eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Task-dependent optimal representations for cerebellar learning

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Marjorie Xie
   2. Samuel P Muscinelli
   3. Kameron Decker Harris
   4. Ashok Litwin-Kumar

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     Models of cerebellar function and the coding of inputs in the cerebellum often assume that random stimuli are a reasonable stand-in for real stimuli. However, the important contribution of this paper is that conclusions about optimality and sparseness in these models do not generalize to potentially more realistic sets of stimuli, for example, those drawn from a low-dimensional manifold. While the mathematical modelling and analysis in the paper are convincing, one important limitation of the paper is that the neural dynamics and circuit architecture are not very specific to the cerebellum, and lack important biological detail.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Cholinergic modulation shifts the response of CA1 pyramidal cells to depolarizing ramps via TRPM4 channels with potential implications for place field firing

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Crescent L Combe
   2. Carol M Upchurch
   3. Carmen C Canavier
   4. Sonia Gasparini

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This manuscript by Combe et al. presents the role of cholinergic modulation in the spike rate adaptation in pyramidal place cells. Using combined electrophysiology, pharmacological, and multi-compartment computational modeling, the authors identify the downstream pathway (e.g. activation of TRPM4 channel) that shapes the firing pattern under the triangular-shaped ramps. The study demonstrates solid evidence, and the findings are important for bridging pyramidal neurons' molecular/channel properties to behavior-level implications (place field firing).

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Spontaneous body wall contractions stabilize the fluid microenvironment that shapes host–microbe associations

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Janna C Nawroth
   2. Christoph Giez
   3. Alexander Klimovich
   4. Eva Kanso
   5. Thomas CG Bosch

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This important work studies the spontaneous contractions (SC) of the Hydra body wall and presents a mathematical model of nutrient transport to hypothesize the role of SC on maintaining the microbiota. The solid evidence presented yields insights on the functional implications of the SC and the increased nutrient update obtained from mixing the local fluid environment through body wall contractions. The main result represents an important observation about the role of hydrodynamics on organism behavior and its relation to diffusive chemical transport processes.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. SARS-CoV-2 uses CD4 to infect T helper lymphocytes

   This article has 76 authors:

   1. Natalia S Brunetti
   2. Gustavo G Davanzo
   3. Diogo de Moraes
   4. Allan JR Ferrari
   5. Gabriela F Souza
   6. Stéfanie Primon Muraro
   7. Thiago L Knittel
   8. Vinicius O Boldrini
   9. Lauar B Monteiro
   10. João Victor Virgílio-da-Silva
   11. Gerson S Profeta
   12. Natália S Wassano
   13. Luana Nunes Santos
   14. Victor C Carregari
   15. Artur HS Dias
   16. Flavio P Veras
   17. Lucas A Tavares
   18. Julia Forato
   19. Icaro MS Castro
   20. Lícia C Silva-Costa
   21. André C Palma
   22. Eli Mansour
   23. Raisa G Ulaf
   24. Ana F Bernardes
   25. Thyago A Nunes
   26. Luciana C Ribeiro
   27. Marcus V Agrela
   28. Maria Luiza Moretti
   29. Lucas I Buscaratti
   30. Fernanda Crunfli
   31. Raissa G Ludwig
   32. Jaqueline A Gerhardt
   33. Natália Munhoz-Alves
   34. Ana Maria Marques
   35. Renata Sesti-Costa
   36. Mariene R Amorim
   37. Daniel A Toledo-Teixeira
   38. Pierina Lorencini Parise
   39. Matheus Cavalheiro Martini
   40. Karina Bispos-dos-Santos
   41. Camila L Simeoni
   42. Fabiana Granja
   43. Virgínia C Silvestrini
   44. Eduardo B de Oliveira
   45. Vitor M Faca
   46. Murilo Carvalho
   47. Bianca G Castelucci
   48. Alexandre B Pereira
   49. Laís D Coimbra
   50. Marieli MG Dias
   51. Patricia B Rodrigues
   52. Arilson Bernardo SP Gomes
   53. Fabricio B Pereira
   54. Leonilda MB Santos
   55. Louis-Marie Bloyet
   56. Spencer Stumpf
   57. Marjorie C Pontelli
   58. Sean Whelan
   59. Andrei C Sposito
   60. Robson F Carvalho
   61. André S Vieira
   62. Marco AR Vinolo
   63. André Damasio
   64. Licio Velloso
   65. Ana Carolina M Figueira
   66. Luis LP da Silva
   67. Thiago Mattar Cunha
   68. Helder I Nakaya
   69. Henrique Marques-Souza
   70. Rafael E Marques
   71. Daniel Martins-de-Souza
   72. Munir S Skaf
   73. Jose Luiz Proenca-Modena
   74. Pedro MM Moraes-Vieira
   75. Marcelo A Mori
   76. Alessandro S Farias

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The manuscript by Brunetti et al. represents an important contribution where SARS-CoV-2 infection of T-helper cells is implicated and found to be mediated by CD4. The work progressed through a computationally driven hypothesis, by analyzing the interaction partners of SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein (as initially modelled through similar SARS-CoV-1), followed by experimental validations, and further computational and experimental insights on the mechanism of binding. The study identifies the interaction between spike RBD domain and N Terminal domain of CD4 molecule as the specific viral attachment strategy. The evidence supporting the claims of the authors is solid, the results look significant and the data is clear and enough for understanding the manuscript. It also provides a potential usefulness of their approach in future work in understanding how viruses mediate infection of T cells. The work will be of interest to medical biologists working on SARS-CoV-2.

