Annual Review of Microbiology articles from January 1 1997

Annual Review of Microbiology archives from January 1 1997

Small is powerful: recollections of a microbiologist and oceanographer.
January 1, 1997... PROLOGUE Born into a certain time and social setting, each of us harbors personal biases despite our professional calling for scientific objectivity. This conflict between objectivity and subjectivity is perhaps what makes these invited self...

Xenorhabdus and Photorhabdus spp.: bugs that kill bugs.
January 1, 1997... INTRODUCTION Xenorhabdus and Photorhabdus spp. are motile gram negative bacteria belonging to the family Enterobacteriaceae (3, 15, 17). The general features of the life cycles of these bacteria are quite similar. Xenorhabdus and...

Molecular genetics of sulfur assimilation in filamentous fungi and yeast.
January 1, 1997... INTRODUCTION In the filamentous fungi and yeasts, entire areas of metabolism are governed by complex regulatory circuits, which control the expression of the permeases and catabolic enzymes that are involved in carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus,...

Hemoglobin metabolism in the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum..
January 1, 1997... INTRODUCTION Despite intensive efforts at eradication, malaria remains a major public health problem. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 300-500 million people are afflicted each year (96, 153). Malaria is transmitted to...

Getting started: regulating the initiation of DNA replication in yeast.
January 1, 1997... ". . . Or say that the end precedes the beginning." TS Eliot INTRODUCTION In the eukaryotic cell division cycle, the entire nuclear content of DNA is faithfully replicated within a discrete period of time known as S phase. Due to the...

RNA virus mutations and fitness for survival.
January 1, 1997... RNA VIRUS UBIQUITY, EVOLUTION, AND EMERGENCE New Viruses, New Diseases RNA viruses are the most abundant molecular parasites infecting humans, animals and plants (138). A comparative analysis of the structures, genetic organization, and...

Making and breaking disulfide bonds.
January 1, 1997... INTRODUCTION This review summarizes current knowledge about redox proteins in Escherichia coli (E. coli) and their involvement in the folding of transported proteins containing disulfide bonds. In E. coli, such redox proteins are located in...

Against all odds: the survival strategies of Deinococcus radiodurans.
January 1, 1997... INTRODUCTION The Deinococcaceae are distinguished by their extraordinary ability to tolerate the lethal effects of DNA damaging agents, particularly those of ionizing radiation. Although the physiological basis of the deinococci's extreme...

Genetics of the rotaviruses.
January 1, 1997... INTRODUCTION Rotaviruses are classified as a genus within the virus family Reoviridae. They share common properties with other members of the Reoviridae, including a multilayered capsid structure, a virion-associated RNA-dependent RNA...

Intracellular antibodies (intrabodies) for gene therapy of infectious diseases.
January 1, 1997... INTRODUCTION Molecular genetic techniques are powerful tools for understanding many infectious diseases. Scientists have accumulated a great wealth of knowledge on the basic mechanisms that control gene expression and protein synthesis, as...

Microbial aldolases and transketolases: new biocatalytic approaches to simple and complex sugars.
January 1, 1997... GENERAL INTRODUCTION Although fermentation dates the use of biocatalytic transformations as centuries old, it has only been in recent decades that chemists have begun to rationally exploit the synthetic potential of such methodology....

Interaction of antigens and anti bodies at mucosal surfaces.
January 1, 1997... INTRODUCTION Host defense at mucous membranes is mediated by both nonspecific and immunologically specific mechanisms. Although the nonspecific mechanisms can vary from one anatomic location to another, in general they include the following:...

Transcriptional control of the Pseudomonas TOL plasmid catabolic operons is achieved through an interplay of host factors and plasmid-encoded regulators.
January 1, 1997... INTRODUCTION Metabolism of Aromatic Hydrocarbons Specified by TOL Plasmids Plasmids that specify the degradation of toluene and xylenes have been found in bacteria isolated in different locations around the world, from Japan to Wales (5)....

Sulfur tuft and turnkey tail: biosynthesis and biodegradation of organohalogens by basidiomycetes.
January 1, 1997... INTRODUCTION The occurrence of organohalogens in nature is generally ascribed to anthropogenic activities (6). However, over 2600 different natural halogenated compounds have been identified (66, 67), and a large pool of the bulk parameter,...

Safe haven: the cell biology of nonfusogenic pathogen vacuoles.
January 1, 1997... INTRODUCTION All intracellular bacterial, fungal, and protozoan pathogens enter their host cells surrounded by a membrane-bound vacuole (74, 87, 175). Understanding the biogenesis of these vacuoles, and their subsequent interactions with the...

Transcription of protein-coding genes in trypanosomes by RNA polymerase I.
January 1, 1997... INTRODUCTION Trypanosomes are unicellular eukaryotic flagellates. African trypanosomes are the causative agents of sleeping sickness in humans and nagana in cattle, both of which are diseases endemic to large parts of tropical Africa....

Synthesis of enantiopure epoxides through biocatalytic approaches.
January 1, 1997... INTRODUCTION Enantiopure epoxides (often incorrectly called "chiral" epoxides) are valuable intermediates in organic synthesis. Their corresponding vicinal diols, which can be either transformed into the epoxide itself or used as highly...

Cell-cell communication in gram-positive bacteria.
January 1, 1997... INTRODUCTION More than 50 years ago, Avery, McLeod & McCarty (5) obtained the first set of data demonstrating that DNA was the genetic material. The experimental system they used was the transformation of the smooth-colony morphology trait...

Regulators of apoptosis on the road to persistent alphavirus infection.
January 1, 1997... INTRODUCTION Recent advances in cellular and molecular biology have increased our understanding of the relationship between a virus and the host in which the virus replicates. Biological interactions at both the organismal and cellular...

Clues and consequences of DNA bending in transcription.
January 1, 1997... INTRODUCTION The nucleotide sequence of DNA is the ultimate physical support of the information for the buildup of proteins and higher structures. In spite of a growing number of exceptions, the unidirectional flow DNA [right arrow] RNA...

Genetics of eubacterial carotenoid biosynthesis: a colorful tale.
January 1, 1997... INTRODUCTION Distribution, Structures, and Biosynthesis of Carotenoids Carotenoids, a major class of lipophilic isoprenoids that range in color from light yellow to deep red, are perhaps most familiar to us in everyday life as the dominant...