Cell Biology

Rudhira-mediated microtubule stability controls TGFβ signaling during mouse vascular development

1. Divyesh Joshi
2. Preeti Jindal
3. Ronak Shetty
4. Maneesha S Inamdar

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important work provides another layer of regulatory mechanism for TGF-beta signaling activity. The evidence convincingly supports the involvement of microtubules as a reservoir of Smad2/3, and association of Rudhira with microtubules is critical for this process. The work will be of board interest to developmental biologists in general and molecular biologists in the field of growth factor signaling.

Reviewed by eLife

Probing metazoan polyphosphate biology using Drosophila reveals novel and conserved polyP functions

1. Sunayana Sarkar
2. Harsha Sharma
3. SK Yasir Hosen
4. Jayashree S Ladke
5. Deepa Balasubramanian
6. Sreejith Raran-Kurussi
7. Rashna Bhandari
8. Manish Jaiswal

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  Studying the biological roles of polyphosphates in metazoans has been a longstanding challenge to the field given that the polyP synthase has yet to be discovered in metazoans. This important study capitalizes on the sophisticated genetics available in the Drosophila system and uses a combination of methodologies to start to tease apart how polyphosphate participates in Drosophila development and in the clotting of Drosophila hemolymph. The data validating the tools are solid and well-documented and they will open up a field of research into the functional roles of polyP in a metazoan model.

Reviewed by eLife

Macromolecular condensation is unlikely to buffer intracellular osmolality

1. Alan R. Kay
2. Zahra Aminzare

• Curated by Biophysics Colab

  Evaluation Statement (30 January 2025)

  Kay and Aminzare discuss a claim made in a prior publication that macromolecular condensation acts as a water buffering mechanism in cells to compensate for the effects of osmotic shock. The authors argue that, although such a buffer could temporarily maintain a transmembrane osmolality differential, this differential would drive water across the membrane to reach a steady-state in which osmolality within the cell equals osmolality outside the cell. Using the well-established pump-leak model for osmotic water transport, they further show that the timescale at which a water buffer could maintain a modest 10% osmolality differential across the membrane is at most one minute for a typical animal cell.

  Biophysics Colab recommends this study to researchers working on membrane transport, intracellular water buffering, and condensate biology.

  Biophysics Colab has evaluated this study as one that meets the following criteria:

  • Rigorous methodology
  • Transparent reporting
  • Appropriate interpretation

  (This evaluation refers to version 3 of this preprint, which has been revised in response to peer review of versions 1 and 2.)

Reviewed by Biophysics Colab

The full length BEND2 protein is dispensable for spermatogenesis but required for setting the ovarian reserve in mice

1. Yan Huang
2. Nina Bucevic
3. Carmen Coves
4. Natalia Felipe-Medina
5. Marina Marcet-Ortega
6. Nikoleta Nikou
7. Cristina Madrid-Sandín
8. Maria López-Panadés
9. Carolina Buza
10. Neus Ferrer Miralles
11. Antoni Iborra
12. Anna Pujol
13. Alberto M Pendás
14. Ignasi Roig

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study provides valuable information on a novel gene that regulates meiotic progression in both male and female meiosis. The evidence supporting the conclusions of the authors is solid. This study will be of interest to developmental and reproductive biologists.

Reviewed by eLife

Transcriptional Dynamics Uncover the Role of BNIP3 in Mitophagy during Muscle Remodeling in Drosophila

1. Hiroki Taoka
2. Tadayoshi Murakawa
3. Kohei Kawaguchi
4. Michiko Koizumi
5. Tatsuya Kaminishi
6. Yuriko Sakamaki
7. Kaori Tanaka
8. Akihito Harada
9. Keiichi Inoue
10. Tomotake Kanki
11. Yasuyuki Ohkawa
12. Naonobu Fujita

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This paper presents the important finding that BNIP3/NIX, a mitophagy receptor, and its binding to ATG18 are required for mitophagy during muscle cell reorganization in Drosophila. Although the involvement of the BNIP3-ATG18/WIPI axis in mitophagy induction has been reported in mammalian cell culture systems, this study provides the first compelling evidence for this pathway in vivo in animals. The physiological significance of this BNIP3-dependent mitophagy will require further investigation.

Reviewed by eLife

TXNIP mediates LAT1/SLC7A5 endocytosis to reduce amino acid uptake in cells entering quiescence

1. Jennifer Kahlhofer
2. Nikolas Marchet
3. Brigitta Seifert
4. Kristian Zubak
5. Madlen Hotze
6. Anna-Sophia Egger
7. Claudia Manzl
8. Yannick Weyer
9. Sabine Weys
10. Martin Offterdinger
11. Sebastian Herzog
12. Veronika Reiterer
13. Marcel Kwiatkowski
14. Saskia B. Wortmann
15. Siamak Nemati
16. Johannes A. Mayr
17. Johannes Zschocke
18. Bernhard Radlinger
19. Kathrin Thedieck
20. Lukas A. Huber
21. Hesso Farhan
22. Mariana E.G. de Araujo
23. Susanne Kaser
24. Sabine Scholl-Bürgi
25. Daniela Karall
26. David Teis

Reviewed by Review Commons

Albendazole specifically disrupts microtubules and protein turnover in the tegument of the cestode Mesocestoides corti

1. Inés Guarnaschelli
2. Uriel Koziol

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

Evaluation of Prostaglandin Receptor Agonists and Eupatilin in the Context of Nephronophthisis

1. Alice Tata
2. Guillaume Rocha
3. Marguerite Hureaux
4. Alice Serafin
5. Esther Porée
6. Lucie Menguy
7. Nicolas Goudin
8. Nicolas Cagnard
9. Lilian Gréau
10. Marc Fila
11. Luis Briseno-Roa
12. Jean-Philippe Annereau
13. Sophie Saunier
14. Alexandre Benmerah

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

Targeting IRE1α improves insulin sensitivity and thermogenesis and suppresses metabolically active adipose tissue macrophages in male obese mice

1. Dan Wu
2. Venkateswararao Eeda
3. Zahra Maria
4. Komal Rawal
5. Audrey Wang
6. Oana Herlea-Pana
7. Ram Babu Undi
8. Hui-Ying Lim
9. Weidong Wang

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  The study presents important findings on inositol-requiring enzyme (IRE1α) inhibition on diet-induced obesity (overnutrition) and insulin resistance where IRE1α inhibition enhances thermogenesis and reduces the metabolically active and M1-like macrophages in adipose tissue. The evidence supporting the conclusions is convincing. The work will be of interest to cell biologists and biochemists working in metabolism, insulin resistance and inflammation with a broad eLife readership.

Reviewed by eLife

CILP from Cartilage Intermediate Zone Inhibits Hyaline Cartilage Fibrosis and Chondrocyte Ferroptosis via Keap1-Nrf2 Axis in Early Osteoarthritis Exercise Therapy

1. Shuangshuo Jia
2. Zhehan Hu
3. Zihan Li
4. Weiming Zhang
5. Liang Chen
6. Changping Niu
7. Ziqi Zhao
8. Yuhan Sun
9. Gang Yao
10. Yang Wang
11. Yue Yang

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This valuable manuscript by Jia et al. investigates the role of cartilage intermediate layer protein (CILP) and moderate exercise in maintaining hyaline cartilage integrity following anterior cruciate ligament transection (ACLt) in rats. Solid data support the downregulation of CILP in human OA cartilage and its potential role in regulating Keap1/Nrf2 interaction and chondrocyte ferroptosis. However, the data supporting a role for CILP in exercise-mediated inhibition of hyaline cartilage fibrosis in early OA are incomplete.

Reviewed by eLife