eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Orexin population activity precisely reflects net body movement across behavioral and metabolic states

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Alexander L Tesmer
   2. Paulius Viskaitis
   3. Dane Donegan
   4. Eva F Bracey
   5. Nikola Grujic
   6. Tommaso Patriarchi
   7. Daria Peleg-Raibstein
   8. Denis Burdakov

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study shows that the activity of hypothalamic hypocretin/orexin neurons (HONs) correlates with body movement over multiple behaviors. Sophisticated techniques and analyses showcase this link which appears to be unique to HONs. Evidence for this correlation is, however, incomplete as the confound of arousal with movement needs to be resolved since orexin also plays a key role in arousal. This work should be of interest to scientists studying peptidergic neurons, movement, energy regulation, and brain-body coordination.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Mesoscale functional architecture in medial posterior parietal cortex

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Riichiro Hira
   2. Leah B Townsend
   3. Ikuko T Smith
   4. Che-Hang Yu
   5. Jeffrey N Stirman
   6. Yiyi Yu
   7. Spencer LaVere Smith

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study measures the functional specialization of distinct subregions within the mouse posterior parietal cortex (PPC) using mesoscopic two-photon calcium imaging during visual discrimination and choice history-dependent tasks. It presents compelling evidence supporting the existence of functional specialized subregions within the PPC. The work will be of interest to system and computational neuroscientists interested in decision-making, working memory, and multisensory integration.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. A-to-I RNA editing of CYP18A1 mediates transgenerational wing dimorphism in aphids

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Bin Zhu
   2. Rui Wei
   3. Wenjuan Hua
   4. Lu Li
   5. Wenlin Zhang
   6. Pei Liang

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study presents an important finding on the molecular mechanism for transduction of environmentally induced polyphenism. The evidence supporting the claims of the author is solid. This paper would be of interest to those studying aphids wing dimorphism.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Impacts of Structural Properties of Myosin II Filaments on Force Generation

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Shihang Ding
   2. Pei-En Chou
   3. Shinji Deguchi
   4. Taeyoon Kim

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     The authors present a useful agent-based model to study the tensile force generated by myosin mini-filaments in actin systems (bundles and networks); by numerically solving a mechanical model of myosin-II filaments, the authors provide insights into how the geometry of the molecular components and their elastic responses determine the force production. This work is of interest to biophysicists (in particular theoreticians) investigating force generation of motor molecules from a biomechanical engineering and physics perspective. The authors convincingly show that cooperative effects between multiple myosin filaments can enhance the total force generated, but not the efficiency of force generation (force per myosin) if passive cross-linkers are present. This work would benefit from a more extensive discussion of the relevance of the results in view of the existing experimental literature.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Scrutinized lipid utilization disrupts Amphotericin-B responsiveness in clinical isolates of Leishmania donovani

   This article has 11 authors:

   1. Supratim Pradhan
   2. Dhruba Dhar
   3. Debolina Manna
   4. Shubhangi Chakraborty
   5. Arkapriya Bhattacharyya
   6. Khushi Chauhan
   7. Rimi Mukherjee
   8. Abhik Sen
   9. Krishna Pandey
   10. Soumen Das
   11. Budhaditya Mukherjee

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study investigates the propensity of the intravacuolar pathogen, Leishmania, to scavenge lipids which it utilizes for its accelerated growth within macrophages. The authors present compelling evidence that supports this hypothesis, although the genetic basis for the parasite's requirement for lipids remains unresolved. The study adds to other work that has implicated pathogen-derived processes in the selective recruitment of vesicles to the pathogen-containing vacuole, based on the content of the cargo.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Force transmission through the inner kinetochore is enhanced by centromeric DNA sequences

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Elise Miedlar
   2. Grace E Hamilton
   3. Samuel R Witus
   4. Sara Gonske
   5. Michael Riffle
   6. Alex Zelter
   7. Rachel E Klevit
   8. Charles L Asbury
   9. Yoana N Dimitrova
   10. Trisha N Davis

