eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Morphometric analysis of lungfish endocasts elucidates early dipnoan palaeoneurological evolution

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Alice M Clement
   2. Tom J Challands
   3. Richard Cloutier
   4. Laurent Houle
   5. Per E Ahlberg
   6. Shaun P Collin
   7. John A Long

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     Clement and colleagues describe and illustrate the endocasts of six Palaeozoic lungfish genera from superb 3D fossil material, which are very informative for the understanding of brain evolution of lungfishes, the extant sister group to land vertebrates. Rendering important anatomical details regarding brain evolution in lungfishes, and sarcopterygians in general, this work will be of broad interest to zoologists, including vertebrate paleontologists and neuroanatomists.

     (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 #, Reviewer #2 and Reviewer #3 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

2. The giant mimivirus 1.2 Mb genome is elegantly organized into a 30-nm diameter helical protein shield

   This article has 14 authors:

   1. Alejandro Villalta
   2. Alain Schmitt
   3. Leandro F Estrozi
   4. Emmanuelle RJ Quemin
   5. Jean-Marie Alempic
   6. Audrey Lartigue
   7. Vojtěch Pražák
   8. Lucid Belmudes
   9. Daven Vasishtan
   10. Agathe MG Colmant
   11. Flora A Honoré
   12. Yohann Couté
   13. Kay Grünewald
   14. Chantal Abergel

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     Giant dsDNA viruses, with genomes in excess of 1Mb that encode more than a thousand genes, were only recently discovered and their study offers new opportunities to understand life's evolved mechanisms. In this manuscript, Villalta and colleagues report results on one of the most complex known viruses, the Mimivirus. Its genome is compacted into magnificent fibers comprising apparently repurposed GMC-type oxidoreductase paralogs assembled as a helical coat around genomic dsDNA. Cryo-EM and cryo-ET image analysis yielded a structural model of the fiber in multiple states. The authors also provide some evidence that additional viral enzymes, including RNA polymerases, exist within the fiber assemblies. Pending the resolution of certain issues that emerged in peer review, the study will be of broad interest to 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 #1 and Reviewer #3 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Therapeutic deep brain stimulation disrupts movement-related subthalamic nucleus activity in parkinsonian mice

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Jonathan S Schor
   2. Isabelle Gonzalez Montalvo
   3. Perry WE Spratt
   4. Rea J Brakaj
   5. Jasmine A Stansil
   6. Emily L Twedell
   7. Kevin J Bender
   8. Alexandra B Nelson

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     The paper would be of interest to neuroscientists and clinician scientists interested in better understanding the mechanism of deep brain stimulation (DBS) in the treatment of Parkinson's disease. Using a combination of electrical artifact-free calcium imaging and electrical stimulation, it probes the effects of stimulation on the neural dynamics of basal ganglia structures that correlate with motor improvement. The key claims are well supported with a convincing discussion of the caveats of the methods used.

     (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. Shared mechanisms of auditory and non-auditory vocal learning in the songbird brain

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. James N McGregor
   2. Abigail L Grassler
   3. Paul I Jaffe
   4. Amanda Louise Jacob
   5. Michael S Brainard
   6. Samuel J Sober

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     McGregor et al. establish a new reinforcement learning paradigm for songbirds, where instead of auditory feedback (white noise) they use mild cutaneous electrical stimulation as a reinforcer. Their data shows that this somatosensory stimulus can aversively drive pitch changes of a targeted syllable in similar manners as an auditory stimulus does. They further show that the anterior forebrain pathway (AFP) and dopaminergic projections to the AFP are necessary for this non-auditory vocal learning by electrolytically lesioning the output nucleus of the AFP and by depleting dopaminergic input to Area X. Their analysis is rigorous and their data convincingly show shared mechanisms for vocal reinforcement learning using white noise (auditory) or cutaneous electrical stimulation (non-auditory).

     (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

5. Machine learning-assisted discovery of growth decision elements by relating bacterial population dynamics to environmental diversity

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Honoka Aida
   2. Takamasa Hashizume
   3. Kazuha Ashino
   4. Bei-Wen Ying

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     Aida et al use a combination of novel experimental measurements and data processing to wrangle the complexity of bacterial growth for different media conditions. This study represents a clear example tackling the complexity of biological systems from the condition sides (~13,000 growth curves were measured) influencing the growth of a well-defined single specie of bacterium and with a reasonable first pass at data processing. The findings are ultimately simple (with essentially 3 conditions accounting all variability in the system) and easily interpretable.

