eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Multifaceted Functional Complexity of SARS-CoV-2 Helicase Nsp13 Underlies Its Integrated Motor and Remodeling Activities

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Hai-Hong Li
   2. Jia-Li Hou
   3. Xue-Yang Yu
   4. Jie Jin
   5. Xi-Miao Hou

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study characterizes several novel activities of SARS-CoV-2 helicase nsp13, providing valuable insights into potentially new functions of this essential RNA-processing enzyme in the virus life cycle. However, the experimental evidence to support the authors' claims is incomplete. In addition, the placement of the polyhistidine affinity tag on nsp13 may cause artifacts, raising concerns about the interpretation of the results.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. In vitro sexual dimorphism establishment in schistosomes

   This article has 14 authors:

   1. Rémi Pichon
   2. Magda E Lotkowska
   3. Jude L. D. Bulathsinghalage
   4. Madeleine McMath
   5. Mary Evans
   6. Benjamin J. Hulme
   7. Kirsty Ambridge
   8. Geetha Sankaranarayanan
   9. Simon Kershenbaum
   10. Sarah D. Davey
   11. Josephine E. Forde-Thomas
   12. Karl F. Hoffmann
   13. Matthew Berriman
   14. Gabriel Rinaldi

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This useful study presents an improved protocol for long-term in vitro culture of Schistosoma mansoni that enables progression toward sexually dimorphic stages, representing a meaningful advance for studying parasite development and reducing reliance on animal models. The findings show that host-specific culture conditions support essential developmental and metabolic functions required for parasite maturation, although development remains delayed compared to in vivo conditions. The evidence is solid overall, but limited pairing efficiency and the absence of egg production indicate that the system does not yet fully recapitulate complete reproductive development.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. mRNA Imprinting: transcription apparatus can remotely control cytoplasmic post-transcriptional mechanisms by dozens of proteins

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Shira Urim
   2. Artyom Artamov
   3. Shubham B. Deshmukh
   4. Mordechai Choder

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     In this valuable study, the authors develop new approaches to investigate mRNA imprinting, a phenomenon in which RNA-protein complexes form in the nucleus to influence the fate of transcripts in the cytoplasm. They propose that the Pol II subunit Rpb4 serves as a key node in this pathway, recruiting proteins involved in cytoplasmic processes. Notably, some of the candidates identified in this study were previously thought to function exclusively in the cytoplasm. However, the evidence remains incomplete, as key controls are lacking and alternative explanations have not been fully addressed; additional validation would help strengthen the authors' conclusions.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. New insights into the evolution of spider silk proteins illuminated by long-read transcriptomes

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Kesen Zhu
   2. Shiyi Zhou
   3. Mo Lyu
   4. Jiahao Xiang
   5. Shaohan Niu
   6. Yongping Huang
   7. Lei Gao
   8. Anjiang Tan
   9. Hui Xiang

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study by Zhu et al. offers a high-resolution evolutionary framework for spider silk proteins (spidroins) through long-read transcriptomics across a broad phylogenetic range, with theoretical implications for protein family evolution, biomaterials, and silk biology. By identifying putative ancestral spidroin templates in early-diverging spiders, the authors make a significant contribution to understanding genetic innovations underlying silk diversification. The long-read sequencing approach is well-suited to these highly repetitive genes. However, the support is incomplete: key claims regarding direct ancestry between silk protein families, the independent origin of certain silk types, and the co-option of flagelliform spidroins in non-web-building spiders rely on absence-based inferences and indirect phylogenetic reasoning that the data cannot yet fully substantiate, and some gene family assignments overreach the available molecular evidence.

