eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. How microscopic epistasis and clonal interference shape the fitness trajectory in a spin glass model of microbial long-term evolution

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Nicholas M Boffi
   2. Yipei Guo
   3. Chris H Rycroft
   4. Ariel Amir

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This important study describes a high performance computational approach to interrogate how microscopic epistasis and clonal interference affect evolutionary dynamics in a spin glass model of microbial evolution. The study offers several insights that can aid in our understanding of the forces that operate in adaptive evolution. The evidence provided is compelling, with its rigorous use of models and analytical descriptions of how these forces manifest in evolution.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. A neural network model of differentiation and integration of competing memories

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Victoria JH Ritvo
   2. Alex Nguyen
   3. Nicholas B Turk-Browne
   4. Kenneth A Norman

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This paper presents important computational modeling work that provides a mechanistic account for how memory representations become integrated or differentiated (i.e., having distinct neural representations despite being similar in content). The authors provide convincing evidence that simple unsupervised learning in a neural network model, which critically weakens connections of units that are moderately activated by multiple memories, can account for three empirical findings of differentiation in the literature. The paper also provides insightful discussion on the factors contributing to differentiation as opposed to integration, and makes new predictions for future empirical work.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Experimentally induced active and quiet sleep engage non-overlapping transcriptional programs in Drosophila

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Niki Anthoney
   2. Lucy Tainton-Heap
   3. Hang Luong
   4. Eleni Notaras
   5. Amber B Kewin
   6. Qiongyi Zhao
   7. Trent Perry
   8. Philip Batterham
   9. Paul J Shaw
   10. Bruno van Swinderen

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     Drosophila is a powerful model organism for understanding the molecular and neural regulation of sleep. However, methodological limitations exist that would appear to limit the relevance of work done in the fly to our understanding of mammalian sleep. In this important work, the authors provide physiological, behavioral, and molecular evidence for the existence of two potential sleep stages in Drosophila. The experiments are generally well conducted and the authors' interpretations of their results are solid overall. Although technically innovative and conceptually provocative, there are aspects of the approaches used and results obtained that leave the central conclusions open to interpretation.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Novel regulators of islet function identified from genetic variation in mouse islet Ca2+ oscillations

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Christopher H Emfinger
   2. Lauren E Clark
   3. Brian Yandell
   4. Kathryn L Schueler
   5. Shane P Simonett
   6. Donnie S Stapleton
   7. Kelly A Mitok
   8. Matthew J Merrins
   9. Mark P Keller
   10. Alan D Attie

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The authors provide a fundamental resource, detailing genetic variation of nutrient-responsive islet calcium regulation in mice through the lens of proteomics. The evidence for the mechanisms identified using this resource is compelling and strongly supported by integration with results from genome-wide association studies in humans. The construction of a streamlined and searchable web interface for the data will maximize their accessibility and utilization by the community.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Pathologic polyglutamine aggregation begins with a self-poisoning polymer crystal

   This article has 14 authors:

   1. Tej Kandola
   2. Shriram Venkatesan
   3. Jiahui Zhang
   4. Brooklyn T Lerbakken
   5. Alex Von Schulze
   6. Jillian F Blanck
   7. Jianzheng Wu
   8. Jay R Unruh
   9. Paula Berry
   10. Jeffrey J Lange
   11. Andrew C Box
   12. Malcolm Cook
   13. Celeste Sagui
   14. Randal Halfmann

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The authors investigate the mechanism of amyloid nucleation in a cellular system using novel ratiometric measurements, providing fundamental insight into the role of polyglutamine length and the sequence features of glutamine-rich regions in amyloid formation. The problem addressed by this study is very significant and the ability to assess nucleation in cells is of considerable value. The data, as presented and analyzed, are mostly convincing.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Cell-type-specific control of secondary cell wall formation by Musashi-type translational regulators in Arabidopsis

   This article has 17 authors:

