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Microorganism- and host-derived signals can stimulate formation of a multiprotein complex called the inflammasome, which activates the cysteine protease caspase 1. In turn, caspase 1 triggers an inflammatory programmed cell death pathway known as pyroptosis. Numerous pathogens have evolved a mechanism to subvert pyroptosis and persist within infected cells.
Bacterial diarrhoea is caused by toxins that are secreted by a variety of bacterial species. These toxins target different host factors and cause loss of fluid and electrolytes, leading to diarrhoea. In addition, the host innate immune response plays an important part in modulating fluid loss.
Bluetongue virus is a substantial health risk to sheep and other ruminants. Livestock can be protected by vaccination, but as described in this Review, current vaccines can have severe drawbacks. New molecular techniques will provide safer and more effective vaccines and allow for better surveillance of the spread of vaccine strains.
In this Review, Bernhard Palsson and colleagues describe the steps that are necessary for reconstruction of genomic-scale biochemical reaction networks based on systems analysis of microorganisms. This article provides guidelines for the reconstruction of metabolic, transcription and translation and transcriptional regulatory networks.
Apoptosis is associated with virus-induced human diseases of the central nervous system, heart and liver, and causes morbidity and mortality. Animal models of virus-induced diseases provide insights into the role of apoptosis in pathogenesis, the pathways involved and potential therapeutic implications.
Many environments are contaminated with organophosphate (OP) compounds, and OP use has resulted in a public health hazard, as approximately 3 million individuals are poisoned and 300,000 die owing to OP ingestion each year. Bioremediation of OPs is therefore of prime importance. This Review discusses the microbiology, biochemistry, genetics and evolution of the industrially important OP-degrading bacteria.
Similarities between the intracellular pathogenic strategies of the bacteriumYersinia pestis and the fungus Cryptococcus neoformansare used to illustrate the author's proposal that these pathogens acquired their intracellular survival strategies by a process of convergent evolution, possibly in response to interactions with other hosts in the environment, such as amoebae.
