eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Task-related hemodynamic responses in human early visual cortex are modulated by task difficulty and behavioral performance

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Charlie S Burlingham
   2. Minyoung Ryoo
   3. Zvi N Roth
   4. Saghar Mirbagheri
   5. David J Heeger
   6. Elisha P Merriam

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This work will be of general interest to those using hemodynamic imaging, such as fMRI, to study the brain. A hemodynamic signature that is modulated by arousal level changes on a trial-to-trial basis, such as those evoked by a difficult task, would both provide insight into arousal influences on cortical activity and characterize a prominent signal in hemodynamic data that is rarely considered. Overall, the data and analyses provide support for this idea, but would benefit from additional analysis, controls, and a better framework for integrating this work with the existing literature and mechanistic understanding of arousal, neural activity, and behavior.

     (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. An intestinally secreted host factor promotes microsporidia invasion of C. elegans

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Hala Tamim El Jarkass
   2. Calvin Mok
   3. Michael R Schertzberg
   4. Andrew G Fraser
   5. Emily R Troemel
   6. Aaron W Reinke

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     Despite the broad impact of microsporidia on diverse animals, host factors involved in their invasion have not been characterized. The present study identifies a previously uncharacterized intestinal factor (AAIM-1) that is necessary for efficient infection of early larval stages of C. elegans. The secreted factor has a minor effect mediating resistance to pathogenic bacteria, suggesting more general impact on the susceptibility of the worm to diverse pathogens.

     (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. Structural insights into recognition of chemokine receptors by Staphylococcus aureus leukotoxins

   This article has 13 authors:

   1. Paul Lambey
   2. Omolade Otun
   3. Xiaojing Cong
   4. François Hoh
   5. Luc Brunel
   6. Pascal Verdié
   7. Claire M Grison
   8. Fanny Peysson
   9. Sylvain Jeannot
   10. Thierry Durroux
   11. Cherine Bechara
   12. Sébastien Granier
   13. Cédric Leyrat

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This manuscript reports on the interaction of LukE toxin with chemokine receptors. The study is extensive and employs a wide array of tools, although further experimentation would be needed to substantiate the inferences made by the authors. The paper will be of interest to scientists interested in host-pathogen interactions as it delves into understanding the molecular mechanism and interactions of an important toxin interacting with cellular receptors.

     (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

4. The supramolecular landscape of growing human axons

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Patrick C. Hoffmann
   2. Stefano L. Giandomenico
   3. Iva Ganeva
   4. Michael R. Wozny
   5. Magdalena Sutcliffe
   6. Wanda Kukulski
   7. Madeline A. Lancaster

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     The authors have elegantly combined two techniques, air-liquid interface cerebral organoid (ALI-CO) with correlative light and electron cryo-microscopy (cryo-CLEM), to study the ultrastructure of developing human axons. The technique presented is useful and the data is of high quality and well presented. With a somewhat stronger demonstration of the molecular resolution achieved and a description of how this technique can be expanded to study other organoids or cellular structures in non-neuronal cells and tissues, this paper will be of broad interest to neuroscientists and those developing cryo-electron tomography methods.

     (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

5. Nonlinear transient amplification in recurrent neural networks with short-term plasticity

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Yue Kris Wu
   2. Friedemann Zenke

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     Networks of excitatory neurons in the mammalian cortex are capable of responding rapidly and selectively to incoming stimuli. This rapid response is believed to be due to positive feedback among excitatory cells, which necessitates a stabilizing mechanism at circuit and cellular levels. This modelling study shows how short term plasticity at synapses can stabilize the response of a recurrently connected circuit of excitatory and inhibitory cells, whereas intrinsic spike frequency adaptation is unable to stabilise network responses. These findings deepen our understanding of the various mechanisms that can stabilise circuit dynamics and will be of broad interest to neurophysiologists and theoretical 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. The reviewers remained anonymous to the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Learning differentially shapes prefrontal and hippocampal activity during classical conditioning

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Jan L Klee
   2. Bryan C Souza
   3. Francesco P Battaglia

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     The hippocampal CA1 area and the PFC are extensively studied in spatial navigation tasks but relatively less investigated in non-spatial, classical conditioning tasks. The different dynamics between CA1 and PFC during the trace and inter-trial interval periods identified here are insightful. Also, the ensemble reactivation during explicitly non-spatial tasks is novel and fills a critical gap in knowledge. However, the current form does not highlight these novel findings or does not make a strong case on how they contribute to learning. Furthermore, there are a number of experimental and analytical issues that need to be addressed.

     (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. Phagocytic ‘teeth’ and myosin-II ‘jaw’ power target constriction during phagocytosis

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Daan Vorselen
   2. Sarah R Barger
   3. Yifan Wang
   4. Wei Cai
   5. Julie A Theriot
   6. Nils C Gauthier
   7. Mira Krendel

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This study is of great interest to cell biologists studying phagocytosis. The work describes a new method for studying phagocytosis; the engulfment of large cargos such as pathogens by the immune system. With this new method, they describe a mechanical force at the rim of the phagocytic cup that function like teeth. This work will advance the field in a new direction.

     (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 names with the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Unconventional conservation reveals structure-function relationships in the synaptonemal complex

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Lisa E Kursel
   2. Henry D Cope
   3. Ofer Rog

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     Although the synaptonemal complex (SC) is an essential, deeply conserved structure that holds meiotic chromosomes together, the constituent proteins evolve exceptionally rapidly. This rapid evolution in turn has hindered the identification of SC proteins based solely on sequence homology. This manuscript overcomes this challenge by developing and validating a clever protein structure-based approach that leverages sequence divergence - rather than sequence conservation - to identify novel SC components.

     (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

9. The Lyme disease agent co-opts adiponectin receptor-mediated signaling in its arthropod vector

   This article has 14 authors:

   1. Xiaotian Tang
   2. Yongguo Cao
   3. Gunjan Arora
   4. Jesse Hwang
   5. Andaleeb Sajid
   6. Courtney L Brown
   7. Sameet Mehta
   8. Alejandro Marín-López
   9. Yu-Min Chuang
   10. Ming-Jie Wu
   11. Hongwei Ma
   12. Utpal Pal
   13. Sukanya Narasimhan
   14. Erol Fikrig

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This article identifies a new metabolic pathway in ticks that Borrelia burgdorferi, the agent of Lyme disease, requires for survival. The authors show that the adiponectin receptor (ISARL) is upregulated after a blood meal and find that the tick complement C1q-like protein (C1QL3) is an ISARL ligand whose knockdown impairs spirochete colonization.

     (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

10. Humans optimally anticipate and compensate for an uneven step during walking

    This article has 2 authors:

    1. Osman Darici
    2. Arthur D Kuo

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      Evaluation Summary:

      This study provides experimental evidence supporting an energy optimality principle for walking over uneven terrain. Using a simple rimless wheel model of human walking, the authors previously predicted speed fluctuations to emerge when a step up or down when energy is minimized over the entire walking path. New experimental evidence provides evidence that both anticipatory and reactive adjustments used by the nervous system follow the predictions of an energy minimization principle. The predictive power of an energy-minimization principle during transient, non-steady state behavior is notable. Certain issues regarding the generalizability of the results to variable step lengths and timing, alternative optimality criteria, and limitations of the modeling assumptions should be clarified.

      (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, preLights