mSystems

01 20 October 2026

DOI 10.1128/msystems.01071-26

Shifts in vegetation impact estuary microbiomes

Open DOI

Georgina L. Aitolo, Ian M. Rambo, Rachel E. Weisend et al.

Coastal wetlands, including mangrove-cordgrass mosaics, are among Earth’s most effective carbon stores sequestering >1 Pg C/year. Rapid sea level rise, warming, and storm intensification are now reshaping these habitats. Vegetation type ...

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02 20 October 2026

DOI 10.1128/msystems.00599-26

Cold-water gut isolate from threespine stickleback ( Gasterosteus aculeatus ) reveals polypropylene surface oxidation and co-culture inhibition

Open DOI

Sarah M. Pasqualetti, Jolie Atwood, Abiodun Aderibigbe et al.

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polypropylene (PP), two of the most widely produced plastics in the United States, persist in diverse environments worldwide and may persist longer in cold-water environments where plastic-degrading m...

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03 20 October 2026

DOI 10.1128/msystems.00845-26

Genomic and biochemical contexts determine the physiological role of a horizontally acquired gene

Open DOI

Roberto E. Bruna, Alagu Lakshmi Selvaraj, Somok Bhowmik et al.

The horizontally acquired mgtC gene from Salmonella enterica confers on this bacterium the abilities to survive episodes of magnesium (Mg 2+ ) starvation and to replicate in mammalian macrophages. The former property allows bacteria to p...

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04 20 October 2026

DOI 10.1128/msystems.00930-26

Rarefaction is better than robust Aitchison PCA and other compositional data analysis methods at controlling for uneven sequencing effort

Open DOI

Patrick D. Schloss

Amplicon sequencing typically results in a wide distribution in the number of sequences obtained from each sample. How best to account for this variation has been a persistent problem in the microbial ecology literature. Historically, ra...

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05 20 October 2026

DOI 10.1128/msystems.00198-26

Comparative gut microbiome in diarrheal and non-diarrheal children: an individually matched case-control study

Open DOI

Jialiang Xu, Yufeng Fan, Geruo Qu et al.

Diarrhea, a leading cause of under-five mortality in developing countries, drives therapeutic challenges amid global antibiotic resistance. This study aimed to compare gut microbiota, antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), mobile genetic el...

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06 20 October 2026

DOI 10.1128/msystems.00772-26

Experimental benchmarking remains crucial to the interpretation of sequence annotation data

Open DOI

Claire M. Palmer

Determining the distribution and origin of bacterial synthesis of metabolites of interest relies on computational prediction of protein function. In their recent study, Lawrence and colleagues employed a rigorous pipeline for benchmarkin...

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07 20 October 2026

DOI 10.1128/msystems.01023-26

Carbon source-dependent metabolic states govern redox homeostasis and cofactor biosynthesis in Propionibacterium freudenreichii

Open DOI

Kirsi Savijoki, Bhawani Chamlagain, Minnamari Edelmann et al.

Microbial adaptation to fluctuating nutrient and oxygen conditions requires coordinated regulation of the metabolic network to maintain redox homeostasis within physicochemical and energetic constraints. While oxygen-dependent responses ...

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08 20 October 2026

DOI 10.1128/msystems.00741-26

Integrated cross-sectoral surveillance of antimicrobial resistance genotypes and phenotypes across disparate reservoirs

Open DOI

Thomas D. Watts, Thanavit Jirapanjawat, Laura Perlaza-Jiménez et al.

Antimicrobial-resistant (AMR) bacteria and genes are continually exchanged among humans, animals, and environmental reservoirs. Disparate and siloed surveillance methods present a major challenge for tracing and disrupting AMR transmissi...

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09 20 October 2026

DOI 10.1128/msystems.00694-26

Deciphering temporal antifungal dynamics of a rare actinomycete via integrated omics

Open DOI

Hildah Amutuhaire, Michael Dubovis, Ivan Plyushchenko et al.

Fungal phytopathogens pose a persistent threat to global crop production, and widespread use of fungicides has driven resistance development and environmental concerns, necessitating sustainable alternatives. Actinomycetes produce divers...

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10 20 October 2026

DOI 10.1128/msystems.00768-26

Cellular responsiveness as a predictive indicator for population collapse and autonomous control in continuous cultures of Pseudomonas putida

Open DOI

Maximilian Sehrt, Hannah Sehrt, Laurie Josselin et al.

How microbial populations respond to repeated environmental transitions determines both their ecological fitness and their utility in biotechnological applications. Using Pseudomonas putida KT2440 equipped with fluorescent biosensors and...

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