eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. SSNA1 stabilizes dynamic microtubules and detects microtubule damage

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Elizabeth J Lawrence
   2. Goker Arpag
   3. Cayetana Arnaiz
   4. Marija Zanic

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     In this manuscript, Lawrence et al. investigate the direct effects of the microtubule-associated protein, SSNA1, on microtubule dynamics and damage using purified proteins and TIRF microscopy. The authors conclude that SSNA1 is a microtubule stabilizing protein and a sensor of microtubule damage. This paper is of high interest to scientists within the field of microtubule mechanics and of broad interest to scientists studying cilia, cell division and neuronal development.

     (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. Apical contacts stemming from incomplete delamination guide progenitor cell allocation through a dragging mechanism

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Eduardo Pulgar
   2. Cornelia Schwayer
   3. Néstor Guerrero
   4. Loreto López
   5. Susana Márquez
   6. Steffen Härtel
   7. Rodrigo Soto
   8. Carl-Philipp Heisenberg
   9. Miguel L Concha

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     In this study, Pulgar et al. describe an interesting phenomenon addressing organ integrity in a unique example of collective cell migration. The group focused on the migration of the dorsal forunner cells (DFC), which will constitute the left-right organizer of the zebrafish. The authors show that DFCs retain apical contacts stemming from incomplete delamination and drag detached DFCs to their final destination. The study opens a number of exciting new questions related to the mechanism underlying the 'safeguards' process and the mechanism of coordination between migration and regulation of attachment.

     (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. High rates of evolution preceded shifts to sex-biased gene expression in Leucadendron, the most sexually dimorphic angiosperms

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Mathias Scharmann
   2. Anthony G Rebelo
   3. John R Pannell

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This is one of the first studies to investigate sex-biased gene expresion in a broad phylogenetic context, and the first in a plant genus. The findings go against the classical view that sex-biased gene expression is driven by sex-specific selection for sexual dimorphism, and instead suggests that sex-bias preverentially evolved in genes that already had the highest expression variance to begin with. It will broadly appeal to researchers interested in the evolution of sexual dimorphism.

     (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. Interpreting wide-band neural activity using convolutional neural networks

   This article has 11 authors:

   1. Markus Frey
   2. Sander Tanni
   3. Catherine Perrodin
   4. Alice O'Leary
   5. Matthias Nau
   6. Jack Kelly
   7. Andrea Banino
   8. Daniel Bendor
   9. Julie Lefort
   10. Christian F Doeller
   11. Caswell Barry

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     Frey et al. describe a convolutional neural network capable of extracting behavioral correlates from wide-band LFP recordings or even lower-frequency imaging data. The analysis program described by the authors provides a rapid "first pass" analysis using raw, unprocessed data to generate hypotheses that can be tested later with conventional in-depth analyses. This approach is of real value to the community, particularly as it becomes more commonplace for labs to acquire multi-site in vivo recordings.

     (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. A Cas-BCAR3 co-regulatory circuit controls lamellipodia dynamics

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Elizabeth M Steenkiste
   2. Jason D Berndt
   3. Carissa Pilling
   4. Christopher Simpkins
   5. Jonathan A Cooper

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This study focuses on the formation of adaptor protein complexes at adhesion sites and their links to in vitro membrane ruffling and cell movement. Specifically, the authors study the role of the adaptor BCAR3 protein which is regulated by post-translational mechanisms (ubiquitin degradation and tyrosine phosphorylation). The authors propose a "co-regulatory" model whereby the recruitment of BCAR3 to adhesions acts to modulate p130Cas tyrosine phosphorylation and cell migration. This manuscript would be of particular interest to cell and cancer biologists interested in the molecular regulation of cell migration.

