Category Archives: Water microbiome

May 8, 2020.

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The highlighted paper of the day looked at the relationship between statins and gut microbiome / enterotype prevalence, mined from data collected from the MetaCardis study which looked at over 2000 participants all across the EU and collected over 1,400 parameters.

If you’re looking for a review/news article of the paper head to: Statin drugs might boost healthy gut microbes

If you’re looking for the paper: Statin therapy is associated with lower prevalence of gut microbiota dysbiosis – Sara Silva – Nature

COVID-19


Identification of Drugs Blocking SARS-CoV-2 Infection using Human Pluripotent Stem Cell-derived Colonic Organoids – Xiaohua Duan – bioRxiv

Whose coronavirus strategy worked best? Scientists hunt most effective policies – Elizabeth Gibney – Nature

Coronavirus activates a stem cell-mediated defense mechanism that accelerates the activation of dormant tuberculosis: implications for the COVID-19 pandemic – Lekhika Pathak – bioRxiv

General Microbiome

Multi ‘Omics Profiling of the HIV Airway Epithelium: Integration of the Microbiome, Methylome, and Transcriptome – MS Jude – Am J Respir Crit Care Med

Intracellular Staphylococcus aureus persisters upon antibiotic exposure – Frederuc Peyrusson – Nature Communications

Isolation and characterization of bacteriophages that infect Citrobacter rodentium, a model pathogen for investigating human intestinal diseases – Carolina Mizuno – bioRxiv

MiniReview: A toxic environment: a growing understanding of how microbial communities affect Shiga toxin expression by E. coli O157:H7 – Erin M. Nawrocki – American Society for Microbiology, Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Pregnancy and early life

Gut microbiota derived metabolites contribute to intestinal barrier maturation at the suckling-to- weaning transition – Martin Beaumont – Gut Microbes

Gut Microbiome Derived 12,13 Dihome Promotes Antigen Presenting Cell Dysfunction In Vitro and Airway Allergic Inflammation In Vivo – S Levan – Atsjournal


Multi-site human microbiome

The Microbiome and the Gut‐Liver‐Brain Axis for CNS Clinical Pharmacology: Challenges in Specifying and Integrating In Vitro and In Silico Models – Kyle Hawkins – Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics

Gut Check: The Intestinal Microbiome Does Not Predict or Protect from Vancomycin- Resistant Enterococcus Acquisition Among Critically Ill Patients – Chanderraj – Atsjournal

The Tumour-Resident Microbiome Is Associated with Cancer Hypomethylation Status in Lung Adenocarcinoma – Marshall – atsjournal

An association between the gut microbiota and immune cell dynamics in humans. – Jonas Schluter – bioRxiv

Metabolomics

Analyzing the impact of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection on primary human macrophages by combined exploratory and targeted metabolomics – Vrieling Frank

Review: Metabolome–Microbiome Crosstalk and Human Disease – Kathleen Lee-Sarwar – metabolites

Animal Microbiome

Review – Mycobacterium bovis: From Genotyping to Genome Sequencing – Ana Guimaraeas – Microorganism

Animal experiments

Staphylococcus aureus-induced proteomic changes in the mammary tissue of rats: A TMT-based study – Lirong Cai – Plos One

Plant, root, and soil microbiome


Effects of earthworms on the microbiomes and antibiotic resistomes of detritus fauna and phyllosphere – Dong Zhu – Environmental Science and Technology

Surface runoff alters cave microbial community structure and function – Madison Davis – Plos One

Water and extremophile microbiome

Culturing of ‘Unculturable’ Subsurface Microbes: Natural Organic Carbon Source Fuels the Growth of Diverse and Distinct Bacteria from Groundwater – Xiaoqin Wu – bioRxiv

Bioinformatics & Techniques

Sequence count data are poorly fit by the negative binomial distribution – Stjin Hawinkel – Plos One

Book Chappter: Meta-Pangenome: At the Crossroad of Pangenomics and Metagenomics – Bing MA – The Pangenome, Springer.

Snipe: Highly sensitive pathogen detection from metagenomic sequencing data – Lihong Huang – bioRxiv

Validated Method for the Study of Human Lung Microbiota from Excised Tissue – Dumont-Leblond – atsjounal

Microbes in the news

Bad to the Bone – Matthew Greseth- MUSC Health

Meet the ‘psychobiome’: the gut bacteria that may alter how you think, feel, and act – Elizabeth Pennisi – ScienceMag

Decoding the Microbiome: Essential to Advancing Precision Medicine – Heather Hall – rdworldonline

Harithaa’s non-microbiology picks!

Mass spectrometry for future atomic clocks – Marianna Safrova – Nature (news & views)

May 2nd, 2020

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Another month has passed! Hope everyone is staying at home and being well. Today’s highlights include a paper applying NMR to monitor neonatal metabolic adaptations, how oil influence microbial community assembly off the Gulf of Mexico and a preprint for a Bayesian Multi-task method to identify global microbiome associations.

