Institute of Microbiology

Network-guided synthesis of antagonistic microbiota for suppressing maize stalk rot disease.

Plant-associated microbiomes play a crucial role in sustaining host health and fitness, but how pathogen invasion reshapes microbial interaction networks and how to leverage this for developing effective biocontrol strategies remain poorly understood. This study investigated the...

Challenges in establishing epidemiological cut-off values for the Burkholderia cepacia complex

ABSTRACT The Burkholderia cepacia complex (BCC) is comprised of 24 species of gram-negative bacteria that cause opportunistic infections. While antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) has historically been used to guide treatment for BCC infections, recent work highlighting pr...

Epigenetic training licenses naïve CD8 + T cell metabolic fitness and function

Naïve T cells maintain quiescence yet must respond rapidly to antigens, but how they prime this capacity is unclear. We identify histone variant H2A.Z as a key regulator of an epigenetic training program that licenses quiescent naïve CD8 + T cells for future activation. H2A.Z def...

Emergence of novel SARS-CoV-2 variants keeps slowing down

Abstract Background Although COVID-19 pandemic has no longer been classified as an international public health emergency of concern after May 2023, multiple variants with different characteristics keep emerging. Given the complex spatial-temporal characteristics of epidemics, res...

Mechanistic basis of LolDF-mediated lipoprotein transport in Acinetobacter

Lipoprotein trafficking is essential for Gram-negative bacteria to maintain the outer membrane, a permeability barrier critical for survival and antibiotic resistance. While most bacteria employ the canonical LolCDE transporter, Acinetobacter utilizes a noncanonical LolDF system...

Structural insights into a substrate translocation pathway revealed by the RND efflux pump complex MexJK from Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Resistance–nodulation–cell division (RND) efflux pumps are the major cause of multidrug resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa . The inner membrane protein MexK from P. aeruginosa is a narrow-spectrum RND transporter. It assembles with membrane fusion protein MexJ and outer membran...