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Electron Transfer Beyond the Outer Membrane: Putting Electrons to Rest Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2023-09-15 J.A. Gralnick, D.R. Bond
Extracellular electron transfer (EET) is the physiological process that enables the reduction or oxidation of molecules and minerals beyond the surface of a microbial cell. The first bacteria characterized with this capability were Shewanella and Geobacter, both reported to couple their growth to the reduction of iron or manganese oxide minerals located extracellularly. A key difference between EET
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Structural Insights into Type III Secretion Systems of the Bacterial Flagellum and Injectisome Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2023-09-15 Liam J. Worrall, Dorothy D. Majewski, Natalie C.J. Strynadka
Two of the most fascinating bacterial nanomachines—the broadly disseminated rotary flagellum at the heart of cellular motility and the eukaryotic cell–puncturing injectisome essential to specific pathogenic species—utilize at their core a conserved export machinery called the type III secretion system (T3SS). The T3SS not only secretes the components that self-assemble into their extracellular appendages
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License to Clump: Secretory IgA Structure–Function Relationships Across Scales Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2023-09-15 Alyson Hockenberry, Emma Slack, Beth M. Stadtmueller
Secretory antibodies are the only component of our adaptive immune system capable of attacking mucosal pathogens topologically outside of our bodies. All secretory antibody classes are ( a) relatively resistant to harsh proteolytic environments and ( b) polymeric. Recent elucidation of the structure of secretory IgA (SIgA) has begun to shed light on SIgA functions at the nanoscale. We can now begin
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Frameworks for Interpreting the Early Fossil Record of Eukaryotes Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2023-09-15 Susannah M. Porter, Leigh Anne Riedman
The origin of modern eukaryotes is one of the key transitions in life's history, and also one of the least understood. Although the fossil record provides the most direct view of this process, interpreting the fossils of early eukaryotes and eukaryote-grade organisms is not straightforward. We present two end-member models for the evolution of modern (i.e., crown) eukaryotes—one in which modern eukaryotes
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Raising a Bacterium to the Rank of a Model System: The Listeria Paradigm Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2023-09-15 Pascale Cossart
My scientific career has resulted from key decisions and reorientations, sometimes taken rapidly but not always, guided by discussions or collaborations with amazing individuals from whom I learnt a lot scientifically and humanly. I had never anticipated that I would accomplish so much in what appeared as terra incognita when I started to interrogate the mechanisms underlying the virulence of the bacterium
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Collab or Cancel? Bacterial Influencers of Inflammasome Signaling Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2023-09-15 Beatrice I. Herrmann, James P. Grayczyk, Igor E. Brodsky
The immune system of multicellular organisms protects them from harmful microbes. To establish an infection in the face of host immune responses, pathogens must evolve specific strategies to target immune defense mechanisms. One such defense is the formation of intracellular protein complexes, termed inflammasomes, that are triggered by the detection of microbial components and the disruption of homeostatic
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Microbiome Assembly in Fermented Foods Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2023-09-15 Nicolas L. Louw, Kasturi Lele, Ruby Ye, Collin B. Edwards, Benjamin E. Wolfe
For thousands of years, humans have enjoyed the novel flavors, increased shelf-life, and nutritional benefits that microbes provide in fermented foods and beverages. Recent sequencing surveys of ferments have mapped patterns of microbial diversity across space, time, and production practices. But a mechanistic understanding of how fermented food microbiomes assemble has only recently begun to emerge
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Recent Advances in Understanding the Human Fungal Pathogen Hypoxia Response in Disease Progression Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2023-09-15 Charles Puerner, Sandeep Vellanki, Julianne L. Strauch, Robert A. Cramer
Fungal-mediated disease progression and antifungal drug efficacy are significantly impacted by the dynamic infection microenvironment. At the site of infection, oxygen often becomes limiting and induces a hypoxia response in both the fungal pathogen and host cells. The fungal hypoxia response impacts several important aspects of fungal biology that contribute to pathogenesis, virulence, antifungal
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Mobile Genetic Element Flexibility as an Underlying Principle to Bacterial Evolution Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2023-07-12 Alexandra J. Weisberg, Jeff H. Chang
