Evaluated articles

eLife assessment

This paper reports fundamental findings that substantially advance our understanding of a major research question - how hybridization events influence gene regulatory programs and how evolutionary pressures have shaped these programs in response to such events. The methods, data, and analyses are solid and broadly support the claims with only minor weaknesses. This convincing work uses appropriate and validated methodology in line with the current state-of-the-art.

eLife assessment

Purines are native molecules that affect processes in the immune system, among others. The manuscript describes a valuable investigation of the mode of binding of purines, especially their carbohydrate moiety, to human receptors in cell culture and by computer-based modelling. Solid evidence is presented about the way purines interact with and activate two receptors.

eLife assessment

This study presents a valuable finding on an alternative method that combines multiple inhibitors to maximize on-target inhibition and minimize off-target inhibition. The evidence supporting the claims of the authors is solid, although a proper validation of the methodology could strengthen the paper. The work will be of interest to scientists working in the field of drug discovery, particularly in the field of kinase inhibitors.

eLife assessment

This is an important study that investigates the role of astrocytic Gi signaling in the anterior cingulate cortex in the modulation of extracellular L-lactate level and consequently impairment in flavor-place associates (PA) learning. However, whereas some of the behavioral observations and signaling mechanism data are compelling, the conclusions about effects on memory and the role of L-lactate are based on inadequate methods. With the addition of a few key experiments, this work will be of interest to neuroscientists studying learning and memory and the contribution of astrocytes to these processes.

eLife assessment

This important study delineates the molecular changes driving the progression from actinic keratosis (AK) to cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC). Using state-of-the-art single-cell RNA profiling of 138,982 cells from 13 samples of six patients including AK, squamous cell carcinoma in situ (SCCIS), cSCC, and their matched normal tissues, thus covering comprehensive clinical courses of cSCC, the authors provide an invaluable data resource. This study identified several previously unreported and interesting candidate genes involved in different stages of the malignant progression of skin neoplasias, which have been validated in situ, and partially in vitro. Although data analysis needs improvement and comparison to other published data sets to fully support the claims and conclusions, these findings substantially advance our understanding of the molecular changes leading to skin cancer.

eLife assessment

The authors developed a valuable mathematical model that describes the spatiotemporal dynamics of cells in the intestinal crypt. The proposed model makes an important contribution to the field, allowing a better understanding of the formation and response dynamics of the intestinal crypt through the effective evaluation of health, disease, and treatment conditions. The authors provided solid evidence of the validity of their model and their conclusions, but some minor claims are not properly justified in the current manuscript. This paper is meant for computational biologists and cancer researchers working on oncotherapies for the intestinal epithelium.

eLife assessment

This study presents a useful resource for the gene expression profiles of different cell types in the parietal lobe of the cerebral cortex of prenatal macaques. The evidence supporting the claims of the authors is solid, and revision has clarified some of the cell isolation and cell classification issues flagged by reviewers. This dataset will be of interest to developmental neurobiologists and could potentially be used for future comparative studies on early brain development.

eLife Assessment

This study is deemed to be an important work that carefully deconstructs multi-faceted conditioned fear behavior in mice. The well-controlled experiments provide convincing data that will be of interest to other researchers in the field.

eLife assessment

This valuable paper explores the role of translational regulation in the establishment of differential gene expression between neurons and glia in Drosophila. The paper uses Ribo-seq to show extensive variation in the translation efficiency of specific transcripts between neurons and glia. The evidence supporting the model is solid, although only one example (that exhibits very strong differential transcriptional expression between one class of neurons and glia) is studied in detail for translation efficiency.

eLife assessment

This fundamental study by Yogesh and Keller provides a set of results describing the response properties of cholinergic input and its functional impacts in the mouse visual cortex. They found that cholinergic inputs are elevated by locomotion in a binary manner regardless of locomotor speeds, and activation of cholinergic input differently modulated the activity of Later 2/3 and Layer 5 visual cortex neurons induced by bottom-up (visual stimuli) and top-down (visuomotor mismatch) inputs. The experiments are cutting-edge and well-executed, and the results are convincing.

