eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Hippocampome.org 2.0 is a knowledge base enabling data-driven spiking neural network simulations of rodent hippocampal circuits

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Diek W Wheeler
   2. Jeffrey D Kopsick
   3. Nate Sutton
   4. Carolina Tecuatl
   5. Alexander O Komendantov
   6. Kasturi Nadella
   7. Giorgio A Ascoli

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The authors have greatly expanded their important hippocampome.org resource about rodent hippocampal cell types, their physiological properties, and their interactions. With version 2.0, they make a significant advance in providing a user-friendly means to make computer models of hippocampal circuits. The work is convincing, and there are only minor reservations that the figures may be too complex.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. A stochastic world model on gravity for stability inference

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Taicheng Huang
   2. Jia Liu

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     In this valuable study, the authors present findings that suggest that people do not faithfully replicate the physics of the real world but rather have a stochastic world model, specifically a stochastic representation of gravity. This contrasts with prior accounts that suggested a potentially noisy Newtonian model where the noise arises from perceptual uncertainty or (inferred) external perturbations. The experimental evidence is generally solid, with all experiments and model simulations being consistent with the proposed account. In the revision, the authors also added a number of control experiments that address some of the most pressing concerns of the original submission.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Supercomputer framework for reverse engineering firing patterns of neuron populations to identify their synaptic inputs

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Matthieu K Chardon
   2. Y Curtis Wang
   3. Marta Garcia
   4. Emre Besler
   5. J Andrew Beauchamp
   6. Michael D'Mello
   7. Randall K Powers
   8. Charles J Heckman

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The study by Chardon et al. is fundamental to advancing our understanding of presynaptic control of motor neuron output. Large-scale computer simulations were performed using well-established single motor neuron models to provide compelling evidence regarding the time-varying patterns of inputs that control motor neuron ensembles. The work will interest the community of motor control, motor unit physiology, neural engineering, and computational neuroscience.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Conformation selection by ATP-competitive inhibitors and allosteric communication in ERK2

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Jake W Anderson
   2. David Vaisar
   3. David N Jones
   4. Laurel M Pegram
   5. Guy P Vigers
   6. Huifen Chen
   7. John G Moffat
   8. Natalie G Ahn

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This fundamental study provides compelling evidence to explain how chemical variations within a set of kinase inhibitors drive the selection of specific Erk2 conformations. Conformational selection plays a critical role in targeting medically relevant kinases such as Erk2 and the findings reported here open new avenues for designing small molecule inhibitors that block the active site while also steering the population of the enzyme into active or inactive conformations. Since protein dynamics and conformational ensembles are essential for enzyme function, this work will be of broad interest to those working in drug development, signal transduction, and enzymology.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Why the brown ghost chirps at night

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Livio Oboti
   2. Federico Pedraja
   3. Marie Ritter
   4. Marlena Lohse
   5. Lennart Klette
   6. Rüdiger Krahe

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study addresses a significant question in sensory ethology and active sensing in particular. It links the production of a specific signal - electrosensory chirps - to various contexts and conditions to propose that chirps may also serve an active sensing role in addition to their more well-known role in communication. The evidence supporting the role for active sensing is strong. In particular, the evidence showing increased chirping in more cluttered environments and the relationship between chirping and movement are convincing. The study provides a lot of valuable data, and is likely to stimulate follow-up behavioral and physiological studies.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Prickle and Ror modulate Dishevelled-Vangl interaction to regulate non-canonical Wnt signaling during convergent extension in Xenopus

   This article has 12 authors:

   1. Hwa-seon Seo
   2. Deli Yu
   3. Ivan K Popov
   4. Jiahui Tao
   5. Allyson R Angermeier
   6. Fei Yang
   7. Sylvie Marchetto
   8. Jean-Paul Borg
   9. Bingdong Sha
   10. Jeffrey D Axelrod
   11. Chenbei Chang
   12. Jianbo Wang

