Neuroscience

eLife Assessment

This important work investigates how orientation signals detected in higher brain areas may be transformed into motor responses in behaving animals. The authors characterize two types of descending neurons (DNs) that connect the brain to motor units and are involved in different aspects of turning control. They further show that orientation signals act by preferentially increasing relative stimulation onto left- or right-turn-inducing DNs. These compelling results, together with the independent work that they have inspired, represent significant progress in our understanding of mechanisms of animal navigation.

eLife Assessment

This study investigates the neural basis of causal inference of illness, suggesting that it relies on semantic networks specific to living things in the absence of a generalized representation of causal inference across domains. The main hypothesis is compelling, and is supported by solid methods and data analysis. Overall, the findings make a valuable contribution to understanding the role of domain-specific semantic networks, particularly the precuneus, in implicit causal inference about illness.

eLife Assessment

This important and well-executed study describes how deleting the autism spectrum disorder risk gene CNTNAP2 in mice increases dorsolateral striatal projection neuron excitability and promotes repetitive behaviors and cognitive inflexibility. The evidence supporting this claim is convincing. The study provides a potential cellular explanation for the repetitive and inflexible behavior in Cntnap2 knockout mice and CNTNAP2 disorder in humans, which would interest both basic and translational neuroscientists.

eLife Assessment

This important study identified a molecular mechanism linking diabetes to AD risk and the data presented are convincing. The authors investigated the role of kallistatin in metabolic abnormalities associated with AD and identified that Kallistatin is a key player that mediates Aβ accumulation and tau hyperphosphorylation in AD. This manuscript provides novel insights into the pathogenesis of AD, indicating that the hypolipidemic drug fenofibrate attenuates AD-like pathology in Kallistatin transgenic mice.

eLife Assessment

This important study uses C. elegans to provide new insights into the role of the conserved protein FLWR-1/Flower in synaptic transmission. Employing a variety of techniques, including calcium imaging, ultrastructural analysis, and electrophysiology, the paper provides convincing evidence that challenges some previous thinking about FLWR-1 function. This work will be of particular interest to neuroscientists studying synaptic physiology and plasticity.

eLife Assessment

This is an important study utilizing innovative CRISPR based approaches demonstrating the role of the KLF family of transcription factors in the post natal maturation of cortical projection neurons. The strength of evidence overall is compelling, and the study is well executed. The screen data presented provides a number of interesting candidates for future analyses into the mechanism of action of KLF family members in neuronal maturation.

eLife Assessment

This valuable study investigates neural circuits mediating motor responses to cold in Drosophila larvae. Using a combination of behavioral analysis, genetic manipulations, EM connectomics, and reporters of calcium activity, the authors provide solid evidence that specific sensory and central neurons are required for cold-induced body contraction. This paper may be of interest to neuroscientists interested in how nervous systems sense and respond to cold.

eLife Assessment

This manuscript demonstrates that Oct4 overexpression synergizes with Notch inhibition (Rbpj knockout) to promote the conversion of adult murine Müller glia (MG) into bipolar cells. These findings are important as the authors used rigorous genetic lineage tracing (GLAST-CreER; Sun-GFP) to confirm that neurogenesis indeed originates from MGs, addressing a key issue in the field. The single-cell multiomic analyses are compelling, and while functional studies of MG-derived bipolar cells would strengthen the conclusions, they are beyond the scope of this study.

eLife Assessment

This important work uses an innovative approach to understand similarities between haemodynamic and electrophysiological activity of the human brain, and how the brain might carry out multiple functions concurrently across different brain regions by using multiple timescales. The study provides convincing evidence to indicate that while spatially similar functional brain networks are found in both modalities, there is a tendency for these to occur asynchronously. This work will be of interest to neurophysiological and brain imaging researchers.

eLife Assessment

This study provides valuable insights into the role of sensory stimulation in neurogenesis in the mammalian olfactory epithelium, where new olfactory sensory neurons are continually born throughout an animal's lifespan. The authors show that exposure to two different musk-related odors specifically increases the birth rates of those neurons that respond to these odors. This potentially results in adaptive changes in the subtype composition of the olfactory sensory neuron population. Solid evidence, well supported by control experiments, is presented to support these findings, though further work is needed to confirm that this phenomenon generalizes to olfactory sensory neurons expressing other types of odorant receptor and to explore the mechanisms underlying the stimulus specificity of neurogenesis.