Browse our latest Microbiology and Infectious Disease articles

Complete mapping of human-adaptive mutations to the avian influenza PB2 protein shows how selection at key molecular interfaces combines with evolutionary accessibility to shape viral host adaptation.

Given sufficient population adherence, mass drug administration for falciparum malaria can provide group level benefits, also known as ‘herd effects’.

Genome-wide association studies have established staphylococcal pyomyositis as a disease whose pathogenesis depends critically on expression of a single toxin, Panton–Valentine leukocidin.

Penicillin induces bacterial cell lysis by altering cell surface polymer biogenesis to cause the misactivation of a cell wall degrading enzyme.

Environmental specialization of bacterial cell wall synthases influences intrinsic resistance to cell wall active antibiotics.

A subset of EC/VCs have CD4+T cells with resistance specific to R5-tropic HIV infection associated with transcriptional down-regulation of ccr5, a phenotype that appears to be heritable, across multiple generations.

A newfound signaling enzyme that diverged from a protein family ubiquitous in bacteria provides mechanistic insights into how new signaling activity emerges to control distinct cellular function and physiology.

Diverse sophisticated phylogenetic analyses update the phylogeny of the Alphaproteobacteria and show that the parasitic Holosporales is a derived group within the Rhodospirillales order which comprises primarily free-living alphaproteobacteria.

Degradosome-associated nucleases PNPase and RNase J2 are required for type III CRISPR immunity against diverse nucleic acid invaders originating from plasmid and phage.

Microbial populations are continuous along the gastrointestinal tract, with increased transmission in colorectal cancer and rheumatoid arthritis patients.