eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Impact of energy limitations on function and resilience in long-wavelength Photosystem II

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Stefania Viola
   2. William Roseby
   3. Stefano Santabarbara
   4. Dennis Nürnberg
   5. Ricardo Assunção
   6. Holger Dau
   7. Julien Sellés
   8. Alain Boussac
   9. Andrea Fantuzzi
   10. A William Rutherford

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     The work describes the energetic constraints and preferred operating conditions of these "strategies" in particular on how nature has solved the problem of low energy "headroom'" required to prevent deleterious back reactions while maintaining efficient energy storage. The differences between the species are quite interesting and show that nature has evolved multiple solutions to fundamental limitations. Given the importance of understanding and improving the efficiency of photosynthesis, and the new insights revealed, the work will be of interest to a broad audience.

     (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 names with the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Mutual interaction between visual homeostatic plasticity and sleep in adult humans

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Danilo Menicucci
   2. Claudia Lunghi
   3. Andrea Zaccaro
   4. Maria Concetta Morrone
   5. Angelo Gemignani

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     Menicucci et al. investigate the implication of sleep in the maintenance of ocular dominance plasticity in adult humans. This is an interesting study as it shows that sleep can maintain the changes in ocular dominance obtained after applying an eye-path on the dominant eye for two hours. This contrasts with the rapid decline of these changes during quiet wake in darkness. The authors further report correlations between sleep oscillations and the magnitude of the plasticity effect. These results highlight a possible implication of sleep in a new form of plasticity

     (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

3. Cognitive experience alters cortical involvement in goal-directed navigation

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Charlotte Arlt
   2. Roberto Barroso-Luque
   3. Shinichiro Kira
   4. Carissa A Bruno
   5. Ningjing Xia
   6. Selmaan N Chettih
   7. Sofia Soares
   8. Noah L Pettit
   9. Christopher D Harvey

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     In this study, the role of different cortical areas on three distinct tasks all relying on the same virtual maze set-up was examined using optogenetic interventions and calcium imaging. The paper is potentially of interest to people interested in understanding the neural substrates of learning and how these can be impacted by previous knowledge and experience of stimuli. It could also be of use to behavioral neuroscientists when considering possible order effects of experiments.

     (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

4. Artificial selection methods from evolutionary computing show promise for directed evolution of microbes

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Alexander Lalejini
   2. Emily Dolson
   3. Anya E Vostinar
   4. Luis Zaman

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This paper addresses a very notable gap that exists between evolutionary computing and experimental evolution. While artificial and computational approaches have long been used as an analogy for biological systems (with studies that have produced findings relevant for evolutionary theory), few studies have directly used methods and results from evolutionary computing to directly inform the shape and structure of experimental evolution studies. This study's approach is creative, and its approaches and results may be of use to both computational and experimental audiences. Lastly, this study can spawn future ones that draw even more connections between evolutionary computation/artificial life and evolutionary theory.

     (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

5. Retinoic acid-gated BDNF synthesis in neuronal dendrites drives presynaptic homeostatic plasticity

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Shruti Thapliyal
   2. Kristin L Arendt
   3. Anthony G Lau
   4. Lu Chen

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This manuscript probes the mechanism of postsynaptic retinoic acid (RA) signaling on presynaptic function. BDNF has important roles in synaptic plasticity, but how retrograde BDNF signaling is controlled following synaptic inactivity is unclear. The authors use genetic tools to localize the action of different components of the pathway to pre- or post-synaptic compartments and use biochemical approaches to define a molecular link between retinoic acid and local translation of distinct BDNF transcripts. The findings presented here fill a gap in our knowledge regarding how presynaptic function is adaptively modulated by BDNF by highlighting the role of RA in this process. The experiments have been well-executed and the data provide compelling support for the model proposed by the authors.

