Molecular Biology

Structure of a bacterial ribonucleoprotein complex central to the control of cell envelope biogenesis

1. Md Saiful Islam
2. Steven W Hardwick
3. Laura Quell
4. Svetlana Durica‐Mitic
5. Dimitri Y Chirgadze
6. Boris Görke
7. Ben F Luisi

Reviewed by Review Commons

SRSF6 balances mitochondrial-driven innate immune outcomes through alternative splicing of BAX

1. Allison R Wagner
2. Chi G Weindel
3. Kelsi O West
4. Haley M Scott
5. Robert O Watson
6. Kristin L Patrick

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  This paper is of interest to people studying how differentially spliced genes regulate biological processes, and in particular, those interested in the intersection of cell death and immunity. This work offers new insight into how an alternatively spliced protein with a well-known function in cell death regulates the basal expression of genes involved in immunity and sensitizes cells to apoptotic cell death. Overall, the major conclusions are supported by the data but more investigation is needed to support the mechanism by which BAX splicing is inducing the phenotypes observed.

  (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

Invigorating human MSCs for transplantation therapy via Nrf2/DKK1 co-stimulation in a mice acute-on-chronic liver failure model

1. Feng Chen
2. Zhaodi Che
3. Yingxia Liu
4. Pingping Luo
5. Lu Xiao
6. Yali Song
7. Cunchuan Wang
8. Zhiyong Dong
9. Mianhuan Li
10. George L. Tipoe
11. Dongqing Wu
12. Min Yang
13. Yi Lv
14. Fei Wang
15. Hua Wang
16. Jia Xiao

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  Chen et al. demonstrate a pro-survival role of the NRF2/DKK1 axis in mesenchymal stem cells. Furthermore, the authors provide evidence that targeting this pathway can enhance survival in response to liver failure in vivo. These data highlight a novel signaling pathway to enhance efficacy of MSCs in promoting 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

RNA sequence to structure analysis from comprehensive pairwise mutagenesis of multiple self-cleaving ribozymes

1. Jessica M Roberts
2. James D Beck
3. Tanner B Pollock
4. Devin P Bendixsen
5. Eric J Hayden

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  The authors provide a summary of single and double mutants in five self-cleaving ribozymes using next-generation sequencing. They dissect their data in terms of epistasis effects, which provides a new angle to understanding ribozyme function. In principle, this allows conclusions to be drawn on bases involved in pairs and in catalysis that have the potential to be of use to the field, although there is also a series of technical weaknesses that should be addressed.

  (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 #2 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

Reviewed by eLife

The SPARC complex defines RNAPII promoters in Trypanosoma brucei

1. Desislava P Staneva
2. Stefan Bresson
3. Tatsiana Auchynnikava
4. Christos Spanos
5. Juri Rappsilber
6. A Arockia Jeyaprakash
7. David Tollervey
8. Keith R Matthews
9. Robin C Allshire

Reviewed by Review Commons

FACT regulates pluripotency through proximal and distal regulation of gene expression in murine embryonic stem cells

1. David C. Klein
2. Santana M. Lardo
3. Kurtis N. McCannell
4. Sarah J. Hainer

Reviewed by Review Commons

Mechanisms governing target search and binding dynamics of hypoxia-inducible factors

1. Yu Chen
2. Claudia Cattoglio
3. Gina M Dailey
4. Qiulin Zhu
5. Robert Tjian
6. Xavier Darzacq

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  The notion of transcription factors as composed of interchangeable parts where DNA binding activity can be separated from activation activity has been a dominant paradigm in molecular biology for decades. However, recent evidence suggests that activation domains may contribute to binding specificity as well. This paper describes the use of single-molecule imaging of endogenously tagged transcription factors to dissect how transcription factors move in the nucleus and how these dynamics are related to functional protein domains. These results will be of interest to the transcription and gene regulation fields, but the conclusions require additional experimental support.

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

Reviewed by eLife

Post‐transcriptional polyadenylation site cleavage maintains 3′‐end processing upon DNA damage

1. Rym Sfaxi
2. Biswendu Biswas
3. Galina Boldina
4. Mandy Cadix
5. Nicolas Servant
6. Huimin Chen
7. Daniel R Larson
8. Martin Dutertre
9. Caroline Robert
10. Stéphan Vagner

Reviewed by Review Commons

Artificially stimulating retrotransposon activity increases mortality and accelerates a subset of aging phenotypes in Drosophila

1. Joyce Rigal
2. Ane Martin Anduaga
3. Elena Bitman
4. Emma Rivellese
5. Sebastian Kadener
6. Michael T Marr

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  This manuscript examines the role of transposable element (TE) expression and the transcription factor FOXO on aging of Drosophila melanogaster. Increased TE expression in aged organisms compared to their younger counterparts has been observed in several animals, including Drosophila. Here, the authors show that artificially inducing transcription of a specific TE can reduce fly lifespan and exacerbate some aging phenotypes-paraquat resistance and rhythmicity. The authors also argue that the detrimental effects of increased TE expression can be rescued by FOXO expression, although this is less convincing.

  (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

Alternative splicing of apoptosis genes promotes human T cell survival

1. Davia Blake
2. Caleb M Radens
3. Max B Ferretti
4. Matthew R Gazzara
5. Kristen W Lynch

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  Apoptotic regulators have long been known to often be expressed in pairs of pro- and anti-apoptotic isoforms. This demonstration of how a program of these splicing changes contributes to immune responses adds an important new understanding of both apoptosis and T cell biology.

  (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