This article is the 17th in the Fungal Diversity Notes series which allows the researchers to publish fungal collections with updated reports of fungus-host and fungus-geography. Herein we report 97 taxa with four new genera distributed in three phyla (Ascomycota, Glomeromycota and Mucoromycota), 11 classes, 38 orders and 62 families collected from various regions worldwide. This collection is further

Approximately 20% of patients with shingles develop postherpetic neuralgia (PHN). We investigated the role of gut microbiota in shingle- and PHN-related pain. Patients with shingles or PHN exhibited significant alterations in their gut microbiota with microbial markers predicting PHN development among patients with shingles. Functionally, fecal microbiota transplantation from patients with PHN to mice

A recent study found that soil microbial communities show consistent and predictable responses to extreme climatic events.

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Aqueous-soluble hydrocarbons dissolve into the ocean’s interior and structure deep-sea microbial populations influenced by natural oil seeps and spills. n-Pentane is a seawater-soluble, volatile compound abundant in petroleum products and reservoirs and will partially partition to the deep-water column following release from the seafloor. In this study, we explore the ecology and niche partitioning

Correction to: Nature Reviews Microbiology https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-024-01107-0, published online 23 October 2024

It is currently unclear how Pseudomonadota, a phylum that originated around the time of the Great Oxidation Event, became one of the most abundant and diverse bacterial phyla on Earth, with metabolically versatile members colonizing a wide range of environments with different O2 concentrations. Here, we address this question by studying isoprenoid quinones, which are central components of energy metabolism

Quorum sensing inhibition is a promising novel approach to control bacterial infections. However, it is not clear whether quorum sensing inhibition will impose selective pressure for the spread of resistance against quorum sensing inhibition in pathogen populations. Previous research tried to answer this question by using synthetic growth media, and this revealed that whether or not resistance will

Helicosporous hyphomycetes are a fungal group with similar coiled or spiral conidial morphology but significant differences in genetic information, resulting in them being distributed in different phyla, classes, orders, and families. However, there are no comprehensive studies for this group. In this study, we have systematically organized the helicosporous taxa, revised their classification and provided

A recent study shows that the commensal bacterium Lactiplantibacillus plantarum recognizes the foregut of the fruit fly as its physical niche via sugar-binding adhesins.

Fecal microbiota transplantation has been vital for establishing whether host phenotypes can be conferred through the microbiome. However, whether the existing microbial ecology along the mouse gastrointestinal tract can be recapitulated in germ-free mice colonized with stool remains unknown. We first identified microbes and their predicted functions specific to each of six intestinal regions in three

Foundational to establishment and recovery of biocrusts is a mutualistic exchange of carbon for nitrogen between pioneer cyanobacteria, including the widespread Microcoleus vaginatus, and heterotrophic diazotrophs in its “cyanosphere”. In other such mutualisms, nitrogen is transferred as amino acids or ammonium, preventing losses through specialized structures, cell apposition or intracellularity.

Investigations of the metabolic capabilities of anaerobic protists advances our understanding of the evolution of eukaryotic life on Earth and for uncovering analogous extraterrestrial complex microbial life. Certain species of foraminiferan protists live in environments analogous to early Earth conditions when eukaryotes evolved, including sulfidic, anoxic, and hypoxic sediment porewaters. Foraminifera

Ips is a genus of bark beetles found throughout the Northern Hemisphere, many of which are highly destructive to coniferous forests and plantations. Fungal symbionts, especially ophiostomatoid fungi, have contributed to the success of Ips bark beetles. Recently, climate change accelerated tree mortality caused by bark beetles and their fungal symbionts. However, the knowledge of ophiostomatoid fungi

Microplastic pollution in aquatic environments is a growing global concern. Microplastics, defined as plastic fragments smaller than five millimetres, accumulate in freshwater reservoirs, especially in urban areas, impacting resident biota. This study examined the effects of microplastics on the performance and microbiome of Daphnia, a keystone organism in freshwater ecosystems, through both in situ

Escherichia coli is an increasingly antibiotic-resistant opportunistic pathogen. Few data are available on its ecological and evolutionary dynamics in its primary commensal niche, the vertebrate gut. Using Illumina and/or Nanopore technologies, we sequenced whole genomes of 210 E. coli isolates from 22 stools sampled during a 20-year period from a healthy man (ED) living in Paris, France. All phylogroups

In this study, Castells-Nobau et al. show that bacteriophages present in the gut microbiome contribute to the regulation of food addiction.

In this journal club, Lucy Thorne discusses a paper that compares pandemic and non-pandemic HIV and shows that the ability of pandemic HIV to effectively evade the host’s innate immune response is a key factor in its pandemic potential.

