples isolated from pediatric patients subjected to tonsillectomy for the treatment of tonsillar hyperplasia – Choi et al. – Experimental & Molecular Medicine

Review: The impact of the human microbiome in forensic sciences: A systematic review – García et al. – Applied and Enviornmental Microbiology

Human respiratory microbiome

Review: The evolving role of the lung microbiome in pulmonary fibrosis – Lipinski et al. – Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology

Review: Recent advances in understanding the ecology of the lung microbiota and deciphering the gut-lung axis – Willis et al. – Lung Cellcular and Molecular Physiology

Human gut microbiome

Altered gut microbiota correlated with systemic inflammation in children with Kawasaki disease – Chen et al. – Scientific Reports

Review: Gut microbiota in human metabolic health and disease – Fan and Pedersen – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Lactose-reduced infant formula with added corn syrup solids is associated with a distinct gut microbiota in Hispanic infants – Jones et al. – Gut Microbes

Animal experiments

Gut bacterial communities and their contribution to performance of specialist Altica flea beetles – Wei et al. – Microbial Ecology

Dynamic changes of gut microbiota of discus fish (Symphysodon haraldi) at different feeding stages – Zhang et al. – Aquaculture

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Diversity of cultivable microbes from soil of the Fildes Peninsula, Antarctica, and their potential application – Cong et al. – Frontiers in Microbiology

Structural and functional microbial diversity of sandy soil under cropland and grassland – Frąc et al. – PeerJ

Microbiome–environment interactions in antimony-contaminated rice paddies and the correlation of core microbiome with arsenic and antimony contamination – Li et al. – Chemosphere

Review: Implications of endophytic microbiota in Camellia Sinensis: A review on current understanding and future insights – Xie et al. – Bioengineered

Characterizing the nectar microbiome of the non-native tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica, in an urban environment – Warren et al. – PLOS ONE

Water and extremophile microbiome

Prokaryotic diversity in stream sediments affected by acid mine drainage – Carlier et al. – Extremophiles

Combination of genetic tools to discern Bacillus species isolated from hot springs in South Africa – Jardine and Ubomba-Jaswa – African Journal of Mirobiology Research

Bioleaching of pyritic coal wastes: bioprospecting and efficiency of selected consortia – Joulian et al. – Research in Microbiology

Genotypic and phylogenetic diversity of new isolates of terrestrial Xanthophyceae (Stramenopiles) from maritime sandy habitats – Rybalka et al. – Phycologia

Paucihalobacter ruber gen. nov., sp. nov., isolated from a haloalkaline lake sediment sample – Wu et al. – Microbiology Society

Comparative analysis of bacterial diversity and community structure in the rhizosphere and root endosphere of two halophytes, Salicornia europaea and Glaux maritima, collected from two brackish lakes in Japan – Yamamoto et al. – Microbes and Environments

Fungal diversity in deep-sea sediments from Magellan seamounts environment of the western Pacific revealed by high-throughput Illumina sequencing – Yang et al. – Journal of Microbiology

Effect of Ferrous Iron Addition on Ammonium Nitrogen Removal and Microbial Communities in Horizontal Subsurface Flow Constructed Wetlands – Zhang et al. – Wetlands

Built environment

Microplastics negatively affect soil fauna but stimulate microbial activity: insights from a field-based microplastic addition experiment – Lin et al. – Proceedings of the Royal Society B

Shared bicycle microbial community: a potential antibiotic-resistant bacteria warehouse – Wu et al. – Folia Microbiologica

Microbial carrying capacity and carbon biomass of plastic marine debris – Zhao et al. – The ISME Journal

Food microbiology

Proteolysis, lipolysis, texture and sensory properties of cheese ripened by Monascus fumeus – Xia et al. – Food Research International

Bioinformatics

Announcement: Best practices for successfully writing and publishing a genome announcement in microbiology resource announcements – Hotopp et al. – Microbiology Resource Announcements

Techniques

Flow-through stable isotope probing (Flow-SIP) minimizes cross-feeding in complex microbial communities – Mooshammer et al. – The ISME Journal

September 4, 2020

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Good morning and get ready to enjoy a small, but diverse microbiome digest. Enjoy!

