Evaluated articles

eLife Assessment

In this important study, Li and others identified cell membrane receptors for juvenile hormone (JH), a terpenoid hormone in insects that regulates their development and reproduction. While intracellular receptors for JH are well characterized, membrane receptors for JH have remained elusive for many years. The authors provide convincing evidence indicating that two receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs), CAD96CA and FGFR1, modulate the genomic effects of JH by phosphorylating the intracellular receptors in the cotton bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera. Although differential functions of the two RTKs and potential effects of the other endogenous ligands of these RTKs on JH signaling remain unclear, this study lays a foundation for future studies.

eLife Assessment

This is a valuable study showing that differentiated cells of the zebrafish skin form membrane protrusions called cytonemes that contact and likely transmit Notch signals to cells of the undifferentiated layer below. The data are convincing that cytoneme like protrusions from the periderm are required for proper periderm structure, proliferation, gene expression, and Notch signaling. Evidence that inflammatory signaling through IL-17 affects epidermal differentiation, Notch and cytoneme formation is solid, but whether these are through a single common or two parallel pathways requires further investigation.

eLife assessment

This paper reports on the transcriptional changes upon chloramphenicol-induced surface mobility of Bacillus subtilis, a phenomenon that can occur during co-incubation with Streptomyces venezuelae, a chloramphenicol producer. The work presented includes valuable and thorough transcriptomics data, which convincingly indicate that sub-lethal chloramphenicol triggers substantial changes in B. subtilis gene expression. There are, however, significant limitations and concerns whether the documented changes are causal for the phenotypes observed or simply correlated with these phenotypes; additionally, the notion that chloramphenicol triggers a 'division of labor' was incomplete and should be backed up experimentally.

eLife assessment

This valuable work describes a new protein factor that is required for filamentous phage assembly. Convincing evidence is provided for the binding of PSB15 to the packaging signal of the single-stranded DNA, Trx, and cardiolipin, and a mechanism for how the phage DNA is targeted to the assembly site in the bacterial inner membrane is presented. The work will be of interest to microbiologists.

eLife Assessment

This study provides convincing evidence of coordinated spiking activity of neurons in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and correlated activity in the CA1 subregion of the hippocampus, during observational learning. The authors also show coordinated ACC-CA1 neural activity during rest periods prior to the performance of the observationally learned task. The important findings significantly advance the field's understanding of neural mechanisms underlying social learning.

eLife assessment

This important manuscript uses circuit mapping, chemogenetics, and optogenetics to demonstrate a novel hippocampal lateral septal circuit that regulates social novelty behaviours and shows that downstream of the hippocampal septal circuit, septal projections to the ventral tegmental area are necessary for general novelty discrimination. The strength of the evidence supporting the claims is convincing but would be strengthened by the inclusion of additional functional assays. The work will be of interest to systems and behavioural neuroscientists who are interested in the brain mechanisms of social behaviours.

eLife assessment

This study provides insights into the mechanism of axonal directional changes, utilizing the pacemaker neurons of the circadian clock, the sLNVs, as a model system. The data were collected and analysed using solid methodology, resulting in valuable data on the interplay of signalling pathways and the growth of the axon. The study holds potential interest for neurobiologists focusing on axonal growth and development.

eLife Assessment

This useful study introduces a deep learning-based algorithm that tracks animal postures with reduced drift by incorporating transformers for more robust keypoint detection. The efficacy of this new algorithm for single-animal pose estimation was demonstrated through comparisons with two popular algorithms. The strength of evidence is solid but would benefit from consideration of issues in multi-animal tracking. This work will be of interest to those interested in animal behavior tracking.

eLife assessment

This study interrogates cell non-autonomous signaling between GABAergic neurons and somatic tissues in the nematode C. elegans. The authors report that mitochondrial stress in only GABAergic neurons extends lifespan and improves healthspan, phenotypes that are dependent on the transcription factor daf-16/FOXO3a. However, while the findings may be valuable to furthering our understanding of neuronal control of aging and health, the current evidence is incomplete and additional experiments are needed to support their claims.

eLife Assessment

This study's findings substantially advance our understanding of an important aspect of mitochondrial metabolism. The data are compelling and the study is well executed. The work is relevant to all who are interested in the biogenesis of mitochondria.

