Bacteria articles from across Nature Portfolio

The programming of multicellular processes for biological computation requires increasingly complex genetic circuit design. Through automated circuit design, it is now possible to systematically break down complex response functions into dozens of interconnected simplified logic circuits, each embeddable in distinct cellular strains.

Antimicrobial nanoparticles are emerging as a valid alternative to antibiotics to control bacterial infections. Here the authors show that ultrasound-responsive piezo-catalytic nanoparticles boost macrophage-mediated antibacterial responses, and that adoptive transfer of piezo-activated macrophages achieves timely control of immunosuppressive bacterial infections.

The relationships existing within the plant holobiont in Origanum heracleoticum are mainly driven by forces contributing to the selection of distinct functions and phenotypic traits, among which antagonism, antibiotic resistance and metabolism.

This study reports that bacteria protect plants against filamentous fungal infections via intercellular contacts between the bacterial cells and the conidia of the fungi.

In two recent studies, Smith, Su, Wallach et al. engineered a safer version of Bacille Calmette–Guerin with strong protection against Mycobacterium tuberculosis, while Wang, Su, Wallach, Wagner et al. developed an engineered M. tuberculosis strain as a candidate for human challenge studies.

This study shows that metabolites from both an infecting pathogen and the gut microbiota of the host are major determinants of survival from bacterial sepsis in mice.

The programming of multicellular processes for biological computation requires increasingly complex genetic circuit design. Through automated circuit design, it is now possible to systematically break down complex response functions into dozens of interconnected simplified logic circuits, each embeddable in distinct cellular strains.

A recent study shows that the commensal bacterium Lactiplantibacillus plantarum recognizes the foregut of the fruit fly as its physical niche via sugar-binding adhesins.

This study shows that the Campylobacter jejuni-derived genotoxin named cytolethal distending toxin promotes colorectal cancer metastasis.