eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. T-REX17 is a transiently expressed non-coding RNA essential for human endoderm formation

   This article has 20 authors:

   1. Alexandro Landshammer
   2. Adriano Bolondi
   3. Helene Kretzmer
   4. Christian Much
   5. René Buschow
   6. Alina Rose
   7. Hua-Jun Wu
   8. Sebastian D Mackowiak
   9. Bjoern Braendl
   10. Pay Giesselmann
   11. Rosaria Tornisiello
   12. Krishna Mohan Parsi
   13. Jack Huey
   14. Thorsten Mielke
   15. David Meierhofer
   16. René Maehr
   17. Denes Hnisz
   18. Franziska Michor
   19. John L Rinn
   20. Alexander Meissner

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     Based on a large set of complementary experiments, the authors propose that the lncRNA LNCSOX17 regulates human definitive endoderm differentiation, although its function is not related to the adjacent SOX17 gene in the same topological domain (TAD). The findings are important and supported by convincing data, although the molecular mechanism by which LNCSOX17 regulates endoderm differentiation stays unresolved.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Structural basis for the Rad6 activation by the Bre1 N-terminal domain

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Meng Shi
   2. Jiaqi Zhao
   3. Simin Zhang
   4. Wei Huang
   5. Mengfei Li
   6. Xue Bai
   7. Wenxue Zhang
   8. Kai Zhang
   9. Xuefeng Chen
   10. Song Xiang

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This fundamental study presents a crystal structure of two proteins catalyzing histone H2B ubiquitination. Findings from the structural study are further validated by mutagenesis and functional assays. This is a well-executed study providing useful information to the field.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Heterosynaptic plasticity of the visuo-auditory projection requires cholecystokinin released from entorhinal cortex afferents

   This article has 15 authors:

   1. Wenjian Sun
   2. Haohao Wu
   3. Yujie Peng
   4. Xuejiao Zheng
   5. Jing Li
   6. Dingxuan Zeng
   7. Peng Tang
   8. Ming Zhao
   9. Hemin Feng
   10. Hao Li
   11. Ye Liang
   12. Junfeng Su
   13. Xi Chen
   14. Tomas Hökfelt
   15. Jufang He

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This important work provides knowledge regarding how neuropeptides, which are highly expressed in the brain, can influence cortical plasticity. The conclusions are supported by compelling evidence from both in vitro and in vivo assays, although some control experiments are needed to further strengthen the conclusions. This paper will be of interest to neuroscientists studying cortical processing and neural plasticity, as well as cell biologists and biochemists interested in peptide function in general.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Genetic dissection of mutual interference between two consecutive learning tasks in Drosophila

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Jianjian Zhao
   2. Xuchen Zhang
   3. Bohan Zhao
   4. Wantong Hu
   5. Tongxin Diao
   6. Liyuan Wang
   7. Yi Zhong
   8. Qian Li

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This fundamental study substantially advances our understanding of interactions of consecutive memory tasks by identifying responsible molecules and neurons. The evidence supporting the claims of the authors is generally solid, although further contextualization of the interferences in memory consolidation and more rigorous measurements of the effects of genetic manipulation would have strengthened the study. The work will be of broad interest to neuroscientists working on learning and memory as well as learning psychologists.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. TPL2 kinase activity regulates microglial inflammatory responses and promotes neurodegeneration in tauopathy mice

   This article has 15 authors:

   1. Yuanyuan Wang
   2. Tiffany Wu
   3. Ming-Chi Tsai
   4. Mitchell G Rezzonico
   5. Alyaa M Abdel-Haleem
   6. Luke Xie
   7. Vineela D Gandham
   8. Hai Ngu
   9. Kimberly Stark
   10. Caspar Glock
   11. Daqi Xu
   12. Oded Foreman
   13. Brad A Friedman
   14. Morgan Sheng
   15. Jesse E Hanson

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     In this study, the authors provide important findings supporting a key role for TLP2 as a regulator of neurotoxic and pro-inflammatory cytokine and chemokine release following acute and chronic neuroinflammation. They provide convincing data supporting that the abrogation of TPL2 kinase activity ameliorates disease pathogenesis in a mouse model of tauopathy. This manuscript will be of broad interest to readers in the fields of neuroimmunology and neurodegenerative disease who are interested in the pathogenic effects of innate immune signaling pathways in disease.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. MeCP2 regulates Gdf11, a dosage-sensitive gene critical for neurological function

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Sameer S Bajikar
   2. Ashley G Anderson
   3. Jian Zhou
   4. Mark A Durham
   5. Alexander J Trostle
   6. Ying-Wooi Wan
   7. Zhandong Liu
   8. Huda Y Zoghbi

