June 27, 2020

Shalom from Israel and a Happy world microbiome day!

Yes, it is a true day! celebrating the huge diversity of microbes around us, above us, below us and inside us. Check the day’s official website for more information, and take the weekend to appreciate this amazing field and your own personal contribution to advancing our knowledge about microbial communities on our planet.

Personally, I did my undergrad in Ecology and Evolution, confidence that I’ll my scientific career will focus on plant ecology and distribution, or at least large animals. Microbiology classes and introduction labs bored me, and I did my best to avoid this topic. But all of a sudden, during my Master’s degree (where I worked on a pathogenicity mechanism of postharvest disease-causing bacteria), I fell in love with microbiology in general, and specific bacterial communities. The huge untapped diversity, the unbelievable functions and the amazing interactions needed to maintain a functional community of these invisible inhabitants just fascinated me. Today, as a Ph.D. student exploring secondary metabolites gene clusters in soil and root microbiome, I’m a super-fan of the bacterial world.

How did you end up being microbiome suckers? Feel free to share your stories here as a comment, on MD FB page, or directly on tweeter.

Today’s digest include several microbimoe papers of animal midels (including ‘dirty mice’), diseased tomatoes taxonomical and functional microbiome profile, AND- a sweet reminder of the pre-COVID-19 world, with an analysis of the dust microbiome of a plane (remember this vehicle?).

Human and Animal Models microbiome

**Microbial transmission in animal social networks and the social microbiome, Amar Sarkar , Nat. Eco. Evo.

Does entry to center-based childcare affect gut microbial colonization in young infants?, Gerben D. A. Hermes, Scientific Reports

Serum metabolites reflecting gut microbiome
alpha diversity predict type 2 diabetes
, Cristina Menni, Gut microbes

**New Insights into the Immune System Using Dirty Mice, Sara E. Hamilton, J. Immunology.

Optimization of cerebrospinal fluid microbial metagenomic sequencing diagnostics,Josefin Olausson , bioRxiv

Sleep fragmentation increases blood pressure and is associated with alterations in the gut microbiome and fecal metabolome in rats, Katherine.Maki, Phys. Geno.

Animal microbiome

Environment Shapes the Microbiome of the Blue Orchard Bee, Osmia lignaria, Hamutahl Cohen, Microbial Ecology

The gut mycobiome of healthy mice is shaped by the environment and shapes metabolic outcomes in response to diet, Tahliyah S. Mims, bioRxiv

Microbial communities network analysis of anaerobic reactors fed with bovine and swine slurry, Eliane Cristina Gruszka Vendruscolo, Sci. Tot. Env.

Metagenomic analysis reveals significant differences in microbiome and metabolic profiles in the rumen of sheep fed low N diet with increased urea supplementation, Zhipeng Li, FEMS Micro. Eco.

Soil and Plant microbiome

Changes in Bacterial and Fungal Microbiomes Associated with Tomatoes of Healthy and Infected by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici, Xin Zhou, Microbial Ecology

Insights into drylands biocrust microbiome: geography, soil depth, and crust type affect biocrust microbial communities and networks in Mojave Desert, USA, Nuttapon Pombubpa, FEMS Micro. Eco.

Exploring the Lignin Catabolism Potential of Soil-Derived Lignocellulolytic Microbial Consortia by a Gene-Centric Metagenomic Approach, Laura Díaz-García, Microbial Ecology

Shotgun Metagenomics Of Dust Microbiome From Flight Deck And Cabin In Civil Aviation Aircraft, Yu Sun, Indoor Air

Bioinformatics

MicroNiche: an R package for assessing microbial niche breadth and overlap from amplicon sequencing data, D.R. Finn , FEMS Micro. Eco.

June 12, 2020

Buenos dias and greetings from Spain!

Today we can announce a Virtual Skin Microbiome Symposium held by New York Society of Cosmetic Chemists (NYSCC), that will start on June 15 to June 22, 2020, will include five on-demand sessions, a live panel Q&A and the Suppliers’ Day Digital Pop-Up & Solutions Center.

