Volume 11 Issue 12, December 2013

A study shows that bacteria can counteract CRISPR–Cas immunity against beneficial plasmids by inactivating or deleting CRISPR–Cas loci.

A metagenomic study of gut and environmental samples identifies a sibling phylum to Cyanobacteria, the non-photosynthetic Melainabacteria.

Batrachochytrium dendrobatidisreleases soluble mycotoxins that inhibitXenopus laevislymphocyte proliferation by inducing caspase-mediated apoptosis.

This study shows that binding of leukotoxin ED to the chemokine receptors CXCR1 and CXCR2 on neutrophils is crucial forStaphylococcus aureuspathogenesis.

The identification of a quorum sensing antagonist that inhibitsPseudomonas aeruginosavirulence factor expression and biofilm formation.

The first visualization and detailed characterization of the DNA-uptake apparatus that is involved in natural transformation inVibrio cholerae.

This month's Genome Watch investigates the role of hypermutation in chronic bacterial infection and its implications for phylogenomic analyses.

Apicomplexan parasites have unique lipid-scavenging and -synthesis pathways that are not found in their mammalian hosts. Coppens gives an overview of these pathways inPlasmodium spp., Toxoplasma gondii and Cryptosporidiumspp. and highlights promising drug targets to interfere with the parasites' high demand for isoprenoids, sphingolipids and cholesterol.

The emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus and, more recently, Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) coronavirus has highlighted the pathogenic and epidemic potential of this virus family. Here, Graham, Donaldson and Baric review key biological properties of coronaviruses and how to target them with potential therapeutics.

Current antimalarial therapy heavily relies on artemisinins, a drug class that only targets the blood stages of the parasite and which is increasingly feared to elicit drug resistance. Flannery, Chatterjee and Winzeler discuss the approaches used to develop novel drugs that are active against different life cycle stages with the ultimate aim of eliminating malaria.

Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) and Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) establish latent infections, during which the viral genomes are maintained in the host cell as viral episomes. As discussed by Lieberman, latency depends on numerous factors, including viral genome chromatinization and epigenetic modification, as well as tight control of the latency transcription programme.

The isolation of HIV-1 was a fundamental step for understanding HIV and the disease it causes. Here, Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, Anna Laura Ross and Jean-François Delfraissy look back on three decades of research that have changed the lives of people infected with HIV and have inspired hope for a cure.

Antonio Cassone outlines why he thinks univalent subunit vaccines targetingCandida albicansare unlikely to succeed and argues that the development of a multivalent vaccine could be a better approach.