eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Endoparasitoid lifestyle promotes endogenization and domestication of dsDNA viruses

   This article has 11 authors:

   1. Benjamin Guinet
   2. David Lepetit
   3. Sylvain Charlat
   4. Peter N Buhl
   5. David G Notton
   6. Astrid Cruaud
   7. Jean-Yves Rasplus
   8. Julia Stigenberg
   9. Damien M de Vienne
   10. Bastien Boussau
   11. Julien Varaldi

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This important manuscript employs a rigorous and multi-pronged comparative genomics approach to unravel how lifestyle modulates the acquisition and domestication of viral genetic elements in the genomes of hymenopteran insects. Using an extensive dataset of over 120 hymenopteran genomes, the authors provide convincing evidence that endoparasitism (where parasite development occurs within hosts) facilitates the uptake and domestication of double-stranded DNA viral elements.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Axonal T3 uptake and transport can trigger thyroid hormone signaling in the brain

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Federico Salas-Lucia
   2. Csaba Fekete
   3. Richárd Sinkó
   4. Péter Egri
   5. Kristóf Rada
   6. Yvette Ruska
   7. Balázs Gereben
   8. Antonio C Bianco

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This valuable paper examines the effect of deiodinase polymorphism on thyroid hormone signaling in the brain by employing a transgenic animal model and then switching to studying T3 axonal transport using microfluid devices. Although methodologically extensive this paper has several claims that are not convincingly supported by the current experiments and furthermore some disjoint is observed between the two halves of the study. The therapeutic implications of understanding T3 signaling in the brain makes it a potentially important manuscript.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Patterning precision under non-linear morphogen decay and molecular noise

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Jan Andreas Adelmann
   2. Roman Vetter
   3. Dagmar Iber

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The authors use analytic calculations and numerical simulations to convincingly show that the purported benefits of nonlinear decay in morphogen gradients may be marginal in some cases and completely reversed in others (far from the concentration source). This is a valuable contribution to the field, as it questions common assumptions about the biological function of non-linear morphogen decays during development.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Enterobacterales plasmid sharing amongst human bloodstream infections, livestock, wastewater, and waterway niches in Oxfordshire, UK

   This article has 15 authors:

   1. William Matlock
   2. Samuel Lipworth
   3. Kevin K Chau
   4. Manal AbuOun
   5. Leanne Barker
   6. James Kavanagh
   7. Monique Andersson
   8. Sarah Oakley
   9. Marcus Morgan
   10. Derrick W Crook
   11. Daniel S Read
   12. Muna Anjum
   13. Liam P Shaw
   14. Nicole Stoesser
   15. REHAB Consortium

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This important study presents valuable findings on the dissemination of plasmids. In an analysis of five major Enterobacterales genera, the authors convincingly demonstrate that similar plasmids are shared between genera, species, and clones, both within and between ecological niches. Given the size of the dataset and the very detailed level of analysis this study importantly contributes to insights into to the flow of plasmids, including those carrying antimicrobial resistance genes, across niches.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Increased public health threat of avian-origin H3N2 influenza virus caused by its evolution in dogs

   This article has 15 authors:

   1. Mingyue Chen
   2. Yanli Lyu
   3. Fan Wu
   4. Ying Zhang
   5. Hongkui Li
   6. Rui Wang
   7. Yang Liu
   8. Xinyu Yang
   9. Liwei Zhou
   10. Ming Zhang
   11. Qi Tong
   12. Honglei Sun
   13. Juan Pu
   14. Jinhua Liu
   15. Yipeng Sun

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The authors characterize an H3N2 influenza A virus that jumped from birds into dogs in 2006. Through its evolutionary adaptation to dogs, the virus is now gaining properties that are increasingly consistent with the potential to infect humans. Using experiments with canine H3N2 influenza isolates, the authors found that more recent viruses have acquired receptor specificity for both avian- and human-like receptors, enhanced low-pH stability and in vitro growth, as well as improved replication and transmission in the dog and ferret models.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. High-grade serous ovarian carcinoma organoids as models of chromosomal instability

   This article has 14 authors:

   1. Maria Vias
   2. Lena Morrill Gavarró
   3. Carolin M Sauer
   4. Deborah A Sanders
   5. Anna M Piskorz
   6. Dominique-Laurent Couturier
   7. Stéphane Ballereau
   8. Bárbara Hernando
   9. Michael P Schneider
   10. James Hall
   11. Filipe Correia-Martins
   12. Florian Markowetz
   13. Geoff Macintyre
   14. James D Brenton

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This valuable study reveals that patient-derived organoids recapitulate similar genomic signatures as that of the parental tissue, which could be a useful model to evaluate chromosome instability, drug sensitivity, and intratumoral heterogeneity. However, whereas some of the sequencing data are compelling, the theoretical analysis is incomplete and would benefit from a more rigorous definition. With the theoretical part strengthened, the work will be of interest to medical biologists working on ovarian carcinoma.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Gene editing and scalable functional genomic screening in Leishmania species using the CRISPR/Cas9 cytosine base editor toolbox LeishBASEedit

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Markus Engstler
   2. Tom Beneke

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     Only few species of Leishmania, an important human pathogen, have an RNAi machinery, alternative methods are needed for genetic screens. The authors resent and validate a valuable method, based on the introduction of premature stop codons, that can be used for several different species. The results are very convincing, the data are solid, and the approach will be of interest to researchers studying any eukaryote that lacks the RNAi machinery.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. An umbrella review of systematic reviews on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cancer prevention and management, and patient needs

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Taulant Muka
   2. Joshua JX Li
   3. Sahar J Farahani
   4. John PA Ioannidis

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This convincing work reviews and synthesizes evidence of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on a variety of cancer outcomes. The results have potentially useful implications for various fields of cancer research as they review evidence spanning from cancer prevention efforts to changes in diagnoses and cancer treatment modalities.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Intermediate filament network perturbation in the C. elegans intestine causes systemic dysfunctions

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Florian Geisler
   2. Sanne Remmelzwaal
   3. Vera Jankowski
   4. Ruben Schmidt
   5. Mike Boxem
   6. Rudolf E Leube

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment:

     Mutations in a variety of intermediate filament proteins and their regulators lead to abnormal development, reduced lifetime, and increased stress sensitivity. This manuscript rigorously demonstrates that such defects result from inappropriate assembly of intermediate filament networks, as mutations in a central intermediate filament protein prevent assembly of both the normal network and these inappropriate assemblages and largely rescue most of the defects. This has important implications for our understanding of the assembly of intermediate filament structures and for understanding and potentially treating diseases resulting from mutations in intermediate filament protein genes.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Analysis of CDPK1 targets identifies a trafficking adaptor complex that regulates microneme exocytosis in Toxoplasma

    This article has 10 authors:

    1. Alex W Chan
    2. Malgorzata Broncel
    3. Eden Yifrach
    4. Nicole R Haseley
    5. Sundeep Chakladar
    6. Elena Andree
    7. Alice L Herneisen
    8. Emily Shortt
    9. Moritz Treeck
    10. Sebastian Lourido

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife assessment

      This important study in the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii significantly advances our understanding of calcium signaling mediated by the kinase CDPK1 in this species. The authors' conclusions are supported by convincing evidence, with rigorous biochemical experiments and microscopy analysis. The work will be of broad interest to researchers in the fields of signal transduction and protozoan biology.

    Reviewed by eLife