{"title":"CRISPRs, Engineered into Plants, Protect Them From Damaging Viruses","authors":"Marcia Stone","doi":"10.1128/MICROBE.11.103.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1128/MICROBE.11.103.1","url":null,"abstract":"Engineering the CRISPR/Cas9 system to protect tobacco-like Nicotiana benthamiana plants from the tomato yellow leaf-curl virus (TYLCV) geminivirus leads to a “significant reduction in viral accumulation and disease symptoms,” report Magdy Mahfouz and his colleagues at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Thuwal, Saudi Arabia. This same approach can likely be used to protect a variety of crop plants against other viruses, underscoring its broad applicability, they point out.","PeriodicalId":87479,"journal":{"name":"Microbe (Washington, D.C.)","volume":"11 1","pages":"103-104"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"63635855","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Bacteria Can Be Predators, Too","authors":"T. Schmidt","doi":"10.1128/MICROBE.11.94.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1128/MICROBE.11.94.1","url":null,"abstract":"As a reminder of how even carefully laid plans can go awry, I have a small collection of seashells in my office with holes that have been precisely drilled through the hard, calcium carbonate shells. Through a combination of chemical dissolution and a sharp, drill-like tongue, predatory cone snails bored the holes in these shells of fellow mollusks and harvested a lifetime of hard work in the oceans. Life is not fair.","PeriodicalId":87479,"journal":{"name":"Microbe (Washington, D.C.)","volume":"11 1","pages":"94-94"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1128/MICROBE.11.94.1","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"63643896","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Not-So-Large Charge: Deep-Sea Microbes Directly Consume Electricity","authors":"D. Holzman","doi":"10.1128/microbe.11.101.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1128/microbe.11.101.1","url":null,"abstract":"The bacterium Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans can thrive on electrons obtained directly from an electrode when its usual energy source—iron—is unavailable. This switch from using an inorganic element to consuming electricity itself as a source of electrons “demonstrates a previously unknown bioenergetic versatility,” say Ryuhei Nakamura of the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science in Saitama, Japan, and his collaborators. Thus, electrons might be a primary energy source for these bacteria while dwelling within the deep-sea hydrothermal ecosystems in which they are found, they point out. Details appeared in the September 2015 Frontiers in Microbiology (doi:10.3389/fmicb.2015.00994).","PeriodicalId":87479,"journal":{"name":"Microbe (Washington, D.C.)","volume":"11 1","pages":"101-102"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1128/microbe.11.101.1","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"63635791","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Obituary: Geraldine “Gerri” S. Hall","authors":"B. Robinson-Dunn, Susanmarie Harrington","doi":"10.1128/MICROBE.11.132.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1128/MICROBE.11.132.1","url":null,"abstract":"G e r a l d i n e “Gerri” S. Hall passed away on 8 January 2016 in Forestville, N.Y., following a 13-year battle with cancer. She retired from her Clinical Microbiology staff position at the Cleveland Clinic in 2013, and she was living with her husband Jim on their farm in western New York. She was an outstanding microbiologist, teacher, and friend.","PeriodicalId":87479,"journal":{"name":"Microbe (Washington, D.C.)","volume":"58 33 1","pages":"132-133"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"63636548","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign—Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow","authors":"S. Maloy","doi":"10.1128/MICROBE.11.127.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1128/MICROBE.11.127.1","url":null,"abstract":"The Milestones in Microbiology program recognizes seminal accomplishments in microbiology–accomplishments that significantly increased biological understanding and advanced the field of microbiology, and often science and society as a whole. In October 2015, a Milestones in Microbiology designation was presented to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). This designation recognizes the contributions of many outstanding microbiologists for over a century.","PeriodicalId":87479,"journal":{"name":"Microbe (Washington, D.C.)","volume":"11 1","pages":"127-128"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"63636039","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Paying Heed to Global Implications of Algal Blooms Past and Present","authors":"B. Digregorio","doi":"10.1128/MICROBE.11.98.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1128/MICROBE.11.98.1","url":null,"abstract":"What does a backward look at the end-Cretaceous mass extinction 66 million years ago have in common with space-based instruments that detect photosynthetic pigments of algal blooms? In both cases, the findings suggest that environmental conditions are critical for enabling toxic or nontoxic algal blooms to proliferate—and, more dramatically, help to explain what can cause ecosystems to collapse.","PeriodicalId":87479,"journal":{"name":"Microbe (Washington, D.C.)","volume":"11 1","pages":"98-99"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"63644431","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Potential Broad-Spectrum Antiviral Agents Act by Triggering Innate Immunity","authors":"D. Holzman","doi":"10.1128/MICROBE.11.100.