Mobile genetic elements are key to the evolution of bacteria and traits that affect host and ecosystem health. Here, we use a framework of a hierarchical and modular system that scales from genes to populations to synthesize recent findings on mobile genetic elements (MGEs) of bacteria. Doing so highlights the role that emergent properties of flexibility, robustness, and genetic capacitance of MGEs
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Past, Present, and Future of Extracytoplasmic Function σ Factors: Distribution and Regulatory Diversity of the Third Pillar of Bacterial Signal Transduction Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2023-07-12 Thorsten Mascher
Responding to environmental cues is a prerequisite for survival in the microbial world. Extracytoplasmic function σ factors (ECFs) represent the third most abundant and by far the most diverse type of bacterial signal transduction. While archetypal ECFs are controlled by cognate anti-σ factors, comprehensive comparative genomics efforts have revealed a much higher abundance and regulatory diversity
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Candida auris Genetics and Emergence Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2023-07-05 Anuradha Chowdhary, Kusum Jain, Neeraj Chauhan
Candida auris is a multidrug-resistant fungal pathogen that presents a serious threat to global human health. Since the first reported case in 2009 in Japan, C. auris infections have been reported in more than 40 countries, with mortality rates between 30% and 60%. In addition, C. auris has the potential to cause outbreaks in health care settings, especially in nursing homes for elderly patients, owing
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Mechanisms of Virulence Reprogramming in Bacterial Pathogens Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2023-07-05 Jianuan Zhou, Hongmei Ma, Lianhui Zhang
Bacteria are single-celled organisms that carry a comparatively small set of genetic information, typically consisting of a few thousand genes that can be selectively activated or repressed in an energy-efficient manner and transcribed to encode various biological functions in accordance with environmental changes. Research over the last few decades has uncovered various ingenious molecular mechanisms
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The Origin of Metazoan Multicellularity: A Potential Microbial Black Swan Event Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2023-07-05 Iñaki Ruiz-Trillo, Koryu Kin, Elena Casacuberta
The emergence of animals from their unicellular ancestors is a major evolutionary event. Thanks to the study of diverse close unicellular relatives of animals, we now have a better grasp of what the unicellular ancestor of animals was like. However, it is unclear how that unicellular ancestor of animals became the first animals. To explain this transition, two popular theories, the choanoblastaea and
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Unique Properties of Apicomplexan Mitochondria Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2023-07-05 Ian M. Lamb, Ijeoma C. Okoye, Michael W. Mather, Akhil B. Vaidya
Apicomplexan parasites constitute more than 6,000 species infecting a wide range of hosts. These include important pathogens such as those causing malaria and toxoplasmosis. Their evolutionary emergence coincided with the dawn of animals. Mitochondrial genomes of apicomplexan parasites have undergone dramatic reduction in their coding capacity, with genes for only three proteins and ribosomal RNA genes
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Toward Microbiome Engineering: Expanding the Repertoire of Genetically Tractable Members of the Human Gut Microbiome Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2023-06-20 James W. Marsh, Christian Kirk, Ruth E. Ley
Genetic manipulation is necessary to interrogate the functions of microbes in their environments, such as the human gut microbiome. Yet, the vast majority of human gut microbiome species are not genetically tractable. Here, we review the hurdles to seizing genetic control of more species. We address the barriers preventing the application of genetic techniques to gut microbes and report on genetic
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Essential Amino Acid Metabolites as Chemical Mediators of Host-Microbe Interaction in the Gut Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2023-06-20 Jessica R. McCann, John F. Rawls
Amino acids are indispensable substrates for protein synthesis in all organisms and incorporated into diverse aspects of metabolic physiology and signaling. However, animals lack the ability to synthesize several of them and must acquire these essential amino acids from their diet or perhaps their associated microbial communities. The essential amino acids therefore occupy a unique position in the
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The Dynamic Fungal Genome: Polyploidy, Aneuploidy and Copy Number Variation in Response to Stress Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2023-06-12 Pétra Vande Zande, Xin Zhou, Anna Selmecki
Fungal species have dynamic genomes and often exhibit genomic plasticity in response to stress. This genome plasticity often comes with phenotypic consequences that affect fitness and resistance to stress. Fungal pathogens exhibit genome plasticity in both clinical and agricultural settings and often during adaptation to antifungal drugs, posing significant challenges to human health. Therefore, it
