eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Evolution of binding preferences among whole-genome duplicated transcription factors

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Tamar Gera
   2. Felix Jonas
   3. Roye More
   4. Naama Barkai

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     The authors applied original approaches to explore the evolution of transcription factors following duplication and subsequent divergence among duplicates. This paper should generate broad interest among evolutionary biologists as it addresses the long-standing question of how newly evolved transcription factors acquire new binding specificity. By combining genome editing with high-precision DNA binding profiling, this study provides extensive in vivo data showing how the binding profiles of transcription factor paralog pairs diverge.

     (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

2. Structural basis for cytoplasmic dynein-1 regulation by Lis1

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. John P Gillies
   2. Janice M Reimer
   3. Eva P Karasmanis
   4. Indrajit Lahiri
   5. Zaw Min Htet
   6. Andres E Leschziner
   7. Samara L Reck-Peterson

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     LIS1 is a key regulator of the microtubule motor cytoplasmic dynein. Here the authors use yeast proteins and streptavidin-coated grids to solve the first high-resolution (3.1Å) structure of the dynein-Lis1 complex. The two beta-propellors in a Lis1 dimer make contact with different sites on a single dynein motor domain. Mutagenesis shows both sites are important for yeast and human dynein and uncover how they modulate motor 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 #1, Reviewer #2 and Reviewer #3 agreed to share their names with the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Systematic investigation of the link between enzyme catalysis and cold adaptation

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Catherine Stark
   2. Teanna Bautista-Leung
   3. Joanna Siegfried
   4. Daniel Herschlag

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     Are enzymes found in organisms that optimally grow at colder temperatures are more active than the same enzymes found in organisms that optimally grow at warmer temperatures? Here, an assessment of the catalytic constants for approximately 2200 enzymes (obtained from the BRENDA database) showed no correlation between the relative catalytic activity and the optimum growth temperature. Further support for this conclusion was obtained from the measurement of the catalytic constant from a selection of ketosteroid isomerases from organisms that optimally grow between 15 and 46 degrees centigrade. These are interesting results, although the significance with respect to earlier studies has not been clearly explained.

     (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. Genomic epidemiology of the first two waves of SARS-CoV-2 in Canada

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Angela McLaughlin
   2. Vincent Montoya
   3. Rachel L Miller
   4. Gideon J Mordecai
   5. Canadian COVID-19 Genomics Network (CanCOGen) Consortium
   6. Michael Worobey
   7. Art FY Poon
   8. Jeffrey B Joy

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This study measures the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 lineages in Canada and the rate at which lineages were imported into Canada from other countries during the first year of the pandemic. This information is critical for understanding basic SARS-CoV-2 evolution and epidemiology, but the impacts of sampling biases in space and time might weaken the conclusions.

     (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, ScreenIT

5. Sampling motion trajectories during hippocampal theta sequences

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Balazs B Ujfalussy
   2. Gergő Orbán

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This paper will be of interest to neuroscientists interested in predictive coding and planning. It presents a novel analysis of hippocampal place cells during exploration of an open arena. It performs a comprehensive comparison of real and synthetic data to determine which encoding model best explains population activity in the hippocampus.

     (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. Monkey plays Pac-Man with compositional strategies and hierarchical decision-making

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Qianli Yang
   2. Zhongqiao Lin
   3. Wenyi Zhang
   4. Jianshu Li
   5. Xiyuan Chen
   6. Jiaqi Zhang
   7. Tianming Yang

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This report presents findings of broad interest to behavioral, systems, and cognitive neuroscientists. The combination of a complex behavioral paradigm and sophisticated modeling provides significant insight and a novel approach to studying higher cognition in primates. Key clarifications are needed that have to do with better justification for the modeling strategy, selective comparisons within the data, and a more thorough consideration that subjects may employ a more passive strategy.

     (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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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