eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Hsp47 promotes biogenesis of multi-subunit neuroreceptors in the endoplasmic reticulum

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Ya-Juan Wang
   2. Xiao-Jing Di
   3. Pei-Pei Zhang
   4. Xi Chen
   5. Marnie P Williams
   6. Dong-Yun Han
   7. Raad Nashmi
   8. Brandon J Henderson
   9. Fraser J Moss
   10. Ting-Wei Mu

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This important study defines new functions for the ER-resident protein HSP47 in the quality control of multi-pass membrane receptor proteins. The evidence supporting the conclusions is solid, with rigorous biochemical assays employed in appropriate models. However, additional consideration regarding the mechanism of HSP47-dependent regulation of membrane protein quality control would have strengthened the study. This work will be of broad interest to cell biologists and biochemists interested in the fields of proteostasis membrane protein quality control, and neuroreceptor signaling.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Pharmacological hallmarks of allostery at the M4 muscarinic receptor elucidated through structure and dynamics

   This article has 24 authors:

   1. Ziva Vuckovic
   2. Jinan Wang
   3. Vi Pham
   4. Jesse I Mobbs
   5. Matthew J Belousoff
   6. Apurba Bhattarai
   7. Wessel AC Burger
   8. Geoff Thompson
   9. Mahmuda Yeasmin
   10. Vindhya Nawaratne
   11. Katie Leach
   12. Emma T van der Westhuizen
   13. Elham Khajehali
   14. Yi-Lynn Liang
   15. Alisa Glukhova
   16. Denise Wootten
   17. Craig W Lindsley
   18. Andrew Tobin
   19. Patrick Sexton
   20. Radostin Danev
   21. Celine Valant
   22. Yinglong Miao
   23. Arthur Christopoulos
   24. David M Thal

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This fundamental study is important and carefully executed, providing important insights into the allosteric regulation of GPCRs with exceptional strength of evidence. This work will be of interest to a wide audience in drug discovery and receptor biology. The major strengths are the comprehensive structural and pharmacological characterization with only minor weaknesses, most notably a concern regarding the approach used to quantify efficacy.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Population dynamics of immunological synapse formation induced by bispecific T cell engagers predict clinical pharmacodynamics and treatment resistance

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Can Liu
   2. Jiawei Zhou
   3. Stephan Kudlacek
   4. Timothy Qi
   5. Tyler Dunlap
   6. Yanguang Cao

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The authors have developed a useful model for how proteins that mediate a connection between invariant components of the T cell antigen receptor and leukaemic cells antigens, called bispecific engagers (BiTEs), mediate immunological synapse formation and impact T cell search for tumour cells in vivo. The model was compared against the in vitro experiments and in vivo data following a solid approach. The developed framework could provide a direction for employing computational mechanistic models for evaluating various strategies for BiTE treatments.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. X-chromosome target specificity diverged between dosage compensation mechanisms of two closely related Caenorhabditis species

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Qiming Yang
   2. Te-Wen Lo
   3. Katjuša Brejc
   4. Caitlin Schartner
   5. Edward J Ralston
   6. Denise M Lapidus
   7. Barbara J Meyer

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This important study uses state-of-the-art methods to explore the evolution of dosage compensation between two closely related nematode species. The evidence supporting the rapid evolution of the recognition motifs on the X chromosome, despite a general conservation of the mechanism, is compelling. Provided the discussion on the evolutionary aspect of the findings is improved, this work will be of broad interest to cell biologists and evolutionary biologists.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. An oligogenic architecture underlying ecological and reproductive divergence in sympatric populations

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Dušica Briševac
   2. Carolina M Peralta
   3. Tobias S Kaiser

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This potentially important article identifies an apparent oligogenic architecture for an ecologically relevant trait, the circalunar reproduction of marine midges, which contributes to assortative mating, is likely under divergent selection, and supports reproductive isolation in sympathy. A claim for a causal role of chromosomal inversions in this system is made, but the support for this claim is incomplete.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Human influenza virus infection elicits distinct patterns of monocyte and dendritic cell mobilization in blood and the nasopharynx

