Microbiology

FtsK is critical for the assembly of the unique divisome complex of the FtsZ-less Chlamydia trachomatis

1. McKenna Harpring
2. Junghoon Lee
3. Guangming Zhong
4. Scot P Ouellette
5. John V Cox

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  Understanding how the divisome is assembled in Chlamydia trachomatis, a bacterial pathogen, is crucial since this bacterium has a non-canonical cell wall and lacks the master regulator of cell division, FtsZ. This important study shows that a DNA translocase, FtsK, is an early and essential component of the Chlamydia trachomatis divisome. The evidence presented is convincing, leveraging the elegant use of genetics and fluorescence microscopy. As this role of FtsK is distinct relative to most other bacteria, these findings should be of significant interest to bacterial cell biologists.

Reviewed by eLife

Serial ‘deep-sampling’ PCR of fragmented DNA reveals the wide range of Trypanosoma cruzi burden among chronically infected human, macaque, and canine hosts, and allows accurate monitoring of parasite load following treatment

1. Brooke E White
2. Carolyn L Hodo
3. Sarah Hamer
4. Ashley B Saunders
5. Susana A Laucella
6. Daniel B Hall
7. Rick L Tarleton

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study presents an important methodological advance to improve the sensitivity of PCR for detecting Trypanosoma cruzi in blood, combining DNA fragmentation, deep sampling, and blood cell pellet analysis. The findings offer solid evidence of enhanced detection sensitivity and shed light on parasite load dynamics during chronic infection in mammalian reservoirs. The evidence is sound for macaques and the method shows promise in expanding detection limits, but there is some variability in the limits of detection and small sample size of human samples. This work will be of interest to parasitologists, epidemiologists, and clinicians using molecular diagnostics to monitor responses to etiological treatments for Chagas disease.

Reviewed by eLife

Frequent intertrophic transmission of Wolbachia by parasitism but not predation

1. Zhi-Chao Yan
2. Lan-Da Qi
3. Han-Le Ji
4. Xiao-Xiang Wang
5. Xiao-Yue Hong
6. Yuan-Xi Li

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  Using experiments in the white fly, this manuscript provides evidence that the bacterial symbiont Wolbachia can be transmitted from parasitoid wasps to their insect hosts. Characterizing the transfer of Wolbachia between insect species is a valuable attempt to explain the widespread of this intracellular bacterium. This paper is incomplete as it does not furnish sufficient data to support several of its claims for which additional methods and data are necessary.

Reviewed by eLife

HIV-1 Vif disrupts phosphatase feedback regulation at the kinetochore, leading to a pronounced pseudo-metaphase arrest

1. Dhaval Ghone
2. Edward L Evans
3. Madison Bandini
4. Kaelyn G Stephenson
5. Nathan M Sherer
6. Aussie Suzuki

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study provides a convincing explanation for why HIV-1 Vif causes a qualitatively different cell cycle arrest to its accessory gene counterpart Vpr. The authors use elegant time-dependent microscopy reporter assays in immortalized tumor cell models to show that HIV-1 Vif causes a pseudo-metaphase arrest rather than a G2 arrest. The metaphase arrest correlates with dysregulation of the kinetochore that could be explained by the loss of phosphatase functions that determine chromosome-microtubule interactions. These valuable findings lay the groundwork for additional studies examining the mechanisms and consequences of this Vif-dependent phenotype in the viral life cycle and in primary cells more relevant to HIV-1 pathogenesis.

Reviewed by eLife

Regulatory mimicry of cyclin-dependent kinases by a conserved herpesvirus protein kinase

1. Naoto Koyanagi
2. Kowit Hengphasatporn
3. Akihisa Kato
4. Moeka Nobe
5. Kosuke Takeshima
6. Yuhei Maruzuru
7. Katsumi Maenaka
8. Yasuteru Shigeta
9. Yasushi Kawaguchi