   1. Alicia Kairouani
   2. Dominique Pontier
   3. Claire Picart
   4. Fabien Mounet
   5. Yves Martinez
   6. Lucie Le-Bot
   7. Mathieu Fanuel
   8. Philippe Hammann
   9. Lucid Belmudes
   10. Remy Merret
   11. Jacinthe Azevedo
   12. Marie-Christine Carpentier
   13. Dominique Gagliardi
   14. Yohann Couté
   15. Richard Sibout
   16. Natacha Bies-Etheve
   17. Thierry Lagrange

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     Secondary cell walls support vascular plants and conduct water throughout the plant body, and are crucial resources for lignocellulosic feedstocks. Here the authors present convincing genetic and biochemical evidence that secondary cell wall synthesis, known already to be under complex transcriptional control, is also controlled post-transcriptionally by MUSASHI-like RNA-binding proteins. These important results point to a new mechanism for control of secondary cell wall synthesis, which will be interesting to cell biologists and biochemists studying and attempting to manipulate plant biomass.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. β-Arrestin-dependent and -independent endosomal G protein activation by the vasopressin type 2 receptor

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Carole Daly
   2. Akim Abdul Guseinov
   3. Hyunggu Hahn
   4. Adam Wright
   5. Irina G Tikhonova
   6. Alex Rojas Bie Thomsen
   7. Bianca Plouffe

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This is an important study that contributes to our understanding of the role of beta-arrestins in endosomal activation of the vasopressin type 2 receptors. While the use of a minigene as a tool is a weakness, the evidence is overall convincing and makes for significant findings whose theoretical and practical implications extend to other GPCRs.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. 100 years of anthropogenic impact causes changes in freshwater functional biodiversity

   This article has 13 authors:

   1. Niamh Eastwood
   2. Jiarui Zhou
   3. Romain Derelle
   4. Mohamed Abou-Elwafa Abdallah
   5. William A Stubbings
   6. Yunlu Jia
   7. Sarah E Crawford
   8. Thomas A Davidson
   9. John K Colbourne
   10. Simon Creer
   11. Holly Bik
   12. Henner Hollert
   13. Luisa Orsini

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This fundamental study advances the analytic toolset and understanding of long-term series of biological (freshwater) communities, and the impact of humans on these. The authors highlight the value of including not only spatiotemporal scales in biodiversity assessments but also some of the possible drivers of biodiversity loss. Analyzing their joint contribution as environmental stressors, the authors provide compelling evidence that ecosystem assessment methods currently used by environmental regulators throughout Europe are not fit-for-purpose, and they identify several alternatives, more robust indicators of freshwater ecosystem health. The work is timely and will be of interest to ecologists, modelers and global warming scientists in general.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Switching of RNA splicing regulators in immature neuroblasts during adult neurogenesis

   This article has 13 authors:

   1. Corentin Bernou
   2. Marc-André Mouthon
   3. Mathieu Daynac
   4. Thierry Kortulewski
   5. Benjamin Demaille
   6. Vilma Barroca
   7. Sebastien Couillard-Despres
   8. Nathalie Dechamps
   9. Véronique Ménard
   10. Léa Bellenger
   11. Christophe Antoniewski
   12. Alexandra Déborah Chicheportiche
   13. François Dominique Boussin

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This useful manuscript presents an intriguing potential refinement of models for adult SVZ neurogenesis, and highlights the role of RNA splicing at specific stages in the lineage. Unfortunately, the evidence does not fully support the claims, leaving it currently incomplete. The proposed role of RNA splicing in neuronal differentiation, though interesting, remains unexplored and would benefit significantly from targeted gene manipulation studies.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Gene–environment pathways to cognitive intelligence and psychotic-like experiences in children

    This article has 8 authors:

    1. Junghoon Park
    2. Eunji Lee
    3. Gyeongcheol Cho
    4. Heungsun Hwang
    5. Bo-Gyeom Kim
    6. Gakyung Kim
    7. Yoonjung Yoonie Joo
    8. Jiook Cha

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife assessment

      This study presents a useful inventory of the joint effects of genetic and environmental factors on psychotic-like experiences and identifies cognitive ability as a potential underlying mediating pathway. The data were analyzed using a solid and validated methodology based on a large, multi-center dataset. The claim that these findings are of relevance to psychosis risk and have implications for policy changes is partially supported by the results.

    Reviewed by eLife