Evaluated articles

eLife assessment

This study presents useful findings about daily rhythm changes of the Drosophila melanogaster adult gut metabolome, which is shown to be dependent on the fly microbiota, diet, and genotype. The phenomena observed are supported by solid experimental evidence, however, there are limitations regarding the analysis and a deeper interpretation of results would improve the manuscript. An absence of mechanistic functional investigation limits the power of the proposed conclusions. The experiments are currently incomplete as the effect of food intake timing was not directly addressed by measuring the quantity and timing of food consumption. The authors should strongly consider including the model organism used in the study in the title of the manuscript to reflect the work. This study will be of interest to physiologists of circadian biology and nutrition.

eLife assessment

This is a valuable paper that uses super-resolution microscopy to show the nanoclustering of the Nipah virus fusion protein on cell and viral membranes. Some of the conclusions regarding the clustering of viral fusion proteins is supported by solid biochemical and super-resolution imaging data while other conclusions such as significance for viral fusion mechanisms is not fully supported by the data provided.

eLife assessment

This important study suggests that capsaicin nanoparticle administration in rats activates the transcription factor Nrf2 by directly binding to its repressor KEAP1, leading to cytoprotective gene induction, and preventing alcohol-induced gastric damage, an avenue to treat alcoholism-related gastric disorders. The evidence is currently incomplete as there is no experimental proof that capsaicin exerts its cytoprotective effects via Nrf2, and not via any of its multiple known pharmacological effects. In particular, Nrf2-deficient mice should be used to show that Nrf2 is causal to the cytoprotective effect, and better controls should be provided for the direct KEAP2-capsaicin interaction, given the high concentrations used.

eLife assessment

This study presents important new insights linking obesity to kidney disease using a Drosophila model. A series of compelling experiments demonstrated that a high-fat diet induces the excretion of a leptin-like JAK-STAT ligand from the fat body, driving the adipose-nephrocyte axis through activated JAK-STAT signaling and subsequently causing a functional defect in nephrocytes. While the combination of genetic tools and pharmacological intervention provides solid data and confirms the mechanistic link, the phenotypic analysis is restricted to tracer endocytosis and would benefit from immunofluorescence studies and higher animal numbers.

eLife assessment

This manuscript finds evidence for a latent capability in several members of the TMEM16 and OSCA/TMEM family of ion channels for lipid scramblase activity. The authors demonstrate that the introduction of lysine mutations in evolutionarily conserved areas of TM4 can confer constitutive ion conduction and scramblase activity. Although the significance and scope of the work are important, the strength of the evidence is incomplete and could be improved.

eLife assessment

This important study builds on a previous publication (with partially overlapping authors), demonstrating that T. brucei has a continuous endomembrane system, which probably facilitates high rates of endocytosis. Using a range of cutting-edge approaches, the authors present compelling evidence that an actomyosin system, with the myosin TbMyo1 as the molecular motor, is localized close to the endosomal system in the bloodstream form (BSF) of Trypanosoma brucei. It shows convincingly that actin is important for the organization and integrity of the endosomal system, and that the trypanosome Myo1is an active motor that interacts with actin and transiently associates with endosomes, but a role of Myo1 in endomembrane function in vivo was not directly demonstrated. This work should be of interest to cell biologists and microbiologists working on the cytoskeleton, and unicellular eukaryotes.

eLife assessment

This study presents a useful characterization of 3D chromosome conformation changes in activated T lymphocytes, linking risk variants for autoimmune disease to putative target genes. The study employs solid methods and approaches and demonstrates the utility of using chromatin conformation to understand gene regulatory processes. However, the same data modality (chromatin conformation) was previously generated by another group in the same model system, and a more in-depth comparison of results would have improved the utility of this study.

eLife assessment

This is a valuable manuscript describing the competitive binding between the RING2 and phosphorylated Ubl domains within Parkin involved in the regulation of Parkin activity. The evidence supporting this conclusion is incomplete, as it primarily relies on a single biochemical assay and does not utilize more stringent, quantitative biophysical approaches to probe this competitive binding. This work will be of interest to the research communities focused on the molecular basis of ubiquitin ligase regulation, PINK-PARKIN-regulated mitophagy, and mitochondrial quality control.

