Stress Response in Entamoeba histolytica from Alfonso Olivos-García, Emma Saavedra, Erika Rubí Luis-García, Mario Nequiz and Ruy Pérez-Tamayo writing in Stress Response in Microbiology : Several species belonging to the genus Entamoeba can colonize the mouth or the human gut; only Entamoeba histolytica , however, is pathogenic to the host, causing the disease amebiasis. This illness is responsible for one hundred thousand human deaths per year worldwide, affecting mainly underdeveloped countries. Throughout its read more ...

Stress Response in Listeria monocytogenes from Ewa WaŁecka and Jacek Bania writing in Stress Response in Microbiology : L. monocytogenes is a food-borne pathogen widespread in the environment. The majority of human listeriosis is associated with consumption of contaminated food. It has the ability to invade many types of nonphagocytic cells and spread from cell to cell, crossing important barriers in host organism. Despite intensified surveillance in food manufacturing serious cases of listeriosis are still reported. Before L. read more ...

The new book on Foodborne and Waterborne Bacterial Pathogens edited by Shah M. Faruque will be available for dispatch within the next 2 or 3 read more ...

The new book on Bacterial Spores edited by Ernesto Abel-Santos will be available for dispatch within the next 2 or 3 read more ...

Stress Response in Mycoplasmas from Melissa L. Madsen and F. Chris Minion writing in Stress Response in Microbiology : Because mycoplasmas lack cell walls and have a limited genome capacity, there has been interest in their regulation of gene expression in these unique organisms. Their restriction to the host environment only adds to the intrigue. That environment, however, is not constant, changing with the host adaption to colonization and disease by the mycoplasma. This review focuses on the types of stresses the mycoplasma might read more ...

Stress Response in the Human Malaria Parasite Plasmodium falciparum from Sylke Müller and Christian Doerig writing in Stress Response in Microbiology : The life cycle of malaria parasites comprises a complex succession of developmental stages occurring in two different hosts, the human patient and the mosquito vector. In both hosts, the parasite encounters hostile environments and must deal with stresses such as immune responses, sharp temperature shifts and exposure to drugs; partly because of large-scale haemoglobin degradation in the read more ...

Stress Response in the Infective Stage of Trypanosoma brucei from Marcelo A. Comini, Andrea Medeiros and Bruno Manta writing in Stress Response in Microbiology : African trypanosomes ( Trypanosoma brucei sp.) are unicellular eukaryotic organisms that undergo a complex life cycle shuttling between an invertebrate (vector) and a mammalian host. The parasites have evolved sophisticated and efficient mechanisms to cope with, and adapt to, different environmental conditions. Distinct physical (temperature, pH, osmotic pressure) and biological read more ...

Stress Response in the Pathogenic Yersinia Species from N. Kaye Horstman and Andrew J. Darwin writing in Stress Response in Microbiology : Pathogenic Yersinia species have long been studied as important causes of human disease and as model organisms to understand widely conserved mechanisms of bacterial virulence. Like all bacteria, these pathogens must respond to a variety of potentially damaging conditions to ensure their survival. This chapter begins by introducing the pathogenic Yersinia and the aspects of their lifestyles that are read more ...

Stress Responses in Mycobacterium from Richard W. Stokes writing in Stress Response in Microbiology : There are many species of mycobacteria, some of which are pathogens of man. Mycobacterium tuberculosis , the etiological agent of tuberculosis, is a major pathogen of man with about one third of the world's population being infected. It resides within host macrophages where it can survive in a dormant state for the lifetime of the host with about 10% of all infections resulting in disease. This environment results in the bacteria being read more ...

Stress Responses in Salmonella from Suzanne Humphrey, Tom J. Humphrey and Mark A. Jepson writing in Stress Response in Microbiology : Salmonella enterica are the causative agents of a spectrum of diseases, including enteric fever and self-limiting gastroenteritis and remain significant foodborne pathogens throughout both the developed and developing worlds. The ability to actively invade and reside within gut epithelia and macrophages is an important process in the establishment of Salmonella infection, generating localised inflammatory read more ...

Stress Responses in Streptococcus from Jacqueline Abranches and Josá A. Lemos writing in Stress Response in Microbiology : The genus Streptococcus is comprised of a diverse group of organisms, which includes food-associated, commensal and pathogenic species. The importance of this genus to the food industry and the capacity of certain species to infect animals and humans make streptococci one of the best-studied Gram-positive bacteria. In this chapter, we will describe the stress responses of the four major pathogenic streptococcal read more ...

Stress Responses in Yeast from Eulàlia de Nadal and Francesc Posas writing in Stress Response in Microbiology : Adaptation to environmental stress requires changes in many aspects of cellular physiology essential for cell survival, such as gene expression, translation, metabolism, morphogenesis or cell cycle progression. Accordingly, the ability of eukaryotic cells to survive and thrive within adverse environments depends on rapid and robust stress responses. Stress-activated protein kinases (SAPKs) pathways are key elements on read more ...

Structural Basis of Signal Transduction and Specificity in Two-components Systems from Patricia Casino, Marisa López-Redondo and Alberto Marina writing in Two-Component Systems in Bacteria : Two-component systems (TCSs) constitute a signal transduction mechanism, mainly found in prokaryotes, which is relatively simple as they are basically formed by two proteins: a histidine kinase (HK) and a response regulator (RR). These two proteins are able to transmit all kinds of signals productively and elegantly by the use of phosphorelays in read more ...

