Research Highlights in 2022

A recent study reports the targeted suppression of an inflammatory bowel disease-associated pathobiont by phage therapy for treatment of intestinal inflammation.

Two new studies report how plastic pollution is shaping microbial communities in the environment.

This study shows that flaviviruses promote the proliferation of acetophenone-producing skin commensal bacteria, which enhances mosquito attraction and thus flavivirus transmission.

A recent study uncovered the geographical origins of the Black Death pandemic, offering a new perspective on the phylogenetic polytomy that served as a foundation for the expansion of Yersinia pestis across Eurasia and North Africa more than 600 years ago.

Two recent studies highlight the potential of broadly neutralizing monoclonal antibodies for the long-term control of HIV in the absence of antiretroviral therapy.

This study reports that a short prokaryotic argonaute protein from the archaeon Sulfolobus islandicus and its genetically associated proteins Aga1 and Aga2 confer antiviral defence by abortive infection.

This study shows that upon urinary tract infections, uropathogenic Escherichia coli persist and subsequently adapt to the distinct physiological conditions encountered in the gastrointestinal and urinary environments.

A recent study shows that chemotaxis shapes the microscale organization of the ocean’s microbiome.

A recent study shows how tumour-resident intracellular bacteria enhance survival and the metastatic capacities of circulating tumour cells by protecting them from mechanical stress.

This study shows that although colistin resistance in Klebsiella pneumoniae is associated with a fitness defect in gut colonization, it increases bacterial survival outside the host, thus enabling efficient host-to-host transmission.

This study reports that Listeria monocytogenes interferes with a cell death pathway involved in cell-mediated immunity to promote neuroinvasion and persistence.

A recent study uncovered a new family of Enterococcus pore-forming toxins that use human leukocyte antigen class I or major histocompatibility complex class I as receptors.

A recent study provides evidence of non-cell-autonomous disruption of nuclear architecture as a potential cause of COVID-19-associated anosmia.

Two recent papers implicate Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) as a trigger for the development of multiple sclerosis and provide mechanistic insights into EBV-mediated development of the disease.

A recent study found that constituents of the gut virome are negatively associated with seroconversion following rotavirus vaccination, possibly explaining the diminished effectiveness of rotavirus vaccines in low- and middle-income countries.