Microbiology

The Plasmodium falciparum apicoplast cysteine desulfurase provides sulfur for both iron-sulfur cluster assembly and tRNA modification

1. Russell P Swift
2. Rubayet Elahi
3. Krithika Rajaram
4. Hans B Liu
5. Sean T Prigge

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study provides important new insights into iron sulfur biosynthesis in the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. The work is based on elegant and robust genetic approaches, and not only confirms the essentiality of the plastid-hosted Suf iron-sulfur cluster synthesis pathway, but also highlights an important additional role for the cysteine desulfurase SufS in apicoplast maintenance via tRNA modification. The work provides compelling evidence for a dual function of parasite SufS, although impact on tRNA has not been established directly. These findings reveal a potential new target for metabolic intervention, and will be of interest to researchers studying apicomplexan parasites, and more broadly, in the field of plastid biology.

Reviewed by eLife

Exploitation of ATP-sensitive potassium ion (KATP) channels by HPV promotes cervical cancer cell proliferation by contributing to MAPK/AP-1 signalling

1. James A. Scarth
2. Christopher W. Wasson
3. Molly R. Patterson
4. Debra Evans
5. Diego Barba-Moreno
6. Holli Carden
7. Rosa Cassidy
8. Adrian Whitehouse
9. Jamel Mankouri
10. Adel Samson
11. Ethan L. Morgan
12. Andrew Macdonald

Reviewed by Review Commons

Highly diverse and unknown viruses may enhance Antarctic endoliths’ adaptability

1. Cassandra L. Ettinger
2. Morgan Saunders
3. Laura Selbmann
4. Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo
5. Claudio Donati
6. Davide Albanese
7. Simon Roux
8. Susannah Tringe
9. Christa Pennacchio
10. Tijana G. del Rio
11. Jason E. Stajich
12. Claudia Coleine

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

High-efficiency transfection of Acanthamoeba castellanii using a cationic polymer

1. Anaísa B. Moreno
2. Viktor Ek
3. Jens Eriksson
4. Mikael E. Sellin
5. Lionel Guy

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

Fecal transplant from myostatin deletion pigs positively impacts the gut-muscle axis

1. Zhao-Bo Luo
2. Shengzhong Han
3. Xi-Jun Yin
4. Hongye Liu
5. Junxia Wang
6. Meifu Xuan
7. Chunyun Hao
8. Danqi Wang
9. Yize Liu
10. Shuangyan Chang
11. Dongxu Li
12. Kai Gao
13. Huiling Li
14. Biaohu Quan
15. Lin-Hu Quan
16. Jin-Dan Kang

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  Myostatin KO is known to increase muscle mass, but can transplanting the gut microbiome from these animals also increase muscle mass and strength? Based on the experiments performed in this paper, the answer is yes, and the positive impact of myostatin deletion on the gut-muscle axis may proceed through alteration of gut bacterial metabolism, including short-chain fatty acids. This is important work and will contribute to the expanding field of the gut-muscle axis.

Reviewed by eLife

A circular zone of attachment to the extracellular matrix provides directionality to the motility of Toxoplasma gondii in 3D

1. Rachel V Stadler
2. Shane R Nelson
3. David M Warshaw
4. Gary E Ward

Reviewed by Review Commons

Glutamine synthetase mRNA releases sRNA from its 3′UTR to regulate carbon/nitrogen metabolic balance in Enterobacteriaceae

1. Masatoshi Miyakoshi
2. Teppei Morita
3. Asaki Kobayashi
4. Anna Berger
5. Hiroki Takahashi
6. Yasuhiro Gotoh
7. Tetsuya Hayashi
8. Kan Tanaka

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study revealed the biogenesis of the 3'UTR-derived sRNA GlnZ by RNase E-mediated processing and identified target mRNAs in both E. coli and S. enterica. By introducing point mutations within the predicted seed region of GlnZ and analyzing compensatory mutations in the target mRNAs, the sRNA binding site in those targets could convincingly be mapped. This is an important piece of work and the findings are relevant for researchers within the microbiology and RNA communities and should inspire future studies of 3'derived sRNAs in bacteria. Overall, most of the statements are sufficiently supported by experimental data, but certain amendments to the work are required to fully support the conclusions.

Reviewed by eLife

Community composition shapes microbial-specific phenotypes in a cystic fibrosis polymicrobial model system

1. Fabrice Jean-Pierre
2. Thomas H Hampton
3. Daniel Schultz
4. Deborah A Hogan
5. Marie-Christine Groleau
6. Eric Déziel
7. George A O'Toole

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This article establishes a model experimental bacterial community to represent the microbiome found in ~1/3 of patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) with the goal of understanding why these infections do not respond to treatments that are effective in single-species infections. The authors show that susceptibility to the most common antibiotic used against the dominant pathogen P. aeruginosa is different when grown in this mixed community, and a mutant of this pathogen (lasR) that frequently occurs during infections alters this sensitivity. This study is significant for producing an experimental resource for the microbiology of CF, and it could be strengthened by more detailed measures of interactions between species and how the phenotypes produced by lasR alter species interactions.

Reviewed by eLife

The RAM signaling pathway links morphology, thermotolerance, and CO2 tolerance in the global fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans

1. Benjamin J Chadwick
2. Tuyetnhu Pham
3. Xiaofeng Xie
4. Laura C Ristow
5. Damian J Krysan
6. Xiaorong Lin

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study provides compelling evidence for the involvement of RAM pathway in the survival of C. neoformans in high CO2 concentrations. The work is important to understand how this fungus adapts to the high CO2 concentrations in host tissues. The experimental approach combines genetic and biochemical approaches to explore a complex topic that is of essential for cryptococcal pathogenesis.

Reviewed by eLife

Acetylation of a fungal effector that translocates host PR1 facilitates virulence

1. Jingtao Li
2. Xiaoying Ma
3. Chenyang Wang
4. Sihui Liu
5. Gang Yu
6. Mingming Gao
7. Hengwei Qian
8. Mengjie Liu
9. Ben F Luisi
10. Dean W Gabriel
11. Wenxing Liang

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  The authors provided strong evidence that the Fusarium oxysporum effector protein FolSpv1 enhances virulence by targeting tomato SlPR1 and preventing the generation of the SlPR1-derived phytocytokine CAPE1, which otherwise positively regulates disease resistance in tomato plants. Strikingly, they show that FolSpv1 translocates SlPR1 from the apoplast back into the nucleus of tomato cell, suggesting a previously unknown mechanism employed by pathogenic microbes.

Reviewed by eLife