Evaluated articles

eLife assessment

This study provides new experimental data and detailed modeling of the partitioning of low copy plasmids under the control of the ParABS system in bacteria. The dynamics of the partition complex is tracked over many generations, providing useful data to constrain the models. The authors propose a model which can manifest either regular positioning or oscillations depending on the model parameters. The research will be of interest to biologists and biophysicists interested in cellular dynamics and internal organization in bacteria.

eLife assessment

This high-quality study characterizes a key enzyme in asexual red blood stages of the malaria parasites that is used to salvage lipid precursors needed for membrane biogenesis and parasite growth in red blood cells. A previously identified glycerophosphodiesterase (PfGDPD), is shown to mediate the hydrolysis of host lyso-phosphatidycholine to generate choline, which in turn is required for parasite de novo phosphatidylcholine synthesis. Extensive analysis of the localization, growth phenotype and lipidomic profiles of PfGDPD deficient parasites indicate that this salvage pathway is essential for lipid homeostasis and asexual parasite development.

eLife assessment

Jneid et al find that an entomopathogenic strain of B. thuringiensis and its Cry1A toxins, which are widely used to combat lepidopteran pests, disrupt intestinal epithelial homeostasis in Drosophila-an insect that is generally considered non-suceptible. They demonstrate that the Cry1A toxins act by altering E-cadherin-based adhesion between intestinal stem cells and their new progeny. The findings carry potential implications for unintended, broad effects of B. thuringiensis in agricultural settings.

eLife assessment

This work, which will be of interest to scientists in the field of hematology and ubiquitin biology, identifies previously unrecognized functions and regulatory mechanisms of an E3 ubiquitin ligase during erythrocyte progenitor maintenance and differentiation. This work has the potential to reveal that the exchange of scaffold proteins of a modular E3 ligase can have an effect on cell fate and reveal a novel mechanism of E2 enzyme regulation during differentiation. However, additional work is needed to support the major claims.

eLife assessment

This paper describes the anatomy of important fossil remains of the dwarf dinosaur Europasaurus, providing compelling evidence for precociality. Only a handful of papers provide detailed information on sauropod neuroanatomy - as such this paper will be of interest to a relatively wide range of researchers, in particular vertebrate palaeontologists, and comparative anatomists.

eLife assessment

The manuscript is of broad interest in the field of muscle physiology and structure. The authors developed nanobodies against different domains of the giant Drosophila proteins Sallimus and Projectin, which are titin homologs, and used them to define their organization along sarcomeres of distinct fly muscles. This is an important contribution to understand the functional architecture of the muscle; it suggests that in invertebrates two proteins fulfil the role of the vertebrate titin in bridging the A-band and the I-band.

This manuscript was co-submitted with: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.04.13.488177v1

eLife assessment

This work provides valuable knowledge to the ongoing research to establish an algorithm to shorten the duration of hepatitis C therapy with direct-acting antivirals. This is an important study that is a nice addition to previous reports evaluating the utility of response-guided therapy for shortening the duration of HCV treatment. Given the disease burden and the high costs of treatment, especially in low-income countries, this is a major goal that was also advocated by the WHO. Although the main objective (shortening therapy to 4 weeks) was not adequately achieved (<90% success rate), the study's results may suggest that re-treatment in case of failure is safe and efficient, although further studies with a larger number of patients are needed for confirmation.

eLife assessment

Igf2 and H19 are the two best-studied imprinted genes in mice. Taking advantage of the varying levels of H19 and Igf2 expression in three existing mouse models, the authors dissect the role of H19 and Igf2 in cardiac and placental development. Their findings suggest that an accurate dosage of both H19 and Igf2 is critical for normal embryonic development, especially the development of the heart and placenta. The work is of interest to colleagues studying imprinting as well as mammalian development.

eLife assessment

The authors find a significant and unexpected consequence of hypoxia in lung fibroblasts and smooth muscle cells - decreased lactate production - a finding that is important in the field of pulmonary hypertension. Additional orthogonal assessments of lactate production will strengthen the conclusions put forward.

eLife assessment

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the transcription factor NF-kB, a common transcription factor that is thought to mediate muscle atrophy, in the setting of a rotator cuff injury. The authors used gain of function and loss of function NF-kB inhibitors to show that, surprisingly, NF-kB does not seem to be a major mediator of muscle atrophy in this model (as compared to other atrophy models), but there are sex-related differences. They found that male mice were more likely to have atrophy regulated by autophagy, both of which are interesting, novel findings.

