eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. A coarse-grained NADH redox model enables inference of subcellular metabolic fluxes from fluorescence lifetime imaging

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Xingbo Yang
   2. Gloria Ha
   3. Daniel J Needleman

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This paper will be of interest to scientists who use imaging approaches to study cellular metabolism. It presents a new coarse-grained model for inferring mitochondrial NADH oxidation from NAD(P)H fluorescence lifetime imaging in mouse oocytes. The modeling is thoughtfully and clearly presented, but the validity of some key assumptions of the model and the overall generalizability of the method to other cell types could be strengthened.

     (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 names with the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Estimation and worldwide monitoring of the effective reproductive number of SARS-CoV-2

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Jana S Huisman
   2. Jérémie Scire
   3. Daniel C Angst
   4. Jinzhou Li
   5. Richard A Neher
   6. Marloes H Maathuis
   7. Sebastian Bonhoeffer
   8. Tanja Stadler

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This paper presents an integrated algorithm, based on several standard techniques in infectious disease epidemiology, to estimate the real-time reproductive number and show how it has evolved in different countries during COVID-19. However, the analyses should be modelled in a more integrated fashion. Uncertainty estimation requires more work. And additional data streams should be incorporated to more reliably capture infection dynamics.

     (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, ScreenIT

3. Metformin abrogates pathological TNF-α-producing B cells through mTOR-dependent metabolic reprogramming in polycystic ovary syndrome

   This article has 13 authors:

   1. Na Xiao
   2. Jie Wang
   3. Ting Wang
   4. Xingliang Xiong
   5. Junyi Zhou
   6. Xian Su
   7. Jing Peng
   8. Chao Yang
   9. Xiaofeng Li
   10. Ge Lin
   11. Guangxiu Lu
   12. Fei Gong
   13. Lamei Cheng

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     Overall this study confirms that TNF-α is increased in peripheral blood B cells from PCOS and metformin decreased production. The study demonstrates the potential mechanism for the increase in TNF-α and reduction due to metformin. This is demonstrated in humans as well as in a mouse model of PCOS. Overall this is a well designed study demonstrating the impact of Metformin on immune function in PCOS.

     (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

4. Loss of Elp1 disrupts trigeminal ganglion neurodevelopment in a model of familial dysautonomia

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Carrie E Leonard
   2. Jolie Quiros
   3. Frances Lefcort
   4. Lisa A Taneyhill

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This study uses a combination of conditional knockout mouse embryos with targeted deletion of Elp1 in neural crest cells and neuron-specific antibodies to identify the onset of neural defects associated with the trigeminal ganglion. This manuscript is of potential interest to developmental biologists studying neurodevelopment disorders and, with additional quantification and experimentation, is likely to provide important insights into the mechanisms underlying Familial Dysautonomia in the cranial sensory ganglia.

     (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. Towards a unified model of naive T cell dynamics across the lifespan

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Sanket Rane
   2. Thea Hogan
   3. Edward Lee
   4. Benedict Seddon
   5. Andrew J Yates

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This paper is of broad interest to cellular biologists and immunologists. It offers new insights into how T cell compartments are regulated in vivo defining a new perspective on how the T cell compartment is regulated to maintain immune homeostasis and afford long-term immune protection. By assessing data from a range of mouse model systems, the key deduction is that a simple hypothesis, one which notably does not have complex feedback regulation of cell numbers, provides a remarkably good explanation of the data.

     (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

6. A hypothesis on the capacity of plant odorant-binding proteins to bind volatile isoprenoids based on in silico evidences

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Deborah Giordano
   2. Angelo Facchiano
   3. Sabato D'Auria
   4. Francesco Loreto

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     The chemical sensing mechanisms of plants, which are largely unknown, are a topic of broad interest. The authors hypothesise that plant chemical receptors may be transporter proteins or odorant binding proteins analogous to those found in animals. The authors have identified a list of plant proteins with possible odorant binding activity and they predict binding constants for relevant odorants. The calculated binding constants are generally very weak in comparison to known animal odorant binding proteins (i.e., would require much higher concentrations of odor for detection). The in silico investigation, while inspiring, leaves many open questions, for example whether or not there is evidence for functional analogy between plant and animal odorant binding proteins.

     (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. Evolution of diversity in metabolic strategies

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Rodrigo Caetano
   2. Yaroslav Ispolatov
   3. Michael Doebeli

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This paper will be of interest to scientists within community ecology. The authors present a mathematically solid analysis of how nonlinear constraints influence resource-competition models with trade-offs, with the conclusions being similar to those of previous studies in which trade-offs are not exact.

     (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. The ACF chromatin-remodeling complex is essential for Polycomb repression

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Elizabeth T Wiles
   2. Colleen C Mumford
   3. Kevin J McNaught
   4. Hideki Tanizawa
   5. Eric U Selker

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     The chromatin mark, H3K27me, is deposited by the Polycomb complex PRC2 and is associated with repressed genes. There are two important findings in this paper: 1) that the promoters of some H3K27me-repressed genes are regulated by nucleosome positioning and 2) the H3K27me repressed genes are a diverse group that can be derepressed by different mechanisms.

     (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. Associative learning drives longitudinally graded presynaptic plasticity of neurotransmitter release along axonal compartments

   This article has 11 authors:

   1. Aaron Stahl
   2. Nathaniel C Noyes
   3. Tamara Boto
   4. Valentina Botero
   5. Connor N Broyles
   6. Miao Jing
   7. Jianzhi Zeng
   8. Lanikea B King
   9. Yulong Li
   10. Ronald L Davis
   11. Seth M Tomchik

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This manuscript will be of interest to scientists working on learning and memory and synaptic plasticity. It provides a useful overview of different forms of plasticity taking place in the learning and memory center of the fly, the mushroom body. The study mostly uses an acetylcholine sensor to image activity, which is novel and helps to tie together previous studies reporting memory-induced changes in calcium transients. In particular, the study highlights the compartmentalised plasticity along Kenyon cell axon terminals, the main cell type of the mushroom body. The current version of the manuscript could be improved by including some key issues: (1) behavioral experiments for the Cac knock-down experiments, (2) specific controls for some of the imaging experiments, (3) consideration of the role of dopaminergic neurons and (4) acknowledgment of the complexity of the mushroom body circuit and the literature that has addressed this previously.

     (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. State-dependent representations of mixtures by the olfactory bulb

    This article has 4 authors:

    1. Aliya Mari Adefuin
    2. Sander Lindeman
    3. Janine Kristin Reinert
    4. Izumi Fukunaga

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      Evaluation Summary:

      This study examined how mixture odors are represented in the mouse olfactory bulb. The authors found that compared to the responses in anesthetized mice, mixture responses are more linear in awake mice regardless whether the mice were engaged in a behavioral task or not. The results are potentially important as the results differ from previous studies which were done mostly in anesthetized animals, but the reviewers raised concerns for the validity and the strength of the conclusions.

      (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