eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Circadian regulation of vertebrate cone photoreceptor function

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Jingjing Zang
   2. Matthias Gesemann
   3. Jennifer Keim
   4. Marijana Samardzija
   5. Christian Grimm
   6. Stephan CF Neuhauss

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     Light and light perception are important factors that modulate several aspects of behavior and physiology in all animals, including humans. More specifically, the paper examines circadian cycling of phototransduction regulators in diurnal zebrafish and nocturnal mice, and links them to function at the level of ERGs. Interestingly, the transcriptional cycling is shifted between zebrafish and mice. This work is of relevance to vision researchers, but also of interest to a broader audience of behavioral (neuro)scientists and chronobiologists.

     (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 names with the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Loss of N1-methylation of G37 in tRNA induces ribosome stalling and reprograms gene expression

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Isao Masuda
   2. Jae-Yeon Hwang
   3. Thomas Christian
   4. Sunita Maharjan
   5. Fuad Mohammad
   6. Howard Gamper
   7. Allen R Buskirk
   8. Ya-Ming Hou

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This manuscript provides evidence that loss of N1-methylation of G37 of tRNAs in bacteria on depletion of TrmD results in defects in aminoacylation and peptidyl-transfer, leading to ribosome stalling and phenotypes indicating activation of the stringent response.

     (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. Aorta smooth muscle-on-a-chip reveals impaired mitochondrial dynamics as a therapeutic target for aortic aneurysm in bicuspid aortic valve disease

   This article has 18 authors:

   1. Mieradilijiang Abudupataer
   2. Shichao Zhu
   3. Shiqiang Yan
   4. Kehua Xu
   5. Jingjing Zhang
   6. Shaman Luo
   7. Wenrui Ma
   8. Md Fazle Alam
   9. Yuyi Tang
   10. Hui Huang
   11. Nan Chen
   12. Li Wang
   13. Guoquan Yan
   14. Jun Li
   15. Hao Lai
   16. Chunsheng Wang
   17. Kai Zhu
   18. Weijia Zhang

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     The authors developed an aorta-on-a-chip system to investigate the potential mechanism of Bicuspid Aortic Valve-Thoracic Aortic Aneurysm, BAV-TAA, and to test candidate pharmacologic agents. This study is of broad interest to readers in the field of lab-on-a-chip, biomedicine, biomaterials, etc. However, some important details regarding the development of the model are missing, as are some control data. The authors need to discuss the limitations of this model, such as the inability of their on-a-chip model to recapitulate aortic changes associated with complex pathologic processes such as ECM degradation, inflammation, etc, and discuss the importance of follow-up studies in in vivo models.

     (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. Fibrinogen αC-subregions critically contribute blood clot fibre growth, mechanical stability, and resistance to fibrinolysis

   This article has 13 authors:

   1. Helen R McPherson
   2. Cedric Duval
   3. Stephen R Baker
   4. Matthew S Hindle
   5. Lih T Cheah
   6. Nathan L Asquith
   7. Marco M Domingues
   8. Victoria C Ridger
   9. Simon DA Connell
   10. Khalid M Naseem
   11. Helen Philippou
   12. Ramzi A Ajjan
   13. Robert AS Ariëns

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This paper is of interest to a broad audience in the blood coagulation and fibrinolysis field. Previously undescribed roles in a range of blood clot properties are attributed to a region of the clotting protein fibrinogen, using state-of-the-art methodology. The data support the main conclusions of the paper, open new avenues of investigation for understanding clot properties, and have clinical implications.

     (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

5. Functional independence of endogenous μ- and δ-opioid receptors co-expressed in cholinergic interneurons

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Seksiri Arttamangkul
   2. Emily J Platt
   3. James Carroll
   4. David Farrens

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This study is significant because it addresses a debated question in the field about whether different opioid receptor subtypes expressed in the same cells must function as a unit or function independently. Here the authors show that while mu and delta opioid receptors each signals in a similar manner in response to specific treatments, their interactions are largely independent of one another in modulating the firing and regulation by desensitization and internalization mechanisms in striatal cholinergic interneurons.

