microbiologytoday

vol34|aug07 quarterly magazine of the society for general

food and water viruses in water fruit and veg that make you sick rapid molecular detection probiotics the aesthetic microbe badgers and bovine tb contents

vol34(3) regular features 102 News 132 Schoolzone 140 Reviews 107 Addresses 134 Gradline 130 Meetings 138 Hot off the press other items 119 Micro shorts 142 Obituaries articles 108 Viruses in water: the 124 Science in the fight against imaginative in pursuit of water-borne disease the fugitive Joan Rose Peter Wyn-Jones Science has produced some powerful tools to ensure our water is safe. With political support, these could be used to Persistent viruses in drinking and recreational water may prevent contamination with faecal pathogens and eradicate cause many outbreaks of disease, but proving it is difficult. some major diseases. 112 Fruits and vegetables that make you sick: 126 The aesthetic microbe: what’s going on? ProkaryArt and EukaryArt Robert Mandrell Simon Park The safety of some salad crops has come into Microbes have served both as an inspiration question following several recent outbreaks of for artists and as a canvas for their creations for disease. centuries. The boundaries between microbiology and art are becoming increasingly blurred. 116 Rapid molecular detection of food- and water-borne Comment: diseases 144 Bovine TB and badgers Anja Boisen Cheap, disposable devices to spot pathogens could soon be Chris Cheeseman used by producers to improve the safety of food and water. The findings of an independent, extensive field experiment to determine the effect of badger culling on bovine TB have just been announced. 120 Probiotics: weapons in the Maybe culling is not the solution after all. war against gut pathogens Luc De Vuyst Consuming beneficial bacteria can improve our health by maintaining a healthy intestinal microbiota.

Cover image Water. Larry Letters / Workbook Stock / Jupiter Images The views expressed

Editor Dr Matt Hutchings––Editorial Board Dr Sue Assinder, Professor Iain Hagan, Professor Bert Rima––Managing Editor Janet Hurst––Assistant Editor Lucy Goodchild by contributors are not Design & Production Ian Atherton––Contributions are always welcome and should be addressed to the Editor c/o SGM Headquarters, Marlborough House, necessarily those of the Basingstoke Road, Spencers Wood, Reading RG7 1AG–Tel. 0118 988 1809–Fax 0118 988 5656–email [email protected]–web www.sgm.ac.uk–– Society; nor can the Advertising David Lancaster, McMillan-Scott PLC, London Office, 10 Savoy Street, London WC2E 7HR–t 0207 878 2316–f 0207 379 7118–e [email protected]–– Regular feature images pp. 103 SGM; 107 Digital Vision/Getty; 131, 133, 141 Comstock / Jupiter Images; 135, 139 Stockbyte claims of advertisers © 2007 The Society for General Microbiology––ISSN 1464-0570––Printed by Latimer Trend & Company Ltd, Plymouth, UK be guaranteed. news

Food SGM Council Opposition MP visits Marlborough House and drink May Meeting Highlights We were pleased to welcome Charles Hendry MP, could be of any help in raising the profile of microbiology We can’t survive without Outgoing and New Council Members Shadow Minister for Energy, Science and Technology, to issues within Government. food and water and this Professors Lorna Casselton, Tony Minson and Nick Mann, Marlborough House in April. Mr Hendry asked to visit Sue Assinder issue features various will soon complete their terms on Council, and their input the SGM after receiving a copy of Microbiology Research aspects of the microbiology and contributions were gratefully acknowledged. The number Matters, a publication that the SGM circulated last year of these staples of life. of nominations equalled the number of vacancies and so the to highlight the important work of young microbiology It complements a theme following will become members of Council at the AGM in researchers. running through the September: Professor Kim Hardie, University of Nottingham, He met with Ron Fraser, Janet Hurst and Sue Assinder September SGM meeting Professor David Blackbourn, and (SGM Education Officer), and they had a very full discussion in Edinburgh where the Dr Paul Hoskisson, University of Strathclyde. that ranged from microbiology education in schools and plenary has the intriguing Strategy Group universities through to the potential impact of open access title of Food, fluids, fingers, Council had an extensive discussion of the recommendations publishing. We took the opportunity to give him copies of faeces and flies: food- and from the SGM Strategy Group which met in March. They other SGM publications and he was keen to be added to water-borne pathogens. approved the setting up of a small working party, chaired by the list of MPs who regularly receive a copy of Microbiology This aims to show how an Elected Member, to carry out a review of the composition Today. microbiologists are rising to of Council, its functions and the responsibilities of members Mr Hendry expressed his support for the work of the the challenges presented by and officers to ensure that these meet current needs. This SGM and asked that we contact him in the future if he the pathogens in food and will report to November Council. Other recommendations to c From left to right: Ron Fraser, Janet Hurst, Charles Hendry MP drink that cause suffering to receive support were greater efforts to help microbiologists and Sue Assinder at their recent meeting at Marlborough House. millions of people around in developing countries and improvements in liaising with Ian Atherton the world each year. other microbiological societies. Strategy Group had been Other relevant sessions include a 2-day symposium on particularly impressed by the recent BBSRC Review of Mechanisms of diarrhoeal disease and a workshop on the Microbial Science, chaired by Microbiology Editor-in-Chief, Science and the Welsh Assembly Annual Molecular detection of food and water pathogens. The Charles Dorman, which suggested ways in which learned The 2007 event, organized by the Royal Society of Chemistry, took place on Tuesday 22 General workshop is being supported by Applied Biosystems, societies could support UK microbiology. May, at the Wales Millennium Centre and the Senedd in Cardiff Bay. Supported by several Meeting Invitrogen and Thermofisher, who will demonstrate their Meetings other organizations, including SGM, Science and the Assembly events aim to strengthen links pathogen detection products during the meeting. The BBSRC report had also been very useful in informing between the Welsh Assembly and the scientific community in Wales. 2007 The Annual General To view the full programme of these and the many other the recent review of SGM meetings structure and groups This year’s theme was Energy. This is a topic relevant to a wide variety of scientific Meeting of the Society sessions at what promises to be a full and exciting meeting, led by the Meetings Officer. Hilary Lappin-Scott noted that fields, not least microbiology. Afternoon talks included solar energy, alternative fuel, marine will be held on Tuesday 4 you can browse through the programme booklet enclosed the review was almost complete and that a full report of the renewable energy and Wales in the forefront of energy. SGM participated in the exhibition September at the Society’s with this magazine. proposals would be made to June Council. at the Senedd, giving the Assembly Members a chance to ask What has microbiology got to 161st meeting at Edinburgh Journals do with energy? From biofuel production to waste cleanup, microbial life is an important University. Council unanimously accepted the recommendation that contributor to climate change and can be used to help control it. SGM President is honoured Agenda papers, including Professor Richard M. Elliott, University of St Andrews, Speakers and delegates reports from Officers and A symposium entitled Adventures in and Cancer, to should become the next Editor-in-Chief of Journal of General agreed unanimously that Group Conveners, the celebrate the achievements of our President Robin Weiss, Virology. He will take up the post in January 2008. progress is dependent accounts of the Society for Professor of Viral Oncology at University College London, SGM Prizes 2008 on improving the way 2006 and a resolution to is to be held at the Royal College of Physicians on 20–21 Council was reminded that nominations are invited for the information on science is amend the Memorandum September 2007. the Marjory Stephenson Prize Lecture, the Fleming Award obtained and used by the and Articles of Association Robin has spent most of his life studying retroviruses and and the Peter Wildy Prize for Microbiology Education (see Welsh Assembly, concluding are published in the worked in cancer research for many years. He has also May issue of Microbiology Today or the SGM website for that ‘Wales needs its own separate Annual Report pioneered aspects of our understanding of HIV and AIDS details). The closing date is 30 September 2007, and the Chief Scientific Adviser’. By booklet distributed to all for which he received the Ernst Chain Award in 2007. He decisions will be made by Council in November. all accounts, the event was a members with this issue of is currently leading a $25 million international research SGM Annual Report 2006 success and, as RSC President Microbiology Today. consortium in discovery, funded by the Bill and Officers presented their draft Annual Reports for 2006 commented, a great Melissa Gates Foundation. to Council. These were accepted and a copy of the entire way to show the Assembly that ‘science matters’. For further information and to register see http://windeyer. Annual Report is enclosed with this issue of MT. ucl.ac.uk/inf/home.html Ulrich Desselberger, General Secretary Lucy Goodchild, SGM m The Millennium Centre, Cardiff. Ian Britton, Freefoto

102 microbiology today aug 07 microbiology today aug 07 103 News of Prize Lectures Grants Seminar Speakers Fund Members The Fund supports talks on microbiological topics in Fred Griffith Prize Lecture Upcoming deadlines departmental seminar programmes. Elected Fellow of Professor Richard Moxon will deliver his prize lecture, entitled Bacterial variation, virulence The deadline is 21 September 2007 for receipt of Applications will be dealt with on a first come, first served the Royal Society and , on Tuesday 4 September at the Society’s meeting at Edinburgh University. The applications to the following schemes: basis during the academic year. Congratulations to Fred Griffith Lecture is awarded in recognition of long and distinguished service in any area International Development Fund Professor E. Richard of microbiology. Watanabe Book Fund Education Development Fund/PUS Awards Moxon, University of E. Richard Moxon is Chairman of Paediatrics at the Grants are available to members for projects intended to Oxford, on his election , Head of the Molecular Infectious Elective grants lead to an improvement in the teaching of any aspect of as a Fellow of the Royal Diseases Group at the Weatherall Institute of Molecular President’s Fund for Research Visits microbiology relevant to education in the UK. Funding Society. He is distinguished Medicine and Director of the Oxford Vaccine Group. is also available for small projects to promote the public for his work in bacterial After graduation from St John’s College, Cambridge (1963), Postgraduate Student Meeting Grants understanding of microbiology, such as workshops, talks, , the identity of and St Thomas’s Hospital, London (1966), he trained as a Applications for a grant to attend the SGM’s Edinburgh demonstrations, leaflets, and activities at science festivals. vaccine candidates, and paediatrician, sub-specializing in infectious diseases, and meeting (3–6 September) must be received by 31 August for pioneering important Applications will be considered on a first come, first served began laboratory research in 1971 at the Children’s Hospital 2007. vaccine programmes. basis during the calendar year. Medical Center in Boston, USA. His career continued at Professor Moxon will deliver Johns Hopkins University (1974–1984) before returning Other schemes in brief the Fred Griffith Review Retired Member Conference Grants to the UK to take up the Action Research Professorship of Lecture at the SGM meeting Scientific Meetings Travel Grants Retired members may apply for a grant to attend one Paediatrics. Using models of infection, classical genetics and whole-genome sequences, his in Edinburgh (see right). The scheme supports early career microbiologists wishing SGM meeting each year. The award covers en-suite laboratory has made contributions to the pathogenesis and prevention of bacterial diseases to present work at a scientific meeting, either in the UK or accommodation and the Society dinner, up to a maximum Queen’s Birthday caused by Haemophilus influenzae and Neisseria meningitidis. abroad. See rules on the website for eligibility criteria. of £250. Honours 2007 Peter Wildy Prize for Microbiology Education Applications for grants to attend the SGM meeting at Professor James M. Lynch, SGM has a wide range of grant schemes to support Professor Simon Cutting will deliver his prize lecture entitled Ten Years in Vietnam, on Edinburgh University are now invited. Programme Coordinator, microbiology. See www.sgm.ac.uk for details and Biological Resource Wednesday 5 September at the Society’s meeting at Edinburgh University. The Peter Wildy closing dates. Technician Meeting Grants Management, Organization Prize is awarded for an outstanding contribution to microbiology education. Any enquiries should be made to the Grants Office, These grants support attendance by eligible technicians at for Economic Co-operation Simon Cutting writes: I currently hold a Chair in Molecular Microbiology at the Royal SGM, Marlborough House, Basingstoke Road, Spencers one SGM meeting each year. and Development, has been Holloway University of London where my research interests are primarily with recombinant Wood, Reading RG7 1AG (t 0118 988 1821; f 0118 awarded an OBE. vaccines. Just before starting at the RHUL I made my first trip, as a tourist, to Vietnam in Applications for grants to attend the SGM meeting at 988 5656; e [email protected]). Deaths 1995. This was after 10 years in the USA which included a 6-year postdoc with Rich Losick Edinburgh University are now invited. at Harvard, studying the genetics of sporulation in B. subtilis. Before this I was lucky enough The Society notes with to work with Joel Mandelstam and Jeff Errington at Oxford where I obtained my DPhil. regret the following deaths: Mr Alan D. Court, Rowley The war-torn, yet beautiful and beguiling country of Vietnam New STIs Briefing Regis, West Midlands was once home to not one but four Pasteur Institutes. My The latest in our series of ‘briefings’ on topical issues in microbiology is now available. (member since 1999). first visit was to the Nha Trang Institute where the renowned microbiologist Alexandre Yersin (as in Yersinia pestis) lived Professor Michael C.W. The illustrated A4 flier on sexually transmitted infections covers bacterial diseases and worked for 40 years. I have since been back to Vietnam Evans, University College (chlamydia, gonorrhoea and syphilis) on one side and viral diseases (HIV/AIDS, genital over 25 times. Inspired by the commitment of many young London (member since warts and ) on the other. It sets out the basic facts about each infection, Vietnamese students to study I held a training workshop in 1964). including cause, symptoms, incidence, significance, transmission and treatment (if any). 1996 on molecular biology methods. The Vietnamese relished Copies of the briefing have already been sent out to members of both houses of parliament Dr Douglas Snow, the opportunity for interaction with Western scientists and and to school members of SGM. The leaflet has been so popular that a reprint has already Winchester, (member since so began a programme of workshops in Ho Chi Minh City proved necessary. 1947). (aka Saigon) and Hanoi. The 12th workshop takes place at the SGM Briefings are succinct documents published as part of the Society’s Microbiology Dr I.L. Stevenson, Ottawa, Hanoi University of Science this August. Over 60 Western scientists have now participated Awareness Campaign, which aims to highlight important subjects relating to microbiology to Canada (member since in the workshops, giving lectures as well as organizing short practical classes. Six Vietnamese opinion-formers, educationalists and the general public. Other briefings cover: Clostridium 1957). students have become PhD students in European labs. I am very grateful to the SGM for difficile, Hand hygiene, Malaria, Measles, MRSA and TB. They are researched and produced Dr Philippa M.B. White, sponsoring half of these workshops to date. My time in Vietnam has led to several funded in the External Relations Office, but all are checked by experts among the membership Norwich Community research collaborations, but my interests there go beyond teaching and research. I have before being published. Hospital (member since started working on a literary project involving an English resident of Vietnam some 100 1988). years ago whose husband was the first doctor to work with Yersin in Vietnam. Email [email protected] if you would like a copy of any of these titles.

