eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. RUNX2 Isoform II Protects Cancer Cells from Ferroptosis by Promoting PRDX2 Expression in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Junjun Huang
   2. Rong Jia
   3. Jihua Guo

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This paper investigates how isoform II of transcription factor RUNX2 promotes cell survival and proliferation in oral squamous cell carcinoma cell lines. The authors used gain and loss of function techniques to provide incomplete evidence showing that RUNX2 isoform silencing led to cell death via several mechanisms including ferroptosis that was partially suppressed through RUNX2 regulation of PRDX2 expression. The study provides useful insight into the underlying mechanism by which RUNX2 acts in oral squamous cell carcinoma, but the conclusions of the authors should be revised to acknowledge that ferroptosis is not the only cause of cell death.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Prophage-encoded Hm-oscar gene recapitulates Wolbachia-induced male killing in the tea tortrix moth Homona magnanima

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Hiroshi Arai
   2. Susumu Katsuma
   3. Noriko Matsuda-Imai
   4. Shiou-Ruei Lin
   5. Maki N Inoue
   6. Daisuke Kageyama

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This valuable study, which implicates a specific Wolbachia gene in driving the male-killing phenotype in a moth, contributes to a growing body of literature from the authors in which they have nicely teased apart the loci responsible for male killing across diverse insects. Solid evidence supports the conclusions, though improvements to the statistical analysis for certain assays would strengthen the inferences further.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Hypersensitivity of the vimentin cytoskeleton to net-charge states and Coulomb repulsion

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Bret A Unger
   2. Chun Ying Wu
   3. Alexander A Choi
   4. Changdong He
   5. Ke Xu

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This valuable study provides new insight into the disassembly of vimentin filaments and the dependence of this mechanism on net charge, albeit with incomplete evidence. In particular, the experimental replicates are limited (in most cases n=1), there is a lack of quantitative analysis to substantiate claims, inconsistency of the proposed mechanisms with previously published work, and lack of biochemical evidence supporting the observations in cells. Addressing these concerns would strengthen the manuscript and help support the proposed hypothesis on vimentin disassembly.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Pronounced expression of extracellular matrix proteoglycans regulated by Wnt pathway underlies the parallel evolution of lip hypertrophy in East African cichlids

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Nagatoshi Machii
   2. Ryo Hatashima
   3. Tatsuya Niwa
   4. Hideki Taguchi
   5. Ismael A Kimirei
   6. Hillary DJ Mrosso
   7. Mitsuto Aibara
   8. Tatsuki Nagasawa
   9. Masato Nikaido

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     In this important study, the authors have partially revealed the mechanism behind lip thickening in cichlid fishes, which has evolved independently across three lakes in Africa. To explore this phenomenon, the authors utilized histological comparison, proteomics, and transcriptomics, all of which are well suited for their objectives. With convincing evidence, this contribution holds significant value for the field.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Flexible neural representations of abstract structural knowledge in the human Entorhinal Cortex

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Shirley Mark
   2. Phillipp Schwartenbeck
   3. Avital Hahamy
   4. Veronika Samborska
   5. Alon B Baram
   6. Timothy E Behrens

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     Mark and colleagues developed and validated a valuable method for examining subspace generalization in fMRI data and applied it to understand whether the entorhinal cortex uses abstract representations that generalize across different environments with the same structure. Evidence supporting the empirical findings - which show abstract entorhinal representations of hexagonal associative structures across different stimulus sets - is solid but could be further supported through additional analyses, discussion, and clarifications.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. PRMT1-SFPQ regulates intron retention to control matrix gene expression during craniofacial development

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Julia Raulino Lima
   2. Nicha Ungvijanpunya
   3. Qing Chen
   4. Greg Park
   5. Mohammadreza Vatankhah
   6. Tal Rosen
   7. Yang Chai
   8. Amy Merrill-Brugger
   9. Weiqun Peng
   10. Jian Xu

