eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. MMP21 behaves as a fluid flow transported morphogen to impart laterality during development

   This article has 11 authors:

   1. Tim Ott
   2. Amelie Brugger
   3. Emmanuelle Szenker-Ravi
   4. Yvonne Kurrle
   5. Olivia Aberle
   6. Matthias Tisler
   7. Martin Blum
   8. Sandra Whalen
   9. Patrice Bouvagnet
   10. Bruno Reversade
   11. Axel Schweickert

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This report explores the role of matrix metalloprotease MMP21 in left-right patterning in Xenopus. Based on a series of compelling experiments, the authors demonstrate that MMP21 can be secreted and acts upstream of dand5 without affecting cilia flow. The experiments are interesting and valuable; however, the claims by the authors lack consideration of other models that could also explain their findings.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Lifestyles shape genome size and gene content in fungal pathogens

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Anna Fijarczyk
   2. Pauline Hessenauer
   3. Richard Hamelin
   4. Christian R Landry

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study addresses a topic that is frequently discussed in the literature but is under-assessed, namely correlations among genome size, repeat content, and pathogenicity in fungi. Contrary to previous assertions, the authors found that repeat content is not associated with pathogenicity. Rather, pathogenic lifestyle was found to be better explained by the number of protein-coding genes, with other genomic features associated with insect association status. The results are considered solid, although there remain concerns about potential biases stemming from the underlying data quality of the analyzed genomes.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Viral-mediated Pou5f1 (Oct4) overexpression and inhibition of Notch signaling synergistically induce neurogenic competence in mammalian Müller glia

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Nguyet Le
   2. Sherine Awad
   3. Isabella Palazzo
   4. Thanh Hoang
   5. Seth Blackshaw

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This manuscript demonstrates that Oct4 overexpression synergizes with Notch inhibition (Rbpj knockout) to promote the conversion of adult murine Müller glia (MG) into bipolar cells. These findings are important as the authors used rigorous genetic lineage tracing (GLAST-CreER; Sun-GFP) to confirm that neurogenesis indeed originates from MGs, addressing a key issue in the field. The single-cell multiomic analyses are compelling, and while functional studies of MG-derived bipolar cells would strengthen the conclusions, they are beyond the scope of this study.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. The NIH BRAIN Initiative’s impacts in systems and computational neuroscience and team-scale research 2014–2023

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Farah Bader
   2. Clayton Bingham
   3. Karen K David
   4. Hermon Gebrehiwet
   5. Crystal L Lantz
   6. Grace CY Peng
   7. Mauricio Rangel-Gomez
   8. James Gnadt
   9. On behalf of the NIH BRAIN Initiative Integrative and Quantitative Neuroscience Team

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     The authors provide a convincing summary of ten years of Brain Initiative funding including the historical development, the specific funding mechanisms, and examples of grants funded and work produced. It is particularly valuable at this moment in history, given the cataclysmic changes in the US government structure and function occurring in early 2025.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. The NIH BRAIN Initiative’s impacts in systems and computational neuroscience and team-scale research 2014–2023

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Farah Bader
   2. Clayton Bingham
   3. Karen K David
   4. Hermon Gebrehiwet
   5. Crystal L Lantz
   6. Grace CY Peng
   7. Mauricio Rangel-Gomez
   8. James Gnadt
   9. On behalf of the NIH BRAIN Initiative Integrative and Quantitative Neuroscience Team

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     The authors provide a convincing summary of ten years of Brain Initiative funding including the historical development, the specific funding mechanisms, and examples of grants funded and work produced. It is particularly valuable at this moment in history, given the cataclysmic changes in the US government structure and function occurring in early 2025.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Relative timescale of channel voltage dependence and channel density regulation impacts assembly and recovery of activity

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Yugarshi Mondal
   2. Ronald L Calabrese
   3. Eve Marder

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important computational study investigates homeostatic plasticity mechanisms that neurons may employ to achieve and maintain stable target activity patterns. The work extends previous analyses of calcium-dependent homeostatic mechanisms based on ion channel density by considering activity-dependent shifts in channel activation and inactivation properties that operate on faster and potentially variable timescales. The model simulations convincingly demonstrate the potential functional importance of these mechanisms.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Molecular requirements for C. elegans transgenerational epigenetic inheritance of pathogen avoidance

