Biochemistry

Epitope order Matters in multi-epitope-based peptide (MEBP) vaccine design: An in silico study

1. Muthu Raj Salaikumaran
2. Prasanna Sudharson Kasamuthu
3. V L S Prasad Burra

Reviewed by ScreenIT

The challenge of structural heterogeneity in the native mass spectrometry studies of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein interactions with its host cell-surface receptor

1. Yang Yang
2. Daniil G. Ivanov
3. Igor A. Kaltashov

Reviewed by ScreenIT

Structure and activity of human TMPRSS2 protease implicated in SARS-CoV-2 activation

1. Bryan J. Fraser
2. Serap Beldar
3. Almagul Seitova
4. Ashley Hutchinson
5. Dhiraj Mannar
6. Yanjun Li
7. Daniel Kwon
8. Ruiyan Tan
9. Ryan P. Wilson
10. Karoline Leopold
11. Sriram Subramaniam
12. Levon Halabelian
13. Cheryl H. Arrowsmith
14. François Bénard

Reviewed by ScreenIT

SARS-CoV-2 activates ER stress and Unfolded protein response

1. Livia Rosa-Fernandes
2. Lucas C. Lazari
3. Janaina Macedo da Silva
4. Vinicius de Morais Gomes
5. Rafael Rahal Guaragna Machado
6. Ancely Ferreira dos Santos
7. Danielle Bastos Araujo
8. João Vitor Paccini Coutinho
9. Gabriel Santos Arini
10. Claudia B. Angeli
11. Edmarcia E. de Souza
12. Carsten Wrenger
13. Claudio R. F. Marinho
14. Danielle B. L. Oliveira
15. Edison L. Durigon
16. Leticia Labriola
17. Giuseppe Palmisano

Reviewed by ScreenIT

A robust high-throughput fluorescent polarization assay for the evaluation and screening of SARS-CoV-2 fusion inhibitors

1. Xinjian Yin
2. Litong Chen
3. Siwen Yuan
4. Lan Liu
5. Zhizeng Gao

Reviewed by ScreenIT

Comparative structural analyses of selected spike protein-RBD mutations in SARS-CoV-2 lineages

1. Urmi Roy

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Crosstalk between repair pathways elicits double-strand breaks in alkylated DNA and implications for the action of temozolomide

1. Robert P Fuchs
2. Asako Isogawa
3. Joao A Paulo
4. Kazumitsu Onizuka
5. Tatsuro Takahashi
6. Ravindra Amunugama
7. Julien P Duxin
8. Shingo Fujii

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation summary:

  Glioblastomas, like many tumors, consist of a cohort of actively dividing cells and a substantially larger fraction of non-proliferating cells. The standard of care involves the administration of a chemotherapy drug (temozolomide (TMZ)) whose antitumor activity is thought to be dependent on a toxic intermediate produced during DNA replication. In this report, the authors show how this compound is also processed by the interaction of two DNA repair pathways which produce the same intermediate without the requirement for DNA replication. The paper will be of interest to those scientists concerned with the implications of DNA damage and repair for cancer chemotherapy, particularly for tumors as deadly as glioblastoma.

  (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewer #1, Reviewer #2 and Reviewer #3 agreed to share their names with the authors.)

Reviewed by eLife

Structure-guided microbial targeting of antistaphylococcal prodrugs

1. Justin J Miller
2. Ishaan T Shah
3. Jayda Hatten
4. Yasaman Barekatain
5. Elizabeth A Mueller
6. Ahmed M Moustafa
7. Rachel L Edwards
8. Cynthia S Dowd
9. Geoffrey C Hoops
10. R Jeremy Johnson
11. Paul J Planet
12. Florian L Muller
13. Joseph M Jez
14. Audrey R Odom John

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  This submission reports an approach to identify bacterial specific carboxyesterases that can be exploited to activate prodrugs of antibiotics in Staphylococcus aureus. The main premise is that charged functional groups found in some antibiotics prevent entry of these into bacteria, an effect that can be circumvented through esterification of the antibiotic to allow entry. Thereafter, activation of the antibiotic will occur in the bacterial cytoplasm through hydrolysis by bacterial esterases. This could lead to new antibiotic delivery strategies.

  (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. The reviewers remained anonymous to the authors.)

Reviewed by eLife

Bipartite binding and partial inhibition links DEPTOR and mTOR in a mutually antagonistic embrace

1. Maren Heimhalt
2. Alex Berndt
3. Jane Wagstaff
4. Madhanagopal Anandapadamanaban
5. Olga Perisic
6. Sarah Maslen
7. Stephen McLaughlin
8. Conny Wing-Heng Yu
9. Glenn R Masson
10. Andreas Boland
11. Xiaodan Ni
12. Keitaro Yamashita
13. Garib N Murshudov
14. Mark Skehel
15. Stefan M Freund
16. Roger L Williams

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  This study will be of interest to structural biologists, enzymologists, and cell biologists. The kinase complex mTORC1, a master regulator of cell growth, can be inhibited by another protein, DEPTOR. This protein is of general interest for several reasons, including the hope that understanding how DEPTOR works will lead to new strategies for therapeutically tuning mTORC1 activity. This study provides insights into the binding and inhibitory effects of DEPTOR on mTORC1. Solving a few technical questions will improve the work.

  (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewer #1 and Reviewer #2 agreed to share their names with the authors.)

Reviewed by eLife

Zinc ²⁺ ion inhibits SARS-CoV-2 main protease and viral replication in vitro

1. Love Panchariya
2. Wajahat Ali Khan
3. Shobhan Kuila
4. Kirtishila Sonkar
5. Sibasis Sahoo
6. Archita Ghoshal
7. Ankit Kumar
8. Dileep Kumar Verma
9. Abdul Hasan
10. Shubhashis Das
11. Jitendra K Thakur
12. Rajkumar Halder
13. Sujatha Sunil
14. Arulandu Arockiasamy

Reviewed by ScreenIT