eLife Assessment

This study attempts to predict spatial patterns of genetic diversity among coral reef dwellers, estimated with a computationally efficient, standardized k-mer pipeline, from satellite-derived seascape variables. The curated dataset of 18 coral reef taxa across 173 reefs is valuable, but the evidence for the central ecological claims is in its current form incomplete: pairwise genetic distances are modelled as independent observations, the reef-level random effects used as the response in the environmental analysis likely conflate species composition with environmental signal, and , and the coverage is likely too sparse to robustly support conclusions about loss of inter-and intra-specific within-reef diversity over time. The work will be of interest to conservation geneticists, marine biologists, and researchers developing Earth-observation approaches to biodiversity monitoring.

eLife Assessment

This study presents a valuable analysis of the TARA oceans dataset, advancing genome- and ecosystem-scale metabolic modeling. The authors present convincing evidence for the factors that shape microbial ecology at the molecular scale. The work will be of broad interest to oceanographers and scientists in other areas where metabolic interactions in diverse communities are of importance.

eLife Assessment

This is a valuable manuscript that leverages information already being collected in mosquito surveillance, but that is currently discarded, building on ideas developed during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. The work is mostly rigorous, involving ample data from real-world surveillance, independent laboratory testing, and simulation modeling to validate the inference method. The evidence is solid for demonstrating feasibility and biological plausibility, although some conclusions would be strengthened by additional sensitivity analyses on key assumptions.

eLife Assessment

An intriguing set of electrophysiological and analytical results suggests that adult rat neurons in the medulla oblongata crucial for mediating descending pain modulation are embedded in a network that generates a specific pattern of oscillatory activity. These valuable findings may broaden our understanding of how descending pain modulation is achieved. The supporting evidence is incomplete, and the authors need to provide several methodological clarifications and additional data interpretations to strengthen the manuscript.

eLife Assessment

This important technical study introduces SCOPE, an optics-free spatial reconstruction method based on bidirectional sender and receiver oligonucleotides on barcoded hydrogel beads. By sequencing proximity-encoded chimeric molecules, the authors computationally reconstruct 2D and 3D spatial information at an impressive scale. The technical demonstrations in synthetic bead systems are convincing and establish proof-of-principle that large spatial domains can be reconstructed without microscopy. The methodological advance is clear and the scale is impressive. This work will be of interest to those working on spatial mapping.

eLife Assessment

This important study investigates how sleep loss and circadian disruption affect whole-organ metabolism in flies (Drosophila melanogaster) and reports that wild-type flies align metabolism in anticipation of diurnal rhythm, while mutant flies with impaired sleep or circadian function shift to reactive or misaligned metabolism. The integration of chamber-based flow-through respirometry with LC-MS metabolomics is innovative, and the significance of the findings is significant. The strength of evidence needed to support the conclusions is generally convincing, although the absence of direct measures of locomotor activity makes it difficult to separate intrinsic metabolic changes from potential behavioral differences in mutants.

eLife Assessment

This study presents fundamental results on questions related to the presence/absence of the Entner-Doudoroff pathway in cyanobacteria. In contrast to an earlier study, compelling evidence is given that Synechocystis PCC 6803 lacks both an Entner-Doudoroff pathway and a related bypass but contains a promiscuous aldolase. This study successfully reconciles data from different studies and lessons learned from a previous misconception.

eLife Assessment

This study applies a relatively novel method, ABR (Automated Behavioural Response system), to an arboreal small mammal, providing some valuable results on the responses of these small primates to both natural predators and human stimuli. However, the study in its current form is incomplete in its framing and methodology and could be improved to appeal more broadly to behavioural biologists.

eLife Assessment

This valuable study identifies an upstream repressive region in the Saccharomyces cerevisiae DDI2/3 promoter and shows that chemical stress induced by cyanamide or MMS is accompanied by reduced histone abundance and decreased nucleosome occupancy across the DDI2/3 locus. Genetic histone depletion is sufficient to enhance DDI2/3 expression, while MNase-seq and genetic analyses support a model in which the transcription factor Fzf1 both activates transcription through its established promoter-binding function and promotes chromatin changes that relieve nucleosome-mediated repression, helping to explain the unusually strong induction of DDI2/3 relative to other Fzf1 targets. The study is significant, as it provides a conceptually interesting extension of Fzf1-mediated stress regulation. The strength of the evidence is solid, although additional controls and a more cautious treatment of whether Fzf1 directly drives nucleosome eviction versus acting indirectly through transcriptional recruitment or chromatin-remodeling factors would further strengthen the mechanistic conclusions.

eLife Assessment

The study addresses a timely problem that is of importance in the cfRNA field, and it provides a potentially valuable resource. The use of a common processing pipeline, publicly available code, and variance-partition analyses are notable strengths. However, several central conclusions, particularly those concerning protocol-level effects, the dominance of technical over biological variation, and the proposed universal QC criteria remain more general than the study design and available data can support. Therefore the evidence is currently incomplete and needs to be improved through the revision process.

eLife Assessment

This study presents a valuable patient-derived human cell platform for investigating LMNA-associated cardiomyopathy and identifies cyproheptadine as a compound that improves abnormal calcium handling across multiple LMNA variants in vitro. The experimental approaches are generally rigorous and establish reproducible disease-associated cellular phenotypes; however, the evidence remains incomplete because the mechanistic basis of the observed rescue is not established, and the translational conclusions substantially exceed the presented data.

eLife Assessment

This study presents a valuable finding on impacts of the common driver mutations APC, KRAS G12D, and TP53 in murine colorectal organoids. In particular, the authors examine how the order of APC and TP53 acquisition influences tumor phenotype. The evidence supporting the claims of the authors is solid. The work will be of interest to scientists working in the field of breast cancer.

eLife Assessment

This important study shows that prenatal alcohol exposure produces lasting changes in amyloid precursor protein processing, including altered APP C-terminal fragments and Notch intracellular domain levels, that persist into adulthood and track with progressive spatial learning and memory deficits, in both wild-type and 3xTg-AD mice. The convincing study was carefully designed and combined biochemical, histological, and behavioral approaches across multiple ages. The work will interest researchers studying fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, Alzheimer's disease risk, and the developmental origins of neurodegeneration. Nonetheless, reviewers identified opportunities to strengthen the conclusions with additional samples and controls.

eLife Assessment

This fundamental work significantly advances our understanding of the circuit-level implementation of predictive processing by elucidating the functional influence between putative prediction error neurons in layer 2/3 and putative internal representation neurons in layer 5. The evidence demonstrating that neither the hierarchical nor the non-hierarchical variant of predictive processing fully accounts for the presented data is convincing. Moving forward, this line of work would benefit from explicitly comparing different theories, thereby clearly articulating the points raised in this paper.