COVID-19 Articles 

Why the Coronavirus Is So Confusing – Ed Yong – The Atlantic

Aerodynamic analysis of SARS-CoV-2 in two Wuhan hospitals – Liu & Ning et al. – Nature

Human microbiome

Fucosidases from the human gut symbiont Ruminococcus gnavus – Wu & Rebello et al. – Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences

Temporal Dysbiosis of Infant Nasal Microbiota Relative to Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection – Grier et al. – bioRxiv **preprint**

Sex-specific Alterations in the Urinary and Tissue Microbiome in Therapy-naïve Urothelial Bladder Cancer Patients – Pederzoli et al.  – European Urology Oncology

Microbiome and Metabolomics 

Metabolic changes in early neonatal life: NMR analysis of the neonatal metabolic profile to monitor postnatal metabolic adaptations – Georgakopoulou, I., Chasapi, S.A., Bariamis, S.E. et al – Metabolomics

Analyzing the impact of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection on primary human macrophages by combined exploratory and targeted metabolomics – Vrieling & Kostidis et al. – Nature Scientific Reports

Soil microbiome

Structural and microbial evidence for different soil carbon sequestration after four-year successive biochar application in two different paddy soils – Bi & Cai et al. – Chemosphere

Soil pH and C/N ratio determines spatial variations in soil microbial communities and enzymatic activities of the agricultural ecosystems in Northeast China: Jilin Province case – Xu et al. – Applied Soil Ecology

Animal microbiome

Viral metagenomics revealed diverse CRESS-DNA virus genomes in faeces of forest musk deer – Liu & Wang et al. – Virology Journal

Links between the rumen microbiota, methane emissions and feed efficiency of finishing steers offered dietary lipid and nitrate supplementation – Bowen & Cormican et al. – PLOS One

Microbiomes of the built environment 

Influence of oil, dispersant, and pressure on microbial communities from the Gulf of Mexico – Noirungsee et al. – Nature Scientific Reports

Passenger-surface microbiome interactions in the subway of Mexico City – Vargas-Robles et al.  – bioRxiv **preprint**

Pathogens 

Intra-species signaling between Pseudomonas aeruginosa genotypes increases production of quorum sensing controlled virulence factors – Mould et al. – bioRxiv **preprint**

Statistics and bioinformatics 

A Bayesian Multi-Task Approach for Detecting Global Microbiome Associations – Hatami et al. – bioRxiv (soon to be published in Bioinformatics) **preprint**

Extremophiles

Genomic sequencing of Gracilibacillus dipsosauri reveals key properties of a salt-tolerant a-amylase – Deutch & Yang – Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

Aquatic environments  

Cyanobacteria in inland waters: new monitoring, reporting, modelling and ecological research – Mitrovic et al. – Marine & Freshwater Research **review**

Contrast diversity patterns and processes of microbial community assembly in a river-lake continuum across a catchment scale in northwestern China – Tang et al. – Environmental Microbiome

Microbiome in the News

Coffee plants have a small but consistent core microbiome of fungi and bacteria – American Phytopathological Society – EurekAlert!

April 26, 2020

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Greetings from Pittsburgh, PA!

Today’s digest includes several reviews, numerous host-microbiome studies, a wide variety of environmental microbiome studies, and a new book focused on Emerging Technologies in Environmental Bioremediation.

I also wanted to highlight the virtual Fermentation Mini-Seminars offered by the Applied Ecology Department at my alma mater, NC State University. During the first seminar of the series I learned about the Wild Sourdough Project, which is a community-science/citizen-science project where participants can submit observational data about their sourdough culture. If you’re missing the lab, this might be the perfect project for you!

Virtual Events

NCSU Fermentation Mini-Seminars offered every Thursday at 4pm EST from April through August

General microbiome

Special Issue: Stochasticity in microbiology: managing unpredictability to reach the Sustainable Development Goals – De Vrieze et al. – Microbial Biotechnology

Review: Biofilm matrixome: Extracellular components in structured microbial communities – Karygianni et al. – Trends in Microbiology

Review: Microbial symbiosis: A network towards biomethanation – Saha et al. – Trends in Microbiology

Multi-site human microbiome

Microbiota in cerebrovascular disease: A key player and future therapeutic target – Tonomura et al. – Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism

Review: Role of microbiome and antibiotics in autoimmune diseases – Vangoitsenhoven and Cresci – Nutrition in Clinical Practice

Human skin microbiome

Isolation and characterization of diverse microbial representatives from the human skin microbiome – Timm et al. – BMC Microbiology

Human gut microbiome

Altered gut microbial profile is associated with abnormal metabolism activity of Autism Spectrum Disorder – Dan et al. – Gut Microbes

Seasonal variation in gut microbiota composition: cross-sectional evidence from Ukrainian population – Koliada et al. – BMC Microbiology

Gut microbiome reveals specific dysbiosis in primary osteoporosis – Xu et al. – Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology

Animal experiments

The clinical drug Ebselen attenuates inflammation and promotes microbiome recovery in mice after antibiotic treatment for CDI – Garland et al. – Cell Reports Medicine

