August 19, 2020

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

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

August 14, 2020

Good morning from Massachusetts! Dr. Elisabeth Bik will be giving a Zoom talk today on research misconduct in biomedical research. You can register at the link under events. Fittingly, today’s digest includes a preprint on the effects of retraction after misconduct on citations. Other highlights today include an entire theme issue on the microbiome and host evolution and a paper on phylogenomic analyses of archaea attempting to elucidate the DPANN lineage. In early life, the placental microbiome debate rages on with a paper demonstrating evidence for contamination rather than an actual placental microbiome. Finally, I have highlighted a paper studying whether soil archives can give us a glimpse into soil microbial communities of the past.

Have a great weekend!

Events

Dr. Bik is discussing “The Dark Side of Science: Misconduct in Biomedical Research” today at 12PM EDT! Register here.

General microbiome

Theme Issue: The role of the microbiome in host evolution – Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B

Pregnancy and early life

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

Human milk microbiome

SARS-CoV-2 in human milk is inactivated by Holder pasteurization but not cold storage – Gregory J. Walker – Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health

Human oral microbiome

Review: Oral microbiome geography: Micron-scale habitat and niche – Jessica L. Mark Welch – Cell Host & Microbe

Human gut microbiome

Epidemiology and associated microbiota changes in deployed military personnel at high risk of traveler’s diarrhea – William A. Walters – PloS One

Animal experiments

Differential alteration in gut microbiome profiles during acquisition, extinction, and reinstatement of morphine-induced CPP – Jianbo Zhang – Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry

Modulation of the intestinal microbiota of broilers supplemented with monensin or functional oils in response to challenge by Eimeria spp. – Alexandre Maciel Vieira – PloS One

Herpes simplex virus infection, Acyclovir and IVIG treatment all independently cause gut dysbiosis – Chandran Ramakrishna – PloS One

Animal microbiome

Raw milk and fecal microbiota of commercial Alpine dairy cows varies with herd, fat content and diet – Francesca Albonico – PloS One

Hydrolytic bacteria associated with natural helminth infection in the midgut of Red Sea marbled spinefoot rabbit fish Siganus rivulatus – Ghada Abd-Elmonsef Mahmoud – Microbial Pathogenesis

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Book: Agriculturally Important Fungi for Sustainable Agriculture Vol 2: Functional Annotation for Crop Protection – Eds. Ajar Nath Yadav et al. – Springer

Patient propagules: Do soil archives preserve the legacy of fungal and prokaryotic communities? – Gian Maria Niccolò Benucci – PloS One

Labile carbon limits late winter microbial activity near Arctic treeline – Patrick F. Sullivan – Nature Communications

Enhanced biodegradation of crude oil by constructed bacterial consortium comprising salt-tolerant petroleum degraders and biosurfactant producers – Weiwei Chen – International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation

Plant–archaea relationships: a potential means to improve crop production in arid and semi-arid regions – Elizabeth Temitope Alori – World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology

First report of Fusarium equiseti causing crown rot and damping-off on durum wheat in Algeria – Amor Bencheikh – Archives of Phytopathology and Plant Protection

Soil microbial diversity and composition: Links to soil texture and associated properties – Qing Xia – Soil Biology and Biochemistry

Water, air, and extremophile microbiome

Effects of different habitats on the bacterial community composition in the water and sediments of Lake Taihu, China – Wenjie Chang – Environmental Science and Pollution Research

Genomic and enzymatic evidence of acetogenesis by anaerobic methanotrophic archaea – Shanshan Yang – Nature Communications

Undinarchaeota illuminate DPANN phylogeny and the impact of gene transfer on archaeal evolution – Nina Dombrowski – Nature Communications

Preprint: Occurrence, identification and antibiogram signatures of selected Enterobacteriaceae from Tsomo and Tyhume rivers in the Eastern Cape Province, Republic of South Africa – Fadare Temitope Folake — BioRxiv

