Highlights Translation measurements reveal how microbes allocate resources in communities Functional profiles predict microbial competition and niche allocation Predictions enable rational design of prebiotic and probiotic interventions Interventions enable targeted modulation of complex microbiomes  in vitro  and  in vivo Summary Microbiome science has greatly expanded our understanding of microbial life and its roles in the environment and human health. Yet microbiome scien

Highlights Bacterial CD-NTase synthesizes 2'3'-cGAMP with mammalian cGAS-like enzymatic properties 2'3'-cGAMP drives stepwise monomer-to-filament assembly of 3TM-SAVED family effectors Filament assembly reconfigures TM helices and amphipathic hairpins to shear membranes Vertical membrane shearing defines a distinct mode of membrane disruption Summary Cyclic-oligonucleotide-based anti-phage signaling system (CBASS), a central prokaryotic antiviral strategy and evolutionary anc

Highlights Borrelia spirochetes have a unique mechanism to evade host immune system. Borrelia persica has one chromosome, 12 linear and one circular plasmids. Telomeric hairpin motifs were detected in the chromosome and linear plasmids. Plasmid profiles remained stable after one year of continuous in vitro culture. A Vlp common variable region kept the same external position across structures. Abstract Antigenic variation enables immune evasion of pathogens, yet the mechanism

Highlights Neurospora crassa  has lower sugar metabolic gene redundancy than  Aspergillus niger The mating type of  N. crassa  affects growth of sugar metabolic deletion strains We present a strongly improved sugar metabolic model for  N. crassa Abstract The filamentous fungus  Neurospora crassa  has been a model organism for understanding many fundamental aspects of eukaryotic biology. Here, we constructed a genome-scale model of its sugar metabolism based on the sugar metab

Highlights HapX is essential for iron-limited growth in  Talaromyces marneffei . Deletion of hapX impairs siderophore biosynthesis and disrupts iron-responsive gene regulation. Loss of HapX reduces conidiation, conidial germination, and stress tolerance (cell wall, membrane, and nitrosative stress). The Δ hapX  mutant shows increased susceptibility to amphotericin B. HapX is required for intracellular survival and full virulence in infection models. . Abstract Talaromycosis i

Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is an effective therapy for recurrent  Clostridioides difficile  infection and is increasingly being explored for other microbiota-associated diseases. However, general research has largely focused on bacterial engraftment, overlooking the contribution of the gut virome. In this perspective, we highlight phage-mediated horizontal gene transfer (HGT) as a potentially influential process occurring following FMT. Donor-derived phages may po

Article highlights Screening of 578  Mucorales  isolates from clinical and fermented food indicated that endosymbiotic bacteria occur exclusively in  Rhizopus  species. 16S rDNA sequencing and FISH analyses confirmed  Mycetohabitans  as the predominant bacterial symbiont detected in pathogenic  Rhizopus  strains. A  Rhizopus homothallicus  isolate was found to harbor  Mycetohabitans  sp. showing 98.37% 16S rRNA similarity to  M. rhizoxinica , suggesting a potential novel spec

Highlights Long-term organic-free enrichment with hydrothermal sulfide/iron-rich sediment successfully constructed diverse sulfur-oxidizing communities. 36 potential sulfur-oxidizing bacteria (including 10 novel species) were isolated from the mineral-enriched community. Sulfitobacter  sp. L-8 and  Roseovarius  sp. B-10 achieved 68%–93% thiosulfate consumption and mediated diverse and significant mineral transformation. This study connects microbial sulfur-oxidizing metabolis

Highlights High rhizosphere microbial diversity improves soybean performance under drought Diversity-triggered 2-naphthoic acid accumulates under drought stress Sinorhizobium  CS204 senses 2-naphthoic acid via chemoreceptors and ABC transporters S .CS204-metabolite synergy boosts nitrogen cycling and plant drought tolerance Summary Rhizosphere microbiomes are essential for plant growth and stress tolerance, yet how microbial diversity shapes drought resilience in soybean rema

Highlights Microbiota-driven inflammation and lipid uptake drive intestinal ILC3 lipotoxicity Inflammatory signaling suppresses fatty acid oxidation in ILC3s but not Th17 cells ILC3-specific immunometabolic vulnerability is conserved in intestine of mice and human HFD-mediated intestinal ILC3 depletion is reversible upon dietary normalization Summary Group 3 innate lymphoid cells (ILC3s) are key sensors of the intestinal environment, integrating dietary and microbial cues to

