eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Involuntary feedback responses reflect a representation of partner actions

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Seth R Sullivan
   2. John H Buggeln
   3. Jan A Calalo
   4. Truc T Ngo
   5. Jennifer A Semrau
   6. Michael J Carter
   7. Joshua GA Cashaback

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study combines a two-person joint hand-reaching paradigm with game-theoretical modeling to examine whether, and how, one's reflexive visuomotor responses are modulated by a partner's control policy and cost structure. The study provides a solid and novel set of behavioral findings suggesting that involuntary visuomotor feedback is indeed modulated in the context of interpersonal coordination. The work will be of interest to cognitive scientists studying the motoric and social aspects of action control.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Concurrent category-selective neural activity across the ventral occipito-temporal cortex supports a non-hierarchical view of human visual recognition

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Corentin Jacques
   2. Jacques Jonas
   3. Sophie Colnat-Coulbois
   4. Bruno Rossion

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study addresses a classic debate in visual processing, using a strong method applied to a rare clinical population to evaluate hierarchical models of visual object perception. The paper finds only partial support for the hierarchical model: as expected, neural responses in ventral visual cortex show increased representational selectivity for faces along the posterior-anterior axes, but the onsets of the signals do not show a temporal hierarchy, indicating more parallel processing. The iEEG dataset is impressive, but the evidence for lack of temporal hierarchy is incomplete: essential quality checks need to be performed, and statistical analyses adapted to ensure that the data and analyses would be able to reveal temporal hierarchy if it were present in the data.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Domain-adaptive matching bridges synthetic and in vivo neural dynamics for neural circuit connectivity inference

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Kaiwen Sheng
   2. Shanghang Zhang
   3. Shenjian Zhang
   4. Yutao He
   5. Maxime Beau
   6. Peng Qu
   7. Xiaofei Liu
   8. Youhui Zhang
   9. Lei Ma
   10. Kai Du

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This article reports an algorithm for inferring the presence of synaptic connection between neurons based on naturally occurring spiking activity of a neuronal network. One key improvement is to combine self-supervised and synthetic approaches to learn to focus on features that generalize to the conditions of the observed network. This valuable contribution is currently supported by incomplete evidence.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Improved inference of latent neural states from calcium imaging data

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Stephen Keeley
   2. David Zoltowski
   3. Adam Charles
   4. Jonathan Pillow

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study provides a practical computational framework for inferring latent neural states directly from calcium fluorescence recordings, bypassing the traditional need for a separate spike deconvolution step. The evidence supporting the method is solid, featuring rigorous validation across multiple latent variable model families (including HMM, GPFA, and LFADS) using both simulated and experimental data. However, the assessment of the method's generality would be further strengthened by application to a broader range of experimental datasets, such as recordings from different brain regions or using different calcium indicators.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Dopamine and its receptor DcDop2 are involved in the mutualistic interaction between ‘Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus’ and Diaphorina citri

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Xiaoge Nian
   2. Jiayun Li
   3. Jilei Huang
   4. Weiwei Yuan
   5. Paul Holford
   6. George Andrew Charles Beattie
   7. Jielan He
   8. Yijing Cen
   9. Yurong He
   10. Songdou Zhang

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     Insects can act as vectors of plant diseases, hence the study of insect-pathogen interactions is relevant for agriculture. This important study identifies in Diaphorina citri a dopamine receptor responsive to 'Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus' infection, demonstrate direct regulation of this receptor by a microRNA, and integrate dopamine signaling into an established insect reproductive hormone framework. Multiple complementary experimental approaches convincingly support the findings, but key conclusions rely on correlative data and the mechanistic evidence for the proposed linear signaling cascade is incomplete. This work will be of interest for insect physiology and vector-pathogen biology, and more broadly for citrus agriculture.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Benchmarking of signaling networks generated by large language models

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Jeevan Tewari
   2. Benjamin W Dahl
   3. Jeffrey J Saucerman

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     The authors address a hard question and propose a pipeline for using Large Language Models to reconstruct signalling networks as well as to benchmark future models. The findings are valuable for a defined subfield, as the proposed framework allows for assessing such approaches systematically. The overall support is solid, although the present evaluation remains limited in scope and would benefit from a wider range of networks and performance metrics.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Subregional activity in the dentate gyrus is amplified during elevated cognitive demands

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Charlotte CM Castillon
   2. Shintaro Otsuka
   3. John N Armstrong
   4. Anis Contractor

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This manuscript presents a valuable study of the activity and functional relevance of different circuits in the dentate gyrus of mice performing a pattern separation task. The study is likely to be of interest to those studying the subregional organization and cell type-specific functions of the dentate gyrus. However, the strength of evidence for the study's conclusions is currently incomplete.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Activation of the Spx redox sensor counters cysteine-driven Fe(II) depletion under disulfide stress

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Abigail G Hall
   2. Abdulelah A Alqarzaee
   3. Aliyah J Collins
   4. Sasmita Panda
   5. Svetlana Romanova
   6. Sujata S Chaudhari
   7. Andrew J Monteith
   8. Dorte Frees
   9. Vinai C Thomas

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study provides new insights into how Staphylococcus aureus adapts to disulfide stress through the redox-sensitive regulator Spx, which coordinates nutrient uptake, cysteine import, redox homeostasis, and bacterial growth. While the authors present compelling evidence supporting the central role of Spx in managing disulfide stress, several aspects require further clarification. In particular, the precise mechanisms regulating cysteine uptake and the proposed link between disulfide stress responses and iron limitation would benefit from additional explanation and experimental or conceptual justification.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. RiboTRAP-seq identifies spatially distinct functions for the anterior and posterior intestine in immune and metabolic regulation in C. elegans

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Chung-Chih Liu
   2. Nicolas Seban
   3. Supriya Srinivasan

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     In this valuable study, the authors performed cell-specific ribosome pulldown to identify gene expression (translatome) differences in the anterior (NT1) vs middle & posterior (NT2-9) cells of the C. elegans intestine, under fed, starved, or refeeding conditions. The data generated will be very helpful to the C. elegans community, and the evidence supporting the conclusions of the study is assessed to be solid. Some methodological caveats remain and are discussed.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Purified Zymogens Reveal Mechanisms of Snake Venom Metalloproteinase Auto-Activation

    This article has 17 authors:

    1. Sophie Hall
    2. Iara Aimê Cardoso
    3. Mark C Wilkinson
    4. Maria Molina Carretero
    5. Srikanth Lingappa
    6. Bronwyn Rand
    7. Dakang Shen
    8. Johara Boldrini-França
    9. Richard Stenner
    10. Stefanie K Menzies
    11. Georgia Balchin
    12. Konrad Kamil Hus
    13. Renaud Vincentelli
    14. Andrew Mumford
    15. Nicholas R Casewell
    16. Imre Berger
    17. Christiane Schaffitzel

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife Assessment

      In this useful paper, the authors present a comprehensive method for the purification of recombinant Snake Venom Metalloproteinases (SVMPs) using the MultiBac expression system, explain the self-activation of the enzymes by Zn2+ incubation, and establish high-throughput screening (HTS) techniques. The authors addressed a key problem: producing a substantial amount of pure and enzymatically active SVMPs required for structural and functional studies. Altogether, this work builds a solid foundation for the large-scale production of active SVMPs for future biochemical and structural characterization as well as for drug discovery, albeit leaving certain caveats about the universal applicability of the described methodology for the production of any recombinant SVMPs.

    Reviewed by eLife