Category Archives: Uncategorized

March 1, 2022

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General microbiome

Phylogenomics, Epigenomics, Virulome, and Mobilome of Gram-negative Bacteria Co-resistant to Carbapenems and Polymyxins: A One-Health Systematic Review and Meta-analyses – Ramaloko et al. – Environmental Microbiology

Global diversity and distribution of mushroom-inhabiting bacteria – Gohar et al. – Environmental Microbiology Reports

Genomic Epidemiology Insights on NDM-Producing Pathogens Revealed the Pivotal Role of Plasmids on blaNDM Transmission – Dong et al. – Microbiology Spectrum

Multi-site human microbiome

Contributions of Human-Associated Archaeal Metabolites to Tumor Microenvironment and Carcinogenesis – Cai et al. – Microbiology Spectrum

Human respiratory microbiome

Early life inter-kingdom interactions shape the immunological environment of the airways – C Pattaroni et al. – Microbiome

Human gut microbiome

Altered gut metabolites and microbiota interactions are implicated in colorectal carcinogenesis and can be non-invasive diagnostic biomarkers – Coker et al. – Microbiome

Animal experiments

Development of a rational framework for the therapeutic efficacy of fecal microbiota transplantation for calf diarrhea treatment – Islam et al. – Microbiome

Animal microbiome

Comparative microbiome analysis of Diaphorina citri and its associated parasitoids Tamarixia radiata and Diaphorencyrtus aligarhensis reveals Wolbachia as a dominant endosymbiont – Ashraf et al. – Environmental Microbiology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Core arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi are predicted by their high abundance-occupancy relationship while host-specific taxa are rare and geographically structured – Kajihara et al. – New Phytologist

Embracing mountain microbiome and ecosystem functions under global change –  Wang et al. – New Phytologist

Nitrogen fertilization disrupts the temporal dynamics of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal hyphae but not spore density and community composition in a wheat field – Babalola et al. – New Phytologist

Multiomics Reveals the Effect of Root Rot on Polygonati Rhizome and Identifies Pathogens and Biocontrol Strain – Pang et al. – Microbiology Spectrum

Seed microbiota revealed by a large-scale meta-analysis including 50 plant species – Simonin et al. – New Phytologist

Viewpoint: Plant–microbe eco-evolutionary dynamics in a changing world – Angulo et al. – New Phytologist

Stem traits, compartments, and tree species affect fungal communities on decaying wood – Yang et al. – Environmental Microbiology

Microplastics reduce soil microbial network complexity and ecological deterministic selection – Shi et al. – Environmental Microbiology

The core root microbiome of Spartina alterniflora is predominated by sulfur-oxidizing and sulfate-reducing bacteria in Georgia salt marshes, USA – Rolando et al. – Microbiome

Water and extremophile

“Boom-and-busted-dynamics” of phytoplankton-virus interactions explain the paradox of the plankton – Flynn et al. – New Phytologist

Communality in microbial stress response and differential metabolic interactions revealed by time-series analysis of sponge symbionts – Taylor et al. – Environmental Microbiology

Global 16S rRNA diversity of provannid snail endosymbionts from Indo-Pacific deep-sea hydrothermal vents – Breusing et al. – Environmental Microbiology Reports

Sources of protein diet differentially stimulate the gut and water microbiota under freshwater crayfish, marron (Cherax cainii, Austin 2002) culture – Foysal et al. – Environmental Microbiology Reports

February 9, 2022

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Today’s digest includes a Nature Medicine news feature on the role of preprints in the COVID-19 pandemic. Also included are an article about unsupervised clustering methods for microbiome data, the response of anammox consortia to nutrient starvation, and a handful of interesting preprints.

