eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. 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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. Regulatory T cells suppress the formation of potent KLRK1 and IL-7R expressing effector CD8 T cells by limiting IL-2

   This article has 14 authors:

   1. Oksana Tsyklauri
   2. Tereza Chadimova
   3. Veronika Niederlova
   4. Jirina Kovarova
   5. Juraj Michalik
   6. Iva Malatova
   7. Sarka Janusova
   8. Olha Ivashchenko
   9. Helene Rossez
   10. Ales Drobek
   11. Hana Vecerova
   12. Virginie Galati
   13. Marek Kovar
   14. Ondrej Stepanek

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This manuscript is of primary interest to immunologists with a focus on the effects of interleukin-2 and T cell receptor (TCR) signaling on effector T cell differentiation and function. Extensive and well-controlled experiments support a model where TCR and interleukin-2 signals promote a specific subset of effector CD8+ T cells - termed KILR cells - with superior target cell killing properties.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Optimization of energy and time predicts dynamic speeds for human walking

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Rebecca Elizabeth Carlisle
   2. Arthur D Kuo

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This valuable study presents a new optimal control cost framework to predict features of walking bouts, adding a cost function term proportional to the duration of the walking bout in addition to the conventional energetic term. While predicted optimal trajectories from simulations qualitatively matched walking data from human subjects, the evidence supporting these claims is incomplete, as some methodological choices raise questions about the strength of the authors' claims.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Adaptation dynamics between copy-number and point mutations

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Isabella Tomanek
   2. Călin C Guet

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This is an important paper that proposes a novel evolutionary mechanism by which copy-number mutations can slow down the accumulation of point mutations in populations evolving in certain environments. The authors use an evolution experiment in bacteria equipped with a clever reporter system to provide solid evidence that this mechanism indeed operates. This paper will be of broad interest to readers in evolutionary biology and related fields.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Human Dectin-1 is O-glycosylated and serves as a ligand for C-type lectin receptor CLEC-2

    This article has 13 authors:

    1. Shojiro Haji
    2. Taiki Ito
    3. Carla Guenther
    4. Miyako Nakano
    5. Takashi Shimizu
    6. Daiki Mori
    7. Yasunori Chiba
    8. Masato Tanaka
    9. Sushil K Mishra
    10. Janet A Willment
    11. Gordon D Brown
    12. Masamichi Nagae
    13. Sho Yamasaki

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife assessment

      The C-type lectin receptor family recognise pathogens and self-components. Dectin-1 is known to recognize glucan on pathogens. In this fundamental study Dectin-1 and CLEC-2 another - C-type lectin receptor, expressed on platelets - interact through an O-glycosylated ligand presented in the stalk region of Dectin-1. This compelling study demonstrates a potential role for pattern recognition receptors in physiological processes.

    Reviewed by eLife