Preprint highlights for July

Force propagation between epithelial cells depends on active coupling and mechano-structural polarization

1. Artur Ruppel
2. Dennis Wörthmüller
3. Vladimir Misiak
4. Manasi Kelkar
5. Irène Wang
6. Philippe Moreau
7. Adrien Méry
8. Jean Révilloud
9. Guillaume Charras
10. Giovanni Cappello
11. Thomas Boudou
12. Ulrich S Schwarz
13. Martial Balland

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  Using surface micropatterning, optical activation, and theoretical analysis, the authors provide compelling evidence that adjacent cells actively propagate mechanical stress in epithelial tissues. The response of the receiver cell is active and enhanced when the principal stress direction is perpendicular to the orientation of actin fibers. This work is important and a must-read for everybody wanting to understand tissue mechanics.

Reviewed by eLife

Phospho-seq: integrated, multi-modal profiling of intracellular protein dynamics in single cells

1. John D. Blair
2. Austin Hartman
3. Fides Zenk
4. Philipp Wahle
5. Giovanna Brancati
6. Carol Dalgarno
7. Barbara Treutlein
8. Rahul Satija

Reviewed by preLights

A high-throughput cytotoxicity screening platform reveals agr-independent mutations in bacteraemia-associated Staphylococcus aureus that promote intracellular persistence

1. Abderrahman Hachani
2. Stefano G Giulieri
3. Romain Guérillot
4. Calum J Walsh
5. Marion Herisse
6. Ye Mon Soe
7. Sarah L Baines
8. David R Thomas
9. Shane Doris Cheung
10. Ashleigh S Hayes
11. Ellie Cho
12. Hayley J Newton
13. Sacha Pidot
14. Ruth C Massey
15. Benjamin P Howden
16. Timothy P Stinear

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This paper describes a new method to investigate Staphylococcus aureus intracellular virulence that has produced important insights into the mechanisms of staphylococcal pathogenesis. The results are convincing and the methodology is state-of-the-art. This paper will be of interest to scientists studying microbial intracellular pathogenesis and cell biology.

Reviewed by eLife

Sexual dimorphism in obesity is governed by RELMα regulation of adipose macrophages and eosinophils

1. Jiang Li
2. Rebecca E Ruggiero-Ruff
3. Yuxin He
4. Xinru Qiu
5. Nancy Lainez
6. Pedro Villa
7. Adam Godzik
8. Djurdjica Coss
9. Meera G Nair

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  In this study, Li and al describe valuable insights into the mechanisms underlying sex-differences diet-induced obesity in mice, with a role of macrophage-derived RELMa secretion in female-specific protection. They provide solid evidence for the impact of RELMa signaling in eosinophil recruitment for diet-induced obesity protection in female mice. Single-cell RNA-seq analysis of the stromal vascular fraction of control and RELMa deficient animals methods were used to investigate molecular mechanisms underlying the protection as a powerful method, although the analysis of this data is difficult to evaluate with incomplete methodological information.

Reviewed by eLife