COVID-19
Commentary: Misconceptions about weather and seasonality must not misguide COVID-19 response – Colin J Carlson et al. – Nature Communications

Multi-site human microbiome
Relationship between the composition of the intestinal microbiota and the tracheal and intestinal colonization by opportunistic pathogens in intensive care patients – Candice Fontaine et al. – PLOS One

Human gut microbiome
Widespread transfer of mobile antibiotic resistance genes within individual gut microbiomes revealed through bacterial Hi-C – Alyssa G. Kent et al. – Nature Communications

Animal experiments
Review: Modulation of gut microbiota in healthy rats after exposure to nutritional supplements – Mirna Cool et al. – Gut Microbes

Animal microbiome
Anthrax toxin component, Protective Antigen, protects insects from bacterial infection – Saleem Alarme – PLOS Pathogens

Environmental gut bacteria in European honey bees (Apis mellifera) from Australia and their relationship to the chalkbrood disease – Sheba Khan et al. – PLOS One

Gut Microbiome Composition is Associated with Age and Memory Performance in Pet Dogs – Eniko Kubinyi et al. – Animals

Plant, root, and soil microbiome
Characterizing the nectar microbiome of the non-native tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica, in an urban environment – Magdalena L. Warren et al. – PLOS One

Water and extremophile microbiome
Book chapter: Analyzing the Diversity of Microbial Communities Residing in Marine Ecosystems – Piyush Chandna et al. – In: Marine Biotechnology

Bioinformatics
Ten simple rules to power drug discovery with data science – Enrico Ferrero et al. – PLOS Computational Biology

Techniques
Review: Sample pre-treatment procedures for the omics analysis of human gut microbiota: turning points, tips and tricks for gene sequencing and metabolomics – Elisa Zubeldia-Varela et al. – Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis

Publishing
Research Topic: Beyond Conventional Models: Expanding Experimental Systems for Animal-Microbiome Interaction Research

September 1, 2020

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Today’s post consists of review article on short chain fatty acids, research articles on efficacy of fecal microbiota transplant in patients with C. difficle infection and comorbities, identification of potential microbial biomarkers for preterm birth and a new technique to perform ultrafast microbial community analysis. Happy reading!

General microbiome

A systematic review of the effect of dietary pulses on microbial populations inhabiting the human gut – C.P.F. Marinangeli – Beneficial Microbes

Short chain fatty acids in human gut and metabolic health – E E Blaak – Beneficial Microbes

Human microbiome

The gut microbiome–derived metabolite trimethylamine N-oxide modulates neuroinflammation and cognitive function with aging – Vienna E. Brunt – Geroscience

Impact of investigational microbiota therapeutic RBX2660 on the gut microbiome and resistome revealed by a placebo-controlled clinical trial – Suryang Kwak – Microbiome

Fecal Microbiota Transplantation for Recurrent Clostridium difficile Infection in Patients With Multiple Comorbidities: Long-Term Safety and Efficacy Results From a Tertiary Care Community Hospital – Charumathi Raghu Subramanian – Gastroenterology Research

Gut commensal microbiota and decreased risk for Enterobacteriaceae bacteriuria and urinary tract infection – Matthew Magruder – Gut Microbes

Leveraging sequence‐based faecal microbial community survey data to identify alterations in gut microbiota among patients with Parkinson’s disease – Tianyi Ji – European Journal of Neuroscience

Plasma enterobacterial ClpB levels and ClpB- and α-MSH–reactive immunoglobulins in lung cancer patients with and without anorexia – Alessio Molfino – Nutrition

Identification of Potential Biomarkers in the Cervicovaginal Fluid by Metabolic Profiling for Preterm Birth – AbuZar Ansari – Metabolites

