eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Alzheimer's Aβ assembly binds sodium pump and blocks endothelial NOS activity via ROS-PKC pathway in brain vascular endothelial cells

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Tomoya Sasahara
   2. Kaori Satomura
   3. Mari Tada
   4. Akiyoshi Kakita
   5. Minako Hoshi

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This paper examines the effects of amylospheroids, highly neurotoxic assemblies of β-amyloid, on aortic function and on cultured cells. The authors propose that the interaction of amylospheroids with the sodium pump in endothelial cells induces production of reactive oxygen species to ultimately comprise nitric oxide generation. The study provides some new insight into mechanisms underlying brain blood vessel dysfunction and will be interesting neuroscientists who study neurovascular contribution to neurodegenerative diseases. The conclusions of the manuscript are supported by the data, but alternative approaches would make the study stronger.

     (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. Remodeling of dermal adipose tissue alleviates cutaneous toxicity induced by anti-EGFR therapy

   This article has 11 authors:

   1. Leying Chen
   2. Qing You
   3. Min Liu
   4. Shuaihu Li
   5. Zhaoyu Wu
   6. Jiajun Hu
   7. Yurui Ma
   8. Liangyong Xia
   9. Ying Zhou
   10. Nan Xu
   11. Shiyi Zhang

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This paper will be of interest to oncologists and dermatologists and has high clinical relevance. It reveals a novel mechanism of EGFR inhibitor-induced rash which be may closely related to atrophy of dermal white adipose tissue (dWAT). A series of experimental manipulations dissect the mechanism with a murine model, supporting the major claims of the paper.

     (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. Therapeutic downregulation of neuronal PAS domain 2 (Npas2) promotes surgical skin wound healing

   This article has 12 authors:

   1. Yoichiro Shibuya
   2. Akishige Hokugo
   3. Hiroko Okawa
   4. Takeru Kondo
   5. Daniel Khalil
   6. Lixin Wang
   7. Yvonne Roca
   8. Adam Clements
   9. Hodaka Sasaki
   10. Ella Berry
   11. Ichiro Nishimura
   12. Reza Jarrahy

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     The authors identify a novel compound called Dwn1 that suppresses the expression of Npas2, a key gene that delays wound healing. In doing so, they identify a novel treatment strategy for incisional surgical wounds that may have broader application to the treatment of scars in general.

     (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 names with the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Defining hierarchical protein interaction networks from spectral analysis of bacterial proteomes

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Mark A Zaydman
   2. Alexander S Little
   3. Fidel Haro
   4. Valeryia Aksianiuk
   5. William J Buchser
   6. Aaron DiAntonio
   7. Jeffrey I Gordon
   8. Jeffrey Milbrandt
   9. Arjun S Raman

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     Since the inception of comparative genomics, mining phyletic patterns has been a powerful approach for the discovery of previously unknown biological interactions. The authors use a combination of singular value decomposition of the phyletic pattern matrix and random forests classification method to uncover potential protein-protein interactions. The work illustrates the utility of such methods, which are finding increasing application in addressing various computational biological problems, such as predicting protein-protein interactions from genomic information.

     (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. Overexpression screen of interferon-stimulated genes identifies RARRES3 as a restrictor of Toxoplasma gondii infection

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Nicholas Rinkenberger
   2. Michael E Abrams
   3. Sumit K Matta
   4. John W Schoggins
   5. Neal M Alto
   6. L David Sibley

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     Toxoplasma gondii is a widespread parasite of warm blooded animals, with estimates suggesting 2 billion people are currently and chronically infected with this pathogen. Many questions remain as to how humans control and eliminate T. gondii following infection. In this manuscript, Rinkenberger et al. reveal a previously unidentified and understudied host factor, RARRES3 that promotes cell autonomous control of T. gondii in human cells. The precise mechanism of control and its in vivo relevance remain areas for additional 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. Reviewer #2 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

6. PBN-PVT projections modulate negative affective states in mice

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Ya-Bing Zhu
   2. Yan Wang
   3. Xiao-Xiao Hua
   4. Ling Xu
   5. Ming-Zhe Liu
   6. Rui Zhang
   7. Peng-Fei Liu
   8. Jin-Bao Li
   9. Ling Zhang
   10. Di Mu

