eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. An increase of NPY1 expression leads to inhibitory phosphorylation of PIN-FORMED (PIN) proteins and suppression of pinoid ( pid ) null mutants

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Michael Mudgett
   2. Zhouxin Shen
   3. Ruofan Kang
   4. Xinhua Dai
   5. Steve Briggs
   6. Yunde Zhao

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study concerns a highly interesting and biologically relevant topic, the regulation of the PIN auxin transporter, which is of broad interest to the plant biology community. The authors propose NPY1 to act downstream of PID in auxin-mediated development by modulating PIN phosphorylation, which, if experimentally solidified, would expand our understanding of PIN regulation. While the genetic evidence is solid, the mechanistic role of NPY1 and the functional relevance of phosphorylated PIN residues are still uncertain. There are also concerns regarding experimental rigor and methodological transparency.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Listening to the room: disrupting activity of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex impairs learning of room acoustics in human listeners

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Heivet Hernández-Pérez
   2. Jessica J.M. Monaghan
   3. Jason Mikiel-Hunter
   4. James Traer
   5. Paul F Sowman
   6. David McAlpine

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment:

     This study addresses valuable questions about the neural mechanisms underlying statistical learning of room acoustics, combining robust behavioral measures with non-invasive brain stimulation. The behavioral findings are strong and extend previous work in psychoacoustics, but the TMS results are modest, with methodological limitations and over-interpretation that weaken the mechanistic conclusions. The strength of evidence is therefore incomplete, and a more cautious interpretation of the stimulation findings, alongside strengthened analyses, would improve the manuscript.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Morphogenesis and morphometry of brain folding patterns across species

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Sifan Yin
   2. Chunzi Liu
   3. Gary P. T. Choi
   4. Yeonsu Jung
   5. Katja Heuer
   6. Roberto Toro
   7. L. Mahadevan

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study presents a cross-species and cross-disciplinary analysis of cortical folding. The authors use a combination of physical gel models, computational simulations, and morphometric analysis, extending prior work in human brain development to macaques and ferrets. The findings support the hypothesis that mechanical forces driven by differential growth can account for major aspects of gyrification. The evidence presented, though limited in certain species-specific and parametric details, is overall strong and convincingly supports the central claims; the findings will be of broad interest in developmental neuroscience.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Biophysical basis for brain folding and misfolding patterns in ferrets and humans

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Gary P. T. Choi
   2. Chunzi Liu
   3. Sifan Yin
   4. Gabrielle Séjourné
   5. Richard S. Smith
   6. Christopher A. Walsh
   7. L. Mahadevan

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study characterises the morphogenesis of cortical folding in the ferret and human cerebral cortex using complementary physical and computational modelling. Notably, these approaches are applied to charting, in the ferret model, known abnormalities of cortical folding in humans. The study finds that variation in cortical thickness and expansion account for deviations in morphology, and supports these findings using cutting-edge approaches from both physical gel models and numerical simulations. The strength of evidence is convincing, and although it could benefit from more quantitative assessment, the study will be of broad interest to the field of developmental neuroscience.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Bacteria detect neutrophils via a system that responds to hypochlorous acid and flow

   This article has 11 authors:

   1. Ilona P. Foik
   2. Runhang Shu
   3. Serena Abbondante
   4. Summer J. Kasallis
   5. Lauren A. Urban
   6. Andy P. Huang
   7. Leora Duong
   8. Michaela E. Marshall
   9. Eric Pearlman
   10. Timothy L. Downing
   11. Albert Siryaporn

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This is an important study reporting a new phenotype for a gene cluster that has previously been associated with the responses of the Gram-negative opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa to flow fluid. Expression of the froABCD gene cluster is induced by HOCl in vitro and by activated immune cells, which produce these types of reactive chlorine species. Overall, the evidence presented by the authors is solid; however, the mechanism of fro-induction by HOCl remains unclear, and the evidence in support of the authors' claims is descriptive, which needs to be improved. This study is of interest to infection biologists interested in mechanisms of bacterial pathogenicity.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. An in vitro human vessel model to study Neisseria meningitidis colonization and vascular damages

   This article has 13 authors:

   1. Léa Pinon
   2. Mélanie Chabaud
   3. Pierre Nivoit
   4. Jérôme Wong-Ng
   5. Tri Tho Nguyen
   6. Vanessa Paul
   7. Charlotte Bouquerel
   8. Sylvie Goussard
   9. Pauline Smilovici
   10. Emmanuel Frachon
   11. Dorian Obino
   12. Samy Gobaa
   13. Guillaume Duménil

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     In this important study, the authors develop a microfluidic "Vessel-on-Chip" model to study Neisseria meningitidis interactions in an in vitro vascular system. Compelling evidence demonstrates that endothelial cell-lined channels can be colonized by N. meningitidis, triggering neutrophil recruitment with advantages over complex surgical xenograft models. This system offers potential for follow-on studies of N. meningitidis pathogenesis, though it lacks the cellular complexity of true vasculature including smooth muscle cells and pericytes.

