Evaluated articles

Axo-vascular coupling mediated by oligodendrocytes

1. Alejandro Restrepo
2. Andrea Trevisiol
3. Camilo Restrepo-Arango
4. Constanze Depp
5. Andrew Octavian Sasmita
6. Annika Keller
7. Iva D. Tzvetanova
8. Johannes Hirrlinger
9. Klaus-Armin Nave

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This manuscript provides the first cellular analysis of how neuronal activity in axons (in this case the optic nerve) regulates the diameter of nearby blood vessels and hence the energy supply to neuronal axons and their associated cells. This is an important subject because, in a variety of neurological disorders, there is damage to the white matter that may result from a lack of sufficient energy supply. This paper will stimulate work on this important subject.

Reviewed by eLife

Ultrastructural effects of sleep and wake on the parallel fiber synapses of the cerebellum

1. Sophia S Loschky
2. Giovanna Maria Spano
3. William Marshall
4. Andrea Schroeder
5. Kelsey Marie Nemec
6. Shannon Sandra Schiereck
7. Luisa de Vivo
8. Michele Bellesi
9. Sebastian Weyn Banningh
10. Giulio Tononi
11. Chiara Cirelli

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study provides compelling structural evidence on regulation of cerebellar synapses by sleep-wake states. The authors used serial block face scanning electron microscopy to obtain 3D reconstruction of more than 7,000 spines and their parallel fiber synapses in the mouse posterior vermis. The analysis shows that sleep increases the fraction of the 'naked' spines that don't carry a presynaptic partner at Purkinje cells. The authors propose that sleep promotes the pruning of branched synapses to single spines. This is an elegant and thorough study and the observations are important in light of the circuit-specific mechanisms by which sleep modulate synaptic structure and function.

Reviewed by eLife

Single-cell transcriptomic profiling of the zebrafish inner ear reveals molecularly distinct hair cell and supporting cell subtypes

1. Tuo Shi
2. Marielle O Beaulieu
3. Lauren M Saunders
4. Peter Fabian
5. Cole Trapnell
6. Neil Segil
7. J Gage Crump
8. David W Raible

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This important study describes transcriptomic profiles of sensory and non-sensory cells of the zebrafish inner ear at single-cell resolution in embryonic through adult stages. These solid results catalogue transcriptomic data and show evidence that distinct cell subtypes exist between cells of the ear and the lateral line as well as within subcellular compartments in the inner ear. These findings provide information toward comparison studies of inner ear hair cell function in zebrafish and mammals.

Reviewed by eLife

Nazo, the Drosophila homolog of the NBIA-mutated protein–c19orf12, is required for triglyceride homeostasis

1. Perinthottathil Sreejith
2. Sara Lolo
3. Kristen R. Patten
4. Maduka Gunasinghe
5. Neya More
6. Leo J. Pallanck
7. Rajnish Bharadwaj

Reviewed by eLife

Soluble amyloid-β precursor peptide does not regulate GABAB receptor activity

1. Pascal Dominic Rem
2. Vita Sereikaite
3. Diego Fernández-Fernández
4. Sebastian Reinartz
5. Daniel Ulrich
6. Thorsten Fritzius
7. Luca Trovo
8. Salomé Roux
9. Ziyang Chen
10. Philippe Rondard
11. Jean-Philippe Pin
12. Jochen Schwenk
13. Bernd Fakler
14. Martin Gassmann
15. Tania Rinaldi Barkat
16. Kristian Strømgaard
17. Bernhard Bettler

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study refuted earlier work on the same subject. The two reviewers felt the manuscript was accurate, concise, and unbiased. The experimental evidence were thorough and supported the conclusions. The reviewers concurred the overall significance and quality of the experimental research were compelling and addressed previous work on this problem.

