eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Mural cells protect the adult brain from hemorrhage but do not control the blood-brain barrier in developing zebrafish

   This article has 12 authors:

   1. Oguzhan F Baltaci
   2. Andrea Usseglio Gaudi
   3. Stefanie Dudczig
   4. Weili Wang
   5. Scott Paterson
   6. Maria Cristina Rondon-Galeano
   7. Ye-Wheen Lim
   8. James Rae
   9. Anne Lagendijk
   10. Robert G Parton
   11. Alison Farley
   12. Benjamin M Hogan

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study addresses the contribution of pericytes to the organization and permeability control of the zebrafish blood-brain barrier (BBB). By analyzing pdgfrb mutant zebrafish that lack brain pericytes, the authors reveal that the resulting cerebrovascular network is abnormally patterned. Remarkably, however, the barrier retains its restrictive permeability during larval and juvenile stages. More pronounced vascular defects become evident in adults, where localized BBB leakage coincides with hemorrhages and aneurysm formation. Based on convincing and beautifully documented imaging data, the authors argue that, unlike what has been reported in rodent systems, pdgfrb-dependent pericytes are not essential for maintaining BBB integrity in the zebrafish brain.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Biophysical network modeling of temporal and stereotyped sequence propagation of neural activity in the premotor nucleus HVC

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Zeina Bou Diab
   2. Marc Chammas
   3. Arij Daou

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This computational study examines how neurons in the songbird premotor nucleus HVC might generate the precise, sparse burst sequences that drive adult song. The findings would be useful for understanding how intrinsic conductances and HVC microcircuitry may produce neural sequences, but the work is incomplete because of arbitrary network assumptions, insufficient consideration of biological details such as how silent gaps in song sequences are represented, and failure to incorporate interactions with auditory and brainstem inputs. As a result, the study offers limited advance and only a modest conceptual advance over prior models.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Pupil dilation offers a time-window on prediction error

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Olympia Colizoli
   2. Tessa M van Leeuwen
   3. Danaja Rutar
   4. Harold Bekkering

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study investigates the relationship between pupil dilation and information gain during associative learning, using two different tasks. A key strength of this study is its exploration of pupil dilation beyond the immediate response period, extending analysis to later time windows after feedback, and it provides convincing evidence that pupillary response to information gain may be context-dependent during associative learning. The interpretation remains limited by task heterogeneity and unresolved contextual factors influencing pupil dynamics, but a range of interesting ideas are discussed.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. SATAY-based chemogenomic screening uncovers antifungal resistance mechanisms and key determinants of ATI-2307 and chitosan sensitivity

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Matthew T Karadzas
   2. Agnès H Michel
   3. Andreas Mosbach
   4. George Giannakopoulos
   5. Ruairi McGettigan
   6. Gabriel Scalliet
   7. Benoît Kornmann

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important manuscript proposes a new strategy for the identification of new mechanisms of drug resistance based on SAturated Transposon Analysis in Yeast (SATAY), a powerful transposon sequencing method in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. This method allows us to uncover loss- and gain-of-function mutations conferring resistance to 20 different antifungal compounds. The method is convincing, allowing the authors to identify a novel interaction of chitosan with the cell wall mannosylphosphate, and show that the transporter Hol1 concentrates the novel antifungal ATI-2307 within yeast.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Differential roles of NaV1.2 and NaV1.6 in neocortical pyramidal cell excitability

   This article has 11 authors:

   1. Joshua D Garcia
   2. Chenyu Wang
   3. Ryan PD Alexander
   4. Emmie Banks
   5. Timothy Fenton
   6. Jean-Marc DeKeyser
   7. Tatiana V Abramova
   8. Alfred L George
   9. Roy Ben-Shalom
   10. David H Hackos
   11. Kevin J Bender

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This manuscript presents a clever and powerful approach to examining differential roles of Nav1.2 and Nav1.6 channels in excitability of neocortical pyramidal neurons, by engineering mice in which a sulfonamide inhibitor of both channels has reduced affinity for one or the other channels. Overall, the results in the manuscript are compelling and give important information about differential roles of Nav1.6 and Nav1.2 channels. Activity-dependent inactivation of NaV1.6 was also found to attenuate seizure-like activity in cells, demonstrating the promise of activity-dependent NaV1.6-specific pharmacotherapy for epilepsy.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Old age variably impacts chimpanzee engagement and efficiency in stone tool use

