eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Associations of topic-specific peer review outcomes and institute and center award rates with funding disparities at the National Institutes of Health

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Michael S Lauer
   2. Jamie Doyle
   3. Joy Wang
   4. Deepshikha Roychowdhury

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This paper provides the basis for further discussion about the perceived inequities in NIH funding based on race. The strengths of this manuscript are the detailed breakdown of the available data in order to evaluate for biases, the availability of data for multiple years (2011-2015) and the consideration of alternate explanations (e.g. new applications vs resubmissions; single vs multi PI). With that said, given their conclusion that Institute (IC) assignment was the main determinant of funding rates, the approach for IC assignment should have been discussed. Other issues relate to the complexity of statistical analyses and a lack of clarity on confounding issues towards firm conclusions.

     (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 name with the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

2. A connectome of the Drosophila central complex reveals network motifs suitable for flexible navigation and context-dependent action selection

   This article has 13 authors:

   1. Brad K Hulse
   2. Hannah Haberkern
   3. Romain Franconville
   4. Daniel Turner-Evans
   5. Shin-ya Takemura
   6. Tanya Wolff
   7. Marcella Noorman
   8. Marisa Dreher
   9. Chuntao Dan
   10. Ruchi Parekh
   11. Ann M Hermundstad
   12. Gerald M Rubin
   13. Vivek Jayaraman

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     It is difficult to overestimate the importance of this paper. The full connectome of the Drosophila central complex is both the beginning and the end of an era. It provides the first comprehensive dataset of arguably the most enigmatic brain region in the insect brain. This endeavor has generated ground truth data for years of functional work on the neural circuits the connectome outlines and constitutes an unparalleled foundation for exploring the structure function relations in nervous systems in general. While significantly going beyond models of central-complex function that existed previously, the authors have to be much credited for incorporating huge amounts of existing knowledge and data into their interpretations, not only work from Drosophila, but also from many other insects. This effort makes this paper not only an invaluable resource on the connectome of the Drosophila central complex, but also a most comprehensive review on the current state of the art in central-complex research. This unifying approach of the paper clearly marks a reset of central-complex research, essentially providing a starting point of hundreds of new lines of enquiry, probably for decades to come.

     (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. Environmental drivers of disease depend on host community context

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Fletcher W. Halliday
   2. Mikko Jalo
   3. Anna-Liisa Laine

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This paper provides a framework for disentangling the direct vs. indirect effects of environment on disease, which should be of broad interest across domains of ecology, epidemiology and plant biology. The authors validate this framework with a well-designed field study of plant leaf disease across a large elevational gradient. Overall, the data analyses are appropriate, but a few aspects of interpretations could be improved.

     (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

4. The discriminatory power of the T cell receptor

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Johannes Pettmann
   2. Anna Huhn
   3. Enas Abu Shah
   4. Mikhail A Kutuzov
   5. Daniel B Wilson
   6. Michael L Dustin
   7. Simon J Davis
   8. P Anton van der Merwe
   9. Omer Dushek

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This paper will be of considerable interest to anybody focusing on highly sensitive T cell antigen recognition. It uses an extended experimental protocol and analytical methods to assess very low T cell receptor binding affinities, and to determine how T cells discriminate between self- and non-self antigens. The main conclusions are well supported by the presented analysis and provide a novel view on a previously considered concept.

     (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. The interaction between endogenous GABA, functional connectivity, and behavioral flexibility is critically altered with advanced age

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Kirstin-Friederike Heise
   2. Laura Rueda-Delgado
   3. Sima Chalavi
   4. Bradley R. King
   5. Thiago Santos Monteiro
   6. Richard A. E. Edden
   7. Dante Mantini
   8. Stephan P. Swinnen

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Characterization of cephalic and non-cephalic sensory cell types provides insight into joint photo- and mechanoreceptor evolution

   This article has 13 authors:

   1. Roger Revilla-i-Domingo
   2. Vinoth Babu Veedin Rajan
   3. Monika Waldherr
   4. Günther Prohaczka
   5. Hugo Musset
   6. Lukas Orel
   7. Elliot Gerrard
   8. Moritz Smolka
   9. Alexander Stockinger
   10. Matthias Farlik
   11. Robert J Lucas
   12. Florian Raible
   13. Kristin Tessmar-Raible

