eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Estradiol elicits distinct firing patterns in arcuate nucleus kisspeptin neurons of females through altering ion channel conductances

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Jian Qiu
   2. Margaritis Voliotis
   3. Martha A Bosch
   4. Xiao Feng Li
   5. Larry S Zweifel
   6. Krasimira Tsaneva-Atanasova
   7. Kevin T O'Byrne
   8. Oline K Rønnekleiv
   9. Martin J Kelly

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study combined multiple approaches to gain insight into why rising estradiol levels, by influencing hypothalamic neurons, ultimately lead to ovulation. The experimental data were solid, but evidence for the conclusion that the findings explain how estradiol acts in the intact female were incomplete because they lacked experimental conditions that better approximate physiological conditions. Nevertheless the work will be of interest to reproductive biologists working on ovarian biology and female fertility.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Binding of LncRNA-DACH1 to dystrophin impairs the membrane trafficking of Nav1.5 protein and increases ventricular arrhythmia susceptibility

   This article has 18 authors:

   1. Zhenwei Pan
   2. Gen-Long Xue
   3. Jiming Yang
   4. Yang Zhang
   5. Ying Yang
   6. Ruixin Zhang
   7. Desheng Li
   8. Tao Tian
   9. Xiaofang Zhang
   10. Changzhu Li
   11. Xingda Li
   12. Jiqin Yang
   13. Kewei Shen
   14. Yang Guo
   15. Xuening Liu
   16. Guohui Yang
   17. Yanjie Lu
   18. Baofeng Yang

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This study presents an important contribution to cardiac arrhythmia research by demonstrating long noncoding RNA Dachshund homolog 1 (lncDACH1) tunes sodium channel functional expression and affects cardiac action potential conduction and rhythms. The evidence supporting the major claims are convincing. The work will be of broad interest to cell biologists and cardiac electrophysiologists.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. The evolutionary history of the ancient weevil family Belidae (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea) reveals the marks of Gondwana breakup and major floristic turnovers, including the rise of angiosperms

   This article has 12 authors:

   1. Xuankun Li
   2. Adriana E Marvaldi
   3. Rolf G Oberprieler
   4. Dave Clarke
   5. Brian D Farrell
   6. Andrea Sequeira
   7. M Silvia Ferrer
   8. Charles O'Brien
   9. Shayla Salzman
   10. Seunggwan Shin
   11. William Tang
   12. Duane D McKenna

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     Through anchored phylogenomic analyses, this important study offers fresh insights into the evolutionary history of the plant diet and geographic distribution of Belidae weevil beetles. Employing robust methodological approaches, the authors propose that certain belid lineages have maintained a continuous association with Araucaria hosts since the Mesozoic era. Although the biogeographical analysis is somewhat limited by uncertainties in vicariance explanations, this convincing study enhances our understanding of Belidae's evolutionary dynamics and provides new perspectives on ancient community ecology.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Laminar specificity and coverage of viral-mediated gene expression restricted to GABAergic interneurons and their parvalbumin subclass in marmoset primary visual cortex

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Frederick Federer
   2. Justin Balsor
   3. Alexander Ingold
   4. David P Babcock
   5. Jordane Dimidschstein
   6. Alessandra Angelucci

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     Unlocking the potential of molecular genetic tools (optogenetics, chemogenetics, sensors, etc.) for the study of systems neuroscience in nonhuman primates requires the development of effective regulatory elements for cell-type specific expression to facilitate circuit dissection. This study provides a valuable building block, by carefully characterizing the laminar expression profile of two optogenetic enhancers, one designed for general GABA+ergic neurons (h56D) and the second (S5E2) for parvalbumin+ cell-type selective expression in the marmoset primary visual cortex. This study contributes solid evidence to our understanding of these tools but is limited by the understandably small number of animals used.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Development of a new genotype–phenotype linked antibody screening system

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Takashi Watanabe
   2. Hikaru Hata
   3. Yoshiki Mochizuki
   4. Fumie Yokoyama
   5. Tomoko Hasegawa
   6. Naveen Kumar
   7. Tomohiro Kurosaki
   8. Osamu Ohara
   9. Hidehiro Fukuyama

