Showing papers in "Trends in Microbiology in 2015"

TL;DR: The progress made in the past decade in understanding the cross-species transmission of SARS- coV and MERS-CoV is summarized by focusing on the features of the S protein, its receptor-binding characteristics, and the cleavage process involved in priming.

TL;DR: Data on the fate and activity of ingested bacteria and, in particular, lactobacilli and bifidobacteria in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract and their impact on the composition and metabolism of the gut microbiome are reviewed with a focus on data from clinical studies.

TL;DR: A predictive framework for microbiome engineering is developed that organizes research around principles of artificial selection, quantitative genetics, and microbial community-ecology and offers a skeptical appraisal of each method in light of potential challenges.

TL;DR: The organization of four principal types of cellulose synthase operon found in various bacterial genomes are reviewed, additional bcs genes that encode components of the cellulose biosynthesis and secretion machinery are identified, and a unified nomenclature for these genes and subunits are proposed.

TL;DR: It is concluded that disturbance of microbial nitrogen cycling may be tightly linked to coral bleaching and disease.

TL;DR: What happens when your favorite song comes on?

TL;DR: Current knowledge regarding indole and its derivatives, their biotechnological applications and their role in prokaryotic and eukaryotic systems are presented.

TL;DR: The ongoing West African Ebola epidemic highlights a recurring trend in the emergence of virulent pathogens likely to come from bat reservoirs that has caused epidemiologists to ask "Are bats special reservoirs for emerging zoonotic pathogens?".

TL;DR: New structural and functional insights are focused on and recent data revealing that human MxA (MX1) provides a safeguard against introduction of avian influenza A viruses into the human population is discussed.

TL;DR: An extraordinarily diverse ecosystem where Streptococcus mutans accounts only a tiny fraction of the bacterial community is uncovered supports the concept that consortia formed by multiple microorganisms act collectively, probably synergistically, to initiate and expand the cavity.

TL;DR: Current evidence supports a new view of receptor signaling in which stimulus information travels within receptor molecules through shifts in the dynamic properties of adjoining structural elements rather than through a few discrete conformational states.

TL;DR: The patterns and mechanisms associated with invasion resistance are examined and a mechanistic synthesis governed by the species richness, species evenness, and resource availability of resident communities is created.

TL;DR: This review presents the major hurdles of phage therapy and the solutions proposed to circumvent them and special attention is given to the genetic modification of phages as an achievable strategy to shape bacteriophages to exhibit desirable biological properties.

TL;DR: It is argued here that these two dormant states are closely related phenomena which are part of a shared 'dormancy continuum' and both produce antibiotic-tolerant populations capable of withstanding prolonged lethal treatment.

TL;DR: These studies demonstrate that cyanobacteria encode a huge variety of cryptic gene clusters for the production of natural products, and the known chemical diversity is likely to be just a fraction of the true biosynthetic capabilities of this fascinating and ancient group of organisms.

TL;DR: How emerging research sheds new light on resistance mechanisms and the way it could be exploited for the development of alternative antimicrobial strategies is explored.

TL;DR: This review summarizes the current understanding of the structure, function, and assembly of the flagellar motor in Salmonella and marine Vibrio.

TL;DR: Strain engineering is reviewed, primarily as it pertains to bacterial solvent tolerance, and the benefits and challenges associated with the expression of membrane-localized transporters in improving solvent tolerance and production are reviewed.

TL;DR: The advantages and disadvantages of various approaches to measuring the latent reservoir of HIV-1 in resting memory CD4(+) T cells are described.

TL;DR: It is reviewed how recently strengthened influenza virus surveillance in pigs has revealed that influenza virus transmission from humans to swine is far more frequent than swine-to-human zoonosis, and is central in seeding swine globally with new viral diversity.

TL;DR: This review summarizes recent progress in bacterial genome editing and identifies fundamental genetic and phenotypic outcomes of CRISPR targeting in bacteria, in the context of tool development, genome homeostasis, and DNA repair.

TL;DR: The association between viral infection and inflammasome activation is reviewed and the mechanisms underlying virus-induced inflammaome activation are identified to develop novel therapeutic strategies to target viruses.

TL;DR: The bacterial type IV pilus (T4P) is a versatile molecular machine with a broad range of functions, and its functions are diverse, and include adhesion, motility, and horizontal gene transfer.

TL;DR: Viewing BMCs as genetic, structural, functional, and evolutionary modules provides a framework for understanding both BMC-mediated metabolism and for adapting their architectures for applications in synthetic biology.

TL;DR: These studies provide compelling evidence that, upon contact with a surface, cellAdhesion components display a variety of mechanical responses that are important for cell adhesion.

TL;DR: It is clear that virally induced metabolic reprogramming can substantially impact infectious outcomes, highlighting the promise of targeting these processes for antiviral therapeutic development.

TL;DR: The ability to analyze single bacteria in real time has provided new, important quantitative insights into this long-standing question in cell biology.

TL;DR: The mechanistic insight into the curli assembly pathway will provide tools for new biotechnological applications and inform the design of targeted inhibitors of amyloid polymerization and biofilm formation.

TL;DR: In this article, it was shown that the combined rate of lateral gene transfer and gene loss is higher than that of point mutation, and the evolutionary forces underlie the rate of gene transfer are not well understood.

TL;DR: Bacteria produce a variety of particles resembling phage tails that are functional without an associated phage head, and such tailocins mediate antagonism between related bacteria as well as interactions with eukaryotic cells.