eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Continuous muscle, glial, epithelial, neuronal, and hemocyte cell lines for Drosophila research

   This article has 12 authors:

   1. Nikki Coleman-Gosser
   2. Yanhui Hu
   3. Shiva Raghuvanshi
   4. Shane Stitzinger
   5. Weihang Chen
   6. Arthur Luhur
   7. Daniel Mariyappa
   8. Molly Josifov
   9. Andrew Zelhof
   10. Stephanie E Mohr
   11. Norbert Perrimon
   12. Amanda Simcox

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This useful work describes the establishment and characterization of new cell lines derived from specific tissues of the fruit fly Drosophila. The evidence supporting the claims of the authors is solid, although the characterization of the cell lines is incomplete and the genomic findings are not presented in a user-friendly manner. These lines could be a useful resource that complements in vivo Drosophila genetics, improving biochemistry and facilitating high-throughput screening.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Association of close-range contact patterns with SARS-CoV-2: a household transmission study

   This article has 14 authors:

   1. Jackie Kleynhans
   2. Lorenzo Dall'Amico
   3. Laetitia Gauvin
   4. Michele Tizzoni
   5. Lucia Maloma
   6. Sibongile Walaza
   7. Neil A Martinson
   8. Anne von Gottberg
   9. Nicole Wolter
   10. Mvuyo Makhasi
   11. Cheryl Cohen
   12. Ciro Cattuto
   13. Stefano Tempia
   14. SA-S-HTS Group

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This important study examines the association between SARS-CoV-2 infection and close contact among household members, measured using proximity sensors deployed after the first case was identified in the household. The authors provide solid evidence that transmission of SARS-CoV-2 within households is not dependent upon close contact, but the study suffers from a number of limitations that are fully acknowledged.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Integrating analog and digital modes of gene expression at Arabidopsis FLC

   This article has 14 authors:

   1. Rea L Antoniou-Kourounioti
   2. Anis Meschichi
   3. Svenja Reeck
   4. Scott Berry
   5. Govind Menon
   6. Yusheng Zhao
   7. John Fozard
   8. Terri Holmes
   9. Lihua Zhao
   10. Huamei Wang
   11. Matthew Hartley
   12. Caroline Dean
   13. Stefanie Rosa
   14. Martin Howard

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     Regulation of gene expression in many biological systems occurs either through a binary mode where gene expression is either on or off (digital regulation), or through an analog mode leading to a graded modulation of gene expression. In this manuscript, the authors report how these two regulatory modes are integrated into a one-way switch pattern to control the expression of the Arabidopsis floral repressor gene FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC). They suggest that an analog regulation in the autonomous pathway precedes a digital regulation conferred by Polycomb silencing before cold exposure, and this temporal switch correlates with the strength of transcription at the FLC locus in different genetic backgrounds.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Colour polymorphism associated with a gene duplication in male wood tiger moths

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Melanie N Brien
   2. Anna Orteu
   3. Eugenie C Yen
   4. Juan A Galarza
   5. Jimi Kirvesoja
   6. Hannu Pakkanen
   7. Kazumasa Wakamatsu
   8. Chris D Jiggins
   9. Johanna Mappes

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This study combines different approaches to unravel the genetic basis of a pigmentation polymorphism in natural populations of a fascinating study system with well-studied ecology. The paper has the potential to be of general interest to biologists curious about the genetic basis of adaptive variation, which is especially relevant to evolutionary biologists and ecologists. The study reports substantial data and makes a strong case for the contribution of a duplication-derived gene acquiring a morph-specific function. Further information is required to implicate valkea in pigmentation morph formation and for diagnosing the duplicated segment as a supergene (associated with low recombination).

