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A screen for Salmonella type 3 secreted effector targets finds an interaction between SifA and host BLOC-2 complex that is important for positioning and stability of Salmonella-containing vacuoles during infection.
Geospatial modelling shows an overall decline in morbidity and mortality due to lower respiratory infections in Africa from 2000 to 2017, but also identifies subnational areas with residual high risk.
SAMHD1 inhibits murine cytomegalovirus replication in vivo and its activity is counteracted by the viral kinase M97. Phosphorylation of SAMHD1 by M97 correlates with reduced dNTP hydrolase activity and a loss of viral restriction in infected cells.
Core microbial populations across distinct gut habitats and diets were identified in a European seabass model indicating that microbial generalists persist and coexist by maintaining low competition, beneficial interactions and strain variability.
Human cytomegalovirus antagonizes the antiviral activity of sterile alpha motif and histidine–aspartate domain-containing protein 1 (SAMHD1) in macrophages by deploying the viral kinase pUL97 and hijacking cellular kinases.
A multifaceted approach was used to shed light on the genetic factors behind the heterogeneity that is observed in vitro and in vivo in the colony morphology of Aspergillus fumigatus isolates and on the impact of such morphological variation on fungal fitness and pathogenesis.
Analysis of the genetic stability and replication potential of bat H18N11 influenza A viruses reveals that they are poorly adapted to ferrets and mice and that they transmit among bats only in presence of the full-length neuraminidase-like protein N11.
The level of serum iron in blood meals influences the ability of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes to acquire dengue virus, suggesting that the iron status of human populations at risk of dengue virus infection may affect viral spreading via mosquitoes.
The actin methyltransferase SETD3, by virtue of its ability to interact with the viral 2A protein and independently of its enzymatic activity, is necessary for RNA replication of several enteroviruses in cell culture and in vivo.
A survey of fungal genomes across a broad range of taxa identifies shared gene clusters irrespective of their encoded functions and sheds light on the mechanisms underlying the formation, maintenance and evolution of these clusters.
Using metagenomics, culture and machine learning approaches, the authors characterized the resistome of preterm infants that received antibiotics and found that they have an enriched gut antibiotic resistome with distinct assembly patterns and prolonged carriage of multidrug-resistant bacteria, compared with healthy infants that did not receive antibiotics.
Peptostreptococcus anaerobius is enriched in the gut microbiota of patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). Here, the authors show that it can selectively bind to tumours and CRC cell lines and trigger downstream responses, resulting in chronic inflammation and tumour progression in a mouse model of CRC.
The non-coding RNA EBER2 of the Epstein–Barr virus M81 strain potentiates virus lytic replication in B cells by generating a paracrine loop whereby the chemokine CXCL8 is released from infected cells via extracellular vesicles—which are taken up by neighbouring cells—thereby enhancing its own expression.
Bactofilins form cytoskeletal filaments in various bacteria where they mediate, for example, stalk formation and chromosome segregation. This work reports multiple structures of bactofilin filaments that disprove the current filamentation model. Filamentation is shown to be non-polar, and filaments interact with membranes directly through a conserved hydrophobic motif.
Infection with Cryptosporidium parvum is a leading cause of severe diarrhoeal disease and childhood mortality worldwide. Using tools they recently developed to genetically engineer Cryptosporidium, the authors define life cycle stage-specific markers and generate reporter parasites, making life cycle progression and parasite sex tractable.
Hrd1 is an endoplasmic reticulum-localized E3 ubiquitin ligase that inactivates Usp15 to promote inflammation during bacterial infection, and depletion of Hrd1 in macrophages protects mice from septic shock.
How bacteria coordinate transcription and translation is incompletely understood. Here, ppGpp-dependent coordination between both processes is shown to occur under normal growth conditions and to be disrupted when translational elongation is slowed, a process that leads to premature transcriptional termination.