Evaluated articles

eLife assessment

This important study provides a new perspective on why preparatory activity occurs before the onset of movement. The authors report that when there is a cost on the inputs, the optimal inputs should start before the desired network output for a wide variety of recurrent networks. The authors present compelling evidence by combining mathematically tractable analyses in linear networks and numerical simulation in nonlinear networks.

eLife assessment

In this technically advanced and important piece of work, the authors study the coordination of microtubule growth in kinetochore fibers using force spectroscopy and numerical simulations. With compelling evidence the authors address the question of how microtubules, which naturally exhibit variable growth rates, can coordinate their behavior by mechanical coupling so as to function as a single unit in generating forces during chromosome segregation.

eLife assessment

The authors used an appropriate micro-engineered experimental model of angiogenesis coupled to mathematical model to study the early steps of the angiogenic sprouting. To this end, the authors developed a convincing model to predict how VEGF activates Delta-Notch signaling. The work affords important new insight into the complex processes involved in the onset of angiogenesis.

eLife Assessment

In their valuable study, Bracey et al. investigate how microtubule organization within pancreatic islet beta cells supports optimal insulin secretion. Using a combination of live imaging and photo-kinetic assays in an in vitro culture system, they provide compelling evidence that kinesin-1-mediated microtubule sliding, which plays critical roles in neurons and embryos, also plays a critical role in forming the sub-membranous microtubule band in response to glucose in beta cells. This work will be of interest to cell biologists studying cytoskeletal dynamics and organelle trafficking, as well as to translational biologists focused on diabetes.

eLife assessment

The authors establish a Drosophila model to assess the severity of disease-linked alleles of Uba5. Using both in vivo and in vitro experiments, this valuable study demonstrates the alleles fall into mild, intermediate, and severe classes, with convincing evidence to support their conclusion. This well-executed study establishes a model for further characterization of Uba5-related phenotypes in a powerful model system.

eLife assessment

This study provides a useful catalog of the cardiac proteome and transcriptome in response to intermittent fasting. Although mechanistic integration is limited, the technical aspects have been executed in a solid way, and sufficient evidence is provided to support the main conclusions. Future work can build on this study to expand our understanding of the relationship between dietary perturbations and cardiac function.

eLife Assessment

Yamamoto and Matano provide convincing evidence that a G63E/R CD8+ T-cell escape mutation in the accessory viral protein Nef promote the induction of neutralizing antibody (nAb) responses in rhesus macaques infected with SIVmac239, which is usually largely resistant to neutralization. Functional analyses support that this mutation specifically impairs Nef`s ability to stimulate PI3K/Akt/mTORC2 signalling. This important study suggests that the accessory viral protein Nef impairs B cell function and effective humoral immune responses and is of interest for researchers and physicians interested in HIV/AIDS and vaccine development.

eLife assessment

This study used ChatGPT to assess certain linguistic characteristics (sentiment and politeness) of 500 peer reviews for 200 neuroscience papers published in Nature Communications. The vast majority of reviews were polite, but papers with female first authors received less polite reviews than papers with male first authors, whereas papers with a female senior author received more favourable reviews than papers with a male senior author. Overall, the study is an important contribution to work on gender bias, and the evidence for the potential utility of generative AI programs like ChatGPT in meta-research is solid.

eLife assessment

This study of extrachromosomal DNA (ecDNA) identifies genes that distinguish ecDNA+ and ecDNA- tumors. The findings in the manuscript are important and the genomic analyses convincing. However, some of the data remain observational and the inferences would therefore be more robust with experimental validation. This manuscript could well be of relevance to biologists interested in cancer biology and gene regulation.

eLife assessment

This study provides an important, original framework to study locomotion on the ground with physics-based simulations. Through numerical simulations, the authors propose that intermediate numbers of body modules and high body symmetry enhance speed. The current way discussions and conclusions are written is overly broad: evidence that evolution may favour bilateral symmetry and modularity for efficient directed locomotion is still incomplete as further performance metrics and a more accurate description of the dynamics in water are needed.

