Pub Date : 2025-11-25DOI: 10.1016/j.mib.2025.102682
Matthew M Morales , Katrina M Jackson , Bridget M Barker
Coccidioidomycosis (CM), commonly known as Valley fever, is a respiratory infection caused by the inhalation or implantation of infectious arthroconidia produced by the dimorphic human fungal pathogens Coccidioides immitis and Coccidioides posadasii from the environment. The current endemic range includes the southwestern region of the United States and parts of South and Central America. Infected individuals may experience a spectrum of symptoms from asymptomatic to severe respiratory symptoms. Importantly, the fungus can disseminate to other tissues to produce severe symptoms, and in some cases, death. Despite significant effort from Coccidioides researchers to develop effective vaccines against Valley fever, there is currently no human vaccine available. This review highlights the recent advances in understanding host immune response and addressing knowledge gaps in the field.
{"title":"Current perspectives of host-pathogen dynamics in coccidioidomycosis","authors":"Matthew M Morales , Katrina M Jackson , Bridget M Barker","doi":"10.1016/j.mib.2025.102682","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mib.2025.102682","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Coccidioidomycosis (CM), commonly known as Valley fever, is a respiratory infection caused by the inhalation or implantation of infectious arthroconidia produced by the dimorphic human fungal pathogens <em>Coccidioides immitis</em> and <em>Coccidioides posadasii</em> from the environment<em>.</em> The current endemic range includes the southwestern region of the United States and parts of South and Central America. Infected individuals may experience a spectrum of symptoms from asymptomatic to severe respiratory symptoms. Importantly, the fungus can disseminate to other tissues to produce severe symptoms, and in some cases, death. Despite significant effort from <em>Coccidioides</em> researchers to develop effective vaccines against Valley fever, there is currently no human vaccine available. This review highlights the recent advances in understanding host immune response and addressing knowledge gaps in the field.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10921,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in microbiology","volume":"89 ","pages":"Article 102682"},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-11-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145594801","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-19DOI: 10.1016/j.mib.2025.102683
Ana Julia Estumano Martins , Thaís Pirola dos Santos , Wilias Greison Silva Santos , Enzo Triozzi , Pedro M Moraes-Vieira
Viruses are intracellular pathogens that have profoundly influenced biological evolution and continue to threaten global health through outbreaks such as influenza and COVID-19. Their ability to evade host immunity stems from evolutionary adaptations that manipulate cellular defense mechanisms. A critical aspect of virus–host interactions involves cellular receptors, which facilitate viral entry and trigger immune signaling. Among these, pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) and other proteins serve as key sensors of viral components, coordinating immune responses while reprogramming host metabolism to sustain antiviral defenses. However, many viruses hijack these metabolic changes to enhance replication, evade immune surveillance, or dysregulate cytokine production. This review explores how host cell virus-sensitive proteins, particularly PRRs and metabolically active proteins, modulate cellular metabolism during infection, shaping immune outcomes and revealing potential therapeutic targets for antiviral intervention.