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This study presents an interesting mechanism for the regulation of RNA levels, establishing an important regulatory connection between protein arginine methyltransferase 1 and the splicing factor SFPQ. While these findings have theoretical implications beyond a single field, the evidence is incomplete, with only partial support for the main claims.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Multi-dimensional oscillatory activity of mouse GnRH neurons in vivo

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Su Young Han
   2. Shel-Hwa Yeo
   3. Jae-Chang Kim
   4. Ziyue Zhou
   5. Allan E. Herbison

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study investigates the oscillatory activity of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) neurones in mice using GCaMP fiber photometry. It demonstrates three distinct patterns of oscillatory activity that occur in GnRH neurons comprising low-level rapid baseline activity, abrupt short-duration oscillations that drive pulsatile gonadotropin secretion, and, in females, a gradual and prolonged oscillating increase in activity responsible for the relatively short-lived preovulatory LH surge. The evidence presented in the study is solid, offering theoretical implications for understanding the behaviour of GnRH neurones in the context of reproductive physiology, and will be of interest to researchers in neuroendocrinology and reproductive biology.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Ocular biomarker profiling after complement factor I gene therapy in geographic atrophy secondary to age-related macular degeneration

   This article has 24 authors:

   1. Thomas M Hallam
   2. Emanuela Gardenal
   3. Fraser McBlane
   4. GaEun Cho
   5. Lucy Lee Ferraro
   6. Eva Pekle
   7. Darlene Lu
   8. Kate Carney
   9. Claire Wenden
   10. Hannah Beadsmoore
   11. Sergio Kaiser
   12. Lauren Drage
   13. Thomas Haye
   14. Iris Kassem
   15. Nalini Rangaswamy
   16. Ma’en Obeidat
   17. Cyndy Grosskreutz
   18. Magali Saint-Geniez
   19. David H Steel
   20. Robert E MacLaren
   21. Scott Ellis
   22. Claire L Harris
   23. Stephen Poor
   24. Amy V Jones

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This important work advances our understanding of factors influencing efficacy assessments and biomarker viability for complement-directed gene therapy against age-related macular degeneration. The data presented is convincing and offers insights and teachings for the design of gene therapy and complement-targeted therapeutics in the eye and more broadly for future ocular biomarker studies.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Reevaluating the Neural Noise Hypothesis in Dyslexia: Insights from EEG and 7T MRS Biomarkers

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Agnieszka Glica
   2. Katarzyna Wasilewska
   3. Julia Jurkowska
   4. Jarosław Żygierewicz
   5. Bartosz Kossowski
   6. Katarzyna Jednoróg

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The authors combined neurophysiological (electroencephalography [EEG]) and neurochemical (magnetic resonance spectroscopy [MRS]) measures to empirically evaluate the neural noise hypothesis of developmental dyslexia. Their results are solid, supported by consistent findings from the two complementary methodologies and Bayesian statistics. Additional analyses, particularly on the neurochemical measures, are necessary to further substantiate the results. This study is useful for understanding the neural mechanisms of dyslexia and neural development in general.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Mixed representations of choice direction and outcome by GABA/glutamate cotransmitting neurons in the entopeduncular nucleus

    This article has 8 authors:

    1. Julianna R. Locantore
    2. Yijun Liu
    3. Jesse White
    4. Janet Berrios Wallace
    5. Celia C. Beron
    6. Emily Kraft
    7. Bernardo L. Sabatini
    8. Michael L. Wallace

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife assessment

      Somatostatin-expressing neurons of the entopeduncular nucleus (EPNSst+) co-release GABA and glutamate in their projection to the lateral habenula, a structure that is key for reward-based learning. Combining fiber photometry and computational modeling, the authors provide compelling evidence that EPNSst+ neural activity represents movement, choice direction, and reward outcomes in a probabilistic switching task but, surprisingly, neither chronic genetic silencing of these neurons nor selective elimination glutamate release affected behavioral performance in well-trained animals. This valuable study shows that despite its representation of key task variables, EPNSst+ neurons are dispensable for ongoing performance in a task requiring outcome monitoring to optimize reward. This study will be of interest to those interested in reward learning and/or reward-related behavior and systems or behavioral neuroscience more broadly.

    Reviewed by eLife