{"title":"Zika Virus Research Outpaces Commitments To Fund Such Efforts","authors":"J. Fox","doi":"10.1128/MICROBE.11.296.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1128/MICROBE.11.296.1","url":null,"abstract":"Despite prolonged wrangling over how and how much to fund U.S. research on the Zika virus, the research community is making considerable progress studying this pathogen, quickly confirming its capacity to interfere with fetal development. Beyond careful tracking of this flavivirus and extensive analyses of its structure and genome, recent research efforts focus on understanding its impact on infected individuals, particularly when pregnant, on developing diagnostic tests for the virus, and on vaccine development as well as control of the mosquitoes that spread this virus.","PeriodicalId":87479,"journal":{"name":"Microbe (Washington, D.C.)","volume":"11 1","pages":"296-297"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1128/MICROBE.11.296.1","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"63640721","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":"Bacterial Diversity Is Dominant Feature in New Tree of Life","authors":"C. Potera","doi":"10.1128/microbe.11.292.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1128/microbe.11.292.1","url":null,"abstract":"A new rendition of the tree of life includes 92 named bacterial phyla, 26 archaeal phyla, and all five of the eukaryotic supergroups. This tree highlights how bacteria dominate all of biology in terms of diversity. Moreover, although many of the most abundant bacteria have never been seen, they were identified using reconstructed genome sequences. “It was a surprise to see the massive scale of diversity in Domain Bacteria, including many lineages that lack isolated representatives,” says study leader Jill Banfield of the University of California, Berkeley. Details appeared 11 April 2016 in Nature Microbiology (doi:10.1038/nmicrobiol.2016.48).","PeriodicalId":87479,"journal":{"name":"Microbe (Washington, D.C.)","volume":"11 1","pages":"292-293"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"63640540","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":"Reviews and Resources:Practical Handbook of Microbiology, 3rd Ed.: BOOKS","authors":"Daniel P. Haeusser","doi":"10.1128/MICROBE.11.326.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1128/MICROBE.11.326.1","url":null,"abstract":"For those who may not get much use out of the mammoth two-volume reference above, but would appreciate a more compact volume that also extends past clinical application, this volume may be of interest. Like the work above, this handbook starts with a section of chapters that cover general microbiological practices and principles, including sterilization, antibiotics, identification and quantitation, and epidemiology. A particularly fascinating chapter on the “Business of Microbiology” ends the first section, with details on hospital management, health insurance, and government regulations (among others). The second section narrows focus to specific groups of organisms with greatest emphasis on bacteria. But it also includes chapters on viruses (including some on phage), fungi, parasites, and archaea. The lack of figures in this handbook makes it unsuitable for something like an undergraduate textbook, but as a supplementary resource for student or instructor it would be very beneficial in its comprehensive scope across general microbiology.","PeriodicalId":87479,"journal":{"name":"Microbe (Washington, D.C.)","volume":"11 1","pages":"326-326"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1128/MICROBE.11.326.1","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"63640564","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":"Point-of-Care Workable in Developing Countries: HPV in Self-Collected Specimens","authors":"D. Holzman","doi":"10.1128/microbe.11.297.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1128/microbe.11.297.1","url":null,"abstract":"Point-of-care testing appears workable even under highly difficult circumstances—specifically, when evaluated among women in Papua New Guinea, who are at risk for becoming infected with human papillomavirus, a cause of cervical cancer, according to Andrew Vallely of the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, and his collaborators. Moreover, self-sampling by these women provides specimens that screen as accurately as do cervical samples that clinicians obtained, these investigators note. They call this finding “critical” for developing same-day, screening-and-treatment procedures for women in this and other developing countries. Details appeared April 13, 2016 in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology (doi:10.1128/JCM.00529–16).","PeriodicalId":87479,"journal":{"name":"Microbe (Washington, D.C.)","volume":"11 1","pages":"297-298"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1128/microbe.11.297.1","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"63640885","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":"Tunable Laser Monitors Microbes in Packaged Foods, Medical Supplies","authors":"B. Digregorio","doi":"10.1128/MICROBE.11.295.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1128/MICROBE.11.295.1","url":null,"abstract":"Combining a tunable diode laser absorption spectrometer (TDLAS) with wavelength modulation (WM) yields an instrument that can rapidly detect carbon dioxide to monitor microbial growth, including in packaged food products and medical instruments and supplies, according to Jie Shao at Zhejiang Normal University in Jinhua, China, and his collaborators there and at Umea University in Umea, Sweden. Details appeared 20 March 2016 in Applied Optics (doi:10.1364/AO.55.002339).","PeriodicalId":87479,"journal":{"name":"Microbe (Washington, D.C.)","volume":"2 1","pages":"295-296"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1128/MICROBE.11.295.1","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"63640663","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":"Phages Form Liquid Crystals, Shaping P. aeruginosa Biofilms","authors":"Shannon Weiman","doi":"10.1128/MICROBE.11.298.