Cell Host & Microbe

Born to rewild: Reconnecting beneficial plant-microbiome alliances for resilient future crops Domestication disrupted ancient alliances between plants and beneficial microbes. In this review, Ramirez-Villacis et al. explore how rewilding plant microbiomes—by restoring ancestral plant-microbe i...

Weekend read: Born to rewild

Review exploring how rewilding plant microbiomes—by restoring ancestral plant-microbe interactions and revitalizing soil functions—could provide a roadmap for engineering crops more resilient to climate challenges.
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Immune activation reprograms growth mRNA stability to shape plant growth-defense trade-offs Zhou et al. show that plant immunity naturally represses growth by promoting PTBP3-dependent degradation of pyrimidine-rich, Y-motif-containing growth mRNAs. Notably, artificial antagonism of this pos...

Featured Article: Shaping plant growth-defense trade-offs

Plant immunity represses growth via PTBP3-dependent degradation of pyrimidine-rich, Y-motif growth mRNAs. Antagonism of pathway enhances disease resistance & growth resilience under immune stress
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Bacterial entrapment of a fungal carbon repressor prevents plant colonization Xu et al. demonstrate that diverse bacteria trap the carbon repressor CreA in the nucleus, thereby suppressing pathogenesis-related gene expression. This reveals a conserved bacterial strategy that ex...

Bacterial entrapment protects plants from fungi

Diverse bacteria trap fungal carbon repressor CreA in nucleus, suppressing pathogenesis-related gene expression. Consortium of CreA-targeting bacteria confers broad-spectrum resistance in field trials
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Single-cell profiling of the subgingival bacteria reveals transcriptional heterogeneity and niche-specific programs Subgingival microbial communities drive periodontitis, yet their single-cell-specific functions remain poorly defined. Using an optimized mscRNA-seq workflow, Ding et al. map a single-cell transcripti...

Profiling subgingival bacteria

Single-cell transcriptional atlas of subgingival bacteria reveals hallmarks of health vs periodontitis. Periodontitis yields loss of health-assoc subpopulations & species-specific amino acid-related transcriptional programs
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Influenza virus hitches a cellular ride to the heart Influenza virus is associated with severe cardiac complications, yet mechanisms of disease, including how the virus traffics from lungs to the heart, have remained elusive. In a recent Immunity paper,...

Influenza virus hitches a cellular ride to the heart

Preview of @cp-immunity.bsky.social paper demonstrating that pro-DC3 cells ferry influenza virus to the heart, infecting cardiomyocytes and triggering damage via type I interferon signaling
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A sweet side to fusobacteria In this issue of Cell Host & Microbe, Sorrenti et al. reexamine fusobacteria’s effects on colorectal cancer (CRC) outcomes, finding that Fusobacterium nucleatum (Fn) may not always be bad for patients...

A sweet side to fusobacteria

Preview of work reexamine fusobacteria’s effects on CRC outcomes, finding that F nucleatum may not always be bad for patients; host’s immunogenetics influence whether Fn is a harmful or helpful oncomicrobe in CRC
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Intratumoral microbiota and host genotype cooperatively shape neutrophil cytotoxic functions in colorectal cancer Sorrenti et al. show that CRC-associated microbiota and host genetics regulate neutrophil function. Fusobacterium nucleatum (Fn) promotes neutrophil recruitment in tumors and triggers cytotoxic activi...

Microbiota + host genotype impact CRC

Intratumoral bacteria differentially promote neutrophil recruitment in CRC. F. nucleatum elicits neutrophil cytotoxicity via Siglec-14 but not w/Siglec-14 null variant. Neutrophils+ Fn load+Siglec-14 exp predict survival
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Meta-analysis of the uncultured gut microbiome across 11,115 global metagenomes reveals a candidate signature of health Silva et al. perform a global analysis of over 11,000 gut microbiomes and reveal that uncultured bacteria are key markers of gut health. The uncultured genus CAG-170 is strongly linked to low gut dysb...

Featured Article: Microbiome signature of health

Global analysis of 11,000 microbiomes reveals uncultured bacteria as markers of gut health. Uncultured genus CAG-170 linked to low dysbiosis & vitamin B12 production & plays ecological roles in healthy gut
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Age-related trade-offs: When protection becomes pathology During infection, the immune system balances pathogen resistance with disease tolerance to mitigate damage. In a recent Nature paper, Sanchez and colleagues reveal that cardiac Foxo1-Trim63 protects y...

Age-related trade-offs: When protection becomes pathology

Preview of @Nature work revealing cardiac Foxo1-Trim63 protects young mice from polymicrobial sepsis but drives mortality in aged hosts, showing how early-life tolerance compromises late-life survival
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A sticky situation: E. bolteae adhesion fuels liver cancer Microbial translocation via the gut-liver axis fuel hepatocarcinogenesis primarily through circulating microbial metabolites and molecular patterns. In this issue of Cell Host & Microbe, Ren et al. de...

