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 2022-06-01 to 2026-06-01.)

Article	Citations
Editorial overview: Fungal diversity: Now for something completely different	204
Renal implications of coronavirus disease 2019: insights into viral tropism and clinical outcomes	169
Convergence in domesticated fungi used for cheese and dry-cured meat maturation: beneficial traits, genomic mechanisms, and degeneration	125
PhoU: a multifaceted regulator in microbial signaling and homeostasis	123
Harnessing ‘phage training’ to bolster the therapeutic potential of bacteriophages	109
The mycobiome: interactions with host and implications in diseases	105
Innovative approaches in the discovery of terpenoid natural products	103
Starvation as a weapon in fungal–plant warfare	102
Corrigendum to “Assembly and maturation of methyl-coenzyme M reductase in methanogenic archaea” [Curr Opin Microbiol, 87 (2025) 102637]	99
Vertebrate and invertebrate animal infection models of Candida auris pathogenicity	98
Synthetic microbial communities for studying and engineering the tree microbiome: challenges and opportunities	93
The mass spectrometry of microbiome-mediated metabolism of food: challenges and opportunities	92
Interplay between bacterial outer membranes and S-layers	89
Innate immune responses to Rickettsia: emerging themes and contrasts between species	88
Transient microbial architects: tracing the legacy effects of ephemeral taxa during plant microbiome assembly	87
Editorial Board	85
Control of bacterial second messenger signaling and motility by heme-based direct oxygen-sensing proteins	76
Ca2+-calmodulin signalling at the host-pathogen interface	71
Co-opting bacterial viruses for DNA exchange: structure and regulation of gene transfer agents	71
Editorial overview: Unraveling microbiome complexity	70
Manipulation of host cell plasma membranes by intracellular bacterial pathogens	70
The impact of the host microbiota on Candida albicans infection	66
Crosstalk between (p)ppGpp and other nucleotide second messengers	66
Coevolution of a generalist pathogen with many hosts: the case of the amphibian chytrid Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis	66
Fungus–insect interactions beyond bilateral regimes: the importance and strategy to outcompete host ectomicrobiomes by fungal parasites	66

Function of autophagy genes in innate immune defense against mucosal pathogens	63
Insights into Alphaproteobacterial regulators of cell envelope remodeling	61
Fungal effectors: past, present, and future	59
Editorial overview: Human fungal pathogens: An increasing threat	56
Pathways of mRNA decay in trypanosomes	56
Soterobionts: disease-preventing microorganisms and proposed strategies to facilitate their discovery	56
Advances in regulation of homeostasis through chromatin modifications by airway commensals	53
tRNAs as toxin targets in phage defence and a focus of counter-defence against abortive infection	52
Connecting microbial community assembly and function	50
Antifungal drug-resistance mechanisms in Candida biofilms	50
Phagosome maturation during fungal infection	48
Bottlenecks and opportunities in antibiotic discovery against Mycobacterium tuberculosis	47
Defining the expanding mechanisms of phage-mediated activation of bacterial immunity	46
Innovative and potential treatments for fungal central nervous system infections	46
Neuroinvasion and neurotropism of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection	45
Trace gas oxidation as a novel microbial dispersal trait	44
Editorial Board	44
Assembly of the exosporium layer in Clostridioides difficile spores	44
Decoding the epigenetic blueprint behind Toxoplasma (pre)sexual commitment and chronic persistence	43
Genetically engineered bacteriophages — their roles in combating intracellular bacterial infections and unraveling phage–eukaryote interactions	42
Conditionally unutilized proteins and their profound effects on growth and adaptation across microbial species	42
Circadian interactions between plants and microorganisms	42
Host control by SPβ phage regulatory switch as potential manipulation strategy	40
Activation of complement-like antiparasitic responses in Anopheles mosquitoes	39
How do interactions between mobile genetic elements affect horizontal gene transfer?	39
Toward merging bottom–up and top–down model-based designing of synthetic microbial communities	39
The maternal gut microbiome during pregnancy and its role in maternal and infant health	39
Ready, STAT3, Go! Bacteria in the race for M2 macrophage polarisation	38
The power of the small: the underestimated role of small proteins in bacterial and archaeal physiology	38
Editorial overview: Antibiotic discovery: Feeding the pipeline or finding new pipes?	38
The human vaginal microbiota: from clinical medicine to models to mechanisms	38
Dissecting skin microbiota and microenvironment for the development of therapeutic strategies	38
Ecology of methyl-coenzyme M reductase encoding Thermoproteota	37
Differences and similarities between innate immune evasion strategies of human coronaviruses	37
Cell cycle regulation in Escherichia coli: from governing principles, checkpoints, and control variables to molecular mechanisms	36
Bacteriophage communities are a reservoir of unexplored microbial diversity in neonatal health and disease	36
Toothpicks, logic, and next-generation sequencing: systematic investigation of bacteriophage-host interactions	36
Environmental adaptation and diversification of bacterial two-component systems	35
The role of protein Ser/Thr/Tyr kinases in bacteriophage infection	35
Editorial overview: There and back again: a phage’s tale	34
Ecological and functional roles of bacteriophages in contrasting environments: marine, terrestrial and human gut	34
Editorial Board	33
Editorial overview: Turtles all the way down: Bacterial cell regulation across scales	33
Cell cycle-regulated ApiAP2s and parasite development: the Toxoplasma paradigm	32
The intricate organizational strategy of nucleus-forming phages	32
Phage transmission strategies: are phages farming their host?	30
Reservoirs of antimicrobial resistance in the context of One Health	30
Chemical communication in plant–microbe beneficial interactions: a toolbox for precise management of beneficial microbes	29
SOS-independent bacterial DNA damage responses: diverse mechanisms, unifying function	29
A tale of two nitrous oxide reductases: a cautionary perspective	29

