Volatile organic sulfur compounds like dimethylsulfide are ubiquitous and particularly abundant in anoxic terrestrial and gut environments. Further, inorganic sulfur compounds for microbial growth such as sulfate and sulfite can be limited in these environments. Identification of functional methylthio-alkane reductase enzymes from diverse anaerobic bacteria that inhabit anoxic environments reveals that the capacity to utilize volatile organic sulfur compounds and fulfill cellular sulfur requirements is more widespread than previously considered. In addition to catalytic components, MarHDK, either the associated maturase, MarB, or the canonical nitrogenase maturase, NifB, was required, underpinning that marBHDK is the minimal gene set for methylthio-alkane reductase across bacteria and that, in general, methylthio-alkane reductases utilize nitrogenase-like cofactors for catalysis.

Read the full paper: Metaplasia creates a permissive niche for select Fusobacterium species in the stomach

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Fatty acids (FAs) are essential building blocks of cell membranes and key metabolites in all living organisms. While bacteria synthesize FAs de novo, they can also incorporate exogenous FAs, saving the energetic cost of biosynthesis. Bacteria are generally thought to require their prior activation before they can be incorporated into metabolism. Here we show that a marine cyanobacterium bypasses this requirement through BrtB, which directly esterifies exogenous FAs onto specialized glycolipids in vivo without prior activation, likely at or near the cell envelope. This process occurs within minutes and is accompanied by minimal changes in gene expression, consistent with a pre-existing pathway. Our findings identify a specific activation-independent route for incorporation of exogenous FAs into cyanobacterial specialized metabolites and suggest that these glycolipids may transiently sequester FAs in response to environmental availability.

While partner-switching systems are classically associated with stress responses and sporulation control in Firmicutes, whether this regulatory logic governs developmental decisions in other bacterial...

Marine cyanobacteria are among the most abundant microbes on Earth and play central roles in global nutrient cycling, yet the molecular mechanisms that determine how they respond to nutrient stress re...

The development of mRNA vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically reduced hospitalization and death rates for infected individuals. However, booster vaccinations were required to achieve high...

Bacterial species, even the strains within a bacterial species, can display very different gene inventories (1, 2). Bacterial genomes are tightly packed with genes, and there is an almost uniform asso...

Bingwa mara mbili wa michezo ya Olimpiki katika mbio za Marathon, Eliud Kipchoge kutoka Kenya, ameshinda mashindano yake ya kwanza ya kimataifa baada ya miaka mitatu.

Synthesis of peptidoglycan (PG) in the opportunistic gut pathogen Clostridioides difficile depends mostly on 3-3 crosslinks formed by L,D-transpeptidases (LDTs). Here, we converted C. difficile from a...

Fe(III) oxide reduction is an important biogeochemical process influencing the cycling of carbon, nutrients, trace metals, and contaminants in anaerobic soils and sediments. The capacity for Fe(III) o...

Read the full paper: IFI207 promotes antiviral responses by modulating STING ubiquitination and degradation

Read the full paper: Impaired envelope integrity in the absence of SanA is linked to increased lipid II availability and an imbalance of septal peptidoglycan synthesis

Bacterial species, even the strains within a bacterial species, can display very different gene inventories (1, 2). Bacterial genomes are tightly packed with genes, and there is an almost uniform association between genome size and gene number across species—from the 0.1-Mb genome of Nasuia deltocephalinicola to the 16-Mb genome of Minicystis rosea—with an average size of about one gene per kilobase (3).

Read the full paper: HIV-1 Vpr induces an NFAT-controlled transcriptional program in primary CD4+ T cells

Read the full paper: An inducible CRISPRi system for phenotypic analysis of essential genes in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Read the full paper: YhcB mediates growth-phase control of fatty acid biosynthesis through regulation of acetyl-CoA carboxylase

Read the full paper: HCMV promotes viral reactivation through the coordinated regulation of Notch signaling by UL8 and miR-UL36

Read the full paper: Two closely related β-1,2-xylosyltransferases differentially impact cryptococcal glycan synthesis

Read the full paper: The bacterial pH gradient contributes to persistence in Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Read the full paper: A structural bridge between dengue virus tandem xrRNAs facilitates coordination of exonuclease resistance

Read the full paper: NAT10 is critical to block RNA sensing-induced IFN-β transactivation in viral infection

Read the full paper: Differentiation-independent activation of HPV genome replication by the lncRNA DINO

Read the full paper: PRRSV suppresses FTO-dependent m6A demethylation to reprogram STAT signaling and innate immunity