Evaluated articles

eLife assessment

This fundamental work substantially advances our understanding of cell migration, especially in that of cranial neural crest. The additional evidence provided to support the conclusion is exceptional, with rigorous biochemical assays for materials used and with intensive genetic interventions. The work will be of broad interest to developmental biologists and cell biologists.

eLife assessment

This valuable study draws attention to the importance of a previously overlooked structural motif in kinase regulation. While the data presented are intriguing and mostly solid, further analysis and additional experiments will be needed in the future to support the authors' hypothesis. The work will be of interest to protein biochemists and enzymologists with an interest in kinases and allostery.

eLife assessment

This study develops a new and important method for dissecting out two overlapping cell signaling pathways, phosphoinositide signaling and membrane protein trafficking. The combination of two state-of-the-art spectroscopic techniques provides compelling evidence for a reciprocal influence between an enzyme and a channel. The work will be of interest to the broader cell biology, biophysics and biochemistry communities.

eLife assessment

This study develops a new and important method for dissecting out two overlapping cell signaling pathways, phosphoinositide signaling and membrane protein trafficking. The combination of two state-of-the-art spectroscopic techniques provides compelling evidence for a reciprocal influence between an enzyme and a channel. The work will be of interest to the broader cell biology, biophysics and biochemistry communities.

eLife assessment

In this important study, the authors report a novel measurement of the Escherichia coli chemotactic response and demonstrate that these bacteria display an attractant response to potassium, which is connected to intracellular pH level. The experimental evidence provided is convincing and the work will be of interest to microbiologists studying chemotaxis.

eLife assessment

This fundamental study advances our understanding of nitrogen metabolism by identifying a new type of guanidine-forming enzyme in eukaryotes. The key claims of the article are convincingly supported by the data, with meticulous biochemical, cellular, and in vivo studies on guanidine production. The work will stimulate interest in the cellular roles of homoarginine, and, more generally, in the biochemistry and metabolism of guanidine derivatives.

eLife assessment

This valuable study combines in vitro and in vivo experiments designed to test if a deoxycytidine kinase inhibitor provides therapeutic benefit during infection with Staphylococcus aureus. The authors provide compelling evidence that this putative host-directed therapy has good potential to promote natural clearance of infection without targeting the bacterium. This paper would be of interest to bacteriologists, immunologists, and those studying host-microbe interactions.

eLife assessment

This important study advances our understanding of how landscape context affects the relationship between grassland plant diversity and biomass. This study used very well-designed approaches to analyze complex ecological relationships in real-world landscapes and thus provides compelling evidence to support its findings. The work will be of interest to landscape ecologists and community ecologists.

eLife assessment

This manuscript examines shared and divergent mechanisms of disruptions of five different mTOR pathway genes on embryonic mouse brain neuronal development. The significance of the manuscript is important, because it bridges several different genetic causes of focal malformations of cortical development. The strength of evidence is compelling, relying on both gain and loss of function, demonstrating differential impact on excitatory synaptic activity, conferring gene-specific mechanisms of hyperexcitability. The results have both theoretical and practical implications for the field of developmental neurobiology and clinical epilepsy.

eLife assessment

This paper presents an important discovery of the molecular basis of differential apterous expression during early Drosophila wing disc development. The evidence supporting these conclusions is compelling, ranging from classical genetic approaches to state-of-the-art genetic engineering techniques. By opening new questions, this paper is expected to be of broad interest to developmental biologists and geneticists working on transcriptional regulation.

eLife assessment

This study defines the roles for two different missense mutations observed in patients in the Trabid/ZRANB1 gene associated in children with a range of congenital disorders including reduced brain size. The study is important because the findings have theoretical or practical implications beyond a single subfield, as the study of DUB and cytoskeletal alterations have implications for neurodevelopment broadly. The methods are convincing as they utilize appropriate and validated methodology in line with current state-of-the-art by incorporating knock-in mice of the patient mutations. Many of the reviewer comments were focused on potential next experiments, rather than on evaluation of the data at hand, and the authors have considered these as future studies. The work as presented suggests critical roles for Trabid in the STRIPAK complex mediating APC deubiquitylation.

