eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Relationship between circulating FSH levels and body composition and bone health in patients with prostate cancer who undergo androgen deprivation therapy: The BLADE study

   This article has 19 authors:

   1. Marco Bergamini
   2. Alberto Dalla Volta
   3. Carlotta Palumbo
   4. Stefania Zamboni
   5. Luca Triggiani
   6. Manuel Zamparini
   7. Marta Laganà
   8. Luca Rinaudo
   9. Nunzia Di Meo
   10. Irene Caramella
   11. Roberto Bresciani
   12. Francesca Valcamonico
   13. Paolo Borghetti
   14. Andrea Guerini
   15. Davide Farina
   16. Alessandro Antonelli
   17. Claudio Simeone
   18. Gherardo Mazziotti
   19. Alfredo Berruti

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The authors observed a positive correlation between FSH and fat mass, as well as a negative association with the appendicular lean mass/fat mass ratio. These valuable findings in male subjects within a hypogonadal setting following Degarelix treatment imply that FSH might function as a predictor, similar to observations in women. However, it's important to note that the analysis is incomplete, as other major confounding factors such as testosterone were not included.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Predicting metabolic modules in incomplete bacterial genomes with MetaPathPredict

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. David Geller-McGrath
   2. Kishori M Konwar
   3. Virginia P Edgcomb
   4. Maria Pachiadaki
   5. Jack W Roddy
   6. Travis J Wheeler
   7. Jason E McDermott

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This landmark study presents MetaPathPredict, a method that uses a stacked ensemble of neural networks to predict the presence or absence of KEGG modules based on annotated features in the genome. The evidence supporting the conclusions is compelling, with a tool that allows for prediction of KEGG modules in sparse gene sequence datasets.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Fetal liver macrophages contribute to the hematopoietic stem cell niche by controlling granulopoiesis

   This article has 18 authors:

   1. Amir Hossein Kayvanjoo
   2. Iva Splichalova
   3. David Alejandro Bejarano
   4. Hao Huang
   5. Katharina Mauel
   6. Nikola Makdissi
   7. David Heider
   8. Hui Ming Tew
   9. Nora Reka Balzer
   10. Eric Greto
   11. Collins Osei-Sarpong
   12. Kevin Baßler
   13. Joachim L Schultze
   14. Stefan Uderhardt
   15. Eva Kiermaier
   16. Marc Beyer
   17. Andreas Schlitzer
   18. Elvira Mass

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     Using single-cell sequencing, high-resolution imaging, and inducible genetic deletion of yolk-sac (YS) derived macrophages, the authors present a useful map of fetal liver macrophage subpopulations and provide important data demonstrating that heterogeneous fetal liver macrophages regulate erythrocyte enucleation, interact physically with fetal HSCs, and may regulate neutrophil accumulation in the fetal liver. These novel findings, although yet incomplete, might provide a solid foundation for further investigating the effects of macrophages on HSC function during fetal hematopoiesis and into adulthood and will be useful for the field of macrophage biology and developmental hematopoiesis.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. A common cis-regulatory variant impacts normal-range and disease-associated human facial shape through regulation of PKDCC during chondrogenesis

   This article has 12 authors:

   1. Jaaved Mohammed
   2. Neha Arora
   3. Harold S Matthews
   4. Karissa Hansen
   5. Maram Bader
   6. Susan Walsh
   7. John R Shaffer
   8. Seth M Weinberg
   9. Tomek Swigut
   10. Peter Claes
   11. Licia Selleri
   12. Joanna Wysocka

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The findings are important and would potentially have theoretical and practical implications outside the field. However the strength of evidence presented was assessed as being incomplete in several respects. Major strengths are (1) genetic factors in facial appearance are of broad interest, and the potential influence of possibly identical factors in a serious congenital disorder (cleft lip/palate) heightens that interest further; (2) proving which single nucleotide variants influence phenotypes, and by what mechanisms, is a major challenge for the field as a whole. The weakness, as assessed, was that in its present form the experimental approach was not sufficiently rigorous to support the conclusions unambiguously.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Determining the effects of paternal obesity on sperm chromatin at histone H3 lysine 4 tri-methylation in relation to the placental transcriptome and cellular composition

