Latest Articles Include:
- In this issue
- Nature Reviews Microbiology 8(1):1 (2010)
Although bacteria are single-celled organisms, many photosynthetic Cyanobacteria can effectively become multicellular, growing as filaments in which some cells differentiate to carry out specific functions. On page 39, Flores and Herrero review the differentiation of vegetative cyanobacterial cells into heterocysts, which are metabolically specialized cells that provide the cyanobacterial filament with a micro-oxic environment in which to fix nitrogen, even under oxygenic conditions. - Editorial: Eradicating infectious diseases in 2010
- Nature Reviews Microbiology 8(1):2 (2010)
December 2009 marked the thirtieth anniversary of the certification of smallpox eradication. This triumph encouraged thinking about the eradication of other diseases, not only those of humans but also those of livestock, which can be of great economic importance. - Innate immunity: Bacteria ensure injury is only skin deep
- Nature Reviews Microbiology 8(1):3 (2010)
Immune defences in the skin must maintain a balance between restricting excessive inflammation following injury and preserving the ability to rapidly respond to microbial infections. This problem is compounded by the presence of a diverse range of commensal organisms, some of which can become opportunistic pathogens if the skin barrier is breached. - Bacterial pathogenesis: Position effect of effectors
- Nature Reviews Microbiology 8(1):4 (2010)
Many pathogens survive inside the host by injecting effector proteins into host cells. Secreted effectors can have various functions that facilitate bacterial survival, including prevention of phagocytosis. - Bacterial physiology: Bacillus does the two-step
- Nature Reviews Microbiology 8(1):4 (2010)
Bacteria can begin to divide before chromosome segregation has been completed, and therefore bacterial cell division and chromosome partitioning must be tightly controlled. Two detailed analyses in a recent issue of Molecular Microbiology now report that Bacillus subtilis ensures that chromosome segregation and cell division are accurately coupled by using two DNA translocases that have different but complementary roles at different points in the division cycle. - Immune evasion: Staying undetected
- Nature Reviews Microbiology 8(1):4 (2010)
Downregulation of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules is a well-recognized immune evasion mechanism used by several viruses. Cowpox virus (CPXV), for example, encodes the immune evasion protein CPXV203, which inhibits MHC class I trafficking by sequestering it in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). - In brief: Environmental microbiology, Bacterial pathogenesis, Cellular microbiology
- Nature Reviews Microbiology 8(1):5 (2010)
Conversion and conservation of light energy in a photosynthetic microbial mat ecosystem Al-Najjar, M., de Beer, D., Jørgensen, B. B., Kühl, M. & Polerecky, L.ISME J.12 Nov 2009 (doi:10.1038/ismej.2009.121) - Environmental microbiology: Viral lipid in bloom
- Nature Reviews Microbiology 8(1):6 (2010)
Every year, the unicellular coccolithophore Emiliania huxleyi forms massive blooms in the North Atlantic Ocean, making it a key player in global carbon cycling. E. huxleyi - Bacterial secretion: Respiratory remnants
- Nature Reviews Microbiology 8(1):6 (2010)
Some non-exported bacterial redox enzymes contain remnant twin-arginine signal peptides that can be reactivated into functional twin-arginine transport (Tat) export signals, according to a report in the latest issue of Microbiology.The Tat pathway is a general secretory pathway that transports fully folded proteins across the cytoplasmic membrane of prokaryotes and the thylakoid membrane of chloroplasts. - In the news
- Nature Reviews Microbiology 8(1):7 (2010)
The World AIDS Day campaign is now in its twenty-first year. The overall theme for the 2009 Word AIDS Day, which was held on 1 December, was universal access and human rights, and this theme was interpreted in different ways by individual nations. - The molecular basis of the host response to lipopolysaccharide
Bryant CE Spring DR Gangloff M Gay NJ - Nature Reviews Microbiology 8(1):8 (2010)
Lipopolysaccharide (LPS), which is produced by Gram-negative bacteria, is a powerful activator of innate immune responses. LPS binds to the proteins Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) and MD2 to activate pro-inflammatory signalling pathways. The TLR4–MD2 receptor complex is crucial for the host recognition of Gram-negative bacterial infection, and pathogens have devised many strategies to evade or manipulate TLR4–MD2 activity. The TLR4–MD2 signalling pathway is therefore potentially an important therapeutic target. This Progress article focuses on recent exciting data that have revealed the structural basis of TLR4–MD2 recognition of LPS. - Bacterial competition: surviving and thriving in the microbial jungle
Hibbing ME Fuqua C Parsek MR Peterson SB - Nature Reviews Microbiology 8(1):15 (2010)