104 microbiology today aug 07 microbiology today aug 07 105 addresses

The saga of the longest running experiment Careers council06–07 continues… Conferences Officers Members Tim Mahony, a member based in Australia, enjoyed the description of the serial passage 2007 President – Prof. Robin Weiss Prof. Mike R. Barer Division of Infection and Immunity, University College London, 46 Cleveland Street, Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, University of Leicester, of the rabies virus in Saigon from 1891 to 1953 in the February issue of Microbiology Today. 3 November London W1T 4JF Medical Sciences Building, PO Box 138, University Road, Leicester LE2 4FF The follow up mention of the cropping experiments at Rothamsted that have been running t–0207 679 9554;–f–0207 679 9555;–e–[email protected] t–0116 252 2933;–f–0116 252 5030;–e–[email protected] University of Leeds Treasurer – Prof. Colin R. Harwood Prof. Lorna A. Casselton for 164 years also proved amazing in the May issue. School of Cell and Molecular Biosciences, University of Newcastle Medical School, Dept of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3RB 17 November Framlington Place, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4HH t–01865 275109;–f–01865 275074;–e–[email protected] ‘It made me recall a physics experiment that I had read about a couple of years ago King’s College London t–0191 222 7708;–f–0191 222 7736;–e–[email protected] Prof. Neil A. R. Gow that had received an Ignoble prize. Due to the vagueness of my memory it took a while General Secretary – Dr Ulrich Desselberger School of Medical Sciences, Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Aberdeen, 1 December c/o SGM Headquarters Aberdeen AB25 2ZD to find out the details, but it involved an experiment started in 1930 at the University of e–[email protected] or [email protected] t–01224 555879;–f–01224 555844;–e–[email protected] University of Bristol Queensland (Brisbane, Australia) which is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the Scientific Meetings Officer – Prof. Hilary M. Lappin-Scott Prof. Iain M. Hagan Dept of Biosciences, University of Exeter, Geoffrey Pope Building, Paterson Institute for Cancer Research, Wilmslow Road, Manchester M20 4BX world’s longest running experiment (see www.physics.uq.edu.au/pitchdrop/pitchdrop. Aimed at life science Exeter EX4 4QD t–0161 446 8193;–f–0161 446 3109;–e–[email protected] shtml) I guess it must depend on the criteria for the Guinness Book of Records as to what under- and postgraduate f–01392 263434;–e–[email protected] Dr Richard M. Hall International Secretary – Prof. George P. C. Salmond Biological Reagents and Assay Development (BR&AD), GlaxoSmithKline R&D, holds the record, perhaps there are field and laboratory-based categories! And of course students, each conference Dept of Biochemistry, , Tennis Court Road, Building O, New Frontiers Science Park – North Site SC1, H31/1-047 (Mail Code H31111), this experiment is not biological. Email [email protected] includes widely varying Downing Site, Cambridge CB2 1QW Third Avenue, Harlow, Essex CM19 5AW t–01223 333650;–f–01223 766108;–e–[email protected] t–0127 962 7172;–f–0127 962 7014;–e–[email protected] talks on career choices and Professional Affairs Officer – Dr Geoffrey C. Schild Prof. Nicholas H. Mann Dept of Biological Sciences, , Coventry CV4 7AL further training, plus a small e–[email protected] t–024 76 523526;–f–024 76 523701;–e–[email protected] Education Officer – Dr Susan J. Assinder exhibition by a range of Prof. Tony C. Minson Federation of Infection IUMS Congresses 2008 Academic Development Unit, University of Wales – Bangor, Trefenai, Division of Virology, Dept of Pathology, University of Cambridge, Tennis Court Road, organizations. A CV review School of Education, Normal Site, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2PZ Cambridge CB2 1QP Societies Conference t–01248 382604;–f–01248 370731;–e–[email protected] Microbes: then, now and hereafter service is also available by t–01223 336920;–f–01223 336926;–e–[email protected] Editor, Microbiology Today – Dr Matt Hutchings Dr Catherine O’Reilly 2007 prior arrangement. SGM is School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Istanbul Dept of Chemical and Life Sciences, Waterford Institute of Technology, Cork Road, Norwich NR4 7TJ involved in organizing the Waterford, Ireland t–01603 592257;–e–[email protected] 28–30 November XII International Congress of Bacteriology t–+353 51 302858;–f–+353 51 378292;–e–[email protected] events and will have a stand Editor-in-Chief, Microbiology – Prof. Charles J. Dorman and Applied Microbiology Prof. Petra C. F. Oyston Cardiff City Hall in the exhibition. Dept of Microbiology, Moyne Institute, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland TL Molecular Bacteriology, Dstl, B07A Microbiology, Porton Down, Salisbury SP4 0JQ t–+353 1 608 2013;–f–+353 1 679 9294;–e–[email protected] XII International Congress of Mycology t–01980 613641;–f–01980 614307;–e–[email protected] The Scientific Organizing Committee, 5–9 August Cost: £12 (earlybird rate – Editor-in-Chief, JGV – Prof. Geoffrey L. Smith Prof. Rick E. Randall Dept of Virology, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, St Mary’s Campus, School of Biology, Biomolecular Sciences Building, University of St Andrews, under the leadership of Del Ala’Aldeen, 2 weeks before the date of Norfolk Place, London W2 1PG XIV International Congress of Virology North Haugh, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9ST SGM, with input from many of the FIS each conference) or £15 (full t–0207 594 3972;–f–0207 594 3973;–e–[email protected] t–01334 463397;–f–01334 462595;–e–[email protected] 10–15 August Editor-in-Chief, JMM – Prof. Ian R. Poxton societies, has put together an exciting rate). The registration fee Prof. Bert K. Rima Medical Microbiology, Centre for Infectious Diseases, University of Edinburgh School of Biology and Biochemistry, Medical Biology Centre, programme focusing on a wide range of www.iums2008.org includes refreshments and College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, The Chancellor’s Building, The Queen’s University of Belfast, 97 Lisburn Road, Belfast BT9 7BL Room SU311, 49 Little France Crescent, Edinburgh EH16 4SB t–028 9097 5858;–f–028 9097 5877;–e–[email protected] topics of current importance in the field lunch. t–0131 242 9122;–f–0131 242 9122;–e–[email protected] Early career SGM members who are Prof. Katherine A. Smart of infection. Division of Food Science, School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, presenting work at the congresses may Details and a booking form Sutton Bonington Campus, Loughborough LE12 5RD The conference will follow the usual be eligible for a Scientific Meetings Travel are available at www.bsf. t–01159 516214;–f–01159 516162;–e–[email protected] format, with multidisciplinary plenary Grant (see www.sgm.ac.uk/grants/smtg. ac.uk/careers/careersconf. groupconveners sessions, a variety of challenging interactive cfm). htm Cells & Cell Surfaces – Dr Ian R. Henderson workshops, named lectures, sponsored Division of Immunity and Infection, University of Birmingham Medical School, Fermentation & Bioprocessing – Prof. Chris J. Hewitt Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT Dept of Chemical Engineering, Loughborough University, Loughborough LE11 3TU satellite symposia and a trade exhibition. t–0121 414 4368;–f–0121 414 3599;–e–[email protected] t–01509 222503;–e–[email protected] There will be oral presentations, including Clinical Microbiology – Prof. Dlawer Ala’Aldeen Food & Beverages – Prof. Bob A. Rastall Molecular Bacteriology and Immunology Group, Division of Microbiology, Dept of Food Biosciences, University of Reading, PO Box 226, Reading RG6 6AP clinical lessons, infection control/outbreak School of Molecular Medical Sciences, University Hospital, Nottingham NG7 2UH t–0118 378 6726;–f–0118 931 0080;–e–[email protected] control lessons and free papers, together t–0115 823 0748/0771 (secretary);–f–0115 823 0759;–e–[email protected] Irish Branch – Dr Evelyn Doyle Clinical Virology – Prof. Judy Breuer School of Biology and Environmental Science, Ardmore House, with an increased number of poster walks. ICMS Centre for Infectious Disease, Barts and the London Medical School, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland The event will be rounded off by an 4 Newark Street, London E1 2AT t–+353 1716 1300;–f–+353 1716 1183;–e–[email protected] t–0207 882 2308;–f–0207 882 2181;–e–[email protected] Microbial Infection – Dr Nick Dorrell enjoyable social programme. Education & Training – Prof. Joanna Verran Pathogen Molecular Biology Unit, Dept of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, Dept of Biology, Chemistry and Health Science, Manchester Metropolitan University, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London WC1E 7HT Abstract submission is now invited. Chester Street, t–0207 927 2838;–f–0207 637 4314;–e–[email protected] Manchester M1 5GD Physiology, Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics – Prof. George P. C. Salmond t–0161 247 1206;–f–0161 247 6325;–e–[email protected] Online registration is open. Dept of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge, Tennis Court Road, Building O, Environmental Microbiology – Prof. Geoffrey M. Gadd Downing Site, Cambridge CB2 1QW Online accommodation booking is also Division of Environmental and Applied Biology, Biological Sciences Institute, t–01223 333650;–f–01223 766108;–e–[email protected] School of Life Sciences, University of Dundee, Dundee DD1 4HN Systematics & Evolution – Prof. Niall A. Logan available. t–01382 344765;–f–01382 348216;–e–[email protected] Dept of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Glasgow Caledonian University, Eukaryotic Microbiology – Dr Alastair Goldman Cowcaddens Road, Glasgow G4 0BA Check out www.fis2007.org.uk for full Molecular Biology & Biotechnology, , Firth Court, t–0141 331 3207/8510 (admin assistant);–f–0141 331 3208;–e–[email protected] details of the programme and arrangements Sheffield S10 2TN Virus – Prof. Rick E. Randall t–0114 222 2779;–e–[email protected] Comstock / Jupiter Images School of Biology, Biomolecular Sciences Building, University of St Andrews, for the event. North Haugh, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9ST t–01334 463397;–f–01334 462595;–e–[email protected]

106 microbiology today aug 07 microbiology today aug 07 107 Viruses are a more common cause of Viruses in water-borne illness than is generally water: the realized. Detecting them and relating imaginative cause to effect are not easy either, as in pursuit of Peter Wyn-Jones explains. the fugitive c Photos.com / Jupiter Images

ater-borne enteric that other infections, prevalent in the public health concerns about recreational water quality have viruses and adenoviruses are common; most cause few viruses are probably communities but not well character- driven governments, water undertakings and the European symptoms in healthy adults, and are often present in not the first micro- ized, might also be water-borne. In the Union to continue improvements in bathing water quality sewage-polluted water. Conversely, hepatitis A virus and organisms which first half of the 20th century epidemics begun in the 1970s with the first Bathing Water Directive, norovirus are examples of pathogenic viruses which are spring to mind of poliomyelitis were common in and there are at present nearly 28,000 bathing waters covered shed by infected individuals and which are usually when thinking of Europe and the US and many were by the legislation. associated only with illness. Study of these viruses in Wpolluted water. Cholera, typhoid and associated, albeit anecdotally, with Viruses are more environmentally stable than bacteria and the local sewage thus gives us a picture of the virological cryptosporidiosis are more prominent ingestion of polluted water. The most so will persist in waters where only low levels of bacteria state of the population served by the local treatment in the public mind, though viruses are notable victim was President Franklin may be found. Studies done in the 1990s suggested that any plants. Recognition of the occurrence of enteric viruses likely to have been the cause of many Roosevelt, who developed symptoms gastrointestinal symptoms experienced by bathers following in the environment is therefore of use in epidemiological outbreaks of water-borne disease. The after falling in the water during a immersion in water were due to viral, rather than bacterial, surveys where exposure to microbial agents is considered. difficulty has, until comparatively boating holiday. Though it is now infection. The microbiological quality of bathing waters continues recently, been proving the link between thought that the disease might not Everyone carries their own population of enteric viruses. to be measured in terms of bacteria, E. coli and entero- the water and the sick person. have been polio, Roosevelt supported Like enteric bacteria, they generally do no harm and are cocci in the new Bathing Water Directive, and methods for The aquatic environment contains an campaigns for research into the disease, shed in the faeces. Since they are very common and therefore measuring the levels of these organisms are straightforward. ever-changing kaleidoscope of micro- which culminated in the Salk and shed by most of the population they will be found in any However, few people become ill through ingestion of water- organisms, including those present as Sabin vaccines. water polluted by domestic sewage. In addition to those borne enterococci and there remains a case for the detection a result of pollution by sewage and Today, pollution of bathing waters harmless viruses, some enteric viruses cause disease, usually of (a) pathogens rather than indicators and (b) viral indicators agricultural run-off. The threat of by sewage produces a perceived public gastroenteritis. They also will be shed by those unfortunate which more closely reflect the pathogenic viruses in polluted cholera and typhoid as the principal health problem internationally. Many enough to catch them, but for only short periods. They will water. diseases transmitted by water in the countries depend on tourism for therefore be present less often in sewage, and less often in cities of the 19th and early 20th much of their national income and a polluted water. However, they may be just as robust as the Outbreaks centuries, and eventually the relative large part of their GDP is derived from less harmful types and so will survive for extended periods The association of the presence of the causative agent in water ease of detecting salmonellae and seasonal tourism around their coast- of time. with its presence in an affected individual has been one of the vibrios in water all eclipsed the idea lines. Pressure group activity and There are many groups of enteric viruses. The entero- main stumbling blocks in proving that water-borne viruses

108 microbiology today aug 07 microbiology today aug 07 109 Viruses are the most likely causes of disease acquired from ingesting polluted water while bathing

cause disease in recreational waters or in drinking water. found in the water fountain samples these viruses may be more pH-resistant the 2006 revision of the Bathing Water There have been a number of outbreaks which illustrate as in faecal samples taken from the than their human counterparts. Ultra- Directive and the enterovirus standard the progress made in the last few years in solving this affected children. centrifugation is a catch-all method and of the 1976 Directive was removed, problem. has revealed the presence of viruses which was scientifically sensible since Methods in relatively small volumes of water. It it had been based on precarious Drinking water. Bramham is a village in North Yorkshire, Detection of water-borne viruses is is not a technique likely to find wide- assumptions. The new Directive con- UK. In 1980 about 3,000 of its 12,000 population became technically much more demanding spread use in routine environmental tains Article (14) which requires the ill with diarrhoea and vomiting. Investigations showed that than finding bacteria. Viruses in faeces monitoring laboratories however, owing European Commission to report by sewage had leaked from a cracked pipe and contaminated the are normally present in lower concen- to the high cost of the equipment. 2008 on (inter alia) scientific progress local drinking water supply at the same time as a chlorination trations than bacteria, even in disease Most virus detection is done by relating to viruses in water. In pursuit failure occurred. In retrospect, the epidemiological picture states. The detection process consists of molecular biological methods, princi- of this task the Commission funded the strongly suggests a norovirus outbreak, but at the time no at least two stages: concentration of virus pally using the reverse transcriptase FP6 Project Virobathe (www.virobathe. virology was done on stool samples, nor on water nor sewage, in the water sample and detection of polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), org) which involved 16 laboratories so the exact cause remained unsolved. viruses in the concentrate. The sample though nucleic acid sequence-based across Europe and which has just In Riding Mill, Northumberland, UK, in 1990, 229 volume will vary according to the likeli- amplification (NASBA) and loop-medi- finished. The aim was to devise a routine people were made ill by the drinking water supply being hood of finding virus, so for drinking ated isothermal amplification (LAMP) method for detecting adenoviruses and inadvertently connected to the untreated (and polluted) river water it is common to concentrate techniques are also used. Cell culture, noroviruses in recreational waters. The water. Again, the epidemiology suggested a viral cause, but 100–1,000 litres, while for potentially used to detect water-borne enterovirus- study compared different approaches no environmental investigations were done. polluted river water or treated sewage es since the 1970s, is used less since and produced protocols for use in By the mid-1990s it was possible to detect water-borne effluent 10 litres will be sufficient. it is restricted to very few virus types routine environmental virology labora- enteropathogenic viruses much more reliably. In Heinavesi, There are many methods for con- and takes a long time to produce results. tories. It clearly demonstrated that , in 1998, almost 3,000 people became ill through centration of viruses in water; it Whichever approach is used however, routine virus analysis is a feasible their drinking water supply becoming polluted with sewage. may be done by filtration through the main problem is one of inhibitors proposition. It is therefore possible to Finland is a land of over 18,000 lakes and many small membranes which retain virus by in the concentrate. These are usually begin the task of linking enterococci communities exist on their shores. Water flowing from one electrostatic adsorption, through resin- soil-derived humic or fulvic acids levels (which are the only reliable lake to another has historically been regarded as sufficient based membranes, or through other which inhibit the RT-PCR (usually the indicators of health effects in bathing dilution for the relatively small quantities of sewage filtration matrices. Glass wool, packed RT) and which are difficult to remove. waters) to virus levels (since viruses allowed to enter the water, and chlorination was not widely into a column, is a very cheap and Their presence may therefore lead to are the most likely causes of disease practised until recently. But the 1998 outbreak showed that effective filtration matrix. Developed a false-negative result, and suitable acquired from ingesting polluted water consumption of polluted water could lead to viral diseases, in France in connection with drinking amplification controls need to be while bathing) and so to increase and cause and effect were confirmed by finding the same water analysis, the technique has used to guard against this. Substances confidence in monitoring programmes virus (norovirus genogroup II) in the drinking water and in found widespread use in concentration toxic to cell cultures may be removed designed to improve water quality and some of the affected individuals. of many virus types from a range of by treating the concentrate with protect the public health. waters. Virus is eluted from filters chelating agents in chloroform, but Recreational waters. Recreational waters have also been into a small volume (usually 100– this may have an adverse effect on the Peter Wyn-Jones implicated in norovirus outbreaks; in Vermont, in 2004, 200 ml) of high pH buffer, sometimes virus too. Senior Research Fellow, IGES, 53 people (mostly children) became ill after swimming containing skimmed milk or beef ex- University of Wales Aberystwyth, club activities at a local pool; although the virus was not tract, and is then further concentrated Viruses and water quality Aberystwyth SY23 2DB, UK recovered from the water, the children all had the same strain to between 1 and 10 ml, depending on Methodology has now advanced suffi- (e [email protected]) of virus. The cause was a faulty chlorination unit coupled the detection procedure. ciently to make routine virus detection with poor management practices. In the Netherlands, in Other concentration methods include in water a practicable proposition, and Further reading 2002, 90 children had diarrhoea and vomiting after playing ultrafiltration and ultracentrifugation. it has moved from the possible to the Percival, S.L., Chalmers, R.M., in a recreational water fountain. No E. coli or enterococci The former is useful for pH-intolerant feasible in respect of establishing a virus Embrey, M., Hunter, P.R., Sellwood, were found in drinking water samples at the playground viruses and is currently being trialled standard for use in regulatory contexts. J. & Wyn-Jones, P. (2004). Microbiology site, but samples from the fountain had bacterial counts as a way of concentrating avian ortho- The microbiological parameters were of Waterborne Diseases, Elsevier Academic that exceeded the EU limits, and the same norovirus was myxoviruses in water, even though reduced to E. coli and enterococci in Press. m Top left A cartridge packed with glass wool ready for filtration of 10 litre water sample. Top right Poliovirus plaques in a BGM cell culture. P. Wyn-Jones m Centre The Netherlands water fountains where children acquired norovirus infection. Ana Maria de Roda Husman, RIVM m Bottom Coloured transmission electron micrograph of a cluster of polio virus particles. Dr Linda Stannard, UCT / Science Photo Library

