Pseudogenization of rcsD alters canonical Rcs phosphorelay signalling and marks a significant adaptive evolutionary step in the emergence of ubiquitous extant branches of Yersinia pestis that can maintain stable plague outbreaks.

The analysis of 18^th century Y. pestis genomes reveals a bacterial lineage that might be responsible for the 400-year period of European plague epidemics from the Renaissance through early modern times.

The basal body of the type-III secretion system of Yersinia enterocolitica within bacterial membranes shows elasticity and is longer than related isolated systems.

The rat is much more than a simple model, and a better appreciation of the natural history of wild rats would increase its value as a research organism.

Unveiling the intricate web of interactions between G4 structures and pathogenicity islands in 89 bacterial genomes significantly advances our understanding of bacterial virulence mechanisms.

A group of innate-like lymphocytes surveys the lymph node subcapsular sinus for bacterial and fungal invaders using a novel combination of chemoattractant and adhesion molecules.

The insect pathogenic bacterium Photorhabdus has evolved astonishing nano-scale analogues of hypodermic syringes that it uses to inject toxins into host cells.

Neolithic was a turning point for immune responses in Europeans, favoring tolerance against intracellular pathogens, promoting inflammation against extracellular microbes, and being related to current auto-immune diseases.

A better understanding of the remarkable diversity, natural history and complex ecology of E. coli in the wild could shed new light on its biology and role in disease, and further expand its many uses as a model organism.

Beneficial symbiotic bacteria encode an exceptional number of toxin-related genes that are all expressed by the symbionts in the host, supporting their key role in host-microbe interactions.