OOIR: Observatory of International Research

Papers

(The TQCC of Current Opinion in Microbiology is 22. 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 2022-05-01 to 2026-05-01.)

Article	Citations
Editorial overview: Fungal diversity: Now for something completely different	194
Synthetic microbial communities for studying and engineering the tree microbiome: challenges and opportunities	162
Convergence in domesticated fungi used for cheese and dry-cured meat maturation: beneficial traits, genomic mechanisms, and degeneration	124
Innovative approaches in the discovery of terpenoid natural products	123
Renal implications of coronavirus disease 2019: insights into viral tropism and clinical outcomes	105
Vertebrate and invertebrate animal infection models of Candida auris pathogenicity	101
Starvation as a weapon in fungal–plant warfare	101
Corrigendum to “Assembly and maturation of methyl-coenzyme M reductase in methanogenic archaea” [Curr Opin Microbiol, 87 (2025) 102637]	101
Transient microbial architects: tracing the legacy effects of ephemeral taxa during plant microbiome assembly	98
Harnessing ‘phage training’ to bolster the therapeutic potential of bacteriophages	96
PhoU: a multifaceted regulator in microbial signaling and homeostasis	92
The mass spectrometry of microbiome-mediated metabolism of food: challenges and opportunities	87
Editorial Board	85
The mycobiome: interactions with host and implications in diseases	85
Ca2+-calmodulin signalling at the host-pathogen interface	82
The impact of the host microbiota on Candida albicans infection	79
Editorial overview: Unraveling microbiome complexity	72
Insights into Alphaproteobacterial regulators of cell envelope remodeling	69
Manipulation of host cell plasma membranes by intracellular bacterial pathogens	69
Fungal effectors: past, present, and future	69
Co-opting bacterial viruses for DNA exchange: structure and regulation of gene transfer agents	68
Control of bacterial second messenger signaling and motility by heme-based direct oxygen-sensing proteins	65
Coevolution of a generalist pathogen with many hosts: the case of the amphibian chytrid Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis	65
Function of autophagy genes in innate immune defense against mucosal pathogens	64
Fungus–insect interactions beyond bilateral regimes: the importance and strategy to outcompete host ectomicrobiomes by fungal parasites	64

