Research Highlights

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.

Recent studies provide new insights into the regulation of lysogeny and prophage induction.

A recent study finds that upregulation of nutrient-permeable channels in the parasitophorous vacuole membrane increases the acquisition of amino acids by artemisinin-resistant parasites to compensate for fitness costs.

This study provides insights into the neuroinvasive mechanism of neurotropic alphaherpesviruses, which involves viral assimilation and repurposing of a cellular motor protein.

A recent study provides evidence that the extracellular DNA-based architecture of bacterial biofilms relies on the rare left-handed helical form of DNA known as Z-DNA.

This study shows that segmented filamentous bacteria provide early protection against Citrobacter rodentium via a microbially derived metabolite that primes host innate immunity.

Two recent studies provide mechanistic evidence that members of the microbiota cooperate to confer colonization resistance against pathogens.

The authors of this study designed a novel therapeutic class of antimicrobials in which they optimized drug binding and permeation of the drug through bacterial membrane transporters simultaneously.

This study shows that gut bacteria accumulate host-targeted drugs intracellularly, which affects the therapeutic effect of the drug as well as metabolite secretion of the accumulating bacteria without much having an impact on bacterial growth.

This study demonstrates that commensal bacteria and fungi have opposing roles in the responses of tumours to radiotherapy.