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Electron cryotomography images of flagellar motors and type IVa pilus machines have revealed the architectures that underlie the rotation of these macromolecular machines.
This study shows that, as part of the stringent response inStaphylococcus aureus, (p)ppGpp target GTPases, impairing their ability to mediate ribosome assembly, which affects bacterial growth and promotes tolerance to antimicrobials.
Two new studies examine the microbiome of coral reefs and highlight the importance of coral-associated beneficial bacteria and of temperate viruses in this ecosystem.
Two new studies show that the maternal microbiota affects the development of the infant's immune system and identified colonization by uropathogenicE. colilineages as a risk factor for the development of necrotizing enterocolitis and infant death.
In this Review, Turnbaugh and colleagues discuss several mechanisms by which the human gut microbiome affects the metabolism of xenobiotics, including drugs and dietary compounds, and explore how this knowledge can be applied to improve the treatment of human disease.
In this article, James Liaoet al. review how microorganisms can be explored for the production of next-generation biofuels. They discuss the different substrates that are available for biofuel production and how these substrates can be directed to various biosynthetic pathways, and they highlight examples of microbial engineering aimed at optimizing biofuel production.
Bacterial cell division occurs under tight temporal and spatial regulation by the divisome. In this Review, Haeusser and Margolin review the structure and function of the divisome, highlighting insights into the assembly of this multicomponent machinery that were provided by recent technical advances.
The failure of antibiotics can arise by different bacterial survival strategies, each with implications for treatment. In this Opinion article, Balaban and colleagues propose a new experimental framework for distinguishing between several forms of resistance, tolerance and persistence to antibiotic treatment.
