eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Volatile diacetyl triggers rapid fmo-2 expression through DHAP-glycerol shunt induction

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Marco Giorda
   2. Anamitra Sen
   3. Martin S Denzel

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This potentially valuable work finds that exposure to the odor diacetyl in the worm C. elegans leads to changes in metabolic nutrient-responsive programs, inducing expression of genes that act in the DHAP-glycerol shunt followed by induction of the flavin-containing monooxygenase fmo-2. The genetic and multi-omic evidence is solid and is based on an extensive set of experiments; however, mechanistic support for underlying metabolic and redox changes remains incomplete without more comprehensive metabolic profiling. The mechanism through which diacetyl or its breakdown products is sensed did not involve known receptors of diacetyl, so it remains unknown whether sensory neurons are involved in these responses.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Mapping abstraction and metacognition onto distinct transdiagnostic symptom profiles

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Taiki Oka
   2. Yoshihiko Kunisato
   3. Kotaro Koizumi
   4. Misa Murakami
   5. Hugo Six
   6. Jessica E Taylor
   7. Aurelio Cortese

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study examines how abstraction and metacognition relate to transdiagnostic dimensions of psychopathology. It combines a reward-learning task, computational modelling and a large questionnaire. The evidence linking reduced metacognitive sensitivity to a compulsive hypersensitivity dimension is solid, but the evidence for the abstraction findings is currently incomplete. This work will be of interest to researchers studying metacognition and computational approaches to psychiatry.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Nutrient Microenvironments Reprogram Pigment Epithelium Metabolism and Phenotype

   This article has 15 authors:

   1. Rayne R. Lim
   2. Emily Zhao
   3. Daniel T. Hass
   4. Yekai Wang
   5. Mark Eminhizer
   6. Davide Ortolan
   7. Sheldon Niernberger
   8. Aspen Tong
   9. Bree R. Nelson
   10. Marcos Nazario
   11. Vishya Adipudi
   12. Kapil Bharti
   13. James B. Hurley
   14. Jianhai Du
   15. Jennifer R. Chao

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study investigated the effects of the nutrient microenvironment on key elements of cellular morphology, function, and metabolism in both human iPSC-derived and human fetal RPE cultures. The analysis compared commonly used iPSC-RPE media formulations (MEMα, DMEM-HG/F12 basal media), alongside human plasma-like medium (HPLM) in an effort to model a more physiologically relevant culture environment. The authors provide compelling evidence that standard culture media differ significantly in fundamental aspects of retinal pigment epithelium biology, particularly regarding metabolic profiles. Further clarification of the biological replicates and data normalization methods will help maximize the impact of this manuscript.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Supervised Domain Adaptation Mitigates Cross-Ethnicity Prediction Error in Neuroimaging-Based Cognitive Prediction

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Farzane Lal Khakpoor
   2. William van der Vliet
   3. Jeremiah Deng
   4. Yue Wang
   5. Narun Pat

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study provides a useful investigation of machine learning approaches that can lessen potential gaps in the prediction of behaviour from brain imaging data across majority and minority samples. The authors provide incomplete evidence to suggest that domain adaptation methods can mitigate these gaps. The analysis would benefit from further testing of model generalisability and the inclusion of recommended workflows for how the tested approaches can be used in future research. This work will be of interest to scientists using machine learning in brain imaging.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. A molecular glue in plants: The lectin domain of LecRK-I.9 creates persistent plasma membrane - cell wall connections

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Denise S. Arico
   2. Ugo Segura
   3. Annalisa Bellandi
   4. Claire Lionnet
   5. Marjolaine Martin
   6. Olivier Hamant
   7. Herve Canut

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     The cell wall and plasma membrane are tightly associated in plant cells, and even after plasmolysis, sites of strong contact remain between the plasma membrane and cell wall. Here, the authors provide solid data to implicate an Arabidopsis lectin-like receptor kinase in plasma-membrane-to-cell-wall contact sites, and propose that these attachment sites are of importance for plant resistance to hyperosmotic stress, yet the evidence remains incomplete without key controls. These important results broaden our view on dynamic modulation of plasma membrane topology and its physiological consequences.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. CD56 ^dim CD16 ^dim NK cells are the dominant effector cells against HIV-infected primary T-cells

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. William Howell
   2. Courtney Branch
   3. Jeffrey Ward
   4. Zachary Davis
   5. Emma Geatches
   6. Edward Barker

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study compares the anti-HIV activity of human natural killer cell subsets and identifies CD56^dimCD16^dim cells as a potentially key effector population against HIV-infected autologous T cells. The evidence supporting the central conclusions seems incomplete because the interpretation may be substantially confounded by activation-induced CD16 downregulation, making it difficult to distinguish intrinsic functional differences from phenotypic changes that occur during target-cell engagement. Additional experiments using purified NK-cell subsets and appropriate controls would substantially strengthen the evidence supporting the major conclusions.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Reprogrammed peptidoglycan elongation reveals plasticity in bacterial growth modes

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Carolina Basurto De Santiago
   2. Isabella S. Lin
   3. Beiyan Nan

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This paper demonstrates that relocating the MreB-Rod complex to the poles of E. coli can reprogram cell-wall synthesis, causing cells to elongate through peptidoglycan incorporation at the poles rather than along the cell length. This is a valuable finding for understanding how bacterial growth can be spatially reprogrammed and provides insight into how distinct modes of bacterial growth might arise. However, the evidence is currently incomplete, particularly regarding the nature of the polar structures, their relationship to cell shape and growth, and the requirement for a pre-existing pole.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. We couldn't get details of this article at this time:
   10.64898/2026.05.07.723469

9. We couldn't get details of this article at this time:
   10.64898/2026.06.01.729353

10. WNK-SPAK/OSR1 signaling pathway facilitates ictal activity via reduced neuronal chloride extrusion rate

    This article has 7 authors:

    1. Volodymyr I. Dzhala
    2. Fu Hung Shiu
    3. Negah Rahmati
    4. Aloe Carroll
    5. Reagan Bae
    6. Kristopher T. Kahle
    7. Kevin J Staley

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife Assessment

      This study presents a valuable investigation of how inhibition of the WNK-SPAK/OSR1 pathway influences neuronal chloride homeostasis and seizure-like activity in organotypic hippocampal slice cultures. The evidence supporting the principal mechanistic conclusions is incomplete because several proposed mechanisms are inferred from changes in chloride dynamics rather than directly demonstrated. The work will be of interest to researchers studying chloride homeostasis, inhibitory neurotransmission, and epilepsy.

    Reviewed by eLife