January 29, 2026

Animal microbiome

Host genetic background and environment have different effects on the establishment and structure of the adult worker honey bee gut microbiota – Breven Stark – PLOS ONE

Microbiota discovered in scorpion venom – Barbara Murdoch – PLOS ONE


Animal experiments / Disease models

Intestinal decontamination with rifaximin attenuates LSEC dysfunction and liver fibrosis in mice – Tingting Su – PLOS ONE

Periplaneta americana extract ameliorates recurrent oral ulcers in rats by enhancing the intestinal epithelial barrier and regulating gut microbiota – Kailing Li – PLOS ONE

Formononetin ameliorates SP-induced urticaria in mice via suppressing TAK1/MAK signaling pathway -Yan Wu –PLOS ONE

Lipopolysaccharide induced mouse depression model can better simulate changes in peripheral blood FFAs in alMDD -Jincai Pan –PLOS ONE


Human microbiome (gut & reproductive)

Stool and vaginal microbiome profiles patterns among Black and White endometrial cancer survivors: A pilot study in North Carolina – Mu Jin – PLOS ONE


Infection, immunity & host–microbe interactions

Examining the role of IgA in a persistent model of Staphylococcus aureus colonization – Yunys Perez-Betancourt – PLOS Pathogens

Diversify and conquer: How effector diversity is shaped by host–microbe co-evolution -Marion C Müller – PLOS Pathogens

Oo-No: Ophidiomyces ophidiicola–bacterial interactions and the role of skin lipids in development of ophidiomycosis – Jason W Dallas – PLOS Pathogens


Probiotics & food microbiology

In-vitro evaluation of probiotic potential of gut microbes isolated from retail chicken – Sangram Biswas – PLOS ONE


Antimicrobial resistance & clinical microbiology

Extended-spectrum β-lactamase and carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales among adult patients and their family members at Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – Dessie Abera – PLOS ONE


Microbiome methods & bioinformatics

PCR bias impacts microbiome ecological analyses – Dharmik R Rathod – PLOS Computational Biology

CoSMIC: A hybrid approach for large-scale, high-resolution microbial profiling of novel niches – Maor Knafo – PLOS ONE


Environmental & applied microbiology

Developing a simple, cost-effective proof-of-concept vaccine candidate against EHEC for cattle – Cecilia M Duarte – PLOS ONE

Preventive effect of bentonite against pyoderma via direct binding capability of staphylococci – Mao Kaneki – PLOS ONE

Ultraviolet light and polyethylene glycol as environmental cleaning agents to reduce contamination of Pseudogymnoascus destructans in bat hibernacula – Alyssa J Stulberg – PLOS ONE


Water, pollution & human exposure

Micro- and nanoplastics in biological samples following a drinking water intervention in Barcelona, Spain – Emma Calikanzaros – PLOS Water


Human disease & biomarkers

Evidence of an allostatic response by intestinal tissues following induction of joint inflammation – Meghan M Moran – PLOS ONE

Multi-modal data to identify key factors influencing lung injury in ARDS patients undergoing invasive mechanical ventilation: A prospective multi-center observational study protocol – Zhimei Duan – PLOS ONE

Integrative genomic analysis reveals DHX58 as a key player in gastric cancer – Yan Li – PLOS ONE

Identifying biomarkers for diagnosis and disease activity monitoring in PSC-IBD and UC through proteomic profiling: A prospective study protocol – Ondrej Fabian – PLOS ONE

S100-alarmins, antenatal corticosteroids and the risk of late-onset sepsis in preterm infants – Gloria Kessler – PLOS ONE

Exploring the role of the key gene TNFAIP3 between periodontitis and influenza A through bioinformatic analysis and molecular docking – Mingxiang Xu – PLOS ONE

GC-MS based bioactive profiling of Phyllanthus niruri and its antibacterial potential – Zubair Khalid Labu – PLOS ONE

July 24, 2020

Good afternoon all!

Today’s digest is a bit on the lighter side, nevertheless, there are some great papers to sink your teeth into.

Those with an interest in tropical diseases will want to read an investigation into the three-way relationship between humans, their microbiotas and the protozoan cause of Chagas disease.

History buffs, and fans of the epic novel ‘Romance of the Three Kingdoms’ may be interested by an analysis of the soil microbiome of the Jinsha relic, which is found at the site of the former Chinese Shu state capital.

For those more philosophically inclined, there is an interesting discussion on the impact of human space activity on the search for extra-terrestrial life. So that’s ancient history and space-age wizardry all covered in today’s rather modest digest. What more could you want?!

COVID-19

Preprint: Rapid in vitro assays for screening neutralizing antibodies and antivirals against SARS-CoV-2 – Oark et al.

Preprint: The D614G mutation in the SARS-CoV2 Spike protein increases infectivity in an ACE2 receptor dependent manner – Ogawa et al.

Preprint: Escape from neutralizing antibodies by SARS-CoV-2 spike protein variants – Weisblum et al.

