eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. 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

2. 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

3. 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

4. Coevolution with toxic prey produces functional trade-offs in sodium channels of predatory snakes

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Robert E. del Carlo
   2. Jessica S. Reimche
   3. Haley A. Moniz
   4. Michael T.J. Hague
   5. Shailesh R. Agarwal
   6. Edmund D. Brodie
   7. Edmund D. Brodie
   8. Normand Leblanc
   9. Chris R. Feldman

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This valuable study describes an investigation of the properties of two heterologously-expressed Nav1.4 channels, with mutations close to the selectivity filter found in tetrodotoxin(TTX)-resistant snakes. The authors studied these mutants by electrophysiological methods, assessed the muscle properties of two types of snakes bearing these mutations, and built homology models of the channels to hypothesize a molecular explanation of the altered channel properties. The methods employed and the results are generally solid, although some aspects would benefit from additional experiments and a more nuanced discussion.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Targeted protein degradation systems to enhance Wnt signaling

   This article has 13 authors:

   1. Parthasarathy Sampathkumar
   2. Heekyung Jung
   3. Hui Chen
   4. Zhengjian Zhang
   5. Nicholas Suen
   6. Yiran Yang
   7. Zhong Huang
   8. Tom Lopez
   9. Robert Benisch
   10. Sung-Jin Lee
   11. Jay Ye
   12. Wen-Chen Yeh
   13. Yang Li

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The manuscript describes a valuable method to boost WNT signaling in a tissue-specific manner. The work extends previous data from the authors based on fusing an RSPO2 mutant protein to an antibody that binds ASGR1/2. In the current manuscript, two new antibodies with similar effects are described, that expand this solid approach and provide alternatives for potential future clinical applications. This manuscript will be of interest to all scientists studying protein engineering and cellular targeting.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Epigenetics and chromatin structure regulate var2csa expression and the placental-binding phenotype in Plasmodium falciparum

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Todd Lenz
   2. Madle Sirel
   3. Hannes Hoppe
   4. Sulman Shafeeq
   5. Karine G Le Roch
   6. Ulf Ribacke

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This interesting study presents a multi-OMICs approach to unify different lines of evidence regarding the epigenetic regulation of the key virulence factor causing placental malaria during P. falciparum infection. Most results are confirmatory of previous observations; nonetheless, the claims are supported by convincing evidence. The combinatorial approach chosen here is unprecedented and therefore provides valuable new data. In addition, the comparative investigation of different DNA methylation modifications is novel and disproves a direct role in var gene regulation.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. OpenNucleome for high-resolution nuclear structural and dynamical modeling

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Zhuohan Lao
   2. Kartik D Kamat
   3. Zhongling Jiang
   4. Bin Zhang

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This important work significantly advances the field of computational modelling of genome organisation through the development of OpenNucleome. The evidence supporting the tool's effectiveness is compelling, as the authors compare their predictions with experimental data. It is anticipated that OpenNucleome will attract significant interest from the biophysics and genomics communities.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. PCBP2 as an intrinsic aging factor regulates the senescence of hBMSCs through the ROS-FGF2 signaling axis

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Pengbo Chen
   2. Bo Li
   3. Zeyu Lu
   4. Qingyin Xu
   5. Huoliang Zheng
   6. Shengdan Jiang
   7. Leisheng Jiang
   8. Xinfeng Zheng

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     In this valuable study, the authors aimed to identify and characterize intrinsic factors that govern the aging process of bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells (BMSCs), which are believed to be related to osteoporosis. The authors conclude that PCBP2 is an intrinsic aging factor, the decrease of its expression during aging results in cell proliferation activity decrease and cell senescence. The study provides convincing evidence in support of its conclusions.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Reliable protein–protein docking with AlphaFold, Rosetta, and replica exchange

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Ameya Harmalkar
   2. Sergey Lyskov
   3. Jeffrey J Gray

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     The authors report how a previously published method, ReplicaDock, can be used to improve predictions from AlphaFold-multimer (AFm) for protein docking studies. The level of improvement is modest for cases where AFm is successful; for cases where AFm is not as successful, the improvement is more significant, although the accuracy of prediction is also notably lower. The evidence for the ReplicaDock approach being more predictive than AFm is particularly convincing for the antibody-antigen test case. Overall, the study makes a valuable contribution by combining data- and physics-driven approaches.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. CyAbrB2 is a nucleoid-associated protein in Synechocystis controlling hydrogenase expression during fermentation

    This article has 2 authors:

    1. Ryo Kariyazono
    2. Takashi Osanai

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife assessment

      The authors provide solid data on a functional investigation of potential nucleoid-associated proteins and the modulation of chromosomal conformation in a model cyanobacterium. These valuable findings will be of interest to the chromosome and microbiology fields. Additional analysis and the tempering of conclusions has helped to improve the work, although further refinement remains possible.

    Reviewed by eLife