Tag Archives: phage

December 12, 2025

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Animal microbiome

Human-derived fecal virome transplantation (FVT) reshapes the murine gut microbiota and virome, enhancing glucose regulation – Cervantes-Echeverría – PLOS ONE

TTSS-2 virulence drives inflammatory destruction of the gut epithelial barrier and modulates inflammatory response profiles in the Salmonella-infected mouse gut – Enz – PLOS Pathogens

Aspartic protease 2 from Trichinella spiralis excretion/secretion products hydrolyzes tight junctions of intestinal epithelial cells – Long – PLOS NTDs

Endosymbiont hijacking of acylcarnitines regulates insect vector fecundity by suppressing the viability of stored sperm – Weiss – PLOS Genetics

Development and validation of a quantitative real-time PCR assay for enumeration of Clostridium sporogenes in meat products – Schuller – PLOS ONE

Rooting for data: A FAIR research data management environment for Plant-Microbe collaboration – Dröst – PLOS Pathogens (Plant microbiome)

Prolonged starvation deepens quiescence in Vasa2/Piwi1-expressing cells of a sea anemone – Pascual-Carreras – PLOS Biology

Host–microbe interactions / Immunology

Gut bacteria induce heterologous immune priming in Rhodnius prolixus encompassing humoral and cellular responses – Gilliland – PLOS Pathogens

Dietary flavonoids may improve insulin resistance: NHANES + in vitro – Sui – PLOS ONE

Antiviral and immune-modulatory activities of STING agonists in persistent HBV infection – Wang – PLOS Pathogens

Endosymbiont metabolic manipulation affecting insect reproduction – Weiss – PLOS Genetics

Human clinical studies / Metabolism

Effects of risperidone on amino acid metabolism, glucose & kidney function – Oshima – PLOS ONE

Association between Anti-H. pylori IgG and coronary heart disease – Wang – PLOS ONE

Benefits of psychosocial support for adolescent mothers in Uganda – Nakyaze – PLOS ONE

Modifiable risk factors for inflammatory bowel disease in Kuwait – Alhasan – PLOS ONE

Exposure to polystyrene nanoparticles disrupts trophoblast mitochondrial homeostasis – Hao – PLOS ONE

Molecular mechanisms of lipid metabolism abnormalities driving sepsis & atrial fibrillation – Ou – PLOS ONE

Multi-dimensional analysis of global colorectal cancer burden (1990–2021) – Sun – PLOS ONE

Computational / Modeling

Identification of dynamic models of microbial communities – Paredes-Vázquez – PLOS Comp Biol

Accuracy limits of the Lotka–Volterra model in strongly coupled microbial systems – Mustri – PLOS Comp Biol

Plant, soil & ecological microbiome

High-resolution melting assays for discrimination of fungal pathogens in grapevine trunk disease – Azevedo-Nogueira – PLOS ONE

Rooting for data: FAIR data environment for plant–microbe collaboration – Dröst – PLOS Pathogens

Environmental health / Climate / Water

Bridging water, health and climate: A call to action – Hedke – PLOS Water

October 2, 2024

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Gut Microbiome

Gut microbiota wellbeing index predicts overall health in a cohort of 1000 infants – Brandon Hickman et al – Nature Communications

Pangenomes of human gut microbiota uncover links between genetic diversity and stress response – Saar Shoer et al – Cell Host & Microbe

[MINI REVIEW] The human gut microbiome in health and disease: time for a new chapter? – Jee-Yon Lee et al – ASM Infection & Immunity

Metabolic interactions shape emergent biofilm structures in a conceptual model of gut mucosal bacterial communities – Amin Valiei et al – NPJ Biofilms & Microbiomes

A population-scale analysis of 36 gut microbiome studies reveals universal species signatures for common diseases – Wen Sun et al – NPJ Biofilms & Microbiomes

A single amplified genome catalog reveals the dynamics of mobilome and resistome in the human microbiome – Tetsuro Kawano-Sugaya et al – BMC Microbiome

Stratification of human gut microbiomes by succinotype is associated with inflammatory bowel disease status – Laura Anthamatten et al – BMC Microbiome

Impact of complementary feeding on infant gut microbiome, metabolites and early development – Yudong Shi et al – Food & Function

Can longer lifespan be associated with gut microbiota involvement in lipid metabolism? – Sára Šardzíková et al – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Beneficial microbes & compounds

[REVIEW] Preventive effect of probiotics on oral mucositis induced by anticancer therapy: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials – Bo Yang et al – BMC Oral Health

