Tag Archives: probiotics

August 15, 2018

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A nice crop of plant/root/soil microbiome studies, some interesting analyses of early life/pregnancy and vaginal microbiota, a belly-load of gut microbiome science, a herd of animal studies, and a few really bad puns… Enjoy!

Events and jobs

A summary of the third annual HIV microbiome workshop – Dr. Brett Williams – AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses

Pregnancy and early life

Early childhood antibiotics use and autism spectrum disorders: a population-based cohort study – Amani F Hamad – International Journal of Epidemiology

The effects of gut microbiota on metabolic outcomes in pregnant women and their offspring – You Lv – Food & Function

Human vaginal microbiome

Cervicovaginal microbiota, women’s health, and reproductive outcomes – Samuel J. Kroon – Fertility and Sterility

Relevance of assessing the uterine microbiota in infertility – Inmaculada Moreno – Fertility and Sterility

Cervicovaginal microbiota, women’s health, and reproductive outcomes – Samuel J. Kroon – Fertility and Sterility

Human nearly-sterile sites

Ursodeoxycholic acid improves liver function via phenylalanine/tyrosine pathway and microbiome remodelling in patients with liver dysfunction – Da Jung Kim – Scientific Reports

Human gut microbiome

Assessing antibiotic resistance gene load in vegan, vegetarian and omnivore human gut microbiota – Losasso Carmen – International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents

Immunomodulatory tetracyclines ameliorate DNBS-colitis: Impact on microRNA expression and microbiota composition – J. Garrido-Mesa – Biochemical Pharmacology

Effects of anthocyanins from the fruit of Lycium ruthenicum Murray on intestinal microbiota – Yamei Yan – Journal of Functional Foods

Disparate Effects of Antibiotics on Hypertension – Sarah Galla – Physiological Genomics

Variability of core microbiota in newly diagnosed treatment-naïve paediatric inflammatory bowel disease patients – T. G. J. de Meij – PLOS One

Dietary soybean protein ameliorates high-fat diet-induced obesity by modifying the gut microbiota-dependent biotransformation of bile acids – Keita Watanabe – PLOS One

* Gut microbiota alterations in moderate to severe acne vulgaris patients – Hui‐Min Yan – The Journal of Dermatology

Implication of gut microbiota metabolites in cardiovascular and metabolic diseases – Francois Brial – Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences

Making Sense of… the Microbiome in Psychiatry – Thomaz F S Bastiaanssen – International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology

The Microbiome in Cirrhosis and its Complications – Chathur Acharya – Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology

Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG induced protective effect on allergic airway inflammation is associated with gut microbiota – Juan Zhang – Cellular Immunology

The gut microbiome as a driver of individual variation in cognition and functional behaviour – Gabrielle L. Davidson – Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B

Animal experiments

The impact of Clostridium butyricum MIYAIRI 588 on the murine gut microbiome and colonic tissue – Mao Hagihara – Anaerobe

Monitoring and evaluation of the interaction between deoxynivalenol and gut microbiota in Wistar rats by mass spectrometry-based metabolomics and next-generation sequencing – Eugènia Miró-Abella – Food and Chemical Toxicology

Lentil (Lens culinaris Medikus) Diet Affects the Gut Microbiome and Obesity Markers in Rat – Niroshan Siva – Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

Gut bacterial composition in a mouse model of Parkinson’s disease – P. Perez-Pardo – Beneficial Microbes

Gut Microbiome in BALB/c and C57BL/6J Mice Undergoing Experimental Thyroid Autoimmunity Associate with Differences in Immunological Responses and Thyroid Function – Sajad Moshkelgosha – Hormone and Metabolic Research

Ultraviolet Irradiation of Skin Alters the Faecal Microbiome Independently of Vitamin D in Mice – Simon Ghaly – Nutrients

Impact of lincosamides antibiotics on the composition of the rat gut microbiota and the metabolite profile of plasma and feces – C. Behr – Toxicology Letters

Animal microbiome

Understanding bacterial communities for informed biosecurity and improved larval survival in Pacific oysters – Olivier Laroche – Aquaculture

A meta-analysis reveals the environmental and host factors shaping the structure and function of the shrimp microbiota – Fernanda Cornejo-Granados​ – PeerJ

Do the microorganisms from laboratory culture spent growth medium affect house dust mite fitness and microbiome composition? – Vit Molva – Insect Science

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Microbial diversity associated to the intestinal tract of soil invertebrates – Dayana da Silva Correia – Applied Soil Ecology

Yellow Canopy Syndrome in sugarcane is associated with shifts in the rhizosphere soil metagenome but not with overall soil microbial function – Kelly Hamonts – Soil Biology and Biochemistry

Anthropogenic influence shapes the distribution of antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) in the sediment of Sundarban estuary in India – Anish Bhattacharyya – Science of the Total Environment

Disentangling effects of temperature on microbial community and copper extraction in column bioleaching of low grade copper sulfide – Yuguang Wang – Bioresource Technology

Long-term Plastic Greenhouse Cultivation Changes Soil Microbial Community Structures: A Case Study – Yang Song – Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

Flooding and prolonged drought have differential legacy impacts on soil nitrogen cycling, microbial communities and plant productivity – Linh T. T. Nguyen – Plant and Soil

[PhD Dissertation] Microbial Communities and Their Impact on Bioenergy Crops in Dynamic Environments – Brandon Monier, South Dakota State University – Open Prairie

[PDF] Characterization of osmotolerant rhizobacteria for plant growth promoting
activities in vitro and during plant-microbe association under osmotic stress – Bandeppa – Indian Journal of Experimental Biology

Isolation and Analysis of Microbial Communities in Soil, Rhizosphere, and Roots in Perennial Grass Experiments – Morgan R. McPherson – J. Vis. Exp

Water and extremophile microbiome 

[PDF download] Monitoring biofilm communities in operational drinking water distribution systems and the impact on water quality – I. Douterelo – 1st International WDSA

Molecular detection of microbial communities associated with Microcystis vs Synechococcus dominated waters in Tianjin, China – Da Huo – Journal of Oceanology and Limnology

Metagenomic assessment of the microbial community and methanogenic pathways in biosolids from a municipal wastewater treatment plant in Medellín, Colombia – Katherine Bedoya – Science of the Total Environment

Profiling microbial communities in a watershed undergoing intensive anthropogenic activities – Hehuan Liao – Science of the Total Environment

The gut microbiome and aquatic toxicology: An emerging concept for environmental health – Ondrej Adamovsky – PeerJ

Microbial community composition of a hydrocarbon reservoir 40 years after a CO2 enhanced oil recovery flood – Jenna L K Shelton – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Temporal dynamics of activated sludge bacterial communities in two diversity variant full-scale sewage treatment plants – Xiao-Tao Jiang – Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

The Nile River Microbiome Reveals a Remarkably Stable Community Between Wet and Dry Seasons, and Sampling Sites, in a Large Urban Metropolis (Cairo, Egypt) – Eraqi WA – OMICS

Probiotics / prebiotics

Influence of monostrain and multistrain probiotics on immunity, intestinal ultrastructure and microbiota in experimental dysbiosis – E. Ermolenko – Beneficial Microbes

Effects of Probiotics on Inflammation and Uremic Toxins Among Patients on Dialysis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis – Charat Thongprayoon – Digestive Diseases and Sciences

Bioinformatics

Biomarker panels for characterizing microbial community biofilm formation as composite molecular process – Magnus Bosse – PLOS One

* Maximal viral information recovery from sequence data using VirMAP – Nadim J Ajami – Nature Communications

Techniques

Using Bioreactors to Study the Effects of Drugs on the Human Microbiota – Mabel Guzman-Rodriguez – Methods

Ed’s non-microbiology picks

Human activities might influence oncogenic processes in wild animal populations – Mathieu Giraudeau – Nature Ecology & Evolution

In apoptosis, cell death spreads through perpetuating waves – James Ferrell – Stanford Medicine

Study finds Tdap vaccination for pregnant women does not increase risk of autism

Boys should be given HPV vaccine, says joint committee

New Study: Omega-3s Can Help Keep Kids Out of Trouble

Mars (probably) has a lake of liquid water

May 23, 2018

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Today’s digest is packed full of awesome gut microbiome studies, a bunch of plant/soil studies, new features to QIIME and other bioinformatics, as well as a good serving of interesting pre-prints, editorials, and doctoral theses. Enjoy!

