Adaptation of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis transcriptome to biofilm growth.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb), the causative agent of tuberculosis (TB), is a leading global cause of death from infectious disease. Biofilms are increasingly recognized as a relevant growth form during M.

Portrait of a generalist bacterium: pathoadaptation, metabolic specialization and extreme environments shape diversity of .

Unlabelled: is a Gram-positive, coagulase-negative staphylococcus found in diverse environments including soil and freshwater, meat, and dairy foods. is also an important cause of urinary tract infections (UTIs) in humans, and mastitis in cattle. However, the genetic determinants of virulence have not yet been identified, and it remains unclear whether there are distinct sub-populations adapted to human and animal hosts.

Adaptation of the transcriptome to biofilm growth.

Unlabelled: ( ), the causative agent of tuberculosis (TB), is a leading global cause of death from infectious disease. Biofilms are increasingly recognized as a relevant growth form during infection and may impede treatment by enabling bacterial drug and immune tolerance. has a complicated regulatory network that has been well-characterized for many relevant disease states, including dormancy and hypoxia.

The Gonococcal Genetic Island defines distinct sub-populations of .

The incidence of gonorrhoea is increasing at an alarming pace, and therapeutic options continue to narrow as a result of worsening drug resistance. is naturally competent, allowing the organism to adapt rapidly to selection pressures including antibiotics. A sub-population of carries the Gonococcal Genetic Island (GGI), which encodes a type IV secretion system (T4SS) that secretes chromosomal DNA.

Need for speed: Key driver of host cell migration varies among mycobacteria.

In this issue of Cell, Saelens et al. describe a new function for mycobacterial Type VII secretion systems: manipulation of host cell migration. They find that a substantial proportion of global TB cases arise from bacteria lacking this function, raising questions about its role in pathoadaptation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Comparative Genomics of Streptococcus oralis Identifies Large Scale Homologous Recombination and a Genetic Variant Associated with Infection.

The viridans group streptococci (VGS) are a large consortium of commensal streptococci that colonize the human body. Many species within this group are opportunistic pathogens causing bacteremia and infective endocarditis (IE), yet little is known about why some strains cause invasive disease. Identification of virulence determinants is complicated by the difficulty of distinguishing between the closely related species of this group.

Rapid adaptation of a complex trait during experimental evolution of .

Tuberculosis (TB), caused by (), is a leading cause of death due to infectious disease. TB is not traditionally associated with biofilms, but biofilms are linked with drug and immune tolerance and there is increasing recognition of their contribution to the recalcitrance of TB infections. Here, we used experimental evolution to investigate this complex phenotype and identify candidate loci controlling biofilm formation.

Genome reorganization during emergence of host-associated .

is a rapid growing, free-living species of bacterium that also causes lung infections in humans. Human infections are usually acquired from the environment; however, dominant circulating clones (DCCs) have emerged recently in both subsp. and subsp.