eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. The Hippo kinase cascade regulates a contractile cell behavior and cell density in a close unicellular relative of animals

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Jonathan E Phillips
   2. Duojia Pan

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This important study examines the ancestral function of Hippo pathway kinases in contractility and cell density in the ameboid organism Capsaspora owczarzaki, a unicellular animal that is a close relative of multicellular animals. There is convincing evidence for Hippo kinases regulating contractility and cell density but not proliferation in C. owczarzaki. The work complements previous work on the Hippo effector Yorkie homolog in this species, although the unavailability of extensive genetic tools in this species precludes informative epistasis experiments. The work would be of interest to evolutionary and developmental biologists.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Automated multiconformer model building for X-ray crystallography and cryo-EM

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Stephanie A Wankowicz
   2. Ashraya Ravikumar
   3. Shivani Sharma
   4. Blake Riley
   5. Akshay Raju
   6. Daniel W Hogan
   7. Jessica Flowers
   8. Henry van den Bedem
   9. Daniel A Keedy
   10. James S Fraser

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This work describes important updates to qFit, the state-of-the art tool for modeling alternative conformations of protein molecules based on high resolution X-ray diffraction or Cryo-EM data. The authors provide some convincing analyses of qFit's performance in selected test cases. This manuscript will be of interest to structural biologists and protein biochemists, since the adoption of qFit in structural refinement may lead to new mechanistic insights into protein function.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Partitioning to ordered membrane domains regulates the kinetics of secretory traffic

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Ivan Castello-Serrano
   2. Frederick A Heberle
   3. Barbara Diaz-Rohrer
   4. Rossana Ippolito
   5. Carolyn R Shurer
   6. Pablo Lujan
   7. Felix Campelo
   8. Kandice R Levental
   9. Ilya Levental

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     In this important study, Castello-Serrano and colleagues describe, model and quantify the role of transmembrane domains in protein sorting in the secretory pathway, first at the ER and subsequently at the Golgi. Convincing data support the role of a cytoplasmic motif in ER exit, while further experiments are necessary to support a direct connection between the phase partitioning capability of the transmembrane regions and the sorting potential of domains at the Golgi/TGN.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. SUMOylation of Bonus, the Drosophila homolog of Transcription Intermediary Factor 1, safeguards germline identity by recruiting repressive chromatin complexes to silence tissue-specific genes

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Baira Godneeva
   2. Maria Ninova
   3. Katalin Fejes-Toth
   4. Alexei Aravin

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This important study advances our knowledge of Drosophila Bonus, the sole ortholog of the mammalian transcriptional regulator Tif1. Solid evidence, both in vivo and in vitro, shows how SUMOylation controls the function of the Bonus protein and what the impact of SUMOylation on the function of Bonus protein in the ovary is.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Structural basis for the preservation of a subset of topologically associating domains in interphase chromosomes upon cohesin depletion

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Davin Jeong
   2. Guang Shi
   3. Xin Li
   4. D Thirumalai

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This valuable study, of interest for students of the biology of genomes, uses simulations in combination with published data to examine how many TADs remain after cohesin depletion. The authors suggest that a significant subset of chromosome conformations do not require cohesin, and that knowledge of specific epigenetic states can be used to identify regions of the genome that still interact in the absence of cohesin. The theoretical approaches and quantitative analysis are state-of-the-art, and the data quality and strength of the conclusions are convincing, but it is unfortunately still unclear whether physical boundaries (of domains?) in the model appear to be a consequence of preserved TADs, or whether preserved TADs are caused by the physical boundaries.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Polymorphisms in intron 1 of HLA-DRA differentially associate with type 1 diabetes and celiac disease and implicate involvement of complement system genes C4A and C4B

   This article has 15 authors:

   1. Ozkan Aydemir
   2. Jeffrey A Bailey
   3. Daniel Agardh
   4. Åke Lernmark
   5. Janelle A Noble
   6. Agnes Andersson Svärd
   7. Elizabeth P Blankenhorn
   8. Hemang M Parikh
   9. Anette-G Ziegler
   10. Jorma Toppari
   11. Beena Akolkar
   12. William A Hagopian
   13. Marian J Rewers
   14. John P Mordes
   15. TEDDY Study Group

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This study presents valuable findings on genetic risk factors for type 1 diabetes and celiac disease using a large cohort from the Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young (TEDDY) study. The evidence supporting the claims of the authors is solid, although the inclusion of the genetic effect of this locus on individuals with different genetic backgrounds would have strengthened the study. The work will be of interest to population geneticists working on diabetes and celiac disease.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. DUX4 is a common driver of immune evasion and immunotherapy failure in metastatic cancers

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Jose Mario Bello Pineda
   2. Robert K Bradley

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This study presents a valuable finding on the association between DUX4 expression with features of immune evasion in human tissue and clinical outcomes in patients with advanced urothelial cancer. The evidence supporting the claims of the authors is convincing, using a range of corroborative statistical techniques. Compared to an earlier version, the quality of the manuscript has been enhanced, for example Figure 5 now illustrates the key features of survival probability estimates over time for patients assigned to with the test or training set.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. DUX4 is a common driver of immune evasion and immunotherapy failure in metastatic cancers

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Jose Mario Bello Pineda
   2. Robert K Bradley

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This study presents a valuable finding on the association between DUX4 expression with features of immune evasion in human tissue and clinical outcomes in patients with advanced urothelial cancer. The evidence supporting the claims of the authors is convincing, using a range of corroborative statistical techniques. Compared to an earlier version, the quality of the manuscript has been enhanced, for example Figure 5 now illustrates the key features of survival probability estimates over time for patients assigned to with the test or training set.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Single-cell transcriptome analysis of cavernous tissues reveals the key roles of pericytes in diabetic erectile dysfunction

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Seo-Gyeong Bae
   2. Guo Nan Yin
   3. Jiyeon Ock
   4. Jun-Kyu Suh
   5. Ji-Kan Ryu
   6. Jihwan Park

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The authors provide important insights into the pathogenesis of erectile dysfunction (ED) in patients with diabetes. The authors present compelling evidence, using single-cell transcriptomic analysis in both mouse and human cavernous tissues, to support their claims regarding the key roles of pericytes in diabetic ED. The identification of LBH as a potential pericyte-specific marker in both mouse and human tissues further strengthens their findings. This well-written manuscript offers novel and significant contributions to the field, identifying potential therapeutic targets for further investigation.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Single-cell transcriptome analysis of cavernous tissues reveals the key roles of pericytes in diabetic erectile dysfunction

    This article has 6 authors:

    1. Seo-Gyeong Bae
    2. Guo Nan Yin
    3. Jiyeon Ock
    4. Jun-Kyu Suh
    5. Ji-Kan Ryu
    6. Jihwan Park

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife assessment

      The authors provide important insights into the pathogenesis of erectile dysfunction (ED) in patients with diabetes. The authors present compelling evidence, using single-cell transcriptomic analysis in both mouse and human cavernous tissues, to support their claims regarding the key roles of pericytes in diabetic ED. The identification of LBH as a potential pericyte-specific marker in both mouse and human tissues further strengthens their findings. This well-written manuscript offers novel and significant contributions to the field, identifying potential therapeutic targets for further investigation.

    Reviewed by eLife