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Divine Aleru, Microbiome Signatures Research Coordinator

About

I am a biochemist with a deep curiosity for the human microbiome and how it shapes human health, and I enjoy making microbiome science more accessible through research and writing. With 2 years experience in microbiome research, I have curated microbiome studies, analyzed microbial signatures, and now focus on interventions as a Microbiome Signatures and Interventions Research Coordinator.

Recent Posts

2026-01-28 22:31:02

An Essential Factor for High Mg2+ Tolerance of Staphylococcus aureus

This study identifies MpfA (SA0657) as a key magnesium protection factor in Staphylococcus aureus. Disabling MpfA makes the bacterium highly sensitive to Mg2+ and pinpoints a conserved CBS-domain residue needed for function, supporting a role in Mg2+ export or detoxification.

2026-01-28 21:28:04

The magnesium transporter A is activated by cardiolipin and is highly sensitive to free magnesium in vitro

What was studied?This experimental study investigated how the bacterial magnesium transporter A (MgtA) functions at the biochemical level and how membrane lipids and free magnesium concentrations regulate its activity. The authors focused on MgtA from Escherichia coli as a model system to clarify how this transporter responds to magnesium limitation and how it integrates environmental […]

2026-01-28 20:59:53

How pathogens feel and overcome magnesium limitation when in host tissues

This review explains how hosts restrict pathogens by triggering magnesium limitation signals during infection. It shows that bacteria respond to what they feel inside their cytoplasm and highlights Salmonella’s need for Mg2+ transport systems and stress sensors to survive inside macrophages.

2026-01-28 19:55:40

Current opinion on the regulation of small intestinal magnesium absorption

This review explains that the small intestine absorbs magnesium through regulated transcellular and paracellular pathways. Hormones, luminal pH sensing, and proton pump inhibitors can suppress absorption, while fermentation-linked acidification may support uptake. It links dysbiosis and inflammation to impaired magnesium bioavailability.

2026-01-28 19:38:14

The Laboratory and Clinical Perspectives of Magnesium Imbalance

This review explains how magnesium imbalance affects neuromuscular and cardiac function and why lab results can mislead. It highlights pre-analytical errors, limits of serum magnesium, and strong links between magnesium, potassium, calcium, and gut-related absorption or loss.

2026-01-28 18:18:34

Understanding How Minerals Contribute to Optimal Immune Function

This review explains how magnesium, zinc, copper, iron, and selenium shape innate and adaptive immunity and long-term inflammation. It highlights that magnesium deficiency can weaken the gut barrier and reduce bifidobacteria, which can raise inflammatory cytokines and worsen immune balance.

2026-01-28 17:48:41

Bacterial Mg2+ Homeostasis, Transport, and Virulence

This review explains how bacteria sense magnesium outside and inside the cell, switch among Mg2+ transporters, and remodel their envelope to survive low Mg2+. It shows how Mg2+ limitation and host stresses can activate virulence programs, especially in Salmonella and related pathogens.

2026-01-26 18:12:51

Magnesium (Mg)

Magnesium (Mg) is a vital metal that not only supports critical cellular functions in both humans and microbes but also plays a significant role in shaping microbial pathogenesis. By regulating microbial growth, virulence factor expression, and competition for nutrients, magnesium directly influences infection outcomes. Understanding how magnesium interacts with microbial communities and the host immune system provides novel insights into therapeutic strategies that modulate microbial behavior, potentially improving infection management and microbiome health.

2026-01-25 13:35:21

Impact of occupational exposure on human microbiota

This review explains how workplace microbes, chemicals, metals, and air pollution can change the adult human microbiome. It highlights links to colonization, gut permeability, and immune effects, and it suggests that stopping exposure alone may not reverse risk if microbiome changes persist.

2026-01-25 11:15:21

Efflux pumps activation caused by mercury contamination prompts antibiotic resistance and pathogen’s virulence under ambient and elevated CO2 concentration

Mercury-contaminated paddy soil increased plant and human pathogen signals under both ambient and elevated CO₂. Metagenomics showed strong activation of efflux pumps, especially the RND family, alongside higher adherence and secretion-related virulence factors, linking metal exposure to antibiotic resistance potential and pathogen aggressiveness.

