Volume 8 Issue 4, April 2023

Colonoids derived from adult human stem cells support growth of human enterovirus. Instead of spreading through the epithelium or lysing infected cells, virus is released within intact infected cells. Infected cells are detected by force-sensing ion channels, a mechanism akin to that used for normal turnover of uninfected epithelia.

We present evidence that lignin, a recalcitrant and partially aromatic polymer found in plant cell walls, can be modified by anaerobic microorganisms. This finding overturns a long-standing paradigm that all biological processes of lignin degradation require oxygen and motivates further exploration of understudied biology to inform biotechnological innovation.

Fc–Fc gamma receptor interactions and alveolar macrophages contribute to ancestral vaccine-induced control of infection with SARS-CoV-2 variants in mice.

Genome-resolved metagenomics, biogeochemistry, modelling and culture-based analysis reveal that marine bacteria consume H₂ to support growth.

Fungi from the Neocallimastigomycetes taxonomic class break bonds in lignin during the anaerobic deconstruction of whole plant cell walls. This finding challenges the paradigm that only certain aerobic organisms break down lignin.

Bile salt hydrolases encoded by the gut microbiome shape the bile acid pool, including microbial conjugated bile acids, which impact Clostridioides difficile infection in the murine gut.

Enterovirus-infected cells are extruded from the apical surface of differentiated human colon organoids by a mechanical-force-dependent mechanism that preserves the uninfected host epithelium.

Virulence can be endowed through the collective action of effectors.

An uncultivated, aerobic chemolithotrophic Sulfurimonas species with a reduced genome is abundant across diverse, hydrogen-rich hydrothermal plumes in the deep ocean.

Enteric Yersinia pseudotuberculosis infection is contained by host inflammatory monocyte-driven pyogranuloma formation to counter bacterial YopH-dependent anti-neutrophil activity.

Hi-C 3.0 and ChIP-seq show that SARS-CoV-2 infection alters the host cell 3D genome structure and epigenome.

Fluorescence-labelling strategies and a suite of imaging methods are used to characterize mycobacteriophage infection in single cells and populations.

Characterization of a contractile injection system (CIS) in the Gram-positive multicellular model organism Streptomyces coelicolor finds that CIS mediate cell death in response to stress that impacts cellular development.

A compendium of Omnitrophota genomes is coupled with cell size and qSIP analyses to predict the physiology and lifestyle of this enigmatic phylum.