Microbiology

The evolution of a counter-defense mechanism in a virus constrains its host range

1. Sriram Srikant
2. Chantal K Guegler
3. Michael T Laub

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  This manuscript will be of interest to researchers in the phage-microbial host interaction field. Notably, the interplay between bacteria and their viral predators has regained broad interest in recent years given the discovery of numerous innate immunity-like phage defense systems. The identification of phage-mediated counter-defense strategies is therefore not only of prime importance for our basic understanding of predator-prey arms races but also for medical applications such as phage therapy.

  (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewer #1 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

Reviewed by eLife

c-Myc plays a key role in IFN-γ-induced persistence of Chlamydia trachomatis

1. Nadine Vollmuth
2. Lisa Schlicker
3. Yongxia Guo
4. Pargev Hovhannisyan
5. Sudha Janaki-Raman
6. Naziia Kurmasheva
7. Werner Schmitz
8. Almut Schulze
9. Kathrin Stelzner
10. Karthika Rajeeve
11. Thomas Rudel

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  This paper will be of interest to scientists working to understand Chlamydia trachomatis persistence, and host pathogen interaction in general. The authors report the surprising observation that the mechanism of restriction of bacterial growth is through the inhibition of c-Myc signaling by IFNg as opposed to IDO-dependent depletion of tryptophan levels, as had been previously suggested.

  (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. The reviewers remained anonymous to the authors.)

Reviewed by eLife

Host tropism determination by convergent evolution of immunological evasion in the Lyme disease system

1. Thomas M. Hart
2. Alan P. Dupuis
3. Danielle M. Tufts
4. Anna M. Blom
5. Simon Starkey
6. Ryan O. M. Rego
7. Sanjay Ram
8. Peter Kraiczy
9. Laura D. Kramer
10. Maria A. Diuk-Wasser
11. Sergios-Orestis Kolokotronis
12. Yi-Pin Lin

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  This work builds on previous work by the same team, demonstrating that the bacterial protein CspA, which inactivates host complement by binding to the host complement inhibitor FH, is a determinant of host range for the Lyme disease bacterium. Additionally, the authors present phylogenetic analysis of CspA and related protein sequences, which supports the hypothesis that inactivation of host complement has evolved independently in three bacterial genospecies.

  (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewer #2 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

Reviewed by eLife

Distinct regions of H. pylori’s bactofilin CcmA regulate protein–protein interactions to control helical cell shape

1. Sophie R Sichel
2. Benjamin P Bratton
3. Nina R Salama

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  The helical shape of the bacterial pathogen Helicobacter pylori is important for its ability to colonize the human gut. Building on previous work identifying a complex of proteins required for generating helicity, this study focuses on the molecular mechanisms by which this complex modulates cell shape. Based on results from genetic, cytological, and pull-down experiments, the authors propose that one member of the complex, the bactofilin CcmA, interacts with two other complex members to generate helicity through a combination of cell wall synthesis and degradation. While data is supportive of this idea, the conclusions of the study require additional experimental support to rule out competing models.

  (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewer #2 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

Reviewed by eLife

Cell detoxification of secondary metabolites by P4-ATPase-mediated vesicle transport

1. Yujie Li
2. Hui Ren
3. Fanlong Wang
4. Jianjun Chen
5. Lian Ma
6. Yang Chen
7. Xianbi Li
8. Yanhua Fan
9. Dan Jin
10. Lei Hou
11. Yonghong Zhou
12. Nemat O Keyhani
13. Yan Pei

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  In this manuscript, the authors focus on the fungus B. bassiana, which is resistant to the toxin cyclosporine A. Through a mutant screen, the authors identify the key gene that mediates the sequestration of the toxin in vacuoles. They further show that this gene can be transferred to a distinct fungus and also to plants to protect against a toxin-producing fungal pathogen. Therefore, this work may lead to novel disease control strategies against fungal pathogens.

  (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. The reviewers remained anonymous to the authors.)

Reviewed by eLife

Recognition of copy-back defective interfering rabies virus genomes by RIG-I triggers the antiviral response against vaccine strains

1. Wahiba Aouadi
2. Valérie Najburg
3. Rachel Legendre
4. Hugo Varet
5. Lauriane Kergoat
6. Frédéric Tangy
7. Florence Larrous
8. Anastassia V. Komarova
9. Hervé Bourhy

Reviewed by Review Commons

Antibiotic-induced accumulation of lipid II synergizes with antimicrobial fatty acids to eradicate bacterial populations

1. Ashelyn E Sidders
2. Katarzyna M Kedziora
3. Melina Arts
4. Jan-Martin Daniel
5. Stefania de Benedetti
6. Jenna E Beam
7. Duyen T Bui
8. Joshua B Parsons
9. Tanja Schneider
10. Sarah E Rowe
11. Brian P Conlon

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  The authors here present how specific fatty acids modulate the bactericidal effect of the antibiotic vancomycin. The authors find that palmitoleic acid significantly increases the bactericidal activity of vancomycin and investigate the mechanism responsible. The key finding will be of interest to a broad audience of researchers focused on microbiology, host-pathogen interactions, and antimicrobial development, as well as to clinicians that treat antibiotic-recalcitrant infections.

  (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewer #1 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

Reviewed by eLife

A toolbox of engineered mosquito lines to study salivary gland biology and malaria transmission

1. Dennis Klug
2. Katharina Arnold
3. Raquel Mela-Lopez
4. Eric Marois
5. Stéphanie A. Blandin

Reviewed by Review Commons

Combining transgenesis with paratransgenesis to fight malaria

1. Wei Huang
2. Joel Vega-Rodriguez
3. Chritopher Kizito
4. Sung-Jae Cha
5. Marcelo Jacobs-Lorena

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  This study tests the potential of using a combination of mosquito-based approaches, transgenesis and paratransgenesis, for malaria control relative to the use of the individual technologies. The results show that a combination of approaches can be more powerful at preventing the transmission of malaria parasites, opening the possibility of using similar combination approaches to reduce the malaria burden. The findings will be interesting for a broad audience of mosquito biologists and malaria researchers, but as they are limited to a specific transgenic-paratransgenic combination, more work will be needed to determine the true potential of this strategy for disease control.

  (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. The reviewers remained anonymous to the authors.)

Reviewed by eLife

Discovery of fungal-specific targets and inhibitors using chemical phenotyping of pathogenic spore germination

1. Sébastien C. Ortiz
2. Mingwei Huang
3. Christina M. Hull

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  This study is an extension of previous work by the same authors, which established a two step high-throughput screening approach to monitor germination and growth of fungal spores of the human pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans and identified an FDA-approved drug with antifungal activity (DOI: 10.1128/AAC.00994-19). The current work extends this approach to three libraries of drug-like molecules comprising 75,000 candidate compounds and employs automated image analysis methods to identify classes of inhibition phenotypes. The key result of this work is the identification of 191 inhibitors, of which 76 could be grouped in to 8 classes based on chemical structure - inhibitors that share structural similarities tend to share phenotypic impact.

  (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript.The reviewers remained anonymous to the authors.)

Reviewed by eLife