eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Tau polarizes an aging transcriptional signature to excitatory neurons and glia

   This article has 11 authors:

   1. Timothy Wu
   2. Jennifer M Deger
   3. Hui Ye
   4. Caiwei Guo
   5. Justin Dhindsa
   6. Brandon T Pekarek
   7. Rami Al-Ouran
   8. Zhandong Liu
   9. Ismael Al-Ramahi
   10. Juan Botas
   11. Joshua M Shulman

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This is an important study that defines cell type changes upon the expression of a mutant tau protein and put it into context of human postmortem tissue. Technically, the single cell mRNA sequencing data are convincing but the loss of neurons already at the earliest stages assessed in this model may rather suggest there are also elements of developmental toxicity.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Homeodomain-interacting protein kinase maintains neuronal homeostasis during normal Caenorhabditis elegans aging and systemically regulates longevity from serotonergic and GABAergic neurons

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Maria I Lazaro-Pena
   2. Adam B Cornwell
   3. Carlos A Diaz-Balzac
   4. Ritika Das
   5. Zachary C Ward
   6. Nicholas Macoretta
   7. Juilee Thakar
   8. Andrew V Samuelson

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This fundamental study substantially advances our understanding of how aging and stress resilience across an organism is determined by identifying a new player in this process and uncovering its mode of action. The evidence is solid as the methods, data and analyses broadly support the claims with only minor weaknesses. The work will be of broad interest to the field of aging and protein homeostasis.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Dopamine signaling regulates predator-driven changes in Caenorhabditis elegans’ egg laying behavior

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Amy Pribadi
   2. Michael A Rieger
   3. Kaila Rosales
   4. Kirthi C Reddy
   5. Sreekanth H Chalasani

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     Studies of prey behavior have the potential to provide insight into the chemical encoding of stress in the brain and the mechanisms by which this generates behavioral plasticity. In this important work, the authors identify a novel predation-evoked behavior in the nematode C. elegans and implicate dopamine in its implementation. While the support for some claims in the current paper is incomplete, this work provides an exciting foundation for future studies of behavioral plasticity in this powerful system.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. We couldn't get details of this article at this time:
   10.1101/2023.02.21.529382

5. From silence to song: Testosterone triggers extensive transcriptional changes in the female canary HVC

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Meng‐Ching Ko
   2. Carolina Frankl‐Vilches
   3. Antje Bakker
   4. Nina Sohnius‐Wilhelmi
   5. Pepe Alcami
   6. Manfred Gahr

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This paper is of interest to neuroscientists studying the effects of sex hormones on neural and behavioral plasticity, and more specifically to researchers studying the neural mechanisms underlying birdsong plasticity. The experimental design is excellent, and the work provides a comprehensive resource for understanding the intersection between testosterone's influence on gene expression and behavior. However, the work also makes claims concerning cellular effects and gene regulatory mechanisms that extend beyond the data and under the current analyses are not rigorously supported.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. New hypotheses of cell type diversity and novelty from orthology-driven comparative single cell and nuclei transcriptomics in echinoderms

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Anne Meyer
   2. Carolyn Ku
   3. William L Hatleberg
   4. Cheryl A Telmer
   5. Veronica Hinman

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This study is an excellent example of how one can use high-throughput technologies to address animal evolution from a cell-type perspective. The authors present a beautiful analysis of single-nucleus RNA-seq data from three embryonic stages in a sea star; this is the first single-cell data from this large group of echinoderms and the first single-nucleus transcriptomic study in any echinoderm. The authors demonstrate the presence of unique as well as previously unnoticed homologous cell types between a sea star and a sea urchin, discovery very intriguing to echinoderm developmental biologists, which will also be of great interest to scientists in the broad fields of evolution and development.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Brain and molecular mechanisms underlying the nonlinear association between close friendships, mental health, and cognition in children

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Chun Shen
   2. Edmund T Rolls
   3. Shitong Xiang
   4. Christelle Langley
   5. Barbara J Sahakian
   6. Wei Cheng
   7. Jianfeng Feng

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The findings of this study yield important new insights into the relationship between the number of close friends and mental health, cognition, and brain structure. Due to the large sample sizes, the evidence is solid but would have been improved if both of the analyzed datasets contained more closely matched measures. This work advances our understanding of how the friendship network relates to young adolescents' mental well-being and cognitive functioning and their underlying neural mechanisms.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Reconstructing the transport cycle in the sugar porter superfamily using coevolution-powered machine learning

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Darko Mitrovic
   2. Sarah E McComas
   3. Claudia Alleva
   4. Marta Bonaccorsi
   5. David Drew
   6. Lucie Delemotte

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This potentially important work proposes a novel approach, based on co-evolution analysis, machine-learning protocols and molecular dynamics simulations, to predict structures and energetics of the main states of the alternating access cycle of a family of membrane transporters, the sugar porters. The approach is compelling, especially the application of co-evolution and Alphafold to generate highly accurate models in different conformational states of a given protein, but the work is currently incomplete due to shortcomings in the calculation of the energy landscape. With this aspect strengthened, the manuscript will be of interest to the transporter and computational modeling communities.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Multi-centre analysis of networks and genes modulated by hypothalamic stimulation in patients with aggressive behaviours

   This article has 18 authors:

   1. Flavia Venetucci Gouveia
   2. Jurgen Germann
   3. Gavin JB Elias
   4. Alexandre Boutet
   5. Aaron Loh
   6. Adriana Lucia Lopez Rios
   7. Cristina Torres Diaz
   8. William Omar Contreras Lopez
   9. Raquel Chacon Ruiz Martinez
   10. Erich Talamoni Fonoff
   11. Juan Carlos Benedetti-Isaac
   12. Peter Giacobbe
   13. Pablo M Arango Pava
   14. Han Yan
   15. George M Ibrahim
   16. Nir Lipsman
   17. Andres Lozano
   18. Clement Hamani

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This study presents useful structural and functional connectivity profiles of patients receiving deep brain stimulation in the posterior hypothalamus for severe and refractory aggressive behavior. The inclusion of data from multiple centers is compelling. However, the imaging analysis is incomplete and the interpretation of the findings is not solid.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Protein compactness and interaction valency define the architecture of a biomolecular condensate across scales

    This article has 5 authors:

    1. Anton A Polyansky
    2. Laura D Gallego
    3. Roman G Efremov
    4. Alwin Köhler
    5. Bojan Zagrovic

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife assessment

      This study reports a joint experimental and computational investigation of the structural features of biomolecular condensates formed by a specific intrinsically disordered protein. The authors also adapt emerging rules to discuss and physico-chemical determinants of these structures of condensates. Specifically, the authors adapt the analysis of fractal structures, co-opted from the field of colloidal chemistry / physics, and generate important insights regarding the network-like organization of disordered proteins within in silico facsimiles of condensates. The usage of these analyses in the context of studying all atom models for multi-chain assemblies intended to mimic the internal organization of condensates is very interesting. The work is of relevance to cell biology and structural biology.

    Reviewed by eLife