Latest Articles
Research Article | Ecological and Evolutionary SciencePrivatization of Biofilm Matrix in Structurally Heterogeneous BiofilmsBiofilms are communities of bacteria protected by a self-produced extracellular matrix. The detrimental effects of nonproducing individuals on biofilm development raise questions about the dynamics between community members, especially when isogenic nonproducers exist within wild-type populations. We asked ourselves whether phenotypic nonproducers impact biofilm robustness, and where and when this heterogeneity of matrix gene expression...
Research Article | Host-Microbe BiologyDistinct Bacterial Pathways Influence the Efficacy of Antibiotics against Mycobacterium tuberculosisUnderstanding how Mycobacterium tuberculosis survives during antibiotic treatment is necessary to rationally devise more effective tuberculosis (TB) chemotherapy regimens. Using genome-wide mutant fitness profiling and the mouse model of TB, we identified genes that alter antibiotic efficacy specifically in the infection environment and associated several of these...
Editor's Pick Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyEscherichia coli Has a Unique Transcriptional Program in Long-Term Stationary Phase Allowing Identification of Genes Important for SurvivalExperimental evolution studies have elucidated evolutionary processes, but usually in chemically well-defined and/or constant environments. Using complex environments is important to begin to understand how evolution may occur in natural environments, such as soils or within a host. However, characterizing the stresses that cells experience in these complex environments can be challenging. One way to approach this is by determining how...
Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyCoevolutionary Analysis Reveals a Conserved Dual Binding Interface between Extracytoplasmic Function σ Factors and Class I Anti-σ FactorsIn the bacterial world, extracytoplasmic function σ factors (ECFs) are the most widespread family of alternative σ factors, mediating many cellular responses to environmental cues, such as stress. This work uses a computational approach to investigate how these σ factors interact with class I anti-σ factors—the most abundant regulators of ECF activity. By comprehensively classifying the anti-σs into phylogenetic groups and by comparing...
Research Article | Host-Microbe BiologyT3SEpp: an Integrated Prediction Pipeline for Bacterial Type III Secreted EffectorsType III secreted effector (T3SE) prediction remains a big computational challenge. In practical applications, current software tools often suffer problems of high false-positive rates. One of the causal factors could be the relatively unitary type of biological features used for the design and training of the models. In this research, we made a comprehensive survey on the sequence-based features of T3SEs, including signal sequences,...
Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyGenome-Wide Analysis of RNA Decay in the Cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp. Strain PCC 7002RNA degradation is an important process that affects the final concentration of individual mRNAs, affecting protein expression and cellular physiology. Studies of how RNA is degraded increase our knowledge of this fundamental process as well as enable the creation of genetic tools to manipulate RNA stability. By studying global transcript turnover, we searched for sequence elements that correlated with transcript (in)stability and used...
Research Article | Host-Microbe BiologyBactopia: a Flexible Pipeline for Complete Analysis of Bacterial GenomesIt is now relatively easy to obtain a high-quality draft genome sequence of a bacterium, but bioinformatic analysis requires organization and optimization of multiple open source software tools. We present Bactopia, a pipeline for bacterial genome analysis, as an option for processing bacterial genome data. Bactopia also automates downloading of data from multiple public sources and species-specific customization. Because the pipeline...
Research Article | Host-Microbe BiologyA Distinct Contractile Injection System Gene Cluster Found in a Majority of Healthy Adult Human MicrobiomesTo engage with host cells, diverse pathogenic bacteria produce syringe-like structures called contractile injection systems (CIS). CIS are evolutionarily related to the contractile tails of bacteriophages and are specialized to puncture membranes, often delivering effectors to target cells. Although CIS are key for pathogens to cause disease, paradoxically, similar injection systems have been identified within healthy human microbiome...
Research Article | Ecological and Evolutionary ScienceThe Behavior of Amphibians Shapes Their Symbiotic MicrobiomesUnderstanding the interactions between host behavior and microbiome dynamics remains an outstanding priority in the field of microbial ecology. Here, we provide the reader with a simple example of how the behavior and living environment of wild amphibians shape their symbiotic microbiome externally (on the skin) and internally (in the stomach and gut).