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Precision RNAi using synthetic shRNAmir target sites

   This article has 20 authors:

   1. Thomas Hoffmann
   2. Alexandra Hörmann
   3. Maja Corcokovic
   4. Jakub Zmajkovic
   5. Matthias Hinterndorfer
   6. Jasko Salkanovic
   7. Fiona Spreitzer
   8. Anna Köferle
   9. Katrin Gitschtaler
   10. Alexandra Popa
   11. Sarah Oberndorfer
   12. Florian Andersch
   13. Markus Schaefer
   14. Michaela Fellner
   15. Nicole Budano
   16. Jan G Ruppert
   17. Paolo Chetta
   18. Melanie Wurm
   19. Johannes Zuber
   20. Ralph A Neumüller

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This manuscript describes a valuable method to study the mechanism of action of essential genes and novel putative drug targets. Evidence for the effectiveness of the system, which is based on engineering pre-validated targets for RNA-mediated knockdown into genes of interest, is compelling, and the method should find use as an orthogonal method for generating gene specific knockdowns.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Effects of smoking on genome-wide DNA methylation profiles: A study of discordant and concordant monozygotic twin pairs

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Jenny van Dongen
   2. Gonneke Willemsen
   3. BIOS Consortium
   4. Eco JC de Geus
   5. Dorret I Boomsma
   6. Michael C Neale

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This study presents valuable findings from a study of identical twin pairs discordant and concordant for smoking to assess whether smoking has a direct effect on DNA methylation. The results are a valuable contribution as the study confirms the reported association between smoking and epigenetic profile is indeed due to the direct effects of constituents of tobacco smoke. The study design and methods applied by the authors are solid and provide a starting point for larger studies with rigorous laboratory approaches, as well as for assessing clinical impact. The work will be of broad interest to addiction researchers, genetic epidemiologists, and environmental scientists.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Hippo signaling impairs alveolar epithelial regeneration in pulmonary fibrosis

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Rachel Warren
   2. Handeng Lyu
   3. Kylie Klinkhammer
   4. Stijn P De Langhe

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This is an interesting and potentially significant study that adds important new information to our understanding of the mechanisms of lung epithelial repair after tissue injury. The authors have delineated a novel and non redundant role for the hippo pathway and the down stream regulators Yap/Taz in regulating repair of lung injury. These studies will inform future investigations into the mechanisms of repair of lung injury

   Reviewed by eLife

8. A modelled evaluation of the impact of COVID-19 on breast, bowel, and cervical cancer screening programmes in Australia

   This article has 16 authors:

   1. Carolyn Nickson
   2. Megan A Smith
   3. Eleonora Feletto
   4. Louiza S Velentzis
   5. Kate Broun
   6. Sabine Deij
   7. Paul Grogan
   8. Michaela Hall
   9. Emily He
   10. D James St John
   11. Jie-Bin Lew
   12. Pietro Procopio
   13. Kate T Simms
   14. Joachim Worthington
   15. G Bruce Mann
   16. Karen Canfell

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This study presents important results on the predicted impact of cancer screening disruptions in Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic based on consultation with public health stakeholders. The evidence presented is solid, as simulations were based on several previously validated breast, cervical, and bowel cancer screening decision models, though the scenarios were based on hypothetical disruptions that do not always match experienced disruptions. The work will be of interest to local policy-makers, public health specialists, and cancer epidemiologists.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Life-course social disparities in body mass index trajectories across adulthood: cohort study evidence from China health and nutrition survey

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Yusong Dang
   2. Xinyu Duan
   3. Peixi Rong
   4. Mingxin Yan
   5. Yaling Zhao
   6. Baibing Mi
   7. Jing Zhou
   8. Yulong Chen
   9. Duolao Wang
   10. Leilei Pei

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This work shows that higher socioeconomic status is associated with a higher risk of obesity, which should inform China's obesity public health programs and policies, and also be of interest to other countries and communities. The evidence supporting the conclusions is strong, but the data analysis is incomplete and would benefit from more rigorous approaches.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Are single-peaked tuning curves tuned for speed rather than accuracy?

    This article has 4 authors:

    1. Movitz Lenninger
    2. Mikael Skoglund
    3. Pawel Andrzej Herman
    4. Arvind Kumar

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife assessment

      This is important work that addresses a long-standing (but rarely acknowledged) question: given that multi-peaked tuning curves optimize Fisher information, why do early sensory areas typically have single-peaked tuning curves? This paper shows clearly, and convincingly, that multi-peaked tuning curves are likely to produce catastrophic errors at short times, so if speed is important, multi-peaked tuning curves should be avoided. This work should encourage neuroscientists to take into account the importance of stimulus encoding time in their formulations of models of neural coding.

    Reviewed by eLife