2026-01-25 10:53:13

Methylmercury’s chemistry: From the environment to the mammalian brain

This review explains how methylmercury forms in the environment, enters the body, and reaches the brain through fast “exchange” chemistry with sulfur and selenium groups. It highlights microbial methylation as the exposure driver and selenoenzymes as vulnerable targets that amplify neurotoxicity.

2026-01-24 23:33:18

Toxicity of Glutathione-Binding Metals: A Review of Targets and Mechanisms

This review explains how mercury, cadmium, arsenic, and lead disrupt glutathione and cysteine-based defenses. It emphasizes catalytic mercury-driven glutathione oxidation and metal-conjugate breakdown that generates electrophiles and metal sulfides, linking these mechanisms to kidney, neurologic, and carcinogenic injury patterns.

2026-01-24 09:08:09

Expanded Diversity and Phylogeny of mer Genes Broadens Mercury Resistance Paradigms and Reveals an Origin for MerA Among Thermophilic Archaea

What was studied?This original research study used large-scale bioinformatics to map where mercury detoxification genes occur across prokaryotes and to infer how those genes evolved. The authors screened 84,032 bacterial and archaeal genomes, including isolate genomes, metagenome-assembled genomes, and single-cell genomes, for mercuric reductase (MerA), which reduces Hg(II) to volatile Hg(0), and organomercury lyase (MerB), […]

2026-01-24 08:53:27

Microbial Diversity of Mer Operon Genes and Their Potential Rules in Mercury Bioremediation and Resistance

What was reviewed?This review explained how mercury cycles through air, water, and soil and how microbes control key steps that change mercury toxicity. It focused on mercury-resistant bacteria and the mer operon as a practical framework for understanding detoxification and resistance. The authors also compared physical and chemical cleanup approaches with biologic approaches, arguing that […]

2026-01-23 11:35:25

Diversity of Mercury-Tolerant Microorganisms

This review explains how mercury-tolerant bacteria, fungi, and microalgae resist and transform mercury. It highlights detox genes such as the mer system, biofilm binding, and redox-driven methylation and demethylation that change mercury toxicity and exposure risk across ecosystems.

2026-01-23 11:09:18

Sulfhydryl groups as targets of mercury toxicity

This review explains that mercury toxicity largely comes from binding thiol groups in cysteine, glutathione, and proteins. That binding disrupts enzymes, antioxidant defenses, and signaling, driving oxidative stress, mitochondrial injury, and multi-organ effects that may also influence gut barrier stress and downstream microbiome function.

2026-01-23 10:51:11

New insights into the metabolism of organomercury compounds

This study shows that mercury cysteine conjugates act like amino acids and directly affect sulfur metabolism enzymes. Human GTK can use and inhibit these conjugates, while cystathionine γ-lyase is irreversibly inactivated at low micromolar mercury levels, expanding how mercury can drive toxicity.

2026-01-19 21:54:43

Mercury

Mercury primarily affects microbiome pathogenesis by acting as a strong toxic selector that enriches organisms carrying mercury detox systems and the mobile elements that often co-carry antimicrobial resistance. In the gut, mercury speciation and bioavailability are shaped by thiols and sulfide chemistry, while microbial responses are dominated by the mer operon toolkit that detects Hg(II), traffics it intracellularly, and reduces it to Hg(0) for detox and loss from the cell.

2026-01-19 10:24:25

Gut microbial metabolism in ferroptosis and colorectal cancer

This review explains how gut microbes influence ferroptosis in colorectal cancer through vitamins, bile acids, SCFAs, and tryptophan metabolites. It highlights microbe-linked metabolites that either sensitize tumors to ferroptosis or block it, shaping therapy response and resistance.

