eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Malnutrition drives infection susceptibility and dysregulated myelopoiesis that persists after refeeding intervention

   This article has 11 authors:

   1. Alisa Sukhina
   2. Clemence Queriault
   3. Saptarshi Roy
   4. Elise Hall
   5. Kelly Rome
   6. Muskaan Aggarwal
   7. Elizabeth Nunn
   8. Ashley Weiss
   9. Janet Nguyen
   10. F Chris Bennett
   11. Will Bailis

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important work advances our understanding of the impact of malnutrition on hematopoiesis and subsequently infection susceptibility. Support for the overall claims is convincing in some respects and incomplete in terms of identifying mechanism as highlighted by reviewers. This work will be of general interest to those in the fields of hematopoiesis, malnutrition, and dietary influence on immunity.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. GPRC6A as a novel kokumi receptor responsible for enhanced taste preferences by ornithine

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Takashi Yamamoto
   2. Kayoko Ueji
   3. Haruno Mizuta
   4. Chizuko Inui-Yamamoto
   5. Natsuko Kumamoto
   6. Yasuhiro Shibata
   7. Shinya Ugawa

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     In this valuable study, the authors used rats to determine the receptor for a food-related perception that has been characterized in humans. The data are solid in terms of methods and analysis: the data show that this stimulus (ornithine) has some additive effects in terms of increasing preference and taste response in rats when it is mixed with other more common taste stimuli. Therefore, the combinations of experiments generally support (but do not conclusively prove) the hypothesis that the "kokumi" taste effect elicited by this stimulus in humans may be mediated by the specific receptor examined in the study.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Hierarchical Bayesian modeling of multiregion brain cell count data

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Sydney Dimmock
   2. Benjamin MS Exley
   3. Gerald Moore
   4. Lucy Menage
   5. Alessio Delogu
   6. Simon R Schultz
   7. E Clea Warburton
   8. Conor J Houghton
   9. Cian O'Donnell

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study proposes an important new approach to analyzing cell-count data, which are often undersampled and cannot be accurately assessed using traditional statistical methods. The case studies presented in the article provide compelling evidence of the superiority of the proposed methodology over existing approaches, which could promote the use of Bayesian statistics among neuroscientists. The authors have taken steps to make the methodology accessible, although some implementation difficulties are likely to remain.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Dopamine activity encodes the changing valence of the same stimulus in conditioned taste aversion paradigms

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Maxine K Loh
   2. Samantha J Hurh
   3. Paula Bazzino
   4. Rachel M Donka
   5. Alexandra T Keinath
   6. Jamie D Roitman
   7. Mitchell F Roitman

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study utilizes an elegant approach to examine valence encoding of the mesolimbic dopamine system. The findings are valuable, demonstrating differential responses of dopamine to the same taste stimulus according to its valence (i.e., appetitive or aversive) and in alignment with distinct behavioral responses. The evidence supporting the claims is convincing, resulting from a well-controlled experimental design with minimal confounds and thorough reporting of the data.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Alzheimer-mutant γ-secretase complexes stall amyloid β-peptide production

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Parnian Arafi
   2. Sujan Devkota
   3. Emily Williams
   4. Masato Maesako
   5. Michael S Wolfe

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This manuscript provides fundamental studies to gain insight into the mutations in the presenilin-1 (PSEN1) gene on proteolytic processing of the amyloid precursor protein (APP). The authors provide compelling evidence using mutations in PSEN to understand what drives alternative substrate turnover with convincing data and rigorous analysis. This deep mechanistic study provides a framework towards the development of small molecule inhibitors to treat AD.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Primosomal protein PriC rescues replication initiation stress by bypassing the DnaA-DnaB interaction step for DnaB helicase loading at oriC

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Ryusei Yoshida
   2. Kazuma Korogi
   3. Qinfei Wu
   4. Shogo Ozaki
   5. Tsutomu Katayama

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This manuscript reports findings of fundamental significance on how bacteria might load helicase for DNA replication when normal DnaA-based loading pathway is defective. It provides convincing genetic and biochemical evidence that helicase loading at the E. coli oriC is not (as previously assumed) exclusively performed by the DnaA initiator protein but can also be executed by PriC (whether this occurs specifically at oriC has not been addressed in vivo). This is a significant step forward in our understanding of bacterial replication initiation.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Exploration of the metabolomic mechanisms of postmenopausal hypertension induced by low estrogen state

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Yao Li
   2. Hui Xin
   3. Zhexun Lian
   4. Wei Zhang

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This useful study provides incomplete evidence regarding the pathophysiological role of low estrogen levels post-menopause in hypertension, focusing on L-AABA as a key mediator. The results describe a novel hypothesis for the pathophysiology of hypertension in this population and are of interest to experts in hypertension and vascular biology.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Adolescent alcohol exposure promotes mechanical allodynia and alters synaptic function at inputs from the basolateral amygdala to the prelimbic cortex

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. J Daniel Obray
   2. Erik T Wilkes
   3. Mike Scofield
   4. L Judson Chandler

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This manuscript presents important information as to how adolescent alcohol exposure (AIE) alters pain behavior and relevant neurocircuits, with convincing data. The manuscript focuses on how AIE alters the basolateral amygdala, to the PFC (PV-interneurons), to the periaquaductal gray circuit, resulting in feed-forward inhibition. The manuscript is a detailed study of the role of alcohol exposure in regulating the circuit and reflexive pain, however, the role of the PV interneurons in mechanistically modulating this feed-forward circuit could be more strongly supported.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Mechanistic insight for T-cell exclusion by cancer-associated fibroblasts in human lung cancer

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Joseph Ackermann
   2. Chiara Bernard
   3. Philemon Sirven
   4. Helene Salmon
   5. Massimiliano Fraldi
   6. Martine D Ben Amar

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This is a valuable report of a spatially-extended model to study the complex interactions between immune cells, fibroblasts, and cancer cells, providing insights into how fibroblast activation can influence tumor progression. The model opens up new possibilities for studying fibroblast-driven effects in diverse settings, which is crucial for understanding potential tumor microenvironment manipulations that could enhance immunotherapy efficacy. While the results presented are convincing and follow logically from the model's assumptions, some of these assumptions, as acknowledged by the authors, may oversimplify certain aspects in light of complex experimental findings, system geometry, and general principles of active matter research. Nonetheless, the authors provide justification for their work as a meaningful step towards more comprehensive modeling approaches.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Rho-ROCK liberates sequestered claudin for rapid de novo tight junction formation

    This article has 4 authors:

    1. Yuma Cho
    2. Akari Taniguchi
    3. Akiharu Kubo
    4. Junichi Ikenouchi

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife Assessment

      This paper identifies a crucial step in the regulation of tight junction formation by identifying Rho-ROCK activity-dependent activation of the serine protease Matriptase, making Claudins available for tight junction formation. The reviewers were satisfied with the revisions and found the work important and the approach convincing.

    Reviewed by eLife