Highly mutagenic continuous evolution in E. coli using a Φ29-based orthogonal replication system - Nature Biotechnology Mutational rates of bacterial evolution are increased using an error-prone orthogonal system.

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Sending evolution into overdrive 🔧🦠

A Φ29‑based DNA replication system in E. coli enables stable and targeted hypermutation achieving evolution of enzyme activities within days

#MicroSky

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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No-GMO enhanced Bt toxin 🦠🌱🪲

Naturally occurring 'sporesilk' matrix coating the Bacillus thuringiensis toxin crystals boosts insecticidal activity providing a non-GMO pest biocontrol.

#MicroSky

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Acinetobacter baumannii’s lifestyle includes soil-dwelling colonization of decaying plant material and airborne spread - Nature Communications Little is known about the ecology and evolution of the nosocomial pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii outside the hospital. Here, Wilharm et al. show that the lifestyle of A. baumannii includes soil-dwel...

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The versatile Acinetobacter baumannii! 🦠

The dreaded pathogen naturally occupies soil and airborne niches that underpin its recalcitrance and human contact may have shaped its evolution.

#MicroSky

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Candida albicans synergizes with Fusobacterium nucleatum in colorectal cancer progression via the Flo9-RadD interaction How does other types of microbe like fungi influence tumor-promoting role of Fusobacterium nucleatum? In this study, Li et al. establish that commensal fungi facilitate translocation of pro-tumor bact...

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Multi-kingdom microbial interplay in cancer 🦠🍄🦀⚕️

Candida albicans synergizes with Fusobacterium nucleatum in colorectal cancer offering a potential therapeutic target via L‑arginine disruption.

#MicroSky #CancerSky

www.cell.com/cancer-cell/...

Antibiotic use and gut microbiome composition links from individual-level prescription data of 14,979 individuals - Nature Medicine Using individual-level data from the Swedish Prescribed Drug Register and fecal metagenomes of 14,979 individuals in Sweden, the authors examined the association between oral antibiotic use over 8 yea...

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Antibiotics in the long run ⌛💊🦠

Antibiotic use shows lasting associations with reduced gut microbial diversity for up to 8 years, indicating long-term impacts on the adult gut microbiome.

#MicroSky #MicrobiomeSky

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The MicrobeAtlas database: Global trends and insights into Earth’s microbial ecosystems MicrobeAtlas (www.microbeatlas.org) is an integrated, reference-based resource for truly planet-wide microbiomics, analyzing hundreds of thousands of microbial lineages across diverse environments, co...

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A Microbial Atlas 🦠🗺️

MicrobeAtlas unifies >2 million microbiome samples into a resource that enables consistent cross‑study comparisons and ecological contextualization of both known and newly discovered species.

#MicroSky #MicrobiomeSky

www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Bringing the genetically minimal cell to life on a computer in 4D Simulating the complete cell cycle of the minimal cell provides a platform to understand the progression of complete states over time. The spatial heterogeneity of the intracellular environment can st...

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Simulating a bacterium 💻🦠

A 4D whole-cell model of the minimal bacterium JCVI‑syn3A simulates its ~100‑minute cell cycle to reproduce experimental measurements and predict behaviours

#MicroSky

www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Genetically engineered eye-colonizing microbes that deliver the anti-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-10 enhance corneal tissue repair Engineered bacteria provide a platform for localized delivery of therapeutics. Here, Shane et al. show that an engineered eye commensal can accelerate corneal wound healing by promoting epithelial wou...

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Therapeutic eye bacteria 🦠👁️🔧

Engineered eye‑colonizing bacteria deliver IL‑10 long‑term to reduce inflammation, and accelerate corneal wound healing.

#MicroSky

www.cell.com/cell-reports...

Meta-analysis of the uncultured gut microbiome across 11,115 global metagenomes reveals a candidate signature of health Silva et al. perform a global analysis of over 11,000 gut microbiomes and reveal that uncultured bacteria are key markers of gut health. The uncultured genus CAG-170 is strongly linked to low gut dysb...

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A microbial signature of health! 🦠⚕️

A large meta-analysis highlights the importance of previously unknown and uncultured gut bacteria in maintaining human health

#MicroSky

www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...

Dihydroxyhexanoic acid biosynthesis controls turgor in pathogenic fungi Many plant pathogenic fungi penetrate host surfaces mechanically, using turgor pressure generated by specialized infection cells called appressoria. These appressoria develop semipermeable cell walls ...