Reviewed by eLife

Svep1 is a binding ligand of Tie1 and affects specific aspects of facial lymphatic development in a Vegfc-independent manner

1. Melina Hußmann
2. Dörte Schulte
3. Sarah Weischer
4. Claudia Carlantoni
5. Hiroyuki Nakajima
6. Naoki Mochizuki
7. Didier YR Stainier
8. Thomas Zobel
9. Manuel Koch
10. Stefan Schulte-Merker

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This work reveals that lymphatic vascular development can occur independent of VegfC signaling, and that genetic interactions between a large extracellular matrix protein Svep1 and Tie1 receptor are important for the development of facial lymphatics and other aspects of lymphatic vascular development. The data link Svep1 to Tie1 signaling via elegant genetic experiments and provide important insights into a complex signaling pathway that is widely utilized in vascular development. The genetic evidence is convincing in supporting the findings that Tie1 but not Tie2 interacts with Svep1 in aspects of lymphangiogenesis.

Reviewed by eLife

Evaluating the effect of metabolic traits on oral and oropharyngeal cancer risk using Mendelian randomization

1. Mark Gormley
2. Tom Dudding
3. Steven J Thomas
4. Jessica Tyrrell
5. Andrew R Ness
6. Miranda Pring
7. Danny Legge
8. George Davey Smith
9. Rebecca C Richmond
10. Emma E Vincent
11. Caroline Bull

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This is an important study linking metabolic traits and head and neck cancer risk using Mendelian randomisation. The findings, well supported by the data, were inconclusive. This work will be of interest to researchers working in head and neck cancer.

Reviewed by eLife

Comprehensive re-analysis of hairpin small RNAs in fungi reveals loci with conserved links

1. Nathan R Johnson
2. Luis F Larrondo
3. José M Álvarez
4. Elena A Vidal

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This paper is of interest to scientists within the field of RNA silencing and evolution. The data analysis is rigorous, and the conclusions are justified by the data. The key claims of the manuscript provide a compelling approach to identifying and annotating microRNAs in fungi although there is a limitation in the functional validation of the identified miRNAs.

Reviewed by eLife

Changes in seam number and location induce holes within microtubules assembled from porcine brain tubulin and in Xenopus egg cytoplasmic extracts

1. Charlotte Guyomar
2. Clément Bousquet
3. Siou Ku
4. John M Heumann
5. Gabriel Guilloux
6. Natacha Gaillard
7. Claire Heichette
8. Laurence Duchesne
9. Michel O Steinmetz
10. Romain Gibeaux
11. Denis Chrétien

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  The study, using cryo-electron tomography represents a valuable study to the research community, to raise awareness that in vitro-assembled microtubules have more lattice defects than microtubules assembled in cell extracts. However the evidence supporting the claims was incomplete in places and there was not enough data. It is not clear how generalizable these findings are regarding tubulin assembly into microtubules.

Reviewed by eLife

Lifespan extension in female mice by early, transient exposure to adult female olfactory cues

1. Michael Garratt
2. Ilkim Erturk
3. Roxann Alonzo
4. Frank Zufall
5. Trese Leinders-Zufall
6. Scott D Pletcher
7. Richard A Miller

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This valuable study provides solid evidence for a new intervention, exposure to male vs. female olfactory cues, with an impact on female mouse lifespan. This is interesting to the field of aging research, especially since most described pro-longevity interventions to date tend to work better in male mice. Although the data broadly support the claims, additional analyses showing all probed phenotypes are needed to support all claims.

Reviewed by eLife

Decline of intrinsic cerebrospinal fluid outflow in healthy humans with age detected by non-contrast spin-labeling MRI

1. Vadim Malis
2. Won C. Bae
3. Asako Yamamoto
4. Linda K. McEvoy
5. Marin A. McDonald
6. Mitsue Miyazaki

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  Malis et al present a novel sequence attempting to non-invasively measure the outflow of cerebrospinal fluid, which is potentially an important contribution given the growing interest in the glymphatic system. Their reported findings are generally consistent with previous literature and prevailing theories, however, no robust validation of the sequence is supplied rendering the evidence base incomplete.

