Microbiology

Staphylococcus aureus FtsZ and PBP4 bind to the conformationally dynamic N-terminal domain of GpsB

1. Michael D Sacco
2. Lauren R Hammond
3. Radwan E Noor
4. Dipanwita Bhattacharya
5. Lily J McKnight
6. Jesper J Madsen
7. Xiujun Zhang
8. Shane G Butler
9. M Trent Kemp
10. Aiden C Jaskolka-Brown
11. Sebastian J Khan
12. Ioannis Gelis
13. Prahathees Eswara
14. Yu Chen

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This important study reports a unique N-terminal motif of Staphylococcus aureus GpsB and the co-crystal structure of GpsB with the C-terminus of PBP4. It provides convincing evidence demonstrating the interactions of GpsB with PBP4 and FtsZ, shedding light on the role of GpsB in the pathogen's cell division. However, the functional characterization of GpsB's new motif caused and the structural characterization of GpsB and FtsZ's interaction is incomplete.

Reviewed by eLife

Characterisation of an Escherichia coli line that completely lacks ribonucleotide reduction yields insights into the evolution of parasitism and endosymbiosis

1. Samantha DM Arras
2. Nellie Sibaeva
3. Ryan J Catchpole
4. Nobuyuki Horinouchi
5. Dayong Si
6. Alannah M Rickerby
7. Kengo Deguchi
8. Makoto Hibi
9. Koichi Tanaka
10. Michiki Takeuchi
11. Jun Ogawa
12. Anthony M Poole

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  Nearly all organisms require a ribonucleotide reductase (RNR) to convert ribonucleotides to their deoxyribonucleotide counterparts. In this important study, the reader learns how the model organism Escherichia coli can adapt to survive without any of its three RNRs. Compelling microbiology experiments to develop this model and analysis of compensatory mutations reveals patterns that are conserved in the few known pathogens that have also eliminated their dependence on an RNR. The manuscript will be of interest to microbiologists, biochemists, and those who work on the evolution of microbial metabolism.

Reviewed by eLife

Statistical modeling based on structured surveys of Australian native possum excreta harboring Mycobacterium ulcerans predicts Buruli ulcer occurrence in humans

1. Koen Vandelannoote
2. Andrew H Buultjens
3. Jessica L Porter
4. Anita Velink
5. John R Wallace
6. Kim R Blasdell
7. Michael Dunn
8. Victoria Boyd
9. Janet AM Fyfe
10. Ee Laine Tay
11. Paul DR Johnson
12. Saras M Windecker
13. Nick Golding
14. Timothy P Stinear

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study is an important contribution to the understanding of Buruli ulcer transmission in Australia. The authors provide compelling evidence that the carriage of Mycobacterium ulcerans by possums, within their small home range, can predict cases of Buruli ulcer disease in individuals who visit those areas. While not directly relevant to the transmission of Buruli ulcer in West and Central Africa, the work will be of great interest to those studying the transmission of opportunistic environmental pathogens.

Reviewed by eLife

Longitudinal map of transcriptome changes in the Lyme pathogen Borrelia burgdorferi during tick-borne transmission

1. Anne L Sapiro
2. Beth M Hayes
3. Regan F Volk
4. Jenny Y Zhang
5. Diane M Brooks
6. Calla Martyn
7. Atanas Radkov
8. Ziyi Zhao
9. Margie Kinnersley
10. Patrick R Secor
11. Balyn W Zaro
12. Seemay Chou

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  In this Tools and Resources article, the authors overcome the challenge of low Borrelia burgdorferi numbers during infection for analyses such as RNA-sequencing or mass spectrometry. They do so by physically enriching for spirochetes, which is important, as it provides technical advances for the study of global transcriptomic changes of B. burgdorferi during tick feeding, helping to build on the knowledge already collected by the field. The evidence presented is compelling, and the strategy described here could benefit researchers in the field and possibly also support broader applications.

