Nature Reviews Microbiology最新文献

{"title":"Phage host range: determinants, dynamics and applications","authors":"Audrey Leprince, Vincent Somerville, Audrey A. Addablah, Carlee Morency, Sylvain Moineau","doi":"10.1038/s41579-026-01306-x","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41579-026-01306-x","url":null,"abstract":"Determining the host range is a fundamental step in characterizing newly isolated phages, as it not only guides their use in therapy and in biocontrol applications but also helps in managing their impact on bioprocesses. Host specificity is typically evaluated through experimental assessment of host cell lysis, but the underlying molecular mechanisms that define host range are rarely explored in a comprehensive manner. Interactions between viral proteins and bacterial surface receptors during adsorption have historically been viewed as the primary determinants of host specificity. However, advances in cataloguing the diversity of bacterial defence systems emphasize that host range is shaped by a complex interplay of phage–host interactions, phage–phage interactions and environmental factors. Moreover, host range is dynamic, being influenced by ongoing coevolution between phages and bacteria as well as by phenotypic variability. As tools are now being developed to predict phage host range at the strain level from genomic data, a deep understanding of the diverse, dynamic factors that shape this host range is essential. In this Review, we provide an integrated perspective on the molecular and ecological determinants of phage host range, explore their dynamics and discuss the implications for phage-based applications. Comprehensive assessment of the host range of phages is a prerequisite for their safe and effective use in multiple applications but is rarely undertaken. This Review outlines the molecular and ecological determinants of phage host range and discusses the importance of these determinants for developing phage-based applications.","PeriodicalId":18838,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Microbiology","volume":"24 8","pages":"518-538"},"PeriodicalIF":104.6,"publicationDate":"2026-04-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147735197","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":"Gut microorganisms in the middle of drug–drug interactions","authors":"Andrea Du Toit","doi":"10.1038/s41579-026-01308-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41579-026-01308-9","url":null,"abstract":"This study highlights the role of the gut microbiome in shaping drug–drug interactions, with implications for treatment efficiency and patient outcome.","PeriodicalId":18838,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Microbiology","volume":"24 6","pages":"373-373"},"PeriodicalIF":103.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147702265","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":"Mpox emergence, epidemiology, biology, clinical features and control","authors":"Dimie Ogoina, Jake Dunning, Inger Damon, Placide Mbala, Krutika Kuppalli","doi":"10.1038/s41579-026-01305-y","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41579-026-01305-y","url":null,"abstract":"Mpox, a zoonotic orthopoxvirus disease, has transitioned from a rare infection confined to African rainforests to a global public health threat. Originally identified in laboratory monkeys in 1958, the first human case was documented in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Following the declaration of smallpox eradication in 1980 and the subsequent cessation of smallpox vaccination, mpox cases persisted at low levels before surging, ultimately leading to the declaration of two Public Health Emergencies of International Concern by the WHO in 2022 and 2024, and the Africa CDC declaration of mpox as a Public Health Emergency of Continental Security in August 2024. Monkeypox virus comprises two major clades: clade I (formerly the Central African clade) subdivided into Ia and emerging Ib variants, and clade II (formerly the West African clade) also subdivided into IIa and the globally circulating IIb subclade. Recent outbreaks demonstrate enhanced human-to-human transmission, particularly through sexual networks, challenging traditional epidemiological patterns. Clinical presentation varies by clade and transmission route, ranging from classical centrifugal rash with high lesion counts to localized anogenital lesions. This Review outlines the emergency, epidemiology, biology, transmission dynamics, risk factors, clinical characteristics, and prevention and control strategies of mpox, and identifies future priorities for addressing this ongoing global issue. In this Review, Ogoina et al. examine the emergence of mpox and its epidemiology, the viral life cycle, transmission dynamics, risk factors and clinical characteristics. They also explore current and future prevention and control strategies, including the therapeutic and vaccine landscape, as well as the urgent need for integrated surveillance, equitable access to