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Amalgamation of population genetic theory and models of horizontal gene transfer suggest that pangenomes in prokaryotes result from adaptive, not neutral, evolution.
The sensor cyclic GMP–AMP synthase (cGAS) is well known to recognize viral DNA. In this issue of Nature Microbiology, infection by dengue virus (DENV), which has an RNA genome, is shown to induce mitochondrial DNA release into the cytosol, leading to cGAS activation. In turn, DENV targets cGAS to evade antiviral immunity.
A newly identified phosphoinositide kinase helps to generate phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate (PtdIns4P) on the vacuolar membrane of the intracellular pathogen Legionella pneumophila. Sequential effector protein cooperation explains the unusual enrichment of PtdIns4P on the Legionella-containing vacuole.
Recent work characterizing CozE, a protein that controls the function of the class A penicillin-binding protein PBP1a, sheds new light on our understanding of the synthesis of the bacterial peptidoglycan shell.
This Review describes the pro- and anti-carcinogenic roles played by the microbiota and highlights the therapeutic potential of microorganisms in tumourigenesis.
Rhythmic colonization of gut bacteria on mucosal surfaces is promoted by time-dependent feeding, and is now shown to drive circadian expression of host genes that are involved in functions such as drug detoxification in the liver.
Growth of Candida albicans on different host carbon sources reveals that the cell wall is a live organelle that can respond to alterations in the environment by masking a cell surface epitope to protect the fungal cell from the host immune response.
