Table of contents
February 2006 Vol 4 No 2
In This Issue
p81 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1363
Editorial: The means to an end
p82 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1362
Research Highlights
Bacterial evolution: Evolving virulence
p83 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1354
Bacterial pathogenesis: Rickettsia's admission ticket
p84 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1353
In brief
Genomics | Anti-Infectives | Environmental Microbiology
p84 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1356
Bacterial pathogenesis: A sweet attachment
p84 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1358
Diagnostics: Hidden no more?
p85 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1352
Anti-infectives: Holliday key to novel antibacterials?
p86 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1359
Bacterial physiology: Fishing for success
p86 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1360
Virology: Targeted integration
p87 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1357
News and Analysis
Disease watch
TB risk at a SNP | Double success for rotavirus vaccine | End already in sight for artemesinin? | Hitting the switch for new antimicrobials? | Oral pathogen moves from cell to cell | NGUs under the microscope | Targeting PA-824 | Getting to the heart of infection | Avian influenza
p88 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1361
Reviews
Actin-dependent movement of bacterial pathogens
Joanne M. Stevens, Edouard E. Galyov & Mark P. Stevens
p91 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1320
Many bacteria hijack the cellular actin machinery to move both within and between host cells. Recent studies have revealed differing mechanisms of bacterial actin-based motility, with some genera mimicking a cellular nucleation-promoting factor and others activating WASP proteins to induce actin polymerization. Stevens et al. review the latest developments in these different strategies.
Microbial biogeography: putting microorganisms on the map
Jennifer B. Hughes Martiny, Brendan J.M. Bohannan, James H. Brown, Robert K. Colwell, Jed A. Fuhrman, Jessica L. Green, M. Claire Horner-Devine, Matthew Kane, Jennifer Adams Krumins, Cheryl R. Kuske, Peter J. Morin, Shahid Naeem, Lise Øvreås, Anna-Louise Reysenbach, Val H. Smith & James T. Staley
p102 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1341
In recent years, the question of whether microbial life exhibits biogeographical patterns has come under increased scrutiny. In this article, leading scientists in the field review the biogeography of microorganisms and provide a framework for assessing the impact of environmental and historical processes that contribute to microbial biodiversity.
Long-term survival during stationary phase: evolution and the GASP phenotype
Steven E. Finkel
p113 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1340
Although traditional descriptions of the bacterial life cycle include just three phases, two additional phases, death phase and long-term stationary phase (LTSP), appear when batch cultures are incubated for longer periods of time. Here, Steve Finkel discusses the GASP phenotype, which confers a competitive ability to LTSP cells.
Coronavirus infection of the central nervous system: host–virus stand-off
Cornelia C. Bergmann, Thomas E. Lane & Stephen A. Stohlman
p121 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1343
The need for a balance between pathogen elimination and protection from cellular damage means that the central nervous system (CNS) is a partially protected niche that some pathogens can exploit. Here, the authors discuss the immune regulation of acute and persistent CNS infection by coronaviruses, using mouse hepatitis virus as a model.
The bacterial segrosome: a dynamic nucleoprotein machine for DNA trafficking and segregation
Finbarr Hayes & Daniela Barillà
p133 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1342
Recently solved tertiary structures of partition proteins provide important insights into segrosome organization and assembly. Hayes and Barillà review recent advances in our understanding of the bacterial segrosome and plasmid partitioning, including the organization of partition modules, segrosome assembly and plasmid trafficking.
Perspectives
Innovation
Applied systems biology and malaria
Elizabeth A. Winzeler
p145 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1327
To date, most systems-biology research has focused on model organisms such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae, but large amounts of omics data are now beginning to accumulate for many medically relevant microorganisms. Elizabeth Winzeler discusses how systems-biology approaches could help in the search for new drugs and vaccines to treat malaria.
Opinion
Helicobacter pylori phase variation, immune modulation and gastric autoimmunity
Mathijs Bergman, Gianfranco Del Prete, Yvette van Kooyk & Ben Appelmelk
p151 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1344
It is estimated that 50% of the world's population is persistently colonized by Helicobacter pylori. In this Opinion article, Ben Appelmelk and colleagues argue that for most patients, controlled modulation of the host immune response by H. pylori facilitates an asymptomatic, persistent infection.
Correspondence
Correspondence: What's in a name? Class distinction for bacteriocins
Nicholas C. K. Heng & John R. Tagg
| doi:10.1038/nrmicro1273-c1
Author Reply: What's in a name? Class distinction for bacteriocins
Paul D. Cotter, Colin Hill & R. Paul Ross
| doi:10.1038/nrmicro1273-c2