Historical Events That Spawned the Field of Plasmid Biology.

This chapter revisits the historical development and outcome of studies focused on the transmissible, extrachromosomal genetic elements called plasmids. Early work on plasmids involved structural and genetic mapping of these molecules, followed by the development of an understanding of how plasmids replicate and segregate during cell division. The intriguing property of plasmid transmission between bacteria and between bacteria and higher cells has received considerable attention.

Historical account on gaining insights on the mechanism of crown gall tumorigenesis induced by Agrobacterium tumefaciens.

The plant tumor disease known as crown gall was not called by that name until more recent times. Galls on plants were described by Malpighi (1679) who believed that these extraordinary growth are spontaneously produced. Agrobacterium was first isolated from tumors in 1897 by Fridiano Cavara in Napoli, Italy.

Economic impact of switching to bivalirudin for a primary percutaneous coronary intervention in a US hospital.

Background: The addition of glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors (GPIs) to heparin in percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) procedures has been demonstrated to reduce ischemic complications; however, GPI use is known to increase the risk of bleeding events, which are linked to increased mortality, longer hospital length of stay, greater medical resource utilization, and increased costs. New antithrombotic therapies have the potential to improve clinical outcomes and decrease costs. The Harmonizing Outcomes with Revascularization and Stents in Acute Myocardial Infarction (HORIZONS-AMI) study of bivalirudin demonstrated significantly reduced clinical event rates (mortality and bleeding) compared with an unfractionated heparin (UFH)+GPI regimen.

Horizontal gene transfer: sustaining pathogenicity and optimizing host-pathogen interactions.

Successful host-pathogen interactions require the presence, maintenance and expression of gene cassettes called 'pathogenicity islands' (PAIs) and 'metabolic islands' (MAIs) in the respective pathogen. The products of these genes confer on the pathogen the means to recognize their host(s) and to efficiently evade host defences in order to colonize, propagate within the host and eventually disseminate from the host. Virulence effectors secreted by type III and type IV secretion systems, among others, play vital roles in sustaining pathogenicity and optimizing host-pathogen interactions.