COVID-19

Epidemiological models are important tools for guiding COVID-19 interventions – Robin N. Thompson – BMC Medicine

Diagnosis of COVID-19 in children: the story evolves – R. Harwood and I. Sinha – BMC Medicine

Africa’s response to COVID-19 – Chikwe Ihekweazu and Emmanuel Agogo – BMC Medicine

Evaluation of the potential incidence of COVID-19 and effectiveness of containment measures in Spain: a data-driven approach – Alberto Aleta and Yamir Moreno – BMC Medicine

Pre-print – Identification of unique mutations in SARS-CoV-2 strains isolated from India suggests its attenuated pathotype – Shubham Gaurav – bioRxiv

General microbiome

Feasibility of collection and analysis of microbiome data in a longitudinal randomized trial of community gardening – Mireia Gascon – Future microbiology

Targeted microbiome depletion – A Du ToitNature Reviews Microbiology

Combining proteogenomics and metaproteomics for deep taxonomic and functional characterization of microbiomes from a non-sequenced host D Gouveia et al. – Biofilms and Microbiomes

Microbiome factors in HPV-driven carcinogenesis and cancers D Lin et al. – Plos Pathogens

Human respiratory microbiome

Clinical diagnostic application of metagenomic next-generation sequencing in children with severe nonresponding pneumonia – Heping Wang – PLOS ONE

Human vaginal microbiome

Exploring potential of vaginal Lactobacillus isolates from South African women for enhancing treatment for bacterial vaginosis – Anna-Ursula Happel – PLOS ONE

Human nearly-sterile sites

Parapseudoflavitalea muciniphila gen. nov., sp. nov., a member of the family Chitinophagaceae isolated from a human peritoneal tumour and reclassification of Pseudobacter ginsenosidimutans as Pseudoflavitalea ginsenosidimutans comb. nov. – Paul A. Lawson et al. – Microbiology society

Animal experiments

Evaluation of the bacterial ocular surface microbiome in ophthalmologically normal dogs prior to and following treatment with topical neomycin-polymyxin-bacitracin – Callie M Rogers et al. – PLOS ONE

Short-chain fructo-oligosaccharides supplementation to suckling piglets: Assessment of pre- and post-weaning performance and gut health – Miriam Ayuso – PLOS ONE

Polysaccharides isolated from Cordyceps Sinensis contribute to the progression of NASH by modifying the gut microbiota in mice fed a high-fat diet – Lei Chen et al. – PLOS ONE

Effect of dietary gossypol supplement on fermentation characteristics and bacterial diversity in the rumen of sheep – CaiDie Wang – PLOS ONE

Polysaccharides isolated from Cordyceps Sinensis contribute to the progression of NASH by modifying the gut microbiota in mice fed a high-fat diet – Lei Chen – PLOS ONE

β-glucan administration improves growth performance and gut health in New Zealand White and APRI rabbits with different breed responses – Mahmoud M Abo Ghanima – PLOS ONE

Comparative study of gut microbiota in Tibetan wild asses (Equus kiang) and domestic donkeys (Equus asinus) on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau – H Liu, X Zhao – PeerJ

Pre-print – Differential genes and microbiota revealed by serum metabolomics of obese rats after intervention by Rhizoma Coptidis – K Luo et al. – Research Square

Pre-print – Quantifying fluorescent glycan uptake to elucidate strain-level variability in foraging behaviors of rumen bacteria – Leeann Klassen et al. – bioRxiv

Animal microbiome

Characterizing the microbiome of ectoparasitic louse flies feeding on migratory raptors – Rebecca A McCabe et al. – PLOS ONE

Characterization of the microbiota of commercially-traded finfish fillets – HR Shehata et al. – Food Research International

A bug’s life-delving into the challenges of helminth microbiome studies – F Formenti et al. – PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases

Fish skin and gut microbiomes show contrasting signatures of host species and habitat – FÉ Sylvain et al. – Applied and Environmental

