Microbiology

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 Alvarez-Cabrera
5. Jonathan Jih
6. Yun-Tao Liu
7. Z. Hong Zhou

Reviewed by Rapid Reviews Infectious Diseases

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

Addressing efficacy of everyday hygiene cleansing products in context of sustainable handwashing behaviour in the post-pandemic era

1. Sandip B. Pathak
2. Shafali Arora
3. Jabir Sayyed
4. Urmi Trivedi
5. Lincy Sherin
6. Nitish Kumar
7. Harshinie W. Jayasekera
8. Amitabha Majumdar
9. Sayandip Mukherjee

Reviewed by PREreview, Rapid Reviews Infectious Diseases

Finding the known unknowns: minimal machine learning models of resistance identify novel antibiotic resistance discovery opportunities in Klebsiella pneumoniae

1. Kristina Kordova
2. Caitlin Collins
3. Julian Parkhill

Reviewed by Rapid Reviews Infectious Diseases

Nonequilibrium polysome dynamics promote chromosome segregation and its coupling to cell growth in Escherichia coli

1. Alexandros Papagiannakis
2. Qiwei Yu
3. Sander K Govers
4. Wei-Hsiang Lin
5. Ned S Wingreen
6. Christine Jacobs-Wagner

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study presents compelling observational data supporting a role for transcription and polysome accumulation in the separation of newly replicated bacterial chromosomes. Through a comprehensive and rigorous comparative analysis of the spatiotemporal dynamics of ribosomal accumulation, nucleoid segregation, and cell division, the authors develop a model that nucleoid segregation rates are determined at least in part by the accumulation of ribosomes in the center of the cell, exerting a steric force to drive nucleoid segregation prior to cell division. This model circumvents the need to invoke as yet unidentified active mechanisms (e.g. an equivalent to a eukaryotic spindle) as drivers of bacterial chromosome segregation and intrinsically couples this vital step in the cell cycle to cell growth.

Reviewed by eLife

Salmonella exploits host- and bacterial-derived β-alanine for replication inside host macrophages

1. Shuai Ma
2. Bin Yang
3. Yuyang Sun
4. Xinyue Wang
5. Houliang Guo
6. Ruiying Liu
7. Ting Ye
8. Chenbo Kang
9. Jingnan Chen
10. Lingyan Jiang

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  The authors use a multidisciplinary approach to provide a link between Beta-alanine and S. Typhimurium (STM) infection and virulence. This valuable work shows how Beta-alanine synthesis mediates zinc homeostasis regulation, possibly contributing to virulence. The work is convincing as it adds to the existing knowledge of metabolic flexibility displayed by STM during infection.

Reviewed by eLife