OUARTERLYMAGAIINE OFTHE SOCIETY FORGENERAL [/ICROBIOLOGY VOLUME 27NOVEMBER 2OOO

Thenature of TSEs Viroids- thesmallest living fossils? Virusesrule the waves Astrobiology Transposableelements I Nan o bacte ria L Unculturables and bacterial diversity q ',

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SGM Headquarters MarlboroughHouse, Articles Basingstoke Road, Spencers Wood,Reading RG7 1AG Thetwilight zones of microbiologyJoh n Postgate 162 Tel 01189881800 Thenature of TSEsChris Bostock 164 FaxOl 189885656 emailmtoday@sgm,ac,u k Viroidsand othersub-viral pathogens of plants: SGMWebsite thesmallest living fossils? http:,/,/www.sg m.ac.u k NicolaSpence & DezBarbara 168 Editor Virusesrule - DrlVerielJones thewaves thesmallest and mosr abundantmembers of marineecosystems Editorial Board ProfessorDave Kelly GunnarBratbak&MikalHeldal 171 DrLynne lVacaskie Insearch of asecond evolutionaryexperiment ManagingEditor DonCowan & MonbaGrady 174 JanetHurst MobilegenesNrcholasWest&ChristophTang Production Editor 178 lanAtherton Nanobacteria:goldmine or minefield of intellectual Assistant Editor and enguiryAllan Hamrlton 182 Book Review Manager 'unculturable JaniceMeekings Bacterialdiversity and s'John Fry 1Bo Contributions Theseare always welcome and shouldbe addressed tothe Editor (c/oSG M Headquarters). Regular Features CopyDates SocietyNews I acl.letoc fnr'- roe --- oinl r"- n{ cr-rPY JulyCouncil Meeting 190 at l\,4arlboroughHouse are: NewMembers of Counciland Group Committees 190 General Copy NewHonoraryMembers February2O01issue 20 November 191 NewGroup Conveners 191 May2001issue2April Above: Microbiology- Allegedlythesmallest Advertisements (CRC) Grants 192 tho tr,vilinht znnoc replicatingmolecules February200 1 issue2 January Newsof Members 1 Couftesy Carltn lverson/ known,viroids cause 93 N/ay2001issue3OApril NewMembers of Council (biographies) t gS SciencePhoto Library devastationincrops, as Advertisements SGM membershipsubscriptions 2001 194 Allenquiries should be sentto: describedby Nicola Spence JulieLauder, NWH SalesLtd, andDez Barbara(pp. 168- GoingPublic '1 194 TheArcade Chambers, Yol.27rPast4, 7O).Bacteria have viruses TA^ n "^^..1^ At..t^"-t-^+ Gradline 196 | | tg nt uaug! ntugtJl tuLr November2OOO too.Gunnar Bratbak and Hampshire,GUl1 l EE MikalHeldal considerthe Meetings 198 re|01252 357000 Inth is issue tryto answer Fax01 252 3570C1 We roleof bacteriophagesin PublicAffairs - newsectron ! 200 [email protected] questionszuch as how small aquaticm icrobial ecology lSthesmallest unit of life?ls Subscriptions 2OO1 onpp. 1 71-173. Hotoffthe Press 202 NON_N/EMBERS itreally alive? ls it reallya Movingupthescale, MicroShorts 206 M icrobiology TodayS5O O0 micro-organism? t (us$85,00) AllanHamilton looks at Inhis overview of Reviews 208 N/EN/BERS nanobacteria(pp. 1 82-184) All members receiveMicrobiology thetwilightzones of andJohn Fry questions SGMStaff 211 (p, Today.lnaddition they maytake microbiology 162) just olo howunculturable the AddressBook zlz anyof the Soc ety'sjou rnals, John Postgatewonders if microbeson ly identified Ordinary Member whatnow may seem to be bymolecular biology Diary 219 MembershipSubscription (inc. biologicalcuriosities will techniquesreally are CommentDaveRoberts Mi c r o b i o I o g y To d ay) 9 40.OO leadto dramaticnew 220 (us$70oo) (pp.186-1BB), Microbiology9.70.00(US$ 1 35.00) scientificadvances, (us$ Andfinally,Don Cowan and JGvS70.00 135.00) Whatcauses TSEs? rJsEM 97O.OO (US$ 1 35 00) MonicaG rady consider the Other ltems Scientistsdisag ree but possibilities of extra- Studentor RetiredMember LettertoEdiior MembershipSubscription (inc. mostfavourtheprion terrestriallife (pp. 174-177), 180 Mi cr o b i o I o g y To d ay) 920.00 proteintheory discussed UKFCClogocompetition 184 (us$33oo) byChris Bostock on Othertopicscovered - Microbiol ogy t,35.00 (US$65.00) pp,1 64-1 66. includethe SG M's new Photo2000 Photographiccompeiition 185 JGyS35.00(US$65.00) initiativeto raisethe prof ile International Development Fund usEMsTo.o0(us$ 135.00) Mobilegenetic elements are of microbiology(p,200), report Culturecollection managemeni in UndergraduateMember foundwidely in nature. On culturecollections inCuba Cuba MembershipSubscription (inc. pp.1 78- 1BO Nicholas West (p. FranklinSotolongo 189 MicrobiologyToday) I 1O.O0 189) anda Lancashire andChristoph Tang look at attemptto interest chrld ren Velvetevolulion Aidan Parte Theviews expressed by 205 therole of prokaryoiic inmicrobiology (p,1 9S). contributorsare not necessarily transposonsin adaptive JointASM/SGMmeeting 206 thoseof the Sor.ie-v:nor can the Thesearticles appear in claimsof adverlisersbe evolutionand their potential SymposiumVolume reviews 207 +^" ^,,^t^i+^+i^^ h,, guaranteed. rur u yrurLaLrurruy additionto allthe regular mirrnhinlnnictc featr rrps and rcnnrfs nf O 2000 TheSociety for General Qnnioilr antiriiiioc Microbiology;ISSN: 1 464-0570 Design : Graph i cs Inte rnatio nal

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Speciallssue of Microbiology Entitled Pseudomonas:Biology and Diversity andpublished in October 2000,this special issue provides a focusforthe vigorousactivity of the Pseudomonasresearch community associated with the completionof two genome-sequencingprojects. lt bringstogether some of the latest,original researchby leading international groups in the field, in oneunique source. Areasof researchin this extensive collection include: I Biotechnology I Evolutionand Systematics I MolecularBiology I Pathogenicity(plants and animals) t Physiology f Genomics A linkto a completelist of papersand abstracts, and orderforms can be found on our websiteat http://www.sgm.ac.uk/pseudo.htm lf youwould liketo keepup-to-date with the widelydiverse field of Pseudomonasbiology, simply order your copy using the orderform below. Pseudomonas:Biology and Diversitywillbecome an invaluableaddition to yourcollection

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.i.lir Scientistsare Creutzfeld-Jacobdisease (CJD) and bovine The nature of the infectious agent unsureof the spongiform encephalopathy(BSE or mad cow There are currently three theories. One says that the disease)both belong to a group of diseasesinfectious agent is somewhat like a small conventional identityof the genetic material coding for its own proteins. infectiouscalled transmissible spongiform encephalopathies virus, with causative (TSEs) or prion diseases.BSE and the new variant of At present there is little evidence to support this theory. agentof TSEs, but CJD (vCJD) have been in the news recently and are new The second, and now most widely held theory states theproperties are additions to the group, but, as a whole, TSEs have been that it is the altered physical state of normal host prion unlikethose of around for centuries. Scrapie in sheep was first recorded protein, which is able to propagate itself by inducing conventional over two hundred years ago and sporadic CJD was first other normal prion protein molecules to adopt the pathogens. described in humans in the 7920s. Nevertheless, the abnormal conformation. This is commonly referred to TSEs remained a rather obscure group of diseasesuntil as the prion hypothesis. The third idea, called the virino 1986 when BSE first appeared.In the years since the hypothesis, is most easily thought of as a hybrid of these emergence of BSE, new TSEs have also been found in hypotheses.It suggeststhat there is a very small piece of exotic species of ruminants in UK zoos, exotic and genetic material, which encodesonly information for its domestic cats and, in 1996, vCJD was described in own survival and replication through interaction with a humans. host protein, perhaps the prion protein, using it also as The TSEs are fatalonce clinical signs appear,but there a protective coat. The essential, but very important is a long, usually many years,incubation period between difference between the prion and virino hypotheses the time of first exposure to the infectious agent and the is that in the prion hypothesis, all the information to time of appearance of disease. A normal microbial determine the properties of the infectious agent is infection usually elicits an immune responsein its target carried in the abnormal conformational state of the host, but in TSEs there is no conventional immune prion protein, whereas in the virino hypothesis, the 'genetic' fesponse, although the immune system plays an information is carried in an independent BELOW: the disease,before molecule. As yet no-one has defined the precise iri,;1.;i. Abnormalprion Protein important part in the development of canbe detected asbrown dePosits the infectious agent gets into the central nervous system molecular state(s) of the normal and infectious forms of 'prions' followingstaining withanlibodies (CNS). A common feature of all TSEs is degeneration the prion protein, nor produced infectious in uitro toprion prolein ina sectton in the brain and spinal cord and part of this process from normal prion protein, as would be predicted by the throughpartof the spinal cord involves a normal host protein, called PrP or prion prion hypothesis. But neither has anyone yet found any takenfrom ahamster infected 'virino'. orallywith the 263K strain of protein. During a TSE infection this protein is deposited molecule that might fit the role ofthe scrapie(inset) The abnormal in an abnormal form and in excessiveamounts in the prtonprote'n accumulattonsf cal brain, spinal cord and many peripheral nerves and tissues r;;,Prion protein genes beseen athigher magnification in (Fig. 1). The causativeinfectious agent has properties As with conventional microbes, there are different individualnerlrons inthe pathway ofan infection thatconnects theear to the brain unlike those of conventional pathogens and may be a new strains ofTSEs, and the characteristics C0URTESY IRICIA l\4cBRlDE classof infectious agent. r are determined by an interaction between a particular strain of infectious agent and a gene (or genes) in the l--+lf,if* r#; ffi;'qQ host animal. The host gene that has the biggest effect in of an exposure to an infectious $$4 determining the outcome agent is the same gene that codes for the normal prion protein. In humans there are two common versions of the prion protein that differ in a single amino acid (whether it has valine or methionine at coding position 129),butthere are also many fare mutant forms, most of which are associatedwith inherited susceptibility to prion disease.Sheep also have many different forms of the prion protein, none of which have so far been linked 'inherited' to scrapie and only some of which appear to affect the outcome of a scrapie infection. Two versions of the prion protein have been found in cattle but these do not appear to differ in their association with susceptibility ofanimals to BSE. Much of the work that has lead to an understanding of the role of the prion protein gene in TSEs was done in laboratory mice before anything was known about the existenceof the prion protein or its gene. Different lines of inbred mice were found to differ in their responseto infection with scrapie and a gene, called Sinc (for scrapie

IMffi lilt;';+liilrl:i"irll,o,;ril;'i;'loI)AYVOL27/NOV00 lnfection *@* lncubation Period *r# Disease r"t :j W 3j Hatural Scrapie SJ ffi ffi ii:ii:l

incubation period), was identified that controlled the incubation period. There are rwo versions of Sinc, s7 and p7, which r$ FSE determine, respectively, *"$ short and prolonged i ncubat i o n aft er i nfec ti o n r,,*iri.ri.iiii,lr,rilii r*i of mice wirh a strain oF scrapiecalled MEl. Sinc r +inrxr+t+irlx :il:' J*:::,0:Ji",'i;; protein. The difference between s7 and p7 Sinc genes is firm evidence to say how humans became infected. From ABOVE: now known to lie in the amino acids at two positions in a scientific point of view, one of the interesting observ- {irg.i'. StrainsofTSE agents differinthe relative lengths of the protein; if it hasleucine at position 108 and threonine ations to come out of this work is that the same strain of incubationperiod indifferent (BSE) at I89 it is Sincs7, whereasif it has proline at position agent can be propagated by several species,each of inbredlines ofmice R3 and C5/BL 108 and valine at 189 tt is Sinc p7 . which has a slightly different normal prion protein. ares/mice V[/l is a p/mouse and Thus, if the conformation of the abnormal form of the CSTBLxV[/listhe cross between f* Properties of different strains of infectious prion protein determines the biological properties of a thetwo lines Several sources of BSEfrom cattle FSE from domestic agents strain of infectious TSE agent, it must be independent of catsand vCJD from humans In addition to the different versions of the prion protein the structure of the normal prion protein in these prodrlcetrery similar patterns, gene within a speciesthere are many different strains of different species.Different prion proteins must be able to indicatingthatthe same strain of the infectious agent that can infect that species.This is adopt the same abnormal conformation even though TSEagent iscausing theinfection Differents0urces ofscrapie onthe most clearly demonstrated by infecting the same inbred they have very different structures in their normal states. otherhand produce irery different lines of Sinc s7 or Sinc p7 mice with different sourcesof Strains of TSEs differ in several other respects in patternsofincubation inthe scrapie.Different sourcesof scrapie can produce widely addition to incubation periods and lesion profiles. They differentmotlse llnes lndicating different incubation periods and result in differing show large differences in their resistance to inactivation thatthey are different from BSE as patterns of damage in the brain (called lesion profile). by heat or chemicals. Primary BSE and a mouse-passaged wellas being different from each other Thesetwo features,relative incubation periods in s7 and strain derived from it (called 301V) are the TSE agents BASEDONDAIA PROVIDFD BYl\/IOIRA p7 mice and the lesion profile, are classically used to most resistant to inactivation by heat yet to be BRUCEANDCOLLEAGUES define the different strains ofinfectious agent. Several discovered. Nevertheless, resistanceto inactivation is a different strains of TSE agent can be propagated in the property of the'strain'and not the primary srructure of same inbred line of mouse and thus, if the abnormal the prion protein that carries it becausethe resistance conformation of the prion protein determines the * properties ofa strain remain the same when it is produced properties of the infectious agent, this means that the in mice differing in the type of prion protein they make same normal prion protein must be able to adopt (s7 v. p7). reproducibly several distinct abnormal disease- Different strains of TSEs are associated with different associatedstates. biochemical and biophysical properties of the abnormal Using the criteria of relative incubation period and prion protein. The prion protein has two sitesat which it lesion profile it has been possible to characterizeand can be glycosylated, i.e. amino acids at which sugar compafe the infectious agents causing contemporary residuescan be attached, but not all molecules of the scrapie, BSE, the spongiform encephalopathies of cats prion protein are fully glycosylated. Thus, an individual (FSE),kudu and nyala, as well as classical and vCJD of molecule may have no added sugars, sugars added ar one humans (FiS.2). Sourcesof scrapie, collected contemp- or other ofthe sites or at both sites.The relative ratios oraneously with the BSE epidemic, are heterogeneous, of the prion protein in these different srares can be each being distinct and different from the others. This quantified and they differ predictably between different situation contrasts with the homogeneity found in strains. several different sources of BSE sampled at different $7hen the prion protein adopts the abnormal times during the epidemic and from different conformation characteristicofaTSE infection it becomes geographicallocations. The infectious agents causing partially resistant to digestion with enzymes rhar degrade FSEand diseasein exotic ruminants in zooswere found to proteins - called proteinases.This relative resisranceof be indistinguishable from the BSE strain, and, although the abnormal form of the prion protein to proteinase classicalCJD is quite distinct, the transmissible agent digestion is used as a diagnostic feature for infection, but causing vCJD has the same strain properties as the BSE the size of the resistant protein fragment has been found agent. This suggests that the agent that causesvCJD is to differ slightly for abnormal prion proteins produced the sameas that which causesBSE, but as yet there is no by different strains, indicating that strain-specific

fr4i#3.it#3uii::$-#iiitt€ TODAY VOL2TINOVOO ffi infectious agent to enter and replicate witl-rin it. If, in the 'stamped' conformational differences might change the site which processof replicating the agent, the cell its isaccessible to thecutting enzyme. own glycosylation signal on the newly formed abnormal It has been suggestedthat these two propefties, ratios prion protein, it would enslrre the next generation of 'infectious of glycosylated forms and the size of the proteinase- prions' were of its own kind, thus perpet- resistant fragment, could be used as a basis for uating the tropism and properties of the strain. This biochemically identifying different strains. If this were idea has been tested by infecting a single cell type with possible it would provide severaladvantages since it two different strains of agent. If the strain properties would be both quicker and would not involve the use of derive from a cell-imparted glycosylation pattern, the large nr-rmbersof mice to bioassaythe infectious agent. two originally different strains would be expected In the caseof well charactertzed mouse passagedstrains to emerge with the same strain characteristics and BELOW: glycosylation patterns. Alternatively, if the determinant ;:;,:;.. :'; Theprion pr0tein cal] of scrapie it appears that a particular strain/mouse havesugars added atone or other combination produces a characteristicnarrow range of ofstrain is independent ofglycosylation pattern ofprion orboth oftwo sites the effect ratios of glycosylated forms (Fig. 3). The method has protein and the cell type in which it is replicating, the ofthose beingtoincrease thesize been used successfully to distinguish between the two strains should retain their original characteristics. moleculeswlthadded sugars of CJD in humans. \Thether this type of Experiments using cells infected in culture indicate that Theseslze differences canbe used various forms in andquantify the biochemical typing can be made precise enough so that the latter is the case and slrggest that differences toseparate 'fingerprint', variousforms The percentage of each strain of TSE has its own unique glycosylation result from strain differences, and are thetotal abnormal prion protein irrespective of the speciesor prion protein background, not the causeof them. withsugars added attwo sites remains to be seen. In the case of natural and (diglycosylated)relativeto the afe numerous # Conclusion percentageofthose mo ecules wth experimental sheep scrapie the patterns sugaradded atonly aslngle site and complex and it is likely to take some time before it Returning finally to the question of the nature of the (monoglycosylated)canbe will be known whether the approach is feasible as a agent. \7ork on strain properties of TSE agents has particular constantfora strainof practical diagnostic method. shown that if the prion protein is the soie component of TSEagent but dlffer between that strains differ in the degree the infectiolrs agent, the conformational determinant slrainsoiagent replicated ira The observation independent of singlelnbred line of mouse The of glycosylation of the accumulated abnormal prion of infectiousness and strain must be ratiocan change when astratn ts protein has lead to the hypothesis that the pattern of prion protein primary structure (sequence of amino propagatedinan nbred line of glycosylation may itself be the biochemical determinant acids). A single prion protein mttst be capable of withadifferent prion mouse It is proposed that a certain type ofcell in the adopting and propagating several different stable proterngene ofstrain. host might recognize individual patterns of sugars abnormal conformations while severaldifferent prion BASEDONDATA PROVIDED BYROBERT 'permit' SO[,,IERVItLEANDJA[/ES HOPE on the prion protein molecule and thus the proteins must be able to adopt a common abnormal conformation. A full ' understanding of how this Percentagemonoglycosylated lmdb .$iffi is achieved will have to molecules +4$I"si:!J await a complete molecular roo descriptionof the variotts & The glycoformratio Theglyooformratio, ffi of diffierentstrainsof ofthesameetrain , forms o{ttheprion protein. tr" T$Eagentcan differ ofTSEagentean whengrowninthe differwhengrown Much of this article i.r basedan sameinbred lineof indlfferentinbred mice linesofmice rhettork afnry colleaguesat tbe Institute Aninml Healtb, 139A far tr.,bomI thank for prouiding ".TgA the nmterial that has been # alc i ncarparated in t hefi gares.

O Prolesso r Ch r i stop he r J. Bostockis Directorof Researchat theI n stitute ffi for Animal Health, ffi ComptonLaboratory, Compton,Newbury, BerkshireRG207NN. Tel.01635577238; Percontagediglycosylated @ 6fte FaxO1 635 577237; w molecules @ ffi$ emailchris.bostock@ lAO bbsrc.ac.uk

mlwfr il:if;:,i"::r,t{i.{#l1.,i}#1r'TODAYVOL2T/NOV00 Viroids and other sub'viral pathogensof plants: the smallest living fossils? Nicola Spence & DezBarb ara

Viroidsand Contrary to earlier belief, virursesare not rolling circle mechanism, using either jr-rstplant orplant satelliteRNAs are tl"re smarllestcausative agents of infectious and virtrl components. Satellite RNAs and just two thesmallest and diseersesin plants. Sir-rgle-strandedRNAs, viroids are able to self-cleavefrom the concatameric plants, causing a RNA but most viroid RNAs areenzymatically cleaved. simplestreplicating termed viroicis, exist in many higher virus-like diseases.Viroids can be as small as known, variety of molecules 246 nucleotides or as large as 400, br-rttheir RNA is not # Plant diseasescaused by viroids Possibly'living organized into codonsand they are not translzrted.This is Crop diseasescaursed by viroids probably originated by fossils'theyare the in contrast to plant viruses where translation of viral charncetransfer from endemically infected wild plants causeof awide genetic infcrrmation is essentialfor vims replication. The or by use of viroid-infected germplasm cluring plant varietvof infectious physical structure of viroids was first shown directly by breeding. Despite their extreme simplicity, r'iroids can 'electron diseasesin plants, microscopy; under non-denaturing conditions cause syndromes in plants that are as varied as those viroids appearas small rocisof approx. 17 nm, but under causedby plant viruses but others, such as coleus latent denatr,rringconditions they can be seento be covalently viroid (CLVd), are totally symptomless and occur at extremely high rates of infection (r-rpto l0Ool,). Because viroids are not translated, their effectson plants must be a consequenceofdirect interactions of the viroid with the l-rostand its environment. Although the molecular mechanisms of viroid pathogenesisare still unknown, analysis of molecular chimeras has revealed that tl-re severity of symptoms is the result of complex interactions among three of tl'refive viroid clomains.As a grolrp, there is nothing that distinguishes the disease symptoms producecl by viroicls from those induced by virr,rses- these inch-rde stunting, mottling, Ieaf distortion and necrosis. Diseasescover a wicle range from the slowly developing lethal diseasern coconlrt palms caursedby coconut caclang-cadangviroid (CCCVd) to the usually symptomless hop latent viroid (HLVd; Fig. 2), and the latent viroids rvhich are trlways symptomless. It is possible that mzrny more mild or symptomless viroicl infections remain to be discovered.

rfiVi roid epidemiology The main methocis by lvi-rich viroids are spread are mechanical transmission, vegetative propagation and thror-rghpollen and seed.The relative importance of ABOVE: ciosed circuiar molecules. Due to their high degree these methods varies with different viroids and hosts. f r'rl.ii. Commercialhops of internal base pairing, viroids have a characteristic For example, vegetative lropagation is dominant for (Humulus lupulus)variety 0mega rod-like secondarv structLrre in wl-rich short heliczrl chrysanthemum str-rnt viroid (CSVd). Mechanical withsymptoms otHLVd 0mega s interrupted by internal anclbulging loops transmission is a significant factor for others such as theonly known hop variety which regions are (CEVd; showsvisible symptoms ofthis (FiS. 1). In the majority of casesthere are five structural citrus exocortis viroid Fig. 3) and hop stunt viro id domains in the viroici genome. Many satellite RNAs viroid (HSVd; Fig. 'i). Seecland pollen transmission are COURIESYDBARBARA resemble viroids in size and molecular structure, but are factors in the spread of avocado sunblotch viroid associatedwith specific helper viruses on which they (ASBVd); seedis particularly important for some of the BELOWRIGHT: depend for their replication and areencapsidated with, or latent viroids. Potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTVd) is 5,ie,l,The sequence ofhop instead of, host viral genome components into the virus f ransmitte.l ar low frcquencyin a non-pcrsisrentmanner latentviroid (HLVd) arranged ina the sateilite RNA is not part of the by the apl-rid fuIacrosilthaneuphorbias. However, it is thermodynamicallyoptimized particle. However, secondarystructure l'relper virus genome and usr-rally hzrs no seqLlence doubtfr-rl if aphid trernsmissionis of any significance in AFTERPUCFlTA 'Ti1(1988) similarity to it. Both types of small RNA replicate by a the field. AA AU A GA UAA A f UC GGGG CACU GUGACU CUGUA GGU GG GCUC AAGAG AUCC c tf il f ttf Iilf tf Iilil ilt tfrlttlllrt till CCCC GUGA CACUGA GACGU CCA CC CGAG UUCUC UAGG A L] A UU AG UA CA

m S',$A{?PAg}li*Lf i-r.}{;.1# TODAY VO L 2Tl N OV 00 Viroids move rapidly through a host plant in the However, cold treatment manner of competent viruses, almost certainly through can be effective, e.g. the phloem. The relative resistance of viroid RNA to storage at 4"C for 6 nuclease degradation (which arises from their internally months or more. followed base-paired structure) probably facilitates their long- by apical shoot-tip-culture distance movement. It is also possible that viroid gnfting, can be used to particles are translocated while bound to some host eliminate CSVd and protein. For most viroid diseases the reservoir of HLVd. Pre-inoculation inoculum appears to be within the crop itself, raising the with protective mild ffiffiLli+t6.+*if{iilriiltl:i'il lt' i:r : : liiij*lg&ffi question as to where they came from originally. A viroid StfainS Of VirOid haS prOVed present in a natural host, possibly causing no disease, effective to control PSTVd. It has also been shown that ABOVE: 'escape' might into a nearby susceptible commercial interference occurs not only between strains of a S*9.". CEVdsymptoms ina crtrusspecies. crop and spread rapidly within it. Modern agricultural particularviroid but alsobetween different viroids. In COURTESYDBARBARA practices, such as widespread monoculture ofgenetically experimentsin which mild and severestrains of PSTVd identical plants, and worldwide distribution ofplanting were inoculated to a host simultaneously,the severe material, have probably made possible the sudden strain dominated and most plants developedsevere appearanceand rapid spread ofnew viroid diseases.For disease,even when the mild strainwas in 1OO-foldexcess example, a study of HLVd in the UK suggests that the in the inoculum. In other experiments,PSTVd RNA current prevalence ofthis viroid in hops is a consequence transcriptsfrom a clonedPSTVd DNA wereinoculated of infection becoming established in the hop propa- togetherwith HSVd RNA. PSTVd reducedthe level of gation system during the late I970s. HSVd RNA in infectedplants. Plants inoculated with dual transcripts- two copiesof a severePSTVd strain @Viroiddetection and diagnosis linked to two of HSVd - developedPSTVd symptoms Serologicaltests are widely usedfor the detectionand and only PSTVd progeny RNA could be detected. diagnosisof viruses,but thesecannot be usedfor viroids The molecular basis for this interferenceis not yet asthey arenot immunogenic.Besides indicator plants, understood. biophysicaltechniques such as two-dimensionalgel electrophoresis,return gel electrophoresis,hybridization @ Recombination between viroids and RT-PCR of nucleicacid extractsare used for more Nucleotide sequencedata shows that it is highly rapid testing.Viroid identificationcan be difficult. In probablethat recombinationhas taken placebetween the searchfor viroids and viroid-like RNAs in oil palms different viroids, presumably during replication in from Central and South America affected by a fatal mixed infections. For example, tomato apical stunt yellowing disease,RNAs showing viroid-like gel- viroid (TASVd) appearsto be a recombinant viroid electrophoreticproperties were detected.However, the comprisedmostly of the sequenceof a CEVd-like viroid presenceof known viroids wasexcluded by hybridizatiori but with the T2 domain replacedby the equivalent experimentsusing viroid-specificprobes and the use domain frcma PSTVd-like viroid. Australiangrapevine of double-strandedRNA (dsRNA)-specificmonoclonal viroid (AGVd) appearsto haveoriginated by extensive antibodies(which do not react with viroid RNA), RNA recombinationas its sequencecan be divided into showedthe oil palm RNAs to be dsRNA speciesand not regionseach with high sequencesimilarity with parts of circularsingle-stranded ones. Furthermore, since the CEVd, PSTVd, apple scar skin viroid (ASSVd) and samedsRNA pattern wasfound in extractsfrom healthy grapevineyellow speckleviroid (GYSVd). aswell asfrom diseasedoil palms, it wasconcluded that thedsRNAs werenot associatedwith the disease. @Satelliteviruses and satellite RNAs Purified virus preparationsisolated from infectedplants ffiViroid disease control may contain a variety of small RNAs other than the Disinfection of cutting tools is recommended to prevent genomic RNAs. In addition, someisolates of certain viroid transmission, especially in nursery production. plant virusesmay alsocontain satelliteviruses. The two Heat treatment is effective in eliminating various UG pathogens from infected plants, but usually not viroids. rC G GAC UC C CA CC ACUC GC GG GGAGA GAGC GUUCUGCGCGGGAC UGA il llll il ll rill llll llll ilillll lll ltl GG UGAG U\J \.\- CUUCU CUCG CAAG GUGCGUCCUG GCU AU GC AA AUCG CU

