microbiome, public health

Flavivirus infections alter the skin microbiome of mice to increase the production of a sweet-smelling compound that attracts the viruses’ insect vectors, a study finds.

The Scientist spoke with Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School researchers Scott Weiss and Yang-Yu Liu, who propose that people bank stool samples when they’re young and healthy so that they can be transplanted to rejuvenate the gut microbiome later on.

The researchers found thousands of species not previously documented.

Tiny doses of maternal poo mixed with breast milk and given to Cesarean-born infants makes their gut microbiota resemble those of babies born vaginally.

Metabolic disrupters, phages, and other approaches are going to be needed to treat the broadest possible range of patients infected by bacterial pathogens resistant to multiple drugs.

Calories aren’t enough to correct malnourishment, but eating foods that spur specific microbes to grow in the gut can.

Glyphosate perturbs the balance of gut bacteria in honey bees and increases the insects’ susceptibility to lethal infection.

Antibiotics boost men’s responses to the oral rotavirus vaccine.

Ancient hominins in northern Spain ate mushrooms, pine nuts, and moss, and may have used Penicillium mold and other natural products to sooth toothache pain.

Scientists treat Staphylococcus aureus skin infections using lotions made with bacteria from atopic dermatitis patients’ own microbiomes.

Survey of 24 animal species suggests that each hosts a custom-tailored microbiome.

Kids often acquire cavity-causing bacteria from non-family members, researchers report at the American Society for Microbiology annual meeting.

Mouse pups born to mothers fed a high-fat diet lack a gut microbe that promotes social behavior, scientists show.

Researchers mix bacteria genetically engineered to express double-stranded RNA into insect food.

Ilkka Hanski of the University of Helsinki has passed away at age 63.

The White House announces a new effort to study diverse microbial communities around the planet.