Marcos Pires

Ceramides are a key constituent of the skin barrier that prevent skin dehydration and aging. Zheng et al. show that the abundant skin commensal Staphylococcus epidermidis secretes a sphingomyelinase that facilitates host production of ceramides to help maintain skin integrity and prevent water loss of damaged skin.

Nature Medicine, Published online: 10 January 2022; doi:10.1038/s41591-021-01619-9

A machine learning method speeds antimicrobial resistance determination to help tailor treatment decisions.

Nature, Published online: 05 January 2022; doi:10.1038/s41586-021-04264-x

The discovery and synthesis of a colistin congener provide a promising clinical lead against mcr-1-encoding colistin-resistant pathogens, which are responsible for an increasing number of deaths from antibiotic-resistant infections.

Nature, Published online: 04 January 2022; doi:10.1038/d41586-021-03823-6

At the Pasteur Institute of Montevideo, María Eugenia Francia tackles a cause of vision problems in babies.

Nature Microbiology, Published online: 23 December 2021; doi:10.1038/s41564-021-01013-8

(Meta)genomic mining, bioinformatic prediction and chemical synthesis reveal biosynthetic gene clusters encoding structurally new menaquinone-binding antibiotics that are active against multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in vivo and Mycobacterium tuberculosis in vitro.

Nature Microbiology, Published online: 06 December 2021; doi:10.1038/s41564-021-01012-9

Staphylococcus aureus phenol-soluble modulin toxins trigger a fast immune response that involves recruitment of leucocytes to the site of infection via the transcription factor EGR1.

Nature Medicine, Published online: 25 October 2021; doi:10.1038/d41591-021-00065-x

During androgen-deprivation therapy, certain bacteria in the gut can synthesize androgens, thereby promoting tumor progression and therapy resistance.

Nature Communications, Published online: 25 October 2021; doi:10.1038/s41467-021-26244-5

Antibiotic resistance in Staphylococcus aureus is associated with reduced neutrophil recruitment. Here, Payne et al. link formylated peptides, which act as chemoattractants for neutrophils, with the antibiotic vancomycin and show that these hybrid compounds improve clearance of S. aureus by neutrophils.

Nature Chemical Biology, Published online: 21 October 2021; doi:10.1038/s41589-021-00894-4

Surface protein tagging and mass spectrometry-based proteomics applied in a rabbit cholera model system identifies proteins involved in Vibrio cholera-host cell interactions and defines a cholera toxin-dependent role for host surfactant protein D.

The cyclic pyrimidines cCMP and cUMP serve as second messengers to activate antiviral immunity in bacteria.

Nature, Published online: 06 October 2021; doi:10.1038/d41586-021-02196-0

A study in humans indicates that certain bile acids that are produced by bacteria and commonly found in people over 100 boost gut health and protect against infection. These findings shed light on the contributors to healthy ageing.

Nature, Published online: 06 October 2021; doi:10.1038/s41586-021-03967-5

A single sulfatase produced by a bacterium found in the human colon is essential for degradation of sulfated O-glycans in secreted mucus.

The use of broad-spectrum antibiotics to treat specific pathogens can damage the host microbiome and contribute to antibiotic resistance. Hygromycin A is selectively taken up through a nucleoside transporter specific to spirochete bacteria, providing a highly selective antibiotic for spirochete infections, such as Lyme disease.

Identification and validation of targets are major obstacles in discovering drugs to combat Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). Here, Li et al. establish a streamlined process to identify Mtb inhibitors and their targets and use a structure-activity series and activity-based protein profiling to distinguish serine hydrolases relevant to inhibitor mode of action.

Nature Microbiology, Published online: 27 September 2021; doi:10.1038/s41564-021-00966-0

Quantification of gut bacterial strains after fecal microbiome transplantation using the Strainer algorithm delineates long-term stable engraftment that explains patient outcomes.

Nature, Published online: 15 September 2021; doi:10.1038/s41586-021-03899-0

A lead-optimization strategy combining porin permeation properties and biochemical potency leads to development of a new class of antibiotic based on broad inhibition of penicillin-binding proteins from Gram-negative bacteria.

The antitumor efficacy of cancer immunotherapy can correlate with the presence of certain bacterial species within the gut microbiome. However, many of the molecular mechanisms that influence host response to immunotherapy remain elusive. In this study, we show that members of the bacterial genus Enterococcus improve checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapy in mouse tumor models. Active enterococci express and secrete orthologs of the NlpC/p60 peptidoglycan hydrolase SagA that generate immune-active muropeptides. Expression of SagA in nonprotective E. faecalis was sufficient to promote immunotherapy response, and its activity required the peptidoglycan sensor NOD2. Notably, SagA-engineered probiotics or synthetic muropeptides also augmented anti–PD-L1 antitumor efficacy. Taken together, our data suggest that microbiota species with specialized peptidoglycan remodeling activity and muropeptide-based therapeutics may enhance cancer immunotherapy and could be leveraged as next-generation adjuvants.

Nature Communications, Published online: 23 August 2021; doi:10.1038/s41467-021-25425-6

Bacterial surface adhesion proteins are characterized by unusual mechanical properties. Here, the authors use atomic force microscopy-based technique to study a surface-anchoring protein Cpe0147 from Clostridium perfringens and show that an ester bond can withstand considerable mechanical forces and prevent complete protein unfolding.