*#$*ffi#ffi*#tu##yrcDAy voL27lNOV00lM RIGHT: classes of agents can be $$9"4" HSVdsymptoms in distinguished according japonicus, Hunulus to the source of the coat COURTESY DBARBARA protein encapsidating the RNA and the sizesof the RNAs. In sarelliteviruses the RNA encodes its own coat protein whilst small satellite RNAs become packaged in protein shells made from coat protein of the helper virus. Also, the RNAs in satellite viruses have to be large enough to encode the coat protein as opposed to the viroid-like size of the satellite RNAs. Like viroids, satellite RNAs may be responsible for seriousdisease despite their minimal size. In 1972, for example, a devastating outbreak of a lethal necrotic disease of field-grown tomatoes occurred in and may fepresent ancestral forms. Site-directed muta- the Alsace region of France. It was quickly realized genesis experiments indicate that viroids can evolve that cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) was involved, but extremely rapidly in response to selective pressures, it was not clear why necrosis occurred instead of the with fitter components of the quasi-species often usual fern-leaf symptoms. However, a small RNA becoming dominant within days or weeks. This extreme component was found to be present in some isolates plasticity of their nucleotide sequences establishes of CMV in addition to the three genomic RNAs and viroids as the most rapidly evolving biological system the subgenomic coat protein mRNA, and this fifth known. RNA was not part of the viral genome. The additional small RNA (called CARNAS) present in cultures of O Dr NicolaSpence and Dr Dez Barbaraare CMV strain S was found to cause lethal necrotic disease researchleaders in the Departmentof Plant in tomatoes when added to the CMV genomic RNAs Pathology& Microbiology at Horticulture presence was thought to have been responsible Research I nte rn ati o n al, WeI I es bo Ir rn e, Further reading and its for the Alsace lethal necrotic disease. Similar recent WarwickCVSS9EF. Diener, T.O . (I99Y. Viroids outbreaks in tomatoes in southern Italy have been Tel.O1 789 470382; Fax01 789 470552; and the natureofviroid shown to be due to a necrogenic isolate of CARNA5. em ai I ni co I a. s pe n ce @h ri.ac. u k, diseases.Arc b Viro I Suppl. | 5, Conversely, some isolated types of CARNAT attenuate dez. barbara@h ri.ac. u k 203-220. symptoms in tomato and have been used in China for Diener, T.O., Owens, R.A. pre-inoculation as protective mild strains for the control &Hammond,R.\f. Q99r. ofCMV. Vroids - the smallestand simplestagents of infectious ffi Livingfossils? disease- how do they make Viroids and satellite RNAs are of great interest plants sick?lnteruirology 35, r86-r9t. becausethey are the smallest and simplest replicating molecules known and they may represent living fossils Puchta,H.,Ramm,K. & of pre-cellular evolution. Phylogenetic analysis of their Sanger,H. (1988).The nucleotide sequencesindicates that viroids and satellite molecularstructure of hop represent a monophyletic group, with all but latent viroid (HLVd), a new RNAs viroid occurringworldwide the two self-cleaving viroids forming one cluster in hops.N uckicAcids Res16, and the satellite RNAs another. The two self-cleaving 41974216. viroids are phylogenetically distant from either cluster

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Virusesrulethew?uGS - the smallestand most abundant membensof marine ecosystems GunnarBratbak & MikalHeldal

In his authoritative book Marine Microbiology, water has been known for a long time (at least since the '. Somel0yearsago ZoBelI (1946) statedthat . .sincebacteriophage 195 0s) and high abundance was also reported in I97 9. a seriesof letters is generallyfoand associatedwith large numbers Unfortunately for these early researchers,their findings waspublished in of rapidly multiplying bacteria, it is uery doub{ul if rbe were not recognized and appreciated when published. Natureshowing sparsebacterial popu/ation characteristic of the openocean is Our publication appeared at rl I I a time, 10 years ago, when tnatoacTenopnages conduciue to the deuelopment 0r actiuity of bacteriopbage'. viruses fitted in as the last (?) piece in the puzzle. It ZoBell's view on bacteria in sea water was based on provoked an immediate response. Publication in Nature wereboth abundant the numbers obtained with plate counts (around 100- gave the story publicity and the high number (billions andactive in natural 1000 c.f.u. ml-l) and his reasoningconcerning viruses in a teaspoon of water!) of viruses (dangerous and waters,These was logical, but in the late 1970s the total abundance of scary!) was considered newsworthy by the press. The reportsboosted bacteria in seawater was found to be 1000 times higher, notion that virus activity essentially is a question of'sex researchon i.e. about 106 cells ml-l. The organisms are quite active, and crime'might also have been a factor in this interest. theecological growing at a rate of about one division per day. The basis At the time, we thought that rhe method we had significanceof for ZoBelI's view on viruses was thus proved wrong developed for counting viruses in the transmission virusesand the and we had to revise the general textbook wisdom that electron microscope was simple, elegant and new. Later fieldis now well viruses are unimportant in natural waters. \7e now know we became aware of no less than five papers published establishedas an that viruses outnumb er bacteria l:y a factor of 10, at between 1949 and 1986 describing procedures for integralpartof 107m1-1. counting viruses by the same approach. By the end of the 1980s, when much data on bacterial Counting viruses, was ofcourse nor enough, and in the aquaticmicrobial 'discovery' biomass and production and on protozoan grazinghad years after the we and many other research ecology. accumulated, it appeared that bacterial production groups have worked to understand their ecological and removal were not always in balance. This could have significance. First of all, what we include in viral total been due to methodological inaccuracies,but it was also counts are not actually viruses but Virus-Like Particles possible that other removal mechanisms such ascell lysis (VLPs), i.e. electron-denseparticles with a hexagonal to and viruses were involved. At this time centrifugation round shape and a diameter of 30-200 nm (Figs 2 and 3). was used to harvest bacteria directly onto electron This distinction is imporranr, as there is no way to microscope grids for transmission electron microscopy ascertain that each and every particle we observe in the (TEM) analysis and we reasoned that if viruses were microscope really is a virus. They may in fact not be present in significant numbers we could harvest them viruses at aIl, they may be DNA blebs, ink particles from too just by increasing the speed ofthe centrifuge. STith squid, or some other particle of biological origin that has some trial and error, and a wrecked ultracentrifuge rotor, not beendescribed yet. On the other hand, we may miss a we came up with convincing electron microscope images lot ofviruses that are not hexagonal or round. In our TEM of native virus communities (Fig. 1) and quantitative preparations we sometimes observe rod-shaped and resultson the abundanceofviruses. r filamentous particles that may well be viruses (Figs 3 and Sfe did not discouerviruses in the sea and nor was the 4). but how can we tell? 'novel' method we invented for counting viruses actually One of the first questions we asked ourselves - what new. The presenceof viruses, i.e. bacteriophages, in sea do the viruses do in the ocean? - was in fact quite naive. They obviously do

l":'r: i the same as they do in ,..1"j cultures, i.e. lyse cells or make them lysogenic. Like other DN A-basedentiries, they srruggle to survive and transfer their DNA to the next generation as LEFT: best they can. The basic Ffg.3. Tailed bacteriophages questions in microbial (arrows)from coastal sea water, ecology - who, how many, Thewide range inhead diameter indicatesadiverse community. and how fast? - may sound Otherstructures (arrowhead) may simple but they have never- perhapsrelate tofilamentous theless proved difficult to phages.Theparticles were answer and indeed this harvesteddirectly onto nickel grids (400mesh) bycentrifugation has also been rhe case in (200000 g 30min ) andnegatirte- virus ecology. The effects stainedwith uranyl acetate (2% in of viruses on population water)Bar 01 pm. i!.ii'i_ dynamics, community COURIESYM HELDAL AND G BRATBAK

ffi $#ffi.#ffi#ffitu##y roDAy vol 27lNov00lm RIGHT(UPPIR): phytoplankton blooms fliil,,ft. Five bacteria may be terminated, and (arrowheads)atdifferent stages the successiondriven, by andlysis ofviral maturation viral infections. particles Thesevirus maybe more \What difficulttorecognize asviruses controls viral comparedwiththe tatled viruses rn activity in natural waters Fig1 Notethe variation insize of is still a matter of debate. virusparticles andin numbers of Some experiments indicate particlespercell Preparation was that the majority of viruses asdescribed forFig. 1 butthe samplewas positive-stained with are produced as a conse- uranylacetate Bar 0 5pm. quence of a lytic infection. COURTESYI\,1HELDAL AND G BRATBAK The r^te of virus pro- duction will thus be RIGHT(LOWER): controlled by the abun- I'i11.l:l , Algalvirus (arrowheads) dance of hosts multiplied phages(arrows) ina coastal and by the abundance ofvirus. seawater sample The thread-like structuresarepresumably from The alternative is that the Phaeocystissp(small arrows) but host is lysogenic, or alot of particles ofunknown somehow carriesthe virus identityand origin are also seen or the virus genome in Preparationasfor Fig 2 Bar1 pm an inactivated stage. This COURTESYM HELDAT ANDG BRATBAK hypothesis would explain 'survives' BELOW: how the virus itr:, **.TE[/ image structure, diversity, nutrient flow, biogeochemical cycles when the host population is gone, where it comes from demonstratingthediversity of and climate arefar from obvious and the researchrequires when the host population returns and how the host particlesthatmay be found in the combined effort of many disciplines. population protects itself from being exterminated by coastalseawater Thebacterium the virus. Our guess is that both strategies and all (b)is easily recognized butwhat Based on the simple observation that bacteria are the areall the round and filamentous most abundant possible hosts in the sea,it is assumed possible intermediates are used by different populations particlesinthe background? that most of the viruses are bacteriophages. The problem in the bacterial community. If we look for lytic infection asfor Fig 1 Bar,1pm Preparation with the bacteria in this context is their general lack we will find it and if we look for lysogeny we will find COURTESY[I HELDAL AND G BRATBAK of morphological traits, which makes it difficult to that too. N7hat is important is the question of timescale distinguish one possible host population from another, and the nexus of cause and effect, and thus the and that less than I% of them are easily isolated and experimentaldesign. cultured in the lab. Sfe thus know very little about Population growth in natural environments is individual populations in mixed natural marine controlled and limited by food supply and by predation. communities. \7hat we know is mainly based on the use of molecular methods and ribosomal RNA analysis. N7e have just begun to unravel the diversity of bacterial communities and the distribution and dynamics of individual bacterial populations. It has there- fore been difficult to demonstrate how viruses affect native bacterial populations in natural environments. Some phyto- plankron species are, in contrast, easily recognized by trained taxonomists and several studies have now demonstrated that

IE,ft ,$$,#$€.{:}#$$#}$*f,:i'4.6*YIODAYVOL2T/NOV00 These factors may be LEFT: selective but they are not fiig.$. Bloomsofthe marine specific because they to phytoplanktonIniliania huxleyi some degree affect all haveoften been observed tobe terminatedbyviral infection and organisms in the theconcentration ofI huxleyi community, depending on viruses(arrowheads) inthe sea the properties of the maybecome very high Viruses are organisms involved. Those host-specificandthe flagellate shown with high nutrient affinity heredoes not have to worry aboutthe surrounding [, huxleyi and high growth efficiency viruses0n the contrary itmay may, for example, perform rejoiceatless competition from better under nutrient [. huxleyi, Ihe fnilianiabloomed limitation than others. buta virus killed the winnen Preparationasfor Fig. 2. Bar, 1 pm Very small, very long COURTESYM HETDAL ANDO BRATBAK and very large cells may experience less grazing pf essuf e than av eta ge-si zed cells. The population control exerted by viruses is very different. Viruses are population-specific and by 1988-89 a morbillivirus epizootic killed > 18,000 seals attacking one single population (i.e. the host) they make around the North Seaand in 1990 hundreds of dolphins Further reading life easier for competing populations, which of course died of the same virus in the Mediterranean. Diseases Bergh, A.,B4rsheirn, K.Y., also may have their viruses. Thus, food limitation and caused by viruses like ISAV and IPNV causedsignificant Bratbak,G. &Heldal,M. predation selects for those that are able to cope with economic loss in salmon farms before efficient vaccines (1989).High abundanceof virusesfound given environmental conditions, i.e. those that are most became available. The obvious question then is what in aquaric environments. N ature fit. The rate of virus infection depends on host-cell about all the orher creatures in the sea - herring, 340, 467468. abundance and virus replication requires actively mackerel, cod, anchovies, whales, etc. ? Can food limit- growing cells. Successful populations with active and ation, predation, fishing and hunting really explain all Proctor, L.M. & Fuhrman, ( abundant cells are thus more vulnerable to viral infection the large fluctuations in population density that have J.A. I 990). Vral mortality ofmarine bacteriaand than those which are small or inactive. Food limitation been observed for these species?They all have viruses and - cyanobacteria. Nature 343, and predation selectsthe winner and the viruses kill it is tempting ro suggesr that virus infection may play 60-52. thewinner(Fig. )). some role in controlling their lives. The most frequently cited figures suggesr that 20- Suttle, C.A., Chan, A.M. & 30% of bacterial production and 2-IO% of phyto- , O ProfessorGunnar Bratbakand SeniorScienfisf Cottrell,M.T. (1990). 'the plankton primary production is channelled through Mikal Heldalwork in the Aquatic Microbial Ecology Infectionof phytoplankton by virusesand reductionof viral shunt' in the microbial food web. Cell lysis implies Group, Departmentof Microbiology,University of primary productivity. N ature that organic material is lost from the grazingfood chain, Bergen,Jahnebakken 5, N-SO2OBergen, Norway. 347,467469. where the organisms depend on particulate food, and Tel.+47 55 58 26 58; Fax+47 55 58 96 71; becomes available to bacteria thriving on dissolved em ai I g un n ar. b ratbak@i m. u i b. n o (G. B ratbak) Suttle, C.A. (2000).The ecological,evolutionary organic material and nutrients. The net effect of this is TeL+475558 4675;Fax*475558 9671; and geochemicalconsequences of increased nutrienr recycling and respiratory loss of emaiI mi kaL heH al ml ibn o (U. U eUaD @i viral inFection ofcyanobacteria organic carbon in the lower parts of the food chain. As a and eukaryotic algae.Io Viral quantitative significanr process, viral activity does have Ecology.Edited by CJ. Hurst. direct implications for the carbon budget of the ocean, AcademicPress. and hence for the global climate. Moreover, virus Van Etten,J.L. & Meints, infection in algae has been found ro cause increased R.H. ( 1999).Giant viruses production of dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) and infecting algae.Annu Rea dimethylsulphide (DMS). \7hen DMS escapesto the Microbiol53 , 447494. atmosphere it causesincreased cloud formation, which in Vommack, K.E. & Colwell, turn affects global radiation and thus global warming. If R. (2000).Virioplankron: this was not enough, DMS also causesacid rain. virusesin aquaticecosystems. S7e all have viruses and know what they do to us; we MicrobiolMol Biol Reu64, try to avoid them and have doctors ro cure us. \(/e know 69-rr4. that bacteria and algaehave their pests. There are also Zobell,C.1946. Marine a few other examples of the ecological significance of M icrob io I ogy.\Waltham, MA: viruses in the seathat have attracted public attention. In ChronicaBotanica.

&g$*#ffi#ffi${3tu"FffiHTODT\YVOL27INOV00 IE ln search of a second evolutionary experiment DonCowan & MonicaGrady

Exobiology (life on other planets, now TheUK 'astrobiology') Astrobiology generally termed is a subject of Forumdefines intense interest and speculation, particularly in astrobiologyas the public domain, with some of the most fundamental questions of science - how did life evolve, what other the'formation, forms might life take and'are we alone'? Such questions evolutionand have long stimulated scientific minds, not to mention adaptationof life rn those of science-fiction writers, the media and the film aplanetary and industry. But despite our preoccupation with the stellarcontextiDon sub ject, we still have little understanding of the answers. Cowanand Monica For example, the molecular and energetic processes Gradydescribe linking prebiotic chemicals and the first simple currentthinkingon replicating cell are subject to a number of hypotheses, extra-terrestri al Iife, but little experimental verification. Such studies are limited by two fundamental problems: we have access to only a single evolutionaryexperiment. i.e. our own, and the starting conditions were fixed 4'16 x 109 years ago, leaving little ifany physical evidenceofthe process. An ability to accessand investigate a second evolutionary experiment, as we might find on a neighbouring planet, would be a major breakthrough in our understanding of the development of molecularprocesses and structures in our own evolution. Are there, for example, thermo- dynamic imperatives in the molecular basis of living systems, and will alternative evolutionary pathways have employed similar structures and processesin evolving key systems such as energy capture, compartment- ahzationand i nformation storage?

ffi Mars,Viking and meteorites Followingthe unsuccessful attempts in thelate 1970s by the Viking missions to identify life on the Martian surface, interest in astrobiology waned, at least amongst the scientific community. However, analysesof Martian and claimed to have found evidence for a primitive 'fossilized meteorites have added impetus to the resurgence of Martian biota'. Identification of the features interest in astrobiology. A collection of 17 now exists, remains controversial, since much of the evidence is many of which have been collected from glacial surfaces circumstantial and relies on the coincidence between in Antarctica (Fig. 1). The Martian origin of these a number of otherwise unrelated characteristics of meteorites has been deduced partly from their young the meteorite (the occuffence of carbonates, organic crystallization ages (implying planetary, rather than compounds and magnetite associated with the 'observation', asteroidal origin) and also from the presence ofgas inside carbonates).The most compelling though that has the same elemental and isotopic composition not the most compelling scientific evidence, was NASAs as Mars' atmosphere (as measured by the Viking electron microscopic image of a putative microfossil landers in 1976). The observation that at least one (FiS. 2). The features, however, are smaller by about of the Martian meteorites, EETA79001, contained two orders of magnitude than most common micro- indigenous, i.e. Martian, organic material associated organisms known on Earth. Subsequent investigation with carbonate minerals sparked discussion on the has revealed that nanobacteria might be more prevalent possibility of the meteorites containing evidence for than previously anticipated and nanometre-sized organ- extraterrestrial life. isms have been isolated from terrestrial sedimentary The debate was reactivated in 1996 with the rocks. Even so, many doubts still arise as to the validity of announcement that possible evidence of past life had interpreting morpholo gical data as fossil nanobacteria, been discovered in the Martian meteorite ALH 84001 . A especially given that the environment and mode of team of scientists, led by David McKay of NASAs formation of the host of the features in ALH 84001, the Johnson SpaceCentre in Houston, describednanometre- carbonates, are riot fully understood. Current thinking is sized features within carbonate patches in ALH 84001 that the carbonates were produced at the surface of Mars

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bombardment is very FARLIFT: - different from the transfer S*9.t . Antarcticglaciers collectionpoints of biological material formeteorites COURTESYMORADY within the Solar System via cometary or asteroidal LEFT: transport. Thus far, there $*g$"tr. Putative microfossils in is no evidence for viable martianmeteorites asre\/ealed by biological material in electronmicroscopy meteorites, but the possi- COURTESYI/ ORADY bilities ofits retention in meteoritic samples cannor in a region of restricted water flow, such asan evaporating be completely discounted. The hypothesis, promoted 'panspermia', pool of brine. This hypothesis satisfactorily accounts for under the popular title of has attracted the chemic al and isotopic characteristics of the carbon- considerable public and scientific notoriety, not least ates and is also a mechanism compatible with an environ- becauseof some of the more dramatic predictions of its 'panspermic' ment in which micro-organisms might survive. consequences.If the three phasesof transfer The debate over interpretation of the features (ejection, interplanetary transport and collision) are continues, with definitive clarification probably depend- considered, the survival of living micro-organisms is ent on recovery of new Martian meteorite samples, or at least hypothetically possible. Ejecta from major the acquisition of appropriate material directly from asteroid impacts are exposed to temperatures of a a planetary source. Fortunately, there is an active few thousand degrees for periods ofonly seconds before programme of meteorite collection in Antarctic and being exposed to the near-absolute-zero temperatufes other deserts, although a very small proportion of of space. The low thermal conductivity of most rock meteorites collected arc of Martian origin. NASA types would effectively protect all but the outer layer 'sample return' missions to Mars and elsewhere are of the ejected body from significant heating. Survival scheduled for 2008 and beyond. So, with this material of biological mateilal during interplanetary (or inter- available, what technologies could be best applied in stellar) transport is an issue of molecular (in)stability, the search for evidence of life? The answers differ, particularly with respect to the deleterious effects of depending on whether the target is evidence of fossil chemical degradation and intrinsic and cosmic radiation or extant life. Numerous chemical signatures are damage. Biological material is also exposed to extremely accepted as fossil biomarkers, including polyaromatic low temperatures and total desiccation, over very long hydrocarbons, hopanes, terpenoids, etc. Here we focus periods. \7hile molecular stability over such extended on methods applicable to the detection of extant life or periods might seem unlikely, recent reports of viable life processes,such as might be applied to new meteorite bacterial spores being recovered from ancient salt samples or incorporated in a planetary lander puckugl. deposits and I.25 million-year-old Antarctic ice cores One maior caveat must be borne in mind when con- suggest a lower (but not an upper) limit of microbial sidering measurement of organic materials on planetary survival. surfaces:to date, no organics have yet been detected, let Finally, before a mereorire arrives at the Earth's alone have isotopic, chiral or molecular systematics been surface, it must undergo the energetic processesof entry determined. through the atmospheric layers and impact. Entry heating, caused by friction, melts the outermost layer of ffiPanspermaa? the meteoroid; the molten rock is carried away, back Severalgroups of meteorites contain abundant carbon, along the entry trajectory. Continued passage through up to several weight percent in the types classified as the atmosphere melts successiveouter surfaces,but the carbonaceous chondrites, in which it mainly occurs rapid removal of melt from the meteoroid prevents rhe asorganic material. There is currently no general belief inner regions from becoming hot. Eventually, friction that this organic matter is biogenic in origin - it is deceleratesthe meteoroid such that its speed is no longer understood to be built up from simple carbon-bearing sufficient to causemelting and the surface cools. Thus molecules, first in the interstellar medium, subsequently meteorites are cool when they land and any organic through processing on asteroidal parents. Comets are material in the interior will be intact and unaltered by also rich in organic molecules and bombardment by entry heating. Although there is no evidence of biogenic comets and asteroids is a favoured possible mechanism material in meteorites, recognition of meteorites from by which the Earth was seeded with the starting the Moon and Mars has re-opened the possibility of materials necessaryfor life to arise. The addition to the interplanetary cross-contamination by material ejected Earth of a late-stage veneer of organic material by from planetary surfacesby impact.

ss$#ffi.#ffi$#L"#ffiw IoDAy voL27lNOV00ltr RIGHT: # What is'life'? of universality, although 'life', I .i TheDry Valleys of Any analytical method designed to identify there are good theoretical Antarctica 'soil' whether applied to meteorites or Martian samples, grounds for suggesting COURIESYDCOWAN must take account of the possible differences in the that biological systems molecular answers to fundamental questions in an will tend to employ one, alternative evolution. For example, the selection of ATP but not both, chiral as a biomarker, appropriate on Earth because of the forms of rhe monomeric central function of this molecule as an energy carrier, precursors of important ignores the possibility that analternative nucleotide, a polymers. For example, a different phosphate derivative, or a different molecular catalytic system capable of structure altogether may act as a core energy transducer using both chiral forms 'life'should in an alternative evolution. Exactly how be of a molecule must either defined has been a matter of scientific and philosophical possesslow specificityor must be duplicated for each 'an debate over a period of centuries. Definitions such as form, both alternativesbeing of low global thermo- energy-consumi ng, self-replicati ng system' suffer from dynamicefficiency. the Iimitation that they can be successfully applied to obviously non-biological entities, such asfire! *$Biomarkers One of the apparently fundamental properties of The selection of any molecular biomarker incorporates biological systems on Earth is symmetry. At least at the the assumptions discussed above. However, this apart, a level of higher organisms, symmetry tnat least one plane huge range of biomarker options exist. Table 1 shows 'appropriate' seemsto be an evolutionary theme. \fhile lessobvious at some of the targets and assaysystems. Each the microbial level, structural symmetry is still evident, has strengths and weaknesses,depending on the site of as seen in bacterial coccoid, bacilloid and spirilloid assay.For example, for remote planetary investigations cellular morphologies. The impact of the ALH 84001 (i.e. unmanned landers) miniaturization, sample 'microfossil'on the public and scientific consciousness handling and power requirements are major constraints may have been due largely to our instinctive association for the development of spectroscopic technologies. of life with symmetry. However, any assay system Similar constraints apply to assays requiring liquid 'life' designed to detect symmetry in the context of must handling (such as enzyme or polynucleotide assays). be capable of excluding those non-biological forms, However, leading-edge developments in many such ascrystals, which exhibit a symmetrical form. technological areas(such as polymer imprint detection Conversely, molecular asymmetry has been proposed systems) may dramatically change the feasibility of such asa useful biomarker. The selective use of chiral building analyses. Many of these limitations are automatically 'sample blocks (i.e. D-sugars and L-amino acids) in biological removed in the event of return'and ultra-high systems potentially proyides a mechanism for either stringency handling facilities designed to avoid bi- remote or in situ identification of a putative biology. directional contamination are in the planning stages As always, such analyses incorporate an assumption both in the US and in Europe. liable 1. Biomarkeru, tatgets and assay systems Biomarker Target Assaysystem Aduantages [imitations I Metabolicactivity C02release from glucose Radiolabelling Facileexperiment veryhigh setrsitirlity Non-biologicalcatalysis Heterotrophicmetabolism C02fixation Radiolabelling Sugge$s autotrophic metabolism Non-biologicalprocesses lCatalyticactivity Enzymefunction Various Multi-enzymearrayassays are feasible Highspecificity ofmany enzyntss I Biochemicalintermediate AlP Bioluminescence Universality? Liquidhandling reqtlired I Biologicalpolymers Nucleicacids Spectroscopic Highsensitivity Highbackground Catalytic(e,9.PCR) Apositive resultwould beunequivocal Liquidhandling, extremely specific, veryst]bject tocontamination Lipid Spectroscopic Diagno$icsignals forsome lipid [asilyapplicable onlyt0 aromatic derivatives(e,9,using Raman spectroscopy) molecules