General microbiome

Microbial micropatches within microbial hotspots – Lisa M. Dann – PLOS ONE

Pregnancy and early life

The matter of the reproductive microbiome – Sam Schoenmakers – Obstetric Medicine

* Gestational diabetes is associated with change in the gut microbiota composition in third trimester of pregnancy and postpartum – Mie Korslund Wiinblad Crusell – Microbiome

The importance of appropriate initial bacterial colonization of the intestine in newborn, child, and adult health – W Allan Walker – Pediatric Research

Human oral microbiome

Oral health status in historic population: Macroscopic and metagenomic evidence – Claire Willmann – PLOS ONE

The Subgingival Microbiome of Periodontal Pockets With Different Probing Depths in Chronic and Aggressive Periodontitis: A Pilot Study – Meng Shi – Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology

Human gut microbiome

[Pre-print] Gut microbiota markers in obese adolescent and adult patients: age-dependent differential patterns – Federica Del Chierico – Frontiers in Microbiology

Clinical applications of gut microbiota in cancer biology – Sunny H. Wong – Seminars in Cancer Biology

* Microbiome-Mediated Effects of the Mediterranean Diet on Inflammation – Melisa A Bailey – Advances in Nutrition

** Characterizing the gut microbiome in trauma: significant changes in microbial diversity occur early after severe injury – Benjamin M Howard – Trauma Surgery & Acute Care Open

* Hypoxia induces senescence of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells via altered gut microbiota – Junyue Xing – Nature Communications

Animal experiments

The bacterial and archaeal community structures and methanogenic potential of the cecal microbiota of goats fed with hay and high-grain diets – Wei Jin – Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

Effects of whole-grain rice and wheat on composition of gut microbiota and short-chain fatty acids in rats – Fei Han – Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry

Animal microbiome

Diet breadth and exploitation of exotic plants shift the core microbiome of Cephaloleia, a group of tropical herbivorous beetles – Chelsea L. Blankenchip – PeerJ

Altered gut microbiota associated with intestinal disease in grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idellus) – Ngoc Tuan Tran – World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology

The gut microbiome is associated with behavioural task in honey bees – J. C. Jones – Insectes Sociaux

The role of the gut microbiome in health and disease of adult honey bee workers – Kasie Raymann – Current Opinion in Insect Science

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Microbial communities in soil profile are more responsive to legacy effects of wheat-cover crop rotations than tillage systems – Anil Somenahally – Soil Biology and Biochemistry

New insights into the effects of support matrix on the removal of organic micro-pollutants and the microbial community in constructed wetlands – Liang Zhang – Environmental Pollution

[Doctoral thesis] Imprint of management on microbial communities in arable soil – Putz, Martina

Study of microbial diversity in plant–microbe interaction system with oil sludge contamination – Dhote, Monika – International Journal of Phytoremediation

Effect of different potassium levels on nitrogen metabolism, nitrogen bacteria and nitrogen archaea bacteria communities in rhizosphere of tobacco plant – WENG Zebin – Acta Tabacaria Sinica

Canola Root–Associated Microbiomes in the Canadian Prairies – Chih-Ying Lay – Frontiers in Microbiology

Leaf-associated bacterial microbiota of coffee and its correlation with manganese and calcium levels on leaves – Leandro Pio de Sousa – Genetics and Molecular Biology

[Review] Organic Amendments, Beneficial Microbes, and Soil Microbiota: Toward a Unified Framework for Disease Suppression – Giuliano Bonanomi – Annual Review of Phytopathology

[Pre-print] Metagenomic sequencing provides insights into the location of microbial detoxification in the gut of a small mammalian herbivore – Kevin D. Kohl – bioRxiv

[Pre-print] Archaeal, bacterial, and eukaryal microbial community structure of sediment and seawater in a coastal region near Puerto Nuevo, Baja California – Sabah Ul-Hasan – bioRxiv

Water and extremophile microbiome 

Deterministic mechanisms define the long-term anaerobic digestion microbiome and its functionality regardless of the initial microbial community – M.Peces – Water Research

Built environment

[Editorial] Microbiome Yarns: microbiome of the built environment, paranormal microbiology, and the power of single cell genomics – Kenneth Timmis – microbial biotechnology

New Techniques for the Generation and Analysis of Tailored Microbial Systems on Surfaces – Ariel L. Furst – Biochemistry

* [Pre-print] Strain­level overlap between infant and hospital fungal microbiomes revealed through de novo assembly of eukaryotic genomes from metagenomes – Matthew R. Olm – bioRxiv

Probiotics / prebiotics

The effects of probiotics supplementation on metabolic health in pregnant women: An evidence based meta-analysis – Jia Zheng – PLOS ONE

Bioinformatics

[Pre-print / doctoral thesis] Recovering 2,032 Baltic Sea microbial genomes by optimized metagenomic binning – Alneberg, Johannes – DiVA

** Optimizing taxonomic classification of marker-gene amplicon sequences with QIIME 2’s q2-feature-classifier plugin – Nicholas A. Bokulich – Microbiome

Techniques

Functional Genomics Approaches to Studying Symbioses between Legumes and Nitrogen-Fixing Rhizobia – Martina Lardi – High-Throughput

VSITA, an Improved Approach of Target Amplification in the Identification of Viral Pathogens – Yi Zhang – Europe PMC

Making and Sequencing Heavily Multiplexed, High-Throughput 16S Ribosomal RNA Gene Amplicon Libraries Using a Flexible, Two-Stage PCR Protocol – Ankur Naqib – Gene Expression Analysis

Ed’s non-microbiology picks 

The Environmental Protection Agency in the Early Trump Administration: Prelude to Regulatory Capture

Perspectives on the Great Amazon Reef: Extension, Biodiversity, and Threats

Fasting boosts stem cells’ regenerative capacity

Eggs not linked to cardiovascular risk, despite conflicting advice

Noninvasive spinal stimulation method enables paralyzed people to regain use of hands, study finds

Cannabidiol significantly reduces seizures in patients with severe form of epilepsy

March 21, 2018

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A long digest today – lots of science on the gut, environment, and some interesting editorials on techniques, bioinformatics, and methodologies applied to microbiome studies.

