OOIR: Observatory of International Research

Papers

(The TQCC of Current Opinion in Microbiology is 21. The table below lists those papers that are above that threshold based on CrossRef citation counts [max. 250 papers]. The publications cover those that have been published in the past four years, i.e., from 2021-12-01 to 2025-12-01.)

Article	Citations
In vivo studies on Citrobacter rodentium and host cell death pathways	153
Editorial overview: Fungal diversity: Now for something completely different	139
PhoU: a multifaceted regulator in microbial signaling and homeostasis	129
Convergence in domesticated fungi used for cheese and dry-cured meat maturation: beneficial traits, genomic mechanisms, and degeneration	110
The mass spectrometry of microbiome-mediated metabolism of food: challenges and opportunities	103
Renal implications of coronavirus disease 2019: insights into viral tropism and clinical outcomes	92
Genetic and environmental factors shape the host response to Helicobacter hepaticus: insights into IBD pathogenesis	88
Citrobacter rodentium(ϕStx2dact), a murine infection model for enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli	87
Synthetic microbial communities for studying and engineering the tree microbiome: challenges and opportunities	86
Genetic mechanisms governing sporulation initiation in Clostridioides difficile	84
Editorial overview: Antibiotics special issue	83
Vertebrate and invertebrate animal infection models of Candida auris pathogenicity	83
Transient microbial architects: tracing the legacy effects of ephemeral taxa during plant microbiome assembly	82
Innovative approaches in the discovery of terpenoid natural products	80
The mycobiome: interactions with host and implications in diseases	73
Seizing the moment: now is the time for integrated global surveillance of antimicrobial resistance in wastewater environments	71
Editorial Board	68
Control of bacterial second messenger signaling and motility by heme-based direct oxygen-sensing proteins	67
Manipulation of host cell plasma membranes by intracellular bacterial pathogens	67
Co-opting bacterial viruses for DNA exchange: structure and regulation of gene transfer agents	66
Editorial overview: Unraveling microbiome complexity	64
Fungus–insect interactions beyond bilateral regimes: the importance and strategy to outcompete host ectomicrobiomes by fungal parasites	63
Crosstalk between (p)ppGpp and other nucleotide second messengers	63
Insights into Alphaproteobacterial regulators of cell envelope remodeling	62
Increasing the PACE of characterising novel transporters by functional genomics	62

The impact of the host microbiota on Candida albicans infection	61
Coevolution of a generalist pathogen with many hosts: the case of the amphibian chytrid Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis	60
Fungal effectors: past, present, and future	58
Ca2+-calmodulin signalling at the host-pathogen interface	57
Function of autophagy genes in innate immune defense against mucosal pathogens	57
Advances in regulation of homeostasis through chromatin modifications by airway commensals	56
Bottlenecks and opportunities in antibiotic discovery against Mycobacterium tuberculosis	55
Assembly of the exosporium layer in Clostridioides difficile spores	55
Editorial overview: Human fungal pathogens: An increasing threat	55
Innovative and potential treatments for fungal central nervous system infections	55
Antifungal drug-resistance mechanisms in Candida biofilms	54
Soterobionts: disease-preventing microorganisms and proposed strategies to facilitate their discovery	53
Connecting microbial community assembly and function	53
Neuroinvasion and neurotropism of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection	52
Defining the expanding mechanisms of phage-mediated activation of bacterial immunity	51
Editorial Board	51
Host control by SPβ phage regulatory switch as potential manipulation strategy	47
Activation of complement-like antiparasitic responses in Anopheles mosquitoes	47
Editorial overview: Bacterial microcompartments to the fore as metabolism is put in its place	47
Pain killers: the interplay between nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and Clostridioides difficile infection	45
Toward merging bottom–up and top–down model-based designing of synthetic microbial communities	45
How do interactions between mobile genetic elements affect horizontal gene transfer?	45
Trace gas oxidation as a novel microbial dispersal trait	44
Decoding the epigenetic blueprint behind Toxoplasma (pre)sexual commitment and chronic persistence	40
The maternal gut microbiome during pregnancy and its role in maternal and infant health	40
Circadian interactions between plants and microorganisms	40
Conditionally unutilized proteins and their profound effects on growth and adaptation across microbial species	40
The power of the small: the underestimated role of small proteins in bacterial and archaeal physiology	39
Differences and similarities between innate immune evasion strategies of human coronaviruses	39
Bacteriophage communities are a reservoir of unexplored microbial diversity in neonatal health and disease	38
Toothpicks, logic, and next-generation sequencing: systematic investigation of bacteriophage-host interactions	37
Environmental adaptation and diversification of bacterial two-component systems	37
Cell cycle regulation in Escherichia coli: from governing principles, checkpoints, and control variables to molecular mechanisms	37
Editorial overview: Antibiotic discovery: Feeding the pipeline or finding new pipes?	36
Dissecting skin microbiota and microenvironment for the development of therapeutic strategies	35
Editorial overview: There and back again: a phage’s tale	35
Ready, STAT3, Go! Bacteria in the race for M2 macrophage polarisation	35
The human vaginal microbiota: from clinical medicine to models to mechanisms	35
Ecological and functional roles of bacteriophages in contrasting environments: marine, terrestrial and human gut	35
Editorial Board	34
A tale of two nitrous oxide reductases: a cautionary perspective	34
Phage transmission strategies: are phages farming their host?	34
Antibiotic tolerance: targeting bacterial survival	33
Editorial overview: Turtles all the way down: Bacterial cell regulation across scales	33
Regulation of para-cresol production in Clostridioides difficile	33
Second messenger signaling in Clostridioides difficile	33
Cell cycle-regulated ApiAP2s and parasite development: the Toxoplasma paradigm	32
Emergence and adaptation of the cellular machinery directing antigenic variation in the African trypanosome	31
The intricate organizational strategy of nucleus-forming phages	31
New targets for antimalarial drug discovery	31

