Volume 1 Issue 5, May 2016

Integration of multiple ‘omics’ technologies will allow researchers to gain a more complete picture of the constituents and functions of microbial communities and provide far richer information for predictive modelling of community phenotypes.

A classical mutant screen and genetic analyses powered by next-generation sequencing reveal that Aspergillus nidulans phytochrome-dependent red light sensing is transmitted via the high-osmolarity-glycerol mitogen-activated protein kinase cascade.

A new large-scale genomics study reports a vastly expanded tree of life that is based on genomic data from over 3,000 species, including many uncultivated and poorly characterized prokaryotes.

A linear-mixed modelling genome-wide association approach for detecting genes and genetic variants underlying antibiotic resistance in bacterial pathogens heralds a new era for microbial genome-wide association studies.

Multidrug tolerant bacterial persister cells frequently arise in response to the activation of toxin–antitoxin systems. However, this prevailing view may be less general than assumed. ATP depletion may mediate another route to the persister state for the Gram-positive pathogen Staphylococcus aureus.

Light sensing in Aspergillus nidulans is shown to depend on the SakA (HogA) pathway, known to be crucial for osmosensing and now revealed as a hub for environmental signal integration in fungi.

Evolution of high levels of multidrug tolerance in E. coli occurs rapidly via single point mutations and adapts to drug treatment frequency. Conversely reversion in the absence of antibiotic treatment is slow and only partially effective.

Interactions amongst Bacillus subtilis cells in a defined spatial environment are sufficient to enable the formation of self-organized patches that allow survival at cell densities otherwise too low to sustain growth.

The mosquito gut microbiome utilizes C-type lectins to evade the bactericidal capacity of host-derived antimicrobial peptides, providing a mechanism for microbiome-induced manipulation of host immunity and maintenance of gut homeostasis.

Influenza A virus polymerase has a β-hairpin in the thumb subdomain, which is shown to be essential for the initiation of viral replication, but auxiliary for other replicative steps and viral transcription.

Enrichment of oral microbiota in the bronchoalveolar lavage of apparently healthy people is associated with a pro-inflammatory phenotype, suggesting that aspiration-derived microbiota play a role in regulating basal inflammatory status.

Comparative genomic analyses suggest that Lokiarchaeota, the closest known prokaryotic relative of eukaryotes, are hydrogen dependent, supporting the ‘hydrogen hypothesis’ for the origin of eukaryotic cells.

A GWAS method that captures lineage-level associations even when locus-specific associations cannot be fine-mapped, detects genes and genetic variants underlying resistance to antimicrobials in M. tuberculosis, S. aureus, E. coli and K. pneumoniae.

An update to the ‘tree of life’ has revealed a dominance of bacterial diversity in many ecosystems and extensive evolution in some branches of the tree. It also highlights how few organisms we have been able to cultivate for further investigation.

ATP depletion is associated with induction of antibiotic tolerance in Staphylococcus aureus.