eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Cell size modulates ferroptosis susceptibility

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Evgeny Zatulovskiy
   2. Magdalena B. Murray
   3. Shuyuan Zhang
   4. Scott J. Dixon
   5. Jan M. Skotheim

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study highlights how cell size influences various cellular responses, with a particular focus on ferroptosis. The evidence presented is convincing, employing multiple model systems and experimental approaches to support the conclusions. This work will be of significant interest to the fields of cell size, ferroptosis, and cancer biology.

     [Editors' note: this paper was reviewed by Review Commons.]

   Reviewed by eLife, Review Commons

2. Zasp52’s differentially expressed intrinsically disordered region confers thin filament stability at the Z-disc

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Nikolai Ho
   2. Frieder Schöck

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study investigates the role of the Z-disc protein Zasp52 in Drosophila flight muscles and provides evidence that an intrinsically disordered region (IDR) helps to stabilize and promote the localization of the protein to the Z-disc. Overall, this represents an important study that provides insights into Z-disc function and maintenance. The data are convincing, supported by strong genetic evidence and behavioral tests, well-controlled experiments, and detailed statistical analyses. Additional functional analyses designed to tease out specialized regions within the newly described isoform of Zasp52 would further strengthen models regarding the function of the protein.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Stemness factor Mex3a times translation and protein trafficking to ensure robust differentiation of olfactory sensory neurons

   This article has 13 authors:

   1. Martín Escamilla del Arenal
   2. Lauren C. Tang
   3. Albana Kodra
   4. Hani Shayya
   5. Aileen Ugurbil
   6. Olga Stathi
   7. Keskin Abdurrahman
   8. Adan Horta
   9. Joan Pulupa
   10. Junqiang Ye
   11. Marko Jovanovic
   12. Stavros Lomvardas
   13. Rachel Duffié

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study identified Mex3a protein with dual RNA-binding protein/ubiquitin ligase function as a pivotal regulator of olfactory sensory neurons (OSN) differentiation and lineage fidelity. The authors employed a combination of systems biology approaches (e.g., single-cell RNA sequencing, proteomics) and newly developed animal models (e.g., HyperTRIBE) to provide solid evidence that abrogation of Mex3a disrupts cilia structure and polarity of OSNs. Notwithstanding that this article is of a broad potential interest across different biomedical disciplines ranging from RNA to developmental biology, additional mechanistic data connecting identified Mex3a mRNA targets and ensuing OSN phenotypes would further strengthen this study.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. SETD6-mediated methylation of PPARγ establishes a transcriptional feedback circuit promoting lipid accumulation in liver-derived cells

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Noa Nashnaz
   2. Dana Goldberg
   3. Maayan Abramov
   4. Anand Chopra
   5. Habib Muallem
   6. Yulia Haim
   7. Michal Feldman
   8. Assaf Rudich
   9. Dan Levy

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This is an important study uncovering a new role of the SETD6-PPARγ axis in the regulation of hepatic lipid metabolism. The data convincingly demonstrate that methylation of PPARγ by SETD6 plays a key role in this process, linking lysine methylation to transcriptional control of lipid storage genes.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Platelets promote acute liver injury via extracellular vesicles-mediated Aldolase A

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Ruoxue Yang
   2. Jinghua Liu
   3. Kai Fu
   4. Ting Wan
   5. Yahui Li
   6. Can Shen
   7. Ling Yang
   8. Keqin Wang
   9. Zhao Shan

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     In this useful manuscript, Yang et al attempt to show that platelet recruitment to the liver via macrophages contributes to APAP-induced liver injury, but there were many areas where the data supporting the conclusions were incomplete. For example, the idea that platelets only affected KC glycolysis, but not the metabolism of other cells, to mediate the phenotype after injury is not adequately supported by the evidence. It is recommended to perform additional experiments to strengthen the conclusions.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. ProteinConformers: large-scale and energetically profiled descriptions of protein conformational landscapes

