eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Heterogeneous non-canonical nucleosomes predominate in yeast cells in situ

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Zhi Yang Tan
   2. Shujun Cai
   3. Alex J Noble
   4. Jon K Chen
   5. Jian Shi
   6. Lu Gan

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This important paper exploits new cryo-EM tomography tools to examine the state of chromatin in situ. The experimental work is meticulously performed, with a vast amount of data collected, with convincing interpretation of possible nucleosomal structures in yeast. The majority of these nucleosomes appear not to possess stable octameric configurations. Although it cannot be excluded that there could be an unknown bias in class detection, we agree that the authors have gone as far as is possible, given constraints in current technology and analysis, to support their model. Despite the provocative nature of this report, it is our hope that such work will spark debate, and further the development of exciting new tools that can interrogate the dynamic nature of the nucleosome, and its associated functions in situ.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Inositol pyrophosphate dynamics reveals control of the yeast phosphate starvation program through 1,5-IP8 and the SPX domain of Pho81

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Valentin Chabert
   2. Geun-Don Kim
   3. Danye Qiu
   4. Guizhen Liu
   5. Lydie Michaillat Mayer
   6. Muhammed Jamsheer K
   7. Henning J Jessen
   8. Andreas Mayer

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This fundamental study describes the mechanisms for regulation of the phosphate starvation response in baker's yeast, clarifies the interpretations of prior data, and suggests a unifying mechanism across eukaryotes. The study provides compelling data, based on biochemical analyses, protein localization by fluorescence, and genetic approaches that 1,5-InsP8 is the phosphate nutrient messenger in yeast.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Genetic validation of PfFKBP35 as an antimalarial drug target

   This article has 13 authors:

   1. Basil T Thommen
   2. Jerzy M Dziekan
   3. Fiona Achcar
   4. Seth Tjia
   5. Armin Passecker
   6. Katarzyna Buczak
   7. Christin Gumpp
   8. Alexander Schmidt
   9. Matthias Rottmann
   10. Christof Grüring
   11. Matthias Marti
   12. Zbynek Bozdech
   13. Nicolas MB Brancucci

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     FKBP35 is the only FK506-binding protein present in the malaria-causing parasite Plasmodium falciparum, and has been considered a promising drug target due to its high affinity to the macrolide compound FK506, an immunosuppressant with antiplasmodial activity. This study demonstrates the essentiality of FKBP35 in parasite growth, based on compelling genetic evidence. The data also suggest that FK506 may exert its antimalarial activity through FKBP35-independent mechanisms that have not yet been characterised. This important study will be of interest to scientists working on the parasite biology and antimalarial drug development.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Determinants of sugar-induced influx in the mammalian fructose transporter GLUT5

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Sarah E McComas
   2. Tom Reichenbach
   3. Darko Mitrovic
   4. Claudia Alleva
   5. Marta Bonaccorsi
   6. Lucie Delemotte
   7. David Drew

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The current manuscript investigates the energy landscape of the mammalian sugar porter GLUT5 using enhanced molecular dynamics simulations and biochemical assays. The approach generates important insights into the mechanism of GLUT5 conformational change, and into mechanistic diversity among the GLUT sugar porters more generally. The overall strategy is solid, but without an additional error analysis, the computational components remain incomplete. These findings will be of interest to the transporter and membrane biology communities.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Inferring causal connectivity from pairwise recordings and optogenetics

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Mikkel Elle Lepperød
   2. Tristan Stöber
   3. Torkel Hafting
   4. Marianne Fyhn
   5. Konrad Paul Kording

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This useful study adapts methods from causal inference to develop analytical tools for determining the causal influence of single cells on downstream neurons. The simulation evidence is solid, suggesting that these causal methods produce better estimates under biologically-relevant confounds given enough data, although the practical application of the method and the biophysics it relies on is unclear. Nonetheless, this application of causal methods developed in econometrics and other fields could suggest new ways to think about largely observational datasets in neuroscience.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Interplay between VSD, pore, and membrane lipids in electromechanical coupling in HCN channels