Effect of oxytetracycline treatment on the gastrointestinal microbiome of critically endangered white abalone (Haliotis sorenseni) treated for withering syndrome – Parker-Graham et al. – Aquaculture

Effects of hydrolyzed fish protein and autolyzed yeast as substitutes of fishmeal in the gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata) diet, on fish intestinal microbiome – Rimoldi et al. – BMC Veterinary Research

Animal microbiome

(My microbiome) would walk 10,000 miles: Maintenance and turnover of microbial communities in introduced dung beetles – Parker et al. – Invertebrate Microbiology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Nocardiopsis deserti sp. nov., isolated from a high altitude Atacama Desert soil – Asem et al. – International Journal of Systemic and Evolutionary Microbiology

Steel slag amendment impacts on soil microbial communities and activities of rice (Oryza sativa L.) – Das et al. – Scientific Reports

Peat properties, dominant vegetation type and microbial community structure in a tropical peatland – Girkin et al. – Wetlands

Integrating transcriptomics and metabolomics to studies key metabolism, pathways and candidate genes associated with drought-tolerance in Carthamus tinctorius L. under drought stress – Wei et al. – Industrial Crops and Products

Dynamics of ammonia oxidizers and denitrifiers in response to compost addition in black soil, Northeast China – Yang et al. – PeerJ

Water and extremophile microbiome

Impacts of an eruption on cold-seep microbial and faunal dynamics at a mud volcano – Girard et al. – Frontiers in Marine Science

Unraveling heterogeneity of coral microbiome assemblages in tropical and subtropical corals in the South China Sea – Gong et al. – Microorganisms

Anode potential-dependent protection of electroactive biofilms against metal ion shock via regulating extracellular polymeric substances – Hou et al. – Water Research

Microbial ecology and biogeochemistry of hypersaline sediments in Orca Basin – Nigro et al. – PLOS One

Near streambed flow shapes microbial guilds within and across trophic levels in fluvial biofilms – Risse-Buhl et al. – Limnology and Oceanography

Heterotrophic sulfide-oxidizing nitrate-reducing bacteria enables the high performance of integrated autotrophic-heterotrophic denitrification (IAHD) process under high sulfide loading – Zhang et al. – Water Research

Built environment (subways, indoor surfaces)

Ecological processes affecting long-term eukaryote and prokaryote biofilm persistence in nitrogen removal from sewage – Angell et al. – Genes

Long-term microbial community dynamics in a pilot-scale gas sparged anaerobic membrane bioreactor treating municipal wastewater under seasonal variations – Kannan et al. – Bioresource Technology

Book: Emerging Technologies in Environmental Bioremediation – Edited by Shah et al.

Food microbiology

How processing methods affect the microbial community composition in a cereal-based fermented beverage – Phiri et al. – LWT – Food Science and Technology

High-throughput sequencing and metabolomics reveal differences in bacterial diversity and metabolites between red and white sufu – Tang et al. – Frontiers in Microbiology

April 24, 2020

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Events

Virtual Podium 2020 – Session 5 (Microbiome) – April 24, 2020

Scientific career and work-life balance – April 24, 2020

World Malaria Day – April 25, 2020 – Draws attention to the impact of the disease and (re)urges us to find a way to overcome it once and for all.
Join the #talkingmalaria tweetchat on April 24, 2020 at 12 noon BST.

COVID-19

GRAND CHALLENGE: A billion molecules against COVID-19 – Joint European Disruptive Initiative

General microbiome

Reversibility of propionic acid inhibition to anaerobic digestion: Inhibition kinetics and microbial mechanism – Youl Han – Chemosphere

Responses of microbial structures, functions, metabolic pathways and community interactions to different C/N ratios in aerobic nitrification – Hongwei Sun – Bioresource Technology

PERSPECTIVE: Cultivating fungal research – Heidi H. Kong – Science

Human microbiome

REVIEW: Microbiota–immune interactions in asthma pathogenesis and phenotype – Nicholas W.Lukacs – Current Opinion in Immunology

CANCER IN TRANSLATION: Microbiome genomics for cancer prediction – Lorenz Adlung – Nature Cancer

Human skin microbiome

BOOK CHAPTER: The wound microbiome – Aayushi Uberoi – In: Wound Healing, Tissue Repair, and Regeneration in Diabetes.

Human gut microbiome

BOOK CHAPTER: Dietary Fiber and Gut Microbiota – Carolina Senés-Guerrero – In: Science and Technology of Fibers in Food Systems

Animal experiments

Effect of in feed administration of different butyrate formulations on Salmonella Enteritidis colonization and cecal microbiota in broilers – Lonneke Onrust – Veterinary Research

Stochasticity constrained by deterministic effects of diet and age drive rumen microbiome assembly dynamics – Ori Furman – Nature Communications

Sequence variant analysis reveals poor correlations in microbial taxonomic abundance between humans and mice after gnotobiotic transfer – Farnaz Fouladi – ISME Journal

Temporal changes in microbial communities attached to forages with different lignocellulosic compositions in the cattle rumen – Javad Gharechahi – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Animal microbiome