Animal Microbiome

Bacteria from the Amycolatopsis genus associated with a toxic bird secrete protective secondary metabolites – Elena Seibel et al – Nature Communications

Impact of virginiamycin on the ruminal microbiota of feedlot cattle – Bruna Parapinski Santos – Canadian Journal of Veterinary Research

Microbiome of death

From carrion to soil: microbial recycling of animal carcasses – Jennifer M. DeBruyn et al – Cell Trends in Microbiology

Water & extremophile microbiome

Microbiome–metabolite linkages drive greenhouse gas dynamics over a permafrost thaw gradient – Viviana Freire-Zapata et al – Nature Microbiology

Prescribed fire regimes influence responses of fungal and bacterial communities on new litter substrates in a brackish tidal marsh – Viet Q. Dao et al – PLOS One

Plant, root & soil microbiome

The phyllosphere of Nigerian medicinal plants, Euphorbia lateriflora and Ficus thonningii is inhabited by a specific microbiota – Anderson O. Oaikhena et al – Scientific Reports

Water‒soil-air‒plant mutual feedback mechanism under the application of red bed composite polymers – Tianpeng Chen et al – PLOS One

Diversity and community distribution of soil bacterial in the Yellow River irrigation area of Ningxia, China – Xia Wu et al – PLOS One

Bioinformatics & tools

Strain-resolved de-novo metagenomic assembly of viral genomes and microbial 16S rRNAs – Annika Jochheim et al – BMC Microbiome

August 28, 2024

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Human gut microbiome

[REVIEW] Feeding gut microbes to nourish the brain: unravelling the diet–microbiota–gut–brain axis – Elizabeth Schneider et al – Nature Metabolism

Elucidating human gut microbiota interactions that robustly inhibit diverse Clostridioides difficile strains across different nutrient landscapes – Jordy Evan Sulaiman et al – Nature Communications

Fecal microbiota transplantation influences microbiota without connection to symptom relief in irritable bowel syndrome patients – Anna K. Hartikainen et al – NPJ Biofilms & Microbiomes

Impact of probiotics on gut microbiome of extremely preterm or extremely low birthweight infants – Lauren C. Beck et al – Nature Pediatric Research

Effect of Helicobacter pylori on sleeve gastrectomy and gastric microbiome differences in patients with obesity and diabetes – Yong Suk Park et al – International Journal of Obesity

Mining human microbiomes reveals an untapped source of peptide antibiotics – Marcelo D.T. Torres et al – Cell

Both pathogen and host dynamically adapt pH responses along the intestinal tract during enteric bacterial infection – Sarah E. Woodward et al – PLOS Biology

Examination of sex-specific interactions between gut microbiota and host metabolism after 12-week combined polyphenol supplementation in individuals with overweight or obesity – Kelly M. Jardon et al – Gut Microbes

Human vaginal microbiome

The potential of residual clinical Group B Streptococcus swabs for assessing the vaginorectal microbiome in late pregnancy – Laura K. Boelsen et al – Scientific Reports

Animal models

Sex-dependent effects of a high fat diet on metabolic disorders, intestinal barrier function and gut microbiota in mouse – Candice Lefebvre et al – Scientific Reports

Animal microbiome

16S rRNA metabarcoding for the identification of tick-borne bacteria in ticks in the Republic of Korea – Badriah Alkathiri et al – Scientific Reports

The bacterial microbiome and resistome of house dust mites in Irish homes – Amal Aljohani et al – Scientific Reports

Social environment influences microbiota and potentially pathogenic bacterial communities on the skin of developing birds – Ester Martínez-Renau – BMC Animal Microbiome

16S amplicon-based microbiome biomapping of a commercial broiler hatchery – Michael J. Rothrock Jr. et al – BMC Animal Microbiome

Phages & viruses

[REVIEW] Renewed insights into Ackermannviridae phage biology and applications – Anders Nørgaard Sørensen & Lone Brøndsted – NPJ Viruses

Adaptation strategies of giant viruses to low-temperature marine ecosystems – Marianne Buscaglia et al – ISME Journal

Targeted viromes and total metagenomes capture distinct components of bee gut phage communities – Dino Lorenzo Sbardellati et al – BMC Microbiome

Plant, root & soil microbiome

Soil health is associated with higher primary productivity across Europe – Ferran Romero et al – Nature Ecology & Evolution

Pathogen-driven Pseudomonas reshaped the phyllosphere microbiome in combination with Pseudostellaria heterophylla foliar disease resistance via the release of volatile organic compounds – Qing-Song Yuan et al – BMC Environmental Microbiome

