eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. The role of migration networks in the development of Botswana’s generalized HIV epidemic

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Janet Song
   2. Justin T Okano
   3. Joan Ponce
   4. Lesego Busang
   5. Khumo Seipone
   6. Eugenio Valdano
   7. Sally Blower

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This valuable paper uses representative samples of micro-census data from Botswana to describe migration rates over four points in time, from 1981 to 2011. The authors use compelling descriptive data to present migration characteristics where roughly 10% of the population moved in the past year - with equal numbers of men and women, and with migration between districts more common than within districts. Preliminary data indicated migration patterns could have supported HIV diffusion, this can be a starting point for more in-depth analyses. The work will be of interest to those studying human movement and its impact on diseases.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. p38γ and p38δ modulate innate immune response by regulating MEF2D activation

   This article has 13 authors:

   1. Alejandra Escós
   2. Ester Diaz-Mora
   3. Michael Pattison
   4. Pilar Fajardo
   5. Diego González-Romero
   6. Ana Risco
   7. José Martín-Gómez
   8. Éric Bonneil
   9. Nahum Sonenberg
   10. Seyed Mehdi Jafarnejad
   11. Juan José Sanz-Ezquerro
   12. Steven C Ley
   13. Ana Cuenda

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The authors have established a model for studying p38g/d signaling, which is an important accomplishment given that previous models have been compromised by changes in the TPL2/ERK pathway. Compelling evidence is presented to support the conclusions.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. The role of B cells in immune cell activation in polycystic ovary syndrome

   This article has 15 authors:

   1. Angelo Ascani
   2. Sara Torstensson
   3. Sanjiv Risal
   4. Haojiang Lu
   5. Gustaw Eriksson
   6. Congru Li
   7. Sabrina Teschl
   8. Joana Menezes
   9. Katalin Sandor
   10. Claes Ohlsson
   11. Camilla I Svensson
   12. Mikael CI Karlsson
   13. Martin Helmut Stradner
   14. Barbara Obermayer-Pietsch
   15. Elisabet Stener-Victorin

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This manuscript provides important findings and would be of interest to specialists and researchers dealing with polycystic ovarian syndrome. Based on the compelling evidence, the authors present significant results on the role of B cells in immune cell activation in PCOS. However, there are some remarks regarding the statistics and data presentation.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Diversity and evolution of cerebellar folding in mammals

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Katja Heuer
   2. Nicolas Traut
   3. Alexandra Allison de Sousa
   4. Sofie Louise Valk
   5. Julien Clavel
   6. Roberto Toro

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This important study gives novel insight into the folding diversity of the cerebellum compared to the cerebrum among 56 mammalian species. Based on impressive data, the analyses performed for anatomical descriptions and phylogenetic comparisons are solid, although some issues need to be addressed regarding the choice of statistical models, and the sample size versus the number of explanatory variables. This study will be of interest to neuroscientists, evolutionary and developmental biologists, and physicists interested in biomechanics, as these observations provide a basis for models of brain folding mechanisms.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. The AUX1-AFB1-CNGC14 module establishes a longitudinal root surface pH profile

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Nelson BC Serre
   2. Daša Wernerová
   3. Pruthvi Vittal
   4. Shiv Mani Dubey
   5. Eva Medvecká
   6. Adriana Jelínková
   7. Jan Petrášek
   8. Guido Grossmann
   9. Matyáš Fendrych

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This study presents valuable findings that relate the pH pattern along the root surface of the plant Arabidopsis thaliana to the auxin response and gravitropic (changes in growth orientation) response. The evidence supporting the claims of the authors is solid, based on the observation of dynamic responses at a second-to-minute time scale and the systematic correlation between the observed changes in the longitudinal surface pH profile and changes in growth rate. The work will be of interest to a wide range of plant biologists working on plant development and responses to the environment.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Anemonefish have finer color discrimination in the ultraviolet