Spectroscopic Diagnosticsignals atmany warlelengths

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will eventually be applied Further reading to the discovery of life on Chyba,C.F. &McDonald, planets. other G.D. (1995).The origin oflife There is a resurgence of in the SolarSystem: current interest in the many facets tssues.Ann ReaEartb P lanet of astrobiology in the UK. Sci23,215-249. The recently established Horneck,G. &Bdcker,H. UK Astrobiology Network ( 1986).Can microorganrsms (http ://ast. star. rl. ac.uk/astro withstand the multistep trial biologyipanel/) has a remit of interplanetarytransfer? ro promote collaborarive Considerationsand astrobiology researchin the experimentalapproaches. 6l'lsotope techniques UK and has been assuredby the UK ResearchCouncils OriginsLife EaolB iosph16, r35-r36. Possibly one of the most diagnostic of techniques for that research grant applications in this field will receive the identification of biological processesis the detection a fair hearing. There are now active centres of astro- Hoyle,F. & of isotopic fractionation between components within a biological research in the Universities of Bradford, Wickramasinghe, C. (1999). Astronomicalorigins of life- system. Abiotic systems,where fractionations are based Portsmouth, Kent, the Open University, University stepstoward panspermia. on well understood chemical and physical reactions,tend College London, the British Antarctic Survey and the AstropbysSpace Sci 268, towards equilibrium. In contrast, biological systems Natural History Museum. VII-VIII. tend to be out of equilibrium. The carbon cycle on Earth (1993). encompassescomponents within the atmosphere (CO2, O Don Cowan is the co-founder and Chairman of McKay,C.P. Relevanceof antarctic CO), biosphere (organic compounds), hydrosphere the UKAstrobiologyFonrm, convener of the UCL ecosystemsto exobiology. (carbonate and bicarbonate anions) and lithosphere lnstituteof Astrobiologyand a Readerin Molecular In Antarctic M icrobio/ogy, (carbonate and calcium-silicate rocks). Measurement of Microbiology in the Departmentof Biochemistry pp.193-6OL Editedby carbon from different and MolecularBiology, University College London, the isotopic composition of I. Friedmann.NewYork: components has enabled modelling of the extent of Gower Street,London WC1 E 68T \7iley-Liss. biomass turnover through sediment recycling during Tel. 02 O7 67 9 2 24 6; em ai l : do n.cowan @u cL ac. u k; - McKay, D.S.,Gibson, E.K., tectonic processes.Measurement of the end-member h ttp :/ / www.b i o ch e m. u c l. ac. u k/ - cowan / C owa n Jr, Thomas-Keprta, K.L., analogous materials on Mars is intended ho m e pag e. htm I http: / / www.astrob i ol og y. u cL ac. u H compositions of ; Vali, H., Romanek, C.S., to enable the construction of an equivalent carbon O MonicaGradyis Head of the Petrologyand Clemett, SJ., Chillier, cycle; detection of biological signatures within such a Meteo riti cs Divi s i o n in the D epartm e nt of Mi n e ral ogy X.D.F., Maechling, C.M. & framework is then entirely possible. at the NaturalHistory M useum,Cromwell Road, Zare, R.N. (1996). Searchfor LondonSW7 SBD and HonoraryReader in pastlife on Mars:possible relic # Astrobiologytoday PlanetarySciences at UniversityCollege, London. biogenicactivity in martran In anticipation of the arrival of samples from the Tel.O2O 7942 5709; [email protected] meteoriteALH 84OOI.S cience 273,924-930. Martian or Europan sub-surface, what are the world's astrobiologistsdoing at present?Contrary to the opinion Schopf,J.V. (ed.)(1983). that'astrobiology is the onesuhject wbere scientists haae nothing Eartb'sEarliest Biosphere: its Ori gin and EuoI ution. P rinceton'. to uork 0n', there afe numerous avenues for research and Princeton Press. technological development. These include (to name but University a few) the modelling of Earth's early molecular rWachtershauser,G. ( 1990). evolutionary pathway, the development of new spectro- The evolutionof the first scopic technologies for identification of biological metabolic cy cles.P roc N atl molecules and the study of organisms inhabiting the AcadSci U SA 87,200-204. most extreme biotopes on this planet as a means of Wright, I.P., Grady, M.M. understanding the range of environments which might & Pillinger, C.T. (1989). be targeted on other planets. STith respect to the latter, Organicmaterials in a the world's deep-seahydrothermal vents have yielded martian met eonte.N ature hyperthermophilic chemoautotrophs which may best 340,220-222. reflect the earliest forms of life on this planet. Similarly, the deep subterranean biosphere and the cold deserts and ice-covered lakes of Antarctica (Fig. J) arc the best available analogues of possible microbiological habitats on Mars and Europa. Such sites are vital in the develop- ment and testing of chemistries and technologies which

f#$#ffidsffi 4#*-#q;'f IoDAY VOL27INOV00m Mobilegenes Nicholas West & Christoph Tang

Mobilegenes and Around 7 0 yearsago the first observations were within bacterial populations. The best known is the transposonsare made regarding the existence ofgenes that gave emergence of antimicrobial resistance.The advent of that are oblivious to most foundwidely in rise to an increase in spontaneous mutation multiresistant bacteria frequenciesat other loci. These genes were originally availableantimicrobial interventions hasbecome a major nature,This article 'mutation described as genes'. In the late 1940s, public health problem. Many of the genes responsible looksat prokaryotic BarbaraMcClintock, through her now famous genetic for resistance are carried on transposable elements, 'controlling transposonsand experiments with corn, coined the phrase which have facilitated the transfer of resistance from theirpotential elements' to describe segments of DNA that could not commensals to pathogens. For example, vancomycin- exploitationby only alter gene activity but were also mobile in the resistant Enterococcusfaeciuru, which is now prevalent in microbiologists, genome. These'controlling elements'are now known as hospitals throughout developed countries, acquired 'transpose' transposableelements due to their ability to resistanceto this antibiotic onTn1546. Transposonsare from one site to another. It is now recognized that in fact the predominant source of antibiotic resistance, transposableelements are prevalent throughout nature, being transferred across bacterial species and even being common in bacteria,plants and animals, including genefa. mammals. Transposons are particularly interesting Other examples of horizontal transfer between forms of transposable elements due to their widespread different speciesor genera further demonstrate how this distribution in nature and the extensive applications for type of gene'sharing'can develop bacterial populations. which they have been adapted within the laboratory. For instance, the acquisition of certain genes, such There are two general types ofprokaryotic transposon, as resistance to environmental metal ions, would composite and non-composite. Briefly, composite subsequently equip the organism to exploit a new transposons,such asTnl0, consistof a central element, and previously unattainable environmental niche. which includes severalgenes that may confer resistance Furthermore, due to the introduction of organic to antibiotics. This DNA fragment is mobilized through hydrocarbons into the environment, bacteria have the activity of a transposaseencoded within the insertion developed mechanisms for the catabolism of many of sequencesflanking the element. Insertion sequences these pollutants. The genes responsible for catabolism have short inverted repeats at either end that act as the have been largely found on transposons. Elements recognition site for the transposase,leading to the have been identified with the capabilities to degrade excision of the complete unit. Non-composite trans- chlorobenzoate,chlorobenzene, toluene, benzene, nylon posons, such as TnJ, do not have insertion sequencesat oligomers and naphthalene, thus illustrating how their extremities but simply have the inverted repeats naturally developed transposons may play a role in the necessary for recognition by the transposase. All the bioremediation of environments that have become activities required for transposition, including the polluted. transposaseand resolvase,are encoded by sequencesin Transposons have not only been responsible for the the central region. spread of characteristics directly related to survival, This article covers the role of transposonsin adaptive but they have also been implicated in the evolution of evolution and the practical applications oftransposons, disease-causingbacteria. A feature of enteric pathogens, including some recent developments which illustrate including Eschericbiacoli and Salmonella spp., is the the flexibility and versatility of this type of transposable presenceof large genetic elements (often in excessof element. 10 kb) that are vital for their ability to inflict damage 'pathogenicity on their hosts. These so-called islands' :1ij"Transposons in nature are often bounded by insertion sequeflces, indicating \Whole bacterial genome sequencing projects have that they were originally acquired by a transposition emphasized the widespread distribution of transposons event. The implication is that transposons have caused in microbes. Even archaeaand thermophilic bacteria, quantum leaps in the evolution of virulence among such as Therntotoganaritinn, contain multiple copies of bacterial species. sequences related to transposable elements. In the Furthermore within a population of cells derived human pathogen Neisseriameningitidis over )0 potential from a single bacterium, transposition events mediate transposableelements belonging to two major families, genotypic variation through intragenomic recomb- IS107 6 and ISJ0, have been identified in the genome ination, resulting in the appearanceof new phenotypic sequence. Furthermore, approximately 40 % of the traits on which selection can operate. For instance, it human genome is composed of retrotransposons, has been shown that expression of capsular poly- elements that utilize an RNA intermediate during saccharide,a structure required during pathogenesis by mobilization. However, the contribution of transposons N, meningitidis, can be switched off by the insertion to adaptive evolution remains uncertain. of an IS1016 element upstream of genes encoding For intergenomic events, there are specific examples biosynthetic steps. A further example of the importance ofthe role oftransposons in the spreadofbeneficial traits of intragenomic events is phase variation of fimbrial expression in Salrnonella typhimu ri um. The bacteri um expfesses one of two fl.agellar types, type 1 or type 2. The genetic basis of switching between these types involves the reversible inversion of the Hin element (H antigen inversion) upstream of genes encoding type 2 fl,ageLIaeand a repressor of type I flagellar biogenesis. In one orientation, the promoter element within Hin prevent these problems, mini-transposons have been ABOVE: activates transcription oftype 2 biosynthetic genes. In developed. These lack the resolvase gene, which is Stg"t. InSIM an insertional mutagen(transposon) ismodified the opposite orientation, the type 2 genes and the required for the recombinational events of transposition, byincorporatiorr of DNA signature repressor are not expressed, allowing the synthesis of improving their stability. This also allows a significant tagsA collection ofdifferent type I genes. reduction in size, making them much more user- insertionalmLltants ofa bacterial Although there are other specific examples of friendly. Transposons have now been developed for path0geneach carrying adifferent transposition events causing phenotypic variation, the generating both reporter fusions, to monitor levels of tagis assembled ina microtitre dishThe mutants arepooled and transposon and insertion expression genes, and to identify gene products overall contribution of of which usedas the inoculum foran sequencesto microbial evolution is uncertain. There are are translocated to the cell surface. Transposons have appropriateanimal model of 'selection two opposing views. The hypothesis' holds also been used to generate large-scale genetic maps by infectionFollowing infection, that genetic flexibility and variability confer long-term introducing recognition sites for infrequently cutting bacteriaarerecovered fromthe hostand the unique DNA tags are fitness benefits to microbes, and this is the reason for the restriction enzymes. However, this approach is rapidly amplifiedalongside those present prevalence of transposons. There is some direct, albeit becoming obsolete given the use of shotgun cloning for inthe initial inoculum using limited, experimental evidence supporting this theory whole genome sequencingprojecrs. primersthat anneal toinvariant from studies of the growth of E. coli in chemostat seqljencesflanking thetags The product cultures. Strains containing the transposon Tn10 have a @Recent developments in transposons ofthe PCR is then utilized to probenylon membranes carrying advantage over isogenic strains without A major drawback of using mutant libraries that competitive was DNAfrom the mutants inthe Tnl0;this fitness gain is lost when Tnl0 is deleted from each mutant had to be screened individually. Therefore, inoculumAnavirulent mLltant is the bacterium. Some argue that evolution is blind to the researcherswere limited to analysing large libraries of identifiedbythe iailure toyield a future and that long-term views on benefits are far more mutants in simple assays. Signature-tagged muta- signalonthemembrane hybridized t,viththe tags recovered fromthe important in the minds ofevolutionary biologists than in genesis(STM) was devised to overcome this (Fig. 1). In animal nature itself. They suggest that transposons exist purely STM, each mutant is marked with a unique 40 bp as selfish genetic elements rather than as symbionts in DNA sequence identifier, so that it can be readily the bacterial cell. The truth probably lies somewhere distinguished. Mutants can therefore be analysed in between these divergent views; many transposons may pools containing many individual mutants, allowing well act solely as passengers in bacteda while others high-throughput screening of libraries in complex enhance the survival of the cells in which they exist. assays. STM has been mainly used to study the pathogenetic mechanisms of Gram-negative and Gram- ffiTransposonsin the laboratory positive bacteria, and fungi in animal models of disease. Researchers have long used the natural properties of The results have provided unexpected insights into the transposons and adapted them as incredibly versatile genetic basis of disease and the environments that tools for the genetic analysis of bacteria. Principally, bacteria encounter during pathogenesis. For instance transposons have been used as insertional mutagens, work on S. typhimurium led to the discovery of a which may include the construction of libraries of previously unidentified genetic region containing strains, each carrying a single transposon at a different clusters ofgenes required for pathogenesis. STM and location. The libraries can then be analysed for mutants similar methods do not have to be restricted to use in with the desired phenotype and the affected gene(s) can studies on pathogenesis; they can also be adapted to be easily identified for further study by the presenceof high-throughput analysis of gene function within the the transposon. laboratory. Natural transposons have several limitations when Conventional transposons are usually delivered used in the laboratory. First, they are usually large into the organism of interest where they excise from a elements that are difficult to manipulate, and second, donor plasmid into the chromosome. For a number of they tend to be unstable and move to other'locations. To microbes, this approach is not effective. Recendy, in

ffi ##ffi€}ffig#R-#ffiHrODAy VOL27INOV00m Further rcading uitro mttagenesis has been successfully employed to previously intractable bacteria.In this method genomic Akerley,BJ. &others DNAfrom thehost bacterium is modified by combining (1998).Systematic it uitro with a transposon along with its purified identification of essential in to the genesby in uitro mariner cognate transposase.The DNA is then returned mutagenesis.Proc N atI Acad host by transformation. The main constraint on this SciUS A95,8927-8932. approach is that to be successful, the host bacterium must be transformable. A number of systems for in uifuo Chao,L.&McBroom, S.M. Tnl0 and (1985).Evolution of mutagenesis are available, including Tn7, transposableelements: an mariner, and these have been applied to a variety of ISI 0 insertionincreases fitness micro-organisms, i ncluding H aerrtopb i I us infl uenzae, N. inEscherichiacoli. Mol Biol Eaol meningitidis and C ampy lobacterjej uni. 2,359-369. ln uitro mutagenesis has been adapted to identify Shea,J.E.& others (1996). essential genes. Proof-in-principle for this method was Identification of a virulence demonstrated in work on H, influenzae.Large fragments Iocusencoding asecond rype ofgenomic DNA were amplified by PCR, then subjected III secretionsystem in to in uifuomutagenesis. The modified products were then 'Essential'genes Salmonel la typbimuriunt. returned to the host by transformation. ProcNatl AcadS ci U S A 93, were identified by comparing the profile of insertions in ?5c)1-25q7 the PCR products with insertions in the bacterium. This Thn, H.M. (I99r - Bacterial allows a systematic analysis of essential genes in catabolictransposons. APPI transformabie bacteriai pathogens which may be useful MicrobiolB iotechnol5 l, l-I2. for drug development, and if surface-located, for vaccine Vinzeler,E.A. &others development. 099r.Functional character izati on of the ffiFuturedirections S, caeuisiae genomeby gene One of the major challenges facing microbiologists is andparallel analysis. deletion how to exploit the wealth of information from whole Science285,90I-905. genome sequencing. A striking feature is the large proportion of genes of unknown function. Some of these genes are conserved across genera, suggesting that they have important functions which have so far eluded researchers.There is now an urgent need for systematic analysis of gene function and central to this is the construction of ordered libraries of mutants which contain strains with deietions in each and every gene. So far, transposons have been used for making libraries of random mutants, but now they must be adapted to constructing ordered libraries that will allow large-scale and truly comprehensive analysesofgene function.

O Dr NicholasWestis a postdoctoralresearch fellow(TeL Ol 865 221 O73;Fax 01 865 220479; em ai I ni ch o I as.west@paed iatri cs. oxf o rd. ac.u k) and Dr Christoph Tangis an M RC Clinician ScienfisfffeL01 865 221 072; FaxO1 865 2 2 0 479 ; em ai I chr i stop h.tan g @p aed i at r i cs.oxf o rd. ac.uk)in the Departmentof Paediatrics,University of Oxford,John RadcliffeHospita[ Oxford OXs gDU.

IEi Nanobacteria:gold mine or minefield of intellectualenquiry? AllanHamilton

Nanobacteriaare Amongst microbiologists and molecular from marine bacteria in response to stress, notably vervsmallcellular biologists there is a general consensus that the starvation. On nutrient supplementation, normal cell formswhich seem minimal size for indeoendent viable life forms size and growth are re-established.More recently Jan to beclosely linked is likely to be a coccus of approximately 0'2 pm diameter Gottschal has proposed that ultramicrobacteria are 0'06 pmJ. Perhaps not entirely naturally occurring organisms, again primarily found in withthe formation with a volume of coincidentally, this equatesclosely with the limits of the the marine environment, which have a marked survival of geologicalstrata, optical microscope and with the pore size of so-called capacity, grow extremely slowly and retain their small Dothey really exist? sterilization filters, although it is also supported by size. \With the exception of their larger dimension, this lfso, their impact on various theoretical calculations of the minimal space description of ultramicrobacteria fits closely with what ourunderstanding required to accommodate the essential components of is envisaged for nanobacteria. At this stage of our of livingsystems is cellular life, aswe currently understand them. understanding, therefore, it might be best to consider potentiallyhuge. Nonetheless, from time to time there have appeared the terms assynonymous. feports of various mini-forms such as granules, inclusion The undoubted champion of nanobacteria (except that bodies, minicells and ultramicrobacteria. \With the he prefers the spelling nannobacteria) is Robert Folk, a probable exception of ultramicrobacteria, these various distinguished sedimentary geologist from Austin, Texas. mini-forms have not been extensively characterized, Using techniques of acid etching and gentle gold although they generally appear to be associated with shadowing, Folk has demonstrated the presenceof tiny conditions of stressand/or infection of higher organisms. spherical structures (in the size range 0'05-0'2 prm) in The recent emefgence of so-called nanobacteria, however, an extensiye array of geological materials. He has has dramatically re-opened the debate as to the minimal hypothesized that these are microfossils of previously size for viable life forms and brought an urgency to active nanobacteria and that their activities were central research activity in subject areasas apparently diverse as to the actual formation of the geological strata in infectious diseasesof humans, microbiology of the deep question. Folk has further claimed that evidence for subsurface and the origins of life. extant nanobacteria is to be found in such diverse This is a field as yet more associated with unanswered environmental samples as tap water and decaying leaves. questions than with firm data and definite conclusions, These data have been published largely in journals and but it is not a field lacking in strong characters and conferenceproceedings within the geological literature, audacious claims. If even some of the latter can be and Folk has not yet found a particularly receptive substantiated then we are indeed sitting on a gold mine audiencewithin the microbiological community. of intellectual enquiry, albeit one currently guarded Potentially a major advance in this last regard came by something of a minefield of circumstantial and with a publication in ProcNatl Acad Sciin 7998 by the uncorroborated findings. Finnish group of Kajander & Ciftcioglu. The authors To progress further, we must find the answers to demonstrated nanobacterial forms in human and cow questions that can be set at three different levels of blood, and in commercial cell culture media. They were enquiry, of increasing cJ-plexity and of widening able to grow these nanobacteria in normal culture media relevance. and to show that the cells laid down deposits of biogenic \7hat are the characteristics used to define nano- apatite on their cell envelope. Kajander & Ciftcioglu bacteria? proposed on the basis ofthese data that nanobacteria are \7hat do we know and what remains to be determined common organisms within the animal body and may be to establish their biological nature? ultimately responsible for conditions such as tissue \fhat roles, if any, do they play in human disease, calcification and kidney stones. Further, they extracted biomineralization and geological evolution, and the 165 rRNA from their nanobacteria, and from gene origins of life on this and otherplanets? sequenceanalysis deduced that they belonged within the o-2 subclass of the Proteobacteria.Unfortunately, it Characteristics a nd habitats appears that the Finnish group had experienced a period The major property used in characterizing the various in the scientific wilderness prior to their paper and that mini-forms, i.e. size, is notoriously difficult to establish even since that publication their work has met with with any accuracy and free of artefactual distortion with considerablescepticism in general and, as reported in objects in the 1 pm and lessrange. It is always possible, Ilature last year, downright antagonism from within the therefore, that either a single name can be used to Finnjsh academic community. identify two or more phenomena, or that the same basic Taking the more charitable view that such criticism structure can be given two names depending on the and rejection as have been experienced by Folk and the conditions of its discovery. Something of the latter may Finnish group owe more to the challenging novelty of be the case with the terms ultramicrobacteria and their findings than to any inherent fault in their scientific nanobacteria. Ultramicrobacteria have been described as enquiry, we can say that, as a working hypothesis, resting cellular life forms, of 0'3 pm diameter, derived nanobacteria are defined as extremelv small cellular lEFi*g*;lfi+{::}A:}${:t*""i,i;:r##IODAYVOL2T/NOV00 forms, widespread in nature and closely associatedwith the formation of inorganic precipitates and geological stfata. Moving to the next stage of our analysis, at least three criteria can be used to establish whether nanobacteriaare true life forms. Do they demonstrate increase in biomass during incubation in nutrient media? Can evidence be obtained of the presenceof nucleic acids?Can cellular structure be demonstrated? Although Folk's geological studies cannot shed any light directly on thesequestions, :d; the Finnish group has claimed positive answers in each case. Is there any corroboration from other research groups on this key issue? Another geologist, Philippa IJwins, working at the University of Queensland, Australia, has found filamentous forms associated with various rock samples. These resemble actinomycetes or fungi rather than bacteria, but their very small dimension (0.020- 0.128 pm diameter ) has causedthem to be identified as nanobes. Uwins and her colleagues have been able to demonstrate growth of these nanobes, membrane and wall structures and the likely presence of DNA. These studies have elicited the, by now normal, expressionsof scepticism, with the main criticism focussing on the diversity of size and shape which is taken to suggest that the nanobes may be simply fngmentation products of a larger cellular life form. r#Na nobacteria i n the deep subsu rface My own involvement with and interest in nanobacteria stems directly from the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) picture opposite. This was obtained by -y colleagues Carol Devine and Iain Spark as part of a combined microbiological and geological study of reservoir souring and formation damage in tne 6ff- shore oil industry. It shows fresh sandstone core material taken from a subsea depth of 13,000 feet, after 7 days oC. incubation in nutrient medium at 90 Individual structures are less than 0.1 pm in diameter and they 'preliminary' show a striking circular aggregation pattern. These as or'indicative', this author would wager ABOVE: jrcular nanobacteria are not evident on cofe material priot to that while nanobacteria may be very small, their impact C aggregationsof<0 1 pm strtlctllres0nfresh sandst0ne incubation, nor are they found in the liquid medium at on our future understanding of living systems has the c0re materialasdescribed inthe text the end ofthe incubation period; their presenceappears potential to be very large indeed. Bar3 pm to require both nutrient medium and a geological The work of the Finnish group places nanobacterial COURTESYCAROL DEVINE AND surface. Similar patterns were found after incubation at forms as central to a wide range of medical conditions, IAINSPARK oC, both 60 and 30 but only after 28 days and 6 months, and notably those associated with the formation of respectively. At each temperature, -increasingthe time of inorganic precipitates. Fortuitously or otherwise, the incubation gave rise to increasing biomass, asevident in other groups whose work I have very briefly summarized SEM analyses. These nanobacterial forms, uniquely have seen nanobacteria as agents at least associatedwith, associated with core mateilal from the deep subsurface, and possibly even responsible for, many of the geological therefore show the standard temperatufe and time formations previously assumed to be wholly sterile and dependenciescharacteristic of cellular biological forms to have evolved quite independently of any biological added to nutrient media. processes.The comparatively fecent demonstration that \7hile it must be freely admitted that all the evidence the deep sr-rbsurfaceis, in fact, an extensive and wholly so far avallable concerning the existence and nature of active biosphere in its own right, has clearly shown the nanobacteria can best be described by such euphemisms error of that assumption. There is even an increasingly

#,r;1"roDAY voL27lNOV00 m widespread belief that the surface-associated high- Micro-organisms,which are exceptionallydiverse, are everywhereand affect humansociety in temperature characteristics of the deep subsurface foundalmost countlessways. Thus, modern microbiology has a great constitute the ideal environment for those initial impacton medicine,agriculture, food science, ecology, processesleading to the origins of life itself. All of which genetics,biochemistry and many other fields. The micro- takes us neatly to NASA, meteorite ALH84001 and life bial world holds the potentialto revolutionizemany on Marsl aspectsof humanlife and culture collections are a key resourcethat is requiredto underpinthese developments' # Lileon Mars? It is easyfor thosenot activelyinvolved in microbiologyto In 1996Science published a papersuggesting that a overlookthe importanceof culturecollections, but without 'biological Martian meteorite, identified as ALH 84001, carried standards'it wouldbe impossibleto perform authenticatespecimens, guarantee evidence of previous life on that planet. This striking comparativescience, productivityin processesusing micro-organisms,/cell claim rested on a number of features which together were linesor lodgepatents involving micro-organisms. Inthe with life on Mars: carbonate taken as being compatible UK thereis a hugediversity of collections,both large and globules, and magnetite and iron sulphide particles small,often associatedwith an individualscientist or whose chemistries were suggestive of biological pro- researchgroup. Such collections include those in the cessesof formation; the presenceof polycyclic aromatic PHLS,the universitysector, industry and the constituent Collection hydrocarbons; and SEM and transmission electron collectionsof the UK NationalCulture (UKNCC).The United Kingdom Federation for Culture microscope (TEM) images very closely resembling Folk's Collections(UKFCC) aims to serveall thosewho are fossils. Perhaps not surprisingly, terrestrial nanobacterial involvedwith or useculture collections, this publication arousedconsiderable interest, including The UKFCCwas establishedon 1OthApril 1975 at a Presidential press conference. Now, however, it has lmperialCollege London. Membership of the Federation in most scientific circles to debunk become fashionable is opento allthose involved with CultureCollections/ the original claims as being Sreatly exaggerated and GeneticResource Centres (GRCs) and the usersof largely unsustainable. In such an emotive area, where cultures.Today, its membership includes users of genetic 'yes' there is a gte^thuman desireto find a definite or'no' resourcesfrom both the academicand commercial to a question where all the dataavallable to us must by its sectors,as well as representatrvesof the constituent of the UKNCC.Members receive a twice- nature be indirect and circumstantial, it is important to collections yearlynewsletter, have reduced course fees on UKFCC resist the temptation to take apolailzedposition. As one trainingcourses and are affiliate members of the World of the authors of the original paper has subsequently Federationof CultureCollections (WFCC). stated, 'lt In its25th year the UKFCChas initiated a competition t0 stresstbat we baaenot prorf tf Ltft is important fctand (firstprize S250) to designa new logofor the Federation' that are on another p/anet; ratber, we obseruedfeatures Forfurther details contact the Secretaryof the UKFCC: nearly identical to tbose we migbt expecthad /ife once DrJohn G. Day, CEH Windermere, Far Sawrey, Ambleside, existedon Mars. This may bpafine distinction, bat it is an Cumbria,LA22 OLP (Te|.015394 42468; Fax 015394 important one'. 4691 4;email [email protected] k). The full nanobacterial story remains to be told, but its resolution and the light it may shed on other great scientific mysteries holds promise of being hugely exciting.

O ProlessorW.Allan Hamilton,SGM Treasurer (t ggZ-1 998) and formerChairman of the UK NationalCommittee for Microbiology,can be contactedat Departmentof Molecular&Cell B io t og y, In stitute of Me d i cal Sciences,U n i vers ity of Aberdeen,Foresterhill, Aberdeen AB25 2ZD' TeL01224273143; em ai I w.a. h am i lto n @abdn.ac. u k

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TheSG M's first photog raph ic com petition urrc ir rdnad ql iha Society'smeeting at the Universityof Exeterin September,There were 1I entriesand the judgingpanel, made up of newPresident Sir David Hopwood,General SecretaryAlanVivian, EducationOfficer Liz Snnkoit Fvor-rrtivo vvv| \v lLt SecretaryRon Fraser andPublic Affairs .s''!+* AdministratorTracey ,ri Duncombe,had a difficult jobdeciding on the bestshot. Eventually a consensuswas reached andthe winners were announcedby outgoing PresidentHoward Dalton attheSociety Dinner.

