In Brief

An in vitro study shows that activated coagulation factors can promote SARS-CoV-2 infection by cleaving spike.

A large survey in Chinese game animals identifies a multitude of potentially pathogenic viruses and evidence for spillover events.

This study shows that staphylococcal superantigen induces macrophage dysfunction through interferon-γ, thus contributing to bacterial pathogenesis.

An analysis of the metadata in large databases reveals a skewed representation of the global human population in microbiome studies.

The results of this study suggest that phages of the gut modulate cognitive function.

This study set out to resolve the differences in the inferred Archaea–Bacteria branch length.

This study presents the results of a respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) challenge trial with EDP-938, a nonfusion replication inhibitor of RSV, showing effective lowering of viral load and symptoms, without apparent safety concerns.

This study reveals that a cross-neutralizing antibody targets a conserved site on betacoronavirus spike proteins and confers protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection.

This study reports the mechanism whereby the gut microbiome of squirrels recycles nitrogen from urea to facilitate host tissue protein synthesis during hibernation.

This study reports that an enzyme expressed by a member of the gut microbiota degrades testosterone and might thus be linked to depressive symptoms.

A study in healthy infants finds that early viral infection changes the respiratory tract microbiota and predisposes to further infections.

A single-cell, single-molecule study of SARS-CoV-2 replication in cell lines finds that a few cells are responsible for the majority of virus production and that genomic viral RNA is surprisingly stable.

A study investigating the microbiome of contaminated soil finds that auxilliary metabolic genes of viruses contribute to pesticide degradation.

This study compares an equine influenza virus shortly after its jump into horses with a contemporary strain, showing how it adapted to the new host.

This study describes how a marine cyanobacterium carries out nitrogen and carbon fixation at the same time.

This study determines how the climate influences the transmission of Wolbachia in flies.

This study shows how a satellite RNA manipulates both its host plant and aphid vector to ensure efficient transmission.

This study reports the discovery of new broad-spectrum metallo-β-lactamase inhibitors with a unique binding mode.

A mouse study shows a link between the microbiome, smoking cessation and weight gain, resembling preliminary results in humans.

This study presents an antibacterial coating for implants that kills pathogens and promotes bone integration.