Microbiology articles within Nature

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  • Letter |

    Metalloproteins are important in many biological processes, including respiration, photosynthesis and drug metabolism. Using genome sequences to predict the numbers and types of metal an organism uses is currently very challenging. These authors used a proteomics approach to identify and characterize a large number of a microorganism's metalloproteins on a genome-wide scale, and successfully separated and identified its cytoplasmic metalloproteins.

    • Aleksandar Cvetkovic
    • , Angeli Lal Menon
    •  & Michael W. W. Adams

  • Article |

    The microbial content of the human gut has been the focus of much research interest recently. Now another layer of complexity has been added: the viral content of the gut. Virus-like particles were isolated from faecal samples from four sets of identical twins and their mothers, at three time points over a one-year period. The viromes (metagenomes) of these particles were then sequenced. The results show that there is high interpersonal variation in viromes, but that intrapersonal diversity was very low over this time period.

    • Alejandro Reyes
    • , Matthew Haynes
    •  & Jeffrey I. Gordon

  • Outlook |

    Studies comparing HIV infection and its simian counterpart in different monkey species are filling gaps in knowledge, explains Bijal Trivedi.

    • Bijal Trivedi

  • Outlook |

    There is more to combating HIV in the developing world than providing affordable drugs. T. V. Padma looks at the innovative new strategies being employed.

    • T. V. Padma

  • Outlook |

    There is a formidable arsenal of drugs available to treat HIV. Virginia Hughes finds that, for the first time in years, there is also renewed hope of a cure.

    • Virginia Hughes

  • Letter |

    A survey of organic and conventional potato fields shows that species evenness is greater under organic management. Replicating these levels of evenness in a field trial shows that the evenness of natural enemies found in organic fields promotes pest control and increases crop biomass. This is independent of the identity of the dominant enemy species, so is a result of evenness itself.

    • David W. Crowder
    • , Tobin D. Northfield
    •  & William E. Snyder

  • Feature |

    It is 101 years since Carlos Chagas discovered the parasite responsible for the disease that now bears his name. What progress has been made since this discovery? Here Julie Clayton gives the low-down on Chagas disease.

    • Julie Clayton

  • Feature |

    The publishing of the first Trypanosoma cruzi genome sequence was hailed as “a huge intellectual triumph”, but what has it delivered?

    • Julie Clayton

  • Editorial |

    We must learn lessons from the handling of the flu pandemic to improve future research and public-health responses to emerging diseases, but retrospective hindsight and recriminations are not the answer.

  • News |

    Body-louse genome offers a glimpse into the genetic legacy of life as a permanent parasite.

    • Heidi Ledford

  • Article |

    In bacteria, the lack of compartmentalization within membrane-enclosed compartments has made it difficult to determine how mature messenger RNAs are spatially distributed. Here the authors use fluorescence experiments in bacteria to follow mRNA dispersal after transcription. They find, surprisingly, that the newly transcribed mRNAs show limited diffusion, and speculate that the packed chromosomal material may itself act as a partition to separate translation from mRNA degradation.

    • Paula Montero Llopis
    • , Audrey F. Jackson
    •  & Christine Jacobs-Wagner

  • News & Views |

    The groundwork for analysing the human microbiome — sequencing the collective genome of all our resident microorganisms — is now done. This work is of significance for understanding both human health and disease.

    • Liping Zhao

  • News Feature |

    With chytrid fungus rapidly spreading around the world, researchers are testing an extreme approach to saving endangered amphibian populations. Naomi Lubick reports from a rescue site.

    • Naomi Lubick

  • Article |

    Here, a library of more than 300,000 chemicals was screened for activity against Plasmodium falciparum growing in red blood cells. Of these chemicals, 172 representative candidates were profiled in detail; one exemplar compound showed efficacy in a mouse model of malaria. The findings provide the scientific community with new starting points for drug discovery.

    • W. Armand Guiguemde
    • , Anang A. Shelat
    •  & R. Kiplin Guy

  • Letter |

    Toxoplasma gondii is an opportunistic human pathogen that secretes organelles called micronemes during infection. This is important for parasite motility, host-cell invasion and egress. It is now shown that the secretion of micronemes is dependent on the T. gondii calcium-dependent protein kinase 1. This kinase is not found in the parasite's mammalian hosts, and might represent a valid drug target.

    • Sebastian Lourido
    • , Joel Shuman
    •  & L. David Sibley

  • Article |

    Here, nearly 2 million compounds from GlaxoSmithKline's chemical library were screened for inhibitors of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, grown in red blood cells. Of these compounds, some 13,500 inhibited parasite growth, and more than 8,000 also showed potent activity against a multidrug resistant strain. The targets of these compounds were inferred through bioinformatic analysis, revealing several new mechanisms of antimalarial action.

    • Francisco-Javier Gamo
    • , Laura M. Sanz
    •  & Jose F. Garcia-Bustos

  • News & Views |

    Emerging resistance to existing antimalarial drugs could nullify efforts to eliminate this deadly disease. The discovery of thousands of agents active against malaria parasites offers hope for developing new drugs.

    • David A. Fidock

  • Careers and Recruitment |

    Working with nature's nastiest microbes offers a chance to help ensure public safety. Karen Kaplan details the profession's risks and rewards.

    • Karen Kaplan

  • Letter |

    Staphylococcal superantigens can lead to toxic shock syndrome. They are encoded on pathogenicity islands and with the aid of helper phages can be excised and packaged into highly transmissable phage particles. Here it is shown that a specific, non-essential helper phage protein is responsible for derepression of the pathogenicity island, thereby providing the mechanism for the first step of its mobilization.

    • María Ángeles Tormo-Más
    • , Ignacio Mir
    •  & José R. Penadés

  • Letter |

    The ability of plants to 'green' in the dark is attributed to the activity of the dark-operative protochlorophyllide oxidoreductase (DPOR). This enzyme catalyses the stereospecific reduction of the C17≡C18 double bond of protochlorophyllide to form chlorophyllide a, the direct precursor of chlorophyll a. The X-ray crystal structure of the catalytic component of DPOR has now been solved. A chemical mechanism is proposed by which the reduction of the double bond may occur.

    • Norifumi Muraki
    • , Jiro Nomata
    •  & Yuichi Fujita

  • News & Views |

    Infection with hepatitis C is one of the main causes of liver disease, yet there are no broadly effective treatments. Discovery of a potent inhibitor of this virus shows that researchers must think outside the box.

    • Catherine L. Murray
    •  & Charles M. Rice

  • Letter |

    The bacterium Shigella flexneri, which causes dysentery, infects the gastrointestinal tract. It uses a type III secretion system as a molecular syringe to inject virulence factors into host cells during infection. It is now suggested that varying oxygen availability during different phases of infection tightly regulates expression of the secretion system, as well as the secretion of virulence factors.

    • Benoit Marteyn
    • , Nicholas P. West
    •  & Christoph M. Tang

  • Letter |

    SUMOylation is a post-translational protein modification that affects many eukaryotic cellular processes. It is shown here that cellular infection with Listeria monocytogenes induces degradation of one of the essential SUMOylation enzymes, Ubc9, through a mechanism that involves a bacterial toxin, listeriolysin O. This effect on SUMOylation may support efficient infection by Listeria.

    • David Ribet
    • , Mélanie Hamon
    •  & Pascale Cossart

  • News & Views |

    Proteins are synthesized by ribosomes, and then commonly undergo further modifications. A new example of how these host-cell processes can e subverted by a pathogenic bacterium has come to light.

    • Julian I. Rood

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