eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Awake responses suggest inefficient dense coding in the mouse retina

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Tom Boissonnet
   2. Matteo Tripodi
   3. Hiroki Asari

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     The manuscript shows that retinal ganglion cell light responses in awake mice differ substantially from those under two forms for anesthesia and previously attained ex vivo recordings. This difference is central to our understanding of how ganglion cell responses relate to behavior. There are a few technical issues and issues about how the work is presented that 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 #3 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

2. MKK6 deficiency promotes cardiac dysfunction through MKK3-p38γ/δ-mTOR hyperactivation

   This article has 17 authors:

   1. Rafael Romero-Becerra
   2. Alfonso Mora
   3. Elisa Manieri
   4. Ivana Nikolic
   5. Ayelén Melina Santamans
   6. Valle Montalvo-Romeral
   7. Francisco Miguel Cruz
   8. Elena Rodríguez
   9. Marta León
   10. Luis Leiva-Vega
   11. Laura Sanz
   12. Víctor Bondía
   13. David Filgueiras-Rama
   14. Luis Jesús Jiménez-Borreguero
   15. José Jalife
   16. Barbara Gonzalez-Teran
   17. Guadalupe Sabio

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This paper demonstrates that deletion of MKK6 reduces life span in mice, and leads to cardiac hypertrophy that progresses to cardiac dilatation and fibrosis with age. The authors also demonstrate that the mechanism for this phenomenon is through reduced p38a activation while causing MKK3-p38g/d hyperphosphorylation and increased mTOR signaling. The authors extend previous studies (that demonstrate a role for P38 proteins as downstream effector of MKK6) and identify the isoform of P38 that plays a role in this process. Overall, the studies in this paper are conducted carefully and most of the conclusions are based on the reported 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. The reviewers remained anonymous to the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Efficient differentiation of human primordial germ cells through geometric control reveals a key role for Nodal signaling

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Kyoung Jo
   2. Seth Teague
   3. Bohan Chen
   4. Hina Aftab Khan
   5. Emily Freeburne
   6. Hunter Li
   7. Bolin Li
   8. Ran Ran
   9. Jason R Spence
   10. Idse Heemskerk

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This manuscript uses a micropatterned cell culture system to explore the mechanism of human primordial germ cell-like cell specification from human pluripotent stem cells, and proposes a previously unrecognized role of NODAL signaling operating downstream of BMP signaling. The strength of the manuscript is the development of a simple and efficient in vitro system that is potentially suitable for exploring the mechanism of human primordial germ cell-like cell specification. With a more rigorous validation of the identity of the studied cells and more discussion relating the findings to developmental mechanisms in vivo, this study will be of interest to stem cell and developmental 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. The reviewers remained anonymous to the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Cross-species analysis of LZTR1 loss-of-function mutants demonstrates dependency to RIT1 orthologs

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Antonio Cuevas-Navarro
   2. Laura Rodriguez-Muñoz
   3. Joaquim Grego-Bessa
   4. Alice Cheng
   5. Katherine A Rauen
   6. Anatoly Urisman
   7. Frank McCormick
   8. Gerardo Jimenez
   9. Pau Castel

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This is a very elegant study that through cross-species analysis describes the evolution of ubiquitin ligase adaptor protein LZTR1-mediated degradation of RAS-related GTPase RIT1 as a principal regulatory mechanism for RIT1 function and its role in Noonan syndrome, a prominent subgroup of RASopathy disorders. Extensive genetic experiments in Drosophila and mouse suggest that important pathological phenotypes observed in LZTR1-linked RASopathy models are mediated by its ubiquitination target RIT1 and less by the canonical RAS isoforms. While the work further supports the connection between LZTR1 mediated RIT1 level modulation, it does not fully rule out the significance of canonical RAS isoforms in LZTR1-associated RASopathies in humans.

