Volume 7 Issue 5, May 2022

The gut microorganism Clostridium sporogenes can utilize amino-acid pairs to generate energy, and the resulting metabolites circulate in host plasma.

Stimulator of interferon genes (STING) is a proviral host factor for all rhinoviruses.

Understanding the mechanisms and evolution of pathogenicity in fungi will bring us a step closer to reducing the annual toll of 1.6 million deaths from fungal disease.

A substudy nested within a double-blind cluster-randomized controlled trial in Bangladesh shows that drinking chlorinated water had relatively minor impacts on children’s gut microbiome development in this setting.

Multi-omics analyses of faecal, urine and blood samples from women with and without recurrent urinary tract infections reveal that gut dysbiosis and differential immune responses may play a role in risk of infection via the gut–bladder axis.

A longitudinal analysis of viral expansion and clearance rates in 60 individuals sampled daily during acute infection reveals high inter-individual variation in infectious virus shedding, which may contribute to superspreading.

Gut virome analysis of preterm infants at risk of developing necrotizing enterocolitis identifies a conserved viral signature that precedes disease onset.

Whole-genome sequencing and population genomics of 218 Aspergillus fumigatus environmental and clinical isolates reveals strong genetic clustering and the occurrences of near-identical genotypes, indicating the infection of patients with resistant isolates from the environment.

A comparison of the repertoire of SARS-CoV-2-specific epitopes targeted by T cells induced by vaccination or natural infection reveals that T cells predominantly target non-spike epitopes in convalescent individuals, while there is a broader spike-specific CD8⁺ T-cell response in vaccinees. Despite differences in T-cell response, the targeted T-cell epitopes were conserved between the wild-type and Omicron variants in both groups.

β-glucuronidases produced by gut microbiota members mediate proteolytic activity in the gut via the production of unconjugated bilirubin, which is dysregulated in irritable bowel syndrome.

The gut bacterium Clostridium sporogenes uses reductive Stickland reactions for energy and consequently produces metabolites that circulate in the host.

The mosquito gut resident bacterium Pseudomonas alcaligenes protects the integrity of the mosquito peritrophic matrix by catabolizing 3-hydroxykynurenine, thereby contributing to protection against Plasmodium infection.

An inhibitor of the SARS-CoV-2 main protease (Mpro), Y180, showed therapeutic efficacy against wild-type SARS-CoV-2 and its variants including Omicron after oral administration and improved survival in a humanized mouse model.

A comprehensive survey of secondary metabolites encoded in bacteria identifies large differences in biosynthetic diversity among genera and pinpoints those that can be targeted for novel chemistries provisionally suitable as antimicrobials.