Soil microbiomes drive key functions in agroecosystems, determining soil fertility, crop
productivity and stress tolerance. The microbiome is intricately linked with soil structure …

Soil microorganisms shape global element cycles in life and death. Living soil
microorganisms are a major engine of terrestrial biogeochemistry, driving the turnover of soil …

Throughout their evolutionary history, bacteria have faced diverse threats from other
microorganisms, including competing bacteria, bacteriophages and predators. In response …

The human gut microbiome plays an important role in resisting colonization of the host by
pathogens, but we lack the ability to predict which communities will be protective. We …

Biofilms are organised heterogeneous assemblages of microbial cells that are encased
within a self-produced matrix. Current estimates suggest that up to 80% of bacterial and …

An ever-increasing demand for novel antimicrobials to treat life-threatening infections
caused by the global spread of multidrug-resistant bacterial pathogens stands in stark …

Accumulating evidence suggests that the response of bacteria to antibiotics is significantly
affected by the presence of other interacting microbes. These interactions are not typically …

Despite numerous surveys of gene and species content in heterotrophic microbial
communities, such as those found in animal guts, oceans, or soils, it is still unclear whether …

Self versus non-self discrimination is a key element of innate and adaptive immunity across
life. In bacteria, CRISPR-Cas and restriction-modification systems recognize non-self nucleic …

A key challenge in microbiome research is to predict the functionality of microbial
communities based on community membership and (meta)-genomic data. As central …