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Chauhan, Ashvini

Publications and source records attributed to Chauhan, Ashvini.

STREAMS guidelines: standards for technical reporting in environmental and host-associated microbiome studies

The interdisciplinary nature of microbiome research, coupled with the generation of complex multi-omics data, makes knowledge sharing challenging. The Strengthening the Organization and Reporting of Microbiome Studies (STORMS) guidelines provide a checklist for the reporting of study information, experimental design and analytical methods within a scientific manuscript on human microbiome research. Here, in this Consensus Statement, we present the standards for technical reporting in environmental and host-associated microbiome studies (STREAMS) guidelines. The guidelines expand on STORMS and include 67 items to support the reporting and review of environmental (for example, terrestrial, aquatic, atmospheric and engineered), synthetic and non-human host-associated microbiome studies in a standardized and machine-actionable manner. Based on input from 248 researchers spanning 28 countries, we provide detailed guidance, including comparisons with STORMS, and case studies that demonstrate the usage of the STREAMS guidelines. In conclusion, STREAMS, like STORMS, will be a living community resource updated by the Consortium with consensus-building input of the broader community.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES

The Study of Microbial Physiology Under Microoxic Conditions Is Critical but Neglected

ABSTRACT During the early evolution of life on Earth, the environment was largely free of molecular oxygen, and only anaerobic life existed. With the subsequent oxidation of oceans and the atmosphere, a wide range of environmental niches, ranging from anoxic to microoxic/hypoxic and oxic, developed. Despite this broad range of natural environments, microbiology as a field has focused on the physiology, metabolism, and genetics of aerobic microorganisms, with less attention paid to anaerobes and much less attention paid to microaerophiles. The disparity in studies between aerobic and anaerobic conditions is rampant in host‐associated systems, particularly in human health, and studies of microorganisms in intermediate oxygen conditions between fully aerobic and fully anoxic conditions are exceedingly rare. Studies on the physiological behaviour, metabolism, growth response, and drug susceptibility patterns of commensal and pathogenic organisms are almost totally neglected in microoxic conditions. Furthermore, microorganisms from microaerobic and microoxic ecosystems have been less robustly explored in terms of physiology, growth, and metabolism. In this work, we highlight the importance of understanding the physiological and metabolic behaviours of microorganisms under hypoxic or microoxic conditions.

Environmental Sciences & Ecology