{"title":"In tandem towards resistance","authors":"Andrea Du Toit","doi":"10.1038/s41579-024-01128-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41579-024-01128-9","url":null,"abstract":"This study shows that high-level resistance in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus involves an alternative mode of cell division.","PeriodicalId":18838,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Microbiology","volume":"23 1","pages":"5-5"},"PeriodicalIF":69.2,"publicationDate":"2024-11-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142601052","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 microbial phosphorus cycle in aquatic ecosystems","authors":"Solange Duhamel","doi":"10.1038/s41579-024-01119-w","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-024-01119-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Phosphorus is an essential element for life, and phosphorus cycling is crucial to planetary habitability. In aquatic environments, microorganisms are a major component of phosphorus cycling and rapidly transform the diverse chemical forms of phosphorus through various uptake, assimilation and release pathways. Recent discoveries have revealed a more dynamic and complex aquatic microbial phosphorus cycle than previously understood. Some microorganisms have been shown to use and produce new phosphorus compounds, including those in reduced forms. New findings have also raised numerous unanswered questions that warrant further investigation. There is an expanding influence of human activity on aquatic ecosystems. Advancements in understanding the phosphorus biogeochemistry of evolving aquatic environments offer a unique opportunity to comprehend, anticipate and mitigate the effect of human activities. In this Review, I discuss the wealth of new aquatic phosphorus cycle research, spanning disciplines from omics and physiology to global biogeochemical modelling, with a focus on the current comprehension of how aquatic microorganisms sense, transport, assimilate, store, produce and release phosphorus. Of note, I delve into cellular phosphorus allocation, an underexplored topic with wide-ranging implications for energy and element flux in aquatic ecosystems.</p>","PeriodicalId":18838,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Microbiology","volume":"153 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":88.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142598310","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}
Raquel Peixoto, Christian R. Voolstra, Lisa Y. Stein, Philip Hugenholtz, Joana Falcao Salles, Shady A. Amin, Max Häggblom, Ann Gregory, Thulani P. Makhalanyane, Fengping Wang, Nadège Adoukè Agbodjato, Yinzhao Wang, Nianzhi Jiao, Jay T. Lennon, Antonio Ventosa, Patrik M. Bavoil, Virginia Miller, Jack A. Gilbert
{"title":"Microbial solutions must be deployed against climate catastrophe","authors":"Raquel Peixoto, Christian R. Voolstra, Lisa Y. Stein, Philip Hugenholtz, Joana Falcao Salles, Shady A. Amin, Max Häggblom, Ann Gregory, Thulani P. Makhalanyane, Fengping Wang, Nadège Adoukè Agbodjato, Yinzhao Wang, Nianzhi Jiao, Jay T. Lennon, Antonio Ventosa, Patrik M. Bavoil, Virginia Miller, Jack A. Gilbert","doi":"10.1038/s41579-024-01123-0","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41579-024-01123-0","url":null,"abstract":"This paper is a call to action. By publishing concurrently across journals like an emergency bulletin, we are not merely making a plea for awareness about climate change. Instead, we are demanding immediate, tangible steps that harness the power of microbiology and the expertise of researchers and policymakers to safeguard the planet for future generations.","PeriodicalId":18838,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Microbiology","volume":"23 1","pages":"1-2"},"PeriodicalIF":69.2,"publicationDate":"2024-11-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41579-024-01123-0.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142599125","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Streptococcus pneumoniae epidemiology, pathogenesis and control","authors":"Ana Rita Narciso, Rebecca Dookie, Priyanka Nannapaneni, Staffan Normark, Birgitta Henriques-Normark","doi":"10.1038/s41579-024-01116-z","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-024-01116-z","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Infections caused by <i>Streptococcus pneumoniae</i> (also known as pneumococci) pose a threat to human health. Pneumococcal infections are the most common cause of milder respiratory tract infections, such as otitis and sinusitis, and of more severe diseases, including pneumonia (with or without septicaemia) and meningitis. The introduction of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines in the childhood vaccination programme in many countries has led to a notable decrease of severe invasive pneumococcal disease in vaccinated children. However, infections caused by non-vaccine types have concurrently increased, causing invasive pneumococcal disease in unvaccinated populations (such as older adults), which has hampered the effect of these vaccines. Moreover, emerging