eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Innate lymphoid cells and COVID-19 severity in SARS-CoV-2 infection

   This article has 18 authors:

   1. Noah J Silverstein
   2. Yetao Wang
   3. Zachary Manickas-Hill
   4. Claudia Carbone
   5. Ann Dauphin
   6. Brittany P Boribong
   7. Maggie Loiselle
   8. Jameson Davis
   9. Maureen M Leonard
   10. Leticia Kuri-Cervantes
   11. MGH COVID-19 Collection & Processing Team
   12. Nuala J Meyer
   13. Michael R Betts
   14. Jonathan Z Li
   15. Bruce D Walker
   16. Xu G Yu
   17. Lael M Yonker
   18. Jeremy Luban

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     The authors present an interesting approach of COVID-19 pathogenesis with emphasis on the role of innate lymphoid cells as a major correlate of the severity of COVID-19 and of the levels of inflammatory markers. The main strength of the manuscript is the novelty of approach, and the fact that the authors are the first to find this potentially interesting correlation, which brings up a number of both translational and mechanistic possibilities of significance. The limitation, of course, is the difficulty in showing a cause-and-effect relationship between the reduction in of innate lymphoid cells and the severity of COVID-19 inflammation.

     (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, ScreenIT

2. COVID-19 cluster size and transmission rates in schools from crowdsourced case reports

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Paul Tupper
   2. Shraddha Pai
   3. COVID Schools Canada
   4. Caroline Colijn

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This paper is the first to characterize overdispersion of COVID-19 spread in schools using crowdsourcing . It has the potential to serve as a useful platform for assessing preventative measures in schools but needs more clarity regarding the sensitivity of the approach to the completeness of input data, as evidence by different model conclusions when sparse data from the US is used as an input as opposed to the more detailed Canadian 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 #1 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife, ScreenIT

3. Effector membrane translocation biosensors reveal G protein and βarrestin coupling profiles of 100 therapeutically relevant GPCRs

   This article has 20 authors:

   1. Charlotte Avet
   2. Arturo Mancini
   3. Billy Breton
   4. Christian Le Gouill
   5. Alexander S Hauser
   6. Claire Normand
   7. Hiroyuki Kobayashi
   8. Florence Gross
   9. Mireille Hogue
   10. Viktoriya Lukasheva
   11. Stéphane St-Onge
   12. Marilyn Carrier
   13. Madeleine Héroux
   14. Sandra Morissette
   15. Eric B Fauman
   16. Jean-Philippe Fortin
   17. Stephan Schann
   18. Xavier Leroy
   19. David E Gloriam
   20. Michel Bouvier

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     A challenge to understanding the physiology and therapeutic potential of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) is to understand the range of their couplings to different G proteins. Avet et al developed of a novel set of biosensors to assess the coupling specificity of 100 therapeutically relevant G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) to various G protein isoforms and arrestins. The novel screen and results obtained with reference ligands will have broad use for researchers studying GPCRs, potentially impacting discovery of new physiological pathways, understanding adverse effects of currently marketed therapeutics, and discovery of novel, safer therapeutics.

     (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. Structures of PKA–phospholamban complexes reveal a mechanism of familial dilated cardiomyopathy

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Juan Qin
   2. Jingfeng Zhang
   3. Lianyun Lin
   4. Omid Haji-Ghassemi
   5. Zhi Lin
   6. Kenneth J Woycechowsky
   7. Filip Van Petegem
   8. Yan Zhang
   9. Zhiguang Yuchi

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     Protein kinase A phosphorylation of phospholamban (PLN) is part of the "fight or flight" response, which ultimately increases the force of cardiac contraction. Mutations in PLN have been linked to familial dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). Crystal structures of wild-type and mutant PLN in complex with the PKA catalytic domain provide insights into both the nature of the complex, and potential mechanisms by which DCM mutations may cause disease. This paper is of interest to scientists interested in the mechanism of substrate recruitment by protein kinases, and particularly those who have an interest in understanding the mechanism of mutations associated with dilated cardiomyopathy.

     (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

5. Dysregulated heparan sulfate proteoglycan metabolism promotes Ewing sarcoma tumor growth

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Elena Vasileva
   2. Mikako Warren
   3. Timothy J Triche
   4. James F Amatruda

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This manuscript describes a model of Ewing sarcoma , which represents an improvement upon previous zebrafish sarcoma models and the data suggest that the methods employed yield tumours that resemble human disease. This new model may be used to better understand sarcoma progression so that new therapeutic targets may be realised.

