Volume 7 Issue 9, September 2022

Commensal gut bacteria harbour sulfotransferases that metabolize cholesterol and some steroid hormones to produce bacterially derived signals that influence host phenotypes.

This work used DNA and RNA sequencing to investigate how wildfire burn severity affects forest soil microbiomes. The results revealed the mechanisms that allow specific bacteria, fungi and viruses to colonize and thrive in burned soils. These changes can influence nutrient cycling and carbon storage in soil.

The conserved nucleotide diadenosine tetraphosphate (Ap4A) is induced under various stresses, including heat. In a non-biased screen, we identified a critical role of Ap4A in inhibiting a central step in purine metabolism and heat resistance. We clarify the molecular mechanism of Ap4A action on the inosine-5′-monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH) enzyme, showing Ap4A as a bona fide nucleotide second messenger.

Now, a study using multi-omics to investigate the mechanistic role of the airway microbiome in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) reveals that the airway microbiome-derived metabolite indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) can alleviate COPD-associated airway inflammation and epithelial apoptosis. These results implicate IAA as a potential therapeutic candidate for further investigation in COPD.

Marine protists abound, but are challenging to study, and their interactions with other microbes in nature remain largely unknown. We captured wild predatory protists (choanoflagellates) and discovered a divergent, obligately co-associated bacterial group that lives by extracting resources from these predators.

Analysis of gut microbiota of mothers and its neonates—as part of the BARNARDS study—reveals associations between β-lactamase gene carriage and neonatal sepsis risk in low-income settings.

Uropathogenic Escherichia coli uses the quinol oxidase cytochrome bd to rewire host cell metabolism towards aerobic glycolysis, antagonizing apoptosis and protecting intracellular bacteria.

Multi-omics analyses of sputum samples from patients with COPD identify host–microbe interactions as potential therapeutic targets.

A potent mAb shows promise in monkeys either alone or in a combination therapy for either prophylaxis or treatment of infection with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.1, BA.1.1 and BA.2.

Members of the murine and human gut microbiome can interact with dietary cholesterol. In particular, Bacteroides sulfotransferase activity can convert cholesterol to cholesterol sulfate and impact cholesterol levels in vivo.

Characterization of a biosynthetic pathway for the sulfonation of steroidal metabolites, such as cholesterol, by gut bacteria may have implications for immune cell trafficking and inflammatory bowel disease.

Wildfires have unknown impacts on soil microbes and biogeochemistry. Using metagenomics across forest burn gradients, here the authors show severity-dependent losses in microbiome diversity and functional shifts that underpin post-fire survival.

Antibiotic resistance and virulence factors are identified in Mycobacterium abscessus by integrating proteome-wide structural modelling, GWAS analyses and mapping gene interaction networks for 331 clinical isolates.

The mode of action of Ap4A on IMPDH to regulate GTP production in Bacillus subtilis is identified.

A plant peptide binds to haem, thereby reducing the availability of haem and inducing an iron-starvation response in rhizobia that results in iron import for nitrogenase activity.

Choanoflagellates are the closest living unicellular relatives of animals and are important bacterivorous predators in the ocean. Here the authors show that the microbiome of this predator includes an obligate, host resource-dependent bacterial associate.

Retrons are reverse transcriptase-based bacterial genetic elements with a role in antiphage defence. Here the authors investigate the structure and function of retron Ec86, providing insight into retron-based genome editing systems.

The COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil is assessed using phylogenetic and phylogeographic analysis.