General microbiome

[pre print] Oscillating bacterial expression states generate herd immunity to viral infection – Christopher J. R. Turkington – bioRxiv

Retraction: Microbiome restoration diet improves digestion, cognition and physical and emotional wellbeing – The PLOS ONE Editors – PLOS ONE

DNA metabarcoding uncovers fungal diversity of mixed airborne samples in Italy – Elisa Banchi – PLOS ONE

Mobile Technologies for the Discovery, Analysis, and Engineering of the Global Microbiome – Zachary S. Ballard – ACS Nano

Unraveling Interactions between the Microbiome and the Host Immune System To Decipher Mechanisms of Disease – Catherine A. Lozupone – mSystems

Making Millennial Medicine More Meta – Peter J. Turnbaugh – mSystems

Pregnancy and early life

Neonatal intestinal dysbiosis in necrotizing enterocolitis – Naomi-Liza Denning – Molecular Medicine

Prenatal and postnatal antibiotic exposure influences the gut microbiota of preterm infants in neonatal intensive care units – Zhi-Hui Zou – Annals of Clinical Microbiology and Antimicrobials

* The Effect of Early Limited Formula on Breastfeeding, Readmission, and Intestinal Microbiota: A Randomized Clinical Trial – Valerie J. Flaherman – The Journal of Pediatrics

Multi-site human microbiome

The Complex Interplay between Chronic Inflammation, the Microbiome, and Cancer: Understanding Disease Progression and What We Can Do to Prevent It – Heather Armstrong – Cancers

Human oral microbiome

Salivary microbial profiles in relation to age, periodontal, and systemic diseases – Ronaldo Lira-Junior – PLOS ONE

Human respiratory microbiome

Translating Lung Microbiome Profiles into the Next-Generation Diagnostic Gold Standard for Pneumonia: a Clinical Investigator’s Perspective – Georgios D. Kitsios – mSystems

Host-Microbe Interactions in Airway Disease: toward Disease Mechanisms and Novel Therapeutic Strategies – Emily K. Cope – mSystems

Human gut microbiome

The role of inflammation in temporal shifts in the inflammatory bowel disease mucosal microbiome – Christopher John Kiely – Gut Microbes

Species Level Description of the Human Ileal Bacterial Microbiota – Heidi Cecilie Villmones – Nature

* Systematic Bias Introduced by Genomic DNA Template Dilution in 16S rRNA Gene-Targeted Microbiota Profiling in Human Stool Homogenates – Francesco Multinu – mSphere

* Extensive impact of non-antibiotic drugs on human gut bacteria – Lisa Maier – Nature

In this issue: Effect of gut microbiome on mucosal immunity and enteric diseases – Kumar, Himanshu – International Reviews of Immunology

Characterization of intestinal microbiota in alcoholic patients with and without alcoholic hepatitis or chronic alcoholic pancreatitis – Dragos Ciocan – Nature

Clostridium difficile Exposures, Colonization, and the Microbiome: Implications for Prevention – Sara L. Revolinski – Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology

* Of Microbes and Minds: A Narrative Review on the Second Brain Aging – Riccardo Calvani – Frontiers in Medicine

Microbiome: Viral hormones activate human insulin signalling – Ashley York – Nature

Modulation of Gut Microbiota: A Novel Paradigm of Enhancing the Efficacy of Programmed Death-1 and Programmed Death Ligand-1 Blockade Therapy – Yiming Wang – Frontiers in Immunology

* Assessing the Influence of Vegan, Vegetarian and Omnivore Oriented Westernized Dietary Styles on Human Gut Microbiota: A Cross Sectional Study – Carmen Losasso – Frontiers in Microbiology

Nutritional preferences of human gut bacteria reveal their metabolic idiosyncrasies – Melanie Tramontano – Nature

Animal experiments

Characterization of shifts of koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) intestinal microbial communities associated with antibiotic treatment – Katherine E. Dahlhausen – PeerJ

Low dose brain estrogen prevents menopausal syndrome while maintaining the diversity of the gut microbiomes in estrogen-deficient rats – Sunmin Park – American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism

Oral supplementation of Bifidobacterium longum strain BR-108 alters cecal microbiota by stimulating gut immune system in mice irrespectively of viability – Yuko Makioka – Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Biochemistry

Animal microbiome

Mapping the virome in wild-caught Aedes aegypti from Cairns and Bangkok – Martha Zakrzewski – Nature

Changes in Larval Mosquito Microbiota Reveal Non-target Effects of Insecticide Treatments in Hurricane-Created Habitats – Joseph P. Receveur – Microbial Ecology

Dissecting cause and effect in host-microbiome interactions using the combined worm-bug model system – Marina Ezcurra – Biogerontology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

[pre print] Diversity analysis and function prediction of rhizo- and endophytic bacterial communities of Senecio vulgaris L. (Asteraceae) in an invasive range – Dandan Cheng – PeerJ pre prints

Changes in the Metagenome of Prokaryotic Community as an Indicator of Fertility of Arable Soddy-Podzolic Soils upon Fertilizer Application – A. N. Naliukhin – Eurasian Soil Science

Assessing soil bacterial community and dynamics by integrated high-throughput absolute abundance quantification – Jun Lou – PeerJ

Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria associated with avocado display antagonistic activity against Phytophthora cinnamomi through volatile emissions – Alfonso Méndez-Bravo – PLOS ONE

Composition and diversity of rhizosphere fungal community in Coptis chinensis Franch. continuous cropping fields – Xuhong Song – PLOS ONE

Genomic insights into the broad antifungal activity, plant-probiotic properties, and their regulation, in Pseudomonas donghuensis strain SVBP6 – Betina Cecilia Agaras – PLOS ONE

Water and extremophile microbiome

Microbial communities underpinning mesophilic anaerobic digesters treating food wastewater or sewage sludge: a full-scale study – Joonyeob Lee – Bioresource Technology

Bacteria from Antarctic environments: diversity and detection of antimicrobial, antiproliferative, and antiparasitic activities – Tiago R. Silva – Polar Biology

Responses of Salt Marsh Plant Rhizosphere Diazotroph Assemblages to Drought – Debra A. Davis – Microorganisms

Diversity and assembly patterns of activated sludge microbial communities: A review – Yu Xia – Biotechnology Advances

Temperature-induced changes in a microbial community under autotrophic denitrification with sulfide – Michal Sposob – Process Biochemistry

Metagenomic Exploration of Microbial Signatures on Periyar River Sediments from the Periyar Tiger Reserve in the Western Ghats – Aparna Chakkamadathil Rajeev – Genome Announcements

Occurrence and seasonal dynamics of RNA viral genotypes in three contrasting temperate lakes – Ian Hewson – PLOS One

Shifts in dissolved organic matter and microbial community composition are associated with enhanced removal of fecal pollutants in urban stormwater wetlands – Xiao Huang – Water Research

Effect of semi-permeable cover system on the bacterial diversity during sewage sludge composting – Tatiana Robledo-Mahón – Journal of Environmental Management

* Life at extreme elevations on Atacama volcanoes: the closest thing to Mars on Earth? – S. K. Schmidt – Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

Rapid alterations to marine microbiota communities following an oil spill – Brad J. Gemmell – Ecotoxicology

Microbial communities and their potential for degradation of dissolved organic carbon in cryoconite hole environments of Himalaya and Antarctica – Aritri Sanyal – Microbiological Research

Built environment

Microbiome Profiles of Commercial Broilers Through Evisceration and Immersion Chilling During Poultry Slaughter and the Identification of Potential Indicator Microorganisms – John A. Handley – Frontiers in Microbiology

Food microbiology

Characterization of Bacteria in Nigerian Yogurt as Promising Alternative to Antibiotics in Gastrointestinal Infections – Anthony Opeyemi Ayeni – Journal of Dietary Supplements

Probiotics / prebiotics

Polyphenols’ Gut Microbiota Metabolites: Bioactives or Biomarkers? -Francisco A. Tomas-Barberan – Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry

* A Multi-strain Probiotic Reduces the Fatty Liver Index, Cytokines and Aminotransferase levels in NAFLD Patients: Evidence from a Randomized Clinical Trial – Nazarii Kobyliak – Journal of Gastrointestinal and Liver Diseases

Bioinformatics

Species classifier choice is a key consideration when analysing low-complexity food microbiome data – Aaron M. Walsh – Microbiome

Data and Statistical Methods To Analyze the Human Microbiome – Levi Waldron – mSystems

* Discovery of enzymes for toluene synthesis from anoxic microbial communities – Beller HR – Nature

Techniques

Community Assembly Processes of the Microbial Rare Biosphere – Xiu Jia – Trends in Microbiology

* Metabolomics: A High-Throughput Platform for Metabolite Profile Exploration – Jing Cheng – Computational Systems Biology

