Review Articles

The cryosphere remains one of the least-understood microbial ecosystems on Earth, but as climate change accelerates, cryosphere microbial communities will have an increasingly prominent role in Earth’s biogeochemical cycles. In this Review, Whyte and co-workers discuss the effects of climate change on cryosphere microbial ecosystems.

Oomycete plant pathogens are a serious global threat to crop production and food security. This Review outlines oomycete biology, diversity and lifestyle, discusses the disease cycle in plants, highlights pathogenicity mechanisms and the impact of oomycete plant pathogens, and considers emerging strategies for disease management.

In this Review, Weingarth and colleagues discuss both recently discovered compounds and established envelope-targeting antibiotics, including compounds that target Gram-positive bacteria, more complex Gram-negative bacteria and mycobacterial pathogens, with a particular focus on their drug–target interactions.

In this Review, Sikkema and Koopmans examine the drivers of viral emergence and how these insights could inform prevention strategies and the development of risk-targeted One Health early warning surveillance. They discuss tools for diagnostics, surveillance and virus characterization, and propose strengthening integrated One Health strategies for early warning, prevention and control of emerging infections at the human–animal interface.

Clostridioides difficile infection is challenging to diagnose and treat and is associated with considerable mortality, morbidity and economic costs worldwide. In this Review, Chilton et al. discuss changes in global epidemiology, breakthroughs in pathogenesis and antibiotic resistance, the role of microbiota dysbiosis and the potential for microbiota-based therapeutics for Clostridioides difficile infection.

Fusobacterium nucleatum is a commensal microorganism and opportunistic pathogen, with a pathogenic role in periodontal disease, inflammatory bowel disease and various cancers, most notably colorectal cancer. This Review discusses F. nucleatum and its ecological niches and virulence factors, links with disease, oncogenic mechanisms, and emerging diagnostic approaches and therapeutic strategies.

In this Review, Schüler and colleagues summarize our current knowledge of magnetosome formation and organization within the cell, and they explore their function, diversity and potential applications.

If erythrocyte invasion is blocked during the blood stage of infection by Plasmodium parasites, malaria can be prevented. In this Review, structural insights on erythrocyte invasion by the merozoite form of Plasmodium are discussed in the context of rational design of a blood-stage malaria vaccine.

In this Review, James, Thursky and colleagues explore strategies that promote the responsible use of antimicrobials from a One Health perspective, emphasizing the roles of data and surveillance, implementation barriers, sociocultural and behavioural drivers, digital innovation and the need for greater inclusion of the agricultural and environmental sectors. They also highlight disparities between high-income and low-income settings and identify context-specific challenges to implementation.

In this Review, Deol and Miura explore our current understanding of respiratory viral coinfections, focusing on interactions within populations, individual hosts and host cells, and the effects of these interactions on disease severity in humans and animal models.

Staphylococcus aureus is an important cause of bacterial infection and death worldwide. This Review outlines basic research on S. aureus immune evasion mechanisms and antibiotic resistance, and clinical studies on treatment and prevention of infection.

Metagenomics approaches are being increasingly used for the diagnosis of viral infections, outbreak investigation, and new and emerging pathogen surveillance. This Review highlights sequencing approaches and technologies, discusses their applications in diagnostics, surveillance and virus discovery, and outlines future perspectives for the field.

In this Review, Oh and Voigt explore the major characteristics and functions of the skin microbiome, and they highlight potential therapeutic targets in the skin microbiome and ongoing progress in the development of skin microbiome-based therapeutics.

Metal ions are required for all cells, and their homeostasis relies on ancient mechanisms that facilitate their import, distribution and storage. In this Review, Helmann discusses the key chemical concepts underlying microbial metal physiology and highlights several exemplary microbial systems.

In this Review, Klasse et al. explore the biogenesis and structure of the HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein (Env) and examine its functional role in viral entry. They also discuss how neutralizing antibodies interact with Env, the evolution of broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) and strategies to elicit bnAbs through germline-targeting immunogen design.

Lactobacilli are important members of human, animal and insect microbiomes and are prominent in food fermentations. In this Review, Mejía-Caballero and Marco explore the diversity of lactobacilli, focusing on their fundamental traits and their applications in foods and medicine.

In this Review, Franco and colleagues explore the structural and functional diversity of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), their mechanism of action, recent advances in AMP design and optimization, and their potential to address antimicrobial resistance.

In this Review, Warner, Barczak, Gutierrez and Mizrahi explore essential aspects of Mycobacterium tuberculosis physiology and biology, present recent advances related to its pathogenesis, metabolism and immune evasion mechanisms, and propose future directions for research.

In this Review, Mondo and Grigoriev explore the central role of omics approaches to investigate the biology and evolution of fungi and understand phylogeny and how traits evolved over time within the fungal kingdom.

In this Review, Günthard, Kusejko and Kouyos examine how advances in phylogenetics and molecular epidemiology have deepened our understanding of the HIV pandemic, including tracing its zoonotic origins, monitoring transmission dynamics and prevention efforts, and understanding pathogenesis.