eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Vascular endothelial-specific loss of TGF-beta signaling as a model for choroidal neovascularization and central nervous system vascular inflammation

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Yanshu Wang
   2. Amir Rattner
   3. Zhongming Li
   4. Philip M Smallwood
   5. Jeremy Nathans

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     Endothelial cell-specific loss of TGF-beta signaling in mice leads to CNS vascular defects, specifically impairing retinal development and promoting immune cell infiltration. The data are solid, showing that loss of TGF-beta signaling triggers vascular inflammation and attracts immune cells specific to CNS vasculature. These findings are important, highlighting TGF-beta's role in maintaining vascular-immune homeostasis and its therapeutic potential in neurovascular inflammatory diseases.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Gut microbe-derived trimethylamine shapes circadian rhythms through the host receptor TAAR5

   This article has 27 authors:

   1. Kala K Mahen
   2. William J Massey
   3. Danny Orabi
   4. Amanda L Brown
   5. Thomas C Jaramillo
   6. Amy Burrows
   7. Anthony J Horak
   8. Sumita Dutta
   9. Marko Mrdjen
   10. Nour Mouannes
   11. Venkateshwari Varadharajan
   12. Lucas J Osborn
   13. Xiayan Ye
   14. Dante M Yarbrough
   15. Treg Grubb
   16. Natalie Zajczenko
   17. Rachel Hohe
   18. Rakhee Banerjee
   19. Pranavi Linga
   20. Dev Laungani
   21. Adeline M Hajjar
   22. Naseer Sangwan
   23. Mohammed Dwidar
   24. Jennifer A Buffa
   25. Garth R Swanson
   26. Zeneng Wang
   27. Jonathan Mark Brown

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study presents an important finding linking the bacterial metabolite trimethylamine and its receptor to circadian rhythms and olfaction. The current evidence supporting the claims of the authors is compelling. This work will be of broad interest to researchers interested in nutrition, microbial metabolism, circadian rhythms, and host-microbiome interactions.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Sphingolipid imbalance aggravates tau pathology by endomembrane rigidification and rupture

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Jessica Tittelmeier
   2. Carl Alexander Sandhof
   3. Nicole Martin
   4. Deike El-Kabarity
   5. Soki-Bradel Ngonza-Nito
   6. Ronald Melki
   7. Carmen Nussbaum-Krammer

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study addresses the role of sphingolipid metabolism in maintaining endolysosomal membrane integrity and its impact on tau pathology in Caenorhabditis elegans and human cell culture models. The methods are solid and the proposed mechanisms are conceivable. However, the current evidence is incomplete and could be strengthened, due to reliance on imaging data and insufficient biochemical validation. The work will be of broad interest to cell biologists and biologists working on Alzheimer's disease and related proteinopathies.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. A geometric shape regularity effect in the human brain

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Mathias Sablé-Meyer
   2. Lucas Benjamin
   3. Cassandra Potier Watkins
   4. Chenxi He
   5. Maxence Pajot
   6. Théo Morfoisse
   7. Fosca Al Roumi
   8. Stanislas Dehaene

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important series of studies provides converging results from complementary neuroimaging and behavioral experiments to identify human brain regions involved in representing regular geometric shapes and their core features. Geometric shape concepts are present across diverse human cultures and possibly involved in human capabilities such as numerical cognition and mathematical reasoning. Identifying the brain networks involved in geometric shape representation is of broad interest to researchers studying human visual perception, reasoning, and cognition. The evidence supporting the presence of representation of geometric shape regularity in dorsal parietal and prefrontal cortex is solid, but does not directly demonstrate that these circuits overlap with those involved in mathematical reasoning. Furthermore, the links to defining features of geometric objects and with mathematical and symbolic reasoning would benefit from stronger evidence from more fine-tuned experimental tasks varying the stimuli and experience.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Membrane curvature regulates Ups1 dependent phosphatidic acid transfer across lipid bilayers

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Fereshteh Sadeqi
   2. Dexin Dong
   3. Kai Stroh
   4. Marian Vache
   5. Jutta Metz
   6. Dietmar Riedel
   7. Andreas Janshoff
   8. Herre Jelger Risselada
   9. Caroline Kolenda
   10. Michael Meinecke