Plant microbiome

Suppression of rice planthopper populations without affecting the rice microbiota by the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae – Yifan Peng – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Cold Plasma Treatment of Sunflower Seeds Modulates Plant-Associated Microbiome and Stimulates Root and Lateral Organ Growth – Inga Tamošiūnė – Frontiers in Plant Science

Water microbiome

Bradymonabacteria, a novel bacterial predator group with versatile survival strategies in saline environments – Da-Shuai Mu – Microbiome

Techniques

Ultrafast and accurate 16S rRNA microbial community analysis using Kraken 2 – Jennifer Lu – Microbiome

Non-microbiology picks

Clinical characteristics of children and young people hospitalised with covid-19 in the United Kingdom: prospective multicentre observational cohort study – Olivia V Swann – BMJ

August 28, 2020

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Greetings!

Today’s microbiome digest has something for everyone. We have several articles focused on the human microbiome, a few animal studies, and quite a few articles focused on environmental bacteria found in soil, water, and even a cave! I want to highlight one article focused on the impact of spatial proximity on territory among bacteria. Although the article specifically focuses on skin bacteria, it’s relevant to anyone studying microbial communities!

Enjoy!

General microbiome

Horizontal transmission and recombination maintain forever young bacterial symbiont genomes – Russel et al. – PLOS GENETICS

Human skin microbiome

Impact of spatial proximity on territoriality among human skin bacteria – Hernandez-Valdes et al. – npj BIofilms and Microbiomes

Human gut microbiome

Gut microbiota and dysbiosis in Alzheimer’s disease: Implications for pathogenesis and treatment – Liu et al. – Molecular Neurobiology

Animal experiments

Caecal microbiota compositions from 7-day-old chicks reared in high-performance and low-performance industrial farms and systematic culturomics to select strains with anti-Campylobacter activity – Duquenoy et al. – PLOS ONE

Effect of FHA and Prn on Bordetella pertussis colonization of mice is dependent on vaccine type and anatomical site – Zeddeman et al. – PLOS ONE

Animal microbiome

Lactobacilli and other gastrointestinal microbiota of Peromyscus leucopus, reservoir host for agents of Lyme disease and other zoonoses in North America – Milovic et al. – PLOS ONE

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Simple kinetics, assay, and trends for soil microbial catalases – Chabot et al. – Analytical Biochemistry

Sustaining the growth of Pinaceae trees under nutrient-limited edaphic conditions via plant-beneficial bacteria – Puri et al. – PLOS ONE

Soil properties, bacterial and fungal community compositions and the key factors after 5-year continuous monocropping of three minor crops – Yang et al. – PLOS ONE

Water and extremophile microbiome

Oleaginous potential of indigenously isolated fresh water microalgae for biofuel production – Saraf & Dutt – International Journal of Sustainable Energy

Bacteria and archaea communities in Cerrado natural pond sediments – Silveira et al. – Microbiology of Aquatic Systems

The microbial community of a biofilm lining the wall of a pristine cave in Western New Guinea – Turrini et al. – Microbiological Research

On microbial community of Pyropia haitanensis by metagenomic analysis – Wang et al. – Journal of Oceanology and Limnology

August 23, 2020

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Hello from the Sonoran Desert! In today’s digest, you’ll find quite a few exciting papers! For those interested in soil microbiology, you’ll find in today’s digest a very interesting piece on the the biodiversity and ecology of protists in the soils of the McMurdo Dry Valleys (Antarctica). This piece is particularly exciting given that the role and impact of protists in polar regions is largely unknown and understudied.

Curious readers should also take a look at the amazing study by Dunaj and collaborators focusing on spider’s associated microbiome. This piece examines the host-microbe co-evolution of different widow spider species showing a strong congruence of the microbiome beta-diversity and the host phylogeny.

Finally, in today’s non-microbiology pick, I recommend a preprint, that explored the relationship between the use of jargon and citations in cave research articles. Interestingly the authors suggest that the juse of jargon in title and abstract significantly reduces the number of citations a paper recieves!

Have a great Sunday!

