Biophysics

Hijacking of Cellular Functions by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2. Permeabilization and Polarization of the Host Lipid Membrane by Viroporins

1. Emmanuelle Bignon
2. Marco Marazzi
3. Antonio Monari

Reviewed by ScreenIT

Seipin transmembrane segments critically function in triglyceride nucleation and lipid droplet budding from the membrane

1. Siyoung Kim
2. Jeeyun Chung
3. Henning Arlt
4. Alexander J Pak
5. Robert V Farese
6. Tobias C Walther
7. Gregory A Voth

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  Kim et al. investigate interactions between Seipin transmembrane domains and triacylglycerol using molecular dynamics simulations. They identify the leading steps in droplet formation and provide a physical basis for understanding the initial phases of this process, highlighting the importance of transmembrane helices in the function of seipin protein. This paper will be of interest to cell biologists and biophysicists aiming to unveil and understand how lipid droplets are formed inside cells. The topic is important given that lipid droplets are key organelles used for energy storage, and that the failure in their formation can result in various metabolic diseases.

  (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

Structural and biochemical mechanism for increased infectivity and immune evasion of Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 variants and their mouse origins

1. Youwei Xu
2. Canrong Wu
3. Xiaodan Cao
4. Chunyin Gu
5. Heng Liu
6. Mengting Jiang
7. Xiaoxi Wang
8. Qingning Yuan
9. Kai Wu
10. Jia Liu
11. Deyi Wang
12. Xianqing He
13. Xueping Wang
14. Su-Jun Deng
15. H. Eric Xu
16. Wanchao Yin

Reviewed by ScreenIT

Hierarchical Computational Modeling and Dynamic Network Analysis of Allosteric Regulation in the SARS-CoV-2 Spike Omicron Trimer Structures: Omicron Mutations Cooperate to Allosterically Control Balance of Protein Stability and Conformational Adaptability

1. Gennady M. Verkhivker
2. Steve Agajanian
3. Ryan Kassab
4. Keerthi Krishnan

Reviewed by ScreenIT

The importance of intermediate filaments in the shape maintenance of myoblast model tissues

1. Irène Nagle
2. Florence Delort
3. Sylvie Hénon
4. Claire Wilhelm
5. Sabrina Batonnet-Pichon
6. Myriam Reffay

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  Nagle and colleagues studied the determinants of key physical properties of multicellular assemblies, using magnetic flattening of spheroids. Their key and insightful result is that intermediate filaments could also be implicated in the setting the elastic properties of these assemblies, shedding light on this central cellular component and how their modifications could be important to the understanding of some pathologies. The paper would be strengthened by additional experiments to better support the claims.

  (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 #2 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

Reviewed by eLife

Detecting molecular interactions in live-cell single-molecule imaging with proximity-assisted photoactivation (PAPA)

1. Thomas GW Graham
2. John Joseph Ferrie
3. Gina M Dailey
4. Robert Tjian
5. Xavier Darzacq

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  This work develops a new method to probe protein-protein interactions using proximity-assisted photoactivation, in which a receiver fluorophore (longer wavelength) can be photoactivated by the excitation of a nearby sender fluorophore (shorter wavelength). This new method is validated through in-depth characterization, comparison with FRET, and application to known systems of protein-protein interactions. While the new method bears the potential to expand the tool kit for probing protein-protein interactions, further characterizations of its photoactivation properties and comparisons with existing methods would be needed to inform researchers interested to apply this method to their own systems.

  (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 #2 and Reviewer #3 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

Reviewed by eLife

Cells use molecular working memory to navigate in changing chemoattractant fields

1. Akhilesh Nandan
2. Abhishek Das
3. Robert Lott
4. Aneta Koseska

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  This paper addresses how cells can robustly maintain direction during movement by ignoring noise in concentration gradients while also being able to adapt to new signals in those gradients. The authors study this tension in EGFR signaling by postulating a form of cellular memory in a theoretical framework based on dynamical systems and bifurcation theory. The authors also carry out experiments that raise interesting unresolved questions. This paper will be of interest to scientists of all stripes working on cell motility and for theorists who take a dynamical systems view of biological phenomena.

  (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 #3 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

Reviewed by eLife

Deciphering a hexameric protein complex with Angstrom optical resolution

1. Hisham Mazal
2. Franz-Ferdinand Wieser
3. Vahid Sandoghdar

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  This paper will be of interest to the structural biology community and people working on cryogenic fluorescence microscopy. This paper is a clear step forward in the use of single-molecule localization microscopy at angstrom resolution, thanks to low-temperature polarized super-resolution imaging and advanced data processing algorithms.

  (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 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

Reviewed by eLife

Contributions of the N-terminal intrinsically disordered region of the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein to RNA-induced phase separation

1. Milan Zachrdla
2. Adriana Savastano
3. Alain Ibáñez de Opakua
4. Maria-Sol Cima-Omori
5. Markus Zweckstetter

Reviewed by ScreenIT

A CNN model for predicting binding affinity changes between SARS-CoV-2 spike RBD variants and ACE2 homologues

1. Chen Chen
2. Veda Sheersh Boorla
3. Ratul Chowdhury
4. Ruth H. Nissly
5. Abhinay Gontu
6. Shubhada K. Chothe
7. Lindsey LaBella
8. Padmaja Jakka
9. Santhamani Ramasamy
10. Kurt J. Vandegrift
11. Meera Surendran Nair
12. Suresh V. Kuchipudi
13. Costas D. Maranas

Reviewed by ScreenIT