Hot off the presses! Dec 01 Nat Rev Micro

The Dec 01 issue of the Nat Rev Micro is now up on Pubget (About Nat Rev Micro): if you're at a subscribing institution, just click the link in the latest link at the home page. (Note you'll only be able to get all the PDFs in the issue if your institution subscribes to Pubget.)

Latest Articles Include:

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  - Nat Rev Micro 8(12):835 (2010)
  
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  - Nat Rev Micro 8(12):836 (2010)
  
• Bacterial pathogenicity: Formin' a comet tail | PDF (216 KB)
  - Nat Rev Micro 8(12):837 (2010)
  Many intracellular pathogens, such as Listeria monocytogenes and vaccinia virus, produce nucleation-promoting factors (NPFs) that co-opt the Arp2/3 complex in the host cell to trigger the formation of branched actin filaments, known as 'comet tails', that propel the pathogens through the cytosol. However, writing in Nature Cell Biology, Haglund et al.Rickettsia spp.
• Symbiosis: Host genes shape the gut microbiota | PDF (202 KB)
  - Nat Rev Micro 8(12):838 (2010)
  The mammalian gut microbiota is dominated by just a few phyla. However, despite conservation at high taxonomic ranks, the composition of the adult microbiota varies substantially from individual to individual in terms of both the relative proportions of the dominant phyla, and the genera and species present.
• Virology: Keeping HSV-1 dormant | PDF (179 KB)
  - Nat Rev Micro 8(12):838 (2010)
  Following host infection, herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) remains latent in peripheral neurons. β-nerve growth factor (NGF) was known to have a role in maintaining HSV-1 latency, but the molecular details had not been described.
• Virology | Biofilms | Parasitology | PDF (155 KB)
  - Nat Rev Micro 8(12):838 (2010)
  Efficient hepatitis C virus particle formation requires diacylglycerol acyltransferase-1 Herker, E.et al. Nature Med.10 Oct 2010 (doi:10.1038/nm.2238)
• Bacterial pathogenicity: Salmonella's exit strategy | PDF (195 KB)
  - Nat Rev Micro 8(12):839 (2010)
  A new paper reports that Salmonella enterica usurps a mechanism for homeostatic turnover of gastrointestinal epithelial cells to ensure host cell exit.Intracellular bacterial pathogens such as S. enterica
• Symbiosis: R you friend or foe? | PDF (235 KB)
  - Nat Rev Micro 8(12):840 (2010)
  Establishing a productive symbiosis requires that the two interacting species tolerate each other, even in the presence of an immune system. In a recent issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, Yang and colleagues describe how innate immunity proteins in legumes determine the host range of plant–bacterium interactions.
• Type III secretion: MxiC: the gatekeeper | PDF (145 KB)
  - Nat Rev Micro 8(12):840 (2010)
  A recent paper in Molecular Microbiology sheds new light on the involvement of MxiC in the regulation of secretion through the Shigella flexneri type III secretion system (T3SS).Bacterial T3SSs consist of a hollow needle that spans the bacterial inner and outer membranes and penetrates the host cell membrane following the formation of a translocator pore, and they are used to deliver secreted effectors directly into the eukaryotic host cell cytoplasm.
• Gut metagenomics goes viral | PDF (225 KB)
  - Nat Rev Micro 8(12):841 (2010)
  Interest in the human intestinal microbiota has intensified in recent years, but research has been largely focused on bacteriology. This month's Genome Watch reviews a recent metagenomics study that instead aims to better characterize the viruses that inhabit our guts.
• In the news | PDF (254 KB)
  - Nat Rev Micro 8(12):842 (2010)
  The official eradication of rinderpest has moved a step closer with the announcement by the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization that it will stop field surveillance for the disease. Rinderpest virus is related to measles virus and has killed millions of cattle in Asia, Europe and Africa over thousands of years.
• Swimming against the tide: progress and challenges in our understanding of colicin translocation
  - Nat Rev Micro 8(12):843 (2010)
  Colicins are folded protein toxins that face the formidable task of translocating across one or both of the Escherichia coli cell membranes in order to induce cell death. This translocation is achieved by parasitizing host proteins. There has been much recent progress in our understanding of the early stages of colicin entry, including the binding of outer-membrane nutrient transporters and porins and the subsequent recruitment of periplasmic and inner-membrane proteins that, together, trigger translocation. As well as providing insights into how these toxins enter cells, these studies have highlighted some surprising similarities in the modes of action of the systems that colicins subvert.
• Cellular mechanisms that control mistranslation
  - Nat Rev Micro 8(12):849 (2010)
  Mistranslation broadly encompasses the introduction of errors during any step of protein synthesis, leading to the incorporation of an amino acid that is different from the one encoded by the gene. Recent research has vastly enhanced our understanding of the mechanisms that control mistranslation at the molecular level and has led to the discovery that the rates of mistranslation in vivo are not fixed but instead are variable. In this Review we describe the different steps in translation quality control and their variations under different growth conditions and between species though a comparison of in vitro and in vivo findings. This provides new insights as to why mistranslation can have both positive and negative effects on growth and viability.
• RNAs: regulators of bacterial virulence
  - Nat Rev Micro 8(12):857 (2010)
  RNA-based pathways that regulate protein expression are much more widespread than previously thought. Regulatory RNAs, including 5′ and 3′ untranslated regions next to the coding sequence, cis-acting antisense RNAs and trans-acting small non-coding RNAs, are effective regulatory molecules that can influence protein expression and function in response to external cues such as temperature, pH and levels of metabolites. This Review discusses the mechanisms by which these regulatory RNAs, together with accessory proteins such as RNases, control the fate of mRNAs and proteins and how this regulation influences virulence in pathogenic bacteria.
• Viral security proteins: counteracting host defences
  - Nat Rev Micro 8(12):867 (2010)
  Interactions with host defences are key aspects of viral infection. Various viral proteins perform counter-defensive functions, but a distinct class, called security proteins, is dedicated specifically to counteracting host defences. Here, the properties of the picornavirus security proteins L and 2A are discussed. These proteins have well-defined positions in the viral polyprotein, flanking the capsid precursor, but they are structurally and biochemically unrelated. Here, we consider the impact of these two proteins, as well as that of a third security protein, L*, on viral reproduction, pathogenicity and evolution. The concept of security proteins could serve as a paradigm for the dedicated counter-defensive proteins of other viruses.
• New insights into the formation of fungal aromatic polyketides
  - Nat Rev Micro 8(12):879 (2010)
  Fungal aromatic polyketides constitute a large family of bioactive natural products and are synthesized by the non-reducing group of iterative polyketide synthases (PKSs). Their diverse structures arise from selective enzymatic modifications of reactive, enzyme-bound poly-β-keto intermediates. How iterative PKSs control starter unit selection, polyketide chain initiation and elongation, intermediate folding and cyclization, selective redox or modification reactions during assembly, and product release are central mechanistic questions underlying iterative catalysis. This Review highlights recent insights into these questions, with a particular focus on the biosynthetic programming of fungal aromatic polyketides, and draws comparisons with the allied biosynthetic processes in bacteria.
• Exit from dormancy in microbial organisms
  - Nat Rev Micro 8(12):890 (2010)
  Bacteria can exist in metabolically inactive states that allow them to survive conditions that are not conducive for growth. Such dormant cells may sense when conditions have improved and re-initiate growth, lest they be outcompeted by their neighbours. Growing bacteria turn over and release large quantities of their cell walls into the environment. Drawing from recent work on the germination of Bacillus subtilis spores, we propose that many microorganisms exit dormancy in response to cell wall muropeptides.