eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Electrophysiological dynamics of salience, default mode, and frontoparietal networks during episodic memory formation and recall revealed through multi-experiment iEEG replication

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Anup Das
   2. Vinod Menon

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     In this manuscript, the authors present valuable findings on the apparent role of a salience-network anterior insula node in directing fronto-parietal and default-mode network activity within a tripartite network during control of memory, drawn from an impressive invasive human neurophysiological dataset. Overall, the authors have presented a convincing set of analyses. We also commend the use of a large intracranial EEG dataset to approach this question.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Switching perspective: Comparing ground-level and bird’s-eye views for bumblebees navigating dense environments

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Annkathrin Sonntag
   2. Odile Sauzet
   3. Mathieu Lihoreau
   4. Martin Egelhaaf
   5. Olivier Bertrand

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     In this useful study, the authors tested the ability of bumblebees to use bird-view and ground-view for homing in cluttered landscapes using modeling and behavioral experiments, claiming that bumblebees rely most on ground-views for homing. However, due to a lack of analysis of the bees' behavior during training and a lack of information as to how the homing behavior of bees develops over time, the evidence supporting their claims is currently incomplete. Moreover, there was concern that the experimental environment was not representative of natural scenes, thus limiting the findings of the study.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Allosteric modulation by the fatty acid site in the glycosylated SARS-CoV-2 spike

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. A Sofia F Oliveira
   2. Fiona L Kearns
   3. Mia A Rosenfeld
   4. Lorenzo Casalino
   5. Lorenzo Tulli
   6. Imre Berger
   7. Christiane Schaffitzel
   8. Andrew D Davidson
   9. Rommie E Amaro
   10. Adrian J Mulholland

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This manuscript focuses on understanding if and how the glycosylation of SARS-CoV2 spike protein affects a putative allosteric network of interactions controlled by the binding of a fatty acid. The main conclusion is that glycans do not significantly affect the network of allosteric interactions. This valuable information - albeit mainly consisting of negative results - is based on convincing evidence. It will be of interest to scientists focusing on SARS CoV2 protein structure and dynamics.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Genome-wide mapping of native co-localized G4s and R-loops in living cells

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Ting Liu
   2. Xing Shen
   3. Yijia Ren
   4. Hongyu Lu
   5. Yu Liu
   6. Chong Chen
   7. Lin Yu
   8. Zhihong Xue

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This study describes a useful antibody-free method to map both G-quadruplexes and R-loops in vertebrate cells independently of the BG4 and S9.6 antibodies. It also reveals that the helicase Dhx9 can affect the self-renewal and differentiation capacities of mESCs, perhaps by regulating co-localized G4s and R-loops. The datasets provided might constitute a good starting point for future functional studies, and although the strength of the evidence that DHX9 interferes with the ability of mESCs to differentiate by regulating directly the stability of either G4s or R-loops has been improved compared to a previous version, it is still incomplete.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Food-washing monkeys recognize the law of diminishing returns

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Jessica E Rosien
   2. Luke D Fannin
   3. Justin D Yeakel
   4. Suchinda Malaivijitnond
   5. Nathaniel J Dominy
   6. Amanda Tan

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This is a valuable study that tests the functional role of food-washing behavior in removing tooth-damaging sand and grit in long-tailed macaques and whether dominance rank predicts level of investment in the behavior. The evidence that food-washing is deliberate is compelling and the evidence that individual investment in the behavior varies is solid. Overall, the paper should be of interest to researchers interested in foraging behavior, cognition, and primate evolution.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Decoding phase separation of prion-like domains through data-driven scaling laws

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. M Julia Maristany
   2. Anne Aguirre Gonzalez
   3. Jorge R Espinosa
   4. Jan Huertas
   5. Rosana Collepardo-Guevara
   6. Jerelle A Joseph

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     The authors performed extensive coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations of 140 different prion-like domain variants to interrogate how specific amino acid substitutions determine the driving forces for phase separation. The analyses are solid, and the derived predictive scaling laws can aid in identifying potential phase-separating regions in uncharacterized proteins. Overall, this is a valuable contribution to the field of biomolecular condensates. It exemplifies how data-driven methodologies can uncover new insights into complex biological phenomena.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. The phytoplasma SAP54 effector acts as a molecular matchmaker for leafhopper vectors by targeting plant MADS-box factor SVP

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Zigmunds Orlovskis
   2. Archana Singh
   3. Adi Kliot
   4. Weijie Huang
   5. Saskia A Hogenhout

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study highlights an important discovery: a bacterial pathogen's effector influences plant responses that in turn affect how the leafhopper insect vector for the bacteria is attracted to the plants in a sex-dependent manner. The research is backed by convincing physiological and transcriptome analyses. This study unveils a complex interdependence between the pathogen effector, male leafhoppers, and a plant transcription factor in modulating female attraction to the plant, shedding light on previously unexplored aspects of plant-bacteria-insect interactions.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Sex peptide targets distinct higher order processing neurons in the brain to induce the female post-mating response

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Mohanakarthik P Nallasivan
   2. Deepanshu ND Singh
   3. Mohammed Syahir RS Sahir
   4. Matthias Soller

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study delivers valuable new insights into the neural circuits involved in post-mating responses (PMR) in Drosophila females, supported by convincing evidence that the circuits for mating receptivity and egg-laying are distinct. The new experimental evidence adds to the current understanding the neural circuits and molecular mechanisms underpinning PMR.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. PIM kinase control of CD8 T cell protein synthesis and cell trafficking

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Julia M Marchingo
   2. Laura Spinelli
   3. Shalini Pathak
   4. Doreen A Cantrell

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     These important findings detail the role of Pim1 and Pim2 in controlling the behaviour and activity of 'killer' T cells; a vital cell within of our immune system. The authors capitalized on high resolution quantitative analysis of the proteomes and transcriptomes of Pim1/Pim2-deficient CD8 T cells to provide compelling evidence for how the PIM1/2 kinases control TCR-driven activation and IL-2/IL-15-driven proliferation and differentiation into effector T cells. It's also noteworthy that Pim1/Pim2 impact is better revealed through quantitative proteomics than transcriptomics.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Diverse prey capture strategies in teleost larvae

    This article has 6 authors:

    1. Duncan S Mearns
    2. Sydney A Hunt
    3. Martin W Schneider
    4. Ash V Parker
    5. Manuel Stemmer
    6. Herwig Baier

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife Assessment

      This important body of work uses state-of-the-art quantitative methods to characterize and compare behaviors across five different fish species to understand which features are conserved and which ones are differentiated. The convincing results from this study will be of interest to ethologists and also have potential utility in understanding the neural mechanisms leading to these behaviors.

    Reviewed by eLife, Arcadia Science