eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Sex differences in discrimination behavior and orbitofrontal engagement during context-gated reward prediction

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Sophie Peterson
   2. Amanda Maheras
   3. Brenda Wu
   4. Jose Chavira
   5. Ronald Keiflin

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This valuable manuscript reveals sex differences in bi-conditional Pavlovian learning and conditional behavior. Males learn hierarchical context-cue-outcome associations more quickly, but females show more stable and robust task performance. These sex differences are related to cellular activation in the orbitofrontal cortex. Although the evidence supporting these claims is convincing, some assertions of sex differences in context-dependent discrimination behaviour may be slightly overstated yet have strong potential to guide future research to clarify the nature of these differences. The results will be of interest to many behavioural neuroscientists, particularly those who investigate sex-specific behaviours.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. A genome-wide nucleosome-resolution map of promoter-centered interactions in human cells corroborates the enhancer-promoter looping model

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Arkadiy K Golov
   2. Alexey A Gavrilov
   3. Noam Kaplan
   4. Sergey V Razin

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     Identifying chromatin interactions with high sensitivity and resolution at the genome-wide scale continues to be technically challenging. This study introduces findings based on the improved MNase-based proximity ligation method, MChIP-C, which enables genome-wide measurement of chromatin interactions at single-nucleosome resolution. The evidence presented in this manuscript is convincing, and the technological advancements will be valuable for the study of 3D genome architecture.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Biobank-wide association scan identifies risk factors for late-onset Alzheimer’s disease and endophenotypes

   This article has 19 authors:

   1. Donghui Yan
   2. Bowen Hu
   3. Burcu F Darst
   4. Shubhabrata Mukherjee
   5. Brian W Kunkle
   6. Yuetiva Deming
   7. Logan Dumitrescu
   8. Yunling Wang
   9. Adam Naj
   10. Amanda Kuzma
   11. Yi Zhao
   12. Hyunseung Kang
   13. Sterling C Johnson
   14. Cruchaga Carlos
   15. Timothy J Hohman
   16. Paul K Crane
   17. Corinne D Engelman
   18. Alzheimer’s Disease Genetics Consortium (ADGC)
   19. Qiongshi Lu

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     In the last 15 years, large-scale association studies (GWAS) have served to estimate the association between genome-wide common variants and a large number of disparate traits and diseases in humans. This valuable method provides a new way to find correlations between the genetic component of a phenotype of interest, and all this wealth of genetic information. This software adds as a new tool to investigate genetic correlation between traits, and to generate new mechanistic hypotheses and dissect the role of the observed associations in disease heterogeneity. The results of the application of their method are solid and generally agree with what others have seen using similar AD and UKB data.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Machine learning of dissection photographs and surface scanning for quantitative 3D neuropathology

   This article has 26 authors:

   1. Harshvardhan Gazula
   2. Henry FJ Tregidgo
   3. Benjamin Billot
   4. Yael Balbastre
   5. Jonathan Williams-Ramirez
   6. Rogeny Herisse
   7. Lucas J Deden-Binder
   8. Adria Casamitjana
   9. Erica J Melief
   10. Caitlin S Latimer
   11. Mitchell D Kilgore
   12. Mark Montine
   13. Eleanor Robinson
   14. Emily Blackburn
   15. Michael S Marshall
   16. Theresa R Connors
   17. Derek H Oakley
   18. Matthew P Frosch
   19. Sean I Young
   20. Koen Van Leemput
   21. Adrian V Dalca
   22. Bruce Fischl
   23. Christine L MacDonald
   24. C Dirk Keene
   25. Bradley T Hyman
   26. Juan E Iglesias

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The authors of this study implemented an important toolset for 3D reconstruction and segmentation of dissection photographs, which could serve as an alternative for cadaveric and ex vivo MRIs. The tools were tested on synthetic and real data with compelling performance. This toolset could further contribute to the study of neuroimaging-neuropathological correlations.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. The seminal odorant binding protein Obp56g is required for mating plug formation and male fertility in Drosophila melanogaster

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Nora C Brown
   2. Benjamin Gordon
   3. Caitlin E McDonough-Goldstein
   4. Snigdha Misra
   5. Geoffrey D Findlay
   6. Andrew G Clark
   7. Mariana Federica Wolfner

