Evaluated articles

eLife Assessment

This important work establishes a connection between PRMT1 and SFPQ by identifying common phenotypes downstream of their inactivation. In the resubmission, authors now include NMD as a contributor to aberrant gene expression underpinning craniofacial development. The complementary experiments help strengthen some solid conclusions. This paper describes an interesting mechanism for the regulation of RNA levels, which is of interest to the readers of eLife.

eLife Assessment

This valuable study investigates the oscillatory activity of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) neurones in mice using GCaMP fiber photometry. It demonstrates three distinct patterns of oscillatory activity that occur in GnRH neurons comprising low-level rapid baseline activity, abrupt short-duration oscillations that drive pulsatile gonadotropin secretion, and, in females, a gradual and prolonged oscillating increase in activity responsible for the relatively short-lived preovulatory LH surge. The evidence presented in the study is solid, offering theoretical implications for understanding the behaviour of GnRH neurones in the context of reproductive physiology, and will be of interest to researchers in neuroendocrinology and reproductive biology.

eLife Assessment

This important work advances our understanding of factors influencing efficacy assessments and biomarker viability for complement-directed gene therapy against age-related macular degeneration. The data presented is convincing and offers insights and teachings for the design of gene therapy and complement-targeted therapeutics in the eye and more broadly for future ocular biomarker studies.

eLife Assessment

This study empirically investigates the neural noise hypothesis of developmental dyslexia using electroencephalography (EEG) during a spoken language task and 7T magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). The convincing findings indicate no evidence of an imbalance between excitatory and inhibitory (E/I) brain activity in adolescents and young adults with dyslexia compared to controls, thereby challenging the neural noise hypothesis. This research is valuable for advancing our understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying dyslexia and offers broader insights into the neural processes involved in reading development.

eLife Assessment

Somatostatin-expressing neurons of the entopeduncular nucleus (EPNSst+) provide a limbic output of the basal ganglia and co-release GABA and Glutamate in their projection to the lateral habenula, a structure that is key for reward-based learning. Combining fiber photometry and computational modeling, the authors provide compelling evidence that EPNSst+ neural activity represents movement, choice direction and reward outcomes in a probabilistic switching task but, surprisingly, neither chronic genetic silencing of these neurons nor selectively elimination glutamate release affected behavioral performance in well-trained animals. This valuable study shows that despite its representation of key task variables, EPNSst+ neurons are dispensable for ongoing performance in a task requiring outcome monitoring to optimize reward. This work will be of interest to those interested in neural circuits, learning, and/or decision making.

eLife Assessment

This study presents a valuable approach for revealing large-scale brain attractor dynamics during resting states, task processing, and disease conditions using insights from Hopfield neural networks. The evidence supporting the findings is convincing across the many datasets analysed. The work will be of broad interest to neuroscientists using neuroimaging data with interest in computational modelling of brain activity.

eLife Assessment

This valuable study is a companion to a paper introducing a theoretical framework and methodology for identifying Cancer Driving Nucleotides (CDNs). The evidence that recurrent SNVs or CDNs are common in true cancer driver genes is convincing, with more limited evidence that many more undiscovered cancer driver mutations will have CDNs, and that this approach could identify these undiscovered driver genes with about 100,000 samples.

eLife Assessment

This important study examined neuronal activity in the dentate nucleus of the cerebellum when monkeys performed a difficult perceptual decision-making task. The authors provide convincing evidence that the cerebellum represents sensory, motor, and behavioral outcome signals that are sent to the attentional system. This paper is of great general interest in that it shows the involvement of the cerebellum in cognitive processes at the neuronal level.

eLife Assessment

In this important study, Baniulyte and Wade provide convincing evidence that translation of a short ORF denoted toiL positioned upstream of the topAI-yjhQP operon is responsive to different ribosome-targeting antibiotics, consequently controlling translation of the TopAI toxin as well as Rho-dependent transcription termination. Strengths of the study include combining a genetic screen to identify 23S rRNA mutations that affect topA1 expression and a creative approach to map the different locations of ribosome stalling within toiL induced by different antibiotics, with ribosome profiling and RNA structure probing by SHAPE to examine consequences of different antibiotics on toiL-mediated regulation. The work leaves unanswered how bacteria benefit by activating expression of the genes using the proposed strategy and the mechanism underlying ToiL's sensing of structurally distinct antibiotics.

