Environmental Microbiology (2017) 19(4), 1687–1688
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Web alert
Web alert: Human microbiome
An annotated selection of World Wide Web sites relevant
to the topics in environmental microbiology
Shaping of mammalian gut microbiomes over
evolutionary time
http://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms14319?WT.feed_
name5subjects_microbiome
This recent article explores the relationship between
mammalian host species and their microbial gut flora
over evolutionary time in a broad-based manner.
Mammals shape microbiome to control disease
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/01/
160113132309.htm
This news-type article describes the intestinal secretion
of microRNAs by mammals that enter their microbial
inhabitants, helping to regulate the microbes. It is
thought that this lowers the incidence of diseases such
as colitis.
Review on mammalian microbiome
https://genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.
1186/s13059-016-1086-x
This is a comprehensive review with a particular focus
on the importance of study design and proper statistical
treatment of data to avoid reaching unreasonable biolog-
ical conclusions.
Center for gut microbiome research and education
http://www.gastro.org/about/initiatives/aga-center-for-gut-
microbiome-research-education
This website of the American Gastroenterological Asso-
ciation is dedicated to research, events, news, and poli-
cy related to human gut microbiomes.
C 2017 Society for Applied Microbiology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd
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doi:10.1111/1462-2920.
Ecology of the microbiome
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/f0b0/
5f8758ca5374cac9f23673f12981372afcf9.pdf
This Science paper analyzes the stability of animal
microbiomes from the standpoint of ecological theory to
investigate their stability.
The metabolic microbiome
http://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/pdf/S1550-
4131(14)00465-3.pdf
This Editorial in the journal Cell serves as a lead-in to a
special issue on metabolic aspects of mammalina micro-
biomes, both host and microbial partners.
Microbial-mammalian metabolic axis
http://pubmedcentralcanada.ca/pmcc/articles/
PMC4961256/
There is increasing evidence that metabolites produced
by gut microbiota function as key messengers in the
symbiosis between microbes and their hosts, and this
review focuses in this area.
Human microbiome project
https://commonfund.nih.gov/hmp/index
The human microbiome website maintained by the U.S.
National Institutes of Health is focused on microbial pop-
ulations on and in the human body with respect to their
propensity to cause disease or promote health.
Human oral microbiome database
http://www.homd.org/
1688 Web alert
This website provides detailed information on approxi-
mately 700 prokaryotic species that inhabit the human
oral cavity.
Small molecules from the human microbiota
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4641445/
This review article discusses natural products produced
by microbes in the human gut. Generally, gut natural
products are smaller and less complex structurally than
natural products produced by soil bacteria.
Michael Fischbach website
http://profiles.ucsf.edu/michael.fischbach
Michael Fischbach’s website contains information
regarding his personal research, with links to tools and
data.
Natural products mediating disease
http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2017/np/
c6np00063k#!divAbstract
This review article focuses on the natural products pro-
duced by human-associated microbes and their contri-
butions to causing disease.
Ancient teeth microbiomes
http://www.pnas.org/content/113/21/5764.full
This article describes efforts to examine the oral micro-
biome of humans from earlier millenia by looking at
DNA in fossilized dental calculus.
Human skin microbiome
http://www.nature.com/articles/s41522-016-0004-z
C 2017 Society for Applied Microbiology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Environmental Microbiology, 19, 1687–1688
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This review article focuses on the changing perceptions
of the human skin microflora as evolving from a study of
disease to an understanding of normal skin microbiomes
and their role in health.
Is Helicobacter pylori disappearing?
https://www.pri.org/stories/2016-02-02/bacterium-causes-
ulcers-and-stomach-cancers-disappearing-hold-your-
celebrations
The incidence of Helicobacter pylori in human stomachs
apperas to be declining. It is suggested that a single
course of amoxicillin may clear normally-commensual H.
pylori from a person’s stomach.
Skin microbiome of dogs
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id510.1371/
journal.pone.0083197
This study compared the skin microbiomes of healthy
dogs and dogs suffering from chronic allergic conditions.
Microbiome digest
https://microbiomedigest.com/2017/03/21/march-21-
2017/
These blog posts cover a wide range of microbiome
studies. One group covered is focused on human micro-
biome research. The site is also highlights studies on
the microbiomes of animals and plants.
Lawrence P. Wackett
McKnight Professor
Microbial Biochemistry and Biotechnology
Department of Biochemistry
Molecular Biology and Biophysics
University of Minnesota
St Paul, MN 55108, USA