eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Solubility product constant directs the formation of biomolecular condensates

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Aniruddha Chattaraj
   2. Michael L. Blinov
   3. Leslie M. Loew

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     Recent experiments have raised questions regarding concentration buffering provided by the formation of multicomponent biomolecular condensates via phase separation driven by heterotypic interactions. In this work, Chattaraja et al., demonstrate that the concept of a solubility product, used to describe the solubility limits of ionic solutions, sets an upper limit on concentration thresholds, even in systems where the driving forces for phase separation are primarily heterotypic in nature. Their work suggests that the concept of a solubility product rescues the concept of buffering via phase separation.

     (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

2. A developmental framework linking neurogenesis and circuit formation in the Drosophila CNS

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Brandon Mark
   2. Sen-Lin Lai
   3. Aref Arzan Zarin
   4. Laurina Manning
   5. Ashok Litwin-Kumar
   6. Albert Cardona
   7. James W. Truman
   8. Chris Q. Doe

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This paper sought to assess the relationship between developmental lineage and connectivity. It relies on detailed EM reconstructions and the knowledge of complete neuroblast lineages, thus correlating wiring with lineage. Through genetic manipulations of Notch function, it also correlates developmental programs with wiring. The conclusion is important and provides a well described cellular and genetic system for linking the developmental program of a cell to its connection specificity. It provides a framework for considering how to study these questions in other regions of the Drosophila brain and can be extended to the study of more complex mammalian systems where a similar neuroblast-lineage strategy generates different neuron types.

     (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

3. Presynaptic NMDA receptors facilitate short-term plasticity and BDNF release at hippocampal mossy fiber synapses

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Pablo J Lituma
   2. Hyung-Bae Kwon
   3. Karina Alviña
   4. Rafael Luján
   5. Pablo E Castillo

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This paper will be of interest to a larger neuroscience community as this is the first functional demonstration of presynaptic NMDA receptors at mossy fiber terminals in the hippocampus. NMDA receptors are generally known for being critically involved in learning & memory as coincidence detectors in Hebbian plasticity. Some studies, however, find NMDA receptors that function in more unconventional manners. The present paper provides strong evidence for the existence of such unconventional NMDA receptors at a specific subset of hippocampal mossy-fibre boutons. The combined use of electron microscopy, electrophysiological, optogenetic, calcium imaging, and genetic manipulation approaches expertly employed by the authors yields high quality compelling evidence in full support of the study's main conclusions. Overall, the investigation is well designed with a clear hypothesis, appropriate methodological considerations, and logical flow resulting in a well written manuscript that is sure to be of broad scientific interest.

     (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. High-fidelity, efficient, and reversible labeling of endogenous proteins using CRISPR-based designer exon insertion

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Haining Zhong
   2. Cesar C Ceballos
   3. Crystian I Massengill
   4. Michael A Muniak
   5. Lei Ma
   6. Maozhen Qin
   7. Stefanie Kaech Petrie
   8. Tianyi Mao

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     The reviewers found your description of the new method interesting and potentially useful for the field. They raised concerns about fusion protein's functionality and reagent accessibility among other technical questions.

     (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. Dopamine differentially modulates the size of projection neuron ensembles in the intact and dopamine-depleted striatum

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Marta Maltese
   2. Jeffrey R. March
   3. Alexander G. Bashaw
   4. Nicolas X. Tritsch

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     The paper is of broad interest to neuroscientists studying Parkinson's disease, dopamine (DA) modulation and striatum. The authors use a layered in vivo calcium imaging approach with cell-type reporters and universal GCaMP expression to simultaneously evaluate striatal projection neurons in the direct and indirect pathways (dSPNs, iSPNs) during basic locomotion. The authors report relationships between dSPN and iSPN ensemble sizes and DA pharmacology and dopamine depletion states. These results advance understanding of DA modulation and Parkinson's 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 #3 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Cortical entrainment to hierarchical contextual rhythms recomposes dynamic attending in visual perception

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Peijun Yuan
   2. Ruichen Hu
   3. Xue Zhang
   4. Ying Wang
   5. Yi Jiang

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This study by Wang et al. used a series of carefully designed behavioral experiments to convincingly demonstrate that the attentional blink (AB) could be modulated by higher-order rhythmic regularity. EEG results further support the link between the elicited neural entrainment and the AB modulation effect. They propose that the rhythmic context implements a second-order temporal structure to the first-order regularities posited in dynamic attention theory.

     (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. A signal capture and proofreading mechanism for the KDEL-receptor explains selectivity and dynamic range in ER retrieval

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Andreas Gerondopoulos
   2. Philipp Bräuer
   3. Tomoaki Sobajima
   4. Zhiyi Wu
   5. Joanne L Parker
   6. Philip C Biggin
   7. Francis A Barr
   8. Simon Newstead

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     Binding of cargo to sorting receptors in membrane trafficking is essential to cellular organization. This work is significant because it generates a detailed model of the key residues accounting for specificity and affinity of binding by the KDEL receptor. Interestingly, it is not the affinity per se that accounts for the specificity of cargo binding but rather charge-based exclusion of potentially competing signals.

     (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

8. Distinct protocerebral neuropils associated with attractive and aversive female-produced odorants in the male moth brain

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Jonas Hansen Kymre
   2. XiaoLan Liu
   3. Elena Ian
   4. Christoffer Nerland Berge
   5. GuiRong Wang
   6. Bente Gunnveig Berg
   7. XinCheng Zhao
   8. Xi Chu

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This study identifies and describes the functional properties of antennal lobe output neurons towards the response to pheromone odors in the moth brain. This paper will be of interest to neuroscientists investigating how sensory information is organized in the brain. Through a combination of technically challenging experiments, the paper identifies the brain regions that differentially process attractive vs aversive olfactory pheromone signals. While not an exhaustive data set, it provides compelling evidence for one model of how the moth brain interprets complex pheromone olfactory odors.

     (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

9. Par3 cooperates with Sanpodo for the assembly of Notch clusters following asymmetric division of Drosophila sensory organ precursor cells

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Elise Houssin
   2. Mathieu Pinot
   3. Karen Bellec
   4. Roland Le Borgne

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This study reveals the existence of a novel Notch-containing signaling hub, organized by Sanpodo and Par3, that operates in Notch receptor signaling during cell fate decisions in the peripheral nervous system of Drosophila. These Notch clusters are modulated by components of the Notch signaling pathway, and are proposed to reinforce Notch signaling by concentrating ligands and receptors. These findings are highly relevant to different areas of biology including membrane biology, cytokinesis, PAR polarity, Notch signaling and cell fate decisions making.

     (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. An adhesion G protein-coupled receptor is required in cartilaginous and dense connective tissues to maintain spine alignment

    This article has 8 authors:

    1. Zhaoyang Liu
    2. Amro A Hussien
    3. Yunjia Wang
    4. Terry Heckmann
    5. Roberto Gonzalez
    6. Courtney M Karner
    7. Jess G Snedeker
    8. Ryan S Gray

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      Evaluation Summary:

      This is an interesting and thorough study of the developmental roles of the G-coupled protein receptor Adgr6 in spine development that contributes both to the understanding of spine morphogenesis and the etiology of common types of scoliosis that are of unknown origin. Using conditional mouse knockouts, the authors dissect the contributions of Adgr6 in each spine-associated tissue. In addition to the use of state-of-the-art genetic tools, the authors show beautiful histological and tomography data illustrating developmental processes and phenotypes with great detail. Their results also implicate cAMP signaling and CREB activity in the regulation of mechanical properties of dense spine tissues.

      (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