abstract：:The recently decoded genomes of the major clostridial toxin-producing pathogens Clostridium perfringens, Clostridium tetani, Clostridium botulinum and Clostridium difficile have provided a huge amount of new sequence data. Recent studies have focused on the identification and investigation of pathogenic determinants a...

journal_title：Current opinion in microbiology

authors： Brüggemann H

更新日期：2005-10-01 00:00:00

abstract：:Endolysins are phage-encoded enzymes that break down bacterial peptidoglycan at the terminal stage of the phage reproduction cycle. Their action is tightly regulated by holins, by membrane arrest, and by conversion from their inactive to active state. Recent research has not only revealed the unexpected diversity of t...

journal_title：Current opinion in microbiology

authors： Loessner MJ

更新日期：2005-08-01 00:00:00

abstract：:The historical paradigm of the deep ocean as a biological 'desert' has shifted to one of a 'rainforest' owing to the isolation of many novel microbes and their associated bioactive compounds. Recently, there has been an explosion of information about novel bioactive compounds that have been isolated from marine microb...

journal_title：Current opinion in microbiology

authors： Zhang L,An R,Wang J,Sun N,Zhang S,Hu J,Kuai J

更新日期：2005-06-01 00:00:00

abstract：:Dynamic properties of type IV pili are essential for their function in bacterial infection, twitching motility and gene transfer. Laser tweezers are versatile tools to study the molecular mechanism underlying pilus dynamics at the single molecule level. Recently, these optical tweezers have been used to monitor pilus ...

journal_title：Current opinion in microbiology

authors： Maier B

更新日期：2005-06-01 00:00:00

abstract：:Motile bacteria seek optimal living habitats by following gradients of attractant and repellent chemicals in their environment. The signaling machinery for these chemotactic behaviors, although assembled from just a few protein components, has extraordinary information-processing capabilities. Escherichia coli, the be...

journal_title：Current opinion in microbiology

authors： Parkinson JS,Ames P,Studdert CA

更新日期：2005-04-01 00:00:00

abstract：:Members of the YidC/Oxa1/Alb3 membrane protein family are multifunctional mediators of membrane protein integration, folding and assembly into large complexes. Their evolutionary conserved and physiologically important role appears to relate to the assembly of major energy-transducing membrane protein complexes. ...

journal_title：Current opinion in microbiology

authors： van der Laan M,Nouwen NP,Driessen AJ

更新日期：2005-04-01 00:00:00

abstract：:Enteropathogenic Yersinia species encode invasin, which promotes uptake into host cells by binding beta1 integrins. Invasin may cluster integrin heterodimers extracellularly and cause the integrin alpha and beta chains to splay apart in the cytoplasm. Cdc42 signaling is not essential for Yersinia uptake, whereas invas...

journal_title：Current opinion in microbiology

authors： Wong KW,Isberg RR

更新日期：2005-02-01 00:00:00

abstract：:Sequestered from the action of complement, antibody and lytic peptides, phagosomal pathogens pose a unique problem for the innate immune system both in terms of detection and disposal. An immunologically induced 47-kDa (p47) GTPase family recruited to nascent phagosomes (PGs) has provided new insights into how vertebr...

journal_title：Current opinion in microbiology

authors： MacMicking JD

更新日期：2005-02-01 00:00:00

abstract：:In Myxococcus xanthus morphogenetic cell movements constitute the basis for the formation of spreading vegetative colonies and fruiting bodies in starving cells. M. xanthus cells move by gliding and gliding motility depends on two polarly localized engines, type IV pili pull cells forward, and slime extruding nozzle-l...

journal_title：Current opinion in microbiology

authors： Søgaard-Andersen L

更新日期：2004-12-01 00:00:00

abstract：:Most Candida albicans strains are heterozygous at the MTL (mating-type-like) locus, but mating occurs in hemi- or homozygous strains. The white-opaque switch process is repressed by the heterodimer of the MTLa1 and MTLalpha2 gene products, while mating genes are induced by a2 and alpha1. Mating occurs in opaque cells ...

