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of the contribution of the mobile metagenome to evolution and function of the human gut microbiome in particular, will be important in the development of strategies to manipulate this community for the benefit of human health, as well as harnessing its full biotechnological potential. Brian Jones University of Brighton
■ 5. Bäckhed, F., Ley, R. E., Sonnenburg, J.L., Peterson, D. A., and Gordon, J. I. (2005). Host-bacterial mutualism in the human intestine. Science, Vol. 307, pp1915–1920. ■ 6. Ley, R. E., Peterson, D. A., and Gordon, J. I. (2006). Ecological and evolutionary forces shaping microbial diversity in the human intestine. Cell, Vol. 124, pp837–848. ■ 7. Jones, B. V., and Marchesi, J. R. (2007). Transposon-aided capture (TRACA) of plasmids resident in the human gut mobile metagenome. Nat. Methods, Vol. 4, pp55–61. ■ 8. Jones, B. V., Sun, F., and Marchesi, J. R. (2010). Comparative metagenomic analysis of plasmid encoded functions in the human gut microbiome. BMC Genomics, Vol. 11, p46. ■ 9. Jones, B. V. (2010). The human gut mobile metagenome: a metazoan perspective. Gut Microbes, Vol. 1, pp415–431. ■ 10. Ogilvie, L. A., Firouzmand, S., and Jones, B. V. (2011). Evolutionary, ecological, and biotechnological perspectives on plasmids resident in the human gut mobile metagenome. Bioengineered Bugs (In Press). ■ 11. Smillie, C. S., Smith, M. B., Friedman, J., Cordero, O. X., David, L. A., and Alm, E. J. (2011). Ecology drives a global network of gene exchange connecting the human microbiome. Nature, Vol. 480, pp241– 244. ■ 12. Zaneveld, J. R., Lozupone, C., Gordon, J. I., and Knight, R. (2010). Ribosomal RNA diversity predicts genome diversity in gut bacteria and their relatives. Nucleic Acids Res., Vol. 38, pp3869–3879. ■ 13. Hehemann, J.-H., Correc, G., Barbeyron, T., Helbert, W., Czjzek, M., and Michel, G. (2010). Transfer of carbohydrate-active enzymes from marine bacteria to Japanese gut microbiota. Nature, Vol. 464, pp908–912. ■ 14. Reyes, A., Haynes, M., Hanson, N., Angly, F.E., Heath, A.C., Rohwer, F., and Gordon, J. I. (2010). Viruses in the faecal microbiota of monozygotic twins and their mothers. Nature, Vol. 466, pp334–338. ■ 15. Luzopone, C. A., Hamady, M., Cantral, B. L., Coutinho, P. M., Henrissat, B., Gordon, J. I., and Knight, R. (2008). The convergence of carbohydrate active gene repertoires in human gut microbes. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, Vol. 105, pp15076–15081. ■ 16. Xu, J., Mahowals, M. A., Ley, R. E., Lozupone, C. A., Hamady, M., Martens, E. C., et al., (2007). Evolution of symbiotic bacteria in the distal human intestine. PLoS Biol., Vol. 5, No. 7, pp1574–1586. ■ 17. Jones, B. V., Begley, M., Hill, C., Gahan, C. G. M., and Marchesi, J. R. (2008). Functional and comparative metagenomic analysis of bile salt hydrolase activity in the human gut microbiome. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, Vol. 105, pp13580–13585. ■ 18. Jones, B. V., and Marchesi, J. R. (2007). Accessing the mobile metagenome of the human gut microbiota. Mol. Biosyst., Vol. 3, pp749–758. ■ 19. McNiel, N. I. (1984). The contribution of the large intestine to energy supplies in man. Am. J. Clin. Nutr., Vol. 39, pp338–342. ■ 20. Nelson, K. E., Weinstock, G. M., Highlander, S. K., Worley, K. C., et al., (2010). A catalog of reference genomes from the human microbiome. Science, Vol. 328, pp994–999. ■ 21. Zilber-Rosenberg, I., and Rosenberg, E. (2008). Role of microorganisms in the evolution of animals and plants: the hologenome theory of evolution. FEMS Microbiol. Rev., Vol. 32, pp723–735. ■ 22. Dethlefsen, L., McFall-Ngai, M., and Relman, D. A. (2007). An ecological and evolutionary perspective on human-microbe mutualism and disease. Nature, Vol. 449, pp811–818. ■ 23. Zambryski, P. (1988). Basic processes underlying Agrobacterium-mediated DNA transfer to plant cells. Annu. Rev. Genet., Vol. 22, pp1–30. ■ 24. Heinemann, J. A., and Sprague, G. F. Jr. (1989). Bacterial conjugative plasmids mobilize DNA transfer between bacteria and yeast. Nature, Vol. 340, pp205–209. ■ 25. Waters, V. L. (2001). Conjugation between bacterial and mammalian cells. Nat. Genet., Vol. 29, No.4, pp375–376. ■ 26. Ebdon, J., Muniesa, M., and Taylor, H. (2007). The application of a recently isolated strain of Bacteroides (GB-124) to identify human sources of faecal pollution in a temperate river catchment. Water Res., Vol. 41, pp3683–3690. ■ 27. Eckburg, P. B., Bik, E. M., Bernstein, C. N., Purdom, E., Dethlefsen, L., Sargent, M., Gill, S. R., Nelson, K. E., and Relman, D. A. (2005). Diversity of the human intestinal microbial flora. Science, Vol. 308, pp1635–1638. ■ 28. Breitbart, M., Hewson, I., Felts, B., Mahaffy, J. M., Nulton, J., Salamon, P., and Rohwer, F. (2003). Metagenomic analyses of an uncultured viral community from human feces. J. Bacteriol., Vol. 185, pp6220–6223. ■ 29. Zoetendal, E. G., Akkermans, D. L., and de Vos, W. M. (1998). Temperature gradient gel electrophoresis analysis of 16S rRNA from human faecal samples reveals stable and host-specific communities of active bacteria. Appl. Environ. Microbiol., Vol. 64, pp3854–3859.
Call for nominations for W H Pierce Prize Do you know a young microbiologist (under 40 years of age) who has made a substantial contribution to microbiology? If so, why not nominate them for this prestigious and substantial award which is now worth £3000. The award was instituted in 1984 by Oxoid to commemorate the life and works of the late W H (Bill) Pierce, former Chief Bacteriologist at Oxoid Ltd and a long-time member of the Society. The prize is presented annually at the Summer Conference. Full Members wishing to make a nomination for the 2012 prize should write in confidence to the Honorary General Secretary, Professor Mark Fielder, at the Society Office in Bedford, including a full CV of the nominee and a letter of support. Please note that application is through nomination by Full Members of SfAM only and that there are no official forms for this award. Closing date for nominations is Thursday 19 April 2012
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