Tag Archives: Fungi

October 3, 2022

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Human and General Microbiome

Mucus-degrading Bacteroides link carbapenems to aggravated graft-versus-host disease – Eiko Hayase – Cell

Pan-cancer analyses reveal cancer-type-specific fungal ecologies and bacteriome interactions – Lian Narunsky-Haziza – Cell

A pan-cancer mycobiome analysis reveals fungal involvement in gastrointestinal and lung tumors – Anders B Dohlman – Cell

Gut microbiota of hepatitis B virus-infected patients in the immune-tolerant and immune-active phases and their implications in metabolite changes – Ya-Nan Li – World Journal of Gastroenterology

Streptococcus mutans promotes tumor progression in oral squamous cell carcinoma – Ming-Shao Tsai – Journal of Cancer

Short-chain fatty acid concentrations in the incidence and risk-stratification of colorectal cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis – Ehsan Alvandi – BMC Medicine

Mycobacterium potentiates protection from colorectal cancer by gut microbial alterations – Yu-Mi Kim – Immunology

Nutrition, Immunosenescence, and Infectious Disease: An Overview of the Scientific Evidence on Micronutrients and on Modulation of the Gut Microbiota – Philip C Calder – Advances in Nutrition 

Unfermented β-fructan fibers fuel inflammation in select inflammatory bowel disease patients – Heather K Armstrong – Gastroenterology

Machine-learning algorithms for asthma, COPD, and lung cancer risk assessment using circulating microbial extracellular vesicle data and their application to assess dietary effects – Andrea McDowell – Experimental & Molecular Medicine

Microbiome ethics, guiding principles for microbiome research, use and knowledge management – Lene Lange – Environmental Microbiome

Review: The gut mycobiome in health, disease, and clinical applications in association with the gut bacterial microbiome assembly – Fen Zhang – The Lancet. Microbe

Beneficial Microbes and Compounds

Review: Tailoring gut microbiota with a combination of Vitamin K and probiotics as a possible adjuvant in the treatment of rheumatic arthritis: a systematic review – Luciana Pereira – Clinical Nutrition ESPEN

Dietary Isoflavones Alter Gut Microbiota and Lipopolysaccharide Biosynthesis to Reduce Inflammation – Sudeep Ghimire – Gut Microbes

Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron rough-type lipopolysaccharide: The chemical structure and the immunological activity – Molly Dorothy Pither – Carbohydrate Polymers

Animal Microbiome

Study of cattle microbiota in different regions of Kazakhstan using 16S metabarcoding analysis – Aida Daugaliyeva – Scientific Reports

Microscopic marine invertebrates are reservoirs for cryptic and diverse protists and fungi – Corey C Holt – Microbiome

Plant Microbiome

Review: Microbiomes in agroecosystem: Diversity, function and assembly mechanisms – Chao Xiong – Environmental Microbiology Reports

Bioinformatics and Microbiome Analysis

Integrating Phylogenetic and Functional Data in Microbiome Studies – Gavin M Douglas – Bioinformatics 

Higher off-target amplicon detection rate in MiSeq v3 compared to v2 reagent kits in the context of 16S-rRNA-sequencing – Mari-Lee Odendaal – Scientific Reports

March 25, 2022

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Human gut microbiome

In Vitro and In Silico Based Approaches to Identify Potential Novel Bacteriocins from the Athlete Gut Microbiome of an Elite Athlete Cohort – Wosinska et al. Microorganisms

Cancer pharmacomicrobiomics: targeting microbiota to optimise cancer therapy outcomes – Ting et al. Gut

Human respiratory microbiome

Inhibition of lung microbiota-derived proapoptotic peptides ameliorates acute exacerbation of pulmonary fibrosis – D’Alessandro-Gabazza et al. Nature Communications

Probiotics

Gut microbiota and fermentation-derived branched chain hydroxy acids mediate health benefits of yogurt consumption in obese mice – Daniel et al. Nature Communications

Animal experiments

Gut microbiota determines the social behavior of mice and induces metabolic and inflammatory changes in their adipose tissue – Agranyoni et al. npj biofilms and microbiomes

The microbiota restrains neurodegenerative microglia in a model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis – Cox et al. Microbiome

Water & Extremophile microbiome

Spatial organization of the kelp microbiome at micron scales – Ramirez-Puebla et al. Microbiome

Metagenomics reveals global-scale contrasts in nitrogen cycling and cyanobacterial light-harvesting mechanisms in glacier cryoconite – Murakami et al. Microbiome.

