eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Krüppel Regulates Cell Cycle Exit and Limits Adult Neurogenesis of Mushroom Body Neural Progenitors in Drosophila

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Dongni Shao Chen
   2. Jin Man
   3. Xian Shu
   4. Haoer Shi
   5. Xue Xia
   6. Yusanjiang Abula
   7. Yuu Kimata

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study provides important insights into the regulation of neuroblast lifespan and proliferation in the Drosophila mushroom body, identifying Krüppel (Kr) as a key transcription factor promoting timely termination of these neuroblasts by repressing Imp expression, and proposes an antagonistic role of Krüppel homolog 1 (Kr-h1), whose overexpression leads to prolonged mushroom body neuroblast proliferation and tumor-like expansion. The findings are impactful for researchers interested in temporal patterning and neural development, and the methods and data analysis are solid, however, the precise regulatory interactions between Kr and Kr-h1 and their modes of action remain incompletely tested. Further experiments would be required to fully elucidate the mechanistic interplay between the factors involved.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. The alternative oxidase reconfigures the larval mitochondrial electron transport system to accelerate growth and development in Drosophila melanogaster

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Geovana S Garcia
   2. Murilo F Othonicar
   3. Antonio Thiago P Campos
   4. Eric A Kilbourn
   5. Kênia C Bícego
   6. Johannes Lerchner
   7. Jason M Tennessen
   8. Marcos T Oliveira

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     The findings in this manuscript are important because they demonstrate the key role of metabolism in insect development. The data were collected and analyzed using solid and validated methodologies, but the evidence is incomplete, as the extent of the involvement of AOX activity in vivo and in physiological conditions is not addressed. This manuscript will be of interest for the fields of mitochondrial bioenergetics, metabolism and development.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. HoxB-derived hoxba and hoxbb clusters are essential for the anterior–posterior positioning of zebrafish pectoral fins

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Morimichi Kikuchi
   2. Renka Fujii
   3. Daiki Kobayashi
   4. Yuki Kawabe
   5. Haruna Kanno
   6. Sohju Toyama
   7. Farah Tawakkal
   8. Kazuya Yamada
   9. Akinori Kawamura

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study advances our understanding of vertebrate forelimb development, specifically the contribution of Hox genes to zebrafish pectoral fin formation. The authors have employed a robust and extensive genetic approach to tackle a key and unresolved question. The findings are overall convincing and will be of broad interest to developmental and evolutionary biologists.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Targeted protein degradation by KLHDC2 ligands identified by high-throughput screening

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Han Zhou
   2. Tonglian Zhou
   3. Wenli Yu
   4. Liping Liu
   5. Yeonjin Ko
   6. Kristen A Johnson
   7. Ian A Wilson
   8. Peter G Schultz
   9. Michael J Bollong

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study aims to advance the toolkit of small molecules used for approaches to targeted protein degradation for research and therapeutic applications. The authors provide solid data demonstrating the use of a high-throughput screen of small molecules to target a specific E3 ligase, KLHDC2 (Kelch-like homology domain containing protein 2); the resulting compounds then form the basis for new PROTAC (proteolysis targeting chimera) reagents. The strength of the work lies in expanding the PROTAC reagent inventory. The current work would be strengthened further by confirming that the PROTAC's activity is dependent on KLHDC2 and by a more thorough examination of off-target effects in cellular applications.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Ubiquitination-activated TAB–TAK1–IKK–NF-κB axis modulates gene expression for cell survival in the lysosomal damage response

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Akinori Endo
   2. Chikage Takahashi
   3. Naoko Ishibashi
   4. Yasumasa Nishito
   5. Koji Yamano
   6. Keiji Tanaka
   7. Yukiko Yoshida

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study presents the important finding that lysosomal damage triggers inflammatory signaling through ubiquitination and the TAB-TAK1-IKK-NF-kB axis. The data obtained from the unbiased transcriptomic and proteomic analyses are convincing and provide invaluable information to the field. Although further experiments will be required to clarify how TAB2/3 are recruited after various types of lysosome damage, this work will be of interest to researchers in the fields of organelle biology and inflammation.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Aggregation-Dependent Epitope Sequence and Modification Fingerprints of Anti-Aβ Antibodies

   This article has 15 authors:

