Volume 1 Issue 2, February 2016

Widespread antibiotic resistance is a growing public health problem. Can we revive large-scale screening to keep the pipelines flowing or will we depend increasingly on biological and ecological insights?

Colossal microbes taking over the world sounds like a B-movie plot, rather than the business plan of a stuffed toy manufacturer. We asked Drew Oliver, the creator and CEO of Giant Microbes, about how the company came about, how their products have been received and his plans for the future.

Natural volcanic CO₂ seeps (mofettes) provided a natural experiment to use omic and biogeochemical approaches to explore how flooding a system with CO₂ impacts algal photosynthesis and methanogenesis.

By using the power of Drosophila genetics, a recent study has revealed how gut bacteria limit viral infection of insects.

Recombination of genes responsible for synthesis of major surface lipooligosaccharides, and consequent loss of these compounds in a Mycobacterium canettii-like progenitor, increased virulence and drove evolution from an environmental, relatively non-pathogenic status to virulent Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the cause of the present-day TB epidemic.

Streptococcus pyogenes (also known as group A Streptococcus or GAS) streptolysin S (SLS)-mediated red blood cell lysis occurs through disruption of the function of major erythrocyte anion exchange protein, band 3, leading to Cl^- ion influx.

Tetrahydropyrazo[1,5-a]pyrimidine-3-carboxamide (THPP) targets the essential non-catalytic enoyl-CoA hydratase homologue EchA6 of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and not MmpL3 as previously thought.

Whole genomes of 185 atypical enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (aEPEC) isolates reveal 30 LEE (locus of enterocyte effacement) subtypes in 3 major lineages, varying in insertion site preference and their complement of non-LEE encoded effector genes.

Comparative genomics of 70 lethal, non-lethal symptomatic and asymptomatic enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) isolates identifies the virulence-associated genes that are significantly more prevalent in symptomatic and lethal infections.

pks5-recombination-mediated cell surface remodelling increased virulence of Mycobacterium canettii, driving evolution from a putative generalist mycobacteria towards a professional pathogen of mammalian hosts.

The microenvironment of injured intestinal mucosa induces the rapid emergence of microbiota constituents that contribute to repair of the mucosal wounds.

High CO₂ concentrations impact the microbial diversity and functions in wetland soils, significantly increasing geogenic C input.