Microbiology

Research advance: Unexpected plasticity in the life cycle of Trypanosoma brucei

1. Carina Praisler
2. Jaime N Lisack
3. Anna Sophie Kreis
4. Laura Hauf
5. Johanna Krenzer
6. Fabian Imdahl
7. Markus Engstler

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  The manuscript concerns a fundamental and controversial question in Trypanosoma brucei biology and the parasite life cycle, providing further evidence that slender bloodstream forms can indeed infect Tsetse flies. The study is solid in design and execution, and addresses several criticisms made of the authors' earlier work. Nevertheless, some of the main conclusions are only partially supported: one issue is how, precisely, a "slender" bloodstream form is defined, and discrepancies with some results from other laboratories remain unexplained.

Reviewed by eLife

From ecology to evolution: plasmid- and colicin-mediated persistence of antibiotic resistant Escherichia coli in gulls

1. Michaela Ruzickova
2. Jana Palkovicova
3. Kristina Nesporova
4. Marketa Rysava
5. Rene Pariza
6. Simon Krejci
7. Ivan Literak
8. Monika Dolejska

Reviewed by PREreview

Discovery of a potent anti-Zika virus benzamide series targeting the viral protein NS4B

1. Donghoon Chung
2. Yuka Otsuka
3. Eunjung Kim
4. Sultan Ullah
5. Nicole M. Kennedy
6. Khac Huy Ngo
7. Jinjoo Kang
8. Reece Tomlison
9. Brian Alejandro
10. Koji Barnaby
11. Jeffery Miller
12. Justin Shumate
13. Chwee Fang Teo
14. Yaw Bia Tan
15. Che Shin Chew
16. CongBao Kang
17. Dahai Luo
18. Louis Scampavia
19. Timothy P. Spicer
20. Thomas D. Bannister

Reviewed by PREreview

Environmental and Maternal Imprints on Infant Gut Metabolic Programming

1. Kine Eide Kvitne
2. Celeste Allaband
3. Jennifer C. Onuora
4. Daniela Perry
5. Simone Zuffa
6. Lucas Patel
7. Vincent Charron-Lamoureux
8. Ipsita Mohanty
9. Kristija Sejane
10. Abubaker Patan
11. Abdullah Al Mahmud
12. Tahmeed Ahmed
13. Diego G. Bassani
14. Antonio González
15. Davidson H. Hamer
16. Rashidul Haque
17. Benjamin Ho
18. Md Iqbal Hossain
19. Mohammad Shahidul Islam
20. Daniel McDonald
21. Lisa G. Pell
22. Huma Qamar
23. Daniel E. Roth
24. Samir Saha
25. Prakesh S. Shah
26. Md Muniruzzaman Siddiqui
27. Shafiqul Alam Sarker
28. Shamima Sultana
29. Sydney Thomas
30. Lindsey A. Burnett
31. Shirley M. Tsunoda
32. Lars Bode
33. Pieter C. Dorrestein
34. Rob Knight

Reviewed by preLights

Roles of the membrane-binding motif and the C-terminal domain of RNase E in localization and diffusion in E. coli

1. Laura Troyer
2. Yu-Huan Wang
3. Shobhna Shobhna
4. Seunghyeon Kim
5. Brooke Ramsey
6. Jeechul Woo
7. Emad Tajkhorshid
8. Sangjin Kim

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This valuable study uses single-molecule imaging to characterize factors controlling the localization, mobility, and function of RNase E in E. coli, a key bacterial ribonuclease central to mRNA catabolism. The supporting evidence for the differential roles of RNAse E's membrane targeting sequence (MTS) and the C-terminal domain (CTD) to RNAse E's diffusion and membrane association is convincing. It provides insight into how RNAse E shapes the spatiotemporal organization of RNA processing in bacterial cells. This interdisciplinary work will be of interest to cell biologists, microbiologists, biochemists, and biophysicists.

Reviewed by eLife

Hybridization breaks species barriers in long-term coevolution of a cyanobacterial population

1. Gabriel Birzu
2. Harihara Subrahmaniam Muralidharan
3. Danielle Goudeau
4. Rex R Malmstrom
5. Daniel S Fisher
6. Devaki Bhaya

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study provides important insights into bacterial genome evolution by analyzing single-cell genome sequences of cyanobacteria from Yellowstone hot springs. Using compelling evidence, the authors demonstrate that both homologous recombination within species and frequent hybridization across species are major drivers of genome diversification. Despite the challenges that are inherent to sparse and fragmented single-cell data, the analyses are thorough, carefully controlled, and supported by multiple complementary approaches, making the conclusions highly robust. This work represents a significant advance in our understanding of microbial evolution in natural environments.

Reviewed by eLife

Extrusion-modulated DnaA activity oscillations coordinate DNA replication with biomass growth

1. Dengjin Li
2. Hai Zheng
3. Yang Bai
4. Zheng Zhang
5. Hao Cheng
6. Xiongliang Huang
7. Ting Wei
8. Matthew Chang
9. Arieh Zaritsky
10. Terence Hwa
11. Chenli Liu

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This work provides high-precision single-cell data on the relationship between DnaA activity and cell size, offering important insights for the field of cell cycle control. These findings motivate a novel and intriguing hypothesis for DNA replication initiation -the "extrusion model"- in which DNA-binding proteins modulate free DnaA availability in response to biomass-DNA imbalance. While the current indirect evidence does not fully establish the model, an experimental perturbation involving H-NS offers convincing support for its plausibility, laying the groundwork for future investigation.

Reviewed by eLife

Decoding the biogenesis of HIV-induced CPSF6 puncta and their fusion with the nuclear speckle

1. Chiara Tomasini
2. Celine Cuche
3. Selen Ay
4. Maxence Collard
5. Bin Cui
6. Mohammad Rashid
7. Shaoni Bhattacharjee
8. Bruno Tello-Rubio
9. Julian Buchrieser
10. Charlotte Luchsinger
11. Cinzia Bertelli
12. Vladimir N Uversky
13. Felipe Diaz-Griffero
14. Francesca Di Nunzio

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This is a valuable study that presents convincing evidence on the genesis of the CPSF6 condensates that form upon HIV-1 infection and the specific molecular determinants involved in their formation, as well as their interactions with SRRM. The study could be strengthened by assessing the relevance of their findings to infection, and in particular, with reverse transcription and gene expression

Reviewed by eLife

A recursive pathway for isoleucine biosynthesis arises from enzyme promiscuity

1. Vittorio Rainaldi
2. Stefano Donati
3. Sarah D’Adamo
4. Nico J Claassens

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  The study reports a potential pathway for isoleucine biosynthesis mediated by the underground activity of AHASII, which converts glyoxylate and pyruvate to 2-ketobutyrate. While the findings are valuable in revealing a possible alternative route for isoleucine production, the evidence presented remains incomplete. More comprehensive biochemical experiments are required to substantiate the physiological feasibility of this pathway.

Reviewed by eLife

ZFT is the major iron and zinc transporter in Toxoplasma gondii

1. Dana Aghabi
2. Cecilia Gallego Rubio
3. Miguel Cortijo Martinez
4. Augustin Pouzache
5. Erin J Gibson
6. Lucas Pagura
7. Clare R Harding

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study identifies a putative iron and zinc transporter in the plasma membrane of the obligate intracellular pathogen, Toxoplasma gondii. Using an array of different approaches, the authors convincingly demonstrate that this transporter regulates diverse cellular processes, including parasite metabolism and differentiation. This work will be of broad interest to cell biologists and biochemists studying metal ion transport mechanisms.

Reviewed by eLife