Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
A new paper in theISME Journalprovides the first evidence for a role of a bacterial type III secretion system (T3SS) in an interaction between a bacterium and a fungus.
A look back at the microbiologists who have won a Nobel Prize, and at those who have been overlooked, provides a wonderful view of the recent history of microbiology and reveals the central place of microbiology in past and current biological science.
The identification and characterization of bacterial lipid rafts and their role in the signalling pathways that regulate biofilm formation inBacillus subtilis.
Following on from last month's discussion of sequence assembly and correction, this month's Genome Watch examines genome annotation in the context of advances in second-generation sequencing.
Our monthly round up of infectious diseases news, which this month includes an outbreak of chikungunya fever in France, the origin of human malaria and the first description of an intrinsic mechanism of retrovirus recognition.
Glycosylation, the most abundant polypeptide chain modification in nature, was first identified in bacteria and archaea in the 1970s. Here, Nothaft and Szymanski review recent progress in our understanding of the bacterialN-glycosylation and O-glycosylation systems.
Climate change can affect microbial processes, which are, in turn, known to affect greenhouse gas flux. Singh and colleagues review the feedback responses between climate change and terrestrial microbial processes and discuss the potential to exploit microorganisms to mitigate anthropogenic climate change.
Organotypic three-dimensional (3D) cell culture models are becoming more widely used in infectious-disease research, as they mimic the 3D architecture ofin vivotissues more faithfully than traditional 2D cell culture. Cheryl Nickerson and colleagues review one such 3D model system, the rotating wall vessel bioreactor, and its applications in the study of microbial pathogenesis and host–pathogen interactions.
Transmission of viruses between species can lead to severe disease in the new host. However, little is known about the requirements for cross-species transmission. Pepin and colleagues describe the experiments required to improve our understanding of this process and how this can identify markers that can be used to predict transmission.
In terms of disability-adjusted life years, the disease burden resulting from hookworm infection and schistosomiasis is considerable. In this Review, Hotez and colleagues outline the pathology of these parasitic infections and discuss recent progress in vaccine development.
Poor patient compliance and the spread of drug-resistant strains pose serious threats to anti-tuberculosis treatment regimens. In this Innovation article, Griffithset al. review the potential advantages of using biodegradable nanoparticles as delivery systems for anti-tuberculosis drugs and vaccines.
