eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Ectopic hAMH -driven SOX17 expression induces hyperplastic Sertoli valve formation in mouse testes

   This article has 11 authors:

   1. Xiao Han
   2. Aya Uchida
   3. Seohyeon Lee
   4. Kosuke Nakamura
   5. Katsuki Takahashi
   6. Tsutomu Endo
   7. Ayaka Yanagida
   8. Ryuji Hiramatsu
   9. Akihiko Kudo
   10. Masami Kanai-Azuma
   11. Yoshiakira Kanai

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study clearly demonstrates that Sox17 is key for the formation and function of the Sertoli valve, a transition region between the rete testis and seminiferous tubules, which remains an understudied domain of testicular biology. The supporting data are generally convincing but remain incomplete. This work will be of interest to reproductive biologists and andrologists who work on male fertility and men's health.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Wunen(s) help navigate Primordial Germ Cells by attenuating Hedgehog signaling

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Amrita Roy
   2. Adheena Elsa Roy
   3. Airat Ibragimov
   4. Juliana DaSilva
   5. Kundan Kumar
   6. Paul Schedl
   7. Siddhesh S Kamat
   8. Girish S Ratnaparkhi
   9. Girish Deshpande

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     In this valuable manuscript, the authors tackle a highly relevant question in biology: how cells integrate attractive and repulsive cues to achieve directed migration. They present solid data demonstrating that two wunen genes act as negative regulators of Hedgehog signalling, thereby enabling efficient primordial germ cell (PGC) migration in Drosophila embryos. Beyond its immediate scope, this work has broader implications, particularly for understanding key mechanisms underlying complex processes such as cancer metastasis, where the coordinated interpretation of guidance cues is critical.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. RegEvol: detection of directional selection in regulatory sequences through phenotypic predictions and phenotype-to-fitness functions

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Alexandre Laverré
   2. Thibault Latrille
   3. Marc Robinson-Rechavi

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     The focus of this manuscript is a computational procedure to reveal signatures of selection on transcription factor binding sites through assessing changes in predicted binding affinity, setting out to avoid biases inherent in previous tests. The general approach could become a valuable resource for the community that can also be used for a broader range of questions. However, in its current implementation, the methods are inadequate to sufficiently support the primary claims.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Developmental bias explains the evolutionary trend towards simple leaf shapes

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. James S. Malone
   2. Nora S. Martin
   3. Samuel H. A. von der Dunk
   4. Liliana M. Dávalos
   5. Ard A. Louis

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This paper presents important findings on how the shapes of leaves might be biased towards simpler shapes due to biases in how variation is generated by developmental processes rather than selection. The authors present solid evidence that combines image analysis of a herbarium dataset and computational analysis of a model of leaf development. The paper should be of interest to diverse researchers, ranging from plant development to the evolution of complexity more broadly.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Dissecting oligogenic and polygenic indirect genetic effects through the lens of neighbor genotypic identity

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Yasuhiro Sato
   2. Kosuke Hamazaki

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This useful study introduces a statistical model and accompanying software for jointly analysing how an organism's own genotype, and those of its neighbors, shape its traits (assessing both direct and indirect genetic effects), based on simulations and three datasets from plants. The implementation and its behavior on simulated data are solid, but the evidence that the approach is more powerful, more interpretable, or more novel than established alternatives is incomplete, because the authors do not benchmark against existing methods, nor validate the candidate genes they identify, nor test realistic scenarios in which neighbor effects are weaker than direct effects. The work will be of interest to quantitative geneticists and plant breeders studying competition among neighboring genotypes.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Connections across regional glymphatic clearance, neural activity and amyloid-β deposition in cortex

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Yifei Li
   2. Xiao Zhu
   3. Ying Zhou
   4. Xuting Zhang
   5. Ziyu Zhou
   6. Kai Wei
   7. Jianzhong Sun
   8. Min Lou

