eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Evolution of the Quorum Sensing Regulon in Cooperating Populations of Pseudomonas aeruginosa

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Nicole E. Smalley
   2. Amy L. Schaefer
   3. Kyle L. Asfahl
   4. Crystal Perez
   5. E. Peter Greenberg
   6. Ajai A. Dandekar

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     Pseudomonas aeruginosa regulates the production of many cooperative traits through quorum sensing cell-cell signaling. The authors carried out transcriptomic studies of experimental evolved populations of P. aeruginosa and observed that the size of the quorum sensing regulon decreases when only a few but not all the cooperative processes regulated quorum sensing are required for growth. Their findings are consistent with the hypothesis that quorum sensing regulated genes can be counter selected rapidly when not beneficial. This study is of interest for microbiologists studying quorum-sensing, and evolutionary biologists studying the evolution of cooperative behavior.

     (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. Banp regulates DNA damage response and chromosome segregation during the cell cycle in zebrafish retina

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Swathy Babu
   2. Yuki Takeuchi
   3. Ichiro Masai

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This study reports the phenotype of a zebrafish banp mutant that was identified in a screen for eye defects. Banp is known to regulate the transcription of a number of genes including those important in oncogenesis. In vivo function of Banp, especially in the context of normal development, remains to be better understood. The current study fills this knowledge gap and identifies the roles of banp during replication stress responses and mitosis. With somewhat more careful interpretation of the data and a clearer presentation of the results and their potential impact, this study will be of interest to scientists studying development, DNA damage responses and apoptosis.

     (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

3. Imaging of the pial arterial vasculature of the human brain in vivo using high-resolution 7T time-of-flight angiography

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Saskia Bollmann
   2. Hendrik Mattern
   3. Michaël Bernier
   4. Simon D Robinson
   5. Daniel Park
   6. Oliver Speck
   7. Jonathan R Polimeni

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This article revisits a classical magnetic resonance imaging technique to image the brain's vasculature, showing that small blood vessels, deemed too difficult to image, could be targeted effectively with extremely high resolution imaging. This proof-of-concept, both theoretical and experimental, may be of use to build detailed models of brain physiology and detect fine alterations of the vessels in 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. The reviewers remained anonymous to the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Parasite defensive limb movements enhance acoustic signal attraction in male little torrent frogs

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Longhui Zhao
   2. Jichao Wang
   3. Haodi Zhang
   4. Tongliang Wang
   5. Yue Yang
   6. Yezhong Tang
   7. Wouter Halfwerk
   8. Jianguo Cui

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     Zhao et al. present an interesting proposal for the evolution of complex multimodal signals based on the analysis of the mating display of small torrent frogs. Combining observational and experimental evidence, they suggest that male limb movements, which are used to swat away blood-sucking midges, have become attractive to female frogs, enhancing the acoustic mating call of these males.

     (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. Phosphoregulation of DSB-1 mediates control of meiotic double-strand break activity

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Heyun Guo
   2. Ericca L Stamper
   3. Aya Sato-Carlton
   4. Masa A Shimazoe
   5. Xuan Li
   6. Liangyu Zhang
   7. Lewis Stevens
   8. KC Jacky Tam
   9. Abby F Dernburg
   10. Peter M Carlton

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     The connection between double-strand break (DSB) formation and chromosome pairing/synapsis during meiosis is not fully understood. In this paper, the authors show that the formation of DSBs is regulated by the DNA damage response (DDR) machinery. The paper will be of interest to the broad meiosis and DDR communities. While the main conclusions of the manuscript appear to be well-supported by the data, some gaps are present and the manuscript would therefore benefit from additional (mostly minor) changes.