eLife Assessment

This important study provides new insights into the patterns of organelle inheritance in the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii. The authors introduce an innovative dual-labeling approach to distinguish maternally inherited from de novo synthesized organelles, representing convincing evidence that different organelles follow distinct inheritance fates during parasite replication. Future studies will be needed to determine whether the residual body functions as a central recycling hub, as the current data are also consistent with alternative models.

eLife Assessment

This study presents fundamental and significant findings that bovine mammary epithelial cells can be infected with both avian and human influenza A viruses, providing a potential site for viral reassortment. The evidence to support these claims is compelling. The work will be of interest to virologists and evolutionary biologists working on cross-species transmission of viruses and pandemic preparedness.

eLife Assessment

This article provides a computational study to understand how evolutionary selection could introduce structural priors into neural networks to improve learning. This useful investigation provides incomplete evidence that such joint learning is possible and has some counterintuitive features. However, the extent to which the models studied are distinct from those studied in the literature previously remains unclear.

eLife Assessment

This valuable study examines whether neurally-derived non-decision time estimates can guide decision models to more reliable parameter estimates. Convincing evidence for their value is obtained from state-of-the-art model-fitting methods applied to two empirical datasets. However, the premise relies on very strong assumptions regarding the degree to which the neural metrics directly index non-decision time and comparisons across models that appear to differ in more ways than just the non-decision time constraint.

eLife Assessment

This important study investigates the peptide-binding principles by promiscuous chicken MHC molecules. The data from crystallography, mass-spec, and modeling are compelling. This paper will be of broad interest to immunologists and those interested in vaccine development.

eLife Assessment

This is a fundamental study on the sensory roles of cerebrospinal-fluid-contacting neurons (CSF-cNs) in mammals, revealing how the apical extension is used as an amplifier of chemical changes in content of the CSF. Specifically, the authors show compelling evidence that PKD2L1 is predominantly a pH-sensing channel in CSF-cNs and link its apical localization to dual phasic and sustained responses underlying CSF chemosensation.

eLife Assessment

This valuable work introduces HSSM, a flexible and modular Python toolbox for hierarchical Bayesian estimation of sequential sampling models. By combining model simulation, neural likelihood approximation, established inference backends, formula-based regression, and support for trial-level covariates, HSSM could become a widely used resource in cognitive and computational neuroscience. Evidence for the framework's scope and core functionality is convincing, but support for its usability, computational performance, and reliability is incomplete. The contribution would be substantially strengthened by an executable end-to-end analysis, clearer exposition for non-specialists, parameter and model recovery demonstrations, guidance on diagnostics and model comparison, quantitative benchmarks, and a clearer delineation of HSSM's scope relative to broader claims about neurocognitive modelling.

eLife Assessment

This study provides a useful single-cell atlas of the Clytia hemisphaerica planula, complemented by an updated medusa dataset, ultrastructural analyses and in situ validation of expression patterns. The cross-stage comparison and cluster-similarity framework offer a promising basis for investigating cellular diversification across the life cycle. The evidence is currently incomplete due to documentation deficits and insufficient cross-referencing with prior work. It should be relatively easy to address these issues, which should make this a valued resource for cnidarian researchers and for colleagues studying cell-type evolution.

eLife Assessment

This important study presents an ultrastructural atlas of extracellular vesicles and non-vesicular particles in Drosophila olfactory sensilla, using cryofixation-based serial block-face electron microscopy to catalogue roughly 7,800 particles across four antennal regions. The evidence is compelling: the cryofixation minimizes fixation artifacts, and the rigorous, well-validated methodology and morphometric analyses provide strong support for the structural classifications and spatial distributions, though some conclusions require moderation or additional evidence. The work provides a potentially foundational resource for researchers studying extracellular-particle signaling in sensory organs.

eLife Assessment

The authors investigate the activation mechanism of a gasdermin pore-forming effector of Callorhinchus milii, which is a shark that is one of the most basal members of the cartilaginous fishes. The valuable findings show that GSDMA/B can be cleaved by a lipopolysaccharide-activated caspase here termed CmiCASP1, analogous to the cytosolic LPS detection pathway already established in mammals. The strength of evidence supporting these conclusions is solid; however, the data indicating the functional consequences of these proteins remain incomplete.

eLife Assessment

This important study presents a new approach to individualised functional brain mapping using multi-task batteries, and introduces a toolbox to support its implementation. Convincing evidence from simulations and empirical analyses across multiple datasets demonstrates clear advantages over traditional single-task approaches and provides practical guidance on task selection. The extent to which these improvements translate into more accurate recovery of individual-specific functional boundaries beyond well-characterised systems remains to be established.

eLife Assessment

This useful study builds on the previously identified terminal Schwann cell (tSC) marker Col20a1 to generate a novel Col20a1-CreERT2 knock-in mouse line that enables the selective genetic labelling and ablation of tSCs at the neuromuscular junction. This model represents a new tool for distinguishing tSCs from myelinating Schwann cells. The authors conclude that loss of tSCs does not cause major alterations in the overall structure of the neuromuscular junction, but that tSC ablation intrinsically compromises the presynaptic reserve pool. However, the study remains incomplete because the evidence provided does not adequately support these conclusions.

eLife assessment

The findings documented here are interesting and valuable with respect to revealing genetic players that may underlie AD. However, there are concerns related to the analysis pipeline and the basic assumptions underlying the modelling. There is an overarching lack of controls in terms of comparator diseases and/or positive and negative control findings; hence, the main claims are only partially supported, and the study is incomplete.

eLife Assessment

This important study shows how hunger alters avoidance of harmful heat in C. elegans by reconfiguring the activity of key sensory neurons. The evidence is convincing, with well-designed behavioural, genetic, and imaging experiments that support the main conclusions. The work will be of interest to neuroscientists studying how internal states shape sensory processing and behaviour across species.

eLife Assessment

This important study shows that an odorant that is typically thought of as a repellant actually activates both attractant and repellant olfactory neurons in C. elegans. Convincing evidence is provided that nematode worms can integrate signals in different sensory pathways to drive different behavioral responses to the same cue. These findings will be of interest to scientists interested in combinatorial coding in sensory systems.

eLife Assessment

Feeding, the circadian rhythm, and the gut microbiota are all intimately linked, motivating new approaches to identify causal relationships while minimizing confounding factors. The authors employ an innovative combination of the osmotic laxative lactulose and a defined 3-member gut microbiota to acutely induce gut bacterial metabolism in mice during the daytime, resulting in changes in the ileal expression of clock genes and altered feeding behavior. Together, this study utilizes convincing methods to provide important new insights into the role of gut microbiota in the circadian rhythm, setting the stage for follow-on studies aimed at better understanding the mechanisms responsible.

