eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Cryo-electron tomography reveals the microtubule-bound form of inactive LRRK2

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Siyu Chen
   2. Tamar Basiashvili
   3. Joshua Hutchings
   4. Marta Sanz Murillo
   5. Amalia Villagran Suarez
   6. Jaime Alegrio Louro
   7. Andres E Leschziner
   8. Elizabeth Villa

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     In this manuscript, Chen et al. used cryo-ET and in vitro reconstituted system to demonstrate that the autoinhibited form of LRRK2 can also assemble into filaments on the microtubule surface, with a new interface involving the N-terminal repeats that were disordered in the previous active-LRRK2 filament structure. The structure obtained in this study is the highest resolution of LRRK2 filaments done by subtomogram averaging, representing a major technical advance compared to the previous paper from the same group. This is an important study, especially considering the pharmacological implications of the effect of inhibitors of the protein. The strengths of the data are convincing, but the study would be considerably strengthened if the authors addressed several discrepancies relating to their earlier work, and explored the physiological significance of the new interfaces and the incomplete decoration of microtubules described here.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Human birth tissue products as a non-opioid medicine to inhibit post-surgical pain

   This article has 24 authors:

   1. Chi Zhang
   2. Qian Huang
   3. Neil C Ford
   4. Nathachit Limjunyawong
   5. Qing Lin
   6. Fei Yang
   7. Xiang Cui
   8. Ankit Uniyal
   9. Jing Liu
   10. Megha Mahabole
   11. Hua He
   12. Xue-Wei Wang
   13. Irina Duff
   14. Yiru Wang
   15. Jieru Wan
   16. Guangwu Zhu
   17. Srinivasa N Raja
   18. Hongpeng Jia
   19. Dazhi Yang
   20. Xinzhong Dong
   21. Xu Cao
   22. Scheffer C Tseng
   23. Shao-Qiu He
   24. Yun Guan

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     The authors provide convincing data that identify a novel, non-opioid biologic from human birth tissue products with anti-nociceptive properties in a preclinical mouse model of surgical pain. This important study highlights the potential use of naturally derived biologics from human birth tissues as safe and sustainable pain treatment options that do not possess the adverse side effects associated with opioids and synthetic pharmaceuticals. Whether these results will translate to the clinic remains to be seen, nevertheless, these preclinical findings are promising.

   Reviewed by eLife, Arcadia Science

3. Age-related changes in “cortical” 1/f dynamics are linked to cardiac activity

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Fabian Schmidt
   2. Sarah K Danböck
   3. Eugen Trinka
   4. Dominic P Klein
   5. Gianpaolo Demarchi
   6. Nathan Weisz

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     Examination of (a)periodic brain activity has gained particular interest in the last few years in the neuroscience fields relating to cognition, disorders, and brain states. Using large EEG/MEG datasets from younger and older adults, the current study provides compelling evidence that age-related differences in aperiodic EEG/MEG signals can be driven by cardiac rather than brain activity. Their findings have important implications for all future research that aims to assess aperiodic neural activity, suggesting control for the influence of cardiac signals is essential.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. The effects of 17α-estradiol treatment on endocrine system revealed by single-nucleus transcriptomic sequencing of hypothalamus

   This article has 11 authors:

   1. Lei Li
   2. Guanghao Wu
   3. Xiaolei Xu
   4. Junling Yang
   5. Lirong Yi
   6. Ziqing Yang
   7. Zheng Mo
   8. Li Xing
   9. Ying Shan
   10. Zhuo Yu
   11. Yinchuan Li

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This study demonstrates the potential role of 17α-estradiol in modulating neuronal gene expression in the aged hypothalamus of male rats, identifying key pathways and neuron subtypes affected by the drug. While the findings are useful and provide a foundation for future research, the strength of supporting evidence is incomplete due to the lack of female comparison, a young male control group, unclear link to 17α-estradiol lifespan extension in rats, demonstration of physiological effects of the treatment, and insufficient analysis of glial cells and cellular senescence in CRH neurons.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. PROTAC-induced Protein Functional Dynamics in Targeted Protein Degradation

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Kingsley Y Wu
   2. Ta I Hung
   3. Chia-en A Chang

