eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Profiling of terminating ribosomes reveals translational control at stop codons

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Longfei Jia
   2. Yuanhui Mao
   3. Saori Uematsu
   4. Xinyi Ashley Liu
   5. Leiming Dong
   6. Leonardo Henrique França de Lima
   7. Shu-Bing Qian

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This manuscript reports on the application of ribosome profiling (EZRA-seq and eRF1-seq) combined with massively parallel reporter assays to identify and characterize a GA-rich element associated with ribosome pausing during translation termination. While the development of eRF1-seq is useful and the identification of GA-rich elements upstream of stop codons is convincing, the level of support for other claims is inadequate. Specifically, the evidence that GA-rich sequences upstream of stop codons can base-pair with the 3′ end of 18S rRNA to prolong ribosome dwell time, and the evidence that Rps26 interferes with this interaction to regulate translation termination, are not adequate.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Mouse germline cysts contain a fusome that mediates oocyte development

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Madhulika Pathak
   2. Allan C Spradling

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This manuscript provides evidence that mouse germline cysts develop an asymmetric Golgi, ER, and microtubule-associated structure, referred to as Visham, which in many ways resembles the fusome of Drosophila germline cysts. This is an important study that provides new evidence that fusome-like structures exist in germ cell cysts across species. While most of the data are solid, several instances remain in which conclusions regarding the dynamics and function of Visham should be restated, or additional experimental evidence should be provided to more fully support the authors' interpretations.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Apparent cooperativity between human CMV virions introduces errors in conventional methods of calculating multiplicity of infection

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Christopher Peterson
   2. Joshua Miller
   3. Brent J Ryckman
   4. Vitaly V Ganusov

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     The authors combine experiments and mathematical modeling to determine how the infectivity of human cytomegalovirus scales with the viral concentration in the inoculum, i.e., considering the multiplicity of infection (MOI). They propose and test different model assumptions to explain a mechanism termed "apparent cooperativity" of virions based on an observed super-linear increase in the number of infected cells with increasing inocula. The authors present a solid study showing valuable findings for virologists and quantitative scientists working on the analysis and interpretation of viral infection dynamics. Some of the presented aspects would benefit from additional clarification.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Nanoscopy Reveals Heparan Sulfate Clusters as Docking Sites for SARS-CoV-2 Attachment and Entry

   This article has 14 authors:

   1. Sue Han
   2. Xin Wang
   3. Tiansheng Li
   4. Ammar Mohseni
   5. Ivan Kosik
   6. Chung Yu Chan
   7. Alberto Domingo López-Muñoz
   8. Jessica Matthias
   9. Reid Suddaby
   10. Zhixiong Wang
   11. Albert J Jin
   12. Christian A Wurm
   13. Jonathan W Yewdell
   14. Ling-Gang Wu

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study presents a role for heparin sulfate in SARS-CoV-2 entry that runs counter to prevailing data in the field. If the conclusions were firmly supported by the data, the work would be a significant contribution to the field. While the use of diverse cellular models, virological tools, and robust microscopy approaches constitutes a useful data set, the proposed model remains incomplete and requires clarification of entry mechanisms, host factors, and viral variant-specific fusion pathways to substantiate it against established entry models.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Epigenetic Adaptation Drives Monocyte Differentiation into Microglia-Like Cells Upon Engraftment into the Central Nervous System

   This article has 18 authors:

   1. Jie Liu
   2. Fengyang Lei
   3. Bin Yan
   4. Tian Cao
   5. Naiwen Cui
   6. Jyoti Sharma
   7. Victor Correa
   8. Lara Roach
   9. Savvas Nicolaou
   10. Kristen Pitts
   11. James Chodosh
   12. Daniel E Maidana
   13. Demetrios Vavvas
   14. Milica A Margeta
   15. Huidan Zhang
   16. David Weitz
   17. Raul Mostoslavsky
   18. Eleftherios I Paschalis