Clinical Microbiology Reviews, Volume 37, Issue 4, December 2024.

Fungal-bacterial endosymbioses, the most intimate typology of symbioses, have been described in different taxa of Mucoromycota, an early diverging group of Fungi. In a recent issue of Nature, Giger and colleagues describe how they implanted a Burkolderia-related microbe inside a Mucoromycota fungus, giving rise to a functional and stable endosymbiosis.

In a recent Cell paper, Wu et al. identified microbiome guilds based on bacterial co-occurrence among type 2 diabetes patients. Two competing guilds, associated with high-fiber vs. control diets, correlated with healthy biomarkers. The potential of this approach was further verified across 15 diseases in 26 studies.

The sensing of pathogens is the first step for any immune response. A recent paper in Cell reveals that the bacterial Hachiman anti-phage defense system deploys a helicase subunit to sense phage invasion via 3′ DNA recognition and subsequent domain rotation to enable nuclease activation.

Sargen and Helaine discover a prophage competition element in Salmonella that inhibits the lytic cycle of co-resident prophages by cleaving a subset of cellular tRNAs. During Salmonella pathogenesis in macrophages, a persister subset experiences prophage induction and competition, reducing release of immunogenic cellular components and altering macrophage response to infection.

In the dynamic theater of plant-microbe interactions, a new conductor has emerged: selenium nanoparticles. As unveiled by Sun et al. in this issue of Cell Host & Microbe, these microbially synthesized nanoparticles recruit plant growth-promoting microbes, orchestrating a synergy between plants and the rhizosphere microbiome.

In this issue of Cell Host & Microbe, Peng et al. provide the MAGIC catalog as a resource for studying bacterial and viral diversity of the global gut microbiome in early life. By addressing gaps in geographic and age representation, this database enhances our understanding of early microbiome dynamics.

Photosymbiosis, a mode of mixotrophy by algal endosymbiosis, provides key advantage to pelagic life in oligotrophic oceans. Despite its ecological importance, mechanisms underlying its emergence and association with the evolutionary success of photosymbiotic lineages remain unclear. We used planktonic foraminifera, a group of pelagic test-forming protists with an excellent fossil record, to reveal

Animal gastrointestinal tracts contain diverse metabolites, including various host-derived compounds that gut-associated microbes interact with. Here, we explore the diversity and evolution of bilirubin reductase, a bacterial enzyme that metabolizes the host-derived tetrapyrrole bilirubin, performing a key role in the animal heme degradation pathway. Through an analysis of the bilirubin reductase phylogeny

It is consensus that clinically relevant antibiotic resistance genes have their origin in environmental bacteria, including the large pool of primarily benign species. Yet, for the vast majority of acquired antibiotic resistance genes, the original environmental host(s) have not been identified to date. Closing this knowledge gap could improve our understanding of how antimicrobial resistance proliferates

The importance of rare earth elements is increasingly recognized due to the increased demand for their mining and separation. This demand is driving research on the biology of rare earth elements. Biomolecules associated with rare earth elements include rare earth element-dependent enzymes (methanol dehydrogenase XoxF, ethanol dehydrogenase ExaF/PedH), rare earth element-binding proteins, and the relevant

Giant viruses can control their eukaryotic host populations, shaping the ecology and evolution of aquatic microbial communities. Understanding the impact of the viruses’ own parasites, the virophages, on the control of microbial communities remains a challenge. Most virophages have two modes of infection. They can exist as free particles coinfecting host cells together with the virus, where they replicate

Viral infections are major modulators of marine microbial community assembly and biogeochemical cycling. In coral reefs, viral lysis controls bacterial overgrowth that is detrimental to coral health. However, methodological limitations have prevented the identification of viral hosts and quantification of their interaction frequencies. Here, we reconstructed an abundance-resolved virus-bacteria interaction

This study shows that the Campylobacter jejuni-derived genotoxin named cytolethal distending toxin promotes colorectal cancer metastasis.

Metabolic exchange is one of the foundations of symbiotic associations between organisms and is a driving force in evolution. In the ocean, photosymbiosis between heterotrophic hosts and microalgae is powered by photosynthesis and relies on the transfer of organic carbon to the host (e.g. sugars). Yet, the identity of transferred carbohydrates as well as the molecular mechanisms that drive this exchange

Clinical Microbiology Reviews, Ahead of Print.

In this study, Padhi et al. demonstrate the potential of metagenomics-based approaches for the discovery of natural products from complex ecosystems.

Correction to: Nature Microbiology https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-024-01739-1, published online 8 July 2024.

Correction to: Nature Microbiology https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-024-01752-4, published online 8 July 2024.

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