Virtual Thematic Issue “Insight into Pseudomonas biology” The 14th International Conference on Pseudomonas, which took place in Lausanne, Switzerland, in September 2013, brought together more than 400 participants and splendidly demonstrated the continued interest in the fascinating group of microorganisms known as Pseudomonads. To mark the event, FEMS has undertaken to publish a Virtual Thematic Issue across four FEMS journals – FEMS Microbiology Letters, FEMS Microbiology Reviews, Pathogens and Disease, and FEMS Microbiology Ecology. This endeavour follows a tradition of several books and special journal issues that have been published in conjunction with previous Pseudomonas meetings. It is gratifying to see that contributions to the present Virtual Thematic Issue have been received not only from participants of the 2013 conference, but also from researchers who could not attend. The Reviews, MiniReviews and original Research papers together provide an excellent overview of the diverse facets and activities of the Pseudomonads. In the classical taxonomic definition of the genus Pseudomonas – Gramnegative rods, motile by polar flagella, aerobic with a respiratory metabolism, chemoorganotrophic … (Palleroni, 1984) – very diverse bacteria found a home. This made the early Pseudomonas meetings particularly enthralling and colourful. Moreover, the etymological meaning of Pseudomonas (“false unit”) seemed justified. However, the highly variable G+C content (58-71 %) of the classical genus Pseudomonas already hinted at multiple phylogenetic origins and, perhaps, the idea of a “false unit” was not what W. Migula had in mind when he coined the name Pseudomonas back in 1894. Another, plausible interpretation is that Migula simply wished to call the bacteria “false Monas” because to him they looked like a smaller form of the nanoflagellate Monas (Palleroni, 2010). Be this as it may, DNA sequencing results obtained after 1984 showed that the classical genus Pseudomonas in fact was comprised of several genera. Only group I was retained as Pseudomonas (sensu stricto), whereas the other Pseudomonads were reassigned to different genera such Burkholderia, Acidovorax, Comamonas, Brevundimonas and Xanthomonas (Kersters et al., 1996). For some time, these
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Pseudomonas genera received the title “Honorary Pseudomonads” and remained part of the Pseudomonas community. But honours often do not last very long: “Honorary Pseudomonads” were no longer represented at the 2013 meeting nor do we find them in the Virtual Thematic Issue. Still, the variety of biological activities and the interactions of the “true” Pseudomonas species, which are described in this issue, are impressive. I wish to conclude by sincerely thanking the authors, editors, reviewers and members of the Publications Offices in Delft and Oxford for all their work that has resulted in the Virtual Thematic Issue, as a testimony of a dynamic area of microbiological research. Dieter Haas Département de Microbiologie Fondamentale Université de Lausanne Switzerland References Palleroni NJ (1984) Family I: Pseudomonadaceae Winslow, Broadhurst, Buchanan, Krumwiede, Rogers and Smith 1917, 555AL. In Bergey’s manual of systematic bacteriology, vol. 1, pp. 141-219. The Williams & Wilkins Co., Baltimore. Palleroni NJ (2010) The Pseudomonas story. Environ Microbiol 12: 1377-1383. Kersters K, Ludwig W, Vancanneyt M, de Vos P, Gillis M & Schleifer K-H (1996) Recent changes in the classification of the Pseudomonads: an overview. System Appl Microbiol 19: 465-477.
