Latest Articles
Research Article | Applied and Environmental ScienceQuantitatively Partitioning Microbial Genomic Traits among Taxonomic Ranks across the Microbial Tree of LifeRecently, there has been great progress in defining a complete taxonomy of bacteria and archaea, which has been enabled by improvements in DNA sequencing technology and new bioinformatic techniques. A new, algorithmically defined microbial tree of life describes those linkages, relying solely on genetic data, which raises the issue of how microbial traits relate to taxonomy. Here, we adopted cluster of orthologous group functional...
Research Article | Ecological and Evolutionary ScienceRobust Archaeal and Bacterial Communities Inhabit Shallow Subsurface Sediments of the Bonneville Salt FlatsPleistocene Lake Bonneville, which covered a third of Utah, desiccated approximately 13,000 years ago, leaving behind the Bonneville Salt Flats (BSF) in the Utah West Desert. The potash salts that saturate BSF basin are extracted and sold as an additive for agricultural fertilizers. The salt crust is a well-known recreational and economic commodity, but the biological interactions with the salt crust have not been studied. This study is...
Commentary | Host-Microbe BiologymSphere of Influence: Considering Complex Mutational Processes That Shape Microbial VirulenceMatt Anderson works in the field of genetics and infectious disease, with a focus on the human fungal pathogen Candida albicans. In this mSphere of Influence article, he reflects on how two papers, “Gene Flow Contributes to Diversification of the Major Fungal Pathogen Candida albicans” (J. Ropars, C...
Commentary | Host-Microbe BiologymSphere of Influence: the Importance of Metabolism for Pathogen Adaptation to Host-Imposed StressesJorge Amich studies several aspects of sulfur and nitrogen metabolism in Aspergillus fumigatus, with the ultimate aim of identifying targets for the development of novel antifungals. In this mSphere of Influence article, he reflects on how “Sub-Telomere Directed Gene Expression during Initiation of Invasive Aspergillosis” (A. McDonagh, N. D. Fedorova, J. Crabtree, Y....
Research Article | Host-Microbe BiologyEnvironmental Persistence of Influenza Viruses Is Dependent upon Virus Type and Host OriginThe rapid spread of influenza viruses (IV) from person to person during seasonal epidemics causes acute respiratory infections that can lead to hospitalizations and life-threatening illness. Atmospheric conditions such as relative humidity (RH) can impact the viability of IV released into the air. To understand how different IV are affected by their environment, we compared the levels of stability of human-pathogenic seasonal and avian...
Research Article | Host-Microbe BiologyFunctional Characterization of Secreted Aspartyl Proteases in Candida parapsilosisAspartyl proteases are present in various organisms and, among virulent species, are considered major virulence factors. Host tissue and cell damage, hijacking of immune responses, and hiding from innate immune cells are the most common behaviors of fungal secreted proteases enabling pathogen survival and invasion. C. parapsilosis, an opportunistic human-pathogenic...
Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyTrypanosoma brucei L11 Is Essential to Ribosome Biogenesis and Interacts with the Kinetoplastid-Specific Proteins P34 and P37The human-pathogenic, eukaryotic parasite Trypanosoma brucei causes human and animal African trypanosomiases. Treatments for T. brucei suffer from numerous hurdles, including adverse side effects and developing resistance. Ribosome biogenesis is one critical process for...
Commentary | Molecular Biology and PhysiologymSphere of Influence: Resolution of the Structure of an Influenza Virus Polymerase Is a Game ChangerMathilde Richard works in the field of virology, more specifically on the evolution and pathogenesis of influenza viruses. In this mSphere of Influence article, she reflects on how the two articles “Structure of Influenza A Polymerase Bound to the Viral RNA Promoter” by A. Pflug, D. Guilligay, S. Reich, and S. Cusack (Nature 516:355–360, 2014, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14008) and “...
Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologySingle-Strand Annealing Plays a Major Role in Double-Strand DNA Break Repair following CRISPR-Cas9 Cleavage in LeishmaniaDue to differences in double-strand DNA break (DSB) repair mechanisms, CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing efficiency can vary greatly in different organisms. In contrast to mammalian cells, the protozoan parasite Leishmania uses microhomology-mediated end joining (MMEJ) and, occasionally, homology-directed repair (HDR) to repair DSBs but lacks the nonhomologous end-joining pathway. Here, we show that Leishmania predominantly...
Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyPosttranslational Regulation of IL-23 Production Distinguishes the Innate Immune Responses to Live Toxigenic versus Heat-Inactivated Vibrio choleraeAn episode of cholera provides better protection against reinfection than oral cholera vaccines, and the reasons for this are still under study. To better understand this, we compared the immune responses of human cells exposed to live Vibrio cholerae with those of cells exposed to heat-killed V. cholerae...