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This fundamental study combines in vitro reconstitution experiments and molecular dynamics simulations to elucidate how membrane lipids are transported from the outer to the inner membrane of mitochondria. The authors provide convincing evidence that a positive membrane curvature is critical for membrane lipid extraction. The work will be of broad interest to cell biologists and biochemists.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. GMCL1 controls 53BP1 stability and modulates taxane sensitivity

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Yuki Kito
   2. Tania J González-Robles
   3. Sharon Kaisari
   4. Juhee Pae
   5. Sheena Faye Garcia
   6. Juliana Ortiz-Pacheco
   7. Beatrix Ueberheide
   8. Antonio Marzio
   9. Gergely Róna
   10. Michele Pagano

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study identifies 53BP1 as an interaction partner of GMCL1 (a likely CUL3 substrate receptor). The study proposes a novel mechanism by which cancer cells evade the mitotic surveillance pathway through GMCL1-mediated degradation of 53BP1, leading to reduced p53 activation and paclitaxel resistance. These data are the most useful aspect of the study, but the data supporting the authors' conclusions as to the clinical relevance of the study are inadequate. The authors have not taken relevant data about the clinical mechanism of taxanes into account.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Progressive mural cell deficiencies across the lifespan in a foxf2 model of Cerebral Small Vessel Disease

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Merry Faye E Graff
   2. Emma EM Heeg
   3. David A Elliott
   4. Sarah J Childs

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study provides important insights into mural cell dynamics and vascular pathology using a zebrafish model of cerebral small vessel disease. The authors present convincing evidence that partial loss of foxf2 function results in progressive, cell-autonomous defects in pericytes accompanied by endothelial abnormalities across the lifespan. By leveraging advanced in vivo imaging and genetic approaches, the work establishes zebrafish as a powerful and relevant model for dissecting the cellular mechanisms underlying cerebral small vessel disease.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Deep learning reveals endogenous sterols as allosteric modulators of the GPCR–Gα interface

   This article has 18 authors:

   1. Sanjay Kumar Mohanty
   2. Aayushi Mittal
   3. Namra Farooqi
   4. Aakash Gaur
   5. Subhadeep Duari
   6. Saveena Solanki
   7. Anmol Kumar Sharma
   8. Sakshi Arora
   9. Suvendu Kumar
   10. Vishakha Gautam
   11. Nilesh Kumar Dixit
   12. Karthika Subramanian
   13. Tarini Shankar Ghosh
   14. Debarka Sengupta
   15. Shashi Kumar Gupta
   16. Arul Natarajan Murugan
   17. Deepak Sharma
   18. Gaurav Ahuja

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     The authors present a set of wrappers around previously developed software and machine-learning toolkits, and demonstrate their use in identifying endogenous sterols binding to a GPCR. The resulting pipeline is potentially useful for molecular pharmacology researchers due to its accessibility and ease of use. However, the evidence supporting the GPCR-related findings remains incomplete, as the machine-learning model shows indications of overfitting, and no direct ligand-binding assays are provided for validation.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Mapping of in vivo cleavage sites uncovers a major role for yeast RNase III in regulating protein-coding genes

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Lee-Ann Notice-Sarpaning
   2. Mathieu Catala
   3. Catherine Stuart
   4. Sherif Abou Elela
   5. Ambro van Hoof

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study expands the inventory of polyadenylated RNAs cleaved by the double-stranded RNA endonuclease Rnt1 in budding yeast, using solid methodology based on high-throughput sequencing. Previous studies had anecdotally discovered mRNA substrates, and this global characterization is comprehensive with multiple complementary controls. This study sets the stage for deeper investigations into the biological function of Rnt1 and substrate cleavage.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Gene expression variation across genetically identical individuals predicts reproductive traits

    This article has 5 authors:

    1. Amy K Webster
    2. John H Willis
    3. Erik Johnson
    4. Peter Sarkies
    5. Patrick C Phillips

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife Assessment

      This important study addresses the role of non-genetic factors in individual differences in phenotype. Using C. elegans, the study finds that non-genetic differences in gene expression, partly influenced by the environment, correlate with individual differences in two reproductive traits. This supports the use of gene expression data as a key intermediate for understanding complex traits. The clever study design makes for compelling evidence.

    Reviewed by eLife