     (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

6. Principles of RNA recruitment to viral ribonucleoprotein condensates in a segmented dsRNA virus

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Sebastian Strauss
   2. Julia Acker
   3. Guido Papa
   4. Daniel Desirò
   5. Florian Schueder
   6. Alexander Borodavka
   7. Ralf Jungmann

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This study will be of interest to virologists and those working on RNA-protein particles. Strauss and colleagues studied the mechanism of RNA recruitment to ribonucleoprotein condensates using rotavirus. Using multiplexed DNA-barcorded smFISH and DNA-PAINT for direct visualization of the RNP condensates in cells, they observe the early onset of viral transcript oligomerization before the formation of viroplasms and the process of enrichment in RNP condensates. They were able to image all eleven transcripts in an RNP condensate and to quantify the amounts of these transcripts. Based on these findings, the authors suggest a selective RNA enrichment mechanism of rotavirus. The experiments are nicely executed, with good controls.

     (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. Quantifying chromosomal instability from intratumoral karyotype diversity using agent-based modeling and Bayesian inference

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Andrew R Lynch
   2. Nicholas L Arp
   3. Amber S Zhou
   4. Beth A Weaver
   5. Mark E Burkard

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This study seeks to develop a mathematical framework for estimating rates of chromosome missegregation based on known chromosomal properties and observed aneuploidy rates. A derived model is validated using live-cell imaging before being applied to several previously-described datasets from tumors and organoids. The subject matter is of high interest to aneuploidy and genome evolution researchers.

     (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. First-principles model of optimal translation factors stoichiometry

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Jean-Benoît Lalanne
   2. Gene-Wei Li

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This paper presents a theoretical analysis of the abundance of components of the translation machinery (ribosomes, initiation, elongation and release factors, tRNA synthetases) in bacteria. These proteins make up a large fraction of the total proteome and their abundance is closely linked to cell growth. That the stoichiometry of the different components is adjusted such as to maximize the growth rate has been postulated a long time ago, but was so far only studied in detail for ribosomes and EF-Tu, the most abundant elongation factor. Here, the authors extend these earlier works to an unprecedented level of detail and provide a complete analysis based on this idea and derive the optimal stoichiometry for all these factor, which they find to be in good agreement with the observed abundance in different bacteria. This provides new evidence supporting the idea of proteome optimization for maximal growth.

     (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 names with the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Acquisition of cellular properties during alveolar formation requires differential activity and distribution of mitochondria

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Kuan Zhang
   2. Erica Yao
   3. Biao Chen
   4. Ethan Chuang
   5. Julia Wong
   6. Robert I Seed
   7. Stephen L Nishimura
   8. Paul J Wolters
   9. Pao-Tien Chuang

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This paper explores the under-investigated role of mitochondrial activity and subcellular distribution for alveolar formation by using a variety of transgenic mouse models to delete two specific mitochondrial proteins. The data suggest a new concept for mitochondrial dysfunction driving lung injury and potentially human disease. With some further evidence to support the potential cell-specific role for the observed outcomes and additional mitochondrial assessment, this paper will be of interest to a large group of scientists interested in mitochondrial metabolism in general as well as lung development and disease in particular.

     (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. Evolutionary transcriptomics implicates new genes and pathways in human pregnancy and adverse pregnancy outcomes

    This article has 6 authors:

    1. Katelyn Mika
    2. Mirna Marinić
    3. Manvendra Singh
    4. Joanne Muter
    5. Jan Joris Brosens
    6. Vincent J Lynch

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      Evaluation Summary:

      The study by Mika and colleagues uses a comparative transcriptomics approach to identify changes in the expression of genes that specifically occurred during the evolution of the human endometrium. The authors find that hundreds of genes gained or lost endometrial expression in the human lineage and that several of these genes are potentially implicated in the pathophysiology of human pregnancy. The study contributes to ongoing interest in the effect of human evolution on the pathophysiology of human pregnancy, and has the potential to serve as a model of how to study the evolution of pregnancy-associated genomic changes in particular species and tissues.

      (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