eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Molecular basis of interactions between CaMKII and α-actinin-2 that underlie dendritic spine enlargement

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Ashton J Curtis
   2. Jian Zhu
   3. Christopher J Penny
   4. Matthew G Gold

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This fundamental study from Gold and colleagues substantially advances our understanding of the synaptic targeting of a major postsynaptic protein kinase, CaMKII, which is the basis for the persistence of excitatory synaptic strength in synaptic plasticity. The evidence supporting the claims of the authors is convincing, with cell biological, biochemical, as well as structural biological approaches. This work will be of interest to cell and computational biologists working on learning/memory.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. PASK links cellular energy metabolism with a mitotic self-renewal network to establish differentiation competence

   This article has 15 authors:

   1. Michael Xiao
   2. Chia-Hua Wu
   3. Graham Meek
   4. Brian Kelly
   5. Dara Buendia Castillo
   6. Lyndsay EA Young
   7. Sara Martire
   8. Sajina Dhungel
   9. Elizabeth McCauley
   10. Purbita Saha
   11. Altair L Dube
   12. Matthew S Gentry
   13. Laura A Banaszynski
   14. Ramon C Sun
   15. Chintan K Kikani

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This study advances the understanding of metabolic regulation underpinning self-renewal of stem cells. The authors report that glutamine-dependent acetylation of the kinase PASK regulates its nuclear localization. Evidence is provided that nuclear PASK binds and disrupts Wdr5 association with the anaphase-promoting complex/cyclosome and is a trigger for the activation of myogenic programs in cultured cells. The study will be of interest to an audience in the areas of stem cells, regeneration and metabolic signalling.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Single-cell analysis reveals dynamics of human B cell differentiation and identifies novel B and antibody-secreting cell intermediates

   This article has 14 authors:

   1. Niels JM Verstegen
   2. Sabrina Pollastro
   3. Peter-Paul A Unger
   4. Casper Marsman
   5. George Elias
   6. Tineke Jorritsma
   7. Marij Streutker
   8. Kevin Bassler
   9. Kristian Haendler
   10. Theo Rispens
   11. Joachim L Schultze
   12. Anja ten Brinke
   13. Marc Beyer
   14. S Marieke van Ham

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     In this work, Verstegen and colleagues established an in vitro system and describe human B cell differentiation pathways via germinal center B cells towards plasma cells by performing single-cell analysis of in vitro stimulated human B cells. The study provides solid evidence toward establishment of in vitro model for B cell differentiation. This study may be valuable in differentiation of primary naive B cells into ASC ex vivo and will be of interest for immunologists with emphasis in B cell biology.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. The normalization model predicts responses in the human visual cortex during object-based attention

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Narges Doostani
   2. Gholam-Ali Hossein-Zadeh
   3. Maryam Vaziri-Pashkam

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The authors state that there is scant experimental evidence of divisive normalization of neural responses in the human brain. They used fMRI BOLD response to high-level stimuli to explore normalization in V1, object-selective (LO and pFs) and category-selective regions (EBA and PPA) as well effects of attention on cortical responses. Specifically, the authors first test the degree to which BOLD responses to body parts and houses exhibit responses predicted by a non-linear normalization model, compared to two linear models (weighted sum and weighted average). They find that responses, when considering responses to one vs two stimuli, are best fit with the normalization model. They then suggest that object-based attention effects can be better accounted for by a normalization model of attention, compared to attention variants of the aforementioned models. The paper could potentially be an important contribution to the fields of perceptual and cognitive neuroscience, but the conclusions are not sufficiently supported by the data at this stage. Several theoretical and methodological concerns limit the conclusions of this study.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. A mouse model of human mitofusin-2-related lipodystrophy exhibits adipose-specific mitochondrial stress and reduced leptin secretion

   This article has 17 authors:

   1. Jake P Mann
   2. Xiaowen Duan
   3. Satish Patel
   4. Luis Carlos Tábara
   5. Fabio Scurria
   6. Anna Alvarez-Guaita
   7. Afreen Haider
   8. Ineke Luijten
   9. Matthew Page
   10. Margherita Protasoni
   11. Koini Lim
   12. Sam Virtue
   13. Stephen O'Rahilly
   14. Martin Armstrong
   15. Julien Prudent
   16. Robert K Semple
   17. David B Savage

