The airways of people with cystic fibrosis (CF) are often co-infected by Pseudomonas aeruginosa and a variety of other co-habiting microbes; the infections are polymicrobial. P. aeruginosa isolates fr...

Abstract. Phage-derived bacteriocins, also referred to as tailocins, are structures encoded by bacterial genomes and deployed into the extracellular enviro

Interior Architecture graduates from Northumbria University have presented their innovative solutions to addressing today’s global housing challenges on an international stage as part of the 2025 Veni...

The John Innes Centre (JIC), is a world leading centre of excellence in plant and microbial sciences based on the Norwich Research Park, UK. We are inviting applications from outstanding researchers…

The structural integrity of bacterial cells is traditionally attributed to the peptidoglycan cell wall, and more recently to the outer membrane, with the cytoplasmic membrane assumed to be mechanicall...

Only a fraction of bacterial genomes encode CRISPR-Cas systems but the selective causes of this variation are unexplained. How naturally virulent bacteriophages (phages) select for CRISPR immunity has...

Synthetic microbial consortia are collections of strains which can segregate metabolic tasks for efficient use in biomaterials, biomanufacturing, and biotherapeutics. Here, the authors present a method to maintain and tune the ratio of two co-cultured bacterial strains via growth medium manipulation.

Koo et al. apply genome-scale double-CRISPRi to map cell envelope gene interactions in Bacillus subtilis, revealing >1,000 genetic interactions and uncovering gene networks in envelope biogenesis and ...

Chromosome architecture influences Agrobacterium fitness, competitiveness, and virulence, shaping its adaptation and evolution.

Engineered aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase (aaRS) mutants have been developed that facilitate ultrafast bioorthogonal noncanonical amino acid tagging (BONCAT) of newly synthesized proteins in diverse bacteria, including ESKAPE pathogens. The substrate polyspecificity of the aaRS mutants enables pulse-chase BONCAT and differential tagging of temporally distinct nascent proteomes in cells.

Kubota et al. show that bacteria can use their filamentous phage to outcompete other bacteria, but increased phage production enables the evolution of cheater miniphages with truncated genomes. Miniph...

The Panoptes antiphage system defends bacteria by detecting phage-encoded counter-defences that sequester cyclic nucleotide signals, triggering membrane disruption and highlighting a broader strategy of sensing immune evasion through second-messenger surveillance.

VAD is a Viral AlphaFold Database of protein monomers and homodimers from viruses infecting hosts across the tree of life.

Panoptes, an anti-phage defence system against virus-mediated immune suppression, is revealed.

Viruses of Microbes UK (VoM-UK) Conference The Virus of Microbes UK (VoM-UK) Conference is hosted by Microbiome Excellence Peak of Excellence at Northumbria University. This two-day conference takes place annually at the end of January/beginning of February and is a chance for researchers to gather and share their knowledge. The VoM-UK conference is designed to […]

In this Perspective, Estrela and Huang discuss nutrient starvation in the context of the gut microbiome, outlining what is known and highlighting key questions for future research to address knowledge gaps.

Bacteriophages (phages), the most abundant self-replicating entities on Earth, are central to microbial ecology and hold promise as therapies against antibiotic-resistant pathogens. However, the molec...

The antibiotic polymyxin B requires bacterial metabolic activity to cause sufficient damage to the outer membrane to access the inner membrane, which it permeabilizes via an energy-independent mechanism to kill the cell.

npj Viruses - Unlocking the genomic repertoire of a cultivated megaphage