Microbiology

Host and viral determinants of airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in the Syrian hamster

1. Julia R Port
2. Dylan H Morris
3. Jade C Riopelle
4. Claude Kwe Yinda
5. Victoria A Avanzato
6. Myndi G Holbrook
7. Trenton Bushmaker
8. Jonathan E Schulz
9. Taylor A Saturday
10. Kent Barbian
11. Colin A Russell
12. Rose Perry-Gottschalk
13. Carl Shaia
14. Craig Martens
15. James O Lloyd-Smith
16. Robert J Fischer
17. Vincent J Munster

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This manuscript describes rigorous experiments that provide a wealth of virologic, respiratory physiology, and particle aerodynamic data pertaining to aerosol transmission of SARS-CoV-2 between infected Syrian hamsters. The significance of the paper is fundamental because infection is compared between alpha and delta variants, and because viral load is assessed via numerous assays (gRNA, sgRNA, TCID) and in tissues as well as the ambient environment of the cage. The strength of evidence is compelling.

Reviewed by eLife

Genome-wide Functional Characterization of Escherichia coli Promoters and Sequence Elements Encoding Their Regulation

1. Guillaume Urtecho
2. Kimberly D. Insigne
3. Arielle D. Tripp
4. Marcia S. Brinck
5. Nathan B. Lubock
6. Christopher Acree
7. Hwangbeom Kim
8. Tracey Chan
9. Sriram Kosuri

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  Urtecho et al. use genome-integrated massively parallel reporter assays to catalog and characterize promoters throughout the Escherichia coli genome. The result is a state-of-the-art atlas of promoters, coupled with information on their regulation, that is readily accessible through the website http://ecolipromoterdb.com. This compelling work provides an important resource for researchers studying bacterial transcriptional regulation.

Reviewed by eLife

Refinement of the “ Candidatus Accumulibacter” Genus Based on a Metagenomic Analysis of Biological Nutrient Removal (BNR) Pilot-Scale Plants Operated with Reduced Aeration

1. Rachel D. Stewart
2. Kevin S. Myers
3. Carly Amstadt
4. Matt Seib
5. Katherine D. McMahon
6. Daniel R. Noguera

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

Sterile protection against Plasmodium vivax malaria by repeated blood stage infection in a non-human primate model

1. Nicanor Obaldía
2. Joao Luiz Da Silva Filho
3. Marlon Núñez
4. Katherine A. Glass
5. Tate Oulton
6. Fiona Achcar
7. Grennady Wirjanata
8. Manoj Duraisingh
9. Philip Felgner
10. Kevin K.A. Tetteh
11. Zbynek Bozdech
12. Thomas D. Otto
13. Matthias Marti

Reviewed by Review Commons

The inter-continental population dynamics of Neisseria gonorrhoeae

1. Magnus N Osnes
2. Ola B Brynildsrud
3. Kristian Alfsnes
4. Lucy van Dorp
5. Samantha A McKeand
6. Jonathan Ross
7. Katy Town
8. Jolinda de Korne-Elenbaas
9. Alje van Dam
10. Sylvia Bruisten
11. Birgitte F de Blasio
12. Dominique A Caugant
13. Yonatan H. Grad
14. Deborah A Williamson
15. Francois Balloux
16. Xavier Didelot
17. Vegard Eldholm

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This important work provides a detailed analysis of the population dynamics of an important human bacterial pathogen, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, using a large global collection of genomes with geographic, temporal, and demographic metadata. A unique facet of this work is the focus on both importation and exportation of N. gonorrhoeae; whilst quantifying importation is important to national public health efforts, quantifying exportation is relevant on an international level. However, the evidence supporting the conclusions is incomplete, due to potential inaccuracies in the method used for phylogenetic analysis, which forms the basis of this work. With the phylogenetic analysis strengthened, this paper would be of interest to epidemiologists and public health officials working on N. gonorrhoeae epidemiology and interventions.

Reviewed by eLife

Recruitment of apolipoprotein E facilitates Herpes simplex virus 1 attachment, entry, and release

1. Lifeng Liu
2. Konrad Thorsteinsson
3. Fouzia Bano
4. Sanduni Wasana Jayaweera
5. Damien Avinens
6. Dario Conca
7. Hudson Pace
8. Hugo Lövheim
9. Anders Olofsson
10. Marta Bally

Reviewed by Review Commons

Phenotypic heterogeneity drives phage-bacteria coevolution in the intestinal tract

1. Nicolas Wenner
2. Anouk Bertola
3. Louise Larsson
4. Andrea Rocker
5. Nahimi Amare Bekele
6. Chris Sauerbeck
7. Leonardo F. Lemos Rocha
8. Valentin Druelle
9. Alexander Harms
10. Médéric Diard

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

The Parkinson’s drug entacapone disrupts gut microbiome homeostasis via iron sequestration

1. Fátima C. Pereira
2. Xiaowei Ge
3. Jannie Munk Kristensen
4. Rasmus H. Kirkegaard
5. Klara Maritsch
6. Yifan Zhu
7. Marie Decorte
8. Bela Hausmann
9. David Berry
10. Kenneth Wasmund
11. Arno Schintlmeister
12. Thomas Boettcher
13. Ji-Xin Cheng
14. Michael Wagner

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

The infection-tolerant white-footed deermouse tempers interferon responses to endotoxin in comparison to the mouse and rat

1. Ana Milovic
2. Jonathan V Duong
3. Alan G Barbour

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study provides a comprehensive whole genome transcriptomic analysis of three small mammals, including Peromyscus leucopus, after exposure to endotoxin lipopolysaccharide. The authors find that the inflammatory response of the three species is complex and that P. leucopus responds differently compared to mice and rats. The data are convincing and constitute an important advance in our understanding of inflammatory responses in animals that serve as reservoirs for relevant pathogens.

Reviewed by eLife

A Vibrio cholerae viral satellite maximizes its spread and inhibits phage by remodeling hijacked phage coat proteins into small capsids

1. Caroline M Boyd
2. Sundharraman Subramanian
3. Drew T Dunham
4. Kristin N Parent
5. Kimberley D Seed

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This valuable study reports on the structure and function of capsid size-determining external scaffolding protein encoded by a Vibrio phage satellite. The structural work is of high quality and the presented reconstructions are compelling. The paper offers a substantial advance in the field of phage and virus structure and assembly, with implications for understanding the evolution of phage satellites.

Reviewed by eLife, PREreview