{"title":"Host immunometabolic regulation through viral sensing pathways","authors":"Ana Julia Estumano Martins , Thaís Pirola dos Santos , Wilias Greison Silva Santos , Enzo Triozzi , Pedro M Moraes-Vieira","doi":"10.1016/j.mib.2025.102683","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mib.2025.102683","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Viruses are intracellular pathogens that have profoundly influenced biological evolution and continue to threaten global health through outbreaks such as influenza and COVID-19. Their ability to evade host immunity stems from evolutionary adaptations that manipulate cellular defense mechanisms. A critical aspect of virus–host interactions involves cellular receptors, which facilitate viral entry and trigger immune signaling. Among these, pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) and other proteins serve as key sensors of viral components, coordinating immune responses while reprogramming host metabolism to sustain antiviral defenses. However, many viruses hijack these metabolic changes to enhance replication, evade immune surveillance, or dysregulate cytokine production. This review explores how host cell virus-sensitive proteins, particularly PRRs and metabolically active proteins, modulate cellular metabolism during infection, shaping immune outcomes and revealing potential therapeutic targets for antiviral intervention.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10921,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in microbiology","volume":"88 ","pages":"Article 102683"},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-11-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145556448","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-07DOI: 10.1016/j.mib.2025.102681
Michaël Deghelt , Elisa S. Pierre Despas , Jean-François Collet
The cell envelope of diderm (Gram-negative) bacteria is a defining structural and functional feature, ensuring mechanical integrity, supporting growth, and enabling adaptation to diverse environments. Traditionally viewed as a stack of discrete layers — the inner membrane, peptidoglycan, and outer membrane — this architecture is now recognized as a mechanically and physiologically integrated system. Recent advances have shown that envelope components are assembled and maintained in a coordinated manner, with physical and functional linkages bridging the different layers. In this review, we examine how these connections contribute to envelope biogenesis, homeostasis, and stress adaptation, using Escherichia coli as a reference model. We also discuss the evolutionary diversity of peptidoglycan-outer membrane attachment strategies across bacterial phyla, highlighting their conserved role in maintaining envelope cohesion. Together, these findings support a revised view of the envelope as a unified and dynamic structure, whose integrity depends on the coordinated activity of all its components.
{"title":"The cell envelope of diderm bacteria: a unified scaffold, not a stack of layers","authors":"Michaël Deghelt , Elisa S. Pierre Despas , Jean-François Collet","doi":"10.1016/j.mib.2025.102681","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mib.2025.102681","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The cell envelope of diderm (Gram-negative) bacteria is a defining structural and functional feature, ensuring mechanical integrity, supporting growth, and enabling adaptation to diverse environments. Traditionally viewed as a stack of discrete layers — the inner membrane, peptidoglycan, and outer membrane — this architecture is now recognized as a mechanically and physiologically integrated system. Recent advances have shown that envelope components are assembled and maintained in a coordinated manner, with physical and functional linkages bridging the different layers. In this review, we examine how these connections contribute to envelope biogenesis, homeostasis, and stress adaptation, using <em>Escherichia coli</em> as a reference model. We also discuss the evolutionary diversity of peptidoglycan-outer membrane attachment strategies across bacterial phyla, highlighting their conserved role in maintaining envelope cohesion. Together, these findings support a revised view of the envelope as a unified and dynamic structure, whose integrity depends on the coordinated activity of all its components.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10921,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in microbiology","volume":"88 ","pages":"Article 102681"},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145473860","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-01DOI: 10.1016/j.mib.2025.102680
Joshua AV Blodgett , Justin R Nodwell
{"title":"Editorial overview: Antibiotic discovery: Feeding the pipeline or finding new pipes?","authors":"Joshua AV Blodgett , Justin R Nodwell","doi":"10.1016/j.mib.2025.102680","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mib.2025.102680","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":10921,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in microbiology","volume":"88 ","pages":"Article 102680"},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145430549","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-29DOI: 10.1016/j.mib.2025.102679
Arthur Charles-Orszag , Sonja-Verena Albers
Bacteria and archaea generally do not possess membrane-bound internal compartments. However, they both need to specifically control the localization of proteins (e.g. to the septum during cell division or to the cell poles as is the case for the archaellation machinery), spatially separate incompatible biochemical reactions, or actively transport larger intracellular cargos such as chromosomes. Yet, little is known about whether and how the distribution of certain proteins, DNA, or other molecules is regulated in archaea. Here, we will present examples of intracellular compartments in archaea and discuss recent mechanistic insights into how archaeal cells control the subcellular localization of molecular machines.
