{"title":"Protists and their symbiont feast","authors":"Gitta Szabó","doi":"10.1038/s41579-025-01230-6","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41579-025-01230-6","url":null,"abstract":"This Genome Watch article highlights recent discoveries on bacterial symbionts of predatory protists, and their evolutionary and functional integration into host biology.","PeriodicalId":18838,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Microbiology","volume":"23 11","pages":"685-686"},"PeriodicalIF":103.3,"publicationDate":"2025-08-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144851400","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Oscar Enrique Torres Montaguth, Sarah Buddle, Sofia Morfopoulou, Judith Breuer
{"title":"Clinical metagenomics for diagnosis and surveillance of viral pathogens","authors":"Oscar Enrique Torres Montaguth, Sarah Buddle, Sofia Morfopoulou, Judith Breuer","doi":"10.1038/s41579-025-01223-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-025-01223-5","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Metagenomics is becoming more widely used for diagnosis of viral infections and surveillance of viruses. Its pathogen-agnostic approach makes metagenomics useful for unknown and novel infection diagnosis, outbreak investigation, and new and emerging pathogen surveillance. New metagenomics methods, such as the use of rapid sequencing technologies and approaches that can selectively enrich for a wide range of viruses, are expanding the range of clinical and public health scenarios in which metagenomics can be used. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, there is increasing interest in viral surveillance worldwide, using clinical samples, potential zoonotic reservoirs and environmental sources, such as wastewater. Validation and accreditation of metagenomics protocols to ensure quality, together with further innovation in methods, will be necessary to bring metagenomics into routine service in clinical and public health laboratories.</p>","PeriodicalId":18838,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Microbiology","volume":"33 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":88.1,"publicationDate":"2025-08-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144825290","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Anti-science and the science community","authors":"Marion Koopmans","doi":"10.1038/s41579-025-01231-5","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41579-025-01231-5","url":null,"abstract":"As anti-science sentiment intensifies — aggravated by the pandemic, driven in some parts of the world by political actors and amplified by social media — the scientific community finds itself under increasing scrutiny, and in some cases, even direct attack. In this World View, Marion Koopmans reflects on this anti-science trend from a perspective of a concerned scientist looking for solutions, arguing that we cannot stand by.","PeriodicalId":18838,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Microbiology","volume":"23 10","pages":"615-616"},"PeriodicalIF":103.3,"publicationDate":"2025-08-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144840229","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Commensal glycolipid structure shapes gut immunity","authors":"Shimona Starling","doi":"10.1038/s41579-025-01232-4","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41579-025-01232-4","url":null,"abstract":"New research by Cho et al. shows that structural variations in a glycolipid present on Gram-negative bacteria can modulate gut inflammatory responses.","PeriodicalId":18838,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Microbiology","volume":"23 10","pages":"617-617"},"PeriodicalIF":103.3,"publicationDate":"2025-08-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144819138","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Plasmid and phage lifestyles in crAssphage","authors":"Andrea Du Toit","doi":"10.1038/s41579-025-01229-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41579-025-01229-z","url":null,"abstract":"This study shows that the prototypical crAssphage Carjivirus communis replicates as a low-copy, linear phage–plasmid that has a broad host range.","PeriodicalId":18838,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Microbiology","volume":"23 10","pages":"617-617"},"PeriodicalIF":103.3,"publicationDate":"2025-08-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144778590","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Switching bacteria on via a smartphone","authors":"Andrea Du Toit","doi":"10.1038/s41579-025-01227-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41579-025-01227-1","url":null,"abstract":"This study reports the development of optogenetically engineered microorganisms and optoelectronic capsules that form a bidirectional signal processing system that can be controlled via a wireless smartphone.","PeriodicalId":18838,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Microbiology","volume":"23 10","pages":"618-618"},"PeriodicalIF":103.3,"publicationDate":"2025-08-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144778596","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The human skin microbiome: from metagenomes to therapeutics.","authors":"Julia Oh,Anita Y Voigt","doi":"10.1038/s41579-025-01211-9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-025-01211-9","url":null,"abstract":"The skin microbiome is composed of a diverse community of microorganisms, including bacteria, fungi, viruses and mites. These microorganisms have a crucial role in maintaining skin health, protecting against pathogens and modulating immune responses. In recent years, our understanding of the skin microbiome has expanded substantially with the deployment of metagenomic sequencing. This technology, by reconstructing microbial species, strains and gene pathways in the microbiomes of different cohorts, has led to identification of numerous therapeutic targets and thus propelled the development of therapeutic approaches that are aimed at leveraging these microorganisms to treat skin conditions and to improve skin health. In this Review, we discuss the composition, ecology, functions and therapeutic horizons of the human skin microbiome, presenting examples of studies that highlight potential therapeutic targets in the skin microbiome, ongoing progress in the development of skin microbiome-based therapeutics and challenges.","PeriodicalId":18838,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Microbiology","volume":"20 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":88.1,"publicationDate":"2025-08-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144777768","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Hunting archaeal viruses","authors":"Tessa E. F. Quax","doi":"10.1038/s41579-025-01221-7","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41579-025-01221-7","url":null,"abstract":"In this Journal Club, Tessa Quax discusses a study that was the first to identify the diversity of archaeal viruses in environmental samples from Icelandic hot springs.","PeriodicalId":18838,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Microbiology","volume":"23 11","pages":"684-684"},"PeriodicalIF":103.3,"publicationDate":"2025-07-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144715360","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Microbial metal physiology: ions to ecosystems","authors":"John D. Helmann","doi":"10.1038/s41579-025-01213-7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-025-01213-7","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Life depends on metal ions. The levels of metal ions vary widely across environments; many areas of the open ocean are chronically metal-limited, whereas other natural and human-affected environments have exceptionally high metal concentrations. Within the human host, the fitness of commensal and pathogenic microorganisms can be constrained by both metal limitation and intoxication. Limitation occurs when metals are deficient or in forms not suitable for import. Conversely, metal excess can lead to toxicity; microorganisms then rely on metal export to maintain suitable intracellular levels. Metalloregulatory systems play a central part in enabling microorganisms to acclimate to changes in metal availability. The analysis of metalloregulators and their regulons unveils physiologically relevant transport and trafficking functions, reveals processes affected by metal imbalance and provides insights into intracellular metal pools. In this Review, I explore the key processes of metal transport, trafficking, storage and regulation. I next highlight selected microorganisms that illustrate how to thrive in environments that are chronically or transiently metal-limited, or where high metal levels are toxic. A detailed understanding of microbial metal physiology can be harnessed to improve the health of diverse ecosystems, for bioremediation and biomining, and to restrict the growth of bacterial pathogens.</p>","PeriodicalId":18838,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Microbiology","volume":"20 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":88.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144701414","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Towards a prognostic biomarker for multiple sclerosis","authors":"Andrea Du Toit","doi":"10.1038/s41579-025-01224-4","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41579-025-01224-4","url":null,"abstract":"The data in this study suggest that the detection of EBV nuclear antigen-specific antibodies are potentially an early marker predicting the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.","PeriodicalId":18838,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Microbiology","volume":"23 9","pages":"547-547"},"PeriodicalIF":103.3,"publicationDate":"2025-07-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144693991","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}