Host-microbiota interaction helps to explain the bottom-up effects of climate change on a small rodent species – Guoliang Li – ISME Journal

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Tapping into the maize root microbiome to identify bacteria that promote growth under chilling conditions – Stien Beirinckx – Microbiome

Regulatory relationship between quality variation and environment of Cistanche deserticola in three ecotypes based on soil microbiome analysis – Xiao Sun – Scientific Reports

Effects of biodegradable plastic film mulching on soil microbial communities in two agroecosystems – Sreejata Bandopadhyay – PeerJ

Water microbiome

Total Microbial Activity and Sulfur Cycling Microbe Changes in Response to the Development of Hypoxia in a Shallow Estuary – Yunjung Park – Ocean Science Journal

Built environment

Associations Between Respiratory Infections and Bacterial Microbiome in Student Dormitories in Northern China – Xi Fu – Indoor Air

Bacterial community analysis of floor dust and HEPA filters in air purifiers used in office rooms in ILAS, Beijing – Jianguo Guo – Scientific Reports

Microbes in space

The influence of spaceflight on the astronaut salivary microbiome and the search for a microbiome biomarker for viral reactivation – Camilla Urbaniak – Microbiome

Food microbiology

Insights into the Microbiological Safety of Wooden Cutting Boards Used for Meat Processing in Hong Kong’s Wet Markets: A Focus on Food-Contact Surfaces, Cross-Contamination and the Efficacy of Traditional Hygiene Practices – Patrick T. Sekoai – Microorganisms

Pre-print

MicrobioLink: An integrated computational pipeline to infer functional effects of microbiome-host interactions – Tahila Andrighetti – bioRxiv

Repeatability and reproducibility assessment in a large-scale population-based microbiota study: case study on human milk microbiota – Shirin Moossavi – bioRxiv

Mendelian randomization analysis revealed causal effects from gut microbiota to abdominal obesity – Qian Xu – bioRxiv

A quantitative measure of functional redundancy in microbial ecosystems – Taylor M Royalty – bioRxiv

Host association induces genome changes in Candida albicans which alters its virulence – Amanda C Smith – bioRxiv

Shirin’s non-microbiology picks

CAREER FEATURE: Safely conducting essential research in the face of COVID-19 – Virginia Gewin – Nature

Reaching a Large Urban Undergraduate Population through Microbial Ecology Course-Based Research Experiences – Samantha Parks – Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education

POLICY FORUM: Against pandemic research exceptionalism – Alex John London – Science

WORLD VIEW: On the 50th Earth Day, take collective action for the planet – Emma Marris – Nature

BEHIND THE PAPER: Annotating the unknown: Functional Gene Annotation using Untargeted Metabolomics – Robert Jansen – Nature Microbiology Community

April 22, 2020

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Welcome to another post from a new volunteer! I’m a Ph.D student studying the infant gut microbiome and I’m excited to be volunteering with Microbiome Digest.

There are several preprints today, including another great study from the CHILD cohort. This one is on maternal consumption of artificially sweetened beverages and the infant gut microbiota. There is also a preprint calling for improvement in scientific conferences. Both are highlighted in green.

Pregnancy and early life

Preprint: Consumption of artificially sweetened beverages during pregnancy impacts infant gut microbiota and body mass index – Isabelle Laforest-Lapointe — bioRxiv

Oral microbiome

Preprint: Genotypic and phenotypic characterization of Streptococcus mutans isolated from dental caries – Mohammad Shahnoor Hossain – bioRxiv

Pyruvate secretion by oral streptococci modulates hydrogen peroxide dependent antagonism – Sylvio Redanz – ISME Journal

Synergism between Corynebacterium and Streptococcus sanguinis reveals new interactions between oral commensals – Puthayalai Treerat – ISME Journal

Animal experiments

The gut microbiota response to helminth infection depends on host sex and genotype – Fei Ling – ISME Journal

Animal microbiome

Lipids and small metabolites provisioned by ambrosia fungi to symbiotic beetles are phylogeny-dependent, not convergent – Yin-Tse Huang – ISME Journal

Comparative genomics: Dominant coral-bacterium Endozoicomonas acroporae metabolizes dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) – Kshitij Tandon – ISME Journal

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Active sulfur cycling in the terrestrial deep subsurface – Emma Bell – ISME Journal

Preprint: An antagonistic driver of the microbial phyllosphere suppresses infection of Arabidopsis thaliana by the oomycete pathogen Albugo laibachii via a secreted hydrolase – Katharina Eitzen – bioRxiv

Preprint: Grapevine pruning time affects natural wound colonization by wood-invading fungi – Maria del Pilar Martinez-Diz – bioRxiv

Water and extremophile microbiome

Mixotrophy in marine picocyanobacteria: use of organic compounds by Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus – M.C. Muñoz-Marín – ISME Journal

Food microbiology

Preprint: Antibiotic-resistant Salmonella species and Escherichia coli in broiler chickens from farms, abattoirs and open markets in selected districts of Zambia – Nelson Phiri – bioRxiv