[Patent] Spectrometric Analysis of Microbes – Zoltan Takats

* Development and evaluation of a culture-free microbiota profiling platform (MYcrobiota) for clinical diagnostics – Stefan A. Boers – European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases

Comparative analysis of four commercial on-farm culture methods to identify bacteria associated with clinical mastitis in dairy cattle – Jair C. Ferreira – PLOS One

Beyond Structure: Defining the Function of the Gut Using Omic Approaches for Rational Design of Personalized Therapeutics – Casey M. Theriot – mSystems

Synergy among Microbiota and Their Hosts: Leveraging the Hawaiian Archipelago and Local Collaborative Networks To Address Pressing Questions in Microbiome Research – Nicole A. Hynson – mSystems

Microbiomes In Natura: Importance of Invertebrates in Understanding the Natural Variety of Animal-Microbe Interactions – Jillian M. Petersen – mSystems

Microbial Eukaryotes: a Missing Link in Gut Microbiome Studies – Isabelle Laforest-Lapointe – mSystems

Microbes on the market 

DuPont Expands Microbiome Research Program, Adds Second Partnership with Fermentation Specialist

Science, publishing, and career

Biocodex Microbiota Foundation Awards Grants to Two Innovative Researchers in the Microbiome Field

Early-Career Systems Microbiology Scientists – Jack A. Gilbert – mSystems

Ed’s non-microbiology picks (can use your own name of course!) (cool non-microbiology science)

Self-employed people happier and more engaged at work, study finds

Health Care Spending in the United States and Other High-Income Countries

Ancient DNA Is Rewriting Human (and Neanderthal) History

Sturdy Insulator Made of Wood

How exercise in old age prevents the immune system from declining

October 26, 2017

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In today’s digest we have some interesting discussion about lab/bioinformatics techniques, a few editorials on the microbiome job market, and even a little bit of philosophy learned from our tiny microbial friends.

Events and jobs

BioData World West 2018 – 13-14 March 2018 – San Francisco, CA

General microbiome

Cooperation and cheating as innovation: insights from cellular societies – Athena Aktipis – Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society B

[Pre-Print] Metabolic Interactions Between Dynamic Bacterial Subpopulations – Adam Z Rosenthal – bioRxiv

Pregnancy and early life

Preterm Birth Affects the Risk of Developing Immune-Mediated Diseases – Sybelle Goedicke-Fritz – Frontiers in Immunology

Human oral microbiome

Metagenomic Analysis of Gingival Sulcus Microbiota and Pathogenesis of Periodontitis Associated with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus – E. A. Babaev – Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine

Human urinary tract microbiome

Re: Evaluation of the Urinary Microbiota of Women with Uncomplicated Stress Urinary Incontinence – Alan J. Wein – The Journal of Urology

Human gut microbiome

* The fecal microbiome of ALS patients – David Brenner – Neurobiology of Aging

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Endosphere microbiome comparison between symptomatic and asymptomatic roots of Brassica napus infected with Plasmodiophora brassicae – Ying Zhao – PLOS ONE

Ureolytic microbial community is modulated by fertilization regimes and particle-size fractions in a Black soil of Northeastern China – Li Wang – Soil Biology and Biochemistry

Water and extremophile microbiome 

Metatranscriptomic and metagenomic description of the bacterial nitrogen metabolism in waste water wet oxidation effluents – Julien Crovadore – Heliyon

Genomic variation in microbial populations inhabiting the marine subseafloor at deep-sea hydrothermal vents – Rika E. Anderson – Nature

Food microbiology

Sequence Analysis of Changes in Microbial Composition in Different Milk Products During Fermentation and Storage – Barbora Zalewska – Current Microbiology

Probiotics / prebiotics

* Pharmabiotics as an Emerging Medication for Metabolic Syndrome and Its Related Diseases – Thi Thanh Binh Nguyen – Molecules

[Review] Recurrent urinary tract infections in women: How promising is the use of probiotics? – Varsha Gupta – Indian Journal of Medical Microbiology

Bioinformatics

Using convolutional neural networks to explore the microbiome – Derek Reiman – Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC)

Techniques

‘Gracilibacillus phocaeensis’ sp. nov., ‘Sediminibacillus massiliensis’ sp. nov. and ‘Virgibacillus ndiopensis’ sp. nov., three halophilic species isolated from salty human stools by culturomics – B. Senghor – New Microbes and New Infections

Proteomic and metaproteomic approaches to understand host-microbe interactions – Amanda E. Starr – Analytical Chemistry

Impact of Method Variables on Microbiota Sample Disruption – Jaclyn Zecca and David Burden – OPS Diagnostics LLC

Microbes on the market 

Patenting the microbiome: trends, challenges and insights – Anthony D Sabatelli – Future Science

[Editorial] The aquaculture microbiome at the centre of business creation – Karen K. Dittmann – Microbial Biotechnology

Ed’s non-microbiology picks

I put quite a few on here today – enjoy 🙂

More than 75 percent decline over 27 years in total flying insect biomass in protected areas – Caspar A. Hallman – PLOS ONE

Cavitation-Induced Synthesis of Biogenic Molecules on Primordial Earth – Natan-Haim Kalson – ACS Central Science

Games people play: How video games improve probabilistic learning – Sabrina Schenk – Behavioural Brain Research

A process-oriented model linking adolescents’ sleep hygiene and psychological functioning: the moderating role of school start times -Jack S. Peltz – Sleep Health

Decreases in self-reported sleep duration among U.S. adolescents 2009-2015 and links to new media screen time – Jean M. Twenge – Sleep Medicine

Dogs’ recognition of human selfish and generous attitudes requires little but critical experience with people – Fabricio Carballo – PLOS ONE

September 27, 2017

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Human oral microbiome

Complex Intratissue Microbiota Forms Biofilms in Periodontal Lesions – Baek K – Journal of Dental Research

Human vaginal microbiome

Lactobacillus iners-dominated vaginal microbiota is associated with increased susceptibility to Chlamydia trachomatis infection in Dutch women: a case–control study – Robin van Houdt – Sexually Transmitted Infections

Human gut microbiome

[Review] Modulation of Type 1 Diabetes Risk by the Intestinal Microbiome – Knip M – Current Diabetes Reports

[Review] The Relationship Between the Human Genome and Microbiome Comes into View – Julia K. Goodrich – Annual Review of Genetics

Animal microbiome

[pre-print] The virome of Drosophila suzukii, an invasive pest of soft fruit – Nathan C. Medd – bioRxiv

Characterisation of North American Brucella isolates from marine mammals – Adrian M. Whatmore – PLOS ONE

Denitrification potential of the eastern oyster microbiome using a 16S rRNA gene based metabolic inference approach – Ann Arfken – PLOS ONE

Effects of Eimeria tenella infection on chicken caecal microbiome diversity, exploring variation associated with severity of pathology – Sarah E. Macdonald – PLOS ONE

Microbial characterization of bee pollen from the Vesuvius area collected by using three different traps – Gianluigi Mauriello – PLOS ONE

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Multiscale Investigation on Biofilm Distribution and its Impact on Macroscopic Biogeochemical Reaction Rates – Zhifeng Yan – Water Resources Research

Comparative metagenomics approaches to characterize the soil fungal communities of western coastal region, Saudi Arabia – Tarek A. A. Moussa – PLOS ONE

Bacterial and diazotrophic diversities of endophytes in Dendrobium catenatum determined through barcoded pyrosequencing – Ou Li – PLOS ONE

A secreted antibacterial neuropeptide shapes the microbiome of Hydra – René Augustin – Nature Communications

Probiotics / prebiotics

Methanobrevibacter attenuation via probiotic intervention reduces flatulence in adult human: A non-randomised paired-design clinical trial of efficacy – Minseok Seo – PLOS ONE

Bioinformatics

Predicting metabolic adaptation from networks of mutational paths – Christos Josephides & Peter S. Swain – Nature Communications

Microbes in the news 

Florida Seawater Bacteria Death Toll Rises – Patch

Researchers Find New Microbial Communities in Human Body

Microbes on the market

Paris-based Eligo Bioscience secures $20 million to bring Precision Medicine to the Microbiome – EU-Startups

Science, publishing, and career

New open-access journal Metabarcoding & Metagenomics joins the lines of publisher Pensoft – EurekAlert!