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Anne-Sophie Pepin
   2. Patrycja A Jazwiec
   3. Vanessa Dumeaux
   4. Deborah M Sloboda
   5. Sarah Kimmins

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This important study presents data suggesting that HFD-induced histone epimutations in sperm may impact the transcriptome of the placenta, thereby contributing to the paternal transmission of paternal metabolic disorders to offspring. Although the hypothesis is interesting and the evidence presented is compelling, more careful statistical analyses and functional validation experiments are needed to further strengthen the conclusion.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Maturation of cortical input to dorsal raphe nucleus increases behavioral persistence in mice

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Nicolas Gutierrez-Castellanos
   2. Dario Sarra
   3. Beatriz S Godinho
   4. Zachary F Mainen

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     In this important study, the authors explore the importance of developmental changes in cortico-DRN innervation in the balance of behavioral control in a foraging task. The authors report somewhat convincing evidence that while juvenile mice and adult mice both perform the task, juveniles exhibit more impulsive behavior due to reduced efficacy of cortico-DRN projections. The authors conclude that the development of cortico-DRN (esp mPFC) projections allows 5HT input to promote perseveration (or exploitation) in the balance of behavioral control. However, reviewers raised issues regarding the strength of the evidence without further experiments.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. SAFB regulates hippocampal stem cell fate by targeting Drosha to destabilize Nfib mRNA

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Pascal Forcella
   2. Niklas Ifflander
   3. Chiara Rolando
   4. Elli-Anna Balta
   5. Aikaterini Lampada
   6. Claudio Giachino
   7. Tanzila Mukhtar
   8. Thomas Bock
   9. Verdon Taylor

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This manuscript addresses a non-canonical function of the Class 2 ribonuclease III Drosha in the regulation of adult neural stem cell fate, important for understanding how these cells generate neurons or oligodendrocytic cells.
     Overall, this manuscript has many strengths. The authors identify 165 proteins, several of them enriched in neural stem cells, and potentially specific for miRNA dependent or independent Drosha macromolecular complexes.
     While the authors provide systematic and convincing evidence on the biochemical interactions among the key players in this cascade, the significance of these interactions for neural stem cell fate determination in vivo remains unclear, as the in vitro cellular systems used to document most of the data reported in the paper may not (fully) represent resident neural stem cells in the adult hippocampus. The in vivo function mediated by Drosha/ Safb1 needs to be substantiated by more evidence and/or complementary approaches.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Human dynein-dynactin is a fast processive motor in living cells

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Vikash Verma
   2. Patricia Wadsworth
   3. Thomas J Maresca

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     In this valuable technical report, Verma et al. provide convincing evidence that endogenously tagged dynein and dynactin form processive motor complexes that move along microtubules in living cells. Using quantitative fluorescence microscopy, they directly compare the stoichiometry and motility of these complexes to kinesin-1, revealing distinct transport behaviors and regulatory properties. This study offers key methodological and conceptual advance for understanding the dynamics of native motor proteins within the cellular environment and will be of interest to the cell biology community.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Human promoter directionality is determined by transcriptional initiation and the opposing activities of INTS11 and CDK9

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Joshua D Eaton
   2. Jessica Board
   3. Lee Davidson
   4. Chris Estell
   5. Steven West

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The important study uses a new experimental method to provide compelling evidence on how sense- and anti-sense transcription is differentially regulated. The method described here can generally be used to study the alterations in transcription. This paper will be of interest to scientists working in the gene regulation community.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. OVO positively regulates essential maternal pathways by binding near the transcriptional start sites in the Drosophila female germline

    This article has 4 authors:

    1. Leif Benner
    2. Savannah Muron
    3. Jillian G Gomez
    4. Brian Oliver

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife assessment

      This useful manuscript extends prior work to identify OVO as a major transcriptional activator of the female germline gene expression program. Using a combination of solid genomic strategies, the authors demonstrate that OVO binds to the promoters of hundreds of genes in the female germline and promotes their expression.

    Reviewed by eLife