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Yihang Zhou
   2. Chen Wei
   3. Minghao Sun
   4. Lin Wang
   5. Jin Song
   6. Fanding Xu
   7. Yang Li
   8. Wei Zheng
   9. Yang Zhang

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study presents a useful database resource containing protein conformations generated through molecular dynamics simulations, with extensive quality evaluation and benchmarking. While the database is well-constructed and professionally organized, the evidence supporting its claimed representation of protein conformational landscapes is incomplete, as the short simulation times and starting structure bias prevent true Boltzmann sampling of the conformational space.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. The role of MICOS in organizing mitochondrial cristae in malaria parasites

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Silvia Tassan-Lugrezin
   2. Irina Bregy
   3. Judith López Orra
   4. Nicholas I Proellochs
   5. Geert-Jan van Gemert
   6. Rianne Stoter
   7. Felix Evers
   8. Taco WA Kooij
   9. Laura van Niftrik

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study provides valuable insights into mitochondrial cristae organization in Plasmodium falciparum, particularly in the context of its divergent MICOS composition. The authors present convincing evidence, supported by phenotypic and morphological analyses, that cristae junction maintenance can be uncoupled from de novo cristae formation, reinforcing an emerging model of mitochondrial inner membrane organization. Notably, the absence of Mic10 alongside an enlarged and divergent MICOS complex highlights an intriguing evolutionary adaptation, although further characterization of the complex would strengthen the study's overall significance.

     [Editors' note: this paper was reviewed by Review Commons.]

   Reviewed by eLife, Review Commons

8. Regulation of sphingolipid synthesis by the C2H2 zinc finger transcription factor Com2 through ubiquitin-proteasome mediated degradation pathway

   This article has 12 authors:

   1. Kosei Matsumoto
   2. Ayane Nagai
   3. Nao Komatsu
   4. Yuko Ishino
   5. Rina Shirai
   6. Toshiya Ueno
   7. Mio Masaki
   8. Ken-taro Sakata
   9. Motohiro Tani
   10. Tatsuya Maeda
   11. Naotaka Tanaka
   12. Mitsuaki Tabuchi

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study provides valuable insights into how cells maintain sphingolipid homeostasis through transcriptional control and regulated protein degradation in response to changes in sphingolipid levels. The evidence supporting the conclusions is convincing overall, with solid genetic and biochemical approaches, while some mechanistic aspects remain to be clarified. This work will be of interest to researchers studying lipid metabolism and membrane biology.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Allosteric disulfide control of ligand binding and endocytosis of the natural killer cell receptor for HLA-G

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Sumati Rajagopalan
   2. Joyce Chiu
   3. Jinghua Lu
   4. George M Mastorakos
   5. Saurav Majumder
   6. Kristof Nolan
   7. Erin J Adams
   8. Peter Sun
   9. Phillip J Hogg
   10. Eric O Long

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study presents important findings on the molecular mechanisms governing how the natural killer cell receptor KIR2DL4 interacts with HLA-G and undergoes internalization. The authors provide solid evidence for an allosteric disulfide-bond switch that regulates receptor activity, using a multifaceted approach that includes mutagenesis, mass spectrometry, and imaging. The work would be further strengthened by validating these mechanisms in primary immune cells and providing direct structural evidence for the proposed ligand-binding interface.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Binding Entropy Can Be Predicted by Crystallographic Ensembles

    This article has 2 authors:

    1. Charlotte A Miller
    2. Stephanie A Wankowicz

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife Assessment

      This study provides a useful demonstration that, at least for the systems examined, aspects of the entropic contribution to protein-ligand binding can be inferred directly from crystallographic data. In doing so, it strengthens a view of crystal structures as heterogeneous ensembles that are amenable to statistical-mechanical analysis rather than purely static models. The analytical approaches are carefully developed and transparently discussed, with thoughtful consideration of both successful and less effective methods, lending solid support to the central conclusions. However, because the analysis is based on a relatively small and narrowly sampled set of protein-ligand complexes, the generality of these findings remains speculative and will require broader validation.

    Reviewed by eLife