eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Cell Rearrangement Generates Pattern Emergence as a Function of Temporal Morphogen Exposure

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Timothy Fulton
   2. Kay Spiess
   3. Lewis Thomson
   4. Yuxuan Wang
   5. Bethan Clark
   6. Seongwon Hwang
   7. Brooks Paige
   8. Berta Verd
   9. Benjamin Steventon

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The authors present an exciting idea about how to integrate morphogens into a gene regulatory network with the dynamics of morphogenesis and cell movement. It represents a novel methodology, but in its current form the hypotheses, data and relationships described do not provide a sufficiently compelling model to disentangle cause and effect or elucidate the impact of cell movements on differentiation dynamics the zebrafish mesoderm.

   Reviewed by eLife, preLights

2. Dendritic growth and synaptic organization from activity-independent cues and local activity-dependent plasticity

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Jan H Kirchner
   2. Lucas Euler
   3. Ingo Fritz
   4. André Ferreira Castro
   5. Julijana Gjorgjieva

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important work investigates how two distinct processes, morphological changes and synaptic plasticity, contribute to the final shape of neuronal dendrites and the spatial structure of their synaptic inputs. The modelling is convincing and could be broadly applied to other similar questions. The work will be of interest to neuroscientists studying dendritic development and connectivity at a single-cell level.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Structural and mechanistic insights into the MCM8/9 helicase complex

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Zhuangfeng Weng
   2. Jiefu Zheng
   3. Yiyi Zhou
   4. Zuer Lu
   5. Yixi Wu
   6. Dongyi Xu
   7. Huanhuan Li
   8. Huanhuan Liang
   9. Yingfang Liu

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This paper presents important findings on the hexametric structure of MCM8/9, which potentially explain its role as a DNA helicase in homologous recombination. This solid work will be of interest to biologists studying DNA transactions.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Two-way Dispatched function in Sonic hedgehog shedding and transfer to high-density lipoproteins

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Kristina Ehring
   2. Sophia Friederike Ehlers
   3. Jurij Froese
   4. Fabian Gude
   5. Janna Puschmann
   6. Kay Grobe

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This useful manuscript presents an analysis of different factors that are required for release of the lipid-linked morphogen Shh from cellular membranes. The evidence is still incomplete, as experiments rely on over-expression of Shh in a single cell line and are sometimes of a correlative nature. The study, which otherwise confirms and extends previous findings, will be of interest to developmental biologists who work on Hedgehog signaling.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Reciprocal discoidin domain receptor signaling strengthens integrin adhesion to connect adjacent tissues

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Kieop Park
   2. Ranjay Jayadev
   3. Sara G Payne
   4. Isabel W Kenny-Ganzert
   5. Qiuyi Chi
   6. Daniel S Costa
   7. William Ramos-Lewis
   8. Siddharthan B Thendral
   9. David R Sherwood

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This important paper reveals how cells in adjacent tissues use the extracellular matrix to establish mechanical connections. Through a series of crisp genetic manipulations and quantitative image analyses, the authors provide compelling evidence to show how an essential adhesion between the uterus and the seam cells in the nematode C. elegans is formed. The assembly of type IV collagen triggers internalization of a cell surface receptor, which then signals from endocytic vesicles to strengthen the connection.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Mice lacking triglyceride synthesis enzymes in adipose tissue are resistant to diet-induced obesity

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Chandramohan Chitraju
   2. Alexander W Fischer
   3. Yohannes A Ambaw
   4. Kun Wang
   5. Bo Yuan
   6. Sheng Hui
   7. Tobias C Walther
   8. Robert V Farese

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment:

     This study introduces a valuable paradigm in the field of adipose tissue biology: blocking triglyceride storage in adipose tissue does not lead to lipodystrophy and impaired glucose homeostasis but instead improves metabolic health. The evidence supporting these claims is convincing, based on a comprehensive metabolic analysis, although mechanistic studies would strengthen the study and its impact. This study will be of high interest to those in the adipose tissue biology and metabolism fields.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Molecular consequences of peripheral Influenza A infection on cell populations in the murine hypothalamus

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. René Lemcke
   2. Christine Egebjerg
   3. Nicolai T Berendtsen
   4. Kristoffer L Egerod
   5. Allan R Thomsen
   6. Tune H Pers
   7. Jan P Christensen
   8. Birgitte R Kornum

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This important study combines experiments and computational approaches to understand the effects of influenza H1N1 infection on hypothalamic cells. The methodology and analysis are solid and raise questions around how a respiratory virus affects the central nervous system.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. A reductionist paradigm for high-throughput behavioural fingerprinting in Drosophila melanogaster

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Hannah Jones
   2. Jenny A Willis
   3. Lucy C Firth
   4. Carlo NG Giachello
   5. Giorgio F Gilestro

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This study presents an important open-source resource for high-throughput behavioral screening. The protocols employ inexpensive, off the shelf hardware, and allow real-time analysis of hundreds of behaving flies. Although these protocols were developed using Drosophila melanogaster, they could easily be applied to other models. The evidence in support of the conclusions is solid and the revisions carried out by the authors go a long way towards providing the user with an integrated system that is also more user-friendly.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Adaptive biasing of action-selective cortical build-up activity by stimulus history

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Anke Braun
   2. Tobias H Donner

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     In uncertain conditions, decisions are not made in isolation but are rather biased by the recent past. This new work provides valuable insights into these history biases in human perceptual decision-making, by characterizing the neural correlates of stimulus history biases and their short-term dynamics. The study provides compelling behavioral and MEG evidence that humans adapt their history biases to the correlation structure of uncertain sensory environments.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. A cleaved METTL3 potentiates the METTL3–WTAP interaction and breast cancer progression

    This article has 13 authors:

    1. Chaojun Yan
    2. Jingjing Xiong
    3. Zirui Zhou
    4. Qifang Li
    5. Chuan Gao
    6. Mengyao Zhang
    7. Liya Yu
    8. Jinpeng Li
    9. Ming-Ming Hu
    10. Chen-Song Zhang
    11. Cheguo Cai
    12. Haojian Zhang
    13. Jing Zhang

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife assessment

      This study presents the valuable finding that a cleaved form of METTL3 (termed METTL3a) has an essential role in regulating the assembly of the METTL3-METTL14-WTAP complex. The evidence supporting the claims of the authors is solid, and the work will be of interest to medical biologists working on breast cancer.

    Reviewed by eLife