110 microbiology today aug 07 microbiology today aug 07 111 f you are fortunate enough to have access to fresh fruits growers have had to contend with old and vegetables from your own garden, a friend’s garden, and new plant diseases, finding and or from a local farmer’s market operating during the peak maintaining adequate water supplies, of the growing season, you are aware of the wonderful and frost, heat, flooding or other appearance, smell and taste of produce picked and weather conditions that destroy crops. consumed the same day. This is certainly a special treat, Growers and others involved in food Ibut an abundant year-round supply of high-quality fresh leafy production must meet continued chal- vegetables such as lettuces, baby spinach and other produce lenges to succeed in providing high- intended for raw consumption by large populations in the quality products to consumers across United States and Europe is dependent upon land in special wide regions. However, even when all geographic regions with ideal soil and climate conditions. This of these challenges are met success- year-round supply is due to the vision, innovation and hard fully, there remains another challenge work of people developing new ways to meet the demand of that recently has been in the news ever-expanding populations for fresh produce. This includes and has tested everyone in different the processors who must clean, package and deliver rapidly sectors of the US fresh produce in- fragile food items large distances to consumers in many parts dustry: to produce safe food. The of the world. Minimally processed, bagged produce has been microbial safety of leafy greens and a new innovation to help meet this growing demand. other vegetables has gained ever Leafy vegetables are harvested by hand, and sometimes by increasing attention as a result of machines (mowers), then transported to a processor where outbreaks of disease. they are mixed intact, or cut into pieces for mixing with similar items from other fields, then washed multiple times Outbreaks associated in large flumes of water, dried and packed in plastic bags with leafy vegetables and of special types for preserving the product. The bagged tomatoes products are transported under cool conditions across the US Anyone who reads or listens to the or to other countries. The minimally processed, ready-to-eat, news is aware that large, multi-state fresh produce industry has grown exponentially into a multi- outbreaks have occurred in the US as billion dollar business in the US, and is growing rapidly in a result of leafy vegetables or tomatoes Europe and other parts of the world. As demand has increased, Brand X / Jupiter Images contaminated with micro-organisms. Brand X / Jupiter Images Pre-packed and Indeed, there were 10 outbreaks situation is perceived as unusual and between 2002 and 2006 associated was unanticipated by growers and with leafy vegetables contaminated processors, and has forced many ready to eat fruit by Escherichia coli O157:H7 and mul- affected parties to ask what’s going on? Fruits and… tiple outbreaks associated with fresh What has changed? and vegetables are tomatoes contaminated with different In the 2006 outbreak, intensive types of Salmonella. The sources of investigation of farms, ranches and the leafy vegetables and tomatoes processors possibly linked to the con- a great timesaver in implicated in the outbreaks were farms taminated spinach led to the conclusion vegetables that… in California or mid-Atlantic US states, that this, and perhaps many previous respectively. More than 200 people outbreaks, occurred as a result of our busy world, but in 26 US states were identified as contamination of leafy vegetables in sickened by E. coli O157:H7 during the field (in other words, ‘pre-harvest’), as Robert Mandrell the investigation of a 2006 outbreak and not during transport, by workers make you sick… due to contaminated bagged baby or during processing. Although this is spinach. This became the largest of a a critically important finding, it also describes, they are series of outbreaks involving minimally complicates strategies for eliminating processed bagged leafy vegetables. This illnesses and outbreaks. The valleys not so convenient if outbreak, and recurring outbreaks asso- where most leafy vegetables are grown, what’s going… ciated with tomatoes or leafy vegetables and the nearby mountains and bays grown on the east or west coasts of the are visually stunning, but also reflect a they carry pathogens US, suggest that the micro-organisms complex ecosystem with multiple water causing them may be present some- sources home to many types of wildlife, on?… that make you ill. where in the nearby environment. This including small mammals, birds and

112 microbiology today aug 07 microbiology today aug 07 113 b A feral pig, prevalent in certain regions of the central California coast. G.W. Wiscomb

b Feral swine tracks in a disked spinach field near a ranch. Fences cannot contain feral swine; they burrow underneath and move wherever they wish. M.T. Jay feral swine, and small to large ranches with grass-fed cattle. a potential link from point sources to watersheds and fields. seem to maintain their numbers for molecular biology techniques (geno- bagged leafy greens are here to stay, These lovely sites may have unintended consequences for But are there other, as yet unknown, transport processes extended periods, significant growth mics) are facilitating the fingerprinting but consumer confidence must be re- food safety. involved in contaminating leafy vegetable or tomato plants of the pathogen has not been observed of outbreak-related pathogen strains established. and causing large and thus noticeable outbreaks? The answer in these types of field studies. Factors for the purposes of high-resolution Where are the pathogens? is unknown, but studies are ongoing to address this issue. in the field that can amplify the initial tracking of the possible sources of Robert E. Mandrell Enteric pathogens, like E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella, can cell inoculum on plants at least 10- contamination. Comparative genomics Research Leader, Produce colonize numerous warm-blooded animals and birds, which How do enteric bacterial pathogens survive fold, as found in controlled lab studies, of these data yields insights about Safety and Microbiology Research are then obvious potential reservoirs of pathogens and on plants in fields? have yet to be identified. Possible pathogen evolution and emergence Unit, United States Department sources of contamination of produce. Surveillance studies of Outbreaks associated with pre-harvest-contaminated leafy factors worth considering and investi- of virulence-related factors. Although of Agriculture, Agricultural Research E. coli O157:H7 incidence in cattle, with improved methods vegetables confirm that enteric bacteria are capable of gating are plant leaf micro-lesions theories abound, no definitive conclu- Service, WRRC, 800 Buchanan of isolation and identification, yield frequencies in herds attaching somewhere on plants and remaining viable. Labora- caused by physical abrasions or insects, sions are possible without more study Street, Albany, CA 94710, USA sometimes >50 %, but dynamic fluctuations in incidence at tory studies indicate that bacteria like E. coli O157:H7 and high temperatures, or other micro- and hard data from outbreak investi- (t +1 510 559 5829; f +1 510 559 different locations or sample periods can occur also. Indeed, Salmonella applied to a variety of leafy vegetables or plant organisms (bacteria or fungi that attack gations. 6165; e [email protected]) in the 2006 outbreak noted above, numerous cattle and feral roots, leaves and seeds can attach tenaciously (resisting plants), any of which could release swine colonized with the outbreak strain of E. coli O157: sanitizers) and survive, but also can grow under ideal nutrients for significant growth of The immediate future Further reading H7 were identified on ranch sites near to fields presumed conditions (warm temperature, high humidity, adequate enteric pathogens, like E. coli O157: Funding agencies and produce indust- Brandl, M.T. (2006). Fitness of human to have been the source of contaminated spinach. Was this nutrients). Sophisticated fluorescence microscopy reveals H7 and Salmonella. Environmental ries have recognized the importance enteric pathogens on plants and the ‘smoking gun’ explaining how the outbreak occurred, specific locations on leaves and roots where enough sub- reservoirs where significant growth of this issue to consumer confidence implications for food safety. Annu Rev even though no pathogen could be isolated from fields and cuticle cells and nutrients occur to provide a site for survival of enteric pathogens outside warm- and have, therefore, funded many Phytopathol 44, 367–392. irrigation water during the investigation of the outbreak? of opportunistic pathogen cells. Aggregation of pathogen blooded animals could occur are large and relevant projects to address CDHS-FDA (2007). Investigation of Cattle had no direct access to the field, but signs of feral swine cells with one another and with the natural plant micro- potential outbreak-related risk factors. the critical factors involved in these an Escherichia coli O157:H7 outbreak burrowing under fences and moving across fields, including organisms that they encounter suggests that active and Are pathogens evolving increased recurrent outbreaks. Many factors sus- associated with Dole pre-packaged spinach. faeces in disked fields, were documented, thus raising this complex interactions are involved over extended periods of fitness and virulence? pected of leading to the 2006 spinach California Dept of Health Services and as one theory about how the spinach became contaminated. time in the field, possibly leading to in-field contamination The increased incidence of produce- outbreak will be studied, including US Food and Drug Administration. Clearly, small animals can obtain access to almost any field that is difficult to control. related outbreaks traced to specific wildlife involvement, environmental Centers for Disease Control and or garden they desire to visit, but the incidence and/or regions, and E. coli O157:H7 outbreaks incidence, interventions, insect vectors, Prevention (2006). Ongoing multistate amount of contamination in small animals is always difficult Enteric human pathogens on plants in in particular, has stimulated questions and water and compost quality. The outbreak of Escherichia coli serotype to assess. Nevertheless, a relatively high incidence of patho- the field about what might have changed over very produce items that have caused O157:H7 infections associated with genic bacteria in a group of animals, and high concentrations Ideal conditions for human pathogen growth are not un- the last decade to explain the situation. specific concerns also are desirable for a consumption of fresh spinach. Morb in faeces of even a few animals, could result in relatively rapid expected in the field, especially during summer/autumn Is it related to growing (fertilization, healthy lifestyle. Buyers and processors Mortal Wkly Rep 55, 1045–1046. dissemination of pathogens in the environment, especially growth cycles on the central coast of California. Field studies water, shallow tilling, seeds, cultivars) are controlling the requirements for Hora, R., Warriner, K., Shelp, B.J. & during heavy rain events with rapid water flows, dusty and with non-pathogenic varieties of E. coli and other pathogens or production practices (cutting, trans- products, becoming stricter in setting Griffiths, M.W. (2005). Internalization windy conditions, or by other colonized creatures such as on plants under field conditions confirm that they can port, bagging, atmosphere), changes the distance between livestock and of Escherichia coli O157:H7 following birds. Perhaps not surprisingly, E. coli O157:H7 has been survive for weeks and months, depending upon the numbers in the pathogens (increased fitness in produce fields, frequency of testing, biological and mechanical disruption of detected frequently after heavy rains in watersheds that are of bacteria applied and the treatment conditions. However, animals, water), livestock (transport, flooding, wild animal visits, etc. growing spinach plants. J Food Prot 68, near to produce fields and animal point sources, providing even though surrogate pathogen cells in the soil or on plants incidence of pathogens), or better What’s going on? Probably, a con- 2506–2509. detection (methods, public health vergence of unusual events is required Islam, M., Doyle, M.P., Phatak, system, media)? Any environment or for very large outbreaks to occur, a factor S.C., Millner, P. & Jiang, X. (2004). Fresh, minimally processed bagged leafy intensive practice leading to significant everyone is hoping will not affect 2007 Persistence of enterohemorrhagic replication of micro-organisms, includ- harvests. Logical theories about pre- Escherichia coli O157:H7 in soil and on greens are here to stay, but consumer ing enteric pathogens, will increase the harvest contamination provide points leaf lettuce and parsley grown in fields rates of new mutations, and increased for study, but no definitive conclusion treated with contaminated manure ‘fitness’ in the environment(s) where about the 2006 outbreak can be composts or irrigation water. J Food Prot confidence must be re-established. the mutations are selected. Modern obtained. Fresh, minimally processed 67, 1365–1370.

114 microbiology today aug 07 microbiology today aug 07 115 1

When the molecules land on the surface, the cantilever starts Tiny cantilevers and to bend due to changes in surface stress of the two faces of the cantilever. If the captured molecules, for example, tend to repel each other, the cantilever will bend downwards. lids can be used for the

Small is good speedy detection of The cantilevers can barely be seen with the naked eye. They are normally around 200 μm long, 40 μm wide and 1 μm thick, which compares with the 80 μm diameter of a human food- and water-borne hair. The tiny size makes the cantilevers flexible and at the same time they have a high resonant frequency which makes them less sensitive to ‘noise’. The cantilevers can detect deflec- pathogens. Anja Boisen tions below 1 nm. Their small size makes a complete device with liquid handling and electronics possible in a few cm2. and her colleagues Therefore, the measuring unit can be very compact and porta- ble and suitable for ‘point-of-use’ analysis. It is impossible to make advanced mechanical structures believe the method will with micrometer dimensions and integrated electronics using fine mechanics. Instead, we use so-called photolithographic enable food and water processes where the cantilevers are fabricated by etching a icrometer-sized diving boards, also thin silicon wafer three-dimensionally. The procedure is 2 3 called cantilevers, can be used as relatively straightforward and is highly suitable for mass quality control to move highly sensitive biochemical sensors. production. Therefore, it might be possible to make sensors The liquid to be analysed is passed so cheaply that they can be disposable. Fig. 2 shows an image through a pair of small cantilevers. Each of two silicon cantilevers. closer to the producer/ cantilever has an integrated resistor Mwith piezoresistive properties, which means that the resistance Plastic is the future supplier, so that any changes when the cantilever bends. Thus, by a simple elec- The cantilevers’ sensitivity relies on their flexibility. Therefore, trical measurement of resistance change, the deflection of we have started to use polymers which are 40 times softer the cantilever can be determined. The measuring principle than silicon. In this way the sensitivity is immediately potential contamination is shown schematically in Fig. 1. improved and the manufacturing cost is at the same time One cantilever – the reference cantilever – is inert and significantly reduced. The cantilevers are made by spin- can be discovered as is used to eliminate ‘noise’, such as temperature changes, coating the polymer onto a silicon carrier wafer. The polymer in the system. The other cantilever is coated with a ‘detector’ is structured by UV-lithography and by successive coating layer that binds precisely the molecule to be detected. and structuring steps, cantilevers placed in micrometer- fast as possible.

sized channels can be produced. An 4 example of a polymer cantilever with an integrated gold resistor is shown in Rapid Fig. 3. Catching bacteria Whole bacteria or parts of bacteria can be caught directly on the cantilever. For example, if the cantilever is coated molecular with antibodies against Escherichia coli it will specifically bind that organism and the cantilever will only bend if E. coli is present in the sample. The sensor can easily be expanded to con- detection of tain several cantilevers, each coated with a specific ‘detector’ molecule. In this way it is possible to detect multiple bacteria simultaneously. The cantilevers can also be used to food- and m Fig. 1. Schematic drawing of the cantilever measuring principle. When molecules attach to recognize DNA. A single stand of DNA the cantilever, the cantilever bends and the bending is detected as a change in the resistance from E. coli is placed on a cantilever. A of the resistor placed inside the cantilever. water or food sample can be treated m Fig. 2. Image of two silicon cantilevers. One cantilever is coated with a thin layer of gold relatively quickly so that the DNA for the specific binding of molecules with a sulfur group at the end. Sulfur binds almost water-borne from the bacteria is released and split covalently to gold. Bar, 100 µm. into single strands. Next, the pretreated sample is sent to the cantilevers which m Fig. 3. Image of a polymer cantilever with integrated gold resistors. Bar, 200 µm. will only react if the single-stranded m Fig. 4. Schematic drawing of the operating principle of the ‘lid’ sensor. As molecules bind to diseases DNA on the cantilever matches the the orange lid, the lid bends and releases the green colour.

