Microbiology

RNA polymerase III is involved in regulating Plasmodium falciparum virulence

1. Gretchen Diffendall
2. Aurelie Claes
3. Anna Barcons-Simon
4. Prince Nyarko
5. Florent Dingli
6. Miguel M Santos
7. Damarys Loew
8. Antoine Claessens
9. Artur Scherf

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This important study links the activity of polymerase III to the regulation of virulence gene expression in the deadliest malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. It identifies Maf1 as a Pol III inhibitor that enables the parasite to respond to external stimuli such as magnesium chloride plasma levels by downregulating Pol III-transcribed ruf6 genes and subsequently regulated var genes. While the evidence presented is generally convincing, some of the results are incomplete, and the mechanistic link between external signals and Maf1 activation remains unknown.

Reviewed by eLife

Stratification of viral shedding patterns in saliva of COVID-19 patients

1. Hyeongki Park
2. Raiki Yoshimura
3. Shoya Iwanami
4. Kwang Su Kim
5. Keisuke Ejima
6. Naotoshi Nakamura
7. Kazuyuki Aihara
8. Yoshitsugu Miyazaki
9. Takashi Umeyama
10. Ken Miyazawa
11. Takeshi Morita
12. Koichi Watashi
13. Christopher B. Brooke
14. Ruian Ke
15. Shingo Iwami
16. Taiga Miyazaki

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This useful work by Park attempts to use machine learning algorithms to identify correlates of different observed shedding patterns in two COVID-19 cohorts. The evidence supporting the study conclusions is incomplete due to the lack of uniformity in assays between the 2 cohorts, relevant metadata (previous infection/vaccination status, viral variant), early viral load data in the cohorts, and incomplete statistical analyses. With a strengthened analysis, the work may be of interest to virologists, clinicians, and public health scientists.

Reviewed by eLife

Release of P-TEFb from the Super Elongation Complex promotes HIV-1 latency reversal

1. William J. Cisneros
2. Shimaa H. A. Soliman
3. Miriam Walter
4. Lacy M. Simons
5. Daphne Cornish
6. Simone De Fabritiis
7. Ariel W. Halle
8. Eun-Young Kim
9. Steven M. Wolinsky
10. Ramon Lorenzo-Redondo
11. Ali Shilatifard
12. Judd F. Hultquist

Reviewed by Rapid Reviews Infectious Diseases

SAM-dependent viral MTase inhibitors: herbacetin and caffeic acid phenethyl ester, structural insights into dengue MTase

1. Mandar Bhutkar
2. Amith Kumar
3. Ruchi Rani
4. Vishakha Singh
5. Akashjyoti Pathak
6. Aditi Kothiala
7. Supreeti Mahajan
8. Bhairavnath Waghmode
9. Ravi Kumar
10. Rajat Mudgal
11. Debabrata Sircar
12. Pravindra Kumar
13. Shailly Tomar

Reviewed by Review Commons

Molecular mechanism of complement inhibition by the trypanosome receptor ISG65

1. Alexander D Cook
2. Mark Carrington
3. Matthew K Higgins

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This fundamental study significantly advances our understanding of how parasites evade the host complement immune system. The new cryo-EM structure of the trypanosome receptor ISG65 bound to complement component C3b is highly compelling and well-supported by biochemical experiments. This work will be of broad interest to parasitologists, immunologists, and structural biologists.

Reviewed by eLife

Fungal–bacteria interactions provide shelter for bacteria in Caesarean section scar diverticulum

1. Peigen Chen
2. Haicheng Chen
3. Ziyu Liu
4. Xinyi Pan
5. Qianru Liu
6. Xing Yang

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This important study reports the fungal composition and its interaction with bacteria in the Caesarean section scar diverticulum. The data are solid and supportive of the conclusion. This work will be of interest to researchers and clinicians who work on women's health.

Reviewed by eLife

Predicting microbial growth conditions from amino acid composition

1. Tyler P. Barnum
2. Alexander Crits-Christoph
3. Michael Molla
4. Paul Carini
5. Henry H. Lee
6. Nili Ostrov

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

Multi-tiered actions of Legionella effectors to modulate host Rab10 dynamics

1. Tomoko Kubori
2. Kohei Arasaki
3. Hiromu Oide
4. Tomoe Kitao
5. Hiroki Nagai

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This important study explores the interplay between Legionella Dot/Icm effectors that modulate ubiquitination of the host GTPase Rab10, which undergoes phosphoribosyl-ubiquitination by the SidE family of effectors, which in turn are required for Rab10 recruitment to the Legionella containing vacuole (LCV). The evidence supporting the claims of the authors is convincing. The study is not only relevant for the microbiology community, but will also be of interest to colleagues in the broader fields of membrane trafficking and general cell biology.

Reviewed by eLife

Widespread fungal-bacterial competition for magnesium enhances antibiotic resistance

1. Yu-Ying Phoebe Hsieh
2. Wanting Wendy Sun
3. Janet M. Young
4. Robin Cheung
5. Deborah A. Hogan
6. Ajai A. Dandekar
7. Harmit S. Malik

Reviewed by Review Commons

Warming and altered precipitation independently and interactively suppress alpine soil microbial growth in a decadal-long experiment

1. Yang Ruan
2. Ning Ling
3. Shengjing Jiang
4. Xin Jing
5. Jin-Sheng He
6. Qirong Shen
7. Zhibiao Nan

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This important study addresses the long-term effect of warming and precipitation on microbial growth, as a proxy for understanding the impact of global warming. The evidence that warming and altered precipitation exhibit antagonistic effects on bacterial growth is compelling and advances our understanding of microbial dynamics affected by environmental factors. This study will interest microbial ecologists, microbiologists, and scientists generally concerned with climate change.

Reviewed by eLife