{"title":"Subcellular organization of the archaeal cell","authors":"Arthur Charles-Orszag , Sonja-Verena Albers","doi":"10.1016/j.mib.2025.102679","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mib.2025.102679","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Bacteria and archaea generally do not possess membrane-bound internal compartments. However, they both need to specifically control the localization of proteins (e.g. to the septum during cell division or to the cell poles as is the case for the archaellation machinery), spatially separate incompatible biochemical reactions, or actively transport larger intracellular cargos such as chromosomes. Yet, little is known about whether and how the distribution of certain proteins, DNA, or other molecules is regulated in archaea. Here, we will present examples of intracellular compartments in archaea and discuss recent mechanistic insights into how archaeal cells control the subcellular localization of molecular machines.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10921,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in microbiology","volume":"88 ","pages":"Article 102679"},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-10-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145408369","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-16DOI: 10.1016/j.mib.2025.102678
Samuel Pazicky, Zbynek Bozdech
Like all pathogenic infectious agents, Plasmodium falciparum, the deadly malaria parasite, modulates its host environment as a part of its evolutionary adaptation to thrive, proliferate, and ultimately sustain its transmission. During their asexual intraerythrocytic developmental cycle, the parasites remodel the cytoplasm and surface of the host red blood cell (RBC) and alter its deformability. There is, however, also growing evidence that Plasmodium engages, modifies, and imports specific RBC proteins to facilitate specific biological functions essential for its growth and development within the human host. Although most mechanistic elements behind these processes are poorly understood, targeting the host proteome engagements to design host-directed antimalarial therapy has been stipulated for many decades. Here, we review research characterizing various roles of the erythrocyte proteome for the blood stage development of P. falciparum and discuss its potential for novel malaria intervention strategies.
{"title":"Crosstalk between malaria and host proteome during the intraerythrocytic developmental cycle","authors":"Samuel Pazicky, Zbynek Bozdech","doi":"10.1016/j.mib.2025.102678","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mib.2025.102678","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Like all pathogenic infectious agents, <em>Plasmodium falciparum</em>, the deadly malaria parasite, modulates its host environment as a part of its evolutionary adaptation to thrive, proliferate, and ultimately sustain its transmission. During their asexual intraerythrocytic developmental cycle, the parasites remodel the cytoplasm and surface of the host red blood cell (RBC) and alter its deformability. There is, however, also growing evidence that <em>Plasmodium</em> engages, modifies, and imports specific RBC proteins to facilitate specific biological functions essential for its growth and development within the human host. Although most mechanistic elements behind these processes are poorly understood, targeting the host proteome engagements to design host-directed antimalarial therapy has been stipulated for many decades. Here, we review research characterizing various roles of the erythrocyte proteome for the blood stage development of <em>P. falciparum</em> and discuss its potential for novel malaria intervention strategies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10921,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in microbiology","volume":"88 ","pages":"Article 102678"},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-10-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145312509","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-13DOI: 10.1016/j.mib.2025.102677
Donté A Stevens, Keren Lasker
Biomolecular condensates are membraneless compartments that organize cellular activities by selectively concentrating molecules into dynamic, reversible assemblies. Once thought to be a eukaryotic innovation, condensates are now recognized as a broadly distributed compartmentalization strategy, shaped by conserved physical principles and adapted across diverse microbial lineages. In this review, we examine how condensates operate across the microbial domains of life, revealing a modular framework where shared biophysical rules are tuned by evolutionary forces to meet distinct cellular demands. Understanding the interplay between constraint and innovation deepens our view of microbial cell biology and enables the design of programmable condensates for synthetic applications.
