eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Tatton-Brown-Rahman Syndrome-associated DNMT3A mutations de-repress cortical interneuron differentiation to disrupt neuronal network function

   This article has 13 authors:

   1. Gareth Chapman
   2. Julianna J Determan
   3. John R Edwards
   4. Faiza Batool
   5. James E Huettner
   6. Ramachandran Prakasam
   7. Sydney R Crump
   8. Yasmin Razia
   9. Sofia Malik
   10. Travis E Law
   11. Haley Jetter
   12. Harrison W Gabel
   13. Kristen L Kroll

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This is an important study that comprehensively determines the consequences of DNMT3A mutations on human neuronal development in culture. The data derived from multiple different mutations in iPSC and hESC derived neurons and organoids are convincing and well controlled. This work will be of interest to researchers who study chromatin mechanisms of brain development and to those interested in DMNT3A mutations in Tatton-Brown-Rahman Syndrome.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Auditory-motor interactions are sensitive to adaptation and learning on multiple timescales

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Haiqin Zhang
   2. Giorgia Cantisani
   3. Shihab Shamma

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study builds a novel auditory-motor paradigm to investigate how the brain learns associations between movements and their auditory consequences. Solid evidence is provided for early ERPs (50-100 ms latency) reflecting violations of established key-pitch mappings. The study is of potential interest to researchers studying audition, sensorimotor integration, or predictive coding, but some statistical analyses, however, could still be improved.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Task-Dependent Motor Unit Recruitment and Rate Coding Reveal Redistribution of Neural Drive in the Human Hand

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Marius Osswald
   2. Jaime Ibáñez
   3. Martin Regensburger
   4. Nick Unbehaun
   5. Alessandro Del Vecchio

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This useful study asked whether the behaviour of motor units from a hand muscle changed across the two mechanical actions it performs. The authors used high-density intramuscular electrodes to record the activity of several motor units and reported changes in motor unit recruitment order across tasks that were not dependent on motor unit properties, suggesting differential spinal contributions to the two actions. However, the evidence supporting their main claims is incomplete, and some of the conclusions are based on unsubstantiated assumptions: the authors should correct several key analyses and temper claims that are not directly backed up by their data.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Collective directional memory controls the range of epithelial cell migration

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Helena Canever
   2. Hugo Lachuer
   3. Quentin Delaunay
   4. François Sipieter
   5. Nicolas Audugé
   6. Philippe P Girard
   7. Nicolas Borghi

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     The authors make the valuable observation that directional memory during epithelial cell migration is enhanced in collective contexts compared to single-cell migration. While there is solid evidence for some parts of the work, the evidence linking directional memory to adherens junctions and vinculin dimerization remains limited. Key issues are that the Y1065E mutant may affect vinculin beyond its ability to dimerize, and focal adhesions were not directly compared across migration contexts.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Diet-conditioned microbiota enhances fecal microbiota transplantation efficacy in alcoholic liver disease through caproic acid-PPARα signaling

   This article has 12 authors:

   1. Nishu Choudhary
   2. Ashi Mittal
   3. Sandeep Kumar
   4. Kavita Yadav
   5. Anupama Kumari
   6. Deepanshu Maheshwari
   7. Pragyan Parimita Rath
   8. Jaswinder Singh Maras
   9. Asif Mohmmed
   10. Anupam Kumar
   11. Shiv K Sarin
   12. Shvetank Sharma

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     The study provides valuable findings suggesting that modifying the donor's diet improves the effectiveness of fecal transplant therapies for liver disease. Although the reported results are of value, the evidence supporting the overall conclusions is incomplete. In particular, causal inferences regarding the effects of microbiota composition, as well as caproic acid signaling on the phenotypes studied, need further confirmation.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Gluconeogenic compensation renders glycogen phosphorylase non-essential as an insecticidal target in Plutella xylostella

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Yifei Zhou
   2. Yanqi Kang
   3. Yan Liu
   4. Ruichi Li
   5. Dongliang Wang
   6. Chong Yi
   7. Yifan Li
   8. Yalin Zhang
   9. Zhen Tian
   10. Jiyuan Liu

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study provides valuable evidence that glycogen phosphorylase is unlikely to represent an effective insecticidal target in Plutella xylostella and that diflubenzuron does not directly inhibit this enzyme. The combination of biochemical, molecular and physiological approaches provides convincing data to support these conclusions, although the proposed metabolic compensation mechanism is supported primarily by indirect evidence and would benefit from direct demonstration.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Understanding neural circuit principles for representation learning through joint-embedding predictive architectures

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Ashena Gorgan Mohammadi
   2. Manu Srinath Halvagal
   3. Friedemann Zenke

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This manuscript proposes a valuable idea on how cortical networks may learn a helpful representation of sensory stimuli. The model implementing this idea is tested in multiple experimental paradigms. However, the evidence remains incomplete as to whether the method supports both invariance and equivariance and whether it can estimate the dynamics of the moving object.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Complementary stable and dynamic prelimbic ensembles encode learned threat value underlying generalization and discrimination

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Marc E Normandin
   2. Pedro M Ogallar
   3. Matthew R Lopez
   4. Manuel M Ramos-Alvarez
   5. Isabel A Muzzio

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study examines how the rodent prelimbic cortex represents learned and generalized threat over time and identifies distinct stable and dynamic neuronal populations that contribute to these representations. The evidence is convincing, supported by longitudinal calcium imaging, appropriate control groups, and sophisticated analyses showing that the relevant neural signals cannot be explained simply by freezing behavior. The work provides a conceptual framework for understanding how stable threat-related representations supporting memory generalization and discrimination can be maintained despite ongoing changes in neuronal ensemble composition.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Predicting functional topography of the human visual cortex from cortical anatomy at scale

   This article has 11 authors:

   1. Fernanda L Ribeiro
   2. Robert Satzger
   3. Felix Hoffstaedter
   4. Christian Bürger
   5. Peer Herholz
   6. David Linhardt
   7. Noah C Benson
   8. D Samuel Schwarzkopf
   9. Alexander M Puckett
   10. Steffen Bollmann
   11. Martin N Hebart

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study presents a tool that uses brain anatomy to predict the layout and size of early visual maps, and it is strengthened by the use of a large and diverse collection of scans to examine differences across people and groups. The evidence is solid for the general usefulness of the approach, but incomplete for some of the broader claims about prediction accuracy and use across data sets, particularly for estimates of map size and for showing that the model improves on repeated functional measurements. This paper is likely to be of significant interest to visual perception researchers, especially those who use fMRI.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Modulation of human dorsal root ganglion neuron excitability by Nav1.7 inhibition

    This article has 7 authors:

    1. Akie Fujita
    2. Sooyeon Jo
    3. Robert G Stewart
    4. Tomás Osorno
    5. Alyssa Ferraiuolo
    6. Kevin Carlin
    7. Bruce P Bean

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife Assessment

      This important study investigates the role of Nav1.7 voltage-gated sodium channels in regulating excitability of human dorsal root ganglion (hDRG) neurons. The authors characterize a previously identified Nav1.7 channel inhibitor using recombinant channels and human neurons. The study convincingly shows that inhibition of Nav1.7 channels with AM-2099 causes a modest decrease in neuronal excitability and prolongs the refractory period. This work offers new insights into the mechanism of clinically relevant pharmacological targets for pain relief.

    Reviewed by eLife