Cell Biology

Role of oxidation of excitation-contraction coupling machinery in age-dependent loss of muscle function in Caenorhabditis elegans

1. Haikel Dridi
2. Frances Forrester
3. Alisa Umanskaya
4. Wenjun Xie
5. Steven Reiken
6. Alain Lacampagne
7. Andrew Marks

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  This manuscript will appeal to all with an interest in comparative physiology and the molecular biology of age-associated changes in muscle function. The authors draw parallels between aging skeletal muscle in humans and C. elegans, with evidence in support of age-dependent oxidation of the C. elegans ryanodine receptor ortholog, UNC-68, causing loss of the calstabin ortholog, FKB-2. This in turn results in UNC-68 "leakiness", reduced body wall Ca2+ transients and muscle weakness-changes in ryanodine receptor complex structure and function, changes that are similar to those that occur in aging human skeletal muscle despite the dramatic differences in the lifespan of the two organisms. The experimental approaches are generally sound, although the intriguing dataset that is open to multiple interpretations.

  (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

Single-cell transcriptomics of a dynamic cell behavior in murine airways

1. Sheldon JJ Kwok
2. Daniel T Montoro
3. Adam L Haber
4. Seok-Hyun Yun
5. Vladimir Vinarsky

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  This is an interesting manuscript presenting an ex vivo explant model that allows combining live cell imaging with single-cell transcriptomic analyses. Using mouse models with specific fluorescent reporters that can be used to characterize cellular behaviour in the transplanted tissue and mark individual cells, the authors show that this approach can be used to identify transcriptional differences between cells that differ in cellular movement features during epithelial repair after injury. This is a first step to further expanding the description of cellular heterogeneity, including cellular behavioural as well as transcriptomic features. This manuscript is of broad interest to cell biologists as it describes a new method that links cellular behaviour in intact tissues to single cell sequencing. The method, which relies on the use of a transgenic strain, was demonstrated for cell migration in mouse airway regeneration. It begins to bridge the gap between cellular and molecular phenotyping of single cells but the authors should be clearer the limitations of the technique.

  (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 and Reviewer #3 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

Reviewed by eLife

Peptide derived nanobody inhibits entry of SARS-CoV-2 variants

1. Nivya Mendon
2. Rayees Ganie
3. Shubham Kesarwani
4. Drisya Dileep
5. Sarika Sasi
6. Prakash Lama
7. Anchal Chandra
8. Minhajuddin Sirajuddin

Reviewed by ScreenIT

Nanchangmycin regulates FYN, PTK2, and MAPK1/3 to control the fibrotic activity of human hepatic stellate cells

1. Wenyang Li
2. Jennifer Y Chen
3. Cheng Sun
4. Robert P Sparks
5. Lorena Pantano
6. Raza-Ur Rahman
7. Sean P Moran
8. Joshua V Pondick
9. Rory Kirchner
10. David Wrobel
11. Michael Bieler
12. Achim Sauer
13. Shannan J Ho Sui
14. Julia F Doerner
15. Jörg F Rippmann
16. Alan C Mullen

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  The manuscript by Li et al. identifies the polyether ionophore nanchangmycin as a novel anti-fibrotic compound through a comprehensive chemical library screen. Given the lack of clinically available treatments for liver fibrosis, the anti-activation properties of nanchangmycin could represent a novel therapeutic avenue for the treatment of this disease.

  (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

The Spike Protein of SARS-CoV-2 Impairs Lipid Metabolism and Increases Susceptibility to Lipotoxicity: Implication for a Role of Nrf2

1. Vi Nguyen
2. Yuping Zhang
3. Chao Gao
4. Xiaoling Cao
5. Yan Tian
6. Wayne Carver
7. Hippokratis Kiaris
8. Taixing Cui
9. Wenbin Tan

Reviewed by ScreenIT

Hypoxia controls plasma membrane targeting of polarity proteins by dynamic turnover of PI4P and PI(4,5)P2

1. Juan Lu
2. Wei Dong
3. Gerald R Hammond
4. Yang Hong

Reviewed by Review Commons

Constitutive loss of DNMT3A causes morbid obesity through misregulation of adipogenesis

1. Ayala Tovy
2. Jaime M Reyes
3. Linda Zhang
4. Yung-Hsin Huang
5. Carina Rosas
6. Alexes C Daquinag
7. Anna Guzman
8. Raghav Ramabadran
9. Chun-Wei Chen
10. Tianpeng Gu
11. Sinjini Gupta
12. Laura Ortinau
13. Dongsu Park
14. Aaron R Cox
15. Rachel E Rau
16. Sean M Hartig
17. Mikhail G Kolonin
18. Margaret A Goodell

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  This manuscript employs a diverse array of approaches including single cell RNA sequencing, bioinformatic analyses, and whole genome bisulfite sequencing to propose a mechanism underlying their findings that will interest scientists broadly in fields of metabolism, development, and epigenetics.

  (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

Reconstitution of kinetochore motility and microtubule dynamics reveals a role for a kinesin-8 in establishing end-on attachments

1. Julia R Torvi
2. Jonathan Wong
3. Daniel Serwas
4. Amir Moayed
5. David G Drubin
6. Georjana Barnes

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  Kinetochores are large protein complexes that mediate faithful chromosome segregation in eukaryotes. The authors develop an in vitro system to study interactions between kinetochores and microtubules in yeast cell extracts and detect a role for a kinesin motor protein in the generation of kinetochore movements. This paper should be interesting to researchers working in the field of mitosis, molecular motors, the cell cycle, the cytoskeleton, and, more broadly, for those studying macromolecular complexes with reconstitution and in vitro imaging approaches.

  (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 and Reviewer #3 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

Reviewed by eLife

Receptor-binding domain of SARS-CoV-2 is a functional αv-integrin agonist

1. Emma G. Norris
2. Xuan Sabrina Pan
3. Denise C. Hocking

Reviewed by ScreenIT

Single-cell monitoring of dry mass and dry mass density reveals exocytosis of cellular dry contents in mitosis

1. Teemu P Miettinen
2. Kevin S Ly
3. Alice Lam
4. Scott R Manalis

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  The authors measure dry mass and its density in growing and proliferating cells at high temporal resolution and with high precision. Using this method to study mitotic cells, the authors show that some cell types lose dry mass early in mitosis by a mechanism involving exocytosis. This work improves upon the authors' method to measure the mass of single cells and its thought-provoking conclusion is that dividing cells 'clean out' their contents to give the daughter cells a clean start.

  (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