Biological and bioinformatic tools for the discovery of unknown phage-host combinations
Curr Opin Microbiol. 2024 Feb;77:102426. doi: 10.1016/j.mib.2024.102426. Epub 2024 Jan 20.ABSTRACTThe field of microbial ecology has been transformed by metagenomics in recent decades and has culminated in vast datasets that facilitate the bioinformatic dissection of complex microbial communities. Recently, attention has turned from defining the microbiota composition to the interactions and relationships that occur between members of the microbiota. Within complex microbiota, the identification of bacteriophage-host combinations has been a major challenge. Recent developments in artificial intelligence tools to predict pr...
Source: Current Opinion in Microbiology - January 21, 2024 Category: Microbiology Authors: Jennifer Mahony Source Type: research
Role of vertical and horizontal microbial transmission of antimicrobial resistance genes in early life: insights from maternal-infant dyads
Curr Opin Microbiol. 2024 Feb;77:102424. doi: 10.1016/j.mib.2023.102424. Epub 2024 Jan 17.ABSTRACTEarly life represents a critical window for metabolic, cognitive and immune system development, which is influenced by the maternal microbiome as well as the infant gut microbiome. Antibiotic exposure, mode of delivery and breastfeeding practices modulate the gut microbiome and the reservoir of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). Vertical and horizontal microbial gene transfer during early life and the mechanisms behind these transfers are being uncovered. In this review, we aim to provide an overview of the current knowledge ...
Source: Current Opinion in Microbiology - January 18, 2024 Category: Microbiology Authors: Manuel Bernabeu Elena Cabello-Yeves Eduard Flores Anna Samarra Joanna Kimberley Summers Alberto Marina M Carmen Collado Source Type: research
Host range and cell recognition of archaeal viruses
Curr Opin Microbiol. 2024 Feb;77:102423. doi: 10.1016/j.mib.2023.102423. Epub 2024 Jan 16.ABSTRACTArchaea are members of a separate domain of life that have unique properties, such as the composition of their cell walls and the structure of their lipid bilayers. Consequently, archaeal viruses face different challenges to infect host cells in comparison with viruses of bacteria and eukaryotes. Despite their significant impact on shaping microbial communities, our understanding of infection processes of archaeal viruses remains limited. Several receptors used by archaeal viruses to infect cells have recently been identified....
Source: Current Opinion in Microbiology - January 17, 2024 Category: Microbiology Authors: Emine Rabia Sensevdi Zaloa Aguirre Sourrouille Tessa Ef Quax Source Type: research
Group A Streptococcus interactions with the host across time and space
Curr Opin Microbiol. 2024 Feb;77:102420. doi: 10.1016/j.mib.2023.102420. Epub 2024 Jan 14.ABSTRACTGroup A Streptococcus (GAS) has a fantastically wide tissue tropism in humans, manifesting as different diseases depending on the strain's virulence factor repertoire and the tissue involved. Activation of immune cells and pro-inflammatory signaling has historically been considered an exclusively host-protective response that a pathogen would seek to avoid. However, recent advances in human and animal models suggest that in some tissues, GAS will activate and manipulate specific pro-inflammatory pathways to promote growth, nut...
Source: Current Opinion in Microbiology - January 14, 2024 Category: Microbiology Authors: Stephanie Guerra Christopher LaRock Source Type: research
The enigmatic epitranscriptome of bacteriophages: putative RNA modifications in viral infections
Curr Opin Microbiol. 2024 Feb;77:102417. doi: 10.1016/j.mib.2023.102417. Epub 2024 Jan 13.ABSTRACTRNA modifications play essential roles in modulating RNA function, stability, and fate across all kingdoms of life. The entirety of the RNA modifications within a cell is defined as the epitranscriptome. While eukaryotic RNA modifications are intensively studied, understanding bacterial RNA modifications remains limited, and knowledge about bacteriophage RNA modifications is almost nonexistent. In this review, we shed light on known mechanisms of bacterial RNA modifications and propose how this knowledge might be extended to b...