Animal experiments

Preprint: Phylogenetic diversity analysis of shotgun metagenomic reads describes gut microbiome development and treatment effects in the post-weaned pig – Gaio et al. – bioRxiv

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Preprint: Ecological insights into soil health according to the life-history traits and environment-wide associations of bacteria in agricultural soils – Wilhelm et al. – bioRxiv

Water and extremophile microbiome

Response and resilience of anammox consortia to nutrient starvation – Wang et al. – Microbiome

Bioinformatics

Preprint: Model-free prediction of microbiome compositions – Asher & Bashan – bioRxiv

Preprint: Predicting the re-distribution of antibiotic molecules caused by inter-species interactions in microbial communities – Reding – bioRxiv

Performance determinants of unsupervised clustering methods for microbiome data – Shi et al. – Microbiome

Science, publishing, and career

Rise of the preprint: how rapid data sharing during COVID-19 has changed science forever – Watson – Nature Medicine

December 2, 2021

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Happy December from Pittsburgh!

Today’s digest includes original research on the impacts of fungal entomopathogens on Wolbacia infections and the influence of nutrient status on the response of a diatom to oil and dispersant. I have also included a study protocol for oral microbiome transplant for the treatment of dental caries and periodontal disease as well as preprints on a variety of topics. Finally, I want to highlight two articles I included that are little different from my usual content: the first is on predictors of willingness to receive the COVID-19 vaccination and the second is focused on transparency in peer review.

Enjoy!

COVID-19

***To vaccinate or not to vaccinate!? Predictors of willingness to receive Covid-19 vaccination in Europe, the U.S., and China – Brailovskaia et al. – PLOS One

General microbiome

Preprint: Copper nanoparticles as modulator of active bacterial population and their physiology in ecosphere – Alboloushi et al. – bioRxiv

Preprint: Metabolite Damage and Damage-Control in a Minimal Genome – Haas et al. – bioRxiv

Development and characterization of an oral microbiome transplant among Australians for the treatment of dental caries and periodontal disease: A study protocol – Nath et al. – PLOS One

Preprint: Heat activation and inactivation of bacterial spores. Is there an overlap? – Wen et al. – bioRxiv

Animal experiments

Inferring Mycobacterium bovis transmission between cattle and badgers using isolates from the Randomised Badger Culling Trial – van Tonder et al. – PLOS Pathogens

Animal microbiome

Impacts of fungal entomopathogens on survival and immune responses of Aedes albopictus and Culex pipiens mosquitoes in the context of native Wolbachia infections – Ramirez et al. – PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases

Water and extremophile microbiome

Influence of nutrient status on the response of the diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum to oil and dispersant – Kamalanathan et al. – PLOS One

Preprint: Community-wide epigenetics provides novel perspectives on the ecology and evolution of marine microbiome – Seong et al. – bioRxiv

Preprint: Microbial cysteine degradation is a source of hydrogen sulfide in oxic freshwater lakes – Tran et al. – bioRxiv

Bioinformatics

When and why direct transmission models can be used for environmentally persistent pathogens – Benson – PLOS Computational Biology

Techniques

Preprint: The processing of staphylococcal biofilm images from Fluorescence and Confocal Microscopy to assess in vitro efficacy of antiseptic molecules – Krasowski et al. – bioRxiv

Science, publishing, and career

***Transparency in peer review: Exploring the content and tone of reviewers’ confidential comments to editors – O’Brien et al. – PLOS One

November 17, 2021

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General microbiome

Macrophages in Microbial Pathogenesis: Commonalities of Defense Evasion Mechanisms – Pandey et al. – Infection and Immunity

Human respiratory microbiome

The Influence of FUT2 and FUT3 Polymorphisms and Nasopharyngeal Microbiome on Respiratory Infections in Breastfed Bangladeshi Infants from the Microbiota and Health Study – Binia et al. – mSphere

Human gut microbiome

Fecal Microbiota Transplantation Commonly Failed in Children with Co-Morbidities – Kellermayer et al. – JPGN

Current and future applications of fecal microbiota transplantation for children – Chen & Chiu – Biomedical Journal

[REVIEW]Microbial influences on gut development and gut-brain communication – Ye & Rawls – Development

Characterization and predictive functional profiles on metagenomic 16S rRNA data of liver transplant recipients: A longitudinal study – Sivaraj et al. – Clinical Transplantation

Changes to human faecal microbiota after international travel – Kampmann et al. – Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease

Animal experiments

Cognate recognition of microbial antigens defines constricted CD4+ T cell receptor repertoires in the inflamed colon – Muschaweck et al. – Immunity