antibiotic resistance is threatening effective therapy. Thus, new approaches are needed for the treatment and prevention of pneumococcal infections, and recent advances in the field may pave the way for new strategies. Recently, several important findings have been gained regarding pneumococcal epidemiology, genomics and the effect of the introduction of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines and of the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, elucidative pathogenesis studies have shown that the interactions between pneumococcal virulence factors and host receptors may be exploited for new therapies, and new vaccine candidates have been suggested. In this Review, we summarize some recent findings from clinical disease to basic pathogenesis studies that may be of importance for future control strategies.</p>","PeriodicalId":18838,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Microbiology","volume":"104 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":88.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142588687","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":"Microbiome-colonizing RNAs","authors":"Andrea Du Toit","doi":"10.1038/s41579-024-01122-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41579-024-01122-1","url":null,"abstract":"This study describes the discovery of a previously uncharacterized phylogenetically distinct group of viroid-like human microbiome-associated RNAs.","PeriodicalId":18838,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Microbiology","volume":"22 12","pages":"739-739"},"PeriodicalIF":69.2,"publicationDate":"2024-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142541435","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-defence islands in plasmids","authors":"Andrea Du Toit","doi":"10.1038/s41579-024-01120-3","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41579-024-01120-3","url":null,"abstract":"This new study shows that the leading region of plasmids has a key role in overcoming host immunity by functioning as ‘anti-defence islands’ that protect the invading plasmid following entry.","PeriodicalId":18838,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Microbiology","volume":"22 12","pages":"739-739"},"PeriodicalIF":69.2,"publicationDate":"2024-10-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142487244","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}
Raphaela Joos, Katy Boucher, Aonghus Lavelle, Manimozhiyan Arumugam, Martin J. Blaser, Marcus J. Claesson, Gerard Clarke, Paul D. Cotter, Luisa De Sordi, Maria G. Dominguez-Bello, Bas E. Dutilh, Stanislav D. Ehrlich, Tarini Shankar Ghosh, Colin Hill, Christophe Junot, Leo Lahti, Trevor D. Lawley, Tine R. Licht, Emmanuelle Maguin, Thulani P. Makhalanyane, Julian R. Marchesi, Jelle Matthijnssens, Jeroen Raes, Jacques Ravel, Anne Salonen, Pauline D. Scanlan, Andrey Shkoporov, Catherine Stanton, Ines Thiele, Igor Tolstoy, Jens Walter, Bo Yang, Natalia Yutin, Alexandra Zhernakova, Hub Zwart, Joël Doré, R. Paul Ross
{"title":"Examining the healthy human microbiome concept","authors":"Raphaela Joos, Katy Boucher, Aonghus Lavelle, Manimozhiyan Arumugam, Martin J. Blaser, Marcus J. Claesson, Gerard Clarke, Paul D. Cotter, Luisa De Sordi, Maria G. Dominguez-Bello, Bas E. Dutilh, Stanislav D. Ehrlich, Tarini Shankar Ghosh, Colin Hill, Christophe Junot, Leo Lahti, Trevor D. Lawley, Tine R. Licht, Emmanuelle Maguin, Thulani P. Makhalanyane, Julian R. Marchesi, Jelle Matthijnssens, Jeroen Raes, Jacques Ravel, Anne Salonen, Pauline D. Scanlan, Andrey Shkoporov, Catherine Stanton, Ines Thiele, Igor Tolstoy, Jens Walter, Bo Yang, Natalia Yutin, Alexandra Zhernakova, Hub Zwart, Joël Doré, R. Paul Ross","doi":"10.1038/s41579-024-01107-0","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-024-01107-0","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Human microbiomes are essential to health throughout the lifespan and are increasingly recognized and studied for their roles in metabolic, immunological and neurological processes. Although the full complexity of these microbial communities is not fully understood, their clinical and industrial exploitation is well advanced and expanding, needing greater oversight guided by a consensus from the research community. One of the most controversial issues in microbiome research is the definition of a ‘healthy’ human microbiome. This concept is complicated by the microbial variability over different spatial and temporal scales along with the challenge of applying a unified definition to the spectrum of healthy microbiome configurations. In this Perspective, we examine the progress made and the key gaps that remain to be addressed to fully harness the benefits of the human microbiome. We propose a road map to expand our knowledge of the microbiome–health relationship, incorporating epidemiological approaches informed by the unique ecological characteristics of these communities.