eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. The tuxedo sea urchin Mespilia globulus: A fast-developing and tractable model for genomic and developmental biology

   This article has 12 authors:

   1. Omar Matar
   2. Marie Emilie Maeland
   3. Lucas King
   4. Elise Parey
   5. Grace Birkett
   6. Clara Santangelo
   7. Laura Piovani
   8. Jamie Craggs
   9. Jeffrey R Thompson
   10. Nathalie Oulhen
   11. Gary Wessel
   12. Ferdinand Marlétaz

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study establishes the fast-developing tuxedo sea urchin, Mespilia globulus, as a genome-enabled experimental model. With the tools and methods described here, the authors provide a valuable platform with particular potential for developmental biology and physiology as well as comparative studies. The evidence supporting the principal claims of experimental tractability and quality of genomic resources is solid, although fuller documentation, e.g., of husbandry, aquarium-stock provenance and genetic diversity as well as gene-editing efficiency and imaging set up, would strengthen the work. This work will be of particular interest to developmental and evolutionary biologists.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Parallel connectivity and genomic divergence but heterogeneous demographic history in sympatric Mediterranean clingfishes

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Maximilian Wagner
   2. Stephan Koblmüller
   3. Ariane Droin
   4. Nadine Klar
   5. Sandra Bračun
   6. Stamatis Zogaris
   7. Kristina M Sefc
   8. Hannes Svardal

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     The study presents a valuable dataset and analysis on two sympatric Mediterranean clingfishes which will be of interest to the fields of evolutionary genomics, population genetics and comparative phylogeography, and especially to marine biologists working on population connectivity. The comparative design provides solid evidence that contemporary connectivity is more predictable across species than deeper phylogeographic and demographic history. The analysis of the genomic data, which is still incomplete, would benefit from further work and clarification, particularly regarding the evidence for parallel genomic divergence.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. IL1β/IL1R1/IRAK4 Drives Inflammatory Ovarian Cancer Seeding at the inflamed sites and Is Reversed by an IRAK4 inhibitor UR241-2

   This article has 25 authors:

   1. John P Miller
   2. Kyu Kwang Kim
   3. Cameron WA Snyder
   4. Negar Khazan
   5. Niloy A Singh
   6. Megan E Boyer
   7. Elizabeth Lamere
   8. Myla Strawderman
   9. Sonali Sharma
   10. Ronald Lakony
   11. Michelle Whittum
   12. Mark Anderson
   13. Rick Keenan
   14. Elizabeth Pritchett
   15. Cameron Baker
   16. John Ashton
   17. Manoj K Khera
   18. Michael R Elliott
   19. Christina M Annunziata
   20. Jeevisha Bajaj
   21. Laura M Calvi
   22. Michael W Becker
   23. Rachael Rowswell-Turner
   24. Richard G Moore
   25. Rakesh K Singh

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study identifies the IL1R1-IRAK4 axis as a mediator of inflammation-associated ovarian cancer implantation. The evidence is convincing, supported by complementary genetic and pharmacological approaches across multiple in vivo models. These findings advance our understanding of how inflammatory signaling shapes metastatic niche formation and highlight IRAK4 as a potential therapeutic target.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Focused ultrasound alters neural time irreversibility independently of response amplitude

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Jacek P Dmochowski
   2. David H Wolpert

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study presents a useful approach to analyzing brain responses to transcranial focused ultrasound (tFUS), and potentially to neuromodulation-evoked activity more generally. By applying ideas from physics, it reveals changes in brain activity that measures of signal strength alone do not capture. The authors report a surprising non-monotonic relationship between irreversibility and stimulation dose, and a relationship between baseline irreversibility and susceptibility during stimulation. The evidence for the central interpretation remains incomplete, however: it is not yet clear that these changes reflect genuine reorganization of brain activity rather than artifacts of the calcium-recording method or an unaccounted-for side effect of the stimulation itself.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Orai1α and Orai1β more potently promote NFAT activation and transcription than Orai2 and Orai3

   This article has 23 authors:

   1. Ahmed Emam Abdelnaby
   2. Yin-Hu Wang
   3. J. Cory Benson
   4. Isagani Perez
   5. Boheng Shen
   6. Maxwell McDermott
   7. Miki Jishage
   8. Amal T. Elhaw
   9. Silvia Cruz-Rangel
   10. Raphael Courjaret
   11. Abdelaziz Belkadi
   12. Fang Yu
   13. Douglas S. Prado
   14. Shuai Yuan
   15. Ping Xin
   16. Adam C. Straub
   17. Francisco J. Schopfer
   18. Nadine Hempel
   19. William F. Hawse
   20. David B. Beck
   21. Khaled Machaca
   22. Stefan Feske
   23. Mohamed Trebak

