Microbiology

Fast Evolution of SOS-Independent Multi-Drug Resistance in Bacteria

1. Le Zhang
2. Yunpeng Guan
3. Yuen Yee Cheng
4. Nural N Cokcetin
5. Amy L Bottomley
6. Andrew Robinson
7. Elizabeth J Harry
8. Antoine van Oijen
9. Qian Peter Su
10. Dayong Jin

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study presents a valuable observation of how deletion of a major repair protein in bacteria can facilitate the rise of mutations that confer resistance against a range of different antibiotics. The data presented are convincing, and the authors addressed the concerns raised by the reviewers in their resubmission, improving the strength of their findings.

Reviewed by eLife

Identifying a novel mechanism of L-leucine uptake in Mycobacterium tuberculosis using a chemical genomic approach

1. Nisheeth Agarwal
2. Himanshu Gogoi
3. Eeba
4. Linus Augustin
5. Md. Younus Khan
6. Yashwant Kumar
7. Sayan Kumar Bhowmick
8. Bappaditya Dey

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  By performing a chemical screen of an FDA-approved library of small molecules against a leucine-dependent Mtb strain, this work discovered that semapimod inhibits Mtb growth by impairing leucine import. The work is useful because it connects leucine uptake with the cell wall lipids in Mtb; however, it remains incomplete as the evidence supporting semapimod's ability to target leucine uptake needs more substantial proof. The work requires significant experimental evidence to identify leucine transporter(s) and determine how PDIM participates in leucine uptake.

Reviewed by eLife

Blocking toxin function and modulating the gut microbiota: caffeic acid phenethyl ester as a potential treatment for Clostridioides difficile infection

1. Yan Guo
2. Yong Zhang
3. Guizhen Wang
4. Hongtao Liu
5. Jianfeng Wang
6. Xuming Deng
7. Liuqing He
8. Jiazhang Qiu

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This valuable study by Guo and colleagues reports the inhibitory activity of caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE) against TcdB, a key toxin produced by Clostridioides difficile. C. difficile infections are a major public health concern, and this manuscript provides interesting data on toxin inhibition by CAPE, a potentially promising therapeutic alternative for this disease. The strength of the evidence to support the conclusions is solid, with some concerns about the moderate effects on the mouse infection model and direct binding assays of CAPE to the toxin.

Reviewed by eLife

Structure of a new capsid form and comparison with A-, B- and C-capsids clarify herpesvirus assembly

1. Alexander Stevens
2. Saarang Kashyap
3. Ethan Crofut
4. Ana Lucia Alverez-Cabrera
5. Jonathan Jih
6. Yun-Tao Liu
7. Z. Hong Zhou

Reviewed by Rapid Reviews Infectious Diseases

Heterogeneous efflux pump expression underpins phenotypic resistance to antimicrobial peptides

1. Ka Kiu Lee
2. Urszula Łapińska
3. Giulia Tolle
4. Maureen Micaletto
5. Bing Zhang
6. Wanida Phetsang
7. Anthony D Verderosa
8. Brandon M Invergo
9. Joseph Westley
10. Attila Bebes
11. Raif Yuecel
12. Paul A O’Neill
13. Audrey Farbos
14. Aaron R Jeffries
15. Stineke van Houte
16. Pierluigi Caboni
17. Mark AT Blaskovich
18. Benjamin E Housden
19. Krasimira Tsaneva- Atanasova
20. Stefano Pagliara

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study by Lee et al. investigates the heterogeneous response of non-growing bacteria to the antimicrobial peptide (AMP) tachyplesin. In this response, a subpopulation of bacteria limits the accumulation of a fluorescent analog of the AMP, avoiding lethal damage. The study provides compelling evidence of the reduced susceptibility to the antimicrobial peptide antibiotic tachyplesin in a subpopulation of cells characterized by reduced drug accumulation. The evidence on the underlying molecular mechanisms is solid.

Reviewed by eLife

The hepatitis E virus capsid protein ORF2 counteracts cell-intrinsic antiviral responses to enable persistence in hepatocytes

1. Ann-Kathrin Mehnert
2. Sebastian Stegmaier
3. Carlos Ramirez
4. Vladimir Gonçalves Magalhães
5. Carla Siebenkotten
6. Jungen Hu
7. Ana Luisa Costa
8. Daniel Kirrmaier
9. Michael Knop
10. Xianfang Wu
11. Thibault Tubiana
12. Carl Herrmann
13. Marco Binder
14. Viet Loan Dao Thi

Reviewed by Review Commons

Influenza virus antagonizes self sensing by RIG-I to enhance viral replication

1. Mitchell P. Ledwith
2. Thomas Nipper
3. Kaitlin A. Davis
4. Deniz Uresin
5. Anastassia V. Komarova
6. Andrew Mehle

Reviewed by PREreview

A prophage-encoded anti-phage defense system that prevents phage DNA packaging by targeting the terminase complex

1. Gil Azulay
2. Nadejda Sigal
3. Keren Tzohar Rabinovich
4. Dan Koenigsfeld
5. Olga Stadnyuk
6. Avijit Das
7. Polina Lisitzin
8. Einat Biderman
9. Ilya Borovok
10. Anat A. Herskovits

Reviewed by preLights, PREreview

Identifying Genetic Variations in emm89 Streptococcus pyogenes Associated with Severe Invasive Infections

1. Masayuki Ono
2. Masaya Yamaguchi
3. Daisuke Motooka
4. Yujiro Hirose
5. Kotaro Higashi
6. Tomoko Sumitomo
7. Tohru Miyoshi-Akiyama
8. Rumi Okuno
9. Takahiro Yamaguchi
10. Ryuji Kawahara
11. Hitoshi Otsuka
12. Noriko Nakanishi
13. Yu Kazawa
14. Chikara Nakagawa
15. Ryo Yamaguchi
16. Hiroo Sakai
17. Yuko Matsumoto
18. Tadayoshi Ikebe
19. Shigetada Kawabata

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study provides an important and timely analysis of invasive and non-invasive Streptococcus pyogenes emm89 isolates, which have become a dominant serotype in the past decade. Using genome sequencing of 311 strains from Japan and comparing them with 666 global strains, the authors present compelling evidence in support of the identification of genetic factors linked to the invasive phenotype of emm89. The findings are both theoretically and practically significant in medical microbiology.

Reviewed by eLife

Chemostat culturing reduces fecal eukaryotic virus load and delays diarrhea after virome transplantation

1. Simone Margaard Offersen
2. Signe Adamberg
3. Malene Roed Spiegelhauer
4. Xiaotian Mao
5. Torben Sølbeck Rasmussen
6. Frej Larsen
7. Jingren Zhong
8. Duc Ninh Nguyen
9. Dennis Sandris Nielsen
10. Lise Aunsholt
11. Thomas Thymann
12. Kaarel Adamberg
13. Anders Brunse

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  In this valuable study, the authors report on an innovative chemostat propagation system to reduce eukaryotic viruses while retaining phages in mixtures used for FVTs (fecal virome transplant). The authors hypothesized that chemostat-propagated viromes could modulate the gut microbiota and reduce necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) lesions while avoiding potential side effects, such as earlier onset of diarrhea. The study is solid in that it integrates in vitro fermentation, high-resolution metagenomics, immunogenicity assays, and in vivo validation, demonstrating the potential of FVT using eukaryotic-free virome-based therapeutics. However, the study overall has some conceptual and technical limitations.

Reviewed by eLife