2026-01-19 01:00:23

Ferroptosis: a potential bridge linking gut microbiota and chronic kidney disease

This review connects gut microbiota dysbiosis to ferroptosis biology in chronic kidney disease, emphasizing how microbial metabolites and altered antioxidant defenses can amplify iron-driven lipid peroxidation. It highlights functional shifts toward fewer SCFA producers and more uremic toxin producers and discusses diet and microbial interventions.

2026-01-19 00:43:39

Inhibiting ferroptosis: A novel approach for stroke therapeutics

This review explains how ferroptosis drives lipid peroxidation and brain injury in ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke. It summarizes drug targets and inhibitors such as ferrostatin-1, liproxstatin-1, selenium/GPX4 support, N-acetylcysteine, and iron chelation, and it discusses translation limits.

2026-01-19 00:31:08

Ferroptosis as a mechanism of neurodegeneration inAlzheimer’s disease

This review connects Alzheimer’s neurodegeneration to ferroptosis, an iron-driven, lipid-peroxidation cell-death program. It summarizes human and model evidence linking brain iron, GPX4 antioxidant defense failure, and amyloid/tau-related iron handling to cognitive decline, and outlines therapy angles that target iron–redox stress.

2026-01-19 00:25:20

A critical appraisal of ferroptosis in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease

This review links ferroptosis to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease by connecting iron imbalance, mitochondrial stress, and lipid peroxidation to neuronal loss. It highlights LOX-driven oxidized phospholipids, ACSL4-dependent lipid vulnerability, VDAC2-related iron handling, and ferritinophagy as key mechanisms, and it prioritizes Nrf2/Bach1 as actionable therapeutic targets.

2026-01-18 22:35:17

Selenium: Tracing Another Essential Element of Ferroptotic Cell Death

What was reviewed?This review explored the role of selenium in ferroptosis, focusing on its essential involvement through glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4), a key selenoenzyme that protects against lipid peroxidation and ferroptosis. It examines the dual role of selenium in regulating iron-dependent lipid peroxidation and the mechanisms through which selenium, via GPX4 and other selenoproteins, helps […]

2026-01-18 22:20:29

A new role of glutathione peroxidase 4 during human erythroblast enucleation

This study identifies GPX4 as essential for human erythroblast enucleation, independent of ferroptosis. The results show that lipid raft clustering and myosin phosphorylation, which are necessary for enucleation, are disrupted in GPX4-deficient cells, and cholesterol supplementation can partially restore enucleation efficiency.

2026-01-18 22:15:17

GPX4 in cell death, autophagy, and disease

What Was Studied?The research paper reviewed the roles of GPX4 (Glutathione Peroxidase 4) in cell death, particularly focusing on its function in ferroptosis, autophagy, and disease. GPX4, a key selenoenzyme, plays a pivotal role in mitigating lipid peroxidation, thus protecting cells from oxidative stress and various forms of regulated cell death (RCD). The study explores […]

2026-01-18 21:18:33

Beyond ferrostatin-1: a comprehensive review of ferroptosis inhibitors

This review explains why stopping membrane lipid peroxidation is the most reliable way to block ferroptosis. It compares endogenous defenses with synthetic inhibitors and shows that optimized radical-trapping antioxidants offer the strongest in vivo potential, while many upstream strategies remain less consistent across models.

2026-01-18 21:07:21

Microbial regulation of ferroptosis in cancer

This review explains how a gut bacterial tryptophan metabolite, IDA, can promote colorectal cancer by blocking ferroptosis through an AHR–ALDH1A3–FSP1–CoQ10 pathway. It reframes microbial metabolites as direct regulators of tumor cell death vulnerability, not just immune modifiers.

2026-01-18 21:01:46

Regulation of Ferroptotic Cancer Cell Death by GPX4

What was studied?This was an experimental mechanistic study that tested whether GPX4 is a central regulator of ferroptosis and whether chemically inducing GPX4 failure can selectively kill cancer cells and suppress tumor growth. The authors compared multiple ferroptosis-inducing small molecules and used metabolomics, chemoproteomics, and genetic modulation to map where these compounds converge. They showed […]

2026-01-18 19:19:39

The biology of ferroptosis in kidney disease

This review explains how ferroptosis drives kidney injury through iron-dependent lipid peroxidation when GPX4- and FSP1-based defenses fail. It highlights proximal tubule vulnerability, links ferroptosis to ischemia–reperfusion and nephrotoxins, and summarizes anti-ferroptotic strategies that protect kidneys in models.

