Progress in 2009

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from Gram-negative bacteria is a potent activator of the innate immune response. Clare Bryant and colleagues discuss recent exciting data that have revealed the structural basis of the recognition of LPS by the Toll-like receptor 4–MD2 complex.

Bacteria need to adjust as they move between different environments. In this Progress article, Freitag, Port and Miner describe howListeria monocytogenesregulates the transition from saprophyte to human pathogen.

Tagging eukaryotic proteins with ubiquitin can target them for proteasomal degradation. However, despite the presence of proteasomes in several bacterial and all archaeal species, prokaryotic homologues of ubiquitin were presumed to be absent. In this Progress article, Heran Darwin describes the characterization of a prokaryotic ubiquitin-like protein (Pup) that is covalently attached to proteins, resulting in their proteasome-mediated degradation.

The use of microbial fuel cells to generate electrical current is increasingly being seen as a viable source of renewable energy production. In this Progress article, Bruce Logan highlights recent advances in our understanding of the mechanisms used by exoelectrogenic bacteria to generate electrical current and the important factors to consider in microbial fuel cell design.