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Isolation, Screening and Identification of Free-Living Diazotrophic Bacteria from Salinated Arid Soils – SA Begmatova et al. – Microbiology

Eukaryotic Microbial Communities in Japanese Arable AndisolsInvestigated by Amplicon Sequencing of 18S rRNA – GenesKazumori Mise et al. – American Society for microbiology

Combined effects of green manure returning and addition of sewage sludge compost on plant growth and microorganism communities in gold tailings. – YJ Ai et al. – Environmental Science and Pollution

Taxonomic shifts in arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities with shade and soil nitrogen across conventionally managed and organic coffee agroecosystems. – L Aldrich-Wolfe et al. – Mycorrhiza

Metagenomics Framework for the study of Soil Microbial Communities Based 16s rRNA Gene profiling approach – A Basu et al. – International Journal of Biotechnology

Soil microbial communities in the rhizosphere of Robinia pseudoacacia L. after being exposed to elevated atmospheric CO2 and cadmium for 4 years – X Jia et al. – Applied Soil Ecology

Soil aggregates by design: Manufactured aggregates with defined microbial composition for interrogating microbial activities in soil microhabitats – HJ Harvey et al – Soil Biology and Biochemistry

Would fertilization history render the soil microbial communities and their activities more resistant to rainfall fluctuations? J Kátai et al. – biorxiv

Pre-print – Meta-transcriptomic detection of diverse and divergent RNA viruses in green and chlorarachniophyte algae – Justine Charon et al. – bioRxiv

Water and extremophile microbiome

Comparative metagenomics reveals the microbial diversity and metabolic potentials in the sediments and surrounding seawaters of Qinhuangdao mariculture area – Shuping Wang et al. – PLOS ONE

Spatial dynamics of eukaryotic microbial communities in the German Bight – PAA Sprong et al. – Journal of Sea Research

Temporal distribution of microbial community in an industrial wastewater treatment system following crash and during recovery periods – H Barak et al. – Chemosphere

Pre-print – Characterizing the growing microorganisms at species level in 46 anaerobic digesters at Danish wastewater treatment plants: A six-year survey on microbiome structure and key drivers – Chenjing Jiang et al. – bioRxiv

Pre-print – Ozone nanobubble treatment effectively reduced pathogenic Gram positive and negative bacteria in freshwater and safe for tilapia – Chayuda Jhunkeaw et al. – bioRxiv

Pre-print – Impact of trimethoprim on the river microbiome and antimicrobial resistance. James Delaney et al. – bioRxiv

Bioinformatics

gutMEGA: a database of the human gut MEtaGenome Atlas – Q Zhang et al. – Briefings in Bioinformatics

February 28, 2020

Good morning/afternoon y’all! today’s digest features some interesting-to-read genral biotech and ecology papers, as weel as the first gene catalouge of the vaginal microbiome, American pets microbiome revealed, cool microbiome engineering for biocontrol purpose in agriculture, a bunch of salt- and sweet-water microbiome studies and more!

Have a great weekend! put the guilt aside and enjoy some time with your spouse, family, pets, hobbies and anything else that you enjoy!

General Science

is is a very cool paper, beuatifuly presenting the connection and applicatino of two very ‘hot’ topics in today biotechnology world- AI and drug discovery:A Deep Learning Approach to Antibiotic Discovery- A Deep Learning Approach to Antibiotic Discovery, Jonathan M. Stokes, Cell

** Novel Outlook in Microbial Ecology: Nonmutualistic Interspecies Electron Transfer, Roman Moscoviz, Trends in Microbiology

A solution to minimum sample size for regressions, David J. Jenkins , PLOS One

The relationship between the host genome, microbiome, and host phenotype, Harald Brussow, Env. Micro.

Human microbiome

** A comprehensive non-redundant gene catalog reveals extensive within-community intraspecies diversity in the human vagina, Bing Ma, Nature Communications

Gut microbiota plasticity is correlated with sustained weight loss on a low-carb or low-fat dietary intervention, Jessica A. Grembi, Sci. Rep.