     (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 names with the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Hybridization alters the shape of the genotypic fitness landscape, increasing access to novel fitness peaks during adaptive radiation

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Austin H Patton
   2. Emilie J Richards
   3. Katelyn J Gould
   4. Logan K Buie
   5. Christopher H Martin

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This study reports on the inference of the evolutionary trajectory of two specialist species that evolved from one generalist species. The process of speciation is explained as an adaptive process and the changing genetic architecture of the process is analyzed in great detail. The genomic dataset is big and the inference from it solid. The authors reach the conclusion that introgression and de novo mutations, but not standing genetic variation, are the main players in this adaptive process.

     (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. Protein degradation sets the fraction of active ribosomes at vanishing growth

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Ludovico Calabrese
   2. Jacopo Grilli
   3. Matteo Osella
   4. Christopher P Kempes
   5. Marco Cosentino Lagomarsino
   6. Luca Ciandrini

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This work will be of interest to theorists in microbial systems biology. It shows that taking protein degradation into account improves theoretical predictions of bacterial growth laws at low growth rates. The theoretical aspects of this work are solid. Some underlying assumptions of the model and key predictions remain to be validated experimentally.

     (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. Retinoic acid-induced protein 14 controls dendritic spine dynamics associated with depressive-like behaviors

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Soo Jeong Kim
   2. Youngsik Woo
   3. Hyun Jin Kim
   4. Bon Seong Goo
   5. Truong Thi My Nhung
   6. Seol-Ae Lee
   7. Bo Kyoung Suh
   8. Dong Jin Mun
   9. Joung-Hun Kim
   10. Sang Ki Park

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     In this manuscript, the authors discovered a new function of Rai14, an F-actin binding protein, in dendritic spine dynamics. They showed that Rai14 is localized at the spine neck and regulate spine density and function. Heterozygous Rai14 knockout mice showed impaired learning and memory and depressive-like behavior. Overall, this study provides novel insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying spine dynamics and depressive-like behavior. The main conclusions are supported by 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 #2 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Neural tracking of phrases in spoken language comprehension is automatic and task-dependent

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Sanne ten Oever
   2. Sara Carta
   3. Greta Kaufeld
   4. Andrea E Martin

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This paper will be of interest to researchers studying how spoken language is processed in the brain. The results add to our understanding of how brain oscillations track language information at the syllable, word, and sentence level. The analyses are thoughtful and the key claims of the manuscript are largely supported by the data, although some conclusions may require additional 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 #2 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

9. The individuality of shape asymmetries of the human cerebral cortex

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Yu-Chi Chen
   2. Aurina Arnatkevičiūtė
   3. Eugene McTavish
   4. James C Pang
   5. Sidhant Chopra
   6. Chao Suo
   7. Alex Fornito
   8. Kevin M Aquino
   9. for the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     The paper is of interest to scientists who study neuroanatomy or the many behavioural phenotypes that have been proposed to be associated with left-right asymmetry of the human brain. The authors' new tool appears to provide clues to identify individuals based on shape asymmetry.

     (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. Single-cell analysis of skeletal muscle macrophages reveals age-associated functional subpopulations

    This article has 17 authors:

    1. Linda K Krasniewski
    2. Papiya Chakraborty
    3. Chang-Yi Cui
    4. Krystyna Mazan-Mamczarz
    5. Christopher Dunn
    6. Yulan Piao
    7. Jinshui Fan
    8. Changyou Shi
    9. Tonya Wallace
    10. Cuong Nguyen
    11. Isabelle A Rathbun
    12. Rachel Munk
    13. Dimitrios Tsitsipatis
    14. Supriyo De
    15. Payel Sen
    16. Luigi Ferrucci
    17. Myriam Gorospe

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      Evaluation Summary:

      Krasniewski and colleagues leveraged single-cell transcriptomics to identify subpopulations of macrophages in the skeletal muscle of aging male mice. They identify several new resident subpopulations of skeletal muscle macrophages, spanning a range of polarization states using novel markers, and they identify a shift in relative abundances of these subpopulations with age, leading to a functional shift in inflammatory marker expression and phagocytic capacity. The study overall is an interesting and timely investigation of skeletal muscle macrophage populations and transcriptomics in both healthy young and old mice, and should be a valuable resource for the inflammaging and muscle biology field.

      (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