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With funding for the HMP and Meta-HIT consortia now ending, what's next for these large-scale efforts to map the hidden microbial hordes associated with the human body?
A new study reveals that intracellular pathogens induce xenophagy by activating an amino acid starvation response in infected cells and thatS. Typhimurium can modulate this response to avoid autophagic degradation.
A ring-shaped structure formed by septins, F-actin and other cytoskeletal components at the base of theMagnaporthe oryzaeappressorium provides the rigidity and negative membrane curvature needed for protrusion of the penetration peg into the rice leaf.
A new paper identifies expansion of the CBM18 domain as one of the key events in the evolution of pathogenicity in the amphibian pathogenBatrachochytrium dendrobatidis.
This month's Genome Watch describes how knowledge of the malaria parasite genome can be used to better understand and mitigate the emergence of drug resistance.
Vertebrates protect against infection through the sequestration of nutrient metals, and bacterial pathogens have evolved sophisticated acquisition strategies to circumvent this host defence. In this Review, Hood and Skaar describe this molecular arms race for nutrients.
Correlation and co-occurrence patterns found in metagenomic and phylogenetic data sets are increasingly being used to predict species interactions in the environment. Here, Faust and Raes describe the range of approaches for predicting microbial network models, the pitfalls that are associated with each approach and the future for developing ecosystem-wide models.
Although more than one-third of the Earth's continental surface is permanently or seasonally arid, microbial communities have evolved to cope with the extreme stresses that are imposed by such environments. Here, Pointing and Belnap describe the microbial communities that are found in desert environments and the biogeological processes that they carry out.
Viroporins belong to a growing family of virally encoded proteins that form aqueous channels in the membranes of host cells. Here, Carrasco and colleagues review the structure and diverse biological functions of these proteins during the viral life cycle, as well as their potential as antiviral therapeutic targets.
Recent high-throughput sequencing studies have provided a first glimpse of the microbiome associated with late-stage colorectal cancer. In this Opinion article, Tjalsma and colleagues present a driver–passenger model to account for the distinct temporal associations of particular bacteria with the diseased tissue during oncogenesis.
Competition is fierce in the microbial world, making evolutionary training and fitness essential for a microorganism to survive and thrive. To honour this spirit, in this Essay an expert panel has selected seven special events to make up the inaugural Microbial Olympics.
