Volume 1 Issue 11, November 2016

Structural determination of the secreted haem-binding protein from Candida albicans reveals a novel fold and haem coordination environment that facilitates the shuttling of the haem cofactor across the cell wall to the cell surface.

The number of ribosomal operons in bacterial genomes correlates with both growth rate and carbon use efficiency, likely via proteome allocation trade-offs, providing clues into how microbial communities are structured to make best use of available nutrients.

Viruses, once thought of only as purveyors of disease, take centre stage, from the human microbiome to the oceans, as archives of global diversity and drivers of biogeochemical cycles.

Technological breakthroughs in cryo-electron microscopy are allowing the capture of virus structures, leading to advances in the field of viral microbiology almost daily. An innovative structure–function study on Aichi virus reveals that novel entry mechanisms, yet undiscovered, may exist for non-enveloped viruses.

Sequence variability in microbial surface proteins can be extensive in order to promote immune escape, but the changes must not interfere with the function of the protein. Structural analysis of a streptococcal protein now clarifies how an extremely variable region retains its ability to specifically bind its human target.

Optical and force nanoscopy enable visualization of intracellular and extracellular microbial structures with unprecedented resolution. This Review discusses the principles, advantages and limitations of the main optical and force nanoscopy techniques available.

The structure of the LipidA diacylglucosamine pyrophosphohydrolase LpxH bound to its lipid X substrate is presented.

Pulsed doses of antibiotics increased the incidence of type 1 diabetes in non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice. This was associated with altered gut microbial composition, lipid metabolism, host cholesterol biosynthetic gene expression and Th17 and Treg cell proportions.

Intracellular microsporidian parasites can restructure host cells to induce fusion with neighbouring cells, which enables cell-to-cell spread independent of spore formation.

The mycobacterial glutamine amidotransferase GatCAB complex mediates the translational fidelity of glutamine and asparagine codons and strains with mutations in gatA show increased mistranslation, with associated antibiotic tolerance.

3D tracking of quantum dots, cross-kymography and computational modelling reveals a left-hand corkscrew motion of the H. salinarum archaellum, with a right-handed helical structure and a motor efficiency of 6–10%.

To coordinate cell wall synthesis, the fungus Ustilago maydis packages different cell-wall-forming enzymes into the same vesicles, which ensures that the enzymes travel together to foci of cell wall formation in the plasma membrane.

Transcriptional interactions between co-existing microorganisms from stool samples revealed enriched interactions involved in H₂ and CO₂ homeostasis, butyrate biosynthesis, ABC transporters, flagella assembly, bacterial chemotaxis and metabolism.

The structure of Aichi virus — a poorly characterized picornavirus that causes severe gastroenteritis in children — shows intermediate features between those of enteroviruses and cardioviruses, and provides clues into its cellular receptor.

Deep sequencing of samples from patients infected with Ebola virus during the latest West Africa outbreak reveals intra-host single nucleotide variations, including events that modulate the expression of the gene encoding the viral nucleoprotein.

Crystal structures of hypervariable group A Streptocococus M proteins define a conserved binding modality to complement the associated C4b-binding protein.

The first crystal structure of a fungal secreted haemophore—Csa2 from Candida albicans—provides insight into how pathogenic fungi extract haem from haemoglobin and transfer it to the cytoplasm, where it serves as a source of iron.

The number of ribosomal RNA operons in bacterial genomes is positively related to maximum reproductive rate and negatively related to carbon use efficiency, and can also predict traits such as chemotaxis and genome streamlining.

Star-shaped engineered peptide nanoparticles are effective at killing a variety of multidrug-resistant Gram-negative pathogens in vivo with low host toxicity and resistance.

The symbiotic cyanobacterium UCYN-A was found to contribute to ∼20% of the nitrogen fixation in the tropical North Atlantic Ocean, and is more widely distributed throughout tropical, temperate and polar oceans than previously thought.