eLife Assessment

How secretion is regulated during cell division and how membrane trafficking factors cooperate with the cytoskeleton during cell division remain poorly understood. In this work the authors find protein-protein interactions and localization dependencies between the polymeric septin cytoskeleton and the exocyst complex, using fission yeast as a model organism and using alphafold 3 based structural predictions. The work provides a valuable body of new information that will be of great interest to the cell biology community. The evidence is solid and provides the authors and the community a framework to test if the identified interfaces reflect bona fide interaction sites in vivo and in vitro in future.

eLife Assessment

The study reports an important finding on the role of the global metabolic regulator Crp/cAMP in the formation of antibiotic persister Escherichia coli. The evidence supporting the claims is solid including metabolomic analysis and characterization of many mutant strains.

eLife Assessment

This useful study examined the associations of a healthy lifestyle with comprehensive and organ-specific biological ages defined using common blood biomarkers and body measures. Its large sample size, longitudinal design, and robust statistical analysis provide solid support for the findings, which will be of interest to epidemiologists and clinicians.

eLife Assessment

This study provides compelling data regarding the molecular characterization of a rare tumor type with few treatment options. This fundamental work significantly advances our mechanistic understanding of solitary fibrous tumours, a critical first step towards targeted precision medicine approaches. The results of this study will be of broad interest to cancer biologists and experimental oncologists.

eLife Assessment

This manuscript presents an important machine-learning-based approach to the automated detection of urine and fecal deposits by rodents, key ethological behaviors that have traditionally been very poorly studied. The strength of evidence for the claim is solid, showing accuracy near 90% across several contexts. Training and testing for the specific contexts used by other experimenters, however, is probably warranted to make the model most relevant to the data that may be analyzed.

eLife Assessment

This important paper introduces a theoretical framework and methodology for identifying Cancer Driving Nucleotides (CDNs), primarily based on single nucleotide variant (SNV) frequencies. A variety of solid approaches indicate that a mutation recurring three or more times is more likely to reflect selection rather than being the consequence of a mutation hotspot. The method is rigorously quantitative, though the requirement for larger datasets to fully identify all CDNs remains a noted limitation. The work will be of broad interest to cancer geneticists and evolutionary biologists.

eLife Assessment

Glioblastoma is among the most aggressive cancers without a cure, and its cells are characterized by high mitochondrial membrane potential. This manuscript provides convincing evidence that glioblastoma tumorigenesis is closely linked to mitochondrial stress. The study makes a valuable contribution to the field by advancing our understanding of the metabolic mechanisms driving glioblastoma and highlighting potential therapeutic targets.

eLife assessment

This study provides valuable information about the microbiome and metabolome, and their correlation with acute myocardial infarction. However, the relationship established between these variables is limited to a correlation, and therefore the strength of the evidence is incomplete.

eLife Assessment

This valuable study addresses the growing threat of multi-drug-resistant (MDR) pathogens by focusing on the enhanced efficacy of colistin when combined with artesunate and EDTA against colistin-resistant Salmonella strains. The evidence is solid, supported by comprehensive microbiological assays, molecular analyses, and in vivo experiments demonstrating the effectiveness of this synergic combination.

eLife Assessment

This important study by Lee et al. explores the heterogeneous response of non-growing bacteria to the antimicrobial peptide (AMP) tachyplesin. The authors identify a subpopulation of cells that evade lethal damage by limiting the intracellular accumulation of a fluorescently labeled tachyplesin analog. The study provides compelling evidence that reduced drug accumulation underlies the decreased susceptibility of this subpopulation to the AMP. The molecular basis of this phenotype is well supported by the data.

eLife assessment

This manuscript describes an unexpected role of cellular caspases in cleaving Drp1, a protein involved in mitochondrial fission, in virus-infected cells. Drp1 cleavage augments mitochondrial fission, reinforcing MAVS-dependent type-1 IFN response against multiple viruses. The findings presented in this manuscript are important and the strength of evidence is solid. Additional studies may allow for more robust mechanistic substantiation of the proposed model.