Isao Yumoto presents a new book on Cold-Adapted Microorganisms In this up-to-date book, prominent authors present cutting-edge knowledge and current concepts on cold-adapted microorganisms. Divided into three main sections the book covers the major aspects of biodiversity in cold ecosystems, the physiology and molecular adaptation mechanisms, and the various biomolecules related to cold adaptation. Individual chapters cover the various habitats and the diverse strategies employed to cope with the cold. This major new work represents a read more ...

Control of Branching in Neurospora crassa from Michael K. Watters writing in Neurospora : Genomics and Molecular Biology : The growth and vegetative morphology of filamentous fungi is characterized by two seemingly related activities: Tip growth - the highly polarized extension of hyphal tips, and branching - the process by which new hyphal tips emerge. Tip growth and branching are crucial elements in the colonization and utilization of the organic substrate, keys to the ecological role of this fungus. There appear to be at least two read more ...

Conclusion and Future Prospect from Shah M. Faruque writing in Foodborne and Waterborne Bacterial Pathogens: Epidemiology, Evolution and Molecular Biology : Recent studies have provided remarkable insights to our general understanding of the epidemiology, genetics, and ecology of foodborne and waterborne bacterial pathogens. Some of these bacteria have recently been reclassified with updated nomenclature; identification methods have also improved substantially with more extensive use of molecular approaches. The bulk of information generated read more ...

Comparative Genomics of Primate Cytomegaloviruses from Andrew J. Davison, Mary Holton, Aidan Dolan, Derrick J. Dargan, Derek Gatherer and Gary S. Hayward writing in Cytomegaloviruses: From Molecular Pathogenesis to Intervention : The subfamily Betaherpesvirinae contains four genera and three species not yet assigned to genera. CMVs belong to this subfamily, and are usually reckoned to consist of primate viruses (such as HCMV) in the genus Cytomegalovirus , rodent viruses (such as MCMV) in the genus Muromegalovirus , and two of the unassigned read more ...

Clinical Cytomegalovirus Research: Thoracic Organ Transplantation from Robin K. Avery writing in Cytomegaloviruses: From Molecular Pathogenesis to Intervention : Heart and lung transplantation can be lifesaving therapies for end-stage organ disease in some patients. Despite advances in antiviral prevention, cytomegalovirus infection is still an important issue in post-transplant management and may contribute to survival-limiting dysfunction of the transplanted organ. This paper reviews the clinical presentations and risk factors for CMV read more ...

Akikazu Sakudo and Takashi Onodera present a new book on Prions: Current Progress in Advanced Research In this book, renowned prion experts review the most recent advances to provide a timely and up-to-date overview of the field. Topics covered include: prion proteins (PrP) and their family members; PrP function; molecular mechanisms of prions diseases; immunological strategies for the prevention and treatment of prion disease; microglial inflammation and prion diseases; methods for prion inactivation; clinical aspects of CJD; the BSE and read more ...

Clinical Cytomegalovirus Research: Liver and Kidney Transplantation from Vincent C. Emery, Richard S.B. Milne and Paul D. Griffiths writing in Cytomegaloviruses: From Molecular Pathogenesis to Intervention : CMV infection significantly impacts on the success of transplantation of abdominal organs. There are a range of both direct and indirect effects attributable to CMV. In this review we survey our current understanding of CMV pathogenesis, the immune control of CMV replication in these transplanted patients, the antiviral chemotherapeutic read more ...

Clinical Cytomegalovirus Research: Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation from Sachiko Seo and Michael Boeckh writing in Cytomegaloviruses: From Molecular Pathogenesis to Intervention : HCMV infection remains an important complication after hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT), although significant progress in the management of HCMV infection and disease has been made in the last two decades. A major achievement has been the optimization of preemptive therapy strategies based on surveillance by the pp65 antigenemia assay or HCMV DNA or RNA read more ...

Clinical Cytomegalovirus Research: Congenital Infection from Stuart P. Adler and Giovanni Nigro writing in Cytomegaloviruses: From Molecular Pathogenesis to Intervention : The epidemiology and pathogenesis of CMV infections among pregnant women have been intensely studied over the last three decades. This review focuses on recent research developments related to CMV infections during pregnancy. The developments include an understanding of the pathogenesis of CMV infections, knowledge of high risk women, and potentially effective read more ...

The new book on Bionanotechnology edited by Bernd H. A. Rehm will be available for dispatch within the next 2 or 3 read more ...