An aniline-substituted bile salt analog protects both mice and hamsters from multiple Clostridioides difficile strains – Phan et al. – Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy

Analysis of Cow-Calf Microbiome Transfer Routes and Microbiome Diversity in the Newborn Holstein Dairy Calf Hindgut – Zhu et al. – Frontiers in Nutrition

Metabolome

Multi-omic evaluation of metabolic alterations in multiple sclerosis identifies shifts in aromatic amino acid metabolism – Fitzgerald et al. – Cell Reports Medicine

Bioinformatics

[REVIEW]It takes guts to learn: machine learning techniques for disease detection from the gut microbiome – Curry, Nute & Treangen – Emerging Topics in Life Sciences

November 15, 2021

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Today’s digest contains an article about the effect of shale flowback fluid on the polluted soil microbiome. It also includes multiple preprints on topics such as long-read sequencing on the Oxford Nanopore, arctic marine protists, rapid antibiotic susceptibility testing for mixed infections, and more.

Happy reading!

General microbiome

Preprint: Rapid antibiotic susceptibility testing and species identification for mixed infections – Kandavalli et al. – bioRxiv

Preprint: Bacterial quorum sensing allows graded and bimodal cellular responses to variations in population density – Rattray et al. – bioRxiv

Preprint – Phage-encoded sigma factors alter bacterial dormancy – Schwartz et al. – bioRxiv

Human respiratory microbiome

Preprint: Aspergillus fumigatus drives tissue damage via iterative assaults upon mucosal integrity and immune homeostasis – Okaa et al. – bioRxiv

Human skin microbiome

Preprint: Cobamide sharing drives skin microbiome dynamics – Swaney et al. – bioRxiv

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Toxic effects of shale gas fracturing flowback fluid on microbial communities in polluted soil – Zudong Mei et al. – Environmental Monitoring and Assessment

Water and extremophile microbiome

Preprint: Colonial choanoflagellate isolated from Mono Lake harbors a microbiome – Hake et al. – bioRxiv

Preprint: Linking extreme seasonality and gene expression in arctic marine protists – Wutkowska et al. – bioRxiv

Preprint: Biosorption potential and molecular characterization of metal resistant autochthonous microbes from tannery solid waste – Younas et al. – bioRxiv

Techniques

Preprint: Oxford Nanopore R10.4 long-read sequencing enables near-perfect bacterial genomes from pure cultures and metagenomes without short-read or reference polishing – Sereika et al. – bioRxiv

Preprint: Going through phages: A Computational approach to Revealing the role of prophage in Staphylococcus aureus – Sweet et al. – bioRxiv

October 22, 2021

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Happy Friday!

Today’s digest includes an article on the role of age in the human intestinal microbiome, research on the role of a novel Acidobacteriota in seafloor sulfur cycling, work demonstrating the use of machine learning to predict camplyobacter source data, and much more! I also included the link to a page on “The Secret World Inside You”, a science exhibit focused on the human microbiome that is at the Witte Museum in San Antonio, Texas from now until April 10, 2022. If anyone ends up checking it out, I’d love to hear about it!

Events

A microbiome science exhibit, “The Secret World Inside You,” is at The Witte Museum in San Antonio, Texas from October 16, 2021 to April 10, 2022 .

Human gut microbiome

Bile acid-independent protection against Clostridioides difficile infection – Aguirre et al. – PLOS PATHOGENS

The importance of age in compositional and functional profiling of the human intestinal microbiome – Herzog et al. – PLOS ONE

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

The chosen few—variations in common and rare soil bacteria across biomes – Bickel & Or – The ISME Journal

The fungus Kalmusia longispora is able to cause vascular necrosis on Vitis vinifera – Karácsony et al. – PLOS ONE

Water and extremophile microbiome

Novel taxa of Acidobacteriota implicated in seafloor sulfur cycling – Flieder et al. – The ISME Journal

Beach sand oil spills select for generalist microbial populations – Heritier-Robbins et al. – The ISME Journal

Preprint: Influence of DNA extraction kits on the fungal DNA metabarcoding for freshwater environmental DNA – Matsuoka et al. – bioRxiv