eLife Assessment

This paper introduces a valuable optical method for simultaneous in vivo multiphoton imaging of the mouse brain combined with DMD-based one-photon patterned photostimulation in different axial planes. The evidence for effective optical separation of excitation and imaging is convincing, although the in vivo data in the olfactory bulb suggest potential confounding factors arising if stimulation not only affects cell bodies but also neuronal processes. The work will be of broad interest to neurobiologists working in circuit and systems neuroscience, as well as to specialists in optical microscopy.

eLife Assessment

This study presents a valuable finding on the spatio-temporal neural dynamics of language processing modulated by story context and presentation speed. The presentation of evidence in the version of the original submission is solid, as providing further clarifications on methodological details and addressing potential confounds would strengthen the study. The work will be of interest to cognitive neuroscientists working on reading and language comprehension.

eLife Assessment

Chen and colleagues use in vivo electrophysiology in rats to characterize distance-encoding neurons in the retrosplenial cortex during both random foraging and goal-oriented navigation. This valuable work identifies a subset of retrosplenial neurons that encode distance to a hidden goal, and it reports that head-direction coding is enhanced during goal-directed navigation relative to foraging. Although the analytical framework aims to isolate the unique contribution of goal distance to retrosplenial firing patterns, strongly covarying self-motion and spatial signals leave the main claims about distance coding incompletely supported.

eLife Assessment

This valuable study is a rigorous and comprehensive anatomical description of populations of spinal-projecting neurons in the brain of the larval zebrafish. The manuscript consists of compelling data that reveal a far more complete and robust visualization of these populations than past work. The scholarship is also notable, featuring thoughtful contextualization of the findings with respect to both non-mammalian and mammalian literature.

eLife Assessment

This important study introduces EvoDiff, an order-agnostic diffusion foundation model for protein sequence generation, and demonstrates its potential across unconditional generation, motif scaffolding, MSA-conditioned design, and IDR inpainting. The evidence supporting the principal claims is solid, combining computational evaluation with experimental validation, although the comparative advantages and generality of some applications would benefit from further clarification and calibration.

eLife Assessment

This study examines how adolescent adversity influences maternal caregiving and social development across generations. The findings are potentially valuable, but several conclusions currently extend beyond what is directly supported by the data, rendering the strength of the evidence incomplete. Key mechanistic claims are limited by the communal reassuring design, and by several unresolved questions regarding causality and interpretation.

Exchange value appears as the property of a commodity that is exchangeable for other commodities. It also presupposes societies who produce commodities and exchange them. While all societies have things with use values, exchange value is relative to a specific time and place.

Additionally, exchanging commodities must also presuppose a way to determine proportionality between different commodities, so that they can be exchanged in the first place.

Exchange therefore requires some other measure that stands above the two commodities meant to be exchanged. If there were no ways in which iron and corn were found similar to a society, for example, then we would not exchange them and they would have no exchange value.

Marx will contend that what each commodity must contain crystalized within it is value (formally) and that the substance of value is labor (viz. the common factor of both iron and corn is labor). Marx will call this kind of labor abstract labor.

eLife Assessment

This is a valuable study of the effects of selective or broadband amyloid deposition in medial septum (MS) cholinergic neurons on neuropathology, cognition, sleep, and hyperexcitability in aging mice carrying risk factors for Alzheimer's disease (AD). The investigation is still incomplete, with some weaknesses related to conceptualization and methodology that need to be addressed.

eLife Assessment

This important study investigates how viral macrodomains in dual-host viruses functionally contribute to their infection in the vector, which was previously understudied. The findings that chikungunya virus (CHIKV) macrodomain mutants have unique impacts on virus replication in mammalian cells and in live mosquitoes are convincing and significant; however, the study can be strengthened by further investigating the role of ADP-ribose binding and potential other compensatory mutations. The work will be of interest to virologists and biologists who study macrodomains and ADP-ribosylation.

eLife Assessment

This important study identifies and characterizes a set of amino acid states that can rescue protein function in the presence of substantially deleterious mutations. Some of these super-compensatory substitutions also confer substantial mutational robustness, with broader implications for understanding epistasis, protein evolution, and protein engineering. The evidence is convincing, supported by a creative reanalysis of a large deep-mutational-scanning dataset, statistically rigorous treatment of anticipated error rates, experimental validation, and analyses of additional proteins, although clearer presentation and deeper investigation of the evolutionary implications and structural mechanisms would further strengthen the study.

eLife Assessment

This important study investigated whether the adoption of different explicit strategies influences implicit recalibration during visuomotor adaptation. Through a series of increasingly controlled experiments, the authors demonstrated that implicit recalibration is relatively insensitive to the specific type of explicit strategy employed but is influenced by the variability of strategic motor plans. However, the evidence supporting these conclusions is currently incomplete. The findings will be of interest to cognitive scientists studying motor control and its relationship to higher-level cognitive processes, provided that the key claims are supported by more rigorous analyses and experimental approaches.

eLife Assessment

This study presents valuable findings implicating Xkr and its newly identified binding partners in regulating the exposure of apoptotic signal for phagocytosis, suggesting that Xkr might facilitate phosphatidylserine transfer at the ER-plasma membrane contact sites. However, several conclusions, including caspase-independent activity of Xkr and its role at the ER-PM contact sites, are not well supported by experimental data. Furthermore, some key controls are missing, and in numerous places the authors' discussion has extended far beyond what the data support. The findings presented are currently incomplete and do not fully support key mechanistic claims of the study.

eLife Assessment

Shin et al present significant new observations highlighting a novel oscillatory window during REM sleep that impacts neuronal dynamics and cross-regional communication and could have implications for our understanding of sleep's role in memory consolidation. This important study identifies and characterizes high-frequency oscillations (HFOs) in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) during REM sleep, reporting their temporal dynamics and coordination with hippocampal area CA1, and an intriguing dissociation between activation of CA1 neurons during REM HFOs and non-REM ripples that may impact sleep-dependent firing rate decreases. The main claims are supported with convincing evidence including an impressive range of analyses.

eLife Assessment

This study presents a useful combined analysis of human behavior, pupillometry and EEG measures to probe differences in ambiguity assessment between individuals during value-based decision-making. Using computational models, the authors aim to test for distinct groups of participants that differ in the relationship between evidence accumulation, arousal, and neural decision-making computations. However, at present, the evidence for group differences in the physiological, neural, and behavioral profile of decision-making under uncertainty is incomplete, lacking an appropriate statistical test for group differences, and a more complete assessment of the modeling results on evidence accumulation in decision-making in this study is required to robustly characterize and interpret the results.

eLife Assessment

This valuable study advances our understanding of the physiological conditions that promote the formation of mitochondrial-derived compartments (MDCs). The genetically amenable yeast system allowed the authors to generate convincing data showing the rapid formation of MDCs under physiologically relevant conditions where the mitochondrial proteome needs to be expanded during metabolic remodeling. The identification of a key role for a yeast AMPK-related protein called Snf1 will be of interest for cell biologists and biochemists.

