eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. 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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. Comparative analysis of the syncytiotrophoblast in placenta tissue and trophoblast organoids using snRNA sequencing

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Madeline M Keenen
   2. Liheng Yang
   3. Huan Liang
   4. Veronica J Farmer
   5. Rizban E Worota
   6. Rohit Singh
   7. Amy S Gladfelter
   8. Carolyn B Coyne

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study uses single-cell transcriptomics to analyze syncytiotrophoblasts in two trophoblast organoid models compared to primary placental tissue, providing compelling insights into syncytialization and highlighting the utility of organoid models in placental research. It also serves as an invaluable resource for the field.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Multi-gradient permutation survival analysis identifies mitosis and immune signatures steadily associated with cancer patient prognosis

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Xinlei Cai
   2. Yi Ye
   3. Xiaoping Liu
   4. Zhaoyuan Fang
   5. Luonan Chen
   6. Fei Li
   7. Hongbin Ji

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This paper contains valuable ideas for methodology concerned with the identification of genes associated with disease prognosis in a broad range of cancers. However, there are concerns that the statistical properties of MEMORY are incompletely investigated and described. Further, more precise details about the implementation of the method would increase the replicability of the findings by other researchers.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. RNase III in Salmonella Enteritidis enhances bacterial virulence by reducing host immune responses

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Bill Kwan-wai Chan
   2. Yingxue Li
   3. Hongyuhang Ni
   4. Edward Wai-chi Chan
   5. Xin Deng
   6. Linfeng Huang
   7. Sheng Chen

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This useful study examines the function of the rnc gene, which encodes the RNase III ribonuclease, as it relates to virulence of Salmonella Enteritidis. The authors demonstrate that the rnc gene is markedly upregulated in strains proposed to exhibit high virulence and that the product of the rnc gene promotes the expression of SodA, which contributes to the survival of Salmonella Enteritidis in the face of oxidative stress. The study also suggests that elevated levels of rnc gene expression assist Salmonella Enteritidis in evading immune responses by diminishing the presence of accumulated double-stranded RNA (dsRNA), although the evidence substantiating this and the above assertions remains incomplete.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Individual differences in tail risk sensitive exploration using Bayes-adaptive Markov decision processes

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Tingke Shen
   2. Peter Dayan

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     Shen et al. present a computational account of individual differences in mouse exploration when faced with a novel object in an open field from a previously published study (Akiti et al.) that relates subject-specific intrinsic exploration and caution about potential hazards to the spectrum of behaviors observed in this setting. Overall, this computational study is an important contribution that leverages a very general modeling framework (a Bayes Adaptive Markov Decision Process) to quantify and interrogate distinct drivers of exploratory behavior under potential threat. Given their assumptions, the modeling results are convincing: the authors are able to describe a substantial amount of the behavioral features and idiosyncracies in this dataset, and their model affords a normative interpretation related to inherent risk aversion and predation hazard "flexibility" of individual animals and should be of broad interest to researchers working to understand open-ended exploratory behaviors.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Sld3CBD–Cdc45 structural insights into Cdc45 recruitment for CMG complex formation during DNA replication

    This article has 9 authors:

    1. Hao Li
    2. Izumi Ishizaki
    3. Koji Kato
    4. Xiaomei Sun
    5. Sachiko Muramatsu
    6. Hiroshi Itou
    7. Toyoyuki Ose
    8. Hiroyuki Araki
    9. Min Yao

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife Assessment

      This valuable paper describes the crystal structure of a complex of the Sld3-Cdc45-binding domain (CBD) with Cdc45, which is essential for the assembly of an active Cdc45-MCM-GINS (CMG) double-hexamer at the replication origin. The structural and biochemical analyses of protein-protein interactions and DNA binding provided solid evidence to support the authors' conclusion. The results shown in the paper are of interest to researchers in DNA replication and genome stability.

    Reviewed by eLife