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In the past five years Nature Microbiology has championed research and commentary across the breadth of the discipline. Going forwards, we will expand our scope to include the biology and applications of microorganisms that can help to address the pressing issues of global change and sustainable living.
In response to COVID-19, universities and other education providers pivoted rapidly from in-class learning to digital course instruction. Student tuition was deemed essential, thus swift change ensued. Similarly, if equity, diversity and inclusion are truly deemed essential at those same institutions, change could occur now — not later.
Commensal pneumococci convert invasive diseases to peaceful colonizers by commandeering the host nuclear KDM6B demethylase to mark NF-κB sites of the IL-11 cytokine promoter and increase epithelium repair.
By competing for the same binding site on SmbA, a regulatory nucleotide-binding protein, the bacterial second messengers c-di-GMP and (p)ppGpp inversely balance cell cycle re-entry of growth-arrested swarmer cells of Caulobacter crescentus.
Big data abound in microbiology, but the workflows designed to enable researchers to interpret data can constrain the biological questions that can be asked. Five years after anvi’o was first published, this community-led multi-omics platform is maturing into an open software ecosystem that reduces constraints in ‘omics data analyses.
Stepwise evolution of invasive Salmonella Typhimurium in Africa is defined using genotypic and phenotypic analyses of isolates collected over a 50-yr period.
A non-invasive Streptococcus pneumoniae strain induces a unique NF-κB signature response in epithelial cells that requires the histone demethylase KDM6B. Modulation of KDM6B can interchange the host response to non-invasive and invasive pneumococcal strains, demonstrating the biological role of KDM6B in cellular responses during infection.
Interactions between SARS-CoV-2 viral RNAs and host cell proteins during infection are evaluated to improve our understanding of viral RNA functions and the host innate immune response.
Acute respiratory distress in macaques and baboons recapitulates COVID-19 disease progression in humans, making them suitable as models to test vaccines and therapies.
Treatment of SARS-CoV-2-infected ferrets with a nucleoside analogue (MK-4482/EIDD-2801) reduced the viral load in the upper respiratory tract and suppressed the spread of the virus to untreated ferrets. Therapeutic administration of MK-4482/EIDD-2801 may have the potential to break SARS-CoV-2 transmission chains.
A DNA-based vaccine elicits humoral and cellular immunity and provides protection against Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever virus-mediated disease in a non-human primate model.
Many bacteria rely on their flagella for motility, yet the molecular mechanism of flagellar rotation was previously unclear. Recently, multiple papers solved the atomic structure of the bacterial flagellum stator complex, elucidating how these intricate molecular machines operate.
Microbiology has been front and centre during the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. We reflect on the content we published this year and look ahead to aligning output with the Sustainable Development Goals in 2021.
COVID-19-convalescent individuals maintain a strong neutralizing antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 that has cross-reactivity to SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV. Neutralizing antibody titres depend on the severity of the disease and are positively correlated with the frequency of CXCR3+ T follicular helper cells and lymphocyte counts.
In this study, the authors use a transcriptional regulator-induced phenotype screen coupled with network analysis to characterize adaptations of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to the first-line anti-tuberculosis drug isoniazid. They identify the transcriptional factor mce3R and the CtpD effector to have a role in Mycobacterium susceptibility to isoniazid.