Host-Microbe Biology
Research Article | Host-Microbe BiologyMicrobial Strategies for Survival in the Glass Sponge Vazella pourtalesiiWe investigated the microbial community of V. pourtalesii that forms globally unique, monospecific sponge grounds under low-oxygen conditions on the Scotian Shelf, where it plays a key role in its vulnerable ecosystem. The microbial community was found to be concentrated within biomass patches and is dominated by small cells (<1 μm). MAG analyses showed consistently small genome sizes and low GC contents, which is unusual...
Research Article | Host-Microbe BiologyDistinct Bacterial Pathways Influence the Efficacy of Antibiotics against Mycobacterium tuberculosisUnderstanding how Mycobacterium tuberculosis survives during antibiotic treatment is necessary to rationally devise more effective tuberculosis (TB) chemotherapy regimens. Using genome-wide mutant fitness profiling and the mouse model of TB, we identified genes that alter antibiotic efficacy specifically in the infection environment and associated several of these...
Research Article | Host-Microbe BiologyBactopia: a Flexible Pipeline for Complete Analysis of Bacterial GenomesIt is now relatively easy to obtain a high-quality draft genome sequence of a bacterium, but bioinformatic analysis requires organization and optimization of multiple open source software tools. We present Bactopia, a pipeline for bacterial genome analysis, as an option for processing bacterial genome data. Bactopia also automates downloading of data from multiple public sources and species-specific customization. Because the pipeline...
Research Article | Host-Microbe BiologyFormula Diet Alters the Ileal Metagenome and Transcriptome at Weaning and during the Postweaning Period in a Porcine ModelExclusive human milk (HM) breastfeeding for the first 6 months of age in infants is recommended to improve health outcomes during early life and beyond. When women are unable to provide sufficient HM, milk formula (MF) is often recommended as a complementary or alternative source of nutrition. Previous studies in piglets demonstrated that MF alters the gut microbiome and induces inflammatory cytokine production. The links between MF...
Research Article | Host-Microbe BiologyT3SEpp: an Integrated Prediction Pipeline for Bacterial Type III Secreted EffectorsType III secreted effector (T3SE) prediction remains a big computational challenge. In practical applications, current software tools often suffer problems of high false-positive rates. One of the causal factors could be the relatively unitary type of biological features used for the design and training of the models. In this research, we made a comprehensive survey on the sequence-based features of T3SEs, including signal sequences,...
Research Article | Host-Microbe BiologyHost Genetic Factors Associated with Vaginal Microbiome Composition in Kenyan WomenGlobally, bacterial vaginosis (BV) is a common condition in women. BV is associated with poorer reproductive health outcomes and HIV risk. Typically, BV represents a shift in the vaginal microbiome from one that is dominated by Lactobacillus to one that is diverse. Despite many women having similar exposures, the prevalence of BV and nonoptimal vaginal microbiome is increased for women of African descent, suggesting a possible...
Research Article | Host-Microbe BiologyA Distinct Contractile Injection System Gene Cluster Found in a Majority of Healthy Adult Human MicrobiomesTo engage with host cells, diverse pathogenic bacteria produce syringe-like structures called contractile injection systems (CIS). CIS are evolutionarily related to the contractile tails of bacteriophages and are specialized to puncture membranes, often delivering effectors to target cells. Although CIS are key for pathogens to cause disease, paradoxically, similar injection systems have been identified within healthy human microbiome...
Research Article | Host-Microbe BiologyConsumption of a Western-Style Diet Modulates the Response of the Murine Gut Microbiome to CiprofloxacinDue to the growing incidence of disorders related to antibiotic-induced dysbiosis, it is essential to determine how our “Western”-style diet impacts the response of the microbiome to antibiotics. While diet and antibiotics have profound impacts on gut microbiome composition, little work has been done to examine their combined effects. Previous work has shown that nutrient availability, influenced by diet, plays an important role in...
Perspective | Host-Microbe BiologyCOVID-19 and the Gut Microbiome: More than a Gut FeelingDue to its fundamental role in the induction, training, and function of the immune system, it is critical to include characterizations of the gut microbiome in clinical trials and studies that aim to broaden our understanding of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Understanding the “gut-lung axes,” where gut microbiome composition influences the lung’s susceptibility to viral infections and viral infections of the lung alter gut...
Research Article | Host-Microbe BiologyCharacterization of the Vaginal Microbiome in Women with Infertility and Its Potential Correlation with Hormone Stimulation during In Vitro Fertilization SurgeryThe microbiome had been hypothesized to be involved in the physiology and pathophysiology of assisted reproduction before the first success in IVF, while the data supporting or refuting this hypothesis were less than conclusive. Thanks to sequencing data from the 16S rRNA subunit, we characterized the microbiome in the reproductive tract of infertile women, and we found that changes in the vaginal microbiome are related to female...