Evaluated articles

eLife assessment

This study presents valuable findings on the organization of respiratory chain complexes in mitochondria. It provides solid evidence that respiratory supercomplex formation in the fruit fly does not impact respiratory function, suggesting the role of these complexes is structural, rather than catalytic. However, whether the conclusions extend to other species requires further evidence. This manuscript will be of broad interest to the field of mitochondrial bioenergetics.

eLife assessment

This study presents a useful set of experiments to test how a salivary protein might facilitate planthopper-transmitted rice stripe virus infection by interfering with callose deposition. If the conclusions can be confirmed, the study will enhance our understanding of the mechanisms mediating tripartite virus-insect vector-plant interactions and would be of general interest in plant science research. Whereas most experimental data is compelling, the conclusions rely on inadequate evidence for the salivary protein carbonic anhydrase being present two weeks post injection in the plant, which seems unlikely.

eLife assessment

This article provides important findings on how bacteria use small RNAs to regulate flagellar expression with implications for multiple fields. The data supporting the conclusions are convincing with a large amount of data that include results from phenotypic analyses, genomics approaches as well as in-vitro and in-vivo target identification and validation methods. This study on the varied effects of three sRNAs (UhpU, FliX and MotR) is of broad interest to RNA biochemists and microbiologists.

eLife assessment

This study presents a valuable inventory of immune signatures that are correlated with cancer treatment-related pneumonitis. The data were collected and analysed using validated methodology and can be used as a starting point for further prospective studies. The authors have provided a scRNA-Seq analysis with an HD baseline using publicly available dataset and the evidence for their claims is convincing.

eLife assessment

Focusing mainly on var genes, the investigators performed comprehensive computational analyses of gene expression in malaria parasites isolated from patients and assessed changes that occur as these parasites adapt to in vitro culture conditions. The study provides an improved computational pipeline for monitoring var gene expression, and importantly, the study documents changes in expression of the core genome and thus provides insights into metabolic adaptations that parasites undergo while transitioning to culture conditions. The findings are important for their technical advances that are more rigorous than the current state-of-the-art. The solid data analyses, broadly support the claims with only minor weaknesses, tell us to be cautious when interpreting results obtained only from cultured parasites.

eLife assessment

This study presents a valuable examination into the role Notch-RBP-J signalling in regulating monocyte subset homeostasis. The data were collected and analysed using solid and validated methodology and can be used as a starting point for exploring the mechanisms involved in RBP-J signalling in non-classical monocytes. The data presented strongly confirm the authors conclusions. However, this paper primarily focuses on providing a description, and additional studies are necessary to fully elucidate the mechanisms through which RBP-J deficiency contributes to the specific increase in Ly6Clo monocyte numbers in both the blood and lungs.

eLife assessment

This paper provides a useful set of data examining the role of PTPMT1, a mitochondria-based phosphatase, in mitochondrial fuel selection. The data were collected and analyzed using solid methodology and can be used as a starting point for further studies that build on the findings here.

eLife assessment

This paper reports a valuable platform for cardiac tissue cultivation. The throughput, consistency of the tissue, and the potential integration of high-throughput automation are an advantage over other approaches. The tissues and the platform are validated using appropriate methodology to provide convincing evidence of the tissue cultivation capability.

eLife assessment

This fundamental work provides preclinical evidence to support that natural tannins derived from grapeseed can inhibit or prevent infection by the SARS-CoV-2 viruses. The evidence provided is mostly solid to convincing and supports the conclusions. This work will be of broad interest to cell biologists and physicians.

eLife assessment

This is an important study that uncovers a new molecular pathway that links traditional monoaminergic antidepressants with regulation of glutamate neurotransmission. The data provided for the model are convincing and demonstrate the pathway in human plasma and brain, mouse brain, and cultured cells, using the relative strengths of each system. The work will be of interest to psychiatrists studying depression as well as basic neurobiologists interested in monoamine signaling in the brain.