Crosstalk between (p)ppGpp and other nucleotide second messengers	60
Editorial overview: Human fungal pathogens: An increasing threat	59
Neuroinvasion and neurotropism of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection	57
Soterobionts: disease-preventing microorganisms and proposed strategies to facilitate their discovery	55
Advances in regulation of homeostasis through chromatin modifications by airway commensals	54
Innovative and potential treatments for fungal central nervous system infections	53
Bottlenecks and opportunities in antibiotic discovery against Mycobacterium tuberculosis	52
Phagosome maturation during fungal infection	50
tRNAs as toxin targets in phage defence and a focus of counter-defence against abortive infection	49
Assembly of the exosporium layer in Clostridioides difficile spores	47
Defining the expanding mechanisms of phage-mediated activation of bacterial immunity	46
Antifungal drug-resistance mechanisms in Candida biofilms	45
Connecting microbial community assembly and function	44
Editorial Board	43
Conditionally unutilized proteins and their profound effects on growth and adaptation across microbial species	42
Trace gas oxidation as a novel microbial dispersal trait	42
Circadian interactions between plants and microorganisms	42
Activation of complement-like antiparasitic responses in Anopheles mosquitoes	42
Genetically engineered bacteriophages — their roles in combating intracellular bacterial infections and unraveling phage–eukaryote interactions	42
Decoding the epigenetic blueprint behind Toxoplasma (pre)sexual commitment and chronic persistence	42
How do interactions between mobile genetic elements affect horizontal gene transfer?	41
The maternal gut microbiome during pregnancy and its role in maternal and infant health	41
Host control by SPβ phage regulatory switch as potential manipulation strategy	39
Toward merging bottom–up and top–down model-based designing of synthetic microbial communities	39
Ecological and functional roles of bacteriophages in contrasting environments: marine, terrestrial and human gut	38
Editorial overview: Antibiotic discovery: Feeding the pipeline or finding new pipes?	38
Cell cycle regulation in Escherichia coli: from governing principles, checkpoints, and control variables to molecular mechanisms	38
Toothpicks, logic, and next-generation sequencing: systematic investigation of bacteriophage-host interactions	37
Differences and similarities between innate immune evasion strategies of human coronaviruses	37
The human vaginal microbiota: from clinical medicine to models to mechanisms	37
Environmental adaptation and diversification of bacterial two-component systems	37
Ecology of methyl-coenzyme M reductase encoding Thermoproteota	36
Bacteriophage communities are a reservoir of unexplored microbial diversity in neonatal health and disease	36
Dissecting skin microbiota and microenvironment for the development of therapeutic strategies	36
Ready, STAT3, Go! Bacteria in the race for M2 macrophage polarisation	35
The power of the small: the underestimated role of small proteins in bacterial and archaeal physiology	35
Editorial overview: There and back again: a phage’s tale	34
Editorial Board	34
Editorial overview: Turtles all the way down: Bacterial cell regulation across scales	33
Antibiotic tolerance: targeting bacterial survival	33
Cell cycle-regulated ApiAP2s and parasite development: the Toxoplasma paradigm	33
A tale of two nitrous oxide reductases: a cautionary perspective	32
Phage transmission strategies: are phages farming their host?	32
The intricate organizational strategy of nucleus-forming phages	32
Reservoirs of antimicrobial resistance in the context of One Health	30
Editorial overview: Recent advances in fundamental and translational research on parasitic protists	29
PII-like signaling proteins: a new paradigm in orchestrating cellular homeostasis	29
The importance of persistence and dormancy in Trypanosoma cruzi infection and Chagas disease	29
Emergence and adaptation of the cellular machinery directing antigenic variation in the African trypanosome	28
Biological and bioinformatic tools for the discovery of unknown phage–host combinations	28

Is Cryptococcus neoformans a pleomorphic fungus?	28
Virulence-associated factors as targets for phage infection	28
Investigating bacterial evolution in nature with metagenomics	28
SOS-independent bacterial DNA damage responses: diverse mechanisms, unifying function	28
New targets for antimalarial drug discovery	27
Archaeal key-residents within the human microbiome: characteristics, interactions and involvement in health and disease	27
Chemical communication in plant–microbe beneficial interactions: a toolbox for precise management of beneficial microbes	26
Predicting the evolution of antibiotic resistance	26
Editorial overview: Return of the phages — a new golden era of molecular discovery and synthetic biology	26
Beyond resistance: antifungal heteroresistance and antifungal tolerance in fungal pathogens	26
Deciphering mechanisms and implications of bacterial translocation in human health and disease	26
Editorial overview: emerging avenues in antimicrobial research	26
Temporospatial control of topoisomerases by essential cellular processes	26
Can a microbial community become an evolutionary individual?	25
Editorial Board	25
Strains to go: interactions of the skin microbiome beyond its species	25
Gram-positive pathogens, inflammation, and the host lipid environment	25
Horizontal gene transfer and beyond: the delivery of biological matter by bacterial membrane vesicles to host and bacterial cells	24
Editorial Board	24
The promise of CRISPR-associated transposons for bacterial functional genomics	24
The ribosome as a small-molecule sensor	24
Diversity and evolution of alphaproteobacterial dimorphism	24
Host-directed therapies for malaria: possible applications and lessons from other indications	24
Host genetics regulate the plant microbiome	23
Editorial overview: current state and future of the microbiome field: why context matters	23
Molecular mechanisms of cellular quiescence in apicomplexan parasites	23
Microbiome rescue: directing resilience of environmental microbial communities	23
Phage defense origin of animal immunity	22
Interplay of emerging and established technologies drives innovation in natural product antibiotic discovery	22
The multifaceted roles of Myb domain–containing proteins in apicomplexan parasites	22