Analysis of healthy reference ranges for clinically relevant gut microbial indicators: A large web-based cohort study in Japan, Satoshi Watanabe , bioRxiv

Short chain fatty acids produced by colonizing intestinal commensal bacterial interaction with expressed breast milk are anti-inflammatory in human immature enterocytes, Nan Zheng, PLOS One

Animal microbiome

Characterization of gut microbiomes of household pets in the United States using a direct-to-consumer approach, Aashish R. Jha, PLOS One

Repeated sleep disruption in mice leads to persistent shifts in the fecal microbiome and metabolome, Samuel J. Bowers, PLOS One

Insect microbiome

**Engineering bacterial symbionts of nematodes improves biocontrol potential of the western corn rootworm, Ricardo A. R. Machado, Nature Biotechnology

Plant and soil microbiome

Genome wide association study reveals plant loci controlling heritability of the rhizosphere microbiome, Siwen Deng , bioRxiv

Differentiation strategies of soil rare and abundant microbial taxa in response to changing climatic regimes, Yuting Liang , Env. Micro.

Network analysis infers the wilt pathogen invasion associated with non-detrimental bacteria, Qiolong Hu , npj biofims and microbiomes

Marine microbiome

Exploring the resistome, virulome and microbiome of drinking water in environmental and clinical settings, Marcela Franca Dias, Water Research

Niche partitioning of methane-oxidizing bacteria along the oxygen–methane counter gradient of stratified lakes, Magdalena J. Mayr, ISME

A metagenomic assessment of microbial eukaryotic diversity in the global ocean, Aleix Obiol, Mol. Eco. Res.

Ocean acidification affects microbial community and invertebrate settlement on biofilms, Katie S. Nelson, Sci. Rep.

Understanding and creating biocementing beachrocks via biostimulation of indigenous microbial communities, Asha A. Ramachandran , Env. Biotech.

August 23, 2019

Good morning everyone!

This post is written from lovely NYC, quite a distance from my hometown in Israel. If you’re working on microbial ecology in the city and care for a cup of coffee (on me!) and a rather interesting chat about science, entreprenurship and agriculture- please contact me via barakdror@outlook.com or just find me on Linkedin.

Today post will feature highly recommended podcast, a great antimicrobial resistance review paper, Cocaine effect on gut microbiota, some cool bioinformatics tools papers, fascinating animal microbiome studies and more.

Resources and Podcast

I’m a huge fan of the This Week in Microbiology podcast. On their 201 episode the team hosted Prof. Mark Martin (U of Puget Sound) with some great list of papers for 1st year undergrads- but it is a great opportunity to read about general concepts and direction in micrboiology. I truely enjoed both the episode and the recommended papers.

15 Biotech-Themed Online Courses to Try at Home

Antibiotic Resistance

Defining and combating antibiotic resistance from One Health and Global Health perspectives, Sara Hernando-Amado, Nature Microbiology

Bioinformatics

An expectation-maximization algorithm enables accurate ecological modeling using longitudinal microbiome sequencing data, Chenhao Li, Microbiome

Analysing complex metagenomic data with MicroWineBar, Franziska Klincke ,bioRxiv

A systematic NGS-based approach for contaminant detection and functional inference, Sung-Joon Park, bioRxiv

Human and Animal microbiome

Cocaine Induces Inflammatory Gut Milieu by Compromising the Mucosal Barrier Integrity and Altering the Gut Microbiota Colonization, Ernest T. Chivero, Scientific Reports

Influence of the microbiota-gut-brain axis on behavior and welfare in farm animals: A review, Narjis Kraimi, Physiology & Behavior

Dissecting the factors shaping fish skin microbiomes in a heterogeneous inland water system, Yaron Krotman, bioRxiv

Non‐random associations of maternally transmitted symbionts in insects: The roles of drift versus biased co‐transmission and selection, Hugo Mathe-Hubert, Molecular Ecology

