eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Cardenolide toxin diversity impacts monarch butterfly growth and sequestration

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Anurag A Agrawal
   2. Amy P Hastings
   3. Paola Rubiano-Buitrago

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study investigates how structurally diverse cardenolide toxins in tropical milkweed, especially mixtures containing nitrogen- and sulfur-containing variants, influence monarch caterpillar feeding, growth, and toxin sequestration. The experiments provide solid evidence that chemical diversity within a single group of plant toxins can have combined effects on even highly specialized herbivores that differ from the effects of each toxin alone. However, as the mixture design does not fully separate true diversity effects from the influence of the N,S-cardenolides themselves and the ecological basis for the chosen natural ratios remains weakly justified. As a result, the broader conclusions would require more fully justified concentration regimes, mixture treatments that exclude N,S-cardenolides, and tests on living plants and non-adapted herbivores to firmly support the proposed coevolutionary interpretation.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Atovaquone/Proguanil Use and Zoster Vaccination Are Associated with Reduced Alzheimer’s Disease Risk in Two Cohorts: Implications for a Latent Toxoplasma gondii Mechanism

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Ariel Israel
   2. Abraham Weizman
   3. Sarah Israel
   4. Shai Ashkenazi
   5. Shlomo Vinker
   6. Eli Magen
   7. Eugene Merzon

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This useful study raises interesting questions but provides inadequate evidence of an association between atovaquone-proguanil use (as well as toxoplasmosis seropositivity) and reduced Alzheimer's dementia risk. The findings are intriguing but they are correlative and hypothesis-generating with the strong possibility of residual confounding.

     [Note: The final version has been published in Brain, Behavior, and Immunity: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2026.106473]

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Serratia marcescens Outer Membrane Vesicles rapidly paralyze Drosophila melanogaster through triggering apoptosis in the nervous system

   This article has 11 authors:

   1. Bechara Sina Rahme
   2. Roberto E Bruna
   3. Marion Draheim
   4. Chuping Cai
   5. Maria Victoria Molino
   6. Yaotang Wu
   7. Miriam Wennida Yamba
   8. Gisela Di Venanzio
   9. Matthieu Lestradet
   10. Eleonora García Véscovi
   11. Dominique Ferrandon

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study offers important insights into how outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) secreted by Serratia marcescens, which carry various virulence factors, contribute to pathogenicity. The experiments provide solid preliminary support for OMV-mediated pathogenic effects, with a critical role for the metalloprotease virulence factor PrtA. However, the evidence remains incomplete, and the current level of validation limits confidence in the strength of the conclusions.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Multimodal single-cell analyses reveal distinct fusion-regulated transcriptional programs in Ewing sarcoma

   This article has 14 authors:

   1. Olivia G Waltner
   2. April A Apfelbaum
   3. Emma D Wrenn
   4. Shruti S Bhise
   5. Sami B Kanaan
   6. Rula Green Gladden
   7. Mark A Mendoza
   8. Roger Volden
   9. Zev Kronenberg
   10. Anand Patel
   11. Michael Dyer
   12. Jay F Sarthy
   13. Elizabeth R Lawlor
   14. Scott N Furlan

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study presents an analysis of the gene regulatory networks that contribute to tumour heterogeneity and tumor plasticity in Ewing sarcoma, with key implications for other fusion-driven sarcomas. The authors convincingly employed orthogonal approaches, including single-cell sequencing and xenografts, to reveal the existence and plasticity of specific gene regulatory networks (e.g., TGF-beta signaling) within Ewing sarcoma, as well as significant differences that exist between cell lines and patient tumors.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Microsaccades track shifting but not necessarily maintaining covert visual-spatial attention

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Anna M van Harmelen
   2. Freek van Ede

