Bacteria have evolved numerous and diverse pathways to produce and secrete bacteriocins as weapons of bacterial warfare. These molecules are processed inside the cell and then transported across the bacterial membrane for secretion. We recently discovered the TMcins, a distinct class of bacteriocins found across gram-positive bacteria that contain a transmembrane helix and kill target bacteria by forming large pores. Using a Staphylococcus aureus strain that naturally produces TMcin, we show that TMcin production occurs in the cell membrane and reveal how bacteria process a membrane-spanning peptide in a lipid environment. This work expands our understanding of how bacteria produce antimicrobials and provides a model for discovering other membrane-localized natural products.

Chronic skin conditions are natural experiments in within-host bacterial evolution. Taking atopic dermatitis as the main example, we discuss how studies starting from collections of clinical skin isolates identify Staphylococcus aureus variants that arise independently in different patients, and how this convergence can prioritize candidates for functional genetics.

Can the skin microbiome shape healthy aging?

Staphylococcus aureus divides along sequential orthogonal planes, but the function of this geometry has remained unclear. Ramos-León et al. show that orthogonal division promotes uniform deployment of...

The bacterial cell cycle is an ensemble of integrated pathways that coordinates cell growth and division. Although these pathways contain a suite of promising antimicrobial targets, their functional o...

Children with cystic fibrosis (CF) commonly harbor Staphylococcus aureus thymidine-dependent small-colony variants (TD-SCVs), which are associated with reduced lung function and increased respiratory ...

Bacteria are continuously exposed to diverse environmental changes and stresses. They are especially susceptible to such stimuli and therefore rely on efficient regulatory systems to sense and adapt r...

While Staphylococcus aureus is predominantly an extracellular human commensal, it can also exhibit an intracellular lifestyle that enables its persistence within diverse host cell types, including mon...

Natural transformation (NT), a major mechanism of horizontal gene transfer, promotes bacterial genome plasticity and contributes to the dissemination of antibiotic resistance. NT requires the developm...

In a patient with a staghorn calculus, chronic urinary tract infection with Klebsiella pneumoniae enabled within-patient evolution of virulence properties that facilitated dissemination of infectio...

𝗦𝗔𝗩𝗘 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: 𝗖𝗠𝗙𝗜 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 2027 📍 Tübingen, Germany 🗓️ February 17–19, 2027 The CMFI Conference returns in 2027, bringing together researchers from microbiology, infection biology, metabolomics a...

I began my research career in the late 1970s with my doctoral thesis at LMU Munich under Karl Heinz Schleifer in the Department of Microbiology. At the time, the department was a hotspot for bacterial...

For more than two decades, Staphylococcus aureus vaccines have been considered one of the most frustrating challenges in vaccinology. The rationale seemed straightforward.

The cell wall peptidoglycan (PG) protects virtually all bacteria from osmotic lysis and specifies cell shape. Synthesis of this exoskeleton is carr...

The toxicity of the amino acids glycine and L-serine at high concentrations in bacteria was discovered decades ago. In this work, we used deep transposon insertion sequencing (Tn-seq) experiments to d...

Bacteria are becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics. One alternative is treatment with viruses that exclusively infect bacteria, known as phages.

Staphylococcus aureus is a leading cause of bloodstream infections causing an estimated 300,000 deaths worldwide. Using a functional genomics approach, our group previously identified that adaptation ...

Author summary Phospholipids are vital cell membrane components. The essential Staphylococcus aureus phospholipid synthesis enzyme PlsX uses acyl-ACP, the end-product of fatty acid (FA) synthesis (FAS...

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a key pathogenic bacterium and poses a significant therapeutic challenge due to its developing resistance to therapeutics. Here the authors establ...

The Cluster of Excellence EXC 2124 “Controlling Microbes to Fight Infections” (CMFI) at the University of Tübingen invites applications for Indepen...

Increasing recognition of commensal bacteria as essential for microbiome integrity and pathogen exclusion underscores the urgency of molecularly chara…

Over three decades, rapid expansion of the transposable element ISL3 has reshaped Enterococcus faecium, which helps to explain this pathogen’s growing clinical threat.

Over three decades, rapid expansion of the transposable element ISL3 has reshaped Enterococcus faecium, which helps to explain this pathogen’s growing clinical threat.

Join us at the Keystone Symposia on Beyond Antibiotics: Emerging Strategies for Combating Bacterial Infection, May 2026, in Breckenridge, with field leaders!

Streptococcus pyogenes is a major human pathogen, responsible for diverse clinical manifestations of both superficial and invasive infections, and can lead to post-infection sequelae like rheumatic heart disease, whose prevalence on a global scale rivals that of the most serious pathogens. Invasive S. pyogenes infections are currently on the rise worldwide, notably correlating with increasing pediatric cases of scarlet fever and enhancing the concern for long-term complications. There is much that remains unknown about S. pyogenes virulence and pathogenicity, and studies focused on understanding basic systems regulating virulence factors could lead to better therapeutics and translational research. We show here one such example, where a bacterial communication system regulating a virulence mechanism relevant to in vivo infection confers the ability to alter the host’s innate immune response. We find that modifications to the cell wall arise when this virulence system is activated, which has a direct role in host-pathogen interactions. Further research into this system could provide a mechanism for disruption and serve to treat S. pyogenes infection.

Microorganisms have tremendous potential to impact humanity, but such revelations are only possible in the light of foundational, discovery-based microbiology research.

A planetary-scale analysis of over 85,000 metagenomes establishes a framework for exploring the structure and drivers of global microbial habitats, revealing that generalist species bridge ecological boundaries to mediate gene flow across disparate habitats, including the dissemination of antimicrobial resistance.

IntroductionAncient cryospheric environments may preserve overlooked reservoirs of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and bioactive potential. This study reports...

The increasing incidence of bloodstream infections caused by multi-resistant bacteria presents a major global health burden, complicating the treatment of patients facing sepsis and resulting in incre...

Staphylococcus aureus is an opportunistic pathogen that infects practically every body site despite differences in nutritional environment, immune milieu, and mode of inoculation. S. aureus abscesses are pathophysiological structures wherein host-derived extracellular matrix and immune cells form layers surrounding a S. aureus colony. Staphylococcal abscess communities seed staphylococcal abscesses, which are associated with worse S. aureus infection outcomes. Abscesses are also an example of the host–S. aureus interface, wherein host and pathogen adaptations define the spatial and temporal features of pathogenesis as well as the outcomes of infection. This review discusses recent discoveries in abscess formation made across organ systems and highlights findings involving host and pathogen determinants of abscess formation that improve our understanding of S. aureus pathogenesis.