Reviews & Analysis

Phenol-soluble modulins (PSMs) are staphylococcal toxins with multiple roles in staphylococcal infection. Here, Peschel and Otto discuss recent progress made in our understanding of the biochemical and genetic properties of PSMs and their role inStaphylococcus aureus pathogenesis.

The combination of transposon mutagenesis with next-generation sequencing has emerged as a useful tool for identifying putative gene function in a high-throughput manner. Here, van Opijnen and Camilli describe the four main techniques that are used for this purpose, with a focus on their application for uncovering bacterial gene function.

Recent studies have revealed a role for host translation inhibition in the innate immune surveillance and detection of bacterial pathogens. Lemaitre and Girardin review these findings and discuss whether translation inhibition is a direct innate immune signal or rather part of a more general metabolic stress response to infection.

N-glycosylation was first reported in archaea almost 40 years ago. However, as Jerry Eichler describes in this Progress article, it is only recently, with the ready availability of archaeal genome sequences and new and improved molecular tools, that we have begun to make major advances in our understanding of this crucial post-translational modification.

In this Progress article, Cossart and colleagues discuss the unique features of unusually long antisense RNAs and discuss the excludon paradigm, which describes a genomic locus that encodes a long antisense RNA which inhibits the expression of one operon while simultaneously driving the expression of the adjacent operon.

Repair of double-strand DNA breaks by homologous recombination can be carried out in bacteria by RecBCD, AddAB and AdnAB. Here, Dale Wigley discusses recent insights into how these complexes mediate repair, as well as their evolution.

Mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells have an intrinsic capacity to recognize a broad microbial repertoire through their invariant T cell receptor, which interacts with antigen presented by MHC class I-related protein 1 (MR1). Here, Marielle Gold and David Lewinsohn highlight recent insights suggesting that this unique, 'innate' T cell subset plays an important part in the early recognition and containment of infection.

The throughput of protein structure determination has increased greatly over the past decade, thanks to advances in X-ray crystallography and NMR spectroscopy. Protein structure information is now routinely used in vaccine design, and here, Rappuoli and colleagues describe some of the most recent developments in this new field of structural vaccinology.

A bidirectional neurohumoral communication system known as the gut–brain axis integrates the activities of the intestine and the brain. In this Progress article, Collins, Surette and Bercik describe recent evidence suggesting that the intestinal microbiota is intimately connected with the gut–brain axis and can influence animal behaviour, development and health.

SAMHD1 has emerged as a novel HIV restriction factor that inhibits viral replication by limiting dNTP availability. Here, Schwartz and colleagues discuss the studies that led to the identification and characterization of SAMHD1, and speculate on why HIV-1 does not encode the SAMHD1-targeting protein, Vpx.

In this Progress article, Pallen, Loman and colleagues present a snapshot of the high-throughput sequencing platforms available to microbiologists today, together with the relevant analytical tools, and evaluate their strengths and weaknesses in obtaining bacterial genome sequences.

The search for therapeutics to treat infections by ebolaviruses and Marburg virus has focused on identifying compounds that interfere with viral entry into host cells. Here, White and Schornberg discuss recent studies that have identified Niemann–Pick C1 (NPC1), a protein that resides deep in the endocytic pathway, as an important host factor in this process.

Bacteria need to find the middle of the cell and prevent the formation of a division septum that bisects the chromosome. The nucleoid occlusion system, mediated by Noc inBacillus subtilis and SlmA in Escherichia coli, connects septum formation with chromosome segregation to optimize cell division.

Prions are infectious self-replicating proteins that can cause neurodegenerative disorders such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy. Here, Colby and Prusiner discuss recent advances in the generation of synthetic prion strains that may lead to new insights into the structure of prions and the mechanisms by which they originate and propagate.

Igneous oceanic crusts in the sub-sea floor form the largest aquifer system on earth and represent an under-studied microbial biosphere. In this Progress article, Edwards and colleagues describe our current understanding of microbial life in this environment and outline recent technological advances for studying the sub-sea floor.

John Gunn and colleagues summarize recent progress in our understanding of the mechanisms of gall bladder infection bySalmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Typhi, in particular the mechanisms involved in S. Typhi biofilm formation on gallstones.

Colicins are folded protein toxins that must translocate across one or both of theEscherichia coli cell membranes to induce cell death. In this Progress article, Colin Kleanthous discusses recent advances in our understanding of the molecular determinants of colicin translocation into E. coliand the novel insights that this has provided into host protein function.

Survival of intracellularPlasmodiumparasites requires that the parasites remodel the host cell through the export of parasite proteins. Goldberg and Cowman describe recent insights into the complex export pathway of parasite proteins, which are transferred from the parasite endoplasmic reticulum into the host cell.

In this Progress article, the authors discuss recent advances in our understanding of the molecular mechanisms used by bacteria to evade complement activation, usingStaphylococcus aureus and Neisseria meningitidisas examples of bacteria that avoid complement using mainly secreted and surface-exposed proteins, respectively.

Danielle Garsin looks at the recent progress that has been made in our understanding of ethanolamine utilization, including the evidence linking ethanolamine utilization to pathogenesis in a diverse range of bacterial pathogens.