eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Synaptic connectivity of sensorimotor circuits for vocal imitation in the songbird

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Massimo Trusel
   2. Ziran Zhao
   3. Danyal H Alam
   4. Ethan S Marks
   5. Maaya Z Ikeda
   6. Todd F Roberts

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     The songbird vocal motor nucleus HVC contains cells that project to the basal ganglia, the auditory system, or to downstream vocal motor structures. In this fundamental study, the authors conduct optogenetic circuit mapping to clarify how four distinct inputs to HVC act on these distinct HVC cell types. They provide compelling evidence that all long range projections engage inhibitory circuits in HVC and can also exhibit cell-type specific preferences in monosynaptic input strength. Understanding HVC at this microcircuit level is critical for constraining models of song learning and production.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Distancing alters the controllability of emotional states by affecting both intrinsic stability and extrinsic sensitivity

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Jolanda Malamud
   2. Quentin JM Huys

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important manuscript proposes a dual behavioral/computational approach to assess emotional regulation in humans. The authors present solid evidence for the idea that emotional distancing (as routinely used in clinical interventions for e.g. mood and anxiety disorders) enhances emotional control.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. The title and authors for this article are not available from our external data provider yet:
   10.48550/arxiv.2404.17495v2

4. Probing metazoan polyphosphate biology using Drosophila reveals novel and conserved polyP functions

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Sunayana Sarkar
   2. Harsha Sharma
   3. SK Yasir Hosen
   4. Jayashree S Ladke
   5. Sandra Moser
   6. Deepa Balasubramanian
   7. Sreejith Raran-Kurussi
   8. Henning J Jessen
   9. Rashna Bhandari
   10. Manish Jaiswal

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     Studying the biological roles of polyphosphates in metazoans has been a longstanding challenge to the field given that the polyP synthase has yet to be discovered in metazoans. This important study capitalizes on the sophisticated genetics available in the Drosophila system and uses a combination of methodologies to start to tease apart how polyphosphate participates in Drosophila development and in the clotting of Drosophila hemolymph. The data validating one of these tools (cyto-FLYX ) are solid and well-documented and they will open up a field of research into the functional roles of polyP in a metazoan model. The other tools for tissue specific knockdown of polyP (Mito-FLYX, ER-FLYX, and Nuc-FLYX) have not yet been validated but will be invaluable to the field when they are.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Genome organization by SATB1 binding to base-unpairing regions (BURs) provides a scaffold for SATB1-regulated gene expression

   This article has 13 authors:

   1. Yoshinori Kohwi
   2. Xianrong Wong
   3. Mari Grange
   4. Thomas Sexton
   5. Hunter W Richards
   6. Yohko Kitagawa
   7. Shimon Sakaguchi
   8. Ya-Chen Liang
   9. Cheng-Ming Chuong
   10. Vladimir A Botchkarev
   11. Ichiro Taniuchi
   12. Karen L Reddy
   13. Terumi Kohwi-Shigematsu

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This is a very important study in which the authors have modified ChIP-seq and 4C-seq with a urea step, which drastically changes the pattern of chromatin interactions observed for SATB1, but not other proteins (including CTCF). The study highlights that the urea protocols provide a complementary view of protein-chromatin interactions for some proteins, which can uncover previously hidden, functionally significant layers of chromatin organization. If applied more widely, these protocols may significantly further our understanding of chromatin organization. The study's findings are supported by a wealth of controls, making the evidence compelling.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. The antigenic landscape of N1 neuraminidase in human influenza A virus strains isolated between 2009 and 2020

   This article has 18 authors:

   1. João Paulo Portela Catani
   2. Anouk Smet
   3. Tine Ysenbaert
   4. Laura Amelinck
   5. Yvonne Chan
   6. Dan Tadmor
   7. Philip Davidson
   8. Satyajit Ray
   9. Eric Camire
   10. Liqun Han
   11. Jianxin Zhang
   12. Guadalupe Cortés
   13. Katherine Roebke
   14. Bianca Baum
   15. John Hamberger
   16. Maryann Giel-Moloney
   17. Xavier Saelens
   18. Thorsten U Vogel

