eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Quantitative mapping of keratin networks in 3D

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Reinhard Windoffer
   2. Nicole Schwarz
   3. Sungjun Yoon
   4. Teodora Piskova
   5. Michael Scholkemper
   6. Johannes Stegmaier
   7. Andrea Bönsch
   8. Jacopo Di Russo
   9. Rudolf E Leube

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     Windoffer et al. developed an image processing platform to quantify the 3D network of keratin filaments. The concept of this approach is based on 3D visualization of fluorescently labeled proteins using confocal scanning microscopy. The major advantage of this approach is that after initial segmentation of the network, filaments are divided into pieces for detailed analyses in silico. This approach allows for quantification of the segmented polymer and compute some of the network properties of the keratin filaments in cells, in cultured cells ex vivo and specific cell types in situ. Additionally, this approach allows nice visualization of the keratin network in 3D. The resulting contribution is original, provides insight at both a methodological and biological levels, and extends emerging information about the high resolution structure of intermediate filaments in situ using cryoelectron tomography.

     (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. Reviewer #1 and Reviewer #3 opted to remain anonymous to the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Distinct roles for two Caenorhabditis elegans acid-sensing ion channels in an ultradian clock

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Eva Kaulich
   2. Trae Carroll
   3. Brian D Ackley
   4. Yi-Quan Tang
   5. Iris Hardege
   6. Keith Nehrke
   7. William R Schafer
   8. Denise S Walker

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This study investigates the role of acid sensing channels in pH homeostasis required for normal rhythmic muscle contractions in the defecation cycle of C .elegans. It is of importance to scientists with interest in ASIC channel function, pH homeostasis and the cellular mechanisms underlying generation of ultradian rhythms.

     (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. Correlation between leukocyte phenotypes and prognosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Can Cui
   2. Caroline Ingre
   3. Li Yin
   4. Xia Li
   5. John Andersson
   6. Christina Seitz
   7. Nicolas Ruffin
   8. Yudi Pawitan
   9. Fredrik Piehl
   10. Fang Fang

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     Cui et al. colleagues carried out a longitudinal analysis of blood cell counts in a cohort of patients with ALS patients. They found increased numbers of neutrophils and monocytes that negatively correlated with ALSFRS-R score, but not with rate of disease progression. In addition, increased levels in NK and central memory TH2 T cells correlated with a lower risk of death, while increased levels of CD4 CD45RA effector memory and CD8 T cells were correlated with a higher risk of death. These findings have broad implications for ALS pathogenesis and the development of immune-based ALS therapies tailored to specific immune cell populations.

     (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. A new early branching armored dinosaur from the Lower Jurassic of southwestern China

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Xi Yao
   2. Paul M Barrett
   3. Lei Yang
   4. Xing Xu
   5. Shundong Bi

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This paper reports a new species of armored dinosaur from rocks in southwestern China dated to the beginning of the Jurassic Period. This represents the first valid species of armored dinosaur from the Early Jurassic in Asia, as although the presence of armored dinosaurs in Asia has been documented for decades based on isolated jaw bones referred to Thyreophora-the group of armored dinosaurs-none that material was complete enough for diagnosis to a known or new species. This new specimen demonstrates the rapid diversification and distribution of armored dinosaurs across the northern hemisphere early in their evolutionary history.

     (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

5. Proton export drives the Warburg Effect

   This article has 15 authors:

   1. Shonagh Russell
   2. Liping Xu
   3. Yoonseok Kam
   4. Dominique Abrahams
   5. Daniel Verduzco
   6. Joseph Johnson
   7. Tamir Epstein
   8. Epifanio Ruiz
   9. Mark C. Lloyd
   10. Jonathan Wojtkowiak
   11. Alex S. Lopez
   12. Marilyn M. Bui
   13. Robert J. Gillies
   14. Pawel Swietach
   15. Bryce Ordway

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This manuscript addresses a phenomenon of great interest to researchers in cell metabolism and cancer biology: namely, why do cancer cells often secrete high levels of lactate, despite the presence of abundant oxygen to power nutrient oxidation (Warburg effect). The authors propose that lactate export and subsequent extracellular acidification provides a selective advantage and the concomitant rise in intracellular pH is sufficient to drive flux through glycolysis, thereby sustaining the Warburg effect. This is an intriguing hypothesis that ties together many published observations, but it would require further support both from the technical and conceptual side.

