News Explainer |
Featured
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News Feature |
Long COVID still has no cure — so these patients are turning to research
With key long COVID trials yet to yield results, people with the condition are trying to change how clinical trials are done.
- Rachel Fairbank
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News |
Gut bacteria break down cholesterol — hinting at probiotic treatments
Species in the human microbiome have enzymes that can metabolize a potentially dangerous lipid.
- Julian Nowogrodzki
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Technology Feature |
How synthetic biologists are building better biofactories
Artificial electron donors and acceptors expand researchers’ metabolic engineering options — if only cells would cooperate.
- Sara Reardon
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News Feature |
The ‘Mother Tree’ idea is everywhere — but how much of it is real?
A popular theory about how trees cooperate has enchanted the public and raised the profile of forest conservation. But some ecologists think its scientific basis has been oversold.
- Aisling Irwin
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News |
Google AI could soon use a person’s cough to diagnose disease
Machine-learning system trained on millions of human audio clips shows promise for detecting COVID-19 and tuberculosis.
- Mariana Lenharo
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Article
| Open AccessCompensatory evolution in NusG improves fitness of drug-resistant M. tuberculosis
In Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the fitness cost of rifampicin resistance is partially due to excessive RNA polymerase pausing and is rescued by mutations in the pro-pausing transcription factor NusG.
- Kathryn A. Eckartt
- , Madeleine Delbeau
- & Jeremy M. Rock
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News & Views |
Whittling down the bacterial subspecies that might drive colon cancer
Understanding the factors that drive formation of particular types of cancer can aid efforts to develop better diagnostics or treatments. The identification of a bacterial subspecies with a connection to colon cancer has clinical relevance.
- Cynthia L. Sears
- & Jessica Queen
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News |
COVID’s toll on the brain: new clues emerge
A leaky blood–brain barrier and inflammation might account for some of the cognitive symptoms of COVID-19.
- Claudia López Lloreda
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News Feature |
These ‘movies’ of proteins in action are revealing the hidden biology of cells
A burgeoning technique called time-resolved cryo-EM is granting insights into the tiny motors and devices that power life.
- Ewen Callaway
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Article
| Open AccessA distinct Fusobacterium nucleatum clade dominates the colorectal cancer niche
A study reveals that Fusobacterium nucleatum subspecies animalis is bifurcated into two distinct clades, and shows that only one of these dominates the colorectal cancer niche, probably through increased colonization of the human gastrointestinal tract.
- Martha Zepeda-Rivera
- , Samuel S. Minot
- & Christopher D. Johnston
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Article |
Structure and assembly of a bacterial gasdermin pore
Cryo-electron microscopy and molecular dynamics studies of a Vitiosangium gasdermin pore reveal insights into the assembly of this large and diverse family of membrane pore-forming proteins.
- Alex G. Johnson
- , Megan L. Mayer
- & Philip J. Kranzusch
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Article |
A host–microbiota interactome reveals extensive transkingdom connectivity
A new technology for proteome-scale assessment of human exoproteome–microbiome interactions exposes an extensive network of transkingdom connectivity.
- Nicole D. Sonnert
- , Connor E. Rosen
- & Noah W. Palm
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Obituary |
Anthony Epstein (1921–2024), discoverer of virus causing cancer in humans
Pathologist whose finding that viruses can trigger tumours in humans transformed medical research.
- Alan Rickinson
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News & Views |
Mobile delivery of COVID-19 vaccines improved uptake in rural Sierra Leone
A trial that took mobile health services to rural Sierra Leone finds that this initiative increased COVID-19 vaccine uptake. But more must be done to expand the coverage of health services in low-income countries.
- Alison Buttenheim
- & Harsha Thirumurthy
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News & Views |
Epstein–Barr virus at 60
The 1964 discovery of Epstein–Barr virus shed light on factors that contribute to human cancer. Subsequent studies set the stage for finding ways to diagnose and treat cancer, and revealed how immune defences control viral infection.
- Lawrence S. Young
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News |
Massive public-health experiment sends vaccination rates soaring
The rate of vaccination against COVID-19 rose sharply in villages in Sierra Leone where health officials held mobile vaccination clinics.
- Max Kozlov
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Article
| Open AccessAnoxygenic phototroph of the Chloroflexota uses a type I reaction centre
Cultivation of a new anoxygenic phototrophic bacterium from Boreal Shield lake water—representing a transition form in the evolution of photosynthesis—offers insights into how the major modes of phototrophy diversified.
