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Using macroecological approaches and human and murine gut microbiota datasets, the authors demonstrate that the dynamics of these complex microbial communities can be characterized similarly to other ecological systems by multiple quantitative relationships. The observed macroecological relationships were then used to identify specific taxa that are impacted by environmental changes.
Structures of the FimA pilin from Porphyromonasgingivalis in monomeric and polymerized states reveal the protease-mediated strand-exchange assembly mechanism of type V pili, which is a key virulence factor of this periodontal pathogen.
Structures of the flagellar MS-ring from Salmonella elucidate its mode of action, revealing how this complex serves as a structural adaptor that enables protein secretion and flagellar rotation.
Streptomyces bacteria make volatile compounds such as geosmin and 2-methylisoborneol that attract springtails to bacterial colonies. The soil arthropods feed on the bacteria and help to disseminate spores via faecal pellets and through adherence to their surface.
SspABCD–SspE is a widespread bacterial defence system against phage infection, in which SspABCD is responsible for introducing phosphorothioate modifications and SspE serves as a nickase that cleaves foreign DNA.
A search for genes encoding anti-CRISPR (Acr) proteins on plasmids and other conjugative elements identifies new Acrs that regulate plasmid dissemination and are broad-spectrum inhibitors of Cas9 in human cells.
Using single-cell imaging of the cyanobacterium Synechococcus, the authors show that confinement or mechanical perturbations result in altered photosynthetic activity.
The identification of the KinB–AlgB two-component system, known to modulate alginate biosynthesis, together with downstream proteins that repress the Type I-F CRISPR–Cas system in Pseudomonas aeruginosa, elucidates how bacteria control the expression of nucleolytic host defence systems to minimize the potential risks of self-targeting.
In this Article, the authors identify the mechanism of influenza virus transcription in viral ribonucleoproteins (vRNPs). This processive helical track mechanism is enabled by the extreme flexibility of the helical part of the vRNP, which allows the polymerase to move over the genome while bound to both RNA ends.
The crystal structure of the RodA–PBP2 complex from Thermus thermophilus elucidates how binding between these two proteins regulates their abilities to polymerize and crosslink peptidoglycan during bacterial cell wall synthesis.
The replication of hepatitis B virus involves the formation of covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA), which relies on a set of undefined host factors. Here, the authors use a cell-free system to reconstitute cccDNA formation and identify the minimal set of host factors required, which are components of the lagging-DNA-strand replication machinery.
Hybrid selection RNA sequencing of Bacteroides fragilis from colonic lumen, mucus and epithelial tissue samples, typically enriched with host reads, revealed the spatial transcriptome of this commensal throughout the murine colon and allowed the identification of putative colonization factors.
Here, Rickettsia parkeri is shown to be sensitive to type I interferons (IFN-I) and IFN-γ and to benefit from inflammasome-mediated antagonism of IFN-I, highlighting similarities between the immune responses against this obligate cytosolic bacterial pathogen and those that target viral pathogens.
A combination of cellular, molecular and structural biology approaches explains how the translating ribosome and the nascent peptide SpeFL interact to form a binding pocket that serves as an ornithine sensor to regulate polyamine biosynthesis in pathogenic bacteria.
The microrchidia (MORC) protein from Toxoplasma gondii is a transcriptional repressor that regulates parasite development and sexual commitment, and its conditional depletion paves the way to develop improved in vitro systems to investigate parasite sexual development.
Defence against type six secretion system (T6SS) effectors is thought to be mostly mediated by dedicated immunity proteins that antagonize specific effector proteins. Here, two envelope stress-response pathways, Rcs and BaeSR, are shown to regulate protection against the T6SS effector TseH by modulating the integrity of the bacterial envelope in a manner independent of immunity proteins.
This study describes the development of an approach to rapidly screen lineage B betacoronaviruses, such as SARS-CoV and the recently emerged SARS-CoV-2, for receptor usage and their ability to infect cell types from different species. Using it, they confirm human ACE2 as the receptor for SARs-CoV-2 and show that host protease processing during viral entry is a significant barrier for viral entry.
The discovery of the Factor that terminates transcription in Archaea (FttA) as a conserved archaeal protein that is able to disrupt transcription elongation complexes elucidates the mechanisms of transcription termination in these organisms.
An observational human clinical trial using a bacteriophage preparation showed that it was well tolerated without major adverse events in human patients with Staphylococcus aureus septicaemia.