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Laurie J. Mitchell
   2. Amelia Phelan
   3. Fabio Cortesi
   4. N. Justin Marshall
   5. Wen-sung Chung
   6. Daniel C. Osorio
   7. Karen L. Cheney

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This paper studies color vision in anemonefish. The central conclusion of the paper is that anemonefish use signals from their UV cones to discriminate colors that would not otherwise be distinguishable; this differs from other fish in which UV cones extend the range of wavelengths of sensitivity but do not add a dimension to color vision. The work fits into a rich history of studies investigating how color vision fits into an animal's ecological niche. At the same time, the manuscript needs to more clearly establish and convey the degree to which each conclusion is supported by the data and where the limits of certainty lie.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Multiplexed microfluidic screening of bacterial chemotaxis

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Michael R Stehnach
   2. Richard J Henshaw
   3. Sheri A Floge
   4. Jeffrey S Guasto

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This manuscript presents a valuable new microfluidic tool that will allow researchers from different fields to rapidly quantify the chemotactic response of microbes to chemical gradients that have different strengths. Using planktonic bacteria, this paper convincingly shows that a multiplexed microfluidic device produces similar results to previously described microfluidic devices that generate only one gradient at a time. By performing on-chip dilutions, this device allows data for six different gradient strengths to be generated simultaneously, potentially reducing both experimental effort and biological variability.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Spatial determination and prognostic impact of the fibroblast transcriptome in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma

   This article has 16 authors:

   1. Wayne Croft
   2. Hayden Pearce
   3. Sandra Margielewska-Davies
   4. Lindsay Lim
   5. Samantha M Nicol
   6. Fouzia Zayou
   7. Daniel Blakeway
   8. Francesca Marcon
   9. Sarah Powell-Brett
   10. Brinder Mahon
   11. Reena Merard
   12. Jianmin Zuo
   13. Gary Middleton
   14. Keith Roberts
   15. Rachel M Brown
   16. Paul Moss

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment:

     This manuscript uses an innovative combination of spatial profiling with single-cell transcriptomics to define expression profiles of stromal components in proximal tumor regions compared to those in distal regions in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Based on this, the authors claim that the presence of a proximal fibroblast population predicts worse outcomes for PDAC patients than the presence of a distal fibroblast population. While the work provides valuable insight into how different types of tumor stromal fibroblasts may affect PDAC outcomes, the work is currently incomplete and will benefit from more extended use of fibroblast and myeloid cell markers and efforts to better define the transcriptomic data generated.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Inferring sources of suboptimality in perceptual decision making using a causal inference task

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Sabyasachi Shivkumar
   2. Madeline S. Cappelloni
   3. Ross K. Maddox
   4. Ralf M. Haefner

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This study of human perceptual decision-making provides important insights into the sources of suboptimality in human inference. The authors provide solid evidence by combining psychophysics in an audiovisual causal inference task with detailed modeling of the observed behavior. Additional control analyses should be carried out to validate the identifiability of distinct suboptimalities using the authors' modeling framework, and the generalizability of their findings in other conditions should be tested or discussed more explicitly.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. ECS1 and ECS2 suppress polyspermy and the formation of haploid plants by promoting double fertilization

    This article has 7 authors:

    1. Yanbo Mao
    2. Thomas Nakel
    3. Isil Erbasol Serbes
    4. Saurabh Joshi
    5. Dawit G Tekleyohans
    6. Thomas Baum
    7. Rita Groß-Hardt

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife assessment:

      This important study convincingly shows that the endopeptidases ECS1 and ECS2 repress the formation of polyspermy-derived triparental offspring and haploid induction by promoting double fertilization. While the underlying mechanisms remain to be further elucidated, the data presented in this study represent a valuable foundation for understanding the regulation of offspring genome size. This study will be of particular interest to the large community of scientists who are interested in plant reproduction and breeding.

    Reviewed by eLife