Microbiology

Optimizing expression of Nanobody® molecules in Pichia pastoris through co-expression of auxiliary proteins under methanol and methanol-free conditions

1. Manu De Groeve
2. Bram Laukens
3. Peter Schotte

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

A toxin-mediated policing system in Bacillus optimizes division of labor via penalizing cheater-like nonproducers

1. Rong Huang
2. Jiahui Shao
3. Zhihui Xu
4. Yuqi Chen
5. Yunpeng Liu
6. Dandan Wang
7. Haichao Feng
8. Weibing Xun
9. Qirong Shen
10. Nan Zhang
11. Ruifu Zhang

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This manuscript reports important findings regarding the potential for self-policing and a division of labor among biofilm-inhabiting Bacillus cells. Overall, this work is robust in its use of various techniques and provides solid insights into the intersections of well-understood regulatory controls and the suppression of cheaters. Despite some concerns about the data, all reviewers were excited by the potential impact of this work. Colleagues interested in microbial social interactions should find this study's narrative about the internal mediation of cell differentiation particularly valuable.

Reviewed by eLife

A TRAF-like E3 ubiquitin ligase TrafE coordinates ESCRT and autophagy in endolysosomal damage response and cell-autonomous immunity to Mycobacterium marinum

1. Lyudmil Raykov
2. Manon Mottet
3. Jahn Nitschke
4. Thierry Soldati

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study presents important findings on the mechanism as to how Mycobacterium-containing vacuoles are recognized by host cell factors and subjected to membrane repair or autophagic degradation using Dictyostelium discoideum as a useful model. The evidence for the role of TrafE in damaged-membrane repair and xenophagy induction is convincing, but that in autophagosome closure is rather incomplete.

Reviewed by eLife

A simple mechanism for integration of quorum sensing and cAMP signalling in Vibrio cholerae

1. Lucas M Walker
2. James RJ Haycocks
3. Julia C Van Kessel
4. Triana N Dalia
5. Ankur B Dalia
6. David C Grainger

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This paper provides valuable new information on the mechanisms by which Vibrio cholerae integrates and responds to environmental signals. The strength of the evidence provided in support of the conclusions made and the model proposed is solid. The revision resolved many of the issues raised by the reviewers and improved the manuscript. The work is relevant for a broad audience of microbiologists interested in the mechanisms by which bacteria sense their environment.

Reviewed by eLife

Formation and three-dimensional architecture of Leishmania adhesion in the sand fly vector

1. Ryuji Yanase
2. Flávia Moreira-Leite
3. Edward Rea
4. Lauren Wilburn
5. Jovana Sádlová
6. Barbora Vojtkova
7. Katerina Pružinová
8. Atsushi Taniguchi
9. Shigenori Nonaka
10. Petr Volf
11. Jack D Sunter

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This important study provides compelling observations of the organization and architecture of haptomonads, a distinct and poorly understood developmental form of Leishmania found in sand fly vectors at later stages of infection. The authors used 3D electron microscopy techniques, including serial block face scanning electron microscopy and electron tomography, to visualize the colonization sand fly by haptomonads in impressive detail.

Reviewed by eLife

Structure–function analysis of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum DltE reveals D-alanylated lipoteichoic acids as direct cues supporting Drosophila juvenile growth

1. Nikos Nikolopoulos
2. Renata C Matos
3. Stephanie Ravaud
4. Pascal Courtin
5. Houssam Akherraz
6. Simon Palussiere
7. Virginie Gueguen-Chaignon
8. Marie Salomon-Mallet
9. Alain Guillot
10. Yann Guerardel
11. Marie-Pierre Chapot-Chartier
12. Christophe Grangeasse
13. François Leulier

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This is an important study on the role of a bacterial cell wall component, D-alanylated lipoteichoic acid, as a bacteria cue in Drosophila melanogaster-microbiome interactions. Overall, the evidence supporting the conclusions is compelling, with a solid approach combining crystallography with biochemical and cellular assays, that take advantage of both fly and bacterial mutants, to demonstrate a physiological role in juvenile growth promotion. The work will be of broad interest to those studying host-microbe interactions, especially as it is related to immunology and metabolism mediated by the microbiome.

Reviewed by eLife

A heterotrimeric complex of Toxoplasma proteins promotes parasite survival in interferon gamma stimulated human cells

1. Eloise J. Lockyer
2. Francesca Torelli
3. Simon Butterworth
4. Ok-Ryul Song
5. Steven Howell
6. Anne Weston
7. Philip East
8. Moritz Treeck

Reviewed by Review Commons

Long-Read Genome Assembly and Gene Model Annotations for the Rodent Malaria Parasite Plasmodium yoelii 17XNL

1. Mitchell J. Godin
2. Aswathy Sebastian
3. Istvan Albert
4. Scott E. Lindner

Reviewed by Review Commons

The evolutionary mechanism of non-carbapenemase carbapenem-resistant phenotypes in Klebsiella spp

1. Natalia C Rosas
2. Jonathan Wilksch
3. Jake Barber
4. Jiahui Li
5. Yanan Wang
6. Zhewei Sun
7. Andrea Rocker
8. Chaille T Webb
9. Laura Perlaza-Jiménez
10. Christopher J Stubenrauch
11. Vijaykrishna Dhanasekaran
12. Jiangning Song
13. George Taiaroa
14. Mark Davies
15. Richard A Strugnell
16. Qiyu Bao
17. Tieli Zhou
18. Michael J McDonald
19. Trevor Lithgow

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  The study integrates experiments and data of various kinds to address the important biomedical problem of carbapenems resistance in Klebsiella. The authors present compelling evidence for loci that are sufficient for carbapenem resistance in this strain, with further evidence of their fitness cost. This study will be of interest to those across multiple audiences, including the microbial evolution community, and those interested in the biomedical problem of antibiotic resistance.

Reviewed by eLife

A framework for community curation of interspecies interactions literature

1. Alayne Cuzick
2. James Seager
3. Valerie Wood
4. Martin Urban
5. Kim Rutherford
6. Kim E Hammond-Kosack

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This valuable study reports improvements in methods and tools for curating complex pathogen-host interactions. A compelling framework is described, using rigorous approaches and to considerable extent validated by the biocuration community. The developed ontologies and controlled vocabularies could be extended beyond host pathogens, e.g. ecological contexts with multi-species and multilevel interactions.

Reviewed by eLife