116 microbiology today aug 07 microbiology today aug 07 117 t = 0 s Side view

Valve microshorts

t = 40 s Lucy Goodchild takes a look at some stories that have hit the headlines recently. Polio cheaper to eradicate Is there life on Mars? In 1988, 1,000 children were rare disease. However, a team In 2003, methane was discovered on Mars. Now, scientists at NASA paralysed every day as a result of of public health modellers has Goddard Space Flight Center are taking another look at the original polio infection. Last year there published a study in The Lancet, findings of three research teams to determine its concentration. were only 2,000 cases, thanks to which shows that eradication Although it seems that methane is only present in small quantities, the the World Health Organization’s would cost less than containment, presence alone is a significant indicator of biological activity. Its origin t = 80 s $5 billion eradication programme. even if it was to cost $8 billion. could be geological (by serpanitization, a process similar to that Public health experts are now The results suggest that relaxing seen in terrestrial black smokers) or biological (via the advising against a further $1.5 vaccination rates would cause Martian equivalent of methanogenic bacteria), both billion expenditure to completely infection rates to rise dramatically. equally plausible explanations. On Earth, 90–95 eradicate polio, as they believe New Scientist, 21 April 2007, % of the atmospheric methane is of biological pp. 6–7 b Fig. 5. Proof of principle of the ‘lid’ it is too much to spend on a origin, with volcanoes contributing less than device. As a thin layer of aluminium is 0.2 %, a scenario that is possible on Mars. etched away from the lid’s top surface, the lid starts to deflect and a green marker Microbes produce plastic The next step is to determine the carbon solution is released from the reservoir isotope ratio of the planet; if there is a Thinkstock/Jupiter Images below the lid. Bars, 0.5 mm (main views), they can feast on large amount of carbon-12 compared to 200 µm (side views). The US company Metabolix has created a starch-based plastic, carbon-13, the methane is likely to be Mirel, which can biodegrade in soil, wetlands and even oceans. of biological origin. Similar data taken Today’s most common plastic is polylactic acid, or PLA, which is from studies of the atmosphere of Titan not biodegradable and cannot withstand high temperatures. Mirel is (one of Saturn’s moons) have shown that single-stranded DNA in the solution. If the cantilever energy and is cheap to make. When a food is infected, the polyhydroxyalkanoate, or PHA, which can resist temperatures of up the planet’s standard carbon isotope ratio bends, then E. coli is present in the sample. control unit in the plastic wrapping becomes coloured. Thus to 140 °C and can be formed into soft, flexible film or hard, crystalline value is 82.3, which is smaller than that of a simple colour indicator can show the quality of the food. the Earth and therefore supports the biological C solid. It is produced by genetically modified bacteria; the microbes are o The lid device m fed glucose made from corn starch. Many micro-organisms also feed hypothesis. Overall, however, the massive st oc A new sensor principle, which we call the lid device, is Only our imagination limits the future k on PHA, so any product made from Mirel can be broken down in most quantity of methane on Titan is less likely to be / J up illustrated in Fig. 4. Coloured marker molecules are loaded There are many other possible applications for the technology. of biological origin. ite environments. The products will be available next year. r Im in a small container closed by a flexible lid. The lid is coated The detection of DNA can also be used to look for human ages New Scientist, 28 April 2007, p. 4 Scientific American, May 07, pp. 24–33 with specific detector molecules which bind the molecules gene-related diseases. For example, specific DNA sequences under investigation. This binding causes the lid (just like a are known to be related to a larger risk of developing cantilever) to deflect, the marker molecules are released and breast cancer. One can also imagine using the sensor in Could Helicobacter pylori protect Marine microbes they can be detected by the naked eye. The complete sensor environmental control for monitoring the quality of drinking is approximately 1×1 cm in size and is made of plastic. water. The cantilevers allow us to monitor the binding of against asthma? make climate- The deflection of the lid can also be caused by removal of a molecules ‘on-line’ and it is therefore possible to follow Researchers at NYU School of Medicine examined data from the Third National Health Nutrition changing gas material on the upper surface of the lid. An example of the bacteria-, enzyme-, DNA- and virus- binding processes in Examination Survey, which was conducted from 1988 to 1994. The survey included questions Dimethyl sulfide (DMS), the chemical that removal of a thin metal layer on the top of the lid and the real time. Moreover, the lid device opens up the production about participants’ history of asthma, allergic rhinitis and allergies. 7,663 adults were also tested makes the seaside smell like, well, the seaside, subsequent colour change is shown in Fig. 5. The removal of of autonomous, disposable systems which enable the end- for antibodies to H. pylori. The data showed that people infected with a more virulent strain of the bacterium were 20 % less likely to have ever had asthma (and 40 % less likely to have had is produced by marine microbes, according material can be caused by bacterial activity (the bacteria ‘eat’ user to control water as well as food quality. it at an early age) than those who were not. Results of allergy skin testing also suggested that H. to researchers at the University of East Anglia. food on the lid) and the sensor can thus be used to monitor pylori infection may protect against sensitivity to certain allergens, like pollen and mould. Results A gene in the marine bacterium Marinomonas the presence/activity of bacteria. Anja Boisen, Stephan Keller, Maria Nordström, support the hygiene hypothesis, which suggests that exposure to antigens in early childhood has been identified that scientists believe is Alicia Johanson, Gabriela Blagoi, Mogens Havsteen The lid device is based on the release of a colour which can prevents the development of allergies. H. pylori has become a less prevalent pathogen, partly due responsible for the ability to convert dimethyl- Jakobsen & Daniel Haefliger easily be detected by the eye following a specific reaction. This to widespread use of antibiotics, which could explain the increase in asthma sufferers. sulfonipropionate, produced by phytoplankton, principle could be used in food diagnostics where there is a Department of Micro- and Nanotechnology, Technical www.ebiologynews.com/1700.html to DMS. The gene, dddD, has also been found great need for cheap, disposable sensors. The sensor could University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark in the Sargasso Sea metagenome, which be included in food packaging since it requires no external (e [email protected]) represents over 1,800 bacterial species that inhabit the North Atlantic. DMS stimulates the formation of clouds that prevent sunlight from reaching the earth’s surface, and therefore the gas has a major effect on climate change.

Goodshoot / Jupiter Images Planet Earth, Spring 2007, p.7

118 microbiology today aug 07 microbiology today aug 07 119 he human gut contains huge numbers of bacteria, to maintain their health through appropriate nutrition. been used for centuries to produce Döderlein in 1892. He found that effects might be expected only from more than 10,000 times the world’s human popu- The belief that specific foods provide protective functions fermented foods. Probiotics are avail- vaginal bacteria producing lactic acid their substitution by yoghurt bacteria. lation, which closely interact with our bodily func- has been long held by populations that ate fermented able as fermented and non-fermented prevented or inhibited the growth of In this context, Metchnikoff actually tions. Some of these interactions are considered foods, such as yoghurt, koumiss and fermented cabbage. foods (probiotic foods), and as food pathogenic bacteria. Later, in 1906, promoted lactobacilli for their major to be beneficial and others neutral, while certain Such gut protection is determined by living bacteria and supplements. Some probiotics are now the Frenchman Henry Tissier reported metabolite of sugar fermentation, colon inhabitants are pathogens and can threaten their metabolic products. This knowledge has opened used as an alternative therapy for clinical benefits from modulating the namely lactic acid. In the early 1920s Tour health. In healthy people, the whole of the bacterial gut the market for the concept of ‘probiotics’ – the word stems treatment of infectious gastroenteritis, gut microbiota in infants with intestinal Rettger and Cheplin documented that community forms a balanced microbiota of more than 500 from the Greek προ βιος (pro bios, ‘for life’) – a term or in the prevention and cure of anti- infections by the displacement of the acidophilus milk displays therapeutic species that actually contributes significantly to the body’s traditionally used to describe the use of live micro-organisms biotic-associated diarrhoea. Further ex- pathogenic bacteria with bifidobacteria. effects. They believed that colonization resistance to occasional infections, such as gastrointestinal as food supplements that benefit the host by improving its ploitation of the prophylactic potential In 1908, in The Prolongation of Life, diseases caused by food-borne pathogens. Changes in the intestinal microbial balance (Table 1). In 2001, a joint FAO/ of probiotic micro-organisms is very the Russian Nobel prizewinner Elias b Dr Minoru Shirota who, in 1930, was the composition of the gut microbiota may disrupt that balance WHO expert committee proposed defining probiotics as ‘live promising with respect to the develop- Metchnikoff, who was then working in first to bring a strain of ‘good’ intestinal and leave the host more vulnerable to infections, or, in some micro-organisms that, when consumed in an adequate ment of new and progressive disease the laboratories of the Institut Pasteur bacteria into culture for manufacturing a cases such as gastrointestinal infections and food allergies, amount as part of the food, confer a health benefit on the host’, control strategies. in Paris, hypothesized for the first time dairy drink. Yakult Belgium NV even be the cause of diseases. an enlarged definition that is still commonly used today. the importance of lactobacilli to human . Colour-enhanced scanning electron Certain strains of lactic acid bacteria, such as lactobacilli, A concise history of probiotics health and longevity. Although he micrograph of the yoghurt bacteria Probiotics and bifidobacteria are the most common micro-organisms A beneficial association of micro- considered the gut microbiota in total Streptococcus thermophilus (yellow cocci) and Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. Nowadays, consumers are aware of the role of the gut micro- used as probiotics. As the name suggests, lactic acid bacteria organisms with the human host was as detrimental rather than beneficial bulgaricus (red rods) bacteria in yogurt. biota in health and disease. They understand the necessity produce lactic acid through sugar fermentation. They have probably first suggested by Albert to health, he suggested that desirable SCIMAT / Science Photo Library

Gwen Falony Probiotics: and Luc De Vuyst describe how weapons probiotics can help to keep harmful in the war intestinal microbes against gut at bay. pathogens

120 microbiology today aug 07 microbiology today aug 07 121 and growth in the gut of the microbes involved were essential pathogen start to induce harmful effects in the intestines, pathogens, such as Campylobacter, human capacity to speak more than of cells to be added to the product for efficacy and, therefore, they advocated the use of intestinal such as disruption of the tight junctions of the epithelial cells Salmonella, Escherichia coli and Listeria five languages, to play sports in a high by the food manufacturer and the isolates. Finally, in 1930, Dr Minoru Shirota in Japan was the by production of enterotoxins and by inciting inflammation monocytogenes. level competition, to climb a mountain, amount of food product to be taken first to bring a strain of ‘good’ intestinal bacteria into culture of the gastrointestinal mucosa. Third, probiotics may have an etc., which is individual-dependent, up by the consumer are dependent on for manufacturing a dairy drink, named Yakult. Nowadays, influence on the immune system of the although we all belong to the same the food matrix. It is clear that appro- there are several other probiotics and probiotic foods on the Probiotic actions against pathogens: host. They can stimulate the innate (e.g. human species. Moreover, it is obvious priate and well designed, well con- market. mobilizing defences enhanced production of defensins) as that not all probiotic strains possess all ducted, experiments in vitro (labora- Probiotics are thought to be able to strengthen every line of well as the adaptive immune response. health-promoting properties mention- tory) and in vivo (mice and human Gastrointestinal infections: hurdles to cross our colonic defences against invasion by pathogens, thus Concerning the latter, some probiotics ed above. Unfortunately, food manu- intervention trials) studies are neces- As the human gut is an open system, it is continuously contributing to human health. First, pathogens and pro- seem to direct host responses to an facturers sometimes misuse the pro- sary to relate certain factors to the exposed to the threat of being colonized by potentially biotics have to compete against each other for the nutrients inflammatory, cellular reaction, where biotic concept by not specifying the effectiveness of probiotic strains and pathogenic micro-organisms. It has therefore developed an available in the gut lumen. Given the complex, nutrient- others enhance the antigen-mediated probiotic strain used and extrapolate probiotic foods. efficient host defence system, promoted by the proper and/ rich environment of the gut ecosystem, this might not be response. This should be taken into the health-promoting properties of cer- or synergistic functioning of the gastrointestinal epithelium the limiting factor for pathogen proliferation. Additionally, account when selecting a probiotic to tain probiotic strains to all strains of Luc De Vuyst and the resident gut microbiota. These two partners form a however, pathogens and probiotics compete for colonization treat a particular infection. Moreover, that species. As a result strain identi- Professor of Industrial Microbiology physical, chemical and microbial barrier in our gut against sites. Some probiotics may gain an advantage in this compe- the effect of probiotics on the human fication and scientific validation of and Head of the Research Group microbial pathogens. To cause disease, a possible pathogen tition for host binding sites by secreting anti-adhesive immune system stretches beyond the the health-promoting effects of the of Industrial Microbiology and has to overcome a series of hurdles. The first hurdle consists molecules, or by inciting the host to enhance mucus gut and can have an influence on the strains used are absolutely necessary Food Biotechnology, Vrije of adhesion of the pathogenic cells to the host’s intestinal production. body’s defence towards a large variety and should be communicated to the Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, epithelium. This first step is essential; otherwise the patho- On a second level, probiotics can directly interfere with of infections. consumer through clear food labelling Belgium (e [email protected]) gen is flushed out by the fluid flow in the gut lumen and growth and even kill pathogens by producing antimicro- and freely accessible, easy-to-under- by peristalsis. Once bound, the pathogen can start to bial compounds. Weak organic acids, such as lactic acid Specialized forces stand documentation. colonize the epithelial surface. Therefore, it must resist the and acetic acid, the main metabolic end-products of the Besides these specific targets of action, Second, health-promoting properties Gwen Falony environmental conditions in the gut, created both by the carbohydrate metabolism of probiotic lactic acid bacteria probiotic strains differ with respect to of valid probiotic strains are matrix- PhD student working on the host that will counterattack via the immune system, and by and bifidobacteria, have strong antibacterial activity. These their health-promoting effects. There- dependent. Efficacy of a probiotic strain mechanisms of cross-feeding the other microbes present in the intestine, an interaction acids can permeate into bacterial cells and disturb key fore, the consumer should be aware of in a certain food matrix, for instance between bifidobacteria and other also referred to as colonization resistance (barrier effect). biochemical processes by lowering intracellular pH. Further- two very important issues. First, health- milk, is not necessarily the same in colon bacteria. This is the phenomenon by which microbes already present more, they can make bacteria more vulnerable to the actions promoting effects are strain-dependent. a cereal or meat matrix. Even within a in the gut display properties (competitive and antagonistic) of other specific substances, such as antibacterial peptides. This means that not all strains of a given milk matrix, efficacy will be dependent Further reading that prevent or minimize the growth of newly introduced This may explain why a large number of Lactobacillus species possess the health-promoting on the texture of the matrix, which is De Preter, V. & others (2006). strains reaching the colon in the flow of partially digested strains inhibit the growth of bacterial pathogens, such as properties of a probiotic strain of that different in, for instance, milk, yoghurt Effects of Lactobacillus casei Shirota, food ingredients. Only after crossing these hurdles can a the gastric pathogen Helicobacter pylori, and food-borne species. One can compare this with the and fresh cheese. Moreover, the quantity Bifidobacterium breve, and oligofructose- enriched inulin on the colonic nitrogen- Table 1. A few examples of the changing definitions of probiotics protein metabolism in healthy human Probiotics are subjects. Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Year Author Definition Physiol 292, G358–G368. 1970s Sperti Tissue extracts that stimulate microbial growth thought to be De Vuyst, L. & others (2004). 1974 Parker First use of the term ‘probiotic’. Animal feed supplements Probiotics, prebiotics and gut health. In (organisms and substances) that have a beneficial effect on the animal host by contributing to its intestinal microbial able to strengthen Functional Foods, Ageing and Degenerative balance Disease, pp. 416–482. Edited by C. 1989 Fuller Live, microbial feed supplements that beneficially affect the every line of our Remacle & B. Reusens. Cambridge, UK: host animal by improving its intestinal microbial balance Woodhead Publishing. 1990s Several Definitions that focus on viable micro-organisms (lactic acid Makras, E. & De Vuyst, L. (2006). The authors bacteria and other bacteria and yeasts), animal and human colonic defences hosts, living cells applied in a fermented product or as in vitro inhibition of Gram-negative dried cells, mixtures of cultures, and health benefits beyond pathogenic bacteria by bifidobacteria equilibration of the indigenous microbiota. against invasion is caused by the production of organic 2001 FAO/ Live micro-organisms that, when consumed in an adequate acids. Int Dairy J 16, 1049–1057. WHO amount as part of the food, confer a health benefit on the host. by pathogens. Makras, L. & others (2006). Kinetic 2002 ILSI Live, microbial food ingredient that, when taken up analysis of the antibacterial activity of in adequate amounts, confers health benefits on the probiotic lactobacilli towards Salmonella consumer. c Probiotic fermented milks are produced enterica serovar Typhimurium reveals a 2003 EFFCA Live micro-organisms, which, when ingested or locally in huge fermentation vessels and sold as applied in sufficient numbers, provide the consumer with ready-to-consume small bottle portions. role for lactic acid and other inhibitory one or more proven health benefits. Yakult Belgium NV compounds. Res Microbiol 157, 241–247.

