Host-bacteria metabolic crosstalk drives S. aureus biofilm

April 19, 2021

This article comments on work published by Tomlinson et al. (Nat Comm, 2021), which demonstrates that Staphylococcus aureus induces the production of the immunoreglatory metabolite itaconate in airway immune cells by stimulating mitochondrial oxidant stress. Itaconate in turn inhibits S. aureus glycolysis and growth, and promoted carbon flux through bacterial metabolic pathways that support biofilm production.

The great escape: Pseudomonas breaks out of the lung

September 23, 2015

The Gram-negative bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a major cause of hospital-acquired infections and the focus of much attention due to its resistance to many conventional antibiotics. This article discusses the potential mechanisms by which these processes occur as well as the novel techniques used to study ExoS function in vivo.