journal_title：Current opinion in microbiology

authors： Magee PT,Magee BB

更新日期：2004-12-01 00:00:00

abstract：:The inexorable rise in cases of tuberculosis worldwide, fuelled by the HIV epidemic, highlights the need for new drugs and particularly those that can shorten the duration of treatment. Clinical trials of existing broad-spectrum agents such as the fluoroquinolone moxifloxacin are proceeding, on the basis of efficacy i...

journal_title：Current opinion in microbiology

authors： Duncan K,Barry CE 3rd

更新日期：2004-10-01 00:00:00

abstract：:The concept of 'protein function' is rather 'fuzzy' because it is often based on whimsical terms or contradictory nomenclature. This currently presents a challenge for functional genomics because precise definitions are essential for most computational approaches. Addressing this challenge, the notion of networks betw...

journal_title：Current opinion in microbiology

authors： Jansen R,Gerstein M

更新日期：2004-10-01 00:00:00

abstract：:Much progress has been made in recent years in the investigation of the interplay between HIV-1 and its host cells. Most of these interactions are complex and have not yet been fully unraveled. Nevertheless, current knowledge on the molecular interactions between HIV and host-cell factors has substantially broadened o...

journal_title：Current opinion in microbiology

authors： Trkola A

更新日期：2004-08-01 00:00:00

abstract：:An increasingly diverse array of clinically relevant animal models of candidiasis have been established that mimic both the immune perturbations of the host and tissue-specific features of candidiasis in humans. Cause-and-effect analysis of Candida host-pathogen interactions using these animal models has made a quantu...

journal_title：Current opinion in microbiology

authors： de Repentigny L

更新日期：2004-08-01 00:00:00

abstract：:Barring bioavailability and nutritional limitations, virtually all organic anthropogenic chemicals can be naturally biodegraded. It is to this phenomenon we owe thanks to the long established 'tritrophic trinity' of microbe-plant-insect interactions. Over hundreds of millennia these organisms have coevolved, producing...

journal_title：Current opinion in microbiology

authors： Singer AC,Thompson IP,Bailey MJ

更新日期：2004-06-01 00:00:00

abstract：:The existence of bacterial clones was evident in early phenotypic studies that recognised high levels of similarity in geographically and temporally separated isolates. Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) has become the most common method for genetically characterizing clones of several bacterial pathogens, allowing the...

journal_title：Current opinion in microbiology

authors： Feil EJ,Enright MC

更新日期：2004-06-01 00:00:00

abstract：:Recent studies have led to the identification of more than 50 small regulatory RNAs in Escherichia coli. Only a subset of these RNAs has been characterized. However, it is clear that many of the RNAs, such as the MicF, OxyS, DsrA, Spot42 and RyhB RNAs, act by basepairing to activate or repress translation or to destab...

journal_title：Current opinion in microbiology

authors： Storz G,Opdyke JA,Zhang A

更新日期：2004-04-01 00:00:00

abstract：:Phagocytic cells, including macrophages, neutrophils and dendritic cells, are critical components of the innate immune response to bacterial pathogens such as Salmonella typhimurium. These cells can have several roles during the early stage of an infection including controlling bacterial replication and producing cyto...

journal_title：Current opinion in microbiology

authors： Wick MJ

更新日期：2004-02-01 00:00:00

abstract：:Many filamentous nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria protect nitrogenase from oxygen in differentiated cells called heterocysts. Heterocyst development is controlled by the availability of nitrogen compounds in the environment and by intrinsic factors that regulate the frequency and pattern of heterocysts along vegetative c...

journal_title：Current opinion in microbiology

authors： Golden JW,Yoon HS

更新日期：2003-12-01 00:00:00

abstract：:In filamentous fungi, the actin cytoskeleton is required for polarity establishment and maintenance at hyphal tips and for formation of a contractile ring at sites of septation. Recently, formins have been identified as Arp (actin-related protein) 2/3-independent nucleators of actin polymerization, and filamentous fun...