Marine signature taxa and core microbial community stability along latitudinal and vertical gradients in sediments of the deepest freshwater lake – Reboul et al. – The ISME Journal

Phages and viruses

Review: Community context matters for bacteria-phage ecology and evolution – Blazanin & Turner – The ISME Journal

Bioinformatics

Machine learning to predict the source of campylobacteriosis using whole genome data – Arning et al. – PLOS GENETICS

September 30, 2021

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Today’s digest includes a quantification of bacterial strains after fecal microbiota transplantation, a network analysis of the strawberry greenhouse soil microbiome after soil amendments, and an article about enhanced copper-resistance genes in Alteromonas macleodii. Also included are multiple preprints on topics such as denitrification pathways present in tunda soil metagenomes as well as the response of Endozoicomonas, a core coral bacterial group, to heat stress and host lysates.

General microbiome

Genomic population structure associated with repeated escape of Salmonella enterica ATCC14028s from the laboratory into nature – Achtman et al. – PLOS Genetics

Preprint: Role of the mobilome in the global dissemination of the carbapenem resistance gene blaNDM – Acman et al. – bioRxiv

Preprint: Existence of log-phase Escherichia coli persisters and lasting memory of a starvation pulse – Svenningsen et al. – bioRxiv

Human gut microbiome

Precise quantification of bacterial strains after fecal microbiota transplantation delineates long-term engraftment and explains outcomes – Aggarwala et al. – Nature Microbiology

Animal microbiome

A role for arthropods as vectors of multidrug-resistant Enterobacterales in surgical site infections from South Asia – Hassan et al. – Nature Microbiology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Response of soil microbiome structure and its network profiles to four soil amendments in monocropping strawberry greenhouse – Liu et al. – PLOS One

Preprint: Truncated denitrifiers dominate the denitrification pathway in tundra soil metagenomes – Pessi et al. – bioRxiv

Water and extremophile microbiome

Preprint: Response of Endozoicomonas montiporae to heat stress and coral host lysates – Chan et al. – bioRxiv

Enhanced copper-resistance gene repertoire in Alteromonas macleodii strains isolated from copper-treated marine coatings – Cusick et al. – PLOS One

Bacterial community structure of early-stage biofilms is dictated by temporal succession rather than substrate types in the southern coastal seawater of India – Sushmitha et al. – PLOS One

Preprint: Ecological stochasticity and phage induction diversify bacterioplankton communities at the microscale – Szabo et al. – bioRxiv

September 15, 2021

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Today’s digest is fairly light. It includes an article focused on the protective role of bacterial endosymbionts on soil fungus, a preprint on the indoor environment as a source for human-associated anaerobes, and work demonstrating how protein biosensors can be used to track the effects osmotic stress on cells.

Happy reading!

General microbiome

Preprint: Comprehensive comparative genomics analysis for the emerging human pathogen Streptococcus dysgalactiae subsp. equisimilis (SDSE): A case study and Pan-subspecies genomic analysis – Saeb & Tayeb – bioRxiv

Preprint: The model arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Rhizophagus irregularis harbours endosymbiotic bacteria with a highly reduce genome – Savary et al. – bioRxiv

Preprint: A Campylobacter integrative and conjugative element with a CRISPR-Cas9 system targeting competing plasmids: a history of plasmid warfare? – van Vilet et al. – bioRxiv

Animal microbiome (for animals in the wild)

Differences in gut microbiome composition between sympatric wild and allopatric laboratory populations of omnivorous cockroaches – Tinker et al. – Frontiers in Microbiology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Bacterial endosymbionts protect beneficial soil fungus from nematode attack – Büttner et al. – Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

Built environment

Preprint: The indoor environment – A potential source for intact human-associated anaerobes – Pausan et al. – bioRxiv

Techniques

Intrinsically disordered protein biosensor tracks the physical-chemical effects of osmotic stress on cells – Cuevas-Velazquez et al. – Nature Communications

July 30th, 2021

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Today’s papers are primarily plant and environment related, but there’s also a great couple papers on the humanmicrobiome – discussing streptococci’s ability to colonise the ear, as well as a mini-review discussing oral microbial transplantation in improving COVID-19 outcomes. Have a great day!

