eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. The Dantu blood group prevents parasite growth in vivo: Evidence from a controlled human malaria infection study

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Silvia N Kariuki
   2. Alexander W Macharia
   3. Johnstone Makale
   4. Wilfred Nyamu
   5. Stephen L Hoffman
   6. Melissa C Kapulu
   7. Philip Bejon
   8. Julian C Rayner
   9. Thomas N Williams
   10. On behalf of for the CHMI-SIKA Study Team

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The large genetic association studies conducted in East Africa have shown that the Dantu blood group provides substantial protection against severe malaria since it increases the surface tension of red blood cells making it harder for malaria parasites to invade. In this important work, the authors show that parasite growth is indeed restricted in vivo by testing this hypothesis in adult Kenyan volunteers infected with P. falciparium under careful monitoring. They were able to show convincingly that indeed, parasite growth was reduced amongst Dantu adults.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Probe-free optical chromatin deformation and measurement of differential mechanical properties in the nucleus

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Benjamin Seelbinder
   2. Susan Wagner
   3. Manavi Jain
   4. Elena Erben
   5. Sergei Klykov
   6. Iliya Dimitrov Stoev
   7. Venkat Raghavan Krishnaswamy
   8. Moritz Kreysing

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     Seelbinder et al. describe a new method for perturbing chromatin in living cells by local heating. Employing this approach, the authors uncover interesting behaviors that underscore the variability in the mechanical response of subnuclear domains and structures. The study is timely, and if some conceptual and technical aspects are improved, it should be of broad interest to both the cell biophysics and cell biology communities, in particular since the method can also be applied to study mechanical relationships of subcellular compartments in other cellular and multicellular systems.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Bidirectional regulation of postmitotic H3K27me3 distributions underlie cerebellar granule neuron maturation dynamics

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Vijyendra Ramesh
   2. Fang Liu
   3. Melyssa S Minto
   4. Urann Chan
   5. Anne E West

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This study presents a useful inventory of chromatin modifications and genes that are up- and down-regulated during cerebellar development in vivo and in primary culture. The main claims were incomplete and would benefit from further analysis and/or additional experiments. The work will be of interest to biologists working on brain development.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Temperature sensitivity of the interspecific interaction strength of coastal marine fish communities

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Masayuki Ushio
   2. Testuya Sado
   3. Takehiko Fukuchi
   4. Sachia Sasano
   5. Reiji Masuda
   6. Yutaka Osada
   7. Masaki Miya

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This study presents important findings regarding the quantification of dynamics in fish communities in changing ecosystems by combining a large-scale environmental DNA metabarcoding time series with novel statistical approaches. The methods are convincing, with controlled experiments, thorough statistical analyses, and a substantial dataset covering two years of detailed observation, which can provide sufficient power to detect fine-scale ecological interactions. This work is relevant for informing future research on assessing community stability under climate change.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Discovery of lipid binding sites in a ligand-gated ion channel by integrating simulations and cryo-EM

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Cathrine Bergh
   2. Urška Rovšnik
   3. Rebecca Howard
   4. Erik Lindahl

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The authors use a combination of structural and MD simulation approaches to characterize phospholipid interactions with the pentameric ligand-gated ion channel, GLIC. The general agreement between structures and simulations increases confidence in the description of the lipid interaction poses and provides a solid basis for the prediction of a state-dependent interaction site where lipids could dynamically modulate channel gating. The results will be very useful to understand the nature of phospholipid interactions with pentameric ligand-gated ion channels, although the functional or structural significance of these lipid interactions remains to be verified.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. The ATM-E6AP-MASTL axis mediates DNA damage checkpoint recovery

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Yanqiu Li
   2. Feifei Wang
   3. Xin Li
   4. Ling Wang
   5. Zheng Yang
   6. Zhongsheng You
   7. Aimin Peng

