🦠 Category

microbiology

771 papers

Microbiology explores the invisible world of tiny life forms that shape our health, environment, and even the air we breathe. From bacteria and viruses to fungi and parasites, this field investigates how these microscopic organisms interact with us and each other, driving everything from disease outbreaks to beneficial fermentation processes. Understanding them is crucial for developing new medicines, improving food safety, and combating global health challenges.

At Gist.Science, we make the latest discoveries in this dynamic field accessible to everyone. We process every new preprint uploaded to bioRxiv in this category, transforming dense academic findings into both clear, plain-language explanations and detailed technical summaries. This ensures that whether you are a student, a researcher, or simply curious, you can grasp the significance of cutting-edge science without getting lost in jargon.

Below are the most recent papers in microbiology, curated and summarized directly from the bioRxiv server to keep you at the forefront of discovery.

🦠 microbiology

Experimental reproduction numbers disentangle vaccine effects on susceptibility and infectiousness during H5N1 transmission in geese

This study demonstrates that experimental reproduction numbers derived from controlled transmission trials in geese can effectively disentangle the distinct effects of an H5N1 vaccine on host susceptibility and infectiousness, revealing that while the vaccine reduces transmission and viral RNA shedding, it does not fully prevent spread under intensive exposure conditions and that RNA shedding alone is an unreliable predictor of transmission reduction.

Piesche, R., Schulz, J., Höhle, M., Beer, M., Grund, C., Harder, T., Gonzales, J.2026-09-03
🦠 microbiology

Emended description of the genus Henriciella: morphological and phylogenetic analysis identifies two subgenera with different reproductive strategies

This study revises the genus *Henriciella* by demonstrating that its species exhibit two distinct reproductive strategies—tip budding and asymmetric binary fission—correlated with specific phylogenomic clades, thereby identifying two subgenera and prompting emendations to the genus and species descriptions.

Colby, S., Cosklo, A., Diazgranados, E., Fuller, N., Garippa, A., Muhammed, H., Wall, L., Washney, G., Watson, M. L., Ky (…)2026-09-03
🦠 microbiology

Plaque microbial community restructuring in rampant dental caries after exclusion of a confirmed Streptococcus mutans ASV: an analysis of public 16S rRNA sequencing data

Reanalysis of 16S rRNA sequencing data from preschool children reveals that rampant dental caries is associated with a modest but reproducible restructuring of the supragingival plaque community even after excluding *Streptococcus mutans*, supporting an ecological biofilm disorder model while highlighting the organism's complex relationship with disease status.

Zhuo, Z., XU, X.2026-09-03
🦠 microbiology

Higher-order organization of bacterial cords and an amyloid-like matrix define the Mycobacterium tuberculosis biofilm

This study reveals that *Mycobacterium tuberculosis* biofilms rely on a PDIM-driven cording architecture and an amyloid-like extracellular matrix to confer enhanced antibiotic tolerance, identifying amyloid assembly as a potential therapeutic target to disrupt biofilm formation.

Lee, B. S., Godejohann, M., Mishra, R., Bousquet, C., Gürtler, F., Deloria, A. J., Liu, M., Leitgeb, R., Drexler, W., W (…)2026-09-01
🦠 microbiology

Mechanism-based prediction of insertion-driven high pathogenicity avian influenza virus emergence

By combining experimental virology with thermodynamic modeling, this study reveals that polymerase slippage driven by local product-template duplex thermodynamics, rather than external RNA secondary structures, governs the insertion of multibasic cleavage sites in H5 and H7 avian influenza viruses, leading to the development of the HPAIVpredict tool for forecasting high-pathogenicity emergence.

Dupre, G., Pouget, B., Martinez-Pineda, A., Foret-Lucas, C., Bessiere, P., Chretien, D., Ducatez, M., Vialaneix, N., Hoe (…)2026-09-01
🦠 microbiology

Reconsidering the Use of Dimethyl Sulfoxide for Xenobiotic-Gut Microbiota Interaction Studies

This study reveals that dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), commonly used as a solvent in xenobiotic-gut microbiota research, independently alters microbial metabolism and enriches *Desulfovibrio desulfuricans*, thereby potentially confounding the interpretation of experimental results regarding toxins like aflatoxin B1 and fumonisin B1.

Cheng, Q., Glesener, H., Sanchez Carreon, A., Voth-Gaeddert, L., Krajmalnik-Brown, R.2026-08-31
🦠 microbiology

Defining the role of aerobic respiration in the metabolism and bioenergetics of Enterococcus faecalis

This study demonstrates that in *Enterococcus faecalis*, the cytosolic NADH oxidase (Nox) is the primary consumer of oxygen and a key regulator of redox and energy homeostasis, while the F-type ATP synthase serves as the major generator of proton motive force, with the electron transport chain and Nox playing complementary roles in the bacterium's aerobic bioenergetics.

Paxie, O., Nijagal, B., Todd Rose, F. O., Gastrell, S., Su, S., Saleh, A., Grimshaw, J. W., Rhee, K., Strahl, H., Cook (…)2026-08-31
🦠 microbiology

Rapid isothermal amplification of diatom rbcL from eDNA and eRNA reveals their abundance and photosynthetic physiology

This study introduces a rapid, low-temperature isothermal qRPA assay targeting diatom rbcL genes to simultaneously quantify their abundance and photosynthetic activity from environmental DNA and RNA, demonstrating its effectiveness as a high-resolution tool for biomolecular ocean observing.

Verret, F. G., Hartle-Mougiou, K., Chantzaras, C., Peltekis, A., Margiotta, F., Sarno, D., Cardini, U., Alba, M., Pizzio (…)2026-08-31
🦠 microbiology

The RNA virome of early metazoans sheds light on long-term virus-host relationships

By analyzing transcriptome data from early metazoans, this study identifies 26 novel RNA viruses that reveal both ancient, long-standing host-virus associations dating back to early animal evolution and evidence of more recent cross-species transmission, thereby significantly expanding the known diversity and evolutionary history of RNA viromes in Ctenophores and Placozoans.

Ortiz-Baez, A. S., Mifsud, J. C. O., Schwarz, J., Sadiq, S., Holmes, E. C.2026-08-31