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Bacterial diarrhoea is caused by toxins that are secreted by a variety of bacterial species. These toxins target different host factors and cause loss of fluid and electrolytes, leading to diarrhoea. In addition, the host innate immune response plays an important part in modulating fluid loss.
In this Review, Bernhard Palsson and colleagues describe the steps that are necessary for reconstruction of genomic-scale biochemical reaction networks based on systems analysis of microorganisms. This article provides guidelines for the reconstruction of metabolic, transcription and translation and transcriptional regulatory networks.
Similarities between the intracellular pathogenic strategies of the bacteriumYersinia pestis and the fungus Cryptococcus neoformansare used to illustrate the author's proposal that these pathogens acquired their intracellular survival strategies by a process of convergent evolution, possibly in response to interactions with other hosts in the environment, such as amoebae.
Many environments are contaminated with organophosphate (OP) compounds, and OP use has resulted in a public health hazard, as approximately 3 million individuals are poisoned and 300,000 die owing to OP ingestion each year. Bioremediation of OPs is therefore of prime importance. This Review discusses the microbiology, biochemistry, genetics and evolution of the industrially important OP-degrading bacteria.
Prizes for scientific endeavour can inspire researchers and the public alike. Nature Reviews Microbiology investigates which microbiologists were winners in 2008.
Burkitt's lymphoma (BL) was described 50 years ago, and the Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) was discovered in BL tumours soon after. Here, David Thorley-Lawson and Martin Allday examine the historically confusing and intertwined relationship between EBV and BL and discuss recent advances that could finally resolve this confusion.
Affordable, high-throughput sequencing technology has led to a flood of publicly available bacterial genome sequence data, presenting both an opportunity and a challenge for the microbiologist. New computational approaches, such as e-Science and Grid-based technologies, can help to analyse genomic data and address these challenges.
Some cattle excrete moreEscherichia coli O157 than others, and are known as super-shedders. This Review discusses the evidence for super-shedders and the implications of super-shedding for the transmission and epidemiology of E. coliO157 in cattle, human infections and disease control.