Revisiting the life cycle of temperate phages - Nature Reviews Microbiology

The life cycle of temperate bacteriophages involves lytic or lysogenic cycles and has historically served as a model for studying genetic regulation. This Review provides an updated overview of these ...

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Inactivation of a purine biosynthesis repressor promotes ribosome synthesis to overcome antibiotic stress | mBio

The Erm rRNA methyltransferase superfamily represents the most prevalent determinant of MLS resistance in nosocomial Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. Previous studies have established that erm expression is primarily governed by upstream ribosome stalling peptide and the 5′ untranslated regions. Using the widespread S. aureus ermBL-ermB (ermB+) operon as a model system, we unexpectedly identified second-site mutations in purR that synergistically enhance MLS resistance in an ermB+ background. Loss of purR function derepresses nucleotide biosynthesis and ribosome production, thereby promoting bacterial growth under antibiotic stress. While numerous purR single-nucleotide polymorphisms across multiple species have been associated with antibiotic resistance, no study has directly linked these sequence polymorphisms to their regulatory function. Our results highlight the critical role of ribosome abundance and nucleotide metabolism in shaping antibiotic efficacy.

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Extended Shine-Dalgarno motifs govern translation initiation in Staphylococcus aureus - Nature Communications

Kohl et al. combine high-resolution Ribo-seq and cryo electron microscopy to show that the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus uses extended Shine-Dalgarno motifs to initiate translation, which can m...

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Skin androgens regulate Staphylococcus aureus pathogenicity via quorum sensing

Nature Microbiology, Published online: 27 February 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-026-02261-2Testosterone produced by skin cells enhances Staphylococcus aureus pathogenicity by activating quorum sensing, and a stereoisomer of testosterone that blocks this interaction inhibits bacterial cytotoxicity towards human cells.

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Bacterial metabolic remodeling by convergent evolution unlocks nutrient availability after a host switch

Staphylococcus aureus has undergone metabolic remodeling to adapt to the dairy niche.

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Bacteriophages mobilize bacterial defense systems via lateral transduction

Bacteriophages and PICIs spread bacterial defenses via lateral transduction, shaping microbial immunity and pathogen evolution.

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30S-seq redefines the bacterial Ribosome Binding Site

The translation initiation step is rate limiting for the efficiency of gene expression in all organisms. However, the mechanism of ribosome recruitment to mRNA start sites strikingly differs between e...

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Environmental cues in different host niches shape the survival fitness of Staphylococcus aureus - Nature Communications

Staphylococcus aureus adapts to diverse host environments during infection. Here, the authors use transposon sequencing to reveal niche-specific genes and identify 27 core genes required for S. aureus...

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