eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Relating neural oscillations to laminar fMRI connectivity

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. René Scheeringa
   2. Mathilde Bonnefond
   3. Tim van Mourik
   4. Ole Jensen
   5. David G. Norris
   6. Peter J. Koopmans

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary

     This study uses non-invasive imaging to look at the coupling within and between layers and regions of the human visual cortex during the modulation of attention. The results presented here are a re-analysis of a previously recorded dataset, but the novelty is the analytic technique used to relate laminar connectivity to rhythms. This in principle promises to advance the field of both oscillations and laminar fMRI and could deliver valuable insights. The work provides a non-invasive window on how feedback and feedforward circuitry in the human brain operates. We deem the work of potential interest to a broad audience as it aims to provide direct links between the animal invasive electrophysiology and human neuroimaging fields. However, in its current form, major reservations with respect to the hypothesis space being explored here as well as important analytic and technical caveats remain.

     (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

2. SARS-CoV-2 shedding dynamics across the respiratory tract, sex, and disease severity for adult and pediatric COVID-19

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Paul Z Chen
   2. Niklas Bobrovitz
   3. Zahra A Premji
   4. Marion Koopmans
   5. David N Fisman
   6. Frank X Gu

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     The authors performed a systematic literature review and meta-analysis to develop a dataset of respiratory viral loads (rVLs) for SARS-CoV-2. Focus was on finding the relation between individual case characteristics (e.g. disease severity, age and sex) and lower and upper respiratory tract viral loads. The study appears robust and comprehensive, and the results are valuable and contribute to the scientific knowledge in this field.

     (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, ScreenIT

3. Secondary metabolites of Hülle cells mediate protection of fungal reproductive and overwintering structures against fungivorous animals

   This article has 11 authors:

   1. Li Liu
   2. Christoph Sasse
   3. Benedict Dirnberger
   4. Oliver Valerius
   5. Enikő Fekete-Szücs
   6. Rebekka Harting
   7. Daniela E Nordzieke
   8. Stefanie Pöggeler
   9. Petr Karlovsky
   10. Jennifer Gerke
   11. Gerhard H Braus

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     Hülle cells, a type of cells formed by fungal species of the genus Aspergillus, are specialized cells that surround the sexual fruiting bodies of ascomycete fungi and are thought to nurse the fruiting bodies during fungal development. In this work, Liu et al. suggest that these cells have a strong ecological impact because they contain specific secondary metabolites that help the fungus to "withstand" the attack by fungivorous animals, like springtails, and also inhibit sexual reproduction of other fungi. This work will likely have a major impact on our view on the development and ecology of fungi as well as on the ecological functions of secondary metabolites.

     (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 and Reviewer #3 agreed to share their names with the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

4. A genome-phenome association study in native microbiomes identifies a mechanism for cytosine modification in DNA and RNA

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Weiwei Yang
   2. Yu-Cheng Lin
   3. William Johnson
   4. Nan Dai
   5. Romualdas Vaisvila
   6. Peter Weigele
   7. Yan-Jiun Lee
   8. Ivan R Corrêa
   9. Ira Schildkraut
   10. Laurence Ettwiller

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This work will interest researchers who want to explore the functional potential in metagenomes. The authors present a new computational method, MetaGPA, for performing enrichment analysis on cohorts of metagenomes. They then use this approach to identify an enzyme that can modify cytosines in DNA from natural bacteriophage populations. Though successful, the approach needs to improve in clarity and methodology to be both reproducible and of broader impact, as claimed.

     (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. Silencing long ascending propriospinal neurons after spinal cord injury improves hindlimb stepping in the adult rat

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Courtney T Shepard
   2. Amanda M Pocratsky
   3. Brandon L Brown
   4. Morgan A Van Rijswijck
   5. Rachel M Zalla
   6. Darlene A Burke
   7. Johnny R Morehouse
   8. Amberley S Riegler
   9. Scott R Whittemore
   10. David SK Magnuson

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This paper will be of interest to neuroscientists in the fields of spinal motor control and spinal cord injury. The finding that silencing of spared lumbar to cervical long ascending propriospinal neurons after spinal cord injury enhances locomotor coordination is unexpected and well-supported by the data. This has potential implications for strategies aimed at promoting recovery of function after SCI.