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Factors Affecting Variation of the Human Gut Phageome Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2023-06-12 Ciara A. Tobin, Colin Hill, Andrey N. Shkoporov
The gut microbiome is a dense and metabolically active consortium of microorganisms and viruses located in the lower gastrointestinal tract of the human body. Bacteria and their viruses (phages) are the most abundant members of the gut microbiome. Investigating their biology and the interplay between the two is important if we are to understand their roles in human health and disease. In this review
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Are Bacteria Leaky? Mechanisms of Metabolite Externalization in Bacterial Cross-Feeding Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2023-06-07 James B. McKinlay
The metabolism of a bacterial cell stretches beyond its boundaries, often connecting with the metabolism of other cells to form extended metabolic networks that stretch across communities, and even the globe. Among the least intuitive metabolic connections are those involving cross-feeding of canonically intracellular metabolites. How and why are these intracellular metabolites externalized? Are bacteria
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Molecular Biology of Cytoplasmic Incompatibility Caused by Wolbachia Endosymbionts Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2023-06-07 Mark Hochstrasser
Among endosymbiotic bacteria living within eukaryotic cells, Wolbachia is exceptionally widespread, particularly in arthropods. Inherited through the female germline, it has evolved ways to increase the fraction of bacterially infected offspring by inducing parthenogenesis, feminization, male killing, or, most commonly, cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI). In CI, Wolbachia infection of males causes embryonic
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Versatility and Complexity: Common and Uncommon Facets of LysR-Type Transcriptional Regulators Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2023-06-07 Alyssa C. Baugh, Cory Momany, Ellen L. Neidle
LysR-type transcriptional regulators (LTTRs) form one of the largest families of bacterial regulators. They are widely distributed and contribute to all aspects of metabolism and physiology. Most are homotetramers, with each subunit composed of an N-terminal DNA-binding domain followed by a long helix connecting to an effector-binding domain. LTTRs typically bind DNA in the presence or absence of a
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Epigenetic Regulation and Chromatin Remodeling in Malaria Parasites Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2023-06-02 Thomas Hollin, Zeinab Chahine, Karine G. Le Roch
Plasmodium falciparum, the human malaria parasite, infects two hosts and various cell types, inducing distinct morphological and physiological changes in the parasite in response to different environmental conditions. These variations required the parasite to adapt and develop elaborate molecular mechanisms to ensure its spread and transmission. Recent findings have significantly improved our understanding
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The Brucella Cell Envelope Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2023-04-27 Melene A. Alakavuklar, Aretha Fiebig, Sean Crosson
The cell envelope is a multilayered structure that insulates the interior of bacterial cells from an often chaotic outside world. Common features define the envelope across the bacterial kingdom, but the molecular mechanisms by which cells build and regulate this critical barrier are diverse and reflect the evolutionary histories of bacterial lineages. Intracellular pathogens of the genus Brucella
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The phc Quorum-Sensing System in Ralstonia solanacearum Species Complex Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2023-04-26 Kenji Kai
Ralstonia solanacearum species complex (RSSC) strains are devastating plant pathogens distributed worldwide. The primary cell density–dependent gene expression system in RSSC strains is phc quorum sensing (QS). It regulates the expression of about 30% of all genes, including those related to cellular activity, primary and secondary metabolism, pathogenicity, and more. The phc regulatory elements encoded
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Habitat Transition in the Evolution of Bacteria and Archaea Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2023-04-26 Alexander L. Jaffe, Cindy J. Castelle, Jillian F. Banfield
Related groups of microbes are widely distributed across Earth's habitats, implying numerous dispersal and adaptation events over evolutionary time. However, relatively little is known about the characteristics and mechanisms of these habitat transitions, particularly for populations that reside in animal microbiomes. Here, we review the literature concerning habitat transitions among a variety of
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The Microbiology of Biological Soil Crusts Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2023-04-17 Ferran Garcia-Pichel
Biological soil crusts are thin, inconspicuous communities along the soil atmosphere ecotone that, until recently, were unrecognized by ecologists and even more so by microbiologists. In its broadest meaning, the term biological soil crust (or biocrust) encompasses a variety of communities that develop on soil surfaces and are powered by photosynthetic primary producers other than higher plants: cyanobacteria
