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 2022-08-01 to 2026-08-01.)

Article	Citations
Editorial overview: Fungal diversity: Now for something completely different	225
Renal implications of coronavirus disease 2019: insights into viral tropism and clinical outcomes	179
Convergence in domesticated fungi used for cheese and dry-cured meat maturation: beneficial traits, genomic mechanisms, and degeneration	137
Vertebrate and invertebrate animal infection models of Candida auris pathogenicity	130
PhoU: a multifaceted regulator in microbial signaling and homeostasis	116
The mycobiome: interactions with host and implications in diseases	112
Corrigendum to “Assembly and maturation of methyl-coenzyme M reductase in methanogenic archaea” [Curr Opin Microbiol, 87 (2025) 102637]	109
Harnessing ‘phage training’ to bolster the therapeutic potential of bacteriophages	109
Interplay between bacterial outer membranes and S-layers	109
Innate immune responses to Rickettsia: emerging themes and contrasts between species	107
The mass spectrometry of microbiome-mediated metabolism of food: challenges and opportunities	102
Starvation as a weapon in fungal–plant warfare	100
Synthetic microbial communities for studying and engineering the tree microbiome: challenges and opportunities	98
Transient microbial architects: tracing the legacy effects of ephemeral taxa during plant microbiome assembly	97
Innovative approaches in the discovery of terpenoid natural products	97
Editorial Board	91
Co-opting bacterial viruses for DNA exchange: structure and regulation of gene transfer agents	83
Editorial overview: Unraveling microbiome complexity	79
Function of autophagy genes in innate immune defense against mucosal pathogens	79
The impact of the host microbiota on Candida albicans infection	73
Insights into Alphaproteobacterial regulators of cell envelope remodeling	73
Fungus–insect interactions beyond bilateral regimes: the importance and strategy to outcompete host ectomicrobiomes by fungal parasites	71
Coevolution of a generalist pathogen with many hosts: the case of the amphibian chytrid Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis	69
Manipulation of host cell plasma membranes by intracellular bacterial pathogens	68
Crosstalk between (p)ppGpp and other nucleotide second messengers	68

Fungal effectors: past, present, and future	63
Control of bacterial second messenger signaling and motility by heme-based direct oxygen-sensing proteins	62
Pathways of mRNA decay in trypanosomes	60
Ca2+-calmodulin signalling at the host-pathogen interface	60
Phagosome maturation during fungal infection	56
Soterobionts: disease-preventing microorganisms and proposed strategies to facilitate their discovery	53
Editorial overview: Human fungal pathogens: An increasing threat	53
Advances in regulation of homeostasis through chromatin modifications by airway commensals	52
tRNAs as toxin targets in phage defence and a focus of counter-defence against abortive infection	51
Bottlenecks and opportunities in antibiotic discovery against Mycobacterium tuberculosis	51
Neuroinvasion and neurotropism of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection	50
Innovative and potential treatments for fungal central nervous system infections	49
Antifungal drug-resistance mechanisms in Candida biofilms	48
Connecting microbial community assembly and function	48
Defining the expanding mechanisms of phage-mediated activation of bacterial immunity	47
Trace gas oxidation as a novel microbial dispersal trait	47
From coarse-grained metabolic rules to fine-grained control of microbial communities	47
Circadian interactions between plants and microorganisms	45
Decoding the epigenetic blueprint behind Toxoplasma (pre)sexual commitment and chronic persistence	45
Genetically engineered bacteriophages — their roles in combating intracellular bacterial infections and unraveling phage–eukaryote interactions	44
Host control by SPβ phage regulatory switch as potential manipulation strategy	44
The maternal gut microbiome during pregnancy and its role in maternal and infant health	43
How do interactions between mobile genetic elements affect horizontal gene transfer?	42
Conditionally unutilized proteins and their profound effects on growth and adaptation across microbial species	42
Activation of complement-like antiparasitic responses in Anopheles mosquitoes	41
Toward merging bottom–up and top–down model-based designing of synthetic microbial communities	41
Toothpicks, logic, and next-generation sequencing: systematic investigation of bacteriophage-host interactions	40
Editorial overview: Antibiotic discovery: Feeding the pipeline or finding new pipes?	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
Ready, STAT3, Go! Bacteria in the race for M2 macrophage polarisation	38
Bacteriophage communities are a reservoir of unexplored microbial diversity in neonatal health and disease	38
The role of protein Ser/Thr/Tyr kinases in bacteriophage infection	38
The human vaginal microbiota: from clinical medicine to models to mechanisms	38
Ecology of methyl-coenzyme M reductase encoding Thermoproteota	38
Dissecting skin microbiota and microenvironment for the development of therapeutic strategies	37
Ecological and functional roles of bacteriophages in contrasting environments: marine, terrestrial and human gut	37
Environmental adaptation and diversification of bacterial two-component systems	37
Editorial overview: There and back again: a phage’s tale	36
Cell cycle regulation in Escherichia coli: from governing principles, checkpoints, and control variables to molecular mechanisms	36
Editorial overview: Turtles all the way down: Bacterial cell regulation across scales	34
A tale of two nitrous oxide reductases: a cautionary perspective	34
Editorial Board	34
Antibiotic tolerance: targeting bacterial survival	33
Cell cycle-regulated ApiAP2s and parasite development: the Toxoplasma paradigm	33
Reservoirs of antimicrobial resistance in the context of One Health	33
The intricate organizational strategy of nucleus-forming phages	33
Phage transmission strategies: are phages farming their host?	32
Editorial overview: Recent advances in fundamental and translational research on parasitic protists	32
Biological and bioinformatic tools for the discovery of unknown phage–host combinations	32

