Volume 6 Issue 4, April 2021

Cyanobacteria, which produce ~25% of global oxygen, also release around 100 times more hydrocarbons into the ocean than all petroleum sources. A cryptic microbial cycle explains why these hydrocarbons do not accumulate in the sea.

An injection system used for host cell invasion by apicomplexan parasites shares a common evolutionary origin with the secretory system used for cellular defence by the free-living ciliates.

Pairwise interactions within and between bacteria and fungi are key drivers of the predictable development of the preterm infant gut microbiome.

The architecture and molecular composition of the rhoptry secretion system in Apicomplexa evolved from an Alveolata-specific fusion machinery ancestry.

Virus–host interactions are identified during HIV-1 trafficking in cellular compartments that are crucial for productive infection of cells.

Studying the intestinal pathology of undernourished children in Zambia with persistent stunting reveals that adaptation to pathogen exposure in early life may explain why children with stunting do not respond well to nutrient supplementation.

Zika virus infection of human brain pericytes triggers maturation of an osteogenic factor, thereby resulting in osteogenic gene expression and calcification.

ISG15 conjugation is essential to activate the RIG-I-like receptor MDA5 and trigger antiviral responses. SARS-CoV-2 suppresses MDA5 activation by direct PLpro-mediated de-ISGylation to escape innate immunity.

Resilience of freshwater microbial communities to flooding is revealed by high-resolution in situ sampling experiments in a forest pond during two extreme rain events.

Cyanobacteria are shown to produce alkanes that sustain communities of pentadecane-degrading bacteria, and possibly archaea, as part of an alkane cycle in the ocean.

More than 400 parallel enrichment experiments from goat faeces are analysed using metagenomics to evaluate how substrate and antibiotic selection affect membership, activity, stability and chemical productivity of herbivore gut microbiomes.

Genomic and clinical analysis of 916 bacterial isolates from neonates with sepsis in seven low- and middle-income countries (the BARNARDS study) reveals that the main species present were antimicrobial-resistant Klebsiella, Escherichia coli and Enterobacter.

Chemical and biological features of the ocean environment that impact on survival of heterotrophic bacteria are identified by invasion experiments with Ruegeria pomeroyi.