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Elliot Howard-Spink
   2. Tetsuro Matsuzawa
   3. Susana Carvalho
   4. Catherine Hobaiter
   5. Katarina Almeida-Warren
   6. Thibaud Gruber
   7. Dora Biro

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study provides a novel framework for leveraging longitudinal field observations to examine the effects of aging on stone tool use behaviour in wild chimpanzees. The methods and results are robust providing solid evidence of the effects of old age on nut cracking behaviour at this field site. Despite the low sample size of five individuals, this study is of broad interest to ethologists, primatologists, archaeologists, and psychologists.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Computational modelling identifies key determinants of subregion-specific dopamine dynamics in the striatum

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Aske Ejdrup
   2. Jakob Kisbye Dreyer
   3. Matthew D Lycas
   4. Søren H Jørgensen
   5. Trevor W Robbins
   6. Jeffrey Dalley
   7. Freja Herborg
   8. Ulrik Gether

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     The conclusions of this work are based on valuable simulations of a detailed model of striatal dopamine dynamics. Establishing that lower dopamine uptake rate can lead to a "tonic" level of dopamine in the ventral but not dorsal striatum, and that dopamine concentration changes at short delays can be tracked by D1 but not D2 receptor activation, is invaluable and will be of interest to the community, particularly those studying dopamine. The model simulations provide convincing evidence for differences between dorsal and ventral striatum dopamine concentrations, while evidence for differential tracking of dopamine changes by D1 vs D2 receptors is solid.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Human Brain-Wide Activation of Sleep Rhythms

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Haiteng Wang
   2. Qihong Zou
   3. Jinbo Zhang
   4. Jia-Hong Gao
   5. Yunzhe Liu

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     The study reports valuable findings from a very rich EEG-fMRI dataset, including 107 participants, which was collected during nocturnal naps. Using overall solid methods, the authors link activity in memory-related brain regions (e.g., hippocampus, thalamus, and medial prefrontal cortex), and their functional connectivity to the occurrence of canonical sleep rhythms (spindles and slow oscillations) in non-rapid eye movement sleep. This work will be of broad interest to sleep and memory researchers and beyond.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. The RAB27A effector SYTL5 regulates mitophagy and mitochondrial metabolism

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Ana Lapão
   2. Lauren Sophie Johnson
   3. Laura Trachsel-Moncho
   4. Samuel J Rodgers
   5. Sakshi Singh
   6. Matthew YW Ng
   7. Sigve Nakken
   8. Eeva-Liisa Eskelinen
   9. Anne Simonsen

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study by Lapao et al. uncovers a novel role for the Rab27A effector SYTL5 in regulating mitochondrial function and mitophagy under hypoxic conditions. Using a range of imaging and functional assays, the authors demonstrate that SYTL5 localizes to mitochondria in a Rab27A-dependent manner and impacts mitochondrial respiration and metabolic reprogramming. While the findings are solid and valuable in the area of cancer biology, further mechanistic clarity and improved imaging would strengthen the conclusions.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. PRMT1-mediated metabolic reprogramming promotes leukemogenesis

    This article has 24 authors:

    1. Hairui Su
    2. Yong Sun
    3. Han Guo
    4. Chiao-Wang Sun
    5. Qiuying Chen
    6. Szumam Liu
    7. Anlun Li
    8. Min Gao
    9. Rui Zhao
    10. Glen Raffel
    11. Jian Jin
    12. Cheng-Kui Qu
    13. Michael Yu
    14. Christopher A Klug
    15. George Y Zheng
    16. Scott Ballinger
    17. Matthew Kutny
    18. Long X Zheng
    19. Zechen Chong
    20. Chamara Senevirathne
    21. Steven Gross
    22. Yabing Chen
    23. Minkui Luo
    24. Xinyang Zhao

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife Assessment

      This study reveals that PRMT1 overexpression drives tumorigenesis of acute megakaryocytic leukemia (AMKL) and that targeting PRMT1 is a viable approach for treating AMKL. After revision, both reviewers found that these findings are important and that the data supporting these findings are convincing. Furthermore, these findings likely have significant implications for the treatment of AMKL with PRMT1 overexpression in the future.

    Reviewed by eLife