eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Structures of NF-κB p52 homodimer-DNA complexes rationalize binding mechanisms and transcription activation

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Wenfei Pan
   2. Vladimir A Meshcheryakov
   3. Tianjie Li
   4. Yi Wang
   5. Gourisankar Ghosh
   6. Vivien Ya-Fan Wang

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This manuscript provides a detailed structural and biophysical characterization of several complexes of the p52 homodimer of NF kB and different DNA binding sites. The main topic is the investigation of why the central base pair(s) have a strong influence on the transcriptional activity of the homodimer. The authors correlate structural changes with measurements of kinetic on and off rates to develop a model that explains the differences in activity. The paper is of interest to all working on understanding how transcriptional activity is regulated.

     (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

2. Inducible lncRNA transgenic mice reveal continual role of HOTAIR in promoting breast cancer metastasis

   This article has 18 authors:

   1. Qing Ma
   2. Liuyi Yang
   3. Karen Tolentino
   4. Guiping Wang
   5. Yang Zhao
   6. Ulrike M Litzenburger
   7. Quanming Shi
   8. Lin Zhu
   9. Chen Yang
   10. Huiyuan Jiao
   11. Feng Zhang
   12. Rui Li
   13. Miao-Chih Tsai
   14. Jun-An Chen
   15. Ian Lai
   16. Hong Zeng
   17. Lingjie Li
   18. Howard Y Chang

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     The long non-coding RNA HOTAIR has been widely reported to be overexpressed in many cancers, including breast cancer, and is strongly associated with disease progression and poor patient outcomes. A valuable new mouse model was developed for studying the functional effects of overexpressing HOTAIR and the mechanism of action of HOTAIR and used to demonstrate overexpression of HOTAIR promoted breast cancer metastasis to the lung. The mouse model and the conclusions will be of interest to researchers interested in improving treatment for breast cancer.

     (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

3. The outer-hair-cell RC time constant: A feature, not a bug, of the mammalian cochlea

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Alessandro Altoè
   2. Christopher A. Shera

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This paper proposes that specializations in the outer hair cells' biophysical properties along the cochlea may allow them to amplify the reduced receptor potentials in a manner sufficient to explain all present experimental results. Moreover, the filtering provided by the hair cells may be beneficial for hearing soft high-frequency sounds because it decreases noise and harmonic distortions. Importantly, the amplitude of the relevant motions, even with the low-pass-filtered attenuation, are as large as those measured in the high frequency regions of the cochlea. The authors provide insights and suggestions but the paper lacks strong supportive experimental data to definitively resolve the claimed "apparent" membrane time constant conundrum.

     (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

4. Transgenic quails reveal dynamic TCF/β-catenin signaling during avian embryonic development

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Hila Barzilai-Tutsch
   2. Valerie Morin
   3. Gauthier Toulouse
   4. Oleksandr Chernyavskiy
   5. Stephen Firth
   6. Christophe Marcelle
   7. Olivier Serralbo

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     The manuscript describes several optimizations of classic DNA reporter constructs to monitor closely the dynamics of Wnt/β-catenin signalling during development using transgenic avian lines. As Wnt signalling pathway is essential in the homeostasis of vertebrate and invertebrate organisms, a robust tool to analyse finely the dynamics of Wnt/β-catenin pathway is of broad interest for the biology/biomedicine scientific communities.

     (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

5. Oscillatory movement of a dynein-microtubule complex crosslinked with DNA origami

   This article has 11 authors:

   1. Shimaa A Abdellatef
   2. Hisashi Tadakuma
   3. Kangmin Yan
   4. Takashi Fujiwara
   5. Kodai Fukumoto
   6. Yuichi Kondo
   7. Hiroko Takazaki
   8. Rofia Boudria
   9. Takuo Yasunaga
   10. Hideo Higuchi
   11. Keiko Hirose

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     The authors describe the reconstitution of axonemal bending using polymerized microtubules, purified outer-arm dyneins, and synthesized DNA origami to cross-link two microtubules. The work is of interest for the field as it shows that bidirectional sliding and bending of microtubules can be generated by a minimal set of elements.

