eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Cell cycle dependent variation in endocytosis drives phenotypic diversity in M. tuberculosis

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Neeraja Subhash
   2. Sandhya Krishnan Radhakrishnan
   3. Hitakshi Vijay
   4. Neilay Bhalerao
   5. Sahanawaz Molla
   6. Anton Iyer
   7. Shaon Chakrabarti
   8. Varadharajan Sundaramurthy

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This useful study explores how macrophage cell-cycle state may influence endocytosis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis uptake, and the intracellular stress experienced by bacteria. While the question is interesting and the experimental approach has promise, the evidence for the central claim that endocytic capacity is specifically regulated by cell-cycle stage is incomplete. The main concern is that fluorescence-based sorting and total-fluorescence measurements likely covary with cell size, so the reported phenotypes could reflect biomass accumulation or other cell-cycle-associated changes rather than endocytic capacity as the causal determinant. As a result, whilst the study raises a hypothesis that is of importance, additional controls are required before the proposed mechanism can be considered well supported.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Synthetic torpor in the rat protects the heart from ischaemia-reperfusion injury

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Megan Elley
   2. Ludovico Taddei
   3. Muzammil Ali Khan
   4. Una R Wilcox
   5. Timna Hitrec
   6. Martin Lewis
   7. Anthony E Pickering
   8. Michael Ambler

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important submission from Ambler and colleagues brings new insights into how torpor conditions may confer resilience in cases of cardioprotection. The study is backed by solid evidence and represents a unique interoceptive mechanism of interest.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Spreading depolarization, not seizure activity, drives immediate early gene expression in mouse cortex after electroconvulsive stimulation

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Hugo J Ladret
   2. Leonardo Lupori
   3. Lorenzo Sieni
   4. Eduard Stroukov
   5. Takahiro Kanamori
   6. Sarah Ulrich
   7. Else Schneider
   8. Gunnar Deuring
   9. Annette B Bruhl
   10. Georg B Keller

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study addresses a recent discovery by others that electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) generates seizure activity and spreading depolarization (SD), reflected in large increases in calcium, which can be observed through imaging fluctuations in neuronal calcium. Revisions addressed some concerns of reviewers but not the main issues. Therefore, the consensus was that the work is useful but the evidence showing that SD, rather than seizures, confers the neuroplastic and other therapeutic effects of ECT is incomplete.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Environmental statistics and sensory experience shape patch foraging strategies in Drosophila larvae

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Akhila Mudunuri
   2. Klára Tučková
   3. Ahmed El Hady
   4. Katrin Vogt

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable manuscript investigates how Drosophila larvae make foraging decisions in patchy environments with controlled resource density and valence; using movement tracking in bounded arenas, the authors show that larvae's patch residence time (PRT) differs depending on resource type, environmental context, and prior experience. A drift-diffusion model is used to describe patch-leaving behaviour, suggesting that an integration process may underlie stay-leave decisions during foraging. The strength of the evidence is mostly solid, but the interpretation and use of PRT needs further investigation, as PRT could be a direct effect of resource concentration on locomotion. Explicit reports of PRT statistical tests are needed for rigorous interpretation.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Efficient Working Memory Maintenance via High-Dimensional Rotational Dynamics

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Laura Ritter
   2. Angus Chadwick

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This useful study investigates noise-robust and energy-efficient circuit mechanisms for working memory by optimizing connectivity and reports that the resulting networks exhibit rotational dynamics and better match aspects of PFC population recording. However, the supporting evidence remains incomplete, given the restricted linear, task-specific training and analysis, and limited comparisons with other prominent models. The manuscript would be strengthened by extending the analysis to nonlinear dynamics, providing more rigorous comparisons with alternative models, and establishing a stronger link to prior theoretical and experimental work.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Coordinated beak–tongue mechanics enable dexterous seed manipulation in songbirds

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Maja Mielke
   2. Falk Mielke
   3. Nicholas W. Gladman
   4. Dan A. Tatulescu
   5. Anthony Herrel
   6. Coen P. H. Elemans
   7. Sam Van Wassenbergh

