Volume 8 Issue 10, October 2023

Thumbi Ndung’u reminisces about how far we have come in our fight against HIV-1, a pandemic virus that causes AIDS, and where we still need to go.

Genomic epidemiology of the Yemen cholera outbreak reveals the genetic basis for emergence of multidrug resistance with implications for Vibrio cholerae surveillance and control.

Diverse marine bacteria exhibit a preference for either sugars or acids as carbon sources and this preference is predictable from genomic signatures.

Genetic and phenotypic changes that enable Pseudomonas to adapt to an animal host are identified. These traits are controlled by a universal signalling molecule and are shared by diverse strains.

Recovery and characterization of the wild-type pangolin coronavirus GD strain helps determine whether these viruses present risks for human transmission and an emerging threat to public health.

Structural analysis reveals that spores of the microsporidium Spraguea lophii contain dimeric hibernating ribosomes.

Detection of poliovirus by cell culture and subsequent serotype identification via Sanger sequencing can be slow, delaying responses to emerging outbreaks. Direct virus detection using nested reverse transcription PCR and nanopore sequencing was prospectively validated in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and yielded accurate results in a fraction of the time.

Dietary fibre deprivation in mice increases the abundance of gut microbial mucin-degrading species, leads to barrier dysfunction and increases local type 2 inflammation. In a tractable human microbiota mouse model, the presence of Akkermansia muciniphila results in increased anti-commensal IgE and type 2 immune responses, worsening food allergy symptoms following sensitization.

A framework centred on relationality among Indigenous peoples, researchers and microorganisms is presented, to guide ethical microbiome research.

This Perspective argues that microbiome ownership needs to be considered in microbiome research involving Indigenous peoples.

Genomic epidemiology of Vibrio cholerae isolates recovered between 2016 and 2019 during the Yemen cholera outbreak reveals acquisition of multidrug resistance and patterns of plasmid transmission between endemic and epidemic lineages.

Carbon catabolism of heterotrophic bacteria can be described using a simple general principle, which is their preference for either glycolytic (sugars) or gluconeogenic (amino and organic acids) carbon sources. This is reflected in their genomes via pathway abundances and GC content.

The bacterial second messenger c-di-GMP is important for host association of microbes in C. elegans and beyond.

Pangolin coronavirus GD has reduced replication and transmission fitness compared with SARS-CoV-2, and therapies approved for SARS-CoV-2 are effective against this virus.

Electron cryo-microscopy revealed that ribosomes from microsporidian parasites were in a hibernating state, whereby the ribosomes form inactive pairs.

M3-seq uses combinatorial indexing alongside post hoc rRNA depletion in a single-cell RNA sequencing approach that reveals bacterial heterogeneity and rare populations during antibiotic stress and phage infection, as well as bet-hedging responses during growth.

The gut commensal Akkermansia muciniphila regulates food allergy symptoms in a diet-dependent manner in mice.

The Parkinson’s disease-associated leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 acts as a protein scaffold promoting mitochondria–Salmonella-containing vacuole tether formation and itaconate delivery to provide cell-intrinsic defence in Salmonella-infected macrophages.

Identification of divisome proteins related to human gephyrin and its membrane receptor in non-model Gram positive Corynebacteriales could provide new antibiotic targets for important pathogens including M. tuberculosis and C. diptheriae.

Plasmodium falciparum candidate artemisinin partial-resistance Kelch13 622I mutation co-occurs with pfhrp2/3 deletions in Ethiopia.

A metagenomic compendium from lakes across Canada reveals bacterial metabolic potential and how it varies depending on land use in different regions.