eLife assessment

This important manuscript investigates the roles of DKK3 in AD synapse integrity. Although previous work has identified the involvement of Wnt and DKK1 in synaptic physiology, this study provides compelling evidence that suppression of DKK3 rescues the changes in excitatory synapse numbers, as well as memory deficits in an established AD model mice. The authors provide both gain and loss of function data that support the main conclusion and advance our understanding of the mechanisms by which Wnt pathway mediates early synaptic dysfunction in AD models.

eLife assessment

This manuscript provides a useful qualitative analysis of hair extracts from mammals, with the goal of understanding how mosquitoes encode the chemicals in the odor. The data were collected using standard spectrometric approaches in the field of chemical ecology, but they suffer from artifacts associated with the sampling approach and analyses, and are limited in their replicates and sampling which may prevent inter-species comparisons at this point. Without additional analysis, the evidence supporting the claims currently remains unfortunately incomplete.

eLife assessment

This study examines the human voltage-gated chloride channel CLC-2. A combination of cryo-EM, electrophysiology, and computational analysis provides compelling support for a "ball and chain" mechanism of inactivation. This and other findings regarding the gating and inhibition mechanisms of the channel are of fundamental interest to ion channel physiologists.

eLife assessment

One of the most promising strategies in development of drugs targeting kinases is provided by using allosteric control that allows specific regulation and study of kinase function without directly targeting the active site. This important paper reviews convincingly the current repertoire of tools for regulating the activity of protein kinases with the ultimate goal of developing novel approaches in treating diseases associated with signal dysregulation.

eLife Assessment

This study reports the fundamental discovery of a novel structure in the developing gut that acts as a midline barrier between left and right asymmetries. Some of the evidence supporting the dynamics, composition, and function of this novel basement membrane in the chick is solid, some is even convincing, but investigation of its origin and impact on asymmetric organogenesis remains challenging and is not yet conclusive. This careful work is of broad relevance to patterning mechanisms, the importance of the extracellular matrix, and laterality disorders.

eLife assessment

This Research Advance provides compelling evidence connecting the ancient Egyptian trade of baboons with the ancient port city of Adulis. Combining ancient DNA methods from a single mummified baboon with historical accounts, this work fundamentally advances our understanding of the ancient baboon trade in the Red Sea. Some additional reporting of DNA contamination will make the evidence provided even stronger.

eLife assessment

The authors previously developed a tool with the goal of non-toxic trans-synaptic tracing using a modified rabies virus, an important goal for the neuroscience field. The tool has the propensity to accumulate mutations over time that promote toxicity, and the manuscript here describes techniques to avoid these mutations. It remains important to show that the non-mutated virus can serve as an effective trans-synaptic tracing tool.

eLife assessment

This important study shows that tree shrews can detect optogenetic stimulation of the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) after training detection of visual stimuli. The solid evidence links optogenetic stimulation of the LGN to behavioural detection and neurophysiological responses. This paper is potentially of interest to neuroscientists and clinicians working on the visual system and visual prostheses.

eLife assessment

Dolgova et al present a well-written and important manuscript focused on the mechanism of MEMO1 function in tumor cells. The authors explore whether the mechanism of MEMO1 overexpression in breast cancer, especially TNBC, is related to regulating iron given evidence that MEMO1 binds multiple proteins in the iron regulation pathway. While the data is in part compelling, the claims are based on indirect evidence for a central role of MEMO1 in tumorogenesis and perhaps metastasis via its effect on iron homeostasis.

eLife assessment

This fundamental study significantly advances our understanding of the role of water influx and swelling on neutrophil migration in response to chemoattractant. The evidence supporting the conclusions, based on a genome-wide CRISPR screen and high quality cellular observations, is compelling. This paper will be of interest to cell biologists and biophysicists working on cell migration.