eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Neural Traces of Forgotten Memories Persist in Humans and are Behaviorally Relevant

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Tom Willems
   2. Konstantinos Zervas
   3. Luzius Brogli
   4. Finn Rabe
   5. Andrea Federspiel
   6. Katharina Henke

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This is a potentially important paper attempting to identify neutral correlates of memory engram expression in humans, and how they change during forgetting. The questions posed are clear and novel. The methods employed, namely behavioral analysis, high-resolution functional magnetic resonance imaging, and representational similarity analysis, are advanced, integrative, and appropriate. The experiments are well designed and combine analysis of recollection and familiarity of object/face associations. However, substantial questions remain as to the validity of the incomplete statistical analyses applied to the imaging data, as well as the parsing of and interpretation of the behavioral data.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Synaptic Theory of Chunking in Working Memory

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Weishun Zhong
   2. Mikhail Katkov
   3. Misha Tsodyks

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study links psychological theories of chunking with a physiological implementation based on short-term synaptic plasticity and synaptic augmentation. The theoretical derivation for increased memory capacity via hierarchical chunking is solid. However, the model robustness and biological grounding of the mechanism - including many aspects that were hard-wired, chunking cues, and parameter ranges - as well as its evaluation in the task settings that motivated the study, are incomplete. Additional simulations to test robustness in more cognitively and biologically realistic settings, a systematic parameter analysis, and stronger links to prior work would substantially strengthen the manuscript and increase its impact across disciplines.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Interplay Between Pulmonary Membrane Properties and Lung Disease: A Study of Seven Bottlenose Dolphins

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Marilyn Porras-Gómez
   2. Bengu Sueda Sengul
   3. Nurila Kambar
   4. Sari Gluck
   5. Kristen Flatt
   6. Celeste Parry
   7. Carolina Ruiz Le-Bert
   8. Diego Hernández-Saavedra
   9. Cecília Leal

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     The study presents data on the possible connection of respiratory pathologies like pneumonia in a cohort of dolphins with altered composition and concomitant perturbed biophysical properties of pulmonary surfactant complexes. Overall, it is a valuable contribution that could be of interest to scientists in the field. However, the study as it is appears somewhat incomplete and additional clarification and discussions are required in order to explain a few methodological questions that may limit the impact of the work considerably.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Preserved cerebellar functions despite structural degeneration in older adults

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Anda de Witte
   2. Anouck Matthijs
   3. Benjamin Parrell
   4. Dante Mantini
   5. Jolien Gooijers
   6. Jean-Jacques Orban de Xivry

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study examined age-related changes in cerebellar function by testing a large sample of younger and older adults, including 30 over 80 years old, on motor and cognitive tasks linked to the cerebellum and conducting structural imaging. Their findings show that cerebellar-dependent functions are mostly maintained or even enhanced across the lifespan, with cerebellar-mediated motor abilities remaining intact despite degeneration, in contrast to non-cerebellar measures. Overall, the authors provide solid evidence in support of preserved cerebellar function with age. These results highlight the resilience and redundancy of cerebellar circuits and offer key insights into aging and motor behavior.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Pallium-encoded valence-specific chemosensory amplification of eye-body coordination in larval zebrafish

   This article has 11 authors:

   1. Samuel K. H. Sy
   2. Danny C. W. Chan
   3. Jenny J. Zhang
   4. Jing Lyu
   5. Crystal Feng
   6. Kui Wang
   7. Vincent C. T. Mok
   8. Kenneth K. Y. Wong
   9. Yu Mu
   10. Yu Hu
   11. Ho Ko

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     Using their unique Fish-On-Chips optofluidics platform, the authors make three important findings: the presence of precise coupling between saccades and tail flips can be used to discriminate between turning or gliding behaviours; aversive and appetitive chemosensory cues differentially modulate these behaviours; transformation from cue valence to behaviour is encoded by the pallium. The evidence supporting these findings is solid. The work advances our understanding of the ancient interplay between chemosensation and motor output through the modulation of eye-body coordination.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Division Asymmetry Drives Cell Size Variability in Budding Yeast

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Félix Proulx-Giraldeau
   2. Xin Gao
   3. Yagya Chadha
   4. Jordan Xiao
   5. Kurt M. Schmoller
   6. Jan M. Skotheim
   7. Paul Francois

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment:

     The presented findings are important for the field of cell-cycle control. They provide new insights into the origin of cell size variability in budding yeast. The strength of evidence is solid. However, the conclusions could be more strongly supported by additional analysis.