Built environment

The microbiome of drinking water biofilters is influenced by environmental factors and engineering decisions but has little influence on the microbiome of the filtrate – Ben Ma – Environmental Science & Technology

In-situ remediation of acid mine drainage from abandoned coal mine by filed pilot-scale passive treatment system: Performance and response of microbial communities to low pH and elevated Fe – Haiyan Chen – Bioresource Technology

Bioinformatics and other techniques

De novo sequence assembly requires bioinformatic checking of chimeric sequences – Laila Sara Arroyo – PloS One

Review on matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry for the rapid screening of microbial species: A promising bioanalytical tool – Suresh Kumar Kailasa – Microchemical Journal

Microbes in the News

Using the infant stool microbiome to predict NEC: New machine learning tool predicts devastating intestinal disease in premature infants – Science Daily

Science Publishing and Career

Preprint: Does retraction after misconduct have an impact on citations? A pre-post study – Cristina Candal-Pedreira – bioRxiv

August 6, 2020

Good morning from Minnesota! A broad selection of papers to share with you today: Immune responses in lung transplant patients, an examination of how hurricanes can alter the soil microbiome, and a cool preprint on host–microbe interactions in stickleback, plus 10 more—

Human respiratory microbiome

(Preprint) Nasal commensal, Staphylococcus epidermidis shapes the mucosal environment to prevent influenza virus invasion through Serpine1 induction, Ara Jo et al., bioRxiv

Cystic Fibrosis Lung Transplant Recipients Have Suppressed Airway Interferon Responses during Pseudomonas Infection, Daniel T. Dugger et al., Cell Reports Medicine

Human gut microbiome

The alteration of gut microbiome and metabolism in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients, Qianqian Zeng et al., Scientific Reports

Home, Sweet Home: How Mucus Accommodates our Microbiota, Benjamin X Wang et al., The FEBS Journal

Animal experiments

Preprint: Immune gene expression covaries with gut microbiome composition in stickleback, Lauren E Fuess et al., bioRxiv

Transient neonatal antibiotic exposure increases susceptibility to late-onset sepsis driven by microbiota-dependent suppression of type 3 innate lymphoid cells, Xinying Niu et al., Scientific Reports

Animal microbiome

Concentration and chemical form of dietary zinc shape the porcine colon microbiome, its functional capacity and antibiotic resistance gene repertoire, Robert Pieper et al., The ISME Journal

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Major changes in grapevine wood microbiota are associated with the onset of esca, a devastating trunk disease, Emilie Bruez et al., Environmental Microbiology

Increase in abundance and decrease in richness of soil microbes following Hurricane Otto in three primary forest types in the Northern Zone of Costa Rica, William D. Eaton et al., PLOS ONE

Water and extremophile microbiome

Planet Microbe: a platform for marine microbiology to discover and analyze interconnected ‘omics and environmental data, Alise J Ponsero et al., Nucleic Acids Research

Microbial communities can predict the ecological condition of headwater streams, Robert H. Hilderbrand et al., PLOS ONE

Bioinformatics

(Preprint) Snipe: Highly sensitive pathogen detection from metagenomic sequencing data, Lihong Huang et al., bioRxiv

Techniques

Impact of time and temperature on gut microbiota and SCFA composition in stool samples, Janet L. Cunningham et al., PLOS ONE

July 30, 2020

Hello from Lübeck! This week started slowly but our todays post covers quite a range of topics with a couple of reviews about our understanding of the gut microbiome related to digestive diseases. Of particular note is a publication by Kadosh et al. (Nature 2020) linking the gut microbiome and p53 in mice. This highlights the role of the microenvironment on cancer in general.