   Reviewed by eLife, ScreenIT

5. Metformin regulates bone marrow stromal cells to accelerate bone healing in diabetic mice

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Yuqi Guo
   2. Jianlu Wei
   3. Chuanju Liu
   4. Xin Li
   5. Wenbo Yan

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This fundamental work advances our understanding of the effects of metformin on bone healing in hyperglycemic conditions. The evidence supporting the conclusion is convincing, using three different types of bone fracture models in type-2 diabetes (T2D) mice. This paper is of potential interest to skeletal biologists, orthopaedic surgeons, and endocrinologists who study the effects of metformin on fracture healing.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. A critical role for heme synthesis and succinate in the regulation of pluripotent states transitions

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Damien Detraux
   2. Marino Caruso
   3. Louise Feller
   4. Maude Fransolet
   5. Sébastien Meurant
   6. Julie Mathieu
   7. Thierry Arnould
   8. Patricia Renard

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     In their current study, Detraux D and colleagues provide some evidence suggesting a role for heme biosynthesis on FGF-ERK and TGF beta signalling and exit from naïve pluripotency, and in controlling the 2-cell-like cell state. The observations provided by the authors are interesting and potentially relevant in the field of pluripotent cell state transitions.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Genome-wide screen reveals Rab12 GTPase as a critical activator of Parkinson’s disease-linked LRRK2 kinase

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Herschel S Dhekne
   2. Francesca Tonelli
   3. Wondwossen M Yeshaw
   4. Claire Y Chiang
   5. Charles Limouse
   6. Ebsy Jaimon
   7. Elena Purlyte
   8. Dario R Alessi
   9. Suzanne R Pfeffer

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     Dhekne et al report a novel pathway for activation of the multi-domain LRRK2 protein kinase by Rab12 GTPase. LRRK2, which is mutated in Parkinson's Disease phosphorylates a subset of Rab proteins involved in intracellular trafficking, and Parkinson's disease-linked mutations increase this phosphorylation. This work adds an important new layer of understanding of this highly complex pathway by revealing that LRRK2's binding to Rab12 enhances its ability to phosphorylate Rab10. This conclusion is supported by compelling evidence from a wide array of rigorous approaches.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Transposons are important contributors to gene expression variability under selection in rice populations

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Raúl Castanera
   2. Noemia Morales-Díaz
   3. Sonal Gupta
   4. Michael Purugganan
   5. Josep M Casacuberta

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This valuable study reports on the role of transposable elements in gene expression variation in rice and how TE-associated expression changes could have been selected during domestication. The combination of evidence from linkage studies and selection scans for a subset of insertions is convincing, although it is difficult to know in how many cases linkage of TE insertions to other regulatory variants is responsible for altered gene expression and in how many cases the TE insertions themselves are the bona fide cause of altered gene expression. The work will be of interest to colleagues working on the role of transposable elements in adaptation and to biologists working on domestication.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Hunger- and thirst-sensing neurons modulate a neuroendocrine network to coordinate sugar and water ingestion

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Amanda J González Segarra
   2. Gina Pontes
   3. Nicholas Jourjine
   4. Alexander Del Toro
   5. Kristin Scott

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This important study identifies and characterizes a broad peptidergic network that coordinates nutrient-specific consumption needs for food or water. Using state-of-the-art methodology the authors combine a well-balanced set of exploratory anatomical analyses with rigorous functional experimental approaches to examine how ingestion is regulated based on internal needs. These significant and convincing new findings are of broad interest to the neuroscience field.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. What AlphaFold tells us about cohesin’s retention on and release from chromosomes

    This article has 4 authors:

    1. Kim A Nasmyth
    2. Byung-Gil Lee
    3. Maurici Brunet Roig
    4. Jan Löwe

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife assessment

      This important study makes use of AlphaFold2 to predict the models of tens of cohesin subcomplexes from different species. The models, which are in most cases consistent with published cohesin variants with compromised in vitro and in vivo cohesin activity, provide convincing evidence that leads to testable hypotheses of cohesin dynamics and regulation. More broadly, this study serves as an example of how to use AlphaFold2 to build models of protein complexes that involve the docking of flexible regions to globular domains.

    Reviewed by eLife