Epidemiology and Genetics of the Pandemic Clone of Vibrio parahaemoluyicus from Indrani Karunasagar, Krishna Kumar and G. Balakrish Nair writing in Foodborne and Waterborne Bacterial Pathogens: Epidemiology, Evolution and Molecular Biology : Members of the Vibrionaceae family occurring in marine environment are responsible for many of the reported cases of infection worldwide. Among these, Vibrio parahaemolyticus is an important food-borne pathogen transmitted through contaminated seafood. Historically, food poisoning due to V. read more ...

Ephemeroviruses: Arthropod-borne Rhabdoviruses of Ruminants, With Large and Complex Genomes from Peter J. Walker, Kim R. Blasdell and D. Albert Joubert writing in Rhabdoviruses: Molecular Taxonomy, Evolution, Genomics, Ecology, Host-Vector Interactions, Cytopathology and Control : The genus Ephemerovirus comprises arthropod-borne rhabdoviruses that infect primarily ruminants. They include bovine ephemeral fever virus (BEFV) which is one of the most important vector-borne pathogens of cattle, Berrimah virus (BRMV), Kimberley virus (KIMV) and read more ...

Environmental Sensory Perception by Oral Streptococci from Justin Merritt and Jens Kreth writing in Oral Microbial Ecology: Current Research and New Perspectives : Oral streptococci encounter an exceptionally wide range of environmental stresses and population densities. These stimuli are sensed by efficient detection systems that also coordinate the appropriate adaptive genetic responses. The majority of these detection systems utilize membrane bound sensory proteins that are directly or indirectly regulated by their sensed stimuli. Such read more ...

Enteropathogenic Yersinia : Antibiotic Resistance and Susceptibility of Yersinia enterocolitica and Yersinia pseudotuberculosis from Jeanette N. Pham writing in Yersinia : Systems Biology and Control : Yersinia enterocolitica and Yersinia pseudotuberculosis , the two enteropathogenic species of the genus Yersinia , are poles apart in their natural resistance to β-lactam antibiotics. While Yersinia pseudotuberculosis , as a species, is susceptible to all antibiotics used in the treatment of Gram-negative infections, Y. enterocolitica read more ...

DNA Structure and Bacterial Nucleoid-associated Proteins from Georgi Muskhelishvili and Andrew Travers writing in Bacterial Gene Regulation and Transcriptional Networks : In the bacterial nucleoid different configurations of negatively supercoiled DNA are constrained by different NAPs. Thus while H-NS can constrain, by bridging, the interwindings of plectonemic structure, HU induces a left-handed coiled configuration while FIS can bind within DNA loops. The topological and dynamic interconvertibility of these structures contributes read more ...

Dissecting Mosquito-parasite Interactions Through Molecular Biology and Biochemistry: Genomic, Proteomic and Glycomic Analyses from Lindsay A. Parish, Lindsey S. Garver, David R. Colquhoun, Ceereena Ubaida Mohien, Elizabeth Weissbrod and Rhoel R. Dinglasan writing in Malaria Parasites: Comparative Genomics, Evolution and Molecular Biology : Our understanding of the malaria parasite-mosquito vector host interactions has grown significantly in the post-genomic era. The sequencing of the Anopheles gambiae genome and functional genomics has read more ...

Deviations from the Rule: Orphan and Atypical Response Regulators from Dagmar Beier writing in Two-Component Systems in Bacteria : In a classical two-component system a response regulator is activated via phosphoryl group transfer from a cognate histidine kinase in order to elicit a cellular output response to a specific stimulus. However, it is increasingly recognized that response regulator proteins do not necessarily rely on this standard activation mode. The so-called orphan response regulators lack a cognate histidine kinase as read more ...

Detection of Pathogenic Yersinia enterocolitica by Real-time PCR in Foods from Dietrich Mäde writing in Real-Time PCR in Food Science: Current Technology and Applications : Yersinia enterocolitica ranks as the third bacterial food pathogen in Europe. Because cultural assays are labour and time consuming, the routine analyses of food samples need to be improved. The domestic pig is considered as the moost important carrier of the zoontic strains but the data set for food samples is limited due to the limitations of the labour intensive read more ...