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     In this important study, Abdelnaby and colleagues systematically examine the four native Orai channel isoforms (Orai1α, Orai1β, Orai2, and Orai3) and find that all can couple to NFAT1/4 activation, with NFAT responses largely scaling with the magnitude of Ca2+ influx (Orai1β > Orai1α >> Orai2 > Orai3). The study shows that in primary CD4⁺ T cells, Orai1α and Orai1β are functionally redundant, restoring SOCE, NFAT activation, cytokine production, and highly similar transcriptional programs. Human genetic data further show that selective loss of Orai1α does not cause CRAC channelopathy and instead slightly enhances SOCE and NFAT activation. Overall, the findings are significant, and the strength of the evidence supporting the conclusions is convincing.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. MicroRNA spatial profiling for assessing drug efficacy in BRCA1-related triple-negative breast tumors

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Omar N Mohd
   2. Lin Wang
   3. Brian R Sardella
   4. David Jou
   5. Gerburg M Wulf
   6. Frank J Slack
   7. Yujing J Heng
   8. Patrick S Doyle

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     The work provides a valuable analytical and technical framework for relating spatial microRNA patterns to therapeutic response and features of the tumor immune environment in a BRCA1-associated model of triple-negative breast cancer. The evidence supporting the main conclusions is solid, although additional validation and statistical analyses would strengthen claims regarding biomarker performance and the specific contribution of spatial measurements.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Neural responses during natural vision are action-timed rather than locked to the onset of stable foveal input

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Carmen Amme
   2. Philip Sulewski
   3. Eelke Spaak
   4. Martin N Hebart
   5. Peter König
   6. Tim C Kietzmann

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study shows that neural responses to visual input during active vision are more closely aligned with self-generated eye movements than with fixation onset. The evidence for neural responses being more aligned to saccade-related events than fixation-related events is convincing, but the evidence for the more novel finding that neural responses are most closely aligned to peak saccade curvature is currently incomplete. This work will be of interest to visual perception and sensory processing researchers.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Microbial Metabolites Potentiate MAIT Cell Anti-Tumor Immunity Against Solid Tumors

   This article has 14 authors:

   1. Yichen Zhu
   2. Xinyuan Shen
   3. Yuning Chen
   4. Nathan Ma
   5. Catherine Zhang
   6. Annabel S Zhao
   7. Yanxin Tian
   8. Shreya Gumate
   9. Jie Huang
   10. Siyu Lin
   11. Aijun Wang
   12. Vatche G Agopian
   13. Yan-Ruide Li
   14. Lili Yang

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     The manuscript presents a primary important finding, namely that microbial riboflavin-derived MR1 ligands are pharmacological activators of human MAIT cells and that MR1 ligand stimulation enhances MAIT-mediated tumor killing across multiple tumor models. While the evidence presented is generally solid, there are some limitations of the in vitro and in vivo models used, as well as some overstatements about the broader applicability of the research, which should be revised.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Partial input loss differentially modifies neural pathways

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Joo Yeun Lee
   2. Jeffrey Yang
   3. Scott C Harris
   4. Jeremiah V John
   5. Natalia S Stone
   6. Luca Della Santina
   7. David B Kastner
   8. Felice A Dunn

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study shows that partial cone photoreceptor loss induces pathway-specific circuit remodeling in the mouse retina, with alpha OFF-sustained and OFF-transient retinal ganglion cells adapting differently through changes in their pre- and postsynaptic circuits. The results are valuable because they provide a key understanding of the diversity of circuit remodeling in retinal degeneration. The data are convincing, although clearer reporting of the numbers of independent animals and retinas, a more rigorous distinction between compensation and circuit change, and discussion of the functional consequences would strengthen the mechanistic insights.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. The P2X7 receptor is an intermediate in the retinoic acid-signaling pathway that induces neuronal remodeling in retinitis pigmentosa

    This article has 5 authors:

    1. Michael Telias
    2. Leonor Afrima
    3. Jared Endres
    4. Bristol Denlinger
    5. Richard H Kramer

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife Assessment

      This study presents valuable findings regarding the role of the P2X7 receptor in retinoic acid signaling-mediated retinal remodeling following photoreceptor degeneration. However, the evidence supporting the main conclusions is currently incomplete, as key comparisons are confounded by differences in genetic background, and the cellular source of receptor expression is not sufficiently resolved. While the work offers mechanistic insights of interest to researchers studying retinal degeneration, additional experimental controls are needed to fully support the authors' claims.

    Reviewed by eLife