eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. A Bayesian approach to single-particle electron cryo-tomography in RELION-4.0

   This article has 12 authors:

   1. Jasenko Zivanov
   2. Joaquín Otón
   3. Zunlong Ke
   4. Andriko von Kügelgen
   5. Euan Pyle
   6. Kun Qu
   7. Dustin Morado
   8. Daniel Castaño-Díez
   9. Giulia Zanetti
   10. Tanmay AM Bharat
   11. John AG Briggs
   12. Sjors HW Scheres

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     Single-particle tomography (SPT) is a useful method to determine the structure of proteins imaged in situ. This important work presents an easy-to-use tool for SPT that approximates the use of 2D tomographic projections using a "pseudo-subtomogram" data structure, chosen to facilitate implementation within the existing Relion codebase. The examples shown provide solid support for the claims about the efficacy of the approach.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. ErbB Signalling is a Potential Therapeutic Target for Vascular Lesions with Fibrous Component

   This article has 20 authors:

   1. Henna Ilmonen
   2. Suvi Jauhiainen
   3. Pia Vuola
   4. Heta Rasinkangas
   5. Heidi H Pulkkinen
   6. Sara Keränen
   7. Miika Kiema
   8. Jade J Liikkanen
   9. Nihay Laham-Karam
   10. Svetlana Laidinen
   11. Einari Aavik
   12. Kimmo Lappalainen
   13. Jouko Lohi
   14. Johanna Aronniemi
   15. Tiit Örd
   16. Minna U Kaikkonen
   17. Päivi Salminen
   18. Erkki Tukiainen
   19. Seppo Ylä-Herttuala
   20. Johanna P Laakkonen

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The authors address an important clinical entity and an important area of unmet clinical need. The authors use a combination of in vitro and in vivo experiments to learn how stromal cells surrounding vessels in venous malformations (VM) and angiomatosis of soft tissue (AST) contribute to the angiogenic activities driving the vascular lesions. They discovered that secretion of transforming growth factor-alpha (TGFa) from both endothelial cells and stromal cells, shows evidence for EGF-receptor phosphorylation. In addition, they show that afatinib, a pan-ErbB TKI inhibitor may have therapeutic benefits.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Conserved allosteric inhibition mechanism in SLC1 transporters

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Yang Dong
   2. Jiali Wang
   3. Rachel-Ann Garibsingh
   4. Keino Hutchinson
   5. Yueyue Shi
   6. Gilad Eisenberg
   7. Xiaozhen Yu
   8. Avner Schlessinger
   9. Christof Grewer

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The goal of this study is to identify allosteric modulators of a SLC-1 amino acid transporter, ASCT2, which has been implicated in cancer progression. By combining computational and docking methods with functional measurements, this study provides solid evidence for specific aspects of allosteric SLC-1 inhibition mechanisms. The findings are important to transporter mechanism and pharmacology.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Neurophysiological basis of hemodynamic responses in the developing human brain before the time of normal birth

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Tanya Poppe
   2. Jucha Willers Moore
   3. Mohammed Rupawala
   4. Anthony N. Price
   5. Felipe Godinez
   6. Kimberley Whitehead
   7. Sofia Dall’Orso
   8. A. David Edwards
   9. Lorenzo Fabrizi
   10. Tomoki Arichi

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This solid study addresses the functionality of neurovascular coupling in response to somatosensory stimuli in premature neonates based on a compelling methodology combining recordings with fMRI and EEG (microstates approach). While the findings are important for the understanding of the emergence of brain sensory processing, more extended analyses of inter- and intra-subjects' variability are required to support the results interpretation and determine the influence of important factors impacting brain maturation and activity. With the theoretical and analytical parts strengthened, this study will be of interest to developmental neuroscientists and neuroimaging specialists and might have important clinical implications in the field of neonatology.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Silencing long-descending inter-enlargement propriospinal neurons improves hindlimb stepping after contusive spinal cord injuries

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Courtney T Shepard
   2. Brandon L Brown
   3. Morgan A Van Rijswijck
   4. Rachel M Zalla
   5. Darlene A Burke
   6. Johnny R Morehouse
   7. Amberly S Riegler
   8. Scott R Whittemore
   9. David SK Magnuson

