SLR's are a type of camera that let the person using it to see through the lens and actually see the image that is being captured based on a clever use of a mirror and prism system. However, we are not talking about these SLR's in this post. Rather, we come up with a new expansion for SLR's in the form of ssDNA binding protein-like receptors. After being on bioRxiv for a fairly short period, this manuscript has been published by the Immunobiology journal. It has to be noted that the wait times for editorial decisions were reasonable and reviewer comments were well thought. The initial submission was in Feb 2018 and the first revision was already resubmitted in June 2018. Hence, this journal is definitely a good avenue for publishing immunology research.
This paper is a moderately straightforward bioinformatic exercise. However, the amount of domain knowledge that comes into play is extraordinary for an immunology novice. Interferon induction, innate immune sensors, host range breadth, Baltimore classification are just some of the concepts that all had to be weaved together to make this hypothesis come to life. Without a doubt, the bachelor course "Flow of Genetic Information" that I taught last semester was an important connecting link that made this paper possible. The fact that the title "A hypothetical new role for single-stranded DNA binding proteins in the immune system" itself has the word hypothetical in it makes this a very different paper than the large dataset based papers that have been my forte.
Unfortunately, we don't go beyond some preliminary testing of our hypothesis. Hopefully, this paper will stimulate debate and fuel a more sophisticated search for much more single-stranded DNA sensors. At the very least, stronger and unequivocal evidence in favor of TLR9 and IFI16 would be a step in the correct direction. Fine-scale dissection of the abilities of these innate immune sensors to distinguish between very similar yet distinct molecules is without any doubt challenging to validate experimentally. An exceedingly clever experimental paper that does this would be the ideal outcome that we would like to see as a result of this brief bioinformatic venture.
