Cellular microbiology: Virus plays dead | PDF (232 KB)

p411 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1923

DNA replication: Follow the path | PDF (797 KB)

p412 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1911

Viral pathogenesis: Turning virus spread on its head | PDF (205 KB)

p413 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1914

Techniques and applications: A model infection | PDF (813 KB)

p413 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1920

Fungal metabolism: Dissecting catalysis | PDF (148 KB)

p414 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1917

Cellular microbiology: All aboard the cell-wall shuttle | PDF (119 KB)

p414 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1924

Immune evasion: Overcoming defensins | PDF (414 KB)

p415 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1921

Microbiology in the post-genomic era

Duccio Medini, Davide Serruto, Julian Parkhill, David A. Relman, Claudio Donati, Richard Moxon, Stanley Falkow & Rino Rappuoli

p419 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1901

Thirteen years after the first bacterial genome was sequenced, Rino Rappuoli, Stanley Falkow and colleagues review what has changed in microbiology research as a consequence of genomics and address the implications of the genomic era for the future of microbiology.

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Microbial diversity and the genetic nature of microbial species

Mark Achtman & Michael Wagner

p431 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1872

This Review summarizes contemporary approaches for defining species in Bacteria and Archaea and contrasts these approaches with various reports on microbial population genetic patterns. The authors conclude that contemporary method-based approaches lack a theoretical definition and new approaches are needed that should be guided by a method-free species concept that is based on cohesive evolutionary forces.

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The ecology and biotechnology of sulphate-reducing bacteria

Gerard Muyzer & Alfons J. M. Stams

p441 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1892

Sulphate-reducing bacteria (SRB) are anaerobic microorganisms that can use sulphate as a terminal electron acceptor. These organisms are ubiquitous in anoxic habitats, where they have an important role in both the sulphur and carbon cycles. Muyzer and Stams provide an overview of the diversity, physiology and distribution of SRB and their applications to environmental biotechnology.

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Coordinating assembly of a bacterial macromolecular machine

Fabienne F. V. Chevance & Kelly T. Hughes

p455 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1887

The flagellum is a beautiful structure and a fascinating model system for understanding how genes are regulated to ensure the correct assembly of a complex structure. Chevance and Hughes discuss the regulation of flagellar gene transcription and how it is intimately coupled to the assembly of this exquisite bacterial nanomachine.

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The surprisingly diverse ways that prokaryotes move

Ken F. Jarrell & Mark J. McBride

p466 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1900

Bacteria and archaea have found many solutions to the problem of how to move in liquids and on solid surfaces. Although the use of a rotary flagellum in bacteria is the best-studied mode of bacterial movement, spirochaetes constrain their flagella in the periplasm, some bacteria move using type IV pili, cyanobacteria use surface spicules and others glide on surfaces without using appendages.

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Mathematical models of infectious disease transmission

Nicholas C. Grassly & Christophe Fraser

p477 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1845

The dynamics of infectious diseases are complex, so developing models that can capture key features of the spread of infection is important. Grassly and Fraser provide an introduction to the mathematical analysis and modelling of disease transmission, which, in addition to informing public health disease control measures, is also important for understanding pathogen evolution and ecology.

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