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This important study describes an atypical role of the odorant binding protein Obp56g in mating plug formation in Drosophila melanogaster suggesting that Obps may play roles in reproduction in addition to their originally described roles in olfaction. Mutant males lacking Obp56g fail to induce the formation of a mating plug in the female reproductive tract-leading to ejaculate loss and reduced sperm storage. The evidence supporting the claims of the authors is solid and compelling. The work will be of interest to biologists studying Obps and seminal fluid protein function and their evolution.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Behavioral discrimination and olfactory bulb encoding of odor plume intermittency

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Ankita Gumaste
   2. Keeley L Baker
   3. Michelle Izydorczak
   4. Aaron C True
   5. Ganesh Vasan
   6. John P Crimaldi
   7. Justus Verhagen

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This important work addresses an interesting question for the vertebrate olfactory community of whether mice can discriminate odorant intermittency to help them navigate the environment. The data were collected and analyzed using solid methodology, however, the paper seems to fall short in demonstrating that animal is actually sensitive to intermittency but not other flow parameters. The work will be of interest to researchers working on sensory neurobiology and animal behavior.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Resource-rational account of sequential effects in human prediction

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Arthur Prat-Carrabin
   2. Florent Meyniel
   3. Rava Azeredo da Silveira

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This work is relevant to understanding how people represent uncertain events in the world around them and make decisions, with broad applications to economic behavior. It addresses a long-standing empirical puzzle from a novel perspective, where the authors propose that sequential effects in perceptual decisions may emerge from rational choices under cognitive resource constraints rather than adjustments to changing environments. Two new computational models have been constructed to predict behavior under two different constraints, among which the one assuming higher cost for more precise beliefs is better supported by new experimental data. The conclusion may be further strengthened by comparison with alternative models and (optionally) evidence from additional data.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. High-throughput mapping of single-neuron projection and molecular features by retrograde barcoded labeling

   This article has 15 authors:

   1. Peibo Xu
   2. Jian Peng
   3. Tingli Yuan
   4. Zhaoqin Chen
   5. Hui He
   6. Ziyan Wu
   7. Ting Li
   8. Xiaodong Li
   9. Luyue Wang
   10. Le Gao
   11. Jun Yan
   12. Wu Wei
   13. Chengyu T Li
   14. Zhen-Ge Luo
   15. Yuejun Chen

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This manuscript describes a valuable new circuit mapping and profiling technique called Multiplexed projEction neuRons retrograde barcodE (MERGEseq) that combines transcriptome and projectome data at a single-cell resolution. The authors provide solid evidence that MERGEseq can be used to identify projection targets and cell type/layer/transcriptome differences of projection neurons in the mouse prefrontal cortex, and validation experiments are rigorous. While this report is a proof-of-principle that MERGEseq is useful for circuit mapping and profiling and many potential details will influence conclusions, this technique could easily be adapted to other regions with known projection targets and adds to a growing arsenal of combinatorial circuit mapping and profiling tools.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Dopamine lesions alter the striatal encoding of single-limb gait

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Long Yang
   2. Deepak Singla
   3. Alexander K Wu
   4. Katy A Cross
   5. Sotiris C Masmanidis

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This valuable work extends previous studies showing that the striatum multiplexes various aspects of locomotion, including velocity and movement transitions, by demonstrating that striatal neurons also encode single-limb gait. The authors present solid evidence to show that gait deficits induced by severe unilateral dopamine depletion are associated with an imbalance in the gait modulation of striatal firing. Although the source and function of this gait modulation remain unclear, this manuscript uncovers a role of striatal activity in gait, which may have implications for understanding gait disturbances in Parkinson's Disease.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Key determinants of the dual clamp/activator function of Complexin

    This article has 7 authors:

    1. Mazen Makke
    2. Alejandro Pastor-Ruiz
    3. Antonio Yarzagaray
    4. Surya Gaya
    5. Michelle Zimmer
    6. Walentina Frisch
    7. Dieter Bruns

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife assessment

      This important work shows compelling data that significantly advances our understanding of the regulation of neurotransmitter and hormone secretion by exploring the mechanisms of how the protein complexin 2 (Cplx2) interacts with the calcium sensor synaptotagmin. The function of mammalian Cplx2 is studied using chromaffin cells derived from Cplx2 knock out mice as a system to overexpress and functionally characterize mutant Cplx2 forms and the interaction between Cplx2 and synaptotagmin. The authors identify structural requirements within the protein for Cplx's dual role in preventing premature vesicle exocytosis and enhancing evoked exocytosis. The findings are of broad interest to neuroscientists and cell biologists.

    Reviewed by eLife