Volume 8 Issue 12, December 2010

Recent outbreaks involving multidrug-resistant bacteria have prompted governments to alter the regulations governing antibiotic sales. By combining the new regulations with calls for new drug development and dispensing regimes, can antibiotic resistance be managed?

Comet tail formation inRickettsiaspp. relies on the formin-like protein Sca2 to mediate actin nucleation.

Variation in the composition of the adult microbiota is shaped not only by environmental factors but also by host genetic components.

HSV-1 latency is maintained by a host cell signalling pathway activated by NGF.

Salmonella entericausurps a mechanism for homeostatic turnover of gastrointestinal epithelial cells in order to ensure host cell exit.

Proteins known to protect plants from pathogens also play a part in initiating the interaction of plants with symbionts.

A recent paper inMolecular Microbiology sheds new light on the involvement of MxiC in the regulation of secretion through the Shigella flexneritype III secretion system.

Interest in the human intestinal microbiota has intensified in recent years, but research has been largely focused on bacteriology. This month's Genome Watch reviews a recent metagenomics study that instead aims to better characterize the viruses that inhabit our guts.

Colicins are folded protein toxins that must translocate across one or both of theEscherichia coli cell membranes to induce cell death. In this Progress article, Colin Kleanthous discusses recent advances in our understanding of the molecular determinants of colicin translocation into E. coliand the novel insights that this has provided into host protein function.

Translation fidelity is a highly regulated event in the cell. Reynolds, Lazazzera and Ibba describe the steps which ensure that the correct amino acid is incorporated in a nascent polypeptide, and discuss how changes in the translational fidelity can be beneficial for the cell.

Pathogenic bacteria need to respond rapidly to changes in their environment to adjust their gene expression and physiology. Johansson and colleagues review the role of RNAs, including 5′ untranslated regions (UTRs), 3′ UTRs,cis-acting antisense RNAs and trans-acting small non-coding RNAs, as regulatory molecules of bacterial virulence.

Viral security proteins are structurally and biochemically unrelated proteins that function to counteract host defences. Here, Agol and Gmyl consider the impact of the picornavirus security proteins on viral reproduction, pathogenicity and evolution.

The great structural diversity of polyketide natural products stems from their mode of synthesis by polyketide synthases. Crawford and Townsend review the latest progress in our understanding of the mode of action of fungal polyketide synthases, including starter unit selection, chain length control and cyclization specificity.

Many bacterial species shut down metabolism and enter a dormant state in order to survive in unfavourable conditions. Exit from dormancy in response to cell wall muropeptide signals from neighbouring cells has recently been observed forBacillus subtilisspores. In this Opinion article, Dworkin and Shah propose that this might be a more general phenomenon.