journal_title：Current opinion in microbiology

authors： Xiang X,Plamann M

更新日期：2003-12-01 00:00:00

abstract：:Environmental pathogenic fungi present a paradox in that they are virulent in animals without requiring animal hosts for replication or survival, a phenomenon we call 'ready-made' virulence. In the human pathogenic fungus Cryptococcus neoformans, the capacity for virulence in animals may originate from environmental s...

journal_title：Current opinion in microbiology

authors： Casadevall A,Steenbergen JN,Nosanchuk JD

更新日期：2003-08-01 00:00:00

abstract：:Viruses attach to specific receptors, but identified receptors are often absent from the epithelial surfaces where infections begin. Viruses can bind to alternative receptor molecules present on epithelial surfaces and they can enter hosts in ways that bypass mucosal barriers to infection. To understand how viruses cr...

journal_title：Current opinion in microbiology

authors： Bergelson JM

更新日期：2003-08-01 00:00:00

abstract：:The enzymological and genetic aspects of microbial metabolism of hydrocarbons have been extensively revealed. Such molecular information is useful for understanding the bioremediation of oil spill environments and production of hydrocarbon-specific fine chemicals. ...

journal_title：Current opinion in microbiology

authors： Ishige T,Tani A,Sakai Y,Kato N

更新日期：2003-06-01 00:00:00

abstract：:Atomic force microscopy imaging and force spectroscopy have recently opened a range of novel applications in microbiology. During the past two years, rapid advances have been made using atomic force microscopy to visualize the surface structure of two-dimensional bacterial protein crystals, biofilms and individual cel...

journal_title：Current opinion in microbiology

authors： Dufrêne YF

更新日期：2003-06-01 00:00:00

abstract：:Small RNAs can act to regulate both the synthesis of proteins, by affecting mRNA transcription, translation and stability, and the activity of specific proteins by binding to them. As a result of recent genome-wide screens, around 50 small RNAs have now been identified in Escherichia coli. These include many that requ...

journal_title：Current opinion in microbiology

authors： Massé E,Majdalani N,Gottesman S

更新日期：2003-04-01 00:00:00

abstract：:Sensing its changing environment is key for Vibrio cholerae when making the transition from an aquatic lifestyle to one more suited to a human host. An inverse correlation between motility and virulence gene expression has been reported, with the NADH : ubiquinone oxidoreductase system which powers motility by generat...

journal_title：Current opinion in microbiology

authors： Krukonis ES,DiRita VJ

更新日期：2003-04-01 00:00:00

abstract：:Quorum sensing is an important mechanism for the regulation of genes in many Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. In the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the absence of one or more components of the quorum-sensing system results in a significant reduction in virulence. Recent advances in the past ye...

journal_title：Current opinion in microbiology

authors： Smith RS,Iglewski BH

更新日期：2003-02-01 00:00:00

abstract：:Dictyostelium genome sequencing predicts an unexpectedly large number of genes. Many are absent from yeast but present in animals and presumably support cellular abilities not found in yeast. Prominent amongst these abilities is chemotaxis, where great strides are being made in understanding how cells orient in a grad...

journal_title：Current opinion in microbiology

authors： Kay RR

更新日期：2002-12-01 00:00:00

abstract：:Complete and partial genome sequence information is underway in several parasitic and symbiotic fungi that infect humans, other animals and plants. Comparative analyses of these sequences will provide new insights into the genomic plasticity and evolution of parasitism and mutualism in fungi. ...

journal_title：Current opinion in microbiology

authors： Tunlid A,Talbot NJ

更新日期：2002-10-01 00:00:00

abstract：:Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a clinically significant herpes virus that maintains a lifelong infection in the host. HCMV infection of endothelial cells and macrophages plays an important role in the establishment of latency and persistence, which appears critical for the maintenance of HCMV within the host. HCMV in...