● Human vaginal microbiome

Changes in the vaginal microbiota following antibiotic treatment for Mycoplasma genitalium, Chlamydia trachomatis and bacterial vaginosis – Ahrens et al. – Plos One

● Human gut microbiome

[REVIEW] Gut Microbiome Modulates Response to Cancer Immunotherapy – Khan et al. – Digestive Diseases and Sciences

[REVIEW] Healthy Human Gastrointestinal Microbiome: Composition and Function After a Decade of Exploration – Ruan et al. – Digestive Diseases and Sciences

[REVIEW] Microbiome and Its Role in Irritable Bowel Syndrome – Pimentel and Lembo – Digestive Diseases and Sciences

[REVIEW] Diet and Gut Microbes Act Coordinately to Enhance Programmed Cell Death and Reduce Colorectal Cancer Risk – Chapkin et al. – Digestive Diseases and Sciences

Diversity of Gut Microbiota and Bifidobacterial Community of Chinese Subjects of Different Ages and from Different Regions – Yang et al. – Microorganisms

[PREPRINT] Gut Microbiota Changes in Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease and Concomitant Cardiovascular Diseases – Kurinna – bioarxiv

Lactobacillus plantarum-Mediated Regulation of Dietary Aluminum Induces Changes in the Human Gut Microbiota: an In Vitro Colonic Fermentation Study – Yu et al. – Probiotics and Antimicrobial Proteins

Troublesome friends within us: the role of gut microbiota on rheumatoid arthritis etiopathogenesis and its clinical and therapeutic relevance – Reyes-Castillo et al. – Clinical and Experimental Medicine

Duodenal Microbiota in Stunted Undernourished Children with Enteropathy – Chen et al. – The New Englang Journal of Medicine

Small molecules, big effects: microbial metabolites in intestinal immunity – Glotfelty, Wong and Levy – AJP Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology

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

The gut microbiome switches mutant p53 from tumour-suppressive to oncogenic – Kadosh et al. – Nature

Impact of PepT1 deletion on microbiota composition and colitis requires multiple generations – Viennois et al. – npj Biofilms and Microbiomes

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

[REVIEW] Recent advances in the role of plant metabolites in shaping the root microbiome – Jacoby et al. – F1000

Food microbiology

Selection of cereal-sourced lactic acid bacteria as candidate starters for the baking industry – Milanovic et al. – Plos One

The sources and transmission routes of microbial populations throughout a meat processing facility – Zwirzitz et al. – npj Biofilms and Microbiomes

Phages and viruses

[PREPRINT] Characterization of the gut DNA and RNA viromes in a cohort of Chinese residents and visiting Pakistanis – Yan – bioarxiv

Bioinformatics

[REVIEW] Tools for Analysis of the Microbiome – Galloway-Pena and Hanson – Digestive Diseases and Sciences

Techniques

Microbial community dissimilarity for source tracking with application in forensic studies – Carter et al. – Plos One

Microbes in the news

Pilot study examines facial microbiome diversity – Petrou – Dermatology Times

The 2020 Way To Treat Your Skin Is All About Bacteria, Bugs And Microbiomes – Driver – ELLE

July 29, 2020

● General microbiome

[REVIEW] The dialogue between unconventional T cells and the microbiota – Lin et al. – Mucosal Immunology

Human skin microbiome

Stability of Skin Microbiome at Sacral Regions of Healthy Young Adults, Ambulatory Older Adults, and Bedridden Older Patients After 2 Years – Ogai et al. – Biological Research For Nursing

The skin microbiome as a clinical biomarker in atopic eczema: Promises, navigation, and pitfalls – Reiger et al. – Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology

● Human gut microbiome

Feeding Bugs to Bugs: Edible Insects Modify the Human Gut Microbiome in an in vitro Fermentation Model – Young et al. – Front. Microbiol.

