Progress in science is usually matched by the publication of papers that mark incremental increases in our knowledge. Sometimes the publication of a flurry of papers from different laboratories highlights a significant advance that is worthy of mention, but not yet mature enough to review. To draw attention to these exciting new advances, Nature Reviews journals are now publishing short and timely Progress review articles.

On page 337 of this issue we feature our first Progress article. Fergal O'Gara and colleagues cast a spotlight on the ability of a diverse group of pathogens — Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Yersinia enterocolitica, Staphylococcus aureus and Clostridium botulinum — to increase expression of members of the Kruppel-like factor (KLF) family of mammalian transcriptional regulators by modifying the activity of Rho proteins. By subverting KLF regulators cell–cell signalling, transcriptional regulation and phagocytosis by host cells are all affected.

Progress in the battle to control malaria is always welcome and understanding how to subvert host functions can be exploited in this endeavour. On page 377, Matthew Thomas and Andrew Read discuss how biocontrol, through the use of a pathogenic fungus to reduce the ability of mosquitoes to transmit malarial parasites, might be a cheap and green weapon against this deadly scourge.

Recent advances in understanding DNA replication initiation, an essential process in all organisms, are reviewed on page 343 by Melissa Mott and James Berger. Detailed structural studies have resulted in new insights into replication initiation in Bacteria, Archaea and Eukarya.