Volume 352, Issue 2, March 2014

Leptospiral surface antigens that mediate interactions with host extracellular matrix components are discussed in the context of colonisation and pathogenesis.

Clostridium difficile is the leading cause of bacterial antibiotic-associated diarrhoea in hospitals. This review summarises the small animal models used in C. difficile studies and highlights their advantages and disadvantages.

A high-affinity ABC-type cyanuric acid transport system, encoded by atzTUVW, promotes Pseudomonas ADP growth at low cyanuric acid concentrations.

This is the first study of Streptomyces griseus grown as a biofilm in a tubular bioreactor. Repeated detachment and re-growth was observed, and co-cultivation with Bacillus amyloliquefaciens improved stability.

The unusually large mitochondrial genome of the agricultural pathogen Rhizoctonia solani is due to expansion of novel introns and repetitive genetic elements.

The development and validation of conventional and real-time PCR assay for rapid detection of Phytophthora colocasiae causing leaf blight disease of taro.

Our findings contribute to the understanding of the mechanisms underlying aminoglycoside resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Light was essential for pigment production and development of Cordyceps militaris. The fungus perceived the light signal by Cmwc-1 whose expression level increased significantly after irradiation.

The effects exerted by two types of boundary conditions (absorbing vs. reflecting) on bacterial quorum sensing were inspected and found to differ and to profoundly affect local N-Acyl homoserine lactone signal concentrations.

Trichothecene production by Fusarium asiaticum was induced by sucrose and accelerated by a specific amine, putrescine.

Recombinant proteins based on the repeat sequences of the Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae P97 adhesin, in combination with a Montanide adjuvant, represent promising subunit vaccine candidates against porcine enzootic pneumonia in pigs.

High levels of ectopic homologous recombination events were detected by introduction of artificial DNA double-strand breaks in the genome of rice blast fungus, suggesting that ectopic homologous recombination is a key role of genome evolution and applicable for novel gene targeting.

Halophytophthora fluviatilis sp. nov. challenges the notion that the genus Halophytophthora is marine or brackish.

Escherichia coli K-12 outer membrane (OM) OmpW contents are drastically modified by changes in temperature compatible with the leap from the environment to warm-blooded hosts. Thus, while OmpW is present in the OMs of bacteria grown at 37 °C, it sharply disappears at 23 °C.