eLife Assessment

This important study uses dual-color super-resolution microscopy, quantitative clustering analyses and simulations, as well as biochemical approaches to investigate the nanoscale organization of mucins and trans-sialidases on the surface of Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas disease. The evidence supporting a non-uniform distribution of these molecules into segregated nanoclusters and a more ordered non-clustered population is solid. Overall, this work provides a generalizable analytical framework that can help understand how parasite surface proteins are spatially organized. The main remaining limitations concern the mechanistic basis of the proposed organization and the need to exclude possible effects of sample preparation before fixation.

eLife Assessment

A regulated cell death pathway that intentionally causes ferroptosis has not been previously described. The authors describe a useful finding that the ferroptosis inducers ML162 and erastin induce caspase-5-mediated cleavage of GSDME in mesenchymal-like ovarian cancer cells, resulting in pore formation. The data supporting the main claims are incomplete. This work will be of interest to researchers who study regulated cell death.

eLife Assessment

This study presents an important empirical analysis of the acoustic space of vocal repertoires across primates and humans, providing new data that challenge the widely held hypothesis that the expansion of the human vocal space, driven by modifications of the vocal tract, was a key prerequisite for the evolution of spoken language. The evidence is convincing in its technical implementation and acoustic measurements, offering helpful comparative insights into voiced vocalizations. However, the theoretical framing and interpretation would benefit from further discussion.

eLife Assessment

The ability to measure autophagic flux in vivo in response to physiological stresses remains a challenge for investigators in the field; the novel mouse model present in this work is significant and should prove valuable to investigators in addressing shortcomings of existing models. In addition, the development of the microplate reader approach to permit semi-high-throughput analysis of samples is convincing and a significant advance. The application of these approaches to measuring autophagy in multiple tissues is appreciated but raises some questions that need to be answered and highlighted, including what new biological insight has been generated for tissues under study, how overall autophagy versus rates of flux are determined, and how the sex of the animal affects outcomes. The neuronal populations under study should be reassessed.

eLife Assessment

This manuscript presents valuable experimental results describing the localisation and regulation of casein kinase CK1δ during the cell cycle. During the G2 phase of the cell cycle, the autophosphorylation of the C-terminal tail stabilises and inhibits the kinase which might protect CK1δ in the subsequent G1 phase. The results may be of interest to researchers working on casein kinase function and regulation but due to lack of some controls remain incomplete.

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

eLife Assessment

This important study identifies a non-canonical essential role for acyl carrier protein in maintaining apicoplast metabolism and blood-stage survival in Plasmodium falciparum. The main conclusions are compelling, and supported by strong genetic and biochemical evidence, while function of fatty acid synthesis pathways in low-lipid conditions will require future studies to fully resolve. The work provides novel mechanistic insight into ACP-mediated stabilization of pyruvate kinase II and will be of broad interest to the malaria and apicoplast biology communities.

eLife Assessment

This important work identifies phlda2 as a specific marker for primordial cardiomyocytes in the adult zebrafish heart and demonstrates their essential role in myocardial morphogenesis and coronary vascularization, but not in heart regeneration. The conclusions are well supported by single-cell transcriptomics, new genetic tools, and cell-specific ablation experiments. The revised version strengthens these findings with analyses of the epicardium, long-term time points showing that the developmental defects persist, and a control confirming that loss of primordial cardiomyocytes alone does not trigger a regenerative response. Overall, the evidence is solid and provides insight into the difference between developmental and regenerative cardiac programs, and this work will be of interest for those studying cardiac development and regeneration.

eLife Assessment

This important study identifies PRRT2 as an auxiliary regulator of Nav channel slow inactivation in vitro and in vivo, demonstrating that PRRT2 facilitates entry into, and delays recovery from, the slow-inactivated state. The revised manuscript has been substantially strengthened, providing compelling evidence that PRRT2 is relevant to normal brain physiology and disease pathophysiology, providing a mechanistic link between PRRT2 mutations and episodic neurological phenotypes. Overall, this study will be of interest to ion channel biophysicists and neurophysiologists, particularly those studying channelopathies.

eLife Assessment

The authors describe the results of a longitudinal study of pertussis infection in mother/infant dyads in Lusaka, Zambia. This work represents an important contribution to our understanding of the global burden of pertussis. The evidence presented is compelling, with strengths including routine sampling irrespective of symptoms and rigorous qPCR methodology. The study is a significant and much-needed contribution, which sheds light on an often-overlooked dimension of pertussis transmission and opens avenues for future research and policy consideration.

eLife Assessment

This study offers valuable insights into the genetic and evolutionary basis of the starvation response by confirming the hypothesis about the mito-nuclear etiology of this trait. The level of evidence is currently incomplete but could be improved if controls were designed better, particularly by including analysis of variation in the initial, common population prior to all treatments. Overall, this work would be interesting to a broad audience, beyond the Drosophila community, if the analysis of the candidate genes against Human ortholog loci were to be conducted with more careful controls.

eLife Assessment

This valuable study combines a chromosome-level genome assembly with population resequencing and demographic modelling to reassess the status of the Formosan landlocked salmon, a critically endangered salmonid at the southern edge of the genus. The assembly and the evidence for extensive lineage-specific chromosomal fusions are genuinely well done, and the discovery of an overlooked, genetically distinct population in Hehuan Creek is sound and of clear management relevance. Evidence for the headline claims is incomplete: species rank is asserted but nowhere argued, and gene flow is excluded using a coalescent model that contains no migration parameter. Support for the population-viability conclusions is also not complete, as the demographic mechanisms invoked in the discussion are not borne out by the supplementary tables.

eLife Assessment

This important study combines cryo-EM, biochemical, and cell-based assays to examine how Gβγ interacts with and potentiates PLCβ3. The authors present evidence for multiple Gβγ interaction surfaces and argue that Gβγ primarily enhances PLCβ3 activity after membrane recruitment rather than serving mainly as a membrane-recruitment factor. Following additional experimental support, the evidence in support of their conclusions is convincing.

eLife Assessment

This fundamental work uncovers an unexpected lysosomal function for NINJ2 and links it to ferroptosis and cancer biology. The evidence supporting the conclusions appears to be convincing. This work will be of general interest to the community of ferroptosis and cancer biology.

eLife Assessment

This valuable study uses genetic, behavioural, neuronal activity and cell-based assays to show that the Drosophila ionotropic receptor IR20a contributes to the detection of arginine and low-sodium salt, and suggests that peripheral receptor combinations may help integrate these nutrient cues. The evidence for a role for IR20a and associated co-receptors in these responses is solid, but the evidence that distinct receptor assemblies mediate receptor-level multimodal integration is incomplete, as this central model is inferred from functional data and leaves some discrepancies between behaviour, physiology and prior work unresolved. The study will be of interest to sensory neuroscientists and chemosensory biologists.

