eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Morphology and synapse topography optimize linear encoding of synapse numbers in Drosophila looming responsive descending neurons

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Anthony Moreno-Sanchez
   2. Alexander N Vasserman
   3. HyoJong Jang
   4. Bryce W Hina
   5. Catherine R von Reyn
   6. Jessica Ausborn

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study provides a detailed picture of the synapse distributions for a set of visual projection neurons and their downstream partners, in combination with multi-compartmental modelling fitted to electrophysiological data. The model reveals interesting consequences of synapse topography for neuronal computation. The analysis, however, seems incomplete as the authors only analyze passive models of these spiking neurons, and do not attempt to connect their analysis to the bigger picture at the behavioral level.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Paracrine rescue of MYR1-deficient Toxoplasma gondii mutants reveals limitations of pooled in vivo CRISPR screens

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Francesca Torelli
   2. Diogo M da Fonseca
   3. Simon W Butterworth
   4. Joanna C Young
   5. Moritz Treeck

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study shows that Toxoplasma gondii uses paracrine mechanisms, in addition to cell-intrinsic methods, to evade the host immune system, with MYR1 playing a key role in transporting effector molecules into host cells. The authors present convincing evidence that in vivo, MYR1-deficient parasites can be rescued by wild-type parasites, revealing a limitation in pooled CRISPR screens, where such paracrine effects may obscure the identification of key parasite pathways involved in immune evasion

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Heat shock factor regulation of antimicrobial peptides expression suggests a conserved defense mechanism induced by febrile temperature in arthropods

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Bang Xiao
   2. Shihan Chen
   3. Yue Wang
   4. Xuzheng Liao
   5. Jianguo He
   6. Chaozheng Li

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This is an important study that addresses the role of fever as a conserved response to viral infection. It demonstrates that the heat-shock factor, HSF1, is activated by increased temperature during fever to enhance the anti-viral immune response. The data provides compelling evidence for the conclusions and the work will be of interest to virologists, immunologists, and cell biologists.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Avian-specific Salmonella transition to endemicity is accompanied by localized resistome and mobilome interaction

   This article has 12 authors:

   1. Chenghao Jia
   2. Chenghu Huang
   3. Haiyang Zhou
   4. Xiao Zhou
   5. Zining Wang
   6. Abubakar Siddique
   7. Xiamei Kang
   8. Qianzhe Cao
   9. Yingying Huang
   10. Fang He
   11. Yan Li
   12. Min Yue

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study analyzes a large dataset of Salmonella gallinarum whole-genome sequences and provides findings regarding the population structure of this avian-specific pathogen. The convincing results indicate regional adaptation of the mobilome-driven resistome and a role in the evolutionary trajectory of this pathogen that will interest microbiologists and researchers working on genomics, evolution, and antimicrobial resistance.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. A VgrG2b fragment cleaved by caspase-11/4 promotes Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection through suppressing the NLRP3 inflammasome

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Yan Qian
   2. Qiannv Liu
   3. Xiangyun Cheng
   4. Chunlei Wang
   5. Chun Kong
   6. Mengqian Li
   7. Chao Ren
   8. Dong Jiang
   9. Shuo Wang
   10. Pengyan Xia

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study on Pseudomonas subverting host immunity identifies a new immune evasion strategy. There is solid evidence for the cleavage of VgrG2B by Caspase 11 and the generation of fragments that inhibit activity of the NLRP3 inflammasome. This work should be of interest to immunologists and microbiologists.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Quantification of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium population dynamics in murine infection using a highly diverse barcoded library

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Julia A Hotinger
   2. Ian W Campbell
   3. Karthik Hullahalli
   4. Akina Osaki
   5. Matthew K Waldor

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study reports a detailed quantification of the population dynamics of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium in mice. Bacterial burden and founding population sizes across various organs were quantified, revealing pathways of dissemination and reseeding of the gastrointestinal tract from systemic organs. Using various techniques, including genetic distance measurements, the authors present compelling evidence to support their conclusions, thus presenting new knowledge that will be of broad interest to scientists focusing on infectious diseases.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Centrosome Migration and Apical Membrane Formation in Polarized Epithelial Cells: Insights from the MDCK Cyst Model

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Po-Kai Wang
   2. Keng-Hui Lin
   3. Tang K Tang

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study contributes to our understanding of how epithelial cells establish polarity by identifying a hierarchy in which Par3 acts upstream of centrosome positioning and apical membrane initiation. The evidence supporting the main conclusions is convincing, although several aspects of the model remain only partially supported due to unresolved questions about microtubule organization and the need for clearer integration of quantitative and conceptual points raised in review. The work will be of interest to cell and developmental biologists, but the conclusions would be strengthened by greater precision in methodology, terminology, and interpretation.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. The title and authors for this article are not available from our external data provider yet:
   10.48550/arxiv.2307.07654v3

9. Neural mechanisms of credit assignment for delayed outcomes during contingent learning

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Phillip P Witkowski
   2. Lindsay JH Rondot
   3. Zeb Kurth-Nelson
   4. Mona M Garvert
   5. Raymond J Dolan
   6. Timothy EJ Behrens
   7. Erie Boorman

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study provides important findings that during credit assignment, the lateral orbitofrontal cortex (lOFC) and hippocampus (HC) encode causal choice representations, while the frontopolar cortex (FPl) mediates HC -lOFC interactions when the causality needs to be maintained over longer distractions. This research offers compelling evidence and employs sophisticated multivariate pattern analysis. However, while the task design captures the delayed component, it lacks the full complexity and ambiguity of the credit assignment process observed in real-world scenarios. Moreover, the data indicated that other frontal regions beyond just lOFC were involved in delayed credit assignment. This work will be of interest to cognitive and computational neuroscientists who work on value-based decision-making and fronto-hippocampal circuits.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Tripartite organization of brain state dynamics underlying spoken narrative comprehension

    This article has 4 authors:

    1. Lanfang Liu
    2. Jiahao Jiang
    3. Hehui Li
    4. Guosheng Ding

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife Assessment

      This study provides important insights into the brain activity and connectivity underlying speech comprehension, revealing three brain states. The authors present compelling evidence by leveraging hidden Markov modeling of fMRI data to link brain state dynamics to comprehension scores, though the functional role of these states remains under-explored. These findings advance our understanding of how brain state transitions in narrative comprehension relate to stimulus-specific features.

    Reviewed by eLife