● Plant, root, and soil microbiome/metabolome

[REVIEW] The Application of Metabolomics for the Study of Cereal Corn (Zea mays L.) – Lena Gálvez Ranilla – Metabolites

Elevational is the main factor controlling the soil microbial community structure in alpine tundra of the Changbai Mountain – Tang et al. – Scientific Reports

● Techniques

A guide to deciphering microbial interactions and metabolic fluxes in microbiome communities – Maciek R Antoniewicz – Current Opinion in Biotechnology

July 26, 2020

General microbiome

No endospore formation confirmed in members of the phylum Proteobacteria – Polina Beskrovnaya – bioRxiv

Interbacterial competition and anti-predatory behavior of environmental Vibrio cholerae strains – Natalia C. Drebes Doerr – bioRxiv

The kleboxymycin biosynthetic gene cluster is encoded by several species belonging to the Klebsiella oxytoca complex – Preetha Shibu – bioRxiv

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

POPULATION GENOMICS REVEALS MOLECULAR DETERMINANTS OF SPECIALIZATION TO TOMATO IN THE POLYPHAGOUS FUNGAL PATHOGEN BOTRYTIS CINEREA – Alex Mercier – bioRxiv

Phages and viruses

Scientometric Trends for Coronaviruses and Other Emerging Viral Infections – Dima Kagan – bioRxiv

Bioinformatics

Niche and local geography shape the pangenome of wastewater- and livestock-associated Enterobacteriaceae – Liam P Shaw – bioRxiv

Techniques

Comparing DNA Extraction and 16s Amplification Methods for Plant-Associated Bacterial Communities – Cecelia Giangacomo – bioRxiv

Microrisk Lab: an online freeware for predictive microbiology – Yangtai Liu – bioRxiv

Microbes in the news 

Human microbiome project paved way for poultry research – WATTAgNet

Microbes on the market

SeqBiome’s clients already include Nestlé, Mars Petcare, Atlantia and Microbion, among others. – Silicon Republic

Global Human Microbiome Sequencing Market 2020 Industry Research Strategy, Outlook and Product Development to 2025 – Bandera County Courier

July 25, 2020

Good morning and happy Saturday y’all! Today’s digest is brief, but covers some fascinating papers including: small RNAs regulating gut microbe metabolism; epigenetics linking the early-life airway microbiota with allergic rhinitis; and the impact of gut microbial composition on vagal innervation. I’ve also included a non-microbiome pick discussing how to spot and resolve common statistical mistakes in research manuscripts. The authors of the article hope this will help improve robustness of scientific research. Happy reading!

Gut Microbiome
A high-resolution transcriptome map identifies small RNA regulation of metabolism in the gut microbe Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron. Ryan, D. et al. Nature Communications.

Depicting SARS-CoV-2 faecal viral activity in association with gut microbiota composition in patients with COVID-19. Zuo, T. et al. Gut.

High microbiota reactivity of adult human intestinal IgA requires somatic mutations. Kabbert, J. et al. Journal of Experimental Medicine.

A unified catalog of 204,938 reference genomes from the human gut microbiome. Almeida, A. et al. Nature Biotechnology.

Airway Microbiome
Epigenetic landscape links upper airway microbiota in infancy with allergic rhinitis at 6 years of age. Morin, A. et al. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

Early-Life Microbiome
Butyrate producing colonic Clostridiales metabolise human milk oligosaccharides and cross feed on mucin via conserved pathways. Pichler, M.J. et al. Nature Communications.

Animal Experiments
Bile acids drive the newborn’s gut microbiota maturation. van Best, N. et al. Nature Communications.

Gut microbiota composition modulates inflammation and structure of the vagal afferent pathway. Kim, J.S. et al. Physiology & Behavior.

TNFα regulates intestinal organoids from mice with both defined and conventional microbiota. Sun, L. et al. International Journal of Biological Macromolecules.

Water Microbiome
Nutrient and microbial water quality of the upper Ganga River, India: identification of pollution sources. Bowed, M.J. et al. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment.

Plant, Root, and Soil Microbiome
Global warming shifts the composition of the abundant bacterial phyllosphere microbiota as indicated by a cultivation-dependent and -independent study of the grassland phyllosphere of a long-term warming field experiment. Aydogan, E.L. FEMS Microbiology and Ecology.