122 microbiology today aug 07 microbiology today aug 07 123 How can modern science am a water pollution microbiol- their survival in the environment; US Environmental Protection Agency strategies to protect the watershed and ogist and I follow the microbes their ability to be transported from (EPA) website, the Power of Water, to address adequate treatment. Finally, in faeces, from the septic tank to the source to the exposure site; World Water Day, and Bottled Water. we should all begin to think about help in the fight against the the beach, from the sewage to the their ability to resist drinking water If you Google water quality, you get our water ethics philosophy, from river, from the manure to the well, and wastewater treatment; 167,000,000 hits; if you Google water- global agencies through government hidden microbial foes in our from the irrigation waters to the their ability to cause harm. borne disease, you get 965,000 items, departments to local water authorities. Ivegetables, from the toilet to our hands. Those of us undertaking such investi- including the Centers for Disease Con- Water-borne diseases are the plane People and animals, even birds, deposit gations have powerful new tools to trol (CDC) and World Heath Organi- crashes in a community and remain water supply? Water expert faecal microbes into the environment assist in providing scientific data for zation (WHO) websites. If you Google a significant threat to global health, and many of them are infamous stealth each of the issues above. An example water-borne disease maps (you get one for particularly for the disadvantaged and agents, hidden and dangerous, secretly of such a tool is the polymerase chain US and one for Canada), you can find our sensitive populations. Joan B. Rose describes the spreading disease through one of our reaction (PCR) – this can be used for maps from the WHO from various We have the scientific tools, and most precious resources, water. source tracking, to identify virulence countries: Zambia and cholera for with the political support we could issues and some of the These microbes, bacteria, parasites markers and to identify pathogens. By example (www.reliefweb.int). Thus sur- eradicate typhoid and cholera, those and viruses, can be transmitted via using these tools, the culprit can be veillance has improved – information ancient diseases that still plague our contaminated water, food or through found and the water-borne ‘crime’ can is being formatted and disseminated. world, and we can track down any solutions to the problem. the surfaces we touch and our hands. be solved. Yet investment in strategic/ However, information is not necessarily newly emerging pathogen and learn They were designed to be excreted in investigative monitoring is rarely made, knowledge. Our molecular tools have to what we need to do to both protect high numbers by infected individuals, thus we are left with many unsolved be used within a framework which can and respond to water contamination. survive in the environment and be water-borne outbreaks and no scientific aid decision-making, better strategic In this century, those of us in the spread through ingestion. Table 1 data to assist in preventing the next monitoring and communication. water pollution microbiology field provides a glimpse of some of these one. The relationship between our health can really begin to work toward stop- infamous water-borne pathogens. But and water quality is also connected ping the faecal contamination of our Science new emerging microbes are also being Google water? to quantity, precipitation, flooding, waterways. discovered in sewage, including the We have arrived, we made it to the extreme events and land use. These ulcer-causing bacterium Helicobacter 21st century. Information is plentiful, interconnections must be thoroughly Joan B. Rose and cancer-causing polyomaviruses, at the touch of a computer button we studied and tied into a risk-based Homer Nowlin Professor of Water and our investigations into their can gain access to all types of facts and framework which can be fed into Water Research, Michigan State University, in the ‘potential’ for causing water-borne figures. But, if you ‘Google’water , you Safety Plans (WSP) and Hazard Analysis 13 Natural Resources, E. Lansing, MI disease have just begun. get 576,000,000 hits, including the and Critical Control Point (HACCP) 48824, USA (e [email protected])

CSI for water Table 1. Ancient and modern infamous agents of water-borne disease (the case of the missing fight scientific data) Microbe Description Famous for: Current issues I heard once at a meeting that ‘safe Vibrio Bacterium which causes Epidemics in London (Broad Street Pump); Remains one of the most serious water’ meant to a community what a cholerae cholera. No animals carry this spread throughout the world with the first water-borne diseases in the world with bacterium but it can live in pandemic in 1817. Spread to every country a reported 100,000–250,000 cases per ‘safe blood supply’ meant to medicine. the marine environment. in South America in one year, during 1990, year with about 2,000–3,000 deaths Thus protecting the supply and vigilant the seventh pandemic. (www.who.int/wer/2005/wer8031.pdf). against monitoring are necessary to provide Salmonella Bacterium which causes Plague of Athens. Epidemics during early The current disease burden of typhoid adequate life-saving water when and typhi typhoid. Comes from settlements throughout history (London, is estimated at 17 million cases per year humans, highly tied to poor India, Jamestown, Chicago). and 600,000 deaths (www.who.int/ where we need it. Protection from sanitation. vaccine_research/ diseases/typhoid/en/) disease-causing agents and pathogen Escherichia coli Bacterium which causes Outbreaks in swimming pools, during fairs Untreated animal manure and impact discovery is one of the most important O157:H7 haemolytic uraemic from wells, from burgers and spinach. on untreated waters, including wells, water- areas of study in the fight against water- syndrome. Particularly Famous for its ability to cause death in the irrigation water and recreational rivers associated with cattle and young and old, affecting the kidney with and lakes. borne disease. To really address how manure. some children needing kidney transplants. we can stop contamination and spread Cryptosporidium Parasitic protozoa that cause Causing the largest water park and drinking Widespread global pathogen, common of disease to our communities through hominus and severe diarrhoea; one type water outbreaks in recent times. Famous in humans and animals. Increase in AIDS comes from humans, one for being resistant to chlorine disinfection. infections throughout the world suggests water we must first understand: C. parvum from animals (e.g. cattle and Deadly to those with AIDS. high vulnerability to disease with borne the sources of these pathogens; sheep) potential death. their concentration in waste and Norovirus Virus causing a rapid and Cruise-ship vomiting disease. In the last New strains developing rapidly; survives water; violent vomiting and year a new strain causing unprecedented in water and on surfaces, and is difficult diarrhoeal illness. Comes outbreaks worldwide has appeared. to clean up. from humans and survives on disease b IT Stock / Jupiter Images surfaces.

124 microbiology today aug 07 microbiology today aug 07 125 1a

t is a delightful paradox that the Micrographia, Sergei Winogradsky’s As I recently discovered for myself, normally invisible has an enduring hand-coloured drawings from Microbi- even the apparently mundane can have influence on what can be our most ologie du Sol, Henriëtte Beijerinck’s paint- artistic potential. Given time, and if profound visual experiences. In ings, and Ernst Haeckel’s Kunstformen allowed to grow beyond the standard this context, the effect of microbes der Natur. Micro-organisms have also The overnight incubation, bacterial colonies on the visual arts is antithetic in featured in more obvious examples of can develop into some remarkably beau- Ithat their activities provide inspiration art, for instance in Hieronymus Bosch’s 1b tiful structures. The images shown in for the artist, yet they are also capable of Garden of Earthly Delights, in which there Fig. 1 formed the basis of Microcosmos, destroying some of our most important appear to be representations of at least an audio/video installation that presents artistic heritage. Whilst any painting is 22 species of slime moulds. aesthetic these images together with a soundscape potentially at risk, perhaps the most Today, at a time when many micro- derived from the DNA sequences of poignant example of this is the micro- organisms have been rendered into the bacteria. Eshel Ben-Jacob has also found bial destruction of the Lascaux Cave very still life of a DNA genome sequence artistic potential in colonies, but in this paintings, which date back to 15,000 on a computer screen, our over-famili- instance, in the striking organization BC and are some of humanity’s earliest arity with the microscopic life forms of the colonial forms of Paenibacillus forays into art. means that the aesthetic nature of micro- microbe: dendritiformis (Fig. 2). Both of these Long before their empirical revelation, biology is often overlooked. However, examples, which could be considered to microbes influenced the sensibility of cross-disciplinary projects involving be ProkaryArt, are visually appealing, yet many artists, perhaps most notably in scientists and artists are becoming 1c they also carry a scientific message that Nicolas Poussin’s The Plague at Ashdod increasingly common and the microbe reflects the nature of bacterial growth, and Raphael’s Il Morbetto. Then as the is being reinvigorated as an art form. ProkaryArt pigment and antibiotic production, and microscope began to reveal a previous- Artists are now beginning, with some the underlying social intelligence of ly hidden world, artists and scientists understanding of the science, to exploit bacteria. Of course, artists may choose alike were quick to appreciate that the vast conceptual palette that micro- to practice EukaryArt and land artist microbiology is also able to produce biology offers, and in a manner that Chris Drury has produced some striking depictions of great beauty. Indeed, in seeks to blur boundaries between art and works based on fungal spore prints some of the earliest representations of and science. We are approaching an (Fig. 3). micro-organisms it is often difficult to artistic microbiological renaissance, The often unappreciated microbiol- differentiate between technical repre- where the microbe is taking centre ogy of the familiar has also provided sentation and art. The aesthetic nature of stage, and starring in forms of art where inspiration for several modern artists. microbes can be readily seen in Hooke’s the medium is living matter itself. EukaryArt Anna Dumitriu has used the qualities

2a

c Fig. 1. Sample images from Microcosmos, an audio/visual installation that resulted from a collaboration between myself, Pattie Hendrie, BBC cameraman Steve Downer and composer Simon Park takes inspiration from the Milton Mermikides from the that explores the often unappreciated beauty and significance of bacterial colonies. (a, b) Vogesella indigofera; (c) Pseudomonas aeruginosa. S. Park beauty of micro-organisms and shows c Fig. 2. The Bacteria Art Exhibition – some examples of Eshel Ben-Jacob’s work with Paenibacillus colonies. © Eshel Ben-Jacob how they can be used to bridge the divide c Fig. 3 (opposite). Mushroom Circle – one of a number of artworks by land artist Chris Drury in which the nucleus of a fungal spore print is surrounded by minutely inscribed names that echo the patterns formed from the deposited spores. © Chris Drury between art and science.

2b 3

126 microbiology today aug 07 microbiology today aug 07 127 4 5 6 8

m Fig. 4. Cutlery flora. Artist Anna Dumitriu collaborated municate some of the complexity of modern microbiology. sublime in nature, when those causes operate most powerfully, is with Dr John Paul to explore the normal flora of Eduardo Kac’s work Genesis operates in this context as it astonishment; and astonishment is that state of the soul, in which all household objects. Here a microscopic image of the normal flora of a cutlery set has been etched onto it. involved the insertion of a synthetic gene sequence, derived its motions are suspended, with some degree of horror’. For artists m Fig. 5. An example from the Bioglyphs project, in from a sentence from the bible, into E. coli. Specimen of Secrecy who seek to reflect the sublime in their work, surely there is which members of the Center for Biofilm Engineering about Marvellous Discoveries, another of his works, is a series no better conceptual palette in nature than the microbe. and the Montana State University School of Art used of visually striking, self-sustaining microbiological ecologies bioluminescent bacteria to generate art forms. (Fig. 8), that, like Winogradsky columns in the laboratory, Simon Park © MSU-Bozeman Bioglyphs Project 2002 School of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences, c reveal the hidden complexity of the microbial world, but Fig. 6 (opposite). Peta Clancy’s Visible Human , Guildford, Surrey GU2 7XH Bodies exhibition. © Peta Clancy – courtesy thirtyseven° in an art gallery. Jenifer Wightman has also explored this Contemporary Fine Art Gallery, Sydney, Australia concept in an interpretation of Mark Rothko’s paintings (e [email protected]) c Fig. 7. A sample image from Sixty Days Goodbye Poems Of using bacterial ecologies. Other examples of this genre The author would like to thank the Wellcome Trust for funding Ophelia, a Wellcome Trust SciArt-funded project between include: bioluminescent furniture and glass vessels; Steven and Anna Dumitriu for discussions on the sublime. myself, JoWonder, Steve Goss and Milton Mermikides Wilson’s interactive microscope installations in which (composers), and Steve Downer (cameraman) which will create a living interpretation of John Everett Millais’ humans can compete with protozoa or interact with their own Websites painting Ophelia using pigmented bacteria. © JoWonder microflora; a signature of human intelligence that has been Henriëtte Beijerinck paintings – www.bt.tudelft.nl/live/pagina. c Fig. 8 (opposite). Clairvoyance. An example of a ‘biotope’ embedded into the genome of Bacillus subtilis; an audio micro- jsp?id=32be4f0b-1d69-4d6a-afdb-ac2984457da0&lang=en from Eduardo Kac’s Specimen of Secrecy about Marvelous scope; pictures made from E. coli expressing green fluorescent Eshel Ben-Jacob images of filamentous bacterial colonies– Discoveries, a series of works of visually striking, self- sustaining microbial ecologies that change in response to protein; and Adam Zaretsky’s E. coli which were monitored, http://star.tau.ac.il/~eshel/gallery.html environmental conditions. © Eduardo Kac 7 not surprisingly, for signs of stress after being exposed to Bioglyphs project – www.erc.montana.edu/Bioglyphs/default.htm Engelbert Humperdincks’s Greatest Hits for 48 hours! André Brodyk – www.ccc.newcastle.edu.au/profiles/ of the normal microflora of common Fleming was amongst the first to I should add a brief note of caution at this point in case any andrebrodyk/index.html objects as the basis of a number of recognize the potential of microbes in non-microbiologist reading this article should be inspired to Peta Clancy’s Visible Human Bodies – www.petaclancy.com/ artworks ranging from mobile phone this context when he famously made practice BioArt. The use of microbes in art is not without Joe Davies – www.viewingspace.com/genetics_culture/pages_ wallpapers, to household objects onto use of coloured bacterial colonies in his risks to the artist. Steve Kurtz, an associate professor of art genetics_culture/gc_w03/davis_joe.htm which microscopic images of their ‘germ paintings’. Modern variations of at the University at Buffalo, but not a microbiologist, is also Chris Drury – www.chrisdrury.co.uk/ microflora has been transposed (Fig. this concept include the Bioglyphs pro- a practitioner of ProkaryArt. He first came to the attention 4). Polona Tratnik has explored a ject in which bioluminescent bacteria of the police in May 2004, not because of this, but when Anna Dumitriu’s Normal Flora project – http://web.mac.com/ similar theme, but through a more form the basis of some enthralling art- he reported the death of his wife due to heart failure. annadumitriu/iWeb/NF/Home.html direct approach in which the growth of works (Fig. 5), and Peta Clancy’s Visible Investigators coincidently discovered some of the mostly Fleming’s germ paintings – www.ingenious.org.uk/ the normal florain situ on household Human Bodies (Fig. 6), which consist of harmless biological specimens that he used for his work in see/Scienceandtechnology/Biologyandbiotechnology/ objects provided the basis for her images of bodies made from bacteria the house, and whilst he never intended to cause harm with ?target=SeeMedium&ObjectID=%7B8BD5DB43-88B4-1614- artistic inspiration. An intriguing vari- grown in Petri dishes. My own foray the bacteria, this did not prevent the FBI from detaining him E952-09373D9AB461%7D&s=S1&viewby=images& ation of this theme is Peter Germin into BioArt is a Wellcome Trust-funded under terrorism legislation. He now faces 20 years in prison Eduardo Kac’s Specimen of Secrecy about Marvelous Discoveries – Hoffmann’s Mikroben bei Kandinsky, collaboration between myself and for fraudulently obtaining bacterial cultures. www.ekac.org in which the microflora of a Wassily artist JoWonder, the aim of which is Hopefully, the examples in this article demonstrate the ways Polona Tratnik’s Microcosmos – www.ars-tratnik.si/Microcosmos. Kandinsky painting was exhibited as a to create a living and contemporary in which artists, perhaps for the first time, are embracing the htm finished artwork. interpretation of John Everett Millais’s true artistic potential of the microbe. Whilst their works are Symbiotic Bacterial Light project – www.fusionmedia.net.au/sblp/ painting Ophelia using pigmented not intended to provide a rational understanding of micro- luxcorp.html BioArt bacteria as the medium. The project biology, their art has become an important forum that can Wellcome Trust Art Awards,promoting collaborations between One of the most challenging areas of art is still ongoing but its potential can communicate, on an intuitive level, the sublime nature of the artists and scientists – www.wellcome.ac.uk/node2580.html involving micro-organisms is BioArt, in hopefully be seen in Fig. 7. microbial world. In his philosophical Enquiry, Edmund Burke Steven Wilson’s interactive microbiological installations – http:// which the medium used by the artist Most recently BioArt has shown relates terror, obscurity and infinity to the aesthetic experi- userwww.sfsu.edu/~swilson/ is living biological matter. Alexander the capacity to incorporate and com- ence when he states that ‘the passion caused by the great and JoWonder – www.jowonder.com/

