News & Comment

This study reports the feasibility of vaginal microbiome transplantation from healthy donors as treatment for patients suffering from symptomatic, intractable and recurrent bacterial vaginosis.

A study reports the generation of synthetic ‘phagebodies’ with a broadened host range that were able to target naturally occurring phage-resistant bacterial mutants.

This study shows that sublethal doses of ciprofloxacin enhanced aggregation of bacterial cells, which resulted in their increased expulsion from the gut by the mechanical activity of the intestine.

Three recent studies highlight how the gut microbiome responds to dietary change, with potential consequences for host–microbiota interactions.

This study links a histone deacetylase and the gut microbiota to the circadian regulation of host metabolism.

This study explores the response of the gut microbiota to dietary fibres and presents new biosensors that can measure microbial fibre use in vivo.

This month’s Genome Watch highlights a large-scale sequencing project that enriches our understanding of yeast evolution and diversity.

The results of this study further corroborate that the mode of delivery is a crucial factor that shapes the gut microbiota during the neonatal period, with effects that persist into infancy.

This study reports the assembly and seasonal dynamics of bacterial and archaeal microbiomes of the leaf surfaces and the associated soils of switchgrass and miscanthus.

This study reports that the archaeal chromosome is organized into two compartments with differential gene expression activities that are maintained by a novel Sulfolobus-encoded structural maintenance of chromosomes protein.

A recent study finds that the re-seeding of Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Typhimurium persister cells into the gut lumen promotes the spread of antibiotic resistance plasmids.

Faecal microbiota transplant (FMT) is now accepted as an effective treatment for Clostridioides difficile infections. With the increasing number of FMT treatments and clinical trials for other indications there is an urgent need for standardized regulations to ensure patient safety and focused development of safer, rationally designed, microbiota-based medicines.

This study found that metabolic state and ATP levels at the time of treatment are more accurate predictors of antibiotic lethality than growth rate.

This study reports a structure of the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) polymerase complex, providing atomic-level insights into transcription and replication of the RSV genome.

This study uncovers a new signalling mechanism by which rhizobial bacteria regulate root nodulation in legumes.

This study determines that the host metabolism of a dietary fatty acid determines the host range of sexual reproduction in Toxoplasma gondii.

The findings of this study suggest that commensal Neisseria species antagonize infection by pathogenic Neisseria species through their DNA, by a mechanism based on genetic competence and DNA methylation state.

Two studies report synthetic genetic circuits for inducible asymmetric cell division that give rise to cellular differentiation in Escherichia coli.

Two studies now provide structural insights into the stator–rotor interaction, stator assembly and stator maintenance of the bacterial flagellum.

This month’s Under the Lens discusses how 3D fluorescence microscopy techniques are furthering the study of dynamic spatial organization and confinement in bacterial cells.