eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Connexins evolved after early chordates lost innexin diversity

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Georg Welzel
   2. Stefan Schuster

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This paper addresses the question of why invertebrates use innexins and vertebrates connexins to form gap junctions. The authors survey genomic data across animal diversity to search for innexins and connexins and analyse the distribution of glycosylation sites in the extracellular loops of these proteins. The reported data support the hypothesis that connexins replaced innexins in chordate gap junctions due to an evolutionary bottle neck. Overall, the data were properly analyzed, but could be improved with respect to the sequence data for some phyla and the discussion from the results obtained.

     (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. Th2 single-cell heterogeneity and clonal distribution at distant sites in helminth-infected mice

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Daniel Radtke
   2. Natalie Thuma
   3. Christine Schülein
   4. Philipp Kirchner
   5. Arif B Ekici
   6. Kilian Schober
   7. David Voehringer

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     A well written and informative study that uses scRNA-seq to examine Th2 biology in worm infections. It offers a unique angle for better defining Th2 heterogeneity and differentiation in vivo.

     (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

3. The Mutationathon highlights the importance of reaching standardization in estimates of pedigree-based germline mutation rates

   This article has 20 authors:

   1. Lucie A Bergeron
   2. Søren Besenbacher
   3. Tychele Turner
   4. Cyril J Versoza
   5. Richard J Wang
   6. Alivia Lee Price
   7. Ellie Armstrong
   8. Meritxell Riera
   9. Jedidiah Carlson
   10. Hwei-yen Chen
   11. Matthew W Hahn
   12. Kelley Harris
   13. April Snøfrid Kleppe
   14. Elora H López-Nandam
   15. Priya Moorjani
   16. Susanne P Pfeifer
   17. George P Tiley
   18. Anne D Yoder
   19. Guojie Zhang
   20. Mikkel H Schierup

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     Bergeron et al show that mutation rate independently estimated by several teams with a same pedigree dataset can be different due the methods and approaches used to identify de novo mutations. This result is of primary importance because it shows the necessity to have standard mutation identification method and the difficulties to compare mutation rates from different studies.

     (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

4. ACE2 is the critical in vivo receptor for SARS-CoV-2 in a novel COVID-19 mouse model with TNF- and IFNγ-driven immunopathology

   This article has 24 authors:

   1. Riem Gawish
   2. Philipp Starkl
   3. Lisabeth Pimenov
   4. Anastasiya Hladik
   5. Karin Lakovits
   6. Felicitas Oberndorfer
   7. Shane JF Cronin
   8. Anna Ohradanova-Repic
   9. Gerald Wirnsberger
   10. Benedikt Agerer
   11. Lukas Endler
   12. Tümay Capraz
   13. Jan W Perthold
   14. Domagoj Cikes
   15. Rubina Koglgruber
   16. Astrid Hagelkruys
   17. Nuria Montserrat
   18. Ali Mirazimi
   19. Louis Boon
   20. Hannes Stockinger
   21. Andreas Bergthaler
   22. Chris Oostenbrink
   23. Josef M Penninger
   24. Sylvia Knapp

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     To establish a mouse model for the SARS-CoV-2 infection, Gawish and colleagues performed serial passage of a human virus isolate in mice. They show that the mouse-adapted SARS-CoV-2 variant remains dependent on ACE2 for efficient infection and recapitulates some clinical characteristics of COVID-19. In addition, they demonstrate that inhalation of recombinant ACE2 protected mice from mouse COVID-19 suggesting this this model will be useful for the testing of antiviral agents.

     (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

5. Identification of electroporation sites in the complex lipid organization of the plasma membrane

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Lea Rems
   2. Xinru Tang
   3. Fangwei Zhao
   4. Sergio Pérez-Conesa
   5. Ilaria Testa
   6. Lucie Delemotte

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     Using coarse-grained simulations, machine learning analysis and Bayesian inference modeling, the authors explored features that dictate the location and kinetics of electroporation in complex lipid membranes. The resulting understanding and modeling will lead to an effective multi-scale approach for predicting the kinetics of electroporation and guiding the design of experimental protocols for inducing electroporation in broad applications such as tumor treatment, gene therapy and vaccination against cancer.

     (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

6. Cavefish cope with environmental hypoxia by developing more erythrocytes and overexpression of hypoxia-inducible genes

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Corine M van der Weele
   2. William R Jeffery

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This article provides insight into how Astyanax mexicanus cavefish may have adapted to the hypoxic waters present in the cave environment. How the extreme environmental pressure of low oxygen has shaped cavefish evolution has been understudied compared to other pressures like absence of light or low nutrients. This is the first study to look for changes in early cavefish development that may provide hypoxia tolerance. The claims that cavefish have expanded erythrocyte development and increased hypoxia gene expression are strongly supported by the data. Demonstrating that these traits are adaptive and provide hypoxia tolerance requires further assessment of the current results and would be strengthened by additional experiments. Overall, this work is an important first step in understanding the evolution of hypoxia tolerance in A. mexicanus cavefish.

     (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 names with the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Single-cell profiling reveals periventricular CD56bright NK cell accumulation in multiple sclerosis

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Sabela Rodríguez-Lorenzo
   2. Lynn van Olst
   3. Carla Rodriguez-Mogeda
   4. Alwin Kamermans
   5. Susanne MA van der Pol
   6. Ernesto Rodríguez
   7. Gijs Kooij
   8. Helga E de Vries

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This is a well-written, well-illustrated and well-conducted study of the immune cell landscape of multiple sclerosis (MS) tissue, with a particular focus on the periventricular region (septum) and choroid plexus, using single cell mass cytometry (CyTOF). Overall the work is an impressive analysis of an understudied cell-type in MS, and represents an important resource. It will be important to follow up to establish how representative the findings are given the heterogeneity of the disease and the limited population studied here.

     (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. Regulation of ERK2 activity by dynamic S-acylation

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Saara-Anne Azizi
   2. Tian Qiu
   3. Noah E. Brookes
   4. Bryan C. Dickinson

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This manuscript describes the regulation of ERK1/2, two protein kinases that play important roles in cell signaling, by protein cysteine palmitoylation. The intriguing observations reported here could be of broad interest to colleagues in the field of cell signaling and protein post-translational modifications. Mechanistic understanding is, however, still limited and the work would benefit from additional experimental evidence.

     (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

9. History-dependent physiological adaptation to lethal genetic modification under antibiotic exposure

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Yuta Koganezawa
   2. Miki Umetani
   3. Moritoshi Sato
   4. Yuichi Wakamoto

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This paper presents results showing the temporal relationships between deletion of a resistance gene, introduction of antibiotic, and cell growth that are intriguing and novel. It will be of interest to researchers studying heterogeneity in antibiotic tolerance and the origins of drug resistance.

     (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. Dorsal striatum coding for the timely execution of action sequences

    This article has 5 authors:

    1. Maria Cecilia Martinez
    2. Camila Lidia Zold
    3. Marcos Antonio Coletti
    4. Mario Gustavo Murer
    5. Mariano Andrés Belluscio

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      Evaluation Summary:

      This manuscript investigates an important topic related to the initiation signals of actions sequences detected in the dorsal striatum. The authors conduct an ambitious set of experiments to study how neural activity in the dorsal striatum relates to the ability to wait for a reward. The study nicely bridges research on striatum's roles in reward-seeking actions and in time processing. Interesting activity patterns are detected that suggest a relationship to the premature versus the timely release of actions. These observations are potentially interesting, in particular, the possible difference between adult and adolescent rats. The functional significance of these activity patterns remain to be examined.

      (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