Neuroscience

Pallium-encoded valence-specific chemosensory amplification of eye-body coordination in larval zebrafish

1. Samuel KH Sy
2. Danny CW Chan
3. Jenny J Zhang
4. Jing Lyu
5. Crystal Feng
6. Kui Wang
7. Vincent CT Mok
8. Kenneth KY Wong
9. Yu Mu
10. Yu Hu
11. Ho Ko

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  Using their unique Fish-On-Chips optofluidics platform, the authors make three important findings: the presence of precise coupling between saccades and tail flips can be used to discriminate between turning or gliding behaviours; aversive and appetitive chemosensory cues differentially modulate these behaviours; transformation from cue valence to behaviour is encoded by the pallium. The evidence supporting these findings is solid. The work advances our understanding of the ancient interplay between chemosensation and motor output through the modulation of eye-body coordination.

Reviewed by eLife

Preserved cerebellar functions despite structural degeneration in older adults

1. Anda de Witte
2. Anouck Matthijs
3. Benjamin Parrell
4. Dante Mantini
5. Jolien Gooijers
6. Jean-Jacques Orban de Xivry

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study examined age-related changes in cerebellar function by testing a large sample of younger and older adults, including 30 over 80 years old, on motor and cognitive tasks linked to the cerebellum and conducting structural imaging. Their findings show that cerebellar-dependent functions are mostly maintained or even enhanced across the lifespan, with cerebellar-mediated motor abilities remaining intact despite degeneration, in contrast to non-cerebellar measures. Overall, the authors provide solid evidence in support of preserved cerebellar function with age. These results highlight the resilience and redundancy of cerebellar circuits and offer key insights into aging and motor behavior.

Reviewed by eLife

Goal-directed visual information processing with GABAergic inhibition in parietal cortex

1. Zhiyan Wang
2. Sinah Wiborg
3. Antonia Wittmann
4. Nina Beck
5. Susanna Hirschle
6. Dominik Aschenbrenner
7. Markus Becker
8. Sebastian M Frank

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study employs functional magnetic resonance spectroscopy (fMRS) to demonstrate that GABAergic inhibition in the parietal cortex actively suppresses goal-irrelevant distractors, thereby facilitating goal-directed visual tracking. The data and analyses are solid, and the methodology is validated. However, the link between the metabolic changes and the purported functional mechanisms is incomplete due to concerns with experimental design and interpretations. The study will be of interest to researchers studying goal-directed behavior and neurochemical dynamics in cognitive processing.

Reviewed by eLife

Identifying regulators of associative learning using a protein-labelling approach in Caenorhabditis elegans

1. Aelon Rahmani
2. Anna McMillen
3. Ericka Allen
4. Radwan Ansaar
5. Renee Green
6. Michaela E Johnson
7. Anne Poljak
8. Yee Lian Chew

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  In reporting on a valuable "learning proteome" for a C. elegans gustatory associative learning paradigm, this work identifies a new set of genes to be tested for roles in learning and memory, describes molecular pathways involving these genes and relevant for learning and memory in C. elegans, and deliver a new set of tools for prodding worm behavior. The methods and results convincingly support the findings, which will be of interest to neuroscientists and developmental biologists seeking to understand the self-assembly and operation of neural circuits for learning and memory.

  [Editors' note: this paper was reviewed by Review Commons.]

Reviewed by eLife, Review Commons

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Segmentation-Based Quality Control of Structural Magnetic Resonance Images

1. Robert Dahnke
2. Polona Kalc
3. Gabriel Ziegler
4. Julian Grosskreutz
5. Christian Gaser

Reviewed by GigaScience

Inhibitory circuits control leg movements during Drosophila grooming

1. Durafshan Sakeena Syed
2. Primoz Ravbar
3. Julie H Simpson

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  Combining connectomics, optogenetics, behavioral analysis and modeling, this study delivers important findings on the role of inhibitory neurons in the generation of leg grooming movements in Drosophila. The results include convincing evidence that the identified neuronal populations are key in the generation of rhythmic leg movements, structured in distinct polysynaptic pathways articulating inhibition and disinhibition of antagonistic sets of motor neurons, as mapped from an electron microscopy volume of the ventral nerve cord, which orchestrate an alternation of flexion and extension. By analyzing limb kinematics upon experimentally silencing specific populations of premotor inhibitory neurons, together with computational modelling, the potential role of these neurons in rhythmic leg movement is shown. This work will be of interest to neuroscientists working in motor control and limbed locomotion.

Reviewed by eLife

Sex-peptide targets distinct higher order processing neurons in the brain to induce the female post-mating response

1. Mohanakarthik P Nallasivan
2. Deepanshu ND Singh
3. Mohammed Syahir RS Saleh
4. Matthias Soller

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study delivers valuable new insights into the neural circuits involved in post-mating responses (PMR) in Drosophila females, supported by convincing evidence that the circuits for mating receptivity and egg-laying are distinct. The new experimental evidence adds to the current understanding the neural circuits and molecular mechanisms underpinning PMR.

Reviewed by eLife

Distributed neural computation and the evolution of the first brains

1. Vikram Chandra
2. Mehrana R. Nejad
3. Allison P. Kann
4. Ananya Salem
5. Karl A.P. Hill
6. L. Mahadevan
7. Mansi Srivastava

Reviewed by PREreview

PKD2L1 channels segregated to the apical compartment are the exclusive dual-mode pH sensor in cerebrospinal fluid-contacting neurons

1. Magdalena Vitar
2. Daniel Prieto
3. Stavros Malas
4. Raúl E Russo
5. Federico F Trigo

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This is an important study on the sensory roles of Cerebrospinal fluid-contacting neurons (CBF-cn) in mammals. The authors identify PKD2L1 as the predominant pH-sensing channel CBF-cn and show how the apical extension is used as an amplifier of chemical changes in the content of the Cerebrospinal fluid. The evidence is solid in experimental design but limited in mechanistic interpretation, as the electrophysiological analyses require re-evaluation.

Reviewed by eLife

The Drosophila EGF domain protein uninflatable sets the switch between wrapping glia growth and axon wrapping instructed by Notch

1. Marie Baldenius
2. Steffen Kautzmann
3. Rita Kottmeier
4. Jaqueline Zipfel
5. Christian Klämbt

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study identifies a new key factor in orchestrating the process of glial wrapping of axons in Drosophila wandering larvae. The evidence supporting the claims of the authors is convincing and the EM studies are of outstanding quality. After the revision, the authors have addressed most of the concerns and the manuscript has been significantly improved. Both reviewers have agreed on the significance of the work. The work will be of interest to neuroscientists working on glial cell biology.

Reviewed by eLife