A study of tuberculosis cases in the Karonga district of Malawi reveals that the main lineages of M. tuberculosis differ in their transmission patterns and virulence.
The genetic make-up of dominating MDR-TB clades in Central Asia is shaped by programmatic and socio-economic changes that led to fixation of resistance and bacterial fitness related mutations in the Soviet era.
The essential mycobacterial transcription factor RbpA interacts with promoter DNA and cooperates with another essential transcription factor, CarD, to stimulate the formation of an intermediate leading to the open promoter complex.
William R Bishai, director of the KwaZulu-Natal Research Institute for Tuberculosis and HIV (K-RITH), argues that the best place to carry out research into a disease is in its midst.
Bioinformatics and experimental approaches identify families of membrane proteins requiring the co-ordinated action of the Sec pathway and Tat pathways for their integration and define features of the polypeptides that mediate interaction with these pathways.
Mutations in several components of a bacterial ribosome are shown to broadly decrease antibiotic and stress sensitivity, and readily accessible reversion mutations allow these ribosomal mutations to serve as stepping stones to high level antibiotic resistance.