eLife assessment

This study presents an important finding on the molecular mechanism for transduction of environmentally induced polyphenism. The evidence supporting the claims of the author is incomplete due to limited sample sizes and inadequate analysis. This paper would be of interest to those studying aphids wing dimorphism.

eLife assessment

This valuable study contributes to the understanding of phase separation in Dishevelled (DVL) proteins, by investigating the endogenous complexes of DVL2 using ultracentrifugation and contrasting them with DVL1 and DVL3 behavior and the functional validation of the DVL2 intrinsically disordered regions mediating the protein condensate. The study is, however, incomplete due to the lack of several controls and its focus on overexpression and mutants lacking key domains.

eLife assessment

This useful study reports an unexpected phenotype of atrophy of the male reproductive system and infertility upon combined knockout in adult mice of the genes encoding the two kinases CDK8 and CDK19. While the morphological evidence and single-cell transcriptomic data are solid, the proposed mechanism remains unconvincing as there is little evidence for causality, and some controls are missing. This work will be of interest to reproductive biologists, developmental biologists, and andrologists.

eLife assessment

The authors present an important theoretical framework that describes the interplay between liquid-liquid phase separation and protein aggregation within a mean-field model. This work will be of high interest to the biophysics and molecular biology communities, as it will understand and analyse assembly within biomolecular condensates in cells or in-vitro. Major strengths of this convincing work are the consideration of aggregates with various dimensionality and the possibility for protein gelation. A relative weakness is the lack of intuitive interpretation of some of the results and the work could be more accessible to non-experts.

eLife assessment

This valuable work presents the latest version of CTFFIND, which is the most popular software for determination of the contrast transfer function (CTF) in cryo-electron microscopy. CTFFIND5 estimates and considers acquisition geometry and sample thickness, which leads to improved CTF determination. The paper describes convincing evidence that CTFFIND5 finds better CTF parameters than previous methods, in particular for tilted samples (e.g. for cryo-electron tomography) or where thickness is an issue (e.g. cellular samples, or electron microscopy at low voltages).

eLife assessment

This work is of fundamental significance and has a compelling level of evidence for a new population that protects against obesity-induced hypothalamic inflammation. This topic will attract attention from a broad base of readers, from hypothalamic neuroscientists to immunologists with an interest in metabolism.

eLife assessment

This paper addresses an important topic (normative trajectory modelling), seeking to provide a method aiming to accurately reflect the individual deviation of longitudinal/temporal change compared to the normal temporal change characterized based on a pre-trained population normative model. The evidence provided for the new methods is, however, inadequate. There is a lack of simulation studies to formally evaluate the performance of the proposed method in making accurate estimations and inferences about the longitudinal changes, the novelty of the method is not sufficiently described, and the example provided is unsatisfactory.

eLife assessment

The manuscript presents potentially valuable findings of bone remodeling by chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS). This is an interesting topic on mental stress on bone health and osteoporosis, and the authors offer solid evidence of decreased bone mass by micro-CT. However, to strengthen the work, the validation should be conducted in vivo, and the mechanism behind this should be investigated further.

eLife assessment

This study provides valuable insights into our understanding of the development of the enteric nervous system. The authors use genetically engineered mice to study the behavior of stem cells in organizing the enteric nervous system and the secreted signals that regulate these cells. The study rests on a degree of incomplete evidence since the characterization of some of the mouse resources is not complete in the current version.

eLife assessment

This study provides valuable information on a novel gene that regulates meiotic progression in both male and female meiosis, but the evidence supporting the conclusions of the authors on the role of BEND2 in oogenesis and reproductive aging is incomplete. This study will be of interest to developmental and reproductive biologists.

eLife assessment

In this small-scale study, Fawaz et al. report a significant prevalence of somatic mutations such as Clonal Hematopoiesis of Indeterminate Potential (CHIP) and mosaic loss of Y chromosome (mLOY), but lack of their association with a history of myocardial infarction (MI). The study utilized sensitive techniques, including targeted high-throughput sequencing and digital PCR. The valuable findings by the authors present a contrast to earlier reports, yet they align somewhat with some studies that have demonstrated little or no link between clonal hematopoiesis and atherothrombotic events. Although the study offers convincing results, its limited sample size and brief follow-up period preclude drawing definitive conclusions.