@johnl's saved articles

eLife assessment

This is a valuable paper that identifies a potential challenge for embryos during fertilization: holding sperm contents in the fertilized embryos away from the oocyte meiotic spindle so that they don't get ejected into the polar body during meiotic chromosome segregation. The authors identify proteins involved in cytoplasmic streaming and maintaining the grouping of paternal organelles as being critical for this process. There remain minor weaknesses in the data presented but the paper provides solid evidence for the majority of its claims, and while the findings may pertain to a narrow audience the tools used and basic characterization shown will likely be relied upon by many in the community and therefore is of high value.

eLife Assessment

This is an important study suggesting that neuron-specific loss of function of the RNA splicing factor Ptbp1 in striatal neurons induces dopaminergic markers and alleviates motor defects in a 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) mouse model of Parkinson's Disease. The evidence supporting the rescue of motor deficits following Ptbp1 manipulation is solid, and, while additional characterization of dopaminergic neuronal identity may be required in future studies, these results have clear implications for Parkinson's disease therapeutics. The study also addresses recent controversial literature on cell reprogramming in Parkinson's Disease and will be of interest to researchers with a focus on the application of gene therapy to rescue neurodegeneration.