     (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. Neuronal calmodulin levels are controlled by CAMTA transcription factors

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Thanh Thi Vuong-Brender
   2. Sean Flynn
   3. Yvonne Vallis
   4. Saliha E Sönmez
   5. Mario de Bono

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     Calcium-calmodulin (CaM) signaling plays an essential role within and outside of the nervous system. Moreover, it is conserved from plants to humans. While a lot is known about the mechanisms of cellular calcium level fluctuations, how CaM levels are regulated is less clear. In this manuscript, Vuong-Brender and colleagues characterize a, likely, conserved role of the transcription factor CAMT-1 in the homeostatic regulation of CaM levels and show how it impacts animal behavior and nervous system function. The paper is a tour-de-force across multiple techniques and model systems. The data is of a very high quality and supports most of the authors' claims strongly and convincingly.

     (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. Task-specific roles of local interneurons for inter- and intraglomerular signaling in the insect antennal lobe

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Debora Fusca
   2. Peter Kloppenburg

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     The question investigated - to understand the computational significance of different types of local interneurons in neural circuits - is an important and significant problem. Here authors elucidate the role of the two types of LNs, by combining whole-cell patch clamp recordings with calcium imaging via single cell dye injection. This method enables them to monitor calcium dynamics of the different axons and branches of single LNs in identified glomeruli of the antennal lobe, while the membrane potential can be recorded at the same time. They conclude that non-spiking LNs with graded responses show glomerular restricted responses to odorants and spiking LNs show similar responses across glomeruli.

     (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. The roles of history, chance, and natural selection in the evolution of antibiotic resistance

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Alfonso Santos-Lopez
   2. Christopher W Marshall
   3. Allison L Haas
   4. Caroline Turner
   5. Javier Rasero
   6. Vaughn S Cooper

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This work, which will be of value to evolutionary and clinical microbiologists, uses a well-designed experimental evolution strategy to tease apart contributions of history, chance, and selection on the evolution of antibiotic resistance in A. baumannii, an important microbial pathogen. While relevant, the work will benefit from further clarification regarding some of the concepts and procedures used and revision of some of the interpretations.

     (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. Lying in a 3T MRI scanner induces neglect-like spatial attention bias

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Axel Lindner
   2. Daniel Wiesen
   3. Hans-Otto Karnath

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This paper examines the visual-ocular response in participants when exposed to the static magnetic field of a 3T MRI system. Historically, this problem has been approached from a safety perspective. In the present study, the authors ask about the behavioral consequences of this field given that it induces a response in the vestibular system, hypothesized to mimic that of a caloric vestibular stimulation event. As such, one should anticipate a biased vestibulo-ocular reflex in the static field as well as biases in spatial attention. These predictions were confirmed, with the attentional bias manifest in eye movements during a visual search task. This is an important finding because it reveals functional "artifacts" that may arise during fMRI studies, effects that may need to be considered by those conducting research in the MR environment (especially functional studies).

     (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 and Reviewer #3 agreed to share their names with the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Spatial alanine metabolism determines local growth dynamics of Escherichia coli colonies

    This article has 13 authors:

    1. Francisco Díaz-Pascual
    2. Martin Lempp
    3. Kazuki Nosho
    4. Hannah Jeckel
    5. Jeanyoung K Jo
    6. Konstantin Neuhaus
    7. Raimo Hartmann
    8. Eric Jelli
    9. Mads Frederik Hansen
    10. Alexa Price-Whelan
    11. Lars EP Dietrich
    12. Hannes Link
    13. Knut Drescher

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      Evaluation Summary:

      In this manuscript the authors use a combination of transcriptomics, metabolomics, and quantitative measurements of growth to characterize the temporal and spatial distribution of cells with different metabolic states within colony of biofilms of the model bacterium Escherichia coli. They show that within the biofilm cells performing different metabolic functions are distributed in different regions of the colonies, and propose a model where nutrient cross-feeding through the amino acid alanine explains the phenotypic heterogeneity observed within the biofilm. The findings reported have potential broad implications for thinking about the spatial structure of communities of all bacterial species.

      (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