Bacterial cell division has been extensively studied in model systems, but little is known about how this essential process occurs in the clinically important pathogen Clostridioides difficile. Studie...

Brogan and Rudner report the identification of a microbial autoproteolytic domain that is structurally homologous to the GAIN domain of eukaryotic adhesion GPCRs. Rather than participating in transmem...

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...

In homologous recombination, DNA repair depends on recombinase filaments finding homologous templates on chromosomes whose topology is continually remodeled by replication and transcription. How dynam...

Nature Microbiology, Published online: 03 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-026-02403-6A specific isoform of PBP1b functions independently of the activator protein, LpoB, to drive generation of a wedge-like peptidoglycan structure that strengthens the division site in Escherichia coli.

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

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...

How good is Bacillus subtilis as a model for the spore-forming pathogen Bacillus anthracis? Using high throughput genetics to identify B. anthracis sporulation genes and cytological analysis of the mu...

Author summary Bacterial cell division is an ancient and essential process, but our molecular understanding of this process is primarily based on studies in a select few model systems. Recent work fou...

Abstract. Bacteria define their heritable cell shape using membrane integral glycosyltransferases (GTases) of the shape, elongation, division and sporulati

Prokaryotic genes are arranged in operons, with functionally related genes often located adjacent to one another (1). There are several ways in which the operonic organization of genes facilitates the...

Clostridioides difficile (C. difficile) RT027 strains cause infections that vary in severity from asymptomatic to lethal, but the molecular basis for …

Brogan et al. uncover a signalling pathway in which levels of the nucleotide second messenger c-di-AMP increase in response to defects in cell wall synthesis. This regulatory pathway decreases turgor ...

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...

Coxiella burnetii and L. pneumophila cause Q Fever and Legionnaire’s disease in humans, respectively. There is a lack of effective treatments for fatal chronic infections caused by these pathogens, pa...

Success of phage therapies is limited by bacterial defenses against phages. While a large variety of anti-phage defense mechanisms has been characterized, how expression of these systems is distribute...

Sargen and Helaine find a prophage-encoded anti-phage defense element that blocks the lytic cycles of co-residing prophages. They further find that prophage competition occurs in Salmonella persisters...