eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Noisy neuronal populations effectively encode sound localization in the dorsal inferior colliculus of awake mice

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Juan Carlos Boffi
   2. Brice Bathellier
   3. Hiroki Asari
   4. Robert Prevedel

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     The paper reports the important discovery that the mouse dorsal inferior colliculus, an auditory midbrain area, encodes sound location. The evidence supporting the claims is solid, being supported by both optical and electrophysiological recordings. The observations described should be of interest to auditory researchers studying the neural mechanisms of sound localization and the role of noise correlations in population coding.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Mouse skeletal muscle satellite cells co-opt the tenogenic gene Scleraxis to instruct regeneration

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Yun Bai
   2. Tyler Harvey
   3. Colin Bilyou
   4. Minjie Hu
   5. Chen-Ming Fan

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This manuscript presents important finding regarding the regulation of a key stem cell population, namely muscle stem cells (or "satellite cells"). The evidence presented is convincing that Scx, a marker for tendon, is expressed in some myogenic cells and is essential for adult muscle regeneration.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. SLC35G1 is a highly chloride-sensitive transporter responsible for the basolateral membrane transport in intestinal citrate absorption

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Yoshihisa Mimura
   2. Tomoya Yasujima
   3. Katsuhisa Inoue
   4. Shogo Akino
   5. Chitaka Namba
   6. Hiroyuki Kusuhara
   7. Yutaro Sekiguchi
   8. Kinya Ohta
   9. Takahiro Yamashiro
   10. Hiroaki Yuasa

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This work identifies the molecular function of an orphan human transporter, SLC35G1, providing convincing evidence that this protein is involved in intestinal citrate absorption. This work provides important insight into transporter function and human physiology.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Formation of multinucleated osteoclasts depends on an oxidized species of cell surface-associated La protein

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Evgenia Leikina
   2. Jarred M Whitlock
   3. Kamran Melikov
   4. Wendy Zhang
   5. Michael P Bachmann
   6. Leonid Chernomordik

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This manuscript provides an important advance in our understanding of the molecular events that promote osteoclast fusion. Compelling data support the conclusion that an oxidized form of the ubiquitous protein La promotes osteoclast fusion following enrichment at the cell surface of osteoclast progenitors. These data improve our understanding of the processes that regulate bone resorption and will be of broad interest to researchers in the fields of cell biology and musculoskeletal physiology.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Temporally controlled nervous system-to-gut signaling bidirectionally regulates longevity in C. elegans

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Lingxiu Xu
   2. Chengxuan Han
   3. Lei Chun
   4. XZ Shawn Xu
   5. Jianfeng Liu

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This is an important study that addresses the temporal aspects of cell non-autonomous regulation of lifespan. It demonstrates that the same neurons and neurotransmitter have distinct impacts on longevity at different ages. The data convincingly supports the authors' claims.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. scRNA-seq and scATAC-seq reveal that Sertoli cell mediates spermatogenesis disorders through stage-specific communications in non-obstructive azoospermia

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Shimin Wang
   2. Hongxiang Wang
   3. Bicheng Jin
   4. Hongli Yan
   5. Qingliang Zheng
   6. Dong Zhao

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study provides valuable scRNA-seq and scATAC-seq data for testicular tissues from patients with spermatogenesis disorders. By examining the transcriptomic and epigenetic changes in Sertoli cells, the authors uncovered key regulatory mechanisms underlying male infertility and identified potential therapeutic targets. While some of the cellular profiling results are convincing, the analyses for differential profiling of NOA cases and epigenomics data remain incomplete.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. The Drosophila EcR-Hippo component Taiman promotes epithelial cell fitness by control of the Dally-like glypican and Wg gradient

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Colby K. Schweibenz
   2. Victoria C. Placentra
   3. Kenneth H. Moberg

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The authors study how cells with lower levels of the conserved steroid hormone signaling component Taiman (tai) are out-competed by neighboring wild-type cells with higher fitness in Drosophila imaginal discs. The findings are useful since they uncover an unexpected link between tai and Wingless signaling in cell competition. The evidence however is incomplete, since the tai loss-of-clone phenotype is based on one allele and the mechanism involved in cell competition through Dlp and Wg lacks adequate supporting data.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Srs2 binding to proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and its sumoylation contribute to replication protein A (RPA) antagonism during the DNA damage response

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Jiayi Fan
   2. Nalini Dhingra
   3. Tammy Yang
   4. Vicki Yang
   5. Xiaolan Zhao

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This manuscript reports valuable findings on the role of the Srs2 protein in turning off the DNA damage signaling response initiated by Mec1 (human ATR) kinase. The data provide convincing evidence that Srs2 interaction with PCNA and ensuing SUMO modification is required for checkpoint downregulation. However, while the model that Srs2 acts at gaps after camptothecin-induced DNA damage is reasonable, direct experimental evidence for this is currently lacking. The work will be of interest to cell biologists studying genome integrity.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Establishing the foundations for a data-centric AI approach for virtual drug screening through a systematic assessment of the properties of chemical data

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Allen Chong
   2. Ser-Xian Phua
   3. Yunzhi Xiao
   4. Woon Yee Ng
   5. Hoi Yeung Li
   6. Wilson Wen Bin Goh

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study reports valuable findings that highlight the importance of data quality and data representation for ligand-based virtual screening experiments. The authors' claims are supported by solid evidence, although the conclusions have been inferred from only two datasets. The work would gain much impact if additional datasets were used. The main findings will be of interest to cheminformaticians and medicinal chemists working in QSAR modeling, and possibly in other areas related to machine learning.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. MftG is crucial for ethanol metabolism of mycobacteria by linking mycofactocin oxidation to respiration

    This article has 12 authors:

    1. Ana Patrícia Graça
    2. Vadim Nikitushkin
    3. Mark Ellerhorst
    4. Cláudia Vilhena
    5. Tilman E Klassert
    6. Andreas Starick
    7. Malte Siemers
    8. Walid K Al-Jammal
    9. Ivan Vilotijevic
    10. Hortense Slevogt
    11. Kai Papenfort
    12. Gerald Lackner

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife Assessment

      Graca et al. reports a fundamental missing link in the ethanol metabolism of mycobacteria and illuminates the role of a flavoprotein dehydrogenase that acts as an electron shuttle between an uncommon redox cofactor and the electron transport chain. Overall, the data presented are compelling, supported by a range of well designed and meticulous experiments. The findings will be of broad interest to researchers investigating bacterial metabolism.

    Reviewed by eLife