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1128/MICROBE.11.100.1","url":null,"abstract":"Low-molecular-weight compounds that trigger innate immunity response genes might serve as broad-spectrum antiviral agents, acting through the innate immune system to suppress a wide range of RNA viruses, including influenza A and hepatitis C, as well as the emerging dengue, Ebola, Lassa, Nipah, and West Nile viruses, according to Michael Gale, Jr., of the University of Washington, Seattle, and his collaborators. The research appeared 16 December 2015 in the Journal of Virology (doi:10.1128/JVI.02202–15).","PeriodicalId":87479,"journal":{"name":"Microbe (Washington, D.C.)","volume":"11 1","pages":"100-101"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"63635692","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Analytic Approach Sheds Light on Microbial Growth in “Dark Place” of the Gut","authors":"C. Potera","doi":"10.1128/MICROBE.11.99.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1128/MICROBE.11.99.1","url":null,"abstract":"Distributed cell division counting (DCDC), an analytic tool developed using synthetic biology, enables researchers to tag cells of Escherichia coli, follow their passage through the gastrointestinal (GI) tract of a mouse—or, presumably, a human—as they divide, and determine bacterial cell population dynamics within this otherwise inaccessible anatomic system, according to Cameron Myhrvold, Pamela Silver, and their collaborators at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Mass. This analytic approach can be adapted to “study microbial growth during infection, gut dysbiosis, antibiotic therapy, or other situations relevant to human health,” they note. Details appeared 30 November 2015 in Nature Communications (doi:10.1038/ncomms10039).","PeriodicalId":87479,"journal":{"name":"Microbe (Washington, D.C.)","volume":"11 1","pages":"99-100"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"63643995","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Forging Paths between the Academic Realm and Public Marketplace","authors":"Juliana M Ansari","doi":"10.1128/MICROBE.11.95.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1128/MICROBE.11.95.1","url":null,"abstract":"I have been an active ASM member since I started grad school about a decade ago, and I continue to appreciate the enriching experiences that membership brings. I am writing to address the future role of ASM in blazing the path from innovative academic lab discoveries to commercial applications of these findings. As federal research support and academic jobs dwindle, while technology and data multiply exponentially, the entrepreneurial among us will be vital in keeping the life science industry strong. Looking ahead to the 2016 ASM Microbe meeting in Boston, I see several workshops and sessions on careers in industry and startup culture, and I would love to see more opportunities for strategic partnerships through ASM. In my home state of Connecticut, many universities are holding “startup weekend” competitions, and international contests such as iGEM and Biomimicry design challenge are paving the way as well. I would love to see more initiatives from our vibrant society, from training programs and institutes, startup contests or seed grants, partnerships with business/legal/marketing coaches, and other initiatives to help small teams develop a discovery or idea into a commercial product or service. I hope that ASM can be a leader in forging paths between the academic realm and public marketplace, as our collection of expertise converges perfectly with the cultural rise of the microbiome, genomics, synthetic biology, and environmental sustainability. The time is ripe for a microbial resurgence in the private sector. I invite ASM members with more experience in business and applied microbiology to weigh in, and I encourage students, postdocs, faculty, and other researchers to look closely and hard at your findings to distill the ones that might be the most useful and marketable. Let's keep this culture alive!","PeriodicalId":87479,"journal":{"name":"Microbe (Washington, D.C.)","volume":"11 1","pages":"95-95"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"63644299","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Antibacterial Development: a Changing Landscape: Outdated regulatory approaches and company attrition are giving way to renewed interest in antibiotics and innovative ways to evaluate them in the clinic","authors":"Alita A. Miller","doi":"10.1128/MICROBE.11.111.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1128/MICROBE.11.111.1","url":null,"abstract":"With annual deaths from antibiotic-resistant infections estimated at 23,000 in the United States (US), 25,000 in Europe, and much higher elsewhere, antibiotic resistance is among the most significant threats to human health. While overall public awareness of the problem does not reflect its gravity, increasing recognition of its magnitude by health authorities has led to several recent initiatives to address this crisis. Proposed solutions include eliminating use of antibiotics for growth promotion in livestock, enforcing antibiotic stewardship, improving surveillance, and ensuring a steady, robust pipeline of new, effective treatments, the latter of which is the focus of this article.","PeriodicalId":87479,"journal":{"name":"Microbe (Washington, D.C.)","volume":"11 1","pages":"111-118"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1128/MICROBE.11.111.1","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"63635973","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}