Water & extremophile microbiome

Impact of temperature and water source on drinking water microbiome during distribution in a pilot-scale study – Fien Waegenaar et al – NPJ Clean Water

Metagenomics analysis of sewage for surveillance of antimicrobial resistance in South Africa – Anthony M. Smith et al – PLOS One

Nitrite-oxidizing bacteria adapted to low oxygen conditions dominate nitrite oxidation in marine oxygen minimum zones – Samantha G Fortin et al – ISME Journal

Niche separation in bacterial communities and activities in porewater, loosely attached, and firmly attached fractions in permeable surface sediments – Chyrene Moncada et al – ISME Journal

Microbial assemblages and associated biogeochemical processes in Lake Bonney, a permanently ice-covered lake in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica – Hanbyul Lee et al – BMC Environmental Microbiome

Tools & methods

Intestinal organ chips for disease modelling and personalized medicine – Alican Özkan et al – Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology

MICROPHERRET: MICRObial PHEnotypic tRait ClassifieR using Machine lEarning Techniques – Edoardo Bizzotto et al – BMC Environmental Microbiome

refMLST: reference-based multilocus sequence typing enables universal bacterial typing – Mondher Khdhiri et al – BMC Bioinformatics

Smccnet 2.0: a comprehensive tool for multi-omics network inference with shiny visualization – Weixian Liu et al – BMC Bioinformatics

General microbiology and science, August 26, 2014

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Here, we have CRISPRs, phages, marine metagenomics, a universal bacterial/archaeal primer (The One?), single-cell genomics, light and bacteria, and Bik’s Picks.

Phages and CRISPRs

Abundant and Diverse Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat Spacers in Clostridium difficile Strains and Prophages Target Multiple Phage Types within This Pathogen – Katherine R. Hargreaves – mBio

“We detected multiple matches between spacers and regions in 31 C. difficile phage and prophage genomes”

Evolutionary consequences of intra-patient phage predation on microbial populations –
Kimberley D Seed – eLife

“Here, we show that predatory interactions of a phage with an important environmentally transmitted pathogen, Vibrio cholerae, can modulate the evolutionary trajectory of this pathogen during the natural course of infection within individual patients.”

Metagenomics

* Marine metagenomics, a valuable tool for enzymes and bioactive compounds discovery
Rosalba Barone – Frontiers in Marine Science

“We report examples of several hydrolytic enzymes and natural products isolated by functional sequenced-based and function- screening strategies assisted by new high-throughput DNA sequencing technology and recent bioinformatics tools.”

Bioinformatics

Profile Hidden Markov Models for the Detection of Viruses within Metagenomic Sequence Data – Peter Skewes-Cox – PLOS ONE

“Here, we constructed HMMER3-compatible profile hidden Markov models (profile HMMs) from all the virally annotated proteins in RefSeq in an automated fashion using a custom-built bioinformatic pipeline. “

 

Techniques

I hope they developed two primers, not just one! Development of a Prokaryotic Universal Primer for Simultaneous Analysis of Bacteria and Archaea Using Next-Generation Sequencing – Shunsuke Takahashi – PLOS ONE

“Here, we designed a universal primer based on the V3-V4 hypervariable region of prokaryotic 16S rDNA for the simultaneous detection of Bacteria and Archaea in fecal samples from crossbred pigs (Landrace×Large white×Duroc) using an Illumina MiSeq next-generation sequencer.”

A Quantitative Comparison of Single-Cell Whole Genome Amplification Methods – Charles F. A. de Bourcy – PLOS ONE

“Here, we compare three state-of-the-art methods on both bulk and single-cell samples of E. coli DNA: Multiple Displacement Amplification (MDA), Multiple Annealing and Looping Based Amplification Cycles (MALBAC), and the PicoPLEX single-cell WGA kit (NEB-WGA). “

This abstract is so vague, I am not sure where to file this under – A Robust and Adaptable High Throughput Screening Method to Study Host-Microbiota Interactions in the Human Intestine – Tomas de Wouters – PLOS ONE

“In this study, we developed a robust and reproducible methodology to combine these two biological systems for high throughput application”

LC Sciences and Norgen Biotek will be conducting a free informational webinar describing 16S rRNA Sequencing and presenting a few application examples.

“If you are interested in attending the webinar, simply reply to news@lcsciences.com and we would be happy to send the webinar details.”

