Evaluated articles

eLife Assessment

This study reveals that the malaria parasite protein PfHO, although lacking typical heme oxygenase activity, is essential for the survival of Plasmodium falciparum. Structural and localization analyses demonstrated that PfHO plays a critical role in maintaining the apicoplast, specifically in gene expression and biogenesis, suggesting an adaptive function for this protein in parasite biology. While the findings convincingly support the authors' claims, further investigation into apicoplast gene expression and the specific function of PfHO remains a future challenge. The topic and results are important and will be of interest to researchers studying various aspects of malaria, Plasmodium physiology, host-pathogen interactions, and heme metabolism.

eLife assessment

To elucidate the precise function of variants in the UTRs, the authors established and conducted a massively parallel poly(ribo)some profiling method to compare ribosome associations and effects of genetic variants. The approach and results are valuable, as this is a new approach to studying UTRs. However, the experimental and analytic validation seems to be incomplete, as the results are less robust than expected.

eLife assessment

This important study advances our understanding of the mechanisms underlying chromatin-mediated gene regulation by SET DOMAIN-CONTAINING PROTEIN 7 (SDG7). The evidence supporting the author's claims – centered on a combination of imaging approaches with molecular and genetic experiments – is convincing, although certain aspects can be improved. The work will be of broad interest to molecular biologists studying epigenetic regulation of gene expression.

eLife assessment

This important study further validates DNAH12 as a causative gene for asthenoteratozoospermia and male infertility in humans and mice. The data supporting the notion that DNAH12 is required for proper axonemal development are generally convincing, although more experiments would solidify the conclusions. This work will interest reproductive biologists working on spermatogenesis and sperm biology, as well as andrologists working on male fertility.

eLife assessment

This study investigates the conditions under which abstract knowledge transfers to new learning. It presents evidence across a number of behavioral experiments that when explicit awareness of learned statistical structure is present, knowledge can transfer immediately, but that otherwise similar transfer requires sleep-dependent consolidation. The valuable results provide new constraints on theories of transfer learning and consolidation, though limitations in the statistical approach and interpretation make the current evidence incomplete.

eLife assessment

This study presents a valuable finding on the role of dopamine receptor D2R in dopaminergic neurons DAN-c1 and mushroom body neurons (Y201-GAL4 pattern) on aversive and appetitive conditioning. The evidence supporting the claims of the authors is solid and promotes the investigation using fly larvae, which have interesting advantages in the time required for obtaining experimental animals and the use of optogenetics. The work will be of interest to researchers studying neuronal control of behaviour and learning and memory in general.

eLife assessment

This important study examined the complexity of emergent dynamics of large-scale neural network models after perturbation (perturbational complexity index, PCI) and used it as a measurement of consciousness to account for previous recordings of humans at various anesthetized levels. The evidence supporting the conclusion is solid and constitutes a unified framework for different observations related to consciousness. There are many fields that would be interested in this study, including cognitive neuroscience, psychology, complex systems, neural networks, and neural dynamics.

eLife Assessment

The authors developed a method to allow a hypothermic agent, neurotensin, to cross the blood-brain barrier so it could potentially protect the brain from seizures and the adverse effects of seizures. The work is important because it is known that cooling the brain can protect it but developing a therapeutic approach based on that knowledge has not been done. The paper is well presented and the data are convincing.

eLife assessment

This study presents a useful finding for the prevention of diarrhea with loperamide in patients with early HER2-positive breast cancer treated with nab-paclitaxel in combination with pyrotinib. The evidence supporting the claims of the authors is somewhat incomplete. The enrollment of patients as a control group who have not received prophylactic treatment for diarrhea would have strengthened the study, and the addition of double-blinding for the assessment of treatment may be necessary. The work will be of interest to scientists working in the field of clinical breast cancer treatment.