The microbiome of the Melitaea cinxia butterfly shows marked variation but is only little explained by the traits of the butterfly or its host plant, G. Minard, Environmental Microbiology

Food microbiome

The occurrence of Listeria monocytogenes is associated with built environment microbiota in three tree fruit processing facilities, Xiaoqing Tan, Microbiome

Environmental microbiome

Marine-freshwater prokaryotic transitions require extensive changes in the predicted proteome, Pedro J. Cabello-Yeves, Microbiome

Taxonomic and functional characterization of a microbial community from a volcanic englacial ecosystem in Deception Island, Antarctica, Emma Martinez-Alonso, Scientific Reports

June 26,2019

Good morning/afternoon wherever you are!

Today’s digest is really focusing on the environment- cilmate change (check the section right below), water, stone and coral reefs. We also included two microbiome framework papers worth reading and for all the athelates (and does who struggle to go the gym)- How is our microbiome linked to physical performance?

Have a good one!

Microbiology and Climate Change

The Microbiologists’ Warning–  Consensus Statement proclaiming that microorganisms are so critical to achieving an environmentally sustainable future that ignoring them risks the fate of Humanity. Please enter the link for more details and getting involved.

Scientists’ warning to humanity: microorganisms and climate change, Riccardo Cavicchioli, Nature Microbiology

Microbiome framework and methods

Combining Molecular Observations and Microbial Ecosystem Modeling: A Practical Guide, Ferdi L. Hellweger, Ann. Rev. Marine Science

Establishing microbial composition measurement standards with reference frames, James T. Morton, Nature Communications

Mining traits for the enrichment and isolation of not-yet-cultured populations, An-Ni Zhang, Microbiome

Human and animals microbiome

Meta-omics analysis of elite athletes identifies a performance-enhancing microbe that functions via lactate metabolism, Jonathan Scheiman, Nature Medicine

Impact of different hypercaloric diets on obesity features in rats: a metagenomics and metabolomics integrative approach, Andreu Gual-Grau, J. Nutritional Biochemistry

*Method: A Guide for Ex Vivo Handling and Storage of Stool Samples Intended for Fecal Microbiota Transplantation, Sebestian D. Burz, Scientific Reports

Skin microbiome modulation induced by probiotic solutions, Bernhard Paetzhold, Microbiome

Environmental microbiome

Microbial dynamics of biosand filters and contributions of the microbial food web to effective treatment of wastewater-impacted water sources, Tara M. Webster, AEM

Elucidating the ecological networks in stone‐dwelling microbiomes, Moussa Louati, Environmental Microbiology

Microbial indicators of environmental perturbations in coral reef ecosystems, Betina Glasl, Microbiome

The Role of the Human Microbiome in Chemical Toxicity, Jason M. Koontz, Int. j. Toxicology

June 13, 2019

Good morning everyone!

Today the focus is almost entirely on environmental microbiology- plant, soil and water habitats. Check also the methods paper regarding activating silent BGCs (a true challenge for drug discovery).

General Microbiology

A multiphase theory for spreading microbial swarms and films, Siddarth Srinivasan, eLIFE

Methods

Advances in microbial culturing conditions to activate silent biosynthetic gene clusters for novel metabolite production, Hailey A. Tomm, J. Industrial Microbiology % Biotechnology

A set of modular and integrative vectors for synthetic biology in Streptomyces, Celine Aubry, AEM

Revealing microbial assemblage structure in the human gut microbiome using latent Dirichlet allocation, Shion Hosoda, bioRxiv

Animal microbiome

The Insect Virome: Opportunities and Challenges, BC Bonning, Curr. Issues Mol Bio.

