eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Neuroanatomical foundations of social tolerance across macaque species

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Sarah Silvère
   2. Julien Lamy
   3. Christelle Po
   4. Mathieu Legrand
   5. Jerome Sallet
   6. Sebastien Ballesta

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important work compares the size of two brain areas, the amygdala and the hippocampus, across 12 species belonging to the Macaca genus. The authors find, using a convincing methodological approach, that amygdala - but not hippocampal - volume varies with social tolerance grade, with high tolerance species showing larger amygdala than low tolerance species of macaques. Interestingly, their findings also suggest an inverted developmental effect, with intolerant species showing an increase in amygdala volume across the lifespan, compared to tolerant species exhibiting the opposite trend. Overall, this paper offers new insights into the neural basis of social and emotional processing.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Coordinated spinal locomotor network dynamics emerge from cell-type-specific connectivity patterns

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. F David Wandler
   2. Benjamin K Lemberger
   3. David L McLean
   4. James M Murray

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     In this valuable study, Wandler et al. provide convincing theoretical evidence for alternate mechanisms of rhythm generation by CPGs. Their model shows that cell-type-specific connectivity and a dominant inhibitory drive could underlie rhythm generation. Excitatory input could act to enhance the frequency range of these rhythms. This modeling study could motivate further experimental investigation of these mechanisms to understand CPG rhythmogenesis.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. A whole-animal phenotypic drug screen identifies suppressors of atherogenic lipoproteins

   This article has 12 authors:

   1. Daniel J Kelpsch
   2. Liyun Zhang
   3. James H Thierer
   4. Kobe Koren
   5. Urmi Kumar
   6. Yuki Lin
   7. Monica R Hensley
   8. Mira Sohn
   9. Jun O Liu
   10. Thomas Lectka
   11. Jeff S Mumm
   12. Steven A Farber

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     In this important study, the authors have performed a zebrafish drug screen to identify suppressors of atherogenic lipoproteins. They utilize a well-established LipoGlo assay to find molecules that modulate these lipoproteins, identifying 49 potential hits. They perform some validation experiments, including studies linking enoxolone to its likely inhibitory effect on a specific transcription factor, HNF4alpha. Overall, the results are convincing and robust, and will open up new areas of exploration for those investigators interested in in vivo lipid biology.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Distal Gene Expression Governed by Lamins and Nesprins via Chromatin Conformation Change

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Haihui Zhang
   2. Zhengyang Lei
   3. Fatemeh Momen-Heravi
   4. Peiwu Qin

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study provides useful information on the impact of Lamin A/C knockdown on gene expression using RNA-Seq analysis. In addition, the impact of Lamin A/C knockdown on telomere dynamics is explored using live cell imaging. The conclusions, however, are inadequately supported by the data presented. Weaknesses include excessive reliance on gene ontology analysis without further validation of direct versus indirect effects, use of only one shRNA, which may have off target effects, validation of knockdown only from gene expression rather than protein levels, lack of discussion on previous studies showing the presence of Lamin A/C in the nuclear interior among others.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. The Structural Dynamics of IRE1 and its Interaction with Unfolded Peptides

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Elena Spinetti
   2. G Elif Karagöz
   3. Roberto Covino

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     In this important study, the authors conducted atomistic molecular dynamics simulations to probe the interactions between IRE and unfolded peptides. The results help reconcile contradicting experimental findings in the literature and offer mechanistic insights into the activation of the unfolded protein response. The level of evidence is considered solid, although the use of enhanced sampling and more quantitative analysis would further strengthen the conclusions.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. The influence of heavy metal stress on the evolutionary transition of teosinte to maize

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Jonathan Acosta-Bayona
   2. Miguel Vallebueno-Estrada
   3. Jean-Philippe Vielle-Calzada

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study presents a valuable investigation into how heavy metal stress may have influenced the domestication of maize from its wild ancestor, teosinte parviglumis, focusing on specific ATPase genes with proposed roles in heavy metal homeostasis. The evidence supporting the main claims is incomplete, with suggestive but not definitive data linking gene function to domestication traits, and limited environmental context for the hypothesized selection pressures. While the work introduces an interesting model connecting environmental stress responses to evolutionary transitions and highlights underexplored aspects of teosinte plasticity, the conclusions would benefit from more comprehensive analyses such as transcriptomics, a broader survey of loci, and stronger paleoenvironmental validation. The study will be of interest to researchers in plant evolution and domestication, but currently lacks the analytical depth to fully support its central hypothesis.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Assessing plant phenological changes based on drivers of spring phenology

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Yong Jiang
   2. Stephen J Mayor
   3. Xiuli Chu
   4. Xiaoqi Ye
   5. Rongzhou Man
   6. Jing Tao
   7. Qing-Lai Dang

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study introduces a novel and broadly applicable metric-phenological lag-to partition the effects of spring warming from other abiotic constraints on plant phenology. While the dataset is extensive and the analytical framework is valuable conceptually, the manuscript lacks clarity in its aims and justification for the new metric, and key results are underdeveloped or poorly visualized. The strength of evidence is moderate to solid, but revisions are needed to clarify the study's contribution and improve interpretability.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Calibration and validation strategy for electromechanical cardiac digital twins

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Zhinuo Jenny Wang
   2. Maxx Holmes
   3. Ruben Doste
   4. Julia Camps
   5. Francesca Margara
   6. Mariano Vazquez
   7. Blanca Rodriguez

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This is a potentially important study that explores the relevant range of parameter values for calibration and validation of cardiac electromechanics in ventricular models. Although much of the work presented is solid, the evidence provided to support the authors' key scientific claims is incomplete, especially as it relates to the emphasis on standardized validation and verification approaches. Notably, the level of model personalization presented in this work falls short of the threshold for what could reasonably be called a "digital twin", even by the relatively relaxed standards that have emerged in computational physiology and related fields in recent years.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. A neuromorphic model of active vision shows how spatiotemporal encoding in lobula neurons can aid pattern recognition in bees

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. HaDi MaBouDi
   2. Mark Roper
   3. Marie-Geneviève Guiraud
   4. Mikko Juusola
   5. Lars Chittka
   6. James AR Marshall

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     Inspired by bee's visual behavior, the goal of the manuscript is to develop a model of visual scanning, visual processing and learning to recognize visual patterns. In this model, pre-training with natural images leads to the formation of spatiotemporal receptive fields that can support associative learning. Due to an incomplete test of the necessity and sufficiency of the features included in the model, it cannot be concluded that the model is either the "minimal circuit" or the most biologically plausible circuit of this system. With a more in-depth analysis, the work has the potential of being important and very valuable to both experimental and computational neurobiologists.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. The oocyte zinc transporter Slc39a10/Zip10 is a regulator of zinc sparks during fertilization in mice

    This article has 12 authors:

    1. Atsuko Kageyama
    2. Narumi Ogonuki
    3. Takuya Wakai
    4. Takafumi Namiki
    5. Yui Kawata
    6. Manabu Ozawa
    7. Yasuhiro Yamada
    8. Toshiyuki Fukada
    9. Atsuo Ogura
    10. Rafael A Fissore
    11. Naomi Kashiwazaki
    12. Junya Ito

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife Assessment

      This study presents significant and novel insights into the roles of zinc in mammalian meiosis/fertilization events. These findings are useful to our understanding of these processes. The evidence presented is solid, with experiments being well-designed, carefully described, and interpreted with appropriate rigor.

    Reviewed by eLife