eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. SPEx: Compartment-Resolved Proteomics via Expansion Microscopy–Guided Microdissection

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Curdin A. Franziscus
   2. Alexia Ferrand
   3. Oliver Biehlmaier
   4. Alexander Schmidt
   5. Anne Spang

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This is an important study describing 'SPEx', a broadly accessible method that combines cell expansion, laser microdissection, and mass spectrometry to enable subcellular proteomic profiling. The authors provide convincing evidence that this flexible integration of established techniques provides a robust and practical approach for compartment-resolved spatial proteomics. The authors support their main claims with appropriate validation across multiple subcellular compartments and show that the method can recover known markers while also identifying previously uncharacterized components. Overall, the work is likely to be of broad interest to cell and molecular biologists, particularly those seeking scalable and cost-effective strategies for mapping organelle composition.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Loose coupling between Ca ²⁺ channels and release sensors as a synaptic correlate of higher order brain function

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Max Schwarze
   2. Grit Bornschein
   3. Antonia Brunner
   4. Akanksha Arshia
   5. Simone Brachtendorf
   6. Hartmut Schmidt

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     By using a combination of patch clamp recordings, calcium imaging and computer modeling, the authors analyze the spatial distribution of voltage gated calcium channels at glutamatergic synapses formed between layer 5 pyramidal neurons (L5PNs) and between layer 2/3 and L5PNs in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and primary somatosensory cortex (S1); they conclude that the calcium channel-vesicle coupling is looser in the PFC compared to S1, although additional experiments are needed to determine how the distinct functional characteristics of these synapses in different brain regions might affect data interpretation. Overall, these findings are important because they have implications for shaping synaptic plasticity and neural circuit function across brain regions. They are solid because they are based on the use of a multi-pronged approach, although the presentation would benefit from stronger integration of the current findings with the existing literature and a more explicit discussion of potential limitations and confounding factors for data interpretation.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Endocardial TIE1 synergizes with TIE2 to regulate the atrial internal muscular network assembly

   This article has 11 authors:

   1. Kai Ding
   2. Beibei Xu
   3. Xinhao Yu
   4. Xiwen Jia
   5. Taotao Li
   6. Xin Shen
   7. Junda Li
   8. Xudong Cao
   9. Yahui Liu
   10. Zhen Zhang
   11. Yulong He

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study reports the relative importance of Tie1 and Tie2 signaling for atrial versus ventricular trabeculation. It is an important study and is one of the few works to date that have carefully and simultaneously analyzed these two processes. In line with a previous study in zebrafish, the authors demonstrate key differences between atrial and ventricular trabeculation. While the imaging and quantitative data were conducted with solid and validated methodology throughout the manuscript, the work would benefit from more rigourous approaches where Tie1/2 signaling is disrupted prior to the onset of atrial/ventricular trabeculation, to allow for a more direct comparison.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Syntaxin11 Deficiency Inhibits CRAC Channel Priming to Suppress Cytotoxicity and Gene Expression in T Lymphocytes

   This article has 17 authors:

   1. Sritama Datta
   2. Abhikarsh Gupta
   3. Kunal Mukesh Jagetiya
   4. Resmi Bera
   5. Vikas Tiwari
   6. Atharva Rahul Yande
   7. Megumi Yamashita
   8. Abdul Rishad
   9. Vishal Malik
   10. Sreejith Raran-Kurussi
   11. Sandra Ammann
   12. Mohammad Shahrooei
   13. Kalyaneswar Mandal
   14. Ramanathan Sowdhamini
   15. Murali Prakriya
   16. Adish Dani
   17. Monika Vig

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study reports a novel function for syntaxin 11, a specialized SNARE protein critical for the immune system whose mutations cause familial hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis type 4. The data convincingly show that depletion of STX11 impairs store-operated calcium entry in Jurkat T cells and that this defect is recapitulated in primary cells from a patient suffering from the disease; the authors further show that the syntaxin interacts with the pore subunit of the ORAI1 channel and propose that it primes the channel by promoting the assembly of multimers before activation by its endogenous ligand, the ER Ca2+ sensing protein STIM1. This is a conceptually important claim that challenges the prevailing view that all structural transitions in ORAI1 are STIM-driven. The data are high-quality and broadly consistent with the interpretation, but alternative mechanisms for the defects are not considered; additional work should rule out vesicular trafficking, discuss other mechanisms, and address methodological issues.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Mitochondrial metabolic remodeling drives innate immune activation in Drosophila hemocytes

