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Pseudomonas aeruginosa shows high diversity and plasticity, which enables it to succeed in the challenging environment of cystic fibrosis airways. In this Review, Johansen and colleagues highlight genomic and phenotypic adaptation of P. aeruginosa and the implications for infection management.
In this Review, Corrigan and colleagues explore the broad range of metabolic pathways that guanosine pentaphosphate, guanosine tetraphosphate and guanosine 5′-monophosphate 3′-diphosphate regulate in the bacterial cell and emphasize the importance of these alarmones in regulating diverse metabolic processes. Moreover, they examine the contribution of these alarmones to virulence and chronic infection.
In this Review, Chen, Boyaci and Campbell examine universal pathways and diverse regulatory mechanisms in transcription initiation in evolutionarily divergent bacteria, and they discuss the mechanisms whereby antimicrobials inhibit transcription initiation and the insights those mechanisms provide into the transcription cycle.
In this Review, Thiel and colleagues discuss the key aspects of coronavirus biology and their implications for SARS-CoV-2 infections as well as for treatment and prevention strategies.
In this Review, Morais, Schreiber and Mazmanian discuss emerging and exciting evidence of intricate and potentially important connections between the gut microbiota and the brain involving multiple biological systems, and possible contributions by the gut microbiota to complex behaviours.
Culturing microorganisms is a priority to complement the flood of genomic data illuminating archaeal and bacterial diversity. In this Review, Ettema and colleagues highlight recent successes in culturing elusive lineages, innovative methods and key targets for future cultivation.
Recent crystallography and electron microscopy studies have refined our model of herpesvirus entry into cells. In this Review, Connolly, Jardetzky and Longnecker discuss recent insights into herpesvirus entry by analysing the structures of entry glycoproteins, including the diverse receptor-binding glycoproteins and conserved fusion proteins.
In this Review, Vandenberg et al. explore the crucial role of diagnostic tests during the first global wave of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the technical and implementation problems encountered during the early phase of the pandemic, and they define future directions for the progressive and better use of diagnostics during a possible resurgence of COVID-19 in future global waves or regional outbreaks.
Viruses are extremely diverse and not all of this diversity has been captured so far. In this Review, Martínez Martínez, Martinez-Hernandez and Martinez-Garcia explore the potential and limitations of single-virus genomics and how this emerging technology can complement other methods.
The textbook view of the viral life cycle depicts uniform, discrete steps. However, growing evidence shows considerable phenotypic and morphological heterogeneity during viral infection. In this Review, Lakdawala and colleagues highlight host and viral heterogeneity and its causes and consequences.
In this Review, Shi and colleagues summarize the exceptional amount of research that has characterized acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) since this virus has swept around the globe. They discuss what we know so far about the emergence and virology of SARS-CoV-2 and the pathogenesis and treatment of COVID-19.
The gut microbiota contributes to host physiology through the production of a myriad of metabolites. In this Review, Bäckhed and colleagues discuss the major classes of microbial metabolites, highlight examples of how microbial metabolites affect host health and provide a potential framework for integration of discovery-based metabolite studies with mechanistic work.
Genome-scale models (GEMs) are mathematical representations of reconstructed networks that facilitate computation and prediction of phenotypes, and are useful tools for predicting the biological capabilities of microorganisms. In this Review, Fang, Lloyd and Palsson discuss the development and the emerging application of GEMs.
The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted unparalleled progress in the development of vaccines and therapeutics in many countries, but it has also highlighted the vulnerability of resource-limited countries in Africa. Margolin and colleagues review global efforts to develop SARS-CoV-2 diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines, with a focus on the opportunities and challenges in Africa.
Fungi originated in a freshwater environment and their evolution accompanied the rise of algae and land plants. In this Review, Berbee and colleagues examine the fossil and genomic record of ancient fungi and the inferences we can make about their lifestyle.
In this Review, Fan and Pedersen discuss how the gut microbiota and derived microbial compounds may contribute to human metabolic health and to the pathogenesis of common metabolic diseases, and highlight examples of microbiota-targeted interventions aiming to optimize metabolic health.
Escherichia coli is a commensal of the vertebrate gut as well as an opportunistic pathogen. In this Review, Denamur and colleagues explore the emergence of virulence during the evolution of E. coli, with a focus on the main ExPEC, InPEC and hybrid clones.
In this Review, Rotello and colleagues discuss the mechanisms by which nanomaterials can be used to target antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections, highlight design elements and properties of nanomaterials that can be engineered to enhance potency, and explore recent progress and remaining challenges for clinical implementation of nanomaterials as antimicrobial therapeutics.
Newly developed antibacterial nanostructured surfaces show excellent prospects as next-generation biomaterials. In this Review, Ivanova, Stoodley and colleagues explore the different mechanisms by which various surface nanopatterns exert the necessary physico-mechanical forces on the bacterial cell membrane that will ultimately result in cell death.
In this Review, Trivedi and colleagues explore the interactions between plants, their associated microbial communities and the environment, and also discuss how those interactions shape the assembly of plant-associated microbiomes and modulate their beneficial traits.