Virome

Phages and their satellites encode hotspots of antiviral systems – Rousset et al. Cell Host & Microbe

Fungi

Fungal sensing enhances neutrophil metabolic fitness by regulating antifungal Glut1 activity – Li et al. Cell Host & Microbe

The primate gut mycobiome-bacteriome interface is impacted by environmental and subsistence factors – Sharma et al. npj Biofilms and microbiomes

Bioinformatics

Swapping Metagenomics Preprocessing Pipeline Components Offers Speed and Sensitivity Increases – Armstrong et al. mSystems

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

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

Mycobiome (Early 2021 Semi-Annual Fungal Microbiome Picks)

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It’s been a while, but its time to highlight some recent mycobiome articles!

Human mycobiome

Intestinal mycobiota in health and diseases: from a disrupted equilibrium to clinical opportunities – Wu et al. – Microbiome

Gut mycobiota in immunity and inflammatory disease – Li et al. – Immunity

Response to fungal dysbiosis by gut-resident CX3CR1(+) mononuclear phagocytes aggravates allergic airway disease.- Li et al. – Cell Host Microbe. 

Human anti-fungal Th17 immunity and pathology rely on cross-reactivity against Candida albicans. – Bacher et al. – Cell. 

Prevalence and diversity of filamentous fungi in the airways of cystic fibrosis patients – a Dutch, multicentre study. – Engle et al. – J Cyst Fibros.

Early gut mycobiota and mother-offspring transfer. – Schei – Microbiome

Fungi form interkingdom microbial communities in the primordial human gut that develop with gestational age. – Willis et al – FASEB J.

Investigating colonization of the healthy adult gastrointestinal tract by fungi. – Auchtung et al. – mSphere.

CX3CR1+ mononuclear phagocytes control immunity to intestinal fungi. – Leonardi et al. – Science.

Commensal Candida albicans positively calibrates systemic Th17 immunological responses. – Shao et al – Cell Host Microbe. 

Macrophages maintain epithelium integrity by limiting fungal product absorption. – Chikina et al. – Cell.

Fungal symbionts produce prostaglandin E2 to promote their intestinal colonization. – Tan et al. – Front Cell Infect Microbiol.

The fungal mycobiome promotes pancreatic oncogenesis via activation of MBL. – Aykut et al – Nature. 

Fungal microbiota dysbiosis in IBD. – Sokol et al – Gut.

Malassezia is associated with Crohn’s disease and exacerbates colitis in mouse models. – Limon et al – Cell Host Microbe.

Macrophage interactions with fungi and bacteria in inflammatory bowel disease. – Leonardi et al. – Curr Opin Gastroenterol.

Fungi participate in the dysbiosis of gut microbiota in patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis. – Lemoinne et al – Gut

Intestinal fungi contribute to development of alcoholic liver disease. – Yang et al – J Clin Invest.

Animal mycobiome

The gut mycobiome of healthy mice is shaped by the environment and correlates with metabolic outcomes in response to diet – Mims and Al Abdallah et al. – Communications Biology

Profound mycobiome differences between segregated mouse colonies do not influence Th17 responses to a newly introduced gut fungal commensal. – Doron et al. – Fungal Genet Biol.

Season, age, and sex affect the fecal mycobiota of free-ranging Tibetan macaques (Macaca thibetana). – Sun et al – Am J Primatol.

Altered immunity of laboratory mice in the natural environment is associated with fungal colonization. – Yeung et al – Cell Host Microbe. 

Mycobiome techniques

The fungal frontier: a comparative analysis of methods used in the study of the human gut mycobiome. – Huseyin et al. – Front Microbiol. 

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

Accurate and sensitive detection of microbial eukaryotes from whole metagenome shotgun sequencing – Lind et al – Microbiome

Tiara: Deep learning-based classification system for eukaryotic sequences –  Karlicki et al – bioRxiv.org

~ Kent Willis, MD

November 2, 2019

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Good Weekend morning for all!