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     The authors investigated the epigenetic mechanisms regulating the differentiation of circulating monocytes that infiltrate the CNS and adopt microglia-like characteristics. The work is useful to the field, as the contribution of circulating myeloid cell-derived microglia remains controversial. However, the evidence presented is inadequate as the analyses are based on a very limited set of genes, which does not sufficiently support the authors' central claims.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Readout and delayed transmission of initial afferent V1 activity in decisions about stimulus contrast

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Kieran S Mohr
   2. Simon P Kelly

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study reports that EEG recordings of the earliest stage of information processing in the human visual cortex can be used to predict subsequent choice responses. The findings provide novel, solid evidence for integrative processing in low-level sensory cortices, though the exact nature of the neural signals measured here requires some clarification. While some conceptual issues need to be addressed, the paper is likely to be of interest to neuroscientists interested in the contribution of early sensory signals to decision-making.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Excitatory cholecystokinin neurons in CA3 area regulate the navigation learning and neuroplasticity

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Fengwen Huang
   2. Abdul Baset
   3. Stephen Temitayo Bello

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study shows that excitatory cholecystokinin (CCK)-expressing neurons in hippocampal area CA3 influence hippocampal-dependent memory using multiple methods to manipulate excitatory CCK-expressing CA3 neurons selectively. The work is valuable because most past studies of CCK-expressing neurons have focused on those neurons that co-express CCK and GABA. Currently, the strength of evidence is incomplete; however, if additional evidence were to be presented that the methods were selective, the evaluation would potentially be higher.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Progressive postnatal hearing development limits early parent-offspring vocal communication in the zebra finch

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Tommi Anttonen
   2. Jakob Christensen-Dalsgaard
   3. Coen PH Elemans

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     Zebra finches are a prominent model system for vocal learning and auditory system function, yet little is known about the functional development of the auditory system. Here, the authors convincingly show that newly hatched zebra finches lack detectable auditory brainstem responses and that auditory neural signals emerge only days after hatching, challenging influential claims of prenatal acoustic communication in altricial birds. This important work clarifies the developmental timeline for auditory communication and highlights the value of neuroscientific methods for validating and complementing behavioral ecological studies of animal perception.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Acute opioid responses are modulated by dynamic interactions of Oprm1 and Fgf12

   This article has 17 authors:

   1. Paige M Lemen
   2. Yanning Zuo
   3. Alexander S Hatoum
   4. Price E Dickson
   5. Guy Mittleman
   6. Arpana Agrawal
   7. Benjamin C Reiner
   8. Wade Berrettini
   9. David G Ashbrook
   10. Mustafa Hakan Gunturkun
   11. Xusheng Wang
   12. Megan K Mulligan
   13. Caleb J Browne
   14. Eric J Nestler
   15. Francesca Telese
   16. Robert W Williams
   17. Hao Chen

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study integrates large-scale behavioral, genetic, and molecular analyses in animal models to investigate morphine response. Utilizing high-quality, time-series Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) mapping, the work provides compelling evidential support for novel, time-dependent genetic interactions (epistasis). A fundamental result of this rigorous analysis is the discovery of a novel Oprm1-Fgf12-MAPK signaling pathway, which offers new insights into the mechanisms of opioid sensitivity.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Hugin-AstA circuitry is a novel central energy sensor that directly regulates sweet sensation in Drosophila and mouse

    This article has 6 authors:

    1. Wusa Qin
    2. Tingting Song
    3. Zeliang Lai
    4. Daihan Li
    5. Liming Wang
    6. Rui Huang

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife Assessment

      This important work characterizes layers of neuropeptidergic modulations that collectively regulate the intake of sugar in a hunger state-dependent manner. Combinations of genetic, physiological, and behavioral approaches present convincing evidence that neurons that release Hugin and Allatostatin A are in an active state in sated flies, leading to suppression of sugar feeding behavior by reducing the sensitivity of sugar-sensitive gustatory neurons that express Gr5a. They also demonstrate that neurons that release Neuromedin U, a vertebrate homolog of Hugin, have common physiological properties as the fly Hugin neurons, revealing a similar function of evolutionarily conserved peptides across animal phyla.

    Reviewed by eLife