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The ChvG-ChvI Regulatory Network: A Conserved Global Regulatory Circuit Among the Alphaproteobacteria with Pervasive Impacts on Host Interactions and Diverse Cellular Processes Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2023-04-11 Jennifer L. Greenwich, Brynn C. Heckel, Melene A. Alakavuklar, Clay Fuqua
The ChvG-ChvI two-component system is conserved among multiple Alphaproteobacteria. ChvG is a canonical two-component system sensor kinase with a single large periplasmic loop. Active ChvG directs phosphotransfer to its cognate response regulator ChvI, which controls transcription of target genes. In many alphaproteobacteria, ChvG is regulated by a third component, a periplasmic protein called ExoR
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Targeting Aminoacyl tRNA Synthetases for Antimalarial Drug Development Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2023-04-05 Stanley C. Xie, Michael D.W. Griffin, Elizabeth A. Winzeler, Lluis Ribas de Pouplana, Leann Tilley
Infections caused by malaria parasites place an enormous burden on the world's poorest communities. Breakthrough drugs with novel mechanisms of action are urgently needed. As an organism that undergoes rapid growth and division, the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum is highly reliant on protein synthesis, which in turn requires aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (aaRSs) to charge tRNAs with their corresponding
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Understanding Fungi in Glacial and Hypersaline Environments Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2023-03-31 Cene Gostinčar, Nina Gunde-Cimerman
Hypersaline waters and glacial ice are inhospitable environments that have low water activity and high concentrations of osmolytes. They are inhabited by diverse microbial communities, of which extremotolerant and extremophilic fungi are essential components. Some fungi are specialized in only one of these two environments and can thrive in conditions that are lethal to most other life-forms. Others
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TonB-Dependent Transport Across the Bacterial Outer Membrane Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2023-03-21 Augustinas Silale, Bert van den Berg
TonB-dependent transporters (TBDTs) are present in all gram-negative bacteria and mediate energy-dependent uptake of molecules that are too scarce or large to be taken up efficiently by outer membrane (OM) diffusion channels. This process requires energy that is derived from the proton motive force and delivered to TBDTs by the TonB-ExbBD motor complex in the inner membrane. Together with the need
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Transporter Proteins as Ecological Assets and Features of Microbial Eukaryotic Pangenomes Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2023-03-21 David S. Milner, Luis Javier Galindo, Nicholas A.T. Irwin, Thomas A. Richards
Here we review two connected themes in evolutionary microbiology: ( a) the nature of gene repertoire variation within species groups (pangenomes) and ( b) the concept of metabolite transporters as accessory proteins capable of providing niche-defining “bolt-on” phenotypes. We discuss the need for improved sampling and understanding of pangenome variation in eukaryotic microbes. We then review the factors
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Small RNAs, Large Networks: Posttranscriptional Regulons in Gram-Negative Bacteria Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2023-03-21 Kai Papenfort, Sahar Melamed
Small regulatory RNA (sRNAs) are key mediators of posttranscriptional gene control in bacteria. Assisted by RNA-binding proteins, a single sRNA often modulates the expression of dozens of genes, and thus sRNAs frequently adopt central roles in regulatory networks. Posttranscriptional regulation by sRNAs comes with several unique features that cannot be achieved by transcriptional regulators. However
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On the Mechanistic Basis of Killer Meiotic Drive in Fungi Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2022-09-08 Sven J. Saupe, Hanna Johannesson
Spore killers are specific genetic elements in fungi that kill sexual spores that do not contain them. A range of studies in the last few years have provided the long-awaited first insights into the molecular mechanistic aspects of spore killing in different fungal models, including both yeast-forming and filamentous Ascomycota. Here we describe these recent advances, focusing on the wtf system in
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Regulation of Host-Pathogen Interactions via the Ubiquitin System Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2022-09-08 Rukmini Mukherjee, Ivan Dikic
Ubiquitination is a posttranslational modification that regulates a multitude of cellular functions. Pathogens, such as bacteria and viruses, have evolved sophisticated mechanisms that evade or counteract ubiquitin-dependent host responses, or even exploit the ubiquitin system to their own advantage. This is largely done by numerous pathogen virulence factors that encode E3 ligases and deubiquitinases
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Malassezia: A Commensal, Pathogen, and Mutualist of Human and Animal Skin Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2022-09-08 Giuseppe Ianiri, Salomé LeibundGut-Landmann, Thomas L. Dawson
