Table of contents
April 2008 Vol 6 No 4
In this issue
p253 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1885
Editorial: Infectious disease and women's health
p254 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1875
Research Highlights
Evolution: Monkey genomes get TRIMmed | PDF (217 KB)
p255 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1879
Plant disease resistance: Chloroplast protein gets guarded | PDF (273 KB)
p256 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1874
Symbiosis: Who does what in the microbiome? | PDF (301 KB)
p256 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1880
In brief
Ecology | Symbiosis | Sociomicrobiology | PDF (95 KB)
p257 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1883
Environmental microbiology: Deep-sea methane cycling | PDF (236 KB)
p258 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1877
Metagenomics: Phages apart | PDF (285 KB)
p258 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1878
Host response: Antimicrobial function for IL-22 | PDF (116 KB)
p259 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1884
News and Analysis
Genome watch
Genomic 'valleys of death' | PDF (208 KB)
p260 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1881
Disease watch
In the News | PDF (466 KB)
p262 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1886
Reviews
The TORrid affairs of viruses: effects of mammalian DNA viruses on the PI3K–Akt–mTOR signalling pathway
Nicholas J. Buchkovich, Yongjun Yu, Carisa A. Zampieri & James C. Alwine
p266 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1855
The successful replication of mammalian DNA viruses requires that they gain control of key cellular signalling pathways, including the phosphatidylinositol 3'-kinase–Akt–mammalian target of rapamycin (PI3K–Akt–mTOR) pathway. This Review discusses the range of mechanisms that mammalian DNA viruses use to activate this pathway, as well as the multiple mechanisms these viruses have evolved to circumvent inhibitory stress signalling.
Teichoic acids and related cell-wall glycopolymers in Gram-positive physiology and host interactions
Christopher Weidenmaier & Andreas Peschel
p276 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1861
Carbohydrate-based polymers are constituents of the cell envelopes of many Gram-positive bacteria. These cell-wall glycopolymers often have highly variable structures and, although their functions are not completely known, recent research has begun to reveal that they have crucial roles in both protecting and maintaining the bacterial cell envelope and in bacteria–host interactions.
The role of Streptococcus pneumoniae virulence factors in host respiratory colonization and disease
Aras Kadioglu, Jeffrey N. Weiser, James C. Paton & Peter W. Andrew
p288 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1871
Streptococcus pneumoniae is one of the most common bacterial respiratory pathogens. In this article, the authors review the impressive armamentarium of virulence factors the pneumococcus uses to colonize the upper and lower respiratory tracts of the host and cause disease.
Bacterial strategies to overcome insect defences
Isabelle Vallet-Gely, Bruno Lemaitre & Frédéric Boccard
p302 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1870
Interactions between insects and microorganisms are important in insect disease, dissemination of pathogens to animals and plants, and as models for host–pathogen interactions. Here, the interactions between bacteria and insects, and the strategies that both use to influence these interactions, are reviewed.
Perspectives
Opinion
Redefining viruses: lessons from Mimivirus
Didier Raoult & Patrick Forterre
p315 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1858
In this Opinion article, the authors consider the classification of viruses, and propose a new classification system that divides all biological entities into two groups of organisms: ribosome-encoding organisms (eukaryotes, archaea and bacteria) and capsid-encoding organisms (viruses). Unclassified selfish nucleic acids are grouped as 'orphan replicons'.
See also: Correspondence by Roland Wolkowicz & Moselio Schaechter. | Author's reply from Didier Raoult & Patrick Forterre.
Timeline
Anammox bacteria: from discovery to application
J. Gijs Kuenen
p320 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1857
Anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) bacteria, which combine ammonium and nitrite or nitrate to form nitrogen gas, were discovered in the early 1990s. Here, Gijs Kuenen recalls the discovery of these bacteria and the subsequent elucidation of their roles in environmental and industrial microbiology.