Human vaginal microbiome

Review: The vaginal microbiome of sub-Saharan African women: revealing important gaps in the era of next-generation sequencing – Martina Odogwy et al. – PeerJ

Human gut microbiome

Review: Association or Causation? Exploring the Oral Microbiome and Cancer Links – Teles et al. – Journal of Dental research

Animal microbiome

Learning machine approach reveals microbial signatures of diet and sex in dog – Scarsella et al.- Plos One

Spider phylosymbiosis: divergence of widow spider species and their tissues’ microbiomes – Dunaj et al. – BMC Evolutionary Biology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Review: The rhizosphere microbiome: functions, dynamics, and role in plant protection – Rabelo de Faria et al. – Tropical Plant Pathology

Review: The Floral Microbiome: Plant, Pollinator, and Microbial Perspectives – Vannette – Annual review of Ecology, Evolution and systematics

Response of soil microbial communities to natural and managed vegetation restoration in a subtropical karst region – Hu et al. – CATENA

Water and extremophile microbiome

Shotgun metagenomics reveal a diverse assemblage of protists in a model Antarctic soil ecosystem – Thompson et al.- Envirmental Microbiology

Phages and viruses

Evolution of a major virion protein of the giant pandoraviruses from an inactivated bacterial glycoside hydrolase – Krupovic et al. – Virus Evolution

Bioinformatics

Predicting Host Phenotype Based on Gut Microbiome Using a Convolutional Neural Network Approach – Reiman et al.- Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2190. Humana, New York, NY.

Database limitations for studying the human gut microbiome – Dias et al. – PeerJ

Techniques

Review: Microbial High Throughput Phenomics: The Potential of an Irreplaceable Omics – Acin-Albiac et al. – Computational and Structural Biotechnolgy Journal

My non-microbiology pick

Preprint: Specialized terminology limits the reach of new scientific knowledge – Martinez et al. – BioRxiv

August 21, 2020

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

August 19, 2020

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Greetings!

Today’s digest is heavy on environmental microbiology with topics ranging from marine microplastics to carbon budgets to kitchen waste. I want to especially highlight a study that examines the phyllosphere of the mānuka. They found that the mānuka, or tea tree, has a stable core microbiome and variation in the non-core taxa is explained by biogeographical patterns.

Enjoy!

Events and jobs

Virtual Microbiome Bioinformatics Qiime2 Workshop – October 5-9, 2020

General microbiome

Opinion: Oceanic hitchhikers – Assessing pathogen risks from marine microplastic – Bowley et al. – Trends in Microbiology

Multi-site human microbiome

Analysis of the composition and functions of the microbiome in diabetic foot osteomyelitis based on 16S rRNA and metagenome sequencing technology – Mengchen et al. – Diabetes

Animal experiments

Developmental stage-associated microbiota profile of the peach fruit fly, Bactrocera zonata (Diptera: Tephritidae) and their functional prediction using 16S rRNA gene metabarcoding sequencing – Naaz et al. – 3 Biotech

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

A core phyllosphere microbiome exists across distant populations of a tree species indigenous to New Zealand – Noble et al. – PLOS One

Water and extremophile microbiome

Carbon budgets for soil and plants respond to long-term warming in an Alaskan boreal forest – Alster et al. – Biogeochemistry

First insights to the microbial communities in the plant process water of the multi-metal Kevitsa mine – Bomberg et al. – Research in Microbiology

Halomicroarcula amylolytica sp. nov., a novel halophilic archaeon isolated from a salt mine – Chen et al. – International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology

Spatial patterns of microbial communities across surface waters of the Great Barrier Reef – Frade et al. – Communications Biology

Isolation and characterization of a novel acidophilic zero-valent sulfur- and ferric iron-respiring Firmicute – Holanda and Johnson – Research and Microbiology

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

Transient dynamics of archaea and bacteria in sediments and brine Across a salinity gradient in a solar saltern of Goa, India – Mani et al. – Frontiers in Microbiology

