eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Glycan-based shaping of the microbiota during primate evolution

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Sumnima Singh
   2. Patricia Bastos-Amador
   3. Jessica Ann Thompson
   4. Mauro Truglio
   5. Bahtiyar Yilmaz
   6. Silvia Cardoso
   7. Daniel Sobral
   8. Miguel P Soares

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     30 million years ago the ancestors of Old World primates lost the ability to produce alpha-gal due to the fixation of several loss-of-function mutations in the GGTA1 gene. The evolutionary advantage of such loss remains elusive. Here, the authors provide additional insights into the pleiotropic role of ggta1 in shaping the gut microbiota, immune function, susceptibility to sepsis, and eventual fitness advantage.

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

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Differential dopaminergic modulation of spontaneous cortico–subthalamic activity in Parkinson’s disease

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Abhinav Sharma
   2. Diego Vidaurre
   3. Jan Vesper
   4. Alfons Schnitzler
   5. Esther Florin

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This manuscript is of broad interest to readers in the field of clinical neuroscience and movement disorders. The identification and characterization of dynamic networks that are differentially affected by dopaminergic medication in patients with Parkinson's disease is an important contribution to our understanding of physiologic and pathologic brain activities. The used methods provide the potential to uncover spectral, local, and temporal properties of dynamic neural systems. Overall, the data are properly analyzed, although many aspects of reporting the results could be worked out better.

     (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

3. An implant for long-term cervical vagus nerve stimulation in mice

   This article has 14 authors:

   1. Ibrahim T. Mughrabi
   2. Jordan Hickman
   3. Naveen Jayaprakash
   4. Eleni S. Papadoyannis
   5. Adam Abbas
   6. Yao-Chuan Chang
   7. Sunhee Lee
   8. Timir Datta-Chaudhuri
   9. Eric H. Chang
   10. Theodoros P. Zanos
   11. Robert C. Froemke
   12. Cristin Welle
   13. Yousef Al-Abed
   14. Stavros Zanos

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Psychomotor impairments and therapeutic implications revealed by a mutation associated with infantile Parkinsonism-Dystonia

   This article has 19 authors:

   1. Jenny I Aguilar
   2. Mary Hongying Cheng
   3. Josep Font
   4. Alexandra C Schwartz
   5. Kaitlyn Ledwitch
   6. Amanda Duran
   7. Samuel J Mabry
   8. Andrea N Belovich
   9. Yanqi Zhu
   10. Angela M Carter
   11. Lei Shi
   12. Manju A Kurian
   13. Cristina Fenollar-Ferrer
   14. Jens Meiler
   15. Renae Monique Ryan
   16. Hassane S Mchaourab
   17. Ivet Bahar
   18. Heinrich JG Matthies
   19. Aurelio Galli

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     Infantile parkinsonism-dystonia is a rare but devastating condition that leads to early mortality. Mutations in the dopamine transporter that decrease its transport activity or cell surface expression have been identified as potential causes of this disease. Here, Aguilar et al perform a series of experiments to examine the effect of one of the mutations, R445C, on properties of the transporter in cell culture and on motor function in newly generated transgenic flies. They also explore structure function relationships of the mutation using X-ray crystallography of LeuT, a bacterial homolog, and molecular modeling. Lastly, they show blocking lysosomal degradation rescues a motor deficit in the flies. Insights from the work could lead to new approaches to specifically modulate the transporter structure to restore surface expression and function of the mutant dopamine transporter in this disorder. This elegant and technically sophisticated analysis is of interest to readers in the fields of neurobiology, behavior, and movement disorders, as the work provides an excellent example of using a variety of different approaches to determine the relationship between transporter structure and activity and potentially underlying pathology in human disease.

     (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

5. Cholinergic signalling in the forebrain controls microglial phenotype and responses to systemic inflammation

   This article has 12 authors:

   1. Arshed Nazmi
   2. Eadaoin W. Griffin
   3. Robert H. Field
   4. Sean Doyle
   5. Edel Hennessy
   6. Martin O’Donnell
   7. Aisling Rehill
   8. Anthony McCarthy
   9. Daire Healy
   10. Michelle M. Doran
   11. John P. Lowry
   12. Colm Cunningham

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     Loss or decrease of cholinergic tone occurs during brain aging or in pathologies such as Alzheimer's disease. This elegant study has used in vitro and in vivo approaches to explore the impact of decreased cholinergic signaling on hippocampal/cortical microglial state. The study demonstrates that the neurotransmitter Acetylcholine (ACh) maintain microglial cells in a homeostatic state, preventing their priming towards an activated state that leads to an exacerbated response to an inflammatory stimulus. The study thus provides important insights on the feed-forward contribution of microglial cells to neurodegenerative conditions.

