Bacterial host response articles from across Nature Portfolio

Here, Peters et al. report that Pseudomonas fluorescens protects Caenorhabditis elegans against pathogen infection via polyketide synthase-derived sphingolipids, uncovering a non-canonical bacterial sphingolipid synthesis pathway that modulates host metabolism.

Here, the authors characterize how different dietary components lead to functional alterations in the gut symbiont Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, showing effects on the orientation of phase variable regions in humans, in vivo, and in vitro, and on modulating the bacterium´s proteome and immune-modulatory functionality.

The bacterial pathogen Legionella pneumophila is known to regulate a wide spectrum of host processes using its Dot/Icm effectors. In this work, He et al. provide insight into L. pneumophila regulation of ATP level in host cells.

In response to phage infection, the Toll/interleukin-1 receptor (TIR) ___domain protein ThsB of the type II Thoeris defence system produces histidine conjugated to ADP-ribose, which stimulates bacterial defence by interacting with the Macro ___domain of the ThsA membrane effector protein.

This study shows that Citrobacter rodentium alters its growth and virulence in response to varying intestinal pH, and, in turn, the host actively induces stomach acidification.

This Genome Watch highlights the advances made in bacterial single-cell RNA sequencing, specifically in the context of host–microorganism interaction studies.

In this study, White et al. report that Alcaligenes faecalis mediates wound repair in diabetic foot ulcers.

This study reports the mechanism of plasmid clearance by the DNA defence module DdmDE of the Vibrio cholerae seventh pandemic strain.

This study reports a mechanism whereby a Staphylococcus aureus protease induces itch by activating a host receptor on sensory neurons in the skin.

A recent study from Nature Communications reveals that Mycobacterium tuberculosis can hijack epigenetic machinery in host cells and induce host cell ferroptosis, which promotes pathogen pathogenicity and spread. These findings also suggest new therapeutic strategies to treat tuberculosis.