Identified in the late nineteenth century as a single species residing on human skin, Malassezia is now recognized as a diverse genus comprising 18 species inhabiting not only skin but human gut, hospital environments, and even deep-sea sponges. All cultivated Malassezia species are lipid dependent, having lost genes for lipid synthesis and carbohydrate metabolism. The surging interest in Malassezia
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Anaerobic Degradation of Alkanes by Marine Archaea Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2022-08-02 Gunter Wegener, Rafael Laso-Pérez, Victoria J. Orphan, Antje Boetius
Alkanes are saturated apolar hydrocarbons that range from their simplest form, methane, to high-molecular-weight compounds. Although alkanes were once considered biologically recalcitrant under anaerobic conditions, microbiological investigations have now identified several microbial taxa that can anaerobically degrade alkanes. Here we review recent discoveries in the anaerobic oxidation of alkanes
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Emerging Concepts in Cholera Vaccine Design Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2022-06-27 Brandon Sit, Bolutife Fakoya, Matthew K. Waldor
Cholera is a severe diarrheal disease caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae and constitutes a significant public health threat in many areas of the world. V. cholerae infection elicits potent and long-lasting immunity, and efforts to develop cholera vaccines have been ongoing for more than a century. Currently available inactivated two-dose oral cholera vaccines are increasingly deployed to both
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Diversity and Evolution of Methane-Related Pathways in Archaea Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2022-06-27 Pierre Simon Garcia, Simonetta Gribaldo, Guillaume Borrel
Methane is one of the most important greenhouse gases on Earth and holds an important place in the global carbon cycle. Archaea are the only organisms that use methanogenesis to produce energy and rely on the methyl–coenzyme M reductase complex (Mcr). Over the last decade, new results have significantly reshaped our view of the diversity of methane-related pathways in the Archaea. Many new lineages
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Harnessing the Immune Response to Fungal Pathogens for Vaccine Development Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2022-06-27 Amariliz Rivera, Jennifer Lodge, Chaoyang Xue
Invasive fungal infections are emerging diseases that kill over 1.5 million people per year worldwide. With the increase of immunocompromised populations, the incidence of invasive fungal infections is expected to continue to rise. Vaccines for viral and bacterial infectious diseases have had a transformative impact on human health worldwide. However, no fungal vaccines are currently in clinical use
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Evolution of Tuberculosis Pathogenesis Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2022-06-16 Caitlin S. Pepperell
Mycobacterium tuberculosis is a globally distributed, lethal pathogen of humans. The virulence armamentarium of M. tuberculosis appears to have been developed on a scaffold of antiphagocytic defenses found among diverse, mostly free-living species of Mycobacterium. Pathoadaptation was further aided by the modularity, flexibility, and interactivity characterizing mycobacterial effectors and their regulators
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The Small-Molecule Language of Dynamic Microbial Interactions Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2022-06-09 Yifan Zhang, Étienne Gallant, Jong-Duk Park, Mohammad R. Seyedsayamdost
Although microbes are routinely grown in monocultures in the laboratory, they are almost never encountered as single species in the wild. Our ability to detect and identify new microorganisms has advanced significantly in recent years, but our understanding of the mechanisms that mediate microbial interactions has lagged behind. What makes this task more challenging is that microbial alliances can
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Metabolic Enabling and Detoxification by Mammalian Gut Microbes Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2022-06-07 M. Denise Dearing, Sara B. Weinstein
The longstanding interactions between mammals and their symbionts enable thousands of mammal species to consume herbivorous diets. The microbial communities in mammals degrade both plant fiber and toxins. Microbial toxin degradation has been repeatedly documented in domestic ruminants, but similar work in wild mammals is more limited due to constraints on sampling and manipulating the microbial communities
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The Making of a Heterocyst in Cyanobacteria Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2022-06-07 Xiaoli Zeng, Cheng-Cai Zhang
Heterocyst differentiation that occurs in some filamentous cyanobacteria, such as Anabaena sp. PCC 7120, provides a unique model for prokaryotic developmental biology. Heterocyst cells are formed in response to combined-nitrogen deprivation and possess a microoxic environment suitable for nitrogen fixation following extensive morphological and physiological reorganization. A filament of Anabaena is