Beyond resistance: antifungal heteroresistance and antifungal tolerance in fungal pathogens	29
Biological and bioinformatic tools for the discovery of unknown phage–host combinations	29
Emergence and adaptation of the cellular machinery directing antigenic variation in the African trypanosome	29
Editorial overview: Recent advances in fundamental and translational research on parasitic protists	29
Antibiotic tolerance: targeting bacterial survival	29
New targets for antimalarial drug discovery	28
Virulence-associated factors as targets for phage infection	28
Archaeal key-residents within the human microbiome: characteristics, interactions and involvement in health and disease	27
The importance of persistence and dormancy in Trypanosoma cruzi infection and Chagas disease	27
Is Cryptococcus neoformans a pleomorphic fungus?	27
PII-like signaling proteins: a new paradigm in orchestrating cellular homeostasis	27
Investigating bacterial evolution in nature with metagenomics	27
Temporospatial control of topoisomerases by essential cellular processes	26
Editorial overview: Return of the phages — a new golden era of molecular discovery and synthetic biology	26
Predicting the evolution of antibiotic resistance	26
Editorial overview: emerging avenues in antimicrobial research	26
Editorial Board	25
Can a microbial community become an evolutionary individual?	25
From known knowns to unknown unknowns: synthetic biology paths to antimicrobial discovery	25
Strains to go: interactions of the skin microbiome beyond its species	25
Editorial Board	25
Gram-positive pathogens, inflammation, and the host lipid environment	25
Deciphering mechanisms and implications of bacterial translocation in human health and disease	25
Horizontal gene transfer and beyond: the delivery of biological matter by bacterial membrane vesicles to host and bacterial cells	24
Host-directed therapies for malaria: possible applications and lessons from other indications	23
The ribosome as a small-molecule sensor	23
The case for exploring innate memory in Plasmodium infection	23
Diversity and evolution of alphaproteobacterial dimorphism	23
The promise of CRISPR-associated transposons for bacterial functional genomics	23
Microbiome rescue: directing resilience of environmental microbial communities	22
The promise of copper ionophores as antimicrobials	22
Host genetics regulate the plant microbiome	22
Current perspectives of host-pathogen dynamics in coccidioidomycosis	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
The multifaceted roles of Myb domain–containing proteins in apicomplexan parasites	21