{"title":"Microbial biomolecular condensates: from conserved principles to synthetic biology opportunities","authors":"Donté A Stevens, Keren Lasker","doi":"10.1016/j.mib.2025.102677","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mib.2025.102677","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Biomolecular condensates are membraneless compartments that organize cellular activities by selectively concentrating molecules into dynamic, reversible assemblies. Once thought to be a eukaryotic innovation, condensates are now recognized as a broadly distributed compartmentalization strategy, shaped by conserved physical principles and adapted across diverse microbial lineages. In this review, we examine how condensates operate across the microbial domains of life, revealing a modular framework where shared biophysical rules are tuned by evolutionary forces to meet distinct cellular demands. Understanding the interplay between constraint and innovation deepens our view of microbial cell biology and enables the design of programmable condensates for synthetic applications.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10921,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in microbiology","volume":"88 ","pages":"Article 102677"},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-10-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145291548","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-27DOI: 10.1016/j.mib.2025.102676
Deepto Mozumdar , David A. Agard , Joseph Bondy-Denomy
Bacteriophages related to the jumbo phage ΦKZ (Family: Chimalliviridae) exhibit a complex developmental cycle. First, two large macromolecular compartments are assembled that surround and protect the bacteriophage genome. Upon infection, the injected phage genomic DNA (gDNA) is rapidly enclosed within a lipid-based ‘early phage infection (EPI) vesicle’, assembled with bacterial membrane components and injected phage proteins. The EPI vesicle serves as a hub for early transcription and localized protein synthesis. One early-expressed protein, Chimallin A (ChmA)/Phage Nuclear Enclosure (PhuN), assembles a distinct proteinaceous ‘phage nucleus’ that receives the phage gDNA from the EPI vesicle. Within this phage nucleus, phage DNA is replicated and transcribed by selectively imported phage and host enzymes. The EPI vesicle, phage nucleus, and packaged capsid completely isolate the phage gDNA from nucleases in the bacterial cytoplasm. Here, we review the complex jumbo phage infection cycle, anti-immune strategies, their respective roles in supporting infection, and recent tools used to dissect these intricate processes.
与巨型噬菌体ΦKZ相关的噬菌体（科：Chimalliviridae）表现出复杂的发育周期。首先，组装两个围绕并保护噬菌体基因组的大分子隔室。感染后，注射的噬菌体基因组DNA （gDNA）被迅速包裹在一个基于脂质的“早期噬菌体感染（EPI）囊泡”中，该囊泡由细菌膜成分和注射的噬菌体蛋白组装而成。EPI囊泡是早期转录和局部蛋白合成的枢纽。一种早期表达的蛋白，Chimallin A (ChmA)/Phage Nuclear Enclosure (PhuN)，组装一个独特的蛋白质“噬菌体核”，接收来自EPI囊泡的噬菌体gDNA。在这个噬菌体细胞核内，噬菌体DNA被选择性导入的噬菌体和宿主酶复制和转录。EPI囊泡、噬菌体核和包装衣壳完全将噬菌体dna从细菌细胞质中的核酸酶中分离出来。在这里，我们回顾了复杂的巨型噬菌体感染周期，抗免疫策略，它们各自在支持感染中的作用，以及最近用于解剖这些复杂过程的工具。
{"title":"The complex developmental mechanisms of nucleus-forming jumbo phages","authors":"Deepto Mozumdar , David A. Agard , Joseph Bondy-Denomy","doi":"10.1016/j.mib.2025.102676","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mib.2025.102676","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Bacteriophages related to the jumbo phage ΦKZ (Family: <em>Chimalliviridae</em>) exhibit a complex developmental cycle. First, two large macromolecular compartments are assembled that surround and protect the bacteriophage genome. Upon infection, the injected phage genomic DNA (gDNA) is rapidly enclosed within a lipid-based ‘early phage infection (EPI) vesicle’, assembled with bacterial membrane components and injected phage proteins. The EPI vesicle serves as a hub for early transcription and localized protein synthesis. One early-expressed protein, <u>Ch</u>i<u>m</u>allin <u>A</u> (ChmA)/<u>Ph</u>age N<u>u</u>clear E<u>n</u>closure (PhuN), assembles a distinct proteinaceous ‘phage nucleus’ that receives the phage gDNA from the EPI vesicle. Within this phage nucleus, phage DNA is replicated and transcribed by selectively imported phage and host enzymes. The EPI vesicle, phage nucleus, and packaged capsid completely isolate the phage gDNA from nucleases in the bacterial cytoplasm. Here, we review the complex jumbo phage infection cycle, anti-immune strategies, their respective roles in supporting infection, and recent tools used to dissect these intricate processes.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10921,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in microbiology","volume":"88 ","pages":"Article 102676"},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145154610","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The human intestinal microbiota is a dynamic ecosystem shaped by extensive horizontal gene transfer, particularly in individuals from industrialized populations. In this review, we discuss recent advances in our understanding of how mobile genetic elements (MGEs) contribute to microbial ecology and evolution in this diverse community, focusing on MGEs carrying fitness-conferring genes. Bacteroidales species can colonize individuals for decades and serve as major hubs for MGE exchange. Most MGEs are highly variable across individuals and geographies. Occasionally, conserved MGEs can spread across geography and lifestyles. Functional characterizations of MGEs reveal their roles in antibiotic resistance, interbacterial antagonism, biofilm formation, immune evasion, and nutrient acquisition, among others. Substantive progress in our understanding of MGEs in the gut microbiome offers promising avenues for therapeutic microbiome interventions. However, major challenges remain in functional prediction, host-MGE linkage, and experimental characterization.
