eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. 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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. We couldn't get details of this article at this time:
   10.1101/2020.09.08.287714

7. Meningeal lymphatic drainage promotes T cell responses against Toxoplasma gondii but is dispensable for parasite control in the brain

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Michael A Kovacs
   2. Maureen N Cowan
   3. Isaac W Babcock
   4. Lydia A Sibley
   5. Katherine Still
   6. Samantha J Batista
   7. Sydney A Labuzan
   8. Ish Sethi
   9. Tajie H Harris

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This manuscript tackles the timely and interesting research question of whether meningeal lymphatic drainage is required for the control of brain infection with Toxoplasma gondii. It contains a sophisticated experimental approach using cutting-edge methods, it has an easy-to-follow narrative, and comes up with an interesting albeit negative finding which the authors even tried to explain by an additional set of experiments. Although there are some limitations and weaknesses of the paper in its present form it will certainly contribute to the growing body of literature on how the once "immune-privileged" CNS is protected against environmental challenges.

     (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

8. MLL3 regulates the CDKN2A tumor suppressor locus in liver cancer

   This article has 17 authors:

   1. Changyu Zhu
   2. Yadira M Soto-Feliciano
   3. John P Morris
   4. Chun-Hao Huang
   5. Richard P Koche
   6. Yu-jui Ho
   7. Ana Banito
   8. Chun-Wei Chen
   9. Aditya Shroff
   10. Sha Tian
   11. Geulah Livshits
   12. Chi-Chao Chen
   13. Myles Fennell
   14. Scott A Armstrong
   15. C David Allis
   16. Darjus F Tschaharganeh
   17. Scott W Lowe

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This manuscript shows that mutations in the gene encoding an enhancer chromatin-modifying enzyme MLL3 cooperate with Myc overexpression to drive hepatocellular carcinoma in mouse models. The authors identify Cyclin Dependent Kinase Inhibitor 2A (Cdkn2a) as a critical direct target gene of MLL3. Overall, the manuscript makes a compelling case that MLL3 is a hepatocellular carcinoma tumor suppressor that directly binds and activates the Cdkn2a locus. This study provides important insights for cancer biologists and those interested in specific epigenetic mechanisms that regulate liver cancer development. Editorial and some experimental suggestions were made to strengthen the 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 #1 and Reviewer #2 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Memory persistence and differentiation into antibody-secreting cells accompanied by positive selection in longitudinal BCR repertoires

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Artem Mikelov
   2. Evgeniia I Alekseeva
   3. Ekaterina A Komech
   4. Dmitry B Staroverov
   5. Maria A Turchaninova
   6. Mikhail Shugay
   7. Dmitriy M Chudakov
   8. Georgii A Bazykin
   9. Ivan V Zvyagin

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     By performing homeostatic longitudinal IgH repertoire analysis of human memory B cells and plasma cells, authors draw two major unique conclusions; first, a high degree of clonal persistence in individual memory B cell subsets with inter individual convergence in memory B and plasma cells; second, reactivation of persisting memory B cells with new rounds of affinity maturation during proliferation and differentiation into plasma cells. These conclusions provide a significant insight into how human memory B and plasma cells are generated in a homeostatic condition.

     (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

10. Presynaptic Rac1 controls synaptic strength through the regulation of synaptic vesicle priming

    This article has 10 authors:

    1. Christian Keine
    2. Mohammed Al-Yaari
    3. Tamara Radulovic
    4. Connon I Thomas
    5. Paula Valino Ramos
    6. Debbie Guerrero-Given
    7. Mrinalini Ranjan
    8. Holger Taschenberger
    9. Naomi Kamasawa
    10. Samuel M Young

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      Evaluation Summary:

      Keine et al study the role of the RhoGTPase Rac1 in neurotransmitter release by ablating this protein at an age when synapses are in an almost mature stage. They describe an increase in synaptic strength, which they interpret as an increase in release probability or fusogenicity of synaptic vesicles. They also describe subtle effects in the timing of release, which point towards a mild defect in positional priming. The study delivers important information on the role of Rac1.

      (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