countermeasures, and Africa-led research to address the ongoing multi-clade threat.","PeriodicalId":18838,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Microbiology","volume":"24 7","pages":"463-477"},"PeriodicalIF":104.6,"publicationDate":"2026-04-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147636023","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 aquatic plastisphere: ecology, pathogen dissemination and antimicrobial resistance","authors":"Michael J. Ormsby, Richard S. Quilliam","doi":"10.1038/s41579-026-01301-2","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41579-026-01301-2","url":null,"abstract":"The escalating volume of plastic debris in the aquatic environment has created a novel ecological niche for microorganisms. This habitat, known as the plastisphere, hosts ecologically diverse microbial communities, yet its degree of divergence in composition and function from natural substrates remains a key topic of debate. In this Review, we provide a comprehensive overview of the aquatic plastisphere, highlighting its community composition, assembly dynamics and key functional traits, such as degradation pathways and nutrient cycling. We explore how this novel environment acts as a critical hub for the persistence and dissemination of human pathogens and antimicrobial resistance. We discuss how dynamic environmental factors, together with complex inter-kingdom metabolic interactions, can reshape community composition, accelerate the evolution of resistant pathotypes and influence pathogen virulence. We conclude by emphasizing that climate-induced changes in temperature, ultraviolet light radiation, salinity and hydrodynamic patterns are likely to further influence the microbial composition and phenotypic expression of pathogens within the aquatic plastisphere. Finally, we underscore the need for a One Health approach to study the plastisphere and advocate moving the field from descriptive ecology towards a mechanistic, policy-relevant framework to address the growing public health threat amid accelerating plastic pollution and climate-driven shifts. In this Review, Ormsby and Quilliam discuss how plastic pollutants create a critical, novel habitat for complex microbial communities, highlighting the community composition, assembly dynamics and key functional traits of the plastisphere. They explore the dual public health risks of pathogen dissemination and enrichment of antimicrobial-resistance determinants.","PeriodicalId":18838,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Microbiology","volume":"24 7","pages":"446-462"},"PeriodicalIF":104.6,"publicationDate":"2026-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147599470","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":"Leveraging microbial phylogeny for computational efficiency","authors":"Zachary Ardern","doi":"10.1038/s41579-026-01303-0","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41579-026-01303-0","url":null,"abstract":"This Genome Watch article explores how taking into account known phylogenetic relationships can improve computational efficiency for genomics, enabling improved genome data compression and faster sequence search as datasets continue to expand.","PeriodicalId":18838,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Microbiology","volume":"24 6","pages":"376-376"},"PeriodicalIF":103.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147578310","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":"Candida albicans steals magnesium and Pseudomonas aeruginosa unleashes resistance","authors":"Diana S. M. Ottoz","doi":"10.1038/s41579-026-01304-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41579-026-01304-z","url":null,"abstract":"This study uncovers how Pseudomonas aeruginosa acquires colistin resistance in magnesium-depleted environments created by Candida albicans by accumulating unique mutations in the lipid A biosynthetic pathway.","PeriodicalId":18838,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Microbiology","volume":"24 5","pages":"311-311"},"PeriodicalIF":103.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147518429","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 phosphorus cycling in terrestrial ecosystems","authors":"Josep Peñuelas, Bangxiao Zheng \u0000 (, ), Akash Tariq, Jordi Sardans","doi":"10.1038/s41579-026-01296-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41579-026-01296-w","url":null,"abstract":"Phosphorus is an essential yet often limiting macronutrient that shapes primary productivity and microbial activity in terrestrial ecosystems. Unlike carbon and nitrogen cycles, which have gaseous phases, the terrestrial phosphorus cycle is primarily governed by soil biogeochemistry, wherein microorganisms orchestrate key transformations. This Review synthesizes current knowledge of the microbial phosphorus cycle, emphasizing the diverse mechanisms used by bacteria, fungi and archaea to mobilize phosphorus (for example, via phosphatases such as PhoA and PhoD and organic acids such as citrate) and to directly