eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. An in vitro human vessel model to study Neisseria meningitidis colonization and vascular damages

   This article has 13 authors:

   1. Léa Pinon
   2. Mélanie Chabaud
   3. Pierre Nivoit
   4. Jérôme Wong-Ng
   5. Tri Tho Nguyen
   6. Vanessa Paul
   7. Charlotte Bouquerel
   8. Sylvie Goussard
   9. Pauline Smilovici
   10. Emmanuel Frachon
   11. Dorian Obino
   12. Samy Gobaa
   13. Guillaume Duménil

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     The authors develop an important microfluidic microvascular model called "Vessel-on-Chip", which they use to study Neisseria meningitidis interactions within this in vitro vascular system. Compelling evidence shows that the fabricated channels are lined by endothelial cells, and these can be colonized by N. meningitidis that in turn triggers neutrophil recruitment. This model has advantages over the human skin xenograft mouse model, which requires complex surgical techniques, however, it also carries limitations in that only endothelial cells and supplied specific immune cells in the microfluidics are present, while true vasculature contains a number of other cell types including smooth muscle cells, pericytes, and components of the immune system.

     [Editors' note: this paper was reviewed by Review Commons.]

   Reviewed by eLife, Review Commons

2. Lipid peroxidation and type I interferon coupling fuels pathogenic macrophage activation causing tuberculosis susceptibility

   This article has 19 authors:

   1. Shivraj M Yabaji
   2. Vadim Zhernovkov
   3. Prasanna Babu Araveti
   4. Suruchi Lata
   5. Oleksii S Rukhlenko
   6. Salam Al Abdullatif
   7. Arthur Vanvalkenburg
   8. Yuriy O Alekseyev
   9. Qicheng Ma
   10. Gargi Dayama
   11. Nelson C Lau
   12. W Evan Johnson
   13. William R Bishai
   14. Nicholas A Crossland
   15. Joshua D Campbell
   16. Boris N Kholodenko
   17. Alexander A Gimelbrant
   18. Lester Kobzik
   19. Igor Kramnik

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     Yabaji et al. reports a fundamental study highlighting the mechanistic connection for susceptibility to TB infection via the sst1 locus, this was shown to involve increased IFN and Myc production causing the down-regulation of anti-oxidant defence genes and chronic lipidation. Ultimately, lipid peroxidation may underlie infectivity and macrophage dysfunction. Overall, the data presented are compelling, supported by a well designed multi-omics approach and the findings will be of broad interest to researchers investigating the molecular mechanisms of TB infection.

     [Editors' note: this paper was reviewed by Review Commons.]

   Reviewed by eLife, Review Commons

3. Stimulus-Dependent Theta Rhythmic Activity in Primate V1 Predicts Visual Detection

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Prasakti Tenri Fanyiwi
   2. Beshoy Agayby
   3. Ricardo Kienitz
   4. Marcus Haag
   5. Jaime Cadena-Valencia
   6. Michael C Schmid

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This useful study shows that stimuli of a certain size elicit theta oscillations in V1 neurons both in spikes and local field potentials, and monkeys performing a dot detection task on these stimuli show theta rhythmicity in their response times. This replicates previous findings showing rhythmic theta activity in V4 and behaviour when stimuli are presented in the receptive field along with a surrounding flanker stimulus. However, there is incomplete evidence that rhythmicity in neural activity is related to the rhythmicity in behavior, and the mechanisms underlying these oscillations remain unclear.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Differential interfacial tension between oncogenic and wild-type populations forms the mechanical basis of tissue-specific oncogenesis in epithelia

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Amrapali Datta
   2. Phanindra Dewan
   3. Aswin Anto
   4. Tanya Chhabra
   5. Tanishq Tejaswi
   6. Sindhu Muthukrishnan
   7. Akshar Rao
   8. Sumantra Sarkar
   9. Medhavi Vishwakarma

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study reports that an oncogenic population in an epithelium can either be repressed or spread, depending on the tissues. This is explained based on the differential interfacial tension hypothesis, and supported by pharmacological perturbations and numerical simulations using the vertex model. The study conveys a key message, but, as it stands, the strength of evidence is incomplete, and a more detailed analysis of the mechanistic origin of the different tensions and better comparison between experiments and simulations would strongly strengthen the message.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Physiological febrile heat stress increases cytoadhesion through increased protein trafficking of Plasmodium falciparum surface proteins into the red blood cell

