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Mobile tet(X3) and tet(X4) genes are identified on conjugative plasmids in Enterobacteriaceae and Acinetobacter isolated from humans, meat for consumption and animals that confer resistance to tetracyclines, including tigecycline, eravacycline and omadacycline.
A combination of microfluidic devices, transcriptomic analyses and reporter strains shows that Pseudomonas aeruginosa modulates gene expression in response to shear flow. This process, termed rheosensing, does not require known surface sensors and is regulated by the alternative sigma factor FroR.
Here, the authors identify a mutualistic symbiosis between a non-motile, magnetic deltaproteobacterium and a protist, resulting in eukaryotic magnetoreception in marine anoxic sediments.
Using a short-hairpin RNA-based depletion strategy coupled with high throughput RNA sequencing, the authors unravel a layer of intrinsic immunity to positive-strand RNA viruses in immortalized hepatocytes that relies on basal expression levels of interferon regulatory factor 1 maintaining the transcription of a suite of antiviral genes.
A genome-wide CRISPR interference screen of the fast-growing Vibrio natriegens bacterium elucidates the make-up of minimal genomes and the metabolic pathways enabling rapid bacterial replication.
This study highlights the impact of the gut virome on host immunity by showing that a specific strain of murine astrovirus in the gut of immunodeficient mice protects them against norovirus and rotavirus infections, and that this protection depends on interferon-λ signalling in gut epithelial cells.
Staphylococcus aureus quorum sensing-deficient mutants form compact biofilms during infection that resist attack by phagocytes and confer enhanced immune evasion.
A comparative analysis of Asgard archaea genomes elucidates their metabolic potential and leads to the proposal of a revised ‘aerobic protoeukaryotes’ model for the origin of the eukaryotic cell.
Strain-level analysis of gut and oral microbiomes from individuals living in the Fiji Islands identified shared genomes particularly within households, indicating potential microbial transmission within social networks.
A combination of genetic analyses of Anopheles species across sub-Saharan Africa, time-series quantification of Plasmodium falciparum prevalence in mosquitoes and Granger causality statistical testing reveals that changes in the genetic structure of a population over short ecological timescales drive Plasmodium dynamics in nature.
Using a small interfering RNA-based library screening in interferon-treated cells, the authors identified human tripartite-containing motif 5α as potent restriction factor that inhibits HIV-1 DNA synthesis and infection in a capsid- and immunoproteasome-dependent manner.
CRISPR spacers can recombine with phage target sequences to mediate a form of specialized transduction that can promote transfer of CRISPR elements to other bacteria in the population.
A yeast surface display screen identifies five Aedes aegypti salivary proteins that are antigenic in mice repeatedly bitten by these mosquitoes. Antiserum against one of these proteins, Anopheles gambiae bacteria-responsive 1, partially protected mice against lethal mosquito-borne Zika virus infection.
A metagenome-based survey of archaeal genomes encoding methyl-coenzyme M reductase (MCR)—a key enzyme for methanogenesis and anaerobic methane oxidation—reveals that MCR-based metabolism is common and diverse in archaea, and may be coupled to dissimilatory sulfate reduction in single organisms.
Characterization of air and soil microbial communities above and within an Antarctic valley revealed that airborne inputs to the system cannot fully explain local soil diversity and that fungi were sourced from a larger regional pool compared to bacteria, indicating limited microbial dispersal in this region.
Interferometric scattering microscopy enables the imaging of type IV pili extension, attachment, retraction and detachment dynamics, highlighting how the retraction motor PilT and its partner ATPase PilU coordinate their activities during twitching motility.
The Vibrio parahaemolyticus toxin, thermostable direct haemolysin, utilizes secretion by both type II and type III secretion systems to induce virulence traits.
Selenoproteins—proteins that contain the twenty-first amino acid selenocysteine—were previously thought to be lacking in fungi. Analysis of genomes from early-branching fungal phyla identified selenocysteine machinery and selenoproteins, indicating that these proteins are present in all kingdoms of life.
During Toxoplasma gondii infection, diacylglycerol kinase 2 is secreted into the parasitophorous vacuole, leading to the production of phosphatidic acid, which is sensed by an atypical guanylate cyclase in the parasite plasma membrane, triggering egress from the host cell.