Articles in 2016

Colossal microbes taking over the world sounds like a B-movie plot, rather than the business plan of a stuffed toy manufacturer. We asked Drew Oliver, the creator and CEO of Giant Microbes, about how the company came about, how their products have been received and his plans for the future.

Natural volcanic CO₂ seeps (mofettes) provided a natural experiment to use omic and biogeochemical approaches to explore how flooding a system with CO₂ impacts algal photosynthesis and methanogenesis.

The identification of plasmid-borne resistance to an antibiotic of last resort suggests that the final pharmacological barrier holding Gram-negative bacterial infections at bay may soon be breached.

The microenvironment of injured intestinal mucosa induces the rapid emergence of microbiota constituents that contribute to repair of the mucosal wounds.

pks5-recombination-mediated cell surface remodelling increased virulence of Mycobacterium canettii, driving evolution from a putative generalist mycobacteria towards a professional pathogen of mammalian hosts.

High CO₂ concentrations impact the microbial diversity and functions in wetland soils, significantly increasing geogenic C input.

Analysis of microbial cell and virus abundance estimates from 25 distinct marine surveys reveals that virus-to-microbial cell ratio decreases with microbial cell density, questioning the idea that viral abundance is always 10-fold higher.

Mutation of a mismatch repair gene accelerated the genomic mutation rate of Salmonella Enteritidis infecting an immunocompromized individual, leading to levels of evolution that parallel those found in successful host-restricted bacterial pathogens.

Whole genomes of 185 atypical enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (aEPEC) isolates reveal 30 LEE (locus of enterocyte effacement) subtypes in 3 major lineages, varying in insertion site preference and their complement of non-LEE encoded effector genes.

Comparative genomics of 70 lethal, non-lethal symptomatic and asymptomatic enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) isolates identifies the virulence-associated genes that are significantly more prevalent in symptomatic and lethal infections.

Streptococcus pyogenes (also known as group A Streptococcus or GAS) streptolysin S (SLS)-mediated red blood cell lysis occurs through disruption of the function of major erythrocyte anion exchange protein, band 3, leading to Cl^- ion influx.

Tetrahydropyrazo[1,5-a]pyrimidine-3-carboxamide (THPP) targets the essential non-catalytic enoyl-CoA hydratase homologue EchA6 of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and not MmpL3 as previously thought.

Surface topography and fluid flow combine to modify quorum sensing communication in bacterial biofilms, changing the way we think about the interaction of biofilms with external physical forces and the implications for persistence in chronic infections and industrial fouling.

A recent analysis of microbial community dynamics shows that, contrary to current assumption, too much cooperation among species can destabilize their communities. This is a first step towards understanding what makes a stable microbiome and, thus, transforming microbiome research into a more predictive science.

Advances in culturing hepatitis C virus have given hope for a universal cell culture system amenable to primary isolate replication. However, low replication efficiency needs to be overcome. The development of fully susceptible yet immunocompetent in vivo models would aid research towards a prophylactic vaccine.

The Renaissance was a time marked by renewed appreciation of the achievements that came before and the re-ignited desire to uncover new insights into the order of the natural world, a description that is equally apt for the microbiology field of today.

Michele Banks (also known as @artologica) is a US-based painter and collage artist whose works are based on scientific and medical themes, and who has a particular fascination with all things microbial. We caught up with Michele to ask about her art and the inspiration behind it.

High-throughput population genomics reveals how the evolution of chromosome arrangement and sequence divergence followed by secondary contact upon glacier retreat initiates homoploid hybrid speciation in natural populations of the budding yeast Saccharomyces paradoxus.

Combining a map of human and animal melioidosis cases and the presence of environmental Burkholderia pseudomallei in a formal modelling framework to estimate the global burden of the disease reveals that it is severely under-reported.

Most viral genomes and replicases are encased in a proteinaceous coat known as a capsid. Here, the authors identify a curious case of an obligate association between two RNA viruses in which one of the viruses misappropriates the capsid coat from the other, a process known as trans-encapsidation.