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Ahmad Elbahnsi
   2. John Cowgill
   3. Verena Burtscher
   4. Linda Wedemann
   5. Luise Zeckey
   6. Baron Chanda
   7. Lucie Delemotte

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     Hyperpolarised-activated and Cyclic Nucleotide-gated (HCN) channels are the only mammalian channels to open under hyperpolarisation, being important for their roles in cardiac and neuronal cells. The authors of this study use atomistic simulations to enforce changing interaction distances that have been identified from a cryoEM structure and a homology model based on the hERG channel. The simulations suggest state-dependent interactions involving pore and voltage sensor helices, as well as with lipids, leading the authors to propose a domino-like mechanism of activation. These findings will be of considerable interest to the ion channel community.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Local angiogenic interplay of Vegfc/d and Vegfa controls brain region-specific emergence of fenestrated capillaries

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Sweta Parab
   2. Olivia A Card
   3. Qiyu Chen
   4. Michelle America
   5. Luke D Buck
   6. Rachael E Quick
   7. William F Horrigan
   8. Gil Levkowitz
   9. Benoit Vanhollebeke
   10. Ryota L Matsuoka

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This is a comprehensive approach to understanding the genetic requirements of the VEGF family in the generation of brain capillary structure in zebrafish. The manuscript combines vascular brain/meningeal anatomy revealed with a variety of reporter lines, with mutants for Wnt/β-catenin signaling and angiogenic cues. In particular revealing genetic redundancy in VEGF receptor family in an essential function in vasculature development.

     This paper is significant because it provides compelling evidence that features methods, data, and analyses more rigorous than the current state-of-the-art in analysis of brain vasculature development. The data derived from the reporter lines are convincing, and the germline mutations allow for solid visualization and quantification of results.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Transcriptional cartography integrates multiscale biology of the human cortex

   This article has 14 authors:

   1. Konrad Wagstyl
   2. Sophie Adler
   3. Jakob Seidlitz
   4. Simon Vandekar
   5. Travis T Mallard
   6. Richard Dear
   7. Alex R DeCasien
   8. Theodore D Satterthwaite
   9. Siyuan Liu
   10. Petra E Vértes
   11. Russell T Shinohara
   12. Aaron Alexander-Bloch
   13. Daniel H Geschwind
   14. Armin Raznahan

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This study provides continuous maps of human brain gene expression and explores their relationship with a large variety of microscopic and macroscopic aspects of brain organisation. The authors provide convincing evidence for a relationship between gene expression maps with various aspects of the anatomy of adult brains, during development, and in the case of mental disorders. The data and methods introduced can be an important tool for neuroimaging research.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Inhibitory CCK+ basket synapse defects in mouse models of dystroglycanopathy

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Jennifer N Jahncke
   2. Daniel S Miller
   3. Milana Krush
   4. Eric Schnell
   5. Kevin M Wright

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     These important findings will be of interest for the study of dystroglycanopathies and in the general area of axon migration and synapse formation. This work provides convincing conclusions about how a range of dystroglycan mutations alter CCK interneuron axonal targeting and synaptic connectivity in the forebrain, and seizure susceptibility.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Firing rate adaptation affords place cell theta sweeps, phase precession, and procession

    This article has 9 authors:

    1. Tianhao Chu
    2. Zilong Ji
    3. Junfeng Zuo
    4. Yuanyuan Mi
    5. Wen-hao Zhang
    6. Tiejun Huang
    7. Daniel Bush
    8. Neil Burgess
    9. Si Wu

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife assessment

      This study provides valuable new insights on how a prevailing model of hippocampal sequence formation can account for recent data, including forward and backward sweeps, as well as constant cycling of sweeps across different arms of a T-maze. The convincing evidence presented in support of this work relies on classical analytical and computational techniques about continuous attractor networks.

    Reviewed by eLife