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Fungi host invasion! 🍄🌱

Mechanism of fungal turgor generation, that aids mechanical host penetration by fungus could present new targets for disease control in plants

#MicroSky

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Transmission of MPXV from fire-footed rope squirrels to sooty mangabeys - Nature An outbreak of MPXV in sooty mangabeys in Côte d’Ivoire was linked to MPXV-infected fire-footed rope squirrels, providing direct evidence of interspecies transmission and indicating risk for zoonotic ...

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Mpox transmission caught in action! 🐿️🦠🐒

A wild squirrel-to-mangabey interspecies transmission highlights the risk to the population that hunts these animals for food

#MicroSky

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Mucosal vaccination in mice provides protection from diverse respiratory threats Traditional vaccines target specific pathogens, limiting their scope against diverse respiratory threats. We describe an intranasal liposomal formulation combining toll-like receptor (TLR) 4 and 7/8 l...

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A broad respiratory vaccine! 🦠🫁💉

An intranasal liposomal vaccine combining TLR4 and TLR7/8 ligands with ovalbumin produced broad and durable respiratory protection in mice

#MicroSky

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Oxygen metabolism in descendants of the archaeal-eukaryotic ancestor - Nature Sequencing of marine sediments finds 136 newly identified Heimdallarchaeia and several novel lineages, and indicates that Heimdallarchaeia evolved distinct metabolic capabilities from other Asgar...

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Aerobic archaeal-eukaryotic ancestor? 🦠🫁

The ancestor of eukaryotes may have combined hydrogen metabolism with aerobic respiration, shaping early cellular complexity.

#MicroSky

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Mucosal vaccination clears Clostridioides difficile colonization - Nature Mucosal administration of a multivalent, adjuvanted vaccine against Clostridioides difficile promoted bacterial clearance and protected against morbidity, mortality, tissue damage and recurrence ...

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C. diff vaccine! 🦠💉

A protective mucosal vaccine formulation that provides sterilizing immunity to clear C. difficile from the host.

#MicroSky

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Fecal microbiota transplantation plus immunotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer and melanoma: the phase 2 FMT-LUMINate trial - Nature Medicine In a phase 2 trial evaluating healthy donor fecal microbial transplantation plus either anti-PD-1 in patients with non-small cell lung cancer or anti-PD-1 and anti-CTLA-4 in patients with melanoma, en...

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FMT for cancers in clinic! 💩🦠🦀⚕️

Three different clinical trials report activity of faecal microbiota transplant against cancer

#MicroSky #CancerSky

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Divergent tumor immunity determined by bacteria-cancer cell engagement In a preclinical breast cancer metastasis model, the same bacteria strain, when present intracellularly versus extracellularly, exerts opposing effects on tumor immunity by inducing divergent neutroph...

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It matters where cancer-associated bacteria are! 🦀💊

The spatial localization of bacteria associated with tumors dictates opposite immune outcomes - driving metastasis or triggering antitumour neutrophil activity

#MicroSky

www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Butyrolactol A enhances caspofungin efficacy via flippase inhibition in drug-resistant fungi Chen et al. identify the natural product butyrolactol A as an inhibitor of the phospholipid flippase Apt1-Cdc50, which it locks in a nonfunctional state. By disrupting membrane homeostasis and enhanci...

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Enhancing anti-fungals! 💊🍄

A natural‑product butyrolactol A restores caspofungin activity against intrinsically resistant Cryptococcus neoformans and multidrug‑resistant Candida auris

#MicroSy

www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

A gut-secreted histidine methyltransferase enforces cross-kingdom catalytic antifungal defense Bao et al. reveal that intestinal epithelial cells secrete METTL9, a histidine methyltransferase acting as a cross-kingdom antifungal effector. By methylating the fungal zincophore PRA1, METTL9 disrup...

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Host enzyme, fungal targets! 🍄🦠

Intestinal epithelial cells secrete METTL9, a host methyltransferase that directly modifies fungal proteins to block essential zinc acquisition

#MicroSky

www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...

Efflux pumps control intracellular drug-target kinetics by limiting rebinding in bacteria Efflux pumps disrupt antibiotic rebinding inside bacterial cells, amplifying multidrug resistance.

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More than just pumps? 🦠💊

Bacterial efflux pumps not only block drug entry but also disrupt intracellular drug–target interactions by preventing repeated drug rebinding

#MicroSky

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Segmented filamentous bacteria reprogramming of alveolar macrophages limits postinfluenza bacterial pneumonia SFB colonization phenotypically alters alveolar macrophages, maintaining their antibacterial functions in inflamed interferon-rich lungs.

