eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Evidence of off-target probe binding in the 10x Genomics Xenium v1 Human Breast Gene Expression Panel compromises accuracy of spatial transcriptomic profiling

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Caleb Hallinan
   2. Hyun Joo Ji
   3. Steven L Salzberg
   4. Jean Fan

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study identifies and characterizes probe binding errors in a widely used commercial platform for visualizing gene activity in tissue samples, discovering that at least 21 out of 280 genes in a human breast cancer panel are not accurately detected. The authors provide convincing evidence for their findings validated against multiple independent sequencing technologies and reference datasets. Given the broad adoption of this spatial gene detection platform in biomedical research, this work provides an essential quality control resource that will improve data interpretation across numerous studies.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Single-cell transcriptome sequencing for opening the blood-brain barrier through specific mode electroacupuncture stimulation

   This article has 11 authors:

   1. Congcong Ma
   2. Zhaoxing Jia
   3. Tianxiang Jiang
   4. Qian Cai
   5. Jinding Yang
   6. Lin Gan
   7. Kecheng Qian
   8. Zixin Pan
   9. Qinyu Ye
   10. Mengyuan Dai
   11. Xianming Lin

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This paper reports a valuable discovery that specific-mode electroacupuncture (EA) transiently opens the blood-brain barrier (BBB) in rats. The evidence is solid but lacks functional validation of BBB permeability changes. The work will be of interest to medical scientists working in the field of electroacupuncture and drug delivery.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. The basolateral amygdala complex and perirhinal cortex represent focal and peripheral states of information processing in rats

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Francesca S Wong
   2. A Simon Killcross
   3. R Fred Westbrook
   4. Nathan M Holmes

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important Research Advance builds on the authors' previous work delineating the roles of the rodent perirhinal cortex and the basolateral amygdala in first- and second-order learning. The convincing results show that serial exposure of non-motivationally relevant stimuli influences how those stimuli are encoded within the perirhinal cortex and basolateral amygdala when paired with a shock. This manuscript will be interesting for researchers in cognitive and behavioral neuroscience.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Peripheral anatomy and central connectivity of proprioceptive sensory neurons in the Drosophila wing

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Ellen Lesser
   2. Anthony Moussa
   3. John C Tuthill

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important work by Lesser et al provides a first and comprehensive description of Drosophila wing proprioceptors at an EM resolution. By linking peripheral neurons with information on their morphology and connectivity in the central nervous system, the authors provide new hypotheses and tools to study proprioceptive motor control of the wing in the fruit fly. The evidence and techniques supporting this work are solid, and this resource will contribute to connectome-based modeling of fly behavior.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. The hypoxic response extends lifespan through a bioaminergic and peptidergic neural circuit

   This article has 13 authors:

   1. Elizabeth S Kitto
   2. Shijiao Huang
   3. Mira Bhandari
   4. Cassie Tian
   5. Rebecca L Cox
   6. Safa Beydoun
   7. Emily Wang
   8. Danielle Shave
   9. Hillary A Miller
   10. Sarah A Easow
   11. Ella Henry
   12. Megan L Schaller
   13. Scott F Leiser

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This fundamental study identifies specific neural mechanisms through which HIF-1 signaling in ADF serotonergic neurons extends lifespan in C. elegans, revealing that downstream signaling in multiple types of neurons, as well as other neuromodulators like GABA, tyramine, and NLP-17, is required for this effect. The strength of the evidence is largely convincing, as the authors establish the necessity and causality of key neuronal components using multiple genetic tools and functional dissection in a well-validated model organism.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Comprehensive Neural Representations of Naturalistic Stimuli through Multimodal Deep Learning

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Mingxue Fu
   2. Guoqiu Chen
   3. Yijie Zhang
   4. Mingzhe Zhang
   5. Yin Wang

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study presents a valuable application of a video-text alignment deep neural network model to improve neural encoding of naturalistic stimuli in fMRI. The authors found that models based on multimodal and dynamic embedding features of audiovisual movies predicted brain responses better than models based on unimodal or static features. The evidence supporting the claims is generally solid, with clear benchmarking against baseline models. The work will be of interest to researchers in cognitive neuroscience and AI-based brain modeling.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Transcriptional responses to chronic oxidative stress require cholinergic activation of G-protein-coupled receptor signaling

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Kasturi Biswas
   2. Caroline Moore
   3. Hannah Rogers
   4. Khursheed A Wani
   5. Read Pukkila-Worley
   6. Daniel P Higgins
   7. Amy K Walker
   8. Gregory P Mullen
   9. James B Rand
   10. Michael M Francis

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This useful study advances our understanding of how organisms respond to chronic oxidative stress. Using the nematode C. elegans, the authors identified key neuronal signaling molecules and their receptors that are required for stress signaling and survival. The evidence supporting the conclusions is solid, with rigorous genetics, stress response analysis, and transcriptional profiling. This research will be of broad interest to neuroscientists and researchers working in the field of oxidative stress regulation.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Trpv4 mediates temperature induced sex change in ricefield eel

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Zhi Yang
   2. Tingting Luo
   3. Yimin Zhang
   4. Yuhua Sun

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study presents useful findings on the molecular mechanisms driving female-to-male sex reversal in the ricefield eel (Monopterus albus) during aging, which would be of interest to biologists studying sex determination. The manuscript describes an interesting mechanism potentially underlying sex differentiation in M. albus. However, the current data are incomplete and would benefit from more rigorous experimental approaches.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. An expanded palette of bright and photostable organellar Ca2+ sensors

   This article has 12 authors:

   1. Agathe Moret
   2. Helen Farrants
   3. Ruolin Fan
   4. Kelsey G Zingg
   5. Bryon Silva
   6. Camilla Roselli
   7. Thomas G Oertner
   8. Christine E Gee
   9. Dafni Hadjieconomou
   10. Vidhya Rangaraju
   11. Eric R Schreiter
   12. Jaime de Juan-Sanz

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study introduces a new class of spectrally tunable, dye-based calcium sensors optimized for imaging in organelles with high calcium concentrations, such as the endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondria. The experimental evidence supporting the applicability of these sensors is convincing, with thorough validation in cultured cells and neurons. The work will be of high interest to researchers studying calcium signaling dynamics in subcellular compartments.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Spectraplakin cooperates with noncentrosomal microtubule regulators to orient dendritic microtubules in Drosophila

    This article has 7 authors:

    1. Matthew Davies
    2. Neeraja Sanal
    3. Neele Wolterhoff
    4. Ulrike Gigengack
    5. Yitao Shen
    6. Ines Hahn
    7. Sebastian Rumpf

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife Assessment

      Davies et al. present a valuable study proposing that Shot can act as a molecular linker between microtubules and actin during dendrite pruning, suggesting an intriguing role in non-centrosomal microtubule organization. However, the experimental evidence is incomplete and does not robustly support these claims, and the lack of a cohesive model connecting the findings weakens the overall impact. While the data suggest that Shot, actin, and microtubule nucleation contribute to dendritic pruning, their precise interplay remains unresolved.

    Reviewed by eLife