Volume 1 Issue 1, January 2016

Michele Banks (also known as @artologica) is a US-based painter and collage artist whose works are based on scientific and medical themes, and who has a particular fascination with all things microbial. We caught up with Michele to ask about her art and the inspiration behind it.

Advances in culturing hepatitis C virus have given hope for a universal cell culture system amenable to primary isolate replication. However, low replication efficiency needs to be overcome. The development of fully susceptible yet immunocompetent in vivo models would aid research towards a prophylactic vaccine.

Surface topography and fluid flow combine to modify quorum sensing communication in bacterial biofilms, changing the way we think about the interaction of biofilms with external physical forces and the implications for persistence in chronic infections and industrial fouling.

A recent analysis of microbial community dynamics shows that, contrary to current assumption, too much cooperation among species can destabilize their communities. This is a first step towards understanding what makes a stable microbiome and, thus, transforming microbiome research into a more predictive science.

High-throughput population genomics reveals how the evolution of chromosome arrangement and sequence divergence followed by secondary contact upon glacier retreat initiates homoploid hybrid speciation in natural populations of the budding yeast Saccharomyces paradoxus.

A survey of federally supported microbiome research in the United States of America over fiscal years 2012–2014 and implications for the funding of future microbiome research in the US and beyond.

Most viral genomes and replicases are encased in a proteinaceous coat known as a capsid. Here, the authors identify a curious case of an obligate association between two RNA viruses in which one of the viruses misappropriates the capsid coat from the other, a process known as trans-encapsidation.

A crystal structure of the C. difficile toxin TcdA reveals a requirement for zinc during autoprocessing and a delivery domain involved in the pH-dependent pore formation that allows the toxin to exit the endosome.

Natural populations of Saccharomyces paradoxus in which rapid evolution of chromosome architecture and contact between nascent species drove the formation of a new species through homoploid hybrid speciation.

Quorum sensing (QS) systems in bacteria coordinate collective behaviour through the use of secreted signal molecules called autoinducers. Here, the authors identify conditions under which flow can activate or repress QS in S. aureus and V. cholera.

Genome-wide 3ʹ-end mapping shows that Bacillus subtilis terminators that depend on NusA have weak hairpins and/or distal U-tract interruptions, suggesting NusA is directly involved in the termination mechanism.

Combining a map of human and animal melioidosis cases and the presence of environmental Burkholderia pseudomallei in a formal modelling framework to estimate the global burden of the disease reveals that it is severely under-reported.

Multidrug and toxic compound extrusion (MATE) transporter ClbM is a key component involved in colibactin activity and transport.

Bacterial symbionts in natural populations of the stinkbug Plautia stali are undergoing an evolutionary transition from a free-living lifestyle in the environment to obligate mutualism.