Microbes in the news

Breastfeeding may lead to fewer human viruses in infants
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/04/200415110452.htm

Science, publishing, and career

Preprint: Evaluating features of scientific conferences: A call for improvements – Sarvenaz Sarabipour – bioRxiv

April 11, 2020

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Happy Saturday morning, y’all! I’m excited for my first contribution to the digest, and hope you enjoy my picks over a luxurious weekend meal. Today’s digest starts with some preprints about COVID including research on a drug that may inhibit viral replication. Other research highlights include an examination of the relationship between the vaginal microbiome and pre-term birth, a preprint on the oral microbiome in space, and a potential new technique for low cost, high-throughput metagenome profiling. Scroll all the way to the end for information about a fun project by a University of Wyoming student called The Microbestiary.

COVID-19
Preprint: Genomic determinants of pathogenicity in SARS-CoV-2 and other human coronaviruses. Auslander, N. et al.

Preprint: Nelfinavir inhibits replication of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 in vitro. Yamamoto, N. et al.

Preprint: Understanding the B and T cells epitopes of spike protein of severe respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2: A computational way to predict the immunogens. Vashi, Y. et al.

General Microbiome
Preprint: From iron to antibiotics: Identification of conserved bacterial-fungal interactions across diverse partners. Pierce, EC. et al.

Human Gut Microbiome
Review: Unraveling Host-Gut Microbiota Dialogue and Its Impact on Cholesterol Levels. Villette R. et al. Frontiers in Pharmacology.

Metagenomics analysis reveals features unique to Indian distal gut microbiota. Kaur, K. et al. PLOS ONE.

Gut Microbiota Modulate CD8 T Cell Responses to Influence Colitis-Associated Tumorigenesis. Yu, A.I. et al. Cell Reports.

Human Oral Microbiome
Preprint: Characterization of the oral microbiome of medically controlled type-2 diabetes patients. Santos, A. et al.

Human Vaginal Microbiome
Cervicovaginal microbiome and natural history of HPV in a longitudinal study. Usyk, M. et al. PLOS Pathogens.

Meta-Analysis of Vaginal Microbiome Data Provides New Insights Into Preterm Birth. Kosti, I. et al. Frontiers in Microbiology.

Water and Extremophile Microbiome
Microbiota characterization of Exaiptasia diaphana from the Great Barrier Reef. Hartman, L.M. et al. Animal Microbiome.

Microbial Diversity and Metabolic Potential in the Stratified Sansha Yongle Blue Hole in the South China Sea. He, P. et al. Scientific Reports.

Metabolic versatility of freshwater sedimentary archaea feeding on different organic carbon sources. Compte-Port, S. et al. PLOS ONE.

Animal Experiments and Animal Microbiome
The skin microbiome facilitates adaptive tetrodotoxin production in poisonous newts. Vaelli, P.M. et al. eLife.

Metatranscriptomic virome assessment of Rhipicephalus microplus from Colombia. Gomez, G.F. et al. Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases.

Preprint: Metabolic differences between symbiont subpopulations in the deep-sea tubeworm Riftia pachyptila. Hinzke, T. et al.

Preprint: Similar gut bacterial microbiota in two fruit-feeding moth pests collected from different host species and locations. Gong, Q et al.

Plant, Root, and Soil Microbiome
The preceding root system drives the composition and function of the rhizosphere microbiome. Zhou, Y. et al. Genome Biology.

Microbial Co-Occurrence in Floral Nectar Affects Metabolites and Attractiveness to a Generalist Pollinator. Rering, C.C. et al. Journal of Chemical Ecology.

Impact of phages on soil bacterial communities and nitrogen availability under different assembly scenarios. Braga, L.P.P. et al. Microbiome.

A predatory myxobacterium controls cucumber Fusarium wilt by regulating the soil microbial community. Ye, X. et al. Microbiome.

A plant genetic network for preventing dysbiosis in the phyllosphere. Chen, T. et al. Nature.

Fungal communities differentially respond to warming and drought in tropical grassland soil. de Oliveira, T.B. et al. Molecular Ecology.

Built Environment
An in-depth survey of the microbial landscape of the walls of a neonatal operating room. Derilus, D. et al. PLOS ONE.

Microbes in Space
Preprint: Defining the resilience of the human salivary microbiota by a 520 days longitudinal study in confined environment: the Mars500 mission. Bacci, G. et al.

Phages and Viruses
Phage cocktail containing Podoviridae and Myoviridae bacteriophages inhibits the growth of Pectobacterium spp. under in vitro and in vivo conditions. Zaczek-Moczydłowska, M.A. et al. PLOS ONE.

Dynamic genome evolution and complex virocell metabolism of globally-distributed giant viruses. Moniruzzaman M., et al. Nature Communications.

Preprint: Infection with novel Bacteroides phage BV01 alters host transcriptome and bile acid metabolism in a common human gut microbe. Campbell, D.E. et al.

Bioinformatics
Preprint: Integrative and Conjugative Elements (ICE) and Associated Cargo Genes within and across Hundreds of Bacterial Genera. Kaufman, J. et al.

