eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. In-cell cryo-electron tomography reveals differential effects of type I and type II kinase inhibitors on LRRK2 filament formation and microtubule association

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Tamar Basiashvili
   2. Joshua Hutchings
   3. Siyu Chen
   4. Eva P Karasmanis
   5. William Alexander Flaherty
   6. Andres E Leschziner
   7. Elizabeth Villa

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study reports important findings by showing that two classes of kinase inhibitors, which stabilise the LRRK2 enzyme in either an active (Type I) or inactive state (Type II), have distinct effects on the formation of LRRK2 filaments and their association with cellular structures. Using correlative light microscopy, cryo-electron tomography and sub-tomogram averaging, the authors provide convincing evidence that a Type I inhibitor leads to the extensive decoration of microtubules with LRRK2 in a closed-kinase conformation, and that such decoration is not seen for a type-II inhibitor. The conclusions are consistent with previous work, although the physiological relevance of the work remains somewhat limited due to reliance on overexpression and the use of a rare mutation in a single cell type.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Hierarchical priors enable neural prediction of perceived biological motion

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Ingmar EJ de Vries
   2. Floris P de Lange
   3. Moritz F Wurm

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     In this valuable study, de Vries and colleagues aim to determine how the perception of biological motion is organized at the neural level, specifically testing whether this process rests on hierarchical predictive processing by extending a methodological framework that the authors previously published. The evidence is solid for the empirical claim that neural representations of body motion systematically lead the stimulus in time, with simulations validating the regression approach and consistent effects on both peak magnitude and peak latency. Support for the stronger theoretical interpretation that these signatures specifically reflect active hierarchical predictive inference requires further substantiation, since the design and analysis do not distinguish such inference from cached associative retrieval or from nonlinear temporal integration of slowly varying features.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Heterogeneity and ontogeny of mouse thymic macrophages reveal a requirement for Csf1r-expressing myeloid cells during early T cell development

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Helen Wang
   2. Vinothkumar Rajan
   3. Anthony Wong
   4. Slava Epelman
   5. Juan Carlos Zúñiga-Pflücker

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study characterises the heterogeneity and developmental origins of macrophages in the thymus and demonstrates a role for Csf1r-expressing myeloid cells in the first step of T cell development. The state-of-the-art experiments provide convincing evidence, and the assessors concerns were addressed in the revised submission. These results provide an important advance that furthers our understanding of thymus biology, especially in view of the contribution of heterogenous thymic macrophage subpopulations.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Ecological diversification in rapidly evolving populations

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Daniel PGH Wong
   2. Benjamin H Good

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     In this important theoretical contribution, the authors study the evolution of large microbial populations competing for resources in the challenging and relevant regime of overlapping ecological and evolutionary timescales. The modeling approach is overall convincing, anlthough its presentation would benefit from clarifications, e.g. on assumptions and approximations. The results will be of broad interest to researchers in evolutionary biology, ecology and microbiology.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Proteolytic remodeling by Yme1 enables mitochondrial-derived compartment formation

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Sai Sangeetha Balasubramaniam
   2. Amy E Curtis
   3. Jonathan R Friedman
   4. Adam L Hughes

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study demonstrates that the inner membrane protease YME1 contributes to the formation of mitochondrial-derived compartments in yeast through the modulation of both the lipid transporter UPS2 and the MICOS complex. The evidence supporting this model is solid, although this manuscript could be improved by providing additional evidence supporting the independent roles for UPS2 and MICOS regulation in this process. This work will be of interest to cell biologists, biochemists, and geneticists interested in understanding the molecular basis of mitochondrial regulation and function.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Cognitive control networks in human and macaque

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Valentina Mione
   2. Freja Holm Prins
   3. Moataz Assem
   4. Urs Schüffelgen
   5. Søren Kyllingsbæk
   6. Mark J Buckley
   7. Daniel J Mitchell
   8. John Duncan