eLife Assessment

This Review delineates postmenopausal age-related lobular involution (ARLI) in the breast that remains only partially resolved. In contrast to the conventional view of persistent lobules as passive residual structures, this work defines them as an actively maintained senescence-immune reserve niche. Inclusion of operational definitions for the reserve state in human breast tissue would strengthen the article. The work will be of interest to scientists working in the fields of breast disorders.

eLife Assessment

This important study provides new insights into the regulation of cell organization and division in Trypanosoma brucei through the phosphorylation-dependent control of a kinesin motor protein by a polo-like kinase. The authors present convincing evidence, combining rigorous biochemical, cell biological, and imaging analyses, demonstrating that phosphorylation modulates kinesin localization and function, thereby influencing cellular organization and cytokinesis. The findings advance our understanding of the molecular mechanisms governing trypanosome cell division and will be of broad interest to researchers studying trypanosomes, cytoskeletal regulation, and eukaryotic cell division.

eLife Assessment

This study provides an important contribution to retinal regeneration research by using overexpression of pro-neural factors to reprogram fetal human RPE cells into retinal neurons. The authors provide solid evidence of fetal RPE reprogramming into neural and photoreceptor-like states using scRNA-seq and imaging validation; however, there are concerns regarding comparisons between the effectiveness of different combinatorial transcription factor codes.

eLife Assessment

This study addresses a valuable question with implications for the development of EEG-based neurofeedback interventions for pain. However, the strength of evidence is incomplete because the principal conclusions rely on post hoc responder analyses and methodological ambiguities that weaken the support for the claimed causal relationship between gamma modulation and pain reduction.

eLife Assessment

This study provides important evidence that crickets use bat-associated odors as cues of predation risk, extending the classic bat-insect arms race beyond its traditional acoustic framework. The authors combine fecal metabarcoding, behavioral assays, electrophysiology, chemical analyses, and field observations to show that Loxoblemmus equestris avoids the odor of the insectivorous bat Scotophilus kuhlii, and that synthetic limonene can elicit antennal responses, avoidance in the laboratory, and reduced calling activity in the field. Together, the multidisciplinary results provide a coherent and convincing chain of evidence for an olfactory component of predator detection in this bat-insect system. The work will be of broad interest to researchers in sensory ecology, chemical ecology, predator-prey interactions, and bat-insect coevolution.

eLife Assessment

This important study systematically investigates repeat expansion in the plant Arabidopsis thaliana using a new k-mer-based method, expanding on previous smaller studies, to comprehensively identify cis- and trans-acting loci associated with repeat dynamics. The approach is methodologically sound, and the exploration of different k-mer lengths and use of a more complete reference assembly strengthen confidence in the analysis while clarifying its limitations and the method is broadly applicable to large-scale short-read datasets for assessing copy-number variation and genomic repeat content. The findings are convincing in their scope and novelty for A. thaliana. It will be of interest to learn in future how the approach generalizes to species with substantially greater or lower repeat content.

eLife Assessment

This important study presents an innovative combination of experimental evolution and CRISPR screening to study the genetic basis of a polygenic trait, resistance against octanoic acid in Drosophila. The evidence supporting the authors claims is solid. The work will be of interest to the Drosophila community and researchers interested in functional testing of polygenic traits.

eLife Assessment

This study presents valuable findings on the functional consequences of nuclear envelope rupture caused by the depletion of nuclear pore complex subunits on the behaviour and organisation of chromosomes during mitosis in C. elegans embryos. The experiments are generally well-designed and executed; however, the evidence for some of the main conclusions is incomplete. This work is of potential interest to cell biologists working on cell division.

eLife Assessment

This useful study employs an innovative chemoproteomic and multi-modal experimental approach to support VDAC2 as a key functional mediator of STX effects on mitochondrial bioenergetics. However, concerns remain regarding the physiological and disease relevance, including the reliance on cell lines, lack of loss-of-function validation, unresolved binding specificity, and limited justification for focusing on POMC neurons in the context of Alzheimer's disease. As a result, the evidence is incomplete for a link between VDAC2 and Alzheimer's pathogenesis, and aspects of the binding data raise alternative interpretations, including a potential role for other VDAC isoforms.

eLife Assessment

This revised study offers valuable insights into how nuclear export influences protein condensates and TDP-43 phase behaviour. The findings are solid and highlight several noteworthy observations for the field, such as RNA-dependent stabilisation of TDP-43 condensates and the inhibition of nuclear export in an ALS organoid model. The work suggests a possible mechanistic link between nuclear export and TDP-43 aggregation in ALS/FTD; however, the exact mechanistic connection remains unclear, as much of the evidence is based on indirect observations within sensitised model systems. Although the authors carefully acknowledge these limitations and moderate their conclusions, further validation in more physiologically relevant models will be necessary to demonstrate a direct causal role of nuclear export in regulating pathological TDP-43 aggregation.

eLife Assessment

The study presents valuable findings of a new E. coli cell-free protein synthesis (eCFPS) system that has been simplified by reducing the number of core components from 35 to 7; furthermore, the findings communicate a simplified 'fast lysate' preparation that eliminates the need for traditional runoff and dialysis steps. The system's robustness is exhibited by its applicability to nanoluc, an ubiquitous protein and to more challenging proteins like vimentin and the active restriction endonuclease Bsal. The evidence is convincing and supports the main claims on efficiency backed up by investigations on the mechanisms. The paper will be of interest to scientists in cell and molecular biology, microbiology, biotechnology and protein synthesis.

eLife Assessment

This is an important study that comprehensively determines the consequences of DNMT3A mutations on human neuronal development in culture. The data derived from multiple different mutations in iPSC and hESC derived neurons and organoids are convincing and well controlled. This work will be of interest to researchers who study chromatin mechanisms of brain development and to those interested in DMNT3A mutations in Tatton-Brown-Rahman Syndrome.

eLife Assessment

This important work presents a novel computational framework for modeling macroscopic traveling waves in the mouse cortex by integrating open-source connectomic and transcriptomic data into a spiking network model. This approach allows the computational model to assign excitatory/inhibitory connections based on neurotransmitter profiles and extends simulations to the 3D domain. The authors present results that demonstrate how spatiotemporal dynamics such as slow oscillations (0.5-4 Hz) emerge and self-organize at the whole-brain scale. This study provides convincing initial insights into the structural basis of traveling waves at the whole-brain scale, and allows future links between connectome-driven spiking neural networks and whole-hemisphere imaging in the mouse.

eLife Assessment

This study shows that combining forced cell cycle re-entry with Rbpj deletion enhances Müller glia dedifferentiation and promotes their conversion into retinal neuron-like cells in the uninjured mouse retina. It provides a valuable strategy for improving Müller glia-mediated neurogenesis and advancing regenerative potential in the mammalian retina. Overall, the data are convincing. The authors have also addressed concerns regarding Müller glia function, cell survival, and the limitations of neuronal maturation and integration, further strengthening the conclusions of the study.

