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 Chellapandi
3. Amélie Weiss
4. Ioannis Manolaras
5. Hélène Puccio

Reviewed by Review Commons

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

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