eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Human mitochondrial DNA variants influence telomere length: evidence from a transmitochondrial cybrid model

   This article has 16 authors:

   1. Manon Mahieu
   2. Jean-Philippe Defour
   3. Barbara Mathieu
   4. Elena Richiardone
   5. Isaac Heremans
   6. Elisa Fabiole
   7. Gabriel Levy
   8. Gabriel Le Berre
   9. Isabelle Scheers
   10. Bénédicte Brichard
   11. Thierry Arnould
   12. Patrick Revy
   13. Guido Bommer
   14. Bernard Gallez
   15. Cyril Corbet
   16. Anabelle Decottignies

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study addresses a timely issue at the intersection of mitochondrial and telomere biology by focusing on the relationship between naturally occurring variants in the mitochondrial genome and telomere length. This work thereby provides a conceptual and experimental framework for investigating communication between mitochondria and telomeres. Using an innovative transmitochondrial cybrid approach, the authors provide evidence that mitochondrial DNA variants influence telomere maintenance through effects on mitochondrial function, reactive oxygen species, and NAD⁺-dependent repair processes. The evidence supporting the central conclusion that mitochondrial genotype influences telomere-associated phenotypes is convincing and is strengthened by the use of complementary functional and rescue experiments. However, some of the mechanistic interpretations and broader conclusions regarding telomere length inheritance in humans would benefit from additional donors and longitudinal analyses following cybrid generation, or more cautious framing.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. All-optical analysis of electrical coupling in muscle ensembles reveals contributions of individual innexins to cell synchronization and locomotion

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Nora Elvers
   2. Amelie Bergs
   3. Christin Bessel
   4. Jana Liewald
   5. Alexander Gottschalk

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study combines behavioural analysis, voltage imaging and electrophysiology to advance our understanding of muscle coordination at the cell-to-cell level, in Caenorhabditis elegans. The evidence supporting the conclusions is convincing; however, the use of correlation in some aspects of data interpretation is a relative weakness. The technically sophisticated optogenetic voltage clamp approach introduced here can be applied to other small, transparent animals, making these findings of broad interest to researchers studying electrical coupling between cells or utilising optical electrophysiology techniques.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Arm Control and its Recovery after Selective Lesions of Sensorimotor Cortex and the Red Nucleus: A Kinematic Study in Non-Human Primates

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Anna Baines
   2. Annie Poll
   3. Anne M.E. Baker
   4. John W. Krakauer
   5. Stuart N. Baker

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study describes how selective lesions of key cortical and subcortical motor areas affect reaching actions in macaque monkeys. The results will be of interest to both basic and clinical researchers studying the neural control of movement. Kinematic analysis of movement quality is solid but could be improved by considering other metrics, especially those that relate to grasping. Evidence for the general claims related to the role of specific motor areas is incomplete because the lesions did not fully eliminate any single area while simultaneously involving neighbouring areas.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. A network perspective on the role of c-di-GMP-associated protein complexes in biofilm formation

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Marie-Francoise Noirot-Gros
   2. Peter Larsen
   3. Sara Forester
   4. Rosemarie Wilton
   5. Kenneth M Kemner
   6. Romain Briandet
   7. Gyorgy Babnigg
   8. Philippe Noirot

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study presents a comprehensive exploration of c-di-GMP-associated protein interaction networks in Pseudomonas fluorescens, with a particular focus on biofilm-related phenotypes. The evidence is convincing, supported by a genome-wide yeast two-hybrid screen, phenotypic analyses, and experimental validation. The work identifies multiple interaction hubs and provides a resource that will be of use to the biofilm and c-di-GMP communities, while additional mechanistic exploration would further enhance its impact by clarifying the biological roles of many of the identified interactions.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Sex differences in exploration–exploitation strategies during home-cage decision making

   This article has 14 authors:

   1. Chantelle L Murrell
   2. Alex A Legaria
   3. Katie B McCullough
   4. Andrew Nwacha
   5. Monsurat O Nasiru
   6. Sebastian Alves Ferreira Dias
   7. Rebecca Chase
   8. Mason R Barrett
   9. Matt Gaidica
   10. Naoki Hiratani
   11. Meaghan C Creed
   12. Joseph D Dougherty
   13. Susan E Maloney
   14. Alexxai V Kravitz

