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Levulinic acid (LA) is a value-added chemical easily obtained from biomass. The pathway enabling LA degradation in Pseudomonas putida requires five enzymes and can be engineered into Escherichia coli, which could enable further biotechnological applications.
Infection of the alga Emiliania huxleyi with its virus EhV results in the increased release of extracellular vesicles that impact viral decay and infection, suggesting that EhV exploits these extracellular vesicles for efficient viral infection during algal blooms.
Recombinant proteins based on APOL1 and APOL3 can kill pathogenic Trypanosoma brucei subspecies, including a variant (rPpMUT) that is effective against T.b. gambiense infection in mice, suggesting that it may serve as a therapy against sleeping sickness.
LysM, the lysis protein of the Escherichia coli levivirus M, represents a new ‘protein antibiotic’ that interferes with the synthesis of peptidoglycan by inhibiting lipid II flipping.
The recovery of 7,903 bacterial and archaeal metagenome-assembled genomes increases the phylogenetic diversity represented by public genome repositories and provides the first representatives from 20 candidate phyla.
The structures of a variant surface glycoprotein (VSG) from Trypanosoma brucei suggest that VSGs adopt different conformations to respond to obstacles present in the cell membrane, enabling them to maintain a protective coat at all times.
TRIM23 is identified as an essential regulator of virus-induced autophagy that mediates restriction to several RNA and DNA viruses. K27-mediated ubiquitylation activates TRIM23 GTPase activity, triggering its relocalization and selective autophagy.
CD81 is shown to interact with SAMHD1 and lead to its proteasomal degradation, thereby impacting dNTP availability and enhancing HIV-1 reverse transcription in primary human T cells.
Quorum-sensing-mediated interactions between Trypanosoma congolense and Trypanosoma brucei promote the differentiation of T. brucei into transmissible ‘stumpy forms’, suggesting that cross-species interactions during co-infections modulate disease dynamics.
Chikungunya virus infection leads to painful arthritis-like joint inflammation. This study shows that the NLRP3 inflammasome is crucial for alphavirus-induced inflammation and its inhibition is an effective therapeutic strategy.
Toxoplasma gondii uses its proteins RON2, RON4 and RON5 to recruit host proteins, including the ESCRT-I components ALIX and TSG101 to the moving junction, a multimolecular structure that enables invasion.
Proteomics analyses reveal how the long-term coexistence of the marine picocyanobacterium Synechococcus and the heterotroph Ruegeria pomeroyi, of the globally abundant marine Roseobacter group, is based on the mutual and beneficial recycling of inorganic and organic nitrogen compounds.
The 2013–2016 West African Ebola virus outbreak evidenced that the virus can persist in survivors long-term, leading to sequelae and risks of new transmission chains. Ebola virus has now been shown to behave similarly in rhesus macaques, enabling their use to study persistence and intervention strategies.
The recommendation that antibiotic courses are always completed should be dropped according to a recent analysis. While a welcome addition to discussion on the role of stewardship in tackling resistance, caution should be applied before advice on prescription practices and communication with patients is altered.
Structural analyses of the type IV coupling protein of the Dot/Icm type IV secretion system from Legionella pneumophila reveal how this platform recruits a plethora of substrates for translocation.
This Perspective argues that Anna Karenina effects (that is, changes resulting in increased variation in community composition under stress) are a common and important response of animal microbiomes that have been under-reported.
An archaeal plasmid that can be transported in membrane vesicles, similar to a virus, and encodes proteins that can insert into host membranes and membrane vesicles, provides insights into the evolutionary link between plasmids and viruses.