Classification and Organisation of Two-component Systems from David E. Whitworth writing in Two-Component Systems in Bacteria : Two-component systems (TCSs) are common signal transduction pathways found abundantly in most phyla except animals. The basic TCS pathway involves two multi-domain proteins. The first is a histidine protein kinase (HPK) whose autokinase activity is dependent upon an environmental stimulus. The second is a response regulator (RR), onto which a phosphoryl group is transferred from the phosphorylated HPK, and which read more ...

Chemotactic Signal Transduction in Helicobacter pylori from Paphavee Lertsethtakarn, Jenny Draper and Karen M. Ottemann writing in Two-Component Systems in Bacteria : The gastric pathogenic bacterium Helicobacter pylori has a relatively simple chemotaxis system, with four chemoreceptors plus a set of signal transduction proteins consisting of the CheA kinase, CheW and CheV coupling proteins, a CheY response regulator, the CheZ phosphatase and an unusual protein termed ChePep. H. pylori chemotaxis response has proved challenging to study, but read more ...

Cell Death Pathways Controlled by Cytomegaloviruses from A. Louise McCormick and Edward S. Mocarski writing in Cytomegaloviruses: From Molecular Pathogenesis to Intervention : Cytomegalovirus (CMV) deploys multiple strategies to overcome host intrinsic, innate, and adaptive responses that limit infection by triggering cell death. Multiple cell death suppressors are encoded by cytomegaloviruses infecting humans, monkeys and rodents. The viral inhibitor of caspase activation (vICA) and even the viral mitochondrial-localized inhibitor of read more ...

Cell Cycle and Developmental Regulation By Two-component Signaling Proteins in Caulobacter crescentus from Stephen C. Smith, Juan-Jesus Vicente and Kathleen R. Ryan writing in Two-Component Systems in Bacteria : The intricate cell division and developmental cycle of the α-Proteobacterium Caulobacter crescentus has been studied for four decades. During that time, elegant genetic screens and comprehensive post-genomic methods have uncovered a branched network of two-component signaling proteins that orchestrates Caulobacter cell cycle read more ...

Carotenoid Biosynthesis in Neurospora from Javier Avalos and Luis M. Corrochano writing in Neurospora : Genomics and Molecular Biology : Neurospora produces a mixture of carotenoid and apocarotenoid pigments, with the orange xanthophyll neurosporaxanthin as the major component. The five genes needed to produce this carboxylic apocarotenoid, in sequential order al-3, al-2, al-1, cao-2 and ylo-1 , are known and the encoding enzymes have been biochemically investigated. Neurosporaxanthin biosynthesis is induced by light at the level of read more ...

Calcium Signaling from Ranjan Tamuli, Ravi Kumar, Dhruv Aditya Srivastava and Rekha Deka writing in Neurospora : Genomics and Molecular Biology : The filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa possesses a complex Ca 2+ - signaling system consisting of 48 Ca 2+ -signaling proteins. Ca 2+ is stored in several intracellular stores such as vacuoles, plasma membrane vesicles, microsomes, and mitochondria; however, second messenger systems responsible for Ca 2+ -release from internal stores have not been identified in N. crassa or any other filamentous read more ...

BvgS of Pathogenic Bordetellae: a Paradigm for Sensor-kinases with Venus Flytrap Perception Domains from Françoise Jacob-Dubuisson, René Wintjens, Julien Herrou, Elian Dupré and Rudy Antoine writing in Two-Component Systems in Bacteria : The whooping cough agent Bordetella pertussis regulates the expression of its virulence regulon through the two-component system BvgAS. BvgA is a canonical response regulator serving as a transcriptional activator when phosphorylated. BvgS is a multidomain, hybrid sensor-kinase harbouring read more ...

Biology of Campylobacter Infection from Lieneke I. Bouwman and Jos P.M. van Putten writing in Foodborne and Waterborne Bacterial Pathogens: Epidemiology, Evolution and Molecular Biology : Campylobacter species are one of the leading causes of bacterial foodborne disease. Campylobacter survives and flourishes in a variety of environmental niches but causes pathology mainly in humans. The pathogenesis of the disease is still poorly understood, and currently only a few Campylobacter virulence determinants have been proposed. Recent studies read more ...

January 2013 January 09 - 09, 2013 SFAM Winter Meeting London, UK Further information January 12 - 13, 2013 Immunology of Fungal Infections Galveston, TX, USA Further information January 13 - 18, 2013 Immunology of Fungal Infections Galveston, TX, USA Further information January 19 - 20, 2013 Physical Virology Ventura, CA, USA Further information January 20 - 25, 2013 Physical Virology Ventura, CA, USA Further information January 20 - 25, 2013 Malaria New Orleans, Louisiana, USA Further information January 20 - 25, 2013 Genomics and Clinical read more ...