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

On the role of VP3-PI3P interaction in birnavirus endosomal membrane targeting

1. Flavia A Zanetti
2. Ignacio Fernandez
3. Eduard Baquero
4. Pablo Guardado-Calvo
5. Andres Ferrino-Iriarte
6. Sarah Dubois
7. Etienne Morel
8. Victoria Alfonso
9. Milton Osmar Aguilera
10. María E Celayes
11. Luis Mariano Polo
12. Laila Suhaiman
13. Vanesa V Galassi
14. Maria V Chiarpotti
15. Carolina Allende-Ballestero
16. Javier M Rodriguez
17. Jose R Castón
18. Diego Lijavetzky
19. Oscar Taboga
20. María I Colombo
21. Mario Del Pópolo
22. Félix A Rey
23. Laura Ruth Delgui

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  Zanetti et al use convincing biophysical and cellular assays to investigate the interaction of the birnavirus VP3 protein with the early endosome lipid PI3P. The study provides valuable insights and will be of interest to virologists. In future studies, it would be interesting to demonstrate that VP3-PIP3P is a specific interaction and not a general interaction with other PIPs.

Reviewed by eLife

DNA methylome regulates virulence and metabolism in Pseudomonas syringae

1. Jiadai Huang
2. Fang Chen
3. Beifang Lu
4. Yue Sun
5. Youyue Li
6. Canfeng Hua
7. Xin Deng

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This valuable study presents findings on DNA methylation as an efficient epigenetic transcriptional regulating strategy in bacteria. The authors utilized single-molecule real-time sequencing to profile the DNA methylation landscape across three model pathovars of Pseudomonas syringae, identifying significant epigenetic mechanisms through the Type-I restriction-modification system, which includes a conserved sequence motif associated with N6-methyladenine. The evidence presented is solid and the study provides novel insights into the epigenetic mechanisms of P. syringae, expanding the understanding of bacterial pathogenicity and adaptation.

Reviewed by eLife

Epigenetic liquid biopsies reveal elevated vascular endothelial cell turnover and erythropoiesis in asymptomatic COVID-19 patients

1. Roni Ben-Ami
2. Netanel Loyfer
3. Eden Cohen
4. Gavriel Fialkoff
5. Israa Sharkia
6. Naama Bogot
7. Danit Kochan
8. George Kalak
9. Amir Jarjoui
10. Chen Chen-Shuali
11. Hava Azulai
12. Hezi Barhoum
13. Nissim Arish
14. Moshe M Greenberger
15. David Vellema
16. Ramzi Kurd
17. Eli Ben Chetrit
18. Davina Bohm
19. Talya Wolak
20. Ahmad Quteineh
21. Gordon Cann
22. Benjamin Glaser
23. Nir Friedman
24. Tommy Kaplan
25. Ruth Shemer
26. Ariel Rokach
27. Yuval Dor

Reviewed by Review Commons, Rapid Reviews Infectious Diseases

Quantification of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium population dynamics in murine infection using a highly diverse barcoded library

1. Julia A Hotinger
2. Ian W Campbell
3. Karthik Hullahalli
4. Akina Osaki
5. Matthew K Waldor

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study reports a detailed quantification of the population dynamics of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium in mice. Bacterial burden and founding population sizes across various organs were quantified, revealing pathways of dissemination and reseeding of the gastrointestinal tract from systemic organs. Using various techniques, including genetic distance measurements, the authors present compelling evidence to support their conclusions, thus presenting new knowledge that will be of broad interest to scientists focusing on infectious diseases.

Reviewed by eLife

Purging viral latency by a bifunctional HSV-vectored therapeutic vaccine in chronically SIV-infected macaques

1. Ziyu Wen
2. Pingchao Li
3. Yue Yuan
4. Congcong Wang
5. Minchao Li
6. Haohang Wang
7. Minjuan Shi
8. Yizi He
9. Mingting Cui
10. Ling Chen
11. Caijun Sun

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  In this useful study, the authors tested a novel approach to eradicate the HIV reservoir by constructing a herpes simplex virus (HSV)-based therapeutic vaccine designed to reactivate HIV from latently infected cells and induce an immune response to kill such infected cells. Testing this approach with SIV in a primate model, the authors report that the SIV reservoir was reduced. However, the evidence presented appears to be incomplete because the animal group size was small and the SIV reservoir size highly variable.

Reviewed by eLife