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Recently, virulence mechanisms beyond canonical drug resistance were uncovered that enableAcinetobacter baumanniito thrive in the health-care environment and cause infections in critically ill patients. Harding, Hennon and Feldman explore the molecular features that promote environmental persistence and the most recently identified virulence factors that enable successful human infection.
In this Review, Husnik and McCutcheon discuss how horizontally transferred genes from bacteria become functional in eukaryotes and classify horizontal gene transfer events into two broad types: those that maintain pre-existing functions and those that add new functionality to the recipient, including altered host nutrition, protection and adaptation to extreme environments.
Listeria monocytogenesis a food-borne pathogen responsible for human listeriosis. In this Review, Radoshevich and Cossart discuss the most recent advances inL. monocytogenesphysiology, biology and pathogenesis.
One of the most prominent features of archaea is the extraordinary diversity of their viruses. In this Review, Prangishviliet al. summarize their morphological diversity, the molecular biology of their life cycles and virus–host interactions, and discuss their evolution and their role in the global virosphere.
The Archaea was recognized as a third domain of life 40 years ago. In this Review, Emeet al. outline a brief history of the changing shape of the tree of life and examine how the recent discovery of diverse archaeal lineages has changed our understanding of the evolutionary relationships between the three domains of life and the origin of the eukaryotic cell.
Co-infection withMycobacterium tuberculosisis the leading cause of death in individuals infected with HIV-1. In this Review, Bell and Noursadeghi describe the epidemiological associations between the two pathogens, selected interactions of each pathogen with the host and our current understanding of how they affect the pathogenesis of tuberculosis and HIV-1/AIDS in individuals with co-infection.
Seasonal influenza viruses continue to cause epidemics each year. In this Review, Petrova and Russell discuss recent advances in understanding the molecular determinants of influenza virus immune escape, sources of evolutionary selection pressure, population dynamics of influenza viruses and prospects for better influenza virus control.
CRISPR–Cas adaptive immune systems are widespread in prokaryotes. In this Progress article, Maxwell and colleagues highlight how phages and other mobile genetic elements inactivate CRISPR–Cas systems using anti-CRISPR proteins and outline evolutionary and biotechnological implications of anti-CRISPR protein activity.
Traditional strategies to treat lung infections are based on the premise that the lung is sterile; however, it is now thought that the lung contains a resident microbiota. Here, Cooksonet al. propose that concepts flowing from the Human Microbiome Project can transform the treatment of lung infections.
Staphylococcus aureusis a facultative pathogen that colonizes the human nares. In this Review, Peschel and colleagues discuss the mechanisms that are used byS. aureusto prevail in the human nose and the counter-strategies that are used by other commensals to interfere with its colonization.
Antimicrobial resistance constitutes a global health burden and research efforts are aimed at combatting the emergence of resistant microorganisms. In this Viewpoint article, several experts in the field discuss the role that rapid diagnostic tests have in managing the challenge of antimicrobial resistance, the drawbacks of current diagnostic methods, novel diagnostic strategies, and how such rapid diagnostic tools can inform drug development and the surveillance of resistance evolution.
The ability ofCandida albicans to form biofilms is a major cause of disseminated bloodstream infections. Here, Nobile and colleagues review our current understanding of the processes involved in the formation of C. albicans biofilms, the core transcriptional network that regulates biofilm development, and polymicrobial biofilms that are formed by C. albicansand certain bacterial species.
In this Review, Stoodley and colleagues discuss current therapeutic strategies and those under development for the treatment of pathogenic biofilms. They explore novel technologies that promise to enhance the efficacy of current therapeutics or provide novel effects and argue that treating biofilm infections requires combination therapies.
Aspergillus fumigatusis an environmental fungus that can cause life-threatening disease. In this Review, van de Veerdonk and colleagues describe howA. fumigatusadapts to environmental change, mechanisms of host defence and our current knowledge of the interplay between the host immune response and the fungus.
Apicomplexa include important human pathogens and possess a unique cellular machinery that promotes gliding motility and is called the glideosome. In this Review, Soldati-Favre and colleagues discuss the principles that govern gliding motility, the characterization of the molecular machinery that comprises the glideosome, and its impact on parasite invasion and egress from infected cells.
Soil contains a vast diversity of microorganisms that can directly or indirectly modulate soil processes and terrestrial ecosystems. In this Review, Fierer summarizes the challenges in characterizing the composition and functions of the soil microbiome, and discusses key future research directions.
It is remarkable how robustly a bacterial species can maintain its preferred size. In this Review, Willis and Huang explore classic and current knowledge of the mechanisms that coordinate bacterial cell size with essential growth and cell cycle processes.
The fungal kingdom contains many important plant pathogens, and some species show remarkable variation in genome size and architecture. In this Review, Möller and Stukenbrock summarize key examples from fungal plant pathogen genomics and discuss evolutionary processes in pathogenic fungi in the context of molecular evolution, population genetics and agriculture.
Risk assessment for the development of antibiotic resistance against a new drug candidate is of paramount importance in preclinical development. In this Opinion article, Sommeret al. propose a new preclinical paradigm for the prediction of antibiotic resistance.
Prokaryotic Argonaute proteins, homologues of eukaryotic Argonaute proteins involved in RNA interference, have recently been demonstrated to mediate host defence in archaea and bacteria. In this Progress article, van der Oost and colleagues explore the structures and biological functions of the prokaryotic Argonaute proteins, and discuss their potential applications in genome editing.