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     Rett syndrome is one of the most frequently diagnosed neurodevelopmental conditions. The gene mutated in the condition, Mecp2, encodes for a transcriptional repressor, but genes functioning downstream of Mecp2 have remained difficult to clarify. Here the authors identify an important candidate gene, Growth Differentiation Factor 11 (GDF11) regulated by Mecp2 via epigenetic mechanisms. Further studies in mouse models demonstrate that genetic reduction of Gdf11 ameliorates behavioral deficits of Mecp2 duplication mice, and can function to produce neurobehavioral deficits in mice alone. These findings will be of interest to scientists working in mouse cognition, behavior, neurodevelopment, transcriptional and epigenetics.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. The Plasmodium falciparum apicoplast cysteine desulfurase provides sulfur for both iron-sulfur cluster assembly and tRNA modification

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Russell P Swift
   2. Rubayet Elahi
   3. Krithika Rajaram
   4. Hans B Liu
   5. Sean T Prigge

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This study provides important new insights into iron sulfur biosynthesis in the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. The work is based on elegant and robust genetic approaches, and not only confirms the essentiality of the plastid-hosted Suf iron-sulfur cluster synthesis pathway, but also highlights an important additional role for the cysteine desulfurase SufS in apicoplast maintenance via tRNA modification. The work provides compelling evidence for a dual function of parasite SufS, although impact on tRNA has not been established directly. These findings reveal a potential new target for metabolic intervention, and will be of interest to researchers studying apicomplexan parasites, and more broadly, in the field of plastid biology.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Osteosarcoma-enriched transcripts paradoxically generate osteosarcoma-suppressing extracellular proteins

   This article has 13 authors:

   1. Kexin Li
   2. Qingji Huo
   3. Nathan H Dimmitt
   4. Guofan Qu
   5. Junjie Bao
   6. Pankita H Pandya
   7. M Reza Saadatzadeh
   8. Khadijeh Bijangi-Vishehsaraei
   9. Melissa A Kacena
   10. Karen E Pollok
   11. Chien-Chi Lin
   12. Bai-Yan Li
   13. Hiroki Yokota

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     There are no known effective treatments available to date for the treatment of osteosarcomas, the earliest identified bone cancer that can spread to other tissues. In this study, the authors have used novel approaches to identify calreticulin and procollagen C-endopeptidase enhancer (PCOLCE) as osteosarcoma tumor suppressor proteins that inhibit osteosarcoma growth both in animal and in vitro cell culture models. These important findings may provide a basis for the future development of more efficient targeted therapies for the treatment of osteosarcomas.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Directed differentiation of human iPSCs to functional ovarian granulosa-like cells via transcription factor overexpression

   This article has 14 authors:

   1. Merrick D Pierson Smela
   2. Christian C Kramme
   3. Patrick RJ Fortuna
   4. Jessica L Adams
   5. Rui Su
   6. Edward Dong
   7. Mutsumi Kobayashi
   8. Garyk Brixi
   9. Venkata Srikar Kavirayuni
   10. Emma Tysinger
   11. Richie E Kohman
   12. Toshi Shioda
   13. Pranam Chatterjee
   14. George M Church

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This is an important and significant study that focuses on deriving ovarian granulosa-like cells from hiPSC lines. The strengths of the study include bioinformatics analysis to identify relevant candidate transcription factors that drive the iPSCs into the ovarian granulosa pathway, an attempt to derive ovaroid model by combining human PGC-like cells with the iPSC-derived granulosa-like cells, and a variety of endpoint analysis including hormone measurements. Some limitations of the study include poor quality of images, lack of convincing demonstration that follicle-like structures are indeed derived in vitro, lack of clear rationale for using different cell lines with different endpoints chosen for analysis, and lack of clear methods indicating stepwise which transcription factors were used.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. The rostral intralaminar nuclear complex of the thalamus supports striatally mediated action reinforcement

    This article has 4 authors:

    1. Kara K Cover
    2. Abby G Lieberman
    3. Morgan M Heckman
    4. Brian N Mathur

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife assessment

      Cover et al., examine the pathway from the intralaminar nucleus of the thalamus (rILN) to the dorsal striatum (DS) in the reinforcement of behavior/actions. The rILN sends a large glutamatergic projection to the DS, but its role in action selection was unknown. The authors found that the rILN neurons that project to the DS were activated at both action initiation and with the reward. Activation and inhibition of this pathway increased the success or decreased the success of reward acquisition, respectively. The findings are an important advance our understanding of the function of rILN to DS projection in reward-based behavior. The manuscript has provided convincing evidence with the appropriate methodologies to support these claims.

    Reviewed by eLife