Volume 20 Issue 12, December 2022

Phage–antibiotic combination therapy was successful in treating extensively-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection following liver transplantation in a toddler.

This study found that the SARS-CoV-2 protein ORF8 disrupts host epigenetic regulation through histone mimicry.

A recent study characterizes an inducible morphotype of Cryptococcus neoformans that is critical for extrapulmonary organ entry.

A recent study finds that an enzyme expressed by gut bacteria can inactivate anti-cancer fluoropyrimidine drugs, reducing drug efficacy and bioavailability in mice.

Two new studies report comprehensive analyses of the fungal communities associated with cancer.

This study provides insights into how to determine how mimiviruses package and protect their genomes.

This Genome Watch article highlights how single-cell sequencing has transformed the approaches to understand schistosome developmental biology.

The human microbiota can undergo dramatic changes during different phases of life (for example, during colonization after birth, after disturbances or in old age). In this Review, Knight and colleagues discuss the microbiota successions that occur from the cradle to the grave.

The discovery of giant viruses, with virions as large as some bacteria and eukaryotes, megabase-range genomes, and a variety of traits typically found only in cellular organisms, was one of the most remarkable breakthroughs in biology. In this Review, Schulz, Abergel and Woyke explore insights into the biology, diversity, biogeography and ecology of giant viruses provided by culture and genomic technologies.

Bacteriophages are obligate parasites of their bacterial hosts; nevertheless, on a population level, phage–bacterium interactions can have beneficial outcomes. In this Review, Shkoporov, Turkington and Hill discuss the evidence for such mutualistic interactions in the gut microbiota and their roles.

In this Review, Chandra, Grigsby and Philips discuss how Mycobacterium tuberculosis evades immune-mediated clearance while capitalizing on the host inflammatory response at different phases of its life cycle. They focus on recent studies, highlight gaps in knowledge and consider how our current understanding will inform new therapies, vaccines and diagnostics.