Human general microbiome

Competitive advantage of oral streptococci for colonization of the middle ear mucosa. Jacob et al. bioRxiv.

Human gut microbiome

Utilizing machine learning with knockoff filtering to extract significant metabolites in Crohn’s disease with a publicly available untargeted metabolomics dataset – Bin Masud et al- PLOS one.

Human vaginal microbiome

Modeling the temporal dynamics of cervicovaginal microbiota identifies targets that may promote reproductive health – Munoz et al – Microbiome.

Human respiratory microbiome

The forgotten oral microbial transplantation for improving the outcomes of COVID-19 – AbdelMassih et al – New microbes and New Infections. [Mini-review]

Plant, root and soil microbiome

Metabolomics and microbiome reveal impacts of rhizosphere metabolites on alfafa continuous cropping – Wang et al -bioRxiv.

Unearthing Shifts in Microbial Communities Across a Soil Disturbance Gradient – Seitz et al – bioRxiv.

Unraveling negative biotic interactions determining soil microbial community assembly and functioning -Romdhane et al -The ISME journal.

Large-scale protein level comparison of Deltaproteobacteria reveals cohesive metabolic groups – Langwig et al -The ISME journal.

Impact of microecological agents on water environment restoration and microbial community structures of trench system in a Baiyangdian wetland ecosystem – Li et al – Journal of Applied Microbiology.

July 23, 2021

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Happy Friday!

It’s an exciting day here because I’m packing for fieldwork! In just a few short days I’ll be sampling from a saline aquifer in Illinois. For those of you who aren’t lucky enough to be going into the field, today’s digest is packed with a wide range of articles. Topics covered include the wild spider gut microbiome, the presence of antibiotic resistance genes in an Ohio river, the mosquito virome, the plant rhizosphere, and more.

Happy reading!

Human gut microbiome

Preprint: Phenotypic and genomic diversification in complex carbohydrate degrading human gut bacteria – Pudlo et al. – bioRxiv

Animal experiments

Effect of biochanin A on the rumen microbial community of Holstein steers consuming a high fiber diet and subjected to a subacute acidosis challenge – Harlow et al. – PLOS ONE

Ear wound healing in MRL/MpJ mice is associated with gut microbiome composition and is transferable to non-healer mice via microbiome transplantation – Velasco et al. – PLOS ONE

Animal microbiome

Preprint: Increased microbial diversity and decreased prevalence of common pathogens in the gut microbiomes of wild turkeys compared to domestic turkeys – Craft et al. – bioRxiv

Interspecific variation and functional traits of the gut microbiome in spiders from the wild: The largest effort so far – Tyagi et al. – PLOS ONE

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Preprint: Tillage intensity and plant rhizosphere selection shape bacterial-archaeal assemblage diversity and nitrogen cycling genes – Cloutier et al. – bioRxiv

Water and extremophile microbiome

Preprint: An Ohio State Scenic River Shows Elevated Antibiotic Resistance Genes, Including Acinetobacter Tetracycline and Macrolide Resistance, Downstream of Wastewater Treatment Plant Effluent – Murphy – bioRxiv

Biogeochemistry of the Antrim Shale Natural Gas Reservoir – Stemple et al. – ACS Earth and Space Chemistry

Built environment

Preprint: Novel municipal sewage-associated bacterial genomes and their potential in source tracking – Linder et al. – bioRxiv

Preprint: Structure of bacterial communities in Japanese-style bathrooms: Comparative sequencing of bacteria in shower water and showerhead biofilms using a portable nanopore sequencer – Fujiyoshi et al. – bioRxiv

Phages and viruses

Preprint: Dynamic surveillance of mosquitoes and their viromes in Wuhan during 2020 – Ren et al. – bioRxiv

Techniques

Simple mapping-based quantification of a mock microbial community using total RNA-seq data – Moriya – PLOS ONE

Preprint: Evaluation of DNA extraction protocols from liquid-based cytology specimens for studying cervical microbiota – Shibata et al. – bioRxiv