Reviewed by eLife

Phylodynamics of SARS-CoV-2 in France, Europe, and the world in 2020

1. Romain Coppée
2. François Blanquart
3. Aude Jary
4. Valentin Leducq
5. Valentine Marie Ferré
6. Anna Maria Franco Yusti
7. Léna Daniel
8. Charlotte Charpentier
9. Samuel Lebourgeois
10. Karen Zafilaza
11. Vincent Calvez
12. Diane Descamps
13. Anne-Geneviève Marcelin
14. Benoit Visseaux
15. Antoine Bridier-Nahmias

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study represents an important contribution to our understanding of SARS-CoV-2 transmission dynamics in France, Europe and globally during the early pandemic in 2020. Through evaluation of the contributions of intra- and inter-regional transmission at global, continental, and domestic levels, the authors explore how international travel restrictions reduced inter-regional transmission while permitting increased transmission intra-regionally. Unfortunately, at this time this work suffers from a number of serious analytical shortcomings, all of which can be overcome with major revisions and re-analysis.

Reviewed by eLife

Empagliflozin reduces podocyte lipotoxicity in experimental Alport syndrome

1. Mengyuan Ge
2. Judith Molina
3. Jin-Ju Kim
4. Shamroop K Mallela
5. Anis Ahmad
6. Javier Varona Santos
7. Hassan Al-Ali
8. Alla Mitrofanova
9. Kumar Sharma
10. Flavia Fontanesi
11. Sandra Merscher
12. Alessia Fornoni

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  The article is of importance to the field of glomerular diseases and rare diseases. The authors propose a link between the inhibition of SGLT2 and lipotoxicity-mediated renal injury in experimental Alport syndrome (AS) by modulation pathways linked to CKD progression, possibly through metabolic adaption in podocytes. Although there is scientific merit in the work presented, the functional analyses are incomplete to support the claim that effects pharmacological effects are mediated through podocytes in Alport Syndrome.

Reviewed by eLife

Absence of CEP78 causes photoreceptor and sperm flagella impairments in mice and a human individual

1. Tianyu Zhu
2. Yuxin Zhang
3. Xunlun Sheng
4. Xiangzheng Zhang
5. Yu Chen
6. Hongjing Zhu
7. Yueshuai Guo
8. Yaling Qi
9. Yichen Zhao
10. Qi Zhou
11. Xue Chen
12. Xuejiang Guo
13. Chen Zhao

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This paper is of interest to scientists within the cilia and centrosome fields, in particular those studying photoreceptor and sperm development and the diseases associated with their dysfunction. The authors describe the generation and characteristics of Cep78 knockout mice. Consistent with the phenotype observed in patients carrying mutations in CEP78, Cep78 knockout mice show degeneration in photoreceptor cells as well as male infertility associated with multiple morphological abnormalities of the sperm flagella (MMAF). The phenotypic characterisation of Cep78 knockout mice is thorough and convincing, and the Cep78 knockout model will be useful for further elucidating disease mechanism in humans and for potential therapy development. The authors also provide results suggesting that CEP78 directly interacts with IFT20 and TTC21A (IFT139) to form a trimeric complex, but this claim is not justified by the data provided.

Reviewed by eLife

Environmental morphing enables informed dispersal of the dandelion diaspore

1. Madeleine Seale
2. Oleksandr Zhdanov
3. Merel B Soons
4. Cathal Cummins
5. Erika Kroll
6. Michael R Blatt
7. Hossein Zare-Behtash
8. Angela Busse
9. Enrico Mastropaolo
10. James M Bullock
11. Ignazio M Viola
12. Naomi Nakayama

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This boundary-crossing work on dandelion diaspore flight is an excellent demonstration of how to address fundamental questions about wind dispersal of plant seeds from biophysical and ecological perspectives. Both wind-tunnel experiments and models provide compelling evidence that the aerodynamics of dandelion diaspores change with the environment. Addition of local climate data enables the authors to make a convincing case about how the biophysical properties can scale up to affect dispersal across the landscape under different environmental conditions. In addition to the strong data, this is a clear, accessible, and very enjoyable read.