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This manuscript presents an investigation of receptors in the trunk of Platynereis annelids that express genes involved in both photoreception (e.g. r-Opsin) and mechanosensation. This is particularly interesting in light of other work in model organisms like flies that uncovered broadly similar results. The authors compare gene expression of fly Johnston Organ cells and mouse hearing cells to the worm receptors. Because Platynereis is distantly related to flies and mice, the authors suggest this "hybrid" sensory receptor could be very old and homologous across many animals. The question of what role r-Opsins play outside of photoreceptors is an interesting one that remains poorly understood.

     (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 #4 agreed to share their names with the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Separable pupillary signatures of perception and action during perceptual multistability

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Jan W Brascamp
   2. Gilles de Hollander
   3. Michael D Wertheimer
   4. Ashley N DePew
   5. Tomas Knapen

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     Pupillometry is an increasingly accessible tool for the non-invasive readout of brain activity. However, our understanding of pupil-control circuits and of the relationship between changes in pupil size and perception, cognition or action is incomplete. Therefore, any measurements that further this understanding are of great interest to a wide audience in psychology and neurobiology. This study used pupillometry to explore the neural processing underlying perception and dissociate them from action-related neural processing. Results reveal changes in pupil size that are reliably different depending on the task. Such approaches can be very useful in deciphering which of the myriad factors that can affect pupil size are active under specific, controlled 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 #1 and Reviewer 3 agreed to share their names with the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Circuit organization of the excitatory sensorimotor loop through hand/forelimb S1 and M1

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Naoki Yamawaki
   2. Martinna G Raineri Tapies
   3. Austin Stults
   4. Gregory A Smith
   5. Gordon MG Shepherd

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This paper will be of interest to those studying the sensorimotor functions of the hand and forelimb. It traces the anatomy and strength of excitatory pathways from the spinal cord, through the brainstem, thalamus, somatosensory and motor cortex, and descending outputs. The methods are contemporary, and include multiple viral tracing, genetic targeting, and transsynaptic strategies, optogenetic and electrophysiological methods; the data are compelling; and the paper is clear and concise.

     (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

9. Ct threshold values, a proxy for viral load in community SARS-CoV-2 cases, demonstrate wide variation across populations and over time

   This article has 19 authors:

   1. A Sarah Walker
   2. Emma Pritchard
   3. Thomas House
   4. Julie V Robotham
   5. Paul J Birrell
   6. Iain Bell
   7. John I Bell
   8. John N Newton
   9. Jeremy Farrar
   10. Ian Diamond
   11. Ruth Studley
   12. Jodie Hay
   13. Karina-Doris Vihta
   14. Timothy EA Peto
   15. Nicole Stoesser
   16. Philippa C Matthews
   17. David W Eyre
   18. Koen B Pouwels
   19. COVID-19 Infection Survey team

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     The authors present a systematic and complete study of Ct (cycle threshold) values in RT-PCR tests and gene-specific positivity for the UK ONS infection survey. There are very few datasets like this for any viral pathogen, regardless of pandemics. The patterns are fascinating and thought-provoking.

     (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. Tachykinin signaling inhibits task-specific behavioral responsiveness in honeybee workers

    This article has 11 authors:

    1. Bin Han
    2. Qiaohong Wei
    3. Fan Wu
    4. Han Hu
    5. Chuan Ma
    6. Lifeng Meng
    7. Xufeng Zhang
    8. Mao Feng
    9. Yu Fang
    10. Olav Rueppell
    11. Jianke Li

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      Evaluation Summary:

      The authors provide convincing evidence that tachykinin signaling is involved in regulating response thresholds of task-specific stimuli only in the respective behavioral specialist. For example tachykinin signaling affects responses to pollen in pollen foragers and responses to larval chemical cues only in nurse bees. The study highlights the importance of peptide signaling in social behaviors in insects for the first time.

      (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