Table of contents
December 2007 Vol 5 No 12
In this issue
p901 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1813
Editorial: In appreciation of Theodor Escherich
p902 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1810
Research Highlights
Fungal genetics: Unravelling the network | PDF (327 KB)
p903 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1804
HIV: Set-point — the virus adapts? | PDF (279 KB)
p904 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1802
In brief
Biofilms | Virology | Structural biology | PDF (116 KB)
p904 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1806
Horizontal gene transfer: Unclonable, that's what you are! | PDF (223 KB)
p905 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1799
Antiviral immunity: Alive and kicking: microRNAs in mammalian antiviral responses | PDF (278 KB)
p905 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1803
Cellular microbiology: Synchronized switching | PDF (910 KB)
p906 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1807
Environmental microbiology: Biofilms in the time of cholera | PDF (788 KB)
p906 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1808
Viral pathogenesis: Death by viroporin | PDF (295 KB)
p907 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1801
Bacterial virulence: The integrin connection | PDF (746 KB)
p908 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1805
In brief
Virology | Bacterial pathogenesis | Vaccines | PDF (95 KB)
p908 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1811
Malaria: Malaria and the liver: exploring the silent pathway | PDF (174 KB)
p909 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1809
News and Analysis
Disease watch
In the News | PDF (686 KB)
p910 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1812
Progress
Beyond Tsg101: the role of Alix in 'ESCRTing' HIV-1
Ken Fujii, James H. Hurley & Eric O. Freed
p912 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1790
This Progress article looks at recent developments in our understanding of the role of the host factor Alix in both retroviral and cellular membrane budding and fission events.
Reviews
Control of key metabolic intersections in Bacillus subtilis
Abraham L. Sonenshein
p917 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1772
Almost all bacteria can adapt efficiently to different nutritional environments by using global regulators that link gene expression to the available intracellular pools of a small number of key metabolites. Here, Abraham L. Sonenshein reviews how Bacillus subtilis uses global regulators to manage traffic through two metabolic intersections that determine the flow of carbon and nitrogen to and from crucial metabolites.
Multimetal resistance and tolerance in microbial biofilms
Joe J. Harrison, Howard Ceri & Raymond J. Turner
p928 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1774
How is it that biofilms are less susceptible to metal toxicity than exponentially growing planktonic cell populations? Here, Harrison and colleagues propose a multifactorial model of biofilm multimetal resistance and tolerance by which biofilms can withstand metal toxicity by an ongoing process of cellular diversification within the microbial population.
An increasing threat in hospitals: multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii
Lenie Dijkshoorn, Alexandr Nemec & Harald Seifert
p939 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1789
Acinetobacter strains have become a cause for concern — particularly among critically ill, hospitalized patients — owing to the spread of multidrug resistance and risk of epidemics. Here, the authors discuss the current knowledge of the genus Acinetobacter, with the emphasis on the clinically most important species, Acinetobacter baumannii.
Perspectives
Opinion
Vaccination against polio should not be stopped
Konstantin Chumakov, Ellie Ehrenfeld, Eckard Wimmer & Vadim I. Agol
p952 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1769
The reduction in the incidence of poliomyelitis has stalled in the past 7 years, and an urgent re-assessment of the polio-eradication and post-eradication campaign strategies is needed. We propose that vaccination programmes are crucially important for the maintenance of high levels of population immunity against polio and should be continued into the foreseeable future.
Opinion
Predicting antibiotic resistance
José L. Martínez, Fernando Baquero & Dan I. Andersson
p958 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1796
Accurately predicting the emergence of antibiotic resistance will be crucial to prolonging the clinical life of new antimicrobial molecules. Here, the authors propose methodological guidelines that should allow researchers to predict the development of resistance to an antibiotic before its therapeutic introduction.
Erratum: Microbial structuring of marine ecosystems
Farooq Azam & Francesca Malfatti
p966 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1787
Erratum: Mix and match: how climate selects phytoplankton
Paul G. Falkowski & Matthew J. Oliver
p966 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1792
Corrigendum: Microbial structuring of marine ecosystems
Farooq Azam & Francesca Malfatti
p966 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1798
Correspondence
Correspondence: Pneumocystis pneumonia: immunosuppression, Pneumocystis jirovecii...and the third man
Christophe Duboucher, Rosa Boggia, Gérard Morel, Monique Capron, Raymond J. Pierce, Eduardo Dei-Cas & Eric Viscogliosi
| doi:10.1038/nrmicro1621-c1