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     The useful studies described here are broadly applicable to all antibody discovery subfields, even though they are not a significant improvement over published methods. The findings are incomplete with respect to the methodology, since details that are crucial in order to repeat the experiments are lacking (such as a timestamp). They also do not take into account multiple recent papers that have tested similar strategies. These studies will be of interest to a specialized audience working on generating antibodies to infectious agents.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Evolution of hind limb morphology of Titanosauriformes (Dinosauria, Sauropoda) analyzed via 3D geometric morphometrics reveals wide-gauge posture as an exaptation for gigantism

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Adrián Páramo
   2. Pedro Mocho
   3. Fernando Escaso
   4. Francisco Ortega

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     The authors present convincing findings on trends in hind limb morphology through the evolution of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaurs, the land animals that reached the most remarkable gigantic sizes. The important results include the use of 3D geometric morphometrics to examine the femur, tibia, and fibula to provide new information on the evolution of this clade and on evolutionary trends between morphology and allometry.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. The PRC2.1 subcomplex opposes G1 progression through regulation of CCND1 and CCND2

   This article has 15 authors:

   1. Adam D Longhurst
   2. Kyle Wang
   3. Harsha Garadi Suresh
   4. Mythili Ketavarapu
   5. Henry N Ward
   6. Ian R Jones
   7. Vivek Narayan
   8. Frances V Hundley
   9. Arshia Zernab Hassan
   10. Charles Boone
   11. Chad L Myers
   12. Yin Shen
   13. Vijay Ramani
   14. Brenda J Andrews
   15. David P Toczyski

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study reports a chemogenetic screen for resistance and sensitivity to three cell cycle inhibitors used in the clinic: camptothecin, colchicine, and palbociclib. The screen provides a wealth of information that will be of interest to cell cycle and cancer biologists. Convincing evidence is provided that resistance to palbociclib can result from loss of PRC2.1 activity, which raises cyclin D levels. The effect of PRC2.1 on cyclin D is not universal across tested cell lines with the causal differences not yet understood.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. A genome-wide CRISPR/Cas9 screen identifies calreticulin as a selective repressor of ATF6α

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Joanne Tung
   2. Lei Huang
   3. Ginto George
   4. Heather P Harding
   5. David Ron
   6. Adriana Ordonez

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     In this important study, the authors explore ER stress signaling mediated by ATF6 using a genome-wide gene depletion screen. They find that the ER chaperone Calreticulin binds and directly represses ATF6, a new and intriguing function for Calreticulin. The evidence presented is convincing, based on CHO genetics and biochemical analysis.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Probing PAC1 receptor activation across species with an engineered sensor

   This article has 14 authors:

   1. Reto B Cola
   2. Salome N Niethammer
   3. Preethi Rajamannar
   4. Andrea Gresch
   5. Musadiq A Bhat
   6. Kevin Assoumou
   7. Elyse T Williams
   8. Patrick Hauck
   9. Nina Hartrampf
   10. Dietmar Benke
   11. Miriam Stoeber
   12. Gil Levkowitz
   13. Sarah Melzer
   14. Tommaso Patriarchi

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This fundamental paper reports a new biosensor to study G protein-coupled receptor activation by the pituitary adenylyl cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) in cell culture, ex vivo (mouse brain slices), and in vivo (zebrafish, mouse). Convincing data are presented that show the new sensor works with high affinity in vitro, while requiring very high (non-physiological) concentrations of exogenous PACAP when applied to intact tissues. The sensor has not yet been used to detect endogenously released PACAP, raising questions about whether the sensor can be used for its intended purpose. While further work must be pursued to achieve broad in vivo applications under physiological conditions, the new tool will be of interest to cell biologists, especially those studying the large and significant GPCR family.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Visualization of endogenous G proteins on endosomes and other organelles

    This article has 5 authors:

    1. Wonjo Jang
    2. Kanishka Senarath
    3. Gavin Feinberg
    4. Sumin Lu
    5. Nevin A Lambert

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife assessment

      This important study investigates the intracellular localization patterns of G proteins involved in GPCR signaling, presenting compelling evidence for their preference for plasma and lysosomal membranes over endosomal, endoplasmic reticulum, and Golgi membranes. This discovery has significant implications for understanding GPCR action and signaling from intracellular locations. This research will interest cell biologists studying protein trafficking and pharmacologists exploring localized signaling phenomena.

    Reviewed by eLife