Reviewed by eLife

Clonally related, Notch-differentiated spinal neurons integrate into distinct circuits

1. Saul Bello-Rojas
2. Martha W Bagnall

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This important paper describes the connectivity of V2a/V2b sibling neurons in the zebrafish spinal cord, where one sibling receives Notch signaling (Notch-ON) and the other does not (Notch-OFF). They find that V2a and V2b siblings have different morphology, inputs, outputs, and are not synaptically connected, unlike findings in the mouse cortex. This work provides new insight into the role of lineage in specifying neuronal connectivity; the experiments are convincing and the conclusions are supported by the data presented.

Reviewed by eLife

Glutamine synthetase mRNA releases sRNA from its 3′UTR to regulate carbon/nitrogen metabolic balance in Enterobacteriaceae

1. Masatoshi Miyakoshi
2. Teppei Morita
3. Asaki Kobayashi
4. Anna Berger
5. Hiroki Takahashi
6. Yasuhiro Gotoh
7. Tetsuya Hayashi
8. Kan Tanaka

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study revealed the biogenesis of the 3'UTR-derived sRNA GlnZ by RNase E-mediated processing and identified target mRNAs in both E. coli and S. enterica. By introducing point mutations within the predicted seed region of GlnZ and analyzing compensatory mutations in the target mRNAs, the sRNA binding site in those targets could convincingly be mapped. This is an important piece of work and the findings are relevant for researchers within the microbiology and RNA communities and should inspire future studies of 3'derived sRNAs in bacteria. Overall, most of the statements are sufficiently supported by experimental data, but certain amendments to the work are required to fully support the conclusions.

Reviewed by eLife

Disentangling the rhythms of human activity in the built environment for airborne transmission risk: An analysis of large-scale mobility data

1. Zachary Susswein
2. Eva C Rest
3. Shweta Bansal

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This is a valuable study characterizing seasonal deviations in indoor activity at the county level in the United States with relevance to respiratory disease transmission. Whereas the data are compelling, some of the main claims are only partially supported and need more work. This study and its results are of potential interest to those people constructing more evidence-based infectious disease transmission models.

Reviewed by eLife, ScreenIT

A novel gene REPTOR2 activates the autophagic degradation of wing disc in pea aphid

1. Erliang Yuan
2. Huijuan Guo
3. Weiyao Chen
4. Bingru Du
5. Yingjie Mi
6. Zhaorui Qi
7. Yiyang Yuan
8. Keyan Zhu-Salzman
9. Feng Ge
10. Yucheng Sun

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  The aims and hypothesis of the study, which addresses the genetic basis of an iconic example of developmental plasticity, are clear, and the experiments are well conducted. The authors propose that a novel gene that arose through gene duplication, REPTOR2, stimulates autophagy to generate wingless aphid morphs. The implication of a novel gene in wing autophagy for the generation of wingless aphids is novel and interesting, but the link between TOR and REPTOR2 requires further support.

Reviewed by eLife

Working strokes produced by curling protofilaments at disassembling microtubule tips can be biochemically tuned and vary with species

1. Lucas E Murray
2. Haein Kim
3. Luke M Rice
4. Charles L Asbury

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  The authors measure the work output of shrinking mammalian microtubules, reporting results of fundamental importance that advance our mechanistic understanding of how shrinking microtubules exert forces on chromosomes during cell division. Carefully performed, technically advanced experiments and model-based quantitative data analysis provide compelling evidence for the authors' conclusions. This work will be of interest for cell biologists interested in cell division, biophysicists interested in force production by biopolymers, and structural biologists interested in microtubule dynamics.

Reviewed by eLife