Diversity and distribution of cultivable fungi present in acid sulphate soils in chronosequence under para-periglacial conditions in King George Island, Antarctica – Porto et al. – Extremophiles

Investigation of the ecological roles of putative keystone taxa during tailing revegetation – Sun et al. – Environmental Science & Technology

Geochemistry and microbiology predict environmental niches with conditions favoring potential microbial activity in the Bakken shale – Tinker et al. – Frontiers in Microbiology

Spatial patterns of selenium and profiling of Se-tolerant Bacillus strains in Shiwalik foot-hills – Tiwana et al. – Geomicrobiology Journal

Bacterial laccase of Anoxybacillus ayderensis SK3-4 from hot springs showing potential for industrial dye decolorization – Wang et al. – Annals of Microbiology

Built environment

Comparison of microbial communities during anaerobic digestion of kitchen waste: Effect of substrate sources and temperatures – Jiang et al. – Bioresource Technology

August 16, 2020

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Today’s quite diverse digest features: a study on antimicrobial resistance in the drinking water microbiome in disinfected and disinfection-free drinking water systems, how Antarctic soil microorganisms stay energised and hydrated, and several awesome webinars and podcasts. Happy reading/listening!

General microbiome

Development of Microbiome Biobanks – Challenges and Opportunities – M.J. Ryan – Trends in Microbiology

Review: STROBE-metagenomics: a STROBE extension statement to guide the reporting of metagenomics studies – Tehmina Bharucha – The Lancet Infectious Diseases

Theme issue: The role of the microbiome in host evolution – compiled and edited by Oren Kolodny, Benjamin J. Callahan and Angela E. Douglas – Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Selected papers:
Review: Microbiota–host interactions shape ageing dynamics – Miriam Popkes and Dario Riccardo Valenzano – Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Opinion: Pathogen resistance may be the principal evolutionary advantage provided by the microbiome – Michael R. McLaren and Benjamin J. Callahan – Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Gut microbiome

A Randomized Clinical Trial of Fecal Microbiota Transplant for Alcohol Use Disorder – Jasmohan S Bajaj – Hepatology

Urogenital microbiome

Comparative Genomic Study of Lactobacillus jensenii and the Newly Defined Lactobacillus mulieris Species Identifies Species-Specific Functionality – Catherine Putonti – mSphere

Vaginal Estrogen Therapy Is Associated with Increased Lactobacillus in the Urine of Post-Menopausal Women with OAB Symptoms – Dr. Krystal Thomas-White – American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology

Vaginal microbiome

Vaginal microbiota, genital inflammation, and neoplasia impact immune checkpoint protein profiles in the cervicovaginal microenvironment – Paweł Łaniewski –npj Precision Oncology

Lateral Gene Transfer Shapes Diversity of Gardnerella spp. – Lindsey L. Bohr – Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology

Variation of the vaginal microbiome during and after pregnancy in Chinese women – Xiaoai Zhang – medRxiv

Review: Diversity of Vaginal Microbiome in Pregnancy: Deciphering the Obscurity – Parakriti Gupta – Frontiers in Public Health

Pregnancy and early life

Evidence for contamination as the origin for bacteria found in human placenta rather than a microbiota – Rémi Gschwind – PlosOne

Respiratory microbiome

A Novel Description of the Human Sinus Archaeome During Health and Chronic Rhinosinusitis – Brett Wagner Mackenzie – Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology

Animal microbiome

Temporal changes in the gut microbiota in farmed Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) outweigh the response to diet supplementation with macroalgae – Ciara Keating – bioRxiv

Broiler Chickens and Early Life Programming: Microbiome transplant-induced cecal bacteriome dynamics and phenotypic effects – Gustavo A. Ramírez – bioRxiv

Rumen metaproteomics: Closer to linking rumen microbial function to animal productivity traits – Thea Os Andersen – Methods

Fast and Slow-Growing Management Systems: Characterisation of Broiler Caecal Microbiota Development throughout the Growing Period – Laura Montoro-Dasi – animals

