eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Revealing the benefit of eye motion for acuity under emulated cone loss

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Hannah K Doyle
   2. James Fong
   3. Ren Ng
   4. Austin Roorda

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This short report is an important study that visual acuity declines nonlinearly with cone dropout, while eye motion partially compensates by improving sampling from remaining cones. The method for experimentally simulating cone dropout is compelling, leveraging state-of-the-art imaging and testing in human subjects.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Stage-specific threats reveal the inadequacy of adult-centered conservation

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Yan-Fang Song
   2. Yong-Le Wang
   3. Qing-Qing Li
   4. Zhi-Yong Yuan
   5. Wei-Wei Zhou

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study analyses correlations between traits of Chinese frog species and their Red List status and finds differences between adults and larvae. Of broad relevance, this solid study makes the statement to consider different life-cycle stages when assessing species extinction risks, although many conclusions are based on limited data and thus offer hypotheses rather than direct conservation advice.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Anatomy and mechanics of tsetse fly blood feeding

   This article has 13 authors:

   1. Stephan Löwe
   2. Laura Hauf
   3. Elisabeth Meyer-Natus
   4. Dianah Katiti
   5. Dennis Petersen
   6. Alexander Kovalev
   7. Sebastian Büsse
   8. Anna Steyer
   9. Yoko Matsumura
   10. Wolfgang Böhme
   11. Daniel Masiga
   12. Stanislav Gorb
   13. Markus Engstler

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This work provides a fundamental advance through a detailed, integrative analysis of how the tsetse fly feeds on blood, demonstrating that successful penetration depends on subtle structural adaptations rather than extreme forces or unusual anatomy. By combining high-resolution imaging, innovative biomechanical measurements, and experiments on artificial skin, the study offers complementary and compelling evidence, with clear data supporting a robust mechanistic interpretation. These findings have broad significance, as they clarify the biomechanics of vector feeding and have implications for the transmission of diseases such as African trypanosomiasis across diverse hosts.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Experimental verification of the error minimization theory using non-standard genetic codes constructed in vitro

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Ryota Miyachi
   2. Norikazu Ichihashi

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable work addresses a longstanding question of how the extant genetic code came to be selected and conserved almost universally across life. Using a mutational approach and a small set of reporters, the authors demonstrate that the mutational impact was similar for non-standard genetic codes. The data provide solid support for the claim of having provided experimental verification of the error minimization theory.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Cell size modulates ferroptosis susceptibility

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Evgeny Zatulovskiy
   2. Magdalena B Murray
   3. Shuyuan Zhang
   4. Scott J Dixon
   5. Jan M Skotheim

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study highlights how cell size influences various cellular responses, with a particular focus on ferroptosis. The evidence presented is convincing, employing multiple model systems and experimental approaches to support the conclusions. This work will be of significant interest to the fields of cell size, ferroptosis, and cancer biology.

     [Editors' note: this paper was reviewed by Review Commons.]

   Reviewed by eLife, Review Commons

6. Zasp52’s differentially expressed intrinsically disordered region confers thin filament stability at the Z-disc

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Nikolai Ho
   2. Frieder Schöck

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study investigates the role of the Z-disc protein Zasp52 in Drosophila flight muscles and provides evidence that an intrinsically disordered region (IDR) helps to stabilize and promote the localization of the protein to the Z-disc. Overall, this represents an important study that provides insights into Z-disc function and maintenance. The data are convincing, supported by strong genetic evidence and behavioral tests, well-controlled experiments, and detailed statistical analyses. Characterization of a new actin-binding motif mutant and FRAP analysis further support the functional importance of the Zasp52 IDR.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Stemness factor Mex3a times translation and protein trafficking to ensure robust differentiation of olfactory sensory neurons

   This article has 13 authors:

   1. Martín Escamilla del Arenal
   2. Lauren C Tang
   3. Albana Kodra
   4. Hani Shayya
   5. Aileen Ugurbil
   6. Olga Stathi
   7. Keskin Abdurrahman
   8. Adan Horta
   9. Joan Pulupa
   10. Junqiang Ye
   11. Marko Jovanovic
   12. Stavros Lomvardas
   13. Rachel Duffié

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study identified Mex3a protein with dual RNA-binding protein/ubiquitin ligase function as a pivotal regulator of olfactory sensory neurons (OSN) differentiation and lineage fidelity. The authors employed a combination of systems biology approaches (e.g., single-cell RNA sequencing, proteomics) and newly developed animal models (e.g., HyperTRIBE) to provide solid evidence that abrogation of Mex3a disrupts cilia structure and polarity of OSNs. Notwithstanding that this article is of a broad potential interest across different biomedical disciplines ranging from RNA to developmental biology, additional mechanistic data connecting identified Mex3a mRNA targets and ensuing OSN phenotypes would further strengthen this study.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. SETD6-mediated methylation of PPARγ establishes a transcriptional feedback circuit promoting lipid accumulation in liver-derived cells

   This article has 13 authors:

   1. Noa Nashnaz
   2. Dana Goldberg
   3. Maayan Abramov
   4. Anand Chopra
   5. Tamar Rosiecki
   6. Habib Muallem
   7. Yulia Haim
   8. Tzofit Elbaz Biton
   9. Liron Levin
   10. Raz Zarivach
   11. Michal Feldman
   12. Assaf Rudich
   13. Dan Levy

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This manuscript presents important new findings showing that the transcription factor and regulator of lipid and glucose metabolism PPARγ is methylated by the enzyme SETD6. The data convincingly demonstrate that methylation of PPARγ by SETD6 regulates its function in controlling transcription of lipid storage and metabolism genes and thereby modulates lipid accumulation in liver cells. This work uncovers a new role for post-translational modulation by lysine methylation in controlling transcription factor activity and lipid metabolism in a relevant physiological context.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Platelets promote acute liver injury via extracellular vesicles-mediated Aldolase A

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Ruoxue Yang
   2. Jinghua Liu
   3. Kai Fu
   4. Ting Wan
   5. Yahui Li
   6. Can Shen
   7. Ling Yang
   8. Keqin Wang
   9. Zhao Shan

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     In this useful manuscript, Yang et al attempt to show that platelet recruitment to the liver via macrophages contributes to APAP-induced liver injury, but there were many areas where the data supporting the conclusions were incomplete. For example, the idea that platelets only affected KC glycolysis, but not the metabolism of other cells, to mediate the phenotype after injury is not adequately supported by the evidence. It is recommended to perform additional experiments to strengthen the conclusions.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. ProteinConformers: large-scale and energetically profiled descriptions of protein conformational landscapes

    This article has 9 authors:

    1. Yihang Zhou
    2. Chen Wei
    3. Minghao Sun
    4. Lin Wang
    5. Jin Song
    6. Fanding Xu
    7. Yang Li
    8. Wei Zheng
    9. Yang Zhang

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife Assessment

      This study presents a useful database resource containing protein conformations generated through molecular dynamics simulations, with extensive quality evaluation and benchmarking. While the database is well-constructed and professionally organized, the evidence supporting its claimed representation of protein conformational landscapes is incomplete, as the short simulation times and starting structure bias prevent true Boltzmann sampling of the conformational space.

    Reviewed by eLife