Microbiology

A high-throughput, image-based assay to assess drug sensitivity of Acanthamoeba castellanii cysts

1. Carrie A. Flynn
2. Andrew Harmez
3. Rebecca I. Colón-Ríos
4. William F. Flynn
5. Barbara I. Kazmierczak

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

A Novel Rapid Host Cell Entry Pathway Determines Intracellular Fate of Staphylococcus aureus

1. Marcel Rühling
2. Fabio Schmelz
3. Kim Ulbrich
4. Fabian Schumacher
5. Julia Wolf
6. Maximilian Pfefferle
7. Magdalena Priester
8. Adriana Moldovan
9. Nadine Knoch
10. Andreas Iwanowitsch
11. Christian Kappe
12. Kerstin Paprotka
13. Burkhard Kleuser
14. Christoph Arenz
15. Martin J Fraunholz

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This valuable work proposes a novel, rapid S. aureus entry mechanism via Ca²⁺-dependent lysosomal exocytosis and acid sphingomyelinase release, which influences bacterial sub-cellular fate. However, reliance on chemical inhibitors and the absence of a knockout phenotype weakens the overall impact, making the study incomplete.

Reviewed by eLife

SIRT2 protects against Japanese encephalitis virus infection in mice

1. Perumal Arumugam Desingu
2. Lavanya Dindi
3. Krishnega Murugasamy
4. Ankit Kumar Tamta
5. Venketsubbu Ramasubbu
6. Sukanya Raghu
7. Amarjeet Shrama
8. Raju S Rajmani
9. Nagalingam R Sundaresan

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study explores the role of SIRT2 in regulating Japanese encephalitis virus replication and disease progression in rodent models. The findings presented are novel as sirtuins are known for their roles in aging, metabolism, and cell survival, but have not been studied in the context of viral infections until recently. The evidence supporting the claims is solid, although additional experiments to further characterize the clinical outcomes and directly test the link between acetylated NF-kB and SIRT2 expression would have strengthened the study. The work will be of interest to biologists studying viruses, sirtuins, and inflammation.

Reviewed by eLife

Multi-omics single-cell analysis reveals key regulators of HIV-1 persistence and aberrant host immune responses in early infection

1. Dayeon Lee
2. Sin Young Choi
3. So-I Shin
4. Hyunsu An
5. Byeong-Sun Choi
6. Jihwan Park

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study presents important findings that enhance our understanding of immune cell interactions in the context of chronic HIV-1 infection. The evidence supporting the conclusions is convincing. The authors have employed appropriate and validated methodologies, including detailed data reprocessing and batch correction to account for inter-donor variability. The inclusion of supplementary figures and analyses, such as cell communication inference, further substantiates the robustness of the findings. Overall, this work contributes to our understanding of HIV-1 immune evasion and highlights potential therapeutic targets for reservoir eradication.

Reviewed by eLife

Cell surface localisation of GPI-anchored receptors in Trypanosoma brucei

1. Sourav Banerjee
2. Nicola Minshall
3. Alex Cook
4. Olivia Macleod
5. Helena Webb
6. Matthew Higgins
7. Mark Carrington

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This valuable manuscript investigates the localisation of nutrient receptors in bloodstream stage trypanosomes, with implications for both nutrient uptake and immune evasion. Results after direct fixation of the cells in culture medium provide convincing evidence that the amounts of receptors on the surface of the cell, as opposed to the flagellar pocket, have previously been severely underestimated. Some results were essentially confirmatory, and there are questions regarding the quantitation of ligand binding by transferring receptors.

Reviewed by eLife

Unraveling CRP/cAMP-mediated metabolic regulation in Escherichia coli persister cells

1. Han G Ngo
2. Sayed Golam Mohiuddin
3. Aina Ananda
4. Mehmet Orman

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  The study reports an important finding on the role of the global metabolic regulator Crp/cAMP in the formation of antibiotic persister Escherichia coli. The evidence supporting the claims is solid including metabolomic analysis and characterization of many mutant strains.

Reviewed by eLife

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. explores the heterogeneous response of non-growing bacteria to the antimicrobial peptide (AMP) tachyplesin. The authors identify a subpopulation of cells that evade lethal damage by limiting the intracellular accumulation of a fluorescently labeled tachyplesin analog. The study provides compelling evidence that reduced drug accumulation underlies the decreased susceptibility of this subpopulation to the AMP. The molecular basis of this phenotype is well supported by the data.

Reviewed by eLife

Deletion of the moeA gene in Flavobacterium IR1 drives structural color shift from green to blue and alters polysaccharide metabolism

1. Álvaro Escobar Doncel
2. Constantinos Patinios
3. Alexandre Campos
4. Maria Beatriz Walter Costa
5. Maria V Turkina
6. Maria Murace
7. Raymond HJ Staals
8. Silvia Vignolini
9. Bas E Dutilh
10. Colin J Ingham

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This manuscript presents important findings on how structural color can be manipulated through a specific single-gene mutation in a motile bacterium. Compelling data provide a promising model to identify genes and molecular mechanisms supporting this widespread optical phenomenon. This work will be of interest to biophysicists and microbiologists working on structural colors and Flavobacterium.

Reviewed by eLife

Flexibility and modulation of translation initiation in enterovirus genomes

1. Rhian L. O’Connor
2. Georgia M. Cook
3. Jacqueline Hankinson
4. Ksenia Fominykh
5. Samantha H. Cheng
6. Daniel A. Nash
7. Aurélie Cenier
8. Komal M. Nayak
9. Stephen C. Graham
10. Janet E. Deane
11. Matthias Zilbauer
12. Andrew E. Firth
13. Valeria Lulla

Reviewed by Review Commons

Effect of Azithromycin treatment on the microbial composition, functional dynamics and resistomes of endocervical, vaginal and rectal microbiomes of women in Fiji with Chlamydia trachomatis infection

1. Sankhya Bommana
2. Olusola Olagoke
3. Yi-Juan Hu
4. Roselle Wang
5. Mike Kama
6. Morgan Dehdashti
7. Reshma Kodimerla
8. Timothy D. Read
9. Deborah Dean

Reviewed by Rapid Reviews Infectious Diseases