Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
The Longitude Prize 2014 has stimulated debate over the true purpose of these initiatives and whether the public can rise to the challenge of making such decisions.
A new study provides the first mechanistic insights into the negative regulation of plant jasmonic acid signalling by an ectomycorrhizal fungus,Laccaria bicolor.
This study identifies a newPseudomonas aeruginosatype VI secretion system effector that targets both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells — the phospholipase D effector PldB.
This study describes the use of a new microbial glycan microarray to characterize how host immune molecules bind to bacterial cell surface carbohydrates.
ROP5, ROP17 and ROP18 function synergistically to target host immunity-related GTPases, which promotesToxoplasma gondiievasion of the mouse immune response.
This month's Genome Watch describes the discovery of a segmented RNA virus that provides an evolutionary link between segmented and unsegmented genomes.
Bacteria are frequently exposed to subinhibitory concentrations of antibiotics, and recent evidence suggests that this is likely to select for resistance. In this Review, Andersson and Hughes discuss the ecology of antibiotics, the ability of subinhibitory concentrations of antibiotics to select for resistance and the effects of low-level drug exposure on bacterial physiology.
In this Review, van der Oostet al. summarize the recent structural and biochemical insights into the molecular mechanisms of RNA-guided interference by CRISPR–Cas systems in bacteria and archaea. By comparing the three main types of CRISPR–Cas systems, they highlight the unique and conserved properties of the system and also discuss outstanding questions that require further study.
Long-range intragenomic RNA–RNA interactions in the genomes of positive-strand RNA viruses involve direct nucleotide base pairing and can span distances of thousands of nucleotides. In this Review, Nicholson and White discuss recent insights into the structure and function of these genomic features and highlight their diverse roles in the gene expression and genome replication of positive-strand RNA viruses.
The protozoan parasiteTrypanosoma bruceihas a single flagellum that is present in all of its different developmental stages. In this Review, Langousis and Hill discuss the structural and functional features of the flagellum and highlight its central role in the virulence and transmission of this important human pathogen.
Weitz and colleagues use a biophysical scaling model of intact virus particles to quantify differences in the elemental stoichiometry of marine viruses compared with their microbial hosts. They propose that, under certain circumstances, marine virus populations could make a previously unrecognised and important contribution to the reservoir and cycling of oceanic phosphorus.
