eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Parallel evolution of reduced cancer risk and tumor suppressor duplications in Xenarthra

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Juan Manuel Vazquez
   2. Maria T Pena
   3. Baaqeyah Muhammad
   4. Morgan Kraft
   5. Linda B Adams
   6. Vincent J Lynch

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment:

     This study is a useful extension of previous work on the relationship between body size and cancer risk and the mechanisms by which large-bodied mammals reduce their cancer risk. Through solid analyses of the genomes and several aspects of the cell biology of sloths, armadillos and their relatives, the study explores whether the evolution of large body size in their relatives (some extinct) was correlated with genomic changes such as the duplication of tumor suppressor genes, experimentally demonstrating that cells of Xenarthrans (sloths, armadillos, anteaters) are exceptionally sensitive to DNA damage. The study concerns a topic of great interest and contributes to our understanding of how cancer risk has evolved in mammals.

     (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

2. Latent functional diversity may accelerate microbial community responses to temperature fluctuations

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Thomas P Smith
   2. Shorok Mombrikotb
   3. Emma Ransome
   4. Dimitrios - Georgios Kontopoulos
   5. Samraat Pawar
   6. Thomas Bell

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment:

     This manuscript will be of interest to microbial ecologists and biogeochemists working on soil carbon cycling and responses to climate warming. This study uses an elegant experiment to show that standing variation, both phylogenetic and phenotypic, enables microbial community adaptation to higher temperatures. The authors' conclusions are supported by the data, and this work lays a foundation for future experimental and modeling studies.

     (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

3. Antiviral function and viral antagonism of the rapidly evolving dynein activating adaptor NINL

   This article has 11 authors:

   1. Donté Alexander Stevens
   2. Christopher Beierschmitt
   3. Swetha Mahesula
   4. Miles R Corley
   5. John Salogiannis
   6. Brian V Tsu
   7. Bryant Cao
   8. Andrew P Ryan
   9. Hiroyuki Hakozawki
   10. Samara L Reck-Peterson
   11. Matthew D Daugherty

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This is an interesting discovery of a role for NINL in antiviral defense through modulation of interferon signaling. They found that there is diversifying selection of this factor as well as viral antagonism. This discovery paves the way to a better understanding of how viruses and hosts co-evolve.

     (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

4. Longitudinal analysis of invariant natural killer T cell activation reveals a cMAF-associated transcriptional state of NKT10 cells

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Harry Kane
   2. Nelson M LaMarche
   3. Áine Ní Scannail
   4. Amanda E Garza
   5. Hui-Fern Koay
   6. Adiba I Azad
   7. Britta Kunkemoeller
   8. Brenneth Stevens
   9. Michael B Brenner
   10. Lydia Lynch

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     The manuscript by Kane et al. described transcriptional profiles of various subsets of activated iNKT cells using longitudinal scRNA-Seq analysis. The finding that IL-10 producing iNKT cells have a cMAF-associated gene signature similar to Tr1 cells is novel. Overall, the data is well presented, however, functional consequences of some findings require further investigation.

     (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

5. Anopheles homing suppression drive candidates exhibit unexpected performance differences in simulations with spatial structure

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Samuel E Champer
   2. Isabel K Kim
   3. Andrew G Clark
   4. Philipp W Messer
   5. Jackson Champer

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This is one of the most thorough assessments to date of suppression gene drives against mosquitoes. The models specifically consider the spatial dynamics of gene drives and whether a form of group selection may prevent the drive from eradicating the population, with mosquito ecology parameters. This manuscript will be of interest to those working in the technical development of gene drives, those predicting how such genetically modified insects would spread in the wild, and those evaluating the technology from regulatory and funding standpoints.