     (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 names with the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Rhythmic coordination and ensemble dynamics in the hippocampal-prefrontal network during odor-place associative memory and decision making

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Claire A Symanski
   2. John H Bladon
   3. Emi T Kullberg
   4. Paul Miller
   5. Shantanu P Jadhav

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     The authors report on the coordination mechanisms between oscillations recorded in the CA1 subfield of the hippocampus, prefrontal cortex, and olfactory bulb and cell ensemble activity in CA1 and prefrontal cortex that are associated with odor-cued decision making. The findings support the hypothesis that the beta rhythm plays a role in coordinating CA1-prefrontal cortex ensembles associated with an animal's accurate decisions. Sensory-guided decision-making is of broad significance to many readers who are studying executive functions and cognitive behaviors, and the observations reported in this manuscript provide insights into mechanisms that may support these functions and behaviors.

     (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

7. Phorbolester-activated Munc13-1 and ubMunc13-2 exert opposing effects on dense-core vesicle secretion

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Sébastien Houy
   2. Joana S Martins
   3. Noa Lipstein
   4. Jakob Balslev Sørensen

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     Houy and co-workers investigated the function of Munc13-1 and ubMunc13-2 in chromaffin cells and the interaction with phorbol esters (PMA). They combined calcium uncaging, capacitance measurements, amperometry, and activity-dependent movements of the EGFP-labeled Munc13 proteins. This study reveals that phorbolesters have a stimulatory effect via ubMunc13-2 but an inhibitory effect via Munc13-1. These opposing effects of the two Munc13 paralogs are surprising considering the closely related domain architectures.

     (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

8. Tuning of motor outputs produced by spinal stimulation during voluntary control of torque directions in monkeys

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Miki Kaneshige
   2. Kei Obara
   3. Michiaki Suzuki
   4. Toshiki Tazoe
   5. Yukio Nishimura

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     In this manuscript, the authors specifically look at the interaction between epidural stimulation of the spinal cord and the descending input evoked voluntarily in 2 intact monkeys. The results show that spinal stimulation could facilitate or suppress voluntarily evoked EMG and wrist torque, depending on voluntarily evoked activity as well as the stimulation parameters. This shows that spinal stimulation could enhance the descending inputs in cases of partial lesions. The conclusions of this paper are well supported by data, although they could be made stronger with additional analysis and clarification.

     (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. An expanded toolkit for Drosophila gene tagging using synthesized homology donor constructs for CRISPR-mediated homologous recombination

   This article has 13 authors:

   1. Oguz Kanca
   2. Jonathan Zirin
   3. Yanhui Hu
   4. Burak Tepe
   5. Debdeep Dutta
   6. Wen-Wen Lin
   7. Liwen Ma
   8. Ming Ge
   9. Zhongyuan Zuo
   10. Lu-Ping Liu
   11. Robert W Levis
   12. Norbert Perrimon
   13. Hugo J Bellen

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This manuscript will be of general interest to Drosophila researchers, whose work has long relied on the tools generated by the Gene Disruption Project (GDP). This manuscript provides a notable update on the work of the GDP. In it, the authors demonstrate the efficacy of new, streamlined transformation vectors, which they use to generate several hundred novel gene-specific Gal4 driver lines using CRISPR technology. The new vectors promise to allow the GDP to complete its goal of creating null mutations for every gene in the fly genome. The elegant functionality of the new vectors will also likely be of interest to workers outside of Drosophila.

     (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

10. A feed-forward pathway drives LRRK2 kinase membrane recruitment and activation

    This article has 11 authors:

    1. Edmundo G Vides
    2. Ayan Adhikari
    3. Claire Y Chiang
    4. Pawel Lis
    5. Elena Purlyte
    6. Charles Limouse
    7. Justin L Shumate
    8. Elena Spínola-Lasso
    9. Herschel S Dhekne
    10. Dario R Alessi
    11. Suzanne R Pfeffer

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      Evaluation Summary:

      This paper, which is of interest to membrane biologists and colleagues in signal transduction, examines the interesting question of whether LRRK2 recruitment to membranes may regulate its activity. Membrane association involves binding to membrane-tethered Rab GTPases via LRRK2's armadillo domain, and the authors propose an elegant feedforward mechanism to describe how recruitment could lead to Rab phosphorylation, but not all features of the feed-forward model are directly supported by data.

      (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