eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Spiral-eyes: A soft active matter model of in vivo corneal epithelial cell migration

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Kaja Kostanjevec
   2. Rastko Sknepnek
   3. Jon Martin Collinson
   4. Silke Henkes

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This useful study describes a physical mechanism for the emergence of spiral patterns in the outer epithelial layer of the mammalian cornea independent of pre-patterning or guidance cues, using an agent-based model of self-propelled particles with alignment. The model is well constructed, however the central premise of the manuscript, that the spiral patterning of epithelial corneal cells occurs without guidance cues, is incomplete and not fully supported. Several significant questions remain unanswered, such as the role of the corneal curvature or the importance of topological defects. Furthermore, comparison between the model and data are qualitative at best for the moment.

   Reviewed by eLife, preLights

2. A tissue boundary orchestrates the segregation of inner ear sensory organs

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Ziqi Chen
   2. Magdalena Żak
   3. Shuting Xu
   4. Javier de Andrés
   5. Nicolas Daudet

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study is a first report investigating the boundary formation between sensory and non-sensory tissues of the inner ear, which has broad relevance to the developmental field in general. All three reviewers thought the results and data analyses presented are solid. However, the causal relationship between the morphological evidence and the role of Lmx1a is not well supported by the results. The mechanism linking Lmx1a to ROCK is also incomplete, considering ROCK is involved in so many processes.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Shifting the PPARγ conformational ensemble towards a transcriptionally repressive state improves covalent inhibitor efficacy

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Liudmyla Arifova
   2. Brian S MacTavish
   3. Zane Laughlin
   4. Mithun Nag Karadi Giridhar
   5. Jinsai Shang
   6. Min-Hsuan Li
   7. Xiaoyu Yu
   8. Di Zhu
   9. Theodore M Kamenecka
   10. Douglas J Kojetin

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This manuscript presents a fundamental advance in our understanding of nuclear receptor pharmacology by expanding on previous work demonstrating dual ligand occupancy in the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma (PPARγ). Using a compelling combination of biophysical, structural, and cellular approaches, the authors show that covalent inhibitors with inverse agonist activities modulate receptor conformation to permit co-binding with additional ligands, leading to a finely tuned transcriptional response. The data support a model of proximal, bi-directional allostery that challenges traditional views of nuclear receptor regulation. These findings will be of broad interest to researchers in structural biology, transcriptional control, and drug discovery.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Human giant GTPase GVIN1 forms an antimicrobial coatomer around the intracellular bacterial pathogen Burkholderia thailandensis

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Weilun Guo
   2. Shruti S Apte
   3. Mary S Dickinson
   4. So Young Kim
   5. Miriam Kutsch
   6. Jörn Coers

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This is a fundamental discovery revealing two independent IFNγ-induced pathways that restrict bacterial motility: one GBP1-dependent and the other GVIN1-dependent. The findings are supported by compelling evidence. While the paper is already very strong, there are a few points that could be addressed editorially or through the addition of a few key experiments.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Protein Language Model Identifies Disordered, Conserved Motifs Driving Phase Separation

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Yumeng Zhang
   2. Jared Zheng
   3. Bin Zhang

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study presents an analysis of evolutionary conservation in intrinsically disordered regions, identified as key drivers of phase separation, leveraging a protein language model. The strength of evidence is potentially compelling, but a clearer justification of the methods and analyses is needed to fully support the main claims.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Repression of the Wnt pathway effector TCF7L2 reverses lethal cachexia in mice with intestinal cancers

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Mei Ling Leong
   2. Christiane Ruedl
   3. Klaus Karjalainen

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     In this valuable study, the authors demonstrate that TCF7L2 plays a role in the pathogenesis of cachexia in a mouse model of GI cancer. The results are solid, although future studies will need further mechanistic analyses. These data will be interesting to cancer biologists, especially those trying to understand late-stage complications such as cachexia and wasting, a major cause of cancer morbidity and mortality.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Monocyte-derived macrophage recruitment mediated by TRPV1 is required for eardrum wound healing

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Yunpei Zhang
   2. Pingting Wang
   3. Lingling Neng
   4. Kushal Sharma
   5. Allan Kachelmeier
   6. Xiaorui Shi

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study exploring the role of TRPV1 signaling in recruiting macrophages and promoting angiogenesis during tympanic membrane wound healing presents useful findings. However, the strength of evidence supporting the central claims is incomplete, as the mechanistic links between TRPV1 activation and immune cell recruitment remain largely correlative and rely heavily on previously published datasets without sufficient functional validation. The work will be of interest to researchers studying wound healing and sensory-immune interactions, though substantial revisions are needed to support its broader significance.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Evidence for systematic - yet task- and motor-contingent - rhythmicity of auditory perceptual judgements

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Cécile Fabio
   2. Christoph Kayser

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This high-N, multi-task study offers a comprehensive examination of rhythmicity in behavioral performance during listening. It presents a valuable set of findings that reveal task- and ear-specific effects, challenging the notion of a universal rhythmicity in auditory perception. While the evidence is solid, the study would benefit from a stronger conceptual framework to contextualize and explain the observed patterns. Nonetheless, the work is likely to be of significant interest to behavioral and cognitive scientists focused on perception and neural oscillations.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Sparse innervation and local heterogeneity in the vibrissal corticostriatal projection

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Kenza Amroune
   2. Lorenzo Fontolan
   3. Agnès Baude
   4. David Robbe
   5. Ingrid Bureau

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This revised manuscript provides fundamental findings on how the mouse barrel cortex connects to the dorsolateral striatum, uncovering that inputs from discrete whisker cortical columns are convergent and SPN-specific, but topographically organized at the population level. The evidence supporting this claim is compelling, demonstrating that SPNs uniquely integrate sparse input from variable stretches across the barrel cortex. The study would be of interest to basal ganglia and sensory-motor integration researchers.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Coupled equilibria of dimerization and lipid binding modulate SARS Cov 2 Orf9b interactions and interferon response

    This article has 11 authors:

    1. CJ San Felipe
    2. Jyoti Batra
    3. Monita Muralidharan
    4. Shivali Malpotra
    5. Durga Anand
    6. Rachel Bauer
    7. Kliment A Verba
    8. Danielle L Swaney
    9. Nevan J Krogan
    10. Michael Grabe
    11. James S Fraser

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife Assessment

      This fundamental study demonstrates that lipid binding can regulate the dimerization state of the SARS-CoV2 Orf9b protein. The data from biophysical and cellular experiments along with mathematical modeling are compelling. This paper is broadly relevant to those studying coupled equilibria across all aspects of biology.

    Reviewed by eLife