Firstprize of S250 wentto Karen Jolly,a ;csecondyear PhD student at Leeds University, for her photograph of Strepto myce s coeI i color produ ci n g theanti biotic u ndecyl prod ig iosi n (top),Ru n ner-u p, withhis two pictures of the actinomycete Micromonosporaechinospora(above left and right ) wasPaul Hoskisson of LiverooolJohnMoores University. Anothercompetitionwillbe held nextyear- start flW o' snappingnow!

*:ffi$i,,l;;;*€$*r{*{$F,',#{#l-'*{TODAYVOL2T/NOVOOffi Bacterialdiversity and 'unculturablest JohnFry

Manypreviously Cataloguingand preservingthe world's bio- this until we can culture the dominant bacteria in all the unknowngroups diversity is now a priority for many govern- major habitats on the globe. As currently only a small of bacteriahave ments and non-govefnmentalorganizations minority are in culture and new bacterial species are beenidentified by with major interests in the environment. This is being described quicker than ever before, there is a lot of gene relatively straightforward for groups of organisms that work to be done. 165 rRNA are relatively large, obvious and well studied such as sequencing,John mammals, birds and plants. However, for smaller, less WThemolecularera Fryspeculates how obvious organisms whose diversity is relatively poorly Traditionally, in the 1980s and before, the diversity of unculturablemany studied, categodzins and preserving biodiversity is bacteria was assessedby identification with phenotypic ofthese microbes exceedingly difficult. Microbes present particular tests and numerical taxonomy from collections of reallyare, difficulties, as individuals cannot be observed with the isolates obtained from plating on nutrient media and naked eye. Furthermore, bacteria cannot be identified liquid enrichments. However, plate counts of bacteria morphologically and so less direct methods must be from natural habitats, such assoil, freshwater andthe sea, BELOW used. are much lower than direct total counts and it is accepted $$9"{ " Phylogenetictreeof therecognized divisions inthe Despite these difficulties bacteria are vitally that < I% of these bacteria are culturable. For this donainBacteria The wedges show important organisms for mankind. They are ubiquitous reason studying the true diversity ofbacteria in nature division-levelgroupings with>1 and it has been recently calculated that the earth's was impossible. sBquenceshollow wedges have is almost as greatas that ofplants. They This problem was ]n 1990 nocultured representatives, solid bacterial biomass overcome when Stephen wedgeshave sequences from play a vital role in cycling all biologically important Giovannoni and David S7ard's research groups first culturedanduncultured bacteria elements and are the major agents of infectious disease. investigated bacterial diversity in the SargassoSea and andwedge width indicates the Lastly, they are posed to increase in importance to in hot springs using molecular approaches based on rangeof seqrlence diversity within industry as the predicted biotechnological revolution sequence analysis of the highly conserved 165 rRNA adivision. Thediagram illustrates theoosition asit was known in develops. For all these reasonsit is vital to understand gene. This was achieved in the SargassoSea study by 1998. the full extent ofbacterial diversity on our planet and extracting community DNA, PCR amplification of 165 AFTERHUGENHOLIZ fTl1 (1998) the roles of the most abundant species. N7e cannot do rRNA genes, sequencing and identification of the source of these genes by phylogenetic analysis. This approach allows bacteria to be identified without culturing them and so for the first time allowed microbiologists to study the997o of bacteriathat cannot grow on enumeration plates. Culture-independent studies of this kind are now common and many bacteria have been found that arc only known from their 165 rRNA gene sequencesand that do not match known cultured bacteria. In the 10 years since 1990 many new bacteria have been identified solely from their 165 rRNA gene sequencesand many of these are known to be numerically dominant in nature. Taking the marine habitat as an example, most bacteria identified by molecular methods are in the divisions Proteobacteria(67 %) and Cytophagaks (25 %). These large groups are roughly equivalent to phyla. Furthermore, they contain most of the best- studied Gram-negative bacteria, which are more easily cultured than the members of the other divisions. Over 60% of theProteobacteriaandover40 % of rheCytophagala are culturable. Despite this many phylogenetic groups within these divisions have members only recognized by 165 rRNA gene sequences and so are perhaps unculturable. I say perhaps because many micro- biologists now believe that if similar effort was put into culturing these bacteria as has been expended on culturing bacteria of medical importance over the last century, then most could be cultured. The a-Proteobacteria are an important marine group, making up on average23 7o of marine bacteria, and most of these fall into two phylogenetic groupings. The first, the SARl 1 cluster of 15S rRNA gene sequences, lE ffi&#ffi#ffi&ffituffiffiYIoDAYVOL2T/NOVOO have been found in many studies throughout the world's oceans,but have never been cultured. Conversely, many examples of the other common marine ct- Proteobacteriagfoup, the Roseobactercluster, have recently been isolated as colonies on simple nutrient media from coastal water and their physiology has just started to be studied. This indicates that whereas some novel uncultured bacteria will be difficult to isolate, others will be easy.\7e must try to culture the most abundant bacteria in all environments to study their physiology, to understand their roles and to tap this laree biotech- of further 165 rDNA sequences have now revealed ABOVELEFT: nological resource. that these bacteria belong ro a new division, named Phasecontrast micrograph of anagar-coated the I\itrospina divisionafter Nitrospina gracilis, which is slideenrichment ofbacteria from freshwater WExpanding knowledge also in this group. This of bacterial division has representatives sedimentThere are filamentous biodiversity from a wide variety of marine, freshwater and terrestrial (probablyBeggiatoaspp,)and In 1990 about 10 divisions of the domain Bacteria were habitats and consistsof 12 subgroups made up of 188 non-filamentousbacteriapresent pr0bably known. Now 40 have been described and this remarkable sequences, about 94% of which are from uncultured representingculturable andnon-crlltured species. expansion in our knowledge of bacterial biodiversity organisms. The two named culrures in this division are COURTESYJC FRY has occurred entirely due to the recent explosive physiologically very different; H. foetida is an anaerobic (Fig. growth of molecular approaches 1). Furthermore, heterotroph degrading a plethora of complex organic ABOVERIGHT: 13 of these divisions are currently known only from compounds and N. gracilis is an aerobic, nitrifying Asub-tropical riverr,vith sequencesand have no cultured representatives. Sorfre chemolithotroph. Such diversity indicates that this sedimentthatis a likely source of these divisions of uncultured bacteria are phylo- division is not only widespread in narure, but also as ofmany uncultLlred bacteria knownonly f romtheir 16S rRNA genetically extremely varied, for example \i7S6 and physiologically diverse as the P roteobacter i a. genesequences, OP11 are the most diverse divisions known, 26 showing COURTESYHGWILLIA[/S CARDIFF and33 7o sequencedivergence, respectively. WTheWS6 division These observations further indicate the need for The\S756 division is onewith no culturedrepresenr- greater effort in growing these organisms and will be atives. Earlier this year Norman Pace and colleagues illustrated by consideration of three bacterial divisions designed PCR primers to amplify the 165 rDNA of known to be abundant from their 15S rRNA seouences members of this division ftom 12 diverse environmenrs. but with few cultured representatives. They found $756 members to be most abundant in anaerobic environments but were also present in WThe /Vitro spi n a d ivision some aerobic habitats. They found )7 different 165 In 1994 Erko Stackebrandt's group reported that a rDNA clone types that increased the number in this newly isolated Gram-negative, obligately anaerobic, division to 60. These clones were isolated from marine, heterotrophic bacterium belonged to a new bacterial freshwater and hot-spring sedimenrs, contaminated group. They called this organism Holophagafoetida as it aquifers and one from topsoil. They surmise that originated from smelly, anoxic sediment and suggested members of this division might be anaerobic, but it could belong to the \-Proteobacteria.At a similar time until they are cultured this will nor be confirmed. This my research group in Cardiff obtained several bacterial study convincingly shows that the undiscovered 165 rDNA sequences from very deep, Japan Sea bacterial diversity in the environmenr, from even sediment, which also seemed to be deep branching widely distributed habitats, is almost certain to be 6-Proteobacteria,caIIed the JAP5 04 cluster. Collections enofmous.

ffift.?,WfffipwA#&*#rq.?YIODAY VOL2TINOV00 IM Further reading # TheAcido bacte ri u m d ivision thermophile from a hydrothermal vent and isolation The distribution and diversity of the Acidobacterium was by selective enrichment, in situ hybridization with Barnes, S.M.,Thkala, S.L. division, which has only one cultured member, has been a 165 rRNA probe and micromanipulation. Similarly, a & Kuske,C.R. (1999).Wide d istributionand diversiry investigated by similar methods. These bacteria are very Tbermus aquatilis-like strain and Synechlclccusliuidus of membersof the bacterial widespread, they are present in many different soil types, strains that were prevalent as gene sequences,but not kingdom Acldo bacterium in the marine and freshwater sediments, aswell asin hot-spring yet isolated in culture, have been isolated from hot- environment . Appl En ui ron mats and sediment. Furthermore, they sometimes form spring mats by David \7ard's group. So I believe that the Micro65 ,l7 3I-17 37. the dominant group in a habitat. In one set of arid soils time is right to attempt to obtain further cultures of 'unculturable' they were the dominant phylogenetic group making up some major groups of marine bacteria. Dojka, M.A., Harris, J.K. & Pace,N.R. (2000). 1I% of the 165 rDNA clones isolated, but were Furthermore, the Roseobacterand H. foetida examples Expandingthe known entirely absent from culture plates from the same described above add to the arguments for cultivating the diversityand environmental habitat. Despite this, culturing some of the group uncultureables. distribution of anuncultured might not be difficult becausethe one cultured member phylogeneticdivision of of the division, Acidobacteriumcapsulatum, is an aerobic, O John C. Fry is Professorof Microbial Bacteria.Appl Enuiron mesophilic, chemo-organotroph able to use a variety of Ecologyand DeputyDirector of CardiffSchool of Microbiol66, 1617-1621 . carbon soufcesand to grow up to pH 6.0. However, other B i oscie n ces, Cardiff Un ive rs ity, Mai n B ui I d in g, Giovannoni, SJ., Britschgi, members of the division might well need specialized MuseumAvenue, Cathays Park, Cardiff T.B., Moyer, C.L. & Field, approachesfor their culture. CFl OsTL. K.G. (1990).Genetic Tel.0292OBT 4190; Fax029 2OB74305; diversityin SargassoSea 4&Future challenges em ai I fry@card iff .ac. u k bacterioplankton.N ature These examples indicate that culturing many of these 345,60-63. 'unculturable' bacteria will be an enormous task. Hugenholtz, P.,Goebel, However, the following arguments suggest that if more B.M. & Pace,N.R.(1998). effort were put into growing these bacteda more of Impact of culture-independent them would prove culturable. Many bacteria that are studieson the emerging grown on plates do not match existing cultured phylogeneticview of bacterial diversity.,I B acteri o I I8O, bacteria. When effort is put into growing novel aquatic 47554174. bacteria they are sometimes grown relatively easily once suitable media are developed (e.9. Legionellaspp.). Little For accessto the current ftfige research effort is expended in studying unspecialized, ofaligned sequencesof 165 rRNA genesand associated aerobic, heterotrophic bacteria, whilst studies of information for cultured specialist groups abound, even when they are hard to organismsand environmental cultivate (e.g. methanogens, sulphate-reducing and isolatesgo to the Ribosomal nitrifying bacteria). In 1995 Karl Stetter's research DatabaseProject website at group was the first to succdssfully culture a prokaryote http://www.cme.msu.edu/ only previously identified from a 165 rRNA gene RDP/html/index.html sequence. In this case the organism was a hyper-

LEFT: Partof an activated sludge aerationtank from ase\,{iage treatmentworks showing inflows ofsettled setivage (lighter coloured inflow)and re-circulated sludge (darkercoloured inflow) 0nce againthis is a likely source of manyunculttlred bacteria known onlyfrom their 16S rRNA gene sequences. COURTESYJC FRY

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Culturecollection management inCuba FranklinSotolongo

CubanScience Base TheCuban NationalSystem for Scienceand Technologyhas sectoralentitres such as health, agriculture,etc. much in the waythatthe UK has v"'""nnvernmenldenartmenls resnonsihle for [hese disciplines.These bodies are responsible for carrying ouI theR&D in their respeclive areas. National technicalandscientilic activities are developed as an intanretpd mndol rolpvnnt ln the nartir-inatinn renl rac f romeach sector, In this way, they draw on each n{har'c cfronnthc maximize the nolential -","''v "nd Of

each snecialitv:ilt'/'vve""v'""'dealinn with issrressrrch as human resourcesand financial and structural capacities to reachsome of thesocial and economic qoals of the Cubangovernment. This integrated appioach is aimed ai quicklyand eff iciently reaching the objectives proposedthrough various committees within the Ministryof Science,Technology and the Environment. Thisstrategy has given rrse to ihe creationof many drversescientif ic institutions inCuba, rising from only 21 in 1951 to over200 iodayand including Inaddition to traininqand education, the course UPPER: production, biotech nolog ical, biomedical and alsoprovided a greaiopportunily for the participants TheVinales Valley innorth-west ^l^ ^.-^^^,,+i^^l ^^^ I "^- Cuba pnarmaceuLrcar cer r Ires. to exchanoevt exoeriences, The course included formal ler:lrrres.video nresentatrons and workshons on the COURTSEYPful ORIEt\ Thecore activities of severalol thesescientif ic followingtopics: instituiesinvolves basic microbiology and it hasbeen LOWER: necessarvtostrrdv lcr:hninues concerned with the Culturecollection function and quality -f Srro r1 c rzrtir r;ntsrI prese rvatio n of mi c ro-organ is ms. Person nel have management Lhe Culture Cal Iectio n Marnte nanc e and beentrained to setup and manage culture collections. Culturecollectron services and activities Manage ment course lune 2000 Atthe beginning of the 1990s, a directiveof the Principlesand theory of f reeze-drying COURTSEYPIU GRIEN Academyof Sciencesof Cubaencouraged the Principles of cryopreservation

establishmentof individualculture collectrons in each f^. hcnlaric {r rnni clnca rPrpcpll:tin6 r uJUr vquurr fp1-hninlo. LUUlllllvucJ l\Jl ud.LLCIla! lullvl. dl9du lnstitution, thoughtwas given as to appropriate Some andprotozoa howthese should function and develop and several + Dr*ahecoc nrlqlnnr roc and rnrohciloc laboratoriesand individual scientists wished to setup uqrauaJsJ, uararuvugJ qr ru vvuuJrLUJ a CubanFederation of CultureCollections. The current Demonstrationof the I IKNICCr,vehsite .{,n{aa', ic aimarl .+ D^-+^l^^,..t ^^^t,, JLI d.LEVy lJ dil ruu aL uJrGUilJrilrrvesiahlishinn iheLrru ruYrreaUifementS Of I uJLa,arru yaundQing regulatrons for the sucha federationin terms of logistics,co-operation transportationof cultu res andtraining. ^ ^^^^t^^^^^^''J nLLEPtd.l ILU d.l lu i ilail lLCr rar lLc \J I maintenanceof oatentPaL cultures Culturecollection management Oualitv-'' -" -J assurance in crrltrrre collections lmpacton culture collections of theConvention on Workshopsand national courses have taken HroloqrcallJrversrty placeto promoteand organize the settingup of culturecollections in researchand production centres Thafnr-rrc affnrdod hv the meetinnand the useful withinCuba which deal with different types of micro- rnformaiionand exchange of ideaswill, I hope,provide ornanisms.The f ir.stinternational course on Cullure the rmpetusfor the loosely aff iliated Cuban Federation io proceedon a moreformal basis and willallow us to Co| | e cti o n Mar nte n |an ^ce an | d M( an ',aq -- e men f was| held Intne rrnlay Instriute, Lenler Tor lne Kesearcn, moveto the nextstaqe of policymakinq, planning and Developmentand Production of Vaccinesin Havana, fundrarsinq Cuba,from 20 to 21 June2000. The course was Finally,we wouldlike to thankthe UK lecturersfor co-ordinatedby Dr PeterGreen f romthe National organizingthe course and the SGM forihe awardf rom Collectionof Industrial,Food and Marine Bacteria itsInternational Development Fund, without which this (NCIMB), U K, assisted by Dr DavidSmith of CABI -l- meetingcould not have taken place, broscrence JonnrJayTrom.lne uulTUre ?19 uollecttonol Algae", ano rrotozoa (uuAil anosome O Dr Franklin Sotolongors 4ssrs tant Directorof membersof theNationalCuban Collection Culture Techn ical and S cientif i c A p p Ii catio n s, Fin I ay In stitute, Group.ltwas attended by 60 specialistsf rom drfferent Havana,Cuba scientificand production facilities in Cuba, em ai I fs otoI o n g o @fin Iay. e d u.c u

IODAYVOL2T/NOVOOIE

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tl ll ii+ New Members of Gouncil and l; Gomingsand Goings GroupGommittees O ThePresident welcomed Professor Sir David Hopwood, President-electand Dr Meriel Jones, ihe new Editor of MicrobiologyToday,to their f irstCouncil meeting. This was ProfessorDalton's last meeting as President and he was Witheffect f rom1 3 September2000, Professor Sir David Hopwood (JohnInnes warmlythankedfor his achievements during his term of Centre)commences his 3-year term as President, Dr Meriel Jones (Universiiyof office, in which he has sought to expand the activities of the Liverpool)her3-yearterm as Editor oI MicrobiologyTodayandProfessorHoward Jenkinson (Universityof Bristol)his 4-yearterm as Scientific Meetings Officer. vvu,uSncietv Ly, Prnfessnr. Inn Saunders also retrred as Editor-in- Chiefof Mic robiologyand his u nsti nti ng contri bution to the ProfessorGhrisThomas(UniversityofBirmingham) commenced his S-yearterm as well-beingand qualityof thelournalduring histerm of office Editor-in-ChiefoI Microbiologyon1July 2000. wasnoted. We wrsh him well in his new post as Dean of Followingthe recent ballot of Ordinary Members, the following have been elected to serve Scienceat Liveroool. Dr Pat Goodwin retires as Scientific asMembers of Council for 4-yeartermsJcommencing on 13 September2OOO: MeetingsOff icer and Council recorded its appreciation for allher hard work since jorning Council in 1 994. Howard ProfessorHilary Lappin-Scott University of Exeter Jenkinsonrsthe new Scientific Meetings Officer. Dr Dave ProfessorTonyNash Universityof Edinburgh Robertsretires as the last Publications Officer and there Professorlan Roberts Universityof Manchester werewarm tributes for his contribution, which has seen the andto serve for 1year, with elig ibility for re-election in2001 : creationoI MrcrobrologyToday,settingnewstandards for -rL^^l'^ I l^i,,^"-i+,,^+ | ^^^^^+^ theLrrv Sor^ietv'suvvrvLy J memher:'-^^^-:^^r rur ruurJ llldgdzlllU. I lldl InJ "'erevv also DrKeith Jones u nrverstlyor LancasTer recordedto the three elected members who retire from Biographiesofthe new Council Members appear on p. 1 93. Councilat this time - DrGeoff Clements, Professor Dave Rowlandsand Professor Liz Wellington. For all their contributionsand dedication we wish our retirinq colleaqueswell in the f uture. NewCommittee memhorc ola.tad hv nnclel ballot (Virus Group) or elected unopposed fGVDirect (allother Groups) are as follows: O Councillearned with pleasure that the new on-line Cells & Cell Surfaces serviceforthe Journal of GeneralVrobgy,describedon DrJohnArmstrono I lnivorsitv n{ Sr rqqov Y*V"'nene1 51 nfthe Ar rnrrstissue oI MtcrobtolonvTortavhad DrNicky High University of Manchester beensuccessfullv imolemented on the SG M website DrBrendan Kenny I lnivorcitv nf Rrictnl (www.sgm.ac.uk/J GVDi rect). Arou n d fou r articl es per DrRod McNab EastmanDental Institute, London issuewill be published on-line as f ulltext HTN/ L, up to 13 weeksahead of print.The project had been lead by Debbie Glinical Virology Ollman,aided and abetted by Robin Dunford. Publication of DrDianaWestmoreland UniversityHospital of Wales, Cardiff entireissues of on-line journals continues on the journal DrBernard Cohen CPHLColindale Hi g hWire site (http ://vir.sgmjournals.org). DrSheila Cameron Regional Vi rus Laboratory, Glasgow Support for Joint Meeting between SG M Education andAsM DrRichard Jenkins deMontfort University O Councilnoted that plans were well in hand forthe Environmental Microbiology forthcomingloint meetin g on Biodegradatron, DrGaryBlack Universityof Northumbria Biotransformatronsand Biocatalysislo be heldbetween Dr FransDe Leij I lnirrarciirr nf Qr rrrori SGM andthe American Society for Microbiology, This Drlan Thomoson NERC Centre of Ecologyand Hydrology, Oxford meetingwill be held from 2 to 6 October2001 inPuerto

Ricn Scc n 1'vvQQ fnr 'v' v\dsl2il5. Fermentation & Bioprocessing H. DrGlynHobbs (LiverpoolJohn Moores University) has become Group Convener More contact with ASM O Followingher successf ul participation inihe recent lrish Branch AnnualMeeting in Los Angeles, Dr Liz Sockett, the DrCyrilCarroll NationalUniversity of lreland,Galway Society'sEducation Officer. has accepted an invitation to DrSeanDoyle NationalUniversity of lreland,Maynooth jointheASMEducation andTraining Board on behalf of the DrJohnMorgan UniversityCollege Cork Society.She will also be a memberof their International Microbial Infection Committee. DrSheila Patrick Or reen's I Inivcrsitrrn{ Belfast Meeting Venues and their Gosts Physiology, Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics O Councilspent some time considering the diff iculties DrBillAshraf Universityof Bradford of predictingnumbers in advance for likely attendance Drlan Stansf ield UniversityofAberdeen atits scientific meetings, with an eye on the financial repercussionsforthe Society of 'getting it wrong'(which Systematics & Evolution membersmay not be aware of!). In future, members ProfessorFergus Priest Heriot-WattUniversity attendingmeetings will be asked fortheir opinions of DrM Aquino de Muro CABIEgham venuesthrough the use o{'feedback [orms. ProfessorMike Goodfellow Universityof Newcastleupon Tyne O Alan Vivtan,General Secretary Virus Dr.StacevFfstathiou Universityof Cambridge DrKeith Leppard UniversityofWarwick ProfessorJamesNeil Universityof Glasgow DrMichael Skrnner Institutefor Animal Health, Compton m l,.,,:',',1'TODAY VO L 27l NOV 00 _T

I

NewHonorary Members New Group Gonveners

Board(1969-1973)of intrauteri ne infections, JGM. He organized the David Stephen Since1977 he hasbeen 1984SGM Meeting in ProfessorofMedical O'Connor Gillespie orQh^{+i^t,-J rulruru dlu^^,.J la5h^- ueen l^^- a Microbiology strnnn sr rnnnricr nf Snr-iotv at King's Gells&Getl Glinical "'' "''i, (lnllencHncnitrl N/orji6gl Surfaces journals(over 60 papersin Microbiology School,and since 1984 Microbiology/JGMand at UniversityCollege of FEN/S publications out of LondonMedicalSchool animpressive list of over where he became 260published papers). the Vice- Provostin 1994. He worxeo Johnwas elected to the as an HonoraryConsultant ^+,,^"i^, ,- l^^^^i+^t^ i^ RoyalSociety in 19BO for aL var ruuJ I ruJPtLdt) il | hisseminal contributions to London.He held various microbialphysiology. He of[ices in the Royal Society deliveredthe Malory of Medicine,the Society StenhensonPrize I ecture forGeneral M icrobiology, in1 992 and the theRoyalCollege of LeeuwenhoekLecture of IP:fhnlnniclc qLr rurvvrJLJ, at end tu hoI tu JUtca,',o.1 vuu '1 theRoyal Society in 995. as Memberand Chairman JohnGuest has made many Fornearly 30 yearshe has of the M RC Physiological heen arnrrahhrtha I l('5 im portant contri butions to Medicineand Infectiorr Davidgraduated as a Stephengraduated in leadingE colrphysiologist thescience and art of Board,later as Memberof zoologistin 1979 from Medicinefrom the Oueen's andwas certainly the f irst microbiology.With D.D. Counciland Member of the SalfordUniversity before UniversitvBelfast in I 980. toembrace the use of Woodshe elucidated the StrategyGroup. and most swiichi,ngto Biochemistry Afterposig rad uate trai n ing molecrrlar oenelir-s and roleofvitamlnBl2in recentlyas SeniorClinical throughan MSc conversion inMedicine and Medical nono e lnninn tanhnnlr.--' methioninebiosynthesrs rn ""Y - JgY Advisorto the M RC Chief courseat University College Microbiology atthe Royal forthe analysis F.c-oli. He madeimnortanl of central Executive.He alsowas a Londonin 1980. Some deft VictoriaHospital, Belfast, metabolicfunctions, contributionsto Charles Memberof the PH LS Board advocacyon behalfof hewas appointed Mercer's andthe Boardof the Yanofsky's demonstration tD George Salmond prokaryoles.b,VPqi C larke Lecturerin Clinical Tropical ofgene-protei n colinearity LondonSchool of Hygiene andPauline Meadow Medicineat the London andintra-codon andTropical Medicine, and kindledhis interest rn SchoolofHygiene and .1 recombination. Based in more recentlyhe becamea molecularmicrobiology, TropicalMedicine in 985. Sheftieldfor 35 years,he FounderFellow and whichwas rernforced by Researchinterests were nlaved a r-cnlral rolp in Ihe MemberofCouncilof the PhDstudies with Gwyn focussedon the interaction Academy oenel ir-aland hior^hcmical of Medical Humphreysand Jon ofacute phase proteins and characlerization of the citric Sciences.His most publicly Saundersin Liverpool on Streptococc u s pn eu m on i ae, :r-id r-rrr-lononoc :nd visiblerole was that of a thegeneircs of restriction- andfield studies of parasitrc enzymesoI E.coli- Memberand later Chairman modif ication systems, This infectionsin children at disr^overinnthat sevcral of the Spongiform wasfollowed by a Royal tr^^^^1.-^l^^^+1.,, n..J,,i, theWellcome/KEMRI stepsin the cycle are tr'ncepnaroparnyA0vtsofy SocietyPostdoctoral researchunit in Kilifi,In (SEAC) specified by multiple Committee Fellowship( 1984- 198O) 1989 hewas appointed (1995- 1 differeniiallv renr rlated 999)which had to atthe University of Geneva, SeniorLecturer at the adviseon the genesand providing a difficultissues where(along with skiing) he RoyalFree Hospital School and detailedmolecular analysis decisionsfollowing the studieda classof highly of Medicinewhere he RSF anidamin and iic of the pyruvate cell-surfaceexposed continuedhis research dehvdroncna sc r-nmql gx, nossihle conqeor renr^esfor bacteriallipoproterns in interestin the molecular HediscoveredFNR,the humans.Srnce 2000 he has KenTimmis's laboratory. In biologyo[ S.pneumoniae oxygen-sensing beenworking as Directorof 1986, he returned to the andin clinical trials of anti- Researchand Develnomen transcription reg u lator, th us t UK totake up a NewBlood tubercu losis ProfessorSi r John Pattison therapyin initiatingan excitingf ieldof inthe Department of Lectureshipatthe Tanzania.He studiedMedicine atthe wasappointed researchinto the physiology Health.He was knighted for Unrversityof Southampton, Professor Universityof Oxfordand in 1999. of the aerobic/anaerobic hisservices to N/edicineand wherehe is curren lly snenl'' nre-renisl r:tinn rrezrs He hasa passionate interface.He alsocloned "Y"' Y' PublicHealth in 1998 Readerin the School of ih atMiddlesex Hospital interestin history, isan andsequenced the O UlrichDesselberger BiologicalSciences. ^^^^,+^-^ ^^^^ tA^+ i^,,^^.-J N/iedir-a I Cnl leoe hefnrg oJPar LaJU LlUr rE Lrtd L t) u)uu enihusiasticbut ineffective ^^^^i^li-,^^ ;^ /-ti^i^^l David'sresearch focuses JPCLrailZil rg il |\JilrilLdl memberof his village I inthe production of the onmolecular aspects of q\A/FATOnOT VirologyatThe London cricketteamand direcls 2qntrt2ma bacterialstress adapta lion the HospitalMedical College villagechurch choir in andpathogenicity, which he He hasbeen a memberof (MRCPath1975).ln tne repertorre f rom rscur rently investigating Vivaldito the SGM for almost40 1970s he was decisively Rutter. usinga rangeof f unctional yearsand for sevenyears involvedinworking out the genomicapproaches, wasan AssociateEditor causaLrverole of parvovrrus includingproteomics. (l966-1969),then B 19 forhaemolytic crises in Memberofthe Editorial thalaessemiapaIrents, for fifth disease, and also for