Detection of Pathogenic Thermotolerant Campylobacter species by Real-time PCR from L. Jesús Garcia-Gil writing in Real-Time PCR in Food Science: Current Technology and Applications : Campylobacter is a microaerophilic, spiral shaped, Gram-negative bacterium comprising 16 species. Although many of these species are thermotolerant, i.e. able to grow at 42 degrees C, C. jejuni , C. coli , C lari , and C. upsaliensis are the most prevalent foodborne pathogens. The need for a fast detection of these bacteria in foodstuff has fostered the read more ...

The new book on Malaria Parasites edited by Jane M. Carlton, Susan L. Perkins and Kirk W. Deitsch will be available for dispatch within the next 2 or 3 read more ...

Properties and Detection Methods of Bacilli Spores in Food and in Medical Settings from Olga Tarasenko, Pierre Alusta, Sergey Kazakov and Kalle Levon writing in Bacterial Spores: Current Research and Applications : Numerous members of Bacillus and Clostridium genera are widely distributed in nature. Their control is considerably important since these species are responsible for a variety of food spoilage, foodborne illnesses, and food-poisoning problems, in addition to their potential use as biological warfare agents. The present study read more ...

Detection and Culture of Novel Oral Bacteria from William Wade writing in Oral Microbial Ecology: Current Research and New Perspectives : The oral microbiota is highly diverse and includes fungi, protozoa, viruses and bacteria. Both domains of prokaryotes, Archaea and Bacteria are present. Representatives of the Archaea are restricted to a few taxa in the genus Methanobrevibacter , while there are over 600 species of Bacteria , from at least 12 phyla. The full diversity of bacterial populations in the mouth has been recognised following the read more ...

Deaminase-Dependent and Deaminase-Independent Functions of APOBEC1 and APOBEC1 Complementation Factor in the Context of the APOBEC Family from Harold C. Smith writing in RNA Editing: Current Research and Future Trends : Two decades of research revealed the mechanism for site-specific, apolipoprotein B ( apoB ) mRNA C to U editing and its developmental and metabolic regulation. The field began to lose momentum while many open questions remained. This was due to perceived impasses in translational research endpoints: (1) liver is the most read more ...

Cytomegaloviruses and Interferons from Mirko Trilling and Hartmut Hengel writing in Cytomegaloviruses: From Molecular Pathogenesis to Intervention : Interferons (IFNs) comprise a family of three different subtypes (I, II and III) of related cytokines which share their potent immuno-stimulatory and antiviral function. IFN secretion is initiated by synchronous activation of distinct classes of transcription factors (ATF/cJun, IRFs, NF-κB) upon recognition of conserved pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) by germ-line-encoded read more ...

Cytomegalovirus-encoded miRNAs from Meaghan H. Hancock, Igor Landais, Lauren M. Hook, Finn Grey, Rebecca Tirabassi and Jay A. Nelson writing in Cytomegaloviruses: From Molecular Pathogenesis to Intervention : MicroRNAs (miRNAs) represent an important class of small regulatory RNAs regulate cellular processes including development and malignancies. Since the discovery that viruses encode miRNAs over 240 viral miRNAs have been identified primarily in the herpesvirus family. The cytomegalovirus (CMV) family encodes multiple miRNAs encoded read more ...

The new book on Oral Microbial Ecology edited by Nicholas S. Jakubovics and Robert J. Palmer Jr. will be available for dispatch within the next 2 or 3 read more ...

Cytomegalovirus Vaccine: On the Way to the Future? from Stanley A. Plotkin and Bodo Plachter writing in Cytomegaloviruses: From Molecular Pathogenesis to Intervention : Prenatal transmission of CMV is a frequent cause of mental retardation and hearing loss in children. Furthermore, infection with this virus is a severe threat to immunocompromised patients. Consequently, development of a vaccine to prevent CMV disease has been identified as a first rank medical priority. Goals and target populations for such a vaccine have been identified. read more ...

Cytomegalovirus Replication in the Developing Human Placenta from Lenore Pereira, Takako Tabata, Matthew Petitt and June Fang-Hoover writing in Cytomegaloviruses: From Molecular Pathogenesis to Intervention : During human pregnancy, HCMV spreads from the infected mother to the fetus, navigating the complex architecture of the human placenta, which anchors the fetus to the uterus. Primary sites of virus replication in the placenta include cytotrophoblast progenitor cells in chorionic villi and differentiating/invading cytotrophoblasts that read more ...

