ReviewNature reviews. Microbiology2021
When anaerobes encounter oxygen: mechanisms of oxygen toxicity, tolerance and defence.
Review in Nature reviews. Microbiology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 125 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
125 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 282 citations in OpenAlex.
- Have genetic targets for faecal pollution diagnostics and source tracking revolutionized water quality analysis yet?FEMS microbiology reviews · 2023Pooled it
- Therapeutic Prospection of Animal Venoms-Derived Antimicrobial Peptides against Infections by Multidrug-ResistantToxins · 2023Pooled it
- How low can they go? Aerobic respiration by microorganisms under apparent anoxia.FEMS microbiology reviews · 2022Pooled it
- Host metabolism shapes the intestinal microbiota: a top-down paradigm of environmental selection pressure.Gut microbes · 2026Review
- Dietary Sulfur Compounds and Halitosis: Bridging Food Science, Microbial Metabolism, and Oral Health: A Comprehensive Review.Molecular nutrition & food research · 2026Review
- Aerotolerant capacity of the lung symbiontJournal of bacteriology · 2026Article
- An Oxygen-Responsive Metabolic Shift in Gut BacteriumJACS Au · 2026Article
- Gut Microbiota in NSAID Enteropathy: Current Evidence and Future Perspectives for Therapeutic Strategies.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Fusobacterium nucleatum-induced mitophagy in macrophages supports intracellular bacterial persistence and promotes esophageal squamous cell carcinoma metastasis.Cellular & molecular immunology · 2026Article
- In-sewer microplastics drive microbial metabolic shifts toward enhanced methanogenesis.Environmental science and ecotechnology · 2026Article
- Packing Density Governs Tobacco Quality Through Microbial Community Assembly and Metabolic Reprogramming.Microorganisms · 2026Article
- An anaerobic pathogen rewires host metabolism to fuel oxidative growth in the inflamed gut.Cell · 2026Article
- Rational engineering of facultative anaerobiosis enables commensal survival in the oxygenated gut.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Proton FLASH Exposure Preserves Gut Commensal Microbiomes and Spares Intestinal Stem Cells.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Diverging Mineral Chemistry of Iron and Nickel Throughout Earth's Changing Redox Conditions Reveals Foundation for Their Evolution as Protein Cofactors.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Abrogation of SOS mutagenesis by themSystems · 2026Article
- Metagenomic strain tracking reveals patterns of bacterial spread and the impact of water chlorination.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Long-term performance and microbial insights of an iron-carbon enhanced CW-MFC and shallow sand filtration system for rural greywater treatment.RSC advances · 2026Article
- Advances in the biological production of butyric acid.World journal of microbiology & biotechnology · 2026Review
- Oxygen scavenging enables microoxic survival of the marine anammox bacterium Scalindua sp.The ISME journal · 2026Article
65 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
The defining trait of obligate anaerobes is that oxygen blocks their growth, yet the underlying mechanisms are unclear. A popular hypothesis was that these microorganisms failed to evolve defences to protect themselves from reactive oxygen species (ROS) such as superoxide and hydrogen peroxide, and that this failure is what prevents their expansion to oxic habitats. However, studies reveal that anaerobes actually wield most of the same defences that aerobes possess, and many of them have the capacity to tolerate substantial levels of oxygen. Therefore, to understand the structures and real-world dynamics of microbial communities, investigators have examined how anaerobes such as Bacteroides, Desulfovibrio, Pyrococcus and Clostridium spp. struggle and cope with oxygen. The hypoxic environments in which these organisms dwell - including the mammalian gut, sulfur vents and deep sediments - experience episodic oxygenation. In this Review, we explore the molecular mechanisms by which oxygen impairs anaerobes and the degree to which bacteria protect their metabolic pathways from it. The emergent view of anaerobiosis is that optimal strategies of anaerobic metabolism depend upon radical chemistry and low-potential metal centres. Such catalytic sites are intrinsically vulnerable to direct poisoning by molecular oxygen and ROS. Observations suggest that anaerobes have evolved tactics that either minimize the extent to which oxygen disrupts their metabolism or restore function shortly after the stress has dissipated.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.