Latest preprint reviews

1. Proteostasis modulates gene dosage evolution in antibiotic-resistant bacteria

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Chinmaya Jena
   2. Saillesh Chinnaraj
   3. Soham Deolankar
   4. Nishad Matange

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study explores the interplay between gene dosage and gene mutations in the evolution of antibiotic resistance. The authors provide solid evidence to connect proteostasis with gene duplication during experimental evolution in a model system. If the experiments are found to be rigorous and reproducible, then this paper will be of high interest to other researchers studying antibiotic resistance, proteostasis, and bacterial evolution.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Colony demographics shape nest construction in ants

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Harikrishnan Rajendran
   2. Roi Weinberger
   3. Ehud Fonio
   4. Ofer Feinerman

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study presents an important finding that ant nest structure and digging behavior depend on ant age demographics for a ground-dwelling ant species (Camponotus fellah). By asking whether ants employ age-polyethism in excavation, the authors address a long-standing question about how individuals in collectives determine the overall state of the task they must perform, and their results may prove to be a key consideration for interpreting results from other studies in the field of social insect behavior. While the experimental evidence that the age of the ants and the group composition affect the digging of tunnels is solid, some of the analyses and modeling are seem superfluous, as they do not further support the results or contribute to a deeper understanding of the system.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Oviductin sets the species-specificity of the mammalian zona pellucida

   This article has 12 authors:

   1. Daniel de la Fuente
   2. Maria Maroto
   3. Yulia N Cajas
   4. Karina Cañón-Beltrán
   5. Raul Fernandez-Gonzalez
   6. Ana Munoz-Maceda
   7. Juana M Sanchez-Puig
   8. Rafael Blasco
   9. Paula Cots
   10. Manuel Aviles
   11. Dimitrios Rizos
   12. Alfonso Gutiérrez-Adán

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This useful study sheds light on the species-specific nature of sperm-oocyte interactions by examining sperm binding and penetration of the zona pellucida across various mammalian species. While the evidence remains incomplete, the authors propose that two distinct mechanisms drive mammalian sperm-oocyte recognition and penetration: a specific, zona pellucida (ZP)-mediated mechanism, and a non-specific, oviductal glycoprotein 1 (OVGP1)-mediated mechanism. Upon revision, this study would offer insights to reproductive biologists, potentially improving porcine in vitro fertilization (IVF) - which is particularly susceptible to polyspermy - and enhancing sperm selection processes in human IVF, ultimately leading to better outcomes in assisted reproduction techniques.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. The conserved ATPase PCH-2 controls the number and distribution of crossovers by antagonizing crossover formation in C. elegans

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Bhumil Patel
   2. Maryke Grobler
   3. Alberto Herrera
   4. Elias Logari
   5. Valery Ortiz
   6. Needhi Bhalla

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This is an important study examining the role of conserved PCH-2 protein at different stages of C. elegans meiosis. The authors use elegant molecular genetic approaches to provide convincing evidence to support their claims. The work will be of interest to scientists studying meiosis, DNA recombination, and chromosome segregation.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. No effect of additional education on long-term brain structure – a preregistered natural experiment in thousands of individuals

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Nicholas Judd
   2. Rogier Kievit

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     A regression discontinuity analysis finds essentially no effect of 1 additional year of secondary education on brain structure in adulthood. This is a valuable finding that adds to the literature on the impact of education on brain health. The evidence presented is solid, with strengths including methodological novelty as well as principled study design; the impact is, however, limited as the manipulated variable only relates to a single additional year of education (remaining in education to 15 vs 16 years of age). The interpretation is further missing discussion of the healthy volunteer bias of the UK Biobank sample, amplified in the imaging extension.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Protein absorption in the zebrafish gut is regulated by interactions between lysosome rich enterocytes and the microbiome

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Laura Childers
   2. Esther Park
   3. Siyao Wang
   4. Richard Liu
   5. Robert Barry
   6. Stephen A Watts
   7. John F Rawls
   8. Michel Bagnat

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     In this important study, the authors use zebrafish to examine protein absorption in the gut. Using a combination of imaging and single-cell RNA-seq, they characterize a population of lysosome-rich enterocytes that are essential for protein uptake. They find that the microbiome impacts the ability of these cells to uptake protein. The RNA-seq provides a rich dataset for future functional experiments, which makes a convincing case for the importance of these cells.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Regulative synthesis of capsular polysaccharides in the pathogenesis of Streptococcus suis

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Xingye Wang
   2. Jie Wang
   3. Ning Li
   4. Xin Fan
   5. Beinan Wang

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This useful study uses an intranasal mouse infection model with Streptococcus suis, a gram-positive bacterial pathogen that causes severe losses in pigs around the world. The manuscript provides insights that the capsular polysaccharide, one of the virulence factors of this pathogen, contributes to tissue dissemination and neurotropism in the host. However, the evidence is currently incomplete, and further experiments and careful interpretation of the current results and methods used are necessary to support the conclusions of the manuscript.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Inhibitory basal ganglia nuclei differentially innervate pedunculopontine nucleus subpopulations and evoke opposite motor and valence behaviors

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Michel Fallah
   2. Kenea C Udobi
   3. Aleksandra E Swiatek
   4. Chelsea B Scott
   5. Rebekah C Evans

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     Fallah et al carefully dissect projections from substantia nigra pars reticulata (SNr) and the globus pallidus externa (GPe) – two key basal ganglia nuclei – to the pedunculopontine nucleus (PPN), a brainstem nucleus that has a central role in motor control. They consider inputs from these two areas onto 3 types of downstream PPN neurons – GABAergic, glutamatergic, and cholinergic neurons – and carefully map connectivity along the rostrocaudal axis of the PPN. Overall, this valuable study provided convincing data on PPN connectivity with two key input structures that will provide a basis for further understanding PPN function.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. The Neuropeptide Sulfakinin, a peripheral regulator of insect behavioral switch between mating and foraging

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Hong-Fei Li
   2. Bao Dong
   3. Yuan-Yuan Peng
   4. Hao-Yue Luo
   5. Xiao-Lan Ou
   6. Zheng-Lin Ren
   7. Yoonseong Park
   8. Jin-Jun Wang
   9. Hong-Bo Jiang

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important work investigates the mechanism that underlies the switch between feeding and mating behaviors in the oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis. Using a variety of approaches, the authors show that this switch is mediated by the neuropeptide, sulfakinin, acting peripherally through the sulfakinin receptor 1 to regulate the expression of antennal odorant receptors. The evidence is solid in support of the hypothesis that sulfakinin signaling mediates changes in the periphery, although additional experimental details would strengthen these claims.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. HIV-1 Vif disrupts phosphatase feedback regulation at the kinetochore, leading to a pronounced pseudo-metaphase arrest

    This article has 6 authors:

    1. Dhaval A Ghone
    2. Edward L Evans
    3. Madison Bandini
    4. Kaelyn G Stephenson
    5. Nathan M Sherer
    6. Aussie Suzuki

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife Assessment

      This valuable study uses robust time-dependent microscopy assays to show that during HIV-1 infection, the viral accessory protein Vif causes cell cycle arrest during metaphase and not G2/M as previously thought. The conclusions are convincing in the context of the immortalized cellular models used, and they serve as a starting point to determine whether Vif-dependent regulation of the cell cycle modulates HIV-1 replication and pathogenesis in more physiologically relevant primary cells or in vivo.

    Reviewed by eLife