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Daewon Lee
   2. Ferdinand Koranteng
   3. Nuri Cha
   4. Sangho Yoon
   5. Kyung-Tae Lee
   6. Jin-Wu Nam
   7. Young V Kwon
   8. Jiwon Shim

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study provides detailed insights into the metabolic states of hemocyte populations across developmental stages and in both physiological and pathological contexts, including during immune challenge. The study provides convincing evidence by comparing the relative utilization of glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation in Drosophila larval immune cells, and can have implications for metabolic programs that shape immune function in health and disease.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. An engineered multi-step differentiation program in Escherichia coli for self-organized spatial patterning

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Emanuele Boni
   2. Hélène Siboulet
   3. Giacomo Ceracchini
   4. Içvara Aor
   5. Gábor Holló
   6. Hadiastri Kusumawardhani
   7. Yolanda Schaerli

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study demonstrates that a multi-step differentiation programme in bacteria combining a bistable switch with two quorum-sensing systems is capable of generating autonomous and self-organized spatial patterns. The evidence for the core engineering system supporting patterning across several conditions is convincing, albeit incomplete for the stronger differentiation/maturation claims because the irreversibility of the proposed states is not consistently established, and some modelling and conceptual interpretation details require further clarification.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Transitory enhancement of GATA2 chromatin engagement during early erythroid differentiation

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. John W Hobbs
   2. Samuel J. Taylor
   3. Rajni Kumari
   4. Nayem Haque
   5. Lou Lou Victor
   6. Ulrich Steidl
   7. Robert A. Coleman

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study combines single-molecule imaging and CUT&TAG to address the molecular mechanism underlying the differentiation process that initiates the formation of red blood cells in the bone marrow. The authors provide evidence that the transcription factor GATA2 transiently associates with a new set of genomic loci early in the differentiation process before it is replaced by GATA1. Together, the experiments across three biological systems are solid, but they could benefit from additional details and controls to strengthen the conclusions.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Functional Separation of mRNA Domains Coordinates Pluripotent Cell Behavior

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Ze Yang
   2. Shaoyi Ji
   3. Kristina Ivanov
   4. Priyanka Kadav
   5. Mengmeng Song
   6. Leonardi Gozali
   7. Sophie Parsa
   8. Barry Behr
   9. Mary A Hynes

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study provides fundamental insights by demonstrating that the Nanog mRNA coding sequence (CDS) and 3′UTR domains are spatially segregated and functionally distinct in pluripotent stem cells and blastocysts, with 3′UTR-enriched border cells primarily influencing morphogenesis and CDS-enriched inner cells largely regulating transcription and epigenetic programs. The work opens a novel conceptual avenue for understanding how separable mRNA domains can differentially control cell behavior and differentiation. However, the evidence is incomplete, as key aspects of the molecular nature, biogenesis, and precise characterization of the separated 3′UTR and CDS RNA species, as well as causal links between their perturbation and the observed phenotypes (e.g., via rescue and deeper characterization of 3′UTR elements), remain to be fully established.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Simplified model of intrinsically bursting neurons

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Nikhil X Bhattasali
   2. Lerrel Pinto
   3. Grace W Lindsay

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     The authors propose a "simplified" model for intrinsically bursting neurons with explicitly controllable parameterization of oscillatory dynamics. The evidence that the modeling approach is generally appropriate and practical for modeling rhythmic bursting neurons and neural circuits is currently incomplete. Based on what the authors present, this model appears to have limited neurobiological relevance and utility but may be useful as a controller for an artificial system, such as in neuro-robotics applications.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Fusion Loop Modified and Mature Dengue Virus Elicits Protective Serum with Minimal Antibody Dependent Enhancement

    This article has 6 authors:

    1. Yago R Dalben
    2. Jacob J Adler
    3. Rita M Meganck
    4. Katelyn Duenas
    5. Lisa J Snoderly-Foster
    6. Longping V Tse

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife Assessment

      There is a need for better and safer dengue virus live attenuated vaccines. This manuscript describes important findings that could lead to the design of a strongly immunogenic, tetravalent live attenuated vaccine for dengue, without the risk of causing antibody-dependent enhancement. However, the experimental evidence presented is incomplete since only constructions of one serotype were tested to prove the principle.

    Reviewed by eLife