enhance plant phosphorus uptake. We explore the ecological significance of these processes in maintaining soil health, supporting ecosystem productivity and influencing carbon sequestration. We propose the Microbial Phosphorus Adaptive Evolution Theory (MPAET): chronic phosphorus scarcity drives evolutionary and ecological shifts in microbial communities towards higher scavenging investment, polyphosphate handling and lipid remodelling. Furthermore, we examine how environmental factors, land use and climate modulate these shifts (for example, phoD expression increases under phosphorus stress), with cascading effects on ecosystem function and global phosphorus availability. New technologies such as metagenomics, 18O-phosphate tracing and nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry are now revolutionizing our understanding of these dynamics. This Review underscores the critical need to integrate microbial phosphorus cycling into ecosystem models and to develop sustainable strategies for phosphorus smart management. Such approaches are essential for addressing global challenges related to soil degradation, food security and environmental change. In this Review, the authors describe current knowledge of microbial phosphorus cycling in terrestrial ecosystems and discuss how microbial communities respond to environmental and anthropogenic pressures. They also propose the Microbial Phosphorus Adaptive Evolution Theory (MPAET) — a mechanistic framework linking persistent phosphorus limitation to evolutionary adaptations across cellular, genomic and community scales.","PeriodicalId":18838,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Microbiology","volume":"24 7","pages":"478-495"},"PeriodicalIF":104.6,"publicationDate":"2026-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147506790","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":"A trapped polymerase hastens avian influenza virus evolution","authors":"Andrea Du Toit","doi":"10.1038/s41579-026-01302-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41579-026-01302-1","url":null,"abstract":"Funk and colleagues show that acquisition of a multibasic cleavage site in H5 haemagglutinin is the result of the combination of insertion-prone RNA sequences and the formation of transient RNA structures during replication by the viral RNA polymerase.","PeriodicalId":18838,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Microbiology","volume":"24 5","pages":"310-310"},"PeriodicalIF":103.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147490061","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":"Bacterial allies against food anaphylaxis","authors":"Agustina Taglialegna","doi":"10.1038/s41579-026-01300-3","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41579-026-01300-3","url":null,"abstract":"This study shows that some human microbiota bacteria can metabolize immunodominant peanut allergens, thus modulating IgE-mediated anaphylaxis.","PeriodicalId":18838,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Microbiology","volume":"24 5","pages":"309-309"},"PeriodicalIF":103.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147491451","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":"Human herpesvirus evasion of humoral immunity and implications for vaccine development","authors":"Claire E. Otero, Matthew D. Slein, Libby Mitchell, Adarsh Ramloul, Philipp Kolb, Margaret E. Ackerman, Sallie R. Permar","doi":"10.1038/s41579-026-01295-x","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41579-026-01295-x","url":null,"abstract":"Herpesviruses are highly species-specific, having co-evolved with their respective hosts over millennia. This evolutionary relationship has led to the development of highly specialized immune evasion strategies, enabling these viruses to establish lifelong infections. Periods of immunosuppression can lead to severe disease, such as graft rejection, cancer, neurodegenerative disease and autoimmune diseases, which have been linked to herpesvirus infections. Consequently, developing strategies to prevent herpesvirus-associated diseases is a critical public health priority. However, varicella zoster virus (VZV) remains the only human herpesvirus for which licensed vaccines are available. This Review explores the mechanisms of humoral immune evasion by herpesviruses and their implications for advancing immunization and treatment strategies for chronic neurological, oncological and transplant-associated diseases caused by these common viral pathogens. In this Review, Otero et al. explore how human herpesviruses evade humoral immune responses and consider the resulting implications for developing effective vaccines and treatments for diseases caused by these common viral pathogens.","PeriodicalId":18838,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Microbiology","volume":"24 7","pages":"496-510"},"PeriodicalIF":104.6,"publicationDate":"2026-03-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147446982","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}