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     Centromeres are specific sites on chromosomes that are essential for mitosis and genome fidelity. This valuable research advance builds upon previous studies to convincingly show that the centromere-histone core contributes to force transduction through the kinetochore. The centromere mainly strengthens one of the two paths of force transduction, influenced by the centromeric DNA sequence. The mechanism underlying this phenomenon will be an exciting future avenue of research, given that centromeric DNAs are not conserved. This work will be of interest to those studying cell division and chromosome segregation.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Spatial confinement induces reciprocating migration of epidermal keratinocytes and forms triphasic epithelia

   This article has 13 authors:

   1. Takuma Nohara
   2. Junichi Kumamoto
   3. Yosuke Mai
   4. Mayuna Shimano
   5. Sora Kato
   6. Hiroyuki Kitahata
   7. Hideki Nakamura
   8. Shota Takashima
   9. Mika Watanabe
   10. Masaharu Nagayama
   11. Tsukasa Oikawa
   12. Hideyuki Ujiie
   13. Ken Natsuga

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     In this manuscript the authors established a novel three-dimensional culture system for stratified epithelia that allows epithelial cells to undergo epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and subsequent mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition (MET) while migrating through a membrane with 3.0-µm micropores, and, thus, provides a valuable tool to study EMT and possibly wound regeneration or metastasis. Furthermore, a set of experiments provides solid data suggesting that TGF beta signaling and actin polymerization promote movement of epithelial cells into the pores, while Piezo1 and Keratin 6 prevent keratinocyte migration and EMT.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Conformational changes, excess area, and elasticity of the Piezo protein-membrane nanodome from coarse-grained and atomistic simulations

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Sneha Dixit
   2. Frank Noé
   3. Thomas R Weikl

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This work represents an important contribution to our understanding of how membrane energetics influence protein conformation and function in mechano-sensitive channels. Through extensive molecular dynamics simulations and energetic analysis, the study demonstrates how the channel structure is shaped by a balance of protein and membrane-induced forces, effectively reconciling experimental data from different membrane environments. However, while much of the computational data is convincing, some aspects of the energetic analysis and models employed remain incomplete.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Intrinsic bioenergetic adaptations compensate for reduced mitochondrial content in HER2-driven mammary tumors

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Sara M Frangos
   2. Henver S Brunetta
   3. Dongdong Wang
   4. Maria Joy Therese Jabile
   5. David WL Ma
   6. William J Muller
   7. Cezar M Khursigara
   8. Kelsey H Fisher-Wellman
   9. Gregory R Steinberg
   10. Graham P Holloway

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This useful study uses the MMTV-Neu-YD5 mouse model for HER2-dependent breast cancer to generate transcriptomic and proteomic datasets from extracted primary tumour samples. The data sets generated appear to be solid and will be of interest to the community. However, mechanistic studies to support the conclusion that mitochondrial function is increased in the tumours remain incomplete and would benefit from experiments that would directly interrogate aspects such as cellular heterogeneity, and signalling.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Multi-omics investigation of spontaneous T2DM macaque reveals gut microbiota promote T2DM by up-regulating the absorption of excess palmitic acid

    This article has 13 authors:

    1. Xu Liu
    2. Shengzhi Yang
    3. Yuchen Xie
    4. Cong Jiang
    5. Ke Shang
    6. Jinxia Luo
    7. Lin Zhang
    8. Gang Hu
    9. Qinghua Liu
    10. Bisong Yue
    11. Zhenxin Fan
    12. Zhanlong He
    13. Jing Li

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife Assessment

      This important work substantially advances our understanding of the interaction among gut microbiota, lipid metabolism, and the host in type 2 diabetes. However, some evidence is incomplete, particularly in the mouse experiments with FMT. Additional experiments will be required to strengthen the authors' interesting findings.

    Reviewed by eLife