eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Shining light on the dark matter of pertussis: evidence for an asymptomatic carriage state from a longitudinal cohort of mother/infant dyads

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Christian E Gunning
   2. Christopher J Gill
   3. Pejman Rohani

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study provides evidence for asymptomatic Bordetella pertussis carriage among mothers in a longitudinal cohort in Zambia, significantly advancing understanding of transmission dynamics. The evidence presented is convincing, with strengths including routine sampling irrespective of symptoms and rigorous qPCR methodology, although confirmatory diagnostics would further strengthen the claims. Overall, the study represents an influential contribution to the field of infectious disease epidemiology.

   Reviewed by Rapid Reviews Infectious Diseases, eLife

2. Patchy Striatonigral Neurons Modulate Locomotor Vigor in Response to Environmental Valence

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Sarah Hawes
   2. Bo Liang
   3. Braden Oldham
   4. Breanna T Sullivan
   5. Lupeng Wang
   6. Bin Song
   7. Lisa Chang
   8. Da-Ting Lin
   9. Huaibin Cai

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     The manuscript by Hawes et al. provides important findings on how striatal projection neurons regulate spontaneous locomotion speed in the context of implicit motivation and distinct contextual valence. The supporting evidence for the findings is convincing. This work will be of broad interest to neuroscientists in the fields of basal ganglia, movement control, and cognition.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Modular DNA barcoding of nanobodies enables multiplexed in situ protein imaging and high-throughput biomolecule detection

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Shilin Zhong
   2. Ruiyu Wang
   3. Xinwei Gao
   4. Qingchun Guo
   5. Rui Lin
   6. Minmin Luo

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This fundamental manuscript presents a practical modification of the orthogonal hybridization chain reaction (HCR) technique, a promising yet underutilized method with broad potential for future applications across various fields. The authors advance this technique by integrating peptide ligation technology and nanobody-based antibody mimetics-cost-effective and scalable alternatives to conventional antibodies-into a DNA-immunoassay framework that merges oligonucleotide-based detection with immunoassay methodologies. Notably, they demonstrate with compelling evidence that this approach facilitates a modified ELISA platform capable of simultaneously quantifying multiple target protein expression levels within a single protein mixture sample.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Fitness drivers of division of labor in vertebrates

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Irene García-Ruiz
   2. Dustin Rubenstein

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable work formulates an individual-based model to understand the evolution of division of labor in vertebrates, in particular, to examine the role of indirect versus direct fitness benefits. The evidence supporting the main conclusions is incomplete at this stage, with key details of simulation assumptions not adequately described and exploration of alternative assumptions and parameter space lacking.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Five-Year Survival Outcomes for Breast Cancer Patients Across Continental Africa: A Contemporary Review of Literature with Meta Analysis

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Augustina Badu-Peprah
   2. Ernest Kissi Kontor
   3. Adu-Gyamfi Benjamin
   4. Jessica Kumah
   5. Akosua Aya Essuman
   6. Bossoh Selorm
   7. Issahak Nurudeen
   8. Bismark Osei Owusu
   9. Nityanand Jain

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study presents a valuable meta-analysis that highlights low and highly variable breast cancer survival rates across Africa, emphasizing the pressing need for public health in Africa. The evidence supporting the claims of the authors is solid, although a clarification of the crude 5-year survival rates would have strengthened the study. The work will be of interest to scientists working in the field of public health and breast cancer.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Causal associations between plasma proteins and prostate cancer: a Proteome-Wide Mendelian Randomization

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Chen Lin
   2. Rong Zhuona
   3. Gu Yanlun
   4. Chen Yuke
   5. Yu Wei
   6. Zhou Ying
   7. Pang Xiaocong

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study presents a valuable meta-analysis of two independent genome-wide association studies (GWASs) elucidating the role of plasma proteins as biomarkers for improving early detection of prostate cancer (PCa). The evidence supporting novel protein biomarkers of PCa risk is solid, although exploration of how these markers may also be shared with other prostate diseases would have strengthened the study. The work will be of interest to the field for elucidating novel variants of prostate cancer risk.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. MorphoNet 2.0: An innovative approach for qualitative assessment and segmentation curation of large-scale 3D time-lapse imaging datasets

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Benjamin Gallean
   2. Tao Laurent
   3. Kilian Biasuz
   4. Ange Clement
   5. Noura Faraj
   6. Patrick Lemaire
   7. Emmanuel Faure

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This work presents an important technical advancement with the release of MorphoNet 2.0, a user-friendly, standalone platform for 3D+T segmentation and analysis in biological imaging. The authors provide convincing evidence of the tool's capabilities through illustrative use cases, though broader validation against current state-of-the-art tools would strengthen its position. The software's accessibility and versatility make it a resource that will be of value for the bioimaging community, particularly in specialized subfields.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Multiphase separation in postsynaptic density regulated by membrane geometry via interaction valency and volume

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Risa Yamada
   2. Giovanni B Brandani
   3. Shoji Takada

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study provides a conceptual advance in our understanding of how membrane geometry modulates the balance between specific and non-specific molecular interactions, reversing multiphase morphologies in postsynaptic protein assemblies. Using a mesoscale simulation framework grounded in experimental binding affinities, the authors successfully recapitulate key experimental observations in both solution and membrane-associated systems, providing novel mechanistic insight into how spatial constraints regulate postsynaptic condensate organization. While the evidence supporting the conclusions is largely solid, a few aspects of the analysis and model proposed remain incomplete.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Chronic stress impairs autoinhibition in neurons of the locus coeruleus to increase asparagine endopeptidase activity

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Hiroki Toyoda
   2. Doyun Kim
   3. Byeong Geon Koh
   4. Tomomi Sano
   5. Takashi Kanematsu
   6. Seog Bae Oh
   7. Youngnam Kang

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This fundamental study explores a novel cellular mechanism underlying the degeneration of locus coeruleus neurons during chronic restraint stress. The evidence supporting the overexpression of LC neurons after chronic stress is compelling. However, to fully support the broad implications for LC degeneration and Alzheimer's disease, the study would benefit from stronger causal integration and validation in age-relevant models.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Making plant tissue accessible for cryo-electron tomography

    This article has 19 authors:

    1. Matthias Pöge
    2. Marcel Dickmanns
    3. Peng Xu
    4. Meijing Li
    5. Oda H Schiøtz
    6. Christoph OJ Kaiser
    7. Jianfei Ma
    8. Anna Bieber
    9. Cristina Capitanio
    10. Johann Brenner
    11. Margot Riggi
    12. Sven Klumpe
    13. Manuel Miras
    14. Neda S Kazemein Jasemi
    15. Waltraud X Schulze
    16. Rüdiger Simon
    17. Wolf B Frommer
    18. Jürgen M Plitzko
    19. Wolfgang Baumeister

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife Assessment

      Thick multicellular plant samples provide unique challenges when it comes to cryo-preservation, which has resulted in limited successful examples for structural studies using in situ cryo-electron tomography. To address this deficiency, this important study describes procedures for high-pressure-freezing, focused ion-beam milling, and cryo-electron tomography imaging of certain plant types. The results described in the paper provide solid evidence for the usefulness of the methods described, although some reservations remain about the applicability of the methods to a wider range of plant cell types.

    Reviewed by eLife