eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Maximized field-of-view deep-brain calcium imaging through gradient-index lenses

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Chenmao Wang
   2. Zongyue Cheng
   3. Yuting Li
   4. Jianian Lin
   5. Meng Cui

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study presents a valuable and practical approach for one-photon imaging through GRIN lenses. By scanning a low numerical aperture (NA) beam and collecting fluorescence with a high NA, the method expands the usable field of view and yields clearer cellular signals. The evidence is solid overall, with strong qualitative demonstrations, but some claims would benefit from additional quantitative tests. The work will interest researchers who need simple, scalable tools for large‑area cellular imaging in the brain.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Voltage imaging reveals the emergence of population activity in the spinal cord

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Asuka Shiraishi
   2. Ayane Hayashi
   3. Narumi Fukuda
   4. Mari Hishinuma
   5. Hiroaki Miyazawa
   6. Sachiko Tsuda

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This paper presents an important advance in genetically encoded voltage imaging of the developing zebrafish spinal cord in vivo, capturing voltage dynamics in neuronal populations, single cells, and subcellular compartments inaccessible to patch clamp, and diverse spike waveforms and subthreshold voltage dynamics inaccessible to calcium imaging. The work identifies a developmental progression from irregular voltage fluctuations to coordinated contralateral and ipsilateral activity, providing insight into how electrical dynamics and cellular morphology evolve during circuit formation. The strength of evidence is solid, with imaging data supporting the main conclusions, although the manuscript would be strengthened by more complete methodological documentation and clearer context relative to earlier calcium imaging studies. Overall, this study provides a resource that is of importance for researchers investigating neural development and circuit assembly, illustrating the value of voltage imaging as a general tool for probing bioelectric mechanisms in morphogenesis and circuit development.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Exogenous myristate fuels the growth of symbiotic arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi but disrupts their carbon-phosphorus exchange with host plants

   This article has 14 authors:

   1. Hanwen Chen
   2. Tian Xiong
   3. Baoxing Guan
   4. Jiaqi Huang
   5. Danrui Zhao
   6. Yao Chen
   7. Haoran Liang
   8. Yingwei Li
   9. Jingwen Wu
   10. Shaoping Ye
   11. Ting Li
   12. Wensheng Shu
   13. Jin-tian Li
   14. Yutao Wang

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study provides important evidence that myristate, a fatty acid commonly present in soil environments, is taken up by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi during symbiosis with a plant host. The evidence presented is solid, with multiple experimental approaches including stable isotope tracing, transcriptional analysis, and physiological measurements across different plant species and phosphorus conditions. However, the main claims are only partially supported.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Structural mechanisms of pump assembly and drug transport in the AcrAB-TolC efflux system

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Xiaofei Ge
   2. Zhiwei Gu
   3. Jiawei Wang

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     Ge et al here report a structural study of the native tripartite multidrug efflux pump complexes from Escherichia coli that identifies a novel accessory subunit, YbjP, the structure of the native TolC-YbjP-AcrABZ complex, as well as structures of the AcrB protein in L, T, and O conformations. The strength of the structural data is compelling, and the importance of the findings is potentially fundamental. However, additional analysis and comparison with pre-existing data would help to put the obtained data and its impact in the proper context, and the inclusion of functional data would help to substantiate some claims that are currently incompletely supported.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. PRRT2 as an auxiliary regulator of Nav channel slow inactivation

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Bin Lu
   2. Qi-Wu Xu
   3. Jing Zhang
   4. Xue-Mei Wu
   5. Jun-Yan He
   6. Guang Yang
   7. Ke-Xian Li
   8. Ling Zhuang
   9. Yu-Xian Zhang
   10. Zhi-Qi Xiong

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study identifies PRRT2 as an auxiliary regulator of Nav channel slow inactivation, proposing that PRRT2 facilitates entry into, and delays recovery from, the slow-inactivated state. The evidence provided is compelling and well executed, though the work would be bolstered by additional studies of Nav1.6, as well as structural studies to directly investigate the molecular basis of gating modulation. Overall, this study will be of interest to ion channel biophysicists and neurophysiologists, particularly those studying channelopathies.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Brawn before bite in endemic Asian mammals after the end-Cretaceous extinction

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Z Jack Tseng
   2. Qian Li
   3. Suyin Ting

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study fills a major geographic and temporal gap in understanding Paleocene mammal evolution in Asia and proposes an intriguing "brawn before bite" hypothesis grounded in diverse analytical approaches. However, the findings are incomplete because limitations in sampling design - such as the use of worn or damaged teeth, the pooling of different tooth positions, and the lack of independence among teeth from the same individuals - introduce uncertainties that weaken support for the reported disparity patterns. The taxonomic focus on predominantly herbivorous clades also narrows the ecological scope of the results. Clarifying methodological choices, expanding the ecological context, and tempering evolutionary interpretations would substantially strengthen the study.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Neural activity profiles reveal overlapping, intermingled subpopulations spanning area borders in mouse sensorimotor cortex

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Sohrab Salimian
   2. Harrison A Grier
   3. Matthew T Kaufman

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This fundamental study provides compelling evidence for the functional segregation of the sensorimotor cortex into precisely delineated areas, and highlights a rapid transition in functional properties at the boundaries between these areas. This result further confirms and extends recent work on the diversity of neural response specificities across cortical areas in the context of complex behavioral tasks. This work will be of interest to neuroscientists studying sensory-motor functions.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. High-fidelity neural speech reconstruction through an efficient acoustic-linguistic dual-pathway framework

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Jiawei Li
   2. Chunxu Guo
   3. Chao Zhang
   4. Edward F Chang
   5. Yuanning Li

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study presents a valuable advance in reconstructing naturalistic speech from intracranial ECoG data using a dual-pathway model. The evidence supporting the claims of the authors is solid. This work will be of interest to cognitive neuroscientists and computer scientists/engineers working on speech reconstruction from neural data.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Insights into substrate binding and utilization by hyaluronan synthase

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Zachery Stephens
   2. Julia Karasinska
   3. Jochen Zimmer

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study addresses a fundamental question in glycobiology by elucidating how a single-site processive enzyme orchestrates the alternating addition of sugars to synthesize complex polysaccharides such as hyaluronan. The findings are compelling, providing a clear mechanistic framework supported by strong experimental validation. Major strengths include the integration of high-resolution structural data with rigorous biochemical analyses, resulting in a well-supported model of hyaluronan assembly.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. CROP2, a Retriever-PROPPIN Complex Mediating Protein Export from Endosomes to the Plasma Membrane

    This article has 2 authors:

    1. Maria Giovanna De Leo
    2. Andreas Mayer

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife Assessment

      The authors present evidence for a WIPI2-Retriever complex (termed CROP2) that couples cargo selection to carrier fission at endosomes. CROP2 appears to function analogously to the previously described CROP1 complex, formed by WIPI1 and Retromer, with which it shares structural similarities. They provide convincing evidence that CROP1 and CROP2 regulate the trafficking of distinct subsets of cargoes; however, the cellular evidence for the existence of these distinct complexes remains incomplete. Overall, the findings are important and expand our understanding of how cargo selection by Retriever and Retromer is orchestrated at endosomes.

    Reviewed by eLife