News & Comment

Understanding the emergence, evolution and spread of viral pathogens is central to improving global health. This Focus issue highlights advances in our understanding of evolving viral pathogens and the surveillance and preparedness strategies that are needed to control them.

This Genome Watch discusses the great biosynthetic capacity that has been identified in marine environmental and host-associated microbiomes, along with approaches to facilitate research into these diverse and resource-rich microbial communities.

This study reports that the commensal gut bacterium Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron establishes distinct subpopulations in response to two secreted, self-targeting effector proteins.

This paper reports week 96 efficacy and safety findings from a multicentre, open-label phase IIIb trial of intramuscular cabotegravir and rilpivirine in adults living with HIV from Uganda, Kenya and South Africa.

This Genome Watch discusses recent advances in genomic epidemiology that enable the reconstruction of transmission events, with greater resolution and across more complex settings at scale.

This study identifies multiple low-density lipoprotein receptor family members, including LRP4, LRP1 and VLDLR, as entry receptors for yellow fever virus.

This study shows that sialokinin, which is a vasodilatory peptide that is expressed in the saliva of female Aedes aegypti, modulates immune responses and mitigates inflammation during chikungunya virus infection in mice.

This study assessed the ability of a replicating RNA vaccine expressing H5 haemagglutinin to protect cynomolgus macaques from lethal challenge with a clade 2.3.4.4b highly pathogenic avian influenza A H5N1 virus.

This study combines high-throughput RNA sequencing analysis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis clinical isolates with global population genomics to link diversity in gene expression with variants in genes encoding regulators.

This Genome Watch explores how a new antisense oligomer-based approach enables functional genomics of genetically intractable bacteriophages, revealing essential genes and infection mechanisms without requiring genetic modification.

This study shows that metabolic inactivity confers tolerance against polymyxin antibiotics and proposes a model for polymyxin-mediated killing of metabolically active bacterial cells.

This study reports the identification of cell-surface low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 8 (LRP8) as the crucial host factor that mediates tick-borne encephalitis virus entry and infection.

In this study, Van Syoc et al. investigate the human gut mycobiome in the context of primate evolution.

In this Journal Club, Liam Mark Rooney discusses a paper that revealed that microbial communities are capable of emergent, collective behaviour.

This study reports the identification of two prophage-encoded systems involved in anti-phage defence through Abi.

This Genome Watch article explores how metagenomics can be used to investigate viral diversity and track emerging zoonotic disease threats from wildlife.

This study reports the possible negative effects of warming sea surface temperatures on Prochlorococcus populations.

A new study by Huang et al. identifies a Cryptosporidium parvum ABC transporter that confers resistance to a toxic gut microbial metabolite.

A study by Shi et al. uncovers uncharted diversity of potential pathogens and mobile antibiotic resistance genes in samples from wild mammals and non-traditional farmed mammals

This study presents the microbiome inhabiting the wood of living trees.