Reviewed by eLife

Increased public health threat of avian-origin H3N2 influenza virus caused by its evolution in dogs

1. Mingyue Chen
2. Yanli Lyu
3. Fan Wu
4. Ying Zhang
5. Hongkui Li
6. Rui Wang
7. Yang Liu
8. Xinyu Yang
9. Liwei Zhou
10. Ming Zhang
11. Qi Tong
12. Honglei Sun
13. Juan Pu
14. Jinhua Liu
15. Yipeng Sun

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  The authors characterize an H3N2 influenza A virus that jumped from birds into dogs in 2006. Through its evolutionary adaptation to dogs, the virus is now gaining properties that are increasingly consistent with the potential to infect humans. Using experiments with canine H3N2 influenza isolates, the authors found that more recent viruses have acquired receptor specificity for both avian- and human-like receptors, enhanced low-pH stability and in vitro growth, as well as improved replication and transmission in the dog and ferret models.

Reviewed by eLife

A CRISPR-based rapid DNA repositioning strategy and the early intranuclear life of HSV-1

1. Juan Xiang
2. Chaoyang Fan
3. Hongchang Dong
4. Yilei Ma
5. Pei Xu

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment:

  In this important work, the authors describe a recombinant CRISPR/Cas9 construct, CRISPR-nuPin, that has the reported capacity to rapidly tether DNA to the inner nuclear membrane of cells. They then evaluate the effect of this construct on Herpes Simplex virus type 1 infection, identifying different phases of viral replication susceptible to inner nuclear membrane tethering. This work provides convincing evidence for the effects of intranuclear DNA localization on viral gene expression and replication, using a method applicable to nonviral genes as well.

Reviewed by eLife

Functional membrane microdomains and the hydroxamate siderophore transporter ATPase FhuC govern Isd-dependent heme acquisition in Staphylococcus aureus

1. Lea Antje Adolf
2. Angelika Müller-Jochim
3. Lara Kricks
4. Jan-Samuel Puls
5. Daniel Lopez
6. Fabian Grein
7. Simon Heilbronner

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment:

  In this fundamental manuscript, the authors provide compelling evidence that a housekeeping ATPase is required for heme utilization in the important pathogen Staphylococcus aureus through its interaction with the canonical heme transporter in this organism. The authors convincingly show that this complex associates with functional membrane microdomains and thus establishes a new paradigm for regional localization of the heme transport system in the staphylococci. The work will be of interest to microbiologists, particularly those studying transport for macromolecules.

Reviewed by eLife

The immediate early protein 1 of human herpesvirus 6B counteracts ATM activation in an NBS1-dependent manner

1. Vanessa Collin
2. Élise Biquand
3. Vincent Tremblay
4. Élise G. Lavoie
5. Julien Dessapt
6. Andréanne Blondeau
7. Annie Gravel
8. Louis Flamand
9. Amélie Fradet-Turcotte

Reviewed by Review Commons

The large GTPase Sey1/atlastin mediates lipid droplet- and FadL-dependent intracellular fatty acid metabolism of Legionella pneumophila

1. Dario Hüsler
2. Pia Stauffer
3. Bernhard Keller
4. Desirée Böck
5. Thomas Steiner
6. Anne Ostrzinski
7. Simone Vormittag
8. Bianca Striednig
9. A Leoni Swart
10. François Letourneur
11. Sandra Maaß
12. Dörte Becher
13. Wolfgang Eisenreich
14. Martin Pilhofer
15. Hubert Hilbi

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment:

  This important study advances our understanding of host-derived lipid droplets' interaction with intracellular pathogens. The use of amoeba species Dictyostelium discoideum as a host for Legionella pneumophila infection is compelling and goes beyond the current state of the art, but the strength of evidence is incomplete, and the main claims are only partially supported by the data. With the experimental part strengthened, this paper would be of interest to cell biologists and microbiologists working on the interaction of microbes with host cells.

Reviewed by eLife

Selection of HIV-1 for resistance to fifth-generation protease inhibitors reveals two independent pathways to high-level resistance

1. Ean Spielvogel
2. Sook-Kyung Lee
3. Shuntai Zhou
4. Gordon J Lockbaum
5. Mina Henes
6. Amy Sondgeroth
7. Klajdi Kosovrasti
8. Ellen A Nalivaika
9. Akbar Ali
10. Nese Kurt Yilmaz
11. Celia A Schiffer
12. Ronald Swanstrom

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This manuscript significantly advances our understanding of the development of drug resistance in the HIV-1 protease. The paper addresses the fundamental relationship between resistance mutations and inhibitor structure and will be useful in the design and development of the next generation of inhibitors.

Reviewed by eLife