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

   Reviewed by eLife, Review Commons

7. Lipid Peroxidation and Type I Interferon Coupling Fuels Pathogenic Macrophage Activation Causing Tuberculosis Susceptibility

   This article has 19 authors:

   1. Shivraj M Yabaji
   2. Vadim Zhernovkov
   3. Prasanna Babu Araveti
   4. Suruchi Lata
   5. Oleksii S Rukhlenko
   6. Salam Al Abdullatif
   7. Arthur Vanvalkenburg
   8. Yuriy Alekseev
   9. Qicheng Ma
   10. Gargi Dayama
   11. Nelson C Lau
   12. W Evan Johnson
   13. William R Bishai
   14. Nicholas A Crossland
   15. Joshua D Campbell
   16. Boris N Kholodenko
   17. Alexander A Gimelbrant
   18. Lester Kobzik
   19. Igor Kramnik

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     Yabaji et al. reports a fundamental study highlighting the mechanistic connection for susceptibility to TB infection via the sst1 locus, this was shown to involve increased IFN and Myc production causing the down-regulation of anti-oxidant defence genes and chronic lipidation. Ultimately, lipid peroxidation may underlie infectivity and macrophage dysfunction. Overall, the data presented are compelling, supported by a well designed multi-omics approach and the findings will be of broad interest to researchers investigating the molecular mechanisms of TB infection.

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

   Reviewed by eLife, Review Commons

8. Stimulus-Dependent Theta Rhythmic Activity in Primate V1 Predicts Visual Detection

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Prasakti Tenri Fanyiwi
   2. Beshoy Agayby
   3. Ricardo Kienitz
   4. Marcus Haag
   5. Jaime Cadena-Valencia
   6. Michael C Schmid

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This useful study shows that stimuli of a certain size elicit theta oscillations in V1 neurons both in spikes and local field potentials, and monkeys performing a dot detection task on these stimuli show theta rhythmicity in their response times. This replicates previous findings showing rhythmic theta activity in V4 and behaviour when stimuli are presented in the receptive field along with a surrounding flanker stimulus. However, there is incomplete evidence that rhythmicity in neural activity is related to the rhythmicity in behavior, and the mechanisms underlying these oscillations remain unclear.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Differential interfacial tension between oncogenic and wild-type populations forms the mechanical basis of tissue-specific oncogenesis in epithelia

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Amrapali Datta
   2. Phanindra Dewan
   3. Aswin Anto
   4. Tanya Chhabra
   5. Tanishq Tejaswi
   6. Sindhu Muthukrishnan
   7. Akshar Rao
   8. Sumantra Sarkar
   9. Medhavi Vishwakarma

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study reports that an oncogenic population in an epithelium can either be repressed or spread, depending on the tissues. This is explained based on the differential interfacial tension hypothesis, and supported by pharmacological perturbations and numerical simulations using the vertex model. The study conveys a key message, but, as it stands, the strength of evidence is incomplete, and a more detailed analysis of the mechanistic origin of the different tensions and better comparison between experiments and simulations would strongly strengthen the message.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Physiological febrile heat stress increases cytoadhesion through increased protein trafficking of Plasmodium falciparum surface proteins into the red blood cell

    This article has 7 authors:

    1. David Jones
    2. Hugo Belda
    3. Malgorzata Broncel
    4. Gwendolin Fuchs
    5. David Anaguano
    6. Stephanie D Nofal
    7. Moritz Treeck

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife Assessment

      This important study provides compelling evidence that fever-like temperatures enhance the export of Plasmodium falciparum transmembrane proteins, including the cytoadherence protein PfEMP1 and the nutrient channel PSAC, to the red blood cell surface, thereby increasing cytoadhesion. Using rigorous and well-controlled experiments, the authors convincingly demonstrate that this effect results from accelerated protein trafficking rather than changes in protein production or parasite development. These findings significantly advance our understanding of parasite virulence mechanisms and offer insights into how febrile episodes may exacerbate malaria severity.

    Reviewed by eLife