ArmA from Methanobrevibacter smithii, a dominant member of the human gut microbiome, is identified and characterized as a glycosyl hydrolase specific for cleaving the cell wall of methanogens, reveali...

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Abstract. Interactions between bacteria, bacteriophages, and their satellites are shaped by a myriad of defence and counter-defence mechanisms. Here, we id

The origin, risks, diagnosis, epidemiology of resistance to antibacterial agents in man and livestock worldwide, as well as preventive and countermeasures, in a « one health » perspective.

Recent discoveries on bacterial immunity have revealed that several protein domains involved in anti-phage defense are conserved in eukaryotes, such as SIRim, TIR, PNP and gasdermin. Bacterial immune ...

Integron insertion sites engineered into counterselection markers allow large-scale and high-throughput capture of integron-encoded genes from genetically tractable bacteria or DNA samples.

Nature Microbiology, Published online: 03 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-026-02474-5Integron insertion sites engineered into counterselection markers allow large-scale and high-throughput capture of integron-encoded genes from genetically tractable bacteria or DNA samples.

Bacterial growth laws quantitatively connect intracellular resource allocation to growth rate, enabling accurate predictions of physiology and antibiotic responses. Yet these laws have been rigorously...

Abstract. To successfully transfer, conjugative plasmids must overcome a recipient cell’s defence mechanisms. The leading region of many plasmids—the first

Inactivation of chromosomal genes through plasmid-encoded IS elements is an extended mechanism of antimicrobial resistance evolution in bacteria.

Abstract. Peptide deformylases (PDFs) are enzymes that are essential for bacterial viability and attractive targets for antibiotic development. Yet, despit

Sabnis et al. explain why non-conjugative plasmids move at a low rate in nature. While increased mobility can easily evolve by incorporating phage DNA into plasmids, this is disadvantageous because it...

Transfer RNAs (tRNAs) and their modifications are central to bacterial translation and physiology, yet their roles in stress adaptation remain underexplored. While extensively studied in eukaryotes, a...

Bimonthly newsletter: RNA modifications and related topics, mostly in bacteria. Summer 2025, first issue!

Bacterial genomes often contain extrachromosomal replicons (ERs), ranging from small, mobile plasmids to large, stably inherited elements, such as meg…

Nature Communications - This study investigates the effects of the carbapenem resistance plasmid pOXA-48 in clinical enterobacteria. Using CRISPRi screens, the authors revealed that the...

Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) is a major threat to public health. Plasmids are mobile genetic elements that can rapidly spread across bacterial populations, promoting the dissemination of AMR genes i...

Abstract. Bacteria regulate neighboring genes via overlapping transcription in untranslated regions (UTRs), forming excludons. This overlap leads to transc

Plasmids are autonomously replicating DNA molecules that stably coexist with chromosomes in bacterial cells. These genetic elements drive horizontal gene transfer and play a fundamental role in bacter...

The authors investigate the distribution of the aminoglycoside resistance gene npmA in Gram-positive bacteria via a mobile genetic element, highlighting its global presence and cross-species transfer ...

Plasmids exhibit a broad range of sizes and copies per cell, and these two parameters appear to be negatively correlated. Here, Ramiro-Martínez et al. analyse the copy number of thousands of diverse b...

The West African–South American lineage of Vibrio cholerae contains multiple distinct anti-phage defence systems that provide resistance to various phage families, including vibriophage ICP1, a key pr...

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the most pressing global health problems, with plasmids playing a central role in its evolution and dissemination. Over the past decades, many studies have inv...

Integrons are genetic systems that drive bacterial adaptation by acquiring, expressing, and shuffling gene cassettes. While mobile integrons are well known for spreading antibiotic resistance genes, t...

Integrons are bacterial genetic elements that capture, stockpile, and modulate the expression of genes encoded in integron cassettes. Mobile integrons (MIs) are borne on plasmids, acting as a vehicle ...

Bacteria must face and adapt to a variety of physicochemical conditions in the environment and during infection. A key condition is the concentration …

Plasmids are a ubiquitous feature of bacterial genomes, but the evolutionary forces driving genes to become associated with plasmids are poorly understood. To address this problem, we compared the fit...

tRNA Q34 modification impacts tyrosine codon decoding and leads to proteome reprogramming in response to antibiotic stress in Vibrio cholerae.

The authors describe a new crosstalk between a globally disseminated carbapenem resistance plasmid and clinical enterobacteria clones. This crosstalk provides a fitness advantage to the plasmid-carryi...

The authors describe a new crosstalk between a globally disseminated carbapenem resistance plasmid and clinical enterobacteria clones. This crosstalk provides a fitness advantage to the plasmid-carryi...

Growth rate is a key prokaryotic trait that allows for estimating fitness and understanding cell metabolism. While it has been well studied in model organisms, there is limited data on slow-growing ba...

Abstract. Integrons are genetic platforms that acquire new genes encoded in integron cassettes (ICs), building arrays of adaptive functions. ICs generally encod

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