eLife assessment

This manuscript presents a valuable framework and blueprint for the study, in artificial systems, of the principles and mechanisms that underlie proprioception in biological systems. Using artificial neural networks trained on synthetic hand movement data, the authors present solid, albeit incomplete, evidence that action recognition can explain important features of the mechanisms that underlie proprioception in biological systems. Experiments with architectures trained using losses that, in addition to action, take into account velocity and/or other states, could strengthen the authors' findings.

eLife assessment’

This paper is of interest to a broad audience of cell biologists, and researchers who work with cultured endothelial cells. The work uncovers the impact of culture conditions on transcriptional changes of endothelial cells and demonstrates that some of these changes can be recovered by sheer forces or coculture. The authors provide valuable datasets which will be a good resource for the community.

eLife assessment

This manuscript provides a valuable and policy-relevant contribution to our understanding of SARS-CoV-2 viral kinetics in the Omicron era. The authors exploit a rich and unique dataset from the National Basketball Association to describe post-infection viral kinetics and explore evidence for differential kinetics by immune history and demographics. The authors show (as others have) that most people remain with high viral loads 5 days post positive test (though less so in groups who are tested in a more realistic manner), and that older individuals and those who were boosted (but had a poor initial response to the primary vaccine series) were more likely to remain with high viral loads longer after an Omicron infection, while also describing rebound frequencies after Omicron infections.

eLife assessment

In peripheral nerve injury, an immune response occurs to ensure debris clean-up and potential repair, however, there has not yet been a census of cell types and gene expression as these lesions undergo clearance and eventual repair. Zhao et al generate a transcriptional resource by performing scRNAseq on both the naive, injured, and repairing sciatic nerve. They identify the composition of different cell types, gene signatures, and cell-cell communication and contrast these with signatures from the blood, and compare the injured site with distal nerve segments after injury. To dissociate the immune response from injury versus Wallerian degeneration, they use SARM1 KO mice (which exhibits delayed neurodegeneration) and observe that there is still injury-induced immune influx. Overall, this is a convincing study and useful resource for the field of neuronal repair and neural-immune interactions with a clear presentation of the animals and time points, with some follow-up experiments and validation.

eLife assessment

This manuscript uses large-scale neural imaging and network models to show how spontaneous dynamics emerge in such ensembles and how such activity influences behavior. It is a strong addition to the field for explaining many of the observed neural activity patterns and their heterogeneities.

eLife assessment

This paper will be of interest to scientists working on cilia, intraflagellar transport, and structural modeling. Using an integrative modeling approach, the paper provides a fundamental structural model for a part of the molecular machinery that is responsible for cilium assembly. However, additional approaches would improve confidence in the as yet incomplete structure model.

eLife assessment

The authors present very exciting findings on the cranial bone defect repair using cutting-edge multiphoton imaging to study the role of different vessel subtypes and related oxygen and metabolic microenvironments. The study used microscopy to visualize the oxygen distribution and energy metabolism within the defects at different time points during the process of bone healing. This allows one to understand the pathophysiological progressions of bone diseases and regeneration. It will also provide critical information to optimize the therapeutic bone healing and regeneration approach for different clinical situations.

eLife assessment

This paper is an important contribution to the microglia field and will be of interest to a broad readership in the fields of neurobiology, cell biology and immunology. This work describes fundamental mechanisms of efferocytosis by microglia and uses impressive imaging in zebrafish, in combination with molecular manipulations, to provide compelling data of how centrosome movements synchronize with phagocytic cup formation during microglial efferocytosis of neuronal corpses in vivo.

eLife assessment

This paper is of interest for somatosensory neurobiologists studying how polymodality is achieved in peripheral sensory neurons. The work identifies roles in cold nociception and not mechanosensation in chloride transport for a number of ion channels.

eLife assessment

Wang, Carlson, and colleagues investigate sensory adaptations in the fruit pest Drosophila suzukii, which prefers ripe over overripe fruit. This study focuses on changes in sensory pathways for sugars and food texture, which may contribute to ecological shifts. Several interesting physiological and molecular adaptations are observed in D. suzukii, but it remains unclear whether these observed changes account for behavioral changes.