Volume 4 Issue 10, October 2019

Since the emergence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus 60 years ago, scientists have been trying to engineer β-lactam antibiotics to restore drug susceptibility. Genomic data now shows that clavulanic acid (a β-lactamase inhibitor) can restore susceptibility in many strains, but only if they carry key mutations.

Clinicians have long observed that infections diagnosed as susceptible to antibiotics can sometimes resist treatment. New studies show that such treatment failures can be explained by subpopulations of transiently resistant cells that are often missed by standard clinical diagnostics, offering new therapeutic avenues.

The Mla phospholipid transporter is a multi-subunit ATP-binding cassette transport system widely understood to move phospholipids in a retrograde direction; that is, from the outer membrane to the inner membrane. However, recent studies reveal that Mla might move phospholipids in the opposite, anterograde direction.

Lab-based studies, combined with metatranscriptomic and metabolomic field analyses, reveal important diel-linked roles for sulfonates in the major classes of phytoplankton that produce them, and in the environment in which they feed ubiquitous heterotrophic bacteria.

Idionectes vortex is a flagellated unicellular microbial eukaryote with a unique mode of motility; it resembles a doughnut-shaped object that swims by continuous inversion of its surface, similar to a vortex ring.

Heteroresistance to multiple antibiotics is prevalent across carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae clinical isolates, but drug combinations that exploit multiple heteroresistance can be used to effectively treat multidrug-resistant infections.

Super-resolution microscopy and single-particle analysis reveal that vaccinia virus membrane proteins are organized into functional domains whose polarization on the surface of mature virus particles is required for viral entry and virus–cell fusion.

The crystal structure of a complex between the tail fibre and tail fibre assembly (Tfa) protein of Escherichia coli phage Mu reveals the mechanisms by which Tfa regulates fibre assembly and multimerization.

Palmitoleic acid as well as fatty acids isolated from bacterial cultures can be used in axenic culture of the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Rhizophagus irregularis to stimulate the formation of secondary spores that are able to colonize host plant roots.

Regulator of Chromosome Segregation (RocS) is a membrane-bound protein that interacts with DNA, the chromosome partitioning protein ParB and the cell division regulator FtsZ to coordinate cell constriction and chromosome segregation in dividing Streptococcus pneumoniae cells.

Influenza virus NS1 inhibits the binding of the host mRNA export receptor complex NXF1–NXT1 to nucleoporins, thus blocking the nuclear export of host mRNAs and allowing the virus to escape innate immune responses.

Collateral sensitivity-inducing mutations in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strains lead to re-sensitization of bacteria to penicillin–clavulanic acid combinatorial treatment.

A combination of structural and biochemical analyses of MlaC, the soluble periplasmic component of the Mla pathway, elucidate how this protein assists phospholipid movement between the bacterial inner and outer membranes.

Eukaryotic phytoplankton-derived sulfonates support the growth of the heterotrophic bacterial SAR11 clade and this is linked to light availability, indicating that sulfonates support microbial networks in the open ocean.

Genetic and β-lactam antibiotic-driven cell wall deficiency leads to increased glycolytic flux and the generation of reactive oxygen species, which inhibits bacterial L-form growth.

Here, the authors describe the global distribution of crAssphage, its presence in Old-World and New-World primates, and its association with gut bacterial communities and dietary factors, providing insights into the origin, evolution and epidemiology of human gut crAssphage.

Murine norovirus protects intestinal epithelial cells (IECs) from chemical injury by inducing a type I interferon (IFN-I) response in the colon via the viral non-structural protein NS1/2. IFN-I signalling in IECs, in turn, stimulates the production and signalling of the cytoprotective cytokine interleukin-22.

The cryo-electron microscopy structures of apo and promoter-bound influenza D polymerase reveal that the 3ʹ end of the viral RNA can bind at two different sites on the surface of the viral polymerase. Further mutational and biochemical analyses confirm the importance of both sites for viral RNA synthesis.

Clostridium difficile toxin A utilizes host sulfated glycosaminoglycans and low-density lipoprotein receptor for host cell entry and intoxication.