Cell Biology

Cortical waves mediate the cellular response to electric fields

1. Qixin Yang
2. Yuchuan Miao
3. Leonard J Campanello
4. Matt J Hourwitz
5. Bedri Abubaker-Sharif
6. Abby L Bull
7. Peter N Devreotes
8. John T Fourkas
9. Wolfgang Losert

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  This paper is of interest for cell biologists and biophysicists that work on eukaryotic cell motility and the dynamics of the actin cytoskeleton. The authors combine a series of clever biological approaches to fuse small Dictyostelium cells together into 'giant cells' that make it much easier to spatially resolve actin wave dynamics with and without electrical stimulation when cultured on smooth or nano-textured surfaces. Sophisticated and methodical computational approaches are used to analyze these images and relate the data to actin polymerization and wave dynamics parameters using optic flow and associated techniques. This study is mostly descriptive, a full mechanistic explanation of the results remains open, but this compelling experimental system opens up possibilities for the field to analyze the molecular subtleties involved in these cytoskeletal reorganizations.

  (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

Three-dimensional structure of kinetochore-fibers in human mitotic spindles

1. Robert Kiewisz
2. Gunar Fabig
3. William Conway
4. Daniel Baum
5. Daniel Needleman
6. Thomas Müller-Reichert

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  Kiewisz and colleagues performed sophisticated reconstructions of kinetochore-fibers within human spindles using electron tomography, and then analyzed the ultrastructure and organization of their microtubules. This work will not only serve as an incredible resource for the field, but has clear implications for models of kinetochore-fiber and spindle self-organization.

  (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.)

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Physiological TLR4 regulation in human fetal membranes as an explicative mechanism of a pathological preterm case

1. Corinne Belville
2. Flora Ponelle-Chachuat
3. Marion Rouzaire
4. Christelle Gross
5. Bruno Pereira
6. Denis Gallot
7. Vincent Sapin
8. Loïc Blanchon

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  This manuscript provides insight into the zone-specific regulation of inflammatory gene expression in the fetal membranes prior to labor at term. Specifically, the authors demonstrate distinct epigenetic and mi-RNA control of TLR4 signaling in the amnion and chorion, highlighting the role of this pattern recognition receptor in physiological labor. Overall, the experimental design and data analysis are suitable, though the study would benefit from the inclusion of the analysis of fetal membrane tissues from pregnancy complications and/or in vivo studies.

  (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

TIGAR deficiency enhances skeletal muscle thermogenesis by increasing neuromuscular junction cholinergic signaling

1. Yan Tang
2. Haihong Zong
3. Hyokjoon Kwon
4. Yunping Qiu
5. Jacob B Pessin
6. Licheng Wu
7. Katherine A Buddo
8. Ilya Boykov
9. Cameron A Schmidt
10. Chien-Te Lin
11. P Darrell Neufer
12. Gary J Schwartz
13. Irwin J Kurland
14. Jeffrey E Pessin

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  In this study, Tang and colleagues report that the deletion of the fructose-2,6-phosphatase TIGAR leads resistance to cold-induce hypothermia. Using different complementary approaches, they found that this phenotype originates from alteration in cholinergic neurons. In particular, they found that deleting TIGAR in ChAT-expressing neurons recapitulates the phenotype of the global knock-out. Overall, this is a well-performed study that provides evidence for a role of TIGAR in regulating the neuromuscular junction.

  (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.)

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The regenerative response of cardiac interstitial cells

1. Laura Rolland
2. Alenca Harrington
3. Adèle Faucherre
4. Jourdano Mancilla Abaroa
5. Girisaran Gangatharan
6. Laurent Gamba
7. Dany Severac
8. Marine Pratlong
9. Thomas Moore-Morris
10. Chris Jopling

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  This paper is of interest to researchers studying cardiac regeneration and regeneration in general. Given the multiple papers characterizing interstitial cell types during mammalian cardiac injury response, this type of characterization in one of the leading regeneration model systems is overdue. The authors utilize single cell sequencing approaches to identify dynamics and key features of interstitial cell populations during zebrafish cardiac regeneration, which largely supports the claims of the paper. The data presented here have the potential to serve as a valuable reference resource for future studies, although some of the conclusions, in particular those on the function of tal1 and mmp14, are not yet sufficiently supported by data.

  (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 kinase CSNK2 is a target for inhibition of pathogenic β-coronaviruses including SARS-CoV-2

1. Xuan Yang
2. Rebekah J. Dickmander
3. Armin Bayati
4. Sharon A. Taft-Benz
5. Jeffery L. Smith
6. Carrow I. Wells
7. Emily A. Madden
8. Jason W. Brown
9. Erik M. Lenarcic
10. Boyd L. Yount
11. Edcon Chang
12. Alison D. Axtman
13. Ralph S. Baric
14. Mark T. Heise
15. Peter S. McPherson
16. Nathaniel J. Moorman
17. Timothy M. Willson

Reviewed by ScreenIT

Reducing lipid bilayer stress by monounsaturated fatty acids protects renal proximal tubules in diabetes

1. Albert Pérez-Martí
2. Suresh Ramakrishnan
3. Jiayi Li
4. Aurelien Dugourd
5. Martijn R Molenaar
6. Luigi R De La Motte
7. Kelli Grand
8. Anis Mansouri
9. Mélanie Parisot
10. Soeren S Lienkamp
11. Julio Saez-Rodriguez
12. Matias Simons

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  This study addresses the the potential effects of saturated vs. unsaturated fatty acids on kidney proximal tubule injury in diabetic kidney disease. They find that compared to saturated fatty acids, unsaturated fatty acids prevent ER stress by stimulating triacylglycerol formation.

  (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

A dual-receptor mechanism between integrins and ACE2 widens SARS-CoV-2 tissue tropism

1. Danielle Nader
2. Timothy E. Gressett
3. Md Lokman Hossen
4. Prem Chapagain
5. Steven W. Kerrigan
6. Gregory Bix

Reviewed by ScreenIT

A Newly Engineered A549 Cell Line Expressing ACE2 and TMPRSS2 Is Highly Permissive to SARS-CoV-2, Including the Delta and Omicron Variants

1. Ching-Wen Chang
2. Krishna Parsi
3. Mohan Somasundaran
4. Emma Vanderleeden
5. Ping Liu
6. John Cruz
7. Alyssa Cousineau
8. Robert Finberg
9. Evelyn Kurt-Jones

Reviewed by ScreenIT

A δ-cell subpopulation with a pro-β-cell identity contributes to efficient age-independent recovery in a zebrafish model of diabetes

1. Claudio Andrés Carril Pardo
2. Laura Massoz
3. Marie A Dupont
4. David Bergemann
5. Jordane Bourdouxhe
6. Arnaud Lavergne
7. Estefania Tarifeño-Saldivia
8. Christian SM Helker
9. Didier YR Stainier
10. Bernard Peers
11. Marianne M Voz
12. Isabelle Manfroid

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  This manuscript describes the presence of two discernable populations of pancreatic delta cells in a zebrafish model. One of these subsets of delta cells is suggested to facilitate the regeneration of functional beta cell mass following beta cell ablation. This observation is of interest to investigators studying islet regeneration.

  (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