Science need not be dull and bogged down by jargon, as Richard Dawkins proves in this entertaining look at evolution. The themes he takes up are the concepts of altruistic and selfish behaviour; the genetical definition of selfish interest; the evolution of aggressive behaviour; kinship theory; sex ratio theory; reciprocal altruism; deceit; and the natural selection of sex differences. Readership: general; students of biology, zoology, animal behaviour, psychology.

The Selfish Gene

https://www.mun.ca/biology/scarr/Jacob_&_Monod_(1961)_presentation.pdf

Genetic regulatory mechanisms in the synthesis of proteins.

Researchers have been studying metastasis for more than 100 years, and only recently have we gained insight into the mechanisms by which metastatic cells arise from primary tumours and the reasons that certain tumour types tend to metastasize to specific organs. Stephen Paget's 1889 proposal that metastasis depends on cross-talk between selected cancer cells (the 'seeds') and specific organ microenvironments (the 'soil') still holds forth today. It is now known that the potential of a tumour cell to metastasize depends on its interactions with the homeostatic factors that promote tumour-cell growth, survival, angiogenesis, invasion and metastasis. How has this field developed over the past century, and what major breakthroughs are most likely to lead to effective therapeutic approaches?

https://www.nature.com/articles/nrc1098.pdf?proof=t

The pathogenesis of cancer metastasis: the 'seed and soil' hypothesis revisited

Antiseptics and disinfectants are extensively used in hospitals and other health care settings for a variety of topical and hard-surface applications A wide variety of active chemical agents (biocides) are found in these products, many of which have been used for hundreds of years, including alcohols, phenols, iodine, and chlorine Most of these active agents demonstrate broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity; however, little is known about the mode of action of these agents in comparison to antibiotics This review considers what is known about the mode of action and spectrum of activity of antiseptics and disinfectants The widespread use of these products has prompted some speculation on the development of microbial resistance, in particular whether antibiotic resistance is induced by antiseptics or disinfectants Known mechanisms of microbial resistance (both intrinsic and acquired) to biocides are reviewed, with emphasis on the clinical implications of these reports

/pdf/antiseptics-and-disinfectants-activity-action-and-resistance-4s72yz0ujj.pdf

Antiseptics and Disinfectants: Activity, Action, and Resistance

Bacteriocins of gram-positive bacteria.

This article reported Luria and Delbruck's breakthrough study in which they established that viruses do not induce mutations
 in bacteria, but that virus-resisting mutations are spontaneous. Their "fluctuation test" theory demonstrated that
 bacteria were ideal subjects for genetic research.

https://www.genetics.org/content/genetics/28/6/491.full.pdf

Mutations of bacteria from virus sensitivity to virus resistance

Luria explored the question of bacterial hybridization only briefly, but established that these two types of intestinal bacteria
 could mate and produce hybrids possessing characteristics of each. This had implications for laboratory diagnosis, raising
 the possibility that a hybrid possessing Shigella's pathogenic qualities could test as an E. coli, or vice-versa.

Hybridization between Escherichia coli and Shigella.

Transduction of lactose-utilizing ability among strains of E. coli and S. dysenteriae and the properties of the transducing phage particles.

In this article, Luria reported that some bacteria, when infected with phage, would modify the phage in such a way so that
 it cannot reproduce in that particular bacteria type. However, the variation gives the phage the ability to infect a different
 bacterial species, in this instance Shigella. This is the first instance of the phenomenon of restriction and modification
 that would soon after be explained by the discovery of restriction enzymes in bacteria. Luria's work with Human, which
 described bacterial restriction-modification systems, eventually led to the discovery of restriction enzymes.

A nonhereditary, host-induced variation of bacterial viruses.

Discovered in the 1920s by Andre Gratia, colicins are water-soluble proteins that when produced by certain proteins, can kill
 similar kinds of bacteria. Initially believed to be promising anti-bacterial agents, colicins soon proved to be poorly suited
 for the task and for decades were largely ignored by researchers. In 1963, Masayasu Nomura demonstrated that colicins are
 able to kill bacteria by damaging the membrane of the bacterial cell. As a result of Nomura's work, Luria turned his focus
 to colicins. While on leave at the Institut Pasteur in Paris in 1963, Luria found that one particular colicin, E1, made bacterial
 cells incapable of accumulating the substances they required to maintain the cell by effectively blocking the function of
 transport of proteins through the membrane. After he returned to MIT, the colicin work became the focus of his laboratory.
 Here, in one of his earliest published articles on the subject, Luria found that a series of colicin-tolerant mutants of a
 strain of E. coli, which adsorbed colicins but were not killed by them, were isolated and studied genetically and physiologically.
 He found three major classes of mutants, which he termed tol II (tolerant to colicins A, E1, E2, E3, and K), tol III (tolerant
 to A, E2, E3, and K), and tol VIII (tolerant to E1 only). He noted that these mutants were extremely sensitive to deoxycholate
 and to methylene blue, acridines, and several other compounds. Luria attributed this sensitivity to increased uptake due to
 selective alteration of the permeability barrier.

Salvador E. Luria

Papers

Mutations of bacteria from virus sensitivity to virus resistance

Hybridization between Escherichia coli and Shigella.

Transduction of lactose-utilizing ability among strains of E. coli and S. dysenteriae and the properties of the transducing phage particles.

A nonhereditary, host-induced variation of bacterial viruses.

Genetics and Physiology of Colicin-tolerant Mutants of Escherichia coli