T(X'AYVOL27/NOVOOlE| ! ii't 1l+iil,ri'l'l'i-i:ii rii ii;r,ii:'.:1$ ri Grants rii;jj, r1.r,,t* ;i ii,ii,.'it :" i::,rili I,,i; *t rr:;li:iiiii;*i i''ri.:,':ii;,iii,ijirl1 ti",i li ,i:i,1i:'.;..i lt'r. i;i Twoapplicaiions were ThePresident's Fund offers f inancialsupport to younger receivedforthe first round membersof the Society for one of the following: ofthe new scheme ano 1. Travellingto presenta paperor a posteron a bothwere successful. microbiologicaltopic at a scientific meeiing Professor Michael 2. Attendinga shortcourse (up to two weeks) Danson, Universityof - 3. Makinga shortresearch visit largerawards are t'i*1;$i,,t;;'ii ,lr studentswill be accepted at Bath,has been awarded up availablefor short research visits theend of their intercalated to S I ,200to makea visitto n ^+^.^+i^^ +^ ^^"",,^,,.+ Jlii+ tut s:,ii,* il ii'fiii;:I 'll iI,f;:trir studies,but not during their l1t ttdr \- LrLd.ru uar ry uu L 1;ill;r1ijr'fl electiveperiod. researchinto novel Maximumgrants are: 3 Theresearch nroiect psychroph iles. Dr Stacey TheSociety offers a limited S 125 forattendance at meetings/courses inthe country mustbe on a microbiologicalEfstathiou, University of numberof awards to enable has of residence subject.Studentships will Cambridge, been undergraduatestowork on to S,200foriravel to anotherEuropean country notbe awarded for projects awardedup to $4,273 microbiologicalresearch visittheMaxvon S300fortravel outside Europe nrnior-tsdr rrinn the srrmmer thatare part of degreework. A studentshipmay be held PettenkoferInstitut in vacation,Thepurpose of the Munichto gainexpertise rn awardsis to provideunder- ina laboratoryawayfrom isavailable for making a shortresearch visit of thegeneration of mutant Upto S20OO graduates with experience thenormal place of study, totwo months. The host institution may be overseas or in within virusconstruction using up of researchand to butit must be located thecountry of resrdence. theU K orRepublic of bacterialartif icial encouragethem to consider cnromosomes. Allapplicants must be resident and registered for a higher a careerin scientif ic lreland, degree,or in a f irstpostdoctoral position, ina countryin the research.The studentships 4.Applications will be Therules of the scheme ^^^^--^.] t-,,^ /-^, ,^^il werepublished on p.91 EuropeanUnion. Only one application may be made to the providesupport at a rateof dJJU))UU Uy A VUul lul fund d u ring the term of a studentship or fellowsh ip. The f ull $ 135 perweek for a period AwardPanel, based on the ofthe May issue of rulesof the scheme are published on the SG M website, of upto Bweeks. An reportsof two referees.The Mi c ro b i o I ogy Today.The f romwhich application forms may be downloaded. additionalsum of upto schemeis competitive and closingdate forthe next roundis 3O November S4OOfor specific research applicationswill be ludged costsmay also awarded. primarilyon the scientific 2000. Applicationson behalf of morits nf the nroier^tand the Thereare three rounds of namedstudents are now suitabilityofthe student. applicationseach year and invitedfrom SGM members Oncean award has been theclosing dates for 2001 PostgraduateStudent Members of SGM currentlyresident inhigher education n{{arar'lvr rvr vvt i1 nannnl ho are3OMarch,3Ofuly andregistered for a higherdegree in the U K oranother institutions and research transferredto another and3ONovember. EuropeanUnion country are eligible for a grant to coverthe institutes.Details of the student. schemeare given below. Applicationforms may be costsof accommodationand travel in attending ON E of the 5.The awards will provide downloadedfrom the SGM followingSociety meetings in 2001 : Heriot-WattUniversity, * iirr;ri,.1:rr,,, supportforthe student at a website. Edinburg h, March ; U n iversity of EastAng lia, September; or rateof S 135 perweek for a 1' ' ' Annlinonlc 'YY""*' mrrct ha anyother SG M Groupor Branch meeting. Application periodof upto Bweeks, and formsgiving full details of ihe scheme were sentto all membersof the Society workingin a higher notusually less than 6 StudentMembers in the EU with their subscription invoices, weeks,An additionalsum education institution or ;:'iri,''il Theform can also be downloaded from the SG M website. ied i! lii ii researchinstitute in the U K of upto S4O0 for specif be orRepublic of lreland. researchcosts mav also Applicationsmust be made awarded.Grants are made towhich onbehalf of a named tothe institution belongs,not siudent.More than one theapplicant Areyouplanning any tothe supervisor, onthe applicationfrom a nroiectsto." nromoter,", the itwill Thepurpose of the Seminar Speakers Fund is to promote department/schoolwill be understandingthat publicunderstanding of talkson microbiological topics in departmentalsem inar considered,but in the case administertheaward. microbiology?Have you got programmes.Applications are invited f rom Higher ofseveral applications being 6. ltis a conditionof the a NationalScienceWeek EdutationInstitutions where microbiology istaughtfor subm itted, departments,/ awardthat the student eventin mind? SG M can necessary, grantsof upto S2O0towards the travel, and if schoolsmay be asked to submitsa briefreport of the help.Grants of upto S 1,000 ofan invited speaker. The full -^^t, +t-^ ^^^l:^^^+- accommodation,expenses Idl In Llru 4PvilLal lLJ. researchat the com pletion areavailable tof und rulesof the scheme were published on p.92 of the May n{ tha cir rdontchin appropriateactivities. issueof Mi crobi ol ogy Tod ay.Appl ications wil I bedealt with 2. Studentsmust normally Applications are considered year ona f irstcome, first served basis d u ring the academ ic year, bein the penultimate 7 Applicationsmust be ona firstcome, f irstserved whichis defined as running from September 2000 to June oftheir undergraduate madeon the appropriate basis.The current funding corrrseand recristered 2001.Written submissions should be sentto the Grants at form,which is downloadable yearruns from June Office at SG M Headquarters. anrnstitution inthe U K or fromthe SGM website. 2OOO-May2O01,See Republicof lreland. Theclosing date SGM website for details Applications for students {nr annlir-alionc ic andan application form. notbe intheirfinalyearwill 28February2OO1, considered.Medical i i I i I

$"$*:ta$'r."xi'ryprui***exai*Jfe:i: NeW MgmbgfS Of GOUnC|I $d$*r;:: r:u* i*# #*t fi*# 96 i*q" $,i*:9.=iq;g:*]ylf..$: Thescheme to encourage excellenceinthe study of microbiologyby unde rg rad uate students continuesto bewell receivedin universities in theUK andRepublic of lreland.Instrtutions offeri n g anappropriate microbiology coursewere invited to nominatea studentfor an SGM prize,based on good performanceinmicrobiology - inthe penultimate year of ji'{:jr i',. ', i ,^1.-t' ,. , NoelLing, and also tx,g;,t, :i;,.:"'';, $r;*u:E:ep,$p**et€s; Fi,i,1i,gg$;trs --. ci rrlrrfnr a RQr- Tho managedto honemy deparlmentwas able to Igraduated as a botanist #*iaxg:*p;:x$*i::l-.,1*6*:;, ft8" six-a-side football ski lls. Originallyf rom Birmingham, Idid my f irst degree in choosethe type of assessed f romNotti ngham U n iversity Istudied Environmental ln 1978| movedto BiologicalSciences at workfor which the prizewas in1963 and did my PhD on SciencesatWarwick Cambridgeto work in Peter Leicester,where my interest awarded,Of the70+ nitrogenf rxation in marine Un iversity (com menci n g Wildy'sgroup on the inbacterialmolecular departmentscirculated, 42 cyanobacteria at Westf ield 1977),a m ulti-d isciplinary immunologyof herpes genetrcswas aroused by madenominations, Each College,London.lwas degreethatwas years virus.This was simplex thelikes of BillBrammar, prizewinnerwill receive a appointedin 1966 toan aheadof itstime!After a wheremy interest in PeterWilliams and Brran certificate,a cheque for S5O assistantlectu resh ip in veryenjoyable three years viralimmunology and Wilkins,There then followed andayear's free Under- microbiology at Lancaster Istayed on for myPhD f irmly pathogenesiswas a seeminglyprotracted graduateMembership of andpromoted to senior atWarwickonthe Appointedto a established. periodof adversitywhere I theSociety. lecturerin 1981 . I havealso biodegradationof inlmmunology, lectureship undertooka spectacularly workedatthe universities of chlorophenoxyal kanoic interesis Underg rad uate M icrobiology myresearch unsuccessfulPhD trying to Pretoria,South Florida, herbicides,supervised by include Prizeswill be awarded diversifiedto clonegermination genes California,Hawaii, Naples HowardSlater, I undertook annuallyand the invitations Theiler'svirus and the fromBacillus subflis in the andthe University of a postdoctoralposition at virus- fornominationsin2001 will mechanismsof laboratoryof DerekSmith. Scienceand Tech nology, CalgaryUniversity where I ination. becirculated next May. induced demyel Ithenreturned to Leicester, Kumasi,Ghana, wasawarded a Fellowship Detailsare also available on A stimu lating sabbatical firstas a postdoctoral researchthe starvation theSGM website. Myearly research was to yearin Michael Oldstone's workerin the laboratoryof survivalofmicrobes in the onthe ecophysiology of laboratoryat Scripps GrahamBoulnois and then subsurfaceand in biofilms. I nitrogenfixation by Researchlnstitute twoyears later as a lecturer wasappointed a Lecturerat cyanobacteriaand f ree- introducedme to new inthe Departmentof ExeterUniversity in 1990 for Iiving heterotroph icbacterid moleculartechnologies Microbiology.Nine happy wherelfurthered my ina rangeof temperate studyingviral pathogenesis. yearsfollowed surrounded environments. researchinterests in biofilm andtropical I movedto mypresent post bystimulatingand I havebeen formation,structu re and Morerecently as Professorof Veterinary supporlingcolleagues istribution control,Iwas appointed to a investigatingthe d Pathologyat the U n iversity suchas PeterAndrew and pathogens Readershipin 1995 anda andbehaviour of ofEdinburgh in1 994, DorothyJones,During PersonalChairin1999. rnfarm and aquatic Mycurrent research thistime I becamea Lister Current environments. interestsare centred on Fellowin 1994 andwas includethe role of projects understandinghow awardedthe Fleming Prize vectors birdsas polluters and ?i.*'el$.pt gammaherpesviruses in 1995 f romSG M andrn tracing ftb.&m*#,$":ig forhuman disease, interactwith their host. My thesameyeartheW.H. faecalpollution Myinterest in infectious sourcesof sixyearsin Edinburgh have PiercePrize from SAB, farm andimmunology for bathingwaters and diseases witnessedmajor changes in Finally,I realized that at slurrymicrobiology. waskindled Oueen virologyresearch. The therewas more to science Elizabeth College, University lwasacommittee member recentmerger of Medical thanthe M69 between of Londonwhere lgraduated ofthe SG M Environmental andVeterinary vrrolog ists Birminghamand Leicester inBiology/Biochemistry in MicrobiologyGroup (1 996- hasproduced a major andin 1995 tookthe Chair 1971,AnMSc in radiation 2000)and am currently centrefor researchon the inMicrobiology atthe biologyat the U n iversity of Convenerofthe SfAM pathogenesrsof persistent Universityof Manchester. Birm ingham followed, This EnvironmentGroup. I have virusinfections. Myresearch interests are ledto fourexcellent years organizedthe SGM main primarilyon understanding inthe Department of Outsidethe University my symposiaon TheBehaviou r thesynthesis and export of Experimental Path ology maininterests are centred of Pathogenstn the celI su rface polysaccharides atBirmingham where onmy family and the Enviro n menf (Warwick'99) in Gram-negative bacteria completeda PhD in fortunesof LeicesterCity Treatment andtheir role in disease, and Waste FootballClub. (Southampton'97), lmmunology, supervised byPhilip Gell and the late

yjtrF,{,:;:!;f3'i}.t"ttr..:l1'1.{}:f IODAYVOL2T/NOVOOIH Popular poster competition SG M Membership Subscriptions 2OO7 Thisyear the Institute for Animal Health and BBSRC ran a Thefollowine rates were asreed at theAG M of the Societyon 13 September2000. competitionin which primary and secondary pupils were 0rdinaryMember g us$ requiredto designa posterto celebratethe work of AlexanderFlemirig in discoveringantibiotics. The quality ffi [/embershipsubscription 4000 7000 of the 900+ entrieswas high and the judging, assisted by (includingMicrob iology Today) SGM representativeJohn Grainger, proved difficult, The Additionalconcessionary subscriptions forpublications: finalchoice of winnerswas based on the accuracyof the informationand an eye-catchingpresentation. The W Mlcrobiology 7000 13500 winningschool in eachcategory received 9400 andthe WJournalofGeneralVirology70.00 13500 top competitionentries were displayed in the BBSRC pavilionat the RoyalShow, W lntl SysttvolMicrobiol 70.00 13500 SGM hits the road Studentor Retired Member $ us$ gr:!l*ir:r;;;;,;; *n', u"", ffi Membershipsubscription 2000 3300 Events=;!spresented *4::: or attendedinclude: (includingMiuoblology today) Edinburghlnternational Science Festival - public Additionalconcessionary subscriptions forpublications symposiumon vaccination and children's workshops - W Microbiology 3500 6500 SGM WarwickUniversity meeting publicdebate lnfectiousdisease - will we everwin? Wlournalof1eneralVirology35.00 6500 SpringboardCareers Day at WembleyConference W lntJSystfvolMicrobiol 7000 13500 Centre DirectionsCareers Fair at Earl'sCourt Member andRepublic of lrelandJ Undergraduate [UK s us$ Associationfor ScienceEducation Area Meetings - ffiMembershin subscrintion 1000 NA microbiology workshops (including Today) Microbiology BritishAssociation Creating Sparks - BAYS Day

Noconcessionary subscriptions tojournals areattailable toUndergraduate microbioloqv '-'JJ workshops - _ -t-- Members l/tlant to spread the word about science? ;,; N/embersare reminded that mamharchin ctalr rc nr 2001,you should send a their200 1 srrbscriotions iournalreouirements for cinnad clolamantthql,-,,. ., ,*. you questionsabout sciencefrom the generalpublic, is qro dr ro {nr nqrrmanf 2OO1.or vour credrt card arecurrently unemployed lookingfor moreexperts to providethe answers,When by 1 December2OOO. details,you should have tothe Membership Office the folk who manthe linesare stumped,they haveto omondod \/^rrr er rhce rinfinn beforeSONovember seekhelp. This merely involves emailing or callingthe Ac in nroriinr rq \/o2rq noticeand returned itto the 2OOO,(Please note that appropriateexpert and asking them for information,The nojournai or meetings membershiooffice bv nn innroqca in inrrrnal answersare passed on to callerswithout revealing the informationwillbe l5November2O0O. ronr riromontc rnrillho sources- contactdetails of expertson the ScienceLine dcsnatr-hed tn memherS However,ifyou have missed permitted.) qiven whoare in arrears, and there databaseare confrdential and never to callersor thisdeadline, your amended the media.About one-third of the questionsare about willbe no guarantee of Incometaxlelief nnlir-o rarillhc:r-r-entpd if it is provisionof backnumbers membelship astronomyor physics,one-third biological and one-third subm itted immed iately. on ofjournals for members who subscriptaons alltherest, paytheir subscription late. Paymentagainst Memberswho are liable lf you wouldlike to help,fill in the expertform on the rnvorGe Paymentbydirect forU K incometax are websiteat www.sciencenet.org.uk,or send an emailto debit or continuous Invoices were despatched reminded that thei r annual [email protected] 020 8735 5015. creditcard recentlyto allmembers who subscriptionstothe Society payby this method. lfyou havebeen approved by Subscription notices were AWellcome prize didnot receive one, please thelnland Revenue as despatchedrecently to alI qualifyingfor income tax tn" W" o memberspaying by direct informthe Membership ice. relief.Any member who havehad no popularscience books published to dateto debitor by continuous credit Off qrrqnnamonl wouldlike f urther entertheir latest competition, S,25,000 is up for grabs eard '*''\J"' Tn Subscriptionswaived informationor hasdifficulty towardsthe costof writinga popularscience book. The nnnlinr ra \/nr rr nrocont for unemployed -+^+,,^ ^^,..]i^,,"^^l inobtaining this relief armrs to writean importantor influentialbook that will JLdLU) al ruJUUr ral members shouldcontact the requirements,nofurther not onlyinspire, stimulate and informthe generallay As inprevrous years, Fvanr rtirra Qonrate rrr reader,but will also open up newways of thinkingabout enfinn ic neaoccerrr mavbe subscriotions the worldand set the agendafor futuredebate and However,ifyou pay by waivedatthe discretion of discussion.The closing date for submissionsis 2 March continuouscredit card, you tho Qnnio|, {nr ' ,nomr,proyeo Furtherinformation, rules guidelines shouldcheck that the card membersunderthe age of 2OO1. the and can numberand expiry date on 35 whoare resident in the be foundat www.wellcome.ac.uk thesubscription notice are UK, lf you are eligible and r-nrrcr^i Tn r-hanne'u- Ivnrlr "' wishto benefitin this way in

lm : ! !,. lilti ;: ir:; !;::,rrl" :; r;';' TODAY VO L 27l N OV 00

- i tubllc I

A MicrobiologySummer Schoolfor 1 1-16-year-oldpupils from localsecondary schools was held between24 ii and27 July2000 at the Universityof CentralLancashire '+'.Frl*o**t,'.,,j, in Preston,The workshopwas run by Reg England, $, I ChrisHughes, Gill Ward and Jon Rand.The hands-on Iii programmeintroduced pupils to 'the good-guys'- d,!i:.ir'iltr., ti 'the ,'.;l€. l microbesused in food production; bad guys'- 1.{;i.:t' ': ' microbesthat causea problemin food poisonrngand fi,ll'i"* "-?*r+****' health;and1he downright ugly'* microbesfound on our --.sry*'- bodies! At the startof the firstpractical exercise, pupils were presentedwith a menu and invitedto taste various 'microbial'foodsand drink(bread, OuornTM sausages, sauerkraut,yoghurt and cheeses, all washed down with lemonade).The pupils were then allowed to lookat pre-

I.'"I"*'nrenarednlate r-rltrrres and viewed slides of the relevant microbe(s)involved. The fungal plates,in particular Fusarium graminearum, Pentcrllrum roqueforti and Aspergillusnigerwere met with shrieks of disgustat what theyhad just consumed. The pupils drew each microbe (plateand slide culture) in a speciallydesigned workbook anda prizewas awarded for the bestdrawings. Mid-way throughthe f irstsession we werejoined by BBC Radio Lancashire.The reporterinterviewed a few pupils,and listeningto the artrcleon the radiothe followingday, we arepleased to reportthat microbiology received a very goodpress from the kids, Pupilswere then introducedto microbesabout their '- bodyby taking swabs from various parts of theiranatomy! :t:i;r::,: Theystreaked the swabsonto differentagar media, ^^-^+;r*^^,.r ^^'-: JsqrEUsealed thp LrrE nlatps\^/i+r^VVrLr rVar Orilil dtlu Lailtt backthe next PraLgJ f. dayto seewhat had been caught, A similarexercise was {$,* o*1** .- heldby asking them to placetheir f ingers,before and after /'{.d washingwith soap, onto nutrient agar plates. - *'-'*-." {1 - q. Thefollowing day, pupils looked at the sealedplates and 'ffi* wereable to identifywhether they had grown bacteria, " yeastsor fungi by referringto a simplekey in their Thepupils then carried out Gram stains on selected'friendly ABOVF: workbook.The kids were verv surorisedto see the bodybugs' taken from their swab plates andlor f inger PupilsGram staining their'body diversityand numbers of bacteriathat grew on theirskin. plaies.Whoops of delight/horrorwere heard when they bugs(upper). 0illand Jon looking Pupilsdrew chosen examples of their'bodybugs' in their lookedat the stainedbugs under x 400 magnification. on,and looking atslide and plate workbook,Each agar plate from the linger exercise was A fewselected examples of their'bodybugs'were shown culturesofmicrob,ar f00ds (,0wer) photographedusing a digitalcamera and a colourprintout on theTV screens,linked to a Nikonmicroscope via a COURITSYRFGINCtAND rnilc nn, 'l.l .oo annl wasgiven to pupilsto includein theirworkbook before videnvrwsv set-rrnJEL up. The I rru puvlrJ 6r t'rJutu )uu udLIr wU6{l-1p1-ic tut J uuvJ:h,,^"1 theywent home (something to showMum and Dad), Thehands-on element finished with ihe pupilslooking 'bad at preparedslides of a few guys'(Escherichia coi, Staphylococcusaureus, Streptococcus pyogenes and Streptocaccusmutans) down a microscope. Theworkshop closed by havinga few minuteschat about whatthey had seen and learnt in each workshop exercise, followedby prize-giving.ln addition, all pupils went away with a set of SGM postersabout Microbestn Food andseveral informative leaflets (many thanks to Janetfor providingthem at suchshort notice), The general opinion wasthat everyone (us included) had a funtime, Moreph.otos can be seenon our microbiologywebsite www.uclan.ac.uk/micro RegEngland is formerConvener of theSG M Fermentation& BioprocessrngGroup. He is basedatthe Departmentof BiologicalSciences, lJniversity of Central Lancashire,Corporation Sfreel PrestonPRl 2H E. Tel.Ol 772 893513; [email protected]

IODAYVOL2T/NOVOOIEfl f-

I i

Communicatingmicrobiology: ThePromega Prize competition UniversityofExeter, 13September 2000

Competitionwas I KarenMattick, PHL, University ofExeter new oost,as l'vealwavs wanted to do human-related poster fiercedurino the final formationbySalmonella spp,under adverse rese'arch.'Amanda saw a for the competitionat Filament a previousSG M meetingand decided to presentthe roundof thiSvear's-.- 'We rromeOa71ze conditions resultsof herwork. hope to find avaccineaqatnst Compe"tition,Eight Karenlet it sliothat itwas hersupervisor who had S. uberisby identifying genesinvolved in importZnt enthusiasticyoung actuallyentered herforthe competition .'lwas giving pathways.S. ubertsis a major cause of bovine mastitis. memberseach gave atalk at an SGM meeting anyway,so reallyI dtdn't Affected milk ts not marketableand therefore has a 1O-minutetalk mind,I had nothingto lose.'Karen is a secondyear h uge econ o m i c im p Ii catt o n s.' followedbv 5 minutes PhDstudent investigating the on-goinggrowth of of ouestions.All Salm o n el I au nderstress cond itions where g rowth I MarthaSimpson-Holley, Universityof Cambridge entiantsgave fluent was not previouslyihought possible.'Thts research presentationsusing haspublic health tmplicationsas well as giving us an Afunctionallinkbetween theactin cytoskeleton andlipid raft excellentvisual aids insight into the stressresponse for the organism) domainsduring influenn virus budding anddealt with some Aftergiving atalk atthe Warwickmeeting, Martha questions, 'l've touqh was automaticallyentered for the contest, really Aftdrwards,Tracey I SuzanneStrauss, PHLS, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge real-timenested PCR for detecting thegenomes enjoyed the experience,it's been good for building Duncombemet up Asingle-tube confidence.'Martha is going into the thirdyear of her withthe contestants qfilallr4pUlmavllw PhDlooking at the morphologyof the influenza virus to findout more about as a clinicalscientist to that isassociated with clinical disease:'this may be the importanceof Suzannewas employed at the H PV reference the form of the virusthat orows in vour nose when theirresearch and performepidemiologrcal studies libraryuntil she started her PhD this year, which is you have flu'. whythey had entered 'l'm H PVstrains. developing thecomoetition, focusingon carcinogenic type-specific,quantitative PCR to see what effect I Smith,University ofCambridge virusload hason diseaseprogression and clearance.l Chris didn't reallyknow anythingaboutthe competition.l'd HSV-Ilatency inthe central neruous system produced a poster for a meetrngin Parisand decided Chris was one of two studentsselected by the '900/o to displayit at an SGM meeting. Thejudges asked me VirologyGroup judges at the Warwickmeeting, some questionsabout my work and thatwas how I of the populationare latently infected with HSV-1, but made the pre-selectiongroup f inalists.' thereare no drugsthattargetthe latentvirus;wecan treat a cold sore but we can't stop it re-occurring,ln Haque,lmperial College, London order to developnovel anti-viral therapeutic strategres I Ashraful we need to gather knowledge of the virusduring lntracellularactivation ofthe spv and dps promoters in latency, Research in this area may also, in the future, &lqptsltlpluu!!!m lead to avector for gene therapy,Latent HSV- | does not affect neuronesand is capableof long-termgene (Unavailable for interview) ' expressionHaving f inishedwriting his PhD thesis within3 years,Chris, who isalso a medic,is looking Agency,Weybridge forwardto the davin 9 monthstime when he'llbecome I GinaManning, Veterinary Laboratories i Evidencefora geneticallv stable clone ofCampvlobacter ieiuni a'doctor,doctor'. l'd love to carry on in researchas wellas staying in medicine.' Ginais a bitof anold hand when it comes to the PromegaPrize Competition. She was one of lastyear's winnersafter giving a presentationon a different I JustineFitzmaurice, National University oflreland, Galway aspectof herwork on C.jejuni.'I presented a posterat Detectionofverncytntlxigenic Escherichia coliusing a O Tracey the SGM meeting in Warwickand dectdedto enter PCMDNApnbe nenbrane based colorinetric detection Duncombe, again!Aftershe gained her PhD from Leicester assay Universityin 1998 workingon Pneumococcus,Gina SGM PublicAffairs Justinestarted her PhD lastOctober and has made Administrator,is movedto VLA to take up a permanentpostdoctoral researchposition studying Campylobacter.' C. jejuni aflyingstart in the communicationof herresearch, to bethe new is an important human pathogen both socially Justinequalified forthe Promega Competition after correspondentfor an d e co n om tcal ly. l t's im p ortan t to un d erstan d the givingatalk atthe lrishBranch meeting in Galway epidemiologyof the diseaseso thatwe can put control earlierth is year.'Food poisoning caused by O | 57 is Gradline,Please a serious disease, which is increasing in lreland. your measuresin place to controlthe pathogen in the food lether have chain.' However, testsare not carried out routinelyand it storiesor news may take up to 6 days for a positive result. We have forpossible developednew probes as part of a PCR-based publication.Articles I AmandaSmith, Institute forAnimal Health, Compton technique to speed up the detection of the O 157 genesrequired forgrowth of serotype to within 48 hours.' anytopic of Theidentification of on inmilk interestto younger Streptococcusuberis are Amandais in an auspicious position;she is athird scientists yearPhD student, has almost completed writing her welcome(email thesisand has a postdoctoralposition lined up to work pa@sgm,ac,uk). on EscherichiacoliO157.' l'm looking forward to my