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SFB aid microphages to fight flu! 🦠💉

Intestinal colonization with segmented filamentous bacteria reprograms alveolar macrophages to resist influenza‑induced depletion and prevent secondary bacterial infection

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

#MicroSky

Sustained in situ protein production and release in the mammalian gut by an engineered bacteriophage - Nature Biotechnology Biologics are delivered to the gut using phage that infects resident commensal bacteria.

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T4 phage-based therapeutics! 💊

T4 phages engineered to produce a protease inhibitor that reduces inflammation-associated enzyme activity in a mouse model of ulcerative colitis

#MicroSky

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Engineered living glues secrete therapeutic proteins for treatment of inflammatory bowel disease - Nature Biotechnology Engineered bacteria sense gut bleeding and secrete repair materials.

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E. coli can be engineered to secrete a glue consisting of an adhesive protein and a healing factor, inducible in response to gastrointestinal bleeding, to treat colitis in a mouse model

@natbiotech.nature.com

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A 5500-year-old Treponema pallidum genome from Sabana de Bogotá, Colombia Treponematosis, a bacterial infection caused by Treponema pallidum subspecies and T. carateum (yaws, bejel, syphilis, pinta), has afflicted humans for millennia. Despite paleopathological evidence and...

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Identification of a 5500-year-old Treponema genome from human remains recovered in Colombia uncovers a new subspecies of Treponema pallidum, the cause of syphilis, and provides insights into its evolutionary history. @science.org

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Bacteria break through one-micrometer-square passages by flagellar wrapping - Nature Communications Yoshioka et al. show that bacteria wrap their flagella to squeeze through near cell-width confinements, which allows symbiotic microbes to navigate constricted gut regions within insect hosts.

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A bacterial symbiont wraps its flagllar filaments around its cell body to propel itself through narrow gut passages in its stinkbug host and hook flexibility is key for this 🪲🦠

by Yoshitomo Kikuchi & co @natcomms.nature.com

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Baby-to-baby strain transmission shapes the developing gut microbiome - Nature A metagenomic survey of babies attending the first year of nursery detected extensive baby-to-baby microbial strain transmission, pointing to social interactions in infancy as crucial drivers of infan...

#NatMicroPicks Baby-to-baby strain transmission shapes the developing gut microbiome - out now in Nature! 👶🦠👶

#microsky #microbiome @nature.com @cibiocm.bsky.social

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Dominant contribution of Asgard archaea to eukaryogenesis - Nature A survey of the reconstructed gene set of the last eukaryotic common ancestor shows a consistent link between Asgard archaea and the origin of numerous, functionally diverse eukaryotic genes, dem...

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Asgard archaea and the origin of eukaryotes! 🦠

Eukaryotic cellular complexity evolved largely within the Asgard lineage before mitochondrial endosymbiosis and later bacterial gene acquisitions

#MicroSky

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Butyrolactol A enhances caspofungin efficacy via flippase inhibition in drug-resistant fungi Chen et al. identify the natural product butyrolactol A as an inhibitor of the phospholipid flippase Apt1-Cdc50, which it locks in a nonfunctional state. By disrupting membrane homeostasis and enhanci...

#NatMicroPicks

Rejuvenating antifungal activity! 🍄💊

Butyrolactol A inhibits a fungal lipid flippase to restore the activity of echinocandin against intrinsically resistant pathogens, highlighting lipid flippases as promising antifungal targets

#MicroSky

www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Segmented filamentous bacteria reprogramming of alveolar macrophages limits postinfluenza bacterial pneumonia SFB colonization phenotypically alters alveolar macrophages, maintaining their antibacterial functions in inflamed interferon-rich lungs.

#NatMicroPicks

gut microbes protect from pneumonia! 🦠🫁

SFB colonization reprograms alveolar macrophages to resist influenza‑induced depletion and enhances their antibacterial function protecting mice from secondary bacterial pneumonia

#MicroSky

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Microbiota utilization of intestinal amino acids modulates cancer progression and anticancer immunity Qiao et al. identify gut microbes and amino acid-metabolizing genes that influence tumor burden. A Bacteroides asparaginase, bo-ansB, modulates host tumor responses to dietary asparagine (Asn) by depl...

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bacterial amino acid metabolism affects cancer progression 🦠🦀🐁

Bacteroides asparaginase lowers intestinal asparagine levels and drives colorectal tumor progression

#MicroSky

www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...