Evaluated articles

eLife Assessment

In this important and compelling study, Sánchez-León et al. investigate the effects of tDCS on the firing of single cerebellar neurons in awake and anesthetized mice. They find heterogeneous responses depending on the orientation of the recorded Purkinje cell. The paper may well explain part of the controversial and ambiguous outcomes of various clinical trials.

eLife Assessment

This fundamental study provides compelling evidence that TRPV4 plays a crucial role in mechanical sensing during cancer cell transition from non-invasive to invasive states, and offers novel insights into metastasis. By employing multiple experimental approaches, including pharmacological and genetic manipulation, as well as advanced imaging techniques, the authors demonstrate a strong correlation between TRPV4 dynamics, calcium homeostasis, and cell volume plasticity. The findings significantly enhance our understanding of mechanotransduction in cancer and present TRPV4 as a promising therapeutic target for inhibiting metastasis.

eLife Assessment

The revised report provides valuable findings for the field, suggesting a relationship between CRF1 receptors, sociability deficits in morphine-treated male mice yet not females, and a potential mechanism involving oxytocin neurons in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus. Generally, the strength of evidence is solid in terms of the methods, data, and analyses. This work will be of interest to those interested in social behavior and addiction.

eLife Assessment

This valuable study characterises receptors for calcitonin-related peptides from a deuterostomian animal, the echinoderm Apostichopus japonicus, by a combination of heterologous expression, pharmacological experiments, and the quantification of gene-expression levels. The authors provide convincing evidence for a functional calcitonin-related peptide system in the sea cucumber, but further work will be needed to confirm the proposed physiological functions of PDF receptor system in this species. This work should be of interest to scientists studying the signaling pathways, functions, and evolution of neuropeptides, and could be of relevance to improving the culture conditions of this economically key species.

eLife Assessment

This valuable study compares ChIP-seq and ChEC-seq2 techniques to investigate RNA polymerase II (RNAPII) binding patterns in yeast, revealing that ChEC-seq2 captures distinct regulatory events associated with active transcription missed by ChIP-seq. The authors use ChEC-seq2 data to build a stochastic model of RNAPII kinetics, providing convincing new insights into transcription regulation and the role of the nuclear pore complex. The paper highlights the importance of careful methodological comparisons in understanding RNAPII dynamics.

eLife Assessment

In this article, García-Vázquez et al. report valuable findings demonstrating that G2 and S phases expressed protein 1 (GTSE1), is a previously unappreciated non-pocket substrate of the cyclin D/cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) 4/6 axis. The authors provide convincing evidence showing that this mechanism is triggered in pathological states in which cyclin D levels are elevated (e.g., cancer). Overall, this study holds a promise to improve understanding of the mechanisms underpinning cell cycle progression including its dysregulation in neoplasia and may thus be of broad interest to researchers belonging to diverse biomedical disciplines ranging from cancer research to cell biology.

eLife Assessment

The manuscript by Li and coworkers analyzed astrocytic differentiation of midbrain floor plate-patterned neural cells originating from human iPS cells, with a LMX1A reporter. This valuable work identifies transcriptomic differences at the single-cell level, between astrocytes generated from LMX1A reporter positive or negative cells, as well as non-patterned astrocytes and neurons. The evidence is solid, but the paper can be strengthened by further analyses of the transcriptomic data, and astrocytic morphology; also, searching for some of the differentially expressed genes by immunohistochemistry in different regions of the mammalian brain, or in human specimens, would be very informative.

eLife Assessment

This study characterises motor and somatosensory cortex neural activity during naturalistic eating and drinking tongue movement in nonhuman primates. The data, which include electrophysiology, three-dimensional tracking of tongue movements, and nerve block manipulations, are valuable to neuroscientists and neural engineers interested in tongue use. Although the current analyses provide a solid description of single neuron activity in these areas, both the population level analyses and the characterisation of activity changes following nerve block could be improved.

eLife Assessment

This important study uses a comprehensive observational dataset to provide solid evidence on how genetic diversity and species diversity differentially affect multiple ecosystem functions within and across multi-trophic levels in an aquatic ecosystem. The work will be of interest to ecologists working on multi-trophic relationships and biodiversity.

eLife Assessment

This useful study presents findings on the efficacy and mechanisms of linalool protection against Saprolegnia parasitica oomycetes in the grass carp model. The evidence presented is solid since the methods, data and analyses broadly support the claims with only minor weaknesses. This work will be of great interest to scientists within the fields of aquaculture, ichthyology, microbiology, and drug discovery.

eLife Assessment

This study presents a useful finding on the interplay of CCL5 and miR-324-5p during ischemic stroke injury. The authors have addressed some of the concerns in the revision. The methodological information has been updated, and additional experiments, such as FISH, have been included. After the revision, the evidence supporting the claims of the authors is solid. The work will be of interest to neuroscientists working on brain injury such as stroke.

eLife Assessment

This study provides important information on the ultrastructural organization of layer 1 of the human neocortex. The quantitative assessment of various synaptic parameters, astrocytic coverage and mitochondrial morphology is based on convincing experimental approaches. These data provide new information on the detailed morphology of human neocortical tissue that will be of interest to neuroscientists working on different network functions.

eLife Assessment

This valuable study provides strong evidence for the development of a penetration ring during Magnaporthe oryzae infection and, supported by knockout and expression studies, shows that Ppe1 is involved in the virulence of the fungus. Although the authors demonstrated the close association of Ppe1 with the host plasma membrane, the work fell short in providing direct evidence for its role at the host-pathogen interface and the precise molecular function of the penetration ring. Therefore, the study presented strong structural and phenotypic characterization but remains incomplete regarding mechanistic insights of Ppe1.

eLife Assessment

This important study demonstrates that slow fluctuations in serotonin release during wakefulness and non-REM sleep correspond to periods of heightened arousal or enhanced offline information processing. The evidence supporting this claim is convincing, and the methodology is robust and broadly applicable, likely to benefit many researchers in the field. This work will be of significant interest to neuroscientists studying sleep, memory, and neuromodulation.

eLife Assessment

This important study aims to understand the function of ProSAP-interacting protein 1 (Prosapip1) in the brain. Using a conditional Prosapip1 KO mouse (floxed prosapip1 crossed with Syn1-Cre line), the authors performed analysis including protein biochemistry, synaptic physiology, and behavioral learning. Convincing evidence from this study supports a role of Prosapip 1 in synaptic protein composition, synaptic NMDA responses, LTP, and spatial memory.

eLife Assessment

This valuable work discusses the phylogenetic conservation of the hippocampal region and primary sensory cortical regions in mammalian species. The authors propose that species-specific differences in behavior and mnemonic functions may be due to differences in cortico-hippocampal connectivity patterns. However, the manuscript, in its present form, is speculative, and the strength of evidence for this proposition is incomplete.

[Editors’ note: the final version of this work has been published in the journal Hippocampus (https://doi.org/10.1002/hipo.70119)]

eLife Assessment

This important research investigates the precision of numerosity perception in two types of tasks and concludes that human performance aligns with an efficient coding model optimized for current environmental statistics and task goals. The proposed model receives compelling evidence from two numerosity perception experiments and a reanalysis of an existing dataset of risky decision-making. These findings have theoretical implications for our understanding of numerosity perception and decision-making as well as the ongoing debate on different efficient coding models.

eLife Assessment

Using a combination of innovative and robust techniques, this study outlines cell-type-specific translational landscape changes that occur in the spinal cord neurons in the early and late phases of nerve injury. The authors provided compelling evidence suggesting an essential role of protein synthesis regulation in the chronic phase of neuropathic pain. Although additional mechanisms contributing to late-phase neuropathic pain beyond altered PV+ neuron excitability remain to be elucidated, this is a fundamental and significant study toward a comprehensive understanding of the molecular pathways involved in neuropathic pain.

eLife Assessment

This study presents a new, fundamental finding to the field interested in recurrent processing and its neuromodulatory underpinnings, finding unexpectedly that memantine (blocking NMDA-receptors) enhances the decoding of features thought to rely on NMDA-receptors. This interesting, compelling result identifies new directions for researchers studying consciousness, sensory processing, attention, and neurotransmitters.

eLife Assessment

This theoretical study makes a useful contribution to our understanding of a subtype of type 2 diabetes - ketosis-prone diabetes mellitus (KPD) - with a potential impact on our broader understanding of diabetes and glucose regulation. The article presents an ordinary differential equation-based model for KPD that incorporates a number of distinct timescales - fast, slow, as well as intermediate, incorporating a key hypothesis of reversible beta cell deactivation. The presented evidence is solid and shows that observed clinical disease trajectories may be explained by a simple mathematical model in a particular parameter regime.