eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Circuit organization of the excitatory sensorimotor loop through hand/forelimb S1 and M1

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Naoki Yamawaki
   2. Martinna G Raineri Tapies
   3. Austin Stults
   4. Gregory A Smith
   5. Gordon MG Shepherd

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This paper will be of interest to those studying the sensorimotor functions of the hand and forelimb. It traces the anatomy and strength of excitatory pathways from the spinal cord, through the brainstem, thalamus, somatosensory and motor cortex, and descending outputs. The methods are contemporary, and include multiple viral tracing, genetic targeting, and transsynaptic strategies, optogenetic and electrophysiological methods; the data are compelling; and the paper is clear and concise.

     (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

2. Ct threshold values, a proxy for viral load in community SARS-CoV-2 cases, demonstrate wide variation across populations and over time

   This article has 19 authors:

   1. A Sarah Walker
   2. Emma Pritchard
   3. Thomas House
   4. Julie V Robotham
   5. Paul J Birrell
   6. Iain Bell
   7. John I Bell
   8. John N Newton
   9. Jeremy Farrar
   10. Ian Diamond
   11. Ruth Studley
   12. Jodie Hay
   13. Karina-Doris Vihta
   14. Timothy EA Peto
   15. Nicole Stoesser
   16. Philippa C Matthews
   17. David W Eyre
   18. Koen B Pouwels
   19. COVID-19 Infection Survey team

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     The authors present a systematic and complete study of Ct (cycle threshold) values in RT-PCR tests and gene-specific positivity for the UK ONS infection survey. There are very few datasets like this for any viral pathogen, regardless of pandemics. The patterns are fascinating and thought-provoking.

     (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, ScreenIT

3. Tachykinin signaling inhibits task-specific behavioral responsiveness in honeybee workers

   This article has 11 authors:

   1. Bin Han
   2. Qiaohong Wei
   3. Fan Wu
   4. Han Hu
   5. Chuan Ma
   6. Lifeng Meng
   7. Xufeng Zhang
   8. Mao Feng
   9. Yu Fang
   10. Olav Rueppell
   11. Jianke Li

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     The authors provide convincing evidence that tachykinin signaling is involved in regulating response thresholds of task-specific stimuli only in the respective behavioral specialist. For example tachykinin signaling affects responses to pollen in pollen foragers and responses to larval chemical cues only in nurse bees. The study highlights the importance of peptide signaling in social behaviors in insects for the first time.

     (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

4. Database for drug metabolism and comparisons, NICEdrug.ch, aids discovery and design

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Homa MohammadiPeyhani
   2. Anush Chiappino-Pepe
   3. Kiandokht Haddadi
   4. Jasmin Hafner
   5. Noushin Hadadi
   6. Vassily Hatzimanikatis

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     In this study, the authors proposed a new web service/tool and its database, NICEdrug.ch, to be used in the fields of drug discovery and repurposing with the exploration of the metabolic fate of small molecules. The study is timely and will potentially have a high impact as metabolic evaluation of drugs/compounds is a critical topic that is still understudied.

     (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

5. Phases of cortical actomyosin dynamics coupled to the neuroblast polarity cycle

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Chet Huan Oon
   2. Kenneth E Prehoda

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     Oon and Prehoda report pulsatile contraction of apical membrane in the process of Par protein polarization in Drosophila neuroblasts. This explains how/why actin filament was required to localize/polarize Par complex. This very much resembles the observation in C. elegans embryos, and nicely unifies observations across 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 #1 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Human airway cells prevent SARS-CoV-2 multibasic cleavage site cell culture adaptation

   This article has 11 authors:

   1. Mart M Lamers
   2. Anna Z Mykytyn
   3. Tim I Breugem
   4. Yiquan Wang
   5. Douglas C Wu
   6. Samra Riesebosch
   7. Petra B van den Doel
   8. Debby Schipper
   9. Theo Bestebroer
   10. Nicholas C Wu
   11. Bart L Haagmans