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study presents a valuable contribution to comparative cognitive neuroscience by directly mapping functional homologues of the human multiple-demand network in macaques using a matched spatial maze task. It provides solid evidence for functional correspondence between human and macaque cognitive control networks in dorsomedial frontal cortex and insula. However, given only two animals and no cross-animal convergence in parietal or ventrolateral prefrontal regions, claims that these regions form part of a macaque MD network should be read as provisional. The work will be of interest to researchers studying the evolution of cognitive control and cross-species neuroimaging.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Virus-specific impacts on honey bee flight performance are mediated by the octopamine pathway

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Naomi G Kaku
   2. Michelle L Flenniken

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study investigates how distinct honeybee viruses differentially alter flight performance through interactions with octopamine signaling pathways. The combination of behavioral flight assays, pharmacological perturbation, and transcriptomic analyses provides solid evidence that virus-specific effects on flight are associated with octopamine signaling. The data presented also establish a framework for additional analyses that may strengthen the proposed mechanistic model, including quantification of endogenous octopamine levels and receptor specificity studies.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Fragile polyQ assemblies cause Golgipathy in Huntington’s disease

   This article has 16 authors:

   1. Lixiang Ma
   2. Xinyu Chen
   3. Yang Liu
   4. Lijun Dai
   5. Fangzhou Ye
   6. Weiqi Yang
   7. Hada Buhe
   8. Jixin Ma
   9. Chenyun Song
   10. Li Li
   11. Dandan Fan
   12. Fanxun Chen
   13. Haoman Chen
   14. Jianwei Shuai
   15. Jianzhong Su
   16. Hexige Saiyin

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     In this study, the authors propose a role for the Huntingtin protein in the organization of the Golgi apparatus and examine the effect of polyQ aggregates at the Golgi. The observations are interesting and potentially important for the field; however, the key claim that polyQ HTT functionally disrupts the Golgi (Golgipathy) is incompletely supported by the data.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Synaptotagmin isoforms differentially regulate glutamate and GABA release in the lateral habenula

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Dustin N White
   2. J Keenan Kushner
   3. Kelly E Winther
   4. Dillon J McGovern
   5. Tamara Basta
   6. Zoe R Donaldson
   7. Charles A Hoeffer
   8. David H Root
   9. Michael HB Stowell

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This paper addresses a key question regarding the molecular mechanisms underlying GABA and glutamate release from co-releasing neurons projecting from the entopeduncular nucleus (EPN) to the lateral habenula (LHb) in mice. The authors conclude that the two neurotransmitters are released from separate vesicle pools and rely on distinct molecular machinery; these conclusions contrast with previous functional studies at the same synapse, suggesting that GABA and glutamate are co-packaged within the same vesicles. The study employs useful electrophysiological and imaging approaches, however, a key limitation is the use of Cre lines that also label a purely glutamatergic EPN population projecting to the LHb. This inadequate methodology complicates the interpretation of the data and weakens the central conclusions regarding neurotransmitter co-release mechanisms.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Simplifying principles underlying the highly complex peptide motif of the promiscuous chicken MHC class I molecule, BF2*21:01

    This article has 16 authors:

    1. Michael Harrison
    2. Paul E Chappell
    3. Samer Halabi
    4. Maria Danysz
    5. Enock M Mararo
    6. Lukasz Magiera
    7. Clemens Hermann
    8. Michael J Deery
    9. Kathryn S Lilley
    10. Hans-Joachim Wallny
    11. David W Avila
    12. William Mwangi
    13. Venugopal Nair
    14. Susan M Lea
    15. Nicola Ternette
    16. Jim Kaufman

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife Assessment

      This important study investigates the peptide-binding principles by promiscuous chicken MHC molecules. The data from crystallography, mass-spec, and modeling are compelling. This paper will be of broad interest to immunologists and those interested in vaccine development.

    Reviewed by eLife