New Identities in Peer Review: Who Are They and Why Are They Important?

Abstract

Cover image: The Spanish Cucumber E. Coli. In May 2011, there was an outbreak of a unusual Shiga-Toxin producing strain of E.Coli, beginning in Hamburg in Germany. This has been dubbed the 'Spanish cucumber' outbreak because the bacteria were initially thought to have come from cucumbers produced in Spain. This figure compares the genome of the outbreak E. Coli strain C227-11 (left semicircle) and the genome of a similar E. Coli strain 55989 (right semicircle). The 55989 reference strain and other similar E.Coli have been associated with sporadic human cases but never large scale outbreak. The ribbons inside the track represent homologous mappings between the two genomes, indicating a high degree of similarity between these genomes. The lines show the chromosomal positioning of repeat elements, such as insertion sequences and other mobile elements, which reveal some heterogeneity between the genomes. Section 1.3 explains how this genome was analysed within weeks because of a global and open effort; data about the strain's genome sequence were released freely over the internet as soon as they were produced. This figure is from Rohde H et al (2011). Open-Source Genomic Analysis of Shiga-Toxin-Producing E. coli O104:H4.