More microbiology

The Immune System in Children with Malnutrition — A Systematic Review
Maren Johanne Heilskov Rytter – PLOS ONE

“A systematic literature search was done in PubMed, and additional articles identified in reference lists and by correspondence with experts in the field. “

Photodynamic Therapy Using Systemic Administration of 5-Aminolevulinic Acid and a 410-nm Wavelength Light-Emitting Diode for Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus-Infected Ulcers in Mice – Kuniyuki Morimoto – PLOS ONE

“5-aminolevulinic acid photodynamic therapy accelerated wound healing and decreased bacterial counts on ulcer surfaces; in contrast, vancomycin treatment did not accelerate wound healing.”

Light Scattering Sensor for Direct Identification of Colonies of Escherichia coli Serogroups O26, O45, O103, O111, O121, O145 and O157 – Yanjie Tang- PLOS ONE

“SMAC was chosen for exhaustive scatter image library development, and 36 additional strains of O157:H7 and 11 non-O157 serovars were examined, with each serogroup producing unique differential scatter patterns.”

Science and publishing

Protecting human research participants in the age of big data – Susan T. Fiskea, and Robert M. Hauser – PNAS USA

“IRB review does not apply to Facebook and other private enterprises, yet they generate data that can benefit humanity”

Bik’s Picks

* Magpies don’t like shiny things – Sarah Zielinski – Science News

“Magpies deserve our apology. Apparently humans have been unnecessarily maligning the birds for centuries. “

Richard III ate like a king before biting the dust – Bruce Bower – Science News

“Well-known royal’s brief reign included a sudden shift to fancy food and drink”

What type of researcher are you? Take the Quiz – Roche Life Science

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Non-human microbiome, June 13

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MRSA in cats and dogs, metabolomics on cow rumen, bacteria in soil, sewage and sea water, and how to get rid of invasive species.

Mammal microbiome

Screen Shot 2014-06-13 at 11.26.20 PMCarriage of methicillin-resistant staphylococci by healthy companion animals in the US – J.A. Davis – Letters in Applied Microbiology

“In this study, 276 healthy dogs and cats from veterinary clinics were tested for the presence of antimicrobial-resistant Staphylococcus spp. Isolates were tested for antimicrobial susceptibility and the presence of select resistance genes, and typed using Pulsed-Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE).”

Screen Shot 2014-06-13 at 11.29.33 PMMetabolomics analysis reveals large effect of roughage types on rumen microbial metabolic profile in dairy cows – S. Zhao – Letters in Applied Microbiology

“ Rumen fluid was sampled from each cow through a ruminal cannula at 0630 and 1030 h, and the mixed ruminal fluid from 3 day in each cow was analysed using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. A multivariate analysis revealed a significant difference between the ruminal metabolome of the CS and MF groups at both time points. “

Soil microbes

Screen Shot 2014-06-13 at 11.30.13 PMDiversity and activity of sulphur-oxidizing bacteria and sulphate-reducing bacteria in landfill cover soils – F.F. Xia – Letters in Applied Microbiology

“In this study, two landfills with or without landfill gas collection and utilization system were investigated to characterize the role of biotic and abiotic factors affecting diversity and activity of SOB and SRB in the landfill cover soils.”

Water microbes

Screen Shot 2014-06-13 at 11.30.55 PMEvaluation of Bacteroides fragilis GB-124 bacteriophages as novel human-associated faecal indicators in the United States – B.R. McMinn – Letters in Applied Microbiology

“Animal faecal samples (>250) from 14 different species were tested for the presence of the three phage groups. GB-124 phages were consistently detected in sewage (10–102 PFU ml−1), but not in animal faeces.”

Letters in applied microbiologyArcobacter spp. isolated from untreated domestic effluent – J.Y. Merga – Letters in Applied Microbiology

“Arcobacter butzleri and Arcobacter cryaerophilus were isolated from samples of raw untreated domestic sewage influent from nine separate wastewater treatment facilities in Cheshire, UK. This is the first report of Arcobacter spp. from sewage in the UK and suggests that Arcobacter spp. may be present in the human community.”

Sunset beachMarine bacteria could help treat human diseases – Mohamed Hassan – The New Zealand Herald

“New Zealand will take part in the first simultaneous sampling of all the world’s oceans as part of “Micro B3 Ocean Sampling Day” on June 20. The project, at 150 sites worldwide, is spearheaded by Germany’s Jacobs University and the University of Oxford in the UK, and will include researchers from the universities of Auckland and Otago.”

zebra musselBacteria could help kill zebra mussels – Associated Press

“State agricultural officials are reviewing a request from the U.S. Geological Survey to experiment with a bacteria to kill zebra mussels in a northern Wisconsin lake.”

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