Evaluated articles

eLife assessment

Mutations in mitochondrial genes can lead to deafness but the mitochondrial biology of sensory hair cells is not well understood. In this study, high-resolution imaging of mitochondrial development in sensory hair cells of normal and mutant zebrafish lateral line systems was described. The authors provide evidence that the formation of the mitochondrial architecture requires normal hair cell activity. This paper is of potential interest to researchers interested in metabolic homeostasis and sensory hair cell biology.

eLife assessment

This important work presented is of interest to the electron microscopy community, which expanding to more and more cell biologists. The field has long searched for a suitable method to combine the pristine preservation of vitrified samples with a volumetric imaging modality that reveals subcellular architecture at sufficient contrast for ultrastructural analyses, and the authors describe here the use of novel ion beams for imaging cellular samples in three dimensions, concluding that one of the four plasma sources tested produces the highest quality images. This allows them to provide several recommendations for imaging along with software for improving collected images. This approach should be very useful for addressing many biological questions.

eLife assessment

This manuscript reports important and valuable new data about the intriguing role of the lncRNA Charme during cardiac development. Whilst the majority of claims are convincingly supported by the data, the evidence for the cardiac phenotype and the mechanism by which Charme/MATR3 interacts is currently incomplete and requires additional experimental support. This paper is of general interest to cardiac developmental biologists as well as to anyone studying non-coding RNAs.

eLife assessment

This valuable work provides insight into how Plasmodium falciparum optimises the balance between infection of the human host and investment in onward transmission to the mosquito. Based on the appropriate and validated methodology most of the results are convincing, nonetheless, some conclusions are incomplete and require further support.

eLife assessment

A small proportion of the genomes of humans whose ancestors lived outside Africa traces back to an interbreeding event with Neanderthals. While we know that selection has generally acted to remove Neanderthal ancestry, intense interest has focused on understanding the contribution to current human phenotypic variation. This paper uses a new set of approaches to carefully quantify this contribution, taking into account various complicating factors. The work will be of interest to colleagues in human evolution and evolutionary biology more generally.

eLife assessment

This manuscript will be of interest to centrosome and cilia cell biologists. It evaluates the in vivo and in vitro role of PCM1, and by extension, centriole satellites in ciliogenesis. The major strength of this study is the detailed characterisation of Pcm1-/- mutant mice, which reveals a role for PCM1 in biogenesis of specific types of cilia, such as motile cilia on ependymal cells. The claims are generally well supported by the data, but the mechanistic basis for the cell-type specific requirement for PCM1 in ciliogenesis remains to be fully clarified.

eLife assessment

In the present study, the authors discovered the inhibitory neurons that are potentiated during the repetitive visual stimuli and control neurons that transmit looming information to evoke escape responses. Thus, the study elucidated a principle of habituation using a model vertebrate zebrafish.

eLife assessment

The RNA-binding protein Tristetraprolin (TPP) regulates the abundance of mRNAs encoding proinflammatory cytokines. The study by Scinicariello and collaborators examined mechanisms regulating the turnover of TTP in cultured cells and identified the ubiquitin E3 ligase HUWE1 as a regulator of TPP degradation. The conclusions are largely supported by the cellular and biochemical experiments. This paper thus implicates the HUWE1-TPP axis in regulating macrophage inflammatory responses at the post-transcriptional steps.

eLife assessment

This manuscript reports valuable findings regarding the evolution of nitrogenases through ancestral sequence reconstruction and resurrection. The results are solid and support the conclusions of the study, and highlight the historical constraints that have been acting on this enzyme. The findings will be of interest for people interested in enzyme evolution in general and particularly for those interested in the evolution of nitrogenases.

eLife assessment

This is an important paper that combines comparative analysis and experimental assays to investigate the role of protein-coding and regulatory changes at TRNP1 in mammalian brain evolution. The evidence supporting a contribution of TRNP1 is convincing, although the link between protein-coding changes and trait evolution is stronger and more readily interpretable than the data on gene regulation. The work will be of interest to researchers in the areas of mammalian evolution, brain evolution, and evolutionary genetics.

