eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Dimorphic neural network architecture prioritizes sexual-related behaviors in male Caenorhabditis elegans

   This article has 15 authors:

   1. Xuebin Wang
   2. Hanzhang Liu
   3. Wenjing Yang
   4. Jingxuan Yang
   5. Xuehong Sun
   6. Qiuhan Liu
   7. Ying Zhu
   8. Yinghao Sun
   9. Chunxiuzi Liu
   10. Guiyuan Shi
   11. Qiang Liu
   12. Ke Zhang
   13. Zengru Di
   14. Wenxing Yang
   15. He Liu

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study presents useful findings on the differences between male and hermaphrodite C. elegans connectomes and how they may result in changes in locomotory behavioural outputs. However, the study appears incomplete with respect to the relationship between sex-specific AVA wiring and male mate-finding. Another area of concern is that the analysis does not consider animal-to-animal variability in the wiring when attempting to identify significant differences between the male and hermaphrodite.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Trial-by-trial inter-areal interactions in visual cortex in the presence or absence of visual stimulation

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Dianna Hidalgo
   2. Giorgia Dellaferrera
   3. Giordano Ramos-Traslosheros
   4. Will Xiao
   5. Carlos R Ponce
   6. Maria Papadopouli
   7. Stelios Smirnakis
   8. Gabriel Kreiman

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study investigates trial-by-trial intra- and inter-cortical interactions in the visual cortex of the mouse and the monkey. The authors find that activity in one layer (in mice) or one area (in monkeys) can partially predict neural activity in another layer or area on the single-trial level in different experimental contexts. This valuable finding expands previously known contributions of stimulus-independent downstream activity to neural responses in the visual cortex by demonstrating how these change under varying visual stimuli as well as in the absence of visual stimulation. While the methodology is solid, the juxtaposition of mouse and monkey data from different modalities and at difference scales limits the interpretability of the observations and forces superficial comparisons. More in-depth focus on either data set in isolation may reveal more nuanced understanding of cortical interactions rather than trying to draw parallels between very different datasets.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. The Product neutrality function defining genetic interactions emerges from mechanistic models of cell growth

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Lucas Fuentes Valenzuela
   2. Paul Francois
   3. Jan M Skotheim

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     The paper addresses the question of gene epistasis and asks what is the correct null model for which we should declare no epistasis. By reanalyzing synthetic gene array datasets regarding single and double-knockout yeast mutants, and considering two theoretical models of cell growth, the authors reach the valuable conclusion that the product function is a good null model. While the justification of some assumptions is incomplete, the results have the potential to be of value to the field of gene epistasis.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. The C-terminus of the multi-drug efflux pump EmrE prevents proton leak by gating transport

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Merissa Brousseau
   2. Da Teng
   3. Nathan E Thomas
   4. Gregory A Voth
   5. Katherine A Henzler-Wildman

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study provides a fundamental analysis of the EmrE efflux pump, highlighting the role of the C-terminal domain in influencing uncoupled proton leak. The integration of biophysical techniques with molecular dynamics simulations offers solid support for the key findings and adds substantial evidence toward a definitive understanding of EmrE transport mechanism.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Single nuclei RNA-sequencing of adult brain neurons derived from type 2 neuroblasts reveals transcriptional complexity in the insect central complex

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Derek G Epiney
   2. Gonzalo Morales Chaya
   3. Noah R Dillon
   4. Sen-Lin Lai
   5. Chris Q Doe

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study offers a molecular characterization of neurons and glia in the adult nervous system of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. The study focuses on the progeny of a specific set of neural stem cells that contribute to the central complex, a conserved brain region that plays key roles in sensorimotor integration. The data are convincing and collected using validated methodology, generating an invaluable resource for future studies. The study will be of interest to developmental neurobiologists.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. How the layer-dependent ratio of excitatory to inhibitory cells shapes cortical coding in balanced networks

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Arezoo Alizadeh
   2. Bernhard Englitz
   3. Fleur Zeldenrust

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The study presents a useful computational analysis of how the ratio between excitatory and inhibitory neural numbers affects coding capacity. The authors show that increasing the proportion of inhibitory neurons (as observed in upper cortical layers compared to the input recipient layer 4) increases the dimensionality of neural activity and improves the encoding of time-varying stimuli. However, the evidence about the role of the inhibitory population in coding is incomplete because numerical results are neither supported by analytical mathematical results nor include controls for changes in firing thresholds or subtypes of inhibitory neurons.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Single-nucleus transcriptional and chromatin accessibility analyses of maturing mouse Achilles tendon uncover the molecular landscape of tendon stem/progenitor cells

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Hiroki Tsutsumi
   2. Tomoki Chiba
   3. Yuta Fujii
   4. Takahide Matsushima
   5. Tsuyoshi Kimura
   6. Akinori Kanai
   7. Akio Kishida
   8. Yutaka Suzuki
   9. Hiroshi Asahara

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study presents a valuable finding of novel markers that may potentially identify resident tendon stem/progenitor cells (TSPCs). The study also presents a comprehensive single-cell transcriptional dataset that will be of value to the field. The evidence supporting the identification of novel markers of a TSPC is incomplete, requiring clarification of current analyses and additional validation experiments to demonstrate that these markers are indeed specific and these cells are indeed TSPCs. This work will be of interest to biologists and engineers focused on tendons and ligaments.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Crossover in aromatic amino acid interaction strength between tyrosine and phenylalanine in biomolecular condensates

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. David De Sancho
   2. Xabier Lopez

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study uses advanced computational methods to elucidate how environmental dielectric properties influence the interaction strengths of tyrosine and phenylalanine in biomolecular condensates. The evidence supporting the claims of the authors is convincing, as the simulations are performed rigorously providing mechanistic insights into the origin of the differences between the two aromatic amino acids considered. This study will be of broad interest to researchers studying biomolecular phase separation.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Mechanisms that regulate the C1-C2B mutual inhibition control functional switch of UNC-13

   This article has 12 authors:

   1. Haowen Liu
   2. Lei Li
   3. Jiafan Wang
   4. Jiayi Hu
   5. Jingyao Xia
   6. Xiaochun Yu
   7. Jing Tang
   8. Huisheng Liu
   9. Xiaofei Yang
   10. Cong Ma
   11. Lijun Kang
   12. Zhitao Hu

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study by Liu et al. presents a comprehensive structure-function analysis of the presynaptic protein UNC-13, leading to new insights into how its distinct domains control neurotransmitter release. The methods, data, and analyses are convincing, and the genetic and electrophysiological approaches support many of their conclusions. The work will be of interest to neuroscientists studying synaptic transmission, as it provides a foundation for future mechanistic studies of Munc13/UNC-13 family proteins.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Intrinsic dynamic shapes responses to external stimulation in the human brain

    This article has 5 authors:

    1. Maximilian Nentwich
    2. Marcin Leszczynski
    3. Charles E Schroeder
    4. Stephan Bickel
    5. Lucas C Parra

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife Assessment

      This manuscript presents an interesting new framework (VARX) for simultaneously quantifying effective connectivity in brain activity during sensory stimulation and how that brain activity is being driven by that sensory stimulation. The reviewers thought the model was original and its conclusion that intrinsic connectivity is reduced (rather than increased) during sensory stimulation is very interesting, but that for ideal performance, one must specify all sensory features in the model, which is not possible. Overall, however, this work is important with convincing evidence for its conclusions - it will be of interest to neuroscientists working on brain connectivity and dynamics.

    Reviewed by eLife