Techniques
A restriction enzyme reduced representation sequencing approach for low-cost, high-throughput metagenome profiling. Hess, M.K. et al. PLOS ONE.

Industrial Microbiome
Open microbiome dominated by Clostridium and Eubacterium converts methanol into i-butyrate and n-butyrate. Huang, S. et al. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology.

Fun with Microbes
University of Wyoming masters student Erin Bentley was selected for an Arctic Circle Expedition in 2021 where she will characterize microbes and share her discoveries on The Microbestiary.
“The Microbestiary strives to show the public, in welcoming and memorable ways, that the microbial world is populated by strange and beautiful characters,” says Bentley in an article published on the UW website.

April 6, 2020

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God morgon!

Good morning from Sweden. This is my first post and following the current trend, it starts with some articles on the COVID19 pandemic. Today’s digest is headlined by some interesting preprints reporting inhibitors of SARS-CoV2 virus, followed by another interesting read suggesting the link between the gut microbiome and ADHD, some articles on our struggle against pathogenic bacteria, virus and fungi, and capped off with a small but informative news article on things one should not do during the COVID19 lockdown.

You might notice that today’s post is dominated by preprints. These preprints, while being an excellent way to disperse information as rapidly as it emerges, aren’t peer-reviewed. Hence, always read them with a pinch of salt!

COVID19

Preprint: In vitro screening of a FDA approved chemical library reveals potential inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 replication – Franck Touret, et al.

Preprint: LY6E Restricts the Entry of Human Coronaviruses, including the currently pandemic SARS-CoV-2 – Xuesen Zhao, et al.

Preprint: Indomethacin has a potent antiviral activity against SARS CoV-2 in vitro and canine coronavirus in vivo – Tianhong Xu, et al.

Preprint: Potent Antiviral Activities of Type I Interferons to SARS-CoV-2 Infection – Emily K. Mantlo, et al.

Microbial interactions

Preprint: Enhanced nutrient uptake is sufficient to drive emergent cross-feeding between bacteria – Ryan K Fritts, et al.

Structure and function of the Arctic and Antarctic marine microbiota as revealed by metagenomics – Weipeng Zhang, et al. – Microbiome

Preprint: Accumulation of dead cells from contact killing facilitates coexistence in bacterial biofilms – Gabi Steinbach, et al.

Human microbiome

Preprint: Gut microbiota from persons with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder affects the brain in mice – Anouk C. Tengeler, et al.

Lung function and microbiota diversity in cystic fibrosis – Leah Cuthbertson, et al. – Microbiome

Animal microbiome

Preprint: Functional maturation of the gut microbiota at weaning is influenced by maternal environment in piglets – Martin Beaumont, et al.

Bacteria Hysteria

Preprint: The adaptive transcriptional response of pathogenic Leptospira to peroxide reveals new defenses against infection-related oxidative stress – Crispin Zavala-Alvarado, et al.

Preprint: Cytotoxicity of the effector protein BteA was attenuated in Bordetella pertussis by insertion of an alanine residue – Jan Bayram, et al.

Preprint: Antimicrobial peptide induced-stress renders Staphylococcus aureus susceptible to toxic nucleoside analogues – Alexandro Rodriguez-Rojas, et al.

Preprint: (p)ppGpp and malonyl-CoA set the pace for Staphylococcus aureus adaptation to FASII antibiotics and provide a basis for bi-therapy inhibition – Amit Pathania, et al.

Phages and viruses

Preprint: Viral RNA is a target for Wolbachia-mediated pathogen blocking – Tamanash Bhattacharya, et al.

Preprint: Synchronized infection identifies early rate-limiting steps in the hepatitis B virus life cycle – Anindita Chakraborty, et al.

Techniques

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

Preprint: Biotinylated surfome profiling identifies potential biomarkers for diagnosis and therapy of Aspergillus fumigatus infection – Lei-Jie Jia, et al.

Bioinformatics

Preprint: Interpretable machine learning framework reveals novel gut microbiome features in predicting type 2 diabetes – Wanglong Gou, et al.

Preprint: Comprehensive single cell analysis of pandemic influenza A virus infection in the human airways uncovers cell-type specific host transcriptional signatures relevant for disease progression and pathogenesis – Jenna N Kelly, et al.

MetaEuk—sensitive, high-throughput gene discovery, and annotation for large-scale eukaryotic metagenomics – Eli Levy Karin, et al. – Microbiome

Preprint: Whole genome sequences of multi-drug resistant Escherichia coli isolated in a Pastoralist Community of Western Uganda: Phylogenomic changes, virulence and resistant genes – Jacob Stanley Iramiot, et al.

Microbes in news

News article: Experts study banana disease in Tanzania – The Guardian

News article: What not to do while on COVID-19 lockdown – Jamaica Observer

I know a lot of my fellow researchers are unable to continue their experiments and are yearning to get back to their respective labs. It is a testing time and I believe that patience and perseverance are the biggest strengths of a researcher. So, let’s bank on our strength and hope to see each other on the other side of this global pandemic soon!

