This Genome Watch highlights the recent developments of prokaryotic nomenclature leading to the coexistence of two parallel prokaryotic nomenclatural codes.

This study shows that healthy individuals are reservoirs for genotypically and phenotypically diverse Candida albicans strains that retain their capacity to cause disease.

Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic prokaryotes of high ecological and biotechnological relevance that have been cultivated in laboratories around the world for more than 70 years. Prolonged laboratory culturing has led to multiple microevolutionary events and the appearance of a large number of ‘domesticated’ substrains among model cyanobacteria. Despite its widespread occurrence, strain domestication

In this study, Liu et al. demonstrate that the T7SS of the rhizobacterium Bacillus velezensis SQR9 and its effector protein YukE cause iron leakage in plant roots to support root colonization.

While water and sediment microbial communities exhibit pronounced spatio-temporal patterns in freshwater lakes, the underlying drivers are yet poorly understood. Here, we evaluated the importance of spatial and temporal variation in abiotic environmental factors for bacterial and microeukaryotic community assembly and distance–decay relationships in water and sediment niches in Hongze Lake. By sampling

Clinical Microbiology Reviews, Ahead of Print.

Sulphur-driven denitrification is a low-cost process for the treatment of nitrate-contaminated water. However, a comprehensive understanding of core populations and microbial interactions of a sulphur-based denitrifying system is lacking. This study presents results from three replicated denitrifying systems amended with thiosulphate and operated under a low C/N ratio. Amplicon sequencing revealed

Lignin-modifying enzymes (LMEs), which include laccases (Lacs), manganese peroxidases (MnPs), versatile peroxidases (VPs), and lignin peroxidases (LiPs), have been considered key factors in lignin degradation by white-rot fungi because they oxidize lignin model compounds and depolymerize synthetic lignin in vitro. However, it remains unclear whether these enzymes are essential/important in the actual

This study shows that substrate stiffness has an impact on early microcolony formation.

This study reports a bacterial antiphage protein that contains a NACHT domain, which is also found in metazoan proteins that mediate immunity and inflammation.

Acetogens share the capacity to convert H2 and CO2 into acetate for energy conservation (ATP synthesis). This reaction is attractive for applications, such as gas fermentation and microbial electrosynthesis. Different H2 partial pressures prevail in these distinctive applications (low concentrations during microbial electrosynthesis [<40 Pa] vs. high concentrations with gas fermentation [>9%]). Strain

Damjanovic, K., Menéndez, P., Blackall, L.L. and van Oppen, M.J.H. (2020), Mixed-mode bacterial transmission in the common brooding coral Pocillopora acuta. Environ Microbiol, 22: 397–412. https://doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.14856 In the above article, we noticed two minor errors in Figure 3 and in the Experimental Procedures section. First, in the y-axis legend of Figure 3, the bacterial family name

This study reports the identification of an inhibitor of a Toxoplasma gondii myosin motor protein that could be exploited to prevent or treat infections with T. gondii and other apicomplexan parasites.

The assembly processes of generalists and specialists and their driving mechanisms during spatiotemporal succession is a central issue in microbial ecology but a poorly researched subject in the plastisphere. We investigated the composition variation, spatiotemporal succession, and assembly processes of bacterial generalists and specialists in the plastisphere, including non-biodegradable (NBMPs) and

Ambrosia beetles require their fungal symbiotic partner as their cultivated (farmed) food source in tree galleries. While most fungal-beetle partners do not kill the host trees they inhabit, since their introduction (invasion) into the United states around ~2002, the invasive beetle Xyleborus glabratus has vectored its mutualist partner (but plant pathogenic) fungus, Harringtonia lauricola, resulting

This study reports that the resident panicle microbiota in rice modulates host metabolism to prevent Ustilaginoidea virens infection.

Traditional strict separation of fungi into ecological niches as mutualist, parasite or saprotroph is increasingly called into question. Sequences of assumed saprotrophs have been amplified from plant root interiors, and several saprotrophic genera can invade and interact with host plants in laboratory growth experiments. However, it is uncertain if root invasion by saprotrophic fungi is a widespread

In this study, Brown et al. show that nutrient deprivation increases Plasmodium falciparum survival and tolerance to the antimalarial drug artemisinin.

Shigella spp. that are resistant to almost all antimicrobial classes are increasing in prevalence and becoming globally dominant. The situation is critical and highlights a trend that is mirrored by other enteric bacterial pathogens. New interventions to prevent and treat these infections are essential to tackle a potential public health catastrophe.