Evaluated articles

eLife assessment

This valuable work provides a near-complete description of the mechanosensory bristles on the Drosophila melanogaster head and the anatomy and projection patterns of the bristle mechanosensory neurons that innervate them. The data presented are solid. The study has generated numerous resources for the community that will be of interest to neuroscientists in the field of circuits and behaviour, particularly those interested in mechanosensation and behavioural sequence generation.

eLife assessment

This study provides useful insights into the mechanisms of electron transport in STEAP proteins, consistent with current models. The work strengthens and supports previously published biochemical and structural data, and the experimental results are of solid technical quality. The manuscript will be of interest to colleagues who work on STEAP proteins and related electron transfer systems.

eLife assessment

This is an important paper that combines methods ranging from agronomy and plant breeding to Arabidopsis functional genetics, to argue that polymorphism in a single gene affects crop yield in pearl millet by affecting root cell elongation and drought stress resilience in a poorly studied crop. The overall argument is plausible but whether the solid evidence generated with Arabidopsis experiments can be extended to pearl millet itself is unclear.

eLife assessment

This study presents Bactabolize, a valuable tool for the rapid genome-scale reconstruction of bacteria and the prediction of growth phenotypes. Using validated methodology, the tool relies on a reference pan-genome model to create strain-specific draft metabolic models, as demonstrated in this study using Klebsiella pneumoniae. While the evidence in this specific case is solid, validation across diverse bacterial species is yet to be confirmed.

eLife assessment

This valuable study reports on a new tool that allows for light-controlled protein degradation in Escherichia coli. With the improved light-responsive protein tag, endogenous protein levels can be reduced severalfold. The methodology is convincing and will be of interest to the fields of gene expression regulation in bacteria and, more generally to synthetic biologists.

eLife assessment

This is a valuable investigation of the chromatin dynamics throughout the cell cycle by using fluorescence signals and patterns of GFP-PCNA and CY3-dUTP, which labels newly synthesized DNA. The authors report reduced chromatin mobility in S relative to G1 phase. The technology and methods used are solid. The data will be of interest to researchers working on chromatin dynamics.

eLife assessment

This study provides useful information on the evolution of gene expression levels and plasticity in tissues impacted by hypoxia during colonization of a high-altitude environment. Unfortunately, the evidence for the conclusions is incomplete because of the low sample size available.

eLife assessment

This important study describes the protective role of group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s) in tissue physiology and contributes to immunity, inflammatory pathology, and metabolism in maintaining homeostasis during pregnancy. The authors provide convincing evidence that ILC2s have new roles distinct from parasite protection and allergy inducers. Uterine ILC2s are key immune cells during normal and complicated pregnancies.

eLife assessment

This study presents valuable new insights into the role of the extracellular matrix component (ECM) Perlecan in axon integrity, with downstream consequences for the maintenance of synaptic structures. The evidence for Perlecan's role in this process is solid, although negative results for Perlecan's mechanism of action should be strengthened with the addition of appropriate controls centered on the relevant pathways and mechanisms involved as well as more careful analyses and interpretations. The authors provide convincing data identifying and describing the cellular sequence from ECM perturbations to axonal and synaptic degeneration, but additional data pinpointing the requirements of Perlecan for axonal maintenance would further improve the impact of this study.

eLife assessment

The present study offers valuable insights into the remodeling of Merkel cells and their innervating sensory axons in the skin. This remodelling seems to be mostly played out independently between the two synaptic partners revealing significant Merkel cell turnover and axonal plasticity. The authors employed live imaging and quantification tools using genetic models in which parts of the mechanosensory organs of the skin are labelled with distinct fluorescent proteins. While most of the data, and their interpretations are solid, the analyses of Merkel cell number homeostasis remain incomplete.

eLife assessment

This important work employed global proteomic and phosphorylation site analysis to examine adipose tissue and skeletal muscle samples collected at baseline from a sample of 10 women, including those with and without PCOS, both before and after 5 weeks of electrical stimulation treatment. This work significantly enhances our knowledge by demonstrating that women with PCOS who exhibit protein hyperandrogenicity have elevated extramyocellular lipid levels and a decreased number of oxidative insulin-sensitive type I muscle fibers. The convincing evidence supporting these conclusions makes this research of broad interest not only to scientists but also to clinicians.

eLife assessment

This manuscript describes rigorous experiments that provide a wealth of virologic, respiratory physiology, and particle aerodynamic data pertaining to aerosol transmission of SARS-CoV-2 between infected Syrian hamsters. The significance of the paper is fundamental because infection is compared between alpha and delta variants, and because viral load is assessed via numerous assays (gRNA, sgRNA, TCID) and in tissues as well as the ambient environment of the cage. The strength of evidence is compelling.