With new information emerging every day about COVID19, there is a plethora of misinformation and myths surrounding the virus and the disease. As science enthusiasts, it is pertinent for us to dispel these myths. Here is a small list that I complied a few days back. Check it out!

April 4, 2020

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Good morning and salutations from Singapore! This is the first digest that I’m contributing for the blog, so I hope my selections are interesting to you all! Today’s digest begins with some recent COVID-19 pre-prints, before getting into papers on a diverse range of microbiome-related topics. Highlights today include a study on cats potentially harbouring SARS-CoV-2 (nooo…), the effect of C-section birth on the vaginal microbiota of adult women, and the impact of the virome on biogeochemical cycling in Lake Baikal.

COVID-19

Preprint: Characterization and treatment of SARS-CoV-2 in nasal and bronchial human airway epithelia – Pizzorno et al.

* Preprint: SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing serum antibodies in cats: a serological investigation – Zhang et al.

Preprint: Direct RNA sequencing and early evolution of SARS-CoV-2 – Taiaroa et al.

General microbiome

Review: Microbiota and metabolites in rheumatic diseases – Tong et al. – Autoimmunity Reviews

Human respiratory microbiome

Preprint: Distinctive airway microbial ecology of smokers and asthmatics – Turek et al.

Microbial burden and viral exacerbations in a longitudinal multicenter COPD cohort – Bouquet et al. – Respiratory Research

Human gut microbiome

An in vitro evaluation of the effects of different statins on the structure and function of human gut bacterial community – Zhao et al. – PLoS ONE

Human vaginal microbiome

* A cross-sectional pilot study of birth mode and vaginal microbiota in reproductive-age women – Stennett et al. – PLoS ONE

Animal experiments

Polysaccharide extracted from WuGuChong reduces high-fat diet-induced obesity in mice by regulating the composition of intestinal microbiota – Wang et al. – Nutrition & Metabolism

Animal microbiome

Intestinal microbes: an axis of functional diversity among large marine consumers – Scott et al. – Proceedings of the Royal Society B

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

The response of soil and phyllosphere microbial communities to repeated application of the fungicide iprodione: Accelerated biodegradation or toxicity? – Katsoula et al. – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Divergent patterns of microbial community composition shift under two fertilization regimes revealed by responding species – Yao et al. – Applied Soil Ecology

Water and extremophile microbiome

* Preprint: New Viral Biogeochemical Roles Revealed Through Metagenomic Analysis of Lake Baikal – Coutinho et al.

Bioinformatics

Ten simple rules for providing effective bioinformatics research support – Kumuthini et al. – PLoS Computational Biology

Finally, remember that physical isolation doesn’t have to mean social isolation. Call someone you haven’t talked to in a while, I’m sure they’ll appreciate it! You’re doing great 😀

April 2, 2020

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Today’s digest starts with a recent study from The Lancet linking antibiotic usage and the gut microbiome with asthma incidence, before moving onto a range of other papers covering multiple human body sites and environmental microbiome studies.

General microbiome
*** Decreasing antibiotic use, the gut microbiota, and asthma incidence in children: evidence from population-based and prospective cohort studies – Patrick et al. – The Lancet

Human respiratory microbiome

Lung function and microbiota diversity in cystic fibrosis – Cuthbertson et al. – BMC Microbiome

Human gut microbiome

Colonic microbiota is associated with inflammation and host epigenomic alterations in inflammatory bowel disease – Ryan et al. – Nature Communications

Fecal microbiota transplantation for the improvement of metabolism in obesity: The FMT-TRIM double-blind placebo-controlled pilot trial – Yu et al. – PLOS Medicine

Effects of underfeeding and oral vancomycin on gut microbiome and nutrient absorption in humans – Basolo et al. – Nature Medicine

The Gut Microbial Diversity of Newly Diagnosed Diabetics but Not of Prediabetics Is Significantly Different from That of Healthy Nondiabetics – Gaike et al. – MSystems

Shotgun Metagenomics of Gut Microbiota in Humans with up to Extreme Longevity and the Increasing Role of Xenobiotic Degradation – Rampelli et al. MSystems

Animal experiments

Gut microbiota from persons with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder affects the brain in mice – Tengeler et al. – BMC Microbiome

Unraveling Assemblage, Functions and Stability of the Gut Microbiota of Blattella germanica by Antibiotic Treatment – Domínguez-Santos et al. – Frontiers in Microbiology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Novel phosphate-solubilizing bacteria enhance soil phosphorus cycling following ecological restoration of land degraded by mining – Liang et al.  – ISME

Water and extremophile microbiome

Genomic and transcriptomic evidence of light-sensing, porphyrin biosynthesis, Calvin-Benson-Bassham cycle, and urea production in Bathyarchaeota – Pan et al. BMC Microbiome

Microbial community profiling of ammonia and nitrite oxidizing bacterial enrichments from brackishwater ecosystems for mitigating nitrogen species – Baskaran et al. – Nature Scientific Reports

Probiotics

Lactobacillus reuteri 5454 and Bifidobacterium animalis ssp. lactis 5764 improve colitis while differentially impacting dendritic cells maturation and antimicrobial responses – Hrdý et al. Nature Scientific Reports

March 27, 2020

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We begin with a few updates about the recent research news about COVID 19 and how as a scientist you might be able to help. As a result of the global lock down, many conferences and seminars have moved online. You will find some of the microbiome-related online events in today’s post. Please also have a look at a special issue of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society for conceptual challenges in microbial community ecology.

