Previously, we reported the persistence of the bacterial pathogen Neisseria meningitidis on fomites, indicating a potential route for environmental transmission. The current goal was to identify proteins that vary among strains of meningococci that have differing environmental survival. We carried out a proteomic analysis of two strains that differ in their potential for survival outside the host. The Group B epidemic strain NZ98/254 and Group W carriage strain H34 were cultured either at 36 °C, 5% CO2, and 95% relative humidity (RH) corresponding to host conditions in the nasopharynx, or at lower humidities of 22% or 30% RH at 30 °C, for which there was greater survival on fomites. For NZ98/254, the shift to lower RH and temperature was associated with increased abundance of proteins involved in metabolism, stress responses, and outer membrane components, including pili and porins. In contrast, H34 responded to lower RH by decreasing the abundance of multiple proteins, indicating that the lower viability of H34 may be linked to decreased capacity to mount core protective responses. The results provide a snapshot of bacterial proteins and metabolism that may be related to normal fitness, to the greater environmental persistence of NZ98/254 compared to H34, and potentially to differences in transmission and pathogenicity.

We present the Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU) survey conducted with the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP). EMU aims to deliver the touchstone radio atlas of the southern hemisphere. We introduce EMU and review its science drivers and key science goals, updated and tailored to the current ASKAP five-year survey plan. The development of the survey strategy and planned sky coverage is presented, along with the operational aspects of the survey and associated data analysis, together with a selection of diagnostics demonstrating the imaging quality and data characteristics. We give a general description of the value-added data pipeline and data products before concluding with a discussion of links to other surveys and projects and an outline of EMU’s legacy value.

We present radio observations of the galaxy cluster Abell S1136 at 888 MHz, using the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder radio telescope, as part of the Evolutionary Map of the Universe Early Science program. We compare these findings with data from the Murchison Widefield Array, XMM-Newton, the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, the Digitised Sky Survey, and the Australia Telescope Compact Array. Our analysis shows the X-ray and radio emission in Abell S1136 are closely aligned and centered on the Brightest Cluster Galaxy, while the X-ray temperature profile shows a relaxed cluster with no evidence of a cool core. We find that the diffuse radio emission in the centre of the cluster shows more structure than seen in previous low-resolution observations of this source, which appeared formerly as an amorphous radio blob, similar in appearance to a radio halo; our observations show the diffuse emission in the Abell S1136 galaxy cluster contains three narrow filamentary structures visible at 888 MHz, between $\sim$80 and 140 kpc in length; however, the properties of the diffuse emission do not fully match that of a radio (mini-)halo or (fossil) tailed radio source.

Commentaries on the target article offer diverse perspectives on integrative experiment design. Our responses engage three themes: (1) Disputes of our characterization of the problem, (2) skepticism toward our proposed solution, and (3) endorsement of the solution, with accompanying discussions of its implementation in existing work and its potential for other domains. Collectively, the commentaries enhance our confidence in the promise and viability of integrative experiment design, while highlighting important considerations about how it is used.