{"title":"Structure and Function of the Type IX Secretion System for Protein Secretion and Cellular Motility.","authors":"Yaëlle Aouizerate, Thierry Doan, Eric Cascales","doi":"10.1146/annurev-micro-042324-112641","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-micro-042324-112641","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The type IX secretion system (T9SS) is a <i>Bacteroidota</i>-specific multiprotein machine that supports a wide range of biological processes, from nutrient acquisition and surface modification to host interaction and gliding motility. T9SS effectors represent a structurally diverse repertoire of enzymes, adhesins, and surface proteins that all possess a C-terminal domain that addresses them to their final destination. Recent structural and mechanistic information has revealed the modular organization of the T9SS and molecular details governing effector selection, transport, processing, and sorting. In motile <i>Bacteroidota</i>, the T9SS has been co-opted, evolved, and specialized for gliding motility. In this review, we summarize current knowledge on T9SS architecture and function, describe the embedded gliding machinery, and highlight conceptual advances and open questions regarding the mechanisms, dynamics, and ecological implications of this unique system.</p>","PeriodicalId":7946,"journal":{"name":"Annual review of microbiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":12.2,"publicationDate":"2026-08-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148668185","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":"Ribosome Collisions Trigger Ribosome Rescue in Bacteria.","authors":"Allen R Buskirk","doi":"10.1146/annurev-micro-042524-081804","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-micro-042524-081804","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Ribosome rescue pathways recycle the subunits from stalled ribosomes and target the aborted nascent peptide for degradation. Building upon seminal studies in eukaryotes, recent work in bacteria shows that rescue pathways are triggered by ribosome collisions. When an upstream ribosome catches up to a stalled one, a unique interface that directly recruits rescue factors forms between them. The nuclease SmrB in <i>Escherichia coli</i>, for example, cleaves mRNA, targeting it for decay and triggering the rescue of upstream ribosomes by transfer-messenger RNA (tmRNA). In contrast, MutS2/RqcU in <i>Bacillus subtilis</i> splits stalled ribosomes into subunits without mRNA cleavage. Finally, the helicase HrpA splits stalled ribosomes in <i>E. coli</i> through a different mechanism. This review focuses on the discovery of these factors; the structural basis of their activities on collided disomes; and how, after splitting, the nascent chains trapped on 50S are targeted for degradation by the ribosome-associated quality control pathway.</p>","PeriodicalId":7946,"journal":{"name":"Annual review of microbiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":12.2,"publicationDate":"2026-07-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148576844","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":"Extracellular Vesicles and Cell Communication in Eukaryotic Microorganisms.","authors":"Wanderley de Souza, Emile S Barrias","doi":"10.1146/annurev-micro-051524-031649","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-micro-051524-031649","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are released by virtually all cells in normal and in pathological conditions. They exhibit diverse sizes, contents, and surface markers. These vesicles transport cellular components such as proteins, mRNAs, miRNAs, DNA, and lipids across distances, influencing numerous physiological and pathological events, and they are involved in cellular communication, making EVs promising candidates as therapeutic agents, drug delivery systems, and disease biomarkers. In the context of eukaryotic pathogens, these EVs can be taken up by the parasite and the interacting mammalian cells, influencing parasite behavior (e.g., differentiation, infectivity) and host responses that affect pathogenesis. In this review, we discuss classical and new discoveries related to EVs produced by different cell types, including those involved in the interaction process of eukaryotic microorganisms with their respective hosts.</p>","PeriodicalId":7946,"journal":{"name":"Annual review of microbiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":12.2,"publicationDate":"2026-07-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148576933","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}
Zhongyi Lu, Siyu Zhang, Ning Song, Xiaoyuan Feng, Zhichao Zhou, Yang Liu, Meng Li
{"title":"Archaeal Diversity Sheds New Light on the Origin of the Eukaryotic Endomembrane System.","authors":"Zhongyi Lu, Siyu Zhang, Ning Song, Xiaoyuan Feng, Zhichao Zhou, Yang Liu, Meng Li","doi":"10.1146/annurev-micro-042524-032136","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-micro-042524-032136","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The emergence of the endomembrane system marks a pivotal milestone in eukaryogenesis, transforming a primitive prokaryotic cell into a highly intracellular, compartmentalized eukaryotic cell. The molecular machinery underlying the endomembrane system has been considered a defining feature of eukaryotes. Yet its evolutionary origin remains elusive. Over the past decade, the rapid expansion of archaeal diversity, coupled with advancements in metagenomic technologies and cell biological characterization, has revealed that many key protein components of the endomembrane system likely originated from the archaeal ancestors of eukaryotes, a specific archaeal lineage that underwent a symbiotic fusion with the mitochondrial ancestor. This review summarizes and discusses the remarkable progress made in these research fields, offering a refined perspective on the origin of the eukaryotic endomembrane system within an updated tree of life.