eLife Assessment

This study investigates the role of the Z-disc protein Zasp52 in Drosophila flight muscles and provides evidence that an intrinsically disordered region (IDR) helps to stabilize and promote the localization of the protein to the Z-disc. Overall, this represents an important study that provides insights into Z-disc function and maintenance. The data are convincing, supported by strong genetic evidence and behavioral tests, well-controlled experiments, and detailed statistical analyses. Characterization of a new actin-binding motif mutant and FRAP analysis further support the functional importance of the Zasp52 IDR.

eLife Assessment

This study reports important findings regarding social influence on charitable donations, showing that giving is shaped by the statistical properties of others' donations in a manner that can be captured by a reinforcement learning model. The evidence for the conclusions is solid, although the computational modelling could be better motivated and described, the individual differences analyses could be more robust, and some design choices could be better motivated. Overall, the core effect appears robust and is supported by multiple well-designed experiments, but the conclusions that rely upon computational modelling and individual differences may require further support.

eLife Assessment

In this important study, Lau et al. identify non-conserved nucleotides within the common binding motifs of BLIMP1 and IRF4 that provide a molecular mechanism for their distinct roles as crucial transcription factors during the antibody-secreting cell differentiation. The major strength of this manuscript is the solid and detailed characterization of human in vitro plasma cell differentiation. However, several overstatements exist, therefore requiring careful revision to improve the manuscript.

eLife Assessment

This important study shows that cave-adapted Astyanax mexicanus have shifted from avoiding alarm and decay odors to being attracted by them, alongside sex-specific responses to social odors. The evidence for the behavioral and heritability claims is convincing, supported by analyses of different cave populations and F2 hybrids, as well as starvation-induced plasticity experiments. Whole-brain pERK mapping offers suggestive mechanistic insight, although uncertainties in anatomical assignments and aspects of statistical and ethogram reporting temper the strength of the neurobiological conclusions. The work will be of interest to anyone working on the evolution of behavior.

eLife Assessment

Using sci-L3-Strand-seq, this study shows genome-wide, single-cell evidence that DSBs triggered by CRISPR/Cas9 are frequently resolved through sister chromatid exchange (SCE), which is undetectable with conventional whole-genome sequencing approaches. This important work provides helpful metrics quantifying the occurrence of SCE events at targeted and repetitive genomic loci that are of particular interest to those working in gene editing, DNA repair, genome instability, or repetitive genomic loci. However, the evidence supporting the proposed involvement of under-replicated region/replication-termination-zone resolution and TRAIP/URR-like pathways is currently incomplete and could be strengthened with an increased number of reciprocal daughter-cell pairs and by genetic or molecular perturbation, or alternatively, this can be addressed by changing the discussion.

eLife Assessment

This valuable study provides insights into the developmental regulation of the unusual form of holometabolous metamorphosis that occurs in the black soldier fly, in which a distinct prepupal stage is interposed between the final larval instar and pupation. This type of life history strategy is similar to what is seen in insects at the hemimetabolous-holometabolous boundary, but, given the phylogenetic position of dipterans, it is likely to be a derived trait. The combination of developmental characterization, gene expression profiling, and RNAi-mediated functional analyses provides solid evidence supporting the authors' conclusions and will be of interest to researchers studying insect development and the evolution of metamorphosis.

eLife Assessment

What can a neural network trained to imitate animal behavior tell us about biology? This valuable work uses deep reinforcement learning to train an artificial neural network to transform the dynamics of a recurrent neural network based on the C. elegans connectome into an adult Drosophila walking program in a physical model of the fly body, demonstrating that achieving plausible output dynamics does not in and of itself imply biologically meaningful simulation. Evidence for this basic claim is solid, but more extensive analyses, better methodological description, and a discussion of deeper challenges in the undertaking of biological brain modeling would strengthen the study. This result demands the attention of the practitioners of the growing field of connectome simulation for the purpose of gaining mechanistic understanding of nervous system function.

eLife Assessment

This study provides valuable insights into the role of the bile acid receptor TGR5 in regulating bone marrow adipose tissue. This revised manuscript has additional characterization of TGR5 expression in hematopoietic and stromal populations, and phenotypic differences observed between sexes, during aging, and under high-fat diet conditions. Although the scope of the study has expanded, the mechanism of how TGR5 in the microenvironment regulates hematopoietic recovery is still incomplete.

eLife Assessment

This important study partially fills the gap in the knowledge of olfaction at the level of the Anterior Olfactory Nucleus (AON) and Piriform Cortex with functional magnetic resonance imaging, electrophysiology, and modeling. The methods used are convincing. Some of the findings confirm ongoing hypotheses, such as the behavioral importance of AON for odor source discrimination, while other results shed light on the dynamics of the connection between the olfactory system and the rest of the brain. However, the lack of access to raw data hampers the assessment of data quality.

eLife Assessment

This valuable study addresses two debates about how confidence is computed: whether it continues the accumulation process that produced the initial choice or reflects a separate one, and whether that accumulation stops at a time limit or an evidence boundary. The evidence is solid, combining systematic model comparison with an independent neural marker of evidence accumulation to adjudicate between models that behaviour alone cannot separate. Support for the boundary-based stopping rule is stronger than for the single-process account, as the neural comparison is qualitative rather than quantified and the alternatives tested cover only a narrow range of plausible two-stage architectures. The work will be of interest to researchers studying decision-making and metacognition.

eLife Assessment

The work presented represents important new evidence linking the cascade of neural processes triggered by memory-based prediction errors. The study uses an impressive collection of approaches and methods to characterize and measure cognitive control, arousal, and memory changes as a function of memory-based violations. Analyses are technically sophisticated and rigorous and, taken together, provide solid evidence that there are multiple processes accompanying prediction errors, and that they differentially relate to successful encoding.

eLife Assessment

This valuable study uses the Cntnap2 mouse model of autism to investigate how reduced activity in the dorsal CA1 region of the hippocampus contributes to impaired temporal binding and memory flexibility. The authors combined trace conditioning and radial maze assays with fibre photometry, optogenetic rescue, and brain-wide c-Fos mapping to provide solid evidence that dorsal CA1 hypoactivity limits the retention of temporally separated associations and biases learning towards less flexible strategies. The work advances understanding of hippocampal contributions to cognitive alterations associated with autism and will be of broad interest to researchers studying memory, hippocampal function, and neurodevelopmental disorders.

eLife Assessment

This fundamental study reveals a new downstream mechanism that mediates mTOR's effect on lifespan in C. elegans. Using a combination of genetic, genomic, and functional analyses, the authors uncovered that a bile acid-like hormone, dafachronic acid (DA), acts downstream of mTOR to modulate lifespan. The reviewers found the evidence provided to be compelling.

eLife Assessment

This important study combines crystallographic fragment-based screening with fluorescence-polarization competition assays to demonstrate that the SARS-CoV-2 accessory protein ORF9b, and its interface with the mitochondrial import receptor TOM70, is accessible to small-molecule binding. This is a result with practical implications beyond coronavirus biology for efforts to restore interferon signalling and the antiviral response. The structural evidence is convincing, resting on an unusually large body of ligand-bound crystal structures whose fragment hotspots are independently corroborated by orthogonal biophysical approaches including fluorescence polarization and SPR. This work would benefit from additional information regarding the use of CHAI-1 and other attempts to determine the interactions between hit compounds and Tom70.

eLife Assessment

This important manuscript proposes a dual behavioral/computational approach to assess emotional regulation in humans. The authors present convincing evidence for the idea that emotional distancing (as routinely used in clinical interventions for e.g. mood and anxiety disorders) enhances emotional control.

