eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Targeting host deoxycytidine kinase mitigates Staphylococcus aureus abscess formation

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Volker Winstel
   2. Evan R Abt
   3. Thuc M Le
   4. Caius G Radu

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This valuable study combines in vitro and in vivo experiments designed to test if a deoxycytidine kinase inhibitor provides therapeutic benefit during infection with Staphylococcus aureus. The authors provide compelling evidence that this putative host-directed therapy has good potential to promote natural clearance of infection without targeting the bacterium. This paper would be of interest to bacteriologists, immunologists, and those studying host-microbe interactions.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Habitat loss weakens the positive relationship between grassland plant richness and above-ground biomass

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Yongzhi Yan
   2. Scott Jarvie
   3. Qing Zhang

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This important study advances our understanding of how landscape context affects the relationship between grassland plant diversity and biomass. This study used very well-designed approaches to analyze complex ecological relationships in real-world landscapes and thus provides compelling evidence to support its findings. The work will be of interest to landscape ecologists and community ecologists.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. The mTOR pathway genes MTOR, Rheb, Depdc5, Pten, and Tsc1 have convergent and divergent impacts on cortical neuron development and function

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Lena H Nguyen
   2. Youfen Xu
   3. Maanasi Nair
   4. Angelique Bordey

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This manuscript examines shared and divergent mechanisms of disruptions of five different mTOR pathway genes on embryonic mouse brain neuronal development. The significance of the manuscript is important, because it bridges several different genetic causes of focal malformations of cortical development. The strength of evidence is compelling, relying on both gain and loss of function, demonstrating differential impact on excitatory synaptic activity, conferring gene-specific mechanisms of hyperexcitability. The results have both theoretical and practical implications for the field of developmental neurobiology and clinical epilepsy.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. In situ mutational screening and CRISPR interference define apterous cis-regulatory inputs during compartment boundary formation

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Gustavo Aguilar
   2. Michèle Sickmann
   3. Dimitri Bieli
   4. Gordian Born
   5. Markus Affolter
   6. Martin Müller

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important paper presents the discovery of the molecular basis of differential apterous expression during early Drosophila wing disc development. The evidence supporting these conclusions is compelling, ranging from classical genetic approaches to state-of-the-art genetic engineering techniques. By opening new questions, this paper is expected to be of broad interest to developmental biologists and geneticists working on transcriptional regulation.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Trabid patient mutations impede the axonal trafficking of adenomatous polyposis coli to disrupt neurite growth

   This article has 16 authors:

   1. Daniel Frank
   2. Maria Bergamasco
   3. Michael J Mlodzianoski
   4. Andrew Kueh
   5. Ellen Tsui
   6. Cathrine Hall
   7. Georgios Kastrappis
   8. Anne Kathrin Voss
   9. Catriona McLean
   10. Maree Faux
   11. Kelly L Rogers
   12. Bang Tran
   13. Elizabeth Vincan
   14. David Komander
   15. Grant Dewson
   16. Hoanh Tran

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This study defines the roles for two different missense mutations observed in patients in the Trabid/ZRANB1 gene associated in children with a range of congenital disorders including reduced brain size. The study is important because the findings have theoretical or practical implications beyond a single subfield, as the study of DUB and cytoskeletal alterations have implications for neurodevelopment broadly. The methods are convincing as they utilize appropriate and validated methodology in line with current state-of-the-art by incorporating knock-in mice of the patient mutations. Many of the reviewer comments were focused on potential next experiments, rather than on evaluation of the data at hand, and the authors have considered these as future studies. The work as presented suggests critical roles for Trabid in the STRIPAK complex mediating APC deubiquitylation.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Differential susceptibility of male and female germ cells to glucocorticoid-mediated signaling

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Steven A Cincotta
   2. Nainoa Richardson
   3. Mariko H Foecke
   4. Diana J Laird

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This work reports a valuable finding on glucocorticoid signaling in male and female germ cells in mice, pointing out sexual dimorphism in transcriptomic responsiveness. The convincing evidence provided supports an inert GR signaling despite the presence of GR in the female germline and GR-mediated alternative splicing in response to dexamethasone treatment in the male germline. The work may interest basic researchers and physician-scientists working on reproduction and stress-related disease conditions.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Systems analysis of miR-199a/b-5p and multiple miR-199a/b-5p targets during chondrogenesis

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Krutik Patel
   2. Matt Barter
   3. Jamie Soul
   4. Peter Clark
   5. Carole Proctor
   6. Ian Clark
   7. David Young
   8. Daryl P Shanley

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This study provides valuable insight into the role of miR-199a/b-5p in cartilage formation. The evidence supporting the significance of the identified miRNA and its target mRNA transcripts is convincing. This paper will likely primarily benefit scientists focused on diseases related to this biological process, such as osteoarthritis. Furthermore, researchers with a broader interest in miRNAs may find the computational model to identify novel RNA-RNA interactions particularly helpful.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. A three filament mechanistic model of musculotendon force and impedance

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Matthew Millard
   2. David W Franklin
   3. Walter Herzog

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This is a valuable study that develops a new model of the way muscle responds to perturbations, synthesizing models of how it responds to small and large perturbations, both of which are used to predict how muscles function for stability but also how they can be injured, and which tend to be predicted poorly by classic Hill-type models. The evidence presented to support the model is solid, since it outperforms Hill-type models in a variety of conditions. Although the combination of phenomenological and mechanistic aspects of the model may sometimes make it challenging to interpret the output, the work will be of interest to those developing realistic models of the stability and control of movement in humans or other animals.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Piezo1 mechanosensing regulates integrin-dependent chemotactic migration in human T cells

   This article has 11 authors:

   1. Chinky Shiu Chen Liu
   2. Tithi Mandal
   3. Parijat Biswas
   4. Md Asmaul Hoque
   5. Purbita Bandopadhyay
   6. Bishnu Prasad Sinha
   7. Jafar Sarif
   8. Ranit D'Rozario
   9. Deepak Kumar Sinha
   10. Bidisha Sinha
   11. Dipyaman Ganguly

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This study provides useful insights into the subcellular localization, interaction with integrins, and functional importance of the cell surface receptor Piezo1 in migrating human T-cells. Whether Piezo1 is critically sensing mechano-physical cues during T-cell migration is however not well supported by direct experimental evidence. The data collected is solid otherwise.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. The role of Imp and Syp RNA-binding proteins in precise neuronal elimination by apoptosis through the regulation of transcription factors

    This article has 8 authors:

    1. Wenyue Guan
    2. Ziyan Nie
    3. Anne Laurençon
    4. Mathilde Bouchet
    5. Christophe Godin
    6. Chérif Kabir
    7. Aurelien Darnas
    8. Jonathan Enriquez

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife assessment

      Guan and colleagues present solid arguments to address the question of how a single neural stem cell produces a defined number of progeny, and what influences its decommissioning. The focus of the experiments are two well-studied RNA-binding proteins: Imp and Syp. This is valuable work that will be of interest to the scientific community.

    Reviewed by eLife