Showing papers in "Current Opinion in Microbiology in 2005"

TL;DR: The application of a variety of genetic and molecular approaches is now beginning to reveal fascinating insights into the complex regulatory cascades that govern the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites made by streptomycetes.

TL;DR: In this article, the capacity of a microbial population to degrade pollutants within an environmental matrix (e.g. soil, sediment, sludge or wastewater) can be enhanced either by stimulation of the indigenous microorganisms by addition of nutrients or electron acceptors (biostimulation) or by the introduction of specific microorganisms to the local population (bioaugmentation).

TL;DR: Owing to their specificity and high activity, endolysins have been employed for various in vitro and in vivo aims, in food science, in microbial diagnostics, and for treatment of experimental infections.

TL;DR: Recent studies that have shed light on the still developing field of restriction-modification and on the newly re-emerging field of anti-restriction indicate that these fields continue to contribute significantly to basic science.

TL;DR: From these data it is evident that members of the Alphaproteobacteria harbor the complete sulfur-oxidizing Sox enzyme system, whereasMembers of the beta and gamma subclass and the Chlorobiaceae contain sox gene clusters that lack the genes encoding sulfur dehydrogenase, indicating a different pathway for oxidation of sulfur to sulfate.

TL;DR: With increasing progress and application of rational methods in engineering, SSF will achieve higher levels in standardisation and reproducibility in the future, which can make SSF the preferred technique for special fields of application such as the production of enzymes and food.

TL;DR: The Arp2/3 complex, which moves intracellularly on microtubules and just after budding, triggers actin polymerization and the formation of protrusions similar to that of adherent enteropathogenic Escherichia coli, that involve the Arp1/2 complex and facilitate its inter-cellular spread.

TL;DR: Structural biology has contributed significantly to the understanding of these processes and should prove invaluable in the design of drugs to combat beta-lactam resistance in the future.

TL;DR: Large-scale genome comparisons have shown that no gene sets are shared exclusively by both Aspergillus fumigatus and any other human pathogen sequenced to date, and the proteome of this fungus contains numerous efflux pumps, including >100 major facilitators that help the fungus to resist either natural aggressive molecules present in the environment or antifungal drugs in humans.

TL;DR: In at least some pathogenic Gram-positive bacteria, major virulence factor genes are among the targets of CodY, a protein that controls more than a hundred genes that are typically repressed during rapid growth and induced when cells experience nutrient deprivation.

TL;DR: Abortive infection systems, also called phage exclusion, block phage multiplication and cause premature bacterial cell death upon phage infection, and recent analysis indicates that Abis might have additional roles other than conferring phage resistance.

TL;DR: The recent progress in the understanding of the Cpx and sigmaE systems is discussed and how both function to maintain the integrity of the cell envelope is compared.

TL;DR: High-affinity ZIP-type zinc transporters in bacteria have also been identified, and certain zinc-binding proteins in the periplasm might function as chaperones to supply these enzymes with zinc.

TL;DR: The invasive pathogen Salmonella enterica has evolved sophisticated mechanisms to subvert the cytoskeletal machinery of its host, highlighting the unique multi-functional role and temporal regulation of key bacterial effectors.

TL;DR: In this article, similarities between the two species, for example in population structure, in the large numbers of (putative) adhesins that they encode, and in phenotypic plasticity conferred by phenotype switching, suggest that they share general strategies in adaptation to an opportunistic lifestyle.

TL;DR: Brucella is a facultative intracellular bacterium responsible for brucellosis that possesses an unconventional non-endotoxic lipopolysaccharide that confers resistance to anti-microbial attacks and modulates the host immune response, which makes lipopoly Saccharide an important virulence factor for Brucella survival and replication in the host.

TL;DR: The denitrifying bacteria is proposed as a model microbial community for understanding the relationship between community structure and activity, and the recent progress in studies of this functional community is summarized.

TL;DR: Bioactive compounds isolated using the above strategies have not only shown importance in biotechnological and pharmaceutical applications but have also increased the understanding of the diversity of marine microbiota, ecosystem functions and the exploitable biology.

TL;DR: The protein family shows high conservation, with examples in eukaryota, archaea, and bacteria, which indicates that PII is one of the most ancient signalling proteins known.

TL;DR: The origin and phylogeny of DamMT, based on sequenced genomes, has been deduced and it is shown that in certain bacteria, unlike E. coli, DamMT is essential for viability.

TL;DR: Bacillus subtilis, a Gram-positive soil bacterium, provides a model system for the study of metal ion homeostasis and metal efflux systems are regulated by MerR and ArsR family homologs which can be rather non-specific with regard to metal selectivity.

TL;DR: Future strategies in beta-lactam design must take into account the complex nature of resistance in Gram-negative pathogens, because multi-drug resistant phenotype that challenges health care workers worldwide is caused by an array of resistance determinants.

TL;DR: It is shown that enzymes from thermophilic and hyperthermophilic Archaea have industrial relevance and information concerning the molecular properties of their enzymes and genes has to be obtained to be able to understand the mechanisms that are responsible for catalytic activity and stability at the boiling point of water.

TL;DR: In many pathogenic bacteria, genes that encode virulence factors are located in the genomes of prophages, and bacteriophages are important vectors for disseminating virulence genes, but, in addition, do phage regulatory circuits contribute to expression of these genes?

TL;DR: The Tat system is now known to be essential for many bacterial processes including energy metabolism, cell wall biosynthesis, the nitrogen-fixing symbiosis and bacterial pathogenesis.

TL;DR: Comparative analyses of glycolytic pathways in archaeal organisms indicate a variety of differences from the classical Emden-Meyerhof and Entner-Doudoroff pathways that are operative in Bacteria and Eukarya.

TL;DR: The identification of the cytosolic surveillance mechanism mediated by the nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain (Nod)1 and Nod2 proteins, which detect unique peptidoglycan-derived muropeptides, should be considered as potential virulence factors.

TL;DR: These phage and prophage genomes are fertile ground for attempts to deduce the nature of viral evolutionary processes, and such analyses have made it clear that these phage have enjoyed a significant level of horizontal exchange of genetic information throughout their long histories.

TL;DR: Observations support the idea that a primary role of host populations in phage ecology and evolution is to serve as vectors for genetic exchange among phage and host communities.

TL;DR: Motile bacteria seek optimal living habitats by following gradients of attractant and repellent chemicals in their environment, and employs a networked cluster of transmembrane receptors to detect minute chemical stimuli and to integrate multiple and conflicting inputs.