eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Dilated cardiomyopathy mutation E525K in human beta-cardiac myosin stabilizes the interacting-heads motif and super-relaxed state of myosin

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. David V Rasicci
   2. Prince Tiwari
   3. Skylar ML Bodt
   4. Rohini Desetty
   5. Fredrik R Sadler
   6. Sivaraj Sivaramakrishnan
   7. Roger Craig
   8. Christopher M Yengo

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This study seeks to develop the use of a FRET-based sensor for the formation of the folded 'interacting heads motif' structure for cardiac myosin, which is thought by some to represent a super-relaxed state with lower basal ATPase activity. This study offers some evidence that there is a relationship between the super-relaxed state and the 'interacting heads motif' structure, and that a specific dilated cardiomyopathy mutant in this myosin stabilizes the 'interacting heads motif' conformation. This paper will be of interest to muscle and cardiovascular biologists as it provides important insights into the correlation of structural and functional states of motor proteins in the context of cardiac muscle. The data qualitatively support this correlation and suggest a new mode of action of disease-causing mutations that lead to impaired contractile function.

     (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

2. Generation of a transparent killifish line through multiplex CRISPR/Cas9mediated gene inactivation

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Johannes Krug
   2. Birgit Perner
   3. Carolin Albertz
   4. Hanna Mörl
   5. Vera L Hopfenmüller
   6. Christoph Englert

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This study by Krug et al. uses the turquoise killifish, an emerging model for biomedical research, to generate a valuable live-imaging platform. Initially, the authors generate a transparent killifish they named Klara. Specifically, using optimized CRISPR approaches, they simultaneously inactivate three genes that are required for the formation of primary pigment cells in fish (melanophores, iridophores, xanthophores) and next, to monitor cell-cycle arrest and cellular senescence, they generate a cdkn1a-GFP reporter line using HDR-mediated integration. The paper would benefit from a further description of the HDR approach, the genetic models, and improved figures. Together, this platform will be an extremely valuable resource with broad application, including for aging research, physiology, toxicology, and regeneration.

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

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Phase separation of competing memories along the human hippocampal theta rhythm

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Casper Kerrén
   2. Sander van Bree
   3. Benjamin J Griffiths
   4. Maria Wimber

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This pre-registration study by Kerrén et al. used a proactive interference task in combination with MEG recordings on humans to test predictions of a previous computational model postulating that neural representations of competing memories are associated with varied phases of the hippocampus theta-band rhythm. Their results largely confirmed the hypothesis and suggest that reactivations of target and competitor memories indeed occur at different phases of theta oscillations, which is further related to the intrusion effect in behavior.

     (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. CaV1 and CaV2 calcium channels mediate the release of distinct pools of synaptic vesicles

   This article has 13 authors:

   1. Brian D Mueller
   2. Sean A Merrill
   3. Shigeki Watanabe
   4. Ping Liu
   5. Longgang Niu
   6. Anish Singh
   7. Pablo Maldonado-Catala
   8. Alex Cherry
   9. Matthew S Rich
   10. Malan Silva
   11. Andres Villu Maricq
   12. Zhao-Wen Wang
   13. Erik M Jorgensen

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     Using an elegant combination of cutting-edge techniques, the authors show that in the neuromuscular junction of the nematode C. elegans two different classes of voltage-activated calcium channels differentially trigger exocytosis of distinct pools of synaptic vesicles, one docked to the active zone and a second one localized more distant from the active zone. These findings will be of broad interest to neuroscientists interested in the mechanisms of calcium-mediated release of neurotransmitters at chemical synapses.

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

   Reviewed by eLife

5. ProteInfer, deep neural networks for protein functional inference

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Theo Sanderson
   2. Maxwell L Bileschi
   3. David Belanger
   4. Lucy J Colwell

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     The authors describe a newly developed software, ProteInfer, that analyses protein sequences to predict their functions. It is based on a single convolutional neural network scan for all known domains in parallel. This software provides a convincing approach for all computational scientists as well as experimentalists working near the interface of machine learning and molecular biology.

     (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. Lack of evidence for increased transcriptional noise in aged tissues

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Olga Ibañez-Solé
   2. Alex M Ascensión
   3. Marcos J Araúzo-Bravo
   4. Ander Izeta

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     The authors aim to tackle a fundamental question with their study: whether there is a direct age-associated increase of transcriptional noise. To investigate this question, they develop tools to analyze single-cell sequencing data from mouse and human aging datasets. Ultimately, application of their novel tool (Scallop) suggests that transcriptional noise does not change with age, changes in transcriptional noise can be attributed to other sources such as subtle shifts in cell identity. This study is in principle of broad interest, but it currently lacks a definitive demonstration of the robustness of Scallop. Systematic testing of this new package would ultimately strengthen the key conclusion of the work and give additional users more confidence when using the tool to estimate expression noise.

     (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. Deep proteome profiling reveals signatures of age and sex differences in paw skin and sciatic nerve of naïve mice

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Feng Xian
   2. Julia Regina Sondermann
   3. David Gomez Varela
   4. Manuela Schmidt

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     In addition to providing extensive proteomics profiling datasets. this manuscript is fundamental that sheds light on the importance of appropriate experimental design for mouse disease model which have been overlooked so far. The results look quite solid based on the proper methodology. This type of work is extremely valuable to many biomedical scientists in the field for conducting reproducible research especially in the preclinical studies and properly interpreting the results.

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

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Sex-specific role of myostatin signaling in neonatal muscle growth, denervation atrophy, and neuromuscular contractures

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Marianne E Emmert
   2. Parul Aggarwal
   3. Kritton Shay-Winkler
   4. Se-Jin Lee
   5. Qingnian Goh
   6. Roger Cornwall

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This paper will be of interest to scientists within the field of neuromuscular disorders and has potential clinical relevance. It reveals a novel targeted strategy to improve the pathophysiology of children with neonatal brachial plexus injury. The key claims of the manuscript are well supported by the data, and the approaches used are thoughtful and rigorous.

     (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

9. Insulin sensitivity in mesolimbic pathways predicts and improves with weight loss in older dieters

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Lena J Tiedemann
   2. Sebastian M Meyhöfer
   3. Paul Francke
   4. Judith Beck
   5. Christian Büchel
   6. Stefanie Brassen

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This is a paper that will be of particular interest to neuroscientists with a focus on food intake and neural responses to food ingestion. This paper provides new insights into how the body responds to weight loss and helps identify those that may not be successful.

     (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. The evolution of manipulative cheating

    This article has 3 authors:

    1. Ming Liu
    2. Stuart Andrew West
    3. Geoff Wild

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      Evaluation Summary:

      The authors use theoretical models to examine the joint evolution of different cheating strategies: selfish cheating (not contributing to a common good), and manipulative cheating (inducing a competitor to preferentially provide benefits to the cheat). The models seem well formulated and the results robust. That said, improvements could be made to the presentation to clarify the assumptions and wider applicability of the model. An improved article would provide a better understanding of the mechanisms behind cheating, which would be of interest to readers working on the evolution of cooperation, potentially opening up new directions for theoretical and empirical work.

      (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