Current Issue
December 2009 Vol 7 No 12
In this issue
p837 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro2274
Editorial: Closing the GAPP on pneumonia
p838 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro2273
Research Highlights
Host response: Damage repair | PDF (350 KB)
p839 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro2264
HIV: No place to hide | PDF (242 KB)
p840 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro2263
Antiviral immunity: A new role for RNase L | PDF (196 KB)
p840 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro2270
Host response: Spotlight on SFB | PDF (110 KB)
p840 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro2277
In brief
Biofilms | Parasitology | Environmental microbiology | PDF (119 KB)
p841 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro2275
Bacterial physiology: Switch-hitting RNase | PDF (200 KB)
p842 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro2267
Fungal metabolism: Completing the circle | PDF (110 KB)
p842 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro2276
News and Analysis
Genome watch: Probiotics stick it to the man | PDF (145 KB)
p843 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro2271
Disease watch: In the news | PDF (223 KB)
p844 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro2272
Reviews
The spectrum of latent tuberculosis: rethinking the biology and intervention strategies
Clifton E. Barry 3rd, Helena I. Boshoff, Véronique Dartois, Thomas Dick, Sabine Ehrt, JoAnne Flynn, Dirk Schnappinger, Robert J. Wilkinson & Douglas Young
p845 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro2236
Nearly one-third of the world's population is infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. In this Review, Young and colleagues describe the different forms the infection can take, how imaging techniques can help us understand the range of infections and how these findings can be used for drug discovery approaches.
Bacterial responses to photo-oxidative stress
Eva C. Ziegelhoffer & Timothy J. Donohue
p856 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro2237
Photo-oxidative stress caused by singlet oxygen, a type of reactive oxygen species that is generated by energy transfer to molecular oxygen, can damage cellular components, leading to cell death. In this Review, Donohue and Ziegelhoffer describe the recent advances made in characterizing the bacterial response mechanisms to photo-oxidative stress.
Artemisinin-based combination therapies: a vital tool in efforts to eliminate malaria
Richard T. Eastman & David A. Fidock
p864 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro2239
The emergence of drug-resistant Plasmodium parasites has made the treatment of malaria difficult in some areas. One of the last drugs to which there is no full resistance is artemisinin. Fidock and Eastman describe artemisinin-based combination therapies that aim to decrease the occurrence of drug resistance and that have raised the possibility of malaria eradication.
Dancing genomes: fungal nuclear positioning
Amy Gladfelter & Judith Berman
p875 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro2249
In fungi, nuclei move in a microtubule- and microtubule motor-dependent manner. In this Review, Judith Berman and Amy Gladfelter discuss how fungi use the movement of intact nuclei within and between cells to control the integrity, ploidy and assortment of specific genomes or individual chromosomes.
Perspectives
Essay
What are the consequences of the disappearing human microbiota?
Martin J. Blaser & Stanley Falkow
p887 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro2245
The increase in allergic diseases that has occurred in developing countries in recent years has been attributed to a decrease in exposure to the microorganisms in the environment. Blaser and Falkow reflect that this increase, as well as the ongoing obesity epidemic and increased susceptibility to infectious disease, might instead be the result of changes in the human microbiota.
Science and society
Defining infections in international travellers through the GeoSentinel surveillance network
Joseph Torresi & Karin Leder
p895 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro2238
Efforts to monitor the range of infectious diseases that affect international travellers and the factors that determine infection rates will provide an evidence base from which more effective preventative measures can be developed. Torresi and Leder review the main findings of one such effort, the GeoSentinel surveillance network.
Correspondence
Correspondence: Probiotics – little evidence for a link to obesity
S. Dusko Ehrlich
p901 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro2209-c1
Correspondence: No causal link between obesity and probiotics
Nathalie Delzenne & Gregor Reid
p901 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro2209-c2
Correspondence: No link between probiotics and obesity? Author reply
Didier Raoult
p901 | doi:10.1038/nrmicro2209-c3