New targets for antimalarial drug discovery	31
Emergence and adaptation of the cellular machinery directing antigenic variation in the African trypanosome	31
Is Cryptococcus neoformans a pleomorphic fungus?	31
SOS-independent bacterial DNA damage responses: diverse mechanisms, unifying function	30
Virulence-associated factors as targets for phage infection	30
Investigating bacterial evolution in nature with metagenomics	30
PII-like signaling proteins: a new paradigm in orchestrating cellular homeostasis	30
Chemical communication in plant–microbe beneficial interactions: a toolbox for precise management of beneficial microbes	30
Beyond resistance: antifungal heteroresistance and antifungal tolerance in fungal pathogens	30
The importance of persistence and dormancy in Trypanosoma cruzi infection and Chagas disease	29
Editorial overview: Return of the phages — a new golden era of molecular discovery and synthetic biology	28
Predicting the evolution of antibiotic resistance	28
Temporospatial control of topoisomerases by essential cellular processes	28
Editorial overview: emerging avenues in antimicrobial research	28
Strains to go: interactions of the skin microbiome beyond its species	27
Gram-positive pathogens, inflammation, and the host lipid environment	27
Can a microbial community become an evolutionary individual?	27
From known knowns to unknown unknowns: synthetic biology paths to antimicrobial discovery	26
Editorial Board	26
In situ genetic modification of gut bacteria	26
Editorial Board	26
Host-directed therapies for malaria: possible applications and lessons from other indications	25
The promise of CRISPR-associated transposons for bacterial functional genomics	24
Differential signaling roles of the KinA-KinE sensor kinases in regulating Spo0A, the master regulator of Bacillus subtilis cell‑fate decisions	24
Diversity and evolution of alphaproteobacterial dimorphism	24
The ribosome as a small-molecule sensor	24
Horizontal gene transfer and beyond: the delivery of biological matter by bacterial membrane vesicles to host and bacterial cells	24
Host genetics regulate the plant microbiome	24
Discovery of new mechanisms to control metabolism and homeostasis in Bacillus subtilis	24
Microbiome rescue: directing resilience of environmental microbial communities	22
The case for exploring innate memory in Plasmodium infection	22
Microbial biomolecular condensates: from conserved principles to synthetic biology opportunities	21
Editorial overview: current state and future of the microbiome field: why context matters	21
Phage defense origin of animal immunity	21
The promise of copper ionophores as antimicrobials	21
Interplay of emerging and established technologies drives innovation in natural product antibiotic discovery	21
Molecular mechanisms of cellular quiescence in apicomplexan parasites	21
Current perspectives of host-pathogen dynamics in coccidioidomycosis	21