Ed’s non-microbiology picks

Infants make more attempts to achieve a goal when they see adults persist – Julia A. Leonard – Science

University of Tokyo pair invent loop-based quantum computing technique

Cancer immunotherapy with recombinant poliovirus induces IFN-dominant activation of dendritic cells and tumor antigen–specific CTLs – Michael C. Brown – Science Translational Medicine

Stereodivergent synthesis with a programmable molecular machine – Salma Kassem, – Nature

Trispecific broadly neutralizing HIV antibodies mediate potent SHIV protection in macaques – Ling Xu – Science

July 19, 2017

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Today’s digest is a long one! There is high diversity of studies, with a high abundance of gut microbiome studies, a few publications on fecal transplant, and some very interesting early life/pregnancy/mother-infant science.  A normal serving of animal studies, of course a nice colony of environmental microbial studies, and a study reporting the presence of bacteria in Alzheimer’s post-mortem brains.

Events and jobs

Postdoctoral research fellow in translational microbiome research – Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology (MTC) at Karolinska Institutet

General microbiome

Commensal bacteria modulate the tumor microenvironment – Theofilos Poutahidis – Cancer Letters

[Review]  The human microbiome – Hubert E. Blum – Advances in Medical Sciences

Microbiome and Metabolome Data Integration Provides Insight Into Health and Disease – Michael Shaffer – Translational Research

Metabolic potential and taxonomic assessment of bacterial community of an environment to chronic industrial discharge – Neelam Devpura – International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation

Impact of the Microbiota on Bacterial Infections during Cancer Treatment – Jessica Galloway-Peña – Trends in Microbiology

Pregnancy and early life

** The Bacterial Ecosystem of Mother’s Milk and Infant’s Mouth and Gut – Elana Biagi – Frontiers in Microbiology | Evolutionary and Genomic Microbiology

* What’s Normal? Immune Profiling of Human Milk from Healthy Women Living in Different Geographical and Socioeconomic Settings – Lorena Ruiz – Frontiers in Immunology | Nutritional Immunology

Microbiome Associated with Severe Caries in Canadian First Nations Children – M. Agnello – Journal of Dental Research

* Bacterial communities found in placental tissues are associated with severe chorioamnionitis and adverse birth outcomes – Ronan M. Doyle – PLoS One

Human oral microbiome

Characterization of Oral Microbiota in Removable Dental Prosthesis Users: Influence of Arterial Hypertension – Leila Maria Marchi-Alves – BioMed Research International

Human vaginal microbiome

The association between ethnicity and vaginal microbiota composition in Amsterdam, the Netherlands – Hanneke Borgdorff – PLoS One

Human nearly-sterile sites

** 16S rRNA Next Generation Sequencing Analysis Shows Bacteria in Alzheimer’s Post-Mortem Brain – David C. Emery – Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience

Human gut microbiome

The Gut Microbiota of Healthy Chilean Subjects Reveals a High Abundance of the Phylum Verrucomicrobia – Sayaka Fujio-Vejar – Frontiers in Microbiology | Microbial Symbioses

*[Review] Significance of Microbiota in Obesity and Metabolic Diseases and the Modulatory Potential by Medicinal Plant and Food Ingredients – Hoda M. Eid – Frontiers in Pharmacology | Ethnopharmacology

MOLECULAR CHARACTERIZATION OF FECAL MICROBIOTA OF HEALTHY CHINESE TOBACCO SMOKER SUBJECTS IN SHAANXI PROVINCE, XI’AN CHINA – Ishaq HM – Journal of Ayub Medical College

The Microbiome in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Trauma-Exposed Controls: An Exploratory Study – Hemmings, Sian M.J – Psychosomatic Medicine

The Impact of Gut Microbiota on Gender-Specific Differences in Immunity – Floris Fransen – Frontiers in Immunology | Nutritional Immunology

Involvement of gut microbiota in the association between gastrointestinal motility and 5‑HT expression/M2 macrophage abundance in the gastrointestinal tract – Mo Yang – Molecular Medicine Reports

Correspondence: Fecal Microbiota Transplant from a Rational Stool Donor Improves Hepatic Encephalopathy: A Randomized Clinical Trial – Benjamin H Mullish – Hepatology

Going to the Bank: Fecal Microbiota Transplantation in Pediatrics – Elaine Barfield – Clinical Pediatrics

INTERRELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN GUT MICROBIOTA AND HOST: Paradigms, Role in Neurodegenerative Diseases and Future Prospects – Villarraso JC – CNS & Neurological Disorders Drug Targets

Faecal microbiota transplant: a novel biological approach to extensively drug-resistant organism-related non-relapse mortality – Innes AJ – Bone Marrow Transplantation

* Gut microbiota is critical for the induction of chemotherapy-induced pain – Shiqian Shen – Nature Neuroscience

Relationships between Gastrointestinal Microbiota and Blood Group Antigens – Anuhya Gampa – Physiological Genomics

[Masters Thesis] Evaluating the Effectiveness of Select Bacteria Against Clostridium difficile – Choquette, Kelsey Rose – Iowa State University, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing

* Potential and active functions in the gut microbiota of a healthy human cohort – Alessandro Tanca – Microbiome

[Letter to Editor] The necessity of gut microbiome characterization in diseases prevention and therapy – Sama Rezasoltani – Gastroenterology and Hepatology from Bed to Bench

[Review Article] The Intricate Interaction between Enteric Microbiota and Brain: Principles and Clinical Implications – Giovanni Gherardi – Journal of Digestive Diseases and Hepatology

Gut microbiota dysbiosis associated with glucose metabolism disorders and the metabolic syndrome in older adults – K Lippert – Beneficial Microbes

Animal experiments

Western Diet–Induced Dysbiosis in Farnesoid X Receptor Knockout Mice Causes Persistent Hepatic Inflammation after Antibiotic Treatment – Prasant K – The American Journal of Pathology

Grape pomace improves performance, antioxidant status, fecal microbiota and meat quality of piglets – I. Kafantaris – Animal

Animal microbiome

Microorganisms of the Intestinal Microbiota of Oncorhynchus Mykiss Produce Antagonistic Substances Against Bacteria Contaminating Food and Causing Disease in Humans – Lobos O – Italian Journal of Food Safety

Population-Specific Responses to Interspecific Competition in the Gut Microbiota of Two Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) Populations – Xiaoping He – Microbial Ecology

Habitat and indigenous gut microbes contribute to the plasticity of gut microbiome in oriental river prawn during rapid environmental change – Cheng-Yu Chen – PLoS One

Vertically and horizontally transmitted microbial symbionts shape the gut microbiota ontogenesis of a skin-mucus feeding discus fish progeny – François-Étienne Sylvain – Scientific Reports

Microbiome overview in swine lungs – Franciele Maboni Siqueira – PLoS One

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Integrated metagenomics and molecular ecological network analysis of bacterial community composition during the phytoremediation of cadmium-contaminated soils by bioenergy crops – Zhaojin Chen – Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety

Dynamics of Soil Bacterial Communities Over a Vegetation Season Relate to Both Soil Nutrient Status and Plant Growth Phenology – Davide Francioli – Microbial Ecology

* Microbial Populations of Stony Meteorites: Substrate Controls on First Colonizers – Alastair W. Tait – Frontiers in Microbiology | Extreme Microbiology

