eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Evaluating the effect of metabolic traits on oral and oropharyngeal cancer risk using Mendelian randomization

   This article has 11 authors:

   1. Mark Gormley
   2. Tom Dudding
   3. Steven J Thomas
   4. Jessica Tyrrell
   5. Andrew R Ness
   6. Miranda Pring
   7. Danny Legge
   8. George Davey Smith
   9. Rebecca C Richmond
   10. Emma E Vincent
   11. Caroline Bull

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This is an important study linking metabolic traits and head and neck cancer risk using Mendelian randomisation. The findings, well supported by the data, were inconclusive. This work will be of interest to researchers working in head and neck cancer.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Comprehensive re-analysis of hairpin small RNAs in fungi reveals loci with conserved links

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Nathan R Johnson
   2. Luis F Larrondo
   3. José M Álvarez
   4. Elena A Vidal

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This paper is of interest to scientists within the field of RNA silencing and evolution. The data analysis is rigorous, and the conclusions are justified by the data. The key claims of the manuscript provide a compelling approach to identifying and annotating microRNAs in fungi although there is a limitation in the functional validation of the identified miRNAs.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Changes in seam number and location induce holes within microtubules assembled from porcine brain tubulin and in Xenopus egg cytoplasmic extracts

   This article has 11 authors:

   1. Charlotte Guyomar
   2. Clément Bousquet
   3. Siou Ku
   4. John M Heumann
   5. Gabriel Guilloux
   6. Natacha Gaillard
   7. Claire Heichette
   8. Laurence Duchesne
   9. Michel O Steinmetz
   10. Romain Gibeaux
   11. Denis Chrétien

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The study, using cryo-electron tomography represents a valuable study to the research community, to raise awareness that in vitro-assembled microtubules have more lattice defects than microtubules assembled in cell extracts. However the evidence supporting the claims was incomplete in places and there was not enough data. It is not clear how generalizable these findings are regarding tubulin assembly into microtubules.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Lifespan extension in female mice by early, transient exposure to adult female olfactory cues

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Michael Garratt
   2. Ilkim Erturk
   3. Roxann Alonzo
   4. Frank Zufall
   5. Trese Leinders-Zufall
   6. Scott D Pletcher
   7. Richard A Miller

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This valuable study provides solid evidence for a new intervention, exposure to male vs. female olfactory cues, with an impact on female mouse lifespan. This is interesting to the field of aging research, especially since most described pro-longevity interventions to date tend to work better in male mice. Although the data broadly support the claims, additional analyses showing all probed phenotypes are needed to support all claims.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Decline of intrinsic cerebrospinal fluid outflow in healthy humans with age detected by non-contrast spin-labeling MRI

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Vadim Malis
   2. Won C. Bae
   3. Asako Yamamoto
   4. Linda K. McEvoy
   5. Marin A. McDonald
   6. Mitsue Miyazaki

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     Malis et al present a novel sequence attempting to non-invasively measure the outflow of cerebrospinal fluid, which is potentially an important contribution given the growing interest in the glymphatic system. Their reported findings are generally consistent with previous literature and prevailing theories, however, no robust validation of the sequence is supplied rendering the evidence base incomplete.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Phylodynamics of SARS-CoV-2 in France, Europe, and the world in 2020

   This article has 15 authors:

   1. Romain Coppée
   2. François Blanquart
   3. Aude Jary
   4. Valentin Leducq
   5. Valentine Marie Ferré
   6. Anna Maria Franco Yusti
   7. Léna Daniel
   8. Charlotte Charpentier
   9. Samuel Lebourgeois
   10. Karen Zafilaza
   11. Vincent Calvez
   12. Diane Descamps
   13. Anne-Geneviève Marcelin
   14. Benoit Visseaux
   15. Antoine Bridier-Nahmias

