eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Flexibility in PAM recognition expands DNA targeting in xCas9

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Kazi A Hossain
   2. Lukasz Nierzwicki
   3. Modesto Orozco
   4. Jacek Czub
   5. Giulia Palermo

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This manuscript describes a fundamental investigation of the functioning of Cas9 and in particular on how variant xCas9 expands DNA targeting ability by an increase-flexibility mechanism. The authors provide compelling evidence to support their mechanistic models and the relevance of flexibility and entropy in recognition. This work can be of interest to a broad community of structural biophysicists, computational biologists, chemists, and biochemists.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Bayesian meta-analysis reveals the mechanistic role of slow oscillation-spindle coupling in sleep-dependent memory consolidation

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Thea Ng
   2. Eunsol Noh
   3. Rebecca MC Spencer

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study presents a meta-analysis confirming a statistically significant association between slow oscillation-spindle coupling and memory formation, although the reported effects are limited (~0.5% of variance). The evidence is overall convincing, but the statistical methods may be difficult to follow for readers unfamiliar with advanced techniques. This work will be of particular interest to neuroscientists studying the neural mechanisms of sleep and memory.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Circadian control of a sex-specific behavior in Drosophila

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Sabrina Riva
   2. Maria Fernanda Ceriani
   3. Sebastián Risau-Gusman
   4. Diana Lorena Franco

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study introduces an experimental approach for studying Drosophila oviposition rhythms and identifies the subset of circadian clock neurons that mediate the circadian control of oviposition. The authors resolve an inherently noisy rhythm to provide convincing evidence by using statistical averaging techniques, which help reduce this noise but at the cost of variation across individual rhythms. This paper will be of interest to anyone interested in insect ovarian physiology, circadian biology, and reproductive fitness.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Tachykinin1-expressing neurons in the parasubthalamic nucleus control active avoidance learning

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Ruining Hu
   2. Nannan Wu
   3. Tong Liu
   4. Liuting Zou
   5. Songjie Lv
   6. Xiao Huang
   7. Rongfeng K Hu

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This useful work identifies a key role for Tachykinin-1 parasubthalamic neurons in avoidance learning. At present, the evidence for the conclusions regarding fiber photometry, viral transfection, reporting of behavioral outcomes, and pathway-specificity is incomplete. This work will be of interest to neuroscientists studying neural mechanisms for avoidance and aversion.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. High-throughput unsupervised quantification of patterns in the natural behavior of marmosets

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. William Menegas
   2. Erin Corbett
   3. Kimberly Beliard
   4. Haoran Xu
   5. Shivangi Parmar
   6. Robert Desimone
   7. Guoping Feng

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study demonstrates the ability for high-throughput recording and categorization of unconstrained and stimulus-based behaviors across a very large population of marmosets (n = 120 animals across 36 family units). The authors implement an analytical approach to identify "outlier" behavior that could be key in the development of next-generation precision psychiatry. While the strength of evidence appears solid overall, many key methodological details are incomplete.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Effort produces after-effects costly for others but valued for self

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Ya Zheng
   2. Rumeng Tang

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     The findings in this paper provide solid support for a hypothesis that has valuable implications at the intersection of value-based and social decision-making. The findings suggest that the brain processes rewards received for effort differently when they are earned for themselves versus someone else.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Mother-child dyadic interactions shape the developing social brain and Theory of Mind in young children

   This article has 12 authors:

   1. Lei Li
   2. Jinming Xiao
   3. Weixing Zhao
   4. Qingyu Zheng
   5. Xinyue Huang
   6. Xiaolong Shan
   7. Yating Ming
   8. Peng Wang
   9. Zhen Wu
   10. Huafu Chen
   11. Vinod Menon
   12. Xujun Duan

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study reports solid evidence for the significant role of mother-child neural synchronization and relationship quality in the development of Theory of Mind (ToM) and social cognition. The findings effectively bridge brain development with children's behavior and parenting practices, and will be of interest to researchers studying brain development and social cognition, as well as the general public.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Dissociable dynamic effects of expectation during statistical learning

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Hannah H McDermott
   2. Federico de Martino
   3. Caspar M Schwiedrzik
   4. Ryszard Auksztulewicz

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study is of relevance for the fields of predictive processing, perception and learning, with a well-designed paradigm allowing the authors to avoid several common confounds in investigating predictions, such as adaptation. Using a state-of-the-art multivariate EEG approach, the authors test the opposing process theory and find evidence in support of it. Overall, the empirical evidence is solid, however, some conclusions rest on limited evidence and need further work to reconcile the present results with previous studies.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Exploring neurodevelopment via spatiotemporal collation of anatomical networks with NeuroSC

   This article has 11 authors:

   1. Noelle L Koonce
   2. Sarah E Emerson
   3. Dhananjay Bhaskar
   4. Manik Kuchroo
   5. Mark W Moyle
   6. Pura Arroyo-Morales
   7. Nabor Vázquez-Martínez
   8. Jamie I Emerson
   9. Smita Krishnaswamy
   10. William A Mohler
   11. Daniel A Colón-Ramos

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     NeuroSC is an accessible and interactive tool for streamlined observation of neuronal morphology, membrane contact, and synaptic connectivity across developmental stages in the nematode C. elegans. This important tool relies on solid electron microscopy datasets. This resource will be of high interest to C. elegans researchers interested in nervous system wiring and circuit function.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. The title and authors for this article are not available from our external data provider yet:
    10.48550/arxiv.2303.14159v7