{"title":"The role of mobile genetic elements in adaptation of the microbiota to the dynamic human gut ecosystem","authors":"Katherine Schubert, Teni Shosanya, Leonor García-Bayona","doi":"10.1016/j.mib.2025.102675","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mib.2025.102675","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The human intestinal microbiota is a dynamic ecosystem shaped by extensive horizontal gene transfer, particularly in individuals from industrialized populations. In this review, we discuss recent advances in our understanding of how mobile genetic elements (MGEs) contribute to microbial ecology and evolution in this diverse community, focusing on MGEs carrying fitness-conferring genes. Bacteroidales species can colonize individuals for decades and serve as major hubs for MGE exchange. Most MGEs are highly variable across individuals and geographies. Occasionally, conserved MGEs can spread across geography and lifestyles. Functional characterizations of MGEs reveal their roles in antibiotic resistance, interbacterial antagonism, biofilm formation, immune evasion, and nutrient acquisition, among others. Substantive progress in our understanding of MGEs in the gut microbiome offers promising avenues for therapeutic microbiome interventions. However, major challenges remain in functional prediction, host-MGE linkage, and experimental characterization.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10921,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in microbiology","volume":"88 ","pages":"Article 102675"},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145154611","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-18DOI: 10.1016/j.mib.2025.102665
Disha Jawadekar , Olivier N Lemaire , Tristan Wagner
The planetary short-chain alkanes budget is impacted by methanogenic and alkanotrophic archaea in anaerobic environments. These anaerobes generate methane and degrade alkanes through alkyl-coenzyme M reductases (ACRs). Recent breakthroughs describe new alkanotrophs and their intriguing physiology in greater detail, but only sporadic studies exist on their alkane-degrading enzymes due to the absence of isolates and the challenge of preserving the natural intrinsic features of the protein. Here, we review differences in ACR traits and compare them to the extensively studied methane-generating counterpart. By describing the complexity of ACRs in their cofactors, architectures, post-translational modifications, and accessory proteins, we propose functional characteristics that may be shared among these enzymes and highlight the challenges of their recombinant expression. Gaining insights into the biochemical and structural traits of ACRs will unveil the molecular basis for short-chain alkane microbial transformation and new roads to their application, stimulating future directions in this continuously growing field.
{"title":"New frontiers in short-chain alkyl-coenzyme M reductases","authors":"Disha Jawadekar , Olivier N Lemaire , Tristan Wagner","doi":"10.1016/j.mib.2025.102665","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mib.2025.102665","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The planetary short-chain alkanes budget is impacted by methanogenic and alkanotrophic archaea in anaerobic environments. These anaerobes generate methane and degrade alkanes through alkyl-coenzyme M reductases (ACRs). Recent breakthroughs describe new alkanotrophs and their intriguing physiology in greater detail, but only sporadic studies exist on their alkane-degrading enzymes due to the absence of isolates and the challenge of preserving the natural intrinsic features of the protein. Here, we review differences in ACR traits and compare them to the extensively studied methane-generating counterpart. By describing the complexity of ACRs in their cofactors, architectures, post-translational modifications, and accessory proteins, we propose functional characteristics that may be shared among these enzymes and highlight the challenges of their recombinant expression. Gaining insights into the biochemical and structural traits of ACRs will unveil the molecular basis for short-chain alkane microbial transformation and new roads to their application, stimulating future directions in this continuously growing field.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10921,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in microbiology","volume":"88 ","pages":"Article 102665"},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145091151","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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