News & Views in 2020

Commensal pneumococci convert invasive diseases to peaceful colonizers by commandeering the host nuclear KDM6B demethylase to mark NF-κB sites of the IL-11 cytokine promoter and increase epithelium repair.

By competing for the same binding site on SmbA, a regulatory nucleotide-binding protein, the bacterial second messengers c-di-GMP and (p)ppGpp inversely balance cell cycle re-entry of growth-arrested swarmer cells of Caulobacter crescentus.

Spermine is essential for adhesion to the hydrophobic rice leaf surface by the blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae during infection.

Many bacteria rely on their flagella for motility, yet the molecular mechanism of flagellar rotation was previously unclear. Recently, multiple papers solved the atomic structure of the bacterial flagellum stator complex, elucidating how these intricate molecular machines operate.

Epigenetic switching between white and opaque cell types in Candida is mediated by transcription factors that undergo liquid–liquid phase separation.

Sub-inhibitory levels of an antibiotic switch on cryptic stress pathways in Escherichia coli that result in the production of immunomodulatory molecules.

Glycolytic Staphylococcus aureus generate lactate that targets specific histone deacetylases to stimulate the production of IL-10 and enable biofilm formation.

Meta-analysis of four human cohort studies reveals specific keystone bacteria associated with gut microbiome recovery after antibiotic exposure.

The dogma that conversion of the RNA genome of HIV into DNA occurs in the cytoplasm before nuclear entry is challenged using nuclear pore blockade experiments.

A virus has been found inserted into the genome of the most abundant bacteria in the oceans. Even though the virus can kill its host, the genes carried by the prophage may help these bacteria flourish around the world.

A dual-mechanism compound with antibacterial activity that targets both folate metabolism and membrane integrity, with a favourable resistance profile in vitro, is identified by screening a small molecule library.

Marine bacteria that produce an enormous panoply of glycan-degrading enzymes are identified as having a role in releasing fixed carbon present in glycan-rich cell walls of brown algae.

Iron-scavenging molecules called siderophores that are produced by the native microbial residents of plant roots fend off plant pathogens such as Ralstonia solanacearum.

Cooperative behaviour enables populations of yeast cells to survive high temperatures.

Some cytosolic bacteria deform the plasma membrane to spread from cell to cell. Secretion of 25-hydroxy-cholesterol by macrophages has emerged as a protective response that depletes the cholesterol pool used by these bacteria to disseminate through epithelia.

Monkeypox, a zoonotic disease that is marked in humans by a smallpox-like rash, may present as a rash-less respiratory disease in wild chimpanzees.

Protease-enabled strand exchange to mediate assembly of type V pilus is confirmed using a combination of cryogenic electron microscopy and X-ray crystal structures.

Earthy-smelling volatiles produced by sporulating Streptomyces attract soil arthropods that eat the bacteria and spread ‘hitch-hiking’ spores.

Multi-omics reveals how metabolites produced by pioneer bacterial species might alter the neonatal gut environment to an anaerobic state much earlier than was previously thought during the first hours of life.

The combined selective pressures of residing in different protozoan hosts in the environment drives the evolution of virulence in the opportunistic pathogen Legionella pneumophila.