Structural "Snap-shots" of the Initiation of SV40 Replication from Gretchen Meinke and Peter A. Bullock writing in Small DNA Tumour Viruses : The initiation of DNA replication, which is one of the fundamental processes in eukaryotic cells, is not understood at the molecular level. Therefore, several laboratories are attempting to understand this process using the Simian Virus 40 replication system; a relatively simple and well-characterized model for studies of eukaryotic DNA replication. The replication initiator encoded by Simian Virus 40 read more ...

Structure-function Analysis of and Sensing Mechanisms by Two-component Systems from writing in Two-Component Systems in Bacteria : Further reading: Two-Component Systems in read more ...

Surveillance and Control of Enteric Yersinioses from Truls Nesbakken writing in Yersinia : Systems Biology and Control : Yersinia enterocolitica is a zoonotic bacterium that has its main reservoir within the domestic pig population. Accordingly, interventions in the meat chain are essential for protection of consumers against infection with pathogenic Y. enterocolitica . Occurrence of Y. enterocolitica Y. enterocolitica is less frequent in mixed breeding-finishing herds than in fattening herds. Accordingly, purchase of animals from other read more ...

Surveillance and Control of Plague from Jean-Marc Duplantier writing in Yersinia : Systems Biology and Control : Surveillance focuses primarily on human cases, then on vectors and reservoirs, but it is important not to neglect the bacteria (virulence and resistance to antimicrobial agents). Absence of human cases does not mean that plague does not continue to circulate in rodents. Recent re-emergences show the importance of monitoring historic foci considered as extinct. There is a need for surveillance in shantytowns, mines, refugee camps, read more ...

System-level Strategies for Studying the Metabolism of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from Dany J.V. Beste and Johnjoe McFadden writing in Systems Microbiology: Current Topics and Applications : Despite decades of research many aspects of the biology of Mycobacterium tuberculosis remain unclear and this is reflected in the antiquated tools available to treat and prevent tuberculosis. Consequently, this disease remains a serious public health problem responsible for 2 to 3 million deaths each year. Important discoveries linking M. tuberculosis read more ...

The new book on Yersinia edited by Elisabeth Carniel and B. Joseph Hinnebusch will be available for dispatch within the next 2 or 3 read more ...

Systems Biology of Infection: the Pathogen Perspective from Dirk Bumann writing in Systems Microbiology: Current Topics and Applications : Microbial infections still cause around one quarter of all deaths globally, despite the advances that have been made in the treatment of infectious disease. The increasing occurrence of drug resistant pathogens, both old and new, coupled with an increasingly mobile human population has creatd many novel opportunities for potential pathogens to meet new human hosts. All of this requires new prevention and read more ...

Bernd H. A. Rehm presents a new book on Bionanotechnology: Biological Self-assembly and its Applications Under the expert guidance of Bernd H. A. Rehm, the authors of this book provide a survey of the most striking and successful approaches for the production of biogenic nanodevices considering not only living organisms as manufacturer but also in vitro processes that utilize the self-assembly of isolated biomolecules. The book provides a topical overview of the vast field of bionanotechnology by describing various biological nanostructures, read more ...

Targeting of PML Proteins and PML Nuclear Bodies by DNA Tumour Viruses from Keith N. Leppard and Jordan Wright writing in Small DNA Tumour Viruses : Promyelocytic leukaemia (PML) protein is the principal and much studied component of subnuclear structures known as PML NBs. These structures and/or their components have been implicated in a very wide range of cellular processes, without the precise mechanism of their involvement being determined. One of the key areas of PML study has been the interactions that many viruses make with PML NBs read more ...

Taxonomy of Rhabdoviruses from Ralf G. Dietzgen and Ivan V. Kuzmin writing in Rhabdoviruses: Molecular Taxonomy, Evolution, Genomics, Ecology, Host-Vector Interactions, Cytopathology and Control : Taxonomy helps us to classify viruses according to guidelines developed by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV). Historical approaches, based on physico-chemical characteristics, serologic relationships, genetic distances, or pathobiology, have been replaced with more complex concepts of viral species, that includes all the read more ...

The CpxAR Two-component System Regulates a Complex Envelope Stress Response in Gram Negative Bacteria from Stefanie Vogt, Nicole Acosta, Julia Wong, Junshu Wang and Tracy Raivio writing in Two-Component Systems in Bacteria : The CpxA membrane bound sensor kinase utilizes a periplasmic sensing domain to detect a wide variety of stresses to the bacterial envelope. This information is communicated via typical two-component phosphotransfer mediated reactions to the response regulator CpxR. Phosphorylated CpxR binds upstream of numerous promoters read more ...

Jane M. Carlton, Susan L. Perkins and Kirk W. Deitsch present a new book on Malaria Parasites: Comparative Genomics, Evolution and Molecular Biology Since the publication of the first two Plasmodium genome sequences in 2002, numerous other parasite genomes have been sequenced. These include the genomes of several more Plasmodium species as well as those of other apicomplexans, including species of Toxoplasma, Cryptosporidium, Babesia , and Eimeria . This wealth of genome sequence data has provided researchers with a powerful new tool, read more ...

The Evolution of Horizontally Transferred Genes: a Model for Prokaryotes from Iñaki Comas and Fernando González-Candelas writing in Horizontal Gene Transfer in Microorganisms : Horizontal gene transfer is a pervasive evolutionary process which has developed and is still developing an essential role in shaping biodiversity through providing opportunities for innovation, moving determinants of functions among taxa, opening opportunities for colonization of new niches, or acting as a catalyst for adaptation. However, its read more ...