eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Information flow, cell types and stereotypy in a full olfactory connectome

   This article has 16 authors:

   1. Philipp Schlegel
   2. Alexander Shakeel Bates
   3. Tomke Stürner
   4. Sridhar R Jagannathan
   5. Nikolas Drummond
   6. Joseph Hsu
   7. Laia Serratosa Capdevila
   8. Alexandre Javier
   9. Elizabeth C Marin
   10. Asa Barth-Maron
   11. Imaan FM Tamimi
   12. Feng Li
   13. Gerald M Rubin
   14. Stephen M Plaza
   15. Marta Costa
   16. Gregory S X E Jefferis

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This study is a tour-de-force that makes a major contribution to the field. It provides a wealth of information about connectivity in the Drosophila olfactory system, identifying a variety of novel features of its neural organization. The study provides a careful analysis of the practically important and biologically interesting question of stereotypy among animals which previous connectomic studies of the fly brain lacked. A variety of interesting hypotheses are generated. Finally, it establishes a paradigm for the analysis other neural systems.

     (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.)

   Reviewed by eLife

2. High social status males experience accelerated epigenetic aging in wild baboons

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Jordan A Anderson
   2. Rachel A Johnston
   3. Amanda J Lea
   4. Fernando A Campos
   5. Tawni N Voyles
   6. Mercy Y Akinyi
   7. Susan C Alberts
   8. Elizabeth A Archie
   9. Jenny Tung

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     In this paper, the authors collect epigenomic data from a well-studied wild baboon community, which they use to construct an epigenetic clock, a method of measuring "biological age" that is increasingly used as a tool in human aging research. The authors find that deviations between biological and chronological age can in part be explained by social phenomena. In particular, for male baboons, maintaining social dominance may play an important role in accelerating the dimension of aging indexed by this measure. This is a foundational study for social-biological-health research.

     (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 names with the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Tetrahydroxanthohumol, a xanthohumol derivative, attenuates high-fat diet-induced hepatic steatosis by antagonizing PPARγ

   This article has 13 authors:

   1. Yang Zhang
   2. Gerd Bobe
   3. Cristobal L Miranda
   4. Malcolm B Lowry
   5. Victor L Hsu
   6. Christiane V Lohr
   7. Carmen P Wong
   8. Donald B Jump
   9. Matthew M Robinson
   10. Thomas J Sharpton
   11. Claudia S Maier
   12. Jan F Stevens
   13. Adrian F Gombart

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This is a comprehensive study of the effect of xanthohumol and TXN, a xanthohumol derivative, on different pathologies related to the metabolic syndrome. It clearly shows the therapeutic potential of these substances, which has a high translational potential since currently, there are is a lack of effective therapies.

     (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. HPF1 and nucleosomes mediate a dramatic switch in activity of PARP1 from polymerase to hydrolase

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Johannes Rudolph
   2. Genevieve Roberts
   3. Uma M Muthurajan
   4. Karolin Luger

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This manuscript describes a set of biochemical studies on the substrate and reaction specificity of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP1), an important antineoplastic drug target and component of DNA damage response. The most significant finding is that histone PARylation factor (HPF1) binding to PARP1 causes a shift from primarily PARylation activity to that of hydrolytic activity, which offers new avenues for understanding and controlling PARP1. While some of the observed effects need a modest amount of further explanation, the findings described in this paper are of broad interest to readers in the fields of DNA damage response, chromatin structure regulation, and to researchers studying PARP1 and issues related to NAD+ metabolism.

     (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. Sex and origin-specific inbreeding effects on flower attractiveness to specialised pollinators

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Karin Schrieber
   2. Sarah Catherine Paul
   3. Levke Valena Höche
   4. Andrea Cecilia Salas
   5. Rabi Didszun
   6. Jakob Mößnang
   7. Caroline Müller
   8. Alexandra Erfmeier
   9. Elisabeth Johanna Eilers

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This research is relevant for ecologist and evolutionary biologist in the specific fields of plant conservation, chemical ecology, pollination biology and plant sex evolution. The authors test the interesting hypothesis that traits important for plant-insect interactions are directly affected by inbreeding, which in turn may directly impact the plant-insect interaction. The authors test this prediction in a series of experiments on the plant Silene latifolia, and the results largely support the hypothesis that inbreeding reduces plant attractiveness. In short, the results show that there are indeed strong negative effects of inbreeding on multiple plant/floral traits, but that the effects of these traits do not necessarily translate directly into reduced pollinator visitation rates. The data are of high quality, the sampling of populations was markedly geographically broad and balanced, and the experiments were well implemented, leading to a certain robustness of the results and 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. The reviewers remained anonymous to the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

