Microbiology

An interbacterial cysteine protease toxin inhibits cell growth by targeting type II DNA topoisomerases GyrB and ParE

1. Pin-Yi Song
2. Chia-En Tsai
3. Yung-Chih Chen
4. Yu-Wen Huang
5. Po-Pang Chen
6. Tzu-Haw Wang
7. Chao-Yuan Hu
8. Po-Yin Chen
9. Chuan Ku
10. Kuo-Chiang Hsia
11. See-Yeun Ting

Reviewed by Review Commons

Abdominal symptoms of invasive meningococcal disease are associated with the induction of plasminogen activator inhibitor in omental adipocytes

1. Muhamed-Kheir Taha
2. Damien Oliveira
3. Marion Gros
4. Myriam Aouiti-Trabelsi
5. Ala-Eddine Deghmane

Reviewed by PREreview

Navigating contradictions: Salmonella Typhimurium chemotaxis amidst conflicting stimuli of the intestinal environment

1. Kailie Franco
2. Zealon Gentry-Lear
3. Michael Shavlik
4. Michael J. Harms
5. Arden Baylink

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  In this manuscript, Franco and colleagues describe valuable findings about the chemotactic response of Salmonella to serine and indole, conflicting chemotactic signals. Although the evidence presented is solid, concerns were raised about the novelty of the chemotactic phenomena observed with these two compounds. Also, although the induction of invasion by feces is a novel and interesting finding, the lack of follow-up to this observation was also noted.

Reviewed by eLife

Integrator complex subunit 12 knockout overcomes a transcriptional block to HIV latency reversal

1. Carley N Gray
2. Manickam Ashokkumar
3. Derek H Janssens
4. Jennifer L Kirchherr
5. Brigitte Allard
6. Emily Hsieh
7. Terry L Hafer
8. Nancie M Archin
9. Edward P Browne
10. Michael Emerman

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  Using multiple techniques previously validated by the authors, this study identified INTS12, a component of the Integrator complex involved in 3' processing of small nuclear RNAs U1 and U2, as a factor promoting HIV-1 latency. The work is valuable, based on a sound strategy for screening targets to activate HIV latency and the solid mechanistic insights it provides on INTS12 repression of transcriptional elongation. Future studies are needed to explore INTS12 as a drug target against HIV/AIDS.

Reviewed by eLife

First worldwide detection of bla _IMP-15 in Stenotrophomonas maltophilia isolated from a patient in Lebanon

1. Ziad C. Jabbour
2. Jose-Rita J. Gerges
3. Hadi M. Hussein
4. Sara B. Barada
5. Lama Hamadeh
6. Rami Mahfouz
7. Zeina A. Kanafani
8. Ghassan M. Matar
9. Antoine G. Abou Fayad

Reviewed by PREreview

Control of pili synthesis and putrescine homeostasis in Escherichia coli

1. Iti Mehta
2. Jacob B Hogins
3. Sydney R Hall
4. Gabrielle Vragel
5. Sankalya Ambagaspitiye
6. Philippe E Zimmern
7. Larry Reitzer

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This valuable study presents an interesting analysis of the role of the polyamine precursor putrescine in the pili-dependent surface motility of a laboratory strain of Escherichia coli. The overall data convincingly demonstrate a role in this case. This study presents interesting findings for those studying uropathogenic bacteria, and those studying bacterial polyamine function.

Reviewed by eLife

The capsule and genetic background, rather than specific individual loci, strongly influence in vitro pneumococcal growth kinetics

1. Chrispin Chaguza
2. Daan W. Arends
3. Stephanie W. Lo
4. Indri Hapsari Putri
5. Anna York
6. John A. Lees
7. Anne L. Wyllie
8. Daniel M. Weinberger
9. Stephen D. Bentley
10. Marien I. de Jonge
11. Amelieke J.H. Cremers

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This is an important study that examines the impact of Streptococcus pneumoniae genetics on its in vitro growth kinetics, aiming to identify potential targets for vaccines and therapeutics. The study identified significant variations in growth characteristics among capsular serotypes and lineages, linked to phylogeny and high heritability, but genome-wide association studies did not reveal specific genomic loci associated with growth features independent of the genetic background. The evidence supporting these findings is solid.

Reviewed by eLife

Immunopeptidomics informs discovery and delivery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis MHC-II antigens for vaccine design

1. Owen Leddy
2. Paul Ogongo
3. Julia Huffaker
4. Mingyu Gan
5. Ryan Milligan
6. Sheikh Mahmud
7. Yuko Yuki
8. Kidist Bobosha
9. Liya Wassie
10. Mary Carrington
11. Qingyun Liu
12. Joel D. Ernst
13. Forest M. White
14. Bryan D. Bryson

Reviewed by Rapid Reviews Infectious Diseases

Characterisation and comparison of semen microbiota and bacterial load in men with infertility, recurrent miscarriage, or proven fertility

1. Shahriar Mowla
2. Linda Farahani
3. Tharu Tharakan
4. Rhianna Davies
5. Goncalo DS Correia
6. Yun S Lee
7. Samit Kundu
8. Shirin Khanjani
9. Emad Sindi
10. Raj Rai
11. Lesley Regan
12. Dalia Khalifa
13. Ralf Henkel
14. Suks Minhas
15. Waljit S Dhillo
16. Jara Ben Nagi
17. Phillip Bennett
18. David A MacIntyre
19. Channa N Jayasena

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This valuable study reports a potential connection between the seminal microbiome and sperm quality/male fertility. The data are generally convincing. This study will be of interest to clinicians and biomedical researchers who work on microbiome and male fertility.

Reviewed by eLife

Structural basis for collagen recognition by the Streptococcus pyogenes M3 protein and its involvement in biofilm

1. Marta Wojnowska
2. Takeaki Wajima
3. Tamas Yelland
4. Hannes Ludewig
5. Robert M Hagan
6. Grant Watt
7. Samir W Hamaia
8. Dominique Bihan
9. Jean-Daniel Malcor
10. Arkadiusz Bonna
11. Helena Bergsten
12. Mattias Svensson
13. Oddvar Oppegaard
14. Steinar Skrede
15. Per Arnell
16. Ole Hyldegaard
17. Richard W Farndale
18. Anna Norrby-Teglund
19. Ulrich Schwarz-Linek

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  In this paper, the authors report important structural and functional findings on the interaction of how the group A streptococci (GAS) M3 protein (expressed on GAS strains emm3, which are associated with invasive disease) binds to human collagens. They demonstrate an unusual T-shaped structure within the N-terminal hypervariable region of M3 protein that can bind two copies of collagen triple helix in parallel. These solid data advance understanding of how GAS M3 interacts with human collagen, information relevant to understanding and developing treatments for GAS infection. A major limitation of the work is the lack of mutational work to test if the T-shaped structure is necessary for binding collagen.

Reviewed by eLife