128 microbiology today aug 07 microbiology today aug 07 129 meetings

Full (after 3 August 2007) Microscene Noticeboard Autumn07 University of Edinburgh Branch Meetings on the web Ordinary Members* £50 At the meeting, a board will be set Irish 3–6 September 2007 161st Meeting Student/Technician Members* £25 up with notices of jobs, postdoctoral For up-to-date information on Non-members £110 positions, studentships, courses, future Society meetings and to Retired / Honorary Members* £10 conferences etc. Contributions are Microbial functions in response book online see www.sgm.ac.uk Plenary Food, fluids, Registration *Please note: to qualify for earlybird welcome and may be either brought to the environment Meetings organization to the meeting or sent beforehand to Queen’s University of Belfast fingers, faeces and flies – rates, 2007 membership fees must be The SGM meetings programmes Registration is through the SGM Janet Hurst (e [email protected]). 30–31 August 2007 food- and water-borne paid by 3 August. are organized by the committees pathogens website (www.sgm.ac.uk/meetings). Organizer John McGrath Anyone experiencing problems Postgraduate Conference Special Events of the special interest groups, 3–4 September 2007 co-ordinated by the Scientific registering on the website should Grants Monday 3 September Organizers N. Dorrell, P.H. Everest, contact the Meetings Office. Regulatory mechanisms in Meetings Officer, Professor Hilary For full details, a form and allowances Welcome Reception K. Grant, H.M. Lappin-Scott, R.A. Rastall, host–pathogen interactions Lappin-Scott. Suggestions for Registration fees per day (incl. lunch for travel see www.sgm.ac.uk/grants/ Get to know your fellow delegates C.E.D. Rees & P. Wyn-Jones National University of Ireland, topics for future symposia are pg.cfm over a glass of wine on the first and refreshments, abstracts book and Galway always welcome. See p. 107 for evening of the conference. Venue: conference literature): 27–28 March 2008 contact details of Conveners. Programme Booklet Offered Poster Appleton Tower, George Square. Earlybird (up to 3 August 2007) Organizer Conor O’Byrne Administration of meetings is A booklet giving full details of the Presentations Tuesday 4 September carried out by Mrs Josiane Dunn at programme is enclosed with this issue Ordinary Members* £40 Delegates whose offered posters have Society Dinner SGM Headquarters, Marlborough of Microbiology Today. Student/Technician Members* £15 been accepted should note that an A four-course meal with inclusive For details of Irish Branch activities House, Basingstoke Road, Spencers Any changes will be posted on the Non-members £100 area of 90 90 cm only is available on wine and pre-dinner drink will take contact Evelyn Doyle (e evelyn. × Wood, Reading RG7 1AG (t 0118 SGM website. Retired / Honorary Members* Free the poster boards for their display. place at the Playfair Library. [email protected]). 988 1805; f 0118 988 5656; e [email protected]). Vaccines against viral infections Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics Offered papers & posters Spring08 Edinburgh International from concept to practice Groups OtherEvents Many Groups organize sessions Clinical Virology Group Organizer H.E. Allison Conference Centre for the presentation of short oral Spring08 Organizers P.A. Cane & A.R. Fooks Prokaryotic cell biology papers or allow intercalated papers nd 31 March–3 April 2008 162 Meeting Rapid diagnostics Physiology, Biochemistry & Third European Congress within their symposia. Offered Clinical Virology Group Molecular Genetics Group of Virology posters are welcome at all Society Organizer E. O’Kelly Organizers D.H. Edwards Nürnberg, Germany meetings. Plenary Bacterial secretion Other sessions 1–5 September 2007 systems: commonality and Communicating microbiology Cyanobacteria, architects of our Offered posters environment: who are they and www.eurovirology.org/ diversity Hot Topic: Education & Training Group Each poster should be associated Organizers I.R. Henderson, Microbes and climate change Organizers J. Verran, B. Unsworth what do they do? either with the Plenary topic or Systematics & Evolution / H.M. Lappin-Scott, P.C.F. Oyston, Organizer Hilary Lappin-Scott & J. Hurst with a Group. The subject content Environmental Microbiology Groups T. Palmer & C. Winstanley Virus molecular of the latter should be relevant to Type V secretion Microbial biogeochemical Organizers A. Willems & interactions: therapeutic the remit of a Group (see website Speakers Cells & Cell Surfaces Group cycling A. Wilmotte targets for details); it does not have to A.J.M. Driessen The Netherlands Organizers I.R. Henderson & Environmental Microbiology Group (SGM/Royal Society for Chemistry Virus modulation of host relate to the topic of the Group T. Economou Crete K.R. Hardie Organizer J.W. McGrath joint meeting) H. Bernstein USA defences Symposium taking place at a Oxford R. Dalbey USA Commercial industrial bioprocess Virus Group particular meeting. General Offered Biological basis of infection 16–18 September 2007 T. Palmer Dundee development Organizers R.E. Randall & Posters will not be accepted. control www.rsc.org/ConferencesAnd J. Cox USA Fermentation & Bioprocessing Group G.W.G. Wilkinson Clinical Microbiology Group Events/RSCConferences/Virus07/ Abstracts O. Schneewind USA Organizers S.M.Stocks & P. Bentley Organizers S. Lang, M.M. Tunney Control of virus gene expression index.asp Titles and abstracts for all W.R. Zückert USA & M.R. Barer Transmission of viruses through Virus Group presentations are required in a M.H. Saier USA the food chain Organizers S.G. Siddell, standard format and should be T. Silhavy USA How to pass the MRCPath Food & Beverages Group L.O. Roberts & A.J. Sinclair submitted through the SGM V. Koronakis Cambridge Part 2: tips for the exam 14th Conference of the Organizers K.H. Mellis, J. Gray & website. Deadlines for submissions G. Cornelis Switzerland Clinical Microbiology / Clinical Virus Group Workshops Federation of Infection C.E.D. Rees are published in Microbiology Virology / Education & Training Societies P.J. Christie USA Today and on the web. For further Groups The horizontal gene pool: Deadline for receipt of titles and Cardiff A. Pugsley France information contact the Events Organizers S. Collier, J. Clayton, abstracts for offered presentations: 28–30 November 2007 I.R. Henderson Birmingham the mobilome and virulence Administrator. E.G. Dudley USA S. Warren & J. Verran Microbial Infection / Physiology, 30 November 2007. www.fis2007.org.uk

130 microbiology today aug 07 microbiology today aug 07 131 schoolzone

Schools Membership costs only £10 a year. Benefits include Microbiology Today, advance copies of new teaching resources Teacher Scientist Network – TSN and discounted fees on SGM INSET courses. To join see Are teachers and scientists a match made in heaven? www.sgm.ac.uk/membership. Enquiries: [email protected] Claire Willis (TSN North East Co-ordinator) certainly or go to www.microbiologyonline.org.uk for full details of hopes so. resources and activities. TSN is one of several organizations during National Science that puts the scientific community and Engineering Week. in universities and industries into Dr Paula Martin (a physicist) led 2007 MiSAC Competition contact with science teachers in one- a workshop on rocks which used to-one partnerships. The partnerships chocolate as a teaching tool to support and encourage teachers, identify different rock types. A second helping them to deliver up-to-date workshop, led by Dr Jane Entwistle Salmonella: from farm to fork and relevant science through exciting (a soil scientist) explored the ways in and innovative workshops or through The Microbiology in Schools Advisory committee members, Anthony Hilton, which soil science is useful to industry longer term relationships. The Committee runs a competition every SfAM Honorary Secretary, and Lucy and farming and, in particular, how soil m TSN North East working with a pupil from partnership is between the teacher and a local school. Claire Willis year for school students. This year, the Harper, SfAM communications officer, identification can be used in forensic the scientist rather than the school and brief was to ‘produce an eye-catching tackled the KS3 entries first and were investigations to catch criminals. is an excellent way of delivering CPD ethos to the TSN) is in its first year leaflet to inform the public about the risks astounded at the high standard of (Continued Professional Development) The partnerships are very flexible and under the management of Edinburgh of Salmonella food poisoning and how work. After lengthy deliberation, the to teachers without leaving the open-ended; the amount of contact University and is run by eight regional to avoid it’. It was sponsored by the winners were chosen: first prize went classroom and one in which the varies as do the subjects tackled. co-ordinators. Society for Applied Microbiology and to Hugo Fleming, Feltonfleet School, teacher is in the driving seat. So if you live outside the North East is The scheme aims to enrich the the topic was chosen to tie in with the second prize to James Fryatt, St Aidans The main purposes of the network are: there some way in which you can get classroom experience of secondary National Curriculum so competition RC School, who designed his leaflet involved with school science? There school students by placing a cutting- To support and encourage teachers entries could be produced in the around a delicatessen, and third prize are other local partnership initiatives edge researcher in their school (see in helping them to deliver up-to- classroom as assessments or teaching to Katie Wensley, Sheffield High m KS3 1st KS3 2nd m around the UK, including TSN Norfolk also Gradline, p. 134). aids. Entries were judged in two age School. Such was the standard this date and relevant science; . GCSE 1st GCSE 2nd . established in 1994. The North East Microbiology is often a difficult topic categories: Key Stage 3 and Key Stage year, two entries were commended: To help counteract the negative experience has been inspired by best to teach in schools, and it would 4/GCSE. Cash prizes for students and that of Emily Barnes, The Grange stereotype of scientists; practice promoted by Norfolk’s TSN. In schools went to the top three entries in School, and Harry Hitchens, Prior be great if SGM members would be To encourage scientists to interact Wales, there is TSN Cymru, and Clifton prepared to give up some time to both categories. Park College, for his hilarious ‘Don’t with teachers and children. Scientific forms partnerships in the be a sick chicken’ idea. support teachers and inspire pupils 129 schools entered the competition, Many teachers encourage classroom Bristol area (www.clifton-scientific.org). through one of the schemes in Table 1. with 634 KS3 entries and 314 GCSE It was a hard act to follow, but GCSE visits from the scientist so that their The UK Researchers in Residence Teachers wishing to become involved entries – a record for the competition! entries did not disappoint. First prize pupils can talk to a ‘real’ scientist and scheme (which has a very similar should contact their local co-ordinator. The brief gave instructions about went to Daniel Tolley, St Anselms get to know him or her as an ordinary Table 1. Contact details for various TSN schemes format, which had to be adhered to College, second prize to Christopher person. The scientist may help in the TSN North East TSN Norfolk in the judging process. Every year Lewis, Bedford School, whose ‘Wanted’ development of new investigations and Coordinator Claire Willis Coordinator Dr Phil Smith many entries are disqualified because entry was very original, and third prize other activities, perhaps by suggesting they do not conform to the required to Camille Raoult, The Abbey School, t 0191 3706215 t 01603 450304 different contexts or procedures. e [email protected] e [email protected] format; this year saw a pleasing decline for her imaginative cartoon. Yet again, the stars of the competition stepped Occasionally, they may make a more w www.slcs.ac.uk/ne w www.tsn.org.uk in ineligible entries. It was a shame to the panel commended two outstanding outside the norm and produced some direct contribution by describing their TSN North East is supported by One North East, the TSN was supported by the Gatsby Charitable Trust for see such imaginative pieces of work leaflets:Jawad Safdar, Bedford School, inspired entries. The standard of work. As well as offering advice and regional development agency. 12 yrs, and is currently funded by the Science in Society being taken out of the competition – and Emily Kirkham, The Abbey competition entries seems to get better programme of the Biotechnology and Biological Science expertise, some scientists are able to Research Council (BBSRC). there were some wonderful shapes, School. each year. This is a good indication help with resources and materials for Wales: TSN Cymru Researchers in Residence pop-up and stick-on pieces, with the that students like to get involved in The professional standard of computer a particular section of school science Contact John O’Hare-Price Contact Nicola Cuthbert occasional book and poster. designed entries was equally matched topical issues and to communicate work. One case study from TSN North t 02920 475475 ext. 281 t 0131 650 5384 their ideas. e [email protected] e [email protected] After the first round of screening, by the skill shown in the hand-made East involved a visit by children and w www.techniquest.org w www.researchersinresidence.ac.uk the 562 KS3 and 285 GCSE leaflets leaflets. Great imagination was evident teachers from Bowburn Junior School TSN (Wales) is supported by the Gatsby Charitable Researchers in Residence is delivered by a consortium led were taken to London for the final in the work. A trend was visible in Lucy Goodchild, and St Godric’s Primary School to Foundation. by the University of Edinburgh and funded by Research judging. The panel, consisting of terms of layout and graphics, but SGM External Relations Office Science Learning Centre North East Councils UK and the Wellcome Trust.

132 microbiology today aug 07 microbiology today aug 07 133 gradline

Gradline aims to inform and entertain members in the early nothing beats hands-on experience the BA and is open to Research Council funded courses with subsidised places available to RS-funded to show you have the drive and PhD students and postdocs. researchers. stages of their career in microbiology. If you have any news enthusiasm to succeed. There are x The Royal Society runs training workshops to develop x Budding science writers can download So you think you many ways to gain this, either through or stories, or would like to see any topics featured, contact communication skills at a non technical level to a general want to be a science writer? from the Association of British national schemes or by exploiting audience. They take place throughout the year at a cost of Science Writers (ABSW) website. The booklet is packed Jane Westwell (e [email protected]). opportunities that arise locally. £300. RS-funded postdocs are eligible for a subsidised full of handy tips and information with insights from place. professional science writers and journalists. Promoting science to the x NESTA FameLab is an annual national competition to x Science writing competitions are another good way to As a researcher, contemplating your designing and developing exhibits or general public find talented communicators of science and engineering. practise writing for a general audience. Check out the future, you may have already decided explaining them to visitors. Some find There are opportunities for Prizes include a residential weekend master class in science Wellcome Trust and New Scientist essay competition or the that continuing in the laboratory is not a role in the media, communications or competitions, training and funding communication, international speaking engagements, a Daily Telegraph and Bayer annual science writing award. on the agenda. You might be planning education offices of research institutes, to promote your science to a public 2-week internship with Channel 4 and a cash prize of Both competitions offer a range of cash prizes and a work to abandon science altogether or medical charities, learned societies, audience. £2,000. placement for the winner. MRC-funded PhD students can enter the Max Perutz science writing prize and win up to perhaps, rather than waste all those universities and other organizations. x x Funding is available if you are planning an activity or Perspectives is a poster competition £1,000. years of scientific training, you might Science communication is an attractive which gives researchers the workshop. The SGM Education Development Award offers x be looking for a career where you can option for many graduates and opportunity to discuss the social and up to £1,000 towards small projects that promote Sense About Science’s Voice of Young Science network apply your knowledge and skills. postgraduates so the competition for ethical implications of their research. microbiology to the public. RCUK offer grants to Research encourages early career scientists to communicate with the Maybe a role in science communication jobs can be quite tough. However, as a Finalists attend a communication Council-funded scientists to support activities during media. The website provides useful guidance. would be for you? PhD (or postdoctoral) researcher, you and poster design workshop before National Science Week. In addition, MRC researchers can Science communication is a very broad have the opportunity to develop skills preparing posters for presentation apply for money to support projects associated with UK Volunteering in schools term that covers a variety of roles in and experience that will strengthen to a broad audience at the British science festivals. It may sound daunting but explaining science (and keeping written, broadcast and electronic media. your CV. Association for the Advancement of x The BBSRC, RCUK and Wellcome Trust websites all it interesting) to a group of school students can be a very There are also science communicators Although there are many postgraduate Science (the BA) Festival of Science in provide guidance on promoting science to the general rewarding way of practising your communication skills. working in museums, science centres courses in science communication, the autumn. The competition is run by public. There are schemes to facilitate this. Promoting science – Promoting your career Jane Westwell takes a look at the Science in the media For people interested in media-related science various opportunities for working communication, there is a variety of ways to gain experience. x BA Media Fellowships are available to practising scientists with a minimum of 2 years postgraduate experience. Fellows in science communication. work in placements of 3–8 weeks alongside a national press, broadcast or internet journalist. Information about the scheme and profiles of previous fellows are available on the BA website. x If you would like to develop your skills at writing for a general audience, the Naked Scientists, producers of a popular science radio programme and website, are keen to hear from people who could contribute to their activities. There are vacancies in areas such as radio show production, writing and researching material for broadcast, writing articles about topical science, web design and internet c Janet Hurst and Jane Westwell meeting the gardening public on the multimedia. Contact information, articles and podcasts of SGM stand at the 2006 RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Ian Atherton the radio shows are available on the website.

c Dariel Burdass teaching a class of young children about good and x The BBSRC run media training courses for their bad bugs. SGM researchers. The Royal Society also run media training