Today’s digest is highly rich with plant and soil microbiome papers (notice a great Science paper regarding soil suppressiveness phenomena), as well as bacterial metabolism papers and more. Have a great and peaceful weekend!

Human and animal microbiome

Studying the gut virome in the metagenomic era: challenges and perspectives, Sanzhima Garmaeva, BMC Biology

Cortisol-induced signatures of stress in the fish microbiome, Tamsyn M Uren Webster, bioRxiv

Influence of pig gut microbiota on Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae susceptibility, Meera Surendran Nair, Veterinary Research

Natural variation in the contribution of microbial density to inducible immune dynamics, Derrick Jent, Molecular Ecology

Metabolism

The ecology and evolution of microbial metabolic strategies, Djordje Bajic & Alvaro Sanchez, Curr. Opin. In. Biotechnology

Is the enzymatic hydrolysis of soil organic phosphorus compounds limited by enzyme or substrate availability?, K.A. Jarosch ,SBB

Plant and Soil microbiome

Pathogen-induced activation of disease-suppressive functions in the endophytic root microbiome, Victor J. Carrio, Science

Drivers of the composition of active rhizosphere bacterial communities in temperate grasslands, Selma Vieira, ISME

Analysis of soil bacterial communities associated with genetically modified drought-tolerant corn, Jose G. Ibaraa ,Applid Soil Ecology

Phyllosphere of Submerged Plants in Bathing Lakes as a Reservoir of Fungi Potential Human Pathogens, Anna Biedunkiewicz, Microbial Ecology

Bacterial microbiome associated with the rhizosphere and root interior of crops in Saskatchewan, Canada, Jorge Cordero, Can. J. of Microbiology

Comparative metagenomics of two distinct biological soil crusts in the Tengger Desert, China, Jin-Yu Li , SBB

In planta bacterial multi-omics analysis illuminates regulatory principles underlying plant-pathogen interactions, Tatsuyas Nobori, bioRxiv

Air microbiome

Microbial communities in the tropical air ecosystem follow a precise diel cycle, Elena S. Gusareva, PNAS

Bioinformatics

Evaluating Bioinformatic Pipeline Performance for Forensic Microbiome Analysis, Kierra F. Kaszubinski, J. o. Forensic Sci.

April 16, 2019

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Good morning everyone! Today’s digest will deal a lot of disturbance in various ecosystems- starvation of the oral microbiota, forest fires, elevated CO2 levels and rising temperatures and more. Additionally, interesting pieces about science communication and education are recommended (bottom of the post).

Animal microbiome

Effects of diet on gut microbiota of soil collembolans– Qian Xiang- Science of the Total Environment

Diel population and functional synchrony of microbial communities on coral reefs– Winda Wegley-Kelly- Nature Communications

Human microbiome

Klebsiella and Providencia emerge as lone survivors following long-term starvation of oral microbiota– Jonathon L. Baker- PNAS

Horizontal gene transfer in human-associated microorganisms inferred by phylogenetic reconstruction and reconciliation– Hyeonsoo Jeong- Scientific Reports

Dysbiosis patterns during re-induction/salvage versus induction chemotherapy for acute leukemia– Armin Rashidi- Scientific Reports

The personalized temporal dynamics of microbiome in the airways of cystic fibrosis patients– Giovanni Baci- bioRxiv

Plant, root and soil microbiome

Maize synthesized benzoxazinoids affect the host associated microbiome- Enoch Narh Kodjordjie- Microbiome

Utilization of carbon sources in the rice rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere soils with different long-term fertilization management– Tang H- J of Basic Microbiology

Effect of forest fire prevention treatments on bacterial communities associated with productive Boletus edulis sites- Olaya Mediavilla- Microbial Biotechnology

Effects of elevated temperature and elevated CO2 on soil nitrification and ammonia-oxidizing microbial communities in field-grown crop– Linh T.T Nguyen- Science of the Total Environment

Phyllosphere epiphytic and endophytic fungal community and network structures differ in a tropical mangrove ecosystem– Hui Yao- Microbiome

Changes in fungal communities across a forest disturbance gradient– Lingling Shi- AEM

Water microbiome

Wetland sediments host diverse microbial taxa capable of cycling alchohols- Paula Dalcin Martins- AEM

