www.fems-microbiology.org

The official newsletter for FEMS Affiliates

A FFI L I AT E S L E T T EROctober 2011

New FEMS Focus issue now available!

Also in this issue

Dr James Prosser is new FEMS Publications Manager

Virtual Issues of FEMS Journals available

Remembering Anthonie van Leeuwenhoek

EMF Survey update

Next Focus issue to address tuberculosis

Get to know SIMTREA

Upcoming Grants deadlines

Upcoming FEMS-sponsored meetings

Microbiology tidbits

Long-time FEMS Ecology journal (FEMSEC) Chief Editor Dr James Prosser took over the reins of FEMS Publications Manager during the 38th FEMS Council Meeting in Leuven, Belgium last month (September).

Dr Prosser was elected Publica-tions Manager last year at the 37th FEMS Council Meeting in Prague, Czech Republic.

The FEMS Publications Depart-ment receives this news with much enthousiasm.

Mrs Gillian van Beest, former FEMSEC Editorial Administrator, describes Dr Prosser as, “an ex-cellent Editor and inspiring Chief Editor. The increase in FEMS Ecology’s impact factor is in no mean measure to his determina-tion.” “He has a lot of good ideas and is very pro-active”, she adds.

Dr Prosser is renowned for mak-ing valuable contacts especially in China and fostering English-language microbial ecology publication from indigenous authors there. One obvious result of this is the FEMSEC The-matic Issue on Chinese Microbial Ecology published in November 2009.

Dr James Prosser (right) replaced Dr Fergus Priest (left) as FEMS

Publications Manager in September

“He’s a visionary. He’s ready to move the journals to a new direction. He tries new things,” says Editorial Coordinator Dr Goda Sporn of Dr Prosser.

Along with his new responsibil-ity at FEMS, Dr Prosser chairs the Environmental Microbiology Department at the Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences University of Aber-deen. In connection with this story, FEMS would like to thank form-ers FEMS Publications Manager Dr Fergus Priest for all his hard work .

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Get the combined online subscription to the FEMS Journals from €187.

SUBSCRIBE NOW.This could be your last chance to get it

for this price. (Price to increase in 2012)

ISSUES NOW AVAILABLE!

Glutathione detoxifies reactive oxygen species (ROS) and is also involved in the modulation of gene expression, in redox sign-aling, and in the regulation of enzymatic activities. In this study, the subcellular distribution of glutathione was studied in Sac-charomyces cerevisiae by quanti-tative immunoelectron micros-

LIST OF ALL VIRTUAL ISSUES AVAILABLE

FEMS Immunology and Medical MicrobiologyVirtual Special Issue on Rickettsia FEMS Yeast ResearchVirtual Issue on ApoptosisYeast Genetics and Molecular Biology Virtual Issue

FEMS Microbiology EcologyPolar and Alpine Microbiology

Abstract from Apoptosis Virtual Issue: Subcellular distribution of glutathione in yeast

copy. Highest glutathione contents were detected in mitochondria and subsequently in the cytosol, nuclei, cell walls, and vacuoles.

As a decrease in glutathione content in mitochon-dria could be correlated with oxidative stress and apoptosis, it seems that high levels of glutathione in mitochondria play an important role for the development, growth, and defense against ROS. Additionally, the importance of vacuoles for the

sequestration of glutathione could be identified as an important defense mechanism for the protec-tion of cells against ROS. The method presented in this study will help clarify the compartment-specific importance of glutathione in S. cerevisiae during cell growth, development, and defense and will contribute toward a better understanding of compartment-specific glutathione metabolism during situations of oxidative stress.

Zechmann et al., FEMS Yeast Res 2011, 11: 631–642. doi: 10.1111/j.1567-1364.2011.00753.x

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This month, we celebrate the birth of Anthonie van Leeuwenhoek, the Father of Microbiology. Although he did not have a microbiology back-ground, Van Leeuwenhoek was interested in all things small and unseen to the naked eye. It is because of this and his high quality scientific findings that he is known as the first microbiologist.

If he were alive today, he’d be 379 years old. Van Leeuwenhoek was born in Delft, The Netherlands on October 24, 1632. It is a nice coincidence that the FEMS Central Office is situated in this same city. Also called Little Amsterdam, Delft boasts of quaint canals and postcard-perfect sights.

Replica of the Van Lee

uwenhoek

microscope.

Credits: Jeroen Rouwkema

It is in this city that Van Leeuwenhoek grew up and developed his in-terest for what we now call microorganisms.

This was all made pos-sible with the use of his handcrafted micro-scope. He was said to have created at least 25 of these in his lifetime, of which only 9 sur-vived. His microscopes were known for having hand-grounded lenses. Those that survived could magnify 275 times but it is also the-orized that he owned microscopes that could magnify 500 times.

Van Leeuwenhoek was no scientist by education. He had background in many things but science was not one of them. Coming from a family of brew-ers, he trained as cashier and bookkeeper, passed as land surveyor and used to own a haberdasher’s shop for a living.

It was by sheer curiosity then that he discovered the protozoa, was the first to observe and describe single-celled organisms and the red blood cell.

Among his other discoveries were:• the infusoria (protists in modern zoological

classification), in 1674• the bacteria, (e.g. large Selenomonads from the

human mouth), in 1676• the vacuole of the cell.• the spermatozoa in 1677. Van Leeuwenhoek

had troubles with Dutch theologists about his practice.

