The pressing challenges posed by climate change and the depletion of traditional energy sources have intensified the search for alternative energy-harvesting technologies. Plant-microbial fuel cells (PMFCs) have emerged as a promising solution. Although they are not yet energetically competitive, their potential application in low-power devices as a battery replacement has been widely explored. PMFCs operate by integrating living plants with microbial fuel cells to generate electricity in situ through the metabolic activity of electroactive microorganisms (EAMs) in the rhizosphere. These microbes degrade root exudates and play a central role in PMFC performance and long-term stability. In this review, we selected 21 studies that examined bacterial and archaeal communities in PMFCs, comparing their microbial composition and resulting electricity outputs. We highlight how differences in plant species, system configurations, and environmental conditions influence the structure and function of microbial communities. We also discuss the methods used for microbial community assessment and address the persistent lack of standardization across studies, which limits comparability. Finally, we outline future research directions aimed at optimising PMFC performance, including the search for electroactivity biomarkers, the potential of genetic engineering and nanomaterials, and the largely unexplored electroactive potential of eukaryotes in these systems. This review advances the existing literature by incorporating recent findings and offering a renewed perspective on PMFC systems.

Safe and effective gene delivery remains a central challenge for therapeutic applications. While non-viral and viral vectors have enabled substantial progress, their reliance on non-human components often triggers immune responses, limiting their use in chronic treatments. Here, we developed DeepDelivery, an artificial intelligence-driven platform to repurpose human proteins for mRNA delivery. An unbiased screening of the human proteome nominated 512 candidates, with experimental validation confirming that 80% of top-ranked hits form mRNA-encapsulating particles and mediate efficient functional delivery in human cells without provoking detectable inflammation. Notably, multiple tripartite motif (TRIM) family proteins, typically linked to antiviral responses, exhibited strong assembly and delivery activity. Quantitative analysis and interpretation of the model revealed structural domains that govern nanocage formation, enabling domain-guided engineering of TRIM25 variants with enhanced function. Our work establishes a generalizable framework for discovering human-derived delivery vehicles and provides a path toward programmable, non-immunogenic mRNA therapeutics.

Terminal extensions are recurrent features in protein evolution, often linked to environmental adaptation and novel regulatory or interaction functions. Here, we combine comparative genomics, structural modeling, and functional assays to elucidate the evolutionary diversification and functional significance of one of the key proteins of all cells, translation initiation factor 2 (IF2) terminal extensions across the tree of life. Specifically, we reconstruct the first comprehensive evolutionary map of IF2 across life, analyzing 800 homologs and classify seven distinct structural architectures of IF2 based on extension regions. These extensions are enriched for intrinsically disordered and phase-separation promoting residues, suggesting roles beyond the conserved catalytic core. Further, functional characterization of IF2 with varying N-terminal lengths show that loss of the N-terminal extension slows bacterial growth specifically under temperature and pH stress. Appending C-terminal extensions from different organisms to the E. coli IF2 demonstrates a conserved role for these extensions in adaptation to temperature and anaerobiosis. Our findings establish the functional significance of IF2 terminal extensions, linking their evolutionary diversification to stress-dependent regulation of translation.

Antimicrobial resistance poses an escalating global threat, renewing interest in bacteriophage therapy as a precision alternative to antibiotics. However, clinical translation remains hindered by the lack of rapid and quantitative phage susceptibility testing (PST) platforms capable of evaluating host range, infection potency, and effective multiplicity of infection (MOI). Here we present RPST, a ramanome-based phenotypic platform that captures infection-induced remodeling of bacterial macromolecular composition to unify these diagnostic requirements within a single workflow. RPST integrates four Raman biomarkers into a Composite Infection Index (CII), enabling rapid and lysis-independent discrimination between susceptible and resistant bacterial populations within ~1 hour, with 96.0% categorical concordance (24/25) to plaque assays. As a continuous population-level metric, CII quantifies the proportion of infected cells, allowing quantitative ranking of phage potency against shared hosts. By resolving CII trajectories across the MOI and time, RPST further determines the minimal effective MOI, which is the lowest phage-to-bacterium ratio sustaining self-propagating infection, thereby defining the lower boundary for therapeutic feasibility. Together, these capabilities transform PST from static compatibility assays into a dynamic and quantitative framework that bridges in vitro infectivity assessment and infection dynamics relevant to phage therapy.