Nature Microbiology

Nature Microbiology, Published online: 17 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-026-02450-z Bacillus subtilis Ncp and NADH dehydrogenase form tube-like filaments with phospholipid-lined chambers that associate with quinones, which can expand bioenergetic capacity and support respiratory electron transfer.

Nature Microbiology, Published online: 14 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-026-02451-y Machine learning on tetranucleotide frequencies from marine and soil metagenomes shows how environmental conditions imprint on the genome, which could be used to understand microbial community responses to global changes.

Nature Microbiology, Published online: 13 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-026-02445-w Diverse E. coli phage genomes have hypermutable DNA regions that promote reversible frameshift mutations through DNA polymerase slippage, generating population heterogeneity that enables host exploitation.

Nature Microbiology, Published online: 13 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-026-02435-y This curated genome-resolved, metagenomic resource expands the known diversity of Nucleocytoviricota and Mirusviricota lineages.

Nature Microbiology, Published online: 10 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-026-02444-x A combined therapy using broadly neutralizing antibodies that target the HIV envelope protein, the CCR5-blocking antibody leronlimab and antiretroviral therapy limits seeding of the viral reservoir in an infant macaque model of HIV at 72 h post-infection.

Nature Microbiology, Published online: 10 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-026-02459-4 Recombitrons enable bacterial genome editing across phyla

Nature Microbiology, Published online: 10 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-026-02440-1 Silvia Bulgheresi muses on how studying bacterial symbionts of worms and mammals made her question whether the absence of a nucleus enables cellular freedom, potentiating architectural innovation and functional adaptation.

Nature Microbiology, Published online: 10 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-026-02442-z Metastrand integrates strand-aware metatranscriptomic and metagenomic data to distinguish microbial sense from antisense transcription at gene-level resolution, and a use case study highlights the importance of antisense RNAs in understanding the microbial dynamics in inflammatory bowel disease.

Nature Microbiology, Published online: 06 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-026-02441-0 DNA glycosylases, typically used for DNA repair, can also protect bacteria against phages that would otherwise evade host immunity by incorporating modified bases into their genomes.

Nature Microbiology, Published online: 05 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-026-02443-y Extracytoplasmic MopB-family sulfate reductases using Fe–S clusters instead of molybdenum as a cofactor enable sulfate assimilation in Salmonella to support gut colonization and virulence, and help to counter host-imposed oxidative stress.

Nature Microbiology, Published online: 05 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-026-02431-2 IL-1 family signalling drives host mucosal defence against Candida albicans and, together with neutrophils, prevents mucosal–systemic dissemination and life-threatening fungal disease.

Nature Microbiology, Published online: 05 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-026-02420-5 Artemisinin partial resistance is expanding in Ethiopia and, together with a dominant lumefantrine-tolerant PfMDR1 haplotype and co-occurring Pfcrt and Pfk13 mutations, defines a complex multidrug-resistance landscape that may reflect overlapping treatment pressures in Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium falciparum …

Nature Microbiology, Published online: 30 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-026-02423-2 Two independent studies converge on the nuclear receptor PPARα as a key node in gut microbiome communication, highlighting it as a potential therapeutic target in intestinal diseases.

Nature Microbiology, Published online: 30 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-026-02452-x Nature Microbiology no longer considers presubmission enquiries and instead evaluates all research through full manuscript submissions. This change is intended to improve fairness, rigour and efficiency, ensuring that editorial decisions are based on a complete assessment of the data.

Nature Microbiology, Published online: 30 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-026-02433-0 Lactiplantibacillus plantarum-derived fatty-acid metabolite, 10-hydroxystearic acid, interacts directly with PPARα to alter histone crotonylation and the transcriptional landscape which leads to gut barrier functional repair and enhanced viral suppression in non-human primate models when combined with anti-retrovi…

Nature Microbiology, Published online: 30 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-026-02428-x This Review summarizes the current knowledge about the cell-intrinsic factors that act against pathogenic bacteria and viruses and the immune evasion strategies that pathogens have to counteract cell-autonomous immunity.

Nature Microbiology, Published online: 30 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-026-02409-0 In a small case series, combined phage therapy and faecal microbiota transplantation was safe and led to sustained reductions in recurrence, severity and antibiotic use in women with recurrent urinary tract infections, even without complete eradication of Escherichia coli.

Nature Microbiology, Published online: 29 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-026-02387-3 The phage-encoded protein PptA enables its DNA to masquerade as the host and evade cleavage, providing a potential foundation for engineering therapeutic phages that could bypass this widespread defence system.

Nature Microbiology, Published online: 29 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-026-02434-z Lipidomics and proteomics in mice colonized with variable gut microbiota reveal an important role of gut microbes in restricting lipid uptake via triggering Myd88 signalling and the degradation of phosphatidylcholine in bile.

Nature Microbiology, Published online: 27 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-026-02424-1 Structural and biochemical follow-up of a serendipitous discovery reveals that Akkermansia muciniphila carbohydrate sulfatases are uniquely adapted to digest colonic mucins in collaboration with other members of gut microbiota.