General microbiome

Mapping of host-parasite-microbiome interactions reveals metabolic determinants of tropism and tolerance in Chagas disease – Hossain et al.Science Advances

Animal experiments

Host immunity and the colon microbiota of mice infected with Citrobacter rodentium are beneficially modulated by lipid-soluble extract from late-cutting alfalfa in the early stages of infection – Fries-Craft et al.PLOS One

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Diversity and structure of soil microbiota of the Jinsha earthen relic – Yang et al.PLOS One

Quantitative detection of economically important Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense strains in Africa in plants, soil and water – Matthews et al. – PLOS One

Fungi, bacteria and oomycota opportunistically isolated from the seagrass, Zostera marina – Ettinger and Eisen – PLOS One

Techniques

Majority sensing in synthetic microbial consortia – Alnahhas et al. – Nature Communications

Microbes in the news

Should we disinfect outer space?: Jenna Sutela and Sophia Roosth in conversation – Sutela and Roosth – Art in America

June 28, 2020

Greetings from Wiltshire, England!

Today’s digest brings a little bit of everything. We’ve been cataloguing the latest COVID-19 publications during this pandemic, and today I’m please to bring you a paper combining both COVID-19 and microbiome research!

Elsewhere, there are plenty of environmental microbiome publications, including a great paper on the challenges of studying microbiology in space, an analysis of how aerosols spread COVID-19 and other infectious agents in dental practices, and plenty of articles on various aspects of soil microbiomes.

I hope everyone’s coping well during these times. On a personal level, I’m delighted to be returning to the lab this week to resume my PhD research into gut microbiomes and cancer. I’m glad to be back, but worried about how my pipetting skills have suffered during my time off!

Stay safe, and happy reading!

COVID-19

Intestinal Flora as a Potential Strategy to Fight SARS-CoV-2 Infection – He et al.Frontiers in Microbiology

Preprint: Naturally mutated spike proteins of SARS-CoV-2 variants show differential levels of cell entry – Ozono et al.

Human vaginal microbiome

Novel Potential Probiotic Lactobacilli for Prevention and Treatment of Vulvovaginal Infections – Kumherová et al. – Probiotics and Antimicrobial Proteins

Preprint: The structure and diversity of strain level variation in vaginal bacteria –Tortelli et al.

Human gut microbiome

Early exposure to food contaminants reshapes maturation of the human brain-gut-microbiota axis – Sarron et al.World Journal of Gastroenterology

Luminal microbiota related to Crohn’s disease recurrence after surgery – Hamilton et al.Gut Microbes

Animal experiments

Preprint: The gut mycobiome of healthy mice is shaped by the environment and shapes metabolic outcomes in response to diet – Mims et al.

Animal microbiome

Germ-free housing conditions do not affect aortic root and aortic arch lesion size of late atherosclerotic low-density lipoprotein receptor-deficient mice – Kiouptsi et al.Gut Microbes

The effects of environment and ontogeny on the skin microbiome of two Stegastes damselfishes (Pomacentridae) from the eastern Caribbean Sea – Xavier et al.Marine Biology

Variations and Potential Factors of Gut Prokaryotic Microbiome During Spawning Migration in Coilia nasus – Ying et al.Current Microbiology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Genetic diversity of Agrobacterium species isolated from nodules of common bean and soybean in Brazil, Mexico, Ecuador and Mozambique, and description of the new species Agrobacterium fabacearum sp. nov. – Delamuta et al.International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology

Efects of cadmium perturbation on the microbial community structure and heavy metal resistome of a tropical agricultural soil – Salam et al.Bioresources and Bioprocessing

Differences in soil microbial communities and enzyme activity due to the application of bioslurry under cultivation – Mofokeng et al.South African Journal of Plant and Soil

Microbial Communities in the Fynbos Region of South Africa: What Happens during Woody Alien Plant Invasions – Jacobs et al.Diversity

Water and extremophile microbiome

Sierra Nevada mountain lake microbial communities are structured by temperature, resources and geographic location – Schulhof et al.Molecular Ecology

Preprint: Fungal communities in sediments along a depth gradient in the Eastern Tropical Pacific – Rojas-Jimenez et al

Built environment

Preprint: Evaluating aerosol and splatter following dental procedures – Allison et al.

Microbes in space

Current Progression: Application of High-Throughput Sequencing Technique in Space Microbiology – Chen et al.BioMed Research International

Food microbiology

Swine Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus carrying toxic-shock syndrome toxin gene in Hong Kong, China – Sapugahawatte et al. – Emerging Microbes and Infections

Probiotics / prebiotics

Moving from probiotics to precision probiotics – Veiga, et al. – Nature Microbiology

Phages and viruses

Fetal inheritance of chromosomally integrated human herpesvirus 6 predisposes the mother to pre-eclampsia – Gaccioli et al. – Nature Microbiology

Techniques

Developing standards for the microbiome field – Amos et al.Microbiome

Microbes in the news

Team Examines Microbiome of Marine Invertebrate That Produces Anticancer CompoundTechnology Networks

Bacteria live on our eyeballs — and understanding their role could help treat common eye diseasesYahoo! News