eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. TEAD1 is crucial for developmental myelination, Remak bundles, and functional regeneration of peripheral nerves

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Matthew Grove
   2. Hyukmin Kim
   3. Shuhuan Pang
   4. Jose Paz Amaya
   5. Guoqing Hu
   6. Jiliang Zhou
   7. Michel Lemay
   8. Young-Jin Son

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This important study demonstrates that the transcription factor TEAD1 is required for the function of Yap/Taz in Schwann cells, with conditional mouse mutants having very similar dysmyelinated phenotypes. Convincing histological evidence is shown for the role of TEAD1 itself, leaving open the function of other TEAD proteins in this system. This study will nevertheless be of great interest to researchers in the field of peripheral nerve development.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Medial anterior prefrontal cortex stimulation downregulates implicit reactions to threats and prevents the return of fear

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Eugenio Manassero
   2. Giulia Concina
   3. Maria Clarissa Chantal Caraig
   4. Pietro Sarasso
   5. Adriana Salatino
   6. Raffaella Ricci
   7. Benedetto Sacchetti

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This study presents the useful observation that repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) over the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is associated with immediate dampening effects of conditioned responses and generalization of these responses to similar cues. Additionally, the effects were still present one week later, in the absence of any stimulation. However, the evidence supporting the claims of the authors is incomplete. The main outcome data (skin conductance response) have been normalized and standardized in suboptimal ways and, most critically, no comparisons are being made with the strength of conditioned responses during acquisition. If the observations hold, when based on within-subject comparisons, the work will be of interest to psychologists and neuroscientists working on interventions into aberrant emotional memories.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Disrupting abnormal neuronal oscillations with adaptive delayed feedback control

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Domingos Leite de Castro
   2. Miguel Aroso
   3. A Pedro Aguiar
   4. David B Grayden
   5. Paulo Aguiar

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     Large populations of neurons are capable of entering pathological synchronous oscillations under a variety of conditions and work over many decades has found ways to disrupt such oscillations using stimulation in both open loop and closed loop configurations. This study adds useful results and methodology to this line of research, by providing solid evidence that delayed feedback control via electrical stimulation can, under certain conditions, terminate network level oscillations in cultured cortical neurons. The study provides analyses and simulation results that shed light on why some networks respond to such feedback control while others do not.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Interactions between circuit architecture and plasticity in a closed-loop cerebellar system

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Hannah L Payne
   2. Jennifer L Raymond
   3. Mark S Goldman

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     Payne et al. present a novel model that predicts the sites and directions of plasticity within the vestibular cerebellum to explain the basis for learned adjustments to reflexive eye movements in monkeys. The work is solid; the model is well constrained by prior biological observations and makes an important prediction about the level of feedback available to the cerebellar cortex post-learning. Overall, a number of exciting and testable experiments will likely be motivated by this study.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Hammerhead-type FXR agonists induce an enhancer RNA Fincor that ameliorates nonalcoholic steatohepatitis in mice

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Jinjing Chen
   2. Ruoyu Wang
   3. Feng Xiong
   4. Hao Sun
   5. Byron Kemper
   6. Wenbo Li
   7. Jongsook Kemper

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     Using unbiased transcriptional profiling, the study reports a fundamental discovery of a novel hepatic lncRNA, FincoR, which regulates FXR. The convincing findings have therapeutic implications in the treatment of MASH. The authors use state-of-the-art methodology and use unbiased transcriptomic profiling and epigenetic profiling, including validation in mouse models and human samples.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Prdm1 positively regulates liver Group 1 ILCs cancer immune surveillance and preserves functional heterogeneity

   This article has 13 authors:

   1. Jitian He
   2. Le Gao
   3. Peiying Wang
   4. Wing Keung Chan
   5. Yiran Zheng
   6. Yumo Zhang
   7. Jiaman Sun
   8. Xue Li
   9. Jiming Wang
   10. Xiao-Hong Li
   11. Huaiyong Chen
   12. Zhouxin Yang
   13. Youwei Wang

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The authors investigated the requirement and function of Blimp1/Prdm1 in murine natural killer (NK) cells and the ILC1 lineage of innate lymphoid cells, using a conditional knockout model. The single-cell mRNA-seq data provided here represent a valuable resource for the community, but the lack of mechanistic investigations leaves the study partially incomplete. The work will be of interest to the fields of innate lymphoid cell biology and tissue immunology.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. The breath shape controls intonation of mouse vocalizations

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Alastair MacDonald
   2. Alina Hebling
   3. Xin Paul Wei
   4. Kevin Yackle

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This important study examines the relationship between expiratory airflow and vocal pitch in adult mice during the production of ultrasonic vocalizations and also identifies a molecularly defined population of brainstem neurons that regulates mouse vocal production across development. The evidence supporting the study's conclusions that expiratory airflow shapes vocal pitch and that these brainstem neurons preferentially regulate expiratory airflow is novel and compelling. This work will be of interest to neuroscientists working on mechanisms and brainstem circuits that regulate vocal production and vocal-respiratory coordination.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. A wave of minor de novo DNA methylation initiates in mouse 8-cell embryos and co-regulates imprinted X- chromosome inactivation with H3K27me3

   This article has 13 authors:

   1. Yuan Yue
   2. Wei Fu
   3. Qianying Yang
   4. Chao Zhang
   5. Wenjuan Wang
   6. Meiqiang Chu
   7. Qingji Lyu
   8. Yawen Tang
   9. Jian Cui
   10. Xiaodong Wang
   11. Zhenni Zhang
   12. Jianhui Tian
   13. Lei An

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     The authors present an valuable and intriguing observation challenging current views on DNA methylation dynamics, revealing earlier-than-expected de novo methylation with significant implications for gene regulation in early embryonic development. However, the study's significance is difficult to ascertain due to incomplete evidence supporting the conclusions. Moreover, the observed changes in DNA methylation across promoter regions is modest, leaving its relevance open to alternative interpretations.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Spatial and temporal pattern of structure–function coupling of human brain connectome with development

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Guozheng Feng
   2. Yiwen Wang
   3. Weijie Huang
   4. Haojie Chen
   5. Jian Cheng
   6. Ni Shu

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This study presents a useful exploration of the complex relationship between structure and function in the developing human brain using a large-scale imaging dataset from the Human Connectome Project in Development and gene expression profiles from the Allen Brain Atlas. The evidence supporting the claims of the authors is solid, although the inclusion of more systematic analyses of structural and functional connectivity with respect to myelin measures and oligodendrocyte-related genes, and also more details regarding the imaging analyses, cognitive scores, and design and validation strategies, would have strengthened the paper. The work will be of interest to developmental biologists and neuroscientists seeking to elucidate structure-function relationships in the human brain.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. The vascularised chamber device significantly enhances the survival of transplanted liver organoids

    This article has 8 authors:

    1. Denis D. Shi
    2. Evelyn Makris
    3. Yi-Wen Gerrand
    4. Pu-Han Lo
    5. George C. Yeoh
    6. Wayne A. Morrison
    7. Geraldine M. Mitchell
    8. Kiryu K. Yap

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife assessment

      This solid manuscript describes a preclinical model to assess different methods of infusion of organoids for clinical applications. This is an important and timely study with practical implications beyond a single subfield. The methods described, including the analysis, broadly support the claims although there are some areas for improvement.

    Reviewed by eLife