- J. M. Tsuji
- , N. A. Shaw
- & J. D. Neufeld
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Article |
Dopamine receptor D2 confers colonization resistance via microbial metabolites
In a mouse model of enteric pathogen infection, tryptophan metabolites protect against infection via activation of dopamine receptor D2 and regulation of actin cytoskeletal organization in intestinal epithelial cells.
- Samantha A. Scott
- , Jingjing Fu
- & Pamela V. Chang
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Article |
Structures and activation mechanism of the Gabija anti-phage system
Structures of complexes containing GajA and GajB proteins of the prokaryotic Gabija anti-phage defence system reveal the mechanism of its activation after DNA cleavage upon ATP depletion.
- Jing Li
- , Rui Cheng
- & Longfei Wang
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Outlook |
Could the gut give rise to alcohol addiction?
Microorganisms in the gut might make a person more vulnerable to substance-use disorders.
- Tammy Worth
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Article |
The hyphal-specific toxin candidalysin promotes fungal gut commensalism
Both the yeast and hyphal forms of Candida albicans enable colonization of the mammalian gut, with hyphal cells secreting the toxin candidalysin to inihibit bacteria and support fungal commensalism.
- Shen-Huan Liang
- , Shabnam Sircaik
- & Richard J. Bennett
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Article |
The structure and physical properties of a packaged bacteriophage particle
Multiresolution computational simulations generate all-atom models of a complete packaged virus particle.
- Kush Coshic
- , Christopher Maffeo
- & Aleksei Aksimentiev
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News |
Brazil’s record dengue surge: why a vaccine campaign is unlikely to stop it
A vaccine shortage and persistent sanitation problems threaten the success of the world’s first public vaccination campaign against dengue virus.
- Mariana Lenharo
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Article
| Open AccessIncomplete transcripts dominate the Mycobacterium tuberculosis transcriptome
A study reveals that most transcripts in Mycobacterium tuberculosis are incomplete, likely because of the tendency of the transcription machinery in this species to pause on genomic DNA.
- Xiangwu Ju
- , Shuqi Li
- & Shixin Liu
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Correspondence |
Speed up relief for long COVID through grassroots clinical trials
- Marc Jamoulle
- , Elena Louazon
- & Johan Van Weyenbergh
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News |
The surprising link between gut bacteria and devastating eye diseases
Finding raises hopes that antibiotics could treat some genetic diseases that can cause blindness — but also prompts doubts.
- Saima Sidik
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Comment |
Save lives in the next pandemic: ensure vaccine equity now
The proposed Pandemic Agreement must ensure that COVID-19 vaccine nationalism is never repeated; 290 scientists call for action.
- Colin Carlson
- , Daniel Becker
- & Alexandra Phelan
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News |
Drug-resistant microbes: ‘brain drain’ is derailing the fight to stop them
A lack of investment is driving researchers who study antimicrobial resistance out of the field, an industry body warns.
- Lilly Tozer
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News |
Smoking scars the immune system for years after quitting
A cigarette habit and previous infection with a common virus both have important effects on the immune system.
- Heidi Ledford
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Article |
Bile salt hydrolase acyltransferase activity expands bile acid diversity
Acyltransferase activity of the enzyme bile salt hydrolase is identified and shown to mediate microbial bile acid conjugation, diversifying the bile acid pool and expanding their role in gut physiology.
- Douglas V. Guzior
- , Maxwell Okros
- & Robert A. Quinn
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Article
| Open AccessTranslation selectively destroys non-functional transcription complexes
Translation actively dislodges stalled transcription elongation complexes (ECs) from damaged DNA, which enables lesion repair and restoration of transcription activity, and coupled ribosomes discriminate between active ECs and stalled ECs, ensuring destruction of only the latter.
- Jason Woodgate
- , Hamed Mosaei
- & Nikolay Zenkin
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Article
| Open AccessBile salt hydrolase catalyses formation of amine-conjugated bile acids
We find that bile salt hydrolase N-acyltransferase activity can form bacterial bile acid amidates that are positively correlated with the colonization of gut bacteria that assist in the regulation of the bile acid metabolic network.