6. PP2A/B55α substrate recruitment as defined by the retinoblastoma-related protein p107

   This article has 15 authors:

   1. Holly Fowle
   2. Ziran Zhao
   3. Qifang Xu
   4. Jason S Wasserman
   5. Xinru Wang
   6. Mary Adeyemi
   7. Felicity Feiser
   8. Alison N Kurimchak
   9. Diba Atar
   10. Brennan C McEwan
   11. Arminja N Kettenbach
   12. Rebecca Page
   13. Wolfgang Peti
   14. Roland L Dunbrack
   15. Xavier Graña

   Reviewed by eLife

7. The Ca2+-activated cation channel TRPM4 is a positive regulator of pressure overload-induced cardiac hypertrophy

   This article has 15 authors:

   1. Yang Guo
   2. Ze-Yan Yu
   3. Jianxin Wu
   4. Hutao Gong
   5. Scott Kesteven
   6. Siiri E Iismaa
   7. Andrea Y Chan
   8. Sara Holman
   9. Silvia Pinto
   10. Andy Pironet
   11. Charles D Cox
   12. Robert M Graham
   13. Rudi Vennekens
   14. Michael P Feneley
   15. Boris Martinac

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     In this work, the authors subjected mice with cardiomyocyte-specific deletion of ion channel TRPM4 to transverse aortic constriction-induced pressure overload, which is a well-validated model for heart failure. The study showed that cell-specific loss of TRPM4 in cardiomyocytes could protect against pathological left ventricular hypertrophy which is associated with an attenuation of pathological changes in the expression several genes that become dysregulated during the development pathological hypertrophy. These findings are likely to contribute to understanding of pressure overload-induced hypertrophy heart disease and the pathophysiology of heart failure.

     (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

8. Colistin kills bacteria by targeting lipopolysaccharide in the cytoplasmic membrane

   This article has 13 authors:

   1. Akshay Sabnis
   2. Katheryn LH Hagart
   3. Anna Klöckner
   4. Michele Becce
   5. Lindsay E Evans
   6. R Christopher D Furniss
   7. Despoina AI Mavridou
   8. Ronan Murphy
   9. Molly M Stevens
   10. Jane C Davies
   11. Gérald J Larrouy-Maumus
   12. Thomas B Clarke
   13. Andrew M Edwards

   Reviewed by eLife

9. OPA1 deletion in brown adipose tissue improves thermoregulation and systemic metabolism via FGF21

   This article has 19 authors:

   1. Renata O Pereira
   2. Alex Marti
   3. Angela Crystal Olvera
   4. Satya Murthy Tadinada
   5. Sarah Hartwick Bjorkman
   6. Eric Thomas Weatherford
   7. Donald A Morgan
   8. Michael Westphal
   9. Pooja H Patel
   10. Ana Karina Kirby
   11. Rana Hewezi
   12. William Bùi Trân
   13. Luis Miguel García-Peña
   14. Rhonda A Souvenir
   15. Monika Mittal
   16. Christopher M Adams
   17. Kamal Rahmouni
   18. Matthew J Potthoff
   19. E Dale Abel

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     The new work utilizes several elegant genetic mouse models to evaluate the importance of the mitochondrial fusion protein OPA1 in thermogenic brown adipocytes. This well-written and rigorous study sheds insight into the importance of OPA1 in brown adipocytes and also uncovers an unexpected compensatory mechanism that ensures thermoregulation in mice.

     (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. Host-associated microbe PCR (hamPCR): accessing new biology through convenient measurement of both microbial load and community composition

    This article has 7 authors:

    1. Derek S. Lundberg
    2. Pratchaya Pramoj Na Ayutthaya
    3. Annett Strauß
    4. Gautam Shirsekar
    5. Wen-Sui Lo
    6. Thomas Lahaye
    7. Detlef Weigel

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      Evaluation Summary:

      Overall, we agree that this new method is potentially impactful although the full versatility of the approach is currently unclear for several reasons. We appreciated the application of the approach to distinct systems and also the relatively low cost of this technique. The diagrams presented (particularly in Figure 3) nicely convey the steps in the protocol with expected sample outcomes to further facilitate the ability of other researchers to employ hamPCR. Overall, we are very positive about this work, but given that the impact of this paper rests on whether or not the technique is widely adopted, some revisions will lower the barrier to entry for future researchers to adopt this approach.

      (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 names with the authors.)

    Reviewed by eLife