eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. A Ctnnb1 enhancer transcriptionally regulates Wnt signaling dosage to balance homeostasis and tumorigenesis of intestinal epithelia

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Xiaojiao Hua
   2. Chen Zhao
   3. Jianbo Tian
   4. Junbao Wang
   5. Xiaoping Miao
   6. Gen Zheng
   7. Min Wu
   8. Mei Ye
   9. Ying Liu
   10. Yan Zhou

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     Ctnnb1 encodes β-catenin, an essential component of the canonical Wnt signaling pathway. In this important study, the authors identify an upstream enhancer of Ctnnb1 responsible for the specific expression level of β-catenin in the gastrointestinal track. Deletion of this enhancer in mice and analyses of its association with human colorectal tumors provide compelling support that it controls the dosage of Wnt signaling critical to the homeostasis in intestinal epithelia and colorectal cancers.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Neural geometry from mixed sensorimotor selectivity for predictive sensorimotor control

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Yiheng Zhang
   2. Yun Chen
   3. Tianwei Wang
   4. He Cui

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This useful study examines the neural activity in the motor cortex as a monkey reaches to intercept moving targets, focusing on how tuned single neurons contribute to an interesting overall population geometry. The presented results and analyses are solid, though the investigation of this novel task could be strengthened by clarifying the assumptions behind the single neuron analyses, and further analyses of the neural population activity and its relation to different features of behaviour.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Pathway activation model for personalized prediction of drug synergy

   This article has 18 authors:

   1. Quang Thinh Trac
   2. Yue Huang
   3. Tom Erkers
   4. Päivi Östling
   5. Anna Bohlin
   6. Albin Osterroos
   7. Mattias Vesterlund
   8. Rozbeh Jafari
   9. Ioannis Siavelis
   10. Helena Backvall
   11. Santeri Kiviluoto
   12. Lukas Orre
   13. Mattias Rantalainen
   14. Janne Lehtiö
   15. Soren Lehmann
   16. Olli Kallioniemi
   17. Yudi Pawitan
   18. Trung Nghia Vu

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study presents a deep learning framework for predicting synergistic drug combinations for cancer treatment in the AstraZeneca-Sanger (AZS) DREAM Challenge dataset. The level of evidence seems solid, although performance on some datasets seems unconvincing and further validation would be required to demonstrate the generalizability of the model and, in turn, its clinical relevance. The reported tool, DIPx, could be of use for personalized drug synergy prediction and exploring the activated pathways related to the effects of drug combinations.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Sigh generation in preBötzinger complex

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Yan Cui
   2. Evgeny Bondarenko
   3. Carolina Thörn Perez
   4. Delia N Chiu
   5. Jack L Feldman

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study by Cui et al. investigates mechanisms generating sighs, which are crucial for respiratory function and linked to emotional states. Utilizing advanced methods in mice, they provide solid evidence that increased excitability in specific preBötzinger complex neuronal subpopulations expressing Neuromedin B receptors, gastrin-releasing peptide receptors, or somatostatin can induce sigh-like large amplitude inspirations. With additional technical clarifications and further elaboration of the limitations in terms of how the results are interpreted in the revised manuscript, the study will interest neuroscientists studying respiratory neurobiology and rhythmic motor systems.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. The glycoprotein quality control factor Malectin promotes coronavirus replication and viral protein biogenesis

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Jonathan P Davies
   2. Lars Plate

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This is an important study that utilizes proteomic and genetic approaches to identify the glycoprotein quality control factor malectin as a pro-viral host protein involved in the replication of coronavirus. The evidence supporting this conclusion is convincing, although continued elucidation of the mechanistic basis of malectin-mediated viral replication would further strengthen these findings. This work will be of interest to cell biologists studying the molecular mechanisms of glycoprotein quality control and virologists studying the host-pathogen interactions.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Brown adipose tissue and skeletal muscle coordinately contribute to thermogenesis in mice

   This article has 12 authors:

   1. Yuna Izumi-Mishima
   2. Rie Tsutsumi
   3. Tetsuya Shiuchi
   4. Saori Fujimoto
   5. Momoka Taniguchi
   6. Mizuki Sugiuchi
   7. Manaka Tsutsumi
   8. Yuko Okamatsu-Ogura
   9. Takeshi Yoneshiro
   10. Masashi Kuroda
   11. Kazuhiro Nomura
   12. Hiroshi Sakaue

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This is a useful paper regarding the roles of brown adipose tissue and skeletal muscle in thermogenesis in mice, with potential significance for the field. The overall approach is innovative but on balance the evidence for the claim is incomplete, as cast immobilization, while innovative, is likely stressful, may impact muscle and BAT directly, and imposes an energetic cost of motion on the animal that is not accounted for. Further experiments are also needed to directly assess the role of adipose-derived BCAAs in thermogenesis. The authors have done a good job of textually editing their manuscript to clarify the findings and limitations of the study.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Cyclic di-GMP as an antitoxin regulates bacterial genome stability and antibiotic persistence in biofilms

   This article has 13 authors:

   1. Hebin Liao
   2. Xiaodan Yan
   3. Chenyi Wang
   4. Chun Huang
   5. Wei Zhang
   6. Leyi Xiao
   7. Jun Jiang
   8. Yongjia Bao
   9. Tao Huang
   10. Hanbo Zhang
   11. Chunming Guo
   12. Yufeng Zhang
   13. Yingying Pu

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This work describes how the toxin-antitoxin (TA) system, which uses the cyclic di-GMP as an antitoxin, controls both the persistence of antibiotics linked to biofilms and the integrity of the bacterial genome. The authors present solid evidence linking cyclic di-GMP and the toxin HipH. The work is valuable because it establishes the relationship between bacterial persistence and biofilm resilience, which lays a strong basis for future research on the formation of bacterial biofilms and antibiotic resistance.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Super-enhancer-driven ZFP36L1 promotes PD-L1 expression in infiltrative gastric cancer

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Xujin Wei
   2. Jie Liu
   3. Jia Cheng
   4. Wangyu Cai
   5. Wen Xie
   6. Kang Wang
   7. Lingyun Lin
   8. Jingjing Hou
   9. Jianchun Cai
   10. Huiqin Zhuo

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The authors provide useful data to support the existence of a regulatory pathway starting with SPI1-driven ZFP36L1 expression, that goes on to downregulate HDAC3 expression at the transcript level, leading to PD-L1 upregulation due to implied enhanced acetylation of its promoter region. This is therefore an interesting pathway that adds to our understanding of how PD-L1 expression is controlled in gastric cancer. However, this is likely one of many possible pathways that impact PD-L1 expression, and the data are currently incomplete to support the claims made.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Rtf1 HMD domain facilitates global histone H2B monoubiquitination and regulates morphogenesis and virulence in the meningitis-causing pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Yixuan Jiang
   2. Ying Liang
   3. Fujie Zhao
   4. Zhenguo Lu
   5. Siyu Wang
   6. Yao Meng
   7. Zhanxiang Liu
   8. Jing Zhang
   9. Youbao Zhao

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This is an important study that connects the polymerase-associated factor 1 complex (Paf1C) with Histone 2B monoubiquitination and the expression of genes key to virulence in Cryptococcus neoformans. The provided information is convincing and has the potential to open several opportunities to further understand the basic biology of this significant human fungal pathogen.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Bursts from the past: Intrinsic properties link a network model to zebra finch song

    This article has 2 authors:

    1. Nelson D Medina
    2. Daniel Margoliash

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife Assessment

      In this manuscript the authors examine correlations between intrinsic electrophysiological properties of HVC neurons projecting to Area X and the temporal structure of the birds' song. The study provides important insights into how the structure of vocalization can relate to intrinsic physiological properties of the neurons that are essential for learning the behavior. The evidence supporting the idea that song temporal structure is related to intrinsic physiology is solid and this research will be of general interest to researchers in the field and neurophysiologists.

    Reviewed by eLife