News & Comment

Two recent studies provide mechanistic understanding of how bacteria employ the Gabija system for defence against phages, as well as how phages use anti-defence proteins to overcome bacterial immunity.

The data of the study suggest that bacteria possess a physiological iron memory that persists over multiple generations.

In this study, Lee et al. analyse the structure and receptor-binding features of the spike glycoprotein from a clade 3 sarbecovirus to examine the risk of spillover from bats to humans.

This month’s Genome Watch highlights the recent use of machine learning to uncover functional ‘dark matter’ in the microbial protein universe.

This study reports a mechanism whereby a Staphylococcus aureus protease induces itch by activating a host receptor on sensory neurons in the skin.

In this study, Simonis et al. show that chronic infection with Pseudomonas aeruginosa leads to development of neutralizing antibodies that could be exploited to fight against this pathogen.

In this study, Wang et al. show that bacterium-derived intestinal ammonia modulates glutamine production in the mouse brain and reduces stress-induced depressive-like behaviour.

This study provides evidence for a role of Anopheles stephensi in driving urban malaria outbreaks.

This study reports the identification of an archaeal virus Acr protein that blocks the dissociation of the target RNA from the type III-B CRISPR–Cas effector complex, which prevents the recycling of the complex.

This Genome Watch highlights how a tailor-made search through bacterial genomes revealed the widespread presence of a new class of bacterial signalling peptides that lack conventional characteristics.

This study reports that intracellular cord formation by Mycobacterium tuberculosis is an important feature of early pathogenesis.

In this study, Yan et al. developed a broad-spectrum protein-free vaccine that protects against infection with bacterial and fungal nosocomial pathogens.

This study reports the identification of the novel Candida auris-specific adhesin Scf1, which, together with the adhesin Iff4109, is a key mediator of surface association, infection and long-term colonization.

With the debut of our AI-supported Research Highlights, we combine advances in large language models with the trust and expertise of human editors.

This study found that the bacterial second messenger cyclic diguanylate (c-di-GMP) has a key role in establishing host–bacteria symbiosis.

A recent study found that carbohydrate metabolism by gut microbiota contributes to insulin resistance.

This Comment article highlights the progress that has been made over the past 40 years since the discovery of HIV, and discusses the commitment needed to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the ongoing challenges.

This study shows how the bacterium Akkermansia muciniphila exacerbates food allergy in fibre-deprived mice.

This Genome Watch highlights different tools and strategies used to enhance the quality of metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) generated in microbiome studies.

In this Journal Club, Gonzalo Moratorio discusses a study using deep mutational scanning (DMS) to uncover how the influenza virus evades the host immune response, highlighting the potential of DMS in understanding the evolutionary arms race between pathogens and hosts.