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study addresses mechanisms of feedback inhibition between planar cell polarity protein complexes during convergent extension movements in Xenopus embryos. The authors propose a conceptually new model, in which non-canonical Wnt ligand stimulates transition of Dishevelled from its complex with Vangl to Frizzled, with essential roles of Prickle and Ror in this process. The main observations supporting molecular interactions rely on modest but significant changes in protein association in response to Wnt11. While the study is limited due to insufficient phenotypic analysis at the cellular level and the use of exogenously supplied proteins, this work is convincing and will be of broad interest to cell and developmental biologists.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Hundreds of myosin 10s are pushed to the tips of filopodia and could cause traffic jams on actin

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Julia Shangguan
   2. Ronald S Rock

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The manuscript proposes an alternative method by SDS-PAGE calibration of Halo-Myo10 signals to quantify myosin molecules in filopodia and discusses different scenarios regarding myosin 10 working models to explain intracellular diffusion and targeting to filopodia. Overall, the paper is elegantly written and the methodology is valuable in its descriptive potential as these are key numbers to know to ultimately decipher the cellular mechanism of Myo10 action as well as understand the molecular composition of a Myo10-generated filopodium. The evidence for the conclusions is compelling, but there are limitations to this study which should be kept in mind when applying this method to other systems.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Enhancing CRISPR prime editing by reducing misfolded pegRNA interactions

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Weiting Zhang
   2. Karl Petri
   3. Junyan Ma
   4. Hyunho Lee
   5. Chia-Lun Tsai
   6. J Keith Joung
   7. Jing-Ruey Joanna Yeh

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This useful paper reports on two simple methods for improving the efficiency of prime editing, a prominent gene editing technique. In combination with published modifications, the strategies described in this study may lead to significant improvements in editing efficiencies. The data are solid, and the methods will be of broad interest to anyone using gene editing.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. TLR2 regulates hair follicle cycle and regeneration via BMP signaling

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Luyang Xiong
   2. Irina Zhevlakova
   3. Xiaoxia Z West
   4. Detao Gao
   5. Rakhilya Murtazina
   6. Anthony Horak
   7. J Mark Brown
   8. Iuliia Molokotina
   9. Eugene A Podrez
   10. Tatiana V Byzova

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     Toll like receptor 2 (TLR2) signaling has traditionally been viewed a surface protein that induces innate immune responses and improves acquired immunity. Here, the authors suggest a different role for TLR2 in the hair cycle. By using a Cre reporter that is largely, but not solely active in hair follicle stem cells, the authors conditionally delete Tlr2 in mice and report that BMP signaling is sustained and hair cycle entry is delayed. Delving further, the authors identify CEP (2-ω-carboxyethyl pyrrole) as an endogenous ligand of TLR2 in hair follicle stem cell regulation. Although a role for TLR2 signaling in hair follicle stem cells is potentially novel and important, the reviewers remain in consensus that evidence presented in two significant areas continues to be incomplete: 1) where TLR2 and CEP are expressed and how specific is their expression to the hair follicle stem cells; 2) whether as the authors suggest, TLR2 functions by regulating BMP signaling in the stem cell niche of the hair follicle.

   Reviewed by eLife, preLights

10. Dynamic simulations of feeding and respiration of the early Cambrian periderm-bearing cnidarian polyps

    This article has 14 authors:

    1. Yiheng Zhang
    2. Xing Wang
    3. Jian Han
    4. Juyue Xiao
    5. Yuanyuan Yong
    6. Chiyang Yu
    7. Ning Yue
    8. Jie Sun
    9. Kaiyue He
    10. Wenjing Hao
    11. Tao Zhang
    12. Bin Wang
    13. Deng Wang
    14. Xiaoguang Yang

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife assessment

      This important study advances our understanding of early Cambrian cnidarian paleoecology and suggests that the reconstructed ancestral feeding and respiration mechanisms predate jet-propelled swimming utilized by modern jellyfish. The work combines solid evidence of fluid and structural mechanics modeling, simulating for the first time the feeding and respiratory capacities in a microfossil (Quadrapyrgites), which in turn opens new possibilities using this approach for paleontological research. Assuming that the prior interpretations and assumptions concerning the modeled organism's soft part and skeletal anatomy are correct, the hypotheses that (1) the organism could alternately contract and expand the oral region and (2) such movement increased feeding efficiency seem plausible.

    Reviewed by eLife