eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Colony demographics shape nest construction in Camponotus fellah ants

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Harikrishnan Rajendran
   2. Roi Weinberger
   3. Ehud Fonio
   4. Ofer Feinerman

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study presents an important finding that ant nest structure and digging behavior depend on ant age demographics for a ground-dwelling ant species (Camponotus fellah). By asking whether ants employ age-polyethism in excavation, the authors address a long-standing question about how individuals in collectives determine the overall state of the task they must perform. The experimental evidence that the age of the ants and the group composition affect the digging of tunnels is convincing, and their model is able to replicate the colony's excavation dynamics qualitatively, results that may prove to be a key consideration for interpreting results from other studies in the field of social insect behavior.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Oviductin sets the species-specificity of the mammalian zona pellucida

   This article has 12 authors:

   1. Daniel de la Fuente
   2. Maria Maroto
   3. Yulia N Cajas
   4. Karina Canon-Beltran
   5. Raul Fernandez-Gonzalez
   6. Ana Munoz-Maceda
   7. Juana M Sanchez-Puig
   8. Rafael Blasco
   9. Paula Cots-Rodríguez
   10. Manuel Avilés
   11. Dimitrios Rizos
   12. Alfonso Gutierrez-Adan

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study unravels the mechanisms underlying mammalian sperm-oocyte recognition and penetration, shedding light on cross-species interactions. It provides solid evidence that exposure of sperm to oviductal fluid or OVGP1 proteins from bovine, murine, or human sources imparts species-specific zona pellucida (ZP) recognition, ensuring that only sperm from the corresponding species can penetrate the ZP, regardless of its origin. These findings hold significant potential for reproductive biology, offering insights to enhance porcine in vitro fertilization (IVF), which frequently suffers from polyspermy, as well as advancing human IVF through improved intrinsic sperm selection.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. The conserved ATPase PCH-2 controls the number and distribution of crossovers by antagonizing their formation in Caenorhabditis elegans

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Bhumil Patel
   2. Maryke Grobler
   3. Alberto Herrera
   4. Elias Logari
   5. Valery Ortiz
   6. Needhi Bhalla

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This is an important study examining the role of conserved PCH-2 protein at different stages of C. elegans meiosis. The authors use elegant molecular genetic approaches to provide convincing evidence to support their claims. The work will be of interest to scientists studying meiosis, DNA recombination, and chromosome segregation.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. No effect of additional education on long-term brain structure, a preregistered natural experiment in thousands of individuals

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Nicholas Judd
   2. Rogier Kievit

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     A regression discontinuity analysis finds essentially no effect of 1 additional year of secondary education on brain structure in adulthood. This is a valuable finding that adds to the literature on the impact of education on brain health. While the finding is convincing on its own, as the analysis was pre-registered and very carefully conducted, the impact is limited as the manipulated variable only relates to a single additional year of education (remaining in education to 15 vs 16 years of age).

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Protein absorption in the zebrafish gut is regulated by interactions between lysosome rich enterocytes and the microbiome

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Laura Childers
   2. Jieun Park
   3. Siyao Wang
   4. Richard Liu
   5. Robert Barry
   6. Stephen A Watts
   7. John F Rawls
   8. Michel Bagnat

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     In this study, the authors use the zebrafish to investigate how the microbiome affects a specialized gut cell called the lysosome rich enterocyte. They use a combination of functional assays for protein absorption, gnotobiotic manipulations and single-cell RNA-seq. The findings in the paper are considered important and the results are convincing.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Regulative synthesis of capsular polysaccharides in the pathogenesis of Streptococcus suis

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Xingye Wang
   2. Jie Wang
   3. Ning Li
   4. Xin Fan
   5. Beinan Wang

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This useful study uses a model of Streptococcus suis (a pig pathogen) infection in mice using an intranasal route, the natural route of infection ignored in most of the literature. The study aims to understand how capsular polysaccharides (CPS) contribute to neuropathology and virulence. The findings suggest that the olfactory route may lead to meningitis before bacteremia occurs and that CPS down-regulation may play a role in this process. However, the study remains incomplete as presented.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Inhibitory basal ganglia nuclei differentially innervate pedunculopontine nucleus subpopulations and evoke differential motor and valence behaviors

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Michel Fallah
   2. Kenea C Udobi
   3. Aleksandra E Swiatek
   4. Chelsea B Scott
   5. Rebekah C Evans

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     Fallah et al carefully dissect projections from substantia nigra pars reticulata (SNr) and the globus pallidus externa (GPe) - two key basal ganglia nuclei - to the pedunculopontine nucleus (PPN), a brainstem nucleus that has a central role in motor control. They consider inputs from these two areas onto three types of downstream PPN neurons - GABAergic, glutamatergic, and cholinergic neurons - and carefully map connectivity along the rostrocaudal axis of the PPN. Overall, this important study provides convincing data on PPN connectivity with two key input structures that will provide a basis for further understanding PPN function.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. The neuropeptide sulfakinin is a peripheral regulator of insect behavioral switch between mating and foraging

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Hong-Fei Li
   2. Bao Dong
   3. Yuan-Yuan Peng
   4. Hao-Yue Luo
   5. Xiao-Lan Ou
   6. Zheng-Lin Ren
   7. Yoonseong Park
   8. Jin-Jun Wang
   9. Hong-Bo Jiang

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important work investigates the mechanism that underlies the switch between feeding and mating behaviors in the oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis. Using a variety of approaches, the authors show that this switch is mediated by the neuropeptide, sulfakinin, acting peripherally through the sulfakinin receptor 1 to regulate the expression of antennal odorant receptors. The evidence is solid in support of the hypothesis that sulfakinin signaling mediates changes in the periphery, although additional sites of action may also contribute to these changes.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. HIV-1 Vif disrupts phosphatase feedback regulation at the kinetochore, leading to a pronounced pseudo-metaphase arrest

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Dhaval Ghone
   2. Edward L Evans
   3. Madison Bandini
   4. Kaelyn G Stephenson
   5. Nathan M Sherer
   6. Aussie Suzuki

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study provides a convincing explanation for why HIV-1 Vif causes a qualitatively different cell cycle arrest to its accessory gene counterpart Vpr. The authors use elegant time-dependent microscopy reporter assays in immortalized tumor cell models to show that HIV-1 Vif causes a pseudo-metaphase arrest rather than a G2 arrest. The metaphase arrest correlates with dysregulation of the kinetochore that could be explained by the loss of phosphatase functions that determine chromosome-microtubule interactions. These valuable findings lay the groundwork for additional studies examining the mechanisms and consequences of this Vif-dependent phenotype in the viral life cycle and in primary cells more relevant to HIV-1 pathogenesis.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Statistical learning beyond words in human neonates

    This article has 4 authors:

    1. Ana Fló
    2. Lucas Benjamin
    3. Marie Palu
    4. Ghislaine Dehaene-Lambertz

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife Assessment

      The manuscript provides important new insights into the mechanisms of statistical learning in early human development, showing that statistical learning in neonates occurs robustly and is not limited to linguistic features but occurs across different domains. The evidence is convincing and the findings are highly relevant for researchers working in several domains, including developmental cognitive neuroscience, developmental psychology, linguistics, and speech pathology.

    Reviewed by eLife