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study advances our understanding of the biomechanics of seed processing in birds by providing a comprehensive 3D kinematic analysis of coordinated bill and tongue movements across two species with contrasting biting forces. The evidence is convincing, combining high-speed XROMM with Bayesian statistical modeling in a rigorous and technically innovative framework that advances the understanding of avian feeding kinematics. Strengthening the statistical validation of qualitative claims, particularly for tongue-seed velocity relationships, and improving the accessibility of the probabilistic modeling framework would further solidify the conclusions.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Noise in Competing Representations Determines the Direction of Memory Biases

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Andrey Chetverikov
   2. Sabrina Hansmann-Roth

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study investigates the mechanisms underlying inter-item biases in visual working memory. By experimentally manipulating the relative noise levels of target and non-target items, the authors report bias patterns that are broadly consistent with predictions of their previously proposed normative demixing theory. However, the supporting evidence remains incomplete, as the manuscript lacks a sufficient description of the underlying theory, key assumptions, and a quantitative link between the model and behavioral data. The manuscript would be substantially strengthened by clearer exposition and stronger tests, including analyses of the full error distributions and comparisons with alternative models, which would increase its potential interest to the cognitive neuroscience and computational cognitive science communities.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Rehabilitation drives functional reorganization of intact corticospinal-supraspinal projections following partial spinal cord injury

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. James Bonanno
   2. Sheel Trivedi
   3. Ciara F O’Brien
   4. Sharna Saha
   5. William BJ Cafferty

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study investigates the neural basis for recovery of complex wheel running behaviour following a unilateral spinal cord injury in mice. By combining behavioural analyses, whole-brain mapping, and tracing techniques, the authors provide incomplete evidence that new cortico-medullary connections can drive effective motor recovery. The paper could be strengthened with manipulations to establish causality, a more fine-grained analysis of the behaviour, and some reorganisation of how the data are presented and discussed.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Central carbon metabolism switching in lytic versus temperate coral reef viral communities

   This article has 32 authors:

   1. Jacob Kelman
   2. Meena Khan
   3. Chibundu Umunna
   4. Russell Brainard
   5. Grace Donohue
   6. Rob Edwards
   7. Natalie A Falta
   8. Emma George
   9. Eleanor Gorham
   10. Juris Grasis
   11. Kevin Green
   12. Andreas Haas
   13. Kimberly Halsey
   14. Eric Hester
   15. Summer Jacob
   16. Aydin Loid Karatas
   17. Yan Wei Lim
   18. Mark Little
   19. Stuart Sandin
   20. Jessie Segnitz
   21. Maya Serota
   22. Natalia Shahwan
   23. Giselle Simmons
   24. Jennifer E Smith
   25. Isha Tripathi
   26. Linda Wegley Kelly
   27. Lauren Woodward
   28. Nickie Yang
   29. Charles Young
   30. Brian Zgliczynski
   31. Forest Rohwer
   32. Ben Knowles

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study presents an important conceptual advance linking viral lifestyle (temperate versus lytic) to patterns of central carbon metabolism gene content across coral reef viromes, proposing that these associations may reinforce feedback loops influencing reef microbialization state. The revised manuscript better aligns its claims with the underlying data by separating observed metabolic gene associations from the hypothesized downstream effects on infection, host metabolism, and reef state, but the evidence for the central mechanistic claims remains incomplete, as no new analyses were added to establish that the identified metabolic genes are mechanistically linked to temperate viral genomes, to rule out compositional effects, or to validate key gene annotations. This work will be of interest to viral ecologists and to researchers studying coral reef microbial dynamics, providing a foundation for future studies testing these proposed relationships directly.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. A protease-sensing circuit links neutrophil inflammation to virulence regulation in Streptococcus pyogenes

    This article has 4 authors:

    1. Stephanie Guerra
    2. Ananya Dash
    3. Doris L LaRock
    4. Christopher N LaRock

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife Assessment

      The authors describe a valuable finding that the Streptococcus pyogenes secreted protease SpeB is expressed in response to protease activity that degrades the Vfr repressor. Proteases can be released from host neutrophils (possibly by NETosis), as well as a positive feedback mechanism by SpeB itself. The authors utilize a dual fluorescent reporter system to simultaneously read speB and capsule gene expression, providing solid evidence that demonstrates that proteases can regulate Vfr; however, the data indicating that this is physiologically relevant and that extracellular traps themselves have a functional role are incomplete. This work will be of interest to microbiologists studying the regulation of virulence factors at the host-pathogen interface.

    Reviewed by eLife