Editorial overview: Recent advances in fundamental and translational research on parasitic protists	31
Reservoirs of antimicrobial resistance in the context of One Health	31
Is Cryptococcus neoformans a pleomorphic fungus?	29
Virulence-associated factors as targets for phage infection	29
Biological and bioinformatic tools for the discovery of unknown phage–host combinations	29
The importance of persistence and dormancy in Trypanosoma cruzi infection and Chagas disease	28
Archaeal key-residents within the human microbiome: characteristics, interactions and involvement in health and disease	28
Investigating bacterial evolution in nature with metagenomics	28
PII-like signaling proteins: a new paradigm in orchestrating cellular homeostasis	28
SOS-independent bacterial DNA damage responses: diverse mechanisms, unifying function	27
Editorial overview: emerging avenues in antimicrobial research	26
Strains to go: interactions of the skin microbiome beyond its species	26
Chemical communication in plant–microbe beneficial interactions: a toolbox for precise management of beneficial microbes	26
Predicting the evolution of antibiotic resistance	26
Beyond resistance: antifungal heteroresistance and antifungal tolerance in fungal pathogens	26
Can a microbial community become an evolutionary individual?	25
Clostridioides difficile peptidoglycan modifications	25
Deciphering mechanisms and implications of bacterial translocation in human health and disease	25
Editorial overview: Return of the phages — a new golden era of molecular discovery and synthetic biology	25
Activation of the extracytoplasmic function σ factor σV by lysozyme in Clostridioides difficile	24
Gram-positive pathogens, inflammation, and the host lipid environment	24
Surface-displayed glycopolymers of Clostridioides difficile	24
Temporospatial control of topoisomerases by essential cellular processes	24
Horizontal gene transfer and beyond: the delivery of biological matter by bacterial membrane vesicles to host and bacterial cells	23
Editorial Board	23
The promise of CRISPR-associated transposons for bacterial functional genomics	23
Cooperative defenses during enteropathogenic infection	23
Host-directed therapies for malaria: possible applications and lessons from other indications	23
Plasmids of Clostridioides difficile	23
Editorial Board	23
Prokaryote pangenomes are dynamic entities	22
Microbiome rescue: directing resilience of environmental microbial communities	22
The ribosome as a small-molecule sensor	22
Host genetics regulate the plant microbiome	22
Diversity and evolution of alphaproteobacterial dimorphism	22
Encapsulins: catalysis inside a shell	21
Editorial overview: Niche-specific and species-specific host-fungal interactions — how do they impact human health?	21
Role of pollution on the selection of antibiotic resistance and bacterial pathogens in the environment	21
Microbiomes for sustainable biomanufacturing	21
Editorial overview: current state and future of the microbiome field: why context matters	21
Brownian ratchet mechanisms for carboxysome positioning in bacteria	21