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This study reports the important finding that there appears to be a timer that monitors the repair of DNA after damage and regulates whether cells are subsequently able to enter mitosis. The authors identify proteins important for this decision and propose a mechanism supported by solid but not conclusive data. This study will be of interest to researchers in the fields of DNA damage repair and cell cycle control.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Inhibitors of Rho kinases (ROCK) induce multiple mitotic defects and synthetic lethality in BRCA2-deficient cells

   This article has 14 authors:

   1. Julieta Martino
   2. Sebastián Omar Siri
   3. Nicolás Luis Calzetta
   4. Natalia Soledad Paviolo
   5. Cintia Garro
   6. Maria F Pansa
   7. Sofía Carbajosa
   8. Aaron C Brown
   9. José Luis Bocco
   10. Israel Gloger
   11. Gerard Drewes
   12. Kevin P Madauss
   13. Gastón Soria
   14. Vanesa Gottifredi

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The authors have uncovered a new target that may be exploited to selectively kill BRCA2 mutant cancer cells. Strengths of the study include the novel pathway uncovered (ROCK kinases) and the strong data in support of the findings. Weaknesses include limited detail regarding the mechanism of BRCA2-specific cell death by ROCK kinase inhibitors, limited information on why some ROCK kinase inhibitors are not effective, as well as whether the cell killing in BRCA2 wild-type cells by ROCK kinase inhibitors is the same mechanism but just attenuated. The work will be of interest to cancer biologists and colleagues studying kinases.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Missense mutations in CRX homeodomain cause dominant retinopathies through two distinct mechanisms

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Yiqiao Zheng
   2. Chi Sun
   3. Xiaodong Zhang
   4. Philip A Ruzycki
   5. Shiming Chen

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This manuscript is of interest to readers in the field of neural development and neurodegeneration. The study is important as it examines two disease-causing mutations within the homeodomain transcription factor Cone-Rod Homeobox (CRX) that causes retinopathy in humans. The data are solid and the work contributes to our understanding of the underlying pathogenetic mechanisms.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Mitotic chromosomes scale to nuclear-cytoplasmic ratio and cell size in Xenopus

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Coral Y Zhou
   2. Bastiaan Dekker
   3. Ziyuan Liu
   4. Hilda Cabrera
   5. Joel Ryan
   6. Job Dekker
   7. Rebecca Heald

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This study combines experiments in developing embryos and embryo extracts to investigate a fundamental relationship in biology - how the size of mitotic chromosomes scales with changes in cell size during development. By combining the unique tools available in the Xenopus system with modern genomic approaches, the authors convincingly demonstrate that mitotic chromosome scaling is mediated by differential loading of maternal chromatin remodeling factors during interphase. Although it remains unclear exactly how these factors impact chromosome size, the findings reported here will be of broad interest to the cell biology community and are likely to spawn new avenues of experimental inquiry aimed at understanding intracellular scaling relationships.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Quantification of impact of COVID-19 pandemic on cancer screening programmes – a case study from Argentina, Bangladesh, Colombia, Morocco, Sri Lanka, and Thailand

    This article has 11 authors:

    1. Eric Lucas
    2. Raul Murillo
    3. Silvina Arrossi
    4. Martin Bárcena
    5. Youssef Chami
    6. Ashrafun Nessa
    7. Suraj Perera
    8. Padmaka Silva
    9. Suleeporn Sangrajrang
    10. Richard Muwonge
    11. Partha Basu

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife assessment

      This study provides important estimates from international cancer screening data repository about the impact of the COVID-pandemic related disruptions on cancer screening programs in selected low- and middle-income countries. The evidence supporting the study is solid and relies on national-level screening program attendee volumes and assessments of screen positives during 2019 (pre-pandemic) and 2020 (during the pandemic). The study provides real-world data estimates of proportions/volumes of missed screenings due to pandemic control measures (lockdowns and closures) and may contribute to future modelling efforts for measuring the impact on late/advanced stage detection and excess case burden and mortality.

    Reviewed by eLife