Nature Reviews Microbiology (Free subscription) | 16/09/2008
Deaths from C. difficile on the riseFigures released by the Office for National Statistics, United Kingdom, show that the number of reported deaths caused by Clostridium difficile in England and Wales rose by 28% between 2006 and 2007. This is despite the
Nature Reviews Microbiology (Free subscription) | 16/09/2008
The bacterial pathogen Candidatus Phytoplasma mali alters the odour of the plant that it infects to ensure maximum spread, according to new research published in the Journal of Chemical Ecology.Apple proliferation disease, which causes severe economic losses, is caused by Ca.
Nature Reviews Microbiology (Free subscription) | 16/09/2008
How do metazoans balance immune responses to commensal and pathogenic bacteria? In a paper just published in Cell Host & Microbe Lhocine et al. report the identification of a protein in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster that functions to dampen the immune
Nature Reviews Microbiology (Free subscription) | 16/09/2008
This month's Genome Watch discusses the genome sequences of pathogenic and commensal bacteria that are associated with plant crops and shows how analysis of such genomes can lead to new approaches to combat plant diseases.
Nature Reviews Microbiology (Free subscription) | 16/09/2008
Spores formed by Bacillus subtilis are encased in a complex multilayered coat that comprises more than 50 different proteins. Ramamurthi and Losick have published a study in Molecular Cell which shows that ATP hydrolysis by the morphogenic coat protein SpoIVA, which enables
Nature Reviews Microbiology (Free subscription) | 16/09/2008
Raoult and co-workers previously challenged the field of virology by identifying a virus that was so large its size questioned the definition of a virus. Now, publishing in Nature, La Scola, Desnues, Raoult and colleagues describe a new strain of the giant mimivirus that
Nature Reviews Microbiology (Free subscription) | 16/09/2008
Tuberculosis (TB) remains a serious problem worldwide. The causative agent, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, is difficult to treat, in part because it can persist under hypoxic (low oxygen) conditions in a dormant form that has reduced sensitivity to many antibiotics. Rao and colleagues report that de
Nature Reviews Microbiology (Free subscription) | 16/09/2008
The first species of bacteria that derives its energy from arsenic through anoxygenic photosynthesis has now been discovered. As reported in Science, this finding by Kulp and colleagues may have important implications for how the arsenic cycle was established and maintained on the ancient
Nature Reviews Microbiology (Free subscription) | 16/09/2008
Symbiotic interactions of microorganisms are widespread in nature, and support fundamentally important processes in diverse areas of biology that range from health and disease to ecology and the environment. Here, David Relman discusses the selection of articles in this Focus issue, which reflects the exciting
Nature Reviews Microbiology (Free subscription) | 16/09/2008
Chemosynthetic symbioses between bacteria and marine invertebrates were discovered 30 years ago at hydrothermal vents on the Galapagos Rift. Remarkably, it took the discovery of these symbioses in the deep sea for scientists to realize that chemosynthetic symbioses occur worldwide in a wide range of
Nature Reviews Microbiology (Free subscription) | 16/09/2008
Arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM), a symbiosis between plants and members of an ancient phylum of fungi, the Glomeromycota, improves the supply of water and nutrients, such as phosphate and nitrogen, to the host plant. In return, up to 20% of plant-fixed carbon is transferred to the
Nature Reviews Microbiology (Free subscription) | 16/09/2008
The study of symbiosis is quintessential systems biology. It integrates not only all levels of biological analysis — from molecular to ecological — but also the study of the interplay between organisms in the three domains of life. The development of this field is still
Nature Reviews Microbiology (Free subscription) | 16/09/2008
Wolbachia are common intracellular bacteria that are found in arthropods and nematodes. These alphaproteobacteria endosymbionts are transmitted vertically through host eggs and alter host biology in diverse ways, including the induction of reproductive manipulations, such as feminization, parthenogenesis, male killing and sperm–egg incompatibility. They
Nature Reviews Microbiology (Free subscription) | 16/09/2008
In this Analysis we use published 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequences to compare the bacterial assemblages that are associated with humans and other mammals, metazoa and free-living microbial communities that span a range of environments. The composition of the vertebrate gut microbiota is influenced by
Nature Reviews Microbiology (Free subscription) | 16/09/2008
The recent development and application of molecular genetics to the symbionts of invertebrate animal species have advanced our knowledge of the biochemical communication that occurs between the host and its bacterial symbionts. In particular, the ability to manipulate these associations experimentally by introducing genetic variants