Biofilms in Periodontal Health and Disease from Purnima S Kumar, Matthew R Mason and Janel Yu writing in Oral Microbial Ecology: Current Research and New Perspectives : Dental plaque biofilm is composed of a diverse microbial community. Several decades of research have been focused on the role played by the subgingival biofilm in the etiology of periodontal diseases. However, recent evidence from other ecosystems within the human body indicates that these biofilms also play an important role in maintaining health. The purpose of this review read more ...

Bio-inspired Biomolecular Supramolecular Self-assemblies and Their Applications from Dong Li and Chuanbin Mao writing in Bionanotechnology: Biological Self-assembly and its Applications : A variety of naturally occurring biological materials exhibits supramolecular self-assembly properties. By incorporation of signaling motifs, biological information and functional units, these biological materials can find extensive applications in developing nanotechnology, material science, tissue engineering and nanomedicine. In this review, some read more ...

Barriers to Horizontal Gene Transfer: Fuzzy and Evolvable Boundaries from Fernando González-Candelas and M. Pilar Francino writing in Horizontal Gene Transfer in Microorganisms : The existence of numerous types of barriers to Horizontal Gene Transfer (HGT) is well documented. Nevertheless, no barrier is impervious, and all kinds of genes can occasionally find their way into organisms different from the ones in which they evolved. This by no means implies a free flow of genes across taxa, but, rather, the existence of complex networks read more ...

Bacteriophages: Self-assembly and Applications from Jasna Rakonjac and James F. Conway writing in Bionanotechnology: Biological Self-assembly and its Applications : Bacteriophage biology ushered in the era of modern molecular and structural biology. Accumulated wealth of knowledge on phage assembly, structure and the life cycle permitted their utilization in broad range of applications, from basic molecular biology to nanotechnology and pharmaceutical industry. This paper reviews current status of knowledge of bacteriophage assembly and read more ...

Bacterial Factors Encoded by Mobile and Integrative Genetic Elements in Enteric Pathogens from E. Fidelma Boyd writing in Foodborne and Waterborne Bacterial Pathogens: Epidemiology, Evolution and Molecular Biology : The acquisition of new phenotypes by bacteria is largely driven by horizontal gene transfer (HGT), a process that is ubiquitous among bacteria and universally present among enteric pathogens. The common vectors of HGT in enteric pathogens include phages, pathogenicity islands and plasmids, all genetic elements that can encode read more ...

Bacterial Catabolism of Salivary Substrates from David Beighton, Sadaf Rasheed Mughal and Thuy Do writing in Oral Microbial Ecology: Current Research and New Perspectives : The oral biofilm proliferates in the mouth by primarily utilizing components of saliva as dietary foods are rapidly cleared. The complex microbial community functions in a concerted manner to obtain nutrients, sugars and amino acids, from salivary components including mucins, by the production of a range of glycosidic enzymes including sialidase, β-galactosidase, read more ...

Bacillus subtilis Transcriptional Network from Yuko Makita and Kenta Nakai writing in Bacterial Gene Regulation and Transcriptional Networks : Bacillus subtilis is a soil living bacterium, long known as a representative of the low G+C group of Gram-positive bacteria in contrast to Escherichia coli , a representative of Gram-negative bacteria. Its genome contains about 4,176 protein-coding genes and 178 RNA genes. The number of sigma factors is 18, which is much larger than 7 in E. coli . Although there are very few theoretical studies of its read more ...

Antiviral Therapy, Drug Resistance, and Computed Resistance Profiling from Detlef Michel, Meike Chevillotte and Thomas Mertens writing in Cytomegaloviruses: From Molecular Pathogenesis to Intervention : Three drugs are currently used for treatment of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) disease or infection: ganciclovir (GCV)/valganciclovir (valGCV), cidofovir (CDV), and foscarnet (FOS). They all target the viral DNA polymerase pUL54, thereby inhibiting viral DNA replication. In contrast to antiviral treatment of overt HCMV disease, antiviral read more ...

Excerpt from a book review of Bacillus : Cellular and Molecular Biology (Second edition) : "As in the first edition Graumann has brought together top authors who critically review the high-level topics and classify the current literature in an excellent manner ... This carefully edited book of Graumann's should be in the collection of every group that works with B. subtilis ." from Erhard Bremer (Marburg) writing in Biospektrum (2012) 18: read more ...

Antikinases: their Structures and Roles in Two-component Signalling from David A. Jacques, J. Mitchell Guss and Jill Trewhella writing in Two-Component Systems in Bacteria : Antikinases are protein inhibitors of the bacterial sensor histidine kinases found in two-component systems. Antikinases act by binding the highly-conserved autokinase domains and thereby inhibit autophosphorylation. Antikinases offer unique opportunities to understand