eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Interplay of YEATS2 and GCDH regulates histone crotonylation and drives EMT in head and neck cancer

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Deepak Pant
   2. Parik Kakani
   3. Rushikesh Joshi
   4. Abin Sabu
   5. Shruti Agrawal
   6. Atul Samaiya
   7. Sanjeev Shukla

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     These useful findings assigned a novel functional implication of histone acylation, crotonylation. Mechanistic insights have been provided in great detail regarding the role of the YEATS2-GCDH axis in modulating epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in head and neck cancer, and overall the strength of evidence is solid.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Chalkophore-mediated respiratory oxidase flexibility controls M. tuberculosis virulence

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. John A Buglino
   2. Yaprak Ozakman
   3. Chad E Hatch
   4. Anna Benjamin
   5. Derek S Tan
   6. Michael S Glickman

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     In this important study, the authors advance our understanding of copper uptake by chalkophores and their targeted metalloproteins in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. These convincing data demonstrate that chalkophore-acquired copper is solely incorporated into the Mtb bcc:aa3 copper-iron respiratory oxidase under low copper conditions, and that chalkophore-mediated protection of the respiratory chain is critical to Mtb virulence. These findings may be leveraged for drug discovery and will be of broad interest to those studying bacterial pathogenesis.

   Reviewed by eLife, Rapid Reviews Infectious Diseases

3. Multi-omics single-cell analysis reveals key regulators of HIV-1 persistence and aberrant host immune responses in early infection

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Dayeon Lee
   2. Sin Young Choi
   3. So-I Shin
   4. Hyunsu An
   5. Byeong-Sun Choi
   6. Jihwan Park

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study presents important findings that enhance our understanding of immune cell interactions in the context of chronic HIV-1 infection. The evidence supporting the conclusions is convincing. The authors have employed appropriate and validated methodologies, including detailed data reprocessing and batch correction to account for inter-donor variability. The inclusion of supplementary figures and analyses, such as cell communication inference, further substantiates the robustness of the findings. Overall, this work contributes to our understanding of HIV-1 immune evasion and highlights potential therapeutic targets for reservoir eradication.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. A neural network model that generates salt concentration memory-dependent chemotaxis in Caenorhabditis elegans

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Masakatsu Hironaka
   2. Tomonari Sumi

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     With a computational analysis of a neuroanatomical network model in C. elegans, this valuable work investigates the synaptic mechanism for memory-dependent klinotaxis, i.e., salt concentration chemotaxis. By incorporating experimental data altering the ASER neuron's basal glutamate release into their model, the authors demonstrate the possibility of a transition between excitatory and inhibitory signaling at the ASER-AIY synapse, depending on environmental and cultivated salt concentrations. These solid findings offer a proposal for how synaptic plasticity plays a role in sensorimotor navigation, and will be of interest to worm biologists and theoretical neuroscientists.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. PRDM16 functions as a co-repressor in the BMP pathway to suppress neural stem cell proliferation

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Li He
   2. Jiayu Wen
   3. Qi Dai

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable work presents how PRDM16 plays a critical role during colloid plexus development, through regulating BMP signaling. Solid evidence supports the context-dependent gene regulatory mechanisms both in vivo and in vitro. The work will be of broad interest to researchers working on growth factor signaling mechanisms and vertebrate development.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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