Broad-spectrum host restriction factors against bacteria and viruses remain largely unclear. Prof. LIU’s group and collaborators identify the small GTPase Rab14 as such a restriction factor, which inhibits CAMK2D-catalyzed V0a1 phosphorylation to elicit V0a1 interaction with the COPⅡ complex, followed by promoting V-ATPase trafficking from the endoplasmic reticulum to lysosomes for promoting lysosomal acidification and pathogen clearance. These findings demonstrate an unrecognized intrinsic immune mechanism mediated by Rab14-CAMK2D-V-ATPase axis, which might be a promising target for infectious diseases.

Fungal secondary metabolism is critical for pathogen-host interactions, but its regulatory link to virulence is unclear. This study identifies an A. fumigatus CsdA-LaeB regulatory hub that controls fumiquinazoline C (FqC) biosynthesis; FqC mediates virulence, with CsdA/LaeB expression inversely correlating with FqC in clinical isolates, providing new post-transcriptional regulation insights and therapeutic strategies for invasive fungal diseases.

The evolution and domestication of mushrooms remains poorly understood. Prof. ZHAO Rui-Lin’s lab revealed that divergence and gene flow driven by Quaternary glacial cycles lead to the current mixed origins of A. bisporus populations. Moreover, the white-cap trait is the key artificial selected trait, and AbPPO1 was identified as a key gene for cap-color variation.

Trained immunity confers innate immune memory via metabolic and epigenetic reprogramming, yet the intercellular mediators regulating this process in host defense immunity remain largely elusive. Prof. LIU’s group and collaborators identify a tuberculosis resister-associated serum exosomal lncRNA, termed Tuberculosis Resister-derived CLOCK Regulator 1 (TRCR1), which mediates an intercellular immune training axis by modulating circadian regulator CLOCK-mediated epigenetic remodeling. These findings provide a mechanistic framework and translational strategy to refine Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination and prevent infectious diseases.

Host immune cells are equipped with cytosolic sensors to detect invading pathogens and initiate anti-infectious responses. However, how pathogens undermine host intracellular surveillance for persistent infection is not fully understood. New findings by Prof. LIU and colleagues demonstrate that Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb)-secreted protein kinase PknG disrupts host linear ubiquitin machinery LUBAC by phosphorylating its ubiquitin ligase subunit HOIL-1L and then coopts HOIL-1L to constitute an interspecies enzymatic cascade that drives inflammasome sensor NLRP3 degradation for counteracting host immune surveillance.

Addressing China's 80 billion yuan annual losses from nematode diseases, researchers developed baiweimectin—a novel, high-specificity nematicide. Collaborating institutions reported the systematic engineering of Streptomyces strains using the SMARTS platform in Nature Biotechnology. This plug-and-play system dynamically synchronizes quorum sensing to auto-modulate multiple targets, enabling unprecedented high-purity baiweimectin production at 8.4 g/L yield, successfully scaled to 120-m³ fermentation.