Table of contents
April 2006 Vol 4 No 4
In This Issue
p237 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1406
Editorial: The global approach
p238 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1401
Research Highlights
Virology: Turning off class switch
p239 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1408
Bacterial pathogenesis: Weighing up the factors
p240 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1397
Virology: Hitching a lift on a histone
p240 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1407
Bacterial transcription: Smooth coupling
p240 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1410
HIV: IFN-
tips the balance towards APOBEC3G
p241 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1405
Vaccines: Learning from our successes
p242 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1399
Bacterial pathogenesis: Escaping the net
p242 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1409
In brief
Quorum sensing | Techniques & applications | Malaria
p243 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1404
News and Analysis
Genome watch
Hot and sexy moulds!
p244 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1388
Disease watch
All ears for new vaccine | HepC: cultured success | New avenue for Crohn's disease? | Sunny connection for TB? | Stressed out | Mosquito feeding key to WNV epidemics | CA-MRSA genome sequence | Avian influenza | Outbreak news
p246 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1400
Reviews
Communication in bacteria: an ecological and evolutionary perspective
Laurent Keller & Michael G. Surette
p249 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1383
Quorum sensing is a bacterial cell-to-cell communication process that involves secreted chemical-signalling molecules. Laurent Keller and Michael Surette discuss quorum sensing and cell–cell communication from an evolutionary and ecological perspective, and reveal that the nature of the interactions goes beyond simple cooperative communication.
Phenotypic variation in bacteria: the role of feedback regulation
Wiep Klaas Smits, Oscar P. Kuipers & Jan-Willem Veening
p259 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1381
This article focuses on phenotypic variation based on the feedback architecture of genetic networks, a type of variability that is epigenetic in nature, relies on direct or indirect autostimulation of pivotal transcription factors, and is observed in various bacterial systems.
Melioidosis: insights into the pathogenicity of Burkholderia pseudomallei
W. Joost Wiersinga, Tom van der Poll, Nicholas J. White, Nicholas P. Day & Sharon J. Peacock
p272 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1385
Burkholderia pseudomallei infection can present with such a diverse array of clinical symptoms that B. pseudomallei is known as the 'great mimicker'. Here, current knowledge of B. pseudomallei–host interactions is reviewed, and key topics for future research are highlighted.
Marek's disease virus: from miasma to model
Nikolaus Osterrieder, Jeremy P. Kamil, Daniel Schumacher, B. Karsten Tischer & Sascha Trapp
p283 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1382
The first effective cancer vaccine targeted Marek's disease, a virus-induced neoplastic disease in domestic chickens. Here, Osterrieder and colleagues discuss recent progress in research on the causative agent, Marek's disease virus (MDV), and how MDV could be a useful model system of virus-induced lymphoma.
Small colony variants: a pathogenic form of bacteria that facilitates persistent and recurrent infections
Richard A. Proctor, Christof von Eiff, Barbara C. Kahl, Karsten Becker, Peter McNamara, Mathias Herrmann & Georg Peters
p295 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1384
Small colony variants (SCVs) constitute a slow-growing subpopulation of bacteria. This population has been most intensively studied in Staphylococcus aureus. Here, the authors discuss the clinical relevance of S. aureus SCVs and the available information on the metabolic deficiencies responsible for the SCV phenotype, and they highlight key areas for future research.
Perspectives
Opinion
Modelling infectious disease — time to think outside the box?
Siouxsie Wiles, William P. Hanage, Gad Frankel & Brian Robertson
p307 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1386
In this Opinion piece, Wiles and colleagues argue that a failure to address discrepancies between animal models and the natural disease process can adversely affect experimental outcomes. In particular, the inclusion of natural transmission routes in infection models can profoundly influence the phenotype and virulence of pathogens.
Opinion
Selective transmission of CCR5-utilizing HIV-1: the 'gatekeeper' problem resolved?
Leonid Margolis & Robin Shattock
p312 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1387
The restricted transmission of CXCR4-utilizing variants of HIV-1 compared with CCR5-utilizing variants has inspired a search for the 'gatekeeping' mechanism responsible. Here, Margolis and Shattock propose that there is no single mechanism and that, instead, the selective transmission depends on a series of imperfect gatekeepers.
Erratum: Control of filamentous fungal cell shape by septins and formins
Amy S. Gladfelter
p318 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1402
Correspondence
Correspondence: DNA and RNA viruses target a common subnuclear domain: many images to one structure?
Vassilis Doucas
| doi:10.1038/nrmicro1398-c1
Correspondence: Getting high (OD) on heme
Christel Garrigues, Eric Johansen, Martin Bastian Pedersen, Henrik Møllgaard, Kim Ib Sørensen, Philippe Gaudu, Alexandra Gruss & Gilles Lamberet
| doi:10.1038/nrmicro1403-c1