eLife assessment

Mizukami et al. propose a scenario for the evolutionary origin of the coronary artery in amniotes by comparing the morphologies of the vasculatures across several species and developmental timepoints. They show that the coronary arteries of non-amniotes most closely resemble embryonic amniote aortic subepicardial vessels (ASVs), which are replaced by the true coronary arteries during amniote development. While the identification of common vascular structures in diverse taxa is a valuable contribution, additional developmental evidence is needed to confirm that such vessels are truly homologous.

eLife assessment

This important study uses computational simulations to explore how spatial structure can affect the coexistence between different microbial species, ultimately helping to explain diversity in microbial communities. The evidence supporting the conclusions is solid, although the parameter values used in the simulations were deemed to be unrealistic. Further investigation on whether the conclusions would hold under more realistic assumptions would be very interesting to microbial ecologists quite broadly.

eLife assessment

Understanding the heterogeneity of the B cell response induced in autoimmune individuals is important for the development of therapies designed to target the cells underlying disease progression. Here the authors use a new mouse model of autoimmunity to assess the heterogeneity of the B cell response using single-cell RNA-sequencing and BCR-sequencing and found that these B cell responses are similar to those by exogenous protein immunization.

eLife assessment

This manuscript reports important findings that help to understand the function of glutamate transporters and their effects on synaptic function at D1- and D2-MSNs within the dorsolateral striatum. These findings were evaluated to be of interest and well-executed. Overall, the majority of claims are supported by high quality data, but the evidence for some underlying mechanisms and region specificity were incomplete in the manuscript's current form.

eLife assessment

This valuable study assesses how change in reward contingency in the environment affects the dynamics of a realistic large-scale neural circuit model, human choice behavior, and fMRI responses measured in the same individuals. It is not entirely clear which predictions of the neural circuit model go beyond previous work, the current results seem incomplete and could likely be substantially strengthened. This study could be of interest to scientists studying the neural and computational bases of adaptive behaviour.

eLife assessment

Traditional approaches for the analysis of brain rhythms typically rely on measuring spectro-temporal properties of individual oscillations or the interactions between two different oscillations. This manuscript presents a novel multivariate approach that uses a state space model to simultaneously analyze the dynamics and interactions of multiple hippocampal oscillations. Such an approach represents a step forward in the field that highlights the need of taking into account the complexity of network interactions rather than trying to understand each component of the system in isolation.

eLife assessment

This work reports important findings regarding the regulation of ion channels by polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) through the identification of novel aromatic PUFA analogs with potent effects on the IKs channels, which allow for mechanistic insights into their mode of action. The experiments are solid, combining site-directed mutagenesis, electrophysiological and pharmacological approaches to dissect the different molecular mechanisms and sites involved in the functional interactions. This work will be of broad interest to ion channel biophysicists, physiologists, and medical chemists interested in drug development for LQT syndrome. The study presents some limitations that may need to be addressed or further discussed, in order to strengthen the conclusions reached in the study.

eLife assessment

Satake and colleagues' important study elucidates somatic mutation processes in plants, demonstrating that in two tropical trees, mutation rates correlate with age, not growth rates. Their convincing evidence shows that many mutations do not align with cell divisions, suggesting many somatic mutations are generated in a replication-independent manner. This study represents a significant step towards advancing our understanding of plant development and the patterns and inheritance of mutations. This significant research is poised to engage a diverse array of scholars in plant evolution and development.

eLife assessment

The authors provide compelling evidence that MSP1 inhibition (leading to chromosomal instability or CIN in the cancer cells) increases phagocytosis and that tumors with CIN respond better to macrophage therapeutics. In this important study, they demonstrate particularly impressive survival rates for mouse models of CIN B16 tumors treated with adoptively transferred macrophages, CD47-SIRPα blockade, and anti-Tyrp1 IgG.

eLife assessment

The studies are important to the field of hepatic steatosis and inflammation. The data provided are convincing that treatment with I3A mitigated Western diet (WD)-induced hepatic steatosis, inflammation and reversed WD-induced alterations in liver bile acids and free fatty acids in mice.