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This study provides important computational insights into the dynamics of PROTAC-induced degradation complexes. The findings are solid and hold significant implications for advancing cancer treatments, particularly for breast and prostate cancers. However, the major conclusions of the work could be strengthened with a more thorough analysis. This work will be of broad interest to both biochemists and biophysicists.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Steady-state neuron-predominant LINE-1 encoded ORF1p protein and LINE-1 RNA increase with aging in the mouse and human brain

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Tom Bonnifet
   2. Sandra Sinnassamy
   3. Olivia Massiani-Beaudoin
   4. Philippe Mailly
   5. Héloïse Monnet
   6. Damarys Loew
   7. Berangère Lombard
   8. Nicolas Servant
   9. Rajiv L Joshi
   10. Julia Fuchs

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     Bonnifet et al. present data on the expression and interacting partners of the transposable element L1 in the mammalian brain. The work includes important findings addressing the potential role of L1 in aging and neurodegenerative disease. However, several aspects of experimental evidence presented are preliminary and the study remains incomplete in its current form.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Beyond Auditory Relay: Dissecting the Inferior Colliculus’s Role in Sensory Prediction, Reward Prediction and Cognitive Decision-Making

   This article has 13 authors:

   1. Xinyu Du
   2. Haoxuan Xu
   3. Peirun Song
   4. Yuying Zhai
   5. Hangting Ye
   6. Xuehui Bao
   7. Qianyue Huang
   8. Hisashi Tanigawa
   9. Zhiyi Tu
   10. Pei Chen
   11. Xuan Zhao
   12. Josef P. Rauschecker
   13. Xiongjie Yu

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This study presents a valuable finding on the role of the Inferior Colliculus in sensory prediction, cognitive decision-making, and reward prediction. The evidence supporting the claims of the authors is solid. The work will be of interest to neurobiologists working on auditory processing.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. CellSeg3D: self-supervised 3D cell segmentation for light-sheet microscopy

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Cyril Achard
   2. Timokleia Kousi
   3. Markus Frey
   4. Maxime Vidal
   5. Yves Paychère
   6. Colin Hofmann
   7. Asim Iqbal
   8. Sebastien B. Hausmann
   9. Stéphane Pagès
   10. Mackenzie Weygandt Mathis

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This work presents a valuable new approach for self-supervised segmentation for fluorescence microscopy data, which could eliminate time-consuming data labeling and speed up quantitative analysis. The experimental evidence supplied is currently incomplete as the comparison with other methods is only done on a single dataset, lacks common metrics, and could not be easily reproduced for other sample data listed in the manuscript.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Aminergic and peptidergic modulation of Insulin-Producing Cells in Drosophila

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Martina Held
   2. Rituja S. Bisen
   3. Meet Zandawala
   4. Alexander S. Chockley
   5. Isabella S. Balles
   6. Selina Hilpert
   7. Sander Liessem
   8. Federico Cascino-Milani
   9. Jan M. Ache

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The fruit fly brain hosts neurosecretory neurons (Insulin Producing Cells or IPCs) that integrate many inputs and release insulin directly into the hemolymph. In this fundamental study, the population of IPCs are shown to be heterogeneous in their receptor diversity, exhibiting a range of responses to neuromodulation. The authors convincingly demonstrate, using a battery of experimental techniques and relying on the mapped whole brain connectome, how the heterogeneity in the responses across individual IPCs occur simultaneously and together modulate insulin release to maintain metabolic homeostasis. This work will be of interest to neuroscientists and physiologists, in particular for how cellular diversity results in a better control of homeostasis in short time scales.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Intergenerational transport of double-stranded RNA in C. elegans can limit heritable epigenetic changes

    This article has 6 authors:

    1. Nathan Shugarts
    2. Aishwarya Sathya
    3. Andrew L. Yi
    4. Winnie M. Chan
    5. Julia A. Marré
    6. Antony M. Jose

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife assessment

      In this report, the authors present valuable findings identifying a novel worm-specific protein (sdg-1) that is induced upon loss of dsRNA import via SID-1, but is not required to mediate SID-1 RNA regulatory effects. The genetic and genomic approaches are well-executed. The existing data are solid, but the study would benefit from additional supporting evidence. The manuscript's central findings could also be refined to avoid overstating the results. These findings will be of interest to those working in the germline epigenetic inheritance field.

    Reviewed by eLife