Microbiology

REPOP: bacterial population quantification from plate counts

1. Pedro Pessoa
2. Carol Lu
3. Stanimir Asenov Tashev
4. Rory Kruithoff
5. Douglas P Shepherd
6. Steve Pressé

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study introduces a Bayesian method to determine bacterial counts that accounts for the experimental noise inherent to dilution and plating methods, and distinguishes it from biological uncertainty. The evidence supporting the conclusions is convincing, combining simulated data and experimental data. The method will be of interest to microbial ecologists, and potentially to the broader community interested in inference from biological data, even more so if the domain of application and the limitations are further clarified.

Reviewed by eLife

An abundant merozoite surface protein of Plasmodium falciparum modulates susceptibility to inhibitory antibodies

1. Isabelle G Henshall
2. Jill Chmielewski
3. Dimuthu Angage
4. Ornella Romeo
5. Keng Heng Lai
6. Kaitlin R Turland
7. Nicki Badii
8. Michael Foley
9. Robin F Anders
10. James Beeson
11. Danny W Wilson

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important work offers a fresh perspective central to merozoite surface biology and potential implications on vaccine design, challenging the dogma that MSPs are indispensable invasion engines. Although the authors only deleted bp 132-819, the data based on Western blot, IFA, and RNA‐seq provide compelling evidence that while MSP2 is dispensable for growth, it serves as an immune modulator for AMA1. This work will be of particular interest to scientists working on different aspects of Plasmodium biology and vaccinology.

Reviewed by eLife

Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus P118 enhances host tolerance to Salmonella infection by promoting microbe-derived indole metabolites

1. Baikui Wang
2. Xianqi Peng
3. Xiao Zhou
4. Xiuyan Jin
5. Abubakar Siddique
6. Jiayun Yao
7. Haiqi Zhang
8. Weifen Li
9. Yan Li
10. Min Yue

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  The microbiome field is constantly providing insight on various health-related properties elicited by the commensals that inhabit their mammalian hosts. Harnessing the potential of these commensals for knowledge about host-microbe interactions, as well as properties with therapeutic implications, will likely remain a fruitful field for decades to come. In this valuable study, Wang et al use various methods, encompassing classic microbiology, genomics, chemical biology, and immunology, to identify a potent probiotic strain that protects nematode and murine hosts from Salmonella enterica infection. The authors provide compelling evidence identifying gut metabolites that are correlated with protection, and show that a single metabolite can recapitulate the effects of probiotic administration.

Reviewed by eLife

A biofilm-tropic Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteriophage uses the exopolysaccharide Psl as receptor

1. Brenna Walton
2. Serena Abbodante
3. Michaela Ellen Marshall
4. Justyna M Dobruchowska
5. Amani Alvi
6. Larry A Gallagher
7. Nikhil Vallikat
8. Zhemin Zhang
9. Daniel J Wozniak
10. Edward W Yu
11. Geert-Jan Boons
12. Eric Pearlman
13. Arne Rietsch

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This valuable study identifies a novel bacteriophage that can use the exopolysaccharide Psl of Pseudomonas aeruginosa to infect and disrupt biofilms. The work is convincing and suggests a novel approach to control biofilms that is relevant to researchers working on biofilms, specifically in Pseudomonas, on phage physiology and discovery, and on alternatives to controlling bacterial pathogens.

Reviewed by eLife

A Singapore-centric Fungal Dataset of 518 Cultivated Strains with Visual Phenotypes and Taxonomic Identity

1. Darren Ten Wei Xian
2. Fong Tian Wong
3. Yee Hwee Lim
4. Winston Koh

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

A high-throughput, image-based assay to assess drug sensitivity of Acanthamoeba castellanii cysts

1. Carrie A. Flynn
2. Andrew Harmez
3. Rebecca I. Colón-Ríos
4. William F. Flynn
5. Barbara I. Kazmierczak

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

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 work proposes a novel, rapid S. aureus entry mechanism via Ca²⁺-dependent lysosomal exocytosis and acid sphingomyelinase release, which influences bacterial sub-cellular fate. However, reliance on chemical inhibitors and the absence of a knockout phenotype weakens the overall impact, making the study incomplete.

Reviewed by eLife

SIRT2 protects against Japanese encephalitis virus infection in mice

1. Perumal Arumugam Desingu
2. Lavanya Dindi
3. Krishnega Murugasamy
4. Ankit Kumar Tamta
5. Venketsubbu Ramasubbu
6. Sukanya Raghu
7. Amarjeet Shrama
8. Raju S Rajmani
9. Nagalingam R Sundaresan

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study explores the role of SIRT2 in regulating Japanese encephalitis virus replication and disease progression in rodent models. The findings presented are novel as sirtuins are known for their roles in aging, metabolism, and cell survival, but have not been studied in the context of viral infections until recently. The evidence supporting the claims is solid, although additional experiments to further characterize the clinical outcomes and directly test the link between acetylated NF-kB and SIRT2 expression would have strengthened the study. The work will be of interest to biologists studying viruses, sirtuins, and inflammation.

Reviewed by eLife

Multi-omics single-cell analysis reveals key regulators of HIV-1 persistence and aberrant host immune responses in early infection

1. Dayeon Lee
2. Sin Young Choi
3. So-I Shin
4. Hyunsu An
5. Byeong-Sun Choi
6. Jihwan Park

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study presents important findings that enhance our understanding of immune cell interactions in the context of chronic HIV-1 infection. The evidence supporting the conclusions is convincing. The authors have employed appropriate and validated methodologies, including detailed data reprocessing and batch correction to account for inter-donor variability. The inclusion of supplementary figures and analyses, such as cell communication inference, further substantiates the robustness of the findings. Overall, this work contributes to our understanding of HIV-1 immune evasion and highlights potential therapeutic targets for reservoir eradication.

Reviewed by eLife

Cell surface localisation of GPI-anchored receptors in Trypanosoma brucei

1. Sourav Banerjee
2. Nicola Minshall
3. Alex Cook
4. Olivia Macleod
5. Helena Webb
6. Matthew Higgins
7. Mark Carrington

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This valuable manuscript investigates the localisation of nutrient receptors in bloodstream stage trypanosomes, with implications for both nutrient uptake and immune evasion. Results after direct fixation of the cells in culture medium provide convincing evidence that the amounts of receptors on the surface of the cell, as opposed to the flagellar pocket, have previously been severely underestimated. Some results were essentially confirmatory, and there are questions regarding the quantitation of ligand binding by transferring receptors.

Reviewed by eLife