Evaluated articles

eLife assessment

This study represents a valuable finding on the neuron-glia communication and glial responses to traumatic brain injury (TBI). The data supporting the authors' conclusions on TBI analysis, RNA-seq on FACS sorted astrocytes, genetic analyses on Pvr-JNK/MMP1 are solid. However, cellular aspects of the response to TBI, statistical analysis, and molecular links between Pvr-AP1 are incomplete, which could be further strengthened in the future by more rigorous analyses.

eLife assessment

This important work advances our understanding of TLR7 signaling at epithelial surfaces that drives monocytes expansion and its impact on viral responses. The evidence supporting this conclusion is solid, particularly data demonstrating TLR7 stimulation and the requirement for TLR7 in the monocyte expansion. The work will be of interest to immunologists and virologists.

eLife assessment

In this work, the authors provide important mechanistic insights into how the intracellular effector protein Calcineurin B homologous protein 3 (CHP3) can be regulated in a calcium-independent manner to expose its lipid binding site. Compelling evidence demonstrates a binding partner protein (NHE1) triggers a conformation change and exposure of the myristoyl group in CHP3 resulting in membrane association. This provides mechanistic insight into the signalling mechanisms achieved by CHP3 in a target-dependent manner, which will be of broad scientific interest.

eLife assessment

Although largely descriptive, this meta-analysis of 13,000 published Typhi genomes is hugely important to public health. The dataset and presented analysis represents the first wholesale analysis of all available Typhi genomes from the last 21 years. The findings are of great significance to tracking the emergence and maintenance of AMR in Typhi and include novel insights into XDR strain emergence in Pakistan as well as the relationship between MDR maintenance and chromosomal integration.

eLife assessment

The authors describe a sophisticated method to follow enhancer activity in both live embryos and fixed embryos in Tribolium and present important data about the function of a number of enhancers in early development. They show that some of the enhancers are "dynamic" and others are "static" and use this to provide support for the "enhancer-switching" model of gene regulation suggested by some of these authors in the past. However, the evidence they provide is incomplete and although it is consistent with the model, it does not directly support it.

eLife assessment

This study presents findings that are important for understanding plant-soil feedbacks in agriculture. The authors use a large-scale agricultural field experiment to demonstrate the role of root-emitted secondary metabolites in enhancing the yield of the next crop. By using a benzoxazinoid-deficient maize genotype, the authors provide compelling evidence that biomass production and grain yield of several wheat varieties can be increased when grown in soil conditioned by maize plants able to release benzoxazinoids.

eLife assessment

This valuable work investigates the fundamental concept of how the energy of agonist binding is converted into the energy of the conformational change that opens the pore of a ligand-gated ion channel. The conclusions are based on analysis of solid data in terms of a mechanistic model, but adequate statistical analysis is lacking and the uniqueness of the proposed model is not discussed. The findings will be interesting to biophysicists working on ligand-gated ion channels and, more generally, to enzymologists focused on allosteric enzyme regulation.

eLife assessment

This valuable study examines the distribution of four states of brain activity across a variety of cognitive conditions, linking systems neuroscience with cognition and behavior. The work is convincing, using null models and replication in independent datasets to support their findings.

eLife assessment

This important work shows how a transcription factor, fruitless isoform C, fine-tunes the expression of stemness genes to maintain proper stem-cell identity during neurogenesis in Drosophila. The rationale of the work is well-thought-out, conclusions are supported by compelling evidence, and experiments are performed in a rigorous manner, although additional statistics would improve the conclusions. Overall, this work will be of interest to those working on chromatin regulation, transcription regulation, and stem-cell biology.

eLife assessment

This work presents a fundamental meta-analysis on the causes of glucocorticoid variations in birds and mammals. It provides convincing evidence that an increase in metabolic rates increases glucocorticoid concentrations. The work will be of broad interest to animal physiologists.

eLife assessment

This manuscript presents valuable findings on the role of a plant peptide in coordinating developmental and immune responses signaling. The evidence supporting the claims, while mainly descriptive and and somewhat limited due to the main conclusions being drawn from overexpression lines, is mostly solid. The findings are interesting, they align with existing models, and they are of relevance to plant pathologists and developmental biologists.

eLife Assessment

This study provides a valuable structural analysis of the Sedoheptulose-1,7-Bisphosphatase (SBPase) from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. The data presented are solid and based on X-ray structures of the CrSBPase in an oxidized and reduced state, the authors identify a disulfide bond in close proximity to the dimer interface. They show that the redox-state of the CrSBPase impacts its oligomeric state and might also influence the activity of the protein.

eLife assessment

This important study combines experiments and fluid mechanics modeling to determine the mechanism of the ultrafast ejection of the polar tube of the Microsporidia parasite and of transport through this tube. The methods and the analysis, based on the variation of the viscosity of the external medium, are compelling and allow for the first time to discriminate among proposed ejection mechanisms. This approach where simple physical principles are used for distinguishing between mechanisms when the precise geometry is inaccessible through imaging is potentially applicable to other systems in microbiology.

eLife assessment

This important study reports the physiological role of ZMYND21 in the regulation of sperm flagellar development and male fertility. The data supporting the conclusion are solid, although the inclusion of more patients and ultrastructural studies would have further strengthened the study. This work will be of interest to clinicians and researchers who work on either sperm biology or ciliopathy due to cilial defects.

eLife assessment

This small-sized clinical trial comparing nebulized dornase-alfa to the best available care in patients hospitalized with COVID-19 pneumonia is valuable, but in its present form the paper is incomplete.

eLife assessment

This manuscript represents a valuable study showing that microplastics indeed accumulate in both bovine and human ovarian follicular fluid. It also presented data that direct exposure of bovine eggs to polystyrene, a microplastic commonly found in follicular fluid, negatively affects oocyte maturation, probably through the downregulation of key proteins involved in oxidative stress, DNA damage, apoptosis, and oocyte maturation. Despite the solid supporting evidence, inclusion of the demographics and reasons for assisted reproduction of the human subjects used, as well as the details on quality control for proteomic analyses would further strengthen the study. The work will be of interest to reproductive toxicologists, regulatory scientists and reproductive health care professionals.

eLife assessment

This paper presents an important effort to develop an open source software framework for monitoring trends and variations in healthcare over time in England. They demonstrate a compelling example of how this system can track key health care indicators over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper will likely be mainly of interest to stakeholders in England, but could inspire the creation of similar systems in other countries.

eLife assessment

This is an important theoretical study providing insight into how fluctuations in excitability can contribute to gradual changes in the mapping between population activity and stimulus, commonly referred to as representational drift. The authors provide convincing evidence that fluctuations can contribute to drift. Overall, this is a well-presented study that explores the question of how changes in intrinsic excitability can influence distinct memory representations.

eLife assessment

This valuable study investigates the role of mechanosensory feedback during swallowing in adult Drosophila. The authors provide convincing evidence that three mechanotransduction channel genes are required for ingestion rhythms and localize the role of these genes to a specific subpopulation of pharyngeal mechanosensory neurons. However, there is incomplete evidence to support the conclusions that these sensory neurons are necessary for swallowing, respond to stretch during swallowing, and connect to the motor neurons that control swallowing. This work may be of interest to neuroscientists interested in motor control of feeding behavior.

eLife assessment

This study presents an important tool for tracking the connectivity of neurons in mouse and potentially other mammals using a combined approach of barcoded rabies virus libraries and spatial transcriptomics. The data supporting the technique are convincing, the validation against known anatomical knowledge is rigorous, and the authors advance the techniques by combing them in vivo. Overall, this is a very good paper describing a technique for tracking neural circuits.