Source: Current Opinion in Microbiology - January 13, 2024 Category: Microbiology Authors: Nadiia Pozhydaieva Maik Wolfram-Schauerte Helene Keuthen Katharina H öfer Source Type: research
The intersection between host-pathogen interactions and metabolism during Vibrio cholerae infection
Curr Opin Microbiol. 2024 Feb;77:102421. doi: 10.1016/j.mib.2023.102421. Epub 2024 Jan 11.ABSTRACTVibrio cholerae (V. cholerae), the etiological agent of cholera, uses cholera toxin (CT) to cause severe diarrheal disease. Cholera is still a significant cause of mortality worldwide with about half of all cholera cases and deaths occurring in children under five. Owing to the lack of cost-effective vaccination and poor vaccine efficacy in children, there is a need for alternative preventative and therapeutic strategies. Recent advances in our knowledge of the interplay between CT-induced disease and host-pathogen metabolism ...
Source: Current Opinion in Microbiology - January 12, 2024 Category: Microbiology Authors: Sedelia R Dominguez Phillip N Doan Fabian Rivera-Ch ávez Source Type: research
The human vaginal microbiota: from clinical medicine to models to mechanisms
Curr Opin Microbiol. 2024 Feb;77:102422. doi: 10.1016/j.mib.2023.102422. Epub 2024 Jan 11.ABSTRACTThe composition of the vaginal microbiota is linked to numerous reproductive health problems, including increased susceptibility to infection, pregnancy complications, and impaired vaginal tissue repair; however, the mechanisms contributing to these adverse outcomes are not yet fully defined. In this review, we highlight recent clinical advancements associating vaginal microbiome composition and function with health outcomes. Subsequently, we provide a summary of emerging models employed to identify microbe-microbe interaction...
Source: Current Opinion in Microbiology - January 12, 2024 Category: Microbiology Authors: Samantha Ottinger Clare M Robertson Holly Branthoover Kathryn A Patras Source Type: research
The ribosome as a small-molecule sensor
Curr Opin Microbiol. 2024 Feb;77:102418. doi: 10.1016/j.mib.2023.102418. Epub 2023 Dec 29.ABSTRACTSensing small molecules is crucial for microorganisms to adapt their genetic programs to changes in their environment. Arrest peptides encoded by short regulatory open reading frames program the ribosomes that translate them to undergo translational arrest in response to specific metabolites. Ribosome stalling in turn controls the expression of downstream genes on the same messenger RNA by translational or transcriptional means. In this review, we present our current understanding of the mechanisms by which ribosomes translati...
Source: Current Opinion in Microbiology - December 30, 2023 Category: Microbiology Authors: Arunima Bhattacharya Thibaud T Renault C Axel Innis Source Type: research
The ribosome as a small-molecule sensor
Curr Opin Microbiol. 2023 Dec 29;77:102418. doi: 10.1016/j.mib.2023.102418. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTSensing small molecules is crucial for microorganisms to adapt their genetic programs to changes in their environment. Arrest peptides encoded by short regulatory open reading frames program the ribosomes that translate them to undergo translational arrest in response to specific metabolites. Ribosome stalling in turn controls the expression of downstream genes on the same messenger RNA by translational or transcriptional means. In this review, we present our current understanding of the mechanisms by which ribosomes t...
Source: Current Opinion in Microbiology - December 30, 2023 Category: Microbiology Authors: Arunima Bhattacharya Thibaud T Renault Cristobal Axel Innis Source Type: research
The ribosome as a small-molecule sensor
Curr Opin Microbiol. 2023 Dec 29;77:102418. doi: 10.1016/j.mib.2023.102418. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTSensing small molecules is crucial for microorganisms to adapt their genetic programs to changes in their environment. Arrest peptides encoded by short regulatory open reading frames program the ribosomes that translate them to undergo translational arrest in response to specific metabolites. Ribosome stalling in turn controls the expression of downstream genes on the same messenger RNA by translational or transcriptional means. In this review, we present our current understanding of the mechanisms by which ribosomes t...
