Bacterial evolution articles from across Nature Portfolio

A new engineering strategy for improving the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites in Streptomyces has been developed through the analysis of genes co-evolved with biosynthetic gene clusters. This strategy has been verified in 11 Streptomyces strains to enhance production of 16,385 metabolites, showing potential applications in drug discovery and industrial production.

A screen utilizing an environmental DNA library in Escherichia coli is used to identify Brig1, a previously unknown anti-phage defence system with homologues across distinct clades of bacteria.

Regulatory arrest peptides interact with the bacterial ribosome to halt their own translation. Here, Fujiwara et al. analyse thousands of bacterial genome sequences and identify additional arrest peptides, revealing sequence diversity and patchy, but widespread, distribution across the bacterial domain.

Pseudomonas putida is becoming a host of choice for the valorization of lignocellulosic substrates. Here, the authors provide insight into the adaptation of this bacterium to the non-native substrate D-xylose, enabled by metabolic engineering and adaptive laboratory evolution.

In this Review, Pai and colleagues examine the global landscape of drug-resistant tuberculosis, exploring its epidemiology, causes, risk factors, stigma and associated mental health burden as well as discussing the most recent developments in diagnostics, treatment and preventive regimens.

Antibiotic heteroresistance, in which a susceptible bacterial population includes a small resistant subpopulation, can arise by tandem amplification of resistance genes, which often carry fitness costs. Here, Pal and Andersson show that these fitness costs can be ameliorated by the acquisition of compensatory mutations and a reduction in copy number of the resistance genes.

Cultivation of a new anoxygenic phototrophic bacterium from Boreal Shield lake water—representing a transition form in the evolution of photosynthesis—offers insights into how the major modes of phototrophy diversified.

A new engineering strategy for improving the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites in Streptomyces has been developed through the analysis of genes co-evolved with biosynthetic gene clusters. This strategy has been verified in 11 Streptomyces strains to enhance production of 16,385 metabolites, showing potential applications in drug discovery and industrial production.

This study reports a bacterial antiphage protein that contains a NACHT domain, which is also found in metazoan proteins that mediate immunity and inflammation.

A recent study found that the Helicobacter pylori genome evolves during disease progression and that these genomic changes select for effective colonizers of gastric metaplasia.

A recent study uncovered the geographical origins of the Black Death pandemic, offering a new perspective on the phylogenetic polytomy that served as a foundation for the expansion of Yersinia pestis across Eurasia and North Africa more than 600 years ago.

This study shows that upon urinary tract infections, uropathogenic Escherichia coli persist and subsequently adapt to the distinct physiological conditions encountered in the gastrointestinal and urinary environments.