eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. The MODY-associated KCNK16 L114P mutation increases islet glucagon secretion and limits insulin secretion resulting in transient neonatal diabetes and glucose dyshomeostasis in adults

   This article has 11 authors:

   1. Arya Y Nakhe
   2. Prasanna K Dadi
   3. Jinsun Kim
   4. Matthew T Dickerson
   5. Soma Behera
   6. Jordyn R Dobson
   7. Shristi Shrestha
   8. Jean-Philippe Cartailler
   9. Leesa Sampson
   10. Mark A Magnuson
   11. David A Jacobson

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This study characterizes how a point mutation in the TALK-1 potassium channel, encoded by the KCNK16 gene, causes MODY diabetes. The mutation, L114P, causes a gain-of-function to increase K+ currents and inhibit glucose-stimulated insulin secretion. Increased glucagon likely results from paracrine effects in the islets. The data are convincing and the work will be valuable for understanding islet function.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Dual-color optical activation and suppression of neurons with high temporal precision

   This article has 12 authors:

   1. Noëmie Mermet-Joret
   2. Andrea Moreno
   3. Agnieszka Zbela
   4. Milad Nazari
   5. Bárður Eyjólfsson Ellendersen
   6. Raquel Comaposada Baro
   7. Nathalie Krauth
   8. Anne von Philipsborn
   9. Andreas Toft Sørensen
   10. Joaquin Piriz
   11. John Yu-luen Lin
   12. Sadegh Nabavi

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study develops useful tools for distinct optogenetic control of neuronal activity by red or blue light. The basic characterization of the activation of a red-shifted channelrhodopsin paired with a blue-light sensitive anion channel engineered to obtain desired inhibitory current kinetics is solid. However, evidence for their practical use under simultaneous multi-color or high frequency stimulation in cells are missing.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. A maximum of two readily releasable vesicles per docking site at a cerebellar single active zone synapse

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Melissa Silva
   2. Van Tran
   3. Alain Marty

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The study used slice physiology and modeling to investigate neurotransmitter release at the cerebellar parallel fiber-to-molecular layer interneuron synapse, revealing that each docking site can accommodate up to two synaptic vesicles simultaneously. The evidence presented is convincing. These important findings validate a two-step docking model and shed light on the mechanisms underlying short-term synaptic plasticity and strategies for achieving synaptic reliability, which plays a critical role in information processing in the brain.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Distinctive whole-brain cell types predict tissue damage patterns in thirteen neurodegenerative conditions

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Veronika Pak
   2. Quadri Adewale
   3. Danilo Bzdok
   4. Mahsa Dadar
   5. Yashar Zeighami
   6. Yasser Iturria-Medina

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     Pak et al. examined the relationship between the most common spatial patterns of neurodegeneration and transcriptional markers of the density of different cell types in the cerebral cortex. This valuable study uses innovative methods to provide convincing evidence that patterns of grey matter loss in various forms of dementia are correlated with the anatomical distribution of non-neuronal cell types.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Genetic inactivation of zinc transporter SLC39A5 improves liver function and hyperglycemia in obesogenic settings

   This article has 27 authors:

   1. Shek Man Chim
   2. Kristen Howell
   3. John Dronzek
   4. Weizhen Wu
   5. Cristopher Van Hout
   6. Manuel AR Ferreira
   7. Bin Ye
   8. Alexander Li
   9. Susannah Brydges
   10. Vinayagam Arunachalam
   11. Anthony Marcketta
   12. Adam E Locke
   13. Jonas Bovijn
   14. Niek Verweij
   15. Tanima De
   16. Luca Lotta
   17. Lyndon Mitnaul
   18. Michelle LeBlanc
   19. Regeneron Genetics Center
   20. David J Carey
   21. Olle Melander
   22. Alan Shuldiner
   23. Katia Karalis
   24. Aris N Economides
   25. Harikiran Nistala
   26. DiscovEHR collaboration
   27. Regeneron Genetics Center

