eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Beta human papillomavirus 8E6 promotes alternative end joining

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Changkun Hu
   2. Taylor Bugbee
   3. Rachel Palinski
   4. Ibukun A Akinyemi
   5. Michael T McIntosh
   6. Thomas MacCarthy
   7. Sumita Bhaduri-McIntosh
   8. Nicholas Wallace

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This manuscript reports useful data on how human papillomavirus 8E6 protein regulates DSB repair pathways in human cells. The data support the claim that 8E6 promotes alternative end-joining through binding and destabilizing the p300 acetyltransferase, but the study remains relatively descriptive and incomplete as it is not yet clear which alternative end-joining pathway is involved lacking a test of a direct involvement of DNA polymerases theta (POLθ).

     (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. Structural and thermodynamic analyses of the β-to-α transformation in RfaH reveal principles of fold-switching proteins

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Philipp K Zuber
   2. Tina Daviter
   3. Ramona Heißmann
   4. Ulrike Persau
   5. Kristian Schweimer
   6. Stefan H Knauer

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This is an interesting and timely paper that presents thermodynamic and structural (NMR) analyses of six KOW domains from the NusG superfamily of transcription factors. The authors identify a second fold-switching member of the NusG superfamily, VcRfaH, and investigate the physical basis of this fold-switching transition. The authors also compare the thermodynamic and structural properties of six fold-switching and single-folding KOW domains from different organisms, and show that fold-switching domains are less thermodynamically stable than their single-folding counterparts. This work will be of great interest for scientists in the fields of protein folding (theory and experiment), structural biophysics, and advanced protein NMR spectroscopy.

     (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. Cardiovascular disease and subsequent risk of psychiatric disorders: a nationwide sibling-controlled study

   This article has 14 authors:

   1. Qing Shen
   2. Huan Song
   3. Thor Aspelund
   4. Jingru Yu
   5. Donghao Lu
   6. Jóhanna Jakobsdóttir
   7. Jacob Bergstedt
   8. Lu Yi
   9. Patrick Sullivan
   10. Arvid Sjölander
   11. Weimin Ye
   12. Katja Fall
   13. Fang Fang
   14. Unnur Valdimarsdóttir

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This is a useful quantification of the links of vascular disease on the development of subsequent mental health issues. It uses a robust dataset to quantify this association. Further work to focus the analyses, ensure claims are supported by the data, and consider alternative explanations is needed.

     (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

4. Bundling and segregation affect pheromone deposition, but not choice, in an ant

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Massimo De Agrò
   2. Chiara Matschunas
   3. Tomer J Czaczkes

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This manuscript has the potential to be of interest to a broad range of behavioral scientists. It provides insights into how biases can affect value-based behavior in invertebrates, similar to what has been reported in humans. However, there are a number of potential confounders that need to be addressed before drawing robust conclusions from the data reported.

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

   Reviewed by eLife, preLights

5. Learning predictive cognitive maps with spiking neurons during behavior and replays

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Jacopo Bono
   2. Sara Zannone
   3. Victor Pedrosa
   4. Claudia Clopath

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This is a valuable paper that uses solid computational modeling approaches to link plasticity in the hippocampal circuit with behavioral learning. The work focuses on reinforcement learning, a theoretical framework for how animals can optimize learning by extracting the statistical structure of the sensory environments. While a vast range of experimental data regarding the physiological properties of neurons in the hippocampus exists, reinforcement learning often lacks such physiological details. The manuscript begins to fill this gap, by developing a spiking computational model of the hippocampus that can implement reinforcement learning and capture some features of hippocampal physiology.

     (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

6. A novel cis-regulatory element drives early expression of Nkx3.2 in the gnathostome primary jaw joint

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Jake Leyhr
   2. Laura Waldmann
   3. Beata Filipek-Górniok
   4. Hanqing Zhang
   5. Amin Allalou
   6. Tatjana Haitina

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     In this elegant study, Leyhr et al. identify the first potent nkx3.2 jaw joint enhancer, which they show to be deeply conserved across gnathostomes and likely to be absent from jawless fishes. The data support the hypothesis that this enhancer arose with the origin of hinged jaws during vertebrate evolution and is required for some aspects of early joint development in zebrafish. The work has important implications both for our basic understanding of enhancer function and evolution as well as potential genetic causes of craniofacial defects in humans.

     (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

7. Functional interactions among neurons within single columns of macaque V1

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Ethan B Trepka
   2. Shude Zhu
   3. Ruobing Xia
   4. Xiaomo Chen
   5. Tirin Moore

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This paper will be of interest to readers who perform extracellular recordings with high-density electrodes. It provides a proof of principle that high-density recordings allow assessing the interactions of pairs of neurons within local cortical networks in nonhuman primates.

     (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. FOXP2 confers oncogenic effects in prostate cancer

   This article has 23 authors:

   1. Xiaoquan Zhu
   2. Chao Chen
   3. Dong Wei
   4. Yong Xu
   5. Siying Liang
   6. Wenlong Jia
   7. Jian Li
   8. Yanchun Qu
   9. Jianpo Zhai
   10. Yaoguang Zhang
   11. Pengjie Wu
   12. Qiang Hao
   13. Linlin Zhang
   14. Wei Zhang
   15. Xinyu Yang
   16. Lin Pan
   17. Ruomei Qi
   18. Yao Li
   19. Feiliang Wang
   20. Rui Yi
   21. Ze Yang
   22. Jianye Wang
   23. Yanyang Zhao

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     The authors identify a new FOXP2-CPED1 gene fusion in prostate cancer that leads to the increased expression of FOXP2 and subsequent transformation of non-cancer cells. Increased FOXP2 was shown to promote prostate cancer in part through the increased expression and activation of the receptor tyrosine kinase MET, a known driver of prostate cancer. Notably, the authors created new genetically engineered mouse models of FOXP2 and FOXP2-CPED1 overexpression in prostate luminal epithelial cells which was sufficient to cause prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia in these mice with lesions that confirmed increased MET signaling. Oncogenes are typically interesting drug targets or interact with possible drug targets, and the manuscript could thus have a significant societal impact on better understanding drivers of the disease.

     (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. Membrane curvature sensing and symmetry breaking of the M2 proton channel from Influenza A

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. James Lincoff
   2. Cole VM Helsell
   3. Frank V Marcoline
   4. Andrew M Natale
   5. Michael Grabe

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     The authors combined atomistic simulations and continuum mechanics models to probe how structural features of the M2 channel impact the local membrane properties and stability of the channel in membranes of different curvatures. The insights gained in this work can potentially lead to novel strategies that screen for drug molecules that stabilize fission-incompetent conformations of the M2 channel. The multi-scale computational approach will find utility to many problems in membrane reshaping.

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

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Molecular mechanism of active Cas7-11 in processing CRISPR RNA and interfering target RNA

    This article has 4 authors:

    1. Hemant N Goswami
    2. Jay Rai
    3. Anuska Das
    4. Hong Li

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      Evaluation Summary:

      This manuscript is a timely contribution to the CRISPR/Cas field: the mode of function of the type III-E Cas7-11 CRISPR-Cas system. This is an RNA-guided RNA targeting system only characterized last year. In contrast to Cas13 systems, Cas7-11 does not possess collateral damaging activity, hence does not show cytotoxicity when introduced into human cells. These are highly desirable traits in practical applications. High resolution mechanistic studies would be essential for driving the further development of Cas7-11 based biotechnology applications.

      (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