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1128/MICROBE.11.298.1","url":null,"abstract":"Through a novel mechanism, bacteriophage particles link with the surfaces of Pseudomonas aeruginosa cells and other nearby polymers to form tenacious biofilms, including those that form within the lungs of cystic fibrosis (CF) patients, according to Paul Bollyky of Stanford University in Stanford, Calif., who spoke during the Bay Area Microbial Pathogenesis Symposium last March in San Francisco. Bacteriophage that reproduce within P. aeruginosa are released and can assemble into liquid crystal structures that surround and protect these bacteria as part of larger biofilms, according to Bollyky, Patrick Secor, William Parks, and their collaborators. Details describing some of this research appeared November 11, 2015 in Cell Host & Microbe (doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chom.2015.10.013).","PeriodicalId":87479,"journal":{"name":"Microbe (Washington, D.C.)","volume":"11 1","pages":"298-299"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"63640914","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":"Quality Annotations, a Key Frontier in the Microbial Sciences: With genomic sequencing expanding so rapidly, gene annotation lags—posing challenges to catch up while correcting errors as needed","authors":"V. Crécy-Lagard","doi":"10.1128/MICROBE.11.303.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1128/MICROBE.11.303.1","url":null,"abstract":"For microbiologists, the sequencing of the genome of the bacterium Haemophilus influenzae in 1995 was a pivotal event, one that transformed the microbiological research enterprise. More than 20 years later, with the genomes of some 85,000 organisms sequenced, including about 70,000 bacterial species, whole genome sequence (WGS) information is being used to design, conduct, and analyze vast numbers of experiments. There is no going back.","PeriodicalId":87479,"journal":{"name":"Microbe (Washington, D.C.)","volume":"11 1","pages":"303-310"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1128/MICROBE.11.303.1","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"63640941","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":"Whole-Genome Sequencing Is Taking over Foodborne Disease Surveillance: Public health microbiology is undergoing its biggest change in a generation, replacing traditional methods with whole-genome sequencing","authors":"H. Carleton, P. Gerner-Smidt","doi":"10.1128/MICROBE.11.311.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1128/MICROBE.11.311.1","url":null,"abstract":"About 1 in 6 people are sickened with foodborne diseases each year, and for the most part those illness bouts are a nuisance and self-limiting. However, for some vulnerable populations, severe foodborne illnesses can require hospital care and may even lead to death. Once an individual becomes sick enough to visit a physician, he or she typically collects a stool sample to send to a clinical microbiology laboratory for testing and diagnosis. If the clinical laboratory identifies an enteric pathogen, the physician is notified.","PeriodicalId":87479,"journal":{"name":"Microbe (Washington, D.C.)","volume":"11 1","pages":"311-317"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1128/MICROBE.11.311.1","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"63640945","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":"Slow Movement on Antibiotic Resistance: Could inspiration to trigger real action on the global medical problems caused by bacterial drug resistance come from a musical source?","authors":"B. Dixon","doi":"10.1128/MICROBE.11.290.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1128/MICROBE.11.290.1","url":null,"abstract":"I had just started telling a friend how regrettable it was that many doctors prescribe antibiotics for trivial infections, even for minor troubles that might be virus infections or not even infections at all, when he interrupted—pleading agreement with every word. “You’re quite right,” he insisted, “I would never dream of troubling my doctor for trivial complaints. I go to the Internet and find the antibiotics I want there. Years ago, every time I went to a country where the stuff was available across the counter, I used to stock up.”","PeriodicalId":87479,"journal":{"name":"Microbe (Washington, D.C.)","volume":"11 1","pages":"290-291"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"63640823","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":"Reviews and Resources:Manual of Clinical Microbiology, 11th Ed.: BOOKS","authors":"Daniel P. Haeusser","doi":"10.1128/MICROBE.11.325.3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1128/MICROBE.11.325.3","url":null,"abstract":"Many readers are doubtless already aware of this extensive and essential reference for current information and practice related to clinical microbiology. Covering organismal biology, disease characteristics, research and diagnostic techniques, antimicrobial agents, and safety practices, the recent 11th edition incorporates the latest findings, particularly the growing genomic and proteomic data available for pathogens. For general interest readers, the opening section of the first volume has excellent chapters of basic information on topics such as microscopy, molecular epidemiology, biothreat agents, and the human microbiome. The remainder of the first volume deals with bacteriology, while the second volume covers virology, mycology, and parasitology. This is obviously an important resource for clinical microbiologists, but it also makes a useful go-to reference for summary and facts needed for teaching the medical/clinical side of the field.","PeriodicalId":87479,"journal":{"name":"Microbe (Washington, D.C.)","volume":"11 1","pages":"325-325"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1128/MICROBE.11.325.3","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"63641014","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}