eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Long-read single-cell sequencing reveals expressions of hypermutation clusters of isoforms in human liver cancer cells

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Silvia Liu
   2. Yan-Ping Yu
   3. Bao-Guo Ren
   4. Tuval Ben-Yehezkel
   5. Caroline Obert
   6. Mat Smith
   7. Wenjia Wang
   8. Alina Ostrowska
   9. Alejandro Soto-Gutierrez
   10. Jian-Hua Luo

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The authors pair single-cell sequencing technology with the LoopSeq synthetic long-read method to examine samples of hepatocellular carcinoma and benign liver, with the goal of identifying mutations and fusion transcripts specific to cancer cells. The authors present a valuable resource and the overall support for the major claims is solid.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Sibling similarity can reveal key insights into genetic architecture

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Tade Souaiaia
   2. Hei Man Wu
   3. Clive Hoggart
   4. Paul F O'Reilly

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The authors present a solid statistical framework for using sibling phenotype data to assess whether there is evidence for de-novo or rare variants causing extreme trait values. Their valuable method is promising and will be of interest to researchers studying complex trait genetics.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Is tumor mutational burden predictive of response to immunotherapy?

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Carino Gurjao
   2. Dina Tsukrov
   3. Maxim Imakaev
   4. Lovelace J Luquette
   5. Leonid A Mirny

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This useful study examines relationships between tumor mutational burden and the response to immunotherapy, using new data sets along with publicly available data sets. The authors conclude that tumor mutational burden cut-offs are unreliable proxies for predicting the response to therapy, underpinned by solid evidence, but with several caveats and assumptions that leave the central question subject to further inquiry. In summary, this is an interesting study that adds to a growing body of work investigating the particular conditions governing the effectiveness of immunotherapy.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. A new look at the architecture and dynamics of the Hydra nerve net

   This article has 13 authors:

   1. Athina Keramidioti
   2. Sandra Schneid
   3. Christina Busse
   4. Christoph Cramer von Laue
   5. Bianca Bertulat
   6. Willi Salvenmoser
   7. Martin Hess
   8. Olga Alexandrova
   9. Kristine M Glauber
   10. Robert E Steele
   11. Bert Hobmayer
   12. Thomas W Holstein
   13. Charles N David

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This work presents important findings on the cellular and ultrastructural organization of the nervous system in the freshwater polyp Hydra. The authors present outstanding imaging data with convincing evidence to support their claims. The manuscript provides a starting point for further functional in vivo studies. The work will be of interest to developmental biologists and neurobiologists.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Diameter dependence of transport through nuclear pore complex mimics studied using optical nanopores

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Nils Klughammer
   2. Anders Barth
   3. Maurice Dekker
   4. Alessio Fragasso
   5. Patrick R Onck
   6. Cees Dekker

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This important study reports on a new method for the fabrication and the analysis of the transport through nuclear pore complexes mimic. Methods, data and analyses are convincing and show a clear correlation between the size of the nuclear pore complex mimic and its transport selectivity. This work will be of high interest to biologists and biophysicists working on the mechanosensitivity of nucleocytoplasmic transport.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Alternative paths to immune activation: the role of costimulatory risk genes for polygenic inflammatory disease in T helper cells

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Alexandru-Ioan Voda
   2. Kristina Correa
   3. Jonathan Hamp
   4. Chloe Moscrop
   5. Michael Dustin
   6. Luke Jostins-Dean

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This valuable study examines the effects of different co-stimulatory pathways on gene expression and chromatin accessibility in T cells, in order to link the role of co-stimulatory proteins to genetic variants associated with inflammatory bowl disease (IBD). The work provides valuable insight into the role of alternative co-stimulatory proteins in controlling T cell responses. However, the data presented and the analyses performed are still incomplete and inconclusive with regards to IBD risk factors.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. A MSTNDel73C mutation with FGF5 knockout sheep by CRISPR/Cas9 promotes skeletal muscle myofiber hyperplasia

   This article has 21 authors:

