Articles in 2023

In this Review, Meyerowitz et al. examine the clinical presentations of COVID-19 in the era of widespread population immunity and explore current approaches to managing COVID-19 across different patient groups.

In this study, Ratiner et al. examine the advantages, challenges and future perspectives of utilizing microbiome data in personalized medicine for optimal patient care.

In this Review, Jassey and Jackson explore the intricate relationship between viruses and the autophagic pathway, highlighting how viruses either exploit or manipulate the autophagy pathway to influence their replication and survival within host cells.

Two recent studies provide mechanistic understanding of how bacteria employ the Gabija system for defence against phages, as well as how phages use anti-defence proteins to overcome bacterial immunity.

In this Review, Tan and colleagues highlight recent efforts to discover non-traditional antimicrobials and explore the therapeutic potential of antimicrobial peptides and macrocycles, antibodies, bacteriophages and antisense-based therapeutics, focusing on how current research efforts are pushing these technologies towards clinical implementation.

The data of the study suggest that bacteria possess a physiological iron memory that persists over multiple generations.

In this study, Lee et al. analyse the structure and receptor-binding features of the spike glycoprotein from a clade 3 sarbecovirus to examine the risk of spillover from bats to humans.

This month’s Genome Watch highlights the recent use of machine learning to uncover functional ‘dark matter’ in the microbial protein universe.

In this Review, Motta and Moran explore recent research investigating the role of the gut microbiota in honeybee biology and health, as well as the environmental factors that can impair the microbiota and the potential strategies to restore a perturbed microbiota in honeybees.

This study reports a mechanism whereby a Staphylococcus aureus protease induces itch by activating a host receptor on sensory neurons in the skin.

In this study, Simonis et al. show that chronic infection with Pseudomonas aeruginosa leads to development of neutralizing antibodies that could be exploited to fight against this pathogen.

In this study, Wang et al. show that bacterium-derived intestinal ammonia modulates glutamine production in the mouse brain and reduces stress-induced depressive-like behaviour.

In this Review, Segata, Waldron and colleagues discuss important key concepts of machine learning that are relevant to microbiologists and provide them with a set of tools essential to apply machine learning in microbiology research.

This study provides evidence for a role of Anopheles stephensi in driving urban malaria outbreaks.

Beneficial biofilms are in demand for diverse applications ranging from the production of specialized compounds to roles in agriculture and bioremediation. In this Review, Gescher and colleagues provide an overview of the applications, challenges and future of beneficial biofilms.

This study reports the identification of an archaeal virus Acr protein that blocks the dissociation of the target RNA from the type III-B CRISPR–Cas effector complex, which prevents the recycling of the complex.

This Genome Watch highlights how a tailor-made search through bacterial genomes revealed the widespread presence of a new class of bacterial signalling peptides that lack conventional characteristics.

This study reports that intracellular cord formation by Mycobacterium tuberculosis is an important feature of early pathogenesis.

In this Review, Philippot et al. explore how soil microorganisms can affect the physical and chemical properties of soil and discuss the ecological and evolutionary consequences of these microbially driven shifts in soil properties. They also explore how microbially mediated changes in soil properties can be used to combat threats to soil health and other environmental challenges.