The cover image shows an artistic view of antibiotic resistance. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureusis originated by the presence of the genomic island called staphylococcal cassette chromosome or SCC. Mir-Sanchis et al. (pp. 1144–1150) present the crystal structure of an unusual single-stranded DNA-binding protein encoded by SCC elements. The structure shows that this conserved protein fold resembles a winged helix-turn-helix motif but has an unusual hydrophobic pocket. This structure supports the hypothesis that SCC elements might be replicative. Cover credit: www.sunsunworks.com

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