eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Membrane mimetic thermal proteome profiling (MM-TPP) towards mapping membrane protein-ligand dynamics

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Rupinder Singh Jandu
   2. Mohammed Al-Seragi
   3. Hiroyuki Aoki
   4. Mohan Babu
   5. Franck Duong van Hoa

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This useful study introduces the peptidisc-TPP approach as a promising solution to challenges in membrane proteomics, enabling thermal proteome profiling in a detergent-free system. While the concept is innovative and holds significant potential, the demonstration of its utility and validation remains incomplete. The method presents a strong foundation for broader applications in identifying physiologically and pharmacologically relevant membrane protein-ligand interactions.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Functionally important residues from graph analysis of coevolved dynamic couplings

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Manming Xu
   2. Sarath Chandra Dantu
   3. James A Garnett
   4. Robert A Bonomo
   5. Alessandro Pandini
   6. Shozeb Haider

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This paper reports the analysis of coevolutionary patterns and dynamical information for identifying functionally relevant sites. These findings are considered important due to the broad utility of the unified framework and network analysis capable of revealing communities of key residues that go beyond the residue-pair concept. The data are solid and the results are clearly presented.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Mettl5 coordinates protein production and degradation of PERIOD to regulate sleep in Drosophila

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Xiaoyu Wu
   2. Xingzhuo Yang
   3. Tiantian Fu
   4. Yikang S Rong
   5. Juan Du

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     In this manuscript, the authors present useful findings demonstrating that the RNA modification enzyme Mettl5 regulates sleep in Drosophila. Through transcriptome- and proteome-wide analyses, the authors identified downstream targets affected in heterozygous mutants and proposed that Mettl5 regulates the translation and degradation of clock genes to maintain normal sleep function. However, the mechanisms by which Mettl5 achieves these functions, and whether they are direct or indirect, remain incomplete and would benefit from further analysis.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Mutations that prevent phosphorylation of the BMP4 prodomain impair proteolytic maturation of homodimers leading to lethality in mice

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Hyung-seok Kim
   2. Mary L Sanchez
   3. Joshua Silva
   4. Heidi L Schubert
   5. Rebecca Dennis
   6. Christopher P Hill
   7. Jan L Christian

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This fundamental work presents two clinically relevant BMP4 mutations that contribute to vertebrate development. The compelling evidence, both from wet lab and AI generated predictions, supports that the site-specific cleavage at the BMP4 pro-domain precisely regulates its function and provides mechanistic insight how homodimers and heterodimers behave differently. The work will be of board interest to researchers working on growth factor signaling mechanisms and vertebrate development.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Simultaneous polyclonal antibody sequencing and epitope mapping by cryo electron microscopy and mass spectrometry

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Douwe Schulte
   2. Marta Šiborová
   3. Lukas Käll
   4. Joost Snijder

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     The paper addresses the problem of optimising the mapping of serum antibody responses against a known antigen. The manuscript describes a method using EM polyclonal epitope mapping to help elucidate endogenous antibodies. The work is interesting and valuable to the fields of immunology and serology, and the strength of evidence to support its findings is considered solid.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Engineering cardiolipin binding to an artificial membrane protein reveals determinants for lipid-mediated stabilization

   This article has 14 authors:

   1. Mia L Abramsson
   2. Robin A Corey
   3. Jan L Skerle
   4. Louise J Persson
   5. Olivia Anden
   6. Abraham O Oluwole
   7. Rebecca J Howard
   8. Erik Lindahl
   9. Carol V Robinson
   10. Kvido Strisovsky
   11. Erik G Marklund
   12. David Drew
   13. Phillip J Stansfeld
   14. Michael Landreh

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     Cardiolipin is known to play an important role in modulating the assembly and function of membrane proteins in bacterial and mitochondrial membranes. Here, authors convincingly define the molecular determinants of cardiolipin binding on de novo-designed and native membrane proteins combining the coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulation with the state-of-the-art experimental approaches such as native mass spectrometry and cryogenic electron microscopy. The major findings in this study, which are the identification of degenerate cardiolipin binding motifs, the characterization of their dynamic features, and the role in membrane protein stability and activity, will provide much needed insight into the still poorly understood nature of protein-cardiolipin interactions.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Wag31, a membrane tether, is crucial for lipid homeostasis in mycobacteria

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Yogita Kapoor
   2. Himani Khurana
   3. Debatri Dutta
   4. Arnab Chakraborty
   5. Anshu Priya
   6. Archana Singh
   7. Siddhesh S Kamat
   8. Neeraj Dhar
   9. Thomas J Pucadyil
   10. Vinay Kumar Nandicoori

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     Understanding bacterial growth mechanisms potentially uncover novel drug targets which are crucial for maintaining cellular viability, particularly for bacterial pathogens. In this important study, Kapoor et al, investigate the role of Wag31 in lipid and peptidoglycan biosynthesis in mycobacteria. A detailed analysis of Wag31 domain architecture revealed a role in membrane tethering. More specifically, the N-terminal and C-terminal domains appeared to have distinct functional roles. The data presented are solid and support the conclusion made. This study will be of broad interest to microbiologists and molecular biologists.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Dynamic estimation of the attentional field from visual cortical activity

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Ilona M. Bloem
   2. Leah Bakst
   3. Joseph T. McGuire
   4. Sam Ling

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study addresses a gap in our understanding of how the size of the attentional field is represented within the visual cortex. The evidence supporting the role of visual cortical activity is solid, based on a novel modeling analysis of fMRI data. The results will be of interest to psychologists and cognitive neuroscientists.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Planar cell polarity coordination in a cnidarian embryo provides clues to animal body axis evolution

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Julie Uveira
   2. Antoine Donati
   3. Marvin Léria
   4. Marion Lechable
   5. François Lahaye
   6. Christine Vesque
   7. Evelyn Houliston
   8. Tsuyoshi Momose

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This analysis of the formation of the oral-aboral body axis in cnidarians, the sister group of bilaterians, is a significant and fundamental contribution to the field of Wnt signalling and planar cell polarity. The evidence supporting the conclusions is compelling and has the potential to contribute to a deeper understanding of the origin and evolution of Wnt signalling in metazoans. These findings will be of broad interest to developmental and evolutionary biologists.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Myristoylated Neuronal Calcium Sensor-1 captures the preciliary vesicle at distal appendages

    This article has 7 authors:

    1. Tomoharu Kanie
    2. Roy Ng
    3. Keene L Abbott
    4. Niaj Mohammad Tanvir
    5. Esben Lorentzen
    6. Olaf Pongs
    7. Peter K Jackson

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife assessment

      The identification of NCS1 as a distal appendage protein that captures preciliary vesicles has important implications for understanding the early steps of ciliary assembly. Furthermore, the work has important implications for the broader understanding of NCS1, which prior to this work was focused on roles in neurotransmission, but now must be considered in a broader context. The investigators used a variety of state-of-the-art methodologies, and the conclusions are convincingly supported by the experimental data. This work will be of interest to cell biologists studying ciliary assembly, human geneticists exploring the pathology of cilia as well as neurobiologists studying NCS1.

    Reviewed by eLife