Biophysics

Stochastic tug-of-war among sarcomeres mediates cardiomyocyte response to environmental stiffness

1. Daniel Haertter
2. Lara Hauke
3. Til Driehorst
4. Kengo Nishi
5. Wolfram-Hubertus Zimmermann
6. Christoph F Schmidt

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study provides a valuable characterization of individual sarcomere's contractility and synchrony in spontaneously beating cardiomyocytes as a function of substrate stiffness. The authors, however, provide an incomplete explanation for the observed heterogeneous and stochastic dynamics, so that the work remains mainly descriptive. The work will be of interest to scientists working on muscle biophysics, nonlinear dynamics, and synchronization phenomena in biological systems.

Reviewed by eLife

On the pH-dependence of α-synuclein amyloid polymorphism and the role of secondary nucleation in seed-based amyloid propagation

1. Lukas Frey
2. Dhiman Ghosh
3. Bilal M Qureshi
4. David Rhyner
5. Ricardo Guerrero-Ferreira
6. Aditya Pokharna
7. Witek Kwiatkowski
8. Tetiana Serdiuk
9. Paola Picotti
10. Roland Riek
11. Jason Greenwald

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study presents important findings on the different polymorphs of alpha-synuclein filaments that form at various pH's during in vitro assembly reactions with purified recombinant protein. Of particular note is the discovery of two new polymorphs (1M and 5A) that form in PBS buffer at pH 7. The strength of the evidence presented is convincing. The work will be of interest to biochemists and biophysicists working on protein aggregation and amyloids.

Reviewed by eLife

Direct single-molecule detection and super-resolution imaging with a low-cost portable smartphone-based microscope

1. Morgane Loretan
2. Mariano Barella
3. Nathan Fuchs
4. Samet Kocabey
5. Karol Kołątaj
6. Fernando D. Stefani
7. Guillermo P. Acuna

Reviewed by preLights

Direct and Indirect Salt Effects on Homotypic Phase Separation

1. Matthew MacAinsh
2. Souvik Dey
3. Huan-Xiang Zhou

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  In this potentially important study, the authors conducted atomistic simulations to probe the salt-dependent phase separation of the low-complexity domain of hnRN-PA1 (A1-LCD). The authors have identified both direct and indirect mechanisms of salt modulation, provided explanations for four distinct classes of salt dependence, and proposed a model for predicting protein properties from amino acid composition. There is a range of opinions regarding the strength of evidence, with some considering the evidence as incomplete due to the limitations in the length and complexity of the atomistic MD simulations. The work should be put into a better context in relation to previous studies of salt effects on protein phase separation.

Reviewed by eLife

Discovery of a Heparan-Sulfate Binding Domain in Monkeypox Virus H3 Protein as a New Anti-poxviral Drug Target

1. Bin Zheng
2. Meimei Duan
3. Zhuojian Lu
4. Lichao Liu
5. Shangchen Wang
6. Yifen Huang
7. Guojin Tang
8. Lin Cheng
9. Peng Zheng

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This work presents important findings regarding the interaction of the monkeypox virus (MPXV) attachment H3 protein with the cellular receptor heparan sulfate and the use of this information to develop antivirals potentially effective against all orthopoxviruses. Using a combination of state-of-the art computational and wet experiments the authors present solid evidence to sustain their claims. These results will interest those working on basic orthopoxviruses biology and antiviral development.

Reviewed by eLife

Emergence of ion-channel mediated electrical oscillations in Escherichia coli biofilms

1. Emmanuel U Akabuogu
2. Victor Martorelli
3. Rok Krašovec
4. Ian S Roberts
5. Thomas A Waigh

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This potentially valuable study presents claims of evidence for coordinated membrane potential oscillations in E. coli biofilms that can be linked to a putative K+ channel and that may serve to enhance photo-protection. The finding of waves of membrane potential would be of interest to a wide audience from molecular biology to microbiology and physical biology. Unfortunately, a major issue is that it is unclear whether the dye used can act as a Nernstian membrane potential dye in E. coli. The arguments of the authors, who largely ignore previously published contradictory evidence, are inadequate in that they do not engage with the fact that the dye behaves in their hands differently than in the hands of others. In addition, the lack of proper validation of the experimental method including key control experiments leaves the evidence incomplete.

Reviewed by eLife

Structural characterization and dynamics of AdhE ultrastructures from Clostridium thermocellum: A containment strategy for toxic intermediates

1. Samantha J Ziegler
2. Brandon C Knott
3. Josephine N Gruber
4. Neal N Hengge
5. Qi Xu
6. Daniel G Olson
7. Eduardo E Romero
8. Lydia M Joubert
9. Yannick J Bomble

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This work presents valuable information on the structure of the spirosome's native extended conformation as the active form of the aldehyde-alcohol dehydrogenase (AdhE) enzyme. The evidence is solid, although the work does not provide a mechanistic understanding of the function and dynamics of AdhE.

Reviewed by eLife

A scale-invariant log-normal droplet size distribution below the critical concentration for protein phase separation

1. Tommaso Amico
2. Samuel Dada
3. Andrea Lazzari
4. Michaela Brezinova
5. Antonio Trovato
6. Michele Vendruscolo
7. Monika Fuxreiter
8. Amos Maritan

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  In this valuable study, the authors analyze droplet size distributions of multiple protein condensates and their fit to a scaling ansatz, highlighting that they exhibit features of first- and second-order phase transitions. The experimental evidence is solid, but the interpretation can be improved. The text would benefit from further clarification and connection to the coupled percolation-and-phase-separation model.

Reviewed by eLife

Mapping Spatial Patterns to Energetic Benefits in Groups of Flow-coupled Swimmers

1. Sina Heydari
2. Haotian Hang
3. Eva Kanso

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This fundamental study provides a modeling regime that provides new insight into the energy-preservation parameters among schooling fish. The strength of the evidence supporting observations such as distilled dynamics between leading and lagging schooling fish which are derived from emergent properties is compelling. Overall, the study provides exciting insights into energetic coupling with respect to group swimming dynamics.

Reviewed by eLife

Decoupling of the onset of anharmonicity between a protein and its surface water around 200 K

1. Lirong Zheng
2. Bingxin Zhou
3. Banghao Wu
4. Yang Tan
5. Juan Huang
6. Madhusudan Tyagi
7. Victoria García Sakai
8. Takeshi Yamada
9. Hugh O'Neill
10. Qiu Zhang
11. Liang Hong

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  The study answers the important question of whether the conformational dynamics of proteins are slaved by the motion of solvent water or are intrinsic to the polypeptide. The results from neutron scattering experiments, involving isotopic labelling, carried out on a set of four structurally different proteins are convincing, showing that protein motions are not coupled to the solvent. A strength of this work is the study of a set of proteins using spectroscopy covering a range of resolutions. The work is of broad interest to researchers in the fields of protein biophysics and biochemistry.

Reviewed by eLife