eLife assessment

In this useful study, Holzinger et al. present compelling evidence that scorpionfish bactericidal/permeability-increasing protein (scoBPI) exhibits remarkable antibacterial activity against multi-drug resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa. These findings open new avenues of research for identifying novel chemotherapies to treat Pseudomonas infections and have broader implications in developing chemotherapies against other drug-resistant Gram-negative bacterial infections. The work will be of interest to individuals investigating novel cystic fibrosis antimicrobials.

eLife assessment:

This important paper highlights the clonal organization of the dorsal telencephalon, a major region of the vertebrate brain, and analyzes the distinctive gene expression and chromatin accessibility present in each clonal using the adult teleost fish medaka. High-quality data were collected using convincing and solid methods and these were used to identify synaptic genes with a distinct chromatin landscape and expression in one of the regions of the dorsal pallium, with the goal of ascribing an evolutionary origin to these neurons.

eLife assessment

This paper is of potential interest to both the hippocampal and computational neuroscience fields because it provides a framework for understanding how adult-born granule cells in the hippocampus contribute to network processing. It contains novel interesting ideas, such as the analysis of input-output transformation by SRM models and the establishment of "greedy networks". However, not all major conclusions are sufficiently supported by the data. The paper demonstrates that mixed networks show better encoding performance than pure networks, but the differences are small and only visible with specific performance metrics. Intuitive explanations are not provided.

eLife assessment

In this study, the authors use high-speed and high-resolution imaging to investigate the role of the yeast syntaxin homolog Tlg2p in endocytic vesicle sorting. They obtain compelling data to show that the Tlg2p-residing compartment within the trans-Golgi network functions as an early/sorting compartment, where endocytic cargos are sorted to either the recycling pathway or the endo-lysosomal pathway. The authors also describe additional molecular details of this sorting process, and overall provide important insights into the mechanism of endocytic vesicle sorting in budding yeast.

eLife assessment

This valuable study shows that new, virulent genotypes of Xanthomonas oryze pv. oryzae, that are similar to strains present in east Asia, cause outbreaks of bacterial blight of rice in Tanzania. The authors' use of CRISPR-based gene editing on multiple pathogen targets in an elite African rice variety to create lines resistant to both endemic and emerging pathogen strains in Africa makes for a compelling contribution to meet this alarming development. The work describing the new strains of the pathogen is solid but could be stronger if there were genome sequence data for all strains examined and a clearer presentation of recent disease outbreaks and their severity.

eLife assessment

The findings in this study are important, as this brainstem region is implicated in a multitude of functions. The experimental procedures are difficult to implement and the preparation used and the skill required are impressive. The methods and data are solid, however, some analyses are incomplete, and the strength of evidence is also incomplete because the claims are only partially supported by the data. This work will interest those who study respiration, airway protection, and other oral behaviors.

eLife assessment

This manuscript explores the potential regulatory role of a previously unstudied phosphorylation site in the Src kinase SH3 domain. A mutant intended to mimic the phosphorylation of this site, Y90E, shows enhanced activity and transforming capacity, reduced mobility in the lipid bilayer, and a more open catalytic structure. In general, these findings are supported by compelling evidence. The paper will be of interest to biochemists and structural biologists studying new mechanisms that are capable of modulating the allosteric regulation of multi-domain protein kinases.

eLife assessment

Using chemogenetic manipulation, the authors induce or suppress activity in D1 spiny neurons in the dorsomedial striatum of mice. The results effectively demonstrate that excitation or inhibition of this class of neurons results in a consistent behavioral effect that is linked to an impact on local dynamics in thalamic regions that project to this part of the thalamus, as well as cortical regions that can be more readily defined as unimodal as identified by a classification approach. This work has clear relevance to the field of neuroimaging, getting at the broader hemodynamic signatures of direct pathway stimulation in the striatum, but requires critical revisions to justify their main conclusions.

Using chemogenetic manipulation, the authors induce or suppress activity in D1 spiny neurons in the dorsomedial striatum of mice. The results effectively demonstrate that excitation or inhibition of this class of neurons results in a consistent behavioral effect that is linked to an impact on local dynamics in thalamic regions that project to this part of the thalamus, as well as cortical regions that can be more readily defined as unimodal as identified by a classification approach. This work has clear relevance to the field of neuroimaging, getting at the broader hemodynamic signatures of direct pathway stimulation in the striatum, but requires critical revisions to justify their main conclusions.