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This study will interest neuroscientists, in particular those interested in the neurocircuitry of emotional behaviors. Using modern neuroscience techniques, the authors demonstrate that anatomical projections from a brain stem structure called the parabrachial nucleus to the paraventricular nucleus thalamus contribute to aversive states like fear and anxiety. Overall, the study offers important details of a previously uncharacterized brain circuit, although some additional experiments are required to fully substantiate the authors' 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 #1 and Reviewer #2 agreed to share their names with the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Temporal transcriptional response of Candida glabrata during macrophage infection reveals a multifaceted transcriptional regulator CgXbp1 important for macrophage response and fluconazole resistance

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Maruti Nandan Rai
   2. Qing Lan
   3. Chirag Parsania
   4. Rikky Rai
   5. Niranjan Shirgaonkar
   6. Ruiwen Chen
   7. Li Shen
   8. Kaeling Tan
   9. Koon Ho Wong

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     The paper by Rai and colleagues examines the transcriptional response of Candida glabrata, a common human fungal pathogen, during interaction with macrophages. They use RNA PolII profiling to identify not just the total transcripts but instead focus on the actively transcribing genes. By examining the profile over time, they identify particular transcripts that are enriched at each time point, building a hierarchical model for how a transcription factor, CgXbp1, may regulate part of this response. While the authors have generated a large and potentially impactful dataset, along with several interesting observations, it is important to be cautious as the direct targets of CgXbp1 were characterized under one particular condition and the transcriptional analyses were obtained in another condition, one shown to be highly dynamic as during macrophage infection.

     (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

8. A helicase-tethered ORC flip enables bidirectional helicase loading

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Shalini Gupta
   2. Larry J Friedman
   3. Jeff Gelles
   4. Stephen P Bell

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     The paper describes single-molecule experiments that address the assembly of a double hexamer of the Mcm2-7 complex that is required to license all origins of DNA replication in eukaryotic cells by formation of a pre-Replicative Complex (pre-RC). The observations show that one Origin Recognition Complex, an ATP-dependent DNA binding protein, can load both Mcm2-7 hexamers in opposite orientation. The results nicely complement prior data on the mechanism of pre-RC assembly.

     (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. DNA-PK promotes DNA end resection at DNA double strand breaks in G0 cells

   This article has 11 authors:

   1. Faith C Fowler
   2. Bo-Ruei Chen
   3. Nicholas Zolnerowich
   4. Wei Wu
   5. Raphael Pavani
   6. Jacob Paiano
   7. Chelsea Peart
   8. Zulong Chen
   9. André Nussenzweig
   10. Barry P Sleckman
   11. Jessica K Tyler

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This manuscript will be of interest for scientists interested in cell cycle, DNA repair, and genome stability reporting the unexpected discovery that the DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK) is required for DSB resection in G0 cells, whereas it is known and confirmed here that it inhibits resection in G1 and G2 cells. This finding has important implications for the clinical application of DNA-PK-targeted inhibitors. The data are of high quality and derive from two independent cell lines, genetic requirements were mostly established by gene knockouts, and the latest genome-wide sequencing techniques were applied to measure resection tracts. The key claims of the manuscript are supported by the data presented by the authors; however, further validations are needed to strengthen the quality and impact of the paper.

     (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

10. Personalized computational heart models with T1-mapped fibrotic remodeling predict sudden death risk in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

    This article has 9 authors:

    1. Ryan P O'Hara
    2. Edem Binka
    3. Adityo Prakosa
    4. Stefan L Zimmerman
    5. Mark J Cartoski
    6. M Roselle Abraham
    7. Dai-Yin Lu
    8. Patrick M Boyle
    9. Natalia A Trayanova

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      Evaluation Summary:

      This study fuses images from cardiac magnetic resonance imaging and T1-mapping to reconstruct 3D anatomical models of the heart from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy patients. Using the model, they investigated potential contributions of diffuse fibrosis to arrhythmogenesis of the heart model in response to focal stimulation. While not perfect, the computer model significantly outperforms other risk predictors, and highlights diffuse fibrosis as a possible underlying cause. This study will be of interest to clinicians and basic scientists involved in heart rhythm research.

      (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