Volume 3 Issue 9, September 2018

Looking back at how Zika virus emergence was handled during and after the 2015–2016 outbreak will be important for assessing how well multiple relevant stakeholders were integrated to mount a response, and can provide the groundwork to better cope with emerging infections in the future.

Plasmodium parasites possess a unique PEXEL sorting pathway to deliver secretory proteins into the host cells in which they reside. A new study shows the existence of independent sorting/entry complexes to detect and deliver PEXEL proteins into the parasite endoplasmic reticulum.

Genome-wide association studies and genetic analyses have identified a clinically prevalent alteration in the Mycobacterium tuberculosis genome that rewires bacterial propionate metabolism, conditionally reduces antibiotic killing without affecting minimum inhibitory concentrations, and may drive emergence of drug resistance.

An experimental evolution study shows that selection of a marine bacterium by warming favours adaptations that facilitate growth at low oxygen concentrations, linking evolutionary responses to these two key components of climate change in the ocean.

Studies in Drosophila reveal that the insect homologue of the stimulator of interferon genes (STING) exerts antiviral activity against Zika virus infection in the fly brain through the induction of autophagy, providing key insights into the possible evolutionary function of STING in antiviral defence.

This Review Article discusses the importance of considering known microbial processes to inform our understanding of the role of microbial communities in ecosystem processes, and a move away from approaches based solely on correlation analyses.

Phylogeny inferred from real HIV genetic sequences can reveal direct versus common source transmission and establishes how genetic information can be used for an improved tracking of HIV spread.

Experimental evolution of a Roseobacter strain at high temperature results in altered bacterial physiology and distinct genomic changes, providing insight into bacterial adaptation to rising temperatures in a relevant and abundant marine clade.

Shigella flexneri IcsB encodes a fatty acyltransferase that targets membrane-associated proteins during infection.

The Plasmodium falciparum protease plasmepsin V forms a complex for the translocation of PEXEL effector proteins into the endoplasmic reticulum that is distinct from the Sec61–signal peptidase complex that regulates the translocation of proteins destined for the classical secretory pathway.

Quantitative metagenomics reveals an altered bacteriophage community in a mouse model of colitis, which overlaps with that observed in humans with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), providing a tool for interrogating phage dynamics in IBD.

A genome-wide association study of Mycobacterium tuberculosis clinical isolates finds mutations in prpR that alter propionate metabolism and mediate multidrug tolerance.

A donor strain (XPORT) that can transfer a miniature integrative and conjugative element from Bacillus subtilis (ICEBs1) enables DNA delivery into a broad range of bacterial strains isolated from human skin and gut, and soil.

MCR-1-positive Escherichia coli carriage in humans across China is associated with anthropogenic factors, including meat consumption and aquatic food production.

Genomic analysis of atypical enteropathogenic Escherichia coli in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa uncovers high antibiotic resistance prevalence, which is correlated with antibiotic use.