Browse our latest Microbiology and Infectious Disease articles

Wide variation in cycle threshold (Ct) values from SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR tests over calendar time offers the potential for their broader use in public testing programmes as an ‘early-warning’ system for shifts in infectious load and hence transmission.

Structurally divergent bacterial-like mechanosensitive channels control multiple cellular functions in protozoan parasites.

The mechanism triggering HBV membrane fusion involves ERp57, a cellular protein disulfide isomerase, and ultimately leads to the exposition of a fusion peptide that was identified in the pre-S1 determinant.

Mannose-sensitive hemagglutinin pili act as a braking and anchoring machine during the three-phase landing process of Vibrio cholerae.

Viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, retain infectivity longer at low temperatures and extreme relative humidities because these conditions slow down the chemical reactions that inactivate those viruses.

PCR testing for SARS-CoV-2 from samples taken from smartphone screens, Phone Screen Testing, provides a sensitive, cost-effective, simple, and non-invasive new method that could boost COVID-19 mass test screening.

Multi-level profiling of Toxoplasma gondii-injected neurons identifies brain regions and neuron subtype predilections as well as the effect of Toxoplasma interactions on neuron physiology and health.

Horizontal gene transfer between distantly related bacterial species is frequent and widespread and can be efficiently identified using alignment-free methods.

Horizontal transfer of a sequence-specific DNA-binding domain allows a virus to destroy its subviral parasite and overcome parasite-mediated restriction.

The upper airway commensal, Neisseria cinerea, competes with related species using a T6SS, with antagonism modulated by the spatial dynamics of attacker and prey strains growing in a mixed community.