Microbiology

A weaponized phage suppresses competitors in historical and modern metapopulations of pathogenic bacteria

1. Talia Backman
2. Sergio M. Latorre
3. Efthymia Symeonidi
4. Artur Muszyński
5. Ella Bleak
6. Lauren Eads
7. Paulina I. Martinez-Koury
8. Sarita Som
9. Aubrey Hawks
10. Andrew D. Gloss
11. David M. Belnap
12. Allison M. Manuel
13. Adam M. Deutschbauer
14. Joy Bergelson
15. Parastoo Azadi
16. Hernán A. Burbano
17. Talia L. Karasov

Reviewed by Rapid Reviews Infectious Diseases

Reducing the Bacterial Lag Phase Through Methylated Compounds: Insights from Algal-Bacterial Interactions

1. Martin Sperfeld
2. Delia A. Narváez-Barragán
3. Sergey Malitsky
4. Veronica Frydman
5. Lilach Yuda
6. Jorge Rocha
7. Einat Segev

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

Bacterial vampirism mediated through taxis to serum

1. Siena J Glenn
2. Zealon Gentry-Lear
3. Michael Shavlik
4. Michael J Harms
5. Thomas J Asaki
6. Arden Baylink

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This work uses an interdisciplinary approach combining microfluidics, structural biology, and genetic analyses to provide important findings that show that pathogenic enteric bacteria exhibit taxis toward human serum. The data are compelling and show that the behavior utilizes the bacterial chemotaxis system and the chemoreceptor Tsr, which senses the amino acid L-serine. The work provides an ecological context for the role of serine as a bacterial chemoattractant and could have clinical implications for bacterial bloodstream invasion during episodes of gastrointestinal bleeding.

Reviewed by eLife

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