Gram-negative gut bacteria and Toll-like receptor 4 linked to stimulation of cerebral cavernous malformations, suppression of a single gene by the microbiota promotes T cell survival in mice, quorum sensing negatively regulates toxin production in insect-associated bacteria and may facilitate stable colonization.

General microbiome

Lactobacillus plantarum producing a Chlamydia trachomatis antigen induces a specific IgA response after mucosal booster immunization – Katarzyna Kuczkowska – PLoS ONE

Human oral microbiome

The dental calculus metabolome in modern and historic samples – Irina M Velsko – bioRxiv

Insights of the dental calculi microbiome of pre-Columbian inhabitants from Puerto Rico – Tasha M Santiago-Rodriguez – PeerJ

Arginine Improves pH Homeostasis via Metabolism and Microbiome Modulation – M Angelo – Journal of Dental Research

Human gut microbiome

Faecal Microbiota Transplantation for Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis – Sudarshan Paramsothy – Journal of Crohn’s and Colitis

Significantly higher faecal counts of the yeasts candida and saccharomyces identified in people with coeliac disease – Joanna Harnett – Gut Pathogens

Research Highlight: Tooling up for microbiota research – Hugh Thomas – Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology

Review: The gut microbiota: a key factor in the therapeutic effects of (poly)phenols – Juan Carlos Espín – Biochemical Pharmacology

Animal experiments

* Endothelial TLR4 and the microbiome drive cerebral cavernous malformations – Alan T Tang – Nature

• Press: A Baffling Brain Defect Is Linked to Gut Bacteria, Scientists Say – Gina Kolata – The New York Times

* Microbiota promotes systemic T-cell survival through suppression of an apoptotic factor – Raymond Soto – PNAS

Bifidobacterium adolescentis IM38 ameliorates high-fat diet-induced colitis in mice by inhibiting NF-κB activation and lipopolysaccharide production by gut microbiota – Su-Min Lim – Nutrition Research

Tyrosine kinase inhibitors of Ripk2 attenuate bacterial cell wall-mediated lipolysis, inflammation and dysglycemia – Brittany M Duggan – Scientific Reports

Total fecal microbiota transplantation alleviates high-fat diet-induced steatohepatitis in mice via beneficial regulation of gut microbiota – Da Zhou – Scientific Reports

Animal microbiome

* Quorum Sensing Attenuates Virulence in Sodalis praecaptivus – Shinichiro Enomoto – Cell Host & Microbe

• Press: Controlling bacteria’s necessary evil – Science Daily

The digestive and defensive basis of carcass utilization by the burying beetle and its microbiota – Heiko Vogel – Nature Communications

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Antibacterial producing actinomycetes from Extra Andean Patagonia – M S Vela Gurovic – Journal of Arid Environments

High-throughput sequencing reveals bacterial community composition in the rhizosphere of the invasive plant Flaveria bidentis – Z Song – Weed Research

Microbiomes associated with infective stages of root-knot and lesion nematodes in soil – Ahmed Elhady – PLoS ONE

Review: Plant-insect-pathogen interactions: a naturally complex ménage à trois – Flávia P Franco – Current Opinion in Microbiology

Review: CuO and ZnO Nanoparticles Modify Interkingdom Cell Signaling Processes Relevant to Crop Production: A Review – Anne Anderson – Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

The phosphotransferase system gene ptsi in Bacillus cereus regulates expression of soda2 and contributes to colonization of wheat roots – Tantan Gao – Research in Microbiology

Water and extremophile microbiome

Review: Microbial processes driving coral reef organic carbon flow – Cynthia B Silveira – FEMS Microbiology Reviews

Diversity of biocrust-forming cyanobacteria in a semiarid gypsiferous site from Central Spain – Concha Cano-Díaz – bioRxiv

Probiotics/prebiotics

Probiotic Bifidobacterium longum NCC3001 Reduces Depression Scores and Alters Brain Activity: a Pilot Study in Patients With Irritable Bowel Syndrome – Maria Ines Pinto-Sanchez – Gastroenterology

Bioinformatics

dbOTU3: A new implementation of distribution-based OTU calling – Scott W Olesen – PLoS ONE

MGmapper: Reference based mapping and taxonomy annotation of metagenomics sequence reads – Thomas Nordahl Petersen – PLoS ONE

Bioinformatics tools for quantitative and functional metagenome and metatranscriptome data analysis in microbes – Sheng-Yong Niu – Briefings on Bioinformatics

Techniques

Review: Imaging mass spectrometry for metabolites: technical progress, multimodal imaging, and biological interactions – Ying-Ning Ho – WIREs Systems Biology and Medicine

Live-Cell Nanoscopy in Antiadhesion Therapy – Joan A Geoghegan – Trends in Microbiology

Low concentration DNA extraction and recovery using a silica solid phase – Constantinos Katevatis – PLoS ONE

More microbes

When more is less: Emergent suppressive interactions in three-drug combinations – Casey Beppler – BMC Microbiology

Effects of stochasticity and division of labor in toxin production on two-strain bacterial competition in Escherichia coli – Benedikt von Bronk – PLoS Biology

Biosynthesis of the antibiotic nonribosomal peptide penicillin in baker’s yeast – Ali R Awan – Nature Communications

Microbes in the news

Cosmetics: The next microbiome frontier – Marc S Reisch – Chemical and Engineering News

• See also: Cosmetic makers bottle bacteria for beautiful skin – EurekAlert

A defence mechanism that can trap and kill TB bacteria – Science Daily

Is IBS All In Your Mind? New Study Hints at Close Ties Between the Brain and the Gut – Jessica Wapner – Newsweek

Bacteria art

Scientists ‘paint’ with bacteria, create microbial masterpieces – Tom Ensey – wistv.com