journal_title：Current opinion in microbiology

authors： Jarvis MA,Nelson JA

更新日期：2002-08-01 00:00:00

abstract：:There is accumulating evidence that motile bacteria are chemotactically attracted to environmental pollutants that they can degrade. Chemotaxis, the ability of motile bacteria to detect and respond to specific chemicals in the environment, can increase an organism's chances of locating useful sources of carbon, nitrog...

journal_title：Current opinion in microbiology

authors： Parales RE,Harwood CS

更新日期：2002-06-01 00:00:00

abstract：:Antisense technology has been widely used to regulate gene expression. A tetracycline (tet)-regulated antisense-RNA-expressing system has been developed and used to downregulate chromosomally derived genes expressed in Staphylococcus aureus. This downregulation subsequently provides an evaluation of the virulence fact...

journal_title：Current opinion in microbiology

authors： Yin D,Ji Y

更新日期：2002-06-01 00:00:00

abstract：:The availability of a large number of sequenced microbial genomes allows us to conduct systematic studies on microbial gene regulatory systems. Computational methods, using comparative genomics approaches, are powerful tools to understand their mechanisms and evolutionary history. Recent advances in computational meth...

journal_title：Current opinion in microbiology

authors： Stormo GD,Tan K

更新日期：2002-04-01 00:00:00

abstract：:Type III secretion is a mechanism of protein export in bacteria, by which proteins (termed effectors) are exported from the bacteria to the external environment. One topic that has escaped much attention is the potential link between the secretion of effectors and transcriptional regulation of genes encoding the effec...

journal_title：Current opinion in microbiology

authors： Miller VL

更新日期：2002-04-01 00:00:00

abstract：:Macrophages protect their host by engulfing foreign bodies within phagosomes that rapidly develop into microbicidal organelles. Numerous pathogens, such as species of Toxoplasma, Leishmania, Mycobacterium, Salmonella and Legionella, thrive in human macrophages, sometimes with disastrous effects. Defining the survival ...

journal_title：Current opinion in microbiology

authors： Amer AO,Swanson MS

更新日期：2002-02-01 00:00:00

abstract：:A specialized cortical domain is organized by the septins at the necks of budding yeast cells. Recent findings suggest that this domain serves as a diffusion barrier and also as a local cell-shape sensor. We review these findings along with what is known about the organization of the septin cortex and its regulation d...

journal_title：Current opinion in microbiology

authors： Gladfelter AS,Pringle JR,Lew DJ

更新日期：2001-12-01 00:00:00

abstract：:The therapeutic landscape for mycotic infections is shifting. New generation azoles that are active against clinically relevant, drug-resistant fungal pathogens have improved bioavailability, half-lives and safety profiles. Acylated cyclic peptide inhibitors of beta(1,3)glucan synthesis with origins as fungal metaboli...

journal_title：Current opinion in microbiology

authors： Tkacz JS,DiDomenico B

更新日期：2001-10-01 00:00:00

abstract：:Recent developments have increased our understanding of the evolution of mutualistic associations between Epichloë endophytes and their grass hosts. Most of the asexual species appear to be interspecific hybrids. Although endophytes form compatible associations with their natural hosts, transfers to other hosts elicit...

journal_title：Current opinion in microbiology

authors： Scott B

更新日期：2001-08-01 00:00:00

abstract：:A combination of structural, biochemical and functional studies with the flavivirus tick-borne encephalitis virus has revealed the characteristics of a new class of viral fusion protein, class II, that is unrelated to the class I viral fusion proteins for which influenza virus hemagglutinin is the prototype. New struc...

journal_title：Current opinion in microbiology

authors： Heinz FX,Allison SL

更新日期：2001-08-01 00:00:00

abstract：:We have now complete genome sequences of several pairs of closely related prokaryotes (conspecific strains or congeneric species). Surprisingly, even strains of the same species can differ by as much as 20% in gene content. Conceptual and methodological approaches for dealing with such diversity are now being develope...

journal_title：Current opinion in microbiology

authors： Boucher Y,Nesbø CL,Doolittle WF

更新日期：2001-06-01 00:00:00