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Rachel Kaletsky
   2. Rebecca S Moore
   3. Titas Sengupta
   4. Renee Seto
   5. Borja Ceballos-Llera
   6. Coleen T Murphy

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This fundamental study concerns a model for transgenerational epigenetic inheritance, the learned avoidance by C. elegans of the PA14 pathogenic strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The authors test the impact of procedural alterations made in another study, by Gainey et al., which claimed that transgenerational inheritance in this paradigm lacks robustness, despite this observation having been reported in multiple papers from the Murphy lab. The authors of the present study show that by following a non-standard avoidance protocol, Gainey et al. likely biased their measurements in a way that made it hard to observe learned avoidance. The authors also highlight the importance of bacterial growth conditions, showing that expression of the trigger molecule, the bacterial P11 RNA, which is necessary and sufficient to drive the transgenerational inheritance of the avoidance phenotype, is influenced by temperature. As expression of P11 was not verified by Gainey et al., this provides another explanation for the inability to observe transgenerational epigenetic inheritance. Together, the authors provide compelling and powerful arguments that the original phenomenon is robust and that it can be reproduced in the Murphy lab by following their original protocol precisely, including the use of azide to immobilize the worms at the food source. Overall, this study not only provides guidance for investigators in this experimental paradigm, but it also provides additional understanding of the differences between naïve preference, learned preference, and transgenerational epigenetic inheritance. The present study is therefore of broad interest to anyone studying genetics, epigenetics, or learned behavior.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Longitudinal assessment of DREADD expression and efficacy in the monkey brain

   This article has 14 authors:

   1. Yuji Nagai
   2. Yukiko Hori
   3. Ken-ichi Inoue
   4. Toshiyuki Hirabayashi
   5. Koki Mimura
   6. Kei Oyama
   7. Naohisa Miyakawa
   8. Yuki Hori
   9. Haruhiko Iwaoki
   10. Katsushi Kumata
   11. Ming-Rong Zhang
   12. Masahiko Takada
   13. Makoto Higuchi
   14. Takafumi Minamimoto

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study provides novel and fundamental insights into the long-term use of DREADDs to modulate neuronal activity in nonhuman primates. The exceptional evidence demonstrates the peak dynamics and the subsequent stability of chemogenetic effects for 1.5 years, informing the experimental designs and the interpretation of highly impactful chemogenetic studies in macaques. The protocols, data, and outcomes can serve as guidelines for future experiments. Therefore, the findings will be of significant interest to the field of chemogenetics and may also be of broader interest to researchers and clinicians who seek to utilize viral vectors and/or related genetic technologies.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Precision cutaneous stimulation in freely moving mice

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Isobel Parkes
   2. Ara Schorscher-Petcu
   3. Qinyi Gan
   4. Liam E Browne

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study combines real-time key point tracking with transdermal activation of sensory neurons as a general technique to explore how somatosensory stimulation impacts behavior in freely moving mice. After addressing concerns about classification of the behavioral responses to nociceptor stimulation, the authors now convincingly demonstrate a state-dependence in the behavioral response following nociceptor activation, highlighting how their real-time optogenetic stimulation capabilities can yield new insights into complex sensory processing. This work is a technological advancement that will be of interest to a broad readership, in particular labs studying somatosensation, enabling rigorous investigation of behaviors that were previously difficult or impossible to study.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Single-cell transcriptomics identifies altered neutrophil dynamics and accentuated T-cell cytotoxicity in tobacco-flavored e-cigarette-exposed mouse lungs

    This article has 4 authors:

    1. Gagandeep Kaur
    2. Thomas Lamb
    3. Ariel Tjitropranoto
    4. Irfan Rahman

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife Assessment

      This manuscript by Kaur et al. identifies differential gene expression in distinct cell populations, specifically myeloid and lymphoid cells, following short-term exposure to e-cigarette aerosols with various flavors. Their findings are useful because they provide a single-cell sequencing data resource for assessing which genes and cellular pathways could be affected by e-cig aerosols and their components. However, the evidence is incomplete due to limited number of biological replicates per condition, as well as due to the lack of in vivo validation.

    Reviewed by eLife