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Construction of a global catalogue of human gut archaeal genomes and their viruses provides insights into the structure, composition and function of the human gut archaeome.
Immunologic recognition of bacterial products during skin infection triggers a cytokine and chemokine response that facilitates neutrophil recruitment to the site of infection. Staphylococcus aureus phenol-soluble modulins can function as early chemoattractants to directly recruit neutrophils and alert the host to infection.
Cooperative interaction between low-abundance gut bacteria is required to convert l-carnitine to TMAO via a multi-step pathway, which leads to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
Shigella uses the OspC3 type III secretion system effector to catalyze ADP riboxanation of caspases-4 and 11, preventing lipopolysaccharide recognition and pyroptotic death of the infected cell.
Advances in CRISPR–Cas tools coupled with innovative screening and bioinformatic pipelines make it possible to conduct strain-specific and site-specific genome editing within a microbial community without the need for prior culturing or engineering.
Bacteriophages fight back with the double whammy of an anti-CRISPR protein and integration into the CRISPR array to protect themselves from the CRISPR–Cas9 immune system of Streptococcus pyogenes.
The mammalian immune system has evolved to tolerate commensal microbes that inhabit our mucosal surfaces. Two recent studies explore how intestinal immunity achieves this state of tolerance and show that IgA enforces commensalism of pathobiont Candida species.
Diverse CRISPR–Cas systems protect prokaryotes against invasive genetic elements like phages. A new study finds that evolution has fused a multi-subunit CRISPR complex into a single protein that cuts RNA and interacts with an ancillary caspase-like peptidase, which may trigger cell suicide.
Mimicking microbial degradation of sinking marine particles in the laboratory reveals a complex relationship between settling and decomposition rates that informs our view on how the ocean’s biological carbon pump is controlled.
Systematic single-cell analyses of human cytomegalovirus infection reveal that host factors modulate the progression of infection, but the course of viral infection itself is determined by virus genes.
Infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria are increasingly prevalent and difficult to treat. A new study identifies the unique vulnerabilities of a class of antibiotic-resistant mutants at the genomic scale, giving new insights into drugs that can be used in combination with antibiotics to suppress resistance.
Roles for dimethylsulfoniopropionate-based infochemical signalling in ocean microbiome ecosystems are reported in a pair of Nature Microbiology papers.
Breastmilk contains human milk oligosaccharides that promote the growth of Bifidobacterium species in the infant gut. These beneficial bacteria can produce aromatic lactic acids that may impact immune function in early life.
Single-cell sequencing of nasal swab samples from people uninfected or infected with SARS-CoV-2 shows that children have a primed innate immune response, which may protect them from severe disease.
Extracellular electron transport in Geobacter has long been ascribed to conductive pili. Cryogenic electron microscopy now reveals non-conductive filaments made of pilin-heterodimer subunits. The combined data support a role for Geobacter pili in cytochrome-nanowire secretion instead of conduction.
A promising vaccine fails to provide durable protection against infection and clinical malaria in infants, a key malaria vaccine target population, in a phase 2b clinical trial. The need for a highly effective vaccine against malaria remains as urgent as ever.
Direct sampling of lung alveoli of critically-ill patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 shows that lung microbiota and an impaired alveolar immune response together are predictive of poor clinical outcomes.