• the banded pattern of muscular fibers, in 1682. (list from Wikipedia)

Even in his death bed, Van Leeuwenhoek kept on observing and discovering. It was said that before he died, he was still dictating the description of his disease to his daughter so it can later be sent to the Royal Society. Van Leeuwenhoek suffered from a rare disease of uncontrolled midriff movement that was later named Van Leeuwenhoek’s disease.

This portrait of Anthonie van Leeuwenhoek was painted by Jan Verkolje and can be found at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Note from the FEMS Secretary-General:

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for completing the survey.

Final survey summary report

The European Microbiology Forum survey was suc-cessfully completed by 756 respondents. The sur-vey reveals a major interest in EMF in Europe. The final report is currently in progress. Stay tuned for the results!

Next FEMS Focus on rapid diagnostics in TB

The next issue of the FEMS Focus will address rapid diagnostics and point-of-care detection of tuber-culosis (TB). FEMS Secretary-General Tone Tønjum finds this issue very timely since the World Health Organisation (WHO) just came up with the Global TB control report 2011 this month. Printed copies of the WHO report will be available at the end of October.

WHO’s Stop TB Department just also recently pub-lished “new recommendations related to the use of IGRAs as a replacement of the tuberculin skin test (TST) to detect latent TB in low- and middle-income countries (the recommendations are not intended for high-income countries or to supersede existing national guidelines in these countries)”.

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The SIMTREA website

The Italian Society for Agriculture, Food and En-vironmental Microbiology (Societa Italiana di Microbiologia Agro-Alimentare e Ambientale - SIMTREAAA) recently became a full-fledged FEMS member society.

SIMTREAAA has more than 200 members. The soci-ety was established in 1996 with the main purpose of “contributing to the development of science and its applications in agriculture, food and environ-mental microbiology.”

In their letter of application, SIMTREAAA President Marco Gobbetti described its objectives as, “The society currently acts to promote research, sympo-sia, editorial initiatives and to create a network and forum on current issues concerning applied micro-biology.”

The most recent initiative of SIMTREAAA is the “1st National Conference on Microbial Diversity: 2011-Environmental Stress and Adaptation” which is ongoing (October 26 - 28) as you read this article.

The rationale of the conference reads:“To establish a permanent scientific discussion frame focusing on Microbial Diversity, a central issue in modern microbiology, and capable of at-tracting microbiologists and scientists from Europe and the world with particular attention to the Medi-terranean Basin. The conference will be repeated at three years intervals. The scheme of the conference is to delve into specific facets of microbial diversity in order to contribute to the improvement of the research and applications of this essential global

resource that is at the basis of the development of modern bioeconomies.”

The focus of the conference are on:1. Water and salinity stresses2. Adaptation to acid and alkaline stresses3. Chemical stress: how microbes cope with oxi-

dative stress, preservatives and pollutants4. Symbiosis, associations, biocoenosis and cell-

to-cell communication5. Adaptation to thermal stress and other non-

conventional conditions6. Exploitation of microbial diversity under multi-

ple stress factors

New FEMS Publications Manager Dr James Prosser delivers the Keynote Lecture on the first day of the conference.

The voice of microbiology in Europe. We advance and unify microbiology knowledge.

Keverling Buismanweg 4, 2628 CL Delft, The NetherlandsT: 0031 15 269 3920 | F: 0031 15 269 3921 | E: fems@fems-microbiology.org

The FEMS Affiliates Letter is a production of FEMS Central Office

DEADLINES FEMS-Sponsored MeetingsNovember 2011

Microbiology Tidbits...

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1 December 201115 June 2012

FEMS Research FellowshipsFEMS Visiting Scientist Grants

15 December 20111 June 2012

FEMS National & Regional Congresses Grants

1 March 2012 FEMS Meeting Grants

(for meetings to be held in 2013)

1 April 20121 September 2012

FEMS Meeting Attendance Grants

1 October 2012FEMS Advanced Fellowships

2011 Symposium of the Danish Microbiological Society 7 November, Denmark

Newly Discovered Reservoir of Antibiotic Resist-ance Genes Oct. 20, 2011 — Waters polluted by the ordure of pigs, poultry, or cattle represent a reservoir of antibiotic resistance genes, both known and potentially novel. These resistance genes can be spread among different bacterial species by bacteriophage, bacteria-infecting viruses, according to a paper in the October Antimicro-bial Agents and Chemotherapy. (source: ASM)

Leaf Litter Ants Advance Case for Rainforest Con-servation in BorneoOct. 20, 2011 — Studies of ant populations in Borneo reveal an unexpected resilience to areas of rainforest degraded by repeated intensive logging. A finding which conservationists hope will lead governments to conserve these areas rather than allow them to be cleared and used for cash crop plantations. (source: Uni-

versity of Leeds)

New Evidence for the Oldest Oxygen-Breathing Life On Land Oct. 19, 2011 — New research shows first evidence that the first oxygen-breathing bacteria occupied and thrived on land 100 million years earlier than previously thought. The researchers show that the most primitive form of aerobic-respiring life on land came into exist-ence 2.48 billion years ago. (source: University of Alberta)