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     Catani and colleagues provide data on antigenic properties of neuraminidase proteins of pandemic H1N1 and show that antigenic diversity of the neuraminidase from 2009 to 2020 largely falls into two groups. These antigenic groups map to two phylogenetic groups, and substitutions at positions 432 and 321 are likely associated with the antigenic change. These data and results allow useful insights into the antigenic properties of N1 influenza and the evidence supporting the conclusions is solid.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. A comparative analysis of planarian regeneration specificity reveals tissue polarity contributions of the axial cWnt signalling gradient

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. James P Cleland
   2. Hanh T.-K Vu
   3. Johanna EM Dickmann
   4. Andrei Rozanski
   5. Steffen Werner
   6. Andrea Schuhmann
   7. Anna Shevchenko
   8. Jochen C Rink

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study investigates the different mechanisms that provide instructions for a missing body part to regenerate its appropriate identity. The authors use two species of planarians to identify a key role for bodywide canonical Wnt gradients in controlling the outcome of regeneration. The study provides convincing evidence for variable regeneration efficiency among planarian species that will be of interest to developmental biologists interested in regeneration. However, some of the results are over-interpreted and the additional experiments could provide better support for the authors' claims.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Structural basis for collagen recognition by the Streptococcus pyogenes M3 protein and its involvement in biofilm

   This article has 21 authors:

   1. Marta Wojnowska
   2. Takeaki Wajima
   3. Tamas Yelland
   4. Hannes Ludewig
   5. Robert M Hagan
   6. Olivia F McCurry
   7. Grant Watt
   8. Samir W Hamaia
   9. Dominique Bihan
   10. Jean-Daniel Malcor
   11. Arkadiusz Bonna
   12. Helena Bergsten
   13. Laura Marcela Palma Medina
   14. Mattias Svensson
   15. Oddvar Oppegaard
   16. Steinar Skrede
   17. Per Arnell
   18. Ole Hyldegaard
   19. Richard W Farndale
   20. Anna Norrby-Teglund
   21. Ulrich Schwarz-Linek

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     M proteins are essential group A streptococci virulence factors that bind to numerous human proteins; a small subset of M proteins, such as M3, have been reported to bind collagen, which is thought to promote tissue adherence. In this important paper, the authors provide a solid characterization of M3 interactions with collagen. The work raises significant questions regarding the specificity of the structure and its interactions with different collagens, with implications for the variable actions of M protein collagen interactions on biofilm formation.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Representation of male features in the female mouse accessory olfactory bulb, and their stability during the estrus cycle

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Oksana Cohen
   2. Yoram Ben-Shaul

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important work substantially advances our understanding of how accessory olfactory bulb neurons respond to social odor cues across the estrous cycle, showing that responses vary with the strain and sex of the odor source but display no consistent differences between estrous and non-estrous states. It employs a unique electrophysiology preparation that activates the vomeronasal organ pump via electric stimulation, enabling precise recordings of accessory olfactory bulb cell responses to different chemosignals in anesthetized mice. Overall, the study presents convincing findings on the stability and variability of accessory olfactory bulb response patterns, indicating that while accessory olfactory bulb detects social signals, it does not appear to interpret them based on reproductive state. This work will be of interest to those studying olfaction, social behavior, reproductive cycles, and systems neuroscience more broadly.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Dorsal hippocampus mediates light–tone associations in male mice

    This article has 4 authors:

    1. Julia S Pinho
    2. Carla Ramon-Duaso
    3. Irene Manzanares-Sierra
    4. Arnau Busquets-Garcia

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife Assessment

      Pinho et al use in vivo calcium imaging and chemogenetic approaches to examine the involvement of hippocampal sub-regions across the different stages of a sensory preconditioning task in mice. They find evidence for sensory preconditioning in male mice. They also find that, in these mice, CaMKII-positive neurons in the dorsal hippocampus encode the audio-visual association that forms in stage 1 of the task. The evidence in support of these findings is convincing. The important study will be of interest to researchers in the fields of learning and memory and/or hippocampus function.

    Reviewed by eLife