Volume 18 Issue 7, July 2020

This study reports that the cleavage activity of endopeptidases is regulated by a conformational switch.

This study shows that the composition of the fungal cell wall is highly heterogeneous and leads to heterogeneous antifungal susceptibility.

This study reports the de novo design of proteins with complex functional motifs.

Two studies provide insights into the possible roles of viruses in honey bee health and disease.

The findings of this study suggest that plastic pollution influences the composition and function of sedimentary microbial communities, with important implications for the microbial nitrogen cycle.

A study finds that an immunometabolite promotes Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm formation.

Researchers report a broad-spectrum antibiotic adjuvant that reverses resistance in multi-drug resistant Gram-negative pathogens.

A recent study characterized the initial stages of giant virus infection.

This month’s Genome Watch highlights a set of single-cell approaches that yield powerful insights into microbial biology.

Filoviruses such as Ebola virus pose a substantial health risk to humans. Advances in genomic technologies have enabled the rapid, large-scale generation of virus sequence data at the location of disease outbreaks and thus the use of reverse functional genomics to swiftly characterize the threat of, and treatment for, filovirus disease.

During intraerythrocytic development, malaria parasites replicate within a membrane-bound parasitophorous vacuole. In this Review, Matz, Beck and Blackman explore the origin, development, molecular composition and functions of the parasitophorous vacuole during blood-stage development. They also discuss the relevance of the malaria parasite’s intravacuolar lifestyle for successful erythrocyte infection and provide perspectives for future research directions.

Non-tuberculous mycobacteria, such as Mycobacterium abscessus, are an increasing global health burden, in part due their extensive drug resistance. In this Review, Johansen, Herrmann and Kremer discuss the infection process, host interactions, mechanisms of drug resistance and drug development.