eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Reproducible and predictable reorganization of place fields driven by grid subfield rate changes

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Christine M Lykken
   2. Benjamin R Kanter
   3. Jasmine Kaslow
   4. Oscar MT Chadney
   5. Kadjita Asumbisa
   6. Lucie AL Descamps
   7. Clifford G Kentros

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study provides a valuable contribution to understanding grid-to-place transformations, offering new insights into the structure and reliability of these representations and extending prior work in a meaningful way. The evidence supporting the authors' conclusions is solid, based on careful analyses and well-executed experiments, although clarity and mechanistic interpretation would be strengthened by improving sample size reporting, expanding population-level analyses, and future studies including simultaneous entorhinal-hippocampal recordings. The work will be of interest to neuroscientists studying spatial coding and hippocampal-entorhinal circuit function.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Wetness modulates the effects of grazing on net ecosystem productivity in global grasslands

   This article has 14 authors:

   1. Yueqiang Wu
   2. Le Qi
   3. Hao Li
   4. Jiguang Feng
   5. Peng Zhou
   6. Hangyu Li
   7. Xiaoyang Gao
   8. Zhijie Wang
   9. Shilin Cui
   10. Ping Yin
   11. Wenhong Ma
   12. Cunzhu Liang
   13. Zhiyong Li
   14. Biao Zhu

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study uses convincing modeling methods and analyses of rich behavioral datasets to investigate the role of attention in value-based decision making; for instance, as when choosing between two snacks. The results are valuable, as they challenge existing theories that assume that paying attention to an available option biases the eventual choice toward that option. The results suggest that the correlation between attention and decision-making is formed largely after and not before the (internal) choice process has terminated, a finding that offers an intuitively appealing rethinking of how attention and decision-making processes interact during value-based choices.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Behavioral Signatures of Post-Decisional Attention in Preferential Choice

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Ariel Zylberberg
   2. Ian Krajbich
   3. Michael N Shadlen

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study uses convincing modeling methods and analyses of rich behavioral datasets to investigate the role of attention in value-based decision making; for instance, as when choosing between two snacks. The results are valuable, as they challenge existing theories that assume that paying attention to an available option biases the eventual choice toward that option. The results suggest that the correlation between attention and decision-making is formed largely after and not before the (internal) choice process has terminated, a finding that offers an intuitively appealing rethinking of how attention and decision-making processes interact during value-based choices.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. A non-human primate model of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Rachael HA Jones
   2. Luciano Saieva
   3. Fabien Balezeau
   4. Ian Schofield
   5. Caroline McCardle
   6. Mark R Baker
   7. Stuart N Baker

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This fundamental study provides a major contribution to our understanding of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) pathogenesis by utilizing a primate model that overcomes the historical limitations of rodent paradigms. By demonstrating the retrograde and trans-synaptic spread of pathological TDP-43 from the periphery to the spinal cord and motor cortex, the authors propose a new model for the disease spreading. The evidence supporting these findings is compelling, characterized by rigorous post-mortem histological observations. This work will be of profound interest to neuroscientists and translational researchers seeking to decode the mechanisms of systemic disease progression in ALS.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Method of loci training yields unique prefrontal representations that support effective memory encoding

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Jingyuan Ren
   2. Boris N. Konrad
   3. Yannan Zhu
   4. Fan Li
   5. Michael Czisch
   6. Martin Dresler
   7. Isabella C. Wagner

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study presents a useful array of analyses of the effects of training and/or instruction to use the method of loci during episodic encoding and retrieval. A major strength of the experiment is the impressive recruitment of memory athletes and the training of novice athletes to use the method of loci, long known to improve the precision of memory recall. That said, the sheer number of results and their organization should be addressed; streamlining the results and placing them, whenever possible, in a theoretical framework. As it stands, the presented work is incomplete with respect to the major conclusions that training itself leads to neural differentiation of prefrontal cortical neural patterns, and the authors need to temper these claims.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Drosophila ryanodine receptor gene triggers functional and developmental muscle properties and could be used to assess the impact of human RYR1 mutations

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Monika Zmojdzian
   2. Teresa Jagla
   3. Florian Cherik
   4. Magda Dubinska-Magiera
   5. Marta Migocka-Patrzalek
   6. Malgorzata Daczewska
   7. John Rendu
   8. Krzysztof Jagla
   9. Catherine Sarret

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important paper provides novel information on the function of the Drosophila ryanodine receptor (RyR) during muscle development. The authors analyze the effects of a rare human mutation that causes myopathy that affects a conserved region of the gene. They present compelling evidence that this variant affects muscle function in flies. These results suggest that Drosophila can be used as a tool for screening additional variants.