2026-01-18 19:10:31

Lipid metabolism in ferroptosis: mechanistic insights and therapeutic potential

This review explains how lipid metabolism drives ferroptosis by shaping oxidation-prone membrane phospholipids and controlling iron-dependent lipid peroxidation. It highlights ACSL4 and LPCAT3 remodeling, GPX4 and system xc− defenses, and backup antioxidant pathways such as FSP1–CoQ10 and GCH1–BH4, with implications for cancer and tissue injury.

2026-01-18 18:57:14

Targeting ACSLs to modulate ferroptosis and cancer immunity

This review explains how ACSL enzymes reshape tumor fatty-acid use and control ferroptosis and cancer immunity. It contrasts ACSL4-driven polyunsaturated lipid remodeling that promotes ferroptosis with ACSL3-oleic acid programs that resist ferroptosis, and it links these pathways to immunotherapy response.

2026-01-18 17:10:51

Ferroptosis: principles and significance in health and disease

What was reviewed?This paper reviewed ferroptosis as a regulated, non-apoptotic form of cell death driven by iron-dependent lipid peroxidation, then mapped the main molecular “pressure points” that determine whether cells resist or enter ferroptosis. It focused on core chemistry (iron handling and lipid oxidation), the best-supported defense systems that stop membrane damage, and how organelles […]

2026-01-18 17:04:58

Ferroptosis: An Iron-Dependent Form of Nonapoptotic Cell Death

What was studied?This study defined and experimentally mapped a distinct form of regulated cell death that the authors named ferroptosis. They used the RAS-selective small molecule erastin to trigger this phenotype, then tested what conditions were required for death, what cellular damage accumulated first, and how this process differed from apoptosis, necrosis, and autophagy. They […]

2026-01-16 08:06:59

Ferroptosis

Ferroptosis links metabolism to disease because it depends on iron handling and membrane lipid chemistry. Tumors, neurodegeneration, and organ injury models often shift ferroptosis sensitivity by changing cystine uptake, glutathione levels, GPX4 activity, and alternative antioxidant pathways such as FSP1–CoQ10.

2026-01-15 12:25:24

A small molecule inhibitor prevents gut bacterial genotoxin production

This study shows a selective small molecule can block colibactin production by inhibiting the activating enzyme ClbP. The inhibitor stops colibactin-linked DNA damage signals and DNA adduct formation in infected cells and remains effective in a fecal microbiome model without broad antibiotic effects.

2026-01-15 11:50:23

A Meta-Analysis on the Association of Colibactin-Producing pks+ Escherichia coli with the Development of Colorectal Cancer

What was studied?This study performed a meta-analysis to clarify whether carrying colibactin-producing pks+ Escherichia coli associates with a higher risk of colorectal cancer (CRC), because prior individual studies reported conflicting results. The authors systematically searched major databases up to October 18, 2021, extracted case–control and cohort data where CRC status was confirmed and pks genes […]

2026-01-15 11:10:19

The Colibactin Genotoxin Generates DNA Interstrand Cross-Links in Infected Cells

his study shows colibactin-producing bacteria directly create DNA interstrand cross-links in human cells, triggering ATR replication stress and Fanconi repair responses. Blocking colibactin maturation or adding ClbS prevents cross-links, and inhibiting ATR or FANCD2 lowers cell survival, defining ICLs as the key lesion.

