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This study describes the isolation of a new compound, turbinmicin, which shows potent activity in mice against multidrug-resistant fungi and might have a novel mechanism of action.
A recent study provides new evidence that rotavirus-infected cells produce pancrine signals that uninfected cells respond to, leading to intercellular calcium waves and ultimately to diarrhoea.
A recent study found that slow movement is important when bacteria move as dense collectives because faster bacteria cause topological defects that trap cells in place.
A recent study reports the development of a DNA-based vaccine that protects against Crimean–Congo haemorrhagic fever virus disease in cynomolgus macaques.
This month’s Under the Lens discusses the application of high-speed atomic force microscopy to image fragile bacterial membrane vesicles by briefly touching them with a gentle tapping force, revealing species-specific heterogeneity in membrane vesicle size distribution linked to biological function.
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.
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.
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.
We know a lot about antibiotics and their targets; however, how antibiotics actually kill bacteria is not entirely clear and is up for debate. In this Perspective, Baquero and Levin reflect on this ultimate action of antibiotics and consider different mechanisms and modulating factors.