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Thenames of the winnerswere announced StudentMembership at the SocietvDi nner that StudentMembership of the Societyis available to Miflfl()BIOLOGY evening.Both the winners postgraduatestudents worldwide who haveno taxable showedenthusiasm for income,For an annual subscription of onlvU KS20 theirresearch work and (US$33)Student Members cin takeadvantage of the ... in BioMedNet Reviews ledthe audience into manybenefits thatthis category of membership the backgroundand provides,such as f reeregistration at SGM meetings Nowyou can create your own virtual methodologybefore andthe purchaseof Societypublications at greatly embarkingon the discountedorices.In addition Student Members who journalsfrom 1 1 2 journalsincluding detailedimplications of areresident and registered for a higherdegree in any Trendsand Current Opinion. theirresults. The winning EuropeanUnion country may apply for awardsf rom talkswere of averyhigh the President'sFund and Postgraduate Conference your standardthat moresenior grants(see p, 192for details) which provide financial Recommendan institute trialto microbiologistsmight assistancefor attendanceat scientificmeetings. librarian. hopeto aspiretolAfier careful deliberation,the Furtherdetails at bmn.com panelof judges, chaired bv PatGoodwin, decided UndergraduateMembersh ip to awardboth Gina UndergraduateMembership is open to students Manning and Ghris residentand registered for a f irstdeg ree in the U K $Hsru#s CurrentOpinion Smith withthe Promega andRepublic of Ireland,Forthe bargain subscription cheouesfor S2OO.The of onlyS'1 0 UndergraduateMembers will receive otherfinalists will all Mi c ro b i o I o g y Tod ay and may attend Society meeti n g s Hostedonline by BioMedNet receiveS25 from SGM withoutpayment of a registrationfee, Careers events bmn.Gom andayear'sfree willalso be held forthem at differentvenuesaround membershipof theSGM. the country,However Undergraduate Members will Ginaand Chris will now not be eligible for travelor conferenceg rants, gothrough to represent Informationabout this category of membershipis the societyin the beingcirculated to allrelevant U K university PromegaYoung Life rlonarimontc Scientistof the Year Award,whichwill be held Aurora nextyear,There they will becompeting against StudentSocieties otherPromega Prize SGMSponsored Lecture Scheme www.labplastics.com winnersfrom the areavailable to supportTWO lectureson BiochemicalSociety, the Grants Theserver maintains a oroductdatabase GeneticalSocietv and microbiologicaltopics per academic year at Student f f - ,r, I n i . which i ncoroorates al I current fi n ished oroduct tne 5fltsn )ocreIV Tor Societymeetings, r lmmunologyforthe A StudentSociety is eligible for support if : designsand specifications, The facility allows chanceto winatrophy for productpurchases, sample requests, sales andS2,OO0 prize money. It is runmainly by and for studentsof lifesciences, eitherpostg rad uates andlor underg rad uates, andcustomer support, special offers, and lfyou are a postgrador individualcustomer profiles. inthe first two yearsof a Itis based in the UK or Reoublicof lrelano oostdoc,then it couldn't Theinvited speakers will be reimburseddirectly beeasierto enter nexr for reasonablecosts of travelandaccommodation. vear'scom oetition, Just However,please note: presenta posteror an oral The maximumclaim for eachlecture is S 150. offeredpaper at a Society meetingand letthe Onespeaker may be invitedfrom abroad or MeetingsOffice know fromlreland, butthere can be no increasein the Mic?dbiblUgi thatyouwish to be maximumclaim forthe lecture, considered.Further lTheSocietywill be reimbursedforthe costsof detailsof the Promega entertainingthe speakerto dinner, including the Visitthe Society's website for details of all Prize are comoetition expensesof ONE memberof thecommittee, SGMactivities, meetings and publications. availableon the SGM websitewww.sgm.ac.uk Applicationforms are available from The Grants Office www.sgm,ac.uk atSGMHO(Tel, O1 1 B 9BB 1821;Fax01 1 B 9BB O TraceyDuncombe, 5656; email: [email protected]). Checkout our online journals and enjoy the SGM PublicAffairs extrabenefits of the electronic product. Administrator www.sgmiournals .org ffi

ffim-mffiwww ffiwmffiffireg'w Meetings on the web SFrSg$P*{A:H#*}'$""- ffi Benchmarkingin t a.$'#€Hrffits'q$$sxmrld microbiology education Up-to-dateinformation on future Society meetings is *,wtrf"*r*g EducationGroup available on the webs ite : http://wwwsg m.ac.uk ffis,;:ri+:t-lff;*tt 29March {.in Fw*s'e;* 1i.6. ffit. In ].:l,* r'6 * 0rganizer:Trevor Cartled ge Meetings organization t {j* ** fd$aea'*rfs *{:}{} t (trevor.cartledge@ntu,acuk) TheSG M meetingsprogrammes are organized by the O Main Symposium committeesof the special interest groups, co-ordinated # Microbe/pollutant New Ghallenges to interactions: bythe Scientif ic MeetingsOff icer, Professor Howard Threat Health: the biodegradationand Jenkinson.Suggestions for topics for f uturesymposia are of Virus Infection alwayswelcome. See p, 212lor contactdetails of Group bioremediation Conveners,Administration of meetingsis carried out by 0rganizers:PM. Goodwin, EnvironmentalMicrobiology McCauley MrsJosianeDunn of the Meetings Office atSGM WL,lrving,J Group Headquarters,Marlborough House, Basingstoke Road, D.J,Rowlands andG,L. Smith 29-30[/arch SpencersWood, Reading RG7 1AG (Tel.01 1I 988 Speakers: 0rganizer:KirkSemple 1805; Fax O1 1 8 9BB5656;[email protected]). (Atlanta) CJ PETERS Surveillance (k.semple@lanca$er,acuk) anddetection ofvrruses Millennium meeting BGRENFELL(Cambridge) @ Biotransformations 7verviewofthe epideniologhal University of WarwickApril 2000 Fermentation&Bioprocessing impactofviruses andPhysiology, Biochemistry & FightingInfection in the 21stCentury RELLI0TT(Glasgow) MolecularGenetics Groups Symposiumvolume Hantavirus/bunyavirus 27-28March Theprice is 565, BRICHARDS0N (Sydney) Thisis available f rom Blackwell Science, Thissession will dealwith whole- 0/o formembers ofSG M and SfAM. Calicrvirus,nyxomavirus andthe witha 40 discount cellmicrobial biotran$ormations Seep. 207 for a reviewof the book and details of how to wildrabbit inAustralia; ataleof andwill be multidisciplinary, ordera coov. tnvasnns A HAY(Nl[t]R) lnfluenza virus involvingbiologi$s, chemi$s and S.LE[40N (lexas) Hepatitisvirus biochemicalengineers. lt will focus Autumn 2OOO R,WEISS (London) ,9// onreactions currently under- 147thOrdinary Meeting T,BARRETT (Pirbright) renresentedinindu$rial 0r0cesses Universityof Exeter Morbilliviruses- dangers oldand 0rganizers:NeilBruce (n,bruce@ 12-lSSeptember2000 new biotechcam uk) and Gill Stephens (gm $ephens@umistac uk) CommunityStructure and Co-operationin C,WEI SSMAN N(London) IJFs Biofilms J.PST0YE (NIMR) fndogenous 4FNew enzymetargets SymposiumVolume 59 isavailable f rom CU P. An retro vir u s / xe n otran sp Iantati on foranti-microbials t C.B0SH0FF (London) orderformfor members is enclosed with this issue of MicrobialInfection Group with the bookappears on Gan mahe rpesvi ralinfectio nsin O Other Symposia MicrobiologyToday.A review of BiochemicalSociety p.207, im n u nocon pron ise dpop ulati ons and Workshops -D, (Marburg) 26l/arch Abstracts Book H KLENK The proteinsoffbolaand Marburg ffi Wall-lessorganisms a.m.Use of structural datato othersessions Thefull text of the abstracts book covering viruses- functions andpotential Cells&CellSurfaces Group ch arac[eri zen ovel [argets f ileon the SG M atthis meeting is now available as a PDF rolesinpathogenesis p.m.N ew ap proac hes to [arg et website, 27March DGUBLER(CDC USA)Densue 0rganizers:l,C,Suhliffe identification virus (iainsutcliffe@sunderland,ac.uk) 0rganizer:L,JV. Piddock. (l.t Offered posters H.LUDWIG (Berlin) Bornaviruses and[/l J, Woodward (mwoodward@ v,piddock@bhamacuk) Offeredposters are welcome but each one should be G,DARBY (Stevenage) Antiviral cvl.woodgtnet.gov.uk) drugdevelopnent andthe inpact of $BMicrobiology of associatedwith a Grouo.General Offered Posters will no nitricoxide longerbe accepted, Titles and abstracts should be sent drugresistance ffi Monitoringand tothe appropriate Convener, preferably by email. The treatmentof blood- Physiology,Biochemistry and subjectcontent should be relevant to theremit of the borneviruses MolecularGenetics Group Group(see website for details); itdoes not have to relate ClinicalVirology Group 29March-2sessions: theGroup Symposium taking place at the tothe topic of 2BMarch. There will also be an [ilitricwide in free'living bacteria particularmeeting, Abstracts are required in a standard 0fferedPapers session on29 lVlarch. lVitricoxide in the host-pathogen format- seewebsite for details or contact the Events 0rganizers:JeffConnell (jeff, interaction Administrator, (m.larkin@ connell@ucdie)and Conall 0rganrzer:[/1,Larkin McCaughey(cmccau ghey@ oub,ac.uk) qubac.uk)

lm ss$#ffifl$ffi9#tu#ffiYTODAYVOL27INOV00 .: Other i$#lf';;u iiri,+,{*. r$'i',if Events ,1':1' ,;i::Post-transcri ptional Lower respiratory Postgraduate 2OO1 Fulldetails ofthis event and a OlointASM/SGM controlof gene tract infections regi$ration{orm are on WaterfordInstitute theSGM Meeting expressron website ClinicalMicrobiology Group of Technology ;-i* i1i'13*{::l:,1:r ;!ii"iti.i :i VirusGroup flrnqniror', ,Annrrc ',,vuu Rolluu,l 0rganizer:SGillespie 4-5 January2001 i,,-rtl ([email protected]) dl li li ?"1t itq:: ;,1. lIi"tr * 2B-30March ji.+ ;,:;i,Research su pervision 0fferedpapers from postgraduates .iii,l;,;,,: i.1,, ilj {..iii: i' l:i i r::.q-:' Therewillalso beevening Deadlineforab$racts and - howtoget it right welrome. Biodegradation, workshopson26 and 29 lVlarch, registration31January 2001 0rganizer:Catherine 0Reilly Biotransformationand 0rganizer:I Brierley (ib103@mole EducationGroup (coreilly@witie) Biocatalysis bio.camac.uk) 0rganizer:A Eley Microbial Genome Plussupervisor training workshop : environment Furtherdetails ofthis meetinq can r;i, Functional Specialsym posi um : Problensolving insupervisor- interactions befound onp. 206. Genomics:beyond Genomics of studentdisputes .$r!iri i.j i:l *,,11.:i i: j::; thesequence Microbial Pathogens Q,ueen'sUniversity of ;,ii:.[/l i61e51"1 interactions Belfast Grantswill be available from the Systematics& Evolution Group TrinityCollege Dublin inaquatic environments Autumn2001 SGMforyoung members wishing withthe International Committee 22-23 March2001 toattend this meeting. Full details EnvironmentalMicrobiology 0rganizers:MartinCollins onSystematic Bacteriology Howwill the vast amounts of ofthe scheme willbe published Groupwith British Phycological ([email protected]) andMike informationbeing generated onthe inthe February 2001issue of 26-27[/larch Society Larkin(mlarkin@qub acuk) ContactGSaddler (g.saddler@ genomeseqLlences ofmicrobial MicrobiologyTodayand onthe SGM cabiorg) for details 0rganizer:GUnderwood pathogensbeused to advance our For details of lrish website:www.sgm.ac.uk (gjcu@essexacuk) knowledgeofthe biology ofthese Branch activities .;rriEvening workshop ri|;Bioprocess organismsandto devise new contactthe Convener, foryoungmembers: methodsofcontrol? |nternationally Martin Collins O Viral Zoonoses monitoringand control Genomics knownspeakers inthe area of (m. co II i n s @qu b. ac. u k) il"" : ; ?,liiiir;*;"rur i:iiii.i1i: Fermentation&Bioprocessing Physiology,Biochemistry functionalgenomics willaddress iir:i*,tl'l I ,l;;:r;i:llr;:i,;lr:lr*ir and Group MolecularGenetics Group thesequestions bydiscusslng the f r iri'i,i;;; f n;.i,',1 ;r3 :i!. f,"l,; 11,5 u; n 0rganizer:DMead newresearch thathas become 0rganizer:M Larkin (m larkin@ SGMClinical Virology Group, possibleusingwhole-genome qubac uk) ,:ilii'Mobile genetic EuropeanSociety for Clinical prokaryotic elementsin bacterial approacheswith and Virologyandthe European eukaryoticpathogens. 0fferedposters are welcome forall virulence SocietyforVeterinary Virology (SmithKline sessionsexcept those of the Virus MicrobialInfection Groun D.McDEVIIT Beecham 0rganizers:T.Wreghitt (Fax01223 USA)Ge n o n ics ; newstrate gies fo r Group.Please submit titles and 0rganizers:M Barer& PLangford 242n5)&J. Be$ (jenny.best@ abstractstothe appropriate smallnolecule drug discovery ; kcl.ac,uk) symposiumorganizer orGroup rtrClassification op p o rtu n iti e s an d h u rd Ie s Convenerbythe deadline of17 andidentification of l\/lPALLEN (Queen sUniversity of November2000 clinicallysignificant Belfast)Data mining bacterial O Fermentation & actinomycetes " gen0nesequences Bioprocessing Systematics& Evolution Group PD0RR (Pfizer UK) 3D Group structureanalysis coupled with 0rganizer:GSaddler 0fferedpaper/posters arewelcome hig h-th rou gh p u[ scre e g nin forthe B iotra ns/ormallons sessio n at R.RAPPU0LI(Chiron SpAltaly) Heriot-Wall(27-28 March 2001 ) - 0{feredposters are welcome forall Reversevaccinology deadlineNovember 172000 - and ., sessionsPlease submittitles and ,i:i.,i t i:..::'. ::;. PRATH0D (Catholic Universityof thesymposium onBioprocessing, abstractstothe appropriate America)0lobal transcri ptional Monrtoring& Cr,ntrrllal[JEA (10-11 symposiumorganizer orGroup changesinthe hunan nalaria O Main Symposium September2001) - deadline11 Convenerbythe deadline of11 parasi[ePIasn od iu n falci p aru n Mycobacteria: New May200'1, Please contact Glyn May2001 G.WEINSI0CK (Iexas) Developments Genomic Hobbs(email ghobbs@livjm, cilrrlipc nf cnirnnhqofoc 0rganizers:MGoodfellow uPtl uut tuuLUv ac.t]K) BWREN (London Srhool of PMGoodwin HM LappinScott Hygiene&Tropical Medicine) Ihe I D SaddlerandSmith fullCanpy ; postgenone analysis ofa food-borne pathogen O Other Symposia 0fferedpapers from lreland ryMicrobiallifestyles andabroad onall aspects o{ Cells&CellSurfaces Group microbiologywillbe accepted as 0rganizers:J Armitage &P Rainey po$ersanda small number of youngresearchers willbe chosen fnrnrcl nrpcontctinnc ;. .1 . .'l I T5 I

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Muchhas been made of the Departmentof Tradeand lndustry'sWhite PaperExcellence and Opportunity- a science and innovationstrategy for the 21 st century sinceits publication on 26 Julythis year, The media, in particular,have focused on one part,namely the S4 millionannual fund,which is beingset upto recruit 'theDavid Beckhams of scienceiln an attemptto 'brain createa national gaini50 leadingscientisis, chosenby a panelof expertsfrom the RoyalSociety, the RoyalAcademy of Engineersand the Wolfson Foundationresearch charity, would be luredto Britain withsalaries of up to S100,000.At present,British universitiespay professors a minimumsalary of aroundS35,000 to 340,000.Whether or notthis will haltthe 'braindrain' is arguable.The feelingof many scientistsquoted tn THES(28/7/00) was that it did not addressthe fundamentaloroblem that someof the brightestyoung scientists choose not to pursue careersin academicresearch because of the lackof Drosoects, The schemewas announcedas partof a package of measuresin the WhitePaper, lt setsout howthe 7 o/oper annum average increase in the science budgetover the nextthree years, announced in the Government's Com prehens ive Spend in g Review,wi | | be allocatedto maintainthe UK'sworld-class science, However,as departmentalbudgets have not yet been released,it maybe too earlyto knowwhether the moneyannounced for the sciencebase represents newfunding or largelya reshufflingof existingmoney. TheWhite Paper listed a numberof waysin whichthe governmentwas encouraging university employers,and funding and research councils,to developcareer guidance and staff development for youngpostdocs on fixed-termcontracts. lt was also examininghow it coulddo moreto helpwomen to progressin scientificcareers and how it could increasethe numbersof overseasstudents studying scienceand engineering in the UK,PhD stipends are to be increasedin stagesto reachS9,000 outside Londonby 2004.Inan announcementmade prior to the WhitePaper, this increaserecognized the growingproblem of attractingthe beststudents to research,and went someway towards meeting the recommendationsof the UKLSCWorking Party, Thecontinued funding to improvefacilities has beenwelcomed by all the leadingscience agencres, Notably,a furtherS 1 billioninvestment in science infrastructurewill be availablebetween 2002 and 20o4,fundedby Governmentand ihe WellcomeTrust ln the introductorychapter the needfor public on top of the Joint Infrastructure Fund (J lF). confidencein the wholenotion of scienceto be strong andwellfounded was emphasized.The government Familiarstatistics were usedto show that Britain's saw its rolein assuringconsumers that riskshave sciencebase already competes very well, but ihe beenproperly assessed and controlled and in governmentis clearlyworried about the futureof communicatingthose risks clearly and simply and science,lt was arguedthat we needto maintainour at the righttime. In that respect,guidelines on the use worldlead in the fieldswhere we exceland develop of scientificadvice by governmentdepartments a leadin new areas,while maintaining the capacity and agenciesare io be updatedand a new code to do sciencethat is recognizablyworld-class across of practiceencouraging openness for advisory the board,This was the rationalefor providingan committeesis to be publishedfor consultation, additionalS250 millionbetween 2002 and2004 However,similar guidelines and advisory committees in theiSpending Review for researchin the areasof were in place,for example,in the lasttwo yearswhen genomics,electronic science and informatics,and the publicmistrust over G M foodsgrew, and the in basictechnology such as nanotechnology, governmentwas forcedto draw backfrom its initial quantumcomputing and bioengineering, approach,Little was saidabout encouraging scientists TheWhite Paper acknowledged that the government to engagemore effectively with the publicother hasa clearrole in the fundingof basiccuriosity-driven thanthat the governmentwould build on existing research.The mainthrust of the findingswas to ResearchCouncil initiatives in trainingscientists addresshow bestto assistwith the transferof to communicatetheir work, researchfrom UK universitiesinto commercial O Tracey Duncombe, SGM Public Affairs productsand servicesin a waythat haspublic Ad mi ni strator (emai I [email protected]. u k) supportand involvement, The Paperconsidered that althoughthe Research AssessmentExercise (RAE) did not penalizeinter- i open.fiov.uk' Of{iceof kience disciplinarycollaboration, more support was needed, , , onlTeclrl* Itwelcomed the guidelinesfor the nextRAE that ,_*dH,,_*, basicand strategic research done in confidence for businessshould be givenequalweight alongside Excellenceflnd > paperspublished in peer-reviewedjournals, The RAE Opportunity willnot be usedto divertresearch funds to support s snienc€*nd innovation policy ofo, universities'applied work, Instead, a larger,permanent, j Feir{i#rp* + rhr zrtt u'f,|urr streamof fundingwill replace the presentReach Out "*- -i'-----"^*-"- i chwt* t > p,Selsfiod Fdlcy [0i ll]6 gtr*t osfihrFJ fundingstream. The HigherEducation Innovation ,.i.,,-;,,-,--...,.",,.,.-- - j flhstlr t r €ffe$Eflcd ln $denoe Fundwill be worthS 140 millionover three years, '---i*-**'----" {ftryt*t A t rl0rhfi trrJsthfl Otherschemes to encouragecollaboration with .-i--""'-i -*- -- Oppsl[Httlld6 includefunds to strengthenregional science ftrywr' *onBdsnt SujglNfi'ter$ industry I I andto createnetworks, which are to be made availablethrough regional development agencies. Althoughthis funding is welcomed, the UKLSC pointedout in an earlierconsultation that much collaborationis carriedout on a nationalor internationalscale rather than at a regionallevel, The Paperalso considered that it was necessaryto startat the base,with bettereducation for all children in science,lt wantsto beef up schoollabs, persuade Acknowledgement 'scienceambassadors'to encourage children - particularlygirls - to take sciencemore seriously and I wouldlike to thankMike Withnall, Secretary to the permittingthe use of launcha'science year'in September 2001. A new UK LifeSciences Committee, for the of this sciencecurriculum, with greater emphasis on practical hissummary of theWhite Paper as basis science,was implementedin Septemberthis year. article. Thenew S 10,000 trainingand recruitmentpackage forteachers intends to attractmore well-qualified candidates,Several other initiativeswere listedthat wouldsupport continuing professional development of scienceteachers. The governmentalso announced that it intendedto work with the providersof science materialsto schoolsto providea singlepoint of supportfor scienceteachers, so that all were awareof the resourcesavailable.

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'';'^',,i."'. The SGM pu bl is h es two month ly j our nals, Mictobiology .,:v 'q -b'1" :1.: g1;:* ""I ! -"., Microbiology Today xq"'*rlfi ,E #; ;?t frf,U .6i:" l i,ii1 General Virology. EditorMerielJones #,Hfl#'f*# andloumal oi takesa lookat some f he Intemalional loumal of Systematic and Amongall the scientific Thekey is the way the EvoI uti o n a ry M i crobi o I ogy (US EM, f o rme rI y lJS$ papersin current workand personal tragedies animal's peripheral blood ispublished bimonthly on behalf of the lU MS in issuesof the ofAIDS, manyaspects are mononuclearcells (PB M C) conjunctionwith the ICSB. stillnot understood. One of do,or do not, allow the vrrus Society'sjournals Thethreejournalsare now available online, theseis how the infection to multiply.The researchers whichhighlight new Forf urtherinformation visit the jou rnal website: cantake different courses collectedblood from andexciting http :,//www.sgmiou rnals.olg ind ifferent individuals. uninfected animals, added developmentsin Althoughthe dose and viral virustoPBMC isolated Membersmay purchase SGM journals atconcessionary microbiological strainsresponsible for fromthe blood and recorded rates.See p, 1 94 orcontactthe Membership Off ice for research. humanH lV infections are howwellthe virus grew. details,Information on commercial subscriptions rs highlyvariable, there are Themacaques were then availablef rom the Journals Sales Office, peopleknown to havebeen infectedwith SIV and the infectedth rough identical researchershad to care +"+ifg?],ti'$l,;,,'ltrft''$:g ,g 4$l L routeswith the same strain. forthemas the disease thehuman Evenso, the progress of the progressed.After bring ing Epstein-Barrvirusinfects morethan 9O % of onthe vast majority. diseasehas not been the togetherinformation on 59 populationand has no apparent effect lifelongharmless residence within one of same,Thisiseven clearer in macaquesfrom vaccine and Thevirus takes up restingmemory animalexperiments, when therapeutictrials, the thetypes of cellin the immune system, the Theviral genes stay within the cells in an inactive thereis no question butthat scientistsare conf ident that B cells. numberof people,the virus alltheanimals were infected theycan now pred ict wh ich condition. In a very small incancerous withidentical amounts of animalswill live for a long unfortunatelyre-surfaces in an active state factorin the initiation of the virus.Simian immuno- timewith a SIVinfection and tissues,and is considered a nasopharyngeal deficiency virus (SlV) causes whichones will die rapidly, disease.One of these is undifferentiated National of a fatalAl DS-like disease in Animalswith blood cells that carcinoma(NPC). Scientists atthe University thedifferences between rhesusmacaques and this arehigh producers of virus Singaporehave been studying individualswho neverlheless hasbeen used as a modelfor willprogress to disease patientswith N PC and healthy virusin their blood, HlVandAIDS in humans. signif icantly more quickly haveantibodies tothe thanif their PBMC are low people had intheir Althoughthe average time Abouthalf of the theyexamtned signs orintermediate producers of Thevirus requires activity of untildeath of a SIV-infected bloodthatthe virus was active. virus.This knowledge can be researchers macaqueis 1-2 years,some a numberof genesto replicateitself, and the usedin the design of f uture notall of them. ltwas as if anrmalsdie within months coulddetect activity of some,but trials,and since it suggests itself,butwas unable whileothers live for many thevirusoccasionallytried to replicate thatvirusgrowth is controlled taken years.Experiments are to completethe process. When they examined cells byinnate characteristics inflamedthroats of someof carriedout with small groups fromthe carcinoma itself, orthe ofthe individuals, itgives an healthyvolunteers,the situationwas ofanimals, often fouror less, theirotherwise additionalfactor for activityof allthe viral andthis natural variation different.Thecancercells had signs of understanding,and while gene,BRLF 1, mayconceal any effect genesrequired to startreplication, one combating,thisleihal cells, ofatherapeutictrial, wasinactive in the non-cancerous ABOVE: disease, False-colourimageof HlV. Researchersatthe Thebody usually responds to the presence of newproteins PHOTODISC Un iversity of Pittsburg h Seman, A. L.,Pewen,\7. F., bydirecting the immune system to removethem. Afirst step Schoolof Medicine,working Fresh,L. F.,Martin,L. N. & inthis direction isthe synthesis of proteinscalled antibodies Murphey-Corb, M. (2000). OPPOSITEPAGETOP: withstaff at the Tulane thatbind specificallyto the new protein and mark itfor - The replicative capacity of Cellslacking sphingosine-1 RegionalPrimate Research Whenthe researchers looked for antibodies to rhesusmacaque peripheral blood destruction. phosphatelyasehave increased Center,have now reported theproductof Ihe BRLFlgene in the blood of 53 patients tothe anticancer mononuclearcel ls For simian resistance theresult of a decadeof withN PC, they could detect it in 83 % ofthem, In contrast, drugcisplatin Sphingosine-1 - im munodefi ciency vi rusi n il t ro workthatallows them to predicrive the rateo[ positivereaction among the same phosphatelyasenull mutants is of theycould only f indone knowin advance which progression to AIDS in uiuo. (redline) created byhomologous J number of their control volunteers, animalswilldie rapidly after G enViro I 8I, 2441 -2449. recombinationare25 times more Otherscientists have suggested that the product of resistanttocisplatin thanthe infectionand which survive Ihe BRLFlgene may be impodant in the re-activation of parentalwild-type cells (yellow fora longtime, andthe development of cancer.The line)The sphingosine-'1 - Epstein-Barrvirus phosphatelyase mutant also resultsof this study ind icate that, although this may well be exhibitsdramatically altered fGYDIrcct true,it also betrays the presence of the active virus in the morphogenesis(right inset) On p. 151 of theAugust issue oI MicrobiofogyToday,an formof a uniqueantibody, The researchers hope that it will comparedtothe parent (left inset). incompletewebsite address was printed forlGVllirect. bepossible to develop this into an earlytestforthe disease. COURTESYGUOCHUN tI SUPRIYA Thefulladdressis: (2000). SRINIVASAN,HANNAH ALEXANDER & Feng, P., Ren, E. C., Liu, D., Chan. S. H. & Hu, H. virus lytic gen e BRLF 1 in nasopharyngeal STEPHENALEXANDER UNIVERSITY OF htg :/ /www.sgm.ac.uk/l GVDircct Expression ofEpstein-Barr MISSOURIUSA carcinoma:potential usein diagnosts.JGenVirul 81,2417 -2423.