</p>","PeriodicalId":18838,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Microbiology","volume":"25 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":88.1,"publicationDate":"2024-10-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142487237","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":"Harnessing symbiotic bacteria for disease control","authors":"Abraham Morales-Cruz, Leo A. Baumgart","doi":"10.1038/s41579-024-01115-0","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41579-024-01115-0","url":null,"abstract":"This Genome Watch explores recent transcriptomic and metatranscriptomic analyses that revealed the key role of secondary endosymbionts in host immunity and disease transmission within their insect or plant hosts.","PeriodicalId":18838,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Microbiology","volume":"22 12","pages":"741-741"},"PeriodicalIF":69.2,"publicationDate":"2024-10-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142451795","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}
Caitlyn L. Holmes, Owen R. Albin, Harry L. T. Mobley, Michael A. Bachman
{"title":"Bloodstream infections: mechanisms of pathogenesis and opportunities for intervention","authors":"Caitlyn L. Holmes, Owen R. Albin, Harry L. T. Mobley, Michael A. Bachman","doi":"10.1038/s41579-024-01105-2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-024-01105-2","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Bloodstream infections (BSIs) are common in hospitals, often life-threatening and increasing in prevalence. Microorganisms in the blood are usually rapidly cleared by the immune system and filtering organs but, in some cases, they can cause an acute infection and trigger sepsis, a systemic response to infection that leads to circulatory collapse, multiorgan dysfunction and death. Most BSIs are caused by bacteria, although fungi also contribute to a substantial portion of cases. <i>Escherichia coli</i>, <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i>, coagulase-negative <i>Staphylococcus</i>, <i>Klebsiella pneumoniae</i> and <i>Candida albicans</i> are leading causes of BSIs, although their prevalence depends on patient demographics and geographical region. Each species is equipped with unique factors that aid in the colonization of initial sites and dissemination and survival in the blood, and these factors represent potential opportunities for interventions. As many pathogens become increasingly resistant to antimicrobials, new approaches to diagnose and treat BSIs at all stages of infection are urgently needed. In this Review, we explore the prevalence of major BSI pathogens, prominent mechanisms of BSI pathogenesis, opportunities for prevention and diagnosis, and treatment options.</p>","PeriodicalId":18838,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Microbiology","volume":"11 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":88.1,"publicationDate":"2024-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142444004","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}
Zhichao Zhou, Patricia Q. Tran, Elise S. Cowley, Elizabeth Trembath-Reichert, Karthik Anantharaman
{"title":"Diversity and ecology of microbial sulfur metabolism","authors":"Zhichao Zhou, Patricia Q. Tran, Elise S. Cowley, Elizabeth Trembath-Reichert, Karthik Anantharaman","doi":"10.1038/s41579-024-01104-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-024-01104-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Sulfur plays a pivotal role in interactions within the atmosphere, lithosphere, pedosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere, and the functioning of living organisms. In the Earth’s crust, mantle, and atmosphere, sulfur undergoes geochemical transformations due to natural and anthropogenic factors. In the biosphere, sulfur participates in the formation of amino acids, proteins, coenzymes and vitamins. Microorganisms in the biosphere are crucial for cycling sulfur compounds through oxidation, reduction and disproportionation reactions, facilitating their bioassimilation and energy generation. Microbial sulfur metabolism is abundant in both aerobic and anaerobic environments and is interconnected with biogeochemical cycles of important elements such as carbon, nitrogen and iron. Through metabolism, competition or cooperation, microorganisms metabolizing sulfur can drive the consumption of organic carbon, loss of fixed nitrogen and production of climate-active gases. Given the increasing significance of sulfur metabolism in environmental alteration and the intricate involvement of microorganisms in sulfur dynamics, a timely re-evaluation of the sulfur cycle is imperative. This Review explores our understanding of microbial sulfur metabolism, primarily focusing on the transformations of inorganic sulfur. We comprehensively overview the sulfur cycle in the face of rapidly changing ecosystems on Earth, highlighting the importance of microbially-mediated sulfur transformation reactions across different environments, ecosystems and microbiomes.</p>","PeriodicalId":18838,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Microbiology","volume":"44 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":88.1,"publicationDate":"2024-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142448323","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}