Reviews & Analysis

Artemisinin is one of the few antimalarials for which there is no widespread resistance. However, malaria parasites with decreased sensitivity have been reported recently. In this Review Arjen Dondorp and colleagues describe the initial detection of artemisinin resistance and discuss several strategies to prevent its spread.

Denamur and colleagues review the population structure of commensalEscherichia coliand discuss how commensal strains can adapt to different niches and how commensalism can evolve into pathogenicity.

Transmission of symbionts from one host generation to the next can occur horizontally from the environment or vertically through the host germ line. In this Review, Bright and Bulgheresi detail the molecular mechanisms governing the transmission of a range of symbionts and discuss how transmission mode can shape the evolution of the symbiotic partners.

Interactions between host cell receptors and the surface molecules of bacteria are important determinants of the nature of the relationship between the two organisms. In this Review, Lebeer, Vanderleyden and De Keersmaecker examine the signalling interactions of probiotic bacterial cell surface molecules.

Antibiotic resistance seriously threatens our ability to treat infectious diseases. The genes conferring resistance can easily move between organisms, resulting in nearly untreatable diseases. Jo Handelsman and colleagues describe how resistance is spread, the origin of the genes conferring this resistance and the roles they may have in their natural environments.

DNA replication is an essential process that requires very careful regulation. Tsutomu Katayama and colleagues describe the many ways in which the initiation of chromosomal DNA replication is controlled, with a particular focus on the regulation of DnaA.

Mupirocin is a polyketide antibiotic produced byPseudomonas fluorescens that is used to control the carriage of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Here, Thomas and colleagues describe the mechanisms underlying the mode of action and biosynthesis of mupirocin and discuss how this understanding could lead to the development of novel antibiotics.

Nucleoid-associated proteins (NAPs) bind to the bacterial chromosome and alter its dynamics, maintaining nucleoid structure. In this Review, Dillon and Dorman examine the range of proteins in the ever-growing NAP family and their contributions to the regulation of nucleoid structure and gene expression.

Many organisms switch antigens to avoid recognition by the immune system. Here, Jennings and colleagues describe the phasevarion, a set of genes regulated by phase-variable type III restriction–modification systems. Variation through this system probably plays an important part in the pathogenicity of a range of bacterial species.

Noroviruses are the most common cause of food-borne gastroenteritis worldwide; however, the development of effective vaccines and antiviral therapies has proved to be challenging. In this Review, Baric and colleagues discuss the molecular and structural mechanisms underlying the persistence of noroviruses in human populations.

For many years, the extreme environment of the Antarctic Dry Valleys was thought to play host to just a few viable microorganisms. However, as Cary and colleagues explain, recent work has led to the identification of a complex community structure that is able to survive in one of the coldest and driest places on Earth.

The mammalian innate immune system recognizes invading pathogens and targets them with an arsenal of cellular defences. In this Review, Diacovich and Gorvel describe how pathogenic intracellular bacteria use a range of strategies to subvert innate immune responses.

A range of techniques can be used for the identification and classification of bacteria. However, traditional biochemical and sequence-based approaches can be labour-intensive and slow. In this Review, Sauer and Kliem discuss the advantages of mass spectrometry-based procedures for fast and efficient bacterial identification.