Editors Assessment:

Here is a Data Release article sharing the reference genome of the Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii), a species with broad ecological, economic, and cultural importance. This specimen coming from the eastern Bering Sea which are genetically quite different from those from the Gulf of Alaska. This high-quality chromosome-scale reference was built from Hi-C and PacBio Hifi reads, creating a 795MB assembly anchoring to 26 chromosomes. There was initially a mixup with the data availability but after review this was resolved and all data is publicly available. This data allows study of cryptic diversity in Clupea and its evolutionary history in the subarctic.

This evaluation refers to version 1 of the preprint

eLife Assessment

This important study on multisensory learning examines the effect of integrating color vision and olfaction in the center for learning and memory (the mushroom body) in the fruit fly brain, and finds that memory performance is improved, with neurons otherwise selective for color being recruited into odor memories via interneuron interactions. The combination of carefully controlled behavioural experiments, neurogenetic manipulations of individual neurons and detailed analyses of synaptic connectivity in the fly brain connectome convincingly supports the findings. The circuit- and receptor-level demonstration of interactions across sensory modalities in memory performance will be of interest to the broader neuroscience field.

eLife Assessment

This valuable study provides key insights into the role of the G protein-coupled receptor GPR34 in an Alzheimer's disease (AD) model. Notably, its findings differ, at least in part, from those of previous studies, although the underlying reasons for these discrepancies are not investigated or discussed. The data show that GPR34 deficiency enhances the transcriptional disease-associated microglia signature in microglia and provide solid evidence that myelin is a GPR34 ligand, although the relevance of myelin engulfment in AD is unclear. This study would be of interest for neuro-immunologists and AD clinicians.

eLife Assessment

This is a fundamental study of individual variation and the contribution of learning to behavioural individuality. The experimental design of massively parallel behavioural phenotypes is outstanding and the conclusions are supported by a compelling and rigorous analysis across a large number of experiments in thousands of individuals across genotypes and conditions. The dataset further represents an advance in studying visual associative learning thanks to the ability to make longitudinal measurements of many behavioural decisions within the same animals. These results are a major contribution to the understanding of the sources of behavioural individuality.

eLife Assessment

This short report is an important study that visual acuity declines nonlinearly with cone dropout, while eye motion partially compensates by improving sampling from remaining cones. The method for experimentally simulating cone dropout is compelling, leveraging state-of-the-art imaging and testing in human subjects.

eLife Assessment

This important study provides evidence that plateau pikas, at moderate densities, can facilitate yak nutrition by suppressing a poisonous plant, offering a helpful perspective on reciprocal interactions between small mammal ecosystem engineers and large herbivores. The evidence is convincing, supported by a manipulative field experiment and appropriate measurements of intermediary ecological processes. The work will be of interest to ecologists, conservation biologists, and rangeland managers, particularly those studying grassland herbivore interactions and livestock management.

eLife Assessment

This important study provides new insights into the regulation of cell organization and division in Trypanosoma brucei through the phosphorylation-dependent control of a kinesin motor protein by a polo-like kinase. The authors present convincing evidence, combining rigorous biochemical, cell biological, and imaging analyses, demonstrating that phosphorylation modulates kinesin localization and function, thereby influencing cellular organization and cytokinesis. The findings advance our understanding of the molecular mechanisms governing trypanosome cell division and will be of broad interest to researchers studying trypanosomes, cytoskeletal regulation, and eukaryotic cell division.

eLife Assessment

This important study demonstrates that nutrient resorption efficiency in the widespread wetland grass Phragmites australis is largely canalized by phylogeographic lineage, ecotype and geographic origin, rather than responding plastically to short-term salt stress. The findings have implications beyond plant ecophysiology because they suggest that predictions of wetland nutrient cycling under increasing salinization should account for the genetic composition of plant populations. The evidence supporting the central conclusions is compelling, based on a well-designed common-garden experiment involving 110 genotypes, paired control and salinity treatments, and convergent metabolomic, ionomic and whole-plant evidence confirming that the treatment imposed substantial physiological stress. The interpretation is nevertheless limited to one growing season and a single, moderate salinity treatment, leaving open whether chronic, more severe or multigenerational exposure might induce plastic or transgenerational responses; further clarification of the relationships among phylogeographic lineage, ecotype and latitude, and a more cautious interpretation of the variance explained by latitude, would strengthen the manuscript.

eLife Assessment

This important study introduces an open-source software package that improves the computational efficiency of whole-brain modelling and facilitates individualised model fitting in large neuroimaging cohorts. The evidence is convincing for the main computational and practical claims, supported by evaluations across multiple optimisation strategies, speed benchmarks, and demonstrations using human neuroimaging data. Its modular design and documentation should make it a resource that is of value to researchers interested in scalable and individualised brain network modelling.

eLife Assessment

This is a valuable study addressing a debated question in brain repair research by testing whether NeuroD1 can convert brain immune cells into nerve cells using a virus-free genetic approach and live imaging. The solid evidence presented here supports that, under the conditions tested, NeuroD1-expressing cells do not become nerve cells and instead retain their original identity; however, some aspects of expression level, injury timing, and cell-type composition would benefit from further clarification. This work will be of interest to neuro-immunologists.

eLife Assessment

This study uses a technically challenging long-term in vivo recordings and computational modeling to investigate whether hawkmoth olfactory receptor neurons show circadian modulation of spontaneous firing. The study provides solid evidence that ORNs have a circadian pattern of spontaneous firing that is Orco-dependent and yet that Orco transcript abundance does express a circadian rhythmicity and that cAMP can modulate all Orco-dependent activity. Together with computational work, the work is valuable in proposing a provocative hypothesis that an Orco-centred post-translational feedback loop generates the circadian rhythm.

eLife Assessment

This fundamental work significantly advances our understanding of how contact-dependent antagonism enables keystone bacteria to establish and maintain their niche over time. The evidence obtained is convincing, supporting most of the conclusions drawn. This work will be of significant interest to the microbiome research community.