     (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. Late-life fitness gains and reproductive death in Cardiocondyla obscurior ants

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Luisa Maria Jaimes-Nino
   2. Jürgen Heinze
   3. Jan Oettler

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     Evolution of ageing remains only partially understood, and this research will be of interest to evolutionary biologists, entomologists, or anyone intrigued by senescence. The authors focus on following a large number of ant (C. obscurior) colonies and provide intriguing data in relation to age-specific mortality and reproduction. The gist of their argument is that the mortality is decreasing with age while reproduction (production of sexuals) is increasing with age, such that there is little evidence of ageing in this species. The experimental design is elegant and the data collection thorough, providing insight into the rarely observed final stages of an ant colonies life. The analyses are mostly sound, but the conclusions would benefit from a broader exploration of the structure and constraints inherent to ant societies.

     (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. Mars, a molecule archive suite for reproducible analysis and reporting of single-molecule properties from bioimages

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Nadia M Huisjes
   2. Thomas M Retzer
   3. Matthias J Scherr
   4. Rohit Agarwal
   5. Lional Rajappa
   6. Barbara Safaric
   7. Anita Minnen
   8. Karl E Duderstadt

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This manuscript reports an open-source platform for the storage and processing of single-molecule, camera-based, imaging data. This platform would facilitate data sharing and reproducibility and would be of great interest to practitioners of single-molecule imaging experiments, both experienced and new to the field. Although the platform requires a bit more testing, troubleshooting, and documenting, it represents significant and important steps towards unifying and standardizing how the field stores and processes data and towards expanding the base of researchers who can easily employ single-molecule imaging methods.

     (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

8. Novel protein markers of androgen activity in humans: proteomic study of plasma from young chemically castrated men

   This article has 11 authors:

   1. Aleksander Giwercman
   2. K Barbara Sahlin
   3. Indira Pla Parada
   4. Krzysztof Pawlowski
   5. Carl Fehninger
   6. Yvonne Lundberg Giwercman
   7. Irene Leijonhufvud
   8. Roger Appelqvist
   9. György Marko-Varga
   10. Aniel Sanchez
   11. Johan Malm

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This manuscript addresses the important topic of how changes in gonadal testosterone relate to alterations in gonadal physiology. An important aspect of gonadal testosterone is that it can be an imperfect measure of symptoms related to testosterone deficiency. Therefore, biomarkers that are reflective of testosterone physiology might enable us to more deeply understand the connections between testosterone concentrations and eu- and hypogonadism. The authors performed a proteomic analysis in blood from 30 healthy males at baseline, treated with medical castration and again with testosterone replacement. Associated proteins identified using an unbiased approach were studied further in an independent cohort of 75 hypogonadal and eugonadal men with infertility. Overall, the authors found that 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase, insulin-like growth factor-binding protein 6 and fructose-bisphosphate aldolase are candidate circulating protein biomarkers. This body of work is certainly novel and should be of interest to the field in hormonal regulation and physiology.

     (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

9. Parallel evolution of Pseudomonas aeruginosa phage resistance and virulence loss in response to phage treatment in vivo and in vitro

   This article has 11 authors:

   1. Meaghan Castledine
   2. Daniel Padfield
   3. Pawel Sierocinski
   4. Jesica Soria Pascual
   5. Adam Hughes
   6. Lotta Mäkinen
   7. Ville-Petri Friman
   8. Jean-Paul Pirnay
   9. Maya Merabishvili
   10. Daniel de Vos
   11. Angus Buckling

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     With the increased interest in phage therapy to treat antibiotic resistant infections, there are questions about the ease at which bacteria evolve phage resistance. To examine this, Castledine et al. cultured a set of bacterial isolates from a patient pre- and during phage therapy and also experimentally evolved a mixture of the bacterial isolates from the patient in the absence or presence of phage in vitro. Overall, the authors observed similarities between the evolutionary outcomes (genomic and phenotypic) in the patient and in vitro.

     (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. Life history predicts global population responses to the weather in terrestrial mammals

    This article has 3 authors:

    1. John Jackson
    2. Christie Le Coeur
    3. Owen Jones

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      Evaluation Summary:

      In this manuscript, the authors use long-term population records for 157 mammal species to investigate how populations respond to annual weather anomalies, whether the responses are explained by species' life-history traits, and whether responses vary among species and biomes. They find that populations of shorter-lived species that have larger litter sizes respond more to weather anomalies than longer-lived species with smaller litter sizes. Their results can help understand and predict how different species may respond to climate change, and ultimately, what makes species more sensitive to climate change.

      (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