   This article has 13 authors:

   1. Sindhu Vangeti
   2. Sara Falck-Jones
   3. Meng Yu
   4. Björn Österberg
   5. Sang Liu
   6. Muhammad Asghar
   7. Klara Sondén
   8. Clare Paterson
   9. Penn Whitley
   10. Jan Albert
   11. Niclas Johansson
   12. Anna Färnert
   13. Anna Smed-Sörensen

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This study presents a careful evaluation of the distribution of monocytes and dendritic cells in the the blood and nasopharyngeal aspirates of patients with mild respiratory tract infections. There are some interesting differences between monocytes and dendritic cells and variations with patient age. This is an important contribution to understanding monocyte and DC subset specific functions in dependency on the tissue microenvironment.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. A concerted mechanism involving ACAT and SREBPs by which oxysterols deplete accessible cholesterol to restrict microbial infection

   This article has 12 authors:

   1. David B Heisler
   2. Kristen A Johnson
   3. Duo H Ma
   4. Maikke B Ohlson
   5. Lishu Zhang
   6. Michelle Tran
   7. Chase D Corley
   8. Michael E Abrams
   9. Jeffrey G McDonald
   10. John W Schoggins
   11. Neal M Alto
   12. Arun Radhakrishnan

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This work provides valuable new insights into the mechanisms by which 25-hydroxycholesterol (which is known to be rapidly produced in macrophages and other cells during acute infections) acts to protect cells and animals from microbial infection. The authors provide compelling evidence that the cholesterol-esterifying enzyme acylCoA:cholesterol acyltransferase (ACAT) that is induced by 25-hydroxycholesterol promotes the depletion of an accessible pool of plasma membrane cholesterol, producing anti-microbial effects.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Development and evaluation of a live birth prediction model for evaluating human blastocysts from a retrospective study

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Hang Liu
   2. Zhuoran Zhang
   3. Yifan Gu
   4. Changsheng Dai
   5. Guanqiao Shan
   6. Haocong Song
   7. Daniel Li
   8. Wenyuan Chen
   9. Ge Lin
   10. Yu Sun

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This manuscript provides important findings that have practical implications for reproductive medicine and would be of interest to IVF specialists. Based on the compelling strength of evidence, the authors present significant results on improving the predictive value of the live birth model based on blastocyst evaluation and clinical features. However, some methodological information should be added to improve the reproducibility of the study results.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Internal neural states influence the short-term effect of monocular deprivation in human adults

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Yiya Chen
   2. Yige Gao
   3. Zhifen He
   4. Zhouyuan Sun
   5. Yu Mao
   6. Robert F Hess
   7. Peng Zhang
   8. Jiawei Zhou

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The authors report the results of three experiments assessing how one or both eyes open under a patch influence resting EEG activity, contrast sensitivity, and binocular balance in normally sighted subjects. Their results suggest that the state of eye opening temporarily, but significantly, influences shifts in ocular dominance with relevance for treatment of binocular visual disorders such as amblyopia that are treated with periodic monocular occlusion. The evidence supporting their conclusions is solid and the findings are important for the field.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Differential chondrogenic differentiation between iPSC derived from healthy and OA cartilage is associated with changes in epigenetic regulation and metabolic transcriptomic signatures

    This article has 8 authors:

    1. Nazir M Khan
    2. Martha Elena Diaz-Hernandez
    3. Samir Chihab
    4. Priyanka Priyadarshani
    5. Pallavi Bhattaram
    6. Luke J Mortensen
    7. Rosa M Guzzo
    8. Hicham Drissi

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife assessment

      This study highlights a significant concept whereby a retained memory of disease during stem cell reprogramming (likely via epigenetic modifications) affects the chondrogenic differentiation potential of osteoarthritis (OA)-iMSCs. The evidence supporting the conclusions is compelling, with rigorous RNAseq analysis of genes and signaling pathways. The relevance of this research is highlighted by the valuable role of iPSCs as a potential cell source for regenerative medicine. The work will be of broad interest to skeletal stem cell biologists working on osteoarthritis and cartilage regeneration.

    Reviewed by eLife