eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Development of visual cortex in human neonates is selectively modified by postnatal experience

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Mingyang Li
   2. Tingting Liu
   3. Xinyi Xu
   4. Qingqing Wen
   5. Zhiyong Zhao
   6. Xixi Dang
   7. Yi Zhang
   8. Dan Wu

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     Overall, this study will make significant contributions to developmental neuroscience and vision science as they attempt to study how prenatal and postnatal maturation influence structural-functional measurements in the early and high-level visual cortex. These results will be of broad interest as it is a novel attempt to study processes that might be innate or genetically wired and those that emerge due to worldly experiences within the sensory systems. The authors are addressing an important and timely question based on a large and impressive infant database.

     (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewer #2 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Ultrafast simulation of large-scale neocortical microcircuitry with biophysically realistic neurons

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Viktor J Oláh
   2. Nigel P Pedersen
   3. Matthew JM Rowan

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This paper demonstrates that artificial neural networks can be used to accurately predict the responses of biologically-detailed neuron models to synaptic inputs, and hence to approximate the behaviour of networks of such neurons. This study potentially opens the door to massively reduced simulation times for biologically-detailed neuronal network simulations without recourse to supercomputers and hence will be of broad interest to computational neuroscientists.

     (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewer #3 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Channel-independent function of UNC-9/Innexin in spatial arrangement of GABAergic synapses in C. elegans

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Ardalan Hendi
   2. Long-Gang Niu
   3. Andrew William Snow
   4. Richard Ikegami
   5. Zhao-Wen Wang
   6. Kota Mizumoto

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This paper describes novel insights into the potential function of innexin proteins, which are electrical synapse-forming proteins with often quite enigmatic in vivo functions. The authors describe here potential functions in synapse tiling. The paper should be of interest to researchers with interests in molecular mechanisms governing nervous system development.

     (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewer #3 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Transcriptional regulation of Sis1 promotes fitness but not feedback in the heat shock response

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Rania Garde
   2. Abhyudai Singh
   3. Asif Ali
   4. David Pincus

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     In this paper the authors report an updated theoretical model describing in mathematical terms how the Hsf1 transcription factor is activated in yeast in response to heat shock, and demonstrate that rather than denatured mature proteins, Hsf1 activation involves newly synthesized proteins that sequester the Hsp70 chaperone away from the inactive Hsp70/Hsf1 complex, releasing active Hsf1. They also describe a general role for the Sis1 co-chaperone in maintaining the fitness of yeast cells under stress conditions, such as heat shock, that is independent of regulation of Hsf1.

     (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewer #1, Reviewer #2 and Reviewer #3 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

5. TGF-β signaling and Creb5 cooperatively regulate Fgf18 to control pharyngeal muscle development

   This article has 15 authors:

   1. Jifan Feng
   2. Xia Han
   3. Yuan Yuan
   4. Courtney Kyeong Cho
   5. Eva Janečková
   6. Tingwei Guo
   7. Siddhika Pareek
   8. Md Shaifur Rahman
   9. Banghong Zheng
   10. Jing Bi
   11. Junjun Jing
   12. Mingyi Zhang
   13. Jian Xu
   14. Thach-Vu Ho
   15. Yang Chai

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     The authors bioinformatically analyze previous scRNA-seq datasets of the developing mouse soft palate to identify differential signaling pathway activities in the heterogeneous palatal mesenchyme. Identifying TGF-beta signaling pathway activity with the perimysial cells, they hypothesize and test whether TGF-beta signaling in the perimysial cells might regulate palatal muscle formation. This paper will be of high interest to developmental biologists interested in the molecular regulation of tissue interactions that occur during mammalian palate morphogenesis.

     (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewer #1 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Emergent periodicity in the collective synchronous flashing of fireflies

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Raphael Sarfati
   2. Kunaal Joshi
   3. Owen Martin
   4. Julie C Hayes
   5. Srividya Iyer-Biswas
   6. Orit Peleg

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This important study provides a quantitative characterization and understanding of firing collective patterns in P. Carolinus fireflies. The work significantly contributes to fill the gap between observations and mechanistic models, with convincing experimental evidence and solid theoretical modeling. This work will be of interest to readers curious about collective behavior, biological rhythms, and models of synchronized oscillations.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. NaV1.1 is essential for proprioceptive signaling and motor behaviors

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Cyrrus M Espino
   2. Cheyanne M Lewis
   3. Serena Ortiz
   4. Miloni S Dalal
   5. Snigdha Garlapalli
   6. Kaylee M Wells
   7. Darik A O'Neil
   8. Katherine A Wilkinson
   9. Theanne N Griffith

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This study provides insight into the identity of the sodium channel controlling excitability in proprioceptors. Using pharmacology, gene KO, behavior, and histology, the authors show quite convincingly that NaV1.1 in sensory neurons is essential for normal motor behavior and contributes to proprioceptor excitability. The work has interesting implications for human subjects with inherited variants of Nav1.1.

     (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewer #1 and Reviewer #2 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Murine blastocysts generated by in vitro fertilization show increased Warburg metabolism and altered lactate production

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Seok Hee Lee
   2. Xiaowei Liu
   3. David Jimenez-Morales
   4. Paolo F Rinaudo

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     Some children conceived by assisted reproductive technologies (ART) exhibit metabolic differences compared to those conceived naturally, and the causes are unknown. This work reveals possible explanations for the metabolic differences and provides opportunities to improve ART and prevent the differences. This is a valuable contribution and will be of special interest to practitioners of ART, as well as to developmental and reproductive biologists.

     (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewer #2 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

9. High-resolution species assignment of Anopheles mosquitoes using k-mer distances on targeted sequences

   This article has 15 authors:

   1. Marilou Boddé
   2. Alex Makunin
   3. Diego Ayala
   4. Lemonde Bouafou
   5. Abdoulaye Diabaté
   6. Uwem Friday Ekpo
   7. Mahamadi Kientega
   8. Gilbert Le Goff
   9. Boris K Makanga
   10. Marc F Ngangue
   11. Olaitan Olamide Omitola
   12. Nil Rahola
   13. Frederic Tripet
   14. Richard Durbin
   15. Mara KN Lawniczak

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     Boddé et al propose a new approach for species identification in the genus Anopheles. The approach uses an amplicon panel, a kmer-based similarity metric, and a variant auto-encoder to minimize issues of sequence alignment between divergent lineages. The authors provide strong evidence that their approach works well for most samples. The work will be of potential interest to practitioners in the field of parasite carrying mosquitoes.

     (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. The reviewers remained anonymous to the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Inter-organ Wingless/Ror/Akt signaling regulates nutrient-dependent hyperarborization of somatosensory neurons

    This article has 7 authors:

    1. Yasutetsu Kanaoka
    2. Koun Onodera
    3. Kaori Watanabe
    4. Yusaku Hayashi
    5. Tadao Usui
    6. Tadashi Uemura
    7. Yukako Hattori

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      Evaluation Summary:

      Nutrition profoundly affects neural development. The Uemura lab previously reported that C4da neurons elaborate complex dendrites when larvae grow on low-yeast diets, a phenomenon called neural sparing. In this current study, they define the molecular mechanism underlying the nutrition-mediated phenomenon and identify that the inter-organ Wingless/Ror/Akt pathway between the neuron and its adjacent muscles is necessary and sufficient to mediate dendrite overbranching in the low-yeast condition.

      (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewer #1 and Reviewer #2 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

    Reviewed by eLife