COVID-19
Coronavirus vaccines: five key questions as trials begin – Nature News


How blood from coronavirus survivors might save lives – Nature News

COVID-19 Pandemic: Scientist volunteer form

An initiative to redirect scientific resources towards the fight against COVID-19

Virtual Events
Virtual Conference: 6th Annual Translational Microbiome Conference

Guts & Bugs: A virtual GI seminar series by Edelblum Lab

Let’s go viral: online microbiology seminars in partnership with International Society of Microbial Ecology
Schedule can be found via Twitter #MicroSeminar @MicroSeminar

General microbiome
SPECIAL ISSUE: Phillosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B : Conceptual challenges in microbial community ecology

Human respiratory microbiome
Review: Respiratory microbiome and epithelial interactions shape immunity in the lungs – Invernizzi et al. – Immunology

Human oral microbiome
Polymicrobial periodontal disease triggers a wide radius of effect and unique virome – Gao et al. – npj Biofilms and Microbiomes

Metagenomic analysis of bacterial species in tongue microbiome of current and never smokers – Sato et al. – npj Biofilms and Microbiomes

Spatial Ecology of the Human Tongue Dorsum Microbiome – Wilbert et al. – Cell Reports

Oral biofilms exposure to chlorhexidine results in altered microbial composition and metabolic profile – Chatzigiannidou et al. – npj Biofilms and Microbiomes

Dysbiotic oral microbiota and infected salivary glands in Sjögren’s syndrome – Alam et al. – PLOS ONE

Animal experiments
Drosophila-associated bacteria differentially shape the nutritional requirements of their host during juvenile growth – Consuegra et al. – PLOS Biology

Bacterially produced metabolites protect C. elegans neurons from degeneration – Urrutia et al. – PLOS Biology

Dynamic interactions within the host-associated microbiota cause tumor formation in the basal metazoan Hydra – Rathje et al. – PLOS Pathogens

Association of colitis with gut-microbiota dysbiosis in clathrin adapter AP-1B knockout mice – Jangid et al. – PLOS ONE

Variations in microbiota composition of laboratory mice influence Citrobacter rodentium infection via variable short-chain fatty acid production – Osbelt et al. – PLOS Pathogens

Changes in the faecal microbiota of horses and ponies during a two-year body weight gain programme – Langner et al. – PLOS ONE

Animal microbiome
Microbiomes in the insectivorous bat species Mops condylurus rapidly converge in captivity – Edenborough et al. – PLOS ONE

Plant, root, and soil microbiome
Towards Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture: An evaluation of biocontrol effects, nutritional value, and ecological impact of bacterial inoculants – Passera et al. – Science of The Total Environment

Book Chapter: Rhizobacteria Versus Chelating Agents: Tool for Phytoremediation – Kaur et al. – Microbial Technology for Health and Environment

Book Chapter: Applications of Microorganisms in Agriculture – Doley et al. – Microbial Technology for Health and Environment

Plant Invasion Has Limited Impact on Soil Microbial alpha Diversity: A Meta-Analysis – Custer & van Diepen – Diversity

Water microbiome
Carbonate facies‐specific stable isotope data record climate, hydrology, and microbial communities in Great Salt Lake, UT – Ingalls et al. – Geobiology

The microbiome of modern microbialites in Bacalar Lagoon, Mexico – Yanez-Montalvo et al. – PLOS ONE

Food microbiology
Variations in Fungal Community and Diversity in Doushen With Different Flavors – Luo et at. – Frontiers in Microbiology

Bioinformatics
MetaBridge: An Integrative Multi‐Omics Tool for Metabolite‐Enzyme Mapping – Blimkie et al. – Current Protocols in Bioinformatics

Validating metabarcoding-based biodiversity assessments with multi-species occupancy models: A case study using coastal marine eDNA – McClenaghan et al. – PLOS ONE

PPanGGOLiN: Depicting microbial diversity via a partitioned pangenome graph – Gautreau et al. – PLOS Computational Biology

The Community Simulator: A Python package for microbial ecology – Marsland et al. – PLOS ONE

Techniques
Genome-based species-specific primers for rapid identification of six species of Lactobacillus acidophilusgroup using multiplex PCR – You & Kim – PLOS ONE

Pathogens and microbiome
Commensal Neisseria cinerea impairs Neisseria meningitidis microcolony development and reduces pathogen colonisation of epithelial cells – Custodio et al. – PLOS Pathogens

Swimming motility of a gut bacterial symbiont promotes resistance to intestinal expulsion and enhances inflammation – Wiles et al. – PLOS Biology