134 microbiology today aug 07 microbiology today aug 07 135 x The Science and Engineering Young also be used to support activities in Further Information Ambassadors scheme is open to any schools. Schemes scientist who would like to enthuse A job in… Science x Junior Café Scientifique – for www.researchersinresidence.ac.uk/rir/ young people about the science and secondary school pupils – is currently technology that surrounds them. www.the-ba.net/mediafellows being piloted in regions of the UK. Individuals who successfully register hwww.setnet.org.uk/ambassadors_seas. communication If you would like to introduce your with the scheme receive training to cfm science to a young audience then Lucy Chappell recently made the move from PhD student at the Institute for prepare for their first activity as an Competitions participate in a lively discussion, you Animal Health to Press and Communications Officer at the Health Protection ambassador. Projects are diverse and www.the-ba.net/the-ba/ should investigate this opportunity. Agency. Jane Westwell asked her to share her experience and any useful tips. include giving talks, helping to deliver ScienceinSociety/_Schemes_and_ Currently the cafés are concentrated in practical or supporting project work. awards/perspectives/index-2.html Yorkshire, north-west and south-west Profile Residence. I spent a week in a local skills, it also helped to keep me Information on being a role model www.famelab.org/ school teaching ‘disease and defence’ motivated in my PhD research. England. Age 26 is available in a Taking a leading role: www.mrc.ac.uk/newsviewsandevents/ to pupils ages 14–16, and thoroughly Present occupation Press and How have you found the a good practice guide on The Royal If you are inspired to take maxperutzaward/index.htm enjoyed it! This encouraged me to Communications Officer, Health transition from lab-based to Society website. microbiology into the classroom, get involved in more activities with Q www.science-writer.co.uk/ – Daily Protection Agency administrative work? x Researchers in Residence, open to there are lots of resources available to schools which demonstrated and Telegraph and Bayer annual science Previous employment Working in an office is very Research Council- and Wellcome support you. The SGM has produced writing award improved my skills for communicating Research Assistant, University of different from working in a lab. Trust-funded students and postdocs, teaching resources that are freely technical information to a non- Funding Aberdeen (before my PhD) One big difference is the pace of work. places researchers into secondary available to members planning to technical audience. I also wrote several www.rcuk.ac.uk/scienceweek/ Education Institute for Animal In the lab you can plan what you schools to support practical science work with school students. Safety is articles on science communication default.htm – grants for RCUK funded Health, PhD on Salmonella pullorum will be doing next week and even activities. Volunteers receive training very important and safe practice in to encourage other scientists to researchers to fund National Science Week disease in chicken; University of next month. In the press office, every (communication and preparation of a university lab does not necessarily Aberdeen, BSc Zoology get involved in public engagement activities day is different and the pace is often activities) before placement. translate to schools. Guidance is also activities and this gave me experience available from the External Relations www.sgm.ac.uk/grants/dtf.cfm – SGM Why did you decide to find work very fast. I like working to tight x For information on Teacher Scientist of writing magazine-style articles. Office. The BBSRC website includes public understanding of microbiology grants Q out of the laboratory? deadlines and not knowing what is Networks, see p. 132. Advice I also got involved in Biotechnology coming next! The transition from the A practical guide to microbiology in About halfway through my PhD I YES, a competition aimed at PhD x BBSRC runs a network of local www.bbsrc.ac.uk/support/ lab to the office was a little strange at primary schools for researchers – decided that I didn’t want to do a students. It involved creating a coordinators across the UK. These communicate/training/notes.html – first, but it didn’t take me long to essential reading before preparing to postdoc. I enjoyed the science, but I hypothetical biotechnology company, are scientists who develop links with introduce younger children to the Communicating with the public could never get particularly excited get into the swing of it. schools in their region, maintaining guidance notes and pitching to venture capitalists in wonderful world of microbes. about the lab work, so I decided to a ‘dragon’s den’ scenario. It was hard What aspect of your work gives contacts and setting up collaborative www.bbsrc.ac.uk/support/school/ you the most job satisfaction? The wealth of opportunities to gain look for a job out of the lab. work, but I gained a lot of knowledge, Q activities between BBSRC scientists practical_guides.html – safety in What does your current job skills and experience in marketing, Having the opportunity to make and the schools. experience reflects the huge scope primary schools and working in schools of science communication but don’t involve? finance and project management, and technical information more accessible x The Royal Society funds Partnership www.absw.org.uk/SYWTBASW.htm – Q forget to explore local possibilities My current job has two sides to it. it gave me the chance to communicate to a wider audience. As a scientist, you Grants which offer up to £3,000 to So you want to be a science writer? too. Maybe your organization is The press side involves dealing with science to a business audience. are trained to write in very technical foster links between scientists and General involved in a public engagement media enquiries, writing briefings If anyone needed volunteers for language. As a science communicator, school teachers. activity such as the Royal Agricultural www.bbsrc.ac.uk/support/ and producing both pro-active anything involving communication or you need to be able to translate the x SGM Education Development Award Show, the Chelsea Flower Show, the communicate/Welcome.html and re-active press statements. The public engagement, I was the first to science into something that the general public understanding awards can Royal Society Summer Exhibition, or www.thenakedscientists.com communications side of the job put my hand up. The experience I public can understand. perhaps a local science festival. If it www.mrc.ac.uk/Careers/ involves making technical scientific gained from these activities probably What advice can you offer people is, you can be sure that there will be opportunities2007/index.htm information more user-friendly and helped me to get my current job. Q looking for a similar career? a hard pressed organizer delighted www.wellcome.ac.uk accessible to the general public. How did you balance your research The qualifications and the skills to welcome another pair of hands. www.royalsoc.ac.uk – The Royal Did you have any experience commitments with gaining new you gain as a scientist make you very Some departments organize hands- Q Society, details of grant schemes, training Q in science communication before experience? employable, but do not necessarily set on activities for school students workshops and Taking a leading role: a applying for your current job? To gain the experience necessary to you apart from other scientists when at university open days or during good practice guide Although I knew that a postdoc wasn’t enhance my CV, I had to plan my time going for a career out of the lab. It National Science Week. Look out www.juniorcafesci.org.uk/ – Junior for me, I didn’t know what else I was well. Although my research always helps if you can demonstrate that you also for opportunities to write in Café Scientifique qualified for or even wanted to do. took priority over other activities, I set have the necessary skills, and it is departmental or university newsletters. www.senseaboutscience.org.uk I decided it might be helpful to gain aside enough time for both and made important to balance them with other Every piece of experience you can some new skills and experiences, to sure I didn’t feel guilty for taking time relevant skills. My advice is to get as accrue and every skill you develop will www.big.uk.com – British Interactive Group find out what I was good at and also out of the lab. I found that spending much practical experience in science be an excellent addition to your CV. b An SGM display educating the public about microbes and food at an event in to enhance my CV. The first thing time away from the lab wasn’t only communication as possible and, above Good luck! Cirencester. SGM that caught my eye was Researcher in useful in helping me to gain new all, enjoy getting it!

136 microbiology today aug 07 microbiology today aug 07 137 hotoffthepress

Science writer Meriel Jones takes a look at some recent the bacterium from Araruama lagoon, Improving cholera risk assessment Peptide antibiotic against C. difficile a large, highly saline coastal lagoon papers in SGM journals which highlight new and exciting in Brazil. The cells exist as groups of Vital, M., Füchslin, H.P., Hammes, F. & Egli, T. (2007). Rea, M.C., Clayton, E., O’Connor, P.M., Shanahan, F., 10–40 with co-ordinated motility that Growth of Vibrio cholerae O1 Ogawa Eltor in freshwater. Kiely, B., Ross, R.P. & Hill, C. (2007). Antimicrobial activity developments in microbiological research. swim in either straight lines or a helical Microbiology 153, 1993–2001. of lacticin 3147 against clinical Clostridium difficile strains. J Med Microbiol 56, 940–946. direction at 90 µm per second. Each The bacterium Vibrio cholerae causes cholera. This water- cell has a flagellum and they fit borne disease is a major problem worldwide in areas without Clostridium difficile is the most important cause of hospital- together in a spiral to form a sphere good sewage disposal or clean drinking water. Although the acquired bacterial diarrhoea. The bacterium is a normal 6–9.5 µm across. The group remains symptoms of diarrhoea, vomiting and leg cramps are often mild inhabitant of the human gut in a few percent of the adult Multicellular, magnetotactic bacteria together as each cell grows until the in healthy people, the toxin produced by the bacteria causes population and generally does not cause problems, unless volume doubles. They then all divide such profuse watery diarrhoea in around 10 % of patients that removal of other normal members of the gut flora allows Abreu, F., Martins, J.L., Silveira, T.S., Keim, C.N., Lins de Barros, H.G.P., Gueiros simultaneously, maintaining the they die within hours. it to multiply unchecked. This means that it can be a very Filho, F.J. & Lins, U. (2007). ‘Candidatus Magnetoglobus multicellularis’, a spherical arrangement, and separate unpleasant follow-up to antibiotic treatment for other Cholera is prevalent in Africa, Asia, and Central and South multicellular, magnetotactic prokaryote from a hypersaline environment. Int J Syst into two new spheres. infections, especially in the elderly. C. difficile produces toxins America. Assuring clean drinking water and adequate sewage Evol Microbiol 57, 1318–1322. that damage the cells lining the gut, with consequences that The researchers were able to use a treatment are the most important countermeasures and it is range from a minor digestive upset to ulceration, bleeding and Magnetotactic crystals of the iron sulfide-containing magnetic field to isolate the bacteria important to know what conditions prevent survival and death. The number of cases reported in the UK has increased bacteria, as the mineral magnetite or greigite. Although from the lagoon water. The cells were growth of the bacteria. The EU is supporting a project to from less than a thousand a year in the 1990s to 42,625 in name implies, they intrigue microbiologists, only in an oxygen-free zone of the lagoon investigate new technologies for the drinking water industry. patients aged 65 or more in England in the first 9 months of sense the Earth’s three cultivated strains have been sediment, about 4 cm below the surface, As part of this, researchers in Dübendorf and Zürich, funded in 2006 – some of this can be explained by improved detection magnetic field assigned to properly described species. where there is the iron sulfide required part by LABOR SPIEZ, have been reviewing the contradictory and reporting, but there has definitely been an increase in the and use this Scientists from Brazil have now added to make magnetosomes. Phylogenetic data about the environmental conditions required by V. cholerae. to guide their to this number by collaborating to analysis showed that the bacteria were number of actual cases. V. cholerae has been reported from very nutrient-poor natural movement provide a thorough description of one members of the Desulfobacteraceae Current treatments are very limited and have a high failure water systems as well as the nutrient-rich human gut. Salinity through water. surprising species of magnetotatic family, but not similar enough to be rate. There is therefore a pressing need for new therapies. seems to be an important factor, with saline waters, such as The cells align bacterium, ‘Candidatus Magnetoglobus members of any characterized genus. Researchers in Ireland have been testing a lantibiotic (lanthionine- estuaries and the sea, appearing to support the bacterium best, themselves and multicellularis’. Although it has the containing antimicrobial peptide) against C. difficile. They whereas in fresh water it appears to be unable to grow; however, swim together typical cell structure of bacteria, the b A scanning electron micrograph of focused on lacticin 3147 produced by Lactococcus lactis. It it has also been found in fresh water contaminated by human along magnetic cells stay together like a multicellular ‘Candidatus Magnetoglobus multicellularis’. consists of two peptides, and is active at physiological pH. It Note the rather straight flagella. Bar, 2 µm. sewage. Warmer temperatures appear to favour outbreaks of field lines. This organism. When the researchers broke is toxic to many Gram-positive bacteria. One of the lacticin ability comes the aggregates apart, the cells died, The inset shows a fluorescence microscope cholera and in the laboratory the bacterium grows at 10–25 °C. image of a micro-organism stained with peptides binds to lipid II, a cell wall precursor, and prevents from small structures within the cells, reinforcing the fact that the organism a lipophilic dye, which highlights the cell The researchers first developed a very sensitive fluorescent wall biosynthesis. When combined with the second peptide, called magnetosomes, that contain is truly multicellular. They collected outlines. Ulysses Lins immunological detection system to count V. cholerae cells using pores are formed in the cell wall, resulting in cell death. flow cytometry. In the laboratory they used Swiss tap water and The researchers used strains of C. difficile isolated from Advances in norovirus research developed a method which allows the generation of infectious Evian mineral water as examples of clean and pure waters and patients with diarrhoea and inflammatory bowel disease as noroviruses entirely from cDNA. This is a major advance in showed that V. cholerae could not grow in either of them. Their Chaudhry, Y., Skinner, M.A. & Goodfellow, I.G. (2007). well as from a healthy individual. They measured the level the field as, until now, although it has been possible to grow samples of natural waters from Swiss lakes and rivers were free Recovery of genetically defined murine norovirus in of lacticin 3147 required to inhibit growth of the bacteria in the murine virus in tissue culture, mutations could not be of V. cholerae, but when the bacterium was added to sterile fresh tissue culture by using a fowlpox virus expressing T7 RNA culture and discovered that it was at least as effective as the introduced into the virus, making it very difficult to learn water, it grew, even when forced to compete with the natural polymerase. J Gen Virol 88, 2091–2100. antibiotics used in current treatments. This encouraged them exactly how the virus reproduces and causes disease. bacteria from these environments. The cholera bacterium grew to undertake further investigations to see whether lacticin The noroviruses, also called winter-vomiting viruses and best after a moderate amount of salt was added to the water, After careful thought about the ways that people have tried 3147 could be part of a new, more effective, therapy. As a Norwalk-like viruses, are the most common cause of viral and at a warmer temperature (25–30 °C). The data were used to grow this and related viruses, the researchers carried out first step, the researchers tested its effects on mixed bacterial gastroenteritis, affecting up to one million people in the UK in mathematical models of bacterial population growth that experiments that proved that one component of the systems cultures designed to simulate the human gut. Lacticin 3147 each year. These viruses cause more than 85 % of all the non- strongly suggested that the lake water and bacteria and usually used in attempts to grow norovirus actually inhibited reduced the number of all Gram-positive bacteria, not only bacterial gastroenteritis in Europe. Symptoms include nausea, V. cholerae compete for nutrients without any other interaction. . Replacing this was a key part of their success. C. difficile. Some of these Gram-positive bacteria are beneficial, fever, projectile vomiting and watery diarrhoea. These start They also tested several different cell cultures to see which These experiments are the first to show that not only can so measures to protect them, or to administer lacticin 3147- within a day or two of infection and last for up to 3 days, then was the best to use. Their final, and very important, test was V. cholerae survive, but it can grow in fresh water. The fact tolerant strains along with the lantibiotic, would be required fortunately end. Most people make a full recovery, but the to make a change to the genes in the norovirus, infect the cells that it grows better at higher temperatures means that global in a clinical therapy. However, the intractability of C. difficile vulnerable become dehydrated and need hospital care. and then check that all the new viral particles had the same warming may make the environment more suitable for diarrhoea is such that the prospect of a therapy involving Unfortunately, the virus is easily spread from person to person, change. This very careful and detailed technical study has now it, even in Europe. However, these experiments indicated lacticin 3147 is receiving very serious attention. and can survive on surfaces for days. In addition, there are made it possible to make murine norovirus mutants that will that temperature has no influence on the outcome of the many different varieties, and recovery from one does not allow the characterization of the basic biology of the virus and competition of V. cholerae with the natural fresh water bacterial provide protection from others. Apart from drinking to prevent the determination of the function of many of the viral proteins. communities, i.e. it was able to compete equally well at 20 m Fluorescence micrograph of a mixture of V. cholerae (green) with dehydration, there are no specific treatments at the moment. It will also be possible to identify methods of attenuating the as at 30 °C. The next step will be to use their methods to see natural fresh water bacterial flora (blue). Bar, 2.5 µm. Thomas Egli Noroviruses infect many other animals as well as people. virus, which has implications in terms of the rational design what happens over longer time periods and in more realistic c Three-dimensional structure of the two peptides of lacticin 3147. Researchers from Imperial College, London, have now of attenuated norovirus vaccines. settings to improve risk assessment for cholera. Mary C. Rea