A sticky situation: E. bolteae adhesion fuels liver cancer

Preview of work showing that liver bacteria Enterocloster bolteae can translocate & directly colonize tumors via a bacterium-host adhesion PbpT-DSG1-MAPK axis to drive tumor progression
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Intratumoral bacterium Enterocloster bolteae promotes hepatocellular carcinoma progression by directly binding tumor cells Ren et al. demonstrate that Enterocloster bolteae translocates to liver tumors, where its PbpT protein subverts the tumor suppressor DSG1 to activate oncogenic MAPK signaling, promoting HCC progressio...

Intratumoral E. bolteae promotes HCC

Enterocloster bolteae translocates to liver tumors, where its PbpT protein subverts tumor suppressor DSG1 to activate oncogenic MAPK signaling, promoting HCC progression. Abs targeting PbpT suppress tumors in mice
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Nutrient absorption goes viral The enteric virome, long overshadowed by bacteriome studies, is emerging as a direct modulator of host physiology. In this issue of Cell Host & Microbe, Lin and colleagues demonstrate that the enteric...

Nutrient absorption goes viral

Preview of work demonstrating that the enteric virome autonomously regulates carbohydrate metabolism through dual signaling, with the net metabolic outcome determined by adaptive immune surveillance
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Commensal enteric virome regulates intestinal carbohydrate digestion and absorption Lin et al. show that the enteric virome, dominated by bacteriophages, can autonomously activate host immune signaling to modulate intestinal metabolic responses. Their findings identify the enteric vi...

Virome regulates nutrient sensing

Enteric virome, dominated by bacteriophages, can autonomously activate host immune signaling to modulate intestinal metabolic responses and regulate carbohydrate digestion & absorption
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Strain-level genetic heterogeneity and colonization dynamics drive microbiome therapeutic efficacy Chen et al. develop the ucgMLST framework to demonstrate that strain-level ecological dynamics, rather than species taxonomy, drive FMT efficacy across diverse disease contexts. Uncovering conserved c...

FMT for NSCLC

FMT improves anti-PD-1 efficacy & survival in advanced PD-L1-negative NSCLC. Analysis of trial+diverse disease cohorts via high-resolution strain-tracking framework reveals intra-species dynamics drive FMT efficacy & predictive score
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When phages fuel gut inflammation Inflammatory bowel disease is associated with the gut microbiome, with many of its mechanistic underpinnings yet to be unraveled. In this issue of Cell Host & Microbe, Wen and colleagues show that Cro...

When phages fuel gut inflammation

Preview of work showing that Crohn’s disease pathology is amplified by phage-bacteria interactions and that the gut virome might be a driver of disease severity
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Gut DNA virome enterotype dictates inflammation heterogeneity through tuning the phage-bacteria-sphingosine-intestine axis in Crohn's disease Wen et al. identify two gut mucosal virome enterotypes that influence intestinal inflammation susceptibility. They reveal that a bacteriophage alters sphingosine production in B. thetaiotaomicron and ...

Featured Article: Virome enterotype dictates inflammation

Gut virome enterotypes influence intestinal inflammation w/Entero-2 predominant in Crohn’s disease & proinflammatory in mice. E2 enriched in phage that ↑B. theta sphingosine & inflammation
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New issue day! Our March issue is live.

Highlights include
· Virome regulates nutrient absorption
· Intratumoral bacteria drive HCC
· Microbiome as signature of health
· Bacteria protect from fungal pathogens
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Leveraging intratumoral probiotics for pancreatic cancer immunotherapy via xenophagy How intracellular bacteria within tumor cells can be harnessed to overcome immunotherapy resistance in pancreatic cancer remains unclear. Li et al. find that rapamycin-induced xenophagy enables Bifido...

Leveraging intratumoral probiotics in PDAC

B. longum colonizes pancreatic tumors. Rapamycin-induced xenophagy enables B. longum to drive probiotic neoantigen presentation & CD4+ T cell-mediated tumor killing, thereby enhancing immune checkpoint blockade
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Lactate production by tumor-resident Staphylococcus promotes metastatic colonization in lung adenocarcinoma Yu et al. demonstrate that Staphylococcus is selectively enriched in metastatic lung tumor lesions. Staphylococcus nepalensis and S. capitis secrete lactate to promote the metastatic potential of tumo...

Weekend read:Tumor-resident Staph promotes metastasis

Staphylococcus enriched in metastatic lung tumor lesions. S. nepalensis & S. capitis secreted lactate promotes metastasis via MCT1-mediated pseudohypoxia signaling. MCT1 inhibition abolishes metastasis
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Microbial metabolism of food allergens determines the severity of IgE-mediated anaphylaxis Sánchez-Martínez and Rondeau et al. reveal that human oral microbes degrade peanut allergens, thereby reducing IgE recognition, systemic availability, mast cell activation, and anaphylaxis. This study...