     (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. Probing the effect of clustering on EphA2 receptor signaling efficiency by subcellular control of ligand-receptor mobility

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Zhongwen Chen
   2. Dongmyung Oh
   3. Kabir Hassan Biswas
   4. Ronen Zaidel-Bar
   5. Jay T Groves

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     These data provide in vivo evidence for a previously described kinetic-proofreading mechanism in phase-separated condensates. The strength is being able to compare the impacts of clustering of signaling molecules with a non-clustered control in the same cell. The limitations are that there is not necessarily new biological insight gained and the effects reported are surprisingly modest compared with expectations from reconstituted systems. This paper will be of broad interest to scientists who study membrane-associated cell signaling.

     (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. Myoglobin primary structure reveals multiple convergent transitions to semi-aquatic life in the world's smallest mammalian divers

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Kai He
   2. Triston G Eastman
   3. Hannah Czolacz
   4. Shuhao Li
   5. Akio Shinohara
   6. Shin-ichiro Kawada
   7. Mark S Springer
   8. Michael Berenbrink
   9. Kevin L Campbell

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This study, based on an elaborated animal sample collection, reconstructs a comprehensive tree of Eulipotyphla, especially concentrating on Talpidae (moles), and infers the transitions of their lifestyles. It also models myoglobin structure and calculate electrophoretic mobility, demonstrating that semiaquatic eulipotyphlans have a higher net surface charge than fossorial, semifossorial, and terrestrial relatives. This variable myoglobin property indicates convergent shifts to a semi-aquatic lifestyle in multiple independent lineages including three separate times by ‘water shrews’, the smallest endothermic divers.

     (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. Agl24 is an ancient archaeal homolog of the eukaryotic N-glycan chitobiose synthesis enzymes

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Benjamin H Meyer
   2. Panagiotis S Adam
   3. Ben A Wagstaff
   4. George E Kolyfetis
   5. Alexander J Probst
   6. Sonja V Albers
   7. Helge C Dorfmueller

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     The authors identified the enzyme involved in the transfer of the second GlcNAC residue on the nascent oligosaccharide in protein N-glycosylation of the thermophilic Crenarchaeon Sulfolobus acidocaldarius. Although N-glycosylation is well-known in Euryarchaeota, the enzymes involved in this process, their substrates, and the mechanisms followed to produce the mature glycan are still elusive in Crenarchaeota. This work will impact the community interested in glycoprotein biogenesis and evolution. The experiments reported in this study were well-performed and the results are solid, but text and figure editing is required to enhance the accuracy, readability and strengthen the message of the work.

     (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. Evidence accumulation, not ‘self-control’, explains dorsolateral prefrontal activation during normative choice

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Cendri A Hutcherson
   2. Anita Tusche

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This paper will be of interest to neuroscientists studying decision-making and the frontal lobe. The paper combines computational modeling with brain imaging across several datasets to better understand the role of brain regions previously implicated in self-control during normative behavior (generosity, healthy eating). On balance, the data provide more support for the view that dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is involved in reading out the evidence in favor of different choice alternatives than the view that this region implements control processes that bias choices towards normative goals.

     (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

10. Early life experience sets hard limits on motor learning as evidenced from artificial arm use

    This article has 5 authors:

    1. Roni O Maimon-Mor
    2. Hunter R Schone
    3. David Henderson Slater
    4. A Aldo Faisal
    5. Tamar R Makin

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      Evaluation Summary:

      This is a large study of the development of human sensorimotor control using unique populations who have undergone limb loss at different times in their lives.This paper will be of interest to scientists within the field of motor control and for those interested in the development and plasticity of the motor system. An important finding is that reaching performance with an artificial arm is better in people who lost their limb in adulthood and worse in those with congenital limb loss. While the mechanisms underlying this result are not yet clear, it suggests that the benefits of early developmental experience with an intact limb are superior to early experience with an artificial arm.

      (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