eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. CaV1 and CaV2 calcium channels mediate the release of distinct pools of synaptic vesicles

   This article has 13 authors:

   1. Brian D Mueller
   2. Sean A Merrill
   3. Shigeki Watanabe
   4. Ping Liu
   5. Longgang Niu
   6. Anish Singh
   7. Pablo Maldonado-Catala
   8. Alex Cherry
   9. Matthew S Rich
   10. Malan Silva
   11. Andres Villu Maricq
   12. Zhao-Wen Wang
   13. Erik M Jorgensen

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     Using an elegant combination of cutting-edge techniques, the authors show that in the neuromuscular junction of the nematode C. elegans two different classes of voltage-activated calcium channels differentially trigger exocytosis of distinct pools of synaptic vesicles, one docked to the active zone and a second one localized more distant from the active zone. These findings will be of broad interest to neuroscientists interested in the mechanisms of calcium-mediated release of neurotransmitters at chemical synapses.

     (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewer #1, Reviewer #2 and Reviewer #3 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

2. ProteInfer, deep neural networks for protein functional inference

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Theo Sanderson
   2. Maxwell L Bileschi
   3. David Belanger
   4. Lucy J Colwell

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     The authors describe a newly developed software, ProteInfer, that analyses protein sequences to predict their functions. It is based on a single convolutional neural network scan for all known domains in parallel. This software provides a convincing approach for all computational scientists as well as experimentalists working near the interface of machine learning and molecular biology.

     (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewer #2 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Lack of evidence for increased transcriptional noise in aged tissues

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Olga Ibañez-Solé
   2. Alex M Ascensión
   3. Marcos J Araúzo-Bravo
   4. Ander Izeta

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     The authors aim to tackle a fundamental question with their study: whether there is a direct age-associated increase of transcriptional noise. To investigate this question, they develop tools to analyze single-cell sequencing data from mouse and human aging datasets. Ultimately, application of their novel tool (Scallop) suggests that transcriptional noise does not change with age, changes in transcriptional noise can be attributed to other sources such as subtle shifts in cell identity. This study is in principle of broad interest, but it currently lacks a definitive demonstration of the robustness of Scallop. Systematic testing of this new package would ultimately strengthen the key conclusion of the work and give additional users more confidence when using the tool to estimate expression noise.

     (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. The reviewers remained anonymous to the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Deep proteome profiling reveals signatures of age and sex differences in paw skin and sciatic nerve of naïve mice

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Feng Xian
   2. Julia Regina Sondermann
   3. David Gomez Varela
   4. Manuela Schmidt

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     In addition to providing extensive proteomics profiling datasets. this manuscript is fundamental that sheds light on the importance of appropriate experimental design for mouse disease model which have been overlooked so far. The results look quite solid based on the proper methodology. This type of work is extremely valuable to many biomedical scientists in the field for conducting reproducible research especially in the preclinical studies and properly interpreting the results.

     (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewer #3 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Sex-specific role of myostatin signaling in neonatal muscle growth, denervation atrophy, and neuromuscular contractures

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Marianne E Emmert
   2. Parul Aggarwal
   3. Kritton Shay-Winkler
   4. Se-Jin Lee
   5. Qingnian Goh
   6. Roger Cornwall

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This paper will be of interest to scientists within the field of neuromuscular disorders and has potential clinical relevance. It reveals a novel targeted strategy to improve the pathophysiology of children with neonatal brachial plexus injury. The key claims of the manuscript are well supported by the data, and the approaches used are thoughtful and rigorous.

     (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewer #1 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Insulin sensitivity in mesolimbic pathways predicts and improves with weight loss in older dieters

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Lena J Tiedemann
   2. Sebastian M Meyhöfer
   3. Paul Francke
   4. Judith Beck
   5. Christian Büchel
   6. Stefanie Brassen

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This is a paper that will be of particular interest to neuroscientists with a focus on food intake and neural responses to food ingestion. This paper provides new insights into how the body responds to weight loss and helps identify those that may not be successful.

     (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. The reviewers remained anonymous to the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

7. The evolution of manipulative cheating

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Ming Liu
   2. Stuart Andrew West
   3. Geoff Wild

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     The authors use theoretical models to examine the joint evolution of different cheating strategies: selfish cheating (not contributing to a common good), and manipulative cheating (inducing a competitor to preferentially provide benefits to the cheat). The models seem well formulated and the results robust. That said, improvements could be made to the presentation to clarify the assumptions and wider applicability of the model. An improved article would provide a better understanding of the mechanisms behind cheating, which would be of interest to readers working on the evolution of cooperation, potentially opening up new directions for theoretical and empirical work.

     (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. The reviewers remained anonymous to the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Efficient value synthesis in the orbitofrontal cortex explains how loss aversion adapts to the ranges of gain and loss prospects

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Jules Brochard
   2. Jean Daunizeau

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This work has potential value for researchers in several areas of cognitive and systems neuroscience. Range adaptation is a widespread property in neuronal circuits, and a network mechanism that relates neuronal adaptation to behavioral outputs is a valuable addition to the literature. However, limitations in the current framing and analyses leave some uncertainty about the interpretation of the results and their broader applicability.

     (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. The reviewers remained anonymous to the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Meningeal lymphatic drainage promotes T cell responses against Toxoplasma gondii but is dispensable for parasite control in the brain

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Michael A Kovacs
   2. Maureen N Cowan
   3. Isaac W Babcock
   4. Lydia A Sibley
   5. Katherine Still
   6. Samantha J Batista
   7. Sydney A Labuzan
   8. Ish Sethi
   9. Tajie H Harris

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This manuscript tackles the timely and interesting research question of whether meningeal lymphatic drainage is required for the control of brain infection with Toxoplasma gondii. It contains a sophisticated experimental approach using cutting-edge methods, it has an easy-to-follow narrative, and comes up with an interesting albeit negative finding which the authors even tried to explain by an additional set of experiments. Although there are some limitations and weaknesses of the paper in its present form it will certainly contribute to the growing body of literature on how the once "immune-privileged" CNS is protected against environmental challenges.

     (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewer #2 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

10. MLL3 regulates the CDKN2A tumor suppressor locus in liver cancer

    This article has 17 authors:

    1. Changyu Zhu
    2. Yadira M Soto-Feliciano
    3. John P Morris
    4. Chun-Hao Huang
    5. Richard P Koche
    6. Yu-jui Ho
    7. Ana Banito
    8. Chun-Wei Chen
    9. Aditya Shroff
    10. Sha Tian
    11. Geulah Livshits
    12. Chi-Chao Chen
    13. Myles Fennell
    14. Scott A Armstrong
    15. C David Allis
    16. Darjus F Tschaharganeh
    17. Scott W Lowe

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      Evaluation Summary:

      This manuscript shows that mutations in the gene encoding an enhancer chromatin-modifying enzyme MLL3 cooperate with Myc overexpression to drive hepatocellular carcinoma in mouse models. The authors identify Cyclin Dependent Kinase Inhibitor 2A (Cdkn2a) as a critical direct target gene of MLL3. Overall, the manuscript makes a compelling case that MLL3 is a hepatocellular carcinoma tumor suppressor that directly binds and activates the Cdkn2a locus. This study provides important insights for cancer biologists and those interested in specific epigenetic mechanisms that regulate liver cancer development. Editorial and some experimental suggestions were made to strengthen the work.

      (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewer #1 and Reviewer #2 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

    Reviewed by eLife