Animal experiment

Mucosal or systemic microbiota exposures shape the B cell repertoire – Hai Li – Nature

The immune system fails to mount a protective response to Gram-positive or Gram-negative bacterial prostatitis – Federico Lupo – bioRxiv

Oncogenic Gene Fusions in Non-Neoplastic Precursors as Evidence that Bacterial Infection Initiates Prostate Cancer – Eva Shrestha – bioRxiv

Microbiome-derived inosine modulates response to checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapy – Lukas F. Mager – Science

Lung and gut microbiota are altered by hyperoxia and contribute to oxygen-induced lung injury in mice – Shanna L. Ashley – Science Translational Medicine

Plant/root/soil microbiome

*A genome compendium reveals diverse metabolic adaptations of Antarctic soil microorganisms – Maximiliano Ortiz – bioRxiv

Healthy soils for healthy plants for healthy humans – Heribert Hirt – EMBO reports

The Impact of Mercury Selection and Conjugative Genetic Elements on Community Structure and Resistance Gene Transfer – James P. J. Hall – Frontiers in Microbiology

Review: Plant–microbiome interactions: from community assembly to plant health – Pankaj Trivedi – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Water microbiome

*Differential prevalence and host-association of antimicrobial resistance traits in disinfected and non-disinfected drinking water systems – Maria Sevillano – Science of The Total Environment

MiDAS 3: An ecosystem-specific reference database, taxonomy and knowledge platform for activated sludge and anaerobic digesters reveals species-level microbiome composition of activated sludge – Marta Nierychlo – Water Research

Metagenomic profiling of ammonia- and methane-oxidizing microorganisms in two sequential rapid sand filters – Lianna Poghosyan – Water Research

Shotgun metagenomics of indigenous bacteria collected from the banks of the San Jacinto River for biodegradation of aromatic waste – Rupa Iyer and Ashish Damania – FEMS Microbiology Letters

Viruses and phages

Viruses in wastewater: occurrence, abundance and detection methods – Mary Vermi Aizza Corpuz – Science of The Total Environment

Viromes outperform total metagenomes in revealing the spatiotemporal patterns of agricultural soil viral communities – Christian Santos-Medellin – bioRxiv

Techniques

Correlative Light Electron Ion Microscopy reveal in vivo localisation of bedaquiline in Mycobacterium tuberculosis infected lungs – Antony Fearns – bioRxiv

Label-free smartphone quantitation of bacteria by darkfield imaging of light scattering in fluoropolymer micro capillary film allows portable detection of bacteriophage lysis – Sultan İlayda Dönmez – Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical

Bioinformatics

Raven: a de novo genome assembler for long reads – Robert Vaser and Mile Sikic – bioRxiv

SHAMAN: a user-friendly website for metataxonomic analysis from raw reads to statistical analysis – Stevenn Volant – BMC Bioinformatics

Rapid discovery of novel prophages using biological feature engineering and machine learning – Kimmo Sirén – bioRxiv

Critical Relevance of Stochastic Effects on Low-Bacterial Biomass 16S rRNA Gene Analysis – John R. Erb-Downward – mBio

On the complexity of haplotyping a microbial community – Samuel M Nicholls – bioRxiv

Inclusion of Oxford Nanopore long reads improves all microbial and viral metagenome‐assembled genomes from a complex aquifer system – Will A. Overholt – Environmental Microbiology

Webinar

Microbiome, machine learning and network models – Amy Willis and Ben Bloem-Reddy – Northwest Data Science Seminar Series

The Gut Brain Axis across the Life Span – John Cryan – iScience webinar

Pushing the Envelope: Remodeling the Gram-negative Outer Membrane – M. Stephen Trent – SG BUG (Singapore Bacterial Ultra Group) seminar series

Podcast

Getting to Know Your Friendly Neighbourhood Microbiologist – Lucie Semenec and Amy Cain – The Joint Academic Microbiology Seminars podcast

Does not compute – Sanjay Srivastava, Alexa Tullett, and Simine Vazire – The Black Goat podcast