Microbiota impact peanut allergy

Saliva & jejunum harbor peanut-degrading bacteria(Rothia) that metabolize immunodominant PN allergens. Mice colonized w/Rothia show ⬇️anaphylaxis & allergic patients w/better PN tolerance have ⬆️abundance of these bacteria
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"Microbial metabolism of food allergens determines the severity of IgE-mediated anaphylaxis" spkl.io/63326Aa7Ln

Alberto Caminero & colleagues
@cp-cellhostmicrobe.bsky.social

Gut microbiota immaturity with DL-endopeptidase deficiency links antibiotic use to preterm late-onset sepsis Shen et al. analyzed multi-national cohorts and identified universal preterm gut dynamics, where delayed maturation mediates antibiotic-induced late-onset sepsis susceptibility. Mechanistically, Enter...

Preterm microbiota & sepsis:
Delayed microbiome maturation in preterm infants mediates Abx-induced late-onset sepsis susceptibility. DL-endopeptidase-producing bacteria prevent murine sepsis via NOD2-immune tolerance & probiotic enhances NOD2 in infants
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Strain-level genetic heterogeneity and colonization dynamics drive microbiome therapeutic efficacy Chen et al. develop the ucgMLST framework to demonstrate that strain-level ecological dynamics, rather than species taxonomy, drive FMT efficacy across diverse disease contexts. Uncovering conserved c...

Determinants of FMT success
· cgMLST enables high-resolution strain tracking
· Intra-species dynamics, not species, drive FMT clinical efficacy across diseases
· Conserved ecological strategies govern colonization
· HSIM score predicts therapeutic outcomes
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HMGB1 functions as a critical mediator of host defense at the gut mucosal barrier Trillions of adhesion-capable bacteria reside in the gut, yet they rarely attach to healthy host tissue. Here, Overstreet et al. reveal that HMGB1 in colonic mucus directly targets bacterial adhesins ...

#WeekendRead! #MisterySolved! Overstreet Messer &co show @cp-cellhostmicrobe.bsky.social that HMGB1 in the gut mucus broadly targets a bacterial virulence factor preventing bacterial mucus invasion & tissue adhesion! #IBD is associated with low HMGB1!

A global survey of taxa-metabolic associations across mouse microbiome communities Yilmaz et al. provide a global atlas of murine microbiota and their species variants across many vivaria and wild colonies. By integrating strain-resolved metagenomics, metabolomics, and structural an...

Weekend read:
Global survey of mouse microbiomes—a path to strengthening collaborative science

Searchable resource of microbiome composition variability across numerous murine vivaria & wild mouse colonies w/ insights on taxa-metabolic associations.
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Bacterial entrapment of a fungal carbon repressor prevents plant colonization Xu et al. demonstrate that diverse bacteria trap the carbon repressor CreA in the nucleus, thereby suppressing pathogenesis-related gene expression. This reveals a conserved bacterial strategy that ex...

Bacterial entrapment protects plants from fungi

Diverse bacteria trap fungal carbon repressor CreA in nucleus, suppressing pathogenesis-related gene expression. Consortium of CreA-targeting bacteria confers broad-spectrum resistance in field trials
www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...

Commensal enteric virome regulates intestinal carbohydrate digestion and absorption Lin et al. show that the enteric virome, dominated by bacteriophages, can autonomously activate host immune signaling to modulate intestinal metabolic responses. Their findings identify the enteric vi...

Virome regulates nutrient sensing

Enteric virome, dominated by bacteriophages, can autonomously activate host immune signaling to modulate intestinal metabolic responses and regulate carbohydrate digestion & absorption
www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...

Over 60% of gut species remain uncultured and inaccessible to experimental manipulation

A large meta-analysis highlights the importance of previously unknown and uncultured gut bacteria in maintaining human health

@cp-cellhostmicrobe.bsky.social 

https://tinyurl.com/2nwkzddd

Intratumoral bacterium Enterocloster bolteae promotes hepatocellular carcinoma progression by directly binding tumor cells Ren et al. demonstrate that Enterocloster bolteae translocates to liver tumors, where its PbpT protein subverts the tumor suppressor DSG1 to activate oncogenic MAPK signaling, promoting HCC progressio...

Intratumoral E. bolteae promotes HCC

Enterocloster bolteae translocates to liver tumors, where its PbpT protein subverts tumor suppressor DSG1 to activate oncogenic MAPK signaling, promoting HCC progression. Abs targeting PbpT suppress tumors in mice
www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...

An image-based transcriptomics atlas reveals the regional and microbiota-dependent molecular, cellular, and spatial structure of the murine gut The gut is composed of a remarkable diversity of cells that, through diverse small-molecule receptors, sense a complex mix of diet-, self-, and microbial-derived molecules. Xu et al. leverage image-ba...

Spatial atlas of murine gut

Image-based transcriptomics inform cell-type expression & spatial organization of receptors sensing diet-, self- & microbial-derived molecules in murine gut. Work uncovers microbiota-dependent modulation of gut structure
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