The patterns and pathways of pathogen adaptation during chronic infections can reveal the gateways microbes must unlock to colonize and persist. In chronic lung infections of cystic fibrosis (CF) pati...

During chronic infections, host tissues undergo repeated cycles of injury and repair while being exposed to bacterial products. Although many virulence factors trigger immune responses, whether bacter...

Nature Microbiology, Published online: 19 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-026-02382-8A ubiquitous skin fungus, frequently associated with skin pathology, is important for maintenance of the skin barrier function through tryptophan derivatives that act as aryl hydrocarbon receptor agonists.

Biofilm formation on implanted medical devices facilitates infection by the pathogen Klebsiella pneumoniae. Here, Zaborskytė et al. use experimental evolution to show that the bacteria rapidly evolve ...

Molecular microbiology has traditionally focused on exponential growth in model organisms as the preferred context in which to study bacterial physiology, especially the regulation of new protein synt...

Microorganisms commonly exist in polymicrobial communities, where they can respond to interspecies secreted molecules by altering behaviors and phy...

Why are there so many co-circulating Klebsiella pneumoniae clones? Using genomics and large-scale metabolic modelling of >7000 isolates, this study identifies structured, clone-specific metabolic spec...

From populations of multicellular organisms to selfish genetic elements, conflicts between levels of biological organization are central to evolution. Plasmids are extrachromosomal, self-replicating g...

Author summary CRISPRi-seq is a robust method to study bacterial gene fitness and essentiality via relative quantification and comparison of sgRNA abundance at a genome-wide scale. Here, we present a ...

A subset of nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM), including Mycobacterium abscessus, are opportunistic pathogens that can cause severe pulmonary infections. Biofilm formation renders M. abscessus more tolerant to antibiotics; hence, the ability to inhibit NTM biofilm formation could help us better prevent and treat NTM infections. However, the regulatory systems controlling NTM biofilm formation, which could include targets for anti-biofilm therapeutics, are poorly understood. The significance of this work is that it reveals intracellular glutamine as an important node controlling the initiation of biofilm formation in the model NTM Mycobacterium smegmatis. Building on this foundation, future studies will investigate how NTM biofilms can be dispersed by altering glutamine levels and will describe how NTM translates intracellular glutamine to the alteration of surface adhesins.

This study introduces single-cell transcription factor (TF) sequencing, a single-cell barcoded and doxycycline-inducible TF overexpression approach that reveals dose-sensitive functional classes of TFs and cellular heterogeneity by mapping TF dose-dependent transcriptomic changes during the reprogramming of mouse embryonic multipotent stromal cells.

Nature Reviews Microbiology, Published online: 02 October 2025; doi:10.1038/s41579-025-01242-2Clostridioides difficile infection is challenging to diagnose and treat and is associated with considerable mortality, morbidity and economic costs worldwide. In this Review, Chilton et al. discuss changes in global epidemiology, breakthroughs in pathogenesis and antibiotic resistance, the role of microbiota dysbiosis and the potential for microbiota-based therapeutics for Clostridioides difficile infection.

The antibiotic polymyxin B requires bacterial metabolic activity to cause sufficient damage to the outer membrane to access the inner membrane, which it permeabilizes via an energy-independent mechanism to kill the cell.

Gene redundancy complicates systematic characterization of gene function as single-gene deletions may not produce discernible phenotypes. We report dual transposon sequencing (dual Tn-seq), a platform...

We are recruiting Faculty microbiologists in three (3) different, complementary, and collaborative areas at the University of Pittsburgh associated with the School of Medicine. 1) Fundamental researc...

Opposing forces generated by exopolysaccharide trail binding versus type IV pilus retraction generate a high cyclic diGMP–high cyclic AMP state in Pseudomonas aeruginosa that promotes social motility.

Are you ready to lead groundbreaking research in Infection Biochemistry? Join us at EMBL Hamburg! We are recruiting outstanding scientists to establish independent research groups tackling fundamental...

In this Review, Tonkin-Hill et al. discuss the processes driving bacterial evolution and emergence of pathogenesis within hosts, the importance of understanding within-host genetic diversity, and the ...

Mouse models show that respiratory infections from viruses such as influenza and SARS-CoV-2 can trigger metastasis of dormant breast cancer cells in the lungs, a finding supported by epidemiological d...

Mammals display prominent diversity in the ability to regenerate damaged ear pinna, but the genetic changes underlying the failure of regeneration remain elusive. We performed comparative single-cell ...

About 15,000 pairwise interactions within S. epidermidis from 18 people in 6 families reveal the antagonism and molecular trade-offs that shape the skin microbiota.

Micro decisions can have macro consequences. A soft matter physicist reveals how interactions within simple cellular collectives can lead to emergent physical traits.

Nature Genetics - A genome-wide screen using human gut epithelial organoids combined with transposon-directed insertion sequencing identifies over 100 Shigella flexneri genes required for...

The bactericidal action of some antibiotics is associated with increased ATP consumption, cellular respiration, and reactive oxygen species formation. Here, Li et al. show that constitutive hydrolysis...

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a functionally versatile bacterium, a leading opportunistic human pathogen and a model organism in microbiology. In this Review, Letizia, Diggle and Whiteley discuss P. aerug...

In this work, we describe a targeted phage discovery method that allows immediate isolation of phages with specific traits. Currently, to find a phage with specific properties, huge libraries of phage...

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...

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