eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Geometry shapes cytoplasmic Cdk1 waves that drive cortical dynamics

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Daniel Cebrián-Lacasa
   2. Marcin Leda
   3. Andrew B. Goryachev
   4. Lendert Gelens

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     By combining previously established mathematical models, this valuable study demonstrates that the opposite direction of surface contraction waves in Xenopus embryos and starfish oocytes can in principle arise from the same underlying mechanism. The modeling results, showing the effect of nuclear size and position, cell size, and nuclear Cdk1 concentration, are convincing and plausible but have not yet been experimentally verified.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Synergistic inhibition of Notch signaling and forced cell cycle re-entry drive Müller glia reprogramming in uninjured mouse retina

   This article has 11 authors:

   1. Baoshan Liao
   2. Chengshang Lyu
   3. Yuqing Jiang
   4. Shanggong Liu
   5. Waiho Wong
   6. Jiadong Zhang
   7. Hoyin Tsang
   8. Junxi Xie
   9. Lingxi Chen
   10. Qinrong Zhang
   11. Wenjun Xiong

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study shows that combining forced cell cycle re-entry with Rbpj deletion enhances Müller glia dedifferentiation and promotes their conversion into retinal neuron-like cells in the uninjured mouse retina. It provides a valuable strategy for improving Müller glia-mediated neurogenesis and advancing regenerative potential in the mammalian retina. Overall, the data are convincing. The authors have also addressed concerns regarding Müller glia function, cell survival, and the limitations of neuronal maturation and integration, further strengthening the conclusions of the study.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Are interphylum spiralian relationships resolvable?

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Ana Serra Silva
   2. Maximilian J Telford

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study probes the long-standing failure to resolve evolutionary relationships between the classical "spiralian" taxa-i.e., annelids, molluscs, brachiopods, platyhelminths and nemerteans-and provides convincing evidence that the branches leading to them are so short as to be unreliable guides to their relationships. This, in turn, has wide-ranging implications for our understanding of animal body plan evolution and the interpretation of early animal fossils.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. The structure of Egalitarian in complex with the K10 mRNA localization signal reveals a modular binding surface required for function

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Zebin Hong
   2. Li Jin
   3. Jonas Mühle
   4. Fulvia Bono

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This manuscript has convincing data that provides a high-resolution structure of the Egl-RNA complex. The findings are important to understand the formation, stability, and interactions of this complex. However, the manuscript could be improved by conducting a rigorous statistical analysis, a deeper understanding of apparent discrepancies in the stoichiometric Egl-to-RNA ratio, and exploring the specificity of this complex using a more diverse set of control RNAs.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Medial prefrontal cortex encodes but is not required to generate goal-directed actions under threat

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Muhammad S Sajid
   2. Ji Zhou
   3. Manuel A Castro-Alamancos

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study employed a multi-stage behavioural paradigm of increasing cognitive complexity to investigate the role of inhibitory interneurons in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in avoidance behaviour in mice. The authors used imaging and optogenetic techniques combined with this behavioural task to show that mPFC interneurons are necessary for encoding but not executing avoidance under threat. The evidence supporting these claims is compelling, and findings will be of interest to researchers in behavioural and systems neurosciences.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Neural categorization of visual words of alphabetic and non-alphabetic languages

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Guo Zheng
   2. Shihui Han

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study investigates how the brain categorizes written words from different writing systems (e.g., alphabetic vs. non-alphabetic). The evidence supporting the authors' claims is solid and sheds light on the neural basis of language's social‑categorization function.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Optics-free reconstruction of shapes, images and volumes with DNA barcode proximity graphs

   This article has 12 authors:

   1. Hanna Liao
   2. Sanjay Kottapalli
   3. Yuqi Huang
   4. Matthew Chaw
   5. Jase Gehring
   6. Olivia Waltner
   7. Melissa Phung-Rojas
   8. Riza M Daza
   9. Frederick A Matsen
   10. Cole Trapnell
   11. Jay Shendure
   12. Sanjay Srivatsan

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important technical study introduces SCOPE, an optics-free spatial reconstruction method based on bidirectional sender and receiver oligonucleotides on barcoded hydrogel beads. By sequencing proximity-encoded chimeric molecules, the authors computationally reconstruct 2D and 3D spatial information at an impressive scale. The technical demonstrations in synthetic bead systems are convincing and establish proof-of-principle that large spatial domains can be reconstructed without microscopy. The methodological advance is clear and the scale is impressive. This work will be of interest to those working on spatial mapping.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Fast-ripples are emergent properties of neuronal networks

   This article has 13 authors:

   1. Laurent Sheybani
   2. Yichen Qiu
   3. Prince Kumar Singh
   4. Umesh Vivekananda
   5. Neil Burgess
   6. Beate Diehl
   7. Andrew McEvoy
   8. Anna Miserocchi
   9. James A Bisby
   10. Tawfeeq Shekh-Ahmad
   11. Gabriele Lignani
   12. Daniel Bush
   13. Matthew C Walker

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study used several approaches (computational modeling, neuronal cultures, rodent epilepsy model, and human intracranial recordings) to address a significant question in epilepsy research, with additional relevance to EEG studies more broadly: Are high frequency oscillations (or "fast ripples", defined as >200 Hz by the authors) distinct from randomly occurring clustering of spikes? The results suggest fast ripples can occur by chance and how this may occur. The significance was considered important and the strength of evidence convincing, with minor revisions suggested to temper conclusions related to stochastic vs. oscillatory fast ripples.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Reproducible and predictable reorganization of place fields driven by grid subfield rate changes

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Christine M Lykken
   2. Benjamin R Kanter
   3. Jasmine Kaslow
   4. Oscar MT Chadney
   5. Kadjita Asumbisa
   6. Lucie AL Descamps
   7. Clifford G Kentros

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study provides a valuable contribution to understanding grid-to-place transformations, offering new insights into the structure and reliability of these representations and extending prior work in a meaningful way. The evidence supporting the authors' conclusions is solid, based on careful analyses and well-executed experiments, although clarity and mechanistic interpretation would be strengthened by improving sample size reporting, expanding population-level analyses, and future studies including simultaneous entorhinal-hippocampal recordings. The work will be of interest to neuroscientists studying spatial coding and hippocampal-entorhinal circuit function.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Wetness modulates the effects of grazing on net ecosystem productivity in global grasslands

    This article has 14 authors:

    1. Yueqiang Wu
    2. Le Qi
    3. Hao Li
    4. Jiguang Feng
    5. Peng Zhou
    6. Hangyu Li
    7. Xiaoyang Gao
    8. Zhijie Wang
    9. Shilin Cui
    10. Ping Yin
    11. Wenhong Ma
    12. Cunzhu Liang
    13. Zhiyong Li
    14. Biao Zhu

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife Assessment

      This important study combines a five-year field experiment with a meta-analysis to quantify effects of grazing on ecosystem CO₂ fluxes as modified by wetness. The evidence supporting the conclusions is convincing.

    Reviewed by eLife