Evaluated articles

eLife assessment

This useful experiment seeks to better understand how memory interacts with incoming visual information to effectively guide human behavior. Using several methods, the authors identify two distinct pathways relating visual processing to the default mode network: one that emphasizes semantic cognition, and the other, spatial cognition. The evidence presented is solid and will be of interest to cognitive and systems neuroscientists.

eLife assessment

This important study adopts a comprehensive approach: functional connectivity, biochemistry, and psychophysics to reveal a holistic understanding of the relationship between GABA-ergic inhibition in the human MT+ region and visuo-spatial intelligence. The evidence supporting the conclusion is convincing. The result advances our understanding of how the human MT+ is assemble into complex cognition as an intellectual hub, and will be of interest to researchers in psychology, cognitive science, and neuroscience.

eLife Assessment

This study poses an important step forward in understanding the brain-network embedding of beta oscillations. The study advances our circuit-level understanding of the pathophysiology associated with dopaminergic alterations in psychiatric or neurological disorders. The study provides compelling evidence that beta oscillations across the neocortex and basal ganglia map onto shared functional and structural networks that show significant positive correlations with dopamine receptors.

eLife Assessment

Despite the well-established facilitatory effects of multisensory integration on behavioural measures, standard neuroimaging approaches have yet to reliably and precisely identify the corresponding neural correlates. In this valuable paper, Buhmann et al. leverage EEG decoding methods, moving beyond traditional univariate analyses, to capture these correlates. They present solid evidence that this approach can effectively estimate multisensory integration in humans across a broad range of contexts.

eLife assessment

This fundamental study enhances our understanding of how somatic variants in microglia might influence the onset and progression of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's. The evidence supporting the conclusions is compelling, with the authors employing a multi-faceted approach to identify an enrichment of potentially pathogenic somatic mutations in Alzheimer's disease microglia. This research will be of significant interest to those investigating somatic mutations, Alzheimer's disease, microglial biology and cell signalling pathways.

eLife assessment

This study offers a valuable description of the layer-and sublayer specific outputs of the somatosensory cortex based on compelling evidence obtained with modern tools for the analysis of brain connectivity, together with functional validation of the connectivity using optogenetic approaches in vivo. Beyond bridging together, in one dataset, the results of disparate studies, this effort brings new insights on layer specific outputs, and on differences between primary and secondary somatosensory areas. This study will be of interest to neuroanatomists and neurophysiologists.

eLife assessment

Abbasi and colleagues use Granger causality to explore the cortico-subcortical dynamics during speaking and listening. They find valuable evidence for bi-directional connectivity in distinct frequency bands as a function of behaviour, but currently offer incomplete support for the validity of their analyses and the predictive coding interpretation of their results.

eLife assessment

This a useful study that reports a genetic regulatory network that accounts for altered lipid metabolism in response to two different bacterial diets of C. elegans. The proposed mechanism, linking vitamin B12, S-adenosyl methionine (SAM), phosphatidylcholine (PC), and neutral lipid levels, is solid but has been previously demonstrated by other studies using similar assays. The evidence to support a new layer of regulation, via the production of phospho-choline by ASM-3/acid sphingomyelinase, requires further substantiation.

eLife Assessment

This study provides important findings on the nature of eye movement choices by human subjects. The study uses a novel approach and provides relatively clear and convincing results of the relationship between pupil size and saccade production. The results should be of interest to a broad audience interested in sensorimotor integration and sensory-guided decision-making.

eLife Assessment

This study, from the group that pioneered migrasome, describes a novel vaccine platform of engineered migrasomes that behave like natural migrasomes. Importantly, this platform has the potential to overcome obstacles associated with cold chain issues for vaccines such as mRNA. In the revised version, the authors have addressed previous concerns and the results from additional experiments provide compelling evidence that features methods, data, and analyses more rigorous than the current state-of-the-art. Although the findings are important with practical implications for the vaccine technology, results from additional experiments would make this an outstanding study.

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.