Molecular Biology

Oxidative stress triggers RNAPII arrest through PARylation and DNA damage

1. Quentin A. Thomas
2. Liyang Wu
3. Emma Lesage
4. Henriette K. M. Iversen
5. David López Martínez
6. Smaragda Kompocholi
7. Haiyue Liu
8. Nicolás Nieto Moreno
9. Lea H. Gregersen

Reviewed by preLights

Frataxin depletion leads to decreased soma size and activation of AMPK metabolic pathway in dorsal root ganglia sensory neurons

1. Olivier Griso
2. Deepika M. Chellapandi
3. Amélie Weiss
4. Ioannis Manolaras
5. Hélène Puccio

Reviewed by Review Commons

A lipoprotein partner for the Escherichia coli outer membrane protein TolC

1. Jim Horne
2. Elise Kaplan
3. Ben HS Jin
4. Kieran Abbott
5. Victor Flores
6. Emmanouela Petsolari
7. Jan M Gradon
8. Yvette Ntsogo
9. Andrzej Harris
10. Dingquan Yu
11. Ashraf Zarkan
12. Ben F Luisi

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  In this fundamental work Horne et al present compelling evidence that YbjP is a novel binding partner of the TolC channel protein. The YbjP is characterized using cryo-EM, and its role probed using pull-down experiments, in vivo crosslinking, functional assays along with phylogenetic analysis which are all properly performed and presented and support the main conclusions. While the study does not identify a clear role for this protein, the revised manuscript offers improved clarity and contributes invaluable insight into membrane transport and antimicrobial resistance.

Reviewed by eLife

Interplay between cohesin and TORC1 links chromosome segregation and gene expression to environmental changes

1. Dorian Besson
2. Sabine Vaur
3. Stéphanie Vazquez
4. Sylvie Tournier
5. Yannick Gachet
6. Adrien Birot
7. Stéphane Claverol
8. Adèle Marston
9. Anastasios Damdimopoulos
10. Karl Ekwall
11. Jean-Paul Javerzat

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study presents a compelling link between nutrient signaling and chromosome regulation, demonstrating that reduced activity in a central nutrient-sensing pathway improves chromosome stability and alters gene expression through effects on cohesin. The convincing evidence from a combination of genetic, biochemical and cell biological approaches supports a model in which TORC1-dependent phosphorylation of Mis4 and the cohesin subunit Psm1/Smc1 can modulate cohesin loading to enhance faithful chromosome transmission. While the underlying mechanisms and biological importance of this newly described circuit are not yet fully known, the overall body of evidence is strong and supports the main conclusions.

Reviewed by eLife

Herbivorous insects independently evolved salivary effectors to regulate plant immunity by destabilizing the malectin-LRR RLP NtRLP4

1. Xin Wang
2. Jia-Bao Lu
3. Yi-Zhe Wang
4. Xu-Hong Zhou
5. Jian-Ping Chen
6. Chuan-Xi Zhang
7. Jun-Min Li
8. Hai-Jian Huang

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study provides an important contribution by showing that whiteflies and planthoppers use salivary effectors to suppress plant immunity through the receptor-like protein RLP4, suggesting convergent evolution in these insect lineages. The topic is of clear interest for understanding plant-insect interactions and offers ideas that could stimulate further research in the field. The authors provide convincing evidence for the functional roles of the salivary effectors.

Reviewed by eLife

Protein secretion routes in fungi are mostly determined by the length of the hydrophobic helix in the signal peptide

1. Tristan Sones-Dykes
2. Edward Wallace

Reviewed by Review Commons

The spike tip protein of bacteriophage T4

1. Yves Mattenberger
2. Ekaterina S Knyazhanskaya
3. Mikhail M Shneider
4. Sergey A Buth
5. Sergey Nazarov
6. William P Robins
7. Petr G Leiman
8. Dominique Belin

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study by Mattenburger et al. employs structural biology, biochemistry, and genetics to advance understanding of how bacteriophage contractile injection systems mediate host recognition and DNA delivery, yielding a remarkable 1.15 A crystal structure of the T4 spike tip complex (gp5-gp5.4). The compelling evidence presented demonstrates that the spike tip protein gp5.4 is essential for phage fitness and successful infection of Escherichia coli strains bearing truncated lipopolysaccharide; however, direct proof regarding interaction with the cell wall or its components is lacking. The study further provides biochemical evidence that the analogous spike tip protein from phage P2 (GpV) is translocated into the host periplasm during infection, together establishing the spike tip as a critical and active component of the phage infection machinery.

Reviewed by eLife

Single Domain Antibody Inhibitors Target the Coiled Coil Arms of the Bacillus subtilis SMC complex

1. Ophélie Gosselin
2. Michael Taschner
3. Lea M Huber-Hürlimann
4. Markus A Seeger
5. Stephan Gruber

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study introduces an innovative synthetic nanobody approach to probe the function of the bacterial SMC complex. The authors provide convincing evidence that these nanobodies target the coiled-coil region of the SMC subunit and demonstrate that this region is critical for SMC function in vivo. Overall, the work is significant for the fields of genome organization, SMC protein biology, synthetic biology, and bacterial cell biology.

  [Editors' note: this paper was reviewed by Review Commons.]

Reviewed by eLife, Review Commons

Systematic Analysis of Network-driven Adaptive Resistance to CDK4/6 and Estrogen Receptor Inhibition using Meta-Dynamic Network Modelling

1. Anthony Hart
2. Sung-Young Shin
3. Lan K Nguyen

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This manuscript presents a useful computational framework for systematically characterising how heterogeneity in initial conditions or biophysical parameters shapes the dynamic behaviour of protein signalling networks, with potential relevance to understanding adaptive drug resistance. While the approach represents a significant methodological contribution, the extent to which its conclusions are biologically informative remains debated, as the model is not qualitatively or quantitatively validated against experimental data. As a result, the strength of evidence supporting the mechanistic claims is viewed as incomplete.

Reviewed by eLife

Engineering ATP Import in Yeast Uncovers a Synthetic Route to Extend Cellular Lifespan

1. Naci Oz
2. Hetian Su
3. Vedat Sari
4. Praveen Patnaik
5. Rohil Hameed
6. Jong Hee Song
7. Derek C Prosser
8. Vyacheslav M Labunskyy
9. Vadim N Gladyshev
10. Nan Hao
11. Alaattin Kaya

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This manuscript addresses an important and conceptually ambitious question by using a synthetic biology strategy to perturb ATP homeostasis in yeast and examine its causal relationship with lifespan. While the experimental approach and lifespan data are intriguing, the current evidence is incomplete and internally inconsistent, particularly regarding intracellular ATP measurements, transporter directionality, mitochondrial dependence, and the proposed mechanistic model. Substantial clarification, additional controls, and further experimentation will be necessary before the main conclusions can be considered robust and the biological significance of the findings can be fully assessed.

Reviewed by eLife