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This manuscript follows up on work documenting the relevance of the multi-basic cleavage site (MBCS) in the spike (S) protein of SARS-CoV-2 for determining cell tropism and mode of cell entry. The paper describes a number of important findings: 1) That SARS-CoV-2 grown in Vero cells rapidly acquires MBCS mutations, where as virus grown in airway epithelial cells or Vero-TMPRSSR2 cells do not; 2) that deep sequencing is necessary to see mutations emerging that are not apparent in consensus sequence reads; 3) that factors such as fetal calf serum can influence the selection of mutant phenotypes, and 4) that cultures derived from differentiated stem cells can provide reproducible systems for virus culture. Together, the work sets out clear guidelines for the propagation of SARS-CoV-2 to avoid adaptations to laboratory cell-lines/conditions and maintain the authenticity of clinical isolates. The work has relevance to other viruses and the use of permissive transformed cell lines.

     (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, ScreenIT

7. Cdc4 phospho-degrons allow differential regulation of Ame1CENP-U protein stability across the cell cycle

   This article has 11 authors:

   1. Miriam Böhm
   2. Kerstin Killinger
   3. Alexander Dudziak
   4. Pradeep Pant
   5. Karolin Jänen
   6. Simone Hohoff
   7. Karl Mechtler
   8. Mihkel Örd
   9. Mart Loog
   10. Elsa Sanchez-Garcia
   11. Stefan Westermann

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This paper will be of interest to those in the fields of chromosome biology, mitotic regulation, and proteostasis. The authors put forward an interesting model of phosphodegron regulation of kinetochore assembly based on convincing genetic and biochemical data. The novel model will require some additional evidence before it can be considered well-supported, but the paper represents an advance in our knowledge of kinetochore regulation with experiments that are rigorous, well-designed and carefully conducted.

     (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. AAV-Txnip prolongs cone survival and vision in mouse models of retinitis pigmentosa

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Yunlu Xue
   2. Sean K Wang
   3. Parimal Rana
   4. Emma R West
   5. Christin M Hong
   6. Helian Feng
   7. David M Wu
   8. Constance L Cepko

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This authors used AAV in mouse retinas to express several candidate genes that they thought might have favorable effects on cone metabolism and therefore make cones more robust to stress caused by genetic deficiencies. Txnip is the most effective at prolonging cones survival and a combo of HK and PFK is the most effective at shortening cone survival. The investigators evaluated effects of specific mutations in Txnip with known biochemical effects. Their general conclusion is that Txnip may be enhancing mitochondrial function and ATP production and it may allow cones to use alternative fuels more effectively. This is an interesting and informative set of findings and it is presented and discussed in the context of what currently is known about retina metabolism and its influences on photoreceptor survival.

     (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.)

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Sensitivity of ID NOW and RT–PCR for detection of SARS-CoV-2 in an ambulatory population

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Yuan-Po Tu
   2. Jameel Iqbal
   3. Timothy O'Leary

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     The authors evaluate the performance of the Abbott ID NOW SARS-CoV-2 test in a group of non-hospitalized individuals being tested for COVID-19 and compared that performance to an RT-PCR test. The authors also provide an interesting review and meta-analysis of ID NOW performance across the literature. The cohort assessed in this study, however, was small and localized, which currently undermines its comparison with the known performance of the test in broader applications.

     (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

10. Modeling spinal locomotor circuits for movements in developing zebrafish

    This article has 5 authors:

    1. Yann Roussel
    2. Stephanie F Gaudreau
    3. Emily R Kacer
    4. Mohini Sengupta
    5. Tuan V Bui

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      Evaluation Summary:

      In this manuscript, Roussel et al., build models of spinal networks capable of generating coiling and swimming behaviors of embryonic and larval zebrafish. The models use details obtained from earlier experimental studies and insert novel network elements, thus providing testable ideas for rhythm generation. The study will be of high value to those interested in motor pattern generation in general and zebrafish spinal cord function in specific.

      (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