Cytomegalovirus Proteomics from Patrizia Caposio, Daniel N. Streblow and Jay A. Nelson writing in Cytomegaloviruses: From Molecular Pathogenesis to Intervention : Proteomics is the large-scale study of proteins, particularly their structure and interaction. In this review we will discuss the results obtained using a proteomic approach to analyse what is secreted from cytomegalovirus infected cells: the composition of the viral and subviral particles as well as the cellular factors that are involved in the viral pathogenesis. In the previous read more ...

Nick A. Saunders and Martin A. Lee present a new book on Real-Time PCR: Advanced Technologies and Applications This essential manual provides both the novice and experienced user with an invaluable reference to a wide-range of real-time PCR technologies and applications and provides an overview of the theory of this increasingly important technique. Renowned international authors present detailed technical insights into the underlying principles, methods and practice of real-time PCR. The initial chapters cover the important aspects of read more ...

Cytomegalovirus Inter-Strain Variance in Cell-Type Tropism from Barbara Adler and Christian Sinzger writing in Cytomegaloviruses: From Molecular Pathogenesis to Intervention : Cytomegaloviruses (CMVs) are host species-specific pathogens that cause life-long persistent infections. Under conditions of reduced immune responses CMVs can cause acute systemic infections with replication in virtually any organ. The broad organ tropism is based on an equally broad range of target cell types. Epithelial cells, fibroblasts, endothelial cells and read more ...

Current Research for Bioremediation of Mercury from Irene Wagner-Döbler writing in Bioremediation of Mercury: Current Research and Industrial Applications : This review covers approximately the last ten years of research. It is based on appr. 150 publications on mercury remediation in Medline, including 83 citations of our papers from 1999 and 2000 (von Canstein et al. , 1999; Wagner-Döbler et al. , 2000a). After eliminating citations which were not directly related to the topic, roughly 120 references remained. Completeness is not read more ...

Current Challenges in Real-time PCR Diagnostics in Food Science from David Rodríguez-Lázaro, Nigel Cook and Marta Hernández writing in Real-Time PCR in Food Science: Current Technology and Applications : A principal consumer demand is a guarantee of the safety and quality of food. The presence of foodborne pathogens and their potential hazard, the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in food production, and the correct labeling in foods suitable for vegetarians are among the subjects where society demands total read more ...

Current approaches in Lyssavirus Vaccine Development and Future Challenges from Xianfu Wu, Rongliang Hu, and Todd G. Smith writing in Rhabdoviruses: Molecular Taxonomy, Evolution, Genomics, Ecology, Host-Vector Interactions, Cytopathology and Control : Current approaches to human rabies vaccine are focused on delivering safe, potent vaccine to exposed people in as few, cost-effective doses as possible. Given the current paradigm of inactivated rabies vaccines for humans, using more attenuated rabies virus seeds combined with industrialized read more ...

Excerpt from a book review of Stress Response in Microbiology : "brings together 17 expert groups to review aspects of the stress response in bacteria, mycoplasmas, yeast and a range of protozoans. Chapters are of reasonable size, well (and currently) referenced and show a common style, which is a mark of good editing ... well and sensibly illustrated ... will be of interests to bacteriologists, parasitologists and the growing number of scientists interested in the cell stress response." from Brian Henderson (University College London, UK) read more ...

Excerpt from a book review of Systems Microbiology: Current Topics and Applications : "a beneficial purchase for any institution or systems biology consortium ... a valuable resource that will appeal to experimentalists and modellers alike." from Alison Graham (Newcastle University, UK) writing in Microbiology Today (2012) 39: read more ...

Coordination of RNA Editing with Other RNA Processes in Kinetoplastid Mitochondria from Jorge Cruz-Reyes and Laurie K. Read writing in RNA Editing: Current Research and Future Trends : The extraordinary RNA editing by U insertion and U deletion in mitochondrial mRNAs is arguably the best characterized process in kinetoplastids. However, much less is known about ancilliary factors of the editing multiprotein enzyme core. This enzyme architecture and basic catalysis guided by small non-coding gRNAs have enjoyed central stage, compared to other read more ...