When modern humans left Africa 60,000 years ago they were already infected with Helicobacter pylori. But how long were humans infected by H. pylori prior to the out-of-Africa event? Did this co-evolution predate the emergence of modern humans, spanning the species divide? Moodley et al. set out to answer these questions.
The ability to switch from rapidly progressing, lytic spread in epithelia to a nonproductive, latent infection in sensory neurons is fundamental to the life cycle of HSV. Hafezi et al. demonstrate that the site of entry is an important determinant of the lytic/latent decision in the infected neuron.
The corn smut Ustilago maydis establishes a biotrophic interaction with its host plant maize. This interaction requires efficient suppression of plant immune responses. Hemetsberger et al. present the functional characterization of the effector protein Pep1 and demonstrate that it acts as a potent suppressor of early plant defenses by inhibition of peroxidase activity.