     (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

6. A meta-analysis of the association between male dimorphism and fitness outcomes in humans

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Linda H Lidborg
   2. Catharine Penelope Cross
   3. Lynda G Boothroyd

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This work evaluates the strength of the evidence that human sexual dimorphism is the product of sexual selection. As a meta-analysis of studies that connect various measures of masculinity to various measures of reproductive success, this paper represents a synthesis of what this vast literature can show thus far. The work will be of general interest to evolutionary social scientists from a variety of disciplines, and it does a good job of clearly and concisely presenting the current state of sexual selection research on human males. The data are well presented, but the interpretation of the results is currently limited by some gaps in the theoretical framework guiding the manuscript.

     (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. Reviewers #1-4 agreed to share their names with the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Single-cell RNA-seq analysis reveals penaeid shrimp hemocyte subpopulations and cell differentiation process

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Keiichiro Koiwai
   2. Takashi Koyama
   3. Soichiro Tsuda
   4. Atsushi Toyoda
   5. Kiyoshi Kikuchi
   6. Hiroaki Suzuki
   7. Ryuji Kawano

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This study provides identification of different subpopulations of blood cells and gives new insights in putative hemocyte lineage relationships by single cell RNA sequencing. The main conclusions are fairly well supported by the data and this manuscript will be of high interest to crustacean immunologists and readers in the field of aquaculture.

     (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. HIV-1 uncoating by release of viral cDNA from capsid-like structures in the nucleus of infected cells

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Thorsten G Müller
   2. Vojtech Zila
   3. Kyra Peters
   4. Sandra Schifferdecker
   5. Mia Stanic
   6. Bojana Lucic
   7. Vibor Laketa
   8. Marina Lusic
   9. Barbara Müller
   10. Hans-Georg Kräusslich

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     The authors use a variety of complementary approaches to visualize and characterize events in the first half of the HIV life cycle, with some overlap between the latter studies and the recent (and cited) Zila et al. bioRxiv paper from some of the same authors. The data are generally of high quality, and many findings are in line with recent field advances indicating that reverse transcription completes in the nucleus, that intact/nearly intact cores are imported into the nucleus, and that nuclear uncoating likely occurs immediately prior to integration. The results provide the best evidence to date that intact capsids can enter the nucleus of target cells during infection, and will generally be of interest to the field, although the impact is diminished somewhat by similar recent publications from a number of other groups (including one case that used nearly identical labeling methods to follow viral complexes during infection). Issues that should be addressed include missing controls in some cases, some examples of over-interpretation and uneven citation, and the need for additional images to help bolster some of the claims. Strengths of the study include the rigorous characterization of infection using sophisticated imaging methods and, most importantly, the use of CLEM-ET to visualize viral capsids in the nucleus.

     (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, PREreview

9. Dual expression of Atoh1 and Ikzf2 promotes transformation of adult cochlear supporting cells into outer hair cells

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Suhong Sun
   2. Shuting Li
   3. Zhengnan Luo
   4. Minhui Ren
   5. Shunji He
   6. Guangqin Wang
   7. Zhiyong Liu

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This manuscript demonstrated the effectiveness of combined activation of Atoh1 and Ikzf2 in converting adult supporting cells to outer hair cell (OHC)-like cells in a mouse model, in which the OHCs were selectively ablated with diphtheria toxin. The authors showed that while the number of regenerated hair cells was low and there was no functional recovery based on ABR, these OHC-like cells do express Prestin and exhibit a genetic profile that resembles nascent hair cells. This paper will be of great interest to researchers interested in hearing restoration, as well as regenerative biology.

     (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

10. Signaling amplitude molds the Ras mutation tropism of urethane

    This article has 2 authors:

    1. Siqi Li
    2. Christopher M. Counter

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      Evaluation Summary:

      This work helps explain some enduring mysteries about why certain activating mutations appear in the KRAS gene more frequently than others. This paper provides experimental support for an emerging concept within the Ras field that there is a sweet-spot of Ras signal strength that promotes tumorigenesis and that this explains why different mutations are observed in different contexts. The experiments are sound and the conclusions are fair. Given that certain KRAS mutations may be more amenable to therapeutic interventions than others, it is important to understand the basis for mutational tropism, and this work provides strong in vivo evidence that addresses this issue.

      (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