     (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 #3 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

6. NFATc1 marks articular cartilage progenitors and negatively determines articular chondrocyte differentiation

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Fan Zhang
   2. Yuanyuan Wang
   3. Ying Zhao
   4. Manqi Wang
   5. Bin Zhou
   6. Bin Zhou
   7. Xianpeng Ge

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     In this study, the authors identified that NFATc1 acts as a key regulator of articular chondrocyte differentiation during early mouse development. Using multiple pulse-chase experiments the authors found that NFATc1 expressing cells generated most of the articular chondrocytes, but not growth plate chondrocytes. Interestingly, NFATc1 expression in chondrocytes diminished as mice aged, suggesting that NFATc1 expressing progenitors are no longer expressing NFATc1 after articular cartilage development. This is an important study since it provides valuable evidence to reveal the regulatory mechanism of articular chondrocyte differentiation. The data presented in this manuscript, in general, support their conclusion.

     (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. Pink1-mediated mitophagy in the endothelium releases proteins encoded by mitochondrial DNA and activates neutrophil responses

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Priyanka Gajwani
   2. Li Wang
   3. Shubhi Srivastava
   4. Zijing Ye
   5. Young-Mee Kim
   6. Sarah Krantz
   7. Dong-Mei Wang
   8. Chinnaswamy Tiruppathi
   9. Peter T. Toth
   10. Jalees Rehman

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     The authors suggest that PINK1-dependent endothelial mitophagy is pro-inflammatory by increasing the release of mitochondrial formyl peptides, one of the mitochondrial DAMPs. This study is important to identify the origin of serum formyl peptides during inflammation and to propose a new role of mitophagy in inflammation, which may be context and/or tissue specific.

     (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

8. eDNA-stimulated cell dispersion from Caulobacter crescentus biofilms upon oxygen limitation is dependent on a toxin–antitoxin system

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Cecile Berne
   2. Sébastien Zappa
   3. Yves V Brun

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This study will be of interest to a broad audience of microbiologists by providing one of the few examples of a clear phenotype for a toxin-antitoxin system. The conclusion that an oxygen-regulated toxin-antitoxin system is required for an important step in biofilm development in the model organism Caulobacter crescentus is well supported by the data and experiments are well designed and controlled. Some possible limitations in interpretations from incompletely controlled phenotype reporters should be resolved by simple experiments.

     (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. Specific deletion of Axin1 leads to activation of β-catenin/BMP signaling resulting in fibular hemimelia phenotype in mice

   This article has 11 authors:

   1. Rong Xie
   2. Dan Yi
   3. Daofu Zeng
   4. Qiang Jie
   5. Qinglin Kang
   6. Zeng Zhang
   7. Zhenlin Zhang
   8. Guozhi Xiao
   9. Lin Chen
   10. Liping Tong
   11. Di Chen

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This manuscript describes the mesenchymal cells expressed Axin1 as a key regulator for Wnt and BMP signaling pathway which is essential for lower limb development. Fibular hemimelia (FH) is a rare genetic disorder with unknown mechanisms. Their data clearly demonstrated that inhibition of β-catenin and BMP signaling genetically and pharmacologically could largely reverse fibular hemimelia phenotype in mice. In general, the manuscript is clear, well written, and concise, the study is well-structured and various techniques have been used to validate the data. It presents as a thorough study highlighting the importance of Axin1/ β-catenin/BMP signaling in FH development, and, furthermore, the interpretation of the results and the following conclusions are convincing.

     (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

10. Structure of SARS-CoV-2 M protein in lipid nanodiscs

    This article has 6 authors:

    1. Kimberly A Dolan
    2. Mandira Dutta
    3. David M Kern
    4. Abhay Kotecha
    5. Gregory A Voth
    6. Stephen G Brohawn

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      Evaluation Summary:

      This paper reports the structure of the M protein of SARS-CoV-2, as determined by cryoEM. The structure is well-determined and reveals a homodimer with overall similar structure as ORF3a, another virally encoded protein. The surface charge distribution is skewed towards positive at the C-terminal domain, which suggests roles in interactions with viral N and S proteins, and possibly viral RNA. The work is of relevance to virologists, especially those studying SARS-CoV-2.

      (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, PREreview