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     Murrell et al. describe a high-throughput method, the Feeding Experimentation Device (FED3), to study food foraging strategies in mice. The authors provide solid evidence about key sex differences in foraging strategies, specifically the finding of greater male win-stay behavior. Further consideration of how sex differences could be uniquely influenced by FED3 testing conditions (e.g., single-housing, hormones) and task demands (e.g., 100-0 vs. 80-20) would be helpful. Given this open source FED3 platform, the authors provide valuable findings that have utility to the field of behavioral neuroscience, specifically to those interested in studying reward-related behavior.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Comparative multi-omics of the macrophage response to infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex bacteria reveals pathogen-driven epigenomic reprogramming

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Thomas J Hall
   2. Morgane Mitermite
   3. John F O’Grady
   4. John A Browne
   5. Gillian P McHugo
   6. Emily L Clark
   7. Mazdak Salavati
   8. Stephen V Gordon
   9. David E MacHugh

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study conducted by Hall and colleagues advances our understanding of host-pathogen co-evolution by providing an elegant multi-omic comparative framework that uncovers a profound, pathogen-directed epigenomic reprogramming of bovine alveolar macrophages uniquely driven by host-adapted Mycobacterium bovis. Convincing evidence supports these findings and draws on robust, multi-layered high-throughput sequencing data integrated with large-scale cattle GWAS metadata to prioritize actionable genetic variants linked to disease susceptibility and to highlight key immune response genes/pathways upregulated in response to infection and pathogen-specific host adaptation mechanisms.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Verbal versus Nonverbal Processing Leads to Generalized Hemispheric Laterality Effects that Span Multiple Networks

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Wendy Sun
   2. Lauren M DiNicola
   3. Randy L Buckner

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study investigates how verbal and nonverbal working-memory processing is distributed across large-scale functional networks in the human brain using precision fMRI. By leveraging extensive within-subject data and individualized network mapping, the authors provide solid evidence that hemispheric specialization for verbal versus nonverbal information extends across multiple association networks and is reproducible across independent datasets. The use of state-of-the-art precision neuroimaging approaches reveals fine-grained laterality patterns that are likely obscured in conventional group analyses.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Metabolic Trans-Omic Analysis Reveals Key Regulatory Disruption of Energy Metabolism in Alzheimer’s Disease

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Tomoharu Katayama
   2. Hikaru Sugimoto
   3. Keigo Morita
   4. Hirohisa Watanabe
   5. Shinya Kuroda

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study presents a useful application of trans-omic network analyses to existing human brain datasets, generating systems-level insights into metabolic dysregulation in Alzheimer's disease. Overall, the authors' analytical choices are solid, with appropriate use of existing data and methods, and with many of their results confirming previous findings. However, some of the authors' key claims, related to previously unknown details of regulatory relationships, are only partially supported due to limitations in dataset cell-type resolution and network robustness, as well as a lack of functional validation. This work will be of interest to cellular or systems neurobiologists studying Alzheimer's disease and could serve as a helpful starting point for future work.

     [Editors' note: this paper was reviewed by Review Commons.]

   Reviewed by eLife, Review Commons

9. PXGS: a Poly-Transgene Expression System based on Mutually Exclusive Splicing of Dscam

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Renee Yin Yu
   2. Alyeri Bucio-Méndez
   3. Brian E Chen

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study describes PXGS, a poly-transgene expression system that exploits the mutually exclusive splicing of Dscam variable exon 4 to enable conditional, simultaneous expression of up to 12 transgenes in Drosophila, addressing a longstanding limitation in which conditional co-expression has been restricted to a handful of genes. The approach is conceptually elegant and technically accessible, with potential applications spanning neuroscience, synthetic biology, and biomanufacturing across arthropod species. The evidence that Dscam exon 4 splicing is preserved in a UAS vector and that individual alternates can be replaced with functional transgenes is solid, and the in vivo axonal re-wiring application provides a convincing proof of principle. Quantitative characterization of expression levels, a direct demonstration of expression across all twelve positions, and additional imaging controls would further substantiate the system's utility and scope.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Relating layer fMRI signals to acoustics and intracranial neuronal activity in the human auditory cortex in a naturalistic design

    This article has 9 authors:

    1. Hsin-Ju Lee
    2. Jyrki Ahveninen
    3. Hsiang-Yu Yu
    4. Chien-Chen Chou
    5. Cheng-Chia Lee
    6. Wen-Jui Kuo
    7. Hankyeol Lee
    8. Kamil Uludag
    9. Fa-Hsuan Lin

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife Assessment

      This study presents a valuable finding on linking the frequency of neural activity to cortical depths of blood flow in a naturalistic setting of participants listening to music. The presentation of evidence in the version of the original submission is incomplete, as further clarifications in methods and results, as well as performing additional analyses, would strengthen the study. The work will be of interest to cognitive neuroscientists working on multimodal recordings, auditory perception and music.

    Reviewed by eLife