138 microbiology today aug 07 microbiology today aug 07 139 reviews

If you would like your name to be added to our database of The useful 3-chapter section on knowledge of genomics and proteomics plus students studying food science Reviews on the web physical, chemical and biopreservation for our understanding of both wanted courses. Given the broad range of topics Reviews of the following books are methods has received some minor and unwanted activities of microbes in and hefty price tag, the book is unlikely book reviewers, please complete the book reviewer interests available on the website at www.sgm. updating. foods and the potential to control them. to find many personal purchasers, but ac.uk/pubs/micro_today/reviews.cfm form at www.sgm.ac.uk. A classified compendium of reviews The section on fermentations and It is appropriate that the final chapter it should have wide institutional Biofilms in the Food Environment beneficial micro-organisms spans a extends this topic to molecular source appeal. from 1996 to the present is also available on the website. tracking and molecular sub-typing of wide field from traditional dairy and Nick Russell, Imperial College London Food Irradiation Research and meat products to wines, coffee and microbes in foods. Technology cocoa. Most chapters have received Overall, the book does span the Molecular Biology of Spirochetes genome. Although the chapter on just light updating of references, whole field of food microbiology whilst Food Safety: Old Habits, Food Microbiology: Oxford Dictionary of Biochemistry and Campylobacter jejuni includes useful although an extensive reorganization devoting about half its content to food- New Perspectives Fundamentals and Molecular Biology, 2nd edn information on Arcobacter spp. and of the indigenous fermented food borne pathogenic bacteria. Its utility By P. Entis Frontiers, Third Edition other Campylobacter spp., it was chapter improves accessibility for the is aided by good indexing but, one Techniques for Molecular Biology Published by American Society for Edited by M.P. Doyle & L.R. Beuchat disappointing that for molecular general reader. Probiotic and prebiotics, detraction is the strange positioning Microbiology (2007) From a to a: Yeast as a Model for Published by American Society for information the author merely cited his which are now considered sufficiently of all the colour plates, which are US$49.95 pp. 414 Cellular Differentiation Microbiology (2007) own review in the Manual of Clinical mainstream to be moved into this exclusively mentioned but not fully ISBN 1-55581-417-5 Burkholderia Molecular Microbiology US$169.95 pp. 1,056 Microbiology, recently produced by the section, have benefited from inclusion cited in chapters 21, 42 and 44, as an and Genomics ISBN 1-55581-407-6 same publishers. Whilst understandable, of recent information on the molecular unindexed block after chapter 12. This The author reminds us of the this is unfortunate as the readership will leave many readers baffled. Despite importance of a co-ordinated approach The Periplasm This book aims to complement other biology of lactic acid bacteria and on of the two books is likely to be very this and a price which puts it out of the to food safety by providing the reader texts in this diverse field of study by well designed experiments to clarify GM Crops – The Impact and the different. A usefully updated review reach of students who would find with key examples of food-borne disease emphasizing molecular and mechanistic potential health benefits. Potential of food-borne disease epidemiology such a book most useful, it is certainly outbreaks associated with breaches aspects of the subject. The main As in previous editions of this book, the concludes this section. a recommendable library purchase. of biosecurity, food processing and Translational Control in Biology and updating in this third edition focuses final section on advanced techniques handling along the food chain to the Medicine on food-borne pathogenic bacteria The 3-chapter section on mycotoxigenic tries to take a forward look, or to Martin Collins, Queen’s University Belfast consumer. Examples of the major food- Diagnostic Medical Parasitology, 5th edn and is most welcome as there has moulds is largely unchanged, save for ‘scope’ potential developments in borne pathogens are well represented been a positive deluge of information updated references, as is the section on the field. Three of the chapter titles AIDS Vaccine Development: Challenges Microbiological Analysis throughout the book and the way published in the last 6 years since the food-borne and water-borne parasites. appeared in earlier editions. In the and Opportunities of Red Meat, Poultry and the book is organized and illustrated previous edition. The overall format of The single chapter on viruses has been case of Rapid methods of detection Eggs using different outbreak investigation Antimicrobial , 5th edn the book is unchanged, although there completely rewritten by new authors in of food-borne pathogens, sensibly scenarios enables the reader to capture Proteomics of Microbial Pathogens have been the inevitable authorship a user friendly manner which should only a brief summary of previously By G. Mead the importance of a holistic approach changes of individual chapters. appeal to more general readers. A given information is included before Published by Woodhead Publishing Globalization, Biosecurity and the Future to food safety. The author has carefully chapter on prions is new for this edition. providing a well balanced critique Limited (2006) of the Life Sciences The introductory section now includes a balanced the amount of scientific detail It takes a very practical approach to the of the present situation. With the £135.00/US$255.00/€195.00 pp. 364 topical overview of antibiotic resistance to ensure that aspects of the book Gene Transfer: Delivery and Expression consequences of BSE for human health frequent introduction of yet more new ISBN 1-84569-059-1 and a chapter on biosecurity which will be of interest not only to those of DNA and RNA: A Laboratory Manual and includes much information from rapid methods the author highlights emphasizes US-based risk assessment On the face of it, this book might professionals involved in food safety, but Microbial Source Tracking the CJD Surveillance Unit in Scotland. three major concerns: 1, lack of protocols. In the food spoilage section, appear to have a rather narrow focus on also undergraduate students interested published performance data on these Modern Multidisciplinary Applied the meat, poultry and seafood chapter just three foods. The reality is that they in food microbiology and public methodologies in peer-reviewed Microbiology: Exploiting Microbes and has been extensively rewritten to are the source of most food-poisoning health. journals; 2, the need for reassessment their Interactions include clear information on the origins incidents, either as primary foodstuffs of the potential health risks of (a) foods The author focuses predominantly and mechanisms of organoleptic or as ingredients, in the UK and widely Gene Cloning: Principles and Applications previously analysed by less sensitive on human outbreak investigations to changes in spoilage, whereas the chapter in Europe and parts of North America. Philosophical Transactions of The Royal methods, subject to loosely worded illustrate some of the key messages on dairy projects is lightly updated. Therefore, the book concentrates on Society B Biological Sciences, Vol. 361, legislation, e.g. not detectable, and (b) for producing safe food. However, it Sensibly, plant product spoilage has Campylobacter, Salmonella and E. coli No. 1475 false negative results which are accepted should not be forgotten that sporadic been split into chapters on fruit and O157, but overall its main strengths infections comprise a large proportion Antisepsis, Disinfection, and Sterilization: vegetables, and cereals and nuts with a without further confirmation; and 3, the are first in the general treatments of the of human food-borne illness. I think Types, Action, and Resistance slight increase in content. lack of truly integrated governmental sampling, detection, enumeration and the book could have benefited from As in the previous edition, the major validation procedures. The chapter identification of food-borne pathogens, Handbook of Brewing, 2nd edn an introductory chapter outlining the section of the book (13 chapters) deals on modelling has been extensively and second in the microbiological Fermentation Microbiology and relative importance of food-borne with food-borne pathogenic bacteria on remolded to give a clear comparison of aspects of quality assurance/control, Biotechnology, 2nd edn pathogens and foods to the burden a by species basis, nearly all of which the different types of model and their including legislation. The chapters of disease. That said, I found it an Malicious Microbes: Bacterial Infections include a good coverage of up-to-date applicability, whilst many formulae have are authoritatively written as reviews, informative and enjoyable read that Explained molecular information. Enterobacter been removed. The HACCP chapter is well referenced generally to 2005, should appeal to a wide readership. sakazakii is now included. Unfortunately, largely unchanged. rather than laboratory manuals of Candida Comparative and Functional the Clostridium botulinum chapter just A new chapter on ‘omics’ gives a clear methodology, and will be of most use Chris Thorns, Veterinary Laboratories Genomics pre-dated the recent publication of the introduction to the value of increases in to those working in the food industry, Agency Modelling Micro-organisms in Food

140 microbiology today aug 07 microbiology today aug 07 141 obituaries

as chair of Leeds Masorti community, Despite remaining active in the sci- considerable achievements, Simon was Professor Simon Baumberg and on the board of Sinai reform entific and Jewish communities, Simon an extraordinarily modest man who Synagogue. He was on the organizing found time in retirement for his long- would have been slightly bemused at committee of Leeds Day Limmud, and standing passion for hill-walking and his the hundreds of friends and colleagues recently was appointed as its chair. In all rekindled love of choral singing. All his who turned out on an unseasonably (05.03.1940–11.04.2007) these various activities his contribution life he had a passion for classical music, hot Sunday afternoon in early April to was immeasurable; the breadth of his particularly the twentieth century pay their respects at his funeral. His Simon Baumberg was one of the most respected members of the UK interests and associations, the depth masters, and history. He loved debate spirit and deep sense of humanity live microbiology community. Simon went to Merton College, Oxford on a of his knowledge, and the civility of and discussion, talk and listening. His on in Simon and Ruth’s sons Jeremy, his manner were unparalleled. His activities were interrupted by a minor Adam and Ben and four grandchildren, scholarship in 1958 and graduated in chemistry in 1961. Initially he contributions to the cultural and stroke earlier this year, and it was Lizzie, Cassie, Danny and Raphael. was intent on a career in chemistry but as an undergraduate, he religious life of the community will be during his treatment that pancreatic sorely missed. cancer was discovered. Despite his acquired a life-long interest in microbial genetics. Following his Colin Harwood, Newcastle graduation, Simon joined the Oxford Physical Chemistry Laboratory to study for a doctorate under the supervision of Nobel laureate, Professor Dr Miloslav Kocur C.S. Hinshelwood. Even at the outset of his research career, Simon demonstrated a remarkable ability for independent critical thinking. (1929–2006) Rejecting the thesis of his supervisor that bacteria adapted to Throughout his career Simon was valued as much for changes in their environment via a process involving purely his sound judgement, integrity and sense of fair play as Knowno t so many people in the microbial and culture chemical kinetics, Simon quickly identified the innovative for his outstanding scholarship. He was committed to the collection worlds, the passing of Miloslav Kocur has meant the loss of a work of Jacob and Monod at the Institut Pasteur and Bill old-fashioned concept of the ‘common good’ – through his Hayes at the Hammersmith Hospital who showed that gene involvement with scientific research, the students he taught, big-hearted man with great personal and professional qualities. He will regulation rather than ‘chemical kinetics’ was the basis for the Jewish community, and his kindness to everyone that he be greatly missed. the extraordinary ability of bacteria to respond to changes in met in all walks of life. Simon served as General Secretary and their environment. The results from his thesis, published by Vice-President of the Genetics Society, Senior Editor of the Milos studied microbiology at the University of Brno, of the Federation of Czechoslovak Collections of Micro- Simon as the sole author, have stood the test of time. After Journal of General Microbiology (now Microbiology), Convener Czechoslovakia, and after his graduation was appointed as organisms and to the co-ordination of its activities. He became the award of his doctorate, Simon then spent two highly of the Physiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics an assistant lecturer in the Department of Microbiology. Here, Chair, Vice Chair or President of several international organi- enjoyable and productive years as a postdoctoral fellow in Group and elected Council Member for the SGM. He was in 1964, under the encouragement of Professor Martinec, he zations, including FEMS (1988–1993), ECCO (1986–1993), the laboratory of one of the pioneers of the study of gene elected as an Honorary Member of the SGM in recognition started the collection of bacteria, and within a short period of CSM (1990–1992 and honorary member), and was an IUMS regulation, Dr Henry J. Vogel, Rutgers University, New Jersey. of his contribution to the Society over more than 20 years. time he succeeded in building up an institute of considerable Member at Large (1991–1994) He was also Vice Chair and Simon returned to the UK in 1966 to take up the appoint- Simon served on a number of committees of the Medical importance. The Czech Collection of Microorganisms (CCM) Member of various subcommittees of the ICSB (1978–1990), ment of Lecturer in the newly formed Department of Genetics Research Council, including chairing the Advisory Board, the soon became a member of the World Federation for Culture and a member of the editorial boards of three publications. at Leeds University. He was Head of Department on several Non-Clinical Training Fellowships and Career Development Collections (WFCC) and the European Culture Collections’ In his scientific work he specialized in the taxonomy of occasions and remained at Leeds until his retirement in Panel and the Stem Cell Bank Users Liaison Committee. He Organization (ECCO) to which he contributed significantly bacteria, focusing particularly on the family Micrococcaceae. 2005. His research on bacterial gene expression focused on was also a member of the Biological Sciences panel for the in many ways. He served as a WFCC Committee member Over the years, he became a highly regarded specialist with arginine metabolism in Bacillus species and antibiotic synthesis 1996 and 2001 Research Assessment Exercises and was and was Chairman of the ECCO for two terms. In 1981, an associated wide breadth of knowledge. He was author/co- in Streptomyces species. He discovered the AhrC protein of subsequently called upon to provide honest and perceptive he organized the WFCC’s IVth International Conference on author of several chapters of Bergey’s Manual of Determinative B. subtilis, a repressor/activator of arginine metabolism, and advice to many university departments preparing for the Culture Collections in Brno and at the same time prepared an Bacteriology/Systematic Bacteriology and published over 140 with Peter Stockley analysed its activation and interaction with 2008 exercise. He listened carefully to opinions and was international course for the curators of microbial collections scientific papers. His contribution to taxonomy was also DNA. Together with Kenny McDowell, he analysed the complex kind and attentive to the most junior member of any team, from developing countries, under the aegis of UNESCO. recognized by the naming of a novel bacterial species and a physiological controls involved in the regulation of the bio- committee or organization for which he worked. He was Milos was an enthusiastic champion of rising young micro- new genus in his honour, Planococcus kocurii. synthesis antibiotics such as actinorhodin from S. coelicolor. also a gentle though perceptive critic, whether examining biologists and a tireless organizer of conferences. He is This record shows that he was a major contributor to Simon was a true academic with a keen sense of what was students or having to explain to an influential scientist why remembered particularly for the regular events on the bacterial taxonomy and to the development of microbial important and a strong dislike for what he often saw as he or she would not be getting the research funds to which taxonomy of bacteria held at the CCM. These and similar resource centres, and his professional achievements will long self-serving administration. As a teacher he was universally they felt they were entitled. In recognition of his service to events always enabled a rich exchange of ideas and put Brno stand the passage of time. But for those that knew and worked admired for his gentle but persuasive approach to learning science, he has awarded an OBE in the 2005 New Year’s firmly on the microbiology map. As many of his friends have with him, he will be remembered best for his cheerful smile, and many of his former students were privileged to become Honours list – an award he always found amusing, given his remarked, Milos was a great bridge-builder. his consideration for others and for his enjoyment of life. We his friends. When Simon was eventually made a Professor instinctive lack of self-importance. His professional and communication skills were recog- mourn his loss and send deep condolences to his family. by Leeds University, many felt this was a long overdue Simon was an active and committed member of the Leeds nized by many national and international organizations. For recognition of his services, not only to that university, but Jewish community. He was actively involved in the Soviet several years he was Chairman of the Czechoslovak Society Barbara Kirsop, Electronic Publishing Trust for also to the UK genetics and microbiology communities. Jewry campaign during the 1980s. More recently he served for Microbiology (CSM) and he contributed to the founding Development, and colleagues

142 microbiology today aug 07 microbiology today aug 07 143 The culling of badgers to

control the spread of bovine

tuberculosis has been going

on for over 30 years. Chris

Cheeseman reviews the

effectiveness of this strategy,

in the light of a new study. commentbovine tb and badgers

The study of wildlife ecology is a experiments ever undertaken, at a cost been subjected to ongoing independent fascinating subject, where processes in to taxpayers of £50 million, was the audit. The results of the trial have been one part of the natural system can have responsibility of the Independent Scientific subjected to the rigours of peer review, profound effects on other, apparently Group on Cattle TB chaired by Professor prior to being published in some of unconnected components. Ecological John Bourne. After nearly 10 years of the most prestigious and demanding processes impact on pathogen dynamics, work, involving meticulous attention to international scientific journals. Another particularly in wild animal populations, scientific rigour, the ISG’s report,Bovine criticism has centred on the charge that and their understanding can be of crucial TB: The Scientific Evidence, has now been not enough badgers were killed, and that importance in developing effective published. In summary, the ISG conclude if badgers were gassed in their setts, for disease management strategies. Bovine that neither the proactive or reactive example, the positive effects of culling tuberculosis (bTB) is a case in point; this culling of badgers can be recommended would increase and the negative effects is a serious disease problem which costs as a means of controlling bTB in cattle. would diminish. Trapping efficiency in taxpayers and farmers a great deal of Reactive culling, where badgers were the trial was high and consistent with money. While the human health risks are trapped on and around farms where TB design expectations, and even if more minimal, there is a potential for human outbreaks had occurred, led to an overall badgers could have been killed, there is infection and the impact on the farming increase in cattle TB of approximately no evidence to suggest that this would industry is significant. Badgers were first 26%. Proactive culling, where the strategy have resulted in additional benefits in implicated in the spread of bTB to cattle was to trap as many badgers as possible terms of decreased cattle breakdowns. The herds in southern England in the 1970s; annually in cattle TB hot-spots, resulted existing control strategy for this disease since then further evidence has emerged in a 23% reduction in cattle TB in the includes regular herd testing to identify to support the contention that badgers core of the culled area, while there was infection in cattle, combined with the are indeed involved. The extent of their an increase of similar magnitude on the slaughter of reactors. In addition, new involvement, however, has always been edge, thus negating any potential benefits pre-movement testing requirements for unclear. Nevertheless, badger culling has over the time and scale of the study. These cattle have been introduced, reflecting often been part of historic strategies to somewhat counter-intuitive negative the scientific evidence that more rigorous control the potential for spread to cattle, effects of culling were explained by what application of cattle-based measures plays first by gassing setts and later by various has been termed the ‘perturbation effect’, a central role in the control of this disease. strategies involving trapping and shooting. which is simply the disruption of the Other work is underway to examine There is currently a debate as to whether stable social structure typically found in vaccines and improved farm husbandry badger culling should once again form undisturbed badger populations, leading to reduce disease transmission risks from part of the control strategy for this disease. to increased movement and enhanced wildlife. Even putting aside arguments Back in the early 1980s a handful of contact, both between badgers and about wildlife conservation, in a country ecologists ventured to suggest that it was between badgers and cattle. Indeed, it is where our indigenous fauna is under possible that the impact of culling itself on entirely plausible that past culling policies ever increasing pressure, the conclusion the behaviour of badgers could potentially have exacerbated the spread of bTB. from the recent badger culling trial is increase the risk of spreading disease. In As the ISG’s results have emerged, they profoundly simple: we cannot disrupt badger 1996 an independent review by Sir John have been challenged, mostly from the populations by culling without potentially Krebs recommended a field trial, and a farming and veterinary communities. making the cattle TB problem worse. study was designed whereby two potential Some of the criticism claimed that the Chris Cheeseman culling policy options – ‘proactive’ and trial was scientifically compromised. Former Head of Wildlife Team, ‘reactive’ culling of badgers – could be In response the ISG have made clear Central Science Laboratory scientifically assessed. Implementation of that the trial design, field activities, data

what has become one of the largest field collection and management, data analysis Please note that views expressed in Comment do not m Photos.com/Jupiter Images and other aspects of their work have necessarily reflect official policy of the SGM Council.

144 microbiology today aug 07