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This useful study demonstrates that microsaccade direction primarily indexes shifts rather than the maintenance of covert spatial attention, offering a focused interpretation that may help reconcile inconsistencies in the prior literature. However, the evidence remains incomplete due to limited engagement with the broader body of existing work and the absence of independent measures, single-trial analyses, and neutral-condition controls needed to substantiate the central claims. The work will be of broad interest to researchers investigating attention, eye movements, and visuomotor mechanisms.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Hepatic Transthyretin knockdown alleviates NAFLD by enhancing SERCA2 function and inhibiting endoplasmic reticulum stress

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Yingzi He
   2. Tian Yang
   3. Ruojun Qiu
   4. Bingyang Liu
   5. Shuo Wang
   6. Jianan Wang
   7. Fenping Zheng

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This potentially important study examines the consequences of manipulating the expression of thyroxine-binding and amyloidogenic hepatocyte secretory protein transthyretin (TTR). Solid in vivo evidence from two dietary models supports that TTR production exacerbates liver injury, whereas the evidence for a link between TTR production, uptake, and calcium dysregulation is incomplete. If the findings are confirmed, they would provide evidence for a novel cell biological pathway of liver injury.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Cholinergic blockade reveals a role for human hippocampal theta in memory encoding but not retrieval

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Tamara Gedankien
   2. Jennifer Kriegel
   3. Erfan Zabeh
   4. David McDonagh
   5. Bradley Lega
   6. Joshua Jacobs

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This fundamental work advances our understanding of the role of human hippocampal theta oscillations in memory encoding and retrieval. The evidence supporting the conclusions is convincing, using both scopolamine administration and intracranial EEG recordings. This work will be of broad interest to neuroscientists and has translational implications.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Stranded short nascent strand sequencing reveals the topology of DNA replication origins in Trypanosoma brucei

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Slavica Stanojcic
   2. Bridlin Barckmann
   3. Pieter Monsieurs
   4. Lucien Crobu
   5. Simon George
   6. Yvon Sterkers

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     The authors use sequencing of nascent DNA (DNA linked to an RNA primer, “SNS-Seq”) to localise DNA replication origins in Trypanosoma brucei, so this work will be of interest to those studying either Kinetoplastids or DNA replication. The paper presents the SNS-seq results for only part of the genome, and there are significant discrepancies between the SNS-Seq results and those from other, previously-published results obtained using other origin mapping methods. The reasons for the differences are unknown and from the data available, it is not possible to assess which origin-mapping method is most suitable for origin mapping in T. brucei. Thus at present, the evidence that origins are distributed as the authors claim - and not where previously mapped - is inadequate.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Dynamic regulation of mRNA acetylation at synapses by spatial memory in mouse hippocampus

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Hai-Qian Zhou
   2. Zhen Zhu
   3. Jia-Wei Zhang
   4. Wei-Peng Lin
   5. Hao-JY Jin
   6. Yang-Yang Ding
   7. Shuai Liu
   8. Dong-Min Yin

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     Recent studies have shown that mRNA can be acetylated (ac4c), altering mRNA stability and translation efficiency; however, the role of mRNA acetylation in the brain remains unexplored. In this important study, the authors demonstrate that ac4c occurs in synaptically localised mRNAs, mediated by NAT10. Conditional reduction of NAT10 protein levels led to decreases in ac4c of mRNAs and deficits in synaptic plasticity and memory. These solid results suggest that mRNA acetylation may play a role in memory consolidation.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Peptidoglycan recycling is critical for cell division, cell wall integrity, and β-lactam resistance in Caulobacter crescentus

    This article has 8 authors:

    1. Pia Richter
    2. Anna Merz
    3. Jacob Biboy
    4. Nicole Paczia
    5. Timo Glatter
    6. Jared Ng
    7. Waldemar Vollmer
    8. Martin Thanbichler

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife Assessment

      This manuscript presents a valuable investigation of the peptidoglycan (PG) recycling pathway in Caulobacter crescentus. The authors showed that PG recycling in C. crescentus is essential not only for β-lactam (ampicillin) resistance but also for cell morphology, efficient division, and overall fitness. The study is comprehensive and compelling.

    Reviewed by eLife