eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. The adaptive landscapes of three global Escherichia coli transcriptional regulators

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Cauã Antunes Westmann
   2. Leander Goldbach
   3. Andreas Wagner

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study maps the genotype-phenotype landscapes of three E. coli transcription factors and the topographical features of these landscapes. It shows that ruggedness and epistasis do not hinder the evolution of strong transcription factor binding sites. These convincing findings contribute important insights into fitness landscape theories and highlight the role of chance, contingency, and evolutionary biases in gene regulation. The authors then study the topographical features of these landscapes, especially the number and distribution of local maxima, as well as the statistical properties of evolutionary paths on these landscapes.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Meteorins regulate the formation of the left-right organizer and the establishment of vertebrate body asymmetry

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Fanny Eggeler
   2. Jonathan Boulanger-Weill
   3. Flavia De Santis
   4. Laura Belleri
   5. Karine Duroure
   6. Thomas O Auer
   7. Shahad Albadri
   8. Filippo Del Bene

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study presents important insights into the regulation of left-right organ formation. By combining genetic perturbation of all three Meteorin genes in zebrafish and timelapse imaging, the authors identify an essential role for this protein family in the establishment of left-right patterning. They provide convincing evidence that Meteorins are required for the morphogenesis of dorsal forerunner cells, the precursors of the left-right organizer (also named Kupffer's vesicle) in zebrafish. In line with this, Meteorins were shown to genetically interact with integrins ItgaV and Itgb1b to regulate dorsal forerunner cell clustering.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Permute-match tests: Detecting significant correlations between time series despite nonstationarity and limited replicates

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Alex E Yuan
   2. Wenying Shou

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This manuscript reports an important new statistical method for calculating the significance of correlations between two time-series, which provides more accuracy than other methods when the data has few replicates. The proposed method solves a real-life problem that is frequently encountered and is broadly applicable to many realistic datasets in many experimental contexts. The technique is supported with compelling mathematical derivations as well as analysis of both computer-generated and previously published experimental data.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Early changes in the properties of CA3 engram cells explored with a novel viral tool in mice

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Dario Cupolillo
   2. Noelle Grosjean
   3. Catherine Marneffe
   4. Julio Viotti
   5. Celia Reynaud
   6. Severine Deforges
   7. Mario Carta
   8. Christophe Mulle

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study characterizes and validates a new activity marker - fast labelling of engram neurons (FLEN) - which is transiently active and driven by cFos, allowing the monitoring of intrinsic and synaptic properties of engram neurons shortly after the learning experience. The results convincingly demonstrate the utility of this novel viral tool for studying early changes in the properties of engram cells. FLEN will provide a beneficial tool for the neuroscience community once it is made available at a plasmid repository.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Synaptic plasticity in the medial preoptic area of male mice encodes social experiences with female and regulates behavior toward young

   This article has 18 authors:

   1. Kazuki Ito
   2. Keiichiro Sato
   3. Yousuke Tsuneoka
   4. Takashi Maejima
   5. Hiroyuki Okuno
   6. Yumi Hamasaki
   7. Shunsaku Murakawa
   8. Yuzu Takabayashi
   9. Chihiro Yoshihara
   10. Sayaka Shindo
   11. Haruka Uki
   12. Stefan Herlitze
   13. Masahide Seki
   14. Yutaka Suzuki
   15. Takeshi Sakurai
   16. Kumi O Kuroda
   17. Masabumi Minami
   18. Taiju Amano

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study provides important evidence that the postmating behavioral switch in male mice is mediated by distinct stages of synaptic plasticity within the medial amygdala-MPOA-BSTrh pathway. The findings are convincing, supported by rigorous behavioral characterization and electrophysiological approaches that disentangle the contributions of mating, cohabitation, and parental experience to neural circuit changes. While some methodological details and statistical reporting require clarification, the study significantly advances our understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying paternal behavior.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Food-washing monkeys recognize the law of diminishing returns

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Jessica E Rosien
   2. Luke D Fannin
   3. Justin D Yeakel
   4. Suchinda Malaivijitnond
   5. Nathaniel J Dominy
   6. Amanda Tan

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This is a valuable study that tests the functional role of food-washing behavior in removing tooth-damaging sand and grit in long-tailed macaques and whether dominance rank predicts level of investment in the behavior. The evidence that food-washing is deliberate is compelling and the evidence that individual investment in the behavior varies is solid. Overall, the paper should be of interest to researchers interested in foraging behavior, cognition, and primate evolution.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. ANKEF1 is a key axonemal component essential for murine sperm motility and male fertility

   This article has 11 authors:

   1. Shuntai Yu
   2. Guoliang Yin
   3. Peng Jin
   4. Weilin Zhang
   5. Yingchao Tian
   6. Xiaotong Xu
   7. Tianyu Shao
   8. Yushan Li
   9. Fei Sun
   10. Yun Zhu
   11. Fengchao Wang

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study reports a critical role of the axonemal protein ANKRD5 in sperm motility and male fertility. Convincing data were presented to support the main conclusion. This work will be of interest to biomedical researchers who study ciliogenesis, sperm biology, and male fertility.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Afadin sorts different retinal neuron types into accurate cellular layers

   This article has 13 authors:

   1. Matthew R Lum
   2. Sachin Patel
   3. Hannah K Graham
   4. Mengya Zhao
   5. Yujuan Yi
   6. Liang Li
   7. Melissa Yao
   8. Anna La Torre
   9. Luca Della Santina
   10. Ying Han
   11. Yang Hu
   12. Derek S Welsbie
   13. Xin Duan

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study demonstrates the critical role of Afadin on the generation and maintenance of complex cellular layers in the mouse retina. The data are solid, which provides important insights into how cell-adhesion molecules contribute to retinal organization. However, further investigations are needed to clarify the mechanisms underlying the cellular disorganization phenotype in the retina and axonal projection to the brain.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Structure and Cl- Conductance Properties of the Open State of Human CFTR

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Zhi-Wei Zeng
   2. Christopher E Ing
   3. Régis Pomès

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study reports a detailed computational analysis of the CFTR ion channel's permeation mechanism, advancing our understanding of its structure-function relationship. The conclusions are based on extensive molecular dynamics simulations and thorough analysis, but the use of an approximate chloride ion model, known to underestimate key ion-protein interactions, leaves them incomplete without experimental or alternative computational validation. The work will be of interest to biophysicists working on CFTR and cystic fibrosis.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Iridescent structural coloration in a crested Cretaceous enantiornithine bird from the Jehol Biota

    This article has 10 authors:

    1. Zhiheng Li
    2. Jinsheng Hu
    3. Thomas A Stidham
    4. Mao Ye
    5. Min Wang
    6. Yanhong Pan
    7. Tao Zhao
    8. Jingshu Li
    9. Zhonghe Zhou
    10. Julia A Clarke

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife Assessment

      This study presents a potentially fundamental analysis of a fossil feather from a 125-million-year-old enantiornithine bird. Using sophisticated 3D microscopic and numerical methods, the authors conclude that the feather was iridescent and brightly colored, possibly indicating that this was a male bird that used its crest in sexual displays. At present, the strength of evidence supporting the conclusions is considered incomplete based on methodological shortcomings and questions about taphonomy.

    Reviewed by eLife