     (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. Fam49b dampens TCR signal strength to regulate survival of positively selected thymocytes and peripheral T cells

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Chan-Su Park
   2. Jian Guan
   3. Peter Rhee
   4. Federico Gonzalez
   5. Hee-sung Lee
   6. Ji-hyun Park
   7. Laurent Coscoy
   8. Ellen A Robey
   9. Nilabh Shastri
   10. Scheherazade Sadegh-Nasseri

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     The Family with sequence similarity 49 member B (Fam49b) protein is a newly discovered negative regulator of TCR signaling that has been shown to suppress Rac-1 activity in cultured T cell lines. In this study, the authors investigate the role of Fam49a and Fam49b in T cell development. The phenotype of mice lacking Fam49b mice suggests that it may be due to increased negative selection. The experiments are well performed and the results are convincing. Including data from TCR transgenic mice will solidify the view of the authors and greatly improve the impact of the manuscript.

     (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. Rate-limiting transport of positively charged arginine residues through the Sec-machinery is integral to the mechanism of protein secretion

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. William J Allen
   2. Robin A Corey
   3. Daniel W Watkins
   4. A Sofia F Oliveira
   5. Kiel Hards
   6. Gregory M Cook
   7. Ian Collinson

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     Here, using a novel bioluminescence-based assay, authors dissect the sequence features of client proteins that influence SecA/SecYEG-mediated protein translocation across the bacterial inner membranes. Combined with rigorous kinetic modeling, this study pushes the description of this important cellular pathway towards a highly detailed level, which will potentially advance our understanding of ATP-driven protein secretion mechanisms in bacteria. The main conclusions are well supported, and the paper will be interesting to both those in the field of protein transport and to a broader audience.

     (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

8. Structure of the mitoribosomal small subunit with streptomycin reveals Fe-S clusters and physiological molecules

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Yuzuru Itoh
   2. Vivek Singh
   3. Anas Khawaja
   4. Andreas Naschberger
   5. Minh Duc Nguyen
   6. Joanna Rorbach
   7. Alexey Amunts

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     As a consequence of the bacterial origin of mitochondria, a range of medically relevant antimicrobials can affect not only bacteria but also human cells. For example, they may inhibit mitochondrial protein synthesis, giving rise to important side-effects during medical treatment, such as hearing loss or renal toxicity in patients treated with aminoglycosides. In this manuscript, the authors present the structure of the human mitochondrial small ribosomal subunit bound to one such antibiotics, streptomycin. This cryoEM-based structural analysis will be of interest to scientists in the infectious disease community as well as those interested in ribosome structural biology. It provides an important advance that could aid future medicinal chemistry efforts to improve the therapeutic potential of streptomycin derivatives.

     (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. Single-cell transcriptome reveals insights into the development and function of the zebrafish ovary

   This article has 12 authors:

   1. Yulong Liu
   2. Michelle E Kossack
   3. Matthew E McFaul
   4. Lana N Christensen
   5. Stefan Siebert
   6. Sydney R Wyatt
   7. Caramai N Kamei
   8. Samuel Horst
   9. Nayeli Arroyo
   10. Iain A Drummond
   11. Celina E Juliano
   12. Bruce W Draper

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This single cell transcriptomic analysis of young adult zebrafish ovaries provides important new data to understand gene expression patterns in numerous ovarian cell types that lead to insights into how ovary development works, and most of the principles will likely apply across vertebrates. The work will interest researchers who study gonad development, sex determination, differences (or 'disorders') in sex development, and impacts of the environment (including toxic pollutants) on gonad development and function.

     (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. Broad-scale variation in human genetic diversity levels is predicted by purifying selection on coding and non-coding elements

    This article has 4 authors:

    1. David A Murphy
    2. Eyal Elyashiv
    3. Guy Amster
    4. Guy Sella

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      Evaluation Summary:

      This paper uses state-of-the-art methods and the latest data to answer the question of whether variation in polymorphism levels along the human genome is mostly driven by linked purifying selection or selective sweeps. It makes a very strong case for the former. The paper is exceptionally well written, and should be of interest to anyone wishing to understand patterns of polymorphism.

      (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