Evaluated articles

eLife Assessment

The study introduces new tools for measuring the intracellular calcium concentration close to transmitter release sites, which may be relevant for synaptic vesicle fusion and replenishment. This approach yields important new information about the spatial and temporal profile of calcium concentrations near the site of entry at the plasma membrane. This experimental work is complemented by a coherent, open-source, computational model that successfully describes changes in calcium domains. The conclusions are solid and well supported by the data.

eLife Assessment

This important theoretical study introduces an extension to the commonly used SIR model for infectious disease dynamics, to explicitly consider the role of larger group sizes. Instead of the commonly used individual-based network models, the authors developed a simplified approach based on group sampling, with discrete high- and low-risk groups, which makes the results easier to produce and interpret, at the cost of less detail in the model. The evidence is convincing in terms of the soundness of the theoretical projections and the impact that accounting for group sizes may have on inferences from surveillance data. However, it has not yet been demonstrated that the predictions provide more realistic projections when based on real-world data.

eLife Assessment

In this convincing work by Yamaguchi et al. the cryo-EM structure of the heterohexameric 3:3 LGI1-ADAM22 complex is presented. The findings suggest that LGI1 can cluster ADAM22 in a trimeric fashion. The clustering of cell surface proteins is important in controlling signaling in the nervous system. This new version of the manuscript has been improved substantially and the figures have been enhanced and clarified.

eLife Assessment

This valuable study characterises the activity of motor units from two of the three anatomical subdivisions ("heads") of the triceps muscle while mice walked on a treadmill at various speeds. Altogether, this is the most thorough characterisation of motor unit activity in walking mice to date, providing convincing evidence for probabilistic recruitment of motor units that differed between the two heads.

eLife Assessment

This important study identifies a novel role for Hes5+ astrocytes in modulating the activity of descending pain-inhibitory noradrenergic neurons from the locus coeruleus during stress-induced pain facilitation. The role of glia in modulating neurological circuits including pain is poorly understood, and in that light, the role of Hes5+ astrocytes in this circuit is a key finding with broader potential impacts. This work is supported by convincing evidence, albeit somewhat limited by the indirect nature of the evidence linking adenosine to nearby neuronal modulation, and possible questions on the population specificity of the transgenic approach.

eLife Assessment

This study presents valuable findings on the high prevalence of pain in women with polycystic ovary syndrome and its association with distinct future health risks across different racial groups. The evidence supporting the conclusions is compelling, utilizing a massive global dataset and rigorous propensity score matching to identify pain as a critical, yet underexplored, clinical marker. The work will be of interest to reproductive endocrinologists, medical biologists, and clinicians involved in the diagnosis and management of polycystic ovary syndrome.

eLife Assessment

This paper presents the important finding that BNIP3/NIX, a mitophagy receptor, and its binding to ATG18 are required for mitophagy during muscle cell reorganization in Drosophila. Although the involvement of the BNIP3-ATG18/WIPI axis in mitophagy induction has been reported in mammalian cell culture systems, this study provides the first compelling evidence for this pathway in vivo in animals. The physiological significance of this BNIP3-dependent mitophagy will require further investigation.

eLife Assessment

This paper provides a compelling and rigorous quantitative analysis of the turnover and maintenance of CD4+ tissue-resident memory T cell clones, in the skin and the lamina propria. It provides a fundamental advance in our understanding of CD4 T cell regulation. Interestingly, in both tissues, maintenance involves an influx from progenitors on the time scale of months. The evidence that is based on fate mapping and mathematical inference is strong, although open questions on the interpretation of the Ki67-based fate mapping remain.

eLife Assessment

Du et al. present a valuable study examining neural activation in medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) subpopulations projecting to the basolateral amygdala (BLA) and nucleus accumbens (NAc) during behavioral tasks assessing anxiety, social preference, and social dominance. The strength of the evidence linking in vivo neural physiology to behavioral outcomes was considered solid. Overall, the reviewers felt that the revised work provides insight into how distinct mPFC→BLA and mPFC→NAc pathways influence anxiety, exploration, and social behaviors.

eLife Assessment

This study approaches an important topic providing insight into the neuronal circuitry that interconnects memory consolidation and sleep. The data were collected and analysed using a solid methodology, contributing new findings for neurobiologists working on how memories are stored and the roles of sleep. However, the data is incomplete to support the proposed role of the PAM-DPM circuits as the link between sleep state and long-term memory consolidation.

