Volume 2 Issue 3, March 2017

CRISPR–Cas is an adaptive immune system found in Bacteria and Archaea that confers sequence-specific protection against invasion by foreign nucleic acids. CRISPR–Cas is also a powerful tool for microbiology education and has been an inspiring model for our students for the past three years.

Following the launch of an initiative at the World Economic Forum to prevent future epidemics, we spoke to the scientist at the helm of this coalition, John-Arne Røttingen, who answered our questions on epidemic preparedness, moving from academia to public health policy, evidence-based decision-making, and more.

Recent work characterizing CozE, a protein that controls the function of the class A penicillin-binding protein PBP1a, sheds new light on our understanding of the synthesis of the bacterial peptidoglycan shell.

A newly identified phosphoinositide kinase helps to generate phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate (PtdIns4P) on the vacuolar membrane of the intracellular pathogen Legionella pneumophila. Sequential effector protein cooperation explains the unusual enrichment of PtdIns4P on the Legionella-containing vacuole.

A Perspective on unravelling the mechanisms of antibiotic penetration and efflux in Gram-negative bacteria.

This Review describes the pro- and anti-carcinogenic roles played by the microbiota and highlights the therapeutic potential of microorganisms in tumourigenesis.

A steady-state evolutionary model is used to investigate archaeal genome evolution, finding two classes of microbial genes—one with instantaneous gene replacement and another with finite, distributed replacement rates.

A cryoEM structure of the archaeal flagella, the archaellum, shows distinct features from related bacterial structures.

Influenza virus infection produces double-stranded RNA precursors that are converted to small interfering RNAs by host Dicer; this RNA interference mechanism is inhibited by viral protein NS1.

Legionella pneumophila effector LepB harbours a cryptic lipid kinase domain that produces phosphatidylinositol-3,4-bisphosphate (PtdIns(3,4)P₂). Successive LepB kinase and SidF phosphatase activities are needed for the generation of PtdIns4P on the Legionella-containing vacuole.

CozE is a member of the Streptoccocus pneumoniae MreCD complex that is required for PBP1a localization and activity during division.

Genomic analysis suggests pandemic Vibrio cholerae probably originated from a subset of environmental strains with alleles compatible with host colonization.

Viability polymerase chain reaction based on the photoreactive DNA-intercalating dye propidium monoazide revealed that on average 40% of prokaryotic and fungal DNA in soil is extracellular, or from cells no longer intact, confounding estimates of richness and taxon relative abundance.

While stimulation of TLR4 with LPS leads to an increase in glycolysis and a decrease in oxidative phosphorylation, complex microbial stimuli and the TLR2 ligand P3C induce upregulation of both glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation.

To replicate in Huh7 hepatoma cells, HCV must acquire mutations that prevent PI4KA over-activation. PI4KA-specific inhibitors promote replication of unadapted viral isolates and allow replication of patient-derived virus in cell culture.

Direct RNA ligation and sequencing enables identification of bacterial small RNA targets in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Analysis of four Wolbachia strains that have co-diverged with their host lineage for ∼2 million years suggests a ∼200 Ma origin for supergroups A and B and reveals evidence for a recent lateral transfer of a complete biotic synthesis operon.

Horizontally acquired AT-rich sequences contain cryptic promoters that sequester RNA polymerase and mediate toxicity in Escherichia coli.

Characterization of ten temperate mycobacteriophages reveals at least five distinct prophage-expressed viral defence systems that interfere with infection by either closely related or unrelated lytic and temperate phages.

RodA is a peptidoglycan polymerase found in Bacillus subtilis. A bacterial extract may be able to target the peptidoglycan polymerase pathway and serve as an antibiotic.