2026-01-15 10:52:06

Architecture of a PKS-NRPS hybrid megaenzyme involved in the biosynthesis of the genotoxin colibactin

What was studied?This study used structural biology to define how ClbK, a PKS–NRPS hybrid “megaenzyme” encoded by the pks biosynthetic gene cluster in colibactin-producing Enterobacteriaceae, is built and how its architecture could support a key elongation step in colibactin assembly. The authors focused on the complete trans-AT PKS module of ClbK and the full-length hybrid […]

2026-01-15 10:11:33

Current understandings of colibactin regulation

This review explains how pks+ E. coli control colibactin production and why iron, oxygen, inflammation, diet, and drugs change DNA damage risk. It highlights ClbR regulation, inflammation-linked clb upregulation, and interventions such as mesalamine, d-serine, and SCFAs that can reduce genotoxicity.

2026-01-15 09:16:04

Colibactin: More Than a New Bacterial Toxin

This review explains how pks-positive bacteria produce colibactin, how it damages host DNA, and why it links to colorectal cancer and invasive infection severity. It also summarizes toxin-pathway inhibition as a prevention strategy while noting pks-derived anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects.

2026-01-13 09:14:53

Colibactin

Colibactin is a microbiome-derived genotoxin produced by a subset of gut-associated bacteria that carry the pks (clb) biosynthetic gene cluster. Rather than acting like a classical acute toxin, colibactin is clinically relevant because it can chemically damage host DNA, creating lesions that are difficult to repair and that may leave persistent mutations if cells survive. In a microbiome systems context, colibactin is best understood as a functional output of specific bacterial metabolism that can intersect with host genome stability, particularly at the intestinal epithelial interface.

2026-01-07 15:43:09

Mismetallation

The human microbiome plays a critical role in metal metabolism, influencing both metal absorption and the potential for mismetallation in the body. Studies show that heavy metals can disrupt microbial diversity, leading to dysbiosis and altered metabolic functions in the gut. Moreover, some microbes possess the ability to sequester toxic metals, preventing their absorption and thus minimizing the risks of mismetallation in host tissues. As research in this area progresses, understanding these microbiota-metal interactions will be crucial for exploring new avenues in the prevention and treatment of metal-associated diseases.

2026-01-07 15:29:14

Bioremediation and Tolerance of Humans to Heavy Metals through Microbial Processes: a Potential Role for Probiotics?

What was reviewed?This review focuses on the role of probiotics, specifically lactobacilli, in bioremediation and the detoxification of heavy metals. The paper reviews how microbial processes, especially those of gastrointestinal bacteria, interact with heavy metals like arsenic, cadmium, mercury, and lead. It emphasizes the potential of probiotics in removing or sequestering these metals from the […]

2026-01-07 14:40:53

Metallochaperones: Bind and Deliver

This review examines the role of metallochaperones in copper and nickel ion transport, highlighting their significance in metal ion homeostasis and implications for treating diseases like Wilson’s and Menkes diseases.

2026-01-07 14:33:27

Essential metals in health and disease

This review explores the biological roles of essential metals in human health, focusing on their contributions to enzymatic functions and redox reactions. It also highlights how dysregulation of metal homeostasis can lead to diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and cancer.

2026-01-07 13:50:30

Lysosome-related Organelles as Mediators of Metal Homeostasis

This review examines the role of lysosome-related organelles in regulating metal homeostasis, focusing on how these organelles store and transport metals like copper, zinc, and iron to maintain cellular balance and protect against toxicity.

2026-01-07 12:47:51

Metallochaperones: A critical regulator of metal homeostasis and beyond

This study investigates metallochaperones in plants, focusing on their role in metal homeostasis, detoxification, and stress responses. These proteins are essential for managing toxic metals like cadmium and enhancing plant resistance to environmental stressors and pathogens.

2026-01-07 11:44:29

The Mismetallation of Enzymes during Oxidative Stress

This study explores the effects of oxidative stress on metallation in E. coli enzymes, focusing on the competition between iron, zinc, and manganese for enzyme binding sites, and the protective role of manganese in restoring enzyme activity.

2026-01-07 11:34:55

Metal Preferences and Metallation

What was studied?The study investigates the metal preferences and metallation processes of enzymes, particularly focusing on the role of metal ions in metalloenzyme function. It explores how cells regulate the binding of metals to enzymes and how these metals impact enzymatic activity. The study also delves into the competitive nature of metal ions such as […]