Articles of Significant Interest in This Issue
Abstract
Downloaded from http://jb.asm.org/ on May 14, 2021 by guest SPOTLIGHT Articles of Significant Interest in This Issue Nonessential Ribosomal Proteins in Bacteria and Archaea Identified Using Clusters of Orthologous Groups Ribosomes of almost all bacteria contain the same set of 54 ribosomal proteins, 33 in the 50S subunit and 21 in the 30S subunit. However, some ribosomal protein genes are absent in parasites and symbionts with dramatically reduced genomes. Galperin et al. (e00058-21) compiled a list of ribosomal proteins that were missing in representa- bacterial and archaeal genomes and compared this list with experimental data on tive the deletion of ribosomal protein genes. They concluded that proteins that are located at the surface of the ribosome are more likely to be lost in the course of microbial evolution. Sensor Domain of Histidine Kinase VxrA of Vibrio cholerae—a Hairpin-Swapped Dimer and Its Conformational Change The VxrAB two-component system (TCS) positively regulates a number of important V. cholerae phenotypes. Tan et al. (e00643-20) determined several crystal structures of the VxrA histidine kinase (HK) sensing domain (SD) and its mutants. These structures reveal a novel structural fold forming an unusual b hairpin-swapped dimer and dem- onstrate a large conformational change between two