Industrial microbiology articles from across Nature Portfolio

Lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases, reclassified as hydrogen peroxide-driven peroxygenases offer a primary natural solution for breaking down tough biopolymers like cellulose via an oxidative-hydrolytic strategy, playing a critical role in the global carbon cycle.

Prenylated phytochemicals like glabridin are valuable therapeutics and cosmetics, yet their scarcity and synthesis hinder industrial supply. Here the authors design an artificial biosynthetic route to glabridin and equol using a modular “block-building” workflow.

Facility-level wastewater monitoring detected emerging Candidozyma auris subclades and resistance mutations 13–143 days before clinical identification, supported by >90% genomic concordance between wastewater-derived and clinical isolate genomes.

Assessment of the physiological trade-offs between short- and medium-chain carboxylic acid-producing bacteria reveals strategies that could optimize valorization of organic waste streams.

Halogenation enhances the stability and function of pharmaceuticals and biomaterials, however, current halogenase enzymes are inefficient and insoluble. Here the authors use continuous evolution to engineer a soluble and active halogenase that can produce 2.7 g/L of halogenated tryptophan.

Microalgae‑based hydrogen production faces challenges including oxygen sensitivity, high water demand, and low efficiency. The authors develop a symbiotic hydrogel system that enhances hydrogen production by using coaxial 3D bioprinting to spatially separate microalgae and bacteria.

This study reports that the tree bark microbial community actively modulates fluxes of climate-active gases and volatile organic compounds, and may mediate global atmospheric gas cycling.

A recent study identifies a compound that sensitizes fungal pathogens to the antifungal drug caspofungin.

Clostridium autoethanogenum produces ethanol from waste gases, but the biosynthetic pathway has been debated. Now, a combination of structural and biochemical data confirms that a key step in the ethanol biosynthesis pathway is acetate reduction by a tungsten-dependent aldehyde:ferredoxin oxido-reductase. This thermodynamically unfavorable reaction is counterbalanced by the coupling of ethanol synthesis with CO oxidation.

In this study, Su et al. engineered a Vibrio natriegens strain for the remediation of multiple organic pollutants.