Review- The microbiomes of deep-sea hydrothermal vents: distributed globally, shaped locally– Gregory J. Dick- N. Reviews Microbiology

Bioinformatics

DeeplyEssential: A Deep Neural Network for Predicting Essential Genes in Microbes- Md Abid Hassan- bioRxiv

Microbiome news and science communication

Biotech company launches animal models with custom microbiome profiles

Microbial biotechnology for water treatment- A collection of high-quality websites (from Microbial Biotechnology)

Thematic series on scholarly communications in the digital age

The urgent need for microbiology literacy in society

Microbiome digest, November 11, 2014

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Human oral microbiome

Physiological Adaptations of Key Oral Bacteria – C. W. Ian Douglas – Advances in Microbial Physiology

Human gut microbiome

Development and Survival of Th17 Cells within the Intestines: The Influence of Microbiome- and Diet-Derived Signals – Joseph H. Chewning – The Journal of Immunology

Gut Inflammation and Immunity: What Is the Role of the Human Gut Virome? – Alfredo Focà – Mediators of Inflammation

Animal microbiome

Faecal Microbiota of Forage-Fed Horses in New Zealand and the Population Dynamics of Microbial Communities following Dietary Change – Karlette A. Fernandes – PLOS ONE

The Effect of Phytochemical Tannins-Containing Diet on Rumen Fermentation Characteristics and Microbial Diversity Dynamics in Goats Using 16S rDNA Amplicon Pyrosequencing – B. R. Min – Agriculture, Food & Analytical Bacteriology

Microbial diversity in forestomach and caecum contents of the greater long-tailed hamster Tscherskia triton (Rodentia: Cricetidae) – Akio Shinohara – Mammalian Biology – Zeitschrift für Säugetierkunde

The pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis disturbs the frog skin microbiome during a natural epidemic and experimental infection – Andrea J. Jani – PNAS USA

Gill bacteria enable a novel digestive strategy in a wood-feeding mollusk – Roberta M. O’Connor – PNAS USA

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi communities in a coral cay system (Morrocoy, Venezuela) and their relationships with environmental variables – M.M. Alguacil – Science of the Total Environment

Soil microbiome

Short-term parasite-infection alters already the biomass, activity and functional diversity of soil microbial communities – Jun-Min Li – Scientific Reports

Impact of short-term storage temperature on determination of microbial community composition and abundance in aerated forest soil and anoxic pond sediment samples – Franziska B. Brandt – Systematic and Applied Microbiology

Seasonal influence of climate manipulation on microbial community structure and function in mountain soils – Jérémy Puissant – Soil Biology and Biochemistry

Effect of organic and conventional practices on carbon-substrate utilisation by the soil microbial community in a ‘Cripps Pink’/M7 apple orchard – Andre H Meyer – South African Journal of Plant and Soil

* The Soil Biota Composition along a Progressive Succession of Secondary Vegetation in a Karst Area – Jie Zhao – PLOS ONE

Effects of salinization and crude oil contamination on soil bacterial community structure in the Yellow River Delta region, China – Yong-chao Gao – Applied Soil Ecology

Water microbiome

Community dynamics of prokaryotic and eukaryotic microbes in an estuary reservoir – Zhen Sun – Scientific Reports

Microbial diversity and community structure across environmental gradients in Bransfield Strait, Western Antarctic Peninsula – Camila N. Signori – Frontiers in Microbiology

Metagenomics

Assessment of quality control approaches for metagenomic data analysis – Qian Zhou – Scientific Reports

PaperClip: rapid multi-part DNA assembly from existing libraries – Maryia Trubitsyna – Nucleic Acids Research

Microbial phylogeny

* Assessing the global phylum level diversity within the bacterial domain: A review – Noha H. Youssef – Journal of Advanced Research

Science, publishing, career

Crosspost: Using Google Scholar in Scholarly Workflows – Jonathan Eisen – microBEnet

Hilarious: Overly honest references: “Should we cite the crappy Gabor paper here?” – RetractionWatch – (Note: paper has been removed – see a screenshot here)

Microbes in the news

* Bacteria Hysteria? Deadly bacteria normally found in toilets was discovered in the microwave of these students – The Journal.ie

