eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Neurons enhance blood–brain barrier function via upregulating claudin-5 and VE-cadherin expression due to glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor secretion

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Lu Yang
   2. Zijin Lin
   3. Ruijing Mu
   4. Wenhan Wu
   5. Hao Zhi
   6. Xiaodong Liu
   7. Hanyu Yang
   8. Li Liu

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This revised study presents valuable evidence that a combination of endothelial cells, astrocytes, and neuroblastoma cells of human origin can integrate to form an in vitro brain blood barrier, that recapitulates key aspects of its natural counterpart, especially at short times. Convincingly, the mechanism by which neuroblastoma-secreted GDNF increases Claudin-5 and VE-cadherin is described. To substantiate the role of GDNF in vivo, authors demonstrated that knock-down of this neurotrophic factor, increased the permeability of the brain blood barrier in mice. This in vitro system can be used to study the permeability of the human brain blood barrier to different drugs.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Untargeted pixel-by-pixel metabolite ratio imaging as a novel tool for biomedical discovery in mass spectrometry imaging

   This article has 14 authors:

   1. Huiyong Cheng
   2. Dawson Miller
   3. Nneka Southwell
   4. Paola Porcari
   5. Joshua L Fischer
   6. Isobel Taylor
   7. J Michael Salbaum
   8. Claudia Kappen
   9. Fenghua Hu
   10. Cha Yang
   11. Kayvan R Keshari
   12. Steven S Gross
   13. Marilena D'Aurelio
   14. Qiuying Chen

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study describes a software package in R for visualizing metabolite ratio pairs. The evidence supporting the claims of the authors is solid and broadly supports the authors' conclusions. This work would be of interest to the mass spectrometry community.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Visual information is broadcast among cortical areas in discrete channels

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Yiyi Yu
   2. Jeffery N Stirman
   3. Christopher R Dorsett
   4. Spencer LaVere Smith

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This important study uses state-of-the-art, multi-region two-photon calcium imaging to characterize the statistics of functional connectivity between visual cortical neurons. Although alternative interpretations may partially account for the data, the study provides solid evidence that functionally distinct classes of neurons convey visual information via parallel channels within and across both primary and higher-order cortical areas.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Robust single-nucleus RNA sequencing reveals depot-specific cell population dynamics in adipose tissue remodeling during obesity

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Jisun So
   2. Olivia Strobel
   3. Jamie Wann
   4. Kyungchan Kim
   5. Avishek Paul
   6. Dominic J Acri
   7. Luke C Dabin
   8. Jungsu Kim
   9. Gang Peng
   10. Hyun Cheol Roh

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     So et al. present an optimized protocol for single-nuclei RNA sequencing of adipose tissue in mice, ensuring better RNA quality and nuclei integrity. The authors use this protocol to explore the cellular landscape in both lean and diet-induced obese mice, identifying a dysfunctional hypertrophic adipocyte subpopulation linked to obesity. The data analyses are solid, and the findings are supported by the evidence presented. This study provides valuable information for the field of adipose tissue biology and will be particularly helpful for researchers using single-nuclei transcriptomics in various tissues.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. 2-oxoglutarate triggers assembly of active dodecameric Methanosarcina mazei glutamine synthetase

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Eva Herdering
   2. Tristan Reif-Trauttmansdorff
   3. Anuj Kumar
   4. Tim Habenicht
   5. Georg Hochberg
   6. Stefan Bohn
   7. Jan Schuller
   8. Ruth Anne Schmitz

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study reveals a novel mechanism of glutamine synthetase (GS) regulation in Methanosarcina mazei, demonstrating that 2-oxoglutarate (2-OG) directly promotes GS activity by stabilizing its dodecameric assembly. Using mass photometry, activity assays, and cryo-electron microscopy, the authors show that GS transitions from a dimeric, inactive form at low 2-OG concentrations to a fully active dodecameric complex at saturating 2-OG levels, highlighting 2-OG as a key effector in C/N sensing. The findings are valuable, supported by solid data, and provide new insights into archaeal GS regulation, though further clarification of interactions with known partners like Glnk1 and sp26 is needed.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Katanin, kinesin-13, and ataxin-2 inhibit premature interaction between maternal and paternal genomes in C. elegans zygotes

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Elizabeth A Beath
   2. Cynthia Bailey
   3. Meghana Mahantesh Magadam
   4. Shuyan Qiu
   5. Karen L McNally
   6. Francis J McNally

