eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Redox regulation and dynamic control of brain-selective kinases BRSK1/2 in the AMPK family through cysteine-based mechanisms

   This article has 11 authors:

   1. George N Bendzunas
   2. Dominic P Byrne
   3. Safal Shrestha
   4. Leonard A Daly
   5. Sally O Oswald
   6. Samiksha Katiyar
   7. Aarya Venkat
   8. Wayland Yeung
   9. Claire E Eyers
   10. Patrick A Eyers
   11. Natarajan Kannan

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This study provides fundamental new knowledge into the role of reversible cysteine oxidation and reduction in protein kinase regulation. The data provide convincing evidence that intra-molecular disulfide bonds serve a repressive regulatory role in the Brain Selective Kinases (BRSK) 1 & 2; part of the as yet understudied 'dark kinome'. The findings will be of broad interest to biochemists, structural biologists, and those interested in the rational design and development of next-generation kinase inhibitors.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Evolutionary adaptation of an HP1-protein chromodomain integrates chromatin and DNA sequence signals

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Lisa Baumgartner
   2. Jonathan J Ipsaro
   3. Ulrich Hohmann
   4. Dominik Handler
   5. Alexander Schleiffer
   6. Peter Duchek
   7. Julius Brennecke

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This fundamental work has completed our understanding of the singular binding profile of the Rhino HP1 protein to chromatin, a key step in converting certain genomic regions into piRNA source loci. The evidence supporting the conclusions is compelling. Phylogenetic analyses, structure prediction, rigorous biochemical assays and in vivo genetics emphasize the importance of the Rhino chromodomain in the recognition of both a histone mark and a DNA-binding protein, and highlight the importance of a single chromodomain residue in the protein-protein interaction.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Cohesin still drives homologous recombination repair of DNA double-strand breaks in late mitosis

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Jessel Ayra-Plasencia
   2. Lorraine Symington
   3. Félix Machín

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This study presents evidence that suggests that the coalescence of sister chromatids induced by global double-strand DNA breaks (DSBs) during late mitosis is mediated by cohesin SMC3. These findings are valuable for studying the mechanism of eukaryotic cells to repair DNA during late mitosis. Although the discrete DSB induction system in budding yeast is sound, the strength of evidence is incomplete and could be buttressed to better support the major claims and to represent a clear advance with respect to the authors' previous contributions to this field.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. The genomic legacy of aurochs hybridisation in ancient and modern Iberian cattle

   This article has 19 authors:

   1. Torsten Günther
   2. Jacob Chisausky
   3. Ángeles M Galindo-Pellicena
   4. Eneko Iriarte
   5. Oscar Cortes Gardyn
   6. Paulina G Eusebi
   7. Rebeca García-González
   8. Irene Ureña
   9. Marta Moreno-García
   10. Alfonso Alday
   11. Manuel Rojo
   12. Amalia Pérez
   13. Cristina Tejedor Rodríguez
   14. Iñigo García Martínez de Lagrán
   15. Juan Luis Arsuaga
   16. José-Miguel Carretero
   17. Anders Götherström
   18. Colin Smith
   19. Cristina Valdiosera

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     Using genomic data from ancient and modern samples, this important study investigates the genomic history of cattle in Iberia, focusing on the admixture between domestic cattle and their wild ancestors, aurochs. The authors present convincing evidence for interbreeding between domestic cattle and wild aurochs since the Neolithic period, although the evidence of sex-biased introgression is weak. The authors also show that the aurochs ancestry in cattle stabilized at ~20% since ~4000 years ago and continues into modern breeds; however, the aurochs ancestry is not heightened in a modern breed of Spanish fighting bulls that are bred for aggressiveness. The work will be of interest to evolutionary biologists and quantitative geneticists who seek to understand the genomic history and genetic basis of trait variation of domesticated animals.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Tissue-resident natural killer cells support survival in pancreatic cancer through promotion of cDC1-CD8 T activity

   This article has 14 authors:

   1. Simei Go
   2. Constantinos Demetriou
   3. Giampiero Valenzano
   4. Sophie Hughes
   5. Simone Lanfredini
   6. Helen Ferry
   7. Edward Arbe-Barnes
   8. Shivan Sivakumar
   9. Rachel Bashford-Rogers
   10. Mark R Middleton
   11. Somnath Mukherjee
   12. Jennifer Morton
   13. Keaton Jones
   14. Eric O Neill