Most natural environments harbour a stunningly diverse collection of microbial species. In these communities, bacteria compete with their neighbours for space and resources. Laboratory experiments with pure and mixed cultures have revealed many active mechanisms by which bacteria can impair or kill other microorganisms. In addition, a growing body of theoretical and experimental population studies indicates that the interactions within and between bacterial species can have a profound impact on the outcome of competition in nature. The next challenge is to integrate the findings of these laboratory and theoretical studies and to evaluate the predictions that they generate in more natural settings. - Molecular mechanisms of Escherichia coli pathogenicity
Croxen MA Finlay BB - Nature Reviews Microbiology 8(1):26 (2010)
Escherichia coli is a remarkable and diverse organism. This normally harmless commensal needs only to acquire a combination of mobile genetic elements to become a highly adapted pathogen capable of causing a range of diseases, from gastroenteritis to extraintestinal infections of the urinary tract, bloodstream and central nervous system. The worldwide burden of these diseases is staggering, with hundreds of millions of people affected annually. Eight E. coli pathovars have been well characterized, and each uses a large arsenal of virulence factors to subvert host cellular functions to potentiate its virulence. In this Review, we focus on the recent advances in our understanding of the different pathogenic mechanisms that are used by various E. coli pathovars and how they cause disease in humans. - Compartmentalized function through cell differentiation in filamentous cyanobacteria
Flores E Herrero A - Nature Reviews Microbiology 8(1):39 (2010)
Within the wide biodiversity that is found in the bacterial world, Cyanobacteria represents a unique phylogenetic group that is responsible for a key metabolic process in the biosphere — oxygenic photosynthesis — and that includes representatives exhibiting complex morphologies. Many cyanobacteria are multicellular, growing as filaments of cells in which some cells can differentiate to carry out specialized functions. These differentiated cells include resistance and dispersal forms as well as a metabolically specialized form that is devoted to N2 fixation, known as the heterocyst. In this Review we address cyanobacterial intercellular communication, the supracellular structure of the cyanobacterial filament and the basic principles that govern the process of heterocyst differentiation. - The cell biology of rabies virus: using stealth to reach the brain
Schnell MJ McGettigan JP Wirblich C Papaneri A - Nature Reviews Microbiology 8(1):51 (2010)
Rabies virus, the prototypical neurotropic virus, causes one of the most lethal zoonotic diseases. According to official estimates, over 55,000 people die of the disease annually, but this is probably a severe underestimation. A combination of virulence factors enables the virus to enter neurons at peripheral sites and travel through the spinal cord to the brain of the infected host, where it often induces aggression that facilitates the transfer of the virus to a new host. This Review summarizes the current knowledge of the replication cycle of rabies virus and virus– host cell interactions, both of which are fundamental elements in our quest to understand the life cycle of rabies virus and the pathogenesis of rabies. - Viruses as vaccine vectors for infectious diseases and cancer
Draper SJ Heeney JL - Nature Reviews Microbiology 8(1):62 (2010)
Recent developments in the use of viruses as vaccine vectors have been facilitated by a better understanding of viral biology. Advances occur as we gain greater insight into the interrelationship of viruses and the immune system. Viral-vector vaccines remain the best means to induce cellular immunity and are now showing promise for the induction of strong humoral responses. The potential benefits for global health that are offered by this field reflect the scope and utility of viruses as vaccine vectors for human and veterinary applications, with targets ranging from certain types of cancer to a vast array of infectious diseases. - Mass spectrometry tools for the classification and identification of bacteria
- Nature Reviews Microbiology 8(1):74 (2010)
Mass spectrometry has become an important analytical tool in biology in the past two decades. In principle, mass spectrometry offers high-throughput, sensitive and specific analysis for many applications in microbiology, including clinical diagnostics and environmental research. Recently, several mass spectrometry methods for the classification and identification of bacteria and other microorganisms, as well as new software analysis tools, have been developed. In this Review we discuss the application range of these mass spectrometry procedures and their potential for successful transfer into microbiology laboratories. - Correspondence: Are correctional facilities amplifying the epidemic of community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus?
- Nature Reviews Microbiology 8(1):83 (2010)
In their recent Review (Waves of resistance: Staphylococcus aureus in the antibiotic era. Nature Rev. Microbiol. 7, 629–641 (2009)
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