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Compartmentalization of RNA Degradosomes in Bacteria Controls Accessibility to Substrates and Ensures Concerted Degradation of mRNA to Nucleotides Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2022-06-07 Agamemnon J. Carpousis, Nathalie Campo, Lydia Hadjeras, Lina Hamouche
RNA degradosomes are multienzyme complexes composed of ribonucleases, RNA helicases, and metabolic enzymes. RNase E–based degradosomes are widespread in Proteobacteria. The Escherichia coli RNA degradosome is sequestered from transcription in the nucleoid and translation in the cytoplasm by localization to the inner cytoplasmic membrane, where it forms short-lived clusters that are proposed to be sites
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Mechanisms Underlying Vibrio cholerae Biofilm Formation and Dispersion Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2022-06-07 Jennifer K. Teschler, Carey D. Nadell, Knut Drescher, Fitnat H. Yildiz
Biofilms are a widely observed growth mode in which microbial communities are spatially structured and embedded in a polymeric extracellular matrix. Here, we focus on the model bacterium Vibrio cholerae and summarize the current understanding of biofilm formation, including initial attachment, matrix components, community dynamics, social interactions, molecular regulation, and dispersal. The regulatory
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How Apicomplexa Parasites Secrete and Build Their Invasion Machinery Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2022-06-07 Marta Mendonça Cova, Mauld H. Lamarque, Maryse Lebrun
Apicomplexa are obligatory intracellular parasites that sense and actively invade host cells. Invasion is a conserved process that relies on the timely and spatially controlled exocytosis of unique specialized secretory organelles termed micronemes and rhoptries. Microneme exocytosis starts first and likely controls the intricate mechanism of rhoptry secretion. To assemble the invasion machinery, micronemal
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Horizontal Gene Transfer in Archaea—From Mechanisms to Genome Evolution Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2022-06-06 Uri Gophna, Neta Altman-Price
Archaea remains the least-studied and least-characterized domain of life despite its significance not just to the ecology of our planet but also to the evolution of eukaryotes. It is therefore unsurprising that research into horizontal gene transfer (HGT) in archaea has lagged behind that of bacteria. Indeed, several archaeal lineages may owe their very existence to large-scale HGT events, and thus
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Translating Microbiome Research From and To the Clinic Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2022-06-03 Zhenrun J. Zhang, Christopher J. Lehmann, Cody G. Cole, Eric G. Pamer
Extensive research has elucidated the influence of the gut microbiota on human health and disease susceptibility and resistance. We review recent clinical and laboratory-based experimental studies associating the gut microbiota with certain human diseases. We also highlight ongoing translational advances that manipulate the gut microbiota to treat human diseases and discuss opportunities and challenges
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The Impact of RNA-DNA Hybrids on Genome Integrity in Bacteria Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2022-06-03 Emma K. McLean, Taylor M. Nye, Frances C. Lowder, Lyle A. Simmons
During the essential processes of DNA replication and transcription, RNA-DNA hybrid intermediates are formed that pose significant risks to genome integrity when left unresolved. To manage RNA-DNA hybrids, all cells rely on RNase H family enzymes that specifically cleave the RNA portion of the many different types of hybrids that form in vivo. Recent experimental advances have provided new insight
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Regulation of Biofilm Exopolysaccharide Biosynthesis and Degradation inPseudomonas aeruginosa Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2022-06-03 Luyan Z. Ma, Di Wang, Yiwei Liu, Zhenyu Zhang, Daniel J. Wozniak
Microbial communities enmeshed in a matrix of macromolecules, termed as biofilms, are the natural setting of bacteria. Exopolysaccharide is a critical matrix component of biofilms. Here, we focus on biofilm matrix exopolysaccharides in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. This opportunistic pathogen can adapt to a wide range of environments and can form biofilms or aggregates in a variety of surfaces or environments
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Accelerated Evolution by Diversity-Generating Retroelements Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2022-06-02 Benjamin R. Macadangdang, Sara K. Makanani, Jeff F. Miller
Diversity-generating retroelements (DGRs) create vast amounts of targeted, functional diversity by facilitating the rapid evolution of ligand-binding protein domains. Thousands of DGRs have been identified in bacteria, archaea, and their respective viruses. They are broadly distributed throughout the microbial world, with enrichment observed in certain taxa and environments. The diversification machinery
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Function of the Omp85 Superfamily of Outer Membrane Protein Assembly Factors and Polypeptide Transporters Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2022-06-02 Matthew Thomas Doyle, Harris D. Bernstein