     [Editors' note: this paper was reviewed by Review Commons.]

   Reviewed by eLife

7. The long-range gene regulatory landscape of cerebellar granule neuron progenitors

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Kimberley LH Riegman
   2. Charlotte George
   3. Danielle E Whittaker
   4. Mohi U Ahmed
   5. Haiyang Yun
   6. Brian JP Huntly
   7. David Sims
   8. Cameron S Osborne
   9. M Albert Basson

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This work provides a map of enhancer-promoter interactions associated with genes controlling the development of a specific neuronal cell population. The study offers a valuable resource and integrates multiple complementary datasets to provide insights into regulatory mechanisms, although the conceptual advances are moderate and the central message could be clearer. The evidence supporting the conclusions is generally solid, but the lack of direct functional testing of key regulatory elements limits the strength of some claims.

     [Editors' note: this paper was reviewed by Review Commons.]

   Reviewed by eLife

8. GM-CSF regulates ILC states and myeloid cell signaling during ulceration in Crohn’s disease

   This article has 29 authors:

   1. Joshua K Morrison
   2. Ksenija Sabic
   3. Neha Maskey
   4. Sayali Talware
   5. Nai-yun Hsu
   6. Colleen Chasteau
   7. Elizabeth Aslinger
   8. Jake Herb
   9. Shikha Nayar
   10. Rachel Levantovsky
   11. Christopher Tastad
   12. Rachel Moss
   13. Alan Soto
   14. Monica Garcia-barros
   15. Jessy Ntunzwenimana
   16. Mariel Glass
   17. Michelle Bao
   18. Jiayu Zhang
   19. Huajun Han
   20. Jane Stevens
   21. Lorena Tavares
   22. Tin Htwe Thin
   23. Sergey Khaitov
   24. Alexander Greenstein
   25. Rachel Brody
   26. Jaime Chu
   27. Arthur Mortha
   28. Judy H Cho
   29. Ling-shiang Chuang

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     The authors provide valuable findings showing that GM-CSF prevents the loss of ILC3 populations during gut inflammation and inhibits pro-inflammatory cytokine production. They combine a preclinical model of gut inflammation in zebrafish with spatial transcriptomic analysis of samples from Crohn's disease patients. Although the data provided are clear and point to an anti-inflammatory role of GM-CSF, the strength of evidence remains incomplete as no mechanistic insights into GM-CSF regulation of ILCs are provided, and the most significant mechanistic question remains unanswered: what are the signals downstream of GM-CSF that maintain the ILC3 population? This work will be of interest to immunologists.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Neurotrophin-3 produced by motor neurons non-cell autonomously regulate the development of pre-motor interneurons in the developing spinal cord

   This article has 12 authors:

   1. Andrea Angla-Navarro
   2. Ana Dominguez Bajo
   3. Mathilde Toch
   4. Cédric Francius
   5. Maria Hidalgo-Figueroa
   6. Jingwen Zhang
   7. Olivier Schakman
   8. Manon Martin
   9. Xiuqian Mu
   10. René Rezsohazy
   11. Françoise Gofflot
   12. Frédéric Clotman

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This is a useful study that seeks to elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying spinal motor circuit assembly. The authors demonstrate that loss of Onecut transcription factors in spinal motor neurons affects the size and spatial distribution of pre-motor interneurons. However, the study in its current form is incomplete: the data and analyses do not fully support the main conclusion that Onecut acts through Neurotrophin-3 to regulate interneuron development in a non-cell autonomous manner. The work will be of broad interest to cell and developmental biologists.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Morphine regulates astrocyte transcriptional dynamics in the ventral tegmental area by stimulation of glucocorticoid signaling

    This article has 9 authors:

    1. Jennifer J Tuscher
    2. Angela Cleere
    3. Robert A Phillips
    4. Catherine E Newman
    5. Guy Twa
    6. Nathaniel J Robinson
    7. Lara Ianov
    8. Robert E Sorge
    9. Jeremy J Day

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife Assessment

      This important study examines how chronic pain and opioid exposure interact at the cellular and molecular levels in a reward-related brain region. Using single-nucleus RNA sequencing, the authors map transcriptional changes in the rat ventral tegmental area following chronic inflammatory pain and acute morphine exposure. Notably, their convincing data support that acute morphine, not chronic pain, elicits a stress-related transcriptional response primarily in glial cells rather than neurons, challenging prevailing views of opioid action and supporting growing evidence for glucocorticoid signaling in glial responses. A limitation is the use of a single opioid dose and time point, and further discussion of these constraints would help clarify the broader implications of the findings.

    Reviewed by eLife