News & Comment

Recent studies provide new insights into the regulation of lysogeny and prophage induction.

A recent study finds that upregulation of nutrient-permeable channels in the parasitophorous vacuole membrane increases the acquisition of amino acids by artemisinin-resistant parasites to compensate for fitness costs.

This study provides insights into the neuroinvasive mechanism of neurotropic alphaherpesviruses, which involves viral assimilation and repurposing of a cellular motor protein.

A recent study provides evidence that the extracellular DNA-based architecture of bacterial biofilms relies on the rare left-handed helical form of DNA known as Z-DNA.

This study shows that segmented filamentous bacteria provide early protection against Citrobacter rodentium via a microbially derived metabolite that primes host innate immunity.

Two recent studies provide mechanistic evidence that members of the microbiota cooperate to confer colonization resistance against pathogens.

The authors of this study designed a novel therapeutic class of antimicrobials in which they optimized drug binding and permeation of the drug through bacterial membrane transporters simultaneously.

This study shows that gut bacteria accumulate host-targeted drugs intracellularly, which affects the therapeutic effect of the drug as well as metabolite secretion of the accumulating bacteria without much having an impact on bacterial growth.

This study demonstrates that commensal bacteria and fungi have opposing roles in the responses of tumours to radiotherapy.

A recent study finds that the gut microbiota generates diurnal rhythms in innate immune responses that synchronize with host feeding rhythms in mice, allowing the host to anticipate exposure to pathogens.

This study shows that co-existence of the four Lactobacillus species in the gut of the honey bee is mainly dependent on the pollen-rich diet of the host, and mediated by the specialization of the gut symbionts towards distinct pollen-derived nutrients.

This study reports that bacteriocins are encoded in temperate phages, and that they can be transferred between bacterial hosts, which provides a competitive advantage.

This article shows that a plant fungus manipulates caterpillars to ensure its spread.

A recent study finds that sense codon reassignment enables phage resistance and encoded polymer synthesis in Escherichia coli.

This study reports that Vibrio cholerae outer membrane vesicles protect the cholera toxin from degradative enzymes in the intestinal tract and deliver the active toxin to host cells by a porin-mediated mechanism.

This study analysed environmental growth rates of bacterial predators to study their role in microbial food webs.

This study shows that FtsZ1 and FtsZ2 have different functions during archaeal cell division.

This study reports that ICEBs1, which is an integrative and conjugative element of Bacillus subtilis, provides a selective advantage to its host cells during two developmental processes: biofilm formation and sporulation.

This study identifies a cyanobacterial toxin that causes mass mortality of eagles and other birds.

This study reports that antigens derived from intracellular bacteria are presented by tumour cells and activate the immune system.