     (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

6. Analysis of allelic cross-reactivity of monoclonal IgG antibodies by a multiplexed reverse FluoroSpot assay

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Henriette Hoffmann-Veltung
   2. Nsoh Godwin Anabire
   3. Michael Fokuo Ofori
   4. Peter Janhmatz
   5. Niklas Ahlborg
   6. Lars Hviid
   7. Maria del Pilar Quintana

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This manuscript describes a fluorospot-based assay as a model for a methodical, step-wise and rigorous approach - that combines multiple reagents in a complex system - to study the cross-reactivity of antibody to polymorphic antigens using the malaria vaccine candidate, VAR2CSA, as a model. The authors apply monoclonal antibodies and the corresponding B cells to validate their multiplexed assay before testing small number of samples from malaria exposed donors in a pilot application of the assay. The data support the conclusions. This information will attract the attention of immunologists and vaccinologists, who are primarily but not exclusively, involved in research on malaria.

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

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Engineered natural killer cells impede the immunometabolic CD73-adenosine axis in solid tumors

   This article has 12 authors:

   1. Andrea M Chambers
   2. Kyle B Lupo
   3. Jiao Wang
   4. Jingming Cao
   5. Sagar Utturkar
   6. Nadia Lanman
   7. Victor Bernal-Crespo
   8. Shadia Jalal
   9. Sharon R Pine
   10. Sandra Torregrosa-Allen
   11. Bennett D Elzey
   12. Sandro Matosevic

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     The authors have engineered an anti-CD73 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) that they express in NK cells to counteract tumors bearing CD73, which contributes to the generation of immunosuppressive adenosine in the tumor microenvironment. This is a promising approach for a new anti-cancer immunotherapy and will be of interest to oncologists and cancer immunologists. The CAR-bearing NK cells show slightly enhanced tumor killing in vitro, but preliminary data show more promising results in mice. This could be due to the CD73 CAR blocking catalytic activity in the tumor microenvironment more effectively than directly promoting cytotoxicity responses.

     (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. Coordinated multiplexing of information about separate objects in visual cortex

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Na Young Jun
   2. Douglas A Ruff
   3. Lily E Kramer
   4. Brittany Bowes
   5. Surya T Tokdar
   6. Marlene R Cohen
   7. Jennifer M Groh

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     The authors report that neurons in V1 and V4 provide multiplex information of simultaneously presented objects. A combination of multi-single unit recordings, statistical modelling of neuronal responses and neuronal correlations analyses argues in favor of their claims. Pairs of neurons having similar object preferences tended to be positively correlated when both objects were presented, while pairs of neurons having different objects preferences tended to be negatively correlated. These patterns and others suggest that information about the two objects is multiplexed in time. There are, however, some unclear points that deserve discussion and further analysis that could more strongly support the claims.

     (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

9. Ancestral acetylcholine receptor β-subunit forms homopentamers that prime before opening spontaneously

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Christian JG Tessier
   2. Raymond M Sturgeon
   3. Johnathon R Emlaw
   4. Gregory D McCluskey
   5. F Javier Pérez-Areales
   6. Corrie JB daCosta

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This paper will be of interest to readers interested ligand-gated ion channels and their evolution. The authors show that ancestral AChR beta subunits reconstructed phylogenetically can form homomeric channels that open spontaneously. The work expands our understanding of agonist-independent AChR gating and highlights intriguing aspects of AChR evolution.

     (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. A second DNA binding site on RFC facilitates clamp loading at gapped or nicked DNA

    This article has 4 authors:

    1. Xingchen Liu
    2. Christl Gaubitz
    3. Joshua Pajak
    4. Brian A Kelch

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      Evaluation Summary:

      Replication Factor C (RFC) is known to play a role in both DNA replication and DNA repair by loading a protein clamp called PCNA onto DNA junctions with a 3'-recessed end. The current paper elegantly demonstrates that RFC has a second DNA binding site that recognizes a single strand-double strand DNA with a 5'-recessed junction. The paper reports a series of interesting structures and confirms binding to both short gapped DNA and nicked DNA by RFC, causing local unwinding DNA at the ssDNA/dsDNA junctions. The paper, which is of interest to colleagues studying DNA replication and repair, should be improved through a few clarifications.

      (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