</p>","PeriodicalId":7946,"journal":{"name":"Annual review of microbiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":12.2,"publicationDate":"2026-07-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148576883","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":"Forming Strong Bonds: Building Microbial Surface Structures by Donor-Strand Exchange.","authors":"Karla Cardenas Arevalo, David G Thanassi","doi":"10.1146/annurev-micro-041222-035241","DOIUrl":"10.1146/annurev-micro-041222-035241","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Microbial organisms assemble a diverse array of surface structures to facilitate critical functions including motility, adhesion, and biofilm formation. As extracellular organelles, pili and related surface structures must be able to function in harsh environments and withstand various stressors. Microbes have evolved different strategies to assemble structures able to function under these challenging conditions. This review focuses on bacterial and archaeal systems that utilize donor-strand exchange (DSE) interactions between subunit proteins. DSE is a noncovalent assembly mechanism where one subunit contributes a β-strand to complete the structure of its neighboring subunit. This subunit-subunit interaction is one of the strongest noncovalent interactions known, with the resulting fiber being capable of withstanding extreme environmental stresses and shear forces. We summarize the structural biology and biogenesis of these surface structures, highlighting how DSE-mediated polymerization contributes to the assembly of extracellular structures in both the bacterial and archaeal domains.</p>","PeriodicalId":7946,"journal":{"name":"Annual review of microbiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":12.2,"publicationDate":"2026-07-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148535072","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":"Mycobacteria Emerge as Leaders in Leaderless Translation.","authors":"Jill G Canestrari, Todd A Gray","doi":"10.1146/annurev-micro-042424-051945","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-micro-042424-051945","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The focal site of ribosome assembly and maturation in bacteria is the 5' untranslated region (UTR). Leaderless messenger RNAs (mRNAs) lack a 5' UTR and therefore present a conundrum for translation initiation. Leaderless mRNAs in <i>Escherichia coli</i> are rare and poorly translated, consistent with an inefficient by-product of the canonical mechanism. By contrast, transcription profiling approaches have unexpectedly found that leaderless mRNAs are both abundant and well-translated in certain bacterial clades, identifying those bacteria as leaderless adept. Mycobacteria are leaderless adept and offer multiple experimental model species that collectively broaden conclusions derived from leaderless translation studies. We review criteria derived from native mycobacterial mRNAs and from plasmid reporters expressed in mycobacteria that define leaderless mRNA features. We also look ahead at the unresolved conundrum of how leaderless mRNAs are efficiently translated. We anticipate that mycobacteria, along with diverse leaderless-adept Eubacteria and Archaea, will continue to make fundamental contributions in characterizing this major alternative mode of translation initiation.</p>","PeriodicalId":7946,"journal":{"name":"Annual review of microbiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":12.2,"publicationDate":"2026-07-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148454410","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":"Convergent Evolution of Cellular Weaponry.","authors":"Maia V Palka, Brian S Leander","doi":"10.1146/annurev-micro-042424-061005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-micro-042424-061005","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Cellular weaponry includes a diverse array of ballistic structures, generally referred to as extrusomes, found across the tree of life. Extrusomes have evolved multiple times independently; are morphologically diverse, including structures such as coiled filaments, paracrystalline rods, and telescopic tubules; and facilitate prey capture, defense against predation, and host cell invasion. Their widespread distribution reflects extensive convergent evolution driven by similar ecological pressures. Conversely, homologous extrusomes in closely related taxa can diverge markedly in structure and function following lifestyle shifts, including transitions to parasitism. Alveolates, cryptists, heliozoans, euglenozoans, and numerous other protists possess distinct extrusomes with different discharge mechanisms. Comparable projectiles also occur in multicellular eukaryotes, including cnidarian nematocysts, ctenophore colloblasts, and the infectious spores of parasitic fungi and oomycetes, demonstrating that analogous cellular weaponry has evolved at multiple biological scales. In this article, we synthesize the diversity and phylogenetic distribution of cellular weaponry across eukaryotes, exploring novel examples of convergent evolution at different levels of biological organization.