     (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

6. Effects of dopamine D2/3 and opioid receptor antagonism on the trade-off between model-based and model-free behaviour in healthy volunteers

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Nace Mikus
   2. Sebastian Korb
   3. Claudia Massaccesi
   4. Christian Gausterer
   5. Irene Graf
   6. Matthäus Willeit
   7. Christoph Eisenegger
   8. Claus Lamm
   9. Giorgia Silani
   10. Christoph Mathys

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This study provides novel evidence that a dopamine D2 receptor antagonist enhances model-based control of behavior, whereas blocking opioid receptors has no effect on the trade-off between habitual responding and goal-directed planning. These conclusions are based on compelling behavioral and computational modeling data and will be of interest to cognitive neuroscientists and computational psychiatrists.

     (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

7. Infant brain regional cerebral blood flow increases supporting emergence of the default-mode network

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Qinlin Yu
   2. Minhui Ouyang
   3. John Detre
   4. Huiying Kang
   5. Di Hu
   6. Bo Hong
   7. Fang Fang
   8. Yun Peng
   9. Hao Huang

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     In this paper, the authors find a link between the emergence of functional connectivity (FC) and changes in regional Cerebral Blood Flow (rCBF) in human infancy from birth to 24 months of age, which will be of interest to the increasing field investigating how the establishment of the brain's functional organization is linked to neurodevelopmental and psychiatric conditions. The data quality and complementarity are impressive for infants over this developmental period (0-2 years). Most of the key claims of the manuscript are well supported by the data. However, the relatively sparse sample and cross-sectional nature does limit interpretation.

     (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

8. Nr2f1a maintains atrial nkx2.5 expression to repress pacemaker identity within venous atrial cardiomyocytes of zebrafish

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Kendall E Martin
   2. Padmapriyadarshini Ravisankar
   3. Manu Beerens
   4. Calum A MacRae
   5. Joshua S Waxman

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This manuscript will be of interest to developmental biologists and pediatric cardiologists. Addressing the role of NR2F transcription factors in the fish heart, it provides novel insight into atrial chamber patterning and the formation of pacemaker cells. High-quality data are presented supporting the novel finding of a requirement of nr2f1a for restricting the production of pacemaker cells. Yet, data are currently not conclusive in claiming transdifferentiation of atrial cells in the mutants.

     (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 #3 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Early immune markers of clinical, virological, and immunological outcomes in patients with COVID-19: a multi-omics study

   This article has 27 authors:

   1. Zicheng Hu
   2. Kattria van der Ploeg
   3. Saborni Chakraborty
   4. Prabhu S Arunachalam
   5. Diego AM Mori
   6. Karen B Jacobson
   7. Hector Bonilla
   8. Julie Parsonnet
   9. Jason R Andrews
   10. Marisa Holubar
   11. Aruna Subramanian
   12. Chaitan Khosla
   13. Yvonne Maldonado
   14. Haley Hedlin
   15. Lauren de la Parte
   16. Kathleen Press
   17. Maureen Ty
   18. Gene S Tan
   19. Catherine Blish
   20. Saki Takahashi
   21. Isabel Rodriguez-Barraquer
   22. Bryan Greenhouse
   23. Atul J Butte
   24. Upinder Singh
   25. Bali Pulendran
   26. Taia T Wang
   27. Prasanna Jagannathan

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This is an interesting report using computational tools and large amounts of prospective samples from clinical trials to identify different signatures. Using data collected early in the infection in outpatients, the authors aim to identify a set of plasma proteins that can predict a number of outcomes, including disease progression, control of viral shedding, and the onset of antibodies during COVID-19. This study adds to the understanding of the host immune response against COVID-19, as well as the potential of computational tools for the molecular taxonomy of immune responses.

     (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, ScreenIT

10. Prolonged β-adrenergic stimulation disperses ryanodine receptor clusters in cardiomyocytes and has implications for heart failure

    This article has 15 authors:

    1. Xin Shen
    2. Jonas van den Brink
    3. Anna Bergan-Dahl
    4. Terje R Kolstad
    5. Einar S Norden
    6. Yufeng Hou
    7. Martin Laasmaa
    8. Yuriana Aguilar-Sanchez
    9. Ann P Quick
    10. Emil KS Espe
    11. Ivar Sjaastad
    12. Xander HT Wehrens
    13. Andrew G Edwards
    14. Christian Soeller
    15. William E Louch

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      Evaluation Summary:

      This study applies super-resolution imaging to the distribution of Ca2+ release channels before and after adrenergic stimulation. They make comparisons between healthy and failing cardiomyocytes. The results are specifically applicable to the understanding of contractile function in cardiac failure.

      (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