Microbial functional diversity covaries with permafrost thaw-induced environmental heterogeneity in tundra soil – Mengting M. Yuan – Global Change Biology

[PrePrint] Conditionally rare taxa contribute but do not account for prokaryotic community changes in soils – Rachel Kaminsky – bioRxiv

Water and extremophile microbiome 

Performance and bacterial community structure of a 10-years old constructed mangrove wetland – Tingting Tian – Marine Pollution Bulletin

A comparative study revealed first insights into the diversity and metabolisms of the microbial communities in the sediments of Pacmanus and Desmos hydrothermal fields – Hai-liang Wang – PLoS One

Microbial Composition and Diversity Patterns in Deep Hyperthermal Aquifers from the Western Plain of Romania – Cecilia M. Chiriac – Microbiology of Aquatic Systems

Built environment

Pilot study to determine if microbial contamination levels in hospital washrooms are associated with hand drying method – Mark H. Wilcox – Journal of Hospital Infection

Probiotics / prebiotics

Arachidonic acid sex-dependently affects obesity through linking gut microbiota-driven inflammation to hypothalamus-adipose-liver axis – Pan Zhuang – BBA

Functional Characterization of Novel Faecalibacterium prausnitzii Strains Isolated from Healthy Volunteers: A Step Forward in the Use of F. prausnitzii as a Next-Generation Probiotic – Rebeca Martin – Frontiers in Microbiology | Food Microbiology

Bioinformatics

* Abundance estimation and differential testing on strain level in metagenomics data – Martina Fischer – Bioinformatics

Techniques

Development and Use of a Real-Time Quantitative PCR Method for Detecting and Quantifying Equol-Producing Bacteria in Human Faecal Samples and Slurry Cultures – Lucía Vázquez – Frontiers in Microbiology | Food Microbiology

Next-generation Sequencing of the DNA Virome from Fecal Samples – Monaco CL – Bio-protocol

Synthetic multispecies microbial communities reveals shifts in secondary metabolism and facilitates cryptic natural product discovery – Yutong Shi – Environmental Microbiology

Whole-genome sequencing of eukaryotes: From sequencing of DNA fragments to a genome assembly – K. S. Zadesenets – Russian Journal of Genetics

Microbes on the market

Microbiome Sequencing Services Market: trends, analysis, Overview, forecast up to 2021

Ed’s non-microbiology picks

Heavy metal accumulation by Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells armed with metal binding hexapeptides targeted to the inner face of the plasma membrane – Lavinia Liliana Ruta –Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

Fracking can contaminate rivers and lakes with radioactive material, study finds

Subacute normobaric oxygen and hyperbaric oxygen therapy in drowning, reversal of brain volume loss: a case report – Paul G Harch – Medical Gas Research

No Effect of Commercial Cognitive Training on Neural Activity During Decision-Making – Joseph W. Kable – Journal of Neuroscience

Health Insurance Expansion and Incidence of Out‐of‐Hospital Cardiac Arrest: A Pilot Study in a US Metropolitan Community – Eric C. Stecker – Journal of the American Heart Association

June 15, 2017

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Today’s digest is full of plant, animal, and soil microbiome studies as well as a nice serving of human gut science, specifically about FMT.

Events and jobs

Visiting Assistant Professor of Microbiology – Methodist University, North Carolina

GENEWIZ Week – many small events, contests, giveaways, and webinars (including mine on using Metagenomics for Biomarker Discovery posted here on Sunday’s blog post. Since my webinar was yesterday, it will be archived and can be downloaded from genewiz.com, starting next week – don’t forget to check it out!)

General microbiome

* Comprehensive analysis of microorganisms accompanying human archaeological remains – Anna Philips – Gigascience

Pregnancy and early life

Relationships Among Microbial Communities, Maternal Cells, Oligosaccharides, and Macronutrients in Human Milk – Williams JE – Journal of Human Lactation

Human oral microbiome

Targeted Antimicrobial Therapy in the Microbiome Era – Victoria N. Stone – Molecular Oral Microbiology

Human gut microbiome

* Identification of donor microbe species that colonize and persist long term in the recipient after fecal transplant for recurrent Clostridium difficile – Ranjit Kumar – npj Biofilms and Microbiomes

* Fecal microbiota transplantation in metabolic syndrome: History, present and future – P. F. de Groot – Gut microbes

Intestinal microbiota, fecal microbiota transplantation, and inflammatory bowel disease – Weingarden AR – Gut Microbes

Faecal microbiota study reveals specific dysbiosis in spondyloarthritis – Maxime Breban – Annals of Rheumatic Diseases

Metaproteomic analysis of human gut microbiota: where are we heading? – Pey Yee Lee – Journal of Biomedical Science

Animal experiments (mouse/rat experiments, chickens/pigs on different diets)

Variability, stability, and resilience of fecal microbiota in dairy cows fed whole crop corn silage – Minh Thuy Tang – Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

Plantago ovata in broiler chicken nutrition: Performance, carcass criteria, intestinal morphology, immunity, and intestinal bacterial population – A. Divani – Animal Physiology and Animal Nutrition

Chronic treatment with prebiotics, probiotics and synbiotics attenuated cardiac dysfunction by improving cardiac mitochondrial dysfunction in male obese insulin-resistant rats – Tunapong W – European Journal of Nutrition

Amelioration of obesity-related characteristics by a probiotic formulation in a high-fat diet-induced obese rat model – Joo-Hyun Shin – European Journal of Nutrition

Early Gut Microbiota Intervention Suppresses DSS-Induced Inflammatory Responses by Deactivating TLR/NLR Signalling in Pigs – Yi Xiao – Scientific Reports

* Profound perturbation induced by triclosan exposure in mouse gut microbiome: a less resilient microbial community with elevated antibiotic and metal resistomes – Bei Gao – BMC Pharmacology and Toxicology

Animal microbiome (for animals in the wild)

[PrePrint] Ecophysiology of freshwater Verrucomicrobia inferred from genomes recovered through time-series metagenomics – Shaomei He – bioRxiv

Long-Term Survey Is Necessary to Reveal Various Shifts of Microbial Composition in Corals – Shan-Hua Yang – Aquatic Microbiology (Frontiers in Microbiology)

Preferential suppression of Anopheles gambiae host sequences allows detection of the mosquito eukaryotic microbiome – Eugeni Belda – Scientific Reports

Social odours covary with bacterial community in the anal secretions of wild meerkats – Sarah Leclaire – Scientific Reports

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Imidacloprid application changes microbial dynamics and enzymes in rice soil – Bibhab Mahapatra – Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety

Comparison of ammonia oxidation bacteria community structure in paddy soil with different utilized years – Zhao WeiYe – Southwest China Journal of Agricultural Sciences

[MS Thesis] Variation of Soil Microbial Communities within a Consociation Soil Map Unit and a Vegetative Transect through an Oak Motte – Sarah Elizabeth Shawver – Tarleton State University

Effects of different intercropping patterns on rhizosphere soil bacteria colony characteristics and flue-cured tobacco yield and quality – Wei Jun – Guangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences

Rhizospheric bacteria diversity of Cypripedium macranthum estimated via high throughput sequencing – Zhang Jian -Southwest China Journal of Agricultural Sciences

Denitrifying bacterial communities display different temporal fluctuation patterns across Dutch agricultural soils – Lopez-Lozano NE – Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

Ecophylogeny of the endospheric root fungal microbiome of co-occurring Agrostis stolonifera – Amandine Le Van – PeerJ

Consistent effects of nitrogen fertilization on soil bacterial communities in black soils for two crop seasons in China – Jing Zhou – Scientific Reports

A next generation sequencing approach with a suitable bioinformatics workflow to study fungal diversity in bioaerosols released from two different types of composting plants – Hamza Mbareche – Science of The Total Environment

