eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Cortico-thalamo-cortical interactions modulate electrically evoked EEG responses in mice

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Leslie D Claar
   2. Irene Rembado
   3. Jacqulyn R Kuyat
   4. Simone Russo
   5. Lydia C Marks
   6. Shawn R Olsen
   7. Christof Koch

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This study makes a fundamental observation about the role of activity in the mouse thalamus on scalp recorded voltage fluctuations. The novel approach and sophisticated analysis of neural signals provides compelling support for the authors' observations. This work will likely be of broad interest to neuroscientists.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Analysis of science journalism reveals gender and regional disparities in coverage

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Natalie R Davidson
   2. Casey S Greene

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This important bibliometric analysis shows that authors of scientific papers whose names suggest they are female or East Asian get quoted less often in news stories about their work. While caveats are inevitable in this type of study, the evidence for the authors' claims is convincing, with a rigorous, and importantly, reproducible analysis of over 20,000 articles from across 15 years. This paper will be of interest to science journalists and to researchers who study science communication.

   Reviewed by eLife, preLights

3. Competition between myosin II and βH-spectrin regulates cytoskeletal tension

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Consuelo Ibar
   2. Krishna Chinthalapudi
   3. Sarah M Heissler
   4. Kenneth D Irvine

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The manuscript provides valuable insights into the regulatory role and mechanisms of the spectrin cytoskeleton in mechanotransduction in Drosophila. The data are compelling in establishing that alpha and beta spectrin regulate the Hippo signaling pathway independently via their effect on cytoskeletal tension. The work will be of interest to cell and developmental biologists, particularly those who focus on mechanotransduction and the cytoskeleton.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. The gene expression landscape of the human locus coeruleus revealed by single-nucleus and spatially-resolved transcriptomics

   This article has 15 authors:

   1. Lukas M Weber
   2. Heena R Divecha
   3. Matthew N Tran
   4. Sang Ho Kwon
   5. Abby Spangler
   6. Kelsey D Montgomery
   7. Madhavi Tippani
   8. Rahul Bharadwaj
   9. Joel E Kleinman
   10. Stephanie C Page
   11. Thomas M Hyde
   12. Leonardo Collado-Torres
   13. Kristen R Maynard
   14. Keri Martinowich
   15. Stephanie C Hicks

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This is an important initial study of cell type and spatially resolved gene expression in and around the locus coeruleus, the primary source of the neuromodulator norepinephrine in the human brain. The data are generated with cutting-edge techniques, and the work lays the foundation for future descriptive and experimental approaches to understand the contribution of the locus coeruleus to healthy brain function and disease. The empirical support for the main conclusions is solid. This paper, and the associated web application, will be of great interest to neuroscientists working on arousal-based behaviors and neurological and neuropsychiatric phenotypes.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Integrated transcriptome and proteome analysis reveals posttranscriptional regulation of ribosomal genes in human brain organoids

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Jaydeep Sidhaye
   2. Philipp Trepte
   3. Natalie Sepke
   4. Maria Novatchkova
   5. Michael Schutzbier
   6. Gerhard Dürnberger
   7. Karl Mechtler
   8. Jürgen A Knoblich

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The study integrates proteomic and transcriptomic analyses of human stem cell-derived cortical brain organoids, uncovering posttranscriptional regulatory mechanisms for a specific gene module enriched in ribosomal genes. The data analysis is robust and the evidence supporting the conclusions is compelling. The work provides a valuable resource to developmental neurobiologists and highlights a new level of regulation that may be important in cortical development.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Room-temperature crystallography reveals altered binding of small-molecule fragments to PTP1B

   This article has 13 authors:

   1. Tamar Skaist Mehlman
   2. Justin T Biel
   3. Syeda Maryam Azeem
   4. Elliot R Nelson
   5. Sakib Hossain
   6. Louise Dunnett
   7. Neil G Paterson
   8. Alice Douangamath
   9. Romain Talon
   10. Danny Axford
   11. Helen Orins
   12. Frank von Delft
   13. Daniel A Keedy

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     Based on two room-temperature X-ray crystallographic screens of PTP1B phosphatase against two sets of chemical fragments, and by comparing the results from a previous cryo screen, the authors report the important observation that, in addition to overlapping but non-identical sets of hits compared to the cryo screen, the room-temperature screens lead to significant differences in terms of binding sites and poses for some of the hits. The study provides compelling support for the use of room-temperature X-ray crystallography in early-stage drug discovery and highlights that temperature should be used as a parameter in efforts to extract additional insight from such analyses.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Germinal center B cells that acquire nuclear proteins are specifically suppressed by follicular regulatory T cells

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Fang Ke
   2. Zachary L Benet
   3. Mitra P Maz
   4. Jianhua Liu
   5. Alexander L Dent
   6. Joanne Michelle Kahlenberg
   7. Irina L Grigorova

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     It is well known that Tfr cells have the capacity to preferentially suppress autoimmune antibody responses, but it is not known why such specificity exists. This important work provides new information as to how self-reactive antibody responses are regulated and has significant implications to the fields of autoimmunity and vaccine design. The overall experimental designs and the data quality are largely convincing, but the authors should include more careful controls.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Time-varying and tissue-dependent effects of adiposity on leptin levels: A Mendelian randomization study

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Tom G Richardson
   2. Genevieve M Leyden
   3. George Davey Smith

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The authors have combined their two recently developed novel approaches to Mendelian randomization studies (1) Lifecourse mendelian randomization which relates genes to the outcome, eg obesity, at different stages of life, and (2) Tissue partitioned mendelian randomization to determine if there are different genetic effects in different tissues. They have successfully combined these two approaches to investigate the influence of adiposity on circulating leptin in childhood and adulthood to demonstrate the value/proof of concept of combining these two techniques. This is very clearly presented and well-conducted work showing both new methodology and compelling results and will be important to both those who use Mendelian randomization and those who are interested in obesity.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Liver type 1 innate lymphoid cells lacking IL-7 receptor are a native killer cell subset fostered by parenchymal niches

   This article has 13 authors:

   1. Takuma Asahi
   2. Shinya Abe
   3. Guangwei Cui
   4. Akihiro Shimba
   5. Tsukasa Nabekura
   6. Hitoshi Miyachi
   7. Satsuki Kitano
   8. Keizo Ohira
   9. Johannes M Dijkstra
   10. Masaki Miyazaki
   11. Akira Shibuya
   12. Hiroshi Ohno
   13. Koichi Ikuta

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This study provides important insights on the developmental process and functional heterogeneity of liver ILC1s, especially how IL-7R+ and IL-7R- ILC1s are generated. Authors present compelling evidence on the dependence of ILC1s on IL-7R- precursor and their reliance on IL-15 to develop cytotoxic functions. The work will be of broad interest to immunologists and liver biologists.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Imprinted Dlk1 dosage as a size determinant of the mammalian pituitary gland

    This article has 8 authors:

    1. Valeria Scagliotti
    2. Maria Lillina Vignola
    3. Thea Willis
    4. Mark Howard
    5. Eugenia Marinelli
    6. Carles Gaston-Massuet
    7. Cynthia Andoniadou
    8. Marika Charalambous

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife assessment

      This important study uses elegant in vivo experiments combined with expression data on an imprinted gene, Dlk1, to demonstrate its role in pituitary gland size in mice. The evidence supporting the claims of the authors is solid, although the inclusion of both sexes and a rescue model would have strengthened the study. The work will be of interest to developmental biologists working on the pituitary and hypothalamus.

    Reviewed by eLife