- Bipin Rimal
- , Stephanie L. Collins
- & Andrew D. Patterson
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Research Briefing |
Synthesizing and identifying potential biomarkers to explore uncharted biochemistry
Public repositories of metabolomics data are expanding rapidly and can be leveraged to uncover previously undescribed metabolites. Reverse metabolomics is a workflow in which thousands of small compounds are synthesized using combinatorial chemistry, and their molecular ‘fingerprints’ are then used to discover where they are localized in tissues and biological fluids and how they are associated with health and disease in humans.
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News & Views Forum |
The journey to understand previously unknown microbial genes
The analysis of DNA sequences sheds light on microbial biology, but it is difficult to assess the function of genes that have little or no similarity to characterized genes. Here, scientists discuss this challenge from genomic and microbial perspectives.
- Jakob Wirbel
- , Ami S. Bhatt
- & Alexander J. Probst
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Editorial |
Research funders must join the fight for equal access to medicines
Pandemic treaty is a rare opportunity to ensure pandemic-related technologies are accessible and affordable to all.
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News & Views |
Bacterial prey turns the tables on predator
A rare example of the reversal of a bacterial predator–prey relationship suggests that such species interactions are more complex than was realized.
- Andrew Mitchinson
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News |
‘Wildly weird’ RNA bits discovered infesting the microbes in our guts
Rod-shaped structures named ‘obelisks’ are even smaller than viruses but can still transmit instructions to cells.
- Saima Sidik
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Nature Podcast |
Audio long read: Long COVID is a double curse in low-income nations — here’s why
A dearth of research means the condition is often ignored by physicians.
- Heidi Ledford
- & Benjamin Thompson
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Article
| Open AccessThe HIV capsid mimics karyopherin engagement of FG-nucleoporins
Dissection of the nuclear pore complex provides a model in which the HIV capsid enters the nucleus through karyopherin mimicry, a mechanism likely to be conserved across other viruses.
- C. F. Dickson
- , S. Hertel
- & D. A. Jacques
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Article
| Open AccessHIV-1 capsids enter the FG phase of nuclear pores like a transport receptor
The HIV-1 capsid behaves like a nuclear transport receptor entering and traversing an FG phase, with its interior serving as a cargo container, bypassing an otherwise effective barrier to viral infection.
- Liran Fu
- , Erika N. Weiskopf
- & Dirk Görlich
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Article |
Transcription–replication interactions reveal bacterial genome regulation
Single-cell expression data from bacteria are used to classify gene regulatory architectures in relation to gene expression dynamics and the cell cycle, revealing distinct categories of gene regulatory mechanisms.
- Andrew W. Pountain
- , Peien Jiang
- & Itai Yanai
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News |
How does chronic stress harm the gut? New clues emerge
A bacterium in the intestines of stressed mice interferes with cells that protect against pathogens.
- Max Kozlov
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News |
Long-COVID signatures identified in huge analysis of blood proteins
Proteins involved in immunity, clotting and inflammation could help to unravel the complexity of long COVID.
- Miryam Naddaf
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News |
Potent new pill provides COVID relief for the masses
The drug simnotrelvir shortens symptoms for those with mild infections and is sold at a lower price in China than its main rival.
- Saima Sidik
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News |
Largest genetic database of marine microbes could aid drug discovery
A trove of more than 300 million gene groups from ocean bacteria, fungi and viruses has been made freely available online.
- Carissa Wong
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Article
| Open AccessThe CRISPR effector Cam1 mediates membrane depolarization for phage defence
The prokaryotic non-enzymatic effector protein Cam1 mediates CRISPR immunity by binding tetra-adenylate second messengers and forming a pore in the membrane that induces membrane depolarization and growth arrest.
- Christian F. Baca
- , You Yu
- & Luciano A. Marraffini
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Comment |
Boosting microbiome science worldwide could save millions of children’s lives
Studies of the microbes living on and in our bodies are conducted mainly in a few rich countries, squandering opportunities to improve the health of people globally.
- Hilary P. Browne
- , Najeeha Talat Iqbal
- & Samuel Kariuki
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News Feature |
Antibiotic resistance is a growing threat — is climate change making it worse?
Researchers are studying how extreme weather and rising temperatures can encourage the spread of drug-resistant infections.
- Carissa Wong
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News & Views |
A new type of antibiotic targets a drug-resistant bacterium
Infections caused by drug-resistant strains of the bacterium Acinetobacter baumannii have been hard to treat in the clinic. A new class of antibiotics has been identified with the potential to tackle these microbes.
- Morgan K. Gugger
- & Paul J. Hergenrother
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