Cellular microbiology articles from across Nature Portfolio

The enzymes FtsW and FtsI are thought to be essential for the synthesis of septal peptidoglycan (PG) during bacterial cell division. Here, Shrestha et al. show that the pathogen Clostridioides difficile lacks a canonical FtsW/FtsI pair, with its homologs fulfilling sporulation-specific roles including the synthesis of septal PG during sporulation-specific cell division.

The roles of extracellular RNAs present in bacterial biofilms are poorly understood. Here, Mugunthan et al. show that specific mRNAs associate with extracellular DNA in the matrix of bacterial biofilms, facilitating the formation of viscoelastic networks.

This study sheds light on the mechanism of transcription activation by which VirB, a virulence transcription activator in Shigella flexneri, the causative agent of the diarrheal disease shigellosis, uses the ribonucleotide CTP as a cofactor to load at specific DNA sites.

E. coli maintains membrane lipid asymmetry by transferring glycerophospholipids from the outer membrane to the inner membrane; this requires outer membrane protein MlaA, periplasmic chaperone MlaC, and inner-membrane complex MlaBDEF. Here, the authors show that in some bacteria that lack MlaA and MlaC, MlaD forms a transenvelope bridge comprising a typical inner-membrane domain and, in addition, an outer-membrane domain.

The bacterium Bacillus subtilis can form various types of surface-associated communities, such as colonies, pellicles and submerged biofilms. Here, Dergham et al. provide a direct comparison of spatial transcriptional heterogeneity across the three types of surface-associated communities, revealing mosaic expression patterns for genes involved in various pathways.

This study reports a mechanism whereby a Staphylococcus aureus protease induces itch by activating a host receptor on sensory neurons in the skin.

This study reports that intracellular cord formation by Mycobacterium tuberculosis is an important feature of early pathogenesis.

Computational, molecular and structural analyses reveal the presence of bacterial histones that bind DNA to form dense, DNA-enveloping fibres in Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus.

This study provides insights into the mechanism whereby Citrobacter rodentium transitions from the intestinal lumen to its mucosal niche.

This study reports how fluid flow is linked to changes in gene expression in bacterial pathogens.

This study shows that Listeria monocytogenes and Enterococcus faecalis can evade phage predation by transient conversion to a cell wall-deficient L-form state.