The Omp85 protein superfamily is found in the outer membrane (OM) of all gram-negative bacteria and eukaryotic organelles of bacterial origin. Members of the family catalyze both the membrane insertion of β-barrel proteins and the translocation of proteins across the OM. Although the mechanism(s) by which these proteins function is unclear, striking new insights have emerged from recent biochemical
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Wrapped Up: The Motility of Polarly Flagellated Bacteria Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2022-06-02 Kai M. Thormann, Carsten Beta, Marco J. Kühn
A huge number of bacterial species are motile by flagella, which allow them to actively move toward favorable environments and away from hazardous areas and to conquer new habitats. The general perception of flagellum-mediated movement and chemotaxis is dominated by the Escherichia coli paradigm, with its peritrichous flagellation and its famous run-and-tumble navigation pattern, which has shaped the
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Oxygenases as Powerful Weapons in the Microbial Degradation of Pesticides Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2022-06-02 Minggen Cheng, Dian Chen, Rebecca E. Parales, Jiandong Jiang
Oxygenases, which catalyze the reductive activation of O2 and incorporation of oxygen atoms into substrates, are widely distributed in aerobes. They function by switching the redox states of essential cofactors that include flavin, heme iron, Rieske non-heme iron, and Fe(II)/α-ketoglutarate. This review summarizes the catalytic features of flavin-dependent monooxygenases, heme iron–dependent cytochrome
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Genomic Approaches to Antifungal Drug Target Identification and Validation Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2022-06-02 Nicole Robbins, Leah E. Cowen
The last several decades have witnessed a surge in drug-resistant fungal infections that pose a serious threat to human health. While there is a limited arsenal of drugs that can be used to treat systemic infections, scientific advances have provided renewed optimism for the discovery of novel antifungals. The development of chemical-genomic assays using Saccharomyces cerevisiae has provided powerful
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Mining Fatty Acid Biosynthesis for New Antimicrobials Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2022-06-02 Christopher D. Radka, Charles O. Rock
Antibiotic resistance is a serious public health concern, and new drugs are needed to ensure effective treatment of many bacterial infections. Bacterial type II fatty acid synthesis (FASII) is a vital aspect of bacterial physiology, not only for the formation of membranes but also to produce intermediates used in vitamin production. Nature has evolved a repertoire of antibiotics inhibiting different
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Microbial Interspecies Interactions and Their Impact on the Emergence and Spread of Antimicrobial Resistance Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2022-05-25 Gitta De Wit, Luka Svet, Bram Lories, Hans P. Steenackers
Bacteria are social organisms that commonly live in dense communities surrounded by a multitude of other species. The competitive and cooperative interactions between these species not only shape the bacterial communities but also influence their susceptibility to antimicrobials. While several studies have shown that mixed-species communities are more tolerant toward antimicrobials than their monospecies
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Signal Transduction Network Principles Underlying Bacterial Collective Behaviors Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2022-05-25 Andrew A. Bridges, Jojo A. Prentice, Ned S. Wingreen, Bonnie L. Bassler
Bacteria orchestrate collective behaviors and accomplish feats that would be unsuccessful if carried out by a lone bacterium. Processes undertaken by groups of bacteria include bioluminescence, biofilm formation, virulence factor production, and release of public goods that are shared by the community. Collective behaviors are controlled by signal transduction networks that integrate sensory information
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Sirtuins in Epigenetic Silencing and Control of Gene Expression in Model and Pathogenic Fungi Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2022-05-25 Guolei Zhao, Laura N. Rusche
Fungi, including yeasts, molds, and mushrooms, proliferate on decaying matter and then adopt quiescent forms once nutrients are depleted. This review explores how fungi use sirtuin deacetylases to sense and respond appropriately to changing nutrients. Because sirtuins are NAD+-dependent deacetylases, their activity is sensitive to intracellular NAD+ availability. This allows them to transmit information
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Division and Transmission: Malaria Parasite Development in the Mosquito Annu. Rev. Microbiol. (IF 10.5) Pub Date : 2022-05-25 David S. Guttery, Mohammad Zeeshan, David J.P. Ferguson, Anthony A. Holder, Rita Tewari
The malaria parasite life cycle alternates between two hosts: a vertebrate and the female Anopheles mosquito vector. Cell division, proliferation, and invasion are essential for parasite development, transmission, and survival. Most research has focused on Plasmodium development in the vertebrate, which causes disease; however, knowledge of malaria parasite development in the mosquito (the sexual and