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This study represents an important contribution to our understanding of SARS-CoV-2 transmission dynamics in France, Europe and globally during the early pandemic in 2020. Through evaluation of the contributions of intra- and inter-regional transmission at global, continental, and domestic levels, the authors explore how international travel restrictions reduced inter-regional transmission while permitting increased transmission intra-regionally. Unfortunately, at this time this work suffers from a number of serious analytical shortcomings, all of which can be overcome with major revisions and re-analysis.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Empagliflozin reduces podocyte lipotoxicity in experimental Alport syndrome

   This article has 12 authors:

   1. Mengyuan Ge
   2. Judith Molina
   3. Jin-Ju Kim
   4. Shamroop K Mallela
   5. Anis Ahmad
   6. Javier Varona Santos
   7. Hassan Al-Ali
   8. Alla Mitrofanova
   9. Kumar Sharma
   10. Flavia Fontanesi
   11. Sandra Merscher
   12. Alessia Fornoni

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The article is of importance to the field of glomerular diseases and rare diseases. The authors propose a link between the inhibition of SGLT2 and lipotoxicity-mediated renal injury in experimental Alport syndrome (AS) by modulation pathways linked to CKD progression, possibly through metabolic adaption in podocytes. Although there is scientific merit in the work presented, the functional analyses are incomplete to support the claim that effects pharmacological effects are mediated through podocytes in Alport Syndrome.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Absence of CEP78 causes photoreceptor and sperm flagella impairments in mice and a human individual

   This article has 13 authors:

   1. Tianyu Zhu
   2. Yuxin Zhang
   3. Xunlun Sheng
   4. Xiangzheng Zhang
   5. Yu Chen
   6. Hongjing Zhu
   7. Yueshuai Guo
   8. Yaling Qi
   9. Yichen Zhao
   10. Qi Zhou
   11. Xue Chen
   12. Xuejiang Guo
   13. Chen Zhao

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This paper is of interest to scientists within the cilia and centrosome fields, in particular those studying photoreceptor and sperm development and the diseases associated with their dysfunction. The authors describe the generation and characteristics of Cep78 knockout mice. Consistent with the phenotype observed in patients carrying mutations in CEP78, Cep78 knockout mice show degeneration in photoreceptor cells as well as male infertility associated with multiple morphological abnormalities of the sperm flagella (MMAF). The phenotypic characterisation of Cep78 knockout mice is thorough and convincing, and the Cep78 knockout model will be useful for further elucidating disease mechanism in humans and for potential therapy development. The authors also provide results suggesting that CEP78 directly interacts with IFT20 and TTC21A (IFT139) to form a trimeric complex, but this claim is not justified by the data provided.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Environmental morphing enables informed dispersal of the dandelion diaspore

   This article has 12 authors:

   1. Madeleine Seale
   2. Oleksandr Zhdanov
   3. Merel B Soons
   4. Cathal Cummins
   5. Erika Kroll
   6. Michael R Blatt
   7. Hossein Zare-Behtash
   8. Angela Busse
   9. Enrico Mastropaolo
   10. James M Bullock
   11. Ignazio M Viola
   12. Naomi Nakayama

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This boundary-crossing work on dandelion diaspore flight is an excellent demonstration of how to address fundamental questions about wind dispersal of plant seeds from biophysical and ecological perspectives. Both wind-tunnel experiments and models provide compelling evidence that the aerodynamics of dandelion diaspores change with the environment. Addition of local climate data enables the authors to make a convincing case about how the biophysical properties can scale up to affect dispersal across the landscape under different environmental conditions. In addition to the strong data, this is a clear, accessible, and very enjoyable read.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Clonally related, Notch-differentiated spinal neurons integrate into distinct circuits

    This article has 2 authors:

    1. Saul Bello-Rojas
    2. Martha W Bagnall

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife assessment

      This important paper describes the connectivity of V2a/V2b sibling neurons in the zebrafish spinal cord, where one sibling receives Notch signaling (Notch-ON) and the other does not (Notch-OFF). They find that V2a and V2b siblings have different morphology, inputs, outputs, and are not synaptically connected, unlike findings in the mouse cortex. This work provides new insight into the role of lineage in specifying neuronal connectivity; the experiments are convincing and the conclusions are supported by the data presented.

    Reviewed by eLife