Bacterial genes articles from across Nature Portfolio

DNA recognition by Argonaute proteins activates effector nucleases that trigger indiscriminate DNA and RNA cleavage and induce abortive infection.

Proteins compacting the bacterial chromosome obstruct transcription and must be transiently displaced to allow gene expression. Here, the authors show that the bacterial nucleoid structuring protein H-NS can be dislodged, from a distance, by the twisting in the DNA generated ahead of approaching RNA polymerase.

Deep investigation of the sequence-structure-function landscape of the tetracycline destructase family of antibiotic resistance enzymes identifies new enzymes, and amino acid spositions essential to activity.

Here, the authors report the results of a BARNARDS sub-study identifying a 1% mobile colistin resistance gene (mcr) carriage rate in around 5000 rectal swabs from mothers and neonates across Nigeria, of which 90% were mcr-10 (mostly Enterobacter spp.) and 10% were mcr-1 and mcr9.

Campos-Pardos et al show that the virulence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is dependent on sufficient uptake of exogenous vitamin B12 from host serum and this phenotype is not conserved in environmental, opportunistic and ancestral lineages.

In this Journal Club, Lisa Maier explores Abigail Salyers’ groundbreaking research on Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, focusing on how she established a new genetic system and investigated how these gut bacteria bind and use starch, uncovering important insights into their metabolism.

The beneficial rhizobacterium Bacillus velezensis SQR9 secretes YukE by the type VII secretion system; YukE inserts into the plant root cell membrane to cause iron leakage, which benefits SQR9 and thus promotes its rhizosphere colonization.

This Genome Watch highlights recent metagenomics studies in fish that reveal unique microbiomes with low functional diversity, which could help to improve our understanding of host–microorganism dynamics in non-mammalian species.

This month’s Genome Watch highlights how recent advances in computational identification of biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs), and in their experimental manipulation, are opening new avenues to access novel secondary metabolites.

This study identified a functional restriction modification system in the mitochondrial genome of a marine protist that originated in bacteria.

This study reports the discovery of an anaerobic ciliate with reduced mitochondria that secondarily acquired a bacterial endosymbiont enabling the host to generate energy by denitrification.