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This is an important paper that evaluates the roles of long descending propriospinal neurons in the recovery of walking ability after spinal cord injury. The data are convincing overall though some weaknesses in the evaluation of the completeness of the synaptic silencing strategy were identified. The data will be of interest to those who study spinal circuitry and its role in locomotor function after spinal cord injury.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Microstructural and crystallographic evolution of palaeognath (Aves) eggshells

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Seung Choi
   2. Mark E Hauber
   3. Lucas J Legendre
   4. Noe-Heon Kim
   5. Yuong-Nam Lee
   6. David J Varricchio

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This fundamental study represents a significant advance in our understanding of the complex evolutionary history of the eggshell features in one of the main leaving bird lineages, Palaeognathae, with compelling and thoughtfully presented results. The work will be of interest to many biologists, paleontologists, and archaeologists.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Contrary neuronal recalibration in different multisensory cortical areas

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Fu Zeng
   2. Adam Zaidel
   3. Aihua Chen

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This important study combines rigorous behavior and single-unit recordings in nonhuman primates to investigate the role of three cortical areas in cross-modal sensory calibration, a form of neural plasticity that is important for perception and learning. The results convincingly demonstrate key similarities and striking differences across the three areas, and provide the first evidence for this form of calibration (in correspondence with behavior) at the level of single neurons. The work will be of broad interest to neuroscientists and psychologists studying multisensory perception, plasticity, and the role of sensory and association cortices in perceptual decisions.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Hypoxia truncates and constitutively activates the key cholesterol synthesis enzyme squalene monooxygenase

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Hudson W Coates
   2. Isabelle M Capell-Hattam
   3. Ellen M Olzomer
   4. Ximing Du
   5. Rhonda Farrell
   6. Hongyuan Yang
   7. Frances L Byrne
   8. Andrew J Brown

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     Hudson and colleagues provide a new link between oxygen sensing and cholesterol synthesis. In previous studies, this group had shown that the cholesterol synthetic enzyme squalene monooxygenase (SM) is subjected to partial proteasomal degradation, which leads to the production of a truncated, constitutively active enzyme. Here, the authors provide evidence for the physiological significance of SM truncation by showing that subjecting cells to hypoxia (oxygen deprivation) induces truncation of SM. The synthesis of cholesterol requires 11 molecules of oxygen and SM is the first oxygen-dependent enzyme in the cholesterol-committed branch of the pathway. It is possible that constitutive activation of SM under oxygen-deficient conditions could reduce the toxicity of squalene and other sterol intermediates.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Thalamocortical contributions to cognitive task activity

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Kai Hwang
   2. James M Shine
   3. Michael W Cole
   4. Evan Sorenson

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This valuable study examines a largely ignored brain structure (the thalamus) in functional brain imaging studies. In general, the study shows convincing evidence from the reanalysis of two task-based MRI studies that localized thalamic regions show hub properties in terms of their activation properties and connectivity to cortical regions. While the strength of the study is that converging evidence was shown across two large data sets, the empirical support for some of the claims in the current version remains incomplete.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Activity disruption causes degeneration of entorhinal neurons in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s circuit dysfunction

    This article has 9 authors:

    1. Rong Zhao
    2. Stacy D Grunke
    3. Caleb A Wood
    4. Gabriella A Perez
    5. Melissa Comstock
    6. Ming-Hua Li
    7. Anand K Singh
    8. Kyung-Won Park
    9. Joanna L Jankowsky

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife assessment

      This is a fundamental study that demonstrates that ongoing neuronal activity plays a key role in the vulnerability of specific neuronal cell types in layer 2 of the entorhinal cortex that communicates with the hippocampus. The authors provide compelling evidence that chronic silencing of inhibitory but not excitatory neurons in the entorhinal cortex leads to their degeneration. Reelin-positive interneurons were the most vulnerable to silencing. The authors propose that developmental mechanisms associated with activity-dependent programmed cell death could be aberrantly reactivated in the context of Alzheimer's disease.

    Reviewed by eLife