Volume 5 Issue 2, February 2007

The existence of a reservoir of latently infected resting CD4⁺ T cells is a major barrier to curing HIV-1 infection. Robert Siliciano and colleagues review the biology of the latent reservoir and the experimental methods that are currently available to analyse HIV-1 latency both in vitro and in vivo.

The authors review the aerobic carbon monoxide (CO)-oxidizing bacteria, which include important human and animal pathogens and plant symbionts. Genomic and metagenomic analyses has allowed the identification of new CO oxidizers, and thecoxgene sequences have provided important insights into aerobic CO dehydrogenase structure and activity.

RNA viruses, particularly positive-strand RNA viruses, interact with the nucleolus to usurp host-cell functions and recruit nucleolar proteins to facilitate virus replication. Here, Julian Hiscox reviews the latest data on RNA-virus interactions with this dynamic subnuclear structure.

Retroviruses are a unique family of RNA viruses that depend on the translational machinery of the host cell for protein synthesis. Here, the mechanisms used by these viruses to ensure efficient protein synthesis within a highly competitive cellular environment are reviewed.

During the rapid spread of HIV-1 in humans, the virus has evolved and diversified extensively. In this Opinion article, Eric Arts and colleagues discuss the potential impact of this diversification on viral fitness and spread, and speculate on whether HIV-1 is attenuating.

In this Essay, Karen-Beth Scholthof posits that wider use of the disease triangle concept, largely confined to the analysis of plant diseases, would encourage researchers to consider more closely the role of the environment in human health and disease.

Charles Dorman discusses recent data that indicate that the nucleoid-associated protein H-NS might have a role in silencing the expression of horizontally transferred genes.