FEMS Journals, in partnership with Oxford University Press (OUP), are a leading resource for the microbiology community. Our not-for-profit publications advance the field through research, education, and collaboration, featuring exciting special issues, topical webinars, and cutting-edge advancements. Find out more.

• World Tuberculosis Day and our fight against one of the most dreadful diseases - Tuberculosis has affected humans for thousands of years and remains the leading cause of death from a single infectious agent. According to the WHO, approximately one quarter of the global population is infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. In 2024, around 10.7 million new tuberculosis cases were reported globally, while approximately 1.23 million people died from this disease. However, in recent years, significant progress has been made in understanding how Mycobacterium tuberculosis exploits its host to survive and cause disease. New drugs, such as bedaquiline, delamanid, and pretomanid, have been introduced to shorten therapy and treat drug-resistant tuberculosis. For this year’s World Tuberculosis Day, Devendra Pratap Singh discusses a novel approach to fight this dreadful disease. Read the full blog here. 
  
  
• Exploring the metabolic activities of microbial methane munchers - Although greenhouse gases are present in the atmosphere in relatively small amounts, their increasing concentrations cause stronger heat trapping on Earth. The second most abundant greenhouse gas, methane, has a high heat-trapping capacity but a short lifespan in the atmosphere. Therefore, decreasing atmospheric methane levels would result in quicker decreases in warming. So-called “microbial methane munchers” have the unique abilities to lower methane emissions from diverse ecosystems. That’s why the article “Uncovering hidden phylo- and ecogenomic diversity of the widespread methanotrophic genus Methylobacter” in the Thematic Issue “Advances in Microbial C1 Metabolism” explores methanotrophs and methane oxidisers as an unrecognised species diversity. Read the full blog here.
  
  
• Plasmids as key drivers of the antibiotic resistance crisis - Antibiotic resistance is one of the greatest threats to public health. Each year, resistant bacterial infections kill hundreds of thousands of people worldwide, and the numbers are rising. But where does this resistance come from, and how does it spread so quickly between bacteria, even across diverse environments? The article “Genomic Analysis of IncH Plasmids Reveals Their Role as Drivers of Antimicrobial Resistance and Adaptive Traits in Enterobacterales” in FEMS Microbiology Letters identifies IncH plasmids as a potential answer, as outlined by Bradd Mendoza-Guido. Read the full blog here.

The FEMS journals are run by microbiologists, and for microbiologists. Every article published by us has been rigorously reviewed for soundness of science by our community of academic peer reviewers – and the not-for-profit journals support the microbiology community.