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This valuable manuscript provides an interesting account documenting the role of resident CD56(br) NK cells in driving interaction with dendritic cells that attract CD8+ T cells to the pancreas cancer tumor microenvironment (TME). The work convincingly illustrates how irradiation combined with CCR5i and PD1 blockade leads to a reduction in pancreatic cancer growth that correlates with a reduction in Treg cells and enhancement of NK and CD8 T cells in the TME. The correlation of NKC1 signature with survival in pancreatic cancer patients is indeed of broader interest regarding potential relevance to other types of cancer.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Transcranial focused ultrasound to human rIFG improves response inhibition through modulation of the P300 onset latency

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Justin M Fine
   2. Archana S Mysore
   3. Maria E Fini
   4. William J Tyler
   5. Marco Santello

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This important study reports on the causal role of the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) in behavioral control. Transcranial ultrasonic stimulation is used to stimulate the IFG in a stop-signal task. The results are compelling while the analyses remain incomplete and some claims are unsubstantiated.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. A conserved cell-pole determinant organizes proper polar flagellum formation

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Erick E Arroyo-Pérez
   2. John C Hook
   3. Alejandra Alvarado
   4. Stephan Wimmi
   5. Timo Glatter
   6. Kai Thormann
   7. Simon Ringgaard

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This important study describes the discovery of a mechanism by which multiple species of bacteria synthesize and localize polar flagella via a novel protein, FipA, which interacts with FlhF. The authors use appropriate methodological approaches (biochemistry, molecular microbiology, quantitative microscopy, and bacterial genetics) to obtain and present convincing results and interpretations. This work will particularly interest those studying bacterial motility and bacterial cell biologists.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Human HPSE2 gene transfer ameliorates bladder pathophysiology in a mutant mouse model of urofacial syndrome

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Filipa M Lopes
   2. Celine Grenier
   3. Benjamin W Jarvis
   4. Sara Al Mahdy
   5. Adrian Lène-McKay
   6. Alison M Gurney
   7. William G Newman
   8. Simon N Waddington
   9. Adrian S Woolf
   10. Neil A Roberts

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     Urofacial syndrome is a rare early-onset lower urinary tract disorder characterized by variants in HPSE2, the gene encoding heparanase-2. This study provides a useful proof-of-principle demonstration that AAV9-based gene therapy for urofacial syndrome is feasible and safe at least over the time frame evaluated, with restoration of HPSE2 expression leading to re-establishment of evoked contraction and relaxation of bladder and outflow tract tissue, respectively, in organ bath studies. The evidence is, however, still incomplete. The work would benefit from evaluation of additional replicates for several endpoints, quantitative assessment of HPSE2 expression, inclusion of in vivo analyses such as void spot assays or cystometry, single-cell analysis of the urinary tract in mutants versus controls, and addressing concerns regarding the discrepancy in HPSE2 expression between bladder tissue and liver in humans and mice.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Single-nucleus transcriptomics reveal the differentiation trajectories of periosteal skeletal/stem progenitor cells in bone regeneration

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Simon Perrin
   2. Maria Ethel
   3. Vincent Bretegnier
   4. Cassandre Goachet
   5. Cécile-Aurore Wotawa
   6. Marine Luka
   7. Fanny Coulpier
   8. Cécile Masson
   9. Mickael Ménager
   10. Céline Colnot

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This fundamental study generated a single cell atlas of mouse periosteal cells under both steady-state and fracture healing conditions to address the knowledge gap regarding cellular composition of the periosteum and their responses to injury. Based on convincing transcriptome analyses and experimental validation, the authors identified the injury induced fibrogenic cell (IIFC) as a characteristic cell type appearing in the bone regeneration process and proposed that the IIFC is a progenitor undergoing osteochondrogenic differentiation. This study will provide a significant publicly accessible dataset to reexamine the expression of the reported periosteal stem and progenitor cell markers.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. A seven-sex species recognizes self and non-self mating-type via a novel protein complex

    This article has 11 authors:

    1. Guanxiong Yan
    2. Yang Ma
    3. Yanfang Wang
    4. Jing Zhang
    5. Haoming Cheng
    6. Fanjie Tan
    7. Su Wang
    8. Delin Zhang
    9. Jie Xiong
    10. Ping Yin
    11. Wei Miao

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife assessment

      This fundamental study provides insight into the fascinating process of self- and non-self-recognition in the protist Tetrahymena thermophila, a species with seven distinct mating types. Using an elegant combination of phenotypic assays, protein studies, and imaging, the authors present convincing evidence that a large multifunctional protein complex at the cell surface mediates both self- and non-self mating-type recognition. This study extends our understanding of how more than two mating types/sexes may be specified in a species, and it will be relevant for anyone interested in sexual systems and cell-cell communication.

    Reviewed by eLife