Microbiology

Modular small RNA drives the emergence of virulence traits and environmental trade-offs in Vibrio cholerae

1. Deepak Balasubramanian
2. Cole Crist
3. Salvador Almagro-Moreno

Reviewed by PREreview

Staphylococcus aureus counters organic acid anion-mediated inhibition of peptidoglycan cross-linking through robust alanine racemase activity

1. Sasmita Panda
2. Yahani P Jayasinghe
3. Dhananjay D Shinde
4. Emilio Bueno
5. Amanda Stastny
6. Blake P Bertrand
7. Sujata S Chaudhari
8. Tammy Kielian
9. Felipe Cava
10. Donald R Ronning
11. Vinai C Thomas

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  In this useful study, the authors present convincing evidence linking the enzyme D-alanine-D-alanine ligase (Ddl), crucial for cell wall fortification, to organic acid exposure in Staphylococcus aureus. While it's established that organic acids impede bacterial growth, the researchers reveal a novel coping mechanism where S. aureus maintains elevated levels of D-alanine, the substrate for Ddl, to counteract this inhibition. This discovery illuminates a bacterial strategy for organic acid tolerance, offering new insights for microbiologists and potentially informing future antimicrobial approaches.

Reviewed by eLife, Arcadia Science

Characterization of vaginal microbiomes in clinician-collected bacterial vaginosis diagnosed samples

1. Hayden N. Brochu
2. Qimin Zhang
3. Kuncheng Song
4. Ling Wang
5. Emily A. Deare
6. Jonathan D. Williams
7. Crystal R. Icenhour
8. Lakshmanan K. Iyer

Reviewed by PREreview

Establishing the green algae Chlamydomonas incerta as a platform for recombinant protein production

1. Kalisa Kang
2. Évellin do Espirito Santo
3. Crisandra Jade Diaz
4. Aaron Oliver
5. Lisa Saxton
6. Lauren May
7. Stephen Mayfield
8. João Vitor Dutra Molino

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

RNase III in Salmonella Enteritidis enhances bacterial virulence by reducing host immune responses

1. Bill Kwan-wai Chan
2. Yingxue Li
3. Hongyuhang Ni
4. Edward Wai-chi Chan
5. Xin Deng
6. Linfeng Huang
7. Sheng Chen

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This useful study examines the function of the rnc gene, which encodes the RNase III ribonuclease, as it relates to virulence of Salmonella Enteritidis. The authors demonstrate that the rnc gene is markedly upregulated in strains proposed to exhibit high virulence and that the product of the rnc gene promotes the expression of SodA, which contributes to the survival of Salmonella Enteritidis in the face of oxidative stress. The study also suggests that elevated levels of rnc gene expression assist Salmonella Enteritidis in evading immune responses by diminishing the presence of accumulated double-stranded RNA (dsRNA), although the evidence substantiating this and the above assertions remains incomplete.

Reviewed by eLife

Reversion to sensitivity explains limited transmission of resistance in a hospital pathogen

1. Kevin C Tracy
2. Jordan McKaig
3. Clare Kinnear
4. Jess Millar
5. Aaron A King
6. Andrew F Read
7. Robert J Woods

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study, which will be of interest to those studying the evolution and maintenance of antibiotic resistance, addresses the hypothesis that antibiotic resistance arising de novo during treatment will carry a higher fitness cost and will revert to susceptibility more readily than resistance that has been transmitted between hosts. There are, however, concerns that the 'putatively transmitted isolates' in this study do not necessarily represent resistant isolates that have been transmitted between hosts. The support for the central claim of different patterns of reversion between isolates with de novo resistance and putatively transmitted resistant isolates is currently incomplete.

Reviewed by eLife

Trim7 does not have a role in the restriction of murine norovirus infection in vivo

1. Mridula Annaswamy Srinivas
2. Linley R. Pierce
3. Mikayla C. Olson
4. Shelly J. Roberston
5. Gail L. Sturdevant
6. Sonja M. Best
7. Robert C. Orchard

Reviewed by Arcadia Science