eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Evidence from pupillometry, fMRI, and RNN modelling shows that gain neuromodulation mediates task-relevant perceptual switches

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Gabriel Wainstein
   2. Christopher J Whyte
   3. Kaylena A Ehgoetz Martens
   4. Eli J Müller
   5. Vicente Medel
   6. Britt Anderson
   7. Elisabeth Stöttinger
   8. James Danckert
   9. Brandon R Munn
   10. James M Shine

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable paper explores the idea that transient modulations of neural gain promote switches between distinct perceptual interpretations of ambiguous stimuli. The authors provide solid evidence for this idea by pupillometry (an indirect proxy of neuromodulatory activity), fMRI, neural network modeling, and dynamical systems analyses. The highly integrative nature of this approach is rare in the field.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. In vivo imaging of inferior olive neurons reveals roles of co-activation and cerebellar feedback in olivocerebellar signaling

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Da Guo
   2. Marylka Yoe Uusisaari

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This is a valuable study, tackling the long-standing issue of the difficulty in imaging the inferior olive and addressing the most relevant questions with a rigorous approach. The technological advance allowed the authors to generate solid experimental evidence with high-quality data. The results are presented clearly and the analyses are rigorous.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Nup107 is a crucial regulator of torso-mediated metamorphic transition in Drosophila melanogaster

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Jyotsna Kawadkar
   2. Pradyumna Ajit Joshi
   3. Ram Kumar Mishra

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study presents findings on the developmental roles of Nup107, a key nucleoporin, in regulating the larval-to-pupal transition in Drosophila melanogaster through its involvement in ecdysone signaling. The evidence supporting the authors' claims is solid, with robust experimental approaches including RNAi knockdown and rescue experiments. The authors propose that Nup107 influences EcR localization indirectly by reducing the expression of Halloween genes, a consequence of impaired Torso signaling. However, it remains uncertain whether Torso is the sole receptor tyrosine kinase involved, and this disruption ultimately leads to decreased ecdysone production. In addition, finding a mechanism would strengthen the findings as the currently proposed mechanism is not completely supported by the data.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Cytosolic Carboxypeptidase 5 maintains mammalian ependymal multicilia to ensure proper homeostasis and functions of the brain

   This article has 14 authors:

   1. Rubina Dad
   2. Yujuan Wang
   3. Chuyu Fang
   4. Yuncan Chen
   5. Yi Zheng
   6. Yuan Zhang
   7. Xinwen Pan
   8. Xinyue Zhang
   9. Emily Swanekamp
   10. Krish Patel
   11. Matthias TF Wolf
   12. Zhiguang Yuchi
   13. Xueliang Zhu
   14. Hui-Yuan Wu

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     The authors developed a new Agbl5 KO allele, extending the deletion to the N-terminus of CCP5 to explore its function in mouse ependymal cells and trachea. They show that the KO mice exhibit severe hydrocephalus due to mislocated basal bodies and impaired ciliary beating. The findings are valuable with implications in the subfield of cell biology. The evidence is solid in that the methods, data and analyses largely support the claims with only a few remaining weaknesses.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Distinct representational properties of cues and contexts shape fear and reversal learning

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Antoine Bouyeure
   2. Daniel Pacheco-Estefan
   3. George Jacob
   4. Malte Kobelt
   5. Marie-Christin Fellner
   6. Jonas Rose
   7. Nikolai Axmacher

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This is an important study with convincing evidence that multi-voxel fMRI activity patterns for threat-conditioned stimuli are altered by learning CS-US contingencies. The analyses are dense, but rigorous. The protocol is quite nuanced and complex, but the authors have done a fair job of explaining and presenting the results. The work is relevant for our understanding of how effective learning changes neural stimulus representation in the human brain.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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