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This fundamental study substantially advances our understanding of the role of zinc in metabolism, specifically a newly established clinical link between mutations in the zinc transporter SLC39A5, elevated serum zinc levels, and a reduction in the risk of Type 2 Diabetes. The provided evidence is solid with state-of-the-art genetic analysis of large human cohorts followed by a comprehensive analysis of a mouse SLC39A5 knockout mutant, establishing that SLC39A5 plays a role in hepatic lipid handling through AMPK signaling, although the limited analysis of a pancreatic phenotype that has previously been described constitutes a weakness. This study will be of relevance to researchers interested in metabolism, fatty liver disease, and the biology of trace elements.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. An observational treatment study of metacognition in anxious-depression

   This article has 11 authors:

   1. Celine A Fox
   2. Chi Tak Lee
   3. Anna Hanlon
   4. Tricia Xing Fang Seow
   5. Kevin Lynch
   6. Siobhan Harty
   7. Derek Richards
   8. Jorge Palacios
   9. Veronica O'Keane
   10. Klaas Enno Stephan
   11. Claire Gillan

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This valuable study advances our knowledge of the effects of anxiety/depression treatment on metacognition, demonstrating that treatment increases metacognitive confidence alongside improving symptoms. The authors provide convincing evidence for the state-dependency of metacognitive confidence, based on a large longitudinal treatment dataset. However, it is unclear to what extent this effect is truly specific to treatment, as changes in metacognitive confidence in the group receiving online therapy were not statistically different from those in the control group.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Neural correlates of perceptual similarity masking in primate V1

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Spencer Chin-Yu Chen
   2. Yuzhi Chen
   3. Wilson S Geisler
   4. Eyal Seidemann

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This important study used Voltage Sensitive Dye Imaging (VSDI) to measure neural activity in the primary visual cortex of monkeys trained to detect an oriented grating target that was presented either alone or against an oriented mask. The authors show convincingly that the initial effect of the mask ran counter to the behavioral effects of the mask, a pattern that reversed in the latter phase of the response. They interpret these results in terms of influences from the receptive field center, and although an alternative view that emphasizes the role of the receptive field surround also seems reasonable, this study stands as an interesting contribution to our understanding of mechanisms of visual perception.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Choline supplementation in early life improves and low levels of choline can impair outcomes in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Elissavet Chartampila
   2. Karim S Elayouby
   3. Paige Leary
   4. John J LaFrancois
   5. David Alcantara-Gonzalez
   6. Swati Jain
   7. Kasey Gerencer
   8. Justin J Botterill
   9. Stephen D Ginsberg
   10. Helen E Scharfman

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     In this fundamental work, the authors demonstrated that maternal choline supplementation improved spatial memory, reduced hyperexcitability, and restored NeuN expression in a familial Alzheimer's disease mouse model. Interestingly, choline deficiency increased mortality, while paradoxically reduced hyperexcitability. Through behavioral, electrophysiological, and histological measures, the authors present convincing evidence supporting the significant role of maternal choline supplementation in protecting hippocampal functions vulnerable to Alzheimer's disease.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Measures of genetic diversification in somatic tissues at bulk and single-cell resolution

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Marius E Moeller
   2. Nathaniel V Mon Père
   3. Benjamin Werner
   4. Weini Huang

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     In this paper, the authors introduce fundamental work on mathematical methods for inferring evolutionary parameters of interest from RNA data in healthy tissue and during hematopoiesis. By combining single cell and bulk sequencing analyses, the authors use a stochastic process to inform different aspects of genetic heterogeneity; the strength of evidence in support of the authors' claim is exceptional. The work will be of broad interest to cell biologists and theoretical biologists.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Glutamatergic supramammillary nucleus neurons respond to threatening stressors and promote active coping

    This article has 11 authors:

    1. Abraham Escobedo
    2. Salli-Ann Holloway
    3. Megan Votoupal
    4. Aaron L Cone
    5. Hannah Skelton
    6. Alex A Legaria
    7. Imeh Ndiokho
    8. Tasheia Floyd
    9. Alexxai V Kravitz
    10. Michael R Bruchas
    11. Aaron J Norris

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife assessment

      This important manuscript investigates the role of a subpopulation of glutamatergic neurons in the suprammamillary nucleus that projects to the pre-optic hypothalamus area in active coping but not locomotor activity. They provide solid evidence from experiments using fibre photometry or photostimulation during threatening tasks that these neurons allow animals to produce flexible behaviours in response to stress. This work will be of interest to behavioural and systems neuroscientists.

    Reviewed by eLife