eLife assessment

The study by Kleinman and Foster identifies a role for VTA dopamine signaling in modulating hippocampal replay and sharp-wave ripples, specifically highlighting how VTA inactivation leads to aberrant replay activities in scenarios without reward changes and during exposure to novel environments. This valuable work contributes to our understanding of the neurobiological mechanisms underlying spatial memory and learning, suggesting that dopamine plays a pivotal role in linking reward context and novelty to memory consolidation processes. However, the evidence as currently presented is incomplete. More rigorous statistical reporting and histological verification of the experimental approach, and a more consistent approach to experimental dosing and timing, which are crucial for confirming the reproducibility and reliability of the observed effects, are needed.

eLife assessment

This important study offers convincing evidence that fmo-4 plays essential roles in established lifespan interventions and downstream of its paralog fmo-2, a beneficial advancement in our understanding of this enzyme family that underscores their importance in longevity and stress resistance. The study also suggests a connection between fmo-4 and dysregulation of calcium signalling. The authors' conclusions and interpretations were generally based on solid genetic methodology and evidence.

eLife Assessment

This important study uses in vitro and in vivo methods to identify HpARI proteins from H. polygyrus as modulators of the host immune system. The data from comprehensive approaches for investigating differential roles of HpARI proteins are convincing. This paper is relevant to those who investigate host-pathogen interactions at the systems and molecular levels.

eLife assessment

This valuable study presents a computational model that simulates walking motions in Drosophila and suggests that, if sensorimotor delays in the neural circuitry were any longer, the system would be easily destabilized by external perturbations. The hierarchical control model is sensible and the evidence supporting the conclusions is solid. However, because the modular model has many interacting components with varying degrees of biological realism, it is difficult to judge the degree to which the observed differences between simulation and empirical data are meaningful, and the precise source of the discrepancies.

eLife assessment

This useful study reports a reanalysis of one experiment of a previously published report to characterize the dynamics of neural population codes during visual working memory in the presence of distracting information. The evidence supporting the claims of dynamic codes is incomplete, as only a subset of the original data is analyzed, there is only modest evidence for dynamic coding in the results, and the result might be affected by the signal-to-noise ratio. This research will be of interest to cognitive neuroscientists working on the neural bases of visual perception and memory.

eLife assessment

This study uses a deep neural network approach to challenge the role of spatially selective neurons like place, head or border cells for position decoding. The findings are important as they suggest that such functional cell types may emerge naturally from object recognition in complex visual environments, but are neither necessary, nor particularly critical for position decoding. However, direct evidence supporting this conclusion remains incomplete.

eLife assessment

This study provides an in-depth exploration of the impact of X-linked ZDHHC9 gene mutations on cognitive deficits and epilepsy, with a particular focus on the expression and function of ZDHHC9 in myelin-forming oligodendrocytes (OLs). These valuable findings offer insights into ZDHHC9-related X-linked intellectual disability (XLID) and shed light on the regulatory mechanisms of palmitoylation in myelination. The experimental design and analysis of results are solid, providing a reference for further research in this field.

eLife assessment

This study presents fundamental new findings introducing a new approach for the reprogramming of brain glial cells to corticospinal neurons. The data is highly compelling, with multiple lines of evidence demonstrating the success of this new assay. These exciting findings set the stage for future studies of the potential of these reprogrammed cells to form functional connections in vivo and their utility in clinical conditions where corticospinal neurons are compromised.

eLife Assessment

This valuable study investigates the development of high-level visual responses in infants, finding that neural responses specific to faces are present by 4-6 months but not earlier. The study is methodologically convincing, using state-of-the-art experimental design and analysis approaches. The findings would be of broad interest to the cognitive neuroscience and developmental psychology research communities.

eLife assessment

This study presents a dataset obtained through a single cell RNA-Sequencing of sea cucumber regenerating intestine 9 days post evisceration. The data were collected and analyzed using standard single cells analysis from n=2 adult sea cucumbers captured from the wild, which represents a useful resource for future studies. Although cell type validation is attempted, it is performed on samples from the same 2 animals (and not independent samples), rendering the validation incomplete. Further, the RNA localization images provided in the paper could benefit from improved spatial context, and many strong statements in the discussion should be better justified and supported by the presented data. With the validation part strengthened, this paper would be of interest to development and regeneration fields.