FEMS Reviews July (volume 38, issue 4)
Reviews Ribosomally encoded antibacterial proteins and peptides from Pseudomonas. Ghequire & De Mot, doi: 10.1111/1574-6976.12079 Cell-surface signaling in Pseudomonas: stress responses, iron transport, and pathogenicity. Llamas et al., doi: 10.1111/1574-6976.12078
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Virtual Thematic Issue Pathogens and Disease June (volume 71, issue 1)
MiniReview Mimicking the host and its microenvironment in vitro for studying mucosal infections by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Crabbé et al., doi: 10.1111/2049632X.12180 Research articles The deletion of TonB-dependent receptor genes is part of the genome reduction process that occurs during adaptation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa to the cystic fibrosis lung. Dingemans et al., doi: 10.1111/2049-632X.12170 A putative de-N-acetylase of the PIG-L superfamily affects fluoroquinolone tolerance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Liebens et al., doi: 10.1111/2049632X.12174 Short communications Draft genomes of 12 host-adapted and environmental isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and their positions in the core genome phylogeny. Stewart et al., doi: 10.1111/2049-632X.12107 In vivo imaging of bioluminescent Pseudomonas aeruginosa in an acute murine airway infection model. Munder et al., doi: 10.1111/2049-632X.12184
FEMS Microbiology Ecology July (volume 89, issue 1)
MiniReview Pseudomonas biofilms: possibilities of their control. Masák et al., doi: 10.1111/1574-6941.12344 Research articles Faecal carriage of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in healthy humans: antimicrobial susceptibility and global genetic lineages. Estepa et al., doi: 10.1111/15746941.12301 page 3 of 5
Pseudomonas Role of 2-hexyl, 5-propyl resorcinol production by Pseudomonas chlororaphis PCL1606 in the multitrophic interactions in the avocado rhizosphere during the biocontrol process. Calderón et al., doi: 10.1111/1574-6941.12319 Novel Phl-producing genotypes of finger millet rhizosphere associated pseudomonads and assessment of their functional and genetic diversity. Sekar & Prabavathy, doi: 10.1111/1574-6941.12354
FEMS Microbiology Letters July (volume 356, issue 2)
Editorial Genomic complexity and plasticity ensure Pseudomonas success. Rumbaugh, doi: 10.1111/1574-6968.12517 MiniReviews From the phosphoenolpyruvate phosphotransferase system to selfish metabolism: a story retraced in Pseudomonas putida. Pflüger-Grau & De Lorenzo, doi: 10.1111/1574-6968.12459 Maintenance of chromosome structure in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Rybenkov, doi: 10.1111/1574-6968.12478 Research Letters Sucrose favors Pseudomonas aeruginosa pellicle production through the extracytoplasmic function sigma factor SigX. Bouffartigues et al., doi: 10.1111/1574-6968.12482 Interplay among Pseudomonas syringae HrpR, HrpS and HrpV proteins for regulation of the type III secretion system. Jovanovic et al., doi: 10.1111/15746968.12476 The extensive set of accessory Pseudomonas aeruginosa genomic components. Pohl et al., doi: 10.1111/1574-6968.12445 Genomic analysis of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA96, the host of carbapenem resistance plasmid pOZ176. Déraspe et al., doi: 10.1111/1574-6968.12435 page 4 of 5
Virtual Thematic Issue Insertion sequence ISPst4 activates pUC plasmid replication in Pseudomonas stutzeri. Coleman et al., doi: 10.1111/1574-6968.12417 New insights into the role of indole-3-acetic acid in the virulence of Pseudomonas savastanoi pv. savastanoi. Aragón et al., doi: 10.1111/1574-6968.12413 Discovery of new regulatory genes of lipopeptide biosynthesis in Pseudomonas fluorescens. Song et al., doi: 10.1111/1574-6968.12404 The pWW0 plasmid imposes a stochastic expression regime to the chromosomal ortho pathway for benzoate metabolism in Pseudomonas putida. Silva-Rocha & De Lorenzo, doi: 10.1111/1574-6968.12400 Recovery of Pseudomonas aeruginosa culturability following copper- and chlorine-induced stress. Bédard et al., doi: 10.1111/1574-6968.12494 The effect of specific rhlAlas-box mutations on DNA binding and gene activation by Pseudomonas aeruginosa quorum-sensing transcriptional regulators RhlR and LasR. González-Valdez et al., doi: 10.1111/1574-6968.12505 Obituary Gerd Döring. Tümmler & Haas, doi 10.1111/1574-6968.12508
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