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. David Jones
   2. Hugo Belda
   3. Malgorzata Broncel
   4. Gwendolin Fuchs
   5. David Anaguano
   6. Stephanie D Nofal
   7. Moritz Treeck

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study provides compelling evidence that fever-like temperatures enhance the export of Plasmodium falciparum transmembrane proteins, including the cytoadherence protein PfEMP1 and the nutrient channel PSAC, to the red blood cell surface, thereby increasing cytoadhesion. Using rigorous and well-controlled experiments, the authors convincingly demonstrate that this effect results from accelerated protein trafficking rather than changes in protein production or parasite development. These findings significantly advance our understanding of parasite virulence mechanisms and offer insights into how febrile episodes may exacerbate malaria severity.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Neural signatures of motor memories emerge in neural network models

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Joanna C Chang
   2. Claudia Clopath
   3. Juan A Gallego

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study presents valuable computational findings on the neural basis of learning new motor memories without interfering with previously learned behaviours using recurrent neural networks. The evidence supporting the claims of the authors is solid, but it would benefit from stronger and clearer links with experimental findings. This work will be of interest to computational and experimental neuroscientists working in motor learning.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Neisseria gonorrhoeae LIN codes: a Robust, Multi-Resolution Lineage Nomenclature

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Anastasia Unitt
   2. Made Krisna
   3. Kasia M Parfitt
   4. Keith A Jolley
   5. Martin CJ Maiden
   6. Odile B Harrison

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study introduces the Life Identification Number (LIN) coding system as a powerful and versatile approach for classifying Neisseria gonorrhoeae lineages. The authors show that LIN codes capture both previously defined lineages and their relationships in a way that aligns with the species' phylogenetic structure. The compelling evidence presented, together with its integration into the PubMLST platform, underscores its strong potential to enhance epidemiological surveillance and advance our understanding of gonococcal population biology.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Cortical layer 6b mediates state-dependent changes in brain activity and effects of orexin on waking and sleep

   This article has 12 authors:

   1. Elise J Meijer
   2. Marissa Mueller
   3. Lukas B Krone
   4. Tomoko Yamagata
   5. Anna Hoerder-Suabedissen
   6. Sian Wilcox
   7. Hannah Alfonsa
   8. Atreyi Chakrabarty
   9. Luiz Guidi
   10. Peter L Oliver
   11. Vladyslav V Vyazovskiy
   12. Zoltán Molnár

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study offers a valuable contribution to our understanding of the role of layer 6b cortical neurons in sleep-wake regulation, providing new insight into how this understudied neural population may regulate cortical arousal via orexin signaling. The evidence supporting these findings is solid, although somewhat constrained by limitations in the specificity of the genetic targeting strategy. Nonetheless, the work introduces new avenues for uncovering how the classical wake-promoting peptide, orexin, exerts its effects on the cortex.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Post-translational modifications of microtubules are crucial for malaria parasite transmission

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Kodzo Atchou
   2. Magali Roques
   3. Ruth Rehmann
   4. Reto Caldelari
   5. Melanie Schmid
   6. Simone Grossi
   7. Bianca Manuela Berger
   8. Torsten Ochsenreiter
   9. Friedrich Frischknecht
   10. Volker Heussler

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study provides valuable insights into microtubule remodeling during liver-stage Plasmodium berghei development, demonstrating that deletion of the alpha-tubulin C-terminal tail impairs parasite growth in mosquitoes and abolishes infection in HeLa cells. The work is technically ambitious, employing advanced microscopy, genetic mutants, and pharmacological approaches. However, key claims are only partially supported due to incomplete evidence linking tubulin modifications to microtubule dynamics and uncertain antibody-based PTM detection.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. A novel mechanism for bacterial sporulation based on programmed peptidoglycan degradation

    This article has 9 authors:

    1. Carlos A Ramírez Carbó
    2. Oihane Irazoki
    3. Srutha Venkatesan
    4. Lauren JS Chen
    5. Haylie A Morales
    6. Assariel J Garcia Avila
    7. Hoi-Ling Cheung
    8. Felipe Cava
    9. Beiyan Nan

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife Assessment

      This important study identifies and partially characterises two proteins optimised for coordinated peptidoglycan degradation during two spore morphogenesis programs in the bacterium Myxococcus xanthus. The evidence supporting the conclusions is solid, although the description of the data is somewhat overstated. After some editing, the paper will be of interest to those studying peptidoglycan synthesis and reorganisation, which is a central aspect of microbial cell biology.

    Reviewed by eLife