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Single-cell measurements of metabolic activities using NanoSIMS reveals that substrate limitation increases phenotypic heterogeneity in Klebsiella oxytoca metabolism, which allows cells to cope with nutrient fluctuations.
Bacteria enriched from surface and plume waters of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill show that the combined capabilities of community-wide hydrocarbon degradation is greater than its individual components.
Analysis of 60 sites in three ocean basins suggests that overgrowth of fleshy algae on coral reefs supports higher microbial abundances dominated by copiotrophic, potentially pathogenic bacteria via the provision of dissolved inorganic carbon.
Using a bacteriophage infection model that allows physical separation between growth and mutagenesis, this study provides support for the natural selection of random mutations as a basis for adaptation to stress.
Using Volta phase plate cryo-electron tomography, influenza virus haemagluttinin is shown to induce two independent pathways of viral membrane fusion, through lipidic junctions or through a fusion pore.
High fidelity, ultra-deep sequencing of a modified replicon system revealed >1000-fold differences in mutation rate across the hepatitis C virus genome, with extreme variation even between adjacent nucleotides.
An update to the ‘tree of life’ has revealed a dominance of bacterial diversity in many ecosystems and extensive evolution in some branches of the tree. It also highlights how few organisms we have been able to cultivate for further investigation.
The fungal pathogen Fusarium oxysporum is shown to use a functional homologue of the plant regulatory peptide RALF (rapid alkalinization factor) to induce alkalinization and cause disease in plants.
Antibiotic-mediated selection may promote or suppress conjugation dynamics, dependent on the population structure, physiological status of cells and energy availability.
Comparative genomic analyses suggest that Lokiarchaeota, the closest known prokaryotic relative of eukaryotes, are hydrogen dependent, supporting the ‘hydrogen hypothesis’ for the origin of eukaryotic cells.
Enrichment of oral microbiota in the bronchoalveolar lavage of apparently healthy people is associated with a pro-inflammatory phenotype, suggesting that aspiration-derived microbiota play a role in regulating basal inflammatory status.
A GWAS method that captures lineage-level associations even when locus-specific associations cannot be fine-mapped, detects genes and genetic variants underlying resistance to antimicrobials in M. tuberculosis, S. aureus, E. coli and K. pneumoniae.
Global phylogenetic analyses of Shigella dysenteriae isolates uncover the transcontinental transmission events and evolution of antibiotic resistance behind the major dysentery epidemics in the modern era.
Influenza A virus polymerase has a β-hairpin in the thumb subdomain, which is shown to be essential for the initiation of viral replication, but auxiliary for other replicative steps and viral transcription.
Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi have traditionally been considered an ancient asexual lineage. Comparative genomic analyses of Rhizophagus irregularis provides evidence of sexual reproduction in these fungi.
The mosquito gut microbiome utilizes C-type lectins to evade the bactericidal capacity of host-derived antimicrobial peptides, providing a mechanism for microbiome-induced manipulation of host immunity and maintenance of gut homeostasis.