   Reviewed by eLife, Arcadia Science

7. Goal-directed visual information processing with GABAergic inhibition in parietal cortex

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Zhiyan Wang
   2. Sinah Wiborg
   3. Antonia Wittmann
   4. Nina Beck
   5. Susanna Hirschle
   6. Dominik Aschenbrenner
   7. Markus Becker
   8. Sebastian M. Frank

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study employs functional magnetic resonance spectroscopy (fMRS) to demonstrate that GABAergic inhibition in the parietal cortex actively suppresses goal-irrelevant distractors, thereby facilitating goal-directed visual tracking. The data and analyses are solid, and the methodology is validated. However, the link between the metabolic changes and the purported functional mechanisms is incomplete due to concerns with experimental design and interpretations. The study will be of interest to researchers studying goal-directed behavior and neurochemical dynamics in cognitive processing.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. The PPE2 protein of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is responsible for the development of hyperglycemia and insulin resistance during tuberculosis

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Manoj Kumar Bisht
   2. Vandana Maurya
   3. Priyanka Dahiya
   4. Vijaya Lakshmi Valluri
   5. Sudip Ghosh
   6. Sangita Mukhopadhyay

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable work demonstrates that M. tuberculosis protein PPE2 perturbs adipose tissue biology by modulating adipogenesis, lipolysis, and inflammatory remodeling, thereby contributing to fat loss and insulin resistance during TB. Using M. smegmatis overexpression strains, PPE2-deficient Mtb mutants, and mouse models, the study links PPE2 to downregulation of PPAR-γ, C/EBP-α, adiponectin, and broader transcriptional changes in host fatty acid metabolism. These findings convincingly highlight, for the first time, a direct role for a bacterial virulence factor in TB-associated wasting. However, despite strong associative evidence, the mechanistic basis of PPE2-mediated regulation remains unresolved.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. A default silencing mechanism restrains stress-induced genes in C. elegans

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Orkan Ilbay
   2. Alejandro Rodriguez Gama
   3. Daniel F Jarosz
   4. Richard I Morimoto
   5. Andrew Fire

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study identifies a novel regulator of stress-induced gene quiescence in C. elegans: the multi-Zinc-finger protein ZNF-236. The work provides evidence for an active mechanism that maintains the repressed state of inducible genes under basal conditions in the absence of stress. The claims for discovery made in the title and abstract are supported by solid experimental data. However, a deeper investigation into the mechanisms of ZNF-236 action could substantially enhance the manuscript's impact and value.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Fragile nucleosomes are essential for RNA Polymerase II to transcribe in eukaryotes

    This article has 11 authors:

    1. Lingbo Li
    2. Samuel Hunter
    3. Sonia Leach
    4. Yonghua Zhuang
    5. Haolin Liu
    6. Junfeng Gao
    7. Qianqian Zhang
    8. Timothy J Stasevich
    9. Hiroshi Kimura
    10. Robin Dowell
    11. Gongyi Zhang

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife Assessment

      This study addresses an important problem in gene regulation, namely, which features of chromatin regulate potential RNA Polymerase 2 activity at a locus. The authors provided evidence that specific post-translational modifications of histones within the gene body are correlated with Pol II transcription, that these modifications are dynamic, and that they can be regulated by Pol II activity. The manuscript contributes to the concept of "fragile nucleosomes" as a unifying framework for key epigenetic drivers of transcription; however, the quality of the evidence provided is inadequate in support of the claims made, and further evidence teasing out the mechanistic aspects of the work would strengthen its impact. This work will be of interest to the fields of transcriptional regulation, chromatin structure, and epigenetics.

    Reviewed by eLife