eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Resource allocation accounts for the large variability of rate-yield phenotypes across bacterial strains

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Valentina Baldazzi
   2. Delphine Ropers
   3. Jean-Luc Gouzé
   4. Tomas Gedeon
   5. Hidde de Jong

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This study develops a resource allocation model for E. coli growing under steady-state conditions. The model describes both growth rate and yield and has been subjected to validation by comparison with a compiled data set. The manuscript addresses an important problem of interest to a wide range of investigators. At the same time, the authors would need to explore different assumptions for the housekeeping proteome fraction (phi_q) to ensure the model is robust.

     (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. Oxytocin signaling in the posterior hypothalamus prevents hyperphagic obesity in mice

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Kengo Inada
   2. Kazoku Tsujimoto
   3. Masahide Yoshida
   4. Katsuhiko Nishimori
   5. Kazunari Miyamichi

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     The current study examined in detail the role of oxytocin neurons in the hypothalamus in regulating food intake. The current study extends our understanding of the role of this peptide in regulating complex behaviors.

     (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. Discovery of a new class of reversible TEA domain transcription factor inhibitors with a novel binding mode

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Lu Hu
   2. Yang Sun
   3. Shun Liu
   4. Hannah Erb
   5. Alka Singh
   6. Junhao Mao
   7. Xuelian Luo
   8. Xu Wu

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     Hu and colleagues describe the discovery and characterization of a new class of reversible palmitoylation (PLM) binding site TEAD inhibitors. X-ray co-crystallographic analysis reveals that the ligand class, identified from a screen of 30,000 small molecules, binds to a new site within the auto-PLM site. The TM2 lead compound inhibits the growth of NF2-deficient cell lines. The discovery has the potential to significantly impact the design and development of new effective TEAD inhibitors. Some clarification or additional data are required to support and justify some of the authors' claims regarding the molecular significance of this new class of inhibitors.

     (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. Cellular composition and circuit organization of the locus coeruleus of adult mice

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Andrew McKinney
   2. Ming Hu
   3. Amber Hoskins
   4. Arian Mohammadyar
   5. Nabeeha Naeem
   6. Junzhan Jing
   7. Saumil S Patel
   8. Bhavin R Sheth
   9. Xiaolong Jiang

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     Recent studies of the brainstem locus coeruleus (LC) noradrenaline system have demonstrated a partially modular organization in which specific classes of neurons can serve distinct functions or exhibit module-specific co-activity. However, how noradrenaline cell classes function in a modular way is not clear. The authors have accomplished a technical feat by recording up to eight LC neurons at once using ex-vivo, multi-patch recordings. In doing so, two empirically-derived classes of LC neurons were identified and the analysis of electrical coupling between these neurons established some principles of local circuit communication occurring preferentially within the defined cell classes.

     (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. The structure-selective endonucleases GEN1 and MUS81 mediate complementary functions in safeguarding the genome of proliferating B lymphocytes

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Keith Conrad Fernandez
   2. Laura Feeney
   3. Ryan M Smolkin
   4. Wei-Feng Yen
   5. Allysia J Matthews
   6. William Alread
   7. John HJ Petrini
   8. Jayanta Chaudhuri

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This manuscript is of interest to individuals working on genome stability and B lymphocyte development. Using knockouts for the genes encoding the structure-selective endonucleases GEN1 and MUS81 in mice, the authors show that the absence of both proteins is incompatible with embryonic development, with selective loss in mature B-cells inhibiting germinal center formation. This is the first study of these enzymes in an organismic context and in primary cells, revealing insight into the in vivo consequences of loss of MUS81 and GEN1 functions not previously accessible through studies in cultured cells.

     (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. In situ single particle classification reveals distinct 60S maturation intermediates in cells

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Bronwyn A Lucas
   2. Kexin Zhang
   3. Sarah Loerch
   4. Nikolaus Grigorieff

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This paper explores the use of 2D high-resolution template-matching (2DTM) to locate and discriminate highly similar macromolecules within cryo-EM images of focused ion beam-milled cells. It demonstrates that differences in the 2DTM signal-to-noise ratios for located targets against multiple search templates can effectively segregate a mixed population of similar structures, as well as present a formal analysis strategy for probabilistic assignment of species within the mixed population. Because the identification of distinct structural states of macromolecular complexes inside the cell is a fundamental problem in 3D visual proteomics, this paper will be of broad interest to both structural and cell biologists.

     (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

7. Mechanisms governing target search and binding dynamics of hypoxia-inducible factors

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Yu Chen
   2. Claudia Cattoglio
   3. Gina M Dailey
   4. Qiulin Zhu
   5. Robert Tjian
   6. Xavier Darzacq

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     The notion of transcription factors as composed of interchangeable parts where DNA binding activity can be separated from activation activity has been a dominant paradigm in molecular biology for decades. However, recent evidence suggests that activation domains may contribute to binding specificity as well. This paper describes the use of single-molecule imaging of endogenously tagged transcription factors to dissect how transcription factors move in the nucleus and how these dynamics are related to functional protein domains. These results will be of interest to the transcription and gene regulation fields, but the conclusions require additional experimental support.

     (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. Constructing an atlas of associations between polygenic scores from across the human phenome and circulating metabolic biomarkers

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Si Fang
   2. Michael V Holmes
   3. Tom R Gaunt
   4. George Davey Smith
   5. Tom G Richardson

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     The authors describe their work on an atlas of associations between polygenic scores for 129 different traits representing a variety of quantitative phenotypes and diseases, and a large set of metabolites measured in up to 83,000 participants in the UK Biobank. These associations are all available via a public browser, and may be used to identify candidate intermediate phenotypes, as well as potential biomarkers of disease.

     (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

9. Mountain gorillas maintain strong affiliative biases for maternal siblings despite high male reproductive skew and extensive exposure to paternal kin

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Nicholas M Grebe
   2. Jean Paul Hirwa
   3. Tara S Stoinski
   4. Linda Vigilant
   5. Stacy Rosenbaum

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This study investigates the potential role of kin selection in driving social behaviours among siblings in wild mountain gorillas. Using an impressive dataset of 14 years for 157 individuals the authors find some evidence for kin recognition in guiding biases for affiliative and aggressive behaviours. However, the results of the current study will be more convincing if a number of major concerns with the analysis can be addressed.

     (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. Exploratory data on the clinical efficacy of monoclonal antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant of concern

    This article has 21 authors:

    1. Fulvia Mazzaferri
    2. Massimo Mirandola
    3. Alessia Savoldi
    4. Pasquale De Nardo
    5. Matteo Morra
    6. Maela Tebon
    7. Maddalena Armellini
    8. Giulia De Luca
    9. Lucrezia Calandrino
    10. Lolita Sasset
    11. Denise D'Elia
    12. Emanuela Sozio
    13. Elisa Danese
    14. Davide Gibellini
    15. Isabella Monne
    16. Giovanna Scroccaro
    17. Nicola Magrini
    18. Annamaria Cattelan
    19. Carlo Tascini
    20. MANTICO Working Group
    21. Evelina Tacconelli

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      Evaluation Summary:

      This paper will be of broad interest to clinicians and scientists in the area, providing clinical trial data on how the efficacy of monoclonal antibodies targeting SARS-CoV-2 varies according to the variant of concern. The clinical outcome data were consistent with previously reported in vitro data, which are being used to inform the clinical use of monoclonal antibodies. However, as the trial was stopped early, conclusions regarding the efficacy and safety of the individual monoclonal antibodies are limited.

      (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, ScreenIT