Bacterial pathogens must adapt to dynamic host tissue environments to proliferate. Accordingly, elegant regulatory systems evolved to overcome challenges presented by the host and satisfy nutritional...

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...

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...

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...

npj Biofilms and Microbiomes - Copper as a central element critical to interkingdom interactions within a polymicrobial wound environment

Structural and biochemical follow-up of a serendipitous discovery reveals that Akkermansia muciniphila carbohydrate sulfatases are uniquely adapted to digest colonic mucins in collaboration with other...

Biophysical characterisation shows that NanX, a membrane transport protein from the major facilitator superfamily (MFS), forms both monomers and dimers after purification. AlphaFold modelling and sub...

Biophysics; Clinical microbiology; Microbiology; Molecular biology; Systems biology

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...

Widespread antibiotic usage has resulted in the rapid evolution of drug-resistant bacterial pathogens. Resolving how pathogens respond to antibiotics under different contexts is critical for understanding...

Immunity through nutrient sequestration is one of the means by which a host can protect itself from infection. As a consequence, many micro-organisms have evolved strategies to overcome this, includin...

The opportunistic pathogen <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> proliferates within diverse host environments and consequently is a leading cause of hospital-acquired infections. During colonization <i>S. aureus</i>...

Kohl et al. combine high-resolution Ribo-seq and cryo electron microscopy to show that the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus uses extended Shine-Dalgarno motifs to initiate translation, which can make…

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 ...

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...

Firmicutes are gram-positive bacteria with important roles in human health, disease, and industry. However, more than a quarter of genes in the model firmicute Bacillus subtilis remain completely uncharacterized, including numerous core phylum-specific genes. Here, we design a compact pooled CRISPRi library targeting all protein-coding genes in B. subtilis and test its growth in ~150 stress conditions. Using data from this screen as a hypothesis generator, we perform targeted experiments that reveal that YneF, a conserved essential firmicute protein, plays a role in the SRP co-translational protein secretion pathway. We also demonstrate that ECF-transporters play a previously unknown but broadly conserved role in cell wall homeostasis, perform an unbiased analysis of amino acid crossfeeding, and make additional discoveries about bacterial competition and about the cell wall of B. subtilis. In addition to these major contributions to our understanding of B. subtilis (and gram-positive firmicutes in general), this work provides a rich dataset that will nucleate future studies of uncharacterized genes and presents a framework for accessible full-genome functional genomic screens in other bacteria. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. National Institutes of Health, https://ror.org/01cwqze88, R35 GM118061 The University of Queensland, https://ror.org/00rqy9422

Bacterial competition drives the evolution of antibacterial mechanisms, yet how new activities arise remains poorly understood. A major route to innovation is the reuse of pre-existing genetic systems, whereby conserved protein modules are repurposed in new biological contexts to generate new capabilities. Here, we show that the ParB-CTPase fold, a conserved nucleotide-binding module best known for its role in chromosome segregation, can be functionally repurposed as an antibacterial toxin. We identify ToxB, a ParB-like domain embedded within the polymorphic toxin region of contact-dependent inhibition systems and show that it functions as a potent antibacterial effector. Structural and biochemical analyses reveal that ToxB retains the core architecture of the ParB-CTPase fold but lacks DNA-binding capability and preferentially binds ATP. This shift in nucleotide specificity underpins a distinct mode of action, in which ATP binding and hydrolysis trigger rapid nucleoid compaction, chromosome segregation defects, oxidative stress, cell chaining, and ultimately cell lysis. ToxB also exhibits toxic activity in plant cells, suggesting that it targets conserved cellular processes. Together, these findings provide direct experimental evidence that the ParB-NTPase fold is biologically versatile and can be repurposed for biological roles fundamentally distinct from its ancestral function in DNA segregation. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. Wellcome Trust, https://ror.org/029chgv08, 221776/Z/2/Z, 227755/Z/23/Z Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, https://ror.org/00cwqg982, BB/X01097X/1 Diamond Light Source, MX32728

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Escherichia coli is widespread in healthy breastfed infants, yet its ecological role is unclear. Here, the authors provide insights into the mechanisms supporting its persistence and co-existence with...

SbmA is a proton-driven transporter that imports antimicrobial peptides andstructurally resembles the transmembrane domain of ABC-transporters. Here, authors show through cryo-EM structures, EPR spect...

Nature Microbiology, Published online: 16 March 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-026-02297-4Clostridium perfringens lacking perfringolysin O toxin isolated from preterm infants metabolizes human milk oligosaccharide disialyllacto-N-tetraose to produce metabolites that promote the growth of commensal bifidobacteria, inhibit pathogens and suppress inflammation in an organoid model.

Nature Microbiology, Published online: 27 February 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-026-02261-2Testosterone produced by skin cells enhances Staphylococcus aureus pathogenicity by activating quorum sensing, and a stereoisomer of testosterone that blocks this interaction inhibits bacterial cytotoxicity towards human cells.

Staphylococcus aureus is able to evade host immune responses by expressing surface adhesins, like collagen binding adhesin (Cna). Here, the authors report the role of Cna during S. aureus skin infecti...

Staphylococcus aureus has undergone metabolic remodeling to adapt to the dairy niche.

<span><i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> is a major cause of skin and soft tissue infections, and persistent skin colonization is a significant risk factor for infection. Antimicrobial fatty acids (AFAs), produced...

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...

Staphylococcus aureus is a leading cause of both community and hospital-acquired infection worldwide. In addition, S. aureus is resistant to many commonly used antibiotics, which make the treatment of bacteremia, infective endocarditis, and other invasive diseases more challenging. It is essential to obtain a basic understanding of how S. aureus survives in a variety of host niches, including those niches where S. aureus is dependent upon amino acid catabolism. We hypothesize that arginine acquisition is critical for S. aureus pathogenesis; therefore, identifying these transporters is essential for the development of novel therapeutic strategies.

The pathogen Staphylococcus aureus can invade and replicate within human cells. Here, Rodrigues Lopes et al. use an image-based screening approach to identify S. aureus factors important for invasion,...

The signals triggering activation of VraTSR, a key regulator of the cell wall stress response in Staphylococcus aureus, remain unknown. Combining crosslinking assays with vancomycin- and ampicillin-d....

The permeability of bacterial porins is dynamically regulated by periplasmic proton and potassium concentrations, altering antibiotic resistance.

PhD Project - EASTBIO How do transporters promote the fitness of Staphylococcus aureus in different host-species ? at University of Edinburgh, listed on FindAPhD.com

PhD Project - MRC DiMeN Doctoral Training Partnership: Doubling down: determining the dual function of VanT in C. difficile antibiotic resistance. at University of Sheffield, listed on FindAPhD.com

Abstract. The human nasal microbiome can serve as a reservoir for pathogens. In particular, the opportunistic pathogen Staphylococcus aureus can be a membe

The skin microbiome is dominated by a few key genera, among which Staphylococcus is one of the most well characterized. Recent studies have examined the roles of various Staphylococcus species such as...