eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Mammalian forelimb evolution is driven by uneven proximal-to-distal morphological diversity

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Priscila S Rothier
   2. Anne-Claire Fabre
   3. Julien Clavel
   4. Roger BJ Benson
   5. Anthony Herrel

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This study reports an interesting analysis of evolutionary variation in forelimb/hand bone shapes in relation to functional and developmental variation along the proximo-distal axis. The authors found expected and compelling patterns of evolutionary shape variation along the proximo-distal axis but less expected, yet equally compelling, patterns of shape integration. This paper will be of interest to researchers working on macroevolutionary patterns and sources of morphological diversity.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Altered basal ganglia output during self-restraint

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Bon-Mi Gu
   2. Joshua D Berke

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This study builds upon previous results of the authors to study the neural computations within the basal ganglia that support behavioral proactive inhibition. Here, the authors identify features of neural activity in the SNr that correlate with proactive inhibition, including changes in firing rate and neural variability, and how both of these variables are influenced by an animal's outcome history. The analyses are rigorous and provide important insights into the neural dynamics in the basal ganglia that support proactive inhibition.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Promoter sequence and architecture determine expression variability and confer robustness to genetic variants

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Hjörleifur Einarsson
   2. Marco Salvatore
   3. Christian Vaagensø
   4. Nicolas Alcaraz
   5. Jette Bornholdt
   6. Sarah Rennie
   7. Robin Andersson

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This paper by Einarsson and colleagues presents a comprehensive analysis on how human genetic variability impacts both gene expression and promoter. Using a new resource of CAGE data in lymphoblastoid cell lines from 108 individuals, they uncover a series of features that distinguish promoters with highly variable expression across individuals from those exhibiting low variability. The authors propose various explanations for the observed results. A few additional analyses and a more pragmatic interpretation of their data may help consolidate or refine the models proposed.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. A motor neuron disease-associated mutation produces non-glycosylated Seipin that induces ER stress and apoptosis by inactivating SERCA2b

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Shunsuke Saito
   2. Tokiro Ishikawa
   3. Satoshi Ninagawa
   4. Tetsuya Okada
   5. Kazutoshi Mori

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     Seipin is a multifunctional Endoplasmic Reticulum localised protein associated with seemingly unrelated human diseases. Here the authors establish a correlation between the expression of a particular mutant form of Seipin associated in humans with motor neuron disease and altered intracellular calcium dynamics and allied proteotoxic stress. The paper is noted for the clues it provides into how these cellular defects arise and for offering a plausible, but yet unproven hypothesis for the cellular pathology that may account for the human disease phenotype.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. A general approach for stabilizing nanobodies for intracellular expression

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. John G Dingus
   2. Jonathan CY Tang
   3. Ryoji Amamoto
   4. Grace K Wallick
   5. Constance L Cepko

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     Dingus et al. have developed an innovative approach for improving the intracellular stability of nanobodies. Working with a set of 75 nanobodies, the authors have identified key amino acid changes that can improve the stability of nanobodies expressed within the cell that might be generalized to other nanobodies.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Structural characterization of human RPA70N association with DNA damage response proteins

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Yeyao Wu
   2. Wangmi Fu
   3. Ning Zang
   4. Chun Zhou

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The replication protein A (RPA) plays a critical role in DNA replication, DNA repair, and recombination by interacting with various proteins. This paper describes the structure of an N-terminus OB-fold of the 70kD subunit of human replication protein A (RPA70N or DNA-binding domain-F) bound to peptides from five different proteins, HELB, ATRIP, BLM, RMI1, and WRN. This paper provides useful knowledge regarding the structural flexibility of RPA70N in the binding to the different interacting peptides. The structural and biochemical analyses of the interaction of RPA70N with the different peptides provide solid evidence for the presented conclusion. The work will be of interest to those studying DNA replication, recombination and repair.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. High-throughput imaging and quantitative analysis uncovers the nature of plasmid positioning by ParABS

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Robin Köhler
   2. Eugen Kaganovitch
   3. Seán M Murray

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This study provides new experimental data and detailed modeling of the partitioning of low copy plasmids under the control of the ParABS system in bacteria. The dynamics of the partition complex is tracked over many generations, providing useful data to constrain the models. The authors propose a model which can manifest either regular positioning or oscillations depending on the model parameters. The research will be of interest to biologists and biophysicists interested in cellular dynamics and internal organization in bacteria.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. A choline-releasing glycerophosphodiesterase essential for phosphatidylcholine biosynthesis and blood stage development in the malaria parasite

   This article has 11 authors:

   1. Abhinay Ramaprasad
   2. Paul-Christian Burda
   3. Enrica Calvani
   4. Aaron J Sait
   5. Susana Alejandra Palma-Duran
   6. Chrislaine Withers-Martinez
   7. Fiona Hackett
   8. James Macrae
   9. Lucy Collinson
   10. Tim Wolf Gilberger
   11. Michael J Blackman

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This high-quality study characterizes a key enzyme in asexual red blood stages of the malaria parasites that is used to salvage lipid precursors needed for membrane biogenesis and parasite growth in red blood cells. A previously identified glycerophosphodiesterase (PfGDPD), is shown to mediate the hydrolysis of host lyso-phosphatidycholine to generate choline, which in turn is required for parasite de novo phosphatidylcholine synthesis. Extensive analysis of the localization, growth phenotype and lipidomic profiles of PfGDPD deficient parasites indicate that this salvage pathway is essential for lipid homeostasis and asexual parasite development.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Bacillus thuringiensis toxins divert progenitor cells toward enteroendocrine fate by decreasing cell adhesion with intestinal stem cells in Drosophila

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Rouba Jneid
   2. Rihab Loudhaief
   3. Nathalie Zucchini-Pascal
   4. Marie-Paule Nawrot-Esposito
   5. Arnaud Fichant
   6. Raphael Rousset
   7. Mathilde Bonis
   8. Dani Osman
   9. Armel Gallet

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     Jneid et al find that an entomopathogenic strain of B. thuringiensis and its Cry1A toxins, which are widely used to combat lepidopteran pests, disrupt intestinal epithelial homeostasis in Drosophila-an insect that is generally considered non-suceptible. They demonstrate that the Cry1A toxins act by altering E-cadherin-based adhesion between intestinal stem cells and their new progeny. The findings carry potential implications for unintended, broad effects of B. thuringiensis in agricultural settings.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Modular UBE2H-CTLH E2-E3 complexes regulate erythroid maturation

    This article has 19 authors:

    1. Dawafuti Sherpa
    2. Judith Mueller
    3. Özge Karayel
    4. Peng Xu
    5. Yu Yao
    6. Jakub Chrustowicz
    7. Karthik V Gottemukkala
    8. Christine Baumann
    9. Annette Gross
    10. Oliver Czarnecki
    11. Wei Zhang
    12. Jun Gu
    13. Johan Nilvebrant
    14. Sachdev S Sidhu
    15. Peter J Murray
    16. Matthias Mann
    17. Mitchell J Weiss
    18. Brenda A Schulman
    19. Arno F Alpi

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife assessment

      This work, which will be of interest to scientists in the field of hematology and ubiquitin biology, identifies previously unrecognized functions and regulatory mechanisms of an E3 ubiquitin ligase during erythrocyte progenitor maintenance and differentiation. This work has the potential to reveal that the exchange of scaffold proteins of a modular E3 ligase can have an effect on cell fate and reveal a novel mechanism of E2 enzyme regulation during differentiation. However, additional work is needed to support the major claims.

    Reviewed by eLife