   1. Ming-Ming Chen
   2. Yue Zhao
   3. Kun Yu
   4. Xue-Ling Xu
   5. Xiao-Sheng Zhang
   6. Jin-Long Zhang
   7. Su-Jun Wu
   8. Zhi-Mei Liu
   9. Yi-Ming Yuan
   10. Xiao-Fei Guo
   11. Shi-Yu Qi
   12. Guang Yi
   13. Shu-Qi Wang
   14. Huang-Xiang Li
   15. Ao-Wu Wu
   16. Guo-Shi Liu
   17. Shou-Long Deng
   18. Hong-Bing Han
   19. Feng-Hua Lv
   20. Di Lian
   21. Zheng-Xing Lian

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The authors present a useful analysis of the phenotype of sheep in which the muscle developmental regulator myostatin has been mutated in a FGF5 knockout background. The goal was to produce sheep with a "double-muscled" phenotype, yet the genetically engineered sheep exhibited meat with a smaller cross-sectional area and higher number of muscle fibers. The work extends the extensive body of knowledge already published in this area. The authors provide evidence using in vitro experiments that Fosl1 regulates myogenesis, but the strength of evidence relating to the muscle phenotype and underlying cellular and molecular mechanism remains incomplete.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Vaccination with mycobacterial lipid loaded nanoparticle leads to lipid antigen persistence and memory differentiation of antigen-specific T cells

   This article has 12 authors:

   1. Eva Morgun
   2. Jennifer Zhu
   3. Sultan Almunif
   4. Sharan Bobbala
   5. Melissa S Aguilar
   6. Junzhong Wang
   7. Kathleen Conner
   8. Yongyong Cui
   9. Liang Cao
   10. Chetan Seshadri
   11. Evan A Scott
   12. Chyung-Ru Wang

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The authors generate a new formulation built upon a previous nanoparticle platform to generate a new system termed bicontinuous nanospheres (BCN), allowing for the dual incorporation of lipid and protein antigens. The authors generate mycolic acid (MA)-loaded BCN and perform a series of characterization studies to demonstrate the superior performance of this new formulation relative to the original one in terms of antigen persistence, a quality needed to sustain responses after vaccination. This work provides important new insights relevant to the TB vaccine field and it suggests that alternative antigens to proteins could be used in TB vaccine formulations. The data are convincing and will be of interest to individuals working on tuberculosis, vaccines and basic immunology.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Hepatic conversion of acetyl-CoA to acetate plays crucial roles in energy stress

   This article has 16 authors:

   1. Jinyang Wang
   2. Yaxin Wen
   3. Wentao Zhao
   4. Yan Zhang
   5. Furong Lin
   6. Cong Ouyang
   7. Huihui Wang
   8. Lizheng Yao
   9. Huanhuan Ma
   10. Yue Zhuo
   11. Huiying Huang
   12. Xiulin Shi
   13. Liubin Feng
   14. Donghai Lin
   15. Bin Jiang
   16. Qinxi Li

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This is important work that examines hepatic acetate production via ACOT12/18 in starvation and diabetes. The investigators use solid loss of function strategies in cells, including mouse primary hepatocytes, and in vivo mouse experiments to show that ACOTs are necessary for normal acetate production in the context of fasting and type 1 diabetes. Given that acetate is commonly thought to primarily represent a fermentation product, this study is of interest as it describes hepatic pathways converting fatty acids to acetate.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Mosquito community composition shapes virus prevalence patterns along anthropogenic disturbance gradients

    This article has 6 authors:

    1. Kyra Hermanns
    2. Marco Marklewitz
    3. Florian Zirkel
    4. Anne Kopp
    5. Stephanie Kramer-Schadt
    6. Sandra Junglen

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife assessment

      This paper will be of interest to scientists in the fields of virology, entomology, ecology and epidemiology as the paper explores the drivers of viral and host composition in natural and disturbed ecosystems. The data are of high quality and have been rigorously assessed.However, important additional information on the transmission ecology of these viruses and their relationship with the environment is lacking, making it difficult to interpret the results from a disease ecology perspective.

    Reviewed by eLife