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This manuscript describes a mouse model of a human mitofusin 2- related lipodystrophy, generated by knockin of Mfn2 R707W, and reports data suggesting adipocyte-specific effects involving the integrated stress response, mTorc signaling, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition pathways. The data will be important for understanding how mitochondria can be affected in tissue-specific manner to contribute to metabolic disease.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Timeline of changes in spike conformational dynamics in emergent SARS-CoV-2 variants reveal progressive stabilization of trimer stalk with altered NTD dynamics

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Sean M Braet
   2. Theresa SC Buckley
   3. Varun Venkatakrishnan
   4. Kim-Marie A Dam
   5. Pamela J Bjorkman
   6. Ganesh S Anand

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This fundamental and timely study provides insights into the structural dynamics of several relevant mutant forms of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, including the most recent omicron variant. The hydrogen/deuterium-exchange studies provide compelling evidence for the stabilization of the spike stalk in conjunction with increased dynamics of the N-terminal domain, where binding to the ACE2 receptor occurs. These results have profound implications for the development of small molecule inhibitors of the spike protein-ACE2 receptor interaction.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. An IS-mediated, RecA-dependent, bet-hedging strategy in Burkholderia thailandensis

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Lillian C Lowrey
   2. Leslie A Kent
   3. Bridgett M Rios
   4. Angelica B Ocasio
   5. Peggy A Cotter

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This paper reports a bet hedging strategy in bacteria based on chromosomal duplications and rearrangements that confer advantages in certain growth conditions. The work is of fundamental importance for understanding the role of genetic and biological variation in bacteria. The experimental work is exceptionally strong and convincing. The paper will be of interest to a broad audience including bacteriologists, geneticists and evolutionary biologists.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Mesenchymal stem cell suppresses the efficacy of CAR-T toward killing lymphoma cells by modulating the microenvironment through stanniocalcin-1

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Rui Zhang
   2. Qingxi Liu
   3. Sa Zhou
   4. Hongpeng He
   5. Mingfeng Zhao
   6. Wenjian Ma

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This study provides potentially important insights into the role of mesenchymal stem cells in CAR-T therapy, and suggest that the STC1 gene could be a key factor in influencing the efficacy of this treatment. This finding has the potential to improve current therapeutic strategies based on cell therapy and may indicate new biology related to how mesenchymal stem cells affect the immune state within the tumor microenvironment. Further research is necessary to clarify the signaling pathways, but the data presented by the authors are generally well-supported and convincing.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Beta oscillations and waves in motor cortex can be accounted for by the interplay of spatially structured connectivity and fluctuating inputs

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Ling Kang
   2. Jonas Ranft
   3. Vincent Hakim

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This manuscript makes a valuable contribution to the field. The authors have developed a compelling network model to study mechanisms for the emergence of oscillations in the beta range in the primary motor cortex during movement preparation, and their propagation as traveling waves across the cortical sheet. The model is able to recapitulate several features of motor cortical activity acquired experimentally. Due to the recent results suggesting a functional role for traveling waves, it is of great interest to discover the mechanisms underlying such phenomena, and this work is an interesting step in that direction. However, the evidence for the reported new insights is incomplete at this stage, due to some weaknesses that remain to be addressed.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Making memories last using the peripheral effect of direct current stimulation

    This article has 5 authors:

    1. Alison M Luckey
    2. Lauren S McLeod
    3. Yuefeng Huang
    4. Anusha Mohan
    5. Sven Vanneste

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife assessment

      This paper will be of fundamental interest to many sub-disciplines of neuroscience, ranging from cognitive neuroscientists to cellular neuroscience. It provides compelling and substantial brain and behavioral evidence of a novel intervention that can boost long-term memory. The key claims of the manuscript are generally well supported by the data, though the correlational nature of the data in different types of experiments raises some issues about interpretation.

    Reviewed by eLife