eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Hypothermia protects against ventilator-induced lung injury by limiting IL-1β release and NETs formation

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Nobuyuki Nosaka
   2. Vanessa Borges
   3. Daisy Martinon
   4. Timothy R Crother
   5. Moshe Arditi
   6. Kenichi Shimada

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study provides a comprehensive exploration of the role of hypothermia of mitigating IL1beta induction and NETosis in the context of lung injury induced by mechanical ventilation. The data are convincing, and the study is important for the field.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Dichotomy between extracellular signatures of active dendritic chemical synapses and gap junctions

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Richa Sirmaur
   2. Rishikesh Narayanan

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study presents a valuable theoretical exploration on the electrophysiological mechanisms of ionic currents via gap junctions in hippocampal CA1 pyramidal-cell models, and their potentially unique contribution to local field potentials (LFPs). The biophysical foundations of transmembrane electric dipoles, and the associated argument points, are generally compelling. Experimental constraints on gap junctions and strictly quantitative matching between chemical vs. junctional inputs have been hard to achieve. This computational investigation thus offers a specific way to enhance conceptual understanding and provides interesting testable predictions, which would be of great interest to experimental neurophysiologists who interpret relevant recordings.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Structural mechanisms of PIP2 activation and SEA0400 inhibition in human cardiac sodium-calcium exchanger NCX1

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Jing Xue
   2. Weizhong Zeng
   3. Scott John
   4. Nicole Attiq
   5. Michela Ottolia
   6. Youxing Jiang

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     Cardiac Ca2+/Na+ exchange is mediated by the NCX1 antiporter, whose activity is tightly regulated. This important manuscript describes the structural basis of activation by the lipid DiC8-PIP2 and inhibition by binding of a small molecule to NCX1. These results provide convincing insights into NCX1 regulation and the structural basis of cellular Ca2+ signaling.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Ubiquitin ligase ITCH regulates life cycle of SARS-CoV-2 virus

   This article has 12 authors:

   1. Qiwang Xiang
   2. Camille Wouters
   3. Peixi Chang
   4. Yu-Ning Lu
   5. Mingming Liu
   6. Haocheng Wang
   7. Haley Heine
   8. Sunning Qian
   9. Junqin Yang
   10. Andrew Pekosz
   11. Yanjin Zhang
   12. Jiou Wang

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study demonstrates that the E3 ligase ITCH regulates several steps of the SARS-CoV-2 replication cycle by enhancing ubiquitination of viral envelope and membrane proteins. The phenotypic data are based on solid evidence showing a role for ITCH in distinct phases of viral replication and host processes. The findings lay the ground work for future studies to decipher detailed molecular mechanisms that explain how ITCH regulates SARS-CoV-2.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Frictional instabilities as an alternative to friction coefficient in fine touch perception

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Maryanne Derkaloustian
   2. Pushpita Bhattacharyya
   3. Truc T Ngo
   4. Josh GA Cashaback
   5. Jared Medina
   6. Charles B Dhong

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This useful study integrates experimental methods from materials science with psychophysical methods to investigate how frictional stabilities influence tactile surface discrimination. The authors argue that force fluctuations arising from transitions between frictional sliding conditions facilitate the discrimination of surfaces with similar friction coefficients. However, the reliance on friction data from an artificial finger, combined with correlational analyses that fall short of establishing a mechanistic link to perception, renders the findings incomplete.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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