Microbiology

Mitochondrial protein FgDML1 impacts DON toxin biosynthesis and cyazofamid sensitivity in Fusarium graminearum by affecting mitochondrial homeostasis

1. Chenguang Wang
2. Xuewei Mao
3. Weiwei Cong
4. Lin Yang
5. Yiping Hou

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study tackles an interesting aspect of fungal physiology: how a mitochondria-associated gene influences production of the secondary metabolite DON and fungicide sensitivity. The authors have improved the manuscript and the supporting evidence is convincing.

Reviewed by eLife

Membrane Binding Controls the ATPase Cycle and Localization of MinD in Bacillus subtilis

1. Helge Feddersen
2. Charlotte Dyckmanns
3. Marc Bramkamp

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study provides convincing data suggesting that subcellular localization of the spatial regulator of cell division, MinD, is an intrinsic feature of the protein's ability to associate with the membrane as both a dimer and a monomer. These findings distinguish the behavior of MinD in B. subtilis from its counterpart in E. coli and suggest that there is not a need to invoke additional localization factors. The reviewers felt that the revisions, particularly the additional experiments and changes to the text to make the experimental design and conclusions clearer, improve the quality of the manuscript and will increase its impact.

Reviewed by eLife

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 study proposes a novel rapid-entry mechanism for Staphylococcus aureus, involving the rapid release of calcium from lysosomes. The paper's strength lies in its very interesting hypothesis. The methods used are solid and adequately support the conclusions.

Reviewed by eLife

Out-of-balance Growth Enables Cost-free Synthesis of the Flagellum and Other Proteins in a Single Bacterium

1. Mayra Garcia-Alcala
2. Josiah C Kratz
3. Philippe Cluzel

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study addresses a discrepancy between population-level growth laws and single-cell correlations. It shows, for flagellar and synthetic genes in E. coli, that while gene expression of certain genes reduces population-average growth, expression levels positively correlate with growth at the single-cell level. The measurements are mostly convincing, and the proposed mechanism-inheritance of growth factors such as ribosomes during asymmetric division- explains this observation. The theoretical analysis would benefit from clearer explanations and robustness checks.

Reviewed by eLife

Quantitative RNA pseudouridine landscape reveals dynamic modification patterns and evolutionary conservation across bacterial species

1. Letong Xu
2. Shenghai Shen
3. Yizhou Zhang
4. Zhihao Guo
5. Beifang Lu
6. Jiadai Huang
7. Runsheng Li
8. Yitong Shen
9. Li-Sheng Zhang
10. Xin Deng

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study illustrates a valuable application of BID-seq to bacterial RNA, allowing transcriptome-wide mapping of pseudouridine modifications across various bacterial species. The evidence presented includes solid data and analyses that would benefit from additional experimental validation. The work will interest a specialized audience involved in RNA biology.

Reviewed by eLife

Research advance: Unexpected plasticity in the life cycle of Trypanosoma brucei

1. Carina Praisler
2. Jaime N Lisack
3. Anna Sophie Kreis
4. Laura Hauf
5. Johanna Krenzer
6. Fabian Imdahl
7. Markus Engstler

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  The manuscript concerns a fundamental and controversial question in Trypanosoma brucei biology and the parasite life cycle, providing further evidence that slender bloodstream forms can indeed infect Tsetse flies. The study is solid in design and execution, and addresses several criticisms made of the authors' earlier work. Nevertheless, some of the main conclusions are only partially supported: one issue is how, precisely, a "slender" bloodstream form is defined, and discrepancies with some results from other laboratories remain unexplained.

Reviewed by eLife

The phenotypic landscape of the mycobacterial cell

1. Nadia Herrera
2. Horia Todor
3. Lili M. Kim
4. Hannah N. Burkhart
5. Evan Billings
6. Allison Fay
7. Theodore C. Warner
8. So Young Lee
9. Natalie Y. Sayegh
10. Barbara Bosch
11. James Chen
12. Laura L. Kiessling
13. Michael S. Glickman
14. Filippo Mancia
15. Jeremy M. Rock
16. Carol A. Gross

Reviewed by Rapid Reviews Infectious Diseases

Ligand binding represses bacterial histidine kinase activity by inhibiting its dimerization

1. Gaurav D. Sankhe
2. Jiawei Xing
3. Merissa Xiao
4. John Buglino
5. Huilin Li
6. Igor B. Zhulin
7. Michael S. Glickman

Reviewed by Review Commons

Peptidoglycan recycling is critical for cell division, cell wall integrity, and β-lactam resistance in Caulobacter crescentus

1. Pia Richter
2. Anna Merz
3. Jacob Biboy
4. Nicole Paczia
5. Timo Glatter
6. Jared Ng
7. Waldemar Vollmer
8. Martin Thanbichler

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This manuscript presents a valuable investigation of the peptidoglycan (PG) recycling pathway in Caulobacter crescentus. The authors showed that PG recycling in C. crescentus is essential not only for β-lactam (ampicillin) resistance but also for cell morphology, efficient division, and overall fitness. The study is comprehensive and compelling.

Reviewed by eLife

Reactive Oxygen Detoxification Contributes to Mycobacterium abscessus Antibiotic Survival

1. Nicholas A Bates
2. Ronald Rodriguez
3. Rama Drwich
4. Abigail Ray
5. Sarah A Stanley
6. Bennett H Penn

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  Using a transposon sequencing (TN-seq) approach, the authors identified key genetic determinants of drug tolerance in Mycobacterium abscessus. Given that M. abscessus is inherently resistant to multiple antibiotics, this valuable study makes a significant contribution by uncovering how antibiotic tolerance is linked to reactive oxygen species (ROS) in this non-tuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) species. The solid findings further strengthen the growing evidence that ROS play a central role in the mechanism of antibiotic action and tolerance in mycobacteria. However, the use of words persistence or tolerance should follow the consensus definition given in the Balaban 2019 Nat Rev Micro paper.

Reviewed by eLife