   Reviewed by eLife, Arcadia Science

5. The endoderm cell trajectory of urochordate Styela clava reveals the dual developmental origin and evolution of digestive tract

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Yonghang Ge
   2. Wei Zhang
   3. Penghui Liu
   4. Jianqing Bi
   5. Haiyan Yu
   6. Bo Dong
   7. Jiankai Wei

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This potentially important paper questions the evolutionary origin of the tunicate endoderm, using single-cell sequencing on a developmental series of the ascidian Styela clava that covers metamorphosis and gut development. The authors base their conclusions on a comparison with the development of mouse gut endoderm, where they point out similarities in the origin of tissues, perhaps representing a case of "deep homology". This work has the potential to make a significant contribution to the field of chordate evolution, but in its current form, the evidence it presents is incomplete and is limited by a problematic discussion of evolutionary implications and by major issues regarding the clarity and cogency of data presentation.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. DEER of Singly Labelled Proteins to Evaluate Supramolecular Packing of Amyloid Fibrils

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Karen Tsay
   2. Asif Equbal
   3. Yuanxin Li
   4. Tiffany Tsui
   5. Songi Han
   6. Yann Fichou

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study presents a valuable methodological contribution exploiting the DEER background decay to quantify supramolecular packing in amyloid fibrils. The evidence is incomplete: the observation of D < 1 is inconsistent with the theoretical lower bound of the model, and it remains unclear whether this reflects a genuine systematic limitation or falls within experimental uncertainty.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Modulating inter-mitochondrial contacts to increase membrane potential for mitigating blue light damage

   This article has 16 authors:

   1. Yuxin Wang
   2. Kangqiang Qiu
   3. Weiwei Zou
   4. Prativa Amom
   5. Tushar H. Ganjawala
   6. Eugene Lee
   7. Zhiqi Tian
   8. Xiuqiong Xu
   9. Taosheng Huang
   10. Nien-Pei Tsai
   11. Donglu Shi
   12. Ping Kang
   13. Hua Bai
   14. Amanda L. Zacharias
   15. Kai Zhang
   16. Jiajie Diao

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     In this work, the authors demonstrated that blue light mediated mitochondrial contacts attenuated blue light induced mitochondrial dysfunction, and validated this in human cells and C. elegans. This valuable work has the potential to provide novel perspectives into the field of mitochondrial biology but the supporting data are incomplete.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. The Locomoting State Selectively Amplifies Activity of Sensitizing Neurons in Primary Visual Cortex

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Antonio J Hinojosa
   2. Yehor Kosiachkin
   3. Sina E Dominiak
   4. Benjamin D Evans
   5. Leon Lagnado

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This manuscript presents a valuable analysis of how locomotion modulates the activity of different subtypes of cortical neurons in the mouse primary visual cortex, showing that locomotion more strongly increases responses in sensitizing than in depressing excitatory cells. This data is then used to constrain a model of the responses. While the data are very interesting, the analyses remain incomplete, in particular due to concerns surrounding the modelling.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Distinct allosteric remodeling of HIV-1 Env dynamics on virions by gp41-directed antibodies reveals two modes of neutralization

   This article has 15 authors:

   1. Wang Xu
   2. Narendra Kumar Gonepudi
   3. Junyu Liu
   4. Yufan He
   5. Revansiddha Katte
   6. Ran Wang
   7. Harry Baffour Awuah
   8. Yang Han
   9. Baoshan Zhang
   10. Jian Yu
   11. Bo Hu
   12. David D Ho
   13. Priyamvada Acharya
   14. Peter D Kwong
   15. Maolin Lu

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This manuscript reports an important study in which the authors apply smFRET imaging to probe HIV-1 Env conformational dynamics in the presence of antibodies. Previous implementations of smFRET imaging of HIV-1 Env, which focus on gp120 conformation, have yielded limited information on antibodies that target gp41. Through the cutting-edge application of smFRET imaging, the study provides convincing insights into the mechanisms of action of relevant antibodies.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Cellular basis of accelerated whole-tooth regeneration

    This article has 5 authors:

    1. Talha Mubeen
    2. Haowen He
    3. George W. Gruenhagen
    4. Anoushka Satoskar
    5. Jeffrey T. Streelman

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife Assessment

      This study provides valuable insights into the cellular dynamics underlying accelerated tooth regeneration in a vertebrate model. Using single-nucleus RNA sequencing across multiple time points, the authors present a well-structured analysis of cell populations, trajectories, and intercellular signaling events associated with this process. The strength of evidence is solid but incomplete, as the conclusions are primarily supported by computational inference, without experimental validation of key findings.

    Reviewed by eLife