eLife assessment

In this important study, the authors integrated genetic and genomic datasets from humans and mice to unveil shared networks and pathways associated with coronary artery disease. Their compelling analysis led to the identification of new regulatory genes and pathways in vascular tissues and in the liver, allowing for a more in-depth understanding of the pathogenesis of coronary artery disease.

eLife assessment

This important study explores the interplay between Legionella Dot/Icm effectors that modulate ubiquitination of the host GTPase Rab10, which undergoes phosphoribosyl-ubiquitination by the SidE family of effectors, which in turn are required for Rab10 recruitment to the Legionella containing vacuole (LCV). The evidence supporting the claims of the authors is convincing. The study is not only relevant for the microbiology community, but will also be of interest to colleagues in the broader fields of membrane trafficking and general cell biology.

eLife assessment

This important study outlines a new role for caspases during cellular differentiation. The methodology used is convincing and state-of-the-art. The newly discovered cellular cascade described here uncovers that caspases can achieve high substrate specificity during differentiation. As such, the work will be of broad interest to cell biologists.

eLife assessment

In this valuable study, the authors characterize the role of splicing factor SRSF1 during spermatogenesis with a conditional knockout of Srsf1 in male germ cells. The phenotype and molecular role of SRSF1 in regulating alternative splicing in precursor spermatogonial stem cells in juvenile testes are convincingly supported. The paper also provides convincing evidence that the mRNA encoding Tial, a factor relevant to spermatogonial maintenance and male fertility, is alternatively spliced in testis and that this splicing is regulated by SRSF1. The work will be of interest to the fields of reproductive biology, stem cell biology, and alternative splicing.

eLife assessment

This important study presents findings with broad implications for the use of AlphaFold2 models in ligand binding pose modeling, a common task in protein structure modeling. The computational experiments and analyses provide compelling results for the GPCR protein family data, but the conclusions are likely to apply also to other proteins and they will therefore be of interest to biophysicists, physical chemists, structural biologists, and anyone interested or involved in structure-based ligand discovery.

eLife assessment

The microRNA lin-4, originally discovered in C. elegans, has a key role in controlling developmental timing across species, but how its expression is developmentally regulated is poorly understood. Here, the authors provide convincing evidence that two MYRF transcription factors are essential positive regulators of lin-4 during early C. elegans larval development. These results provide important insight into the molecular control of developmental timing that could have significant implications for understanding these processes in more complex systems.

eLife assessment

Resistance of Plasmodium falciparum to artemisinin, which has become a threat to malaria control, has been linked to mutations in the parasite protein K13. This study provides important new insights into the function of K13 in the endocytosis of hemoglobin, a central process for the activation of artemisinin derivatives. Conditional protein mislocalization combined with high-resolution imaging provides convincing evidence that K13 is involved in the formation of cytostomes, the structures involved in the endocytosis of host cytosol. This study will be of interest to scientists working on parasite biology as well as antimalarial drug resistance.

eLife assessment

This paper reports valuable results regarding the potential role and time course of the prefrontal cortex in conscious perception. Although the sample size is small, the results are convincing, and strengths include the use of several complementary analysis methods. The behavioral test includes subject report such that the study does not allow for distinguishing between (phenomenal) awareness and conscious access; nevertheless, results do advance our understanding of the contribution of prefrontal cortex to conscious perception.

eLife assessment

This paper is of interest to researchers and policy makers involved in cervical cancer prevention. The paper provides insight into how the Covid19 pandemic accelerated changes in organized cervical cancer screening. The claim that self-sampling led to a major improvement of test coverage seems somewhat exaggerated and alternative hypotheses to those provided by the authors on the population who chose self-sampling are possible. Nonetheless, this is a valuable piece of work given the scope of the intervention(s) and the precedent it sets i.e. a crisis can in fact accelerate positive changes in screening that have been academic possibilities rather than practical realities.

eLife assessment

This paper addresses the important question of presynaptic homeostasis and convincingly demonstrates antagonistic interactions between Spinophilin and Syd-1 in this process. It also provides a useful hypothesis for the downstream mechanisms.