eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. The structural repertoire of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici effectors revealed by experimental and computational studies

   This article has 11 authors:

   1. Daniel S Yu
   2. Megan A Outram
   3. Ashley Smith
   4. Carl L McCombe
   5. Pravin B Khambalkar
   6. Sharmin A Rima
   7. Xizhe Sun
   8. Lisong Ma
   9. Daniel J Ericsson
   10. David A Jones
   11. Simon J Williams

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This study provides important new insights into the structural diversity of effectors – proteins secreted by pathogens and symbionts into host cells – from the plant-associated fungus Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici. The study provides a convincing approach to elucidate how effectors navigate their host environment by exploiting both computational and experimental approaches to understand how their structure influences binding partners. The work will be of interest to those studying molecular host-microbe interactions and disease protection.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Hypoxia-inducible factor induces cysteine dioxygenase and promotes cysteine homeostasis in Caenorhabditis elegans

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Kurt Warnhoff
   2. Sushila Bhattacharya
   3. Jennifer Snoozy
   4. Peter C Breen
   5. Gary Ruvkun

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The study presents valuable findings on how the hypoxia response pathway senses and responds to changes in the homeostasis of the amino acid cysteine and other sulfur-containing molecules. By providing a compelling, rigorous genetic analysis of the pathway, the study adds to a growing body of literature showing that prolyl hydroxylation is not the only mechanism by which the hypoxia response pathway can act. Although the paper does not reveal new biochemical insight into the mechanism, it opens up new areas of investigation that will be of interest to cell biologists and biomedical researchers studying the many pathologies involving hypoxia and/or cysteine metabolism.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Epistasis between mutator alleles contributes to germline mutation spectrum variability in laboratory mice

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Thomas A Sasani
   2. Aaron R Quinlan
   3. Kelley Harris

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     By developing a novel method for detecting genetic variants associated with germline mutation spectrum variation, this important study identifies a new "mutator" locus in a population of inbred mouse strains, although the causal gene(s) and allele(s) within this locus remain uncertain. The authors further demonstrate that this new mutator locus interacts epistatically with a previously identified mutator allele on C>A mutation rate, showcasing the complexity of the genetic basis underlying variation in mutation rate and spectrum. Evidence for major findings in this paper is convincing, and the new method has the potential to be applicable to a variety of experimental systems and natural populations.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Comparative analysis of two Caenorhabditis elegans kinesins KLP-6 and UNC-104 reveals a common and distinct activation mechanism in kinesin-3

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Tomoki Kita
   2. Kyoko Chiba
   3. Jiye Wang
   4. Atsushi Nakagawa
   5. Shinsuke Niwa

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This study explores the activation mechanisms of members of the kinesin-3 family, demonstrating common and unique regulation modes with solid evidence. The findings make for valuable contributions to the field of kinesin activation and regulation.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Predicting the sequence-dependent backbone dynamics of intrinsically disordered proteins

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Sanbo Qin
   2. Huan-Xiang Zhou

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     In this useful study, a solid machine learning approach based on a broad set of systems to predict the R2 relaxation rates of residues in intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) is described. The ability to predict the patterns of R2 will be helpful to guide experimental studies of IDPs. A potential weakness is that the predicted R2 values may include both fast and slow motions, thus the predictions provide only limited new physical insights into the nature of the underlying protein dynamics, such as the most relevant timescale.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Inhibitory G proteins play multiple roles to polarize sensory hair cell morphogenesis

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Amandine Jarysta
   2. Abigail LD Tadenev
   3. Matthew Day
   4. Barry Krawchuk
   5. Benjamin E Low
   6. Michael V Wiles
   7. Basile Tarchini

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This study examines an important aspect of the development of the auditory system, the role of guanine nucleotide-binding protein subunits, GNAIs, in stereociliary bundle formation and orientation, by examining bundle phenotypes in multiple compound GNAI mutants. The experiments are highly rigorous and thorough and include detailed quantifications of bundle morphologies and changes. The depth and care of the study are impressive, with convincing results regarding the roles of GNAIs in stereociliary bundle development. Further, the reviewers believe this to be the definitive study of the role of GNAIs in bundle orientation and development.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. The Impact of Stability Considerations on Genetic Fine-Mapping

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Alan Aw
   2. Lionel Chentian Jin
   3. Nilah Ioannidis
   4. Yun S. Song

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This work is a valuable exploration of a new stability-guided fine-mapping method, which aims to identify causal genetic variations, by extending the previously proposed PICS method. While the results are empirically validated using functional annotations, their evaluation is incomplete and lacks extensive simulations where true causal variants are known. The approach to improving fine-mapping of causal variants presented will be of interest to geneticists and biomedical researchers using genetic data to guide their investigations.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Pancreatic cancer symptom trajectories from Danish registry data and free text in electronic health records

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Jessica Xin Hjaltelin
   2. Sif Ingibergsdóttir Novitski
   3. Isabella Friis Jørgensen
   4. Troels Siggaard
   5. Siri Amalie Vulpius
   6. David Westergaard
   7. Julia Sidenius Johansen
   8. Inna M Chen
   9. Lars Juhl Jensen
   10. Søren Brunak

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This study presents valuable findings on the symptoms and disease trajectories preceding a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer in Denmark. The evidence supporting the claims of the authors is solid, although an error analysis of the text mining evaluation results and a discussion on how the findings can be applied in practice would strengthen the study. The work will be of interest to public health researchers and clinicians working on pancreatic cancer.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Nationwide mammography screening participation in Denmark during the COVID-19 pandemic: An observational study

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Tina Bech Olesen
   2. Henry Jensen
   3. Henrik Møller
   4. Jens Winther Jensen
   5. Berit Andersen
   6. Ilse Vejborg
   7. Sisse H Njor

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This article is of broad interest to public health researchers and to health policymakers in populations with national screening programs. It provides important knowledge on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on participation in mammography screening in Denmark by socio-economic indicators. The study provides convincing evidence for how the pandemic exacerbated disparities in breast cancer screening in Denmark.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. A twin UGUA motif directs the balance between gene isoforms through CFIm and the mTORC1 signaling pathway

    This article has 6 authors:

    1. R Samuel Herron
    2. Alexander K Kunisky
    3. Jessica R Madden
    4. Vivian I Anyaeche
    5. May Z Maung
    6. Hun-Way Hwang

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife assessment

      In this valuable report, the authors explore the connection between mTORC signaling and APA regulated by the CFIm complex. Using a combination of genetic and functional genomics approaches, the study reveals that a twin UGUA motif is a potent cis acting regulation of PAS usage that is recognized by CFIm. Overall, the evidence in general is convincing and supports the conclusions and provides the field with additional mechanistic insight of how signaling connects to APA regulatory machinery.

    Reviewed by eLife