</p>","PeriodicalId":7946,"journal":{"name":"Annual review of microbiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":12.2,"publicationDate":"2026-07-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148434889","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":"Common Strategies Governing Temperate Phage and α-Herpesvirus Persistence.","authors":"Angus C Wilson, Ian Mohr","doi":"10.1146/annurev-micro-042424-071953","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-micro-042424-071953","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>All life-forms can be infected by viruses with double-stranded DNA genomes. Typically, permissive cells support a productive infection, where virus gene expression and DNA replication yield virion progeny resulting in cell death and/or immune clearance. Alternatively, certain viruses, including prokaryotic temperate bacteriophage and herpesviruses that infect multicellular eukaryotes, establish a persistent state in permissive cells (lysogeny in bacteria, latency in eukaryotes) where productive infection is repressed, permitting viral genome maintenance while deferring virus replication and particle assembly until conditions shift to favor productive infection. We compare examples drawn from temperate bacteriophage with more recent developments using the prototypical human α-herpesvirus herpes simplex virus 1 to illustrate mechanisms that control persistence or foster productive infection. Remarkably, despite vast evolutionary distance, similar physiological cues (genome integrity, nutrient status, cell communication signals) govern the switch between persistence and productive infection. Thus, monitoring basic homeostatic indicators determines lysogenic/latent or productive infection outcomes, representing a conserved virus persistence strategy.</p>","PeriodicalId":7946,"journal":{"name":"Annual review of microbiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":12.2,"publicationDate":"2026-07-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148403462","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":"Nematode-Killing Fungi: Model Systems for Fungal-Animal Interactions.","authors":"Rebecca J Tay, Tzu-Hsiang Lin, Yi-Yun Lee, Yen-Ping Hsueh","doi":"10.1146/annurev-micro-032521-021510","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-micro-032521-021510","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Predation is a powerful ecological and evolutionary force that shapes species interactions across the tree of life. Nematophagous fungi are specialized predators that use diverse strategies to capture and consume nematodes, Earth's most abundant animals. Two major groups of nematophagous fungi-nematode-trapping fungi and toxin-producing fungi, exemplified by <i>Arthrobotrys oligospora</i> and <i>Pleurotus ostreatus</i>, respectively-have emerged as tractable models for studying predator-prey interactions across spatial and temporal scales. Their interactions with the model nematode <i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i> provide insights into fundamental aspects of predation, including prey attraction, detection, and capture, while the genetic tools in <i>C. elegans</i> allow investigation into the prey's perspective. Additionally, studies of nematophagous fungi hold translational promise for the development of safe and sustainable biocontrol against parasitic nematodes. This review synthesizes our current knowledge of the ecology, evolution, and molecular predation mechanisms of nematode-trapping and toxin-producing fungi, highlighting these systems as invaluable models for predator-prey biology.</p>","PeriodicalId":7946,"journal":{"name":"Annual review of microbiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":12.2,"publicationDate":"2026-07-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148403379","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":"Circadian Control of Host-Microbiome Symbioses.","authors":"Talia Akoh-Arrey, Urbashi Basu, John F Brooks","doi":"10.1146/annurev-micro-042424-091144","DOIUrl":"10.1146/annurev-micro-042424-091144","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Life on Earth has evolved under the predictable rotation of the planet, giving rise to intrinsic timing mechanisms that synchronize physiology and behavior with the 24-h day-night cycle. These molecular timing systems organize metabolism, immunity, and cellular renewal into recurring daily programs that optimize energy use and defense. Increasing evidence now reveals that circadian logic extends beyond the host to include its microbial partners. Host feeding rhythms, epithelial renewal, and immune activity impose temporal order on the microbiota, while microbial metabolites and immune signaling feedback to reinforce host circadian oscillations. When this temporal coordination is lost, through genetic disruption of clock genes, high-fat diet, or behavioral desynchrony, microbial and host rhythms collapse, leading to metabolic syndrome, obesity, and impaired xenobiotic detoxification. Thus, temporal order emerges as a coevolved property of host-microbe symbiosis, linking planetary rotation to cellular physiology across kingdoms and defining a chronobiological foundation for health and disease.</p>","PeriodicalId":7946,"journal":{"name":"Annual review of microbiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":12.2,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148366602","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}