Source: Current Opinion in Microbiology - December 30, 2023 Category: Microbiology Authors: Arunima Bhattacharya Thibaud T Renault Cristobal Axel Innis Source Type: research
The ribosome as a small-molecule sensor
Curr Opin Microbiol. 2023 Dec 29;77:102418. doi: 10.1016/j.mib.2023.102418. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTSensing small molecules is crucial for microorganisms to adapt their genetic programs to changes in their environment. Arrest peptides encoded by short regulatory open reading frames program the ribosomes that translate them to undergo translational arrest in response to specific metabolites. Ribosome stalling in turn controls the expression of downstream genes on the same messenger RNA by translational or transcriptional means. In this review, we present our current understanding of the mechanisms by which ribosomes t...
Source: Current Opinion in Microbiology - December 30, 2023 Category: Microbiology Authors: Arunima Bhattacharya Thibaud T Renault Cristobal Axel Innis Source Type: research
The ribosome as a small-molecule sensor
Curr Opin Microbiol. 2023 Dec 29;77:102418. doi: 10.1016/j.mib.2023.102418. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTSensing small molecules is crucial for microorganisms to adapt their genetic programs to changes in their environment. Arrest peptides encoded by short regulatory open reading frames program the ribosomes that translate them to undergo translational arrest in response to specific metabolites. Ribosome stalling in turn controls the expression of downstream genes on the same messenger RNA by translational or transcriptional means. In this review, we present our current understanding of the mechanisms by which ribosomes t...
Source: Current Opinion in Microbiology - December 30, 2023 Category: Microbiology Authors: Arunima Bhattacharya Thibaud T Renault Cristobal Axel Innis Source Type: research
The ribosome as a small-molecule sensor
Curr Opin Microbiol. 2023 Dec 29;77:102418. doi: 10.1016/j.mib.2023.102418. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTSensing small molecules is crucial for microorganisms to adapt their genetic programs to changes in their environment. Arrest peptides encoded by short regulatory open reading frames program the ribosomes that translate them to undergo translational arrest in response to specific metabolites. Ribosome stalling in turn controls the expression of downstream genes on the same messenger RNA by translational or transcriptional means. In this review, we present our current understanding of the mechanisms by which ribosomes t...
Source: Current Opinion in Microbiology - December 30, 2023 Category: Microbiology Authors: Arunima Bhattacharya Thibaud T Renault Cristobal Axel Innis Source Type: research
The ribosome as a small-molecule sensor
Curr Opin Microbiol. 2023 Dec 29;77:102418. doi: 10.1016/j.mib.2023.102418. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTSensing small molecules is crucial for microorganisms to adapt their genetic programs to changes in their environment. Arrest peptides encoded by short regulatory open reading frames program the ribosomes that translate them to undergo translational arrest in response to specific metabolites. Ribosome stalling in turn controls the expression of downstream genes on the same messenger RNA by translational or transcriptional means. In this review, we present our current understanding of the mechanisms by which ribosomes t...
Source: Current Opinion in Microbiology - December 30, 2023 Category: Microbiology Authors: Arunima Bhattacharya Thibaud T Renault Cristobal Axel Innis Source Type: research
Contributions of diverse models of the female reproductive tract to the study of Chlamydia trachomatis-host interactions
Curr Opin Microbiol. 2023 Dec 15;77:102416. doi: 10.1016/j.mib.2023.102416. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTChlamydia trachomatis is a common cause of sexually transmitted infections in humans with devastating sequelae. Understanding of disease on all scales, from molecular details to the immunology underlying pathology, is essential for identifying new ways of preventing and treating chlamydia. Infection models of various complexity are essential to understand all aspects of chlamydia pathogenesis. Cell culture systems allow for research into molecular details of infection, including characterization of the unique biphasic ...
Source: Current Opinion in Microbiology - December 16, 2023 Category: Microbiology Authors: Forrest C Walker Isabelle Derr é Source Type: research