   1. Ivan Talucci
   2. Timon Leske
   3. Hans-Wolfgang Klafki
   4. Mohammed Mehedi Hassan
   5. Annik Steiert
   6. Barbara Morgado
   7. Sebastian Bothe
   8. Lars van Werven
   9. Thomas Liepold
   10. Jochen Walter
   11. Hermann Schindelin
   12. Jens Wiltfang
   13. Oliver Wirths
   14. Olaf Jahn
   15. Hans Michael Maric

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     Antibodies that selectively bind distinct amyloid-beta variants are vital tools for Alzheimer's disease research. This valuable manuscript aims to delineate the epitope specificity in a panel of anti-amyloid-beta antibodies, including some with clinical relevance. The experiments were rigorously conducted, employing an interesting combination of established and state-of-the-art methodologies, yielding convincing findings.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Endothelial Slit2 guides the Robo1-positive sympathetic innervation during heart development

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Juanjuan Zhao
   2. Susann Bruche
   3. Konstantinos Lekkos
   4. Carolyn Carr
   5. Joaquim Miguel Vieira
   6. John Parnavelas
   7. William D Andrews
   8. Mathilda Mommersteeg

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study presents important findings on the role of Slit-Robo signaling in cardiac innervation. The evidence supporting the main claims of the authors is convincing. The use of several mouse models including constitutive and cell type specific knockout models make the findings more robust. The scope of the presented studies is fitting, as they primarily focus on evaluating the phenotypic changes in cardiac innervation following the loss of various Slit or Robo genes

   Reviewed by eLife

8. map3k1 is required for spatial restriction of progenitor differentiation in planarians

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Bryanna Isela-Inez Canales
   2. Hunter O King
   3. Peter W Reddien

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study examines the role of map3k1, a MAP3K family member that has both kinase and ubiquitin ligase domains, in the differentiation of progenitors in the flatworm Planaria. The convincing analyses demonstrate that map3k1 acts within progenitors to restrict their premature differentiation and to prevent formation of teratomas. This work would be of interest to researchers in the fields of regeneration, developmental biology, and aging.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Conserved and unique features of terminal telomeric sequences in ALT-positive cancer cells

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Benura Azeroglu
   2. Wei Wu
   3. Raphael Pavani
   4. Ranjodh Singh Sandhu
   5. Tadahiko Matsumoto
   6. André Nussenzweig
   7. Eros Lazzerini-Denchi

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study demonstrates the application of END-seq, originally developed to study genomewide DNA double-strand breaks, to telomere biology; the work packs a punch, concisely demonstrating the utility of this approach and the new insights that can be gained. The authors confirm that telomeres in telomerase-positive cells terminate with 5'-ATC in a Pot1-dependent manner, and demonstrate that this principle holds true in telomerase-negative ALT cells as well. S1-END-seq is similarly developed for telomeres, showing that ALT cells harbor several regions of ssDNA. The study is well-executed and convincing, the new insights are fundamental and compelling, and the optimized END-seq approaches will be widely utilized. The work will prompt additional studies that the reviewers look forward to, including combining telomeric END-seq with long-read sequencing to address the distribution and origin of variant telomere repeats and ssDNA along telomeres in ALT and telomerase-positive settings.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Blue-shifted ancyromonad channelrhodopsins for multiplex optogenetics

    This article has 13 authors:

    1. Elena G Govorunova
    2. Oleg A Sineshchekov
    3. Hai Li
    4. Yueyang Gou
    5. Hongmei Chen
    6. Shuyuan Yang
    7. Yumei Wang
    8. Stephen Mitchell
    9. Alyssa Palmateer
    10. Leonid S Brown
    11. François St-Pierre
    12. Mingshan Xue
    13. John L Spudich

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife Assessment

      This important study describes newly identified light-gated ion channel homologs (channelrhodopsins, ChRs) in several protist species, with a primary focus on the biophysical characterization of ChRs of ancyromonads. The authors employed a powerful combination of bioinformatics, manual and automated patch-clamp electrophysiology, absorption spectroscopy, and flash photolysis. Additionally, they evaluated the applicability of the newly discovered anion-conducting ChRs in cortical neurons of mouse brain slices and in living C. elegans worms. The evidence supporting most of the claims is compelling, and this work will be of interest to the microbial rhodopsin community and neuro- and cardioscientists utilizing optogenetics in their research.

    Reviewed by eLife