The Effects of Cropping Regimes on Fungal and Bacterial Communities of Wheat and Faba Bean in a Greenhouse Pot Experiment Differ between Plant Species and Compartment – Granzow S – Frontiers in Microbiology

Water and extremophile microbiome

Unraveling the environmental and anthropogenic drivers of bacterial community changes in the Estuary of Bilbao and its tributaries – Mikel Aguirre – PLOS ONE

Food microbiology

Metagenomics insights into food fermentations – Francesca De Filippis – Microbial Biotechnology

Probiotics / prebiotics

Effect of probiotic Lactobacillus on lipid profile: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized, controlled trials – Yuncheng Wu – PLOS ONE

Growing Literature but Limited Evidence: A Systematic Review regarding Prebiotic and Probiotic Interventions for those with Traumatic Brain Injury and/or Posttraumatic Stress Disorder – Lisa A. Brenner – Brain, Behavior, Immunity

Microbes on the market

$10 million gift boosts gut microbiome research at Wash U

Ed’s non-microbiology picks 

Computational design of trimeric influenza-neutralizing proteins targeting the hemagglutinin receptor binding site – Eva-Maria Strauch – Nature Biotechnology

Aberrant telomere length and mitochondrial DNA copy number in suicide completers –  Ikuo Otsuka – Scientific Reports

Impact of nutrition on social decision making – Sabrina Strang – PNAS

Oral vitamin D rapidly attenuates inflammation from sunburn: an interventional study – Jeffrey F. Scott – JID

Adaptive self-organization of Bali’s ancient rice terraces – J. Stephen Lansing – PNAS

Ravens remember the nature of a single reciprocal interaction sequence over 2 days and even after a month – J. J. A. Muller – Animal Behaviour

March 4th, 2017

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Events and jobs

Head, Microbiome Discovery Research – Johnson & Johnson

Multi-site human microbiome

Characterization of oral and gut microbiome temporal variability in hospitalized cancer patients – Jessica R. Galloway-Peña – Genome Medicine

Human gut microbiome

Childhood BMI in relation to microbiota in infancy and lifetime antibiotic use – K. Korpela – Microbiome

Animal experiments

Metaproteogenomics reveals taxonomic and functional changes between cecal and fecal microbiota in mouse – Alessandro Tanca – Frontiers in Microbiology

Animal microbiome

Cultivable gut bacteria provide a pathway for adaptation of Chrysolina herbacea to Mentha aquatica volatiles – Graziano Pizzolante – BMC Plant Biology

Gut bacteria oversee the special relationship between the green mint leaf beetle and watermint – BMC Series Blog

Effects of tussah immunoreactive substances on growth, immunity, disease resistance against Vibrio splendidus and gut microbiota profile of Apostichopus japonicus – Shuhui Ma – Fish & Shellfish Immunology

Community-Level Differences in the Microbiome of Healthy Wild Mallards and Those Infected by Influenza A Viruses – Holly H. Ganz – mSystems

The microbiome of the ant-built home: the microbial communities of a tropical arboreal ant and its nest – Jane Lucas – Ecosphere

*Perspective: Gut microbiome transmission in lizards – Timothy J. Colston – Molecular Ecology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Microbial communities in soil chronosequences with distinct parent material: the effect of soil pH and litter quality – Fernando D. Alfaro – Journal of Ecology

Water and extremophile microbiome

Volcanic ash supports a diverse bacterial community in a marine mesocosm – V. Witt – Geobiology

Methylamine as a Nitrogen Source for Microorganisms from a Coastal Marine Environment – Martin Taubert – Environmental Microbiology

Built environment

Response of microbial community structure to pre-acclimation strategies in microbial fuel cells for domestic wastewater treatment – Younghyun Park – Bioresource Technology

Food microbiology

Viable microbial loads on citrus carpoplane during packhouse processing and survival of foodborne pathogens in reconstituted postharvest fungicides – A. Gomba – Journal of Food Safety

Bacterial and fungal core microbiomes associated with small grain silages during ensiling and aerobic spoilage – Lysiane Duniere – BMC Microbiology

Probiotics / prebiotics

Microbiome dynamic modulation through functional diets based on pre- and probiotics (mannan-oligosaccharides and Saccharomyces cerevisiae) in juvenile rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) – Ana Teresa Gonçalves – Journal of Applied Microbiology

Exploration of the effect of probiotics supplementation on intestinal microbiota of food allergic mice – Bo Yang – American Journal of Translational Research

Phages and viruses

Human norovirus binding to select bacteria representative of the human gut microbiota – Erin A. Almand – PLoS ONE

Environmental Viral Genomes Shed New Light on Virus-Host Interactions in the Ocean – Yosuke Nishimura – mSphere

Bioinformatics

REPARATION: Ribosome Profiling Assisted (Re-)Annotation of Bacterial
genomes – Elvis Ndah – BioRxiv

Normalization and microbial differential abundance strategies depend upon data characteristics – Sophie Weiss – Microbiome

How conserved are the conserved 16S-rRNA regions? – Marcel Martinez-Porchas – PeerJ

Microbes in the news

Gut bacteria affect intestines and brain in IBS patients – Medical News Today

Intestinal Bacteria Alter Gut and Brain Function – Neuroscience News

Why Are People Sending Poop Through the Mail? For Their Health – GQ Magazine

Microbes on the market

Next-gen microbiome drugs are now on sale, should you buy them? – New Scientist

 

Microbiome Digest, October 9, 2014

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Human microbiome general

Advancing the Microbiome Research Community – Curtis Huttenhower – Cell

“We outline opportunities in interdisciplinary research, analytical rigor, standardization, and policy development for this relatively new and rapidly developing field. “

Human oral microbiome

Bioinformatic investigation of the cost management strategies of five oral microbes – K.J. Cross – Molecular Oral Microbiology

“The aim of this study was to investigate if five oral bacterial species implement cost management strategies to reduce the energy burden of extracellular unrecyclable proteins.”

Human skin microbiome

Identification of molecular mechanisms used by Finegoldia magna to penetrate and colonize human skin – Elizabeth C. Murphy – Molecular Microbiology

“This study examines the molecular mechanisms F. magna uses when colonizing or establishing an infection in the skin. “

Human gut microbiome

Bacterial ClpB heat-shock protein, an antigen-mimetic of the anorexigenic peptide α-MSH, at the origin of eating disorders – N Tennoune – Translational Psychiatry

“Here, using proteomics, we identified ClpB heat-shock disaggregation chaperone protein of commensal gut bacteria Escherichia coli as a conformational antigen mimetic of α-MSH.”

Animal models of microbiome research

Effects of essential oil supplementation of a low-energy diet on performance, intestinal morphology and microflora, immune properties and antioxidant activities in weaned pigs – Zhikai Zeng – Animal Science Journal

Soil microbiome

Poster presentation: Starting study of microbial genetics diversity in soils of mangrove preserved in sergipe – Karla Cristina Santos Freire – BMC Proceedings

“This paper proposes the characterization and evaluation of structures and diversity of microbial communities in the soil of mangroves in three conservation areas located in Sergipe.“

Community assembly of ectomycorrhizal fungi along a subtropical secondary forest succession – Cheng Gao – New Phytologist

“We examined the communities of ectomycorrhizal (EM) fungi in young, intermediate and old forests in a Chinese subtropical ecosystem, using 454 pyrosequencing”

Metagenomics / Bioinformatics

Functional phylogenomics analysis of bacteria and archaea using consistent genome annotation with UniFam – Juanjuan Chai – BMC Evolutionary Biology

“A total of 14,727 GenBank prokaryotic genomes were re-annotated using a new protein family database, UniFam, to obtain consistent functional annotations for accurate comparison. “

More Microbiology

Halting harmful helminths – Karl F. Hoffmann, Paul J. Brindley, Matthew Berriman – Science

“More than 300 million people are infected each year with parasitic flatworms such as hydatid tapeworms and blood fluke schistosomes. “

Chromosome position effects on gene expression in Escherichia coli K-12 – Jack A. Bryant – Nucleic Acids Research

“Here, using Escherichia coli K-12, we demonstrate that expression of a reporter gene cassette, comprised of the model E. coli lac promoter driving expression of gfp, varies by ∼300-fold depending on its precise position on the chromosome. “

Microbes in the news

‘Good Poop’ Diet Is the Next Big Thing – Daniela Drake – The Daily Beast

“Now a new book, The Skinny Gut Diet, by nutritionist Brenda Watson, tracks the progress of people who follow a diet specifically designed to alter the gut microbiome. “

Another probiotic advantage: Bacteria protects against heavy metal poisoning – Jim Algar – Tech Times

“Probiotic bacteria found in yogurt can protect people from the effects of exposure to heavy metals, particularly in pregnant women and children, a Canadian study suggests.”

