Evaluated articles

eLife Assessment

This important study confirms the molecular function of putative components of the N-glycan-dependent endoplasmic reticulum protein quality control (ERQC) system in the pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans. The study demonstrates an involvement in fitness, virulence, and the secretion and composition of extracellular vesicles, albeit in ways that are not yet fully understood. The evidence provided is largely convincing, with rigorous well-controlled assays and the use of complemented strains.

eLife Assessment

This study provides valuable evidence for the mechanism underlying KCNC1-related developmental and epileptic encephalopathy. The authors have generated and characterized a new knock-in mouse with a pathogenic mutation found in patients to determine the synaptic and circuit mechanisms contributing to KCNC1-associated epilepsy. They provide convincing evidence for reduced excitability of parvalbumin-positive fast-spiking interneurons, but not in neighboring excitatory neurons, and suggest that this may contribute to seizures and premature death in the mice.

eLife Assessment

In this important study, significant advancements are made in how cell division in Chlamydia trachomatis, lacking FtsZ, is mediated. With the careful use of fluorescence microscopy and genetic tools, the evidence identifying the DNA translocase, FtsK, as an early and essential component of the divisome, is convincing. As this role is distinct from what has been found in most other bacteria, this study will be of broad interest to microbiologists and molecular biologists.

eLife Assessment

This valuable study uses steered molecular dynamics simulations to interrogate force transmission in the mechanosensitive NOMPC channel, which plays roles including soft-touch perception, auditory function, and locomotion. The finding that the ankyrin spring transmits force through torsional rather than compression forces may help understand the entire TRP channel family. The evidence is, however, considered to be still incomplete. It could be strengthened by testing how the channel responds to different twisting and compressional force magnitudes over longer simulation times to see a full gating motion, or to prove that the partial or initial motion observed relates to physiological gating. Experimental validation of reduced mechano-sensitivity through mutagenesis of proposed ankyrin/TRP domain coupling interactions would be best to enhance the manuscript.

eLife Assessment

Maloney et al. offer an important contribution to understanding the potential ecological mechanisms behind individual behavioral variation. By providing compelling theoretical data and convincing experimental data, the study bridges the gap between individual, apparently stochastic behavior with its evolutionary purpose and consequences. The work further provides a testable and generalizable model framework to explore behavioral drift in other behaviors.

eLife Assessment

This valuable study suggests that Naa10, an N-α-acetyltransferase with known mutations that disrupt neurodevelopment, acetylates Btbd3, which has been implicated in neurite outgrowth and obsessive-compulsive disorder, in a manner that regulates F-actin dynamics to facilitate neurite outgrowth. While the study provides promising insights and biochemical, co-immunoprecipitation, and proteomic data that enhance our understanding of protein N-acetylation in neuronal development, the evidence supporting larger claims is incomplete. Nonetheless, the implications of these findings are noteworthy, particularly regarding neurodevelopmental and psychiatric conditions tied to altered expression of Naa10 or Btbd3.

eLife Assessment

By combining the 'pinging' technique with fMRI-based multivariate decoding, this important study examined the nature of the representation of the attentional template during preparation. While the findings are very interesting and the experimental evidence is solid, the methodological (e.g., the manipulation of attention, the potential cross-contamination between attention and working memory, and the representational distance analysis) and interpretation confounds (e.g., more thorough clarification of "pinging" and dual-format attentional templates) need to be addressed. The work will be of interest to researchers in psychology, cognitive science, and neuroscience.

eLife Assessment

This study provides valuable insights into the differential impact of intrinsic and synaptic conductances on circuit robustness, emphasizing intrinsic plasticity as a crucial but often overlooked factor in neural dynamics. Although the findings are solid and underscore the significance of intrinsic factors, they are limited by the simplified model and the potential confounding effects of drastic intrinsic perturbations on single-neuron activity. Further refinements would help validate the generality of these conclusions across diverse networks and functions.

eLife Assessment

The results by Zhu et al provide valuable insights into the representation of border ownership in area V1. They used neuropixel recording to demonstrate the clustering of border ownership, and compared cross-correlation functions between neurons in different layers to demonstrate that they depend on the type of stimulus. The strength of the evidence is solid but can be improved by performing additional analyses and accounting for the differences in classical and non-classical receptive field stimulation conditions.