     (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. Common coupling map advances GPCR-G protein selectivity

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Alexander S Hauser
   2. Charlotte Avet
   3. Claire Normand
   4. Arturo Mancini
   5. Asuka Inoue
   6. Michel Bouvier
   7. David E Gloriam

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This study is a meta-analysis of previously reported studies on G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) coupling to G proteins. Three separate data sets that describe the coupling of members of the superfamily of non-sensory GPCRs (~200 genes) to the large family of G protein alpha subunits (~20 genes). The authors try to arrive at a consensus for receptor-G protein coupling from the three data sets, as well as identify and highlight differences or incongruencies. Compiling these vast data sets into a unified format will be extremely useful for investigators to understand receptor and effector relationships. The meta-analysis will help to deconvolute the complex physiology and pharmacology underlying hormone or drug actions acting on receptor superfamilies.

     (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. Stability and asynchrony of local communities but less so diversity increase regional stability of Inner Mongolian grassland

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Yonghui Wang
   2. Shaopeng Wang
   3. Liqing Zhao
   4. Cunzhu Liang
   5. Bailing Miao
   6. Qing Zhang
   7. Xiaxia Niu
   8. Wenhong Ma
   9. Bernhard Schmid

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     Wang et al. adapt a new statistical framework for a multi-site multi-year data set to investigate the effects of environmental variables on the temporal stability of plant communities and biomass productivity in Chinese grassland communities. This new framework may well turn out to be one that the larger ecological and ecosystem academic communities, interested in temporal changes of ecological processes across large spatial scales, have been looking for.

     (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. Crosstalk between AML and stromal cells triggers acetate secretion through the metabolic rewiring of stromal cells

   This article has 19 authors:

   1. Nuria Vilaplana-Lopera
   2. Vincent Cuminetti
   3. Ruba Almaghrabi
   4. Grigorios Papatzikas
   5. Ashok Kumar Rout
   6. Mark Jeeves
   7. Elena González
   8. Yara Alyahyawi
   9. Alan Cunningham
   10. Ayşegül Erdem
   11. Frank Schnütgen
   12. Manoj Raghavan
   13. Sandeep Potluri
   14. Jean-Baptiste Cazier
   15. Jan Jacob Schuringa
   16. Michelle AC Reed
   17. Lorena Arranz
   18. Ulrich L Günther
   19. Paloma Garcia

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     The authors demonstrate a molecular mechanism responsible for the rewiring of stroma cells that makes them supportive of acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) cells. Understanding metabolic interactions between leukaemia cells and the bone marrow microenvironment may provide new targets for leukaemia treatments. It has already been shown that the inhibition of gap junctions reduces AML growth in vivo, and here the authors provide evidence for a potential mechanism explaining that finding. The work will be very interesting for those working in the fields of hematopoiesis, leukemia (especially AML), cancer metabolism and cancer microenvironment.

     (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

9. Tension-driven multi-scale self-organisation in human iPSC-derived muscle fibers

   This article has 17 authors:

   1. Qiyan Mao
   2. Achyuth Acharya
   3. Alejandra Rodríguez-delaRosa
   4. Fabio Marchiano
   5. Benoit Dehapiot
   6. Ziad Al Tanoury
   7. Jyoti Rao
   8. Margarete Díaz-Cuadros
   9. Arian Mansur
   10. Erica Wagner
   11. Claire Chardes
   12. Vandana Gupta
   13. Pierre-François Lenne
   14. Bianca H Habermann
   15. Olivier Theodoly
   16. Olivier Pourquié
   17. Frank Schnorrer

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This manuscript describes pioneering work providing detailed description of iPS-derived muscle fiber differentiation in culture. It demonstrates that muscle fibers show self-organising capacities in vitro and form bundles with identified attachment points; this self-organisation generates internal tension within myofibers. Overall, this study suggests that tension drives sarcomerogenesis in multi fibrillar vertebrate muscles and will be of interest to researchers in the muscle field and also biophysicists interested in collective cell behaviour.

     (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. Noise in a Metabolic Pathway Leads to Persister Formation in Mycobacterium tuberculosis

    This article has 2 authors:

    1. Jeffrey Quigley
    2. Kim Lewis

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      Evaluation Summary:

      This manuscript is of interest to readers in the field of microbiology and antimicrobial resistance. It reports that genetically identical antibiotic-sensitive bacteria can escape killing upon exposure to an otherwise lethal concentration of antibiotics because they have a low ATP level. The authors further attempt to demonstrate that variation in the level of expression of some genes in energy-generating metabolic pathways allows for a wide range of ATP levels among the cells in a population, thus generating a subpopulation with low ATP levels that can survive antibiotic exposure.

      (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