In this Review, Markov, Katzourakis and colleagues explore the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 at different scales, the phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, factors that drive the evolution of the virus, theories for the emergence of epidemiologically important variants and potential future evolutionary scenarios and their likely health repercussions.

In this Review, Kim and Diamond highlight recent advances in our understanding of the host factors required for alphavirus entry, the mechanisms of action by which protective antibodies inhibit different steps in the alphavirus infection cycle and candidate alphavirus vaccines currently under clinical evaluation.

In this Review, Howden and co-workers examine and integrate recent key advances in understanding the mechanisms that Staphylococcus aureus uses to cause infections.

This study shows that substrate stiffness has an impact on early microcolony formation.

This study reports a bacterial antiphage protein that contains a NACHT domain, which is also found in metazoan proteins that mediate immunity and inflammation.

This study reports the identification of an inhibitor of a Toxoplasma gondii myosin motor protein that could be exploited to prevent or treat infections with T. gondii and other apicomplexan parasites.

This study reports that the resident panicle microbiota in rice modulates host metabolism to prevent Ustilaginoidea virens infection.

In this study, Brown et al. show that nutrient deprivation increases Plasmodium falciparum survival and tolerance to the antimalarial drug artemisinin.

Shigella spp. that are resistant to almost all antimicrobial classes are increasing in prevalence and becoming globally dominant. The situation is critical and highlights a trend that is mirrored by other enteric bacterial pathogens. New interventions to prevent and treat these infections are essential to tackle a potential public health catastrophe.