eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. The Ingestive Response Reflects Neural Dynamics in Gustatory Cortex

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Natasha Baas-Thomas
   2. Abuzar Mahmood
   3. Narendra Mukherjee
   4. Kathleen C. Maigler
   5. Yixi Wang
   6. Donald B. Katz

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study addresses an important question in gustatory neuroscience by developing a machine-learning classifier to identify distinct ingestive orofacial movement subtypes from electromyographic recordings and relating their dynamics to population-level activity in the gustatory cortex. The evidence that transitions in cortical ensemble firing are temporally associated with reorganization of ingestive movement patterns is convincing, though some aspects of the behavioral classification and neural analyses require further validation and clarification. The work provides a technically innovative framework for linking neural state dynamics to the motor expression of taste-guided decisions.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. The causes and consequences of human-specific DNA methylation

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Zhenzhen Ma
   2. Alexander L Starr
   3. David Gokhman
   4. Hunter B Fraser

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study presents an important examination of the role of cis-acting versus trans-acting genetic variation on DNA methylation divergence between humans and chimpanzees, including its consequences for gene expression. By differentiating fused interspecies tetraploid cell lines into multiple cell types, the study provides compelling evidence for the importance of cis-acting changes, but incomplete evidence that these changes are of importance for adaptive trait evolution in humans. This work will be of interest to biologists and evolutionary anthropologists studying the evolution and genetics of gene regulation, particularly in primates.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Geometry shapes cytoplasmic Cdk1 waves that drive cortical dynamics

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Daniel Cebrián-Lacasa
   2. Marcin Leda
   3. Andrew B. Goryachev
   4. Lendert Gelens

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study combines previously established mathematical models to investigate why cortical waves in starfish and Xenopus embryos propagate in opposite directions. The modeling results are solid and plausible, but remain experimentally untested. Improving the presentation and discussion of the results could make the study more accessible to a wider audience.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Synergistic Inhibition of Notch Signaling and Forced Cell Cycle Re-entry Drive Müller Glia Reprogramming in Uninjured Mouse Retina

   This article has 11 authors:

   1. Baoshan Liao
   2. Chengshang Lyu
   3. Yuqing Jiang
   4. Shanggong Liu
   5. Waiho Wong
   6. Jiadong Zhang
   7. Hoyin Tsang
   8. Junxi Xie
   9. Lingxi Chen
   10. Qinrong Zhang
   11. Wenjun Xiong

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study shows that combining forced cell cycle re-entry with Rbpj deletion enhances Müller glia dedifferentiation and promotes their conversion into retinal neuron-like cells in the uninjured mouse retina. It provides a valuable strategy for improving Müller glia-mediated neurogenesis and advancing regenerative potential in the mammalian retina. Overall, the data are convincing, but the conclusions would be strengthened by functional validation of the newly generated neurons and retinal performance, as well as an assessment of Müller glia long-term function and cell survival.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Are interphylum spiralian relationships resolvable?

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Ana Serra Silva
   2. Maximilian J Telford

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study probes the long-standing failure to resolve evolutionary relationships between the classical "spiralian" taxa - i.e., annelids, molluscs, brachiopods, platyhelminths and nemerteans - and provides convincing evidence that the branches leading to them are so short as to be unreliable guides to their relationships. This, in turn, has wide-ranging implications for our understanding of animal body plan evolution and the interpretation of early animal fossils.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. The structure of Egalitarian in complex with the K10 mRNA localization signal reveals a modular binding surface required for function

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Zebin Hong
   2. Li Jin
   3. Jonas Mühle
   4. Fulvia Bono

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This manuscript has convincing data that provides a high-resolution structure of the Egl-RNA complex. The findings are important to understand the formation, stability, and interactions of this complex. However, the manuscript could be improved by conducting a rigorous statistical analysis, a deeper understanding of apparent discrepancies in the stoichiometric Egl-to-RNA ratio, and exploring the specificity of this complex using a more diverse set of control RNAs.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Medial prefrontal cortex encodes but is not required to generate goal-directed actions under threat

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Muhammad S Sajid
   2. Ji Zhou
   3. Manuel A Castro-Alamancos

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study employed a multi-stage behavioural paradigm of increasing cognitive complexity to investigate the role of inhibitory interneurons in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in avoidance behaviour in mice. The authors used imaging and optogenetic techniques, combined with this behavioural task, to show that mPFC interneurons are necessary for encoding but not for executing avoidance under threat. The evidence supporting these claims is compelling, and findings will be of interest to researchers in behavioural and systems neurosciences.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Neural categorization of visual words of alphabetic and non-alphabetic languages

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Guo Zheng
   2. Shihui Han

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study investigates how the brain categorizes written words from different writing systems (e.g., alphabetic vs. non-alphabetic), shedding potential light on the neural basis of language's social‑categorization function. Overall, the evidence supporting the authors' claims is solid, though some analyses and key interpretations would benefit from fuller justification.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Optics-free reconstruction of shapes, images and volumes with DNA barcode proximity graphs

   This article has 12 authors:

   1. Hanna Liao
   2. Sanjay Kottapalli
   3. Yuqi Huang
   4. Matthew Chaw
   5. Jase Gehring
   6. Olivia Waltner
   7. Melissa Phung-Rojas
   8. Riza M. Daza
   9. Frederick A. Matsen
   10. Cole Trapnell
   11. Jay Shendure
   12. Sanjay Srivatsan

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important technical study introduces SCOPE, an optics-free spatial reconstruction method based on bidirectional sender and receiver oligonucleotides on barcoded hydrogel beads. By sequencing proximity-encoded chimeric molecules, the authors computationally reconstruct 2D and 3D spatial information at an impressive scale. The technical demonstrations in synthetic bead systems are convincing and establish proof-of-principle that large spatial domains can be reconstructed without microscopy. The methodological advance is clear and the scale is impressive. Direct validation in biological samples would help clarify what additional limitations on applicability may exist. This work will be of interest to those working on spatial mapping.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Fast-ripples are emergent properties of neuronal networks

    This article has 13 authors:

    1. Laurent Sheybani
    2. Yichen Qiu
    3. Prince Kumar Singh
    4. Umesh Vivekananda
    5. Neil Burgess
    6. Beate Diehl
    7. Andrew McEvoy
    8. Anna Miserocchi
    9. James A Bisby
    10. Tawfeeq Shekh-Ahmad
    11. Gabriele Lignani
    12. Daniel Bush
    13. Matthew C Walker

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife Assessment

      This valuable study addressed a key question in epilepsy research: whether the recordings of very fast oscillations in the brain (>250Hz, fast ripples) reflect underlying pathology or might be a property that emerges from a neuronal network at random. The strengths of the study are the importance of the question, the multiple methods, and the solid evidence. However, there are limitations to the methods that should be addressed.

    Reviewed by eLife