eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Ancient pyroptotic machinery via GSDMA/B cleavage by LPS-activated caspase-1 in cartilaginous fish

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Xuxia Wei
   2. Ru Zhuang
   3. Xueqin Jia
   4. Xinli Wang
   5. Suizhi Li
   6. Ziwen Huang
   7. Gaijing Zhou
   8. Anlong Xu
   9. Shaochun Yuan

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     The authors investigate the activation mechanism of a gasdermin pore-forming effector of Callorhinchus milii, which is a shark that is one of the most basal members of the cartilaginous fishes. The valuable findings show that GSDMA/B can be cleaved by a lipopolysaccharide-activated caspase here termed CmiCASP1, analogous to the cytosolic LPS detection pathway already established in mammals. The strength of evidence supporting these conclusions is solid; however, the data indicating the functional consequences of these proteins remain incomplete.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Terminal Schwann Cells Regulate Presynaptic Vesicle Homeostasis but Not Neuromuscular Junction Integrity in Mice

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Hyun Kim
   2. Seon-Yong Kim
   3. Kyusang Yoo
   4. Se-Young Choi
   5. Young-Yun Kong

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This useful study builds on the previously identified terminal Schwann cell (tSC) marker Col20a1 to generate a novel Col20a1-CreERT2 knock-in mouse line that enables the selective genetic labelling and ablation of tSCs at the neuromuscular junction. This model represents a new tool for distinguishing tSCs from myelinating Schwann cells. The authors conclude that loss of tSCs does not cause major alterations in the overall structure of the neuromuscular junction, but that tSC ablation intrinsically compromises the presynaptic reserve pool. However, the study remains incomplete because the evidence provided does not adequately support these conclusions.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. The genetic architecture of dementia risk: how Alzheimer’s disease vulnerability converges on lipid metabolism and immune cell networks

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Evelina Husén
   2. Zhuoran Cai
   3. Emma Gerrits
   4. Evelina Sjöstedt
   5. Nicholas Mitsios
   6. Tianyu Zheng
   7. Emilio Skarwan
   8. Mathias Uhlén
   9. Åsa Sivertsson
   10. Jan Mulder

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The findings documented here are interesting and valuable with respect to revealing genetic players that may underlie AD. However, there are concerns related to the analysis pipeline and the basic assumptions underlying the modelling. There is an overarching lack of controls in terms of comparator diseases and/or positive and negative control findings; hence, the main claims are only partially supported, and the study is incomplete.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Multi-Task Batteries for Precision Functional Mapping

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Bassel Arafat
   2. Caroline Nettekoven
   3. Jinkang Derrick Xiang
   4. Jörn Diedrichsen

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study presents a new approach to individualised functional brain mapping using multi-task batteries, and introduces a toolbox to support its implementation. Convincing evidence from simulations and empirical analyses across multiple datasets demonstrates clear advantages over traditional single-task approaches and provides practical guidance on task selection. The extent to which these improvements translate into more accurate recovery of individual-specific functional boundaries beyond well-characterised systems remains to be established.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Axially decoupled photo-stimulation and two photon readout (ADePT) for mapping functional connectivity of neural circuits

   This article has 14 authors:

   1. Matthew Koh
   2. Francesca Anselmi
   3. Sanjeev K Kaushalya
   4. Diego E Hernandez
   5. Walter Germán Bast
   6. Pablo S Villar
   7. Honggoo Chae
   8. Martin B Davis
   9. Sadhu Sai Teja
   10. Zhe Qu
   11. Viviana Gradinaru
   12. Priyanka Gupta
   13. Arkarup Banerjee
   14. Dinu F Albeanu

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This paper introduces a valuable optical method for simultaneous in vivo multiphoton imaging of the mouse brain combined with DMD-based one-photon patterned photostimulation in different axial planes. The evidence for effective optical separation of excitation and imaging is convincing, although the in vivo data in the olfactory bulb suggest potential confounding factors arising if stimulation not only affects cell bodies but also neuronal processes. The work will be of broad interest to neurobiologists working in circuit and systems neuroscience, as well as to specialists in optical microscopy.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Temporal constraints on the neural signatures of narrative processing

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Aline-Priscillia Messi
   2. Abir Bhuyain
   3. Liina Pylkkanen

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study presents a valuable finding on the spatio-temporal neural dynamics of language processing modulated by story context and presentation speed. The presentation of evidence in the version of the original submission is solid, as providing further clarifications on methodological details and addressing potential confounds would strengthen the study. The work will be of interest to cognitive neuroscientists working on reading and language comprehension.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Distance Mapping and Variable-Specific Geometry of Goal-Relevant Frames in the Retrosplenial Cortex

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Yumin Chen
   2. Xinhang Wei
   3. Lingwei Tang
   4. Haibing Xu

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     Chen and colleagues use in vivo electrophysiology in rats to characterize distance-encoding neurons in the retrosplenial cortex during both random foraging and goal-oriented navigation. This valuable work identifies a subset of retrosplenial neurons that encode distance to a hidden goal, and it reports that head-direction coding is enhanced during goal-directed navigation relative to foraging. Although the analytical framework aims to isolate the unique contribution of goal distance to retrosplenial firing patterns, strongly covarying self-motion and spatial signals leave the main claims about distance coding incompletely supported.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Whole-brain mapping of spinal-projecting neurons in larval zebrafish

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Martin Carbo-Tano
   2. Kevin Fidelin
   3. Tom Welch
   4. Sujatha Narayan
   5. Misha B Ahrens
   6. Réjean Dubuc
   7. Claire Wyart

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study is a rigorous and comprehensive anatomical description of populations of spinal-projecting neurons in the brain of the larval zebrafish. The compelling data reveal a far more complete and robust visualization of these populations than past work. The scholarship is also notable, featuring thoughtful contextualization of the findings with respect to both non-mammalian and mammalian literature.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Protein generation with evolutionary diffusion: sequence is all you need

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Sarah Alamdari
   2. Nitya Thakkar
   3. Rianne van den Berg
   4. Neil Tenenholtz
   5. Robert Strome
   6. Alan M Moses
   7. Alex X Lu
   8. Nicolò Fusi
   9. Ava P Amini
   10. Kevin K Yang

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study introduces EvoDiff, an order-agnostic diffusion foundation model for protein sequence generation, and demonstrates its potential across unconditional generation, motif scaffolding, MSA-conditioned design, and IDR inpainting. The evidence supporting the principal claims is solid, combining computational evaluation with experimental validation, although the comparative advantages and generality of some applications would benefit from further clarification and calibration.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Adolescent social isolation creates a latent vulnerability in maternal care with intergenerational social consequences, rescued by experienced mothers

    This article has 6 authors:

    1. Jose Francis-Oliveira
    2. Rinako Tanaka
    3. Matthew Shen
    4. Emily Cruvinel
    5. Shin-ichi Kano
    6. Minae Niwa

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife Assessment

      This study examines how adolescent adversity influences maternal caregiving and social development across generations. The findings are potentially valuable, but several conclusions currently extend beyond what is directly supported by the data, rendering the strength of the evidence incomplete. Key mechanistic claims are limited by the communal reassuring design, and by several unresolved questions regarding causality and interpretation.

    Reviewed by eLife