Articles in 2014

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are causing a global health crisis. Here, the authors review recent advances in our understanding of the mechanisms by which bacteria are either intrinsically resistant or acquire resistance to antibiotics. This information should aid the discovery and development of new compounds that can circumvent or neutralize existing resistance mechanisms.

The marine cyanobacteriumProchlorococcusis the most abundant photosynthetic organism on earth. In this Review, Chisholm and colleagues highlight the enormous genomic diversity of this phototroph, discuss the factors that contribute to this diversity and consider its ecological consequences.

Ley and colleagues show that human genetic variation influences the composition of the gut microbiota, which affects health.

Pseudomonas aeruginosaforms biofilm-like cell aggregates on epithelial cells in a process that requires the pore-forming translocon of the type III secretion system (T3SS) but not the T3SS effectors.

Influenza A virus has only eight genes, so it is dependent on host proteins and pathways to mediate viral ribonucleoprotein (vRNP) trafficking and to promote vRNP functions at all stages of the virus life cycle. Here, Kawaoka and colleagues describe the trafficking and functions of influenza A vRNPs in host cells, emphasizing how vRNPs interact with and depend on host factors and pathways, how vRNP structure contributes to its function and the key open questions that still need to be answered.

Two new papers look at different ways in whichChlamydia trachomatisinteracts with the host cell cytoskeleton.

Reactive oxygen species induce a 'division of labour' in intracellularCryptococcus gattiipopulations, which promotes pathogenesis.

This month's Genome Watch explores the effect that recombination can have on the interpretation of outbreak investigations, and the far-reaching consequences for genomic diversity in bacterial species.

Acetogenic bacteria rely on the reduction of CO₂ to acetate by the Wood–Ljungdahl pathway to couple energy conservation and biomass production. However, how energy is conserved in acetogens has been an enigma. Here, Schuchmann and Müller describe recent insights into the biochemistry and genetics of the energy metabolism of model acetogens, highlight how these bacteria link CO₂fixation to energy conservation and propose a new bioenergetic classification for acetogens.

In this Microbiology Pioneers Essay, Salomon Bartnicki-Garcia pays tribute to two pioneers of fungal cell ultrastructure, Manfred Girbardt and Charles Bracker.

The shift in the receptor-binding specificity of influenza A viruses is mostly determined by mutations in viral haemagglutinin. In this Review, Gao and colleagues discuss recent crystallographic studies that provide molecular insights into haemagglutinin–host receptor interactions that have enabled several influenza A virus subtypes to 'jump' from avian to human hosts.

S. Craig Cary and Noah Fierer call on microbial ecologists to develop robust strategies for long-term storage and archiving of samples in order to fully develop, and protect, the scientific record.

In addition to their role in inhibiting apoptosis, viral anti-apoptotic proteins function in multiple immune and metabolic pathways to promote fitness and pathogenesis. In this Progress article, Jung and colleagues review novel functions of these viral proteins in the regulation of autophagy, as well as in the nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) pathway and in interferon signalling.