eLife Assessment

This important study highlights a critical challenge to a great many studies of the neural correlates of consciousness that were based on post hoc sorting of reported awareness experience. The evidence supporting this criticism is convincing, based on simulations and decoding analysis of EEG data. The results will be of interest not only to psychologists and neuroscientists but also to philosophers who work on addressing mind-body relationships.

eLife Assessment

In this important study, Li et al. identify estrogen receptor 1-expressing neurons (ESR1+) in Barrington's nucleus as key regulators coordinating both bladder contraction and the relaxation of the external urethral sphincter. Using appropriate and validated methodologies aligned with the current state of the art, the data are convincing and of generally high quality.

eLife Assessment

In their important manuscript, Costa et al. establish an in vitro model for dorsal root ganglion (DRG) axonal asymmetry, revealing that central and peripheral axon branches have distinct patterns of microtubule populations that are linked to their differential regenerative capacities. The authors employ creative tissue culture methods to demonstrate how these branches develop uniquely in vitro, offering a potential explanation for long-observed regeneration disparities. The evidence provides a solid contribution to our understanding of the neuronal cytoskeleton and axonal regeneration, but the paper would benefit from additional methodology details and controls.

eLife Assessment

This valuable study proposes a novel rapid-entry mechanism of S. aureus that involves the rapid release of calcium from lysosomes. The strength of the paper lies in a very interesting hypothesis; what diminishes enthusiasm is the lack of appropriate methodology, thus making the study incomplete. The methods used are deficient: they are largely reliant on the use of chemical inhibitors and do not adequately support the conclusions.

eLife Assessment

This fundamental study explores how genotypic changes relate to phenotypic stasis or variation within chitons, a molluscan group. Chitons are significant because their ancient body plan has remained largely unchanged for millions of years, yet the paper reveals rapid and large-scale genomic changes. This compelling study is a splendid advance in approximately doubling the number of sequenced chiton genomes, providing what appears to be among the best genome annotations for chiton genomes available to date. The study's key focus is on the genomic rearrangements across five reference-quality genomes of chitons and their implications for understanding evolutionary mechanisms, particularly in comparison to other molluscan clades.

eLife Assessment

This important study reports new insights into the roles of a long noncoding RNA, lnc-FANCI-2, in the progression of cervical cancer induced by a type of human papillomavirus. Through a blend of cell biological, biochemical, and genetic analyses of RNA and protein expression, protein-protein interaction, cell signaling, and cell morphology, the authors provide convincing evidence that lnc-FANCI-2 affects cervical cancer outcome by regulating the RAG signaling pathway. These findings will be of interest to scientists in the fields of cervical cancer, long noncoding RNA, and cell signaling.

eLife Assessment

This manuscript offers valuable insights by identifying two distinct liver cancer subtypes through multi-omics integration and developing a robust prognostic model, validated across various datasets, including single-cell RNA sequencing. The evidence is solid, with comprehensive validation in both internal and independent cohorts; however, the reliance on computational methods highlights the necessity for further experimental validation to fully confirm the mechanistic insights.

eLife Assessment

In this potentially important study, the authors employed advanced computational techniques to explore a detailed atomistic description of the mechanism and energetics of substrate translocation in the MelB transporter. The overall approach is solid and reveals the coupling between sodium binding and melibiose transport through a series of conformational transitions, and the results for a mutant are also in qualitative agreement with the experiment, providing further support to the computational analyses. Nevertheless, the level of evidence is considered incomplete since there are concerns regarding the convergence and initial guess of the string calculations, leaving doubts that the computed pathway does not reflect the most energetically favorable mechanism.

eLife Assessment

This valuable manuscript presents a spatiotemporal genetic analysis of malaria-infected individuals from four villages in The Gambia, covering the period between December 2014 and May 2017. Overall, laboratory and data analyses are solid, although details of the methods are lacking. This study offers evidence to advance the understanding of malaria epidemiology in sub-Saharan Africa, but would benefit from additional analysis to strengthen the findings.

eLife Assessment

This manuscript describes a novel magnetic steering technique to target human adipose derived mesenchymal stem cells (hAMSC) or induce pluripotent stem cells to the TM (iPSC-TM). The authors demonstrate the valuable findings that delivery of the stem cells compared to baseline lowered IOP, increased outflow facility, and increased TM cellularity. Although the methods, data, and analysis are solid, there is an overall weakness in the experimental controls, and questions around the transgenic mouse model. If these issues are addressed, the manuscript will be significantly improved.