Non-Microbiome Pick
Science Forum: Ten common statistical mistakes to watch out for when writing or reviewing a manuscript. Makin, T.R. and Orban de Xivry, JJ. eLife.

July 23, 2020

In today’s digest – duodenal microbiota linked to stunting in children, differential effects of germfree and antibiotic treated mouse models on social behavior, microbial metabolite receptor GPBAR and its interaction with bile acids, review article on engineering microbes to treat diseases and many more…happy reading!

General microbiome

The Microbiota-Gut-Immune-Glia (MGIG) Axis in Major Depression – Leszek Rudzki – Molecular Neurobiology

Engineering the gut microbiota to treat chronic diseases – Noura S. Dosoky – Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

Human microbiome

Acute and chronic improvement in postprandial glucose metabolism by a diet resembling the traditional Mediterranean dietary pattern: Can SCFAs play a role? – Marilena Vitale – Clinical Nutrition

Linking the duodenal microbiota to stunting in a cohort of undernourished Bangladeshi children with enteropathy – Robert Y. Chen – New England Journal of Medicine

Enterobacterales Infection after Intestinal Dominance in Hospitalized Patients – Krishna Rao – mSphere

Differences in the gut Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes ratio across age groups in healthy Ukrainian population – Alexander Vaiserman – BMC Microbiology

Preprint- Association of gut microbiota with cerebral cortex and cerebrovascular abnormality in human mild traumatic brain injury – Lijun Bai – BioRxiv

Real-world study in infants fed an infant formula with two human milk oligosaccharides – Enriqueta Román – Nutricion Hospitalaria

Animal experiments

Gut microbiome composition differences among breeds impact feed efficiency in swine – Matteo Bergamaschi – Microbiome

Opposing effects of antibiotics and germ-free status on neuropeptide systems involved in social behaviour and pain regulation – Katerina V. A. Johnson – BMC Neuroscience

Local Necrotic Cells Trigger Systemic Immune Activation via Gut Microbiome Dysbiosis in Drosophila – Hina Kosakamoto – Cell Reports

Peanut skin extract ameliorates the symptoms of type 2 diabetes mellitus in mice by alleviating inflammation and maintaining gut microbiota homeostasis – Lan Xiang – Aging

Preprint- Community composition and development of the post-weaning piglet gut microbiome – D. Gaio – BioRxiv

Gut microbiota regulate tumor metastasis via circRNA/miRNA networks – Zhuxian Zhua – Gut Microbes

Porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) and Campylobacter infection induce diarrhea in piglets: Microbial dysbiosis and intestinal disorder – Gang Yang – Animal Nutrition

Plant, root and soil microbiome

Populations of the Parasitic Plant Phelipanche ramosa Influence Their Seed Microbiota – Sarah Huet – Frontiers in Plant Science

Domestication-driven changes in plant traits associated with changes in the assembly of the rhizosphere microbiota in tetraploid wheat – Aymé Spor – Scientific Reports

Water microbiome

Preprint- Time series metagenomic sampling of the Thermopyles, Greece, geothermal springs reveals stable microbial communities dominated by novel sulfur-oxidizing chemoautotrophs – A. Meziti – BioRxiv

Preprint- Evaluation of the microbial community structure of potable water samples from occupied and unoccupied buildings using16S rRNA amplicon sequencing – Kimothy L. Smith – BioRxiv

Phages and Viruses

Preprint- Targeting of Mammalian Glycans Enhances Phage Predation in the Gastrointestinal Tract – Sabrina I. Green – BioRxiv

Techniques
Structural basis of GPBAR activation and bile acid recognition – Fan Yang – Nature

Microbes in News

Machine learning analysis reveals less diverse microbiome in children with type 1 diabetes – Healio

July 19, 2020

Hello from the Sonoran Desert! In today’s digest, you’ll find find a lot of very interesting papers! For those interested in host-phages interactions, there is an amazing work from Ping and collaborators looking at phage infections dynamics in migrating bacterial populations. Interestingly, the authors suggests that phages may be able to “hitchhike” with moving bacteria.