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     The framework of the study - with the integration of multiple levels of analysis, glymphatic MRI, transcriptomics, functional MRI, and public amyloid maps, in one framework - is clever. The assertion that regional amyloid vulnerability may depend not just on neural activity alone, but on whether clearance is appropriately matched to activity is an interesting and novel concept. However, the chosen approach to imaging glymphatic clearance relies on indirect inferences from a small subgroup. In its current form, the main conclusions of this study are therefore incompletely supported.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Intersecting experimental evolution and CRISPR screens to identify novel toxin resistance loci

   This article has 11 authors:

   1. Michele Marconcini
   2. Steeve Cruchet
   3. Srishti Goswami
   4. Raghuvir Viswanatha
   5. Matthew Butnaru
   6. Joydeep De
   7. Camilla Roselli
   8. Dafni Hadjieconomou
   9. Norbert Perrimon
   10. Stephanie Mohr
   11. Richard Benton

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study advances our understanding of genes contributing to Drosophila resistance to octanoic acid, a primary toxin present in Morinda fruit, which is the natural host plant for Drosophila sechellia, a species that has become a model for understanding evolutionary specialization. The authors provide solid results from an original combination of experimental evolution and cell-based CRISPR screens. This work will be of interest to the Drosophila community and researchers interested in the genetic basis of polygenic traits.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. A Single-Cell Signaling Atlas of Spinal Cord BDNF Responses Reveals Determinants Beyond Receptor Expression

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Jonathon M Sewell
   2. Autumn C Bissett
   3. Grace Lee
   4. Eli R Zunder
   5. Bettina Winckler
   6. Chris D Deppmann

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study of BDNF signaling in heterogeneous spinal cord cultures provides a fundamental conceptual advance by demonstrating that cell identity and maturation state, rather than receptor stoichiometry alone, ultimately determine how a trophic message is interpreted, in a framework the authors call "prepared competence." The evidence is compelling, with the discrete subpopulation behavior, the maturation-dependent acquisition of signaling competence, and the dissociation between receptor abundance and signaling output emerging clearly from the high-dimensional dataset. This study will be of interest to neurobiologists as well as cell biologists who study the molecular basis of cell signaling.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Integrin-deficient T cell leukemia accumulates in the central nervous system

   This article has 12 authors:

   1. Samantha Y. Lux
   2. Cynthia Chen
   3. Bibi S. Subhan
   4. Hyunsoo Chung
   5. Martyna Okuniewska
   6. Asha Y. Caslin
   7. Kathleen A. Martin
   8. Jennifer K. Schiavo
   9. Jonah B. Vernejoul
   10. Robert C. Froemke
   11. Michael Cammer
   12. Susan R. Schwab

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study presents an important finding that loss or blockade of key integrins unexpectedly enhances central nervous system accumulation of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia cells and may increase their sensitivity to chemotherapy. The evidence is convincing, supported by well-designed in vivo models, CRISPR-based perturbations, competitive assays, imaging, and complementary therapeutic experiments. However, the mechanistic basis linking integrin loss, altered spatial distribution, and increased proliferation remains incompletely defined, and the translational implications would be strengthened by additional survival studies and validation in more clinically relevant models.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. LiFE, a multimodal circadian intervention, improves sleep, glycemic control, and recognition memory

    This article has 13 authors:

    1. Yu Shi
    2. Stephen D Rozen
    3. Jordan T Swint
    4. Williams A McRoberts
    5. Sophia N McCurry
    6. Ricardo Salinas
    7. Elizabeth G Moffett
    8. Clara M Pollock
    9. Lila R Goldstein
    10. Soraya S Katzev
    11. Matthew E Carter
    12. George S Bloom
    13. Ali D Güler

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife Assessment

      This study provides important findings regarding the efficacy of a chronotherapeutic protocol (termed LiFE), combining timed light, food, and exercise exposure in improving several physiological and health metrics in a rodent model. The evidence advanced in wild-type mice is solid but inconclusive and underpowered when applied to two transgenic mouse models of Alzheimer's Disease. Additionally, the potential of such protocols in clinical human studies is an open question. Overall, the study suggests that LiFE intervention may have positive effects on metabolic and brain health.

    Reviewed by eLife