Host species and site of collection shape the microbiota of Rift Valley fever vectors in Kenya, David P. Tchouassi, PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases

Microbiomes of stony and soft deep-sea corals share rare core bacteria, Christina A. Kellogg, Microbiome

Plant Microbiome

Identification and Characterization of the Core Rice Seed Microbiome, Alexander W. Eyre, Phytobiome

Microbiota Associated with Sclerotia of Soilborne Fungal Pathogens – A Novel Source of Biocontrol Agents Producing Bioactive Volatiles, Pascal Mulner, Phytobiome

ffects of agricultural management on rhizosphere microbial structure and function in processing tomato, Jennifer E. Schmidt, AEM

Environmental microbiome

Methylotrophs and Methylotroph Populations for Chloromethane Degradation, F Bringel, Curr Issues Mol Bio.

Diversity of Methane Cycling Microorganisms in Soils and Their Relation to Oxygen, C Knief, Curr Issues Mol Bio.

Microbiomes in Ground Water and Alternative Irrigation Water, and Spinach Microbiomes Impacted by Irrigation with Different Types of Water, Ganyu Gu, Phytobiome

E

Microbiome in the market

Macrogen Announces Strategic Investment in Australian Microbiome Company, Microba

New DuPont research pact has animal microbiome focus

April 25, 2019

Good morning everyone! (and apologies for the delay, a technical issue regarding the system time difference between Israel and US Pacific time :)).

Due to yesterday extremely rich digest, today’s post will be short- but diverse! Spreading from gut microbiome in infants and beetles, to the effect of microbial communities on sweet wine quality. As a bonus for the upcoming weekend, at the end of the post you’ll find a link to an article listing 10 recommended biotech podcasts.

Happy holidays for all!

General Science and Microbiology

Failure to vaccinate and vaccine failure– Editorial- Nature Microbiology

The problem with unadjusted multiple and sequential statistical testing– Casper Albers- Nature Communications

Human microbiome

**Review – What did we learn from multiple omics studies in asthma?– Olga Ivanova- Allergy

Fecal microbiota transplant for Crohn disease: A study evaluating safety, efficacy, and microbiome profile– Liat Gutin- ueg

Specific class of intrapartum antibiotics relates to maturation of the infant gut microbiota: a prospective cohort study– Modupe O. Coker- BJOG

The Gut Microbiome on a Periodized Low-Protein Diet Is Associated With Improved Metabolic Health– Zhencheng Li- Frontiers in Microbiology

Plant microbiome

Characterization of Rhodopseudomonas palustris population dynamics on tobacco phyllosphere and induction of plant resistance to Tobacco mosaic virus infection– Pin Su- bioRxiv

The plant host induces antibiotic production to select the most beneficial colonizers– Ariel Ogran- AEM

Microbial network and soil properties are changed in bacterial wilt susceptible soil– Gaufo Qi- AEM

Water Microbiomes

Fates of antibiotic resistance genes in a distributed swine wastewater treatment plant– Qing-Bin Yuan- Water Environment Research

** Metabolic potential of uncultured bacteria and archaea associated with petroleum seepage in deep-sea sediments– Xiyang Dong- Nature Communications

Animal microbiome

Gut anatomical properties and microbial functional assembly promote lignocellulose deconstruction and colony subsistence of a wood-feeding beetle– Ceja Navarro- Nature Microbiology

Gut microbiome-derived phenyl sulfate contributes to albuminuria in diabetic kidney disease– Koichi kikuchi- Nature Communications

Honeybee-specific lactic acid bacterial supplements have no effect on American foulbrood infected honeybee colonies– Jorg G. Stephan- AEM

Food microbiome

Influence of microbial communities on the chemical and sensory features of Falanghina sweet passito wines– F De Fillips- Europe PMC

Microbiome in the News

The Asia Pacific human microbiome market is expected to reach US$ 207.81 Mn in 2025 -Cision

**UPDATED- Critical Reading required– Antibiotics: beneficial side effects are starting to come to light– Claire Bourke- The Conversation. I’m bringing about this post in order to encourage a discussion regarding the issues and claims that were written in this non-scientific article. You’re welcome to share your thoughts about it at the comments section below.

Podcasts

Top 10 Biotech Podcasts to Listen to this Spring– Clara Rodriguez Fernandez- Labiotech.eu

**Personal recommendation- This Week in Microbiolgy (TwiM)