Bik’s Picks

Comparative analysis of the domestic cat genome reveals genetic signatures underlying feline biology and domestication – Michael J. Montague – PNAS USA

UCSF develops site to make sense out of sugar science – Erin Allday – SFGate

Found: The Ideal Fatness for Elephant Seals – Elizabeth Preston – Discover

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Microbiome Digest, November 4, 2014

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Tomorrow, Wednesday November 5, at 1:00pm USA-EST : Upcoming AMA (Ask Me Anything) in reddit/r/science: “Microbiota of the human gut” with my co-worker Les Dethlefsen. Ask him anything! You can submit questions, vote for the best questions, and the top questions will be answered by Les.

Human gut microbiome

* Rapid changes in the gut microbiome during human evolution – Andrew H. Moeller – PNAS USA

“To establish how the gut microbiome has changed since the diversification of human and ape species, we characterized the microbial assemblages residing within hundreds of wild chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas.”

and: Human Gut Bacteria Much Different Than Apes – Science 2.0

* Blastocystis Is Associated with Decrease of Fecal Microbiota Protective Bacteria: Comparative Analysis between Patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Control Subjects – Céline Nourrisson – PLOS ONE

“Here, we first compared the prevalence of Blastocystis among 56 IBS patients (40 IBS with constipation (IBS-C), 9 IBS with diarrhea (IBS-D), 4 mixed IBS (IBS-M) and 3 unsubtyped IBS (IBS-U) according to the Rome III criteria) and 56 control (i.e. without any diagnosed chronic or acute gastrointestinal disorder) subjects. “

Animal models of microbiome research

* Bone Marrow Dendritic Cells from Mice with an Altered Microbiota Provide Interleukin 17A-Dependent Protection against Entamoeba histolytica Colitis – Stacey L. Burgess – mBio

“In studies utilizing a murine model, we demonstrated that colonization of the gut with the commensal Clostridia-related bacteria known as segmented filamentous bacteria (SFB) is protective during E. histolytica infection.”

Animal microbiome

Effect of Copper Treatment on the Composition and Function of the Bacterial Community in the Sponge Haliclona cymaeformis – Ren-Mao Tian – mBio

“16S rRNA gene sequencing results showed that the sponge Haliclona cymaeformis harbored symbiotic sulfur-oxidizing Ectothiorhodospiraceae and photosynthetic Cyanobacteria as dominant species. “

Bioinformatics tools

Massive fungal biodiversity data re-annotation with multi-level clustering – Duong Vu – Scientific Reports

“An implementation of the algorithm allowed clustering of all 344,239 ITS (Internal Transcribed Spacer) fungal sequences from GenBank”

Viruses and phages

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry applied to virus identification – Adriana Calderaro – Scientific Reports

“The results revealed MALDI-TOF MS to be an effective and inexpensive tool for the identification of the three poliovirus serotypes. “

More microbiology

Occurrence and expression of bacterial human virulence gene homologues in natural soil bacteria – Ditte A. Søborg – FEMS Microbial Ecology

“About 25% of the bacterial isolates contained virulence gene homologues representing toxin (hblA, cytK2), adhesin (fimH), regulator (phoQ) and resistance (yfbI) determinants in pathogenic bacteria.”

Science, publishing, and career

* Don’t Worry Your Pretty Little Heads – Rebecca Schuman – Slate

“I don’t understand how they wrote the paper or the op-ed they did while looking at the same results I see in their paper. … Where I come from,” she concludes, “we call that institutional bias.”

Bik’s Picks

Birds found using human musical scales for the first time – Virginia Morell – Science Blog

“The flutelike songs of the male hermit thrush (Catharus guttatus) are some of the most beautiful in the animal kingdom.”

Vaccine-resistant polio strain discovered – Science Daily

“The DNA sequence shows two mutations, unknown until now, of the proteins that form the “shell” (capsid) of the virus.”

The appliance of science: home experiments with your kids – Louise Holden – Irish Times

“Next week is Science Week, and one of the messages that McCarthy is hoping to put out there is that science is for everybody, not just those hoping to work in the sector. Helping your child to become science-literate is a great gift.”

