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Three new studies show that bacteria use selective transition metal-sensing riboswitches to balance the intracellular levels of potentially toxic metal ions.
A new study describes the development of a modified bacteriocin that specifically targets and kills the major nosocomial pathogenClostridium difficile.
This month's Genome Watch highlights how high-throughput sequencing has provided new insights into the diversity, evolution and genome organization of arthropod viruses.
Bacteria form biofilms as a strategy for survival and persistence. In this Review, Yildiz and colleagues discussVibrio cholerae surface attachment and the biofilm matrix components. They also review the regulatory network that governs V. choleraebiofilm formation, including the transcriptional regulators of key genes involved in this process, as well as the roles of small nucleotides and small RNAs.
Urinary tract infections (UTIs) pose a severe public health problem and are caused by a range of pathogens. In this Review, Hultgren and colleagues discuss how basic science studies are elucidating the molecular mechanisms of UTI pathogenesis and how this knowledge is being used for the development of novel clinical treatments for UTIs.
In bacteria, ribosome stalling is a frequent event that threatens viability. In this Review, Kenneth Keiler discusses the triggers of ribosome stalling, the physiological consequences of stalling and the mechanisms used by bacteria to rescue stalled ribosomes, includingtrans-translation and the alternative pathways mediated by alternative ribosome-rescue factor A (ArfA) and ArfB.
In this Review, Gerdes and colleagues discuss the multifaceted alarmones guanosine tetraphosphate and guanosine pentaphosphate (collectively referred to as (p)ppGpp) and their functions in the regulation of bacterial physiology, including their synthesis and degradation, as well as their role in transcriptional regulation, in GTP biosynthesis and in the formation of bacterial persisters.
Antibiotic resistance constitutes a threat to human and animal health worldwide. Here, Manaia and colleagues report the main findings of the European COST (Cooperation in Science and Technology) Action DARE (Detecting Evolutionary Hotspots of Antibiotic Resistance in Europe) and discuss the need for improved sampling of the environment and more comprehensive databases, as well as the policy and management options that should be considered as priorities to tackle antibiotic resistance in the environment.
Mignot and colleagues present an evolutionary scenario to explain the emergence of the two distinct machines — the Agl–Glt and Agl–Nfs complexes — that are involved in motility and assembly of the spore coat inMyxococcus xanthus. They argue that elucidation of the composition and mechanism of action of these complexes will improve our understanding of the evolution of macromolecular complexes.