eLife assessment

This important work identifies new proteins and outlines the interactions between molecular players that control diet-induced plasticity in sensory neuron function in the Drosophila taste system. The authors provide solid evidence in support of their working model and open clear avenues to follow up on downstream molecular mechanisms.

eLife assessment

During meiotic prophase I, protein complexes essential for crossover recombination are distributed non-randomly along chromosomes. With mathematical modelling and based on results from super-resolution microscopy, the authors introduce a second type of coarsening of protein ensembles between chromosome axes and nucleoplasm between chromosomes and nucleoplasm to support the random distribution of the complexes in the synapsis-defective mutant. The new model is interesting and may be applied to other chromosomal events accompanied by the formation of large protein ensembles on the chromosomes. The work is of interest to colleagues studying recombination and meiosis.

eLife assessment

This convincing demonstration of intercellular transfer of material and its subsequent function in the acceptor cell lends important evidence for the membrane tubular systems' role in cell communication. Importantly a fusogenic protein, syncytin, is shown to play a role in providing an open connection between the cytoplasms of both the acceptor and donor cells. The work has implications for how cells can influence each other's functions.

eLife assessment

The study presents a useful finding on a potential link between two common public health issues, namely HPV infection and osteoporosis. The evidence supporting the claims of the authors is incomplete as a more robust statistical methodology would have strengthened the study. The work will be of interest to epidemiologists working on associations of infectious diseases with other health issues.

eLife assessment

This is a valuable study that uses an innovative approach to show how the statistics of sound stimulation influence neural coding in an experience-dependent fashion in the developing barn owl brain. The paper will therefore be of interest to the fields of developmental and sensory neuroscience. In its present form, however, the evidence presented to support the main claims of the paper is incomplete and could be strengthened in various ways.

eLife assessment

This fundamental work substantially contributes to our understanding of the mechanisms underlying doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity. The evidence supporting the role of EPAC1 inhibition in this context is compelling, using rigorous molecular biology techniques. The work will be of broad interest to scientists and clinicians working in the field of oncology and cardiovascular medicine.

eLife assessment

This extraordinary study mapped the circuit architecture of a brain module for learning and memory in the octopus brain. In particular, one gyrus of the Octopus vulgaris brain vertical lobe was imaged with volume electron microscopy, its neurons reconstructed and their synapses mapped. The acquisition of this pioneering data set was followed by a very convincing analysis of the circuits supporting learning and memory, and therefore behavioral plasticity, in this animal. The data and findings establish an important point of comparison with analogous brain structures in other organisms, such as the vertebrate cerebellum and the arthropod mushroom body, offering a new neural circuit architecture to support the study of behavior and inspire the design of artificial neural networks.

eLife assessment

Overall, this manuscript provides fundamental advances to our understanding of the ancestry of insect gustatory and olfactory receptors, by identifying new members of these two related ion channel families in distant species. The approaches to compare protein structure are exceptional and use cutting-edge techniques, going beyond the commonly used approaches. The authors suggest that the family of odorant and gustatory receptors have a common origin and share structural homology in very distant organisms, although the possibility of convergent evolution still exists. This work will serve as a reference for scientists working on insect olfaction and for those working on molecular evolution.

eLife assessment

In this important article, the authors characterize ancient DNA from maize unearthed in archaeological contexts from Paredones and Huaca Prieta in the Chicama river valley of Peru, recovered by painstakingly controlled excavation. The genetic evidence is compelling, albeit from a small sample size, but the dating evidence, despite the excellent archaeological context, is inadequate. Since the age of the samples is so important for the inferences, the individual radiocarbon determinations should be subject to further scrutiny.

eLife assessment

This study makes a fundamental observation about the role of activity in the mouse thalamus on scalp recorded voltage fluctuations. The novel approach and sophisticated analysis of neural signals provides compelling support for the authors' observations. This work will likely be of broad interest to neuroscientists.