Evaluated articles

eLife assessment

This important study identifies candidate mitochondrial metabolite carriers in stramenopile protists that may allow these divergent eukaryotes to maintain a compartmentalized glycolytic pathway. This study fills a gap in our understanding of glycolysis evolution and opens avenues for drug design to combat stramenopile parasites. The evidence, based on phylogenetic analysis, thermostability shift assays, and in vitro reconstitution of transport reactions, is convincing, albeit lacking direct in vivo confirmation of the physiological function of these candidates.

eLife Assessment

This valuable study investigates the implementation of an efference copy mechanism in the visual flight control system of Drosophila, a topic of broad interest to sensorimotor neuroscientists. Although the behavioral data and computational analyses are each individually solid, there is limited quantitative evaluation of how the model predictions compare to the experimental data.

eLife assessment

This study presents valuable new structures of a carbamylation-mimetic K125E mutant of the Cx26 gap junction channel uncovering the cytoplasmic loop structure and information about the closed state of the channel. The cryo-EM maps are in high quality and serve as strong foundations for dissecting the gating mechanism by CO2, providing convincing evidence in support of a mechanism where CO2-mediated carbamylation of Lys125 shifts the conformational equilibrium towards a state where the N-terminus occludes the pore of the channel. This information will be of interest to biochemists, cell biologists and biophysicists interested in the function of gap-junction channels in health and disease.

eLife Assessment

This study is a valuable observation that deals with the toxic effects of an intermediary in lipid degradation [trans-2-hexadecenal (t-2-hex)] in yeast through modification of mitochondrial protein import via the TOM complex. We find that the claim that the TOM complex is a main target of t-2-hex are supported by solid evidence, however the molecular mechanism remains unclear allowing multiple interpretation. Despite the shortcomings, this study is inspiring for researchers from the organellar, protein trafficking and lipid field and serves as a starting point to further precise and mechanistic analyses of the phenomenon.

eLife assessment

This study provides valuable findings that improve our understanding of the evolutionary conservation of the role of DDX6 in mRNA decay. The evidence supporting the authors' conclusions is convincing. This work will be of interest to molecular, cell biologists and biochemists, especially those studying RNA.

eLife assessment

This useful studying implicates TRPV4 as a mediator of sweat, potentially based on TRPV4's expression and function on sweat glands. The data and methods are solid, with some limitations in terms of the approach. Overall, the work lends new insight into the physiologic basis of sweating using data from mice and humans.

eLife assessment

Therapeutic treatments for congenital and acquired craniofacial (CF) bone abnormalities are not well developed. This study provides convincing evidence for an innovative regenerative treatment for pediatric craniofacial bone loss using Jagged1-PEG-MAL hydrogel with pediatric human bone cells. The report is a valuable advance in this field.

eLife assessment

Following small molecule screens, this study provides convincing evidence that 7,8 dihydroxyflavone (DHF) is a competitive inhibitor of pyridoxal phosphatase. These results are important since they offer an alternative mechanism for the effects of 7,8 dihdroxyflavone in cognitive improvement in several mouse models. This paper is also significant due to the interest in the phosphatases and neurodegeneration fields.

eLife assessment

This important study uses a novel light sheet imaging technique to investigate how different TLR4 agonists regulate Myddosome formation. The data showing that LPS and A-beta can control the kinetics and size of Myddosome assembly are compelling. This paper should be of substantial interest to the innate immunity field.

eLife assessment

This is so-far the most comprehensive, spatially resolved in 2D, dynamical, multicellular model of murine muscle regeneration after injury. The work is an attempt to combine many contributors to muscle regeneration into one coherent calibrated framework. The presented analysis is solid and the model has the potential to be a very valuable tool in the areas of tissue morphogenesis, regenerative therapies, quantitative modeling and simulation.

eLife assessment

This study offers valuable insights into the structural architecture of the mammalian egg-sperm fusion synapse, shedding light on the role of specific proteins in fertilization. The significance of the findings lies in the potential identification of a pentameric complex involved in gamete fusion by AlphaFold Multimer. The strength of evidence for the approach/methodology is solid, while the experimental validation is incomplete in supporting these interactions. This work will be of interest to biomedical researchers working on fertility and reproductive health.

eLife assessment

This useful study introduces the development of Salmonella infection model in zebrafish embryos as an important model to study the interaction between macrophages and Salmonella during in vivo infection. Overall, the data presented are convincing and provide an inventory of genes mediating macrophage cell-cell adhesion and interactions that are useful for dissecting tissue macrophage responses and heterogeneity during intracellular bacterial infection. This is important to characterize the infection outcome and the dynamics of the immune response. The work will be of interest to microbiologists.

eLife assessment

This paper makes a valuable contribution to approaches to studying the stimulus selectivity of sensory neurons. The imaging data that forms the core of the paper is compelling, but the evidence for some of the conclusions reached is limited. A central issue is a reliance on linear measures of stimulus selectivity, which may miss key aspects of retinal coding.

eLife assessment

This valuable study addresses both commonly accepted and alternative hypotheses for the mechanism by which an intercrop supports pest control in push-pull agriculture, a promising and broadly recognized approach for sustainable intensification. The findings address a widely recognized gap in data on the mechanism underlying push-pull systems and thus can be important for work on pest control in agroecology as well as plant-herbivore interactions more generally. The support of claims is solid, combining observations of several different mechanistic aspects in an uncommonly broad range of relevant environments with clear reasoning regarding experimental design, but also using some non-standard approaches that are not as well explained, complicating comparisons to the current state of the art.

eLife assessment

This study presents a valuable model for the emergence of planar cell polarity from the interplay of local interactions and global gradient. The framework of this model is solid, although the appreciation of its result should in places be more quantitative. A quality of this model is its simplicity and its convenience for experimental testing.

eLife assessment

This paper is of interest to a broad audience of cell biologists, and researchers who work in cell death and the role of NETosis in the pathogenesis of chronic diseases. This study presents valuable new insights to support NETosis plays an important role in the development of aristolochic acid nephropathy (AAN). A series of compelling experiments using in vivo and in vitro model supported that AAN induced NET formation via IL-19-IL20-beta receptor can induce inflammation and cell death. This new knowledge of the interaction between kidney cells and neutrophils could have clinical implications in the treatment of AAN.

eLife assessment

In this manuscript the authors describe the expression and regulatory function of a self-cleaving ribozyme in the Cpeb3 gene. This is an important study because although many self-cleaving ribozymes have been identified in the genome, the functions of these RNA enzymes even for molecular control of their target genes is mostly unknown. The manuscript provides solid data for the molecular function of the ribosome in gene regulation and its role in hippocampal learning. The study will be of interest to neurobiologists who study gene regulatory mechanisms in learning.

eLife Assessment

This report used a new double knockout mouse model to investigate the role of two neuropeptides, substance P and CGRPa, in pain signaling. There is convincing evidence that double knockout of these two molecules, both of which have historically been associated with pain, does not affect nociception or acute pain behaviors in males and females. This finding is fundamental, as it challenges the hypothesis that these peptides are essential for pain transmission, even when targeted together. This paper will be of interest to those interested in the neurobiology of pain and/or neuropeptide function.

eLife Assessment

This work is of fundamental significance to the field of nervous system development as it advances our mechanistic understanding of axon guidance. The rigorous biochemical and genetic approaches are compelling, experiments are well-controlled, and the major claims are supported by convincing data. The study should be of general interest to the developmental neurobiology community.

eLife Assessment

This valuable study reports the induction of supernumerary inner hair cells in the mouse cochlea upon reducing the expression level of a tight-junction protein (claudin-9) at developmental stages. Although these ectopic hair cells are functional and persists through adulthood, the evidence supporting some of the claims is incomplete, particularly regarding the underlying mechanisms of cell differentiation and the potential of the approach for hair-cell regeneration. The work will be of interest to scientists working in the development and regeneration of hair cells in the inner ear.