eLife Assessment

This study presents a valuable insight into the mechanism of action of With-No-lysine (K) kinases (WNK) in the insulin-dependent signaling in the context of learning and memory. The study uses solid methodological approaches that align with the current standards in the field. The revised manuscript, which includes diverse models ranging from mouse to cell systems assessed by a broad range of complementary techniques, convincingly argues that WNK signaling contributes to neuronal function in insulin-sensitive brain regions such as the hippocampus through its effects on GLUT4 trafficking.

eLife Assessment

This manuscript presents a valuable computational tool for identifying 3-5 gene regulatory network topologies capable of generating oscillatory dynamics. The application of Monte Carlo Tree Search to circuit design is novel and effectively expands the scale at which non-linear behaviours can be explored in silico. The efficiency of the proposed algorithm is convincing, and the work will be of interest to the systems and synthetic biology communities. While the generality of the identified circuit properties is constrained by the simplifying modelling assumptions and parameter choices, the methodological contribution represents a significant advance in the field.

eLife Assessment

This study reports the discovery of a new circuit mechanism for light-avoidance behavior in the marine annelid, Platynereis dumerilii. Using calcium imaging, molecular perturbations, behavioral measurements, and modeling, the authors provide compelling evidence that nitric oxide is released by postsynaptic neurons onto ciliary photoreceptors to prolong and enhance their response to ultraviolet light. The fundamental new role of nitric oxide described in this study may be conserved across animal phyla and thus will be of broad interests to neuroscientists and neuroendocrinologists.

eLife Assessment

This manuscript applies a theoretical analysis to two published datasets on yeast and bacterial evolution to compare different ways of quantifying fitness. It makes an important advance by clarifying how discrepancies can arise by using different approaches and provides recommendations for best practices. Overall, this is an impressive and highly beneficial study that is based on convincing evidence and has the potential of setting standards in this rapidly growing field.

eLife Assessment

The authors ask whether a simple whole-head spectral power analysis of human magnetoencephalography data recorded at rest in a large cohort of adults shows robust effects of age, and their results provide compelling evidence that it does. The relative simplicity of the analysis is a major strength of the paper, and the authors are careful to control for many different confounds - although perhaps highly correlated factors like brain anatomy still pose a slight issue. The paper provides a valuable power analysis framework that should inform researchers across the broader neuroimaging community.

eLife Assessment

This valuable study demonstrates how rhythmic inputs can shape sequential working memory. The study puts forward plausible dynamic mechanisms, but some of the central behavioral effects are small, so the evidence - at present - remains incomplete.

eLife Assessment

This important study provides new insight into how frontostriatal circuits encode elapsed time and exhibit decision-related dynamics during an auditory change-detection task. Analyses of simultaneously recorded neurons from the frontal orienting field (FOF) and anterior dorsal striatum (ADS) provide solid evidence that FOF and ADS show similar dynamics during evidence accumulation, but that FOF shows stronger movement-aligned reorganization near the time of the decision report. However, the mechanistic interpretation would be strengthened by clearer links between the population-level analyses, single-neuron activity, and relevant circuit anatomy. The work will be of broad interest to systems neuroscientists studying timing, decision-making, and frontostriatal dynamics.

eLife Assessment

This important study combines behavioral testing, fiber photometry recordings, and optogenetic manipulations to understand the role of CRH+ neurons in the PVN of the hypothalamus in social and non-social settings, while varying the degree of familiarity. The approaches used and the finding that these neurons respond to various social (and non-social) stimuli are strong; however, the conclusion that the activity of these neurons is driven solely by unfamiliar situations and the lack of dynamic analysis of fiber photometry data leaves the manuscript incomplete. This elegant study will likely be of interest to the field of social neuroscience and, if outstanding issues are addressed, would expand our understanding of the role of the PVN in behavior.

eLife Assessment

This important work provides new insights into the role of lysine acetylation of alpha-synuclein, the protein involved in Parkinson's Disease. The evidence is convincing and the work will be of interest to researchers in the fields of protein biophysics and post-translational modifications.

eLife Assessment

The authors propose the existence of an AQP4-positive tanycyte-associated canal system in the hippocampus based on histological, ultrastructural, immunohistochemical, and RNA-based approaches. There are serious concerns regarding the evidence, and the identification of the tanycyte-related structures can be questioned. At this stage, the evidence for the central claims of the manuscript has to be regarded as inadequate.

eLife Assessment

This work describes a valuable method for monitoring pathogens using an innovative, field-deployable device that attracts animals and collects saliva on filter paper in a non-invasive manner. While the strategy is effective at collecting samples and ensuring their preservation, support for some claims remains incomplete. This study will interest scientists in various fields, ranging from biodiversity, ecology, and conservation to infectious diseases and public health.

eLife Assessment

This study provides an important and biologically plausible account of how human perceptual judgments of heading direction are influenced by a specific pattern of motion in optic flow fields known as retinal curl. By combining psychophysical experiments and neural modeling, the authors demonstrate that what was previously considered an incidental, 'nuisance' signal actually serves as a functional control signal for estimating heading and steering toward a fixated target. The evidence supporting the role of curl signals is convincing and advances our understanding of vision-based navigation at the behavioral level. A particular strength of the work is the direct manipulation of curl within flow fields, demonstrating that it effectively cancels or reverses heading biases. This work provides an invaluable framework for future exploration into the neural mechanisms of steering control based on retinal curl.

eLife Assessment

This manuscript describes a series of studies using four different Go/No Go task variants in combination with fast-scan cyclic voltammetry to determine the role of dopamine release in the ventromedial striatum in action selection, controllability of reward pursuit, effort, and reward approach. The authors conclude that dopamine signals in the ventromedial striatum integrate the invigoration of action initiation with continuous estimation of spatial, but not temporal, proximity to rewards. There is solid support for the conclusions, and the findings are valuable, with theoretical implications for the role of dopamine in reward-driven behavior.

eLife Assessment

In their important manuscript, Gangadharan, Kober and Rice focus on how Stu2/XMAP215-family microtubule polymerases use their TOG domains to catalytically promote microtubule growth, testing whether their mechanism follows an enzyme-like kinetic model similar to that of actin polymerases. The authors integrate measurements including microtubule polymerization rates and TOG-tubulin binding kinetics to convincingly show that Stu2 follows an enzyme-like model where tight tubulin binding enables efficient polymerization, revealing a shared mechanism with actin polymerases despite their evolutionary divergence. This work will be of general interest to the cell biology and biophysics communities.

eLife Assessment

This valuable study explores changes in the Drosophila microbiome in response to environmental temperature over more than ten years. The evidence that temperature leads to diversification of bacterial clades is solid, despite the need for greater clarity in defining and tracking strain competition. The work will interest researchers working with microbiomes, microbial ecology, and evolutionary biology.