Highlights A global atlas and biogeography of human bacterial pathogens in soils are reported Dominant human bacterial pathogens are more abundant in wet ecosystems worldwide Soil biodiversity is negatively associated with the prevalence of human pathogens Many dominant pathogens are likely to increase their proportion in future climates Summary Soil-inhabiting pathogens threaten human health, but their biogeography and associations with soil biodiversity remain poorly unders

Highlights Bacteria were more abundant in coco coir, particularly in stationary clinostats Pseudomonadota  and  Actinomycetota  phyla were abundant under simulated gravity Biomarkers were highest in horizontal clinostats' coco coir under simulated gravity The GT2 and GT4 classes of glycosyl transferases were abundant in coco-coir samples The top four antibiotic resistance genes were  adeF, vanY, vanT , and  qacG ABSTRACT Kale is a member of the  Brassicaceae  family and conta

Highlights Unexplored source of microorganisms with antibacterial activity; New species of  Bacillus  sp. with activity against multidrug-resistant  K. pneumoniae ; Potential chemical and molecular novelty of antibacterial compounds based on genome mining. Abstract The emergence of new infectious diseases and the development of microbial resistance to existing drugs, accompanied by a decline in the discovery of new antibiotic classes through traditional approaches, highlight

Highlights Bacterial serine proteases play a crucial role in the interaction between bacteria and their hosts, facilitating bacterial invasion and contributing to pathogenicity. Mycobacterium tuberculosis possesses multiple serine proteases; however, the mechanisms of action of these proteases remain incompletely understood. In this study, we characterized the role of a novel serine protease, Rv1815, by purifying it in Escherichia coli and creating a rv1815 deletion mutant in

Highlights Human cytomegalovirus RNA2.7 sequesters RNA-binding proteins to stabilize host mRNAs RNA2.7 enforces G1-S arrest specifically in actively cycling cells An adenosine-rich RNA2.7 region is required for cell-cycle arrest RNA2.7-driven cell-cycle arrest promotes efficient HCMV replication Summary During infection with human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), the viral long non-coding RNA RNA2.7 becomes the most abundant polyadenylated transcript in the cell, yet its function has

Highlights XAI–SERS platform enables accurate discrimination of  E. coli  pathotypes and  Shigella. 1D-CNN model achieved 97.7% accuracy, surpassing traditional classifiers. SHAP analysis identified key spectral features linked to molecular components. Provides a precise, interpretable approach for bacterial diagnostics. Abstract Pathogenic  Escherichia coli  and  Shigella  species cause severe diarrheal diseases with high mortality but remain difficult to distinguish using c

Highlights One-year multicenter survey of fosfomycin-resistant Enterobacterales in Czech Republic hospitals. FosA3-producing  Proteus mirabilis  predominates. FosA3-positive  P. mirabilis  ST185 forms a local clonal cluster while  E. coli  clones are heterogeneous. Transporter defects (GlpT/UhpT) are widespread; most  fosA  strains carry ESBL genes. Molecular surveillance is crucial to monitor and contain emerging fosfomycin resistance. Abstract The global rise of antimicrobi

Highlights XDR  Klebsiella oxytoca  found in hospital wastewater with 59 resistance genes Mega plasmid pKO611.1 carries 28 resistance genes, enabling multidrug resistance Novel  tet (E) variant and AmpC β-lactamase confer tetracycline & β-lactam resistance Plasmid pKO611.1 transfers efficiently to  Escherichia coli , spreading resistance Plasmid recombination shows potential as resistance gene reservoir for dissemination Abstract Klebsiella oxytoca  is an opportunistic pathog

Highlights Aridity index, rather than degradation level, is the paramount driver shaping soil bacterial and fungal communities (explaining ∼43% and ∼30% of the variation, respectively). The ecosystem harbors an exceptionally stable core microbiome, with 18,510 bacterial ASVs shared across aridity gradients. Dry sub-humid (alternating wet-dry) conditions promote the most complex and stable microbial co-occurrence networks. Community assembly of both bacteria and fungi is predo

Highlights E. coli  isolates from healthy or diseased hosts exhibit distinct metabolic profiles D-serine utilization is more prevalent in E. coli isolates from Crohn’s patients The D-serine associated  dsdCXA  cluster enhances E. coli fitness in the gut ABSTRACT Gut dysbiosis associated with several intestinal and extra-intestinal diseases is frequently characterized by an expansion of  Enterobacteriaceae , which typically represent only a few percent of the total gut microbi