eLife Assessment

The authors of this important study investigate how telomere length regulates hTERT expression via non-telomeric binding of the telomere-associated protein TRF2. They conclusively show that TRF2 binding to long telomeres results in a reduction in its binding to the hTERT promoter, while short telomeres restore TRF2 binding in the hTERT promoter, recruiting repressor complexes like PRC2, and suppressing hTERT expression. There is convincing support for the claims and the findings should be of broad interest for cell biologists and those working in fields where telomeres alter function, such as cancer and aging.

eLife Assessment

This is an important study linking olfactory bulb activity not only to sniffing parameters but also to movement and place. The evidence for odor sampling is mostly solid, but the analysis supporting the potentially exciting result on the encoding of place is currently incomplete.

eLife Assessment

This work presents a valuable resource combining scRNA-seq and spatial transcriptomics studies to map mouse pre-clinical models of colorectal cancer, identifying distinct cellular programs and microenvironments that could enhance patient stratification and therapeutic approaches in colorectal cancer. While the evidence provided in the manuscript are not fully validated, these solid data were collected and analyzed using a validated methodology that will be of interest to the community in future studies.

eLife Assessment

This valuable manuscript presents a potentially novel mechanism by which the phospholipid scramblase, PLSCR1, defends against influenza A virus infection. The strength of the paper rests on solid findings involving knockout and lung specific over-expressing Plscr1 mice, airway tissue expression and mechanistic studies to show Plscr1 enhances type III interferon-mediated viral clearance.

eLife Assessment

CellDetective is an important software package for segmentation, tracking, and analysis of time-lapse microscopy datasets, specifically designed to be accessible to researchers without coding expertise. The authors provide convincing evidence of its capabilities through comprehensive validations and well-executed comparisons across immunological assays, and the latest version adds support for defining and visualizing multiple cell subsets. The current implementation remains limited to 2D widefield imaging, though the authors provide a sound rationale for this scope, and one interface issue (a fixed main-window size on some systems) still affects usability. Overall, this work will be of significant interest to the bioimaging community, especially those in immunology and cell biology, and has applicability extending well beyond immune profiling.

eLife Assessment

This valuable manuscript uses mathematical modeling to address the synchrony of the vertebrate segmentation clock with the developmental processes. The authors use convincing arguments to support the idea that this would allow the evolution of flexible body plans and a variable number of segments. This manuscript could be of interest to developmental biologists and systems biologists.

[Editors' note: this paper was reviewed by Review Commons.]

eLife Assessment

During the development of the unicellular eukaryote Dictyostelium discoideum, cells aggregate into mounds, forming protrusions or tips, which then become the front of migrating slugs and the top of fruiting bodies. This valuable study identifies adenosine deaminase-related growth factor (ADGF) as a key regulator of tip formation and convincingly shows that ADGF catalyses the conversion of adenosine to ammonia, allowing ammonia to initiate tip formation, and then elucidates pathways upstream and downstream of ADGF. The authors discuss the intriguing possibility that mammalian ADGF may also similarly regulate development.

eLife Assessment

This useful study presents a comparative investigation of category selectivity in dogs and humans. The study compares brain representations of animate and inanimate objects, replicating and extending previous reports in this nascent field of dog FMRI. The methods and results seem to lack sufficient detail, appropriate controls, or statistical evidence, so at this stage of the review process, the strength of evidence is deemed incomplete.

eLife Assessment

This important study provides new insights into the synchronization of ripple oscillations in the hippocampus, both within and across hemispheres. Using carefully designed statistical methods, it presents compelling evidence that synchrony is significantly higher within a hemisphere than across. This study will be of interest to neuroscientists studying the hippocampus and memory.

eLife Assessment

The authors provide compelling evidence that a chloride ion stabilizes the protonated Schiff base chromophore linkage in the animal rhodopsin Antho2a. This important finding is novel and of major interest to a broad audience, including optogenetics researchers, protein engineers, spectroscopists, and environmental biologists. The study combines state-of-the-art research methods, such as spectroscopic and mutational analyses, which are complemented by QM/MM calculations, and was further improved based on the comments from the reviewers.