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This is a valuable paper that identifies a potential challenge for embryos during fertilization: holding sperm contents in the fertilized embryos away from the oocyte meiotic spindle so that they don't get ejected into the polar body during meiotic chromosome segregation. The authors identify proteins involved in cytoplasmic streaming and maintaining the grouping of paternal organelles as being critical for this process. There remain minor weaknesses in the data presented but the paper provides solid evidence for the majority of its claims, and while the findings may pertain to a narrow audience the tools used and basic characterization shown will likely be relied upon by many in the community and therefore is of high value.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. DNAH3 deficiency causes flagellar inner dynein arm loss and male infertility in humans and mice

   This article has 14 authors:

   1. Xiang Wang
   2. Gan Shen
   3. Yihong Yang
   4. Chuan Jiang
   5. Tiechao Ruan
   6. Xue Yang
   7. Liangchai Zhuo
   8. Yingteng Zhang
   9. Yangdi Ou
   10. Xinya Zhao
   11. Shunhua Long
   12. Xiangrong Tang
   13. Tingting Lin
   14. Ying Shen

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study identifies biallelic variants of DNAH3 in unrelated infertile men and reports infertility in DNAH3 knockout mice. The authors demonstrate that compromised DNAH3 activity decreases the expression of IDA-associated proteins in the spermatozoa of human patients and knockout mice, providing convincing evidence that DNAH3 is a novel pathogenic gene for asthenoteratozoospermia and male infertility. The study will be of substantial interest to clinicians, reproductive counselors, embryologists, and basic researchers working on infertility and assisted reproductive technology.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Flamingo participates in multiple models of cell competition

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Pablo Sanchez Bosch
   2. Bomsoo Cho
   3. Jeffrey D Axelrod

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study investigates the role of the Cadherin Flamingo (Fmi) in cell competition in developing tissues in Drosophila melanogaster. The findings are valuable in that they show that Fmi is required in winning cells in several competitive contexts. The evidence supporting the conclusions is solid, as the authors identify Fmi as a potential new regulator of cell competition, however, they don't delve into a mechanistic understanding of how this occurs.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Target-specific requirements for RNA interference can arise through restricted RNA amplification despite the lack of specialized pathways

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Daphne R Knudsen-Palmer
   2. Pravrutha Raman
   3. Farida Ettefa
   4. Laura De Ravin
   5. Antony M Jose

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This valuable study shows how an intersecting network of regulators acting on genes with differences in their RNA metabolism explains why the loss of some regulators of RNAi in C. elegans can selectively impair the silencing of some target genes. The evidence presented is convincing, as the authors use a combination of computational modeling and RNAi assays to support their conclusions.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. A drug repurposing approach reveals targetable epigenetic pathways in Plasmodium vivax hypnozoites

    This article has 48 authors:

    1. Steven P Maher
    2. Malina A Bakowski
    3. Amélie Vantaux
    4. Erika L Flannery
    5. Chiara Andolina
    6. Mohit Gupta
    7. Yevgeniya Antonova-Koch
    8. Magdalena Argomaniz
    9. Monica Cabrera-Mora
    10. Brice Campo
    11. Alexander T Chao
    12. Arnab K Chatterjee
    13. Wayne T Cheng
    14. Vorada Chuenchob
    15. Caitlin A Cooper
    16. Karissa Cottier
    17. Mary R Galinski
    18. Anke Harupa-Chung
    19. Hana Ji
    20. Sean B Joseph
    21. Todd Lenz
    22. Stefano Lonardi
    23. Jessica Matheson
    24. Sebastian A Mikolajczak
    25. Timothy Moeller
    26. Agnes Orban
    27. Vivian Padín-Irizarry
    28. Kastin Pan
    29. Julie Péneau
    30. Jacques Prudhomme
    31. Camille Roesch
    32. Anthony Ruberto
    33. Saniya S Sabnis
    34. Celia L Saney
    35. Jetsumon Sattabongkot
    36. Saleh Sereshki
    37. Sangrawee Suriyakan
    38. Ratawan Ubalee
    39. Yinsheng Wang
    40. Praphan Wasisakun
    41. Jiekai Yin
    42. Jean Popovici
    43. Case W McNamara
    44. Chester Joyner
    45. François H Nosten
    46. Benoît Witkowski
    47. Karine G Le Roch
    48. Dennis E Kyle

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife assessment

      This paper reports a large drug repurposing screen based on an in vitro culture platform to identify compounds that can kill Plasmodium hypnozoites. This valuable work adds to the current repertoire of anti-hypnozoites agents and uncovers targetable epigenetic pathways to enhance our understanding of this mysterious stage of the Plasmodium life cycle. The data presented here are based on solid methodology and represent a starting point for further investigation of epigenetic inhibitors to treat P. vivax infection. This paper will be of interest to Plasmodium researchers and more broadly to readers in the fields of host-pathogen interactions and drug development.

    Reviewed by eLife