Volume 12 Issue 6, June 2014

Phytoplasmaconvert their hosts into sterile 'zombie' plants, which facilitates vector-borne transmission and aids bacterial propagation.

Activation of competence in response to antibiotics that induce replication stress occurs through an increase in copy number ofcomgenes near the replication origin.

A new analysis shows that pathogenicYersiniaspecies do not share a common ancestor.

A new study reveals thatListeria monocytogenesexploits efferocytosis to enable cell-to-cell spread.

A new paper reveals the mechanism by which the secondary metabolite fumiquinazoline C is targeted to conidia inAspergillus fumigatus.

Two studies show that HIV-1 Vpu protects infected cells from antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity by antagonizing tetherin.

This month's Genome Watch highlights the application of bacterial whole-genome sequencing in public health microbiology and epidemiological profiling.

Bacterial pathogens have evolved diverse strategies to interfere with and modulate the ubiquitin systems of the host for their own benefit. In this Review, Sasakawa and colleagues discuss the mechanisms that are involved, with a focus on secreted effector proteins that are delivered into the host cell by human bacterial pathogens.

One-quarter of the land surface on Earth is underlain by permafrost. Jansson and Taş review the microbial ecology of this fascinating and unique niche, pulling together observations from the study of permafrost isolates and the application of high-throughput sequencing.

Platelets are multifunctional granulocytes that function at the intersection of antimicrobial and haemostatic host defences. Michael R. Yeaman presents an integrated overview of the antimicrobial functions of platelets, which are mediated both directly and indirectly to integrate innate and adaptive immune responses to pathogens.

Villanuevaet al. analyse the relationship between archaeal membrane lipids and the enzymes that are involved in their biosynthesis and conclude that our current understanding of the archaeal membrane lipid biosynthesis pathway needs some reconsideration. On the basis of amino acid sequence analysis, they present an alternative biosynthetic pathway that involves a 'multiple key, multiple lock' mechanism.

McInerney and colleagues summarize the phylogenetic, cell biological, population biology, biochemical and paleontological evidence that cellular life consists of two primary, paraphyletic, prokaryotic groups and one secondary, monophyletic group that has symbiogenic origins — the eukaryotes.