Articles in 2010

The Select Agents and Toxins List was created by the US Government to limit the possession of and access to particular microorganisms and toxins. Casadevall and Relman argue that this list, and others like it, could have the paradoxical effect of increasing our vulnerability to biological attack and natural epidemics.

Commensal staphylococci on the skin have a beneficial role in limiting the activation of potentially harmful inflammation in response to injury.

Two studies characterize the previously unknown cowpox virus protein CPXV12, which, along with CPXV203, mediates immune evasion.

The subcellular localization of a bacterial effector determines its specificity.

The N-tail regions of NarG and BisC contain remnant Tat signal peptides that can be reactivated into functional Tat export signals.

TheBacillus subtilisDNA translocases SpoIIIE and SftA have different but complementary roles at different points in the division cycle.

Thanking all of our authors, referees and readers for their contributions and interest throughout 2009.

Our monthly round-up of infectious diseases news, which this month includes a new model forEntamoeba histolyticainfection and the effects of globalization on pathogen emergence and evolution.

Disease eradication programmes are often slower than expected. Several local and regional eradication programmes had targets for 2010, but progress towards these goals has been variable.

A range of techniques can be used for the identification and classification of bacteria. However, traditional biochemical and sequence-based approaches can be labour-intensive and slow. In this Review, Sauer and Kliem discuss the advantages of mass spectrometry-based procedures for fast and efficient bacterial identification.