The top 20 catchiest songs of all time, according to science – Michelle Starr – CNET

“A year-long survey by the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester has revealed the top 10 most persistent earworms — with the Spice Girls topping the list.”

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Microbiome digest, 31 October 2014

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Happy Halloween! Today we have fungal communities in mammals, more on the TMAO story, some microbiome reviews, honey bee colonization, and microbophobia papers.

General human/mammalian microbiome

* Richness and diversity of mammalian fungal communities shape innate and adaptive immunity in health and disease – Lisa Rizzetto, Carlotta De Filippo and Duccio Cavalieri – European Journal of Immunology

“In this review, we describe the ecology and the human niches of our fungal “fellow travelers” in both health and disease, discriminating between passengers, colonizers, and pathogens based on the interaction of these fungi with the human immune system.”

Prognostic Value of Elevated Levels of Intestinal Microbe-Generated Metabolite Trimethylamine-N-Oxide in Patients With Heart Failure – Refining the Gut Hypothesis – W.H. Wilson Tang – Journal of the American College of Cardiology

“High TMAO levels were observed in patients with HF, and elevated TMAO levels portended higher long-term mortality risk independent of traditional risk factors and cardiorenal indexes.”

* Deciphering the human microbiome using next-generation sequencing data and bioinformatics approaches – Yihwan Kim – Methods

“This review examines computational methods that are valuable for the analysis of human microbiome, and highlights the results of several large-scale human microbiome studies.”

Human gut microbiome

Novel opportunities for the exploitation of host–microbiome interactions in the intestine – Ingmar JJ Claes – Current Opinion in Biotechnology

“New sequencing technologies have dramatically increased our knowledge on the composition of the human intestinal microbiota in health and disease. ”

Animal microbiome

* Routes of Acquisition of the Gut Microbiota of the Honey Bee Apis mellifera – J. Elijah Powell – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

“Colonization patterns were evaluated using quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) to assess community sizes and using deep sequencing of 16S rRNA gene amplicons to assess community composition.”

Soil microbiome 

Landscape-scale Variation in Pathogen-suppressive Bacteria in Tropical Dry Forest Soils of Costa Rica – Kristen K. Becklund – Biotropica

“To estimate the potential for disease suppression among Streptomyces communities in tropical dry forests, we cultured soil-borne Streptomyces from plots in two forests in northwestern Costa Rica (Santa Rosa and Palo Verde)”

Microbes in the news

More scary than Halloween: this month in germophobia microbophobia – Jonathan Eisen – MicroBEnet

“It seems that any time a holiday comes around in the US, the press starts to ramp up the writing of stories about evil microbes that are lurking all around us. “

MSU and Detroit analyze tiny bacteria to investigate murders – Kate Wells – Michigan Rado

““Can we use these communities to identify whether a person is from a certain location or if they’ve been to a location?” asks Benbow”

Science and career

Satire: Sixth Person Dies As Another “Dance Your PhD” Video Goes Wrong – The Allium

“Principal Investigator, Professor Tom Morrow (61) slipped as he was mimicking a helix-turn-helix motif as part of a much larger transcription factor protein.”

10 Creative Careers That Rely on Science and Math – Alexandra Ossola – The Atlantic

“Knowledge of STEM subjects isn’t just essential for physicists or computer engineers. Fashion designers, zookeepers, and deep-sea divers also use it every day.”

Bik’s Picks

Lava Flow In Hawaii Spares Homes, But Threatens To Cut Off Community – Scott Neuman – NPR

“Officials in Hawaii are sending National Guard troops to the town of Pahoa on the Big Island, where a lava flow is creeping toward a main road, threatening to cut off the community.”

100-Year-Old Time Capsule Discovered – Clapway

“A 100-year old time capsule was found at Baltimore’s Washington Monument during a restoration project. And it seems officials are hesitant to even open it because of how old it is.”

Researchers: Science says girls’ sexualized Halloween costumes are scary – Rebecca C Bigler and Sarah McKenney – Dallas News

“Parents could also foster girls’ creativity by encouraging them to make their own costumes. “

And, related to the post above, make sure to read the hilarious comments here:
Delicious Women’s Phd Darling Sexy Costume – Amazon

“Sexy graduation gown is a micro mini with zip up front. Gold sash, hat, and diploma included”

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