To continue with our viral readings, you’ll also find an interesting perspective paper from Kuprovic and collaborators. In this piece, the authors attempt to reconstruct the virome associated to LUCA (Last Universal Cellular Ancestor). Amazingly, their reconstruction shows that a remarkably complex virome would have been associated to LUCA, suggesting an extensive viral evolution antedating LUCA!

Finally, today’s non-microbiology pick is a book, looking at the fascinating Cuatro Ciénegas Basin, located in México, a site that is often described as a real outdoor laboratory for astrobiology. Indeed, the Basin site contains gypsum-rich soil analogous to the Gale Crater in Mars, and the ponds contains extremely oligotrophic waters, which can be used to model ancient oceans chemistry. You’ll explore along the chapters the history, ecology, microbiology and evolution of this amazing site, to unravel the mysteries of this site absolutely unique on the planet.

Have a great Sunday!


Human respiratory microbiome

Review: Insights gained into respiratory infection pathogenesis using lung tissue metabolomics –  Bernatchez and McCall –  PLOS Pathogens

Human gut microbiome

Description and determinants of the faecal resistome and microbiome of farmers and slaughterhouse workers: A metagenome-wide cross-sectional study –  Van Gompel et al. –  Environment International

Review: The influence of the gut microbiome on obesity –  Blanco – Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners


Animal microbiome (for animals in the wild)

Comparative analysis of the gut microbiota of Apis cerana in Yunnan using high-throughput sequencing. –  Luo et al. –  Archives of Microbiology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Higher tree diversity increases soil microbial resistance to drought. –  Gillespie et al. –  Communications Biology

Effect of land uses on soil microbial community structures among different soil depths in northeastern China. –  Ji et al. –  European Journal of soil Biology

Structural variability and niche differentiation of the rhizosphere and endosphere fungal microbiome of Casuarina equisetifolia at different ages. –  Huang et al. –  Environmental Microbiology

Water and extremophile microbiome (sea, rivers, lakes, glaciers, permafrost, high-salt)

Substrate regulation leads to differential responses of microbial ammonia-oxidizing communities to ocean warming. –  Zheng et al. –  Nature communications

Diversity and dynamics of relevant nanoplanktonic diatoms in the Western English Channel. –  Arsenieff et al.  –  The ISME Journal

Lake characteristics influence how methanogens in littoral sediments respond to terrestrial litter inputs. –  Yakimovich et al. –  The ISME Journal

Built environment (subways, indoor surfaces)

Heavy metal concentrations in Brazilian port areas and their relationships with microorganisms: can pollution in these areas change the microbial community? –  Del Busso Zampieri et al. –  Environmental Monitoring and Assessment

Food microbiology

Material conversion, microbial community composition and metabolic functional succession during green soybean hull composting. –  Zhang et al. –  Bioresource Technology


Phages and viruses

Hitchhiking, collapse, and contingency in phage infections of migrating bacterial populations. –  Ping et al. – The ISME Journal

Review: The LUCA and its complex virome. –  Krupovic et al. –  Nature Review Microbiology

Insights into the dynamics between viruses and their hosts in a hot spring microbial mat. –  Jarett et al. –  ISME Journal

Bioinformatics

IDMIL: an alignment-free Interpretable Deep Multiple Instance Learning (MIL) for predicting disease from whole-metagenomic data. –  Rahman and Rangwala –  Bioinformatics


My non-microbiology pick

Book: Astrobiology and Cuatro Ciénegas Basin as an Analog of Early Earth. –  Medina-Chávez et al. –  Cuatro Ciénegas Basin: An Endangered Hyperdiverse Oasis. Springer