Science, publishing, career

The scientists who get credit for peer review – Richard Van Noorden – Nature

“Publons rewards researchers for putting their peer-review activity online. Nature spoke to the startup’s co-founder and two super-users.”

Meet the New Underclass: People With Ph.D.s in Science – Mark Strauss – iO9

“Once upon a time, newly-minted science Ph.D.s would get research jobs at a senior scientist’s laboratory, to train and hone the ideas they would explore at their own labs. But now the supply of post-doctoral students is outpacing demand, creating a new, hyper-educated underclass.”

Glut of postdoc researchers stirs quiet crisis in science –  Carolyn Y. Johnson – Boston Globe

Japan’s Missing Female Scientists – Jack Grove – Times Higher Education

“Too many female scientists are leaving Japan because they do not feel they can get ahead in its “male-dominated” society, a senior university leader has said.”

Bik’s Picks

Cave paintings change ideas about the origin of art – Pallab Ghosh – BBC

“Researchers tell the journal Nature that the Indonesian discovery transforms ideas about how humans first developed the ability to produce art.”

A timeline of a baby’s first hour – Laura Sanders – Science News

Fired science teacher did not have state license – 9 News

“The teacher fired after his science experiment injured four students, one seriously, did not have a valid Colorado teacher’s license.”

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Microbiome digest, October 8, 2014

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Blogging from our yearly retreat in Santa Cruz, California: Rethinking Enterotypes, Wolbachia phylogenomics,  hydrothermal vents, and the influence of salamanders on soil microbiome.

Human Microbiome General

Genes & cells: Body microbes make useful molecules: Human microbiome produces thousands of drug candidates – Tina Hesman Saey – Science News

Human Gut Microbiome

Rethinking “Enterotypes” – Dan Knights – Cell Host and Microbe

“However, as discussed here, several different methods of collapsing enterotype variation into a few discrete clusters suggest that enterotype distribution is continuous and can vary widely within an individual.”

Fecal Bacterial Community Changes Associated with Isoflavone Metabolites in Postmenopausal Women after Soy Bar Consumption – Cindy H. Nakatsu – PLOS ONE

“Using DGGE profiles of PCR amplified 16S rRNA genes (V3 region) to compare microbial communities in fecal samples collected one week before and one week during soy supplementation revealed significant differences (ANOSIM p<0.03) before and after soy supplementation in all subjects. “

Insect microbiome

Phylogenomic analyses uncover origin and spread of the Wolbachia pandemic – Michael Gerth  – Nature Communications

“Here we present the first comprehensive phylogenomic analysis of Wolbachia supergroup relationships based on new whole-genome-shotgun data.”

Coral microbiome

Comparing Bacterial Community Composition of Healthy and Dark Spot-Affected Siderastrea siderea in Florida and the Caribbean – Christina A. Kellogg – PLOS ONE

“Microbial-community DNA was extracted from coral samples (mucus, tissue, and skeleton), amplified using bacterial-specific primers, and applied to PhyloChip G3 microarrays to examine the bacterial diversity associated with this coral. “

Soil Microbiome

Summer temperature increase has distinct effects on the ectomycorrhizal fungal communities of moist tussock and dry tundra in Arctic Alaska – Luis N. Morgado – Global Change Biology

“We used Ion Torrent sequencing of the rDNA internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) region to compare ECM fungal communities in plots with and without long-term experimental warming in both dry and moist tussock tundra.”

A metagenomics-based approach to the top-down effect on the detritivore food web: a salamanders influence on fungal communities within a deciduous forest – Donald M. Walker – Ecology and Evolution

“From each sample, DNA was extracted, fungal-specific amplification performed, and 454 pyrosequencing was used to sequence the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS2) region and partial ribosomal large subunit (LSU).”

Water microbiome

Evolutionary Strategies of Viruses, Bacteria and Archaea in Hydrothermal Vent Ecosystems Revealed through Metagenomics – Rika E Anderson – PLOS ONE

“Here, we explore the evolutionary strategies of both microorganisms and viruses in hydrothermal systems through comparative analysis of a cellular and viral metagenome, “

Metabolomics

Discovery and Characterization of Gut Microbiota Decarboxylases that Can Produce the Neurotransmitter Tryptamine – Brianna B. Williams – -Cell Host and Microbe

“Using a combination of genetics, biochemistry, and crystallography, we identify and characterize two phylogenetically distinct enzymes found in the human microbiome that decarboxylate tryptophan to form the β-arylamine neurotransmitter

Techniques

Selective Microbial Genomic DNA Isolation Using Restriction Endonucleases – Helen E. Barnes – PLOS ONE

“Using synthetic genome mixtures, we demonstrate 80% recovery of Escherichia coli genomic DNA even when only femtogram quantities are spiked into 10 µg of human DNA background.”

 More Microbiology

Pseudomonas aeruginosa eradicates Staphylococcus aureus by manipulating the host immunity – Erwan Pernet – Nature Communications

“Our results indicate that a bacterium can eradicate another bacterium by manipulating the host immunity.”

Preparation and evaluation of low-calorie functional ice cream containing inulin, lactulose and Bifidobacterium lactis  – Majid Hashemi- International Journal of Dairy Technology

“This study was aimed to investigate the effects of replacing 5% fat and sugar by inulin and lactulose, respectively, on the survival of Bifidobacterium lactis and physicochemical and sensorial characteristics of the ice cream. “

Microbes in the News

Second Genome, Mayo Clinic team up to explore the microbiome – Stephanie M. Lee – SF Gate

“Second Genome will identify up to eight conditions in which the microbiome potentially plays a role, and the Mayo Clinic will provide human clinical samples for patients with those diseases.”

 Oral health affects overall health – PhillyTrib

“The evidence shows that an infection from periodontitis, or gum disease, can put you at risk for other serious conditions like heart disease, stroke and more.”

Safety Bees: Bacteria From Bees Used To Fight Infections – The Ledger

 “A group of 13 lactic-acid bacteria found in fresh honey from the honey stomach of bees could be the key to bringing an old folk remedy into modern science”

Bik’s Picks  

How dinosaurs divided their meals at the Jurassic dinner table – Science Daily

“How the largest animals to have ever walked on Earth fed, and how this allowed them to live alongside one another in prehistoric ecosystems, is the subject of new research.”

Imitation, Genetic Lineages, and Time Influenced the Morphological Evolution of the Violin – Daniel H. Chitwood – PLOS ONE

“Here, I provide an analysis of morphological evolution in the violin family, sampling the body shapes of over 9,000 instruments over 400 years of history.”

Cat Watch 2014: What’s it like being a cat? – BBC

“Cats are at a crucial point in their evolutionary journey as they transform from solitary hunters to domestic pets, a study by the BBC and the Royal Veterinary College has revealed.”
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