7NOV00 &wrugrmffid $rmwe? Asmallamountofiron is an indispensable componentof alI livi ng cel ls, However, the very chem istry that makes it essentialinside acellalso makes itvirtually insoluble inthe naturalenvironment. There is around 1 0 milliontimes less solubleiron in the soilenvironmentthan isreouired to sustainm icrobial Iife. The bacteria themselves have solved this con und ru m, They synthesize and secrete chem icals, calledsiderophores, to dissolve and then transportthe preciousmetal back inio the cell, As a consequence,several scientistshave suggested that bacteria may compete for thisessential resource, perhaps through productron of ever moreeff icient srderophores. DominiqueJoyner and Steven Lindow atthe University of Californiain Berkley, USA, have been studying the behaviour of Pseudomonassyringaq commonlyfound on the leaves of plants.To f indout if microbesreally compete for iron, theywantedawayto measure its availabilityon the scale experiencedby bacteria. To do this they joined the gene for ffimmwm*ws%ffiffiSwmsw€#-wmrym,qw a fluorescentgreen protein to a smallpartof one f rom _w$mffiffiw&$sw Pseudomonas.This region regulated production of an Onebizarre fact about thismicro-organism is thatmaysignalthe enzymerequired in the biosynthesis of siderophoresto canceris that damage to thatthey can be confident differencebetween death ensurethatthecellonly made them when the environment DNAcan be both its origin thatany resistant cells orcontinuedlife and waslow in iron. By putting the two togetherwithin the andcure, The chemical containonly a single proliferation in animal Pseudomonascell,theresearchers had a systemthat cisplatin,that joins together mutationand this can be cells.The mutation certainly shouldhave reflected the external level of ironthrouoh the adjacentDNA bases, is a identifiedreadily, The hasa verydramaiic eftect amountof greenfluorescence of the cells, widelyused treatment for biochemistryand cell ondevelopment in Tocheckthat it reallyworked,cultures of the bacteriawere cancer.Unfortunately, its biologyof slime moulds rs Dictyostelium.Instead of grownin liquid containing known amounts of ironand then effectivenessisoften limited verysimilarto that of developinginto an elegant their f Iuorescence was measu red. Th is was i nversely asthe cancerous cells animals,and they are ovalof sporeson a slender proportionaltothe amount of iron,giving the researchers developresistance to it. multicellularforpart of their stalk,themutants have a confidencetomove on to measurementsof individual Scientistsare keen to lifecycle. Thus, research on short,fat stalkand very few bacteria,Theyused a microscopelinked to acomputerto understandthe exact nature thisorganism is highly spores.Two other mutations, assessf luorescence from individual cells and again found a ofthis resistance, so that applicableto studiesof bothin genes that might be clearrelationship between increasing fluorescence theycan improve cancer humandisease. involvedin intracellular and I decreasingiron. therapy. communication,also had Sofar, the researchers dramaticeffects on Whentheyfinally looked atthe surface of broad-beanleaves lnvestigationsof cisplati n- havetested mutations in development, thathad been dipped into cultures of the bacteria,things, of resistanitumour cells have 1n- 1 5 o/nnf iho nano5 jp1 course,were more complicated. The leaves already had spotteda largenumberof Dictyosteliumand found Theresearchers point out somebacteria on them, and so the researchers had to pick changesthat might be the seventhat individually thattheyare combining outtheiron-sensing strain from amongstthem.About reasonfor their survival. provideprotection agai nst detailedmolecular biology 100/o ofthese cel ls had a substantially hig her f Iuorescence than Itcan, however, be very cisplatin. I nteresti ngly, th is andcell biology in awaythat therest, which implied that some cells sensed much less iron difficultto identifythe protectionis specifrc promises f urther insi ghts thanthe majority,Thus, from a bacterium'spoint of view, exactmolecu lar details, tocisplatin since the intothe mechanism of althoughthere was adequate iron on the leaf surface for Researchersatthe Dictyostel ium cells retai ned cisplatinresistance. lt may mostof them, there were a fewcel ls sufferin g f roma Universityof Missouriand theirnormal sensitivity to alsosuggest new drugs that shortage,As the researchers learn more about the very theMax-Planck-l nstitut at otherDNA-damaging couldenhancethe smallscale of the microbial environmentthey hope to MarlinsriedinGermany chemicals.The function of sensitivityof cancercells to eventuallyunderstand how such characteristics affect decidedto take a different someof these genes is cisplatin, microbialbehaviour. approach,They have been currentlyunknown while Li, G., Alexander, H., studyingmutant cells othersimmed iately suggest D. C. & Lindow, S. E. (2000). Heterogeneity ofiron Schneider,N. & Alexander, S. Joyner, bioavailability on plants assessedwith awhole-cell GFP-based fromthe slime mould howthey cause res istance. (2000). Molecular basis for bacterial biose nsor Microbiology 146, 2435 -2445. Dictyosteliu m di scoi d e u m Oneof the latter is a resistanceto the anticancer drug thatcanlive despite being mutationin the gene for cisplatin in D ictyosteliun. immersedin the cytotoxic sphin gosine- 1-phosphate Microbiolo gy I 46, 2219-2221 . chemical.The researchers lyase.This enzyme is saythat the advantageof requiredfor the breakdown ofsphingolipids, ina process

fts$ff:ffi{$ffi'${Ftu##YrODAY VOL27INOV00Eil 'u lr?xl:'&:: r, Wastetreatment and outthat getting something DNA,Thepoorness of the disposalsites are good to growwas fairly easy, but match,along with allthe placesto discovernew obtaininga pure culture of it otherinformation, clinched speciesof microbes,They wasdiff icult, After many theidentity of a newspecies, arecomplex, new habitais, attempts,they succeeded in whichthey called J. terrae, whichoften contain unusual isolatinga roughly spherical A {r rrlhar cnonioq nf r^..,- -1., organismthat produced organicmaterials and are J ani b acte r, J. brev is,wilh methaneand grew best at simplyawaiting inhabitants. theuseful abilityto degrade 35 "C,ltsgrowth was Inaddition,there is trichloroethylene(TCE), a butnotstopped, by considerablescientif ic, slowed, solventused in dry cleaning heavymetals.To decide commercialand regulatory anda numberof industrial the interestin ensuring that exactlywhat it was, nr^.oeeac hqc hoon vvvvvvvr researcherscompared the y, rubbishdecays in as reportedbyJapanese sequenceof one of its harmlessa manner as scientists,They isolated it genesagainst a databaseof possible.Three recent fromasample of of sequencesof papersin IJSEM describe thousands grou ndwater contam inated thesame gene f romother newspecies that have byleaks of the solvent by Theclosest match beenunearthed in such bacteria, providingTCE as the sole wasto a memberof the unsavourysurroundings, sourceof nourishment,The genusMeth anocalculuq but rrtarr rttt\'rutlvilvrrt"qieiYil': ofthe products of glisteningwhite bacterial i.t.iifi"i llLii:i' One itwas s uff iciently d ifferent to microbiallife, especially in colonieswere made up of beassigned to a new oxygen-freedepths of a sphericalcells and when the species,M eth an ocal cu I u s site,is methane. theresearchers investigaied waste pumilus. Specialpipework can be theirchemical characteristics, installedto channel this A wastewatertreatment the nearestmatch was to safelyaway.lt is a plantin Korea has turned Janibacter. characteristicwaste outtobe the home of a ' Mori, K., Yamamoto, H., productof microbesknown newspecres oI Jantbacter. Karnagata,Y., Hatsu, M. & asmethanogens, whtch are Thisgenus, within the family Takamizawa K. (2000). membersof the bacterial In tras p oran g iacb ae, has Metbanoca/culaspumilus sp. nov., domaincalled the Archaea. beenrepresented by a a heavy-metal-tolerant Japanesescientists, singlespecies until now methanogen isolated from a yst studyinga disposalsite on Scientistsatthe Korea waste-disposal st te. I ntJ S EuolMicrobiol 50, l1 23-11 29. anartificial island in the sea ResearchInstitute of nearOsaka,realized Bioscienceand Yoon,J.-H., Lee, K.-C., Kang, thatmethane was being Biotechnologyand S.-S.,Kho,Y. H., Kang, K. H. TOPLEFT: ABOVE: produceddespitethe SungkyunkwanUniversity & Park, Y.-H . (200O).J ani bacter Anaerial view of downtown 0saka Citrob acte r cells loaded with amountof toxic heavy havebeen studying the terraesp. nov., a bacterium andthe Port of 0saka The two LlraniLlmTheleft panel shot,vs isolated from soil around a metalsin the waste. Very few microbiallife in the soiland artificialislands inthe foreground thecellfairly dark with deposited wastewatertreatment plant. ofthe known methanogens sludgef romthis treatment arethe 0saka North Port Sea- uraniumbutsome detail can still lnrJ SystEuol Microbiol 5O, beseen in particular fibrillar cantolerate heavy metals, plant,which has to copewith BasedSolid-Waste-Disposal Site. t82r*1821. Thepentagonal island is the North materialatthe cell surface. Allthis sothis was a good toxicaromatic chem icals. Sectionandthe the heptagonal isobscured bythe heavy uranitlm lookfor them. Theun usual characieristics Imamura, Y., Ikeda, M., opporlunityto islandisthe South Section. The depositonthe cell in the right of onestrain, CS 1 2T, caught Yoshida,, S. & Kuraishi,H. Theresearchers desig ned (2O00).J anibacter breuis sp. nov., landproduced bywaste-filling can panelThis cell is loaded with more theireyes. The components itsolvn r,veight of uraniumThe conditionsthat should have a new trichloroethylene- clearlybeseen The organism was than of itsround cells were very isolatedfrom the land produced in cellappears black and encrLlsted, beenideal forthese unusual degrading bacterium isolated similartoJ. limosus,bui theSouth Section lnset: Ultrathin buta preciptate ofuranyl organisms,added a small from polluted environments. sufficientlydifferent to make IntJ SystEaol Microbktl 50, sectionofMethanocalculus phopshatecanbe seen extruding amountof liquidthat had theresearchers exami ne 1899-1903. pumilusMHT-1r.Bar0 5 pm fromthe cell Cells inboth panels fromthe site and leached howwell its DNA matched COURTESYDRK TAKA[/IIAWA arc1-2llm in length watchedfor growth. lt turned withauthentic J, l i mosus GIFUUNIVERSITY. JAPAN COURTESY LYNN EI/ACASKI E UNIVERSITYOFBIRI\/INGHAM

'{:l*&4iJ,Vja,r&r*!*fr{:*:t:l:,ft'#i"{TOWNOL27/NOV00 wrwlLp:rW$ry@* Microbesare the great recyclers of theplanet, Much of their workin the decay and dissolution of once-livingmaterial goesun-noticed, or iseven unwanted. However, their abilitiesare becoming increasingly appreciated and exploited.Heavy metals are avery difficulttype of waste material.Many are toxic and cannot be destroyed but are bestconcentrated so that the metal can be either re-used or putcaref ully out of the way. Some micro-organisms are remarkablyeff icient at crystallizing metals around therr cells, Thismay be for their own protection, but can form part of strategiesto cleanup metal-contaminated soils. Researchersatthe Universityof Birmingham, UK, have now reportedtheir most recent study of the way the bacterium Citrobacterdealswith the heavy metal uranium, This bacteriumbecomes coated with uranyl phosphate if itis suspendedina solutioncontaining uranium. The crystals on thecell are notsimply due to the heavy metal sticking to all availablesurfaces.The researchers have been gradually buildingup a pictureof howthe bacterial cells control the depositionofthetoxic metal, allowing them to livedespite beingcovered in severaltimes their own weight of uranium. Throughcollaboration with the Research and Technology sectionof B NFL at Preston,U K, they were able to lookat thecells using atomicforce microscopy, with minimal disturbancetotheir natural form. This showed the metallic coatin g particularly wel L Th is abi Iity to accum u late relatively largeamounts of the metalis the attractionas partof a systemforfiltering the pollutantfrom water. Anenzyme called phosphatase secreted bythe cells is an essentialcomponent but perhaps surprisingly, itis inhibited byuranyl ions. From detailed measurements ofthe exact elementalandstructural composition ofthe deposits, the researchersthinkthatthe first protective step is associatton ofthe uranyl ions with the comparativelyfew phosphate groups of the lipopolysaccharide coat that always covers r Citrobactercells.This traps the toxic metal. The next step involvesthe phosphatase enzyme which the researchers thinkis itself associated with the lipopolysaccharide. lt releasesphosphate ions, wh ich d rift away to capture f urther uranylions, imprisoning them away f romthe vulnerable enzymeand cytoplasm of the cell. Simple chemistry conveds theinitial complexes into a meshworkof more insoluble sodiumuranyl phosphate crystals around the cell. Oneparticularly intriguing aspect of this research rs the leveloforganization itimplies atthe cell surface.lt isanother indicationthatthe enzymes secreted by bacterial cells can beinvolved rn carefully controlled activities, despite being on thefurthest f ringe of what has tradrtionally been thought of asa livingcell.

Macaskie, L. E., Bonthrone, K. M., Yong, P. & Goddard, D. T. (2000). Enzymically mediated bioprecipitation of uranium by a Citrobactersp.: a concerted role for exocellular iipopolysaccharide and associatedphosphatase in biomineral formation. Microbiology146, r85t-r867.

i learningand BrilliantGareers TeachingSupport - Channel4has launched acareers website for16-24 NetworkCentre for Uyear-oldswhichaccording tothepublicity promisesto offer 'infornation Bioscience andadvice with the distinctive Channel4twisl Thesite Ittre LTSNisa new national providesinformation forthose who have clear ideas about their future V networksetup to promote andthose who are exploring their options Key elements ofthe site include andsupport high quality learning gamestests guidance oncreating successful CVs, application forms andteaching inall subject andinterviewtechniques Thesite will also feature adigital mentoring disciplinesinU K higher education andadvice service provided bycareer advisers andinterested TheCentre for Bioscience isnow in profess io nal s operationatLeeds University Thewebsite isclosely modelled onsuccessful formats that Channel 4 whereit is based inthe School of previouslyused and has potential t0targety0tlng people who may Biochemistryand[/lolecular has themore conventional sources ofcareer advice BiologyThe Director isProfessor notnecessarily consult ExternalRelations 0ffice $aff initially contacted one of the site ffi EdWood The main activities ofthe When editorsthere had been no immediate plansto include any information Centreare: onbiological science careers although chemistry was represented. A 'ffi Promotionofdevelopment and meetingatChannel 4 e$ablished thatthey felt careers inbioscience sharingofinnovation andgood shouldbe included onthe website butthe editors need assistance from practiceinlearning, teaching professionalscientists Which iswhere SGM members maybe able andassessment tohelp. to @Formation ofnetworks Thesite features abank of careers profiles ofpeople who have followed facilitatecommu nication aclear path in their chosen career and those who have taken amore of betweenUKbioscientists unconventionalapproach either by choice orforce of circumstance alldisciplines Volunteersareasked toprovide information aboutthemselves ina short ffiProvisionofa repositoryof que$ionnairewhich Channel 4 will turn into a profile lf youknow s0me0ne materialsandinformation to witha suitable career path or perhaps think your own would be appropriate supporttheCentre saims pleasecontact Jane Westwell atSGM HQ who will provide you with a questionnaire forwardmaterialto Channel4, Digital ContactDrHeather Sears, the andwill be happyto areto be specialistformicrobiology, for mentorsare also needed and if biosciencesandmicrobiology you commityourselftothe furtherinformation (Te1.0113 233 representedit isdown to us. lf feelableto occasionalsession ofonline mentoring, please contact Jane Westwell 3001) or see http://bio,ltsn,ac.uk (jwe$well@sgm,ac uk)for further details. Scienceon show It'sa record! newWellcomeWing 1|ne Tribehas received acertificate iromGulnness UoftheLondonScience- DrHenry Bugalarge-scale modelof Museumwas launched inJuly.lt V confirmtngthathis Mlllennium beendisplayed atmany SGIV meetings is occupiesthree $rikingly decorated Escherithiacoliwhichhas world. levelsand is very different from the thelargest model bacterium inthe traditionalmtlsetlm inthe way the exhibitsaredesigned. Manyare interactiveThere isa big section on

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lGommunity microbialcommunities growing thefocus and rigour imposed on year!At the same time, the World UStructureand assurface-associated biologicalstudies bythe Health0rganization warns, inits Co-operationin Biofilms. aggregates,andthat such sessile applicationofmodelling ;the recentreport Removing lbstacles SGMSymposium Uol. 59 organismsmay display differing constantinterplay between toHealthy Developmen{ that'an phenotypeand genotype from environmentalfactors, physical infectiousdisease crisis of global Editedby D,G. Allison, PGilbert, planktonic has andchemical, onthe proportionsis H.M.Lappin-Scott &M, Wilson their cousins, biological todaythreatening us agenuine paradigm responseofbiofilm systems;the hard-wongains in health PublishedbyCambridge broughtto andlife shiftin our understanding of dynamicnature of biofilms atall expectancyiInfections account UniversityPres (2000) microbiology,pureand applied, stagesoftheir development; the for13 million deaths ayear Thereisa 60 % discount toSG M Thevery magnitude ofthe counter-intuitiveconclusion that globally,one in every two deaths membersbuying personal copies: differenceinapproach required genetransfer rates are not indeveloping countries. 0fthese, SGM Members S28,00/$50.00 forbiofilm studies has, however, necessarilyenhanced inbiofilms, morethan half are of children Non-members$70,00/$1 25.00 given paradox years riseto a atthe Incommon with all previous under5 old,And even StudentMembers S17,00 centreof much research inthis booksinthe series, this biofilm amongthose children who survive pp,349, ISBN : 0-521 -79302-5 field,While the inherent volumehas set itself the difficult infection,their development may geometrical, complexityofthe taskof introducing thesubject beso badly impaired bydisease IheSGM symposium series physical,chemical and biological thatthey will never reach their hasfor long been ahallmark of areato a new scientific audience, potentialas heterogeneitiesarerecognized, while full individualsand theSociety's commitment to atthe same time serving as productive thedemands ofexperimentation anuptothe-minute statement of membersofsociety. scientificpublishing atthe highest give genome andinterpretation often rise currentdevelopments, expressed Knowingthe human will levelandhas, inno small toapproaches thatcan be nothelp them; understanding measure,contributed toits ata level and depth valuable tothe dangerouslyover-simplified, variousexperts themselves infectiousdisease sufficiently to internationalstanding. Beside Forthisreason much research beable to do something about it theexcellence ofmany ofthe activelyinvolved inone or other inbiofilms hasbeen closely cornerof this particular research might, molecularbiology, Not individualvolumes,theseries as a concernedwithmethodology surprisinglyfora multi-authored wholehas been characterized by field.In this it hassucceeded, and Fightinglnfection inthe 2l st quality andinputfrom the engineering shownitself to beworthy of Ce ntu isaline ly, i nteresti ng bookof this type, the ofthe thetimeliness ofthe choice of physical ry chaptersis and scienceshasbeen inclusioninthe pantheon ofthe anduseful addition tothe somewhatvariable in subjectareas tobe presented, termsof novelty ofideas, level criticalto the development ofa SGMsymposium series. bookshelf(bed-side table?) of of Thisis certainly true of this most scientific coherentbody ofhypotheses. anyoneconcerned about the detailand ability to recentvolume onbiofilms. Modellinghas now begun to playa lAllanHamilton, stimulatedebate, Nevertheless, UniversityofAberdeen paradoxthatthe incidence of 'good centralrole in this respect, infections,bothancient and thebook as a whole isa readi Theseunique aspects ofbiofilm Thebook can be ordered bypost using emerging,isincreasing andindeed itsvery researchare clearly evident inthe theform in this issue ofMicrobiology relentlesslydespite our ability to heterogeneityissomehow its presentvolume. The 10 chapters, loday,Ihisforncanalso be used to describethe virulence properties symbolicof inescapable frommost of the major groups in orderanypastvolumes missed by ofmany pathogens inincredible message,thatfuture successes inthe fight against infection thiscountry, Europe and North membersatthe time of publication molecularandcellbiological will heauily Amedca,areorganized into StudentMembers wishing topurchase detail.There are chapters that depend on'all th e approacheswe Introduction(1),Formation & SymposiumVolumes should contact celebratenewand exciting canfind, whether structure,including detachment theGrants Office atlVarlborouqh technologies(genome-based oldand unfashionable ornew and &modelling (7),Community " Houseforasnecial form discoveryofnew vaccines, trendll. interactions,including gene vaccineproduction inplants) lPeterWilliams, transfer(4), Practical anda chapter that proposes the Un iversity of Leicester applications(3)and Epilogue (1), Oiln.[XHll'ffl',"i're-evaluationofold approaches Anorderform maybe obtained from Whileeach article varies, (probioticsandphage), There ScienceMarketing Department accordingtosubject matterand Editedby P,W, Andrew, P,Oyston, arechapters that rehearse the G.L.Smith & D.E.Stewart-Tull BlackwellScience LtdOsney lVlead author,as to length and the extent lessonstobe learned from past 0xford0X2 0EL(Tel +44(0)1865 towhich an attempt ismade to PublishedbyBlackwell Science experiences(liveattenuated (2000) 206013;Fax +44 (0)1865 721 205; drawconclusions ofmore general vaccines,thefirst antibiotic era) wwwblackwell-science com) significance,inevery case the Non-members$65,00 andothers that describe in materialispresented lucidly and SGMmembers are entitled toa elegantdetail the possibilities for withreference tothe appropriate 40% discount onthe book. The newvaccines and diagnostic tests backgroundstudies. Key pricetothem is$39,00, (conservedepitopes inLPS, 'biofilm'first componentsofbiofilm research -7-X multilocussequence typing). And Theword appeared thatare identified, often by more pp.212,1 SB N : 0-632-0581 lestwe forget that microbiology is inthe title of an SG M symposium thanone author, are: the anessentially multidisciplinary paperwithmy own contribution to Advancesinmedical sciences obligatoryinterdisciplinary nature duringthe 20th Century led to subject,there are chapters theecology volume in1987, The ofbiofilm studies; cell-cell remindingusthat the greatest 16papers inthe presentvolume dramaticincreases inlife communicationmediated byacyl worldwide,The advances,innumericalterms at neatlydemonstrate themassive expectancy homoserinelactones (although it 21stCentury began with least,are just as likely to come increaseinimportance ofthe the issurprising how little is actually announcementthatthe human frombetterhygiene and subjectarea overthe last 13 knownabout this aspect) the genome - higherquality foods asfrom years, ; hasbeen sequenced Theawareness thatthe oftendeterministic influence of popularpress predicts sophisticatedposfgenomic greatmajority ofnatural the cures hydrodynamicandother physical forall mankind's illswithin the ecosystemsinvolve mixed forcesonbiological expression;

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lfyou would like lThe Uarietyof accountofKoki Horikoshi's studentstrying to grasp how ln Passionfor DNA: yourname to be V[ife: ASurvey and lifelongwork on alkaliphilic variousprocesses work, The UGenes, Genomes, A Gelebration0t AllThe micro-organisms,Thisthird work qualityofsome images is andSociety addedto our GreaturesThat Haue Euer compriseseight large chapters disappointing,however, reflecting ByJ.D,Watson databaseof book Iiued thatoutline theisolation and thefact that the program is Publishedby0xford University reviewers,please ByC, Tudge taxonomyofalkaliphiles, their designedfora small 16-colour Press(2000) Publishedby0xford University formand function, including the screen.The text is comprehensive S'18.99,pp,256 completethe book Pres(2000) biochemicalbasisof alkaliphily, butcomes mainly as large blocks ISBN:0-19-850697-X reviewerinterests S35.00,pp.684 thecunent state of the molecular thatare sometimes hadly formnow available ISBN:0-'19-850311-3 biology,and finally, around half of structuredwith numerous Althoughsome are onthe SG M thebook is devoted toenzymes typographicalerrors, There are autobiographical,theseessays, Thisbook attempts the producedbythese microbes and othersmallquirks, but Ithink writtenperiodically fromthe website. monumentaltaskof introducing theindustrial applications. This moststudents would find the sixtiesthrough tothe present, allthe principal groups of versiondiffers from previous packagevery rewarding, ltis mainlypresent Watson's views, A classified organismsthat have existed on booksinhaving amore detailed definitelyworth having alook, oftenradical, on the topical issues compendiumof Earth.Inevitably there are a few considerationofalkaliphile althoughthe price may make you oftheday: a fascinatingjourney shortcomings,suchas an ecologyand systematics, andof thinktwice. throughthedevelopment of bookreviews from absenceoflabelled diagrams to course,themolecular biology, lMikeTait moleculargenetics, The writing 1996 tothe augmentthe textual descriptions whichhas evolved considerably Universityof Wales isclear, tothe point and very presentis also oforganism structure, some overthe last two decades, Swansea readable,But, apartfrom simply availableon the inconsistenciesinthe use of culminatinginthe preliminary enjoyingimaginary arguments formaltaxonomic names and dataleading tothe complete withWatson overthe website. imbalancesinthe coverage (the genomesequence ofthe model lChaperonin controversialpoints he makes on prokaryotes,forexample, are alkaliphileBacil Ius sp. C-125, UProtocols. Methods usingmice for medical research, dealtwithinjust 20 out of 684 cunentlyalmost complete, The in MolecularBiology, thedangers ofgenetically pp,).Nevertheless, thisbook has bookisvery much for dipping Uol140 manipulatedorganisms andthe farmore strong points than weak, intoas an advanced reference EditedbyC, Schneider prosand cons ofthe human principallytheaccuracy ofthe sourceforthose with specific PublishedbyHumana Press (2000) genomeproject (just three informationand its presentation biotechnologicalormolecular US$79.50,pp,232 examples),Ifound myself inthe context ofmodern concepts questionsand is definitely not a ISBN:0-89603-739-8 planninghowI could use the ofphylogenetics. There isalso an beginne/sguide toalkaliphiles. essaysfordiscussion intutorial excellentintroductory section Indispensablereadingfor those Thisisa specialized protocol groupsatboth under- and explainingtheprinciples of withindustrial leanings, bookwhich brings together an postgraduatelevels. The text will andsystematics. The lBillGrant invaluableoverview oftwo main notonly inform and broaden evolution - targetaudience isthe non- Un ive rs ity of Lei cester aspectsofchaperonin research studentminds but also stimulate specialistand the aim is to guide purificationofchaperonins and debate.I recommend itforthe thereaderwith noknowledge of theircofactors andassays to generalreading list with which systematicstothe point at which lThe DynamieGell: monitorfolding activity. Not weencourage ourstudents to theycan access the specialist VA NewConceptfor surprisinglymuchof the book expandtheir horizons, ltalso literaturethemselves. Inthis, I ' TeachingMolecular Cell dealswith the GroEL/ ES providesmaterialfor usein believethebook succeeds. Biology[CD-R0M) chaperoninofEscherichia coli. communicatingscienceto the lAlanWarren EditedbyK, Dawson,l Devlin, However,there are also a number public, NaturalHistoryMuseum, M,Klymkowsky, Y Rochev, ofexcellent chapters onmore lChrisThomas London M,Snyder, M,Steer& J. Widom diversechaperonins, including Un iversity of Birm i ngh a m PublishedbySpringer-Verlag thosefrom Archaea andthe (2000) specialized,eukaryotic TRiC lAtkatiphites DM1,972.00/iiS1 2,410,00/ complex.Anyone investigating lne NucleicAcid v sFr1,530.00/S737.07/US$1000,00 chaperoninsfromother species UProtocols Handbook ByK, Horikoshi forup to 20 users willalso find the chapter dealing EditedbyR, Rapley PublishedbyHaruvood Academic ISBN:3-540-14723-3 withchaperonin activity in vivoin PublishedbyHumana Press (2000) (1ses) E,coliusetul. Noticeable isthe US$149,50, pp. 1076 s75.00/tJs$1 20,00/ EU Rl00,00, Thisisan originalapproach to lackof any protocol onEM tsBN0-89603-459-3 pp.338 analysisofchaperonins; indeed teachingmolecular cell biology, '120 ISBN:90-5702-458-6 beingbased around virtual reality structuralaspects areonly Thisisa collection of simulationsoffive sites in a addressedindirectly, Thebook protocolsof3-10 pages each, The Thisis, effectively, thethird eukaryoticcell, At each site, the providesawealth ofexplicitly bookis stronger on DNAthan RNA editionof a book whose origins usercan click on any cellular detailedprotocols (together with analysis.lt does not contain much gobackto'1982 whenthe componentsthatare visible and usefultroubleshooting notes) for onsequence evaluation (editing, firstversion, / lkaliphilic amenu appears with links to allthoseworking inthe field of phylogeneticanalysis etc) which Microuganisms:aNew Microbial furtherinformation, Ihis pops up chaperoninsandprotein folding or isthe goal for considerable parts Worl d, appeared, f ollowed by anotherwindow containing misfolding, ofnucleic acid work undertaken. graphics f SheilaMaclntyre Mic ro o rgan isms '1991,in Alka li ne andtext, Some ofthe EnvironmentsinThe three animationshere are excellent and UniversityofReading booksrepresent afascinating wouldbea significant helpto

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Whilsthaving practitioners of beexpressed more in words than recommendedforjournalists, particularprocedures providing inpictures iscurious. politiciansand the public seeking thecraftsmanship ofthe trade Theimages used raise serious understandingofbig topical (withmany excellent notes) is questionsabout the nature of issuessuch as Al [)S/ H lV and highlyuseful, inmy opinion the modernart, This in itself is BSUCJD. booksuffers from a lack of a difficulttodefine and further fRonFraser systemicapproach which has led definitionrelating modern artto SGM,Marlborough toduplications, basic information scienceiseven more abstract. House beinghidden inchapters (not Notwithstandingtheabove there helpedbythe very basic index) aremany riveting images and anda certaindegree of adroitpoints made. This book lProtein Expression. eclecticismandover-ambition repaysclose study, VA Practical (theHuman Genome Project f AndrewEastabrook Approach.Practical beingmentioned onhalf a page!). StowontheWold ApproachSeries no. 202 Notin vain do many authors cite EditedbyS.J. Higgins& Mol ec ular Cl on in g : A Labo rato ry B.D.Hames Man u al by Sanb rook, Fritsch & lceltular Publishedby0xford University Maniatis(2nd edn, 1989) which, UMicrobiology: Press(1999) althoughlacking the progress Bacteria-Host S31,95,pp,304 madeinthe last decade, hasa Interactionsin Health ISBN:0{9-963623-0 andDisease lctycoprotein Itne lnvisible muchprefened layout and UMethods and VEnemy: a Natural structure,Thus, I regard the ByB. Henderson, M.Wihon, Thisbook isone of the large R,McNab &A.J, Lax Protocols:The Mucins. Historyof Uiruses numberofspecialist titles in the bookas a very useful source of Methodsin Molecular ByD.H, Crawford individualworkers' experience PublishedbyJohn Wiley & Sons well-knownPradical Appnach (1eee) Biology,Uol.125 Publishedby0xford University series.This techniques-oriented ratherthanasa comprehensive (2000) $29,95,pp.452 EditedbyA.P Corfield Pres seriesisaimed atproviding referencebook. (2000) pp,288 ISBN:0-471-98681-X PublishedbyHumana Press $14.99, backgroundtothe relevant lUlrich Desselberger US$119.50,pp,528 lsBN0-19-850332-6 p methodologytogether with Adden b rooke's H os ita l, ISBN:0-89603-720-7 Cambridge Asplendidly written book, which detailedlaboratory protocols that bridgesthe broad areas of Theviruses here consist canbe easilyfollowed ina cook- eukaryoticandprokaryotic Usingaconsistent format, almostentirely ofthose affecting bookfashion,TheEditors explain eachchapter provides aspecific humans;plant viruses receive a thatthis volum eon P rotein lstrange and biology.The informative preparative VGharmed:Science introduction,withits historic oranalytical method, briefmention inthe form of Expression andits companion on andthe Gontemporary perspective,ispleasurable toread Thereissufficient detail to follow flower-breakingintulips, and Po st-tra nsl ati o n a I Pro c e ssi ng are whetsthe appetite forthe easilyand unlike many research virusesofother animals are intendedtoupdate the volume on UisualArts and papers, EditedbyS, Ede followingtext. The authors have theminute detailswhich consideredmainly interms of Tran sc ri pti o n an d Trandati o n PublishedbyCalouste Gulbenkian madethe book accessible fora makefor success orfailure, all theirability tocross species whichwas published inthe series (UK)(2000) appeartobeincluded. Each barrierstous and cause new or someyears ago. The articles have Foundation widereadership asevidenced provides problems. Availablefrom Turnaround fromthe nomenclature adopted sectionofthe book a modifieddisease internationalauthorship and cover PublisherServices Ltd(email: andfrom the well balanced , seriesofrelated methods and Withinthe human context, the inan authoritative fashion allthe [email protected]) informationcovered developsrationally from treatmentisvery wide-ranging; commonlyused cellular protein background preparation S10,99+ $2.00 p&p, pp.200 in earlysections. The ensuing toanalysis, structural atrue natural history ofthe expresionsystems, aswellas the procedures ISBN:0-903319-87-X chaptersdeal with several anddetection. lt is a importanceofviruses inthe cell-free translation. The practical complexsubject areas highlyspecialized volume and, developmentofour civilization, advicegiven will be especially Itis toexpress allthe Themany useful apartfromthe Chapteron mucin- cunentand emerging threats to usefulfor anyone wanting an difficult comprehensibly, probably reactionswhich this book tablesand diagrams, aswellas degradingbacteria, is healthand different control up-to-dateintroduction tothese provokes,butthe persistent thewriting style, make this an notso useful to the microbiologist methods,Related areas, such as experimentalsystems. The earlier backgroundquestion posed is extremelyreadable book. Given withonly a fleeting interest in transmissiblespongiform volumeon Transciption and 'why?'Accepting that there is bythe authors, mucins. encephalopathies,andthe Translationhasbeenwellused in a thescope covered possible debatebetween science and Ifound few inconsistencies or Aswith many such volumes involvementofviruses in mylaboratory, and lam sure this contemporaryvisualarts it is inaccuracies.Onesthat I noted containingsomany authors, chronicfatigue syndrome, are updatewill become equally well difficultto decide whether aftists aredue to cunent ambiguities in strictereditorial control might alsoexplored, Professor Crawford thumbed. aresearching science for fields,I have bought acopy usefullyhave been applied, There writesina clear and accessible lMikeTanner those preface inspiration,using visual imagery formy laboratory and it hasbeen isno orintroduction and manner,which successfully UniversityofBristol 'understandingiorany greatly view manychapters contain very long conveysherfascination with toenable appreciated.Inmy 'notesi poses combinationofmotive. have their listsof Thismeans that the thesubject, and lotsof other theauthors achieved questions. Althoughthebook isabout goaland the book should be readermust continually look at interesting contemporaryvisual arts there usefultostudents and themain text containing the Recommendedreading for arerelatively few photographs or researchersinmany subject methods,then switch tothe microbiologists;highly otherillustrations. Whythe areas. cautionarywarnings found in art/sciencerelationship needs to lMumtazVirji thenotes. Perhaps amore user- UniversityofBristol friendlyformat could have been adopted, llanW.Sutherland Un iversity of Edinb u rg h

ffi $#ffi#ffi##e.#ffiyToDAy voL27lNOV00 EU lYeasts: thearea ofviralmolecular ofmethods forstudying virion- lfne PocketGuideto valuefrom the CD is not great and U Gharacteristics immunologyandpathogenesis, receptorinteractions, translation V FungalInfection theacademic imperative isnot andldentilication, Third inparticular persistent infections. andpolymerases, aswellas ByM,D. Richardson a clear,Alot of the CD material Edition Thelimited success incontrolling protocolsforthe generation of E.M.Johnson reproducesthebook, Many of the ByJ,A. Barnett, R.W. Payne & influenzaisalso recorded asis the alphavirusvectors. Some of the PublishedbyBlackwell Science CDillustrations lack legends and D,Yarrowwith L,Barnett storyof the recognition ofprions methods,suchas those for (2000) cannotbedisplayed onthe PublishedbyCambridge asinfectious proteinaceous nucleicacid extraction, area little S14.95,pp.114 samescreen asthe relevant UniversityPress (2000) agentscausing transmissible outdatedand it isunfortunate that ISBN:0-632-05325-9 commentary.Some are pictures $200,00,pp.1,139 spongiformencephalopathies commerciallyavailable kitsare fromthe textwhich cannot be rsBN0-521 -57396-3 (scrapie,Creutzfeldt-Jakob notmentioned more frequently, Thishandy slim volume wastes interpretedwithout reference to disease,bovine spongiform lChristopherRing nospace on frills but provides a thebook, Hyperlinks touseful Theentire Dutch collection of encephalopathy,etc.),This is the GlaxoWellcomeR&D, succinctand very well organized websitesareprovided, patchily, yeastswas re-examined andover paperbackedition ofthe book Stevenage overviewofmycoses based on Thepublishers offer continuous 100characters usedto describe whichwas published in1998 and sub-divisionsoftypes of fungal updatingofthis facility through a the706 species inthis book, lt hastherefore been extended by infections (dermatophytosis, goodsupporting website, Alovely benefitsgreatly from the unified up-to-date'Afternotes' relating to lOralBacterial opportunisticinfections, etc,). book,well worth considering, approachofjust three authors issuesofbioterrorism, newly V Ecology:The Eachorganism ordisease llan Hancock whohave produced numerous emergingviruses and zoonotic MolecularBasis syndromeissubdivided under a Newcastle-upon-Tyne keysto uniquely identify aspecies transmission, EditedbyH,K, Kuramitsu & numberofcommon subheadings veryrapidly. The large format is Dr0ldstone looks back on a very R.P.Ellen coveringaspects ofdisease attractiveandeach species is prominentresearch career and PublishedbyHorizon Scientific distribution,causal agents, Books received usuallyallocated one page which hasbeen and is in personal Press(2000) clinicalmanifestations, diagnosis fivegood quality contactwith many ofthe S74,99/US$1 49,99, pp, 3'l 4 andmanagement, The OFoodBiotechnology in includesupto -898486-22-0 (anduseful) photographs, There protagonistresearchers inthe ISBN:1 informationisdealtwith as notes EthicalPerspectiue isone similarly priced competitor areasdiscussed, Thebook is andbullet points, plus a perhaps ByP,B. Thompson whichhas similar coverage but writtenin a lively style and makes Acentral theme ofthis book is disappointinglyshortreference PublishedbyBlackie A& P (1997) differentdegrees ofdetail. lwas fascinatingreading, lt should be in thatthe oral cavity provides an listand useful websites. The S35.00,pp,267 pleasedtosee here a(correct) thelibrary of every student and idealmodel system forthe volumeisvery nicely illustrated ISBN:0-41 2-78380-0 +/- growthresponse onglycerol researcherofbiomedical applicationofmolecular withhigh quality colour IorSacch aro myc es c erevisiael sciences, techniquestoinvestigate the illustrationsandsucceeds well in Olandmarksin Bothvolumes are very good, the lUlrich Desselberger complexinteractions between achievingitsobjective in IntracellularSignalling expertwill probably want both, Adde n b rooke's H os p ital, bacteriaand their environment in summarising'thenajor features EditedbyR,D. Burgoyne & butthis is the single volume I Cambridge healthand disease, What better offungal infections ofhumanl. 0,H,Petersen wouldrecommend forany lab placeindeed? Themouth Thebook is inexpensive andlikely PublishedbyPortland Press doingidentification work because providesnumeious different tobe of use both in a clinical and (1se7) ofits keys and consistency, lnnnuiruses:A environmentsforgrowth and teachingsetting, S20,00/U5$34.00,pp,278 Unfortunately,neither has yet V PracticalApproach supportssome 700 taxa, Nodoubt some will argue about ISBN:1-85578-101 -8 gotto grips with the onset of EditedbyA.J, Cann Considerableinformation is detailsofthe management of moleculartaxonomy and there are PublishedbyOxford University alreadyavailable onmany aspects specificdiseases - but these are Cln Situand0n-Site ! noprimer orsequence data. Press(2000) oforal microbial physiology and alwaysunder debate, Bioremediation:Uol. 4 lAlanWheals $29.95,pp.266 ecologyand this is reviewed ()verallthisisgood value. SymposiumChairs: UniversityofBath rsBN0-19-963716-4 comprehensivelyhere,The lNeil A.R.Gow B,C.Alleman &A. Leeson chapteron oral innate immune UniversityofAberdeen PublishedbyBattelle Pres (1997) Likeothervolumes inthis series, respltnsesprttvides awelcome U5$82.50,pp,619 luiruses, Plagues thisbook will be a very useful hostperspective. Theapplication ISBN:1-57477-029-2 Uand History laboratorymanualand itsprice is ofmoleculartechniques, suchas lBiochemistry, ByM,B,A,0ldstone wellwithinthereach ofmost rnnraexpression technology and VThird Edition OManualof Publishedby0xford University researchers.Aswell as containing differential-displayPCRto study ByC,K. Mathews, K,E, van Holde Enuironmental Press(2000) clearand easy-to{ollow protocols oralbacterial ecology isstill in its &K,G.Ahern Microbiology S10.99,pp.228 forstudyingandusing RNA infancy,although the potential PublishedbyBenjamin/ Cummings EditedbyC.J, Hurst, ISBN:0-19-51 3422-2 viruses,each chapter gives useful washighlighted inseveral (2000)D/B Pearson Education G,R.Knudsen, M.J, Mclnerney, backgroundinformation and chapters.Some ofthe subjects $31,99,pp,1,186 L,D,Stetzenbach &M,V. Walter Intendedtosucceed and update explanationofthe principles havebeen reviewed elsewhere ISBN:0-8053-3066-6 PublishedbyASM Press (1997) Paulde Kruif's popular book behindthe laboratory procedures. recently;however, thebook does $59.50,pp,894 MicrobeHunters,this isa modern Thisvolume notonly includes provideacoherent collection of Undergraduateandpostgraduate ISBN:1-55581 -087-X accountofsuccesses (smallpox, techniquesforstudying the chaptersthat workers inthe oral microbiologystudents will find yellowfever, measles and structure,expression and fieldas well as newcomers will thisa very appealing textbook, O0hemokineProtocols. poliomyelitis)andfailures to packagingofviral genomes, findvery useful. Itis up-to-date, beautifully Methodsin Moleeular controlmicrobial infections butalso procedures for lRodMcNab illustrated,and has good'further Biology,Uol. | 38 (AlDS, Lassa fever, Ebola fever, engineeringviruses with desired EastmanDental reading'bibliographies andindex. EditedbyA.E.l, Proudfoot, Hantavirus-associateddiseases), characteristicsandfor studying Institute, University It isexpensive, butcontains aCD- T.N.C,Wells &C.A. Power toldby a senior researcher in integrationand transduction of CollegeLondon R0M'study guide' that provides PublishedbyHumana Pres (2000) viraloncogenes, Thebookwould topicoutlines, explains concepts US$99.50,pp,332 benefit,however, bythe addition andallows students totest ISBN:0-89603-722-3 themselves,However, theadded m ffi $ffiffi#ffiffffi tu#ffiYroDAYVOL27/NOVOO f"rrr1r.,4 QAIQMC0URSE, MODULE6: F00D RNAEXTRACTION ANDANALYSIS - ffiiltj#td,kjL'i TECHNOLOGYANDFOOD SAFTTY AON E.DAY LAB.ORATORY/LECTU RE EUROPEANSOCIETYFOR AN IMAL Wageningen,TheNetherlands lOIHTO[/ASTK DAYS COURSE CELLTECHNOLOGY _UK BRANCH 12-14March 2001 Hatfield,Herts, 5July 2001 ESACT.UK11 TH ANNUAL SCIENTIFIC Brno,Czechia, 6-8June 2001 C0NTACI:DrL.A. van der [/eer-Lerk MEETING or C0NTACT:0ndrejZahradnicek In$itute C0NTACT:DrRalph Rapley Dept of MsG W.J 0. Aggenbach, Biotechnology BiosciencesUniversity ofHertfordshire, ChurchillCollege, Cambfi dge StudiesDelft Leiden (B0DL), The forMicrobiology, StAnna's University HospitalandMedical School [/asaryk CollegeLane Hatfield, Herts AL10 9AB 4-5January 2001 Netherlands(Tel.+31 15 27 81922, (Tel,01707 285097; Fax0170/ 2861 37; Fax+31 15 2782355; University,BrnoPekarska 53CZ-656 C0NTACT:JulianHanak (Meetings 91Brno, Czechia(Tel +4205 emailrrapley@herts ac.uk; Secretary)forregi$ration and emailB0DL@tnw tudelftnl; http://www herts acuk/natsci/STC) http://www bt,tudelft nl/bodlf htm) 4318309;Fax4205 4318308; pr0grammedetails(Fax 01782 I 14161', [email protected],cz ; PCRMEIHODS ANDAPPLICATIONS - [email protected]) and http://www med.muni czlzahrad/ AON E.DAY LABORATORY/LECTU RE lonGreen forTrade Exhibition $rtomda.htm) COURSE (Fax01763 263413; email [email protected],uk) METALS&CELLS, AGM ADVANCEDCOURSEON Hatfield,Herts, 6 or13July 2001 SEB ENVIRON MENTAL BIOTECH NOLOGY QA-IQ[/-COURSE,MODULE5: Canterbury,2-6 April 2001 C0NTACI:DrRalph Rapley, Deptof BIO LOG ICAL PRO DUCII ON : Delft,The Netherlands Biosciences,University ofHertfordshire, C0NTACT:DrPamela Robinson 20-29June 2001 CollegeLane, Hatfield Herts AL10 9AB FRO[/GEN EIICS TODOWNSIREAI/ (emailpamela,[email protected] PROCESSIN uk; (Tel01707 285097; Fax01707 2861 37; G http://www C0NTACT:DrL A. van der Meer-Lerk or ncl.acuk/sbg/robinson/ [/ls.G,W J.0 Aggenbach, Biotechnology [email protected],uk; Delft,The Netherlands metalcellhtml) (B0DL), htp://www.herts acuk/natsci/STC) 10-12January 2001 StudiesDelft Leiden The MOLECULARBIOLOGYUPDATE _ Netherlands(Tel+31 15 21 81922', IXTHINTERNATIONAL MEETINGONTHE C0NTACT:DrL.A van der [/eer-Lerk or AFOUR DAY LABORATORY COURSE Fax+31152/82355; BIOLOGYANDPATHOGENICITY OF Ms.G.W.J 0.Aggenbach Biotechnology Hatfield,Herts, [email protected] nl; FREETIVING AMOEBAE StudiesDelft Leiden (B0DL) The 9-12April 2001 http://www bt.tudelft.nl/bodlf htm) Netherlands(Tel+31 15 21 81922; C0NTACT:Professor Paris,France, 8-14 July 2001 JohnWalker 6THEUROPEAN CONFERENCE ON Fax+31152782355; DeptofBiosciences, University of C0NTACT:Secretariat CheckUo Service [email protected] nl; Hertfordshire,CollegeLane Hatfield EXPERI[ilENIAL AIDS RESEARCH (ECEAR'2OO1) 16rue du General Faidherbe BP42, http://www bt.tudelft nl/bodlf htm) HertsALl0 9AB (Tel 01707 284546; 94732Nogentsur Marne cedex France Fax01707 284510; EdinhurghConference Centre 0el:+3314877 0113:Fax +33148 emailj m.walker@herts acuk; 23-26June 2001 770B 63;email http://www.herts flqhil{-ttrt313ti'-*i acuk/natsci/STC) C0NTACT:ECEAR'2001 Conference amoebae2001@amoebae2001 com; BACTERIALRESISTANCE: Secretary,Division ofRetrovirology http://www amoebae2001 com) CLINICALCHALLENGES ANDEXPERT NIBSC,Blanche Lane South Mimms, PERSPECTIVES ffi#5rf*#l PottersBar,Hertfordshire ENB3QG (email $*ilf#ffi1:nr;*:ilr SCl,Belgrave $quare, london ADVANCEDCOURSEON [email protected] uk; 23February 2001 DOWNSTREA[/PROCESSING http://www nibsc ac,uk/ECEAR2001 ) ESCV 01PROGRESS INCLINICAL VIROLOGYVII C0NTACT:SCl,15Belgrave Square, Delft,The Netherlands 2NDEUROPEAN CELLS&MATERIALS LondonSWlX BPS (Tel 020 7598 7-11May2001 [/lE ETIN G [ahti.Finland 1500:Fax020 7235 9410) C0NTACT:DrL.A van der Meer-Lerk or Davos,Switzerland 2-5September 2001 MsG WJ 0. Aggenbach Biotechnology 25-28June 2001 C0NTACT:0rganizing Secretariat & StudiesDelft Leiden (B0DL), The C0NTACT: Conference Secretary: Sonia Congress0ffice, University ofHelsinki Netherlands(Tel+3115 2/81922; LahtiResearch ffiffiililhr**i Wahl(email sonia.wahl@ao-asif,ch ; andTraining Cenre, ADVANCEDCOURSTON BIOCATALYSIS Fax+31152782355: http://www.ao-asif.ch/events/other/ Kirkkokatu'16,FIN-15140 Lahti,Finland [email protected] ; ecm/index html) (Tel,+358 3892 2051a; Fax +358 3 Delft,The Netherlands http://www bt,tudelft.nl/bodlf.htm) 892202i9; email irmeli paasikivi@ 5-9March 2001 lOTHINTERNATIONAL CONGRESSOF helsinki.fi;anttivaheri@helsinki fi; C0NIACI:DrL.A van der l/eer-Lerk or HU[/ANGENETICS jl*$y***r virpitiilikainen@helsinki,fi) Ms,G.W.J 0,Aggenbach Biotechnology Vienna,Austria, 15-19 May 2001 ANINIRODUCTION TO PSEUDO[/ONAS2OO1 StudiesDelft Leiden (B0DL) The - Netherlands(Tel+31 15 2781922; C0NTACT:ICHG0ffice, c/o Vienna BIOINFORMATICSATWO-DAY Brussels,Belgium Fax+31152782355; MedicalAcademy, AlserStrasse 4, COMPUTER/tECTURECOU RSE 17-21September2001 [email protected] nl; A-1090Vienna Au$ria (Tel. +43 1 405 Hatfield,Heds C0NTACT:PieneCornelis Laboratory of htp://wwwbttudelft nl/bodlf htm) 1383 33: Fax +43 1 401 8214, 3-4or10-11 July2001 MicrobialInteractions Deotof emailoffice@ichg2001 org) gy XXXVIIBRAZILIAN SOCIETY OF C0NTACT:DrHenry Bueski, Dept of lmmunoloParasitolo gy& TROPICALMEDICIN ECONGRESS BiosciencesUniversity ofHertfordshire, Ultra$ructureFlanders lnteruniversity BAHIACONVENTION CollegeLane, Hatfield, Herts ALl0 9AB In$ituteofBiotechnology, Vrije (Tel,01707 284554; Fax01707 2861 37; UniversiteitBrussel Faarden$raat 65, CenterinSalvador, Bahia, B-1640Sint Genesius RodeBelgium Brasil,11-15 March 2001 emailh.bzeski@herts acuk; http://www,herts acuk/natsci/SIC) 0el.+32 2 3590221 : Fax+32 2 3590399;email pcornel@vub ac,be; C0NIACT:Eventus Sy$em, Rua0ito de - Dezembro,54/,Graga, CEP40150-000 http://homepages,vub,ac be/ pcornel SalvadorBahia, Brazil (Tel. + 55 71 264 /Pseudomonas200l,htm) 34llFax',+ 5571 264 0508; email:[email protected] br/; http://www.cpunet.com.brlwentus)

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Mention the Archaea to most microbiologists and evolution so that only thermophilic strains survived, they instinctively think ofextremophiles. This is to be which explains why the earliest branches to emerge from expected for the Arcbcteltwere originally recognized asa the 165 rDNA tree of life were thermophiles. distinct group becauseof the common properties of various extremophiles. As this knowledge spreadsinto So far so good. The advent of molecular biology and the wider culture, especiallyto those for whom its application to microbial ecology has revealed that environmental microbes are of but passing interest, a the world is full of Archaea in perfectly normal certain amount of extrapolation goes on.The Arcltlzeltare environments. Many of these branch very deeply and 'primitive', describedas similar to organisms from early disrupt the'thermophiles-at-the-bottom' view of Earth, where the conditions are perceived asextfeme evolution. \fhat is more, when the microscope of compared with today. Second, the Archaeaare still molecular biology is turned on theseextremophiles, consideredto be extremophiles, restricted to growth in the underlying chemistry proves to be very similar to places where sensible organisms can only be found dead. that ofmesophiles, but with certain modifications to These two perceptions are self-reinforcing, producing protect the mechanisms from theseextreme conditions. the impression that the Arcbaea are survivors, clinging to It is difficult to seehow evolution could produce niches resembling the conditions on Earth aeonsago. vulnerable chemistry and protective mechanlsms at the sametime. It is more reasonableto conclude that \We actually know little about the conditions on the extremophiles are adapted mesophiles and not the early Earth with any certainty and almost all ofwhat font from which mesophiles emerged. we know has been revealed in the past couple of decades. The Solar System formed around 4.16 Gyr (4.56 x l0') This version of the story would be more convincing years)ago from a collapsing molecular cloud ofgas and ifwe could manage to cultivate some of these lineages dust. Aggregation of that dust produced the Earth and whose existenceis known only from environmental planets, which continued to grow by accretion of small rDNA samples. $7hat role are they playing in the bodies.A combination ofenergy from impacts, environment?'Is there anything specialabout their radioactive decay and gravitational energy heated the chemistryi'The questions arelegion, but the only growing planet, to the extent that it had a molten method we have to addressthem requires cultivation surface.As the number of small bodies availableto be asa first step. Suffice it to say that we have a very poor captured fell, the planet cooled and in due course a solid knowledge of the extent ofdiversity inthe Archaea. crust formed. The crustal surface of the Earth is recycled through plate tectonics and the oldest surviving bits of The purpose of this comment is to illuminate a crust have been subiected to considerableheat, sothe view oftheA rchaeain toto.For those already involved in nature of the original crust has to be surmised from microbial ecology there will be nothing new here, but indirect evidence. As the early Earth continued to cool, as the field is burgeoning and funding opportunities the atmosphere stabilized, allowing an ocean to form. areincreasing, more people are being tempted into the It is believed that the early Earth was completely water. Come on in and welcome, but it is a grcathelp to 'warm covered in water, so no little pond' for Darwin's read widely and topay attention to the bits between cradle oflife. Relative age-dating ofcraters on the Moon the lines. show that the Earth-Moon system suffered heavy bombardment by asteroids and comets, forming craters O Dr Dave Roberts,former Editor of around 4'0 Gyr ago The impact energy generated by MicrobiologyToday, is atthe Natural History collisions probably evaporated much of the water on the Museum,Cromwell Road,London SW7 5BD. planet. The oldest piece of sedimentary crust that is Tel.0207 942 5086;Fax 0207942 5433; currently known is about 3'6 Gyr old and contains fossils em a i I d, roberts@nh m.ac.uk which Ltearastriking resemblance to cyanobacteria. These fossils are found in cherts and a chert is formed when piecesof rock fall into a sediment, like pebbles O Pleasenote thar carried into an estuary. The sediment is 3.5 Gyr old, but viewsexpressed in the fossils are found in the pieces ofrock and are therefore Commentdonot older. So, the most plausible sequenceofevents would necessarilyreflect seem to be that life formed in the oceanic early Earth. officialpolicy of the The heavy bombardment did not evaporate all water, but SGM Council, the elevated tempefature put a severebottle-neck in