eLife assessment

This work reports a valuable finding on glucocorticoid signaling in male and female germ cells in mice, pointing out sexual dimorphism in transcriptomic responsiveness. The convincing evidence provided supports an inert GR signaling despite the presence of GR in the female germline and GR-mediated alternative splicing in response to dexamethasone treatment in the male germline. The work may interest basic researchers and physician-scientists working on reproduction and stress-related disease conditions.

eLife assessment

This study provides valuable insight into the role of miR-199a/b-5p in cartilage formation. The evidence supporting the significance of the identified miRNA and its target mRNA transcripts is convincing. This paper will likely primarily benefit scientists focused on diseases related to this biological process, such as osteoarthritis. Furthermore, researchers with a broader interest in miRNAs may find the computational model to identify novel RNA-RNA interactions particularly helpful.

eLife assessment

This is a valuable study that develops a new model of the way muscle responds to perturbations, synthesizing models of how it responds to small and large perturbations, both of which are used to predict how muscles function for stability but also how they can be injured, and which tend to be predicted poorly by classic Hill-type models. The evidence presented to support the model is solid, since it outperforms Hill-type models in a variety of conditions. Although the combination of phenomenological and mechanistic aspects of the model may sometimes make it challenging to interpret the output, the work will be of interest to those developing realistic models of the stability and control of movement in humans or other animals.

eLife assessment

This study provides useful insights into the subcellular localization, interaction with integrins, and functional importance of the cell surface receptor Piezo1 in migrating human T-cells. Whether Piezo1 is critically sensing mechano-physical cues during T-cell migration is however not well supported by direct experimental evidence. The data collected is solid otherwise.

eLife assessment

Guan and colleagues present solid arguments to address the question of how a single neural stem cell produces a defined number of progeny, and what influences its decommissioning. The focus of the experiments are two well-studied RNA-binding proteins: Imp and Syp. This is valuable work that will be of interest to the scientific community.

eLife Assessment

This important study demonstrates that disruption of a common protein-folding system renders drug-resistant clinical bacteria susceptible to antibiotics. The work convincingly shows that targeting protein folding can be used to combat multidrug-resistant pathogens, both by potentiating the efficacy of existing drugs and by therapeutic use of small-molecule inhibitors. This study is significant and timely as it informs on a new strategy that is relevant to microbiologists and clinicians interested in combating antimicrobial resistance.

eLife assessment

This important study by Lu et al aimed to determine the key factors of T cell responses associated with durable antibody responses following the initial two shots of COVID-19 mRNA vaccinations. By comparing the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein (S)-specific T cell subsets between "Ab sustainers" and "Ab decliners" that were present post-vaccination, the authors concluded that S-specific CD4+ T cells in "Ab sustainers" were enriched with Tfh cells. There is solid evidence as the authors applied multiple methods and approaches to address the key questions, and the presented data are robust.

eLife assessment

This fundamental work quantifies the stochastic dynamics of neural population activity in the lateral intraparietal area (LIP) of the macaque monkey brain during single perceptual decisions. These single-trial dynamics have been subject to intense debate in neuroscience, and they have significant implications for modelling decision-making in various fields including neuroscience and psychology. Through a combination of state-of-the-art recordings from many LIP neurons and theory-driven data analyses, the authors provide convincing evidence for the notion that single-trial neural population dynamics in LIP encode the decision variable postulated by the drift-diffusion model of decision-making.

eLife assessment

This study combines molecular genetics and target validation to discover genes involved in obesity and determine their role. It was unanimously agreed that the work is important in terms of significance as it has conceptual and practical implications beyond metabolism, including embryonic and placental development. The strength of evidence is convincing from the use of their forward genetic screen in mice.