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The decision of an independent oversight committee to recommend the redaction of sensitive information from two influenza research papers highlights the complexities of dual-use research.
Genomic analysis of the abundant marine gammaproteobacterial clade SAR86 reveals metabolic details that shed light on the role of these organisms in the ocean.
This month's Genome Watch highlights how a population study, in conjunction with a reference genome, can identify the evolutionary features that contribute to drug resistance in a protozoan parasite.
Our monthly round up of infectious diseases news, which this month includes announcements by the US FDA regarding the use of antibiotics in livestock and a role for UV radiation in preventing the spread of VZV.
Justin Radolf and colleagues summarize our accumulated knowledge of the molecular biology and virulence ofBorrelia burgdorferi, and its interactions with the arthropod vector and mammalian hosts.
Proteasomes exist in all domains of life and serve to degrade proteins. In eukaryotes, proteins are primarily targeted for proteasomal degradation through the addition of ubiquitin. Similarly, archaea and bacteria modify proteins with Pup and Samps, respectively, and this may also serve as a signal for proteasomal degradation.
Candida albicanscan grow as unicellular budding yeast cells and as filamentous hyphae. Mihai Netea and colleagues discuss the molecular mechanisms that drive this dimorphism, the changes that lead to differential interaction with the host, and the immunological mechanisms that discriminate between tissue colonization and invasion.
The peptidoglycan sacculus maintains bacterial cell shape and provides mechanical strength to resist osmotic challenge. In this Review, Vollmer and colleagues describe recent insights into the mechanisms of peptidoglycan synthesis in Gram-negative bacteria and how this process is regulated by cytoskeletal and outer-membrane components.
The replication of positive-sense RNA ((+)RNA) viruses involves numerous interactions between the RNA and proteins of the virus and proteins, membranes and lipids of the host. Host factors are thus key determinants of viral pathology as well as viral evolution. In this Review, Nagy and Pogany outline our current understanding of the host factors that facilitate the replication of (+)RNA viruses.
Some individuals who are infected with both HIV and an opportunistic pathogen develop immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS) when CD4+T cell numbers are restored. This reaction may arise from a hyper-responsiveness of innate immune cells to the newly reconstituted T cell help, and may apply to other cases of inflammatory pathology.