eLife Assessment

This study describes an improved adaptive sampling approach, multiple-walker Supervised Molecular Dynamics (mwSuMD), and its application to G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), which are the most abundant membrane proteins and key targets for drug discovery. The manuscript provides solid evidence that the mwSuMD approach can assist in the sampling of complex binding processes, leading to useful findings for GPCR activity, including resolution of interactions not seen experimentally. The method has the potential to have broad applicability in structural biology and pharmacology.

eLife Assessment

Combining experimental and computation approaches, this manuscript provides convincing evidence for a post-transcriptional mechanism that provides robust control over the protein expression level of RecB in E. coli. In addition to uncovering how DNA damage drives higher levels of RecB protein, this work also reveals important tenets for how broader mechanisms that suppress noise and underlie responsive tuning of protein levels can be achieved.

eLife assessment

This study provides useful evidence substantiating a role for long noncoding RNAs in liver metabolism and organismal physiology. Using murine knockout and knock-in models, the authors invoke a previously unidentified role for the lncRNA Snhg3 in fatty liver. The revised manuscript has improved and most studies are backed by solid evidence but the study was found to be incomplete and will require future studies to substantiate some of the claims.

eLife assessment

This valuable study analyzes the role of rpgrip1l encoding a ciliary transition zone component in the development of neuroinflammation and scoliotic phenotypes in zebrafish. Through proteomic and experimental validation in vivo, the authors demonstrated increased Annexin A2 expression and astrogliosis in the brains of scoliosis fish. Anti-inflammatory drug treatment restored normal spine development in these mutant fish, thus providing additional convincing evidence for the role of neuroinflammation in the development of scoliosis in zebrafish.

eLife Assessment

How misfolded proteins are segregated and cleared is a significant question in cell biology, since clearance of these aggregates can protect against pathologies that may otherwise arise. The authors discover a cell cycle stage-dependent clearing mechanism that involves the ER chaperone BiP, the proteosome, and CDK inactivation, but is curiously independent of the anaphase promoting complex (APC). These are valuable and interesting new observations, and the evidence supporting these claims is solid.

eLife assessment

In this important study, Boudjema et al. use cell culture models and advanced microscopic imaging to provide detailed analyses of the cellular events underlying centriole amplification, apical migration, and assembly of hundreds of motile cilia in multi-ciliated cells. This largely descriptive work provides a better understanding of this process that is of interest to cell biologists studying centrioles and cilia. Most of the claims are supported by the data, but the study would benefit from additional analyses regarding the roles of microtubules, which are currently incomplete, and from text editing to improve accessibility and readability, especially for a wider audience.

eLife Assessment

In this work, the authors intend to assess the existence of a redox potential across germline stem cells and neighboring somatic stem cells in the Drosophila testis. Some aspects of the manuscript are solid, like the clear effect of SOD KD on cyst cell differentiation state. Other conclusions of the work, such as the non-autonomous effect of this KD in germ cells are not sufficiently supported by the data. The work is potentially useful if the critiques of the reviewers are fully addressed; the strength of the evidence of the manuscript as it stands is incomplete.

eLife assessment

The manuscript presents valuable findings, using solid techniques and approaches, that shed additional light into how the canine distemper virus (CDV) hemagglutinin might engage cellular receptors and how that engagement impacts host tropism. The structural data and their analysis were thorough and well-presented. The HS-AFM data, which indicate that homodimers may dissociate into monomers - and thus have significant implications for the model of fusion triggering - are very exciting, but require further validation, perhaps by alternate approaches, to bolster the current molecular model of the CDV fusion triggering.

eLife Assessment

This study investigates a dietary intervention that employs a smartphone app to promote meal regularity, findings that have theoretical or practical implications for a subfield and may be clinically useful. The intervention to entice participants to adhere to specific meal times represents a restrictive diet (even though it does not ask to limit caloric intake) similar to a time-restricted feeding diet, while the control subjects are not experiencing or adhering to dietary restrictions. The authors report significant weight loss but did not rigorously assess caloric intake which remains a weakness of this study as food diaries are notoriously unreliable. While the concept is